Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-08-20
HISTORICAL LETTER.
Written by ]. Q. Severns, one of
Wood County's Pioneers.

Being requested to write little
sketch of my life, and particularly
that portion of it which has been
connected with the settlement and
proposes Of Wood county, Wis, I
will begin by stating that | was
born in a log cabin in the woods,
near the village of Ovid, Seneca
county, in the state of New York,
on the 18th day of October, 1925,
but my parents emigrated with me
to the town of Chagrin, Cuyhoga
county, Ohio, in April 1926, where
we remained until the 8th day OF
July, 1885, when we again pitched
our tent and took up the line of
march for the state of Illinois. The
outfit then consisted of father,
mother and six children and a
neighbor boy by the name of
Prentis, one span Of horses, one
yoke of oxen, one wagon, two
COWS and dog. Owing to sick
ness and some other delays we
did not reach Chicago until about
10 o'clock on the morning of the
Ist day Of October. We reached
our objective point about eight
miles west Of the then small vii
lage Of Juliette $50 named in mem
Dry Of Juliette Hall who was taken
prisoner by the Indians at the out
break of the Black Hawk war;,
now the city Of Joliet, where we
remained about two weeks trying
to find a roof to shelter us for the
winter, the whole family being sick
with fever and ague, except our
mother and a brother two years
younger than myself. Father
finally found an empty log cabin
on the bank Of the Dupage river,
about four miles south of the pres
ent site of the village Of Plainfeld,
then Cook county, but now Will
county, where we put in the first
winter in Illinois, my mother max
ing willow baskets and trading
them for corn and potatoes to
keep her family from starving,
during that first winter in the
prairie state. 1t will be remem-
bered that | was then ten years
old and shaking with the ague all
winter, but during the alternate
days when the shakes did not come
on, if the weather was fair, | went
to the prairie with my brother to
cut and gather the willows out of
which the baskets were to be made
and exchanged for the WhereWith
to keep the wolf from the door.
My father was in a similar con-
dition with myself, that is, he
shook nearly every alternate day
during the winter, and some times
oftener, therefore he had about all
he could do to prepare fuel to keep
the shanty tenantable. But finally
that winter had an end as all dark
days must. With the opening Of
spring came warmth and better
health and father rented a farm OF
sixty acres, without a stump on it,
and we all went to work earnestly
to provide the means by which we
could weather the storms of the
second winter more pleasantly
than we had the first, and thanks
to our energy and the productive
ness of the soil we succeeded.
We remained in Will county
until December, 1889, when we
made another push westward, our
objective point being VanBuren
comfy, Iowa, but owing to the
condition of the ice in the Missis-
sippi river when we reached that
stream, we were obliged to stop
and wait for a change in the con-
dition of the ice. We rented a
house for short time in the vii
lage of Illinois City, Rock Island
county, Illinois, where my mother
was taken sick with a fever that
fixed the terminus of our journey
westward as a family. Our father
visited the objective point for
which we had started and was not
pleased with the country and re-
turned and rented farm in the
town of Edgington, Rock Island
county, upon which we lived dur
ing the summer and fall of 1870
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