Usually in Pioneers of the Past, I focus on an individual or family who settled in McDonough County during the 1830s and 1840s. Most often, that individual is a man.

But this article—and the next three—will be different.

This time, the focus is on the women.

These were women who came to McDonough County as widows, or who lost their husbands soon after arriving. They were left to raise their children, manage a household and somehow survive the hardships of life on the prairie. They did it without the conveniences we take for granted today and, in many cases, without another adult to help them.

It took a good deal of intestinal fortitude to carry on.

Finding these women and piecing together their stories has not been easy. Women were often identified simply as “Mrs. John Doe” while their husbands were alive. Even after a husband’s death, the spelling of a woman’s name could change from one record to another.

To find out who these women were, I searched census records, tax records, cemetery records and Find a Grave memorials, along with family histories, county histories, marriage records and newspaper obituaries for their children. I searched for family photos. In some cases, I was able to uncover quite a bit about their lives. In others, only a few clues remain.

There were other challenges. Some women died soon after appearing in the records and were buried in unmarked graves. Others went to live with relatives after the 1840 census and simply disappeared from the records. Some moved away, while others remarried.

Still, the 1840 McDonough County census lists 37 women as heads of households. Considering the hardships of frontier life, that is a remarkable number.

Here are some of the women whose stories I was able to uncover:

Sarah Bacon

Sarah Bacon appears in the 1840 McDonough County tax records. She owed 88 cents in taxes, including a 10-cent tax on clocks. That small tax bill is one of the few clues we have about Sarah’s life.

Nelly Barber

Nelly Barber is listed as living next to Robert Barber in the 1840 census. She had three young children living in her household. Whether Robert was a relative or someone else entirely is something that still needs to be determined.

Priscilla Bates

Priscilla Bates, whose name was also recorded as Bats, appears in the 1840 census with two girls—one under the age of five and another between 10 and 15.

There isn’t much more information about Priscilla, but even these few lines in the census give us a glimpse of a woman raising children on the early McDonough County prairie.

Sarah A. Blazer

Sarah A. Blazer was born in Pennsylvania in 1787 and was the wife of David Blazer. She is buried in Camp Creek Cemetery in Industry Township.

Sarah was the matriarch of the Blazer family, a family well known in McDonough County for its involvement in the Underground Railroad.

Nancy Lewis Boen (Bowen)

Nancy Lewis Boen, also recorded as Bowen, was born in Virginia in 1793. She married Truman Bowen in Ohio in 1820. Truman died in 1831, and the two share a headstone in the Old Macomb Cemetery.

By 1840, Nancy was supporting herself and her family. The tax records show that she owned 75 acres of land in Chalmers Township, along with horses, cattle and clocks. She paid $3.79 in taxes that year.

Nancy is buried in the Old Macomb Cemetery.

Caroline Carrell

Caroline Carrell, also recorded as Carrill, appears in both the 1840 census and the McDonough County tax records.

Her tax bill was only 33 cents, covering her horses, cattle and clocks.

The 1840 census shows Caroline’s household included a boy between 10 and 15 years old and two girls—one between 5 and 10 and another between 15 and 20.

Elizabeth Carter

Elizabeth Carter presents a real mystery.

The 1840 census shows seven people living in her household. There was one boy between 10 and 15, two young men between 15 and 20, one girl between 10 and 15, and three girls between 15 and 20.

A genealogist can’t help but wonder: Who were all these young people, and where were their parents?

The 1830 census lists three Carter families in the county—Lacy Carter, Thomas Carter and William Carter. Perhaps Elizabeth was the oldest daughter in one of those families and had become responsible for her younger brothers and sisters after the death of their parents.

At this point, however, her story remains a puzzle.

Dorcas Ward Charter

Dorcas Ward Charter was the wife of Thomas Charter, who died on April 13, 1840, just months before the 1840 Census was taken. Records indicate Dorcas was born sometime between 1800 and 1810.

Thomas is buried in South Cemetery near Blandinsville, along with at least one of their children, Henry, who also died in 1840.

Dorcas Ward Charter became Mrs. William Hungate when she married him on July 29, 1841 in McDonough County. Dorcas and William went on to have three more children.

Dorcas’ case spotlights the challenge of tracking women through multiple names during her lifetime.

Hannah Coonrad

Hannah Coonrad—also spelled Coonrod and Conrad—appears in the 1840 McDonough County tax list. She owned horses and cattle and paid 45 cents in taxes, but she did not own land or a clock.

The 1840 census tells us a little more. Hannah was between 20 and 30 years old and had a boy between 10 and 15, a girl under five and another girl between 5 and 10 living with her. We cannot be certain these were her children, but it seems likely.

I haven’t been able to identify Hannah’s first husband, but I did find one more clue. The Illinois Statewide Marriage Index shows that Mrs. Hannah Coonrad married Isaac Wells on January 1, 1845, in McDonough County, license No. 526.

And just like that, Hannah disappears from the records as a widow and reappears as a wife.

This Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie 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/