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