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 by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough County Genealogical Society, facebook.com/ mcdcgs, www.mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/
