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SOURCE CITATION: Title: (See source comments) Source Comments: Br�derbund WFT Vol. 7, Ed. 1, Tree #1141, Date of Import: 25 Apr 1997

SOURCE CITATION: Title: (See source comments) Source Comments: Br�derbund WFT Vol. 7, Ed. 1, Tree #1141, Date of Import: 25 Apr 1997

Jonathan Padelford, the ancestor of the American Padelfords, was born in England in 1628 and came to the United States and settled in Cambridge, Mass., in 1660. The two forebears of the Padelfords who became a part of the history of Elgin were J. Franklin Padelford who made a name for himself as an outstanding farmer and dairyman in the Almora district and Rodolphus Padelford first city clerk and Daguerrean artist. We will start with the story of J. Franklin Padelford.

J. Franklin was born in Savoy, Berkshire County, Mass., on June 17, 1814, son of Manley and Thankful Padelford. When J. Franklin was 11 years old, his parents moved to Aylmer, Canada, taking their son with them, of course, and the family settled on a farm near Aylmer, where J. Franklin learned to till the soil and care for farm animals. In 1840, when J. Franklin was 26 years old, he married Miss Prudence Pound who was born in Elgin County, Canada, and whom J. Franklin had known as a neighbor in Aylmer for many years.

Within the next four years, J. Franklin's young wife presented him with two little daughters - Amanda Padelford, born in 1842 and Phoebe Padelford, born in 1844. This beginning of a family set J. Franklin to thinking that if he wanted to have a large family, and he did, he should go west where land was cheaper and more fertile and farms could be much larger. So he set out for Illinois because he had heard about the rich soil and the chances to own large tracts of land near the town of Elgin. His family would have to wait until he could build a home for them in Illinois and have a farm that would support them. He found the kind of land he wanted, west of the town of Elgin in a place which is now called Almora and he bought 80 acres. There he built a log cabin and then began planning and planting his farm. In the seasons when he could not work the farm, he got a teaching job which brought in more money to buy more land. it was 1845 before he returned east and settled up his affairs there, packed up their household belongings and brought his wife and two children in an oxen-driven wagon the long trip back to Illinois where the cabin was.

Things were not easy those first years. But Prudence proved to be a courageous pioneer woman. The Indians really pestered her and there were many of them living near the cabin. Prudence said that every time she baked bread, the Pottowatomies whose sense of smell was keen, would come in flocks to get a handout as soon as the bread was taken out of the oven. They also liked cooked meat of chickens and enjoyed running down the biggest and the fattest of the flock. Many were the Indian artifacts the Padelford family collected in those early days and throughout the years.

Old record books tell in glowing terms about the success which Mr. Padelford made in farming. As time went on, he bought more and more land from settlers who did not have the skill he had in making the land yield big crops, and at one time, he owned 300 acres valued at $75 an acre.

By 1883, J. Franklin Padelford had built a beautiful new home for his family on the Big Timber Rd. and it had 12 rooms which were needed, for by that time, 10 children had been born in the family, though two of those had died early in life. All the lumber was hauled from Chicago. The floors downstairs were inlaid with walnut and maple. A buttery as large as some kitchens was an outstanding feature.

An now to answer the question we started with: What became of the Padelfords on this J. Franklin Padelford large family tree? Well, Amanda Padelford married George II Peek, whereupon she and her children became Peeks. Phoebe Padelford married Alonza Chaffee of St. Charles and thus went by the name Chaffee. Malvina Padelford married Alonzo Beverly of Dundee and she and her offspring took the name Beverly. Ida Mae Padelford became Mrs. Albert Gilbert and her children became Gilberts. Jennie Prudence married Robert Kerr and Julia Thankful married Fayette Perry. Of those who lived to full maturity, William Padelford who married Josie Starks is the only one on that family tree to carry on the name Padelford.

But in whatever family those Padelford girls served as wife and mother, they did a fine job in those pioneer days when housewives faced many very trying situations and had to work hard for long hours both in the house and in the fields and gardens. It was their mother, Prudence Pound Padelford, who furnished them with the shining example of heroism it takes to cheerfully leave all that a comfortable home and friends had meant to her in the conservative East and to follow her husband in the harsh and crude wilderness and mold the new place into a loved home for her family.

OLD ELGIN TALES FROM THE ELGIN FREE PRESS 1966-1974 By: Hazel Belle Perry May 6, 1970