A Pickard Family Reunion and the Underground Railroad Story

The Pickard family had frequent family reunions. These were the relatives of Henry Pickard and his wife, Eleanor Woody, a Quaker family that had moved from North Carolina to Indiana and finally to Henry County, Iowa. While most reunions were unremarkable, the 1935 Pickard family reunion was a bit different because of a special guest.

The Quakers of Iowa, while opposed to slavery, were divided on what they should do about it. Many felt they should help the fugitive enslaved, while others were against that. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 impacted Henry and Lee Counties as they were in southern Iowa, near the border with Missouri, which remained a slave state until the Civil War. The Act required that enslaved people be returned to their owners, even if caught in a free state. [1] The enslaved knew that the many Quakers in the area would help them as they escaped. This caused friction between enslavers seeking runaway enslaved people and the Quaker families.

 Salem, twenty-five miles from the state line, became a station on the Underground Railroad. The Henderson Llewelling house, the largest house in the area, hid the runaway enslaved via a hidden door in the kitchen. [2] A famous runaway slave case--the Ruel Daggs case, happened around Salem and involved many of the Quaker men. [3]

While it is unclear which side Henry Pickard took in the Quaker discussion regarding slavery, he became personally involved. There are several stories about how this involvement came about. But the most likely is that a father knocked on the door of the Pickard house and asked for help. As he was escaping to Canada, the father felt he could not take care of his sickly six-month-old daughter and asked the Pickards to take her in until he settled in Canada. They did, but the father never returned. [4]

The child was named Mary. She was born about 1857, so her father would have left her with the Pickards about that same year. She stayed with them until early adulthood. At around twenty years of age, Mary started attending the Methodist Church, which included singing. Quakers did not sing in church then, and Henry Pickard disapproved of this. So Mary decided to leave the Pickard home. 

No proof of the incident has come to light. A black child named Mary did not show up in the 1860, 1870, or 1880 census, living with Henry and Mary Pickard (Henry's second wife). Understandably, they may have kept her hidden in 1860, but there would have been no reason to do so after emancipation. Mary is not mentioned in Henry's will. But the story continues to be told.

So, what does this have to do with a family gathering? In 1935, the Pickard family held a reunion, information about which was published in the newspaper. At this reunion, Mary, now Mrs. Mills, attended and "could not speak highly enough" of Henry Pickard and his family. She was described as "a bright, refined nice-looking old-lady, stylishly dressed." Mrs. Mills was "so proud of her connection with the Pickards." [5]

While the newspaper article doesn't prove the story, Mary would have no reason to attend and lie about her association with the Pickards.  This goes to show that you never know what will happen at these annual family reunions. 

___________________________________________

[1] 9 Stat.462, https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/9/STATUTE-9-Pg162.pdf. 

[2] Llewellyn Quaker Museum, Website (http://sites.rootsweb.com/~ialqm/index.htm; accessed 5 July 2022).

[3] Jones, Quakers of Iowa, 189. For the court case, see Daggs, Ruel, Elihu Frazier, George Frazee, and United States District Court. District Court of the United States for the Southern Division of Iowa. Burlington, June term, Ruel Daggs vs. Elihu Frazier, et als., trespass on the case. (Burlington: Printed by Morgan & McKenny, 1850); digital image at https://www.loc.gov/item/54051811/.

[4] Savage, "Fugitive Slaves and Henry Pickard in the Iowa New Garden Meeting," Also see "Quakers helped Slaves fell," Washington (Iowa) Evening Journal, 17 May 2004, p.1 & 9; digital image, Southeast Iowa Digital Archive (seiowa.advantage-preservation.com: accessed 26 May 2022).

[5] "Reunion Held at Donnellson," Fort Madison (Iowa) Evening Democrat, 30 August 1935, p.7, cols. 2-5; digital image, NewspaperArchive (https://www.newspaperarchive.com: accessed 22 May 2022).

Hard Times

This week's theme for #52 Ancestors was Hard Times. I was hard-pressed to choose a subject for this topic—not because my ancestors didn't face hard times, but because there were too many "hard times" in their lives.

But top of mind was my grandmother, Stella Mae Edwards. Stella was born 23 July 1912 in Williamson County, Illinois. She was the second of four children of George Elmus Edwards and Olive Isabel Pogue.  In 1921, her five-year-old sister Hazel was killed when her dress caught fire while she was drying her hair in front of the fireplace. 

In March of 1923,  when she was just 11 years old, her father died from complications of tuberculosis. I don't know if that meant he had been ill before that. My grandmother never mentioned it, but with TB, it is likely.

Three years later, her mother married Joseph Kehder and one more child, Gene (Richard Eugene) Kehder was born in 1927. The marriage was over by 1930. There would be at least one more marriage and divorce between 1930 and 1940 to Ray Hedges. 

Around 1930, at the age of 17 or 18, Stella left for Chicago to find work. She started work at the American Can Company where she met my grandfather Anton Butzek (Martinek). They were married in Chicago in May of 1931 and my mom was born a year later. 

Stella, Anton and Dixie Butzek about 1933

At some point, Stella and Anton decided to head to Southern Illinois. Apparently, my grandfather had always wanted to be a farmer. They settled on a farm in Thompsonville and had one more child, born in 1939. 

Life in southern Illinois was hard. While my grandfather was apparently a good farmer (learning everything he needed to know by reading agriculture books), it wasn't enough to support the family. He went to work in the coal mines, which were booming in southern Illinois at the time. Anton often worked the farm during the day and went to work in the mines at night. And, of course, being a farm wife was a hard life for my grandmother.

My grandfather, who was born in Austria, was naturalized in September of 1943. Two months later, he was killed in a coal mining accident in Old Ben Coal Mine #15. He was running a drilling machine when a rock fell, breaking his neck. 

My grandmother was left a 31-year-old widow with two children, aged four and eleven. She stayed on the farm until around 1950, allowing my mom to graduate from high school. Then, she moved back to Chicago to find work. 

Stella continued to work until retirement. By then, both her kids had married, grandkids had been born, and great-grandkids were on the way. She never remarried, choosing to live with her memories. 

I think of all the hard times that my grandmother faced--growing up in poverty, losing her sister and father, becoming a farm wife, being widowed at an early age, and raising two children on her own. She had a strong faith and was always a church-going woman, and that faith likely sustained her through all the hard times. She never had much in the way of physical possessions in her life. But fittingly, she died as she was getting ready to go to church, with her much-read Bible by her side. 

The Health of a Miner

My grandfather, George "Mike" Michael Martin, was born 20 September 1900 in Hocking, Monroe County, Iowa. By the age of 17, he was working in the coal mines, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. As with most miners, the work took a toll on his health.

At some point, my grandpa Mike was involved in a typical mine accident. A large piece of coal fell on his leg and crippled him for life. I've never learned much about exactly what happened and when, but the end result was an open wound that never healed and constant pain for the rest of his life. I have no remembrance of him going to work, but he is listed as a working miner on the 1950 census, so it obviously happened after that.

This wound impacted Mike's ability to get around easily—he walked with a limp. I have no memories of my grandparents ever having a car. Living in a small town (West Frankfort, Illinois), they could easily walk to get groceries and whatever they needed. My grandfather managed to get to the local Elks club, but when we weren't visiting, I don't know if he walked there or if someone picked him up. 

All this made my grandpa a somewhat cantankerous man (but never with his grandkids). He was used to being taken care of and waited on by my grandmother and my aunt as he sat in his big recliner by the window. 

At some point, my grandmother had a heart attack, and the roles were reversed. He suddenly had to take care of her, and his whole demeanor changed. I remember him becoming an excellent caretaker who seemed a bit lost when my grandmother died in 1967.

Despite having to retire early from the mines, my grandfather was like most coal miners - he dealt with black lung disease for much of his later life. This resulted in a lot of coughing and even more discomfort.

My grandfather died on January 1, 1973, five days after the birth of his first great-grandson. His official cause of death was hemorrhage due to erosion of the carotid artery due to cancer of the tongue. Two other conditions were noted - inanition and cachexia or lack of nourishment and general exhaustion. It's unclear what led to the cancer, but it was likely his bad habit of chewing tobacco when he was younger. 

----------------------------------------------------------------

This week's #52 Ancestors in 52 weeks topic was Health.