JACOB E. SCHOLL of Chicago, grandson of Peter Scholl and great grandson of Abraham Scholl and Tabitha Noe, says
that Uncle Ben and Aunt Sally, personal slaves of Tabitha Noe who had been given to her, and who spun and wove
most beautiful things for their mistress, spent their last days on the Scholl plantation north of Griggsville and
that they were buried in the yard of the old homestead.
Mr. Scholl says that if the site of the southeast corner of the early double log home can be located, he can go
directly to the graves of Uncle Ben and Aunt Sally. They were buried, he says, along with others of the early plantation,
in a plot that was only about seven or eight feet from the southeast corner of the house. He remembers the row
of stones that stood there in his childhood and especially the stone that marked the grave of old Aunt Sally.
Differing with some of the Scholl descendants who claim that no slaves came with Abraham Scholl to Illinois, this
descendants states positively that either 37 or 38 slaves from the Scholl plantation in Kentucky followed Marse
Abraham to Pike county, Illinois. He says that this is no mere tradition but an actual historical fact handed down
to the family by Peter Scholl who mingled with these slaves as a boy. He states that Abraham would not have left
the slaves whom he had befriended in Kentucky to become the chattels of his brother, Peter Scholl, a harsh slave-
driver, with whom Abraham had quarreled over the abuse of one of the slaves. The slaves who followed the Scholls
to Pike county he says had probably been freed at the instance of Abraham.
Mr. Scholl says also that Abraham, following his settlement in Pike county, applied to the government for a pension
in reward for his services as an Indian fighter in Kentucky during the Revolution and that the government sent
agents to investigate Abraham's claim; that these agents found Abraham too well-fixed to be entitled to a pension,
but found also that his prairie plantation north of Griggsville was over-supplied with colored labor, in view of
which the agents recommended a grant of additional land instead of a pension, and that, pursuant thereto, other
lands on Griggsville Prairie were granted to Abraham who, however, evidently never perfected his title thereto,
the records failing to disclose that title was ever held by him to any such lands.
The fact that Abraham did not continue to till these free lands of the government, or go to the trouble of completing
title thereto, possibly was due to a visitation of cholera which Scholl descendants say swept the early settlement,
carrying away the former slaves, along with one or two of the master's children. J. E. Scholl says that the Negroes
who perished in this scourge were buried on the plantation and that one (possibly two) of the Scholl children who
were its victims were likewise buried in the yard of the old homestead. These probably were the children, Joseph
and Wesley, of whom nothing is known except that they are reputed to have died when very young.
The stones or headboards that marked these burials of some 110 years ago are long since vanished and no sign of
human burial is now discoverable. Charles Myers, present owner of the old plantation, says that the plowshare sometimes
turns up relics of the early settlement but that he had found nothing in any way connected with these more than
century-old burials.
Mr. Scholl says that old Aunt America Nelson, beloved colored woman of early Pittsfield, was a descendant of Tabitha
Noe's slaves, Uncle Ben and Aunt Sally. Auntie Nelson, in her old age, lived a neighbor to the Alva St. Johns,
just west of the M. D. King Milling Company's elevator in Pittsfield, and hardly a day passed that Auntie Nelson
did not perform some act of loving service for Eliza St. John, whose first husband was Peter Scholl, son of Tabitha
Noe Scholl. Mr. Scholl recalls that Tabitha Noe, when her life was closing at Griggsville, pled with Auntie Nelson
never to forget Aunt Eliza; and the old colored mammy, he says, never forgot.
When Aunt Eliza St. John died in Pittsfield May 2, 1907, at the age of nearly 80, Auntie Nelson's tears are said
to have fallen copiously on her grave in Oakwood (South) cemetery. America's husband, Gabriel Nelson, died ten
days after Eliza St. John, May 12, 1907. He was a veteran of the famous 55th Massachusetts colored regiment in
the Civil War, a regiment unmatched for equipment and physical magnificence, no man in it being under six feet
in stature or weighing less than 180 pounds. Escaping from slavery, he had made his way to Chicago, and was engaged
as a coachman in that city. The businessmen's association in the city of Boston, having conceived the idea of launching
a crack colored regiment against the South, sent recruiting agents to various cities to enlist men of physical
perfection. In Chicago, the recruiter picked up Nelson and ten others. When this regiment was reviewed in Washington,
it became a sensation. The regiment was sent to Charleston and was engaged in the defense there. Later it was employed
in making the foundations for the famous "Swamp Angel." Still later, it was sent to Florida and under
General Gilmore took part in the battle of Olustia, the only Civil War battle fought in Florida.
Big and husky, Nelson was employed by the Loyd Hardware company and as porter in the First National Bank in Pittsfield.
For many years he was hostler for Doctor J. H. Ledlie, famed surgeon of the Civil War period, from whom, on May
29, 1886, he purchased a house and lot on North Webster Street (now Memorial Avenue), west of the King elevator
in Pittsfield, which became the Nelson home. Born (according to his death certificate) at Palmyra, Missouri, in
1832, he died in Pittsfield in 1907, at the age of 75. Another account says that he was born a slave in Kentucky
and was brought to Missouri when a child and that he was 78 when he died. His second wife, America, survived him
a number of years, her death occurring in Chicago.
Peter Scholl, 13th child of Abraham and seventh child and second son by his second wife, Tabitha Noe, was born
in Clark county, Kentucky, in 1813, being 12 years of age when the family came to Pike county. Reared amid Indian
surroundings, he spoke the Indian tongue and in the wilds of early Pike and Brown counties he often mingled with
roving bands of Sauk and Foxes and sometimes tarried long in their camps. He is said by his grandson, J. E. Scholl,
to have gained the favor of the noted Chief Black Hawk who in early times often came this way.
Mr. Scholl recalls a story told by his father, James Virgil Scholl, Peter's son, of a trade once negotiated between
Peter and a chief of the Sauk and Foxes (he thinks it was Black Hawk himself), wherein the Indians swapped a papoose
for pumpkins. The Indian band was attracted by the glowing yellow of a pile of pumpkins and indicated they were
ready to trade for some of them. Scholl, in a joking manner, suggested he would give them some pumpkins in exchange
for a good-looking papoose carried by one of the young squaws. The Indians conferred, and finally presented the
papoose to Scholl. Scholl gave them the pumpkins and insisted that they take back the papoose. The Indian chief
insisted with equal earnestness that a trade was a trade and the papoose was Scholl's. Scholl finally had to give
the Indians some more pumpkins to induce them to take back the papoose.
On December 3, 1848, with Justice D. F. Coffey of Griggsville officiating, Peter Scholl married Eliza Jane Coleman,
daughter of Clayton and Mary (Curry) Coleman. The Colemans and Currys both came to this region from Kentucky, the
latter being related to the Boones. The Curry family, from whom Eliza Jane was descended on her mother's side,
played an important part in the early history of this section.
Mt. Sterling, capital of Brown county, in which the early Currys settled, was named by Robert N. Curry three years
before it became a town. In the fall of 1833, Mr. Casteen and Mr. Curry (Kentuckians) were on their way to enter
land in this western region, one locating at present Versailles, the other at present Mt. Sterling. Casteen said
he would name his town Woodford, for his native town in Kentucky. Curry decided to call his village Mt. Sterling,
because the site was high and because it looked valuable, hence Sterling. The first cabin had been built on the
site of the town in 1831 by Alexander Curry on the north side of what is now Main Street. Curry paid little attention
to the points of the compass and in consequence his pioneer cabin did not stand "square with the world."
Cabins that followed were lined up with Curry's and as a result the main street in Mt. Sterling does not run east
and west, but only in a general easterly and westerly direction.
Peter Scholl and Eliza Jane Coleman became parents of one son and four daughters, namely, James Virgil, Adaline,
Annie D., Eva and Minnie. James Virgil, born May 10, 1850, married, first, Medora Mansfield, in Jacksonville, Illinois,
March 15, 1874, and, second, Ella Poe, at Memphis, Missouri, March 10, 1888. James Virgil Scholl fathered four
sons and two daughters, as follows: Jacob E. Scholl, a member of the Chicago firm of Ackermann & Scholl, real
estate dealers and general contractors, 4736 Milwaukee Avenue, who also maintains a home in Cedar Falls, Iowa,
in which state he has 1600 acres of land; Chandler Edgar Scholl, who is chief superintendent of the maintenance
department in the Ford factory at Detroit, Michigan; Ethel Scholl, who married Frank Sears and lives at Bentonsport,
Iowa; John J. Scholl, who died August 19, 1933, from effects of service in World War I in which he had enlisted;
Opal Scholl, who married Harry Shaw and lives at Monmouth, Illinois; and Peter Henderson Scholl, who is with Chandler
in Detroit, and associated with the Briggs Auto Body Company there.
Adeline Scholl, born at Griggsville July 18, 1852, seven months after the death of her grandfather Abraham, has
left much historical record of the early Scholls. She was about 12 years old when her grandmother, Tabitha Noe
Scholl, died. In a letter written to A. C. Barrow, September 12, 1920, she related having heard her grandmother
say that her grandfather Abraham was once wounded in a fight with Indians in Kentucky and that "they thought
they had him captured but he out-distanced them and got away." (Note: Abraham was captured on another occasion,
which has been related.)
In this same letter Adaline said: "Grandmother (Tabitha Noe Scholl) died in Griggsville, Ill., in two miles
of the homestead they preempted. None of her descendants live there now (1920) except the widow of her grandson,
Mrs. L. J. Gibbs, and her daughter, Miss Mamie Gibbs. (Note: Mrs. L. J. (Maria) Gibbs has since died.)
Continuing, she says: "I was born and raised in Griggsville and I remember an old man by the name of Boon
Scholl; he was a cousin of my father but we children called him Uncle Boon. He came from Kentucky, kept store in
Griggsville and died there. He had many friends. I don't remember of having heard who his father was, but he must
have been a son of Kentucky Joseph or Peter." Note: Edward Boone Scholl, here referred to by Adaline, was
a son of Abraham's brother, Peter Scholl, and his mother was Mary Boone, daughter of Daniel Boone's brother Edward.
Edward Boone Scholl laid out the town of Booneville on the present site of Perry on land he then owned, in 1833.
Adaline Scholl married, first, James Slover of Wisconsin, and second, John Cochran of Mt. Sterling, Iowa, near
which place Adeline died in November, 1923, her husband's death occurring some months later, September, 1924. Two
children were born to the Slovers, as follows: Rosa Lee, who married, first, Grant Shinnebarger of Brown county,
by whom she had two children, George and Florence Shinnebarger, the latter, Mrs. Charles A. Swanson, being mother
of four children, namely, Virginia, Charles, Eugene and Rosa Lee. Virginia married Vincent Jones of Hennepin, Illinois,
and is a teacher in high school there; she has a daughter, Patsy Ann Jones. George Shinnebarger married Margaret
Elward, Cantrall, Illinois, and they had two children, Rosemary and James, who reside near Springfield, Illinois.
The father died in the summer of 1936. Mrs. Rosa Lee Shinnebarger married as her second husband, Edward Lyons,
and they are residents of Bloomington, Illinois, Route 2. Her daughter, Mrs. Swanson, a trained nurse, makes her
home with her.
The second child of James and Adaline Slover was Florence who married, first, a Huntley, and second, a Cunningham,
and who now resides at 2717 Avenue O, Fort Madison, Iowa. Her children are Mrs. Garnet Brain, Mrs. Holly Dentoni,
Mrs. Emma Baker and Mrs. Jennie Hartel, all of Stockton, California; Mrs. Juanita Hilabeck of Chicago; and Kenneth
Boone Huntley of Tientsin, China.
Children of Adeline Scholl by her marriage to John Cochran were: Gladys, who married Cloe Bradford and resides
at 605 Forest Street, Des Moines, Iowa; Glenn, who married Gussie Burns and resides at Mt. Sterling, Iowa; and
Virgil (Virgie), who married Floyd Hufford and resides at Luray, Missouri.
Annie D. Scholl, third child of Peter Scholl and Eliza Jane Coleman, was born March 6, 1860 and is still living
at Mt. Sterling, Illinois, at the age of 76, being one of the three grandchildren of Abraham Scholl who are yet
alive. On November 14, 1877, at Detroit in Pike county, with Thomas Stoner, a Wesleyan minister, officiating, she
was married to Michael R. King, both being then residents of Derry township in Pike county. He was then 26 and
she 17. Mr. King died at Mt. Sterling July 28, 1935, at the age of 84 years, 3 months and 17 days; he is buried
at Mt. Sterling.
The Kings became parents of eleven children, eight living and three dead, as follows: Minnie Lee King, who died
September 12, 1899, aged 19, and is buried at Benville in Brown county; Lulu, wife of Bert Carter, who died January
29, 1920, and is buried at Benville; Evelena, wife of Albert Carpenter, who died April 6, 1912, and is buried at
Benville; Ethel, wife of John Walker, residing in Sparks, Nevada; Elsie, wife of Sam Stevenson, of Beardstown;
Grace, wife of Gay Hill, residing near Mt. Sterling; Edith, wife of Isom Peters, of South Gate, near Los Angeles,
California; Florene, wife of Joe Gerrish, of Versailles; Tracy E., widower, of Mt. Sterling; F. A. King, unmarried,
of Milwaukee; and Raymond C. King, who married Minnie Bass and resides at Canton, Illinois.
Eva Scholl, fourth child of Peter and Eliza Jane Scholl, was born in 1861 and died about ten years of age. Abraham
Key Wilson, born the same year, recalls that he and Eva whooped it up for Seymour in the campaign of 1868, in which
Horatio Seymour of New York and Frank P. Blair of Missouri were the Democratic candidates for president and vice-president.
Minnie Scholl, youngest child of Peter and Eliza Jane (Coleman) Scholl, was born in Illinois during the Civil War,
and on April 16, 1882, was married at Pittsfield to James H. Robison, a son of Barry and Sarah (Murry) Robison,
and a native of Shellsburg, Wisconsin. Abraham Key Wilson and Alonzo Leonard were witnesses to the wedding ceremony
which was performed by Elder James McGuire, pastor of the Pittsfield Christian church. Mr. Robison was then 26
and the bride 18.
The Robisons lived for many years in the city of Pittsfield, moving thence to St. Louis, where they reside at 5595
Waterman Avenue, Mrs. Robison being another of the three living grandchildren of Abraham Scholl. The children of
James and Minnie Robison are: Mrs. Edith Robison Argust and Mrs. Ferne Robison LaGrave, both of 5696 Kingsbury,
St. Louis; Miss Edna Robison of 5595 Waterman, St. Louis; Mrs. Gertrude Robison Cordell of Biggsville, Illinois;
and a son, Harry who is deceased. Grandchildren are Mrs. Mildred Argust Grimmett of Battle Creek, Michigan; William
LaGrave of St. Louis; Robert, Vail, Jr., Lucy Lee and Jane Cordell of Biggsville. Great grandchildren are Gordon
Grover Grimmett and Janice Lee Grimmett of Battle Creek.
James Virgil, son of Peter Scholl, was raised by Peter (Old Peter) Harshman, who once owned the early Abraham Scholl
estate north of Griggsville. James Virgil's son, Jacob E. Scholl of Chicago, was born at Meredosia January 20,
1876. His boyhood was spent in Pittsfield in the home of his grandmother, Eliza Jane St. John, whose first husband
was Peter Scholl. Jacob E. left Pittsfield November 29, 1890, a boy of 14. His father, James Virgil, who following
his marriage to Medora Mansfield, had settled at Meredosia, moved to Milton, Iowa, in 1888, following his marriage
in that year to Ella Poe at Memphis, Missouri. James Virgil Scholl died at Milton, Iowa, January 13, 1929 and is
buried in Sunnyside cemetery in that place.
Jacob E. Scholl on January 31, 1900 married Catherine N. Burns of Pulaski, Iowa, a direct descendant of the "sweet
singer of the Ayr," Robert Burns, the great Scottish poet. Her father, born in Ballantrae, Ayrshire, Scotland,
was a son of a cousin of him who sang of "the bonny banks of Doon." Mr. and Mrs. Scholl are parents of
five children, as follows: Dorothy Mae, born November 17, 1900, married Carl Lourse, lives at Fairbanks, Iowa,
and has one son, Gayland Edward, born July 7, 1935; Clea, born July 29, 1902, married Harvey Belz, has two children,
Murrel Richard and Bud, and lives at Cedar Falls, Iowa; Paul Burns Scholl, born July 2, 1904, married Vona Sargent
and has two children, Virgil and Virgie, and lives at New Hampton, Iowa; Mabel Scholl, born January 1, 1907, lives
with her father, J. E., at Chicago; Lloyd Dale Scholl, born January 19, 1913, lives at Cedar Falls, Iowa, where
the Scholls maintain a home and where Mrs. Catherine N. Scholl resides.
Peter Scholl, son of Abraham, left in April, 1856, for the California gold fields, astride a little sorrel mare
named Nellie. This little mare carried him across the great plains and deserts to his destination. Turned out to
graze after the gold fields were reached, she loafed around the mining camp for a year or more and her master fed
her regularly. Came a day when the little mare returned no more to camp.
Scholl remained in the gold fields for more than three years. Then, in 1860, he went to San Francisco and prepared
to embark for home. As he went down a street in San Francisco to take passage on the "Young America"
for New York, he heard a familiar nicker a block away. Answering the call, he found his little mare Nellie tied
in front of a saloon. The mare greeted him with such manifestations of joy that four men standing near were filled
with wonderment. Scholl enquired as to who had ridden the mare into town and when her owner came out of the saloon
he asked him how he came into possession of the mare. The man gave a straight account of his ownership, he having
purchased her from parties who evidently had picked her up in the gold fields. The man told Scholl that the little
mare had become the pet of his children and he was loath to give her up, and Scholl, on the promise that she would
be well taken care of, allowed the man to take her away.
Scholl and a friend by the name of Hay engaged passage on the "Young America" but for some reason did
not go aboard her but instead embarked on a later boat, the "Yucatan." The "Young America,"
when three days out at sea, took fire and all on board went down. A letter from the ship's company to Scholl's
wife, Eliza Jane, conveyed the sad news that her husband had booked passage on the ill-fated vessel and that all
had perished.
Scholl, aboard the "Yucatan," landed at New Orleans in December, 1860, the vessel having weathered heavy
seas and raging storms around the Horn. From New Orleans, Scholl came by boat up the Mississippi to Alton and walked
from that town to Griggsville. Arriving in Griggsville in the dead of night, he knocked at the door of his home
and was greeted by his wife as one returned from the dead. Eliza Jane, however, always said that she was never
quite convinced that her husband had perished, that he was too good a swimmer ever to be drowned. His brother,
Charles Coleman, had joined in the gold rush to California. One card was received from him stating that he was
all right, and never again was he heard of.
Peter Scholl struck gold in California. His grandson, J. E. Scholl, says that he carried with him on his long tramp
from Alton to Griggsville in January, 1861 a bag containing $5,000 in gold. A gold dollar minted from gold he mined
in California is still a keepsake in the Scholl family, being now in the possession of James Virgil Scholl's widow
in Detroit, Michigan. A gold breastpin made from the yellow metal he mined was a treasured heirloom kept by his
wife Eliza.
Peter Scholl died at the family home in Buckhorn township, Brown county, November 4, 1868. He is buried in Seaborn
cemetery on the northern edge of South Prairie in Pike county. The stone that marks his grave bears this simple
inscription: "Peter Scholl - Died Nov. 4, 1868 - Aged 55 Yrs."
His widow, Eliza Jane (Coleman) Scholl, on October 17, 1870, married in Pike county Jacob Pursley, with R. M. Atkinson,
Pike county judge, performing the ceremony. Later, March 16, 1878, she was again married, her third husband being
Albert (Alva) St. John of Pittsfield, who was born in 1857 and is now in his 80th year. For a great many years
the St. Johns resided in Pittsfield, west of the King mill, Aunt Eliza, as she was known by many, being distinguished
for her kindly deeds. In her prime she was one of the swiftest and most expert weavers and spinners of her day.
It is stated that she once wagered with her brother-in-law, Charles F. Gibbs, a skilled tailor, that she could
make him a coat in less time than he could make one for her, winning her wager.
Eliza Jane, born in Scott county, Kentucky, May 5, 1827, died in Pittsfield May 2, 1907, aged 79 years, 11 months
and 28 days. She is buried in the South (Oakwood) cemetery at Pittsfield.