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North and South
Stories and Genealogy of Theodore Charles Anderson and Sara Carlene Shuttleworth
Prophetstown
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Chief Black Hawk
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Go West, Young Man
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Everybody knows that this is the famous quote from Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune editorial of 1865, right? Wrong!
Actually, it first appeared as the title to an 1851, Terre Haute Express editorial written by John B L. Soule. It is often misquoted. What he really wrote was:
Go west, young man, and grow up with the country."
No matter who wrote those words, that was what was going on in the 1800’s. Thousands were indeed moving west. In the 1830’s, the western frontier was Illinois, and Whiteside County was the edge of that frontier.
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Whiteside County
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Whiteside County is named after General Samuel Whiteside who was an officer in the Indian Wars in Illinois from 1812 until the close of the Black Hawk War in 1832. During the Indian Wars, he was first a Major, later a Colonel, finally a General in the US Army. In his pursuit of Black Hawk in 1832, he passed through the village of the Winnebago Indian Chief Keokuk, known as “the Prophet” (where Prophetstown now stands), and burned it to the ground.
Whiteside was a native of Rutherford County, North Carolina and came to the Illinois Territory about 1806, settling in what is now Madison County. He died in 1861 and is buried in Christian County, Illinois.
Established January 16, 1836, Whiteside County is located in the Northwestern corner of Illinois. The Rock River flows through the middle of it and the Mississippi River borders it on the West. When Whiteside County was founded, it was farming country of corn and pigs. It still is today.
Counties of Illinois
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Prophetstown and Portland Townships
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Chief Keokuk was an interesting fellow. As a young man, he emerged as a spokesman and negotiator for the Sauk and Winnebago Indians. The Americans did everything they could to encourage his participation in councils and treaty making. During a tour of the Eastern United States in 1815, Keokuk observed first-hand the power and wealth of American society.
He came to realize that his people could not hope to prevail in a prolonged struggle with the United States. Keokuk resolved to negotiate the best deals possible for himself and his people even if it meant removal from their ancestral lands. He became known as “the Prophet”.
Prophetstown, located on the banks of the Rock River, is named after Keokuk whose village there had been destroyed by General Whiteside in 1832. (It should be noted that Prophetstown and its next-door neighbor Portland are so interwoven that they were almost the same in the early days.)
Whiteside County, Illinois
At the end of the Black Hawk war, Whiteside County was the edge of the frontier for the white settlers. It was government property. The land had been platted by federal surveyors in 1833-1834 into parcels of 80 acres each. Private property was selling for $8 an acre or more, but government land was still available at $1.25 an acre, so you could buy an 80-acre section for $100.
5% of the purchase price (or $5 for 80 acres) had to be put down at the time of purchase and 25% more had to be paid within 40 days. The balance was due in three equal installments at the end of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year from the date of purchase.
The first white man to settle in Prophetstown was Asa Crook who, on June 4th, 1834, made a claim to land near the Rock River. There, he built a log cabin for his wife, four sons and five daughters.
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Others Followed
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Simeon Fuller (Sara’s 4th Great Grandfather) was born in Oneida, New York and married Lucina Wade in 1816. He lived in Erie County, New York for 20 years before he went west to Portland Township in November 1835. He was the first Justice of the Piece of Portland, receiving his commission in 1837.
Robert Thompson, Sr. (who Ted thinks is Sara’s 3rd Great Grandfather, but she doesn’t) was born in County Monahan, Ireland in 1801. He was of Scottish descent. He married Lydia Graham in 1824 and immigrated to the United States in 1830. He settled in Portland Township in 1836. He had 5 sons, one of whom is probably Sara’s 2nd Great Grandfather. We know for sure that her Great Grandfather, William John Thompson, and his twin brother Richard W. Thompson were born in Prophetstown in 1857. William John Thompson was a successful banker. He was bald and had his head shaved every day in the local barber shop. He married Harriet Belle Fillmore, a relative of President Millard Fillmore, in 1881. She was called "Hattie" and had a hat shop in Prophetstown.
John Alden Tuller (Sara’s 2nd Great Grandfather) was born in Hartford, CT in 1812. He came to Illinois in 1833, lived in Joliet for a while and then came to Portland Township in 1835.
In 1837 he married Simeon Fuller’s daughter, Harriett Merilla Fuller and moved to Prophetstown in 1854 where he purchased a large farm (over 1000 acres) on Jackson Street.
There exists and interesting letter written by Simeon Fuller to his son-in-law John Alden Tuller on May 27th 1839. Simeon was 50 at the time and John Alden was 26.
The letter is hard to read, but this is what it seems to says, as near as we can figure out:
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"Alden Tuller if you will lend me fifteen dollars to pay Walden with you shall have it with out fail before Gray comes back at all hazards and it will be a great favor to me and you shall not be disappointed. Henry would not let me have our rent. You shall have it in twelve days, whether Gray comes or not.
May 27th 1839 Simeon Fuller"
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It looks like Henry didn’t pay his rent and Simeon wanted his money. ($15 doesn’t seem like a lot of money, but in today’s dollars it represents about $300 of purchasing power.)
The "Henry" Simeon is writing about may well have been John Alden’s younger brother Henry L. Tuller. Henry was 3 years younger than Alden and followed him to Illinois from Connecticut in 1834 at the age of 18. He settled first in Chicago and was still there at the time of the writing of this letter.
When he was 25, Henry came to Whiteside County in 1841 and engaged in the mercantile business with a certain Captain W. S. Barnes in Albany, probably as a clerk. In 1842 he purchased a mercantile store in Prophetstown where he did business until he moved on to Peru, Illinois in 1848.
We don’t understand what or who "Walden" is or was. We think Gray was somebody Simeon set out looking for Henry to get his delinquent rent.
Another possibility is that Gray was a horse and this was about betting on a horse race. We'll never know.
John Alden’s son, Wilbur Elam "Honest Will" Tuller (Sara’s Great Grandfather), married Georgia Grace "Gracie" McDonald in 1882.
 
 Wilbur Elam Tuller Georgia Grace McDonald
They had 2 daughters, Jennie Agnes Sara’s Grandmother) in 1884 and Cass Carlene (Sara’s Greataunt) in 1895.
About 1900, they moved up the road to Morrison, Illinois, the County Seat, where he had purchased a new home at 213 3rd Street. His family of females needed more room. It was a big, 2-story house with porches, the back straight to the water pump.
The Tuller house in 1900, 213 3rd Street, Morrison, IL
When he moved to Morrison, Wilber Tuller leased his 1000+ acres outside of Prophetstown to farmers. In Morrison he became a breeder of fine sulky horses. Every year at the Whiteside County Fair, he was a sulky race judge, and soon became known as “Honest Will” by Fair goers.
Wilbur and Gracie Tuller’s daughter, Jennie Agnes Tuller (Sara’s Grandmother), was married to Clyde Fillmore Thompson (Sara’s Grandfather) in 1902 in the Tuller’s grand house in Morrison. He was 20, she 18.
 
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Jennie Agnes TULLER Clyde Fillmore THOMPSON
Wedding Photos 1902
There were 120 invited guests. The wedding ceremony was performed in the mid parlor; the guests were in the front parlor, with huge hanging ferns everywhere. The house was decorated with green and white. According to a newspaper account at the time, “This was without a doubt the most pretentious wedding ever held in Morrison.” (Morrison Weekly Newspaper Nov 20, 1902). Ever since then, the house has been known as the “Brides House”.
Unfortunately, Clyde died of a diabetic coma in 1916 but not before Eloise Dorothy, nicknamed "Tommy" (Sara’s Mother) (1905-1981) and William John "Little Billy" (Sara’s Uncle) (1912 –1987) had been born.
 
"Tommy" "Little Billy"
(circa 1915)
(Sara and Ted still have that violin Eloise is holding)
Eloise grew up in Prophetstown and went to Whittenburg College (later University) in Springfield, Ohio in 1924 where she met Tom Shuttleworth (Sara’s Father). Jesse Shuttleworth had moved his family from Henderson, KY to Springfield when Tom was still a teenager, so when the time came, he went to the local college.
Tom was an Engineering student and they shared Trigonometry Class. Tommy wanted some help in Trig, so Tom obliged. After 2 years at Whittenburg, Tom went of to Ohio State to study Civil Engineering. Eloise went to the University of Illinois were she earned a BS in Micro Biology in 1928.
They were married on August 11th, 1928
Tommy and Tom
They moved to Prophetstown and "Little Sara" came along in 1934.
The Tuller’s at the "Bride’s House" (circa 1936)
Uncle Joe, Aunt Carlene, Eloise, Tom, Grandma Jennie,
Great Grandma Grace, Great Grandpa Wilbur,
and Little Sara
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Tune "Illinois State Song"
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The tune used to introduce this page is the "Illinois State Song". The words were written by C.H. Chamberlain.
The music was composed by Archibald Johnston.
Click here to listen to a rendition sung by Denise Yates.
Lyrics:
By thy rivers gently flowing, Illinois, Illinois,
O'er thy prairies verdant growing, Illinois, Illinois,
Comes an echo on the breeze.
Rustling through the leafy trees, and its mellow tones are these, Illinois, Illinois,
And its mellow tones are these, Illinois.
From a wilderness of prairies, Illinois, Illinois,
Straight thy way and never varies, Illinois, Illinois,
Till upon the inland sea,
Stands thy great commerical tree, turning all the world to thee, Illinois, Illinois,
Turning all the world to thee, Illinois.
When you heard your country calling, Illinois, Illinois,
Where the shot and shell were falling, Illinois, Illinois,
When the Southern host withdrew,
Pitting Gray against the Blue, There were none more brave than you, Illinois, Illinois,
There were none more brave than you, Illinois.
Not without thy wondrous story, Illinois, Illinois,
Can be writ the nation's glory, Illinois, Illinois,
On the record of thy years,
Abraham Lincoln's name appears, Grant and Logan, and our tears, Illinois, Illinois,
Grant and Logan, and our tears, Illinois.
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This page and all genealogical data contained on it are Copyrighted © 2007/2008
by Theodore C. Anderson
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