Image from the 1871 Plat of McDonough County, the home of Lewis and Elizabeth Nance
Eblesizer
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
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