Revolutionary War
Patriot buried in McDonough County

William Willard lived a long and remarkable life, but even he was not entirely
certain when it began. His parents told him he was born in 1755 in Loudoun
County, Virginia, yet the many years he spent traveling between military
camps, frontier forts, and new settlements left few records behind.

According to his Revolutionary War pension file, Willard volunteered for
military service in July 1778 near Leesburg, Virginia. Because he could neither
read nor write, he kept no personal records to document his service. Years
later, while applying for a pension in Illinois, he testified before a judge that he
marched from Leesburg to Winchester and then served at several frontier
posts, including Fort Pitt, Fort Shepherd, and Fort Wheeling. After more than
seven months of service, he returned home to Virginia.

About two and a half years later, Willard enlisted again. This time he marched
to Richmond and later served under the command of General Lafayette during
the closing stages of the war. He remained in service until the surrender of
Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781. His military discharge was eventually
lost, but his testimony and supporting evidence were enough for him to
receive a pension.

After the war, Willard married Jane Cooke. The couple first settled in
Tennessee before moving north to Morgan County, Illinois. There, Willard
successfully applied for and received his Revolutionary War pension.
Following Jane’s death in 1833, Willard moved to McDonough County to live
with his daughter Mary and her husband, John McCord. By then he was well
into his eighties. The 1840 federal census lists him in the McCord household
and notes his age as 89 years. At the time, he was likely the oldest resident in
McDonough County.

William Willard spent his final years in the county and was buried in Atkinson
Cemetery, now located within Argyle Lake State Park.

In 2023, members of the National Society Daughters of the American
Revolution’s General Macomb Chapter placed a marker at Willard’s grave
recognizing his Revolutionary War service. Numerous descendants attended
the ceremony, honoring a man whose life stretched from the days of the
American Revolution to the pioneer era of McDonough County.

Today, dozens of descendants continue to trace their lineage to William
Willard, preserving the memory of one of the county’s earliest and oldest
settlers.

Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough
County Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs. For more Pioneers of
the Past, go to https://www.mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/

Imagine stepping back in time and meeting the John Mustain family as they
arrived in McDonough County in the fall of 1832. It would have been quite a
sight. John and his wife, Elizabeth, were traveling west with nine children,
including 6-month-old George.

According to S. J. Clarke’s History of McDonough County, John was “a large
portly man, of good appearance, pleasant and agreeable.” Their son, Thomas
A. Mustain, stood over six feet tall and weighed about 215 pounds. The
Mustains were a family that did not go unnoticed.

John was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, in 1782. His early life was
diƯicult. Orphaned at the age of four, he was apprenticed to a hatter. After
several years, he decided carpentry was a better fit and spent more than thirty
years working in that trade.

Records show that John began purchasing land in Virginia as early as 1812. By
1832, however, he and Elizabeth had decided to seek a new life in the West.
They sold their property, including land Elizabeth had inherited from her
father, Nathan Glenn, and headed for Illinois.

After arriving in McDonough County, John purchased 400 acres near Job’s
Settlement for $1.25 per acre. Even after buying the land, he still had several
hundred dollars in gold coins from a bank in Lynchburg, Virginia. The problem
was that few local residents knew the value of the coins and were reluctant to
accept them.

Someone suggested that Mustain speak with James M. Campbell in Macomb.
Riding into town, Mustain stopped a man and asked where he could find the
Circuit Clerk.

“I am the Circuit Clerk,” the man replied.
Embarrassed, Mustain explained that he was actually looking for the County
Clerk.

“I am the County Clerk,” came the answer.
Then Mustain asked who served as Postmaster.
“You are talking to him,” the man replied.
The man was James M. Campbell.

After hearing Mustain’s situation, Campbell oƯered to take the gold to St.
Louis on his next trip, exchange it, and extend credit so the family could
purchase supplies and get settled. The act of trust marked the beginning of a
lifelong friendship. Campbell later said there was no man he respected more
than John Mustain.

John and Elizabeth raised a large family. Their children included William D.
“W.D.,” Daniel C., Thomas A., Nathan Glenn, Jane (Mrs. Solomon Howard),
John Terry “J.T.,” Elizabeth A. (Mrs. Archibald Owen), James Alexander “J.A.,”
George W., and Gilly or Gella, who was born in McDonough County in 1834.
Elizabeth died in 1863 during the Civil War. John followed in 1869. By that time,
the family had become one of the county’s largest landowners. In 1871, the
Mustains owned more than 3,800 acres in the Sciota and Blandinsville
townships and had more than sixty grandchildren.

Despite their success, the Mustains left little record of civic involvement. No
sketches of their farms appeared in the 1871 McDonough County Atlas. The
family were Democrats in politics but seem to have devoted most of their
attention to farming and raising their families.
Today, the Mustain name can still be found in cemeteries throughout
McDonough County, including the Mustain Family Cemetery, Glade City
Cemetery, and Hillsborough Cemetery. Yet time has a way of changing things.
A look at the modern McDonough County plat book reveals that only one
person bearing the Mustain name still owns a small piece of land in the
county their family helped settle nearly two centuries ago.

Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough
County Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs. For more Pioneers of
the Past, go to https://www.mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/

PIONEERS OF THE PAST_#18
It would be easy for Margaret Reno Vance to fade into the early history of
McDonough County, but she was truly one of the county’s founding mothers.
Margaret and her husband, James Vance, arrived in the area in the 1820s
when both were already in their 60s — an age when most settlers of the time
would have avoided the hardships of frontier life. Instead, they chose to leave
Tennessee and help build a new community in what was then an unsettled
wilderness. Their descendants still live in McDonough County today.

Margaret was born in 1762, likely in either Pennsylvania or Tennessee, to John
Reno and Susannah Thorn. At just 19 years old, she married James Vance in
White County, Tennessee, in 1782. Together they raised a large family of 12 or
13 children. Family tradition says Margaret and James traveled to Illinois by ox
team with her nephew, Jonathan Reno, arriving a year before McDonough
County was oƯicially created in 1825.

The journey west would have been diƯicult for anyone, but especially for a
couple their age traveling with family members and possessions into a region
with few roads, homes, or comforts. Margaret’s role in keeping the family
together through those years of migration and settlement was essential. Like
many pioneer women, her work often went unrecorded, yet it was critical to
the family’s survival and success. She spent decades raising children,
supporting the westward move, and helping to establish a permanent home
on the frontier.

Several of the Vance children settled in McDonough County with their parents,
including Mary “Polly”, Agnes “Nancy,” John, William, Martha, and James Jr.
Margaret and James quickly became part of the county’s earliest civic life.
Their youngest daughter, Martha Ramsey Vance, married John Wilson on
October 29, 1828, becoming the first bride to be married in McDonough
County. James Sr. later served as a Justice of the Peace and performed many
of the county’s earliest marriages before his death in 1835.

Even in old age, Margaret remained the center of her family. In 1840, at the age
of 78, she was listed as head of a household that likely included her
unmarried daughters Mary “Polly” and Agnes “Nancy.” By 1850, Margaret was
88 years old and living with her youngest son, James. Polly and Nancy, both in
their 60s, are listed as living at James’s.

Today, east of Industry along the Vermont blacktop, the quiet Vance Cemetery
rests among the rich farm fields of McDonough County. More than a dozen
descendants of James and Margaret Reno Vance are buried there — a lasting
reminder of one family’s sacrifices and contributions to the founding of the
county.

Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough County
Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs. For more Pioneers of the Past, go to
https://www.mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/

Captain O. M. Lisk is buried in Blandinsville Cemetery, far removed from the
rivers that once defined his early life. His journey from canal boats to the
farms of McDonough County reflects a broader 19th-century pattern of
migration, adaptation, and reinvention.

Orra Metcalf Lisk was born near Cooperstown, New York, in 1819. His early
years were spent working on a canal boat, where he first learned the rhythm of
water travel and westward movement. As a young man, he walked to Marion,
Ohio, where he worked on a farm for $8 per month before continuing west with
his father to Monmouth, Illinois.

From there, Lisk’s life took a more maritime turn. In St. Louis, he encountered
a former neighbor who captained a diving bell boat. Lisk joined the crew,
eventually investing in the steamboat itself and earning the lifelong title of
“Captain.” For several years, he worked the Mississippi River trade between St.
Louis and New Orleans, a region defined by commerce, risk, and constant
movement.

His life was not without violence. In 1851, Lisk was nearly killed when Horace
Smith, an acquaintance, shot him during a dispute described in contemporary
accounts as being of a “very delicate nature.” The bullet remained lodged in
his shoulder, though he survived the injury.

Genealogical records, including Find A Grave, report that Lisk married Olive
Andrews Kingsley Littlefield in New Orleans in 1849. Olive’s earlier life was
complex and marked by multiple marriages and separations. She had married
Samuel Kingsley in 1838 and later Lyman Littlefield in Adams County, Illinois,
in 1840. That union ended in separation in 1846. Olive and Lisk later separated
as well.

The 1860 U.S. Federal Census places O. M. and “Olivia” Lisk together with two
daughters: Dorina (or Donna) Littlefield, born in Louisiana in 1844, and Kate,
born in 1852. Lisk’s elderly mother, Nancy, age 78, also lived in the household.
Olive and Orra would eventually go their separate ways.

A new chapter began in 1868 when Lisk married his cousin, Helen Metcalf, in
Michigan. The couple relocated to McDonough County, establishing their
home in Blandinsville. Together, they had two sons, Louis H. and Guy Metcalf
Lisk, further anchoring the family in western Illinois.

By 1870, the census records reflect a full household: Orra, age 51; Helen, age
30; Kate, age 18; Louis, age 1; and Nancy Lisk, age 84. Lisk’s holdings included
$26,000 in real estate and $3,500 in personal property, placing him among the
more substantial landholders in the area.

After years devoted to farming and civic life, the Lisk family settled into the
Blandinsville community. Local newspapers frequently referred to him as
“Captain Lisk,” a title that followed him from his river years into rural Illinois.
He was respected locally and often called upon to serve on juries.

Helen Lisk died in 1895. Orra Metcalf Lisk died in 1904 at the age of 84, closing
a life that spanned canal boats, steamboats, frontier towns, and the settled
farms of McDonough County.

THANK YOU to Lori Boyer who so freely shared her extensive research on O.
M. Lisk and brought the captain to my attention.

Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough County
Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs. For this story, go to
https://www.mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/

In the Bushnell cemetery, a large gray granite stone marks the resting place of
Stephen A. Hendee. Stephen’s life reads like an adventure book full of
interesting places and people and business success. His story starts in what
is known as the “Quiet Corner” of Connecticut – Windham County.
Stephen A. Hendee, son of Amasa Hendee and an unknown wife. Stephen’s
father and stepmother came to the area in 1838 when they settled at
Halkental’s bridge on the Spoon River. It’s here where Stephen learned his
first trade of a miller. By 1850, new occupations called and Stephen moved to
Lewistown and lived with the Joel Solomon family and worked as a clerk in his
mercantile store.

As an adventurous young man, Stephen had no doubt read about the great
Gold Rush in California. He set oƯ in 1852 ready to make his fortune. During
his years in California, he eventually worked for Wells Fargo Express for a year.
According to a county history, he then went to Central America where he
stayed for four months. Whatever it was he was looking for, he didn’t find it
and return to Lewistown where he bought out the stock of Nathan Beadles
mercantile. Beadles became an important person in his life as evidenced by
the fact that three of his children had Beadles in their own name.

Hendee opened a mercantile in Marietta in 1854, then Bardolph in 1856. In
1858, he began a new business operation when he married Sarah Groendyke.
Just two years later, the Hendees had moved to Bushnell and he joined Wilson
& Company Mercantile. By the age of 29, Stephan A. Hendee was worth
$3,500 in real estate alone. He ran for county judge in 1861 as a Republican
and his business success continued as he branched out of the mercantile.

The 1870 US Federal Census show Stephan A. Hendee with real estate worth
$20,000 and personal property worth $15,000. His businesses had grown
considerably in just ten years. As their children were born, Sarah’s parents
moved in next door to them and Stephen and Sarah’s daughter, Adrianna, was
named after her grandmother, Adriana Nevius Groendke.

An 1878 county history names several businesses and buildings with
Hendee’s name on them. Hendee House on West Main Street in Bushnell was
listed as one of the finest hotels in the area. There were nine grain elevators
Stephan A. Hendee and his business partner, D. F. Chidester owned. Hendee
owned a grocery store, a dry goods store, and there was a city block named
“Hendee Block” which housed several attorneys and at least one dentist in
Bushnell.

The Hendees had six children: Luan Beadles Hendee – Mrs. Clarence Clarke;
Adrianna G. Hendee Hicks – Mrs. Fred Hicks, Leo Nathan Hendee, Nathan
“Nick” Beadles Hendee, Edgar Hendee, and Fanny Grey Hendee Roach – Mrs.
Albert “Bert” Roach. Sarah Groendyke Hendee died in 1893 and Stephen
followed in 1910.

Sarah died in 1893 and Stephen in 1909 at the age of 81 after being bedridden
for 15 months. The Macomb Daily Journal ran a story that his will had been
filed and his estate was valued at $125,000 which included several grain
elevators, farms and 3,600 acres of land in Dawson County, Nebraska.

Stephen A. Hendee was a Yankee entrepreneur of his day and he left quite a
mark on Bushnell, Illinois.

Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough County
Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs.

In one of the southeastern cemeteries of McDonough County stands a white
military marker inscribed: “Corpl. Jonas Hobart, 1 N.H. Continentals, Rev.
War.” It marks the grave of a New Hampshire soldier who carried the scars—
and the memory—of the American Revolution to the Illinois frontier.

Jonas Hobart was born in November 1744 in Groton, New Hampshire, the
third of ten children of Shebuel Hobart and Esther Park. In 1770, he married
Elizabeth “Betsy” Kemp. After learning of the death of his younger brother
Isaac was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Jonas resolved to take his place.
At age 32, he enlisted on March 17, 1777, serving as a corporal in the 4th
Company, 1st New Hampshire Regiment of the Continental Army.

That summer, Jonas served under General Philip Schuyler during the
campaign at Fort Ticonderoga. During the fighting—or possibly the retreat—he
was struck by a musket ball that entered his right cheek, knocked out two
teeth, and lodged near his left collarbone. The bullet was removed with a
pocketknife, and both it and one of the teeth have been preserved by a
descendant.

Jonas remained in service until his discharge on January 1, 1781. Decades
later, in 1818, while living in St. Albans, Vermont, he applied for and received a
pension of $96 per year for his service.

Around 1822, seeking better prospects in his later years, Jonas and Betsy
joined family members traveling west by covered wagon. They arrived at
Downings Landing (present-day Beardstown, Illinois) on February 22, 1823.

After a brief stay in Schuyler County—where their granddaughter Ruth Powers
took part in the county’s first recorded marriage—the family settled in
McDonough County. There, Jonas purchased five acres in Eldorado Township.
Corporal Jonas Hobart died on December 15, 1833. Betsy followed a year
later.

Hobart is one of four Revolutionary War soldiers buried in McDonough County.
As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, this series will highlight each
of these Patriots who carried the legacy of the Revolution into the early days of
the Illinois frontier.

Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough County
Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs. For this story, go to
https://www.mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/

Lewis Eblesizer (1818–1887) came into the world in Indiana, the son of Adam Ebelsizer and Polly Baker. Life dealt him a hard hand early—his father died when Lewis was just three years old, and before long his mother married again, to Isaac Murphey.

When Lewis reached manhood, he did what a good many young fellows were doing in those days—he struck out west in search of something better. In 1839, he left Indiana in the company of Andrew Huff and Jacob Keithly. The three made their first stop in Rushville, Illinois, where they set up a plow shop and put their hands to honest work.

But they didn’t stay put for long. Around 1844 or 1845, the trio moved on again, this time settling in Blandinsville Township when the country was still young and needed improving.

Lewis was still single then and made his home with Andrew Huff. The two men fell into the steady pattern of pioneer life—working their land through the warm months, then turning to blacksmithing when winter set in. It was a hard way to make a living, but a dependable one.

In 1846, Lewis married Elizabeth Jane Nance, a young woman from LaHarpe . Together they built a life and, in 1854, welcomed their only child, a son they named Columbus.

Years passed, and by the time of the 1860 Federal Census, the old neighbors were still side by side—Lewis and Andrew Huff living next to each other, just as they had from the start. An 1864 tax record shows Lewis earning $485, with a tax of $14.55—not a fortune by any means, but enough to get by and keep things going.

Lewis and Elizabeth stayed rooted in the Blandinsville area all their days. Lewis passed on in 1887, and their son, Columbus, followed in 1896 at the age of 42, leaving no children behind.

Elizabeth lived on. In 1906, she had a house built on her lots along Pierce Street in Blandinsville , where she spent her remaining years. When she died in May of 1912, she made careful plans for what she left behind. Her home went to her brother, Absolom Nance, while the rest of her estate was set aside in trust to care for her husband’s resting place in .

There had been more money at one time—fifty or sixty thousand dollars, according to newspapers of the time—but most of that had already passed to her daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Mustain Eblesizer, through son, Columbus before his death. Elizabeth Mustain Eblesizer, Mrs. Columbus, passed away in 1936 ending the family line.

Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough County Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs. For this story, go to https://www.mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/

Foster’s Point sits up in the northeast corner of Eldorado Township, and it
takes its name from the Arthur J. Foster family, who settled there back in 1831.
One of Arthur’s boys, Samuel Joseph Foster—the fourth of five sons—holds
the distinction of being the first white child born in the township.

S. J. grew up to be a farmer, as so many did, and married Mary MacMahan.
Together they raised a big, bustling family of nine children on their 500 acre
farms: Sarah V. (who married William T. Vail), Alonzo D., James M., John
Lemuel, Henry Lincoln, Eva H. (wife of Rev. Henry A. Brown), Nellie Cornelia
(who married William D. Barclay), Luella (wife of Edward Thomas Ausbury),
and Samuel Roy.

Mary passed on in 1910, and not long after, Samuel began turning the farms
over to his sons. He’d done well for himself—his livestock was known all over
the county—but like a lot of farmers, he never did take too kindly to sitting still.
Retirement didn’t suit him much, and before long he was right back at it,
raising stock and making his daily rounds to the farm, keeping an eye on things
just the way he always had.

That went on until his health gave way in 1917. The next year, on November 27,
1918, S. J. Foster passed away at the age of 85.

He left behind quite a legacy. There was still a brother and sister living, along
with twenty-one grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren. Three of his
and Mary’s sons even served over in France during the Great War.

Today, a small cemetery at Foster’s Point marks the old home place in
Eldorado Township. Many of the Foster family rest there still, a quiet reminder
of those early days and the folks who helped settle that corner of the county.

Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough County
Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs. For this story, go to
https://www.mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/

Daniel Middleton Crabb came into the world on November 14, 1823, in the
hills of Virginia, the fourth child and oldest son of nine children born to John
and Ann Fleming Crabb. When he was just a boy, the family packed up and
headed west, arriving in McDonough County in November of 1836—back
when the country there was still young and only beginning to be broken to the
plow.

Daniel’s father, John, started out by renting the west half of Section 16 in
Macomb Township for five years. Like so many determined pioneers, he didn’t
stop there. Before long, he began buying land of his own, adding piece by
piece until he held more than 620 acres in the county. When John passed
away in 1865, Daniel received 64 acres —the north part of the southeast
quarter of Section 17 and another part of a farm, ground his father had
worked so hard to gather.

Daniel spent nearly all his days in McDonough County, save for a stretch of
time when he went oƯ to study at the Cincinnati Veterinary College. That
schooling served him well, for he returned home as a veterinary surgeon,
tending to the livestock that were the backbone of every farm, while also
working the land himself.

In 1850, at 27 years of age, Daniel struck out to build a home of his own. He
married Rebecca Hampton of Ohio, and together they began raising a family.
They were blessed with four children—though their fourth, an infant, died at
birth. Their surviving children were Laura E., who later married W. H. King;
Anna, who became Mrs. B. Milling; and a son, James M. Crabb. Sadly,
Rebecca’s life was cut short, and she passed away in 1860.

A couple of years later, in 1862, Daniel married again, taking Mary E. Bards (or
Bardo) as his wife. To them was born one son, Robert Emmet Crabb. Mary
lived a long life, but in a bittersweet turn, she died on March 6, 1902—the very
anniversary of their wedding day.

Not one to spend his final years alone, Daniel married a third time in 1903, at
the age of 80, to Kittie Kline of Macomb. He lived just a few more years,
passing away on May 3, 1906, at the age of 85 years, 5 months, and 20 days,
from carcinoma of the liver. He was laid to rest in the Good Hope Cemetery.
By the time Daniel’s long life came to a close, most of that large pioneer family
had gone before him. Only one brother, R. F. Crabb, and two sisters—Mrs.
Mary Kepple of Bardolph and Mrs. Betsy McCrary of Good Hope—were still
living to remember those early days and the journey that had brought them
west.