Genealogical List of January, 1926
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Genealogical List of the De.scendants of Shadrach Bond l'"'irst Governor of The- State of Illinois. Compiled by Shadrach Cuthbert Bond, January, 1926. Pro:fatory., Note • Thia 11 Sketch u is not., .8nd was not in t,ended r.. a c. Biography, Thi~ ·w~iter has.not the necesDary inforcntion,nor the ability in writin~ to ~rite a biography of his grandf~ther. This writer 1 father·wns but six years old when hie f&~her died. Therefore h c kn cw v e l" y :~ i t t, 1 0· c. b o ~_i:, h i s father cf .h i s o -rvn kn ow· 1 e d g e , an d n~v~r told tbje vrite~ very 011ch. Bu~ Shudrach Bond 1 s ·daughter Mary, who ou£ri0l J~ssp:1 B. Haloes n&s intinnte with her father for years e N ·1 u.rl y aJ J. ':>f the inf orr1n t ion this vrr it-or has o!" Shsd,rach Bond_., 7r~:1 lc-n:-:·n.. ,)ci ·th.J.-ough co11vo.r-sR4;:io.:r..o -wit.,h hi...s- .Aun t 1lary Ho lrJ..G 9 ~ Having no notos cf those conversations, some things may have been givon out of t~eir order. Sona of the infornation nay not have been rer..;.coho:r0d correctly. So this wrjtor aelectcd sone pri~cipcl things in his life and tried to write then co they would prcvc intcrosting to sone of Shadrach Bcndrs descendanta, and possibly to sooc others who nay see then. Sketch of the Life of Shc.drach Bond. Shadrech Bond wes born in Fredrick~Marylnnd, about the year 1772. A few years later,his perents returned to B~l~lmere, Md.~ their forn3r hcJe. there Shadrach Bond cleioed his.hone until he was about twenty ono. When he ~cs abcut sixteen,he joined the troop under George Rogers Clark,v-hi~h was sent by the Govornor of Virginia,to take possession of Terre H~~te, Indiana, and Kaskaskia, Illinoia, fron. the English. He returned to the East with Olerk,a.nd lived in Baltiuore for c few years. About 1791, ho euigrnted to Illinois, and settled in the Great Americ~n Botton, in Monroe County. Here he engaged in in farcing,und,i~cidontclly in hunting. he· soon becaue acquaqn ted with very nany of the early pioneers, and took a prominent part in all CQt!nuni-t.y undartakings, whether civil projects or social gathering~~ Ear:y in the nineteenth century,h0 was ~ppointed Land Conuissioner und Receiver of Public Monies by the United States Governoent for the territory that now ferns the three great states of Indi~na, Illinoisand Missouri. Through this Lund Of fice work he becane acquainted with almost ~11 the inhabitants of these territoi·j_os. It is said that he knew every voter in these three territories, could speak to eack ono by name, and knew the given names of oost of their wives, and could call many of, thei:c children by name. While getting ccquainted thus widely, he unconsciously laid the foundations for his great work of leading in making Illino~~ a free state. Although his parents owned slaves,and he inherited ~o~e(later)froo his parents, he was always a hater Qf slavery~ and deternined to hit it in every that he could. While in the Land Office,he continued his faroing,and made some investment~ from tine to tioe,until at one tioe he owned nore real est½te than any other man in Illinois. About jJ08 or 1J09,~·the death of his parent,s o-c.u•&d. him to c.ake a visit to.~~~ltinQra. He aet free the slaves that came to him from the estate,· giving near1y··a11. the property he owned to the State of 1Ia.ryland, aa' s.· guarantee that the freed slaves should not beco-ft· a charge on the state. While in Baltimore on this visit, .he became e.cqua.inted with Miss ~chsia Bond,( a diatunt relative,) whom he had never before seen~ th~tigh·both had lived in Baltimore at the same time for some years. !fiss A6h~ah Bond 1 s parents were then living in Nashville, Tennesaee. ~ Their acquaintance ripened into friondship, and they correapondod \~~\ r~g:1larly a:rt~r their return to their home~. In 181i_,__Shed~ch ~on~ --- .,._,,,t!"·v~.:.n visited Nashville, Tenneaeee, and he and M:i.ea Achsah Bona were mas 0-.v"", ,./-'-' I ried. They visited Bcltit1ore to see aone of t.he-ir relot.ives, and than V:J.--~~ oatie back to Illinois. One of the first things they did wae to give~ < 1 11 nGroen s Party!' or, as it was then called, an n1nfair • To this 1 ' Infa.ir, n he invited ooat of the families living in Indiana,Illinoio ~nd Missouri, and very nany of then caoe, and ca~ped out on the prairie· near his hooe for daya. Dancing, ga~ee, and races, common to those days, filled the tine, and all was gaity and good will. · ·while in Baltimore on his wedding trip, he bought a large solid silver ladle, for use· as a aoup ladle, or to dip the punch at social functions. ( The writer of this has that ladle now.) A·year or so after his wedding, Shadrach Bond was elected Del~~et ~o 06rt~rejs from·the ~~rritory of Illinois. As he needed a new suit Jf ~loth~a, ·his wife~ with the aasistasce of her Negro servants, :h~ared ao~e eh~ep. Then ahe washed, carded and spun the wool, and .7ove ·it· into broadcloth, from which she made him a suit to wear to :ongreas.·out of aome of the cloth that was left, she made a cover or the fanily Bible, A s~all piece of that cloth is still with th~t ·ible, which this writer now has.) ·when it was tine to start to Washington to attend Congress, that rrang~d a party, consisting of Shadrach Bond, his wife, and sever~. egro servants, all on horsebeck, and started on the long, long ourney, taking them six weeks to muke the trip,' and they camped out t night, both going and returning. BQaidee his military experience under Generel George Rogers Clark~ -:b.e.drach Bond joined the army early in the WF,.r of 1812, and was ·. :2ptain of a Coops.ny dur.ing the entire War, being stationed in Wash . ,gton5 D. C. to help in the defense of the Cepitol. Shortly after that War he took a leading part in the steps that ~d up to the admission of Illinois as a Free State in 1818, and his ·ie~tion aa Governor. He wcs aa much opposed to duelling,.as he waa ~o slavery. Early in his tern as Governor, two proninent oen engag~d in a duel on" Bloody Isl&nd,"oppoaite St. Louie~ Missouri. One of the 1 0n waa killed. The other man was arrested, trie-rl, found guilty of ~urder, and sentenced to death. A desperate atteopt wae nade to have ~ici pardoned, but Governor Bond refused ell pleas, and ·ordered the aant~nce carrted out. Governor Bond lived for twelv~ years, nfter his term as Governor ·.. c.d expired, in his home in Kaskaskia, Illinois, where his large home ·::ltS· ever open to e.11 visitors. After hie death, hie widow, ( Made.oe '·on-d, e.a the French residents of Kaskaskia called her), kept up this i ;-·actice until her den.th in 1845. Governor Bond 1 s parents were Christcins, neobers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Whether he had ever joined the Church, this writer never lenrned;·but he lived a v~u~atian lite, and reud the Bible re~ularly. He was a· total nbstciner fron all alcoholic beverages all his life, and such abatcinera were rare ct that tioe. Thia writei neyer· leurned whether or not he used tobacco. ·Shadrach Bond be cane rt Freenason in Bal tinore, Maryland_. After he b~cane settled in Kaskeskic,Illinois, he transferred his oeober nhip to West Gete Lodge, ct Kcsk~ski& Illonoia~ Lcter he becaoe Easter of thc.t Lodge., o.rld w~s then presented vith u 11 Lumb Skin Apron"; which cane down fron hin to this writer, who lately presented it to Sh~drach Bond Lodge, No .• 1044, A. F. & A. M., of Chicago, Illinois. A Grang Lodge of Masons was org~nize~ in Deceober, 1821, and Shadrach Bond was electedthe first Grand Master. He attended, every session of thct Grund Lodge aa long as it l~sted. Its destruc tion was· one of the results of the 11 Morgen Episode "in the United Stutes. The attacks on Freeoasonary becane so fierce ~a to oake it dangerous to be known aa a Mason. Yet the Masons of Illinois held to their allegiance to Maaonary until in 1828 it was deene_d best for Masone to renain quiet until the atorn blew over_.So ,, Lodge after Lodge in Illinois surrendered its Charter until in 1829, the last Lodge gave up, and of course, the Grand Lodge went out of existence. To the credit of Masonry in Illinois, after a few years, these same Masons organized new Lodges, secured ne~ Charters, and began anew the building the great M~sonic body of today. Shadrech·Bond took part in thia upbuilding, though it was so near the end of his life. Shadrech Bond died in 1832, and was buried on his own land in iEskaskia, Illinois. Shortly after the Civil War, when the Misaiasip_ River threatened to wash away the ground on which Kaskcskia stood his renains were remover to Chester, Illinois, and buried in Ever- 3reen Cemetery there.