Wixoms

Wixoms

Coat of Arms: Arms Argent (silver) or chevron (V-shaped) sable three roses gules seeded on crest. A bull's head sable. A knight's helmet of steel faced visor open. Motto: "Manners maketh the man." The motto is taken from the original Latin: "Mores Hominem Facit."

Origin of Surnames

Surnames, or family names, with the exceptions here given, were not used in ancient times. They are mostly a modern contrivance. The Romans had a system of surnames, but with the overthrow of the Western Empire the system was lost, and the barbarians who settled on its ruins brought back the custom of using a single name only. The Chinese had a system of surnames in use 1200 years before the Christian era.

Modern surnames commenced in England soon after the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Domesday book, made in England in 1086, compiled by order of King William, was a sort of survey of England, giv-ing the names of land owners, and compelling each of them to give some distinguishing name besides the personal name. That was the beginning of surnames in England. Many of these surnames were taken from places where the people lived, or had formerly lived. One authority states that there is hardly a town in Normandy that has not given a surname to some English family.

Surnames, being of modern use, have been taken not only from names of places, but also from names of things, events, and occupations connected with the persons to whom they were applied.

The name Wixom was originally Wickham, sometimes written without the letter "h". It is easy to understand how the name came to be changed from time to time, in that illiterate age when few people could read and fewer could write, and the exactness that comes from frequent writing of names was unknown.

The history of the Wickhams in England begins at the time of the Norman Conquest, in 1066. It does not appear in public records whether the first of the Wickhams were resident Britons before the conquest, or came over with the Norman invaders. Walchelin was probably a Norman, as all Norman names in England at the time of the Conquest were Anglicized, and Walchelin was named Wyckham. Walchelin's son Robert is also men-tioned in the Domesday Book, which is further evidence that the Walchelins were Normans. The history of Somershire states that Sir Robert Wyckham was knighted by Edward II at Bristol in 1327.

We find the Wickham Arms in glass windows in Swalcliffe Church, Oxford. The same arms are shown on the tomb of Rector John Wickham of Rotherfield. William Wickham bought Broughton Castle, and it is still held by his descendants. There have been several changes in this name by later generations. It is quite certain that the Wixoms of this coun-try derive their name from the Wickhams of England and are descended from them.

The history of the Wixom family in this country begins with the landing of Robert Wixam in Massachusetts in the year 1630. He wrote the name "Wixam, " but in the third generation of the family in this country, the name became quite generally written (by those who could write), "Wix-om," which does not change the sound of the original name. The sound is the real name, not the spelling.

There is one branch of the family who writes the name Wixson, and another branch who writes the name Wickson. Both changes were made more than a hundred years ago. Both changes were made by accident and both are now well established and quite proper. But the changes in the name do not change the relationship. We are all descendants of Robert Wixam the First.

Wixom Family History and Genealogy

First Generation:

Robert Wixam, born in England, date unknown; emigrated to Massachu-setts in 1630. That was the year of the Great Emigration from England to Massachusetts. A fleet of seventeen ships in charge of John Winthrop, the newly appointed Governor of the Colony, under a new and more liberal Charter of Government, brought over more than a thousand colonists, and landed them off the mouth of Salem Harbour on the 12th day of June that year.

Robert Wixam was married about 1654, to Alice, surname unknown, born in England. He was at Plymouth in 1643 and from there moved to Eastham, Cape Cod, where he is registered as one of the legal inhabitants in 1665. His name is found in the list of inhabitants of Barnstable County who were able to bear arms in the colony, ages from 16 to 70. Children:

Jemima, b. August 30, 1655.

Titus, b. December 2, 1657; d. February 16, 1718.

Elizabeth, b. May 29, 1660; d. December 1699; m. January 28, 1678 to Nathaniel Mayo.

Barnabas, b. 1663.

Robert Wixam's will was made October 1, 1686, and proved ten days later, which fixes the time of his death between those dates.

Will of Robert Wixam

Robert Wixam of Eastham being very weak and infirm of body but yet in perfit memory and understanding and not knowing the time of his departure, but daily expecting when my change will be, leave this as my last will and testament.

Mercy Imprisimis.—My soul I command unto the arms of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ, and my body to a decent burial and con-cerning my temporal estate which God in his goodness hath given me—It is my will that it shall be disposed of as followeth:

I do make my wife Alice my whole and sole executrix joining my son-in-law Nathaniel Mayo with her to be helpful unto her in advice and management of matters in reference to paying of debts and other matters of difficulty as to her support &c.

I do give unto my daughter Jemimah one brown cow with a star in the forehead and one hive of bees and houseroom and pri-vileges in the orchard as long as she lives unmarried.

I give to my grandchild Nathaniel Mayo one cow calf. The rest of my personal estate, my debts being paid, stock and movables I give unto my loving wife Alice for her support during her natural life, and that part of my dwelling house that I now live in the benefit of my orchard during her natural life.

It. I give unto my son Titus Wixam the other part of my dwelling house and outhousing and all my land on that side of the highway my housing stands upon and all my meadow adjoining to it, and half an acre of meadow lying in Knock Harbour, lying between to parcels of Thomas Williams meadow and the other part of my dwelling house, after my wife’s decease, and a parcel of upland lying between the mouth of Little Skiket and Knock Harbour and a small field of upland above the highway which he now improves with two acres breadth of land from that field down to the highway, against the house.

It. I give to my son Barnabas Wixam all the remainder of my thirty acres of upland above the highway with all my meadow and marsh ground lying in great Names Cakitt by the beach and a small parcel of meadow lying in Knock Harbour, between Daniel Cole and Giles Hopkins.

It. My will is that my two sons Titus and Barnabas Wixam do provide for and winter four or five cattle annually during her natural life. Further my will is that after my wife’s decease my son Titus Wixam shall have one feather bed and an iron pot. And my son Barnabas shall have another feather bed and a brass kettle.

This I leave as my last will and testament with liberty to add to or alter as I may see cause, if God shall be pleased to prolong my days.

As witness my hand and seal this first day of October in the year of our Lord One Thousand, Six Hundred Eighty and Six.

Robert Wixam

Witness

Mark Snow

Tho Parvie

Truly transcribed out of the original compared and entered the 22nd of October 1686

As attest Joseph Lothrop, Clerk.

October 11, 1686

An Inventory of the Estate of Robert Wixam of Eastham, De-ceased

2 Oxen

Steer

Cow

3 Cows

Heifer

Steer

3 Calves

Old Mare

Old Horse

2 Swine

Indian Corn

Wheat

Iron Pot & Hook

Wooden Trays & Trencher

Feather bed & Bolster

Rye

Iron

2 Beehives

Pewter

Earthen Ware

Books

Sheep Shears

Iron Box & Heater

Brass

Powder & Bullets

Pot Hanger

2 Spinning Wheels

Tobacco

Old Bed & Bolster

Bedstead

Old rug

Old blanket

Bed, Bolster & Three Pillows

Old Rug, & Blanket

Table & Forme

Forme & 2 Old Pails

His Wearing Clothes

Linning

Housing

Lands - Upland & Meadowing

2 Old Sives & Bag

Bedstead & Sittle

3 Chairs

Fire Slice & Tongs

2 Chests and Box

Alice Wixam the relict of the Sr. Robert Wixam appeared before me this 18th of October 1686 and testified on her oath that this above written is a true inventory of her late hus-band Robert Wixam his estate so far as she know and if any more come to her knowledge she is engaged by her oath to bring it to this inventory.

Before Me John Freeman, Assistant.

A true copy out of the original

As attest Joseph Lathrop, Clerk.

Compared and entered October the 22nd, 1686.

Second Generation:

Barnabas, b. 1663, in Eastham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts; m. to Sarah Remick (b. 1663), daughter of Chris-tian Remick (b. 1631) and Hannah. He resided at Eastham as late as 1703. According to a list of inhabitants found among the early records he was living in Eastham in 1695. Soon after the year 1703 he moved to Yarmouth where his children were mar-ried. His name appears on a Muster Roll dated June 8, 1723, of a Company in His Maj-esty's Service, showing that he entered Military Service October 23, 1723, and served to January 2, 1724, under Captain Samuel Wheelwright, in Indian Wars. Both Barnabas and his brother Titus had land grants at Eastham. Barnabas's three sons married at Yarmouth, whither the family had moved from Eastham. Children:

Barnabas, b. September 15, 1693; m. Sarah, June 6, 1714.

Joshua, b. March 14, 1695.

Lydia, b. June 12, 1697; d. March 18, 1750.

Robert, b. May 29, 1698 at Eastham, Massachusetts, m. February 5, 1718, at Yarmouth, Massachusetts, to Elizabeth Baker, daughter of Quakers.

Prince, b. December 2, 1700 at Eastham, Massachusetts; m. April 1, 1720, Yarmouth, to Elizabeth Burgess.

From Mayflower Descendants, Vol. 4, pp. 32-33.

Third Generation:

Joshua Wixam, son of Barnabas, b. March 14, 1695, at Eastham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, the settlement then called Cape Cod; m. March 9, 1715, at Yarmouth, to Hannah Baker who died November 27, 1730; m. (2) about December 1731, to Elizabeth Chase of Harwich (b. October 6, 1718), daughter of William Chase and Dorcas Baker.

From the first marriage two children were born, Reuben and Hannah, The son, Reuben, married a younger sister of his step-mother, which made him a brother-in-law of his father, and the older sister became the mother-in-law of the younger. -The situation was a little novel, to be sure, but quite proper.

Here is the beginning of the use of four Christian names not pre-viously found in the family, and found later only among the descendants of Joshua. They are the names Joshua, Reuben, Solomon and Dorcas.

Here may be given an amusing local law or ordinance found among the early records of Barnstable County. "Every single man must kill three crows and six blackbirds each year. None shall be permitted to marry until he complies with this requisition."

In the annals of Dennis, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, appears the name of Joshua Wixam in the year 1749. He was then a representative for two years and a selectman for five years. Many Wixams held public offices in those early days.

Children of first wife:

Reuben, b. about 1722, Massachusetts; d. about 1800; m. January 3, 1745, to Dorcas Chase. Reuben Wixam fought at Bunker Hill and was wounded there, but he was not an enlisted soldier at that time; he simply hurried to the field, fell in line and commenced shooting, as many others did. Some of his family took the name form Wixam, others Wixom.

Hannah, b. about 1724; m. March 5, 1747, to David Crowell.

Children of second wife:

Isabel, b. April 1735.

Zilpha, b. May 1737.

Barnabas, b. January 1740; this branch took name form Wixom.

Sarah, b. January 1743.

Dorcas, b. June 1746.

Joshua, b. January 1749.

Solomon, b. August 10, 1752 at Yarmouth, Massachusetts; m. about 1777, to Mary Randall; d. 11 April 1813. Served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War as a Private in the 7th Reg-iment of Minute Men, Militia of Dutchess County Took name form Wixson.

Fourth Generation:

Barnabas Wixom, son of Joshua, b. January 1740 at Yarmouth, Barnstable County, Massachusetts; moved with his parents to Dutchess County, New York about 1755 and later emigrated to the western part of the state. In 1790 he was living in the Town of Chemung, a few miles south of the present City of Elmira, then called Newtown. A few years later he lived for a time in the Town of Chenango, near the present City of Birmingham. Children:

Barnabas, b. 1776 in wilderness of central New York; d. about 1846, Texas; m. about 1803, New York to Hannah Jones. Recorded as Wickson.

Joshua, b. about 1778.

Reuben Hiram, b. April 1, 1781; d. August 9, 1848.

Dorcas Tabitha, b. about 1783, New York; d. September 15, 1838, Ohio; m. 1801, New York to Joseph Earl , a Baptist preacher.

Solomon, b. about 1785; d. about 1837.

Josiah, b. about 1787.

Seth, b. about 1788.

Jesse Fletcher, b. March 14, 1791, New York; d. October 26, 1869, Minnesota; m. Mary Morecraft; m. Rebecca Barcus. He was a carpenter and Methodist preacher.

Fifth Generation:

Reuben Hiram Wixom, son of Barnabas, b. April 1, 1781, in New York; d. August 9, 1848, in Troy Grove Township, LaSalle County Illinois; m. November 22, 1803, New York to Clarissa Walker (b. November 25, 1787, in Vermont; d. July 9, 1871, in Mendota, LaSalle County, Illinois), daughter of Thomas Walker and Abigail Atwater.

For nearly seven years after marriage Mr. Wixom continued to live in the State of New York, in the Township of Hector, then in Seneca County, now in the County of Schuyler. But in the spring of 1810 he moved with his family to Franklin County, Ohio. There he took up land at a place about ten miles south of the present city of Columbus. It was a wild district inhabited by wild animals and wild men. But that feature had its advantages for the newcomer, for his ability to cope with the wilderness was his main stock in trade. The abundance of game in the forest and his skill at hunting and trapping kept the family well supplied with food, game, and furs. And, as the head of the household could make every article needed, the family lived in plenty. He made wheels for spinning flax and wool, looms for weaving cloth, and shoes and moccasins for the family. Later, after the district became more settled, and afterwards in Illinois, he made bedsteads, chairs, half-bushel measures and various other articles to sell to others. Several times in Ohio, and later at his home in Illinois at the outbreak of the war with Mexico, he made drums and sold them to the military organizations, and family tradition says that one of those drums sounded on the field of Buena Vista.

His wife too was equal to the demands of the times, and nobly did her part. She had been trained in the days of girlhood to spin both wool and flax, and to weave and make the clothes that were needed for the fam-ily. They were soon able to produce their own wool and flax on their little farm in the clearing of the forest home.

But the situation in Ohio had never been satisfactory. It was a timbered country and a hard task to cut the trees and clear the land for a farm, and the rather unproductive clay soil was hard to cultivate among the stumps. The traveling preachers, the "circuit riders," came to the rescue. They told Mr. Wixom of the broad prairies and rich soil of Illinois. He received like information from others, for the tide of emigration had set in, and was moving toward the Prairie State. The records in the office of the Recorder of Deeds at Columbus, Ohio, show that on August 18, 1827, Reuben H. Wixom and his wife Clarissa conveyed one hun-dred acres of land to Horton Howard in consideration of five hundred dollars.

It was late in the fall of the year, however, before the move was undertaken by ox team transit. The family reached their destination, Springfield, Illinois, on Christmas Day, 1827. It was then only a small village, ten years before it became the capital of the state. Mr. Wixom bought ten acres of land, with a house on it, adjoining the town. There the family lived for the next two years cultivating the land and raising garden truck and feed for domestic animals.

Mr. Wixom had received personal instruction in a system of medi-cal practice from a Samuel Thompson, and was what was then called a "steam doctor." He soon built up a good practice, and as his wife was a skillful midwife, she became his assistant in the new venture. He seems to have been remarkably successful in curing the sick and built up a large practice. That crude system of treating the sick that has been the ridicule of physicians in later years may have had its chief virtue in avoiding the use of strong drugs, and it may be that the chills and agues of that day yielded readily to the roots and herbs that Dr. Wixom gave his patients. Good nursing probably counted for much, for we must not overlook the valuable assistance he often received from Clarissa as midwife and nurse. But his remarkable success as a doctor compelled him to quit the practice of medicine; he found that he could no longer stand the physical strain. He decided that there was but one way to quit the practice—-he must move to a place beyond the calling distance of his ac-quaintances. That he did.

In the spring of 1830 he sold his property at Springfield and moved to a place about sixty miles further north in Tazewell County, where he found a farm to his liking, and there he took up his new home. This place was about ten miles east of Peoria, then called Fort Clark. It was a good move. He now had the first piece of real good farming land that he had ever owned. The soil was productive, yielding abundantly of everything planted. There was plenty to do on the farm and everybody worked. Five years the family lived there and prospered. At the end of the third year Nathan and Justin, the first and fourth sons, went prowling over the state to find a better location, and they found it in the northwestern part of LaSalle County about fifty miles north and east of the Tazewell County home. Two years later the family moved to the new location. It was in the spring of 1835. There Mr. Wixom purchased land adjoining a new settlement named Homer, in Troy Grove Township, and soon afterward bought a half-interest in the townsite. Two years later he traded his land at Homer for a farm four miles further north and there he continued to live the remainder of his life. In his book of memoranda and accounts he records the date of moving to his new home and seems to prophesy that he will continue at that place for sixteen years without another move. But if so, the prophecy failed, for he died too soon. He never was a rover; every move he made was after careful and deliberate judgment, and every place he moved to was better than the place he left. He seems to have made no mistakes in that line.

From what we can learn of his character the conclusion must be that Reuben Hiram Wixom was gifted with an unusual amount of physical energy; that he had much in his makeup of the severity of the Puritans of the earlier days; and that his rigid exactness in dealing with others was an honest application of the Golden Rule, for he was always rigid and exact with himself; and he seems to have taken satisfaction in being that way.

In politics he was an ardent Whig, and just as ardent a Baptist in religion. Frequent prayer meetings were held at his home, where a traveling preacher occasionally officiated and neighbors attended.

Clarissa Walker Wixom, his wife, is entitled to more than passing notice. She was a daughter of Thomas Walker and Abigail Atwater, as above noted. Family tradition says that her father was a soldier, a Petty Officer in the English Army under General Burgoyne, who invaded the State of New York from Canada in 1777, was wounded at the Battle of Bennington, and left on the field by his comrades who saw fit to retreat in a hurry to a more healthy locality. He was picked up by an American family who lived nearby and nursed to health. In the meantime Burgoyne’s army had surrendered at Saratoga, and that English soldier, Thomas Walker, remained there, used his good judgment and married an American girl and settled in Vermont. Later the family moved to New York. Reuben Hiram Wixom married Clarissa Walker.

His son Chancy Smith Wixom wrote the following letter about Reuben.

To Justin H. Wixom of Troy, Idaho

Dear Son:

In yours of July 22 you requested me to make a biographical sketch of my life, and of my father and mother and their ancestors. Bion and Clara have both called my attention to this matter during the last few years, and I have excused myself by telling them that I was not in pos-session of dates and facts so as to feel capable of giving a satisfactory and interesting statement of the life, habits, trials, and some of the difficulties of the family ancestors. And I feel quite sure that I might have been in possession of many interesting facts, had I at the right time got my father to have written the things with which he knew and was familiar during his life. But as I neglected to improve the opportu-nity to secure the facts and information, which I would now prize so highly, has induced me to make a statement to you and to the rest of my children, of some of the recollections of things and events as told me mostly by my father, with whom I often talked in regard to his brothers and early life. So if I can give any information that I think will be of interest or a source of satisfaction I regard it as a duty, and will try to do what I can with pleasure, although it will be quite a task and am very poorly qualified to do it.

Reuben H. Wixom was born in the State of New York the first of April 1781, at what place I do not know. There were a good many friendly Indians living at that time in the neighborhood where my father spent his boyhood days, and he was often with the Indian boys in their sports and plays such as running foot races, jumping, wrestling, practicing with the bow and arrow and throwing stones at squirrels and different objects, and he was so skillful in nearly all these games that the Indian boys would sometimes get cross and mad and in order to pacify them and get them to feel friendly again, he would manage to let them beat him at their sports, which would make things all right and pleasant again.

It is my impression that my grandfather Wixom’s given name was Barnabas, and he had a number of boys, but I cannot give all their names nor in their proper order. Most of them were older than my father. There was Seth, Solomon, Barnabas, Joshua, and Jesse, and one daughter named Dorcas who married a man by the name of Earl. She had a number of boys that joined the Mormons and went to Utah. Uncle Barnabas moved to Texas when that country was under the rule of Spain and got several leagues of land for emigrating and settling there. Uncle Solomon was a cripple and it was very hard for him to walk, caused by rheumatism. He and Uncle Jesse moved from New York to Ohio and from there to Illi-nois, first to Tazewell County and afterwards to LaSalle County and Uncle Solomon died in Homer.

Clarissa Walker was born November the 25th, 1787, in the State of Vermont somewhere near the line of New York State and when about twelve years of age was at school when the news came that George Washington was dead. The school was dismissed and all in sorrow went home. Her father was an officer in the English army that came over to subdue the rebels in the time of the revolution, but after he became fully acquainted with the cause and conditions that led to the rebellion, deserted the English and was willing and anxious to join the army of the colonies but was not permitted to do so. He finally settled in Vermont and never ven-tured to return to England. That was at a time when nails were made by hand, and he carried on that business to some extent but was not able to supply the demand and he sent to England for a number of kegs of nails and they came all right, and when he opened them, one keg was filled with silver dollars, and it was thought that his folks in England adopted this method to send money to him for the sea at that time was infested with pirates. The family consisted of several boys and two girls. Henry was the only one of the boys that I ever saw. Nancy and Clarissa were the two girls.

Grandfather Walker secured a place in New York a hundred miles or so from where they lived in Vermont, and one of the boys went there to build a house and make other improvements, and after getting through with the work, started for home on foot, but before reaching home was take sick and somewhat deranged, and when he would call at a house the people were afraid and would not take him in, but would send him on, and he was treated in a like manner by others, and he finally went out on one side of the road and laid down, and was there a day or so before being found by someone that was passing by and taken to a house where he recovered so as to tell who he was, but soon after died. His funeral sermon was preached from the text found in Matthew, 25 chapter 43 verse—was a stranger and ye took me not in.

After the family moved to the State of New York in the course of time Nancy, the oldest of the two girls, married a man by the name of Humphrey Smith, and on November 25, 1803, Reuben H. Wixom and Clarissa Walker were married and lived in Tompkins County near Cayuga Lake where Nathan was born November 22, 1804, and Jesse A. was born January 17, 1807, and Solomon Sq. was born March 26, 1809, and in 1810 the family moved to the State of Ohio and located in Franklin County about ten or twelve miles east of Columbus in a new country with limited means, but there was plenty of game deer, turkeys, wolves, etc., and my father was an expert with the rifle, skillful trapper and a regular Nimrod of a hunter, so the family was provided for with plenty to eat and lived contented and happy. There was born Justin D., July 25, 1811, Reuben H., Jr., Dec 25, 1813, Abraham February 19, 1816, Urban D., the seventh son, April 5 1818, Henry W. September 20, 1820, and Chancy S. August 27, 1822. Clarissa Parthena was born January 19, 1826.

During the years that passed since the family moved from New York to Ohio Grandfather Walker died and Grandmother Walker married a man by the name of Houghton and they moved to Ohio, built a log cabin near my father's place, where they lived and where Father Houghton died —and on May the 7th Parthena died and Reuben H. Wixom Jr. died Sept 3rd, both in the year 1827. I was then five years old and distinctly remember being at the place where they buried the dead and at grandmother’s cabin and many other incidents that occurred. Father and Mother both belonged to the Baptist Church and were active and strict members and had preaching and prayer meetings at their house frequently.

My Father was a very strong and active heavy set man, full chest, with lots of hair on his breast and arms and on his head it was fine and silky—face rather round and fair—shaved smooth but generally left a little bunch of hair below each ear, and was bald, and ‘bout five feet eight or nine inches tall and weighed from one hundred and eighty to two hundred pounds, and having always lived in a new country was very skillful in hunting and trapping and I have heard him say that he had often killed four deer by nine or ten o'clock in the morning but was never able to get another deer the same day. And one time having found a bear track in the snow he got a man to go with him and they followed the track for two days through the woods and finally came to where the bear had went up a large ash tree or stump which was forty or fifty feet high, the top of the tree having been broken off. Father had a good dog, an ax and a rifle so they went to work and soon cut the stump down, for it was quite rotten in the middle, and when it fell left the bear in good shape. Father sprang for his rifle and the dog for the bear, but the bear got the dog in its arms and the rifle, an old flintlock, the only kind they had in them days, refused to go off. Some snow having dropped and wet the powder in the pan. So in hopes of saving the dog, which he valued highly, he called to the man to strike the bear with the ax, but instead of doing so he got himself a little further away. Then father dropped the rifle and seized the ax and went for the bear. Bruin saw the new danger and was turning to meet it when the ax struck him in the head, which settled him, but the dog was injured in the back and was no good after that, but the hide and meat of the bear brought him something over twenty dollars.

It was a timbered country where father lived and it was a big job to cut the trees and clear up a farm and when that was done there were lots of stumps in the field with a clayey and rather unproductive land, and was so hard to cultivate, it being necessary to do a good deal of the work with the hoe, but he kept the boys working and he was very in-genious and skillful in making almost anything that was needed—wheels for spinning wool and flax—bedsteads, chairs, half bushel measures, drums, looms for weaving, and sometimes shoes and moccasins. Mother was equal to the demands of the times in which she lived, having been while quite young trained to spinning both wool and flax and weaving and making the clothes that were needed in the family.

Father had seen and talked with a preacher and others that had been in Illinois and they had told him about the prairies and the rich-ness of the soil, so he concluded to try to find a better place to get a living than it was on his farm in Ohio. So he disposed of all of his property in Ohio and started by wagon in November 1827, for Illinois, his objective point being Springfield, and it was very slow and diffi-cult moving that time of the year for they had a good deal of rain and lots of mud. This I well remember as at one place in crossing a very muddy slough I tumbled out of the hind end of the wagon and had a dive in the mud which caused quite a hubbub, but mother was on hand and soon made all right again and the family arrived safely at Springfield, Illinois, December the 25th, 1827. Springfield was at that time but a small vil-lage, the capital was at Vandalia. Ten years after, or in 1837, the capital was moved to Springfield.

Father bought ten acres in the edge of the village with a small house on it in which we lived and we raised such garden stuff as was needed in the family. And father having received personal instruction from Samuel Thompson commenced the practice of medicine known at that time as a steam doctor, had a good practice and was very successful in curing the sick; and mother was a skillful midwife.

When father left Ohio Grandmother Houghton wanted to go to Illinois with us but for various reasons it was quite out of the question to bring her and make her comfortable so late in the season, and so father prom-ised her that when we got settled in Illinois that he would send for her, so in 1829 he got a light wagon and a horse and sent Solomon to Ohio to bring Grandmother to Illinois, but during this time she was taken sick and died, so we were all grieved and disappointed. It was about this time that I saw the first Indians. While with a lot of boys playing at a brook about a half a mile from home with a tin cup to put fish in, and while very busy and hearing a noise I looked around and there the ground and hillside were covered with Indians mostly on horseback. The other boys had seen them first and had skipped out, and if there ever was a scared boy, I think that I was one at that time. I heard them say after-wards that there were 500 Indians. Anyhow, the cup was left and I have not seen it since. On the 12th of July, 1829, while we lived in Spring-field my sister Nancy was born—a welcome and joyful event in the family —as there had been nine boys in succession and then Clarissa Parthenia that died in May before we left Ohio.

The practice of medicine under the Thompsonian system was very trying on my father, so much so, in fact, that he concluded to quit it and in order to do so thought it best to move to a farm and in 1830 moved to Tazewell County where he found a place to suit him which was located five miles east of Pekin on the Illinois river and ten miles from Peoria, or what was known at that time by the name of Fort Clark. On this farm he found plenty of work for the boys breaking prairie and mak-ing rails and fencing. The land was rich and very productive so we had large crops of corn, wheat and oats—in fact everything that was planted produced abundantly. And it was while living on that farm that Cynthia Lovinia, my sister, was born on December 28, 1831. This made twelve children born to the family. Ten were living and two passed away and were not. It has always seemed to me that we lived in Tazewell County many years, but the record is that we moved to LaSalle County in 1835. Father sold the farm in Tazewell County and bought quite a lot of land where the village of Troy Grove now is.

Children:

Nathan, b. November 22, 1804, New York; d. July 29, 1867, California; m. November 1, 1827, Ohio, to Betsy Eliza Hadlock. About 1840 there was much activity in central Illinois among the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nathan Wixom and his wife were converted to the new faith and in June 1845 they moved to a place near Nauvoo, Illinois, then headquarters of the Church. Three years later the Mormons were on their way to Utah and so was Nathan Wixom. To Council Bluffs, Iowa, Nathan Wixom and family moved in 1846 and remained there until the spring of 1850. Then he moved with his family to Springville, Utah, then on to California.

Jesse Atwater, b. January 17, 1807, New York; d. July 4, 1884; m. 14 April 1831, Illinois, to Artemisia Rich; m. 24 October 1881, Illinois, to Martha Clatworthy Chandler.

Solomon, b. March 26, 1809; d. March 1, 1879.

Justin Dishen, b. July 25, 1811; d. September 17, 1859; m. Weltha Ann Johnson.

Reuben Hiram, b. December 25, 1813; d. September 3, 1827.

Abraham, b. February 19. 1816, Ohio; d. August 29, 1870, Illinois; m. 9 July 1843, Illinois, to Rachel Ann Scott. Was a large, powerful man with a double row of teeth. Once carried a large sack of wheat across the floor in his teeth after his workman complained about carrying the heavy sack.

Urban Doctor, b. April 5, 1818, Ohio; d. May 31, 1865, Putnam County, Missouri; m. 12 December 1844, Illinois, to Sarah Ann Johnson. Served in the U.S. Army 1861-1864.

Henry Walker, b. September 27, 1820, Franklin County, Ohio; d. January 6, 1888 near Mendota, Illinois; m. 26 May 1842, Illinois, to Nancy Ann Tichenor. Was in the surgeon’s corps when there was an uprising with the Indians in Oregon.

Chancy Smith, b. August 27, 1822, Franklin County, Ohio; d. October 24, 1902, Mendota, LaSalle, Illinois; m. 25 December 1853, LaSalle County, Illinois, to Mary Hawk.

Clarissa Parthenia, b. January 19, 1826; d. May 17, 1827.

Nancy Clarissa, b. July 12, 1828, Illinois; d. January 4, 1897, Nebraska; m. 23 November 1845, Illinois, to Charles Benjamin Foster. Was a midwife.

Cynthia Lovinia, b. December 28, 1831; d. March 12, 1854.