Citation
  • "Newspaper: The Leon Journal - Reporter", Newspapers.com.
Data
  • Category: Memoir
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  • Newspapers.com
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19050713-AlphaForsythe-TheLeonJournal-Reporter-Page3, July 13, 1905
Page: 19050713
  • Text: July 13, 1905, Page 3

    HARD TIMES IN 1834.

    None of Us Remember Them, But They Were Hard as Rocks.

    Alpha Forsythe of Chili Township, relates to the Republican the following reminiscence of the hard time of 1834.

    He says the times were harder then than in 1878. Says Mr. F: "Sometime in the winter of 1834-5 he and David W. Pond started from Adams county with two teams--two yoke of oxens and a pair of horses-drawing sleds with loads of flour, dressed prairie chickens, beans, etc., for the soldiers at Ft. Madison. They got as far as Carthage at dark the first day and finding the snow falling heavily and drifted and the weather turning cold, they sought accomodations in the cabin of one Michael Peebler, which was located about where J. C. Williams' residence now stands. It was one of the eight or ten log houses then in the village. The entertainers were poorly provided with bedding, and our travelers were compelled to sleep on the floor, and to alternate in keeping up a hot fire all night to prevent them from freezing. The next morning the fences were mostly covered out of sight by and the weather was intensely cold. It turned out that the people of the village were out of wood and flour and turned out with their teams, to haul wood. They were engaged in this work about a week until all the families were supplied and then with the remnant of supplies Pond and Forsyth returned home. He said all the children at Carthage were without shoes and stockings and naturally had to keep indoors during severe weather. Speaking of low prices of produce, Mr. Forsyth said that two years later he hauled thirty-two bushels of wheat from Chili township to Quincy, taking four days for the round trip and sold the wheat for one sack of salt Wheat was worth 25 cents a bushel and salt $8 per sack. The same winter dressed hogs were worth $1.50 per 100 net, in Quincy. Good corn was a drag on the market at 8 and 10 cents a bushel.
    --Cartha Republican.
Events & Attributes
PersonClaimDateDetailAgeEvidence
Alpha Layson ForsythResidence1834 (Winter)Adams, Illinois, United States [S2711]
He and David W. Pond brought supplies to the soldiers at Ft. Madison.
If true then he was only 15 years old. Perhaps some 44 years after the fact he forgot the actual year - maybe 1854.
memoir