(Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill. July 25, 1907)
"Mrs. Beeler was born May 23, 1827, in Nashville, Tennessee, and when only four years old, came with her parents, Ormond and Mary Ann (Brown) Robinson, to Blooming Grove. They came overland in a wagon drawn by oxen and endured all the hardships of the early pioneers.
Mrs. Beeler remembered well the winter of the deep snow. The snow fell on a level of three feet covering fences and 'everything' to say nothing of the great snow drifts which were much deeper. The deer roamed on top of the snow and the people also walked on top of it and drove teams over it as soon as it became packed.
Mr. Robinson bought corn in that early day at fifty cents a bushel and picked it in the fields himself. The plows of that day were rude affairs, as were the hoes and other utensils, hoop iron and wood being used largely in their construction. The prairie fires frightened the early settlers so much that (some of them) wanted to go back whence they came. Deer and other wild game roamed over the vast areas in large numbers, and much food was secured by the gun. Mrs. Beeler says her father was often thankful to get work at fifty cents a day.
Then they ate off wood or pewter plates and a tin cup was something unheard of. They were compelled to raise (dipper) gourds from which to drink. They spun and wove every stitch of their wearing apparel. They used flax thread and made with this a hard knot or button. Mr. Beeler bought 80 acres in Twin Grove." (This land was never mortgaged or otherwise encumbered while it was owned in his family, a period of about fifty-four years.)
She died on 17 Apr 1912.(12) Daughter of Ormond and Mary Ann (Brown) Robinson. Benjamin S. Beeler and Sarilda Robinson had the following children:
+113 i.
Benjamin F. Beeler.
+114 ii.
Mary D. Beeler.
115 iii.
George L. Beeler was born on 25 Jun 1856.
(12)
+116 iv.
Huldah Ellen Beeler.
+117 v.
Alpharetta Beeler.
+118 vi.
Owen Beeler.
+119 vii.
Warren Beeler.
+120 viii.
Rosa L. Beeler.
Return to Table of Contents