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Archiver > ILLASALL > 2005-04 > 1113522604


From: "Tim Bryant" <>
Subject: RE: [ILLASALLE] Prairie Eden, Illinois ??
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 18:50:04 -0500
In-Reply-To: <000a01c54136$799c4110$6401a8c0@Momspc>


Hi, Linda--

I looked at the 1870 Marshall County entry and also found Robert Gilcrest in
Eureka (Woodford County) in 1900 (born in Ohio, like William). I don't see
any Gilcrests in LaSalle County.

What I would suggest would be to contact Nancy Piper, who maintains a
Marshall-Putnam County website at
http://www.piperspages.com/Marshall/IndexPage.html#Genealogical. Nancy is
very friendly and knows a lot about the whole area. I think she's
transcribing and making available online a History of Marshall County.

I searched for Gilcrest in the Henry Republican obits prior to 1870--nothing
there--but it's possible that Eden Prairie was a town or a township in
Marshall County at one time and its name was changed later. (That's just a
guess.) Following up on an obituary in the Streator Times-Press for one of
my great-great-uncles, which stated he was born in "Long Ridge, Illinois," I
sent a query to the Peoria Rootsweb list and found that there was a town
called "Long Ridge" in Peoria County at the time of his birth, but it was
accidentally changed to "Lawn Ridge" when the town applied for a post office
from the federal govt and it came back with a permit for that name. If you
haven't already tried it, you might post a query to the Marshall County
list.

Good luck!

Tim

P.S. My g-grandpa Henry Hoffner lived in Monona County around the turn of
the century. Two sons were born there, one survived, then their farm was
flooded and the farmhouse still lies at the bottom of the Missouri River.


-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Ziemann [mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 4:11 PM
To:
Subject: [ILLASALLE] Prairie Eden, Illinois ??


I have been doing Illinois research for some time. Today I opened a
small 3 inch by 2 inch (very old) shadow box picture frame. I hesitated
to open this because it contains a lock of hair from a child that I
believe was born after 1866 and died before 1870. There is also a
poem.."My Boy", with a few small pieces of his clothing.

I decided to open this on the hope that perhaps something was written on
the back of the small paper that had the poem on it. To my
amazement..there was something written in pencil on the inside of the
frame itself.

Some of it is not yet readable...I hope to magnify it enough to decipher
it later.
Part of it says..
Aged 18 ... (I am guessing the word "months" is what is next.)
On the 8th of August
Prairie Eden, Illinois

Now my question. Where might I find this Prairie Eden, Illinois?

The couple who had this child were:
William S. Gilcrest and Mary Ann Ewin...married in Marshall County,
IL..1866.
This child is said to be their son, Walter, who died in an accident
before the census of 1870.
This couple and their infant son, Laurence, is enumerated on the 1870,
Marshall County, Bennington twp.
Other members of their family lived in LaSalle County at that time.

A granddaughter of this Mother tells me that the Mother of this child
kept this little frame with the lock of hair under her pillow and slept
with it there the rest of her life after this infant's death.
The poem is precious..it reads:
My Boy.----
A lock of golden hair,
Tied with silken thread;
A tiny shoelet lying there;
A snow-white curtained bed.

A little broken toy;
A book all soiled and torn;
A jaunty velvet cap my boy
Has often, often worn -

Alas, are all that's left!
(Such is the Father's will.)
His joyous laughter sounds no more.
His little heart is still.


THANKS FOR ANY SUGGESTIONS OR HELP ANYONE CAN GIVE ME ABOUT PRAIRIE
EDEN, IL.


Linda Ziemann

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