My Great Great Great grandmother Sarah Ellen Jones was born in 1838 in McDonough Co. Il to Parmenus Jones and Anne Dickerson. She came to Whiteside Co. Il when she was 14 years old, by covered wagon to live with her aunt Nancy Foy. I am assuming she was sent to live with her aunt because her mother had moved to Oklahoma in Indian Territory.
Sarah Ellen married Benjamin Franklin Dow and settled down in Yorktown to raise a family. To them 4 children were born- Pleasant Luther Dow, Lauer Dow, Zilla Adelle Dow ( my great great grandmother) and Glee Dow ( a son that died in infancy).
As a young wife and mother Sarah had to make tallow candles, homemade soap, quilts, and weave her own rugs all out of necessity. Store bought items were not readily available to her and she probably would have not had the money to buy them even if they were.
In her later years the family moved about 5 miles north to the town of Tampico, Il.
I am not sure of the date but I do know that Sarah Ellen was the owner of a sawmill in the state of Michigan and I have reason to believe that my grandmother Temple met my Grand father Arthur Pierceson( an employee of Sarah's at the sawmill) while visiting her grandmother Sarah at her sawmill.
About a year before she died at the age of 93 she was interviewed by the local newspaper The Tampico Tornado. During this interview she stated that when she left McDonough Co. there were no Indians but when she got to Whiteside Co. there were still Indians in the woods.
The photo on the right was taken in approximately 1897- Benjamin & Sarah Dow are the older couple seated - Sarah is the closest to the two small girls.
My great grandmother Zilla is the woman in the dark clothing( standing).
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