The Hicks of Hardin County

My great-great Grandmother, Elvira Jane Hicks Carlisle, had six brothers.  Of those six brothers, five of them joined the Union to fight in the Civil War.  Of those five who went off to war, only one returned home alive.  I am not naive enough to think this was a rare thing...in fact, sadly, I'm sure there were a lot of families who shared the same statistics.  But this is the only branch of my ancestors (that I'm aware of) that had this tragedy happen.

William Hines Hicks (my 3rd great grandfather) was born about 1804 in Oglethorpe County, Georgia.  Elizabeth Lavender (my 3rd great grandmother) was born in 1807 in Botetourte County, Virginia.  They were married March 29, 1827, in Livingston County, Kentucky.  They had 11 children (some of which were mentioned above), spanning from 1828 to 1847.   At some point in 1828 or 1829, the family moved north into Hardin County, Illinois.  The following are their children...

• Henry George Hicks was born in 1828 in Livingston County, Kentucky.  He married America Kendrick in 1849, in Hardin County, Illinois.  He enlisted as a Private on August 14, 1861, in New Haven, Illinois.  He was assigned to Company D 29th IL Infantry and mustered into service on August 20, 1861 at Camp Butler in Illinois.  According to his records, he was 5'9 1/2", with dark hair, dark eyes and a dark complexion.  He was a farmer in Saline County.  On March 16, 1862, he received a disability discharge at Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee (Battle of Shiloh).  The out of print book, "The Hicks Still Live" states that Henry died while on a 60 day furough from the war.  His stone only has that he died in 1862, not a specific death date.  It's my personal conclusion, that he was discharged after the Battle of Shiloh for whatever his disability was...possibly made it home to Hardin County, IL, and then died at home from his wounds.  He is buried in Lavender Cemetery in Hardin County, IL.  Henry and America had four known children (but one census record states that she was the mother of seven, with four living at that time)...  William (1852- ), Lucinda (1854- ), Millard (1860- ), and Henry Jr. (1862- ).

Lavender Cemetery, Hardin County IL

• Anna Hicks was born Nov. 30, 1830 in Hardin County, Illinois.  She married Daniel Ginger around 1847.  Together they had ten known children (according to the census records)... Malinda (1847-), William (1850-), Elizabeth (1852-), Missouri (1858-), Daniel (1860-), Mary (1863-), John (1864-), Martha (1865-), Joseph (1866-), India (1870-).  Anna died on April 7, 1885 and is buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Hardin County.

photo by Barry Vinyard, Find-A-Grave website
Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Hardin County IL

• Melinda Hicks was born in 1831 in Hardin County, Illinois.  She married John Franklin Ginger about 1852.  Together they had ten known children (according to census records)... Martha (1852-), Elizabeth (1854-), Harriett (1855-), Josephine (1856-), Mahala (1858-), Nancy (1860-), Eliza (1862-), Rose (1863-), Mary (1864-), John (1866-).  Melinda died on February 23, 1873 and is buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Hardin County.

• Louis Hicks was born December 16, 1832 in Hardin County, IL.  He married Margaret Melvina Patton on March 27, 1856.  I have only found one child from this marriage in census records, Sarah (1857-).  Margaret died in 1863 and Louis remarried in 1869, to Mary S. Johnson.  Together they had nine known children (according to census records)... Charlie (1870-), Ben (1871-), Sidney (1873-1940), John (1876-), Alex (1879-), Henry (1883-1944), Milo (1887-), Nancy (1890-), Lloyd (1894-).  Louis died on May 1, 1907 and is buried in Lavender Cemetery in Hardin County.

Lavender Cemetery, Hardin County IL
"Weep not dear friends. My body lies beneath the sod, and my soul is with it's God."

• Joshua Hicks was born about 1836 in Hardin County, Illinois.  The Hicks book says that he married Lucy Stanley, but I can't find anything to confirm that.  He also enlisted in the Civil War, but again, I cannot find a record of that.  The Hicks book states that he died in the War, in 1862.  Burial unknown.

• Hiram Hicks was born in 1838 in Hardin County, Illinois.  He married Sarah A. McGill on March 25, 1859.  They had one child, Caroline (1861-1876).  On August 22, 1862, Hiram went to Shawneetown and enlisted in Company I, 118th IL Infantry.  He was mustered into service at Camp Butler in Illinois, on November 7, 1862.  His enlistment records state that he was 5'4", auburn hair, blue eyes and had a fair complexion.  The next military record for Hiram is from December 21, 1862.  On that day, he was placed in General Hospital No. 2 in Memphis, TN.  He died on January 8, 1863, while still in the hospital.  The cause of death in the record book is "inflammation of lungs".  I have read that was another way of saying pneumonia during that time period.  Hiram was originally buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis.  Later, Union bodies in Elmwood were to be moved to what is now Memphis National Cemetery.  The soldiers' names were written on their wooden caskets in chalk.  The day the caskets were to be re-buried, a rain storm went through and all of the names were washed off the caskets.  Those soldiers (including Hiram) are now in unmarked graves at Memphis National.  In 1912, Hiram's wife Sarah re-applied for his pension after her third husband had died.  After a year of letters and documents back and forth to Washington, she was finally granted the $12 a month pension.  In 1916, she was granted an increase to $20 a month.  In 1920, she requested and was granted an increase to $30 a month.  Sarah died in 1924.

• Miles Hicks was born November 5, 1839 in Hardin County, Illinois.  He married Rebecca Jane McGill in 1859.  Together they had nine known children (according to census records)... Martha (1860-), William (1866-), Harrison (1870-), Albert (1874-), Laura (1877-), Milas (1879-), James (1883-), Walter (1886-).  On August 12, 1862, Miles enlisted in Hardin County to Company F, 131st IL Infantry.  He was later transferred to Company D and Company C of the 29th IL Infantry.  His enlistment records state that he was 5'9", light hair, blue eyes and had a light complexion.  He was mustered in on November 13, 1862.  And on July 19, 1865, he was mustered out of service in Springfield, IL.  In 1881 he applied for pension.  After his wife Rebecca died, he married her younger sister Mariah McGill on April 30, 1915.  Miles died on June 12, 1928 and is buried in Lavender Cemetery in Hardin County.

Miles, Rebecca and daughter Martha Hicks

Lavender Cemetery, Hardin County IL

• Elvira Jane Hicks (my great-great grandmother) was born May 13, 1844 in Hardin County, Illinois.  She married James W. Carlisle on January 16, 1866.  Together they had nine known children (according to census records)... Mary (1867-), Sarah (1869-1925...died in 1925 Tri-State Tornado), Luellen (1872-), John (1873-1912), George (1876-1911), Charles (1880-1958...my great-grandfather), Benjamin (1882-1963), Walter (1884-1981), Milas (1888-1921).  Elvira died on January 22, 1930, in West Frankfort, Franklin County, IL.  Her name is on the side of James' stone in Pell Cemetery in Hardin County, but I am waiting on a copy of her death certificate to see what it says as the place of burial.

Pell Cemetery, Hardin County IL

• George W. Hicks was born around 1845 in Hardin County, Illinois.  He enlisted in Hardin County, IL, on August 13, 1862 (at the age of 17) and became a member of Company F, 131st IL Infantry.  He was mustered in with his brother Miles, on November 13, 1862.  His enlistment records state that he was 5'6", light hair, blue eyes and had a light complexion.  The Hicks' book says that George died on July 10, 1863, near Young's Point, Louisiana.  The Young's Point battle was in mid-June of that year, and there was a hospital there as well.  He could have died from injuries or disease after the battle.  In 1871, his mother applied for his pension.  Burial unknown.

• Elizabeth Hicks was born February 22, 1846 in Hardin County, Illinois.  She married Richard Bynum on September 14, 1869.  After she married, I cannot locate her in a census record until 1900. At that time, she was widowed and living with a nephew, William Tucker Bynum.  Elizabeth died on September 14, 1927 and is buried in Vinyard Cemetery in Hardin County.

• John Wesley Hicks was born around 1847 in Hardin County, Illinois.  I have not been able to personally find record on him, but other family trees on Ancestry.com say that he married Nancy Evaline Gibbs.  According to census records, their first child was born in early 1865, so I suppose they probably were married in 1864.  From the census records, I found that they had five known children... George (1865-), Martha (1869-), Ellen (1871-), Dora (1876-), Simon (1879-).  His last known residence was Jackson County, IL, in the 1880 Census.  All family trees online show that John died in December 1896.  Some say he died in Golconda, Pope County, IL, but I don't know for sure.  I do not have a burial location.  However, I did find this picture of him...

John Wesley Hicks
photo submitted on Ancestry.com, by username "huber_mallory"

All of these people at some point of their life (for some, probably their entire life) lived or were born in Hicks or Hickstown in Hardin County.  Last fall I went for a drive looking for pretty fall colors to take pictures of.  I mapped out part of my route to include the old Hickstown area.  There's nothing there now, just mostly open fields.  I did find on the map an area called Hicks Dome, and wound up circling it.  It would be neat to see what it looked like when it was more inhabited...but until that time machine shows up at my front door, I'll settle for being honored and able to see what it looks like now...

Hicks Dome in the distance, Hardin County IL
looking at it from the West side

Close up of Hicks Dome, Hardin County IL
looking at it from the West side

I also came across Hicks Creek along my drive...

Hicks Creek, Hardin County IL

Hicks Creek, Hardin County IL

And a small overgrown path to an old tin roof barn was on the East side of the Dome...

East side of Hicks Dome
Hardin County, IL

And another old building...it looked like it had been used as storage, barn and home at some point in it's lifetime.

Hicks Dome
Hardin County, IL

More pics from the area...

South side of Hicks Dome
Hardin County, IL

Hicks Dome
Hardin County, IL

Living carefree!

Oh...to be two and a half years old with no worries other than what to play on first at a playground.  *Sigh*...  I think adults should get one day each month to have their own version of that carefree living.  Whether it be to just sit on the couch all day, watching movies/tv....  Maybe sitting at a table working on crafty things...  Perhaps sitting at the computer doing nothing but surfing the net for "nothing"... Or maybe we'd just run around a playground like we're two and a half years old again.  Whatever your pleasure... I say we just go for it.  :)

With that said...  This past weekend, my nephew went on a cemetery run with mom and I to put some flowers out for Memorial Day.  We took him on the Rosiclare run.  He was very helpful in wanting to put the flowers in the ground, and liked helping to kick the dry grass off of some of the stones.  Of course he also liked climbing on some stones, but that's a different story.  Before we made the trip to Rosiclare, I tested him on the way home from church and stopped in at the Herrin Cemetery to see how he'd be.  He had a blast, and came back to the house to tell Papa all about going to "the stones".  Ha!

Looking at Frieda's stone

Brushing off the grass from Pop's stone

Cheesing for Aunt Manda's camera

Just hanging out with his Great-Grandma... ha ha

So then we got to Hardin County, and stopped at Lavender Cemetery first....

Pointing to the "W.H." initials of his 4th Great-Grandfather

Putting flowers on his 5th Great-Grandfather

Then the other two places in Rosiclare...

Posing by his 3rd Great-Grandparents' stones

Looking at his 3rd Great-Grandfather's stone

Even though he was having fun at "the stones"...a boy just needs to be a boy sometimes.  We went to the river (the Ohio) and played at the playground for about an hour before coming home.  And thankfully a barge came by right before we left!

On the banks of the Ohio River

"Whee!"

"Watch me!"

"Whoa!  Big boat!"

"Cheese!"

Branson full day #1

Today was the first full day in Branson...  Woke up this morning to thunder and rain (a little after 7AM).  Got up, looked out the window...promptly crawled back into bed.  :)

Got up again a little after 9AM and began the first full Branson day.  Today was designated as a shopping day, due to the weather.  It was dark and dreary....and rainy...and cold.  I don't know that it got above 45 degrees today (according to the car).  And the wind chill was in the 30's.  And it WAS windy.  So we made the most of it and drove around to stores that I could park in front of.  ha ha!

Tonight was night number 1 for the Oaks.  I have been using a different camera this week, so I didn't take as many pics as I usually do.  Wanted to get used to it and get back to the laptop to see what they looked like. Not much different from my regular camera, I'd say.

There are no scenic pics from today for obvious reasons....but here are a few from tonight's show.  This was the first time I've seen the Boys for 2013.  The set list was much different than usual, because this is their 40th Anniversary tour (and I've been going to see them for 29 years, myself!)...so there are a lot more of the older songs being worked into the shows.  It was a GREAT mix of music tonight...and the crowd seemed to really enjoy it.  Of course half of them probably didn't know that some of those songs hadn't been sung on stage in 20 years....but that's okay.  :)

The view thru the window after I'd parked.  Pretty much what the day looked like all day.

Duane Allen

William Lee Golden

Joe Bonsall

Richard Sterban

Oak Ridge Boys

Fun pic

End of night #1

Hopefully the rest of the week's blogs will be more exciting and have more variety of pictures to show...  :)

Blast from the Past

When I think of my college days, I think of the music.  Granted, I was living in Nashville at the time, so I was literally surrounded by people who lived and breathed music.  Plus, I was a Music Business Major at Belmont University, so I was one of the ones who moved to town to try merge into the world of living and breathing music.  All I had ever seen myself doing when I "grew up", was being involved in the music industry.  My original plan in high school, was to go off to Tennessee...meet all these wonderful people who felt the same way I did...and then magically become a Road Manager for some new up and coming artist who was trying to break into the business.  I wanted to help that artist and give them everything I had, in order for them to become  a success.  Then whenever I got tired of touring all the time, I figured I'd settle down and become a Record Producer, allowing me to stay home most of the time.  I had it all figured out, right?  Yep.

Halfway through my freshman year of college, I actually attained a piece of that goal.  I was taken in by someone in the business and given a job to do, helping out with a Fan Club office.  It was so much fun, I could hardly believe I was being allowed to do all that I was being allowed to do.  I just knew it was the "big break" custom made for me, to get my foot in the door.  And it was...for a time.  I met a lot of great people, from all types of industry positions.  Managers, musicians, Label execs, artists, songwriters, etc.  The whole broad spectrum.  But what nobody had told me, was that for every genuine and sincere person out there, there are five who want nothing but to take you down.  Therefore, my fun run in the industry was short-lived and I was forced to get out while I could still hold my head up (even though there were some days it was the hardest thing to do).  And sadly, some things just never change.

All of that to say...on the flip-side of the sad parts...in the end, it was truly the music that got me by.  The live shows that I continued to go to and the friends that I'd made.   The friends I made through the artists that I was privileged to see perform together tonight, are the ones I will always and forever think of with the fondest memories.  So thank you to the music...and the artists....especially the boys I saw tonight.  They, too,  are forever in my heart for their own reasons.

It was a great way to spend the first official night of my 2013 vacation...  Thank you Puckett's Franklin for having these two!!

Easter!

Easter was a lot of fun this year!  Preston dropped Dakota off at the house that Saturday morning, on his way to work.  That afternoon, we all met up at the church for the big Easter egg hunt.  The hunt took place during what is normally Dakota's nap time...so there had been no nap yet that day.  Needless to say, that made for a very clingy and cranky little boy.  But we managed...  :)

Dakota stayed at our house the rest of the day...and spent the night.  We stayed up late coloring Easter eggs.  He was completely fascinated by the whole process...

The next morning we got all dressed up in our Easter outfits and went to church...

And here are the "official" Easter pics for 2013...  :)

And something fun....  A comparison between last year and this year...  :)