Our 4th great grandfather's estate was settled by his oldest son John Ewing, who was a son by his first unknown wife. Many clues about this family can be found in the research done by John Ewing's (b.1785) family. See the following and the source at the bottom.
History of Logan County ILL Vol 1 Chapter VI Early settlement
James
Ewing, Jr’s (1758) son John S Ewing(1785)
James’s
son John S Ewing married Elizabeth Dillard sister to our Ladovsey Dillard.
They were
daughters of Osborn Dillard and Nancy Petty
There is
much information about John S. and his descendants.
This
information was from Nellie Ritchie in 2015. Her line is John S. Ewing.
John S.
Ewing
Birth 10
April 1785 in Tennessee, USA
Death 3
March 1847 in Lawndale, Logan, Illinois, USA
Marriage
to Elizabeth Dillard (sister to our Ladovsey, 2nd wife to James 17
1805 —
Age: 20
Elizabeth
Dillard
Birth 25
Feb 1791 in North Carolina, USA
Death 11
March 1854 in Lawndale, Logan, Illinois, USA
The
following was taken from the History of Logan County Illinois, Published in
1911.
John Ewing
was born in 1784 in Eastern Tennessee.
In 1804 he volunteered in the Indian campaign and served during the War
of 1812. He married Elizabeth Dillard, a
native of North Carolina. They lived in
White County, Illinois, having come to Illinois while it was yet a
territory. Here, Christopher C. Ewing,
his son was born in 1818. When John
Ewing settled in Logan County Illinois in 1829, the Indians were their
neighbors and were often troublesome, even quarrelsome. The Black Hawk war broke out the year
following their settlement, and the oldest son enlisted and served till its
close. There were four children in John
Ewing’s family besides Christopher C., namely:
Osborn and James, who moved to Kansas; Sidney, who moved to Iowa, and
William who moved to Kansas. Christopher
Ewing remained with his parents until his majority.
They lived
for a while in White County, Illinois, having come to Illinois while it was yet
a territory. Here, Christopher C. Ewing, his son, was born in I8I8. When John
Ewing and his family settled here,
the
Indians were their neighbors and were often troublesome, even quarrelsome.
The Black
Hawk War broke out the year following their settlement, and the oldest son
en1isted and served to its close. In the summer of 1835, Christopher C. Ewing
and his brother hauled a load of wheat to Chicago. They drove an ox team and
were two weeks in making the trip and six weeks in completing the journey home.
They sold their wheat at seventy-five cents a bushel and loaded their wagon
with salt, sugar, coffee and the like. Chicago was then a small village with
two or three grocery stores on the north side of the river, a dry goods store
and a grocery store on the south side, the river being spanned by a single
bridge. Fort Dearborn was located there, to keep the Indians in check. There
was a small store at Bloomington and one at Joliet, also a store at Pekin, but
when wheat would bring seventy-five to ninety cents in Chicago, it would only
bring fifty to sixty cents in Pekin. White supplies were cheaper in Chicago,
hence the settlers would often make the longer trip to market.
Christopher
Ewing remained with his parents until his majority. In 1838 he was elected as
captain of militia, withThomas R. Skinner being Colonel of the regiment. In
I842 he married Margaret Ann Williams. Two years later he was elected Justice
of the Peace which office he retained four years. In 1849 his wife died,
leaving two children. He was re-married to Adaline Metcalf, who died in 1877.
In 1878 he married Elizabeth Ellis, a native of Ohio. Mr. Ewing died February
9, 1887, leaving a widow and twelve children. In 1849 he was elected as
Associate Justice to the County Judge, the County Court, under the law in force
at that time, consisting of the County Judge and two Associate Justices. He
served until 1853.
In a
letter to the Old Setttlers' Association of the county, Mr. Ewing (Christopher)
said: "I emigrated with my parents from Tazewell County about May 30,
1829. We settled upon the border of Kickapoo, about one mile west of where
Lawndale now stands. My father brought with him about 15 head of cattle,
besides other stock. "We had to settle on raw land there being little
cultivated. We broke sod and planted sod, come about the twenty-fifth of June,
on which to winter our stock. The fall was very favorable and the corn matured
well. There was any quantity of blue-stem prairie grass, and of this we availed
ourselves abundantly. Yet we had to buy corn and haul it four miles. Cooking
stoves were rarely seen and a match hadn't yet been thought of. On our long trips
to Chicago, we had to keep a supply of flints, steel, tow and punk."
Mr. Ewing
died February 9, 1887, leaving a widow, Elizabeth Ewing, and twelve children.
