Days 66 to 68: Lake Murphysboro State Park

The ride back to the Mississippi River still had the low rollers and occasional steep roller coaster hills, but it was a downward trend and thus much more pleasant riding.  The fact that the ride started with the temperature higher than the previous day's high also helped.  We were back in warm, sunny weather!

Since Farmington, our route has been clearly marked by US Bike Route 76 signs, which raised our hopes that we'd have those signposts for the remainder of our Trans America Trail route across Illinois.  But no such luck - the signs seem to have ended in Missouri.

USBR 76 signs point the way!

On one of the steeper climbs on Monday I was fairly abruptly slowed to a crawl.  I had taken off my windbreaker and the arm was hanging out of my jersey pocket and managed to get caught in the wheel and brake.  The problem was quickly fixed, with only some small holes in the jacket to attest to the problem.

Lana poses next to the bridge over the Mississippi River at Chester, IL.

Chester, IL, Popeye's home town.

The bike rack at the Chester, IL visitor center, with scenic byway logos, including the Trans America Trail logo.

We're camping for a few nights at Lakes Murphysboro State Park ($23, power - showers are available about a mile or so away).  It's located several miles east of where my 4th ggf James Davis squatted at the base of the bluffs above the Mississippi bottoms of Jackson County, IL in 1808 (when the area was still part of Indiana Territory).  And it's a few miles west of the county courthouse and the local historical society, making it easy to do some family history research.

On Tuesday I drove up to Waterloo, Monroe County, IL to see if I could find a probate file or land records for my 2nd ggps, Charles Augustus and Mariah Lucinda (McEveny) Wiggins.  The probate index shows that a probate file was started on 11 Apr 1859 and that Mariah was appointed as administrix.  But it was never completed and what little information the file contained is likely misfiled somewhere in the County's files.

The fact that it wasn't completed makes sense.  On 23 Apr 1860 she married Joseph Asberry in Monroe County.  On 8 Mar 1860, she gave birth to Joseph Napolean Asberry in Jackson County, apparently dying during childbirth or shortly thereafter.

The next possibility was that land records would shed some light on Charles' heirs.  But it turns out that the grantee/grantor deed indexes from mid 1858 to 1861 have been lost (perhaps due to fire, but I suspect it is more likely that they were permanently misplaced).  So the answer to that question is buried in a sea of deeds in the courthouse, without any easy way to find the needed documents.

Back in Jackson County, a visit to the courthouse netted the divorce file (Jackson County, Illinois, Circuit Court Files, Box 19, file 979) of another set of 2nd ggps, Thomas J. and Sarah Adaline (Hanks) Davis (family tradition holds that we are related to the ancestors of Nancy [Hanks] Lincoln, and of the three competing theories about the ancestry of Abe's wife, I feel the theory posited by our family line is the more credible).  It turns out that on 18 Jul 1866 Sarah walked out on Thomas, vowing never to return, and taking her daughters Caroline Mary (my ggm) and Matilda with her.  Two years later Thomas filed for divorce, which was granted by the court on 8 Oct 1868.  She was still unmarried and living with her mother (Judah [Rodden] Hanks) when the 1880 Census was enumerated.  The fate of both women after that Census is unknown.

I also attempted to learn about the property of my great grandfather, Alfred Sheldon Wiggins (youngest child of Charles and Mariah).  A 1907 Atlas (the year that he died) shows that he owned 10 acres on Kent Keller Road in Jackson County.  I found where he bought 40 acres in 1898, which only adds to the mystery.  What happened to the other 30 acres?  And when did that final 10 acres get sold?  Thus far the answers elude me, despite having twice reviewed decades of deed indexes.

I spent Wednesday at the Southern Illinois University IRAD (the regional public records depository) and at the Murphysboro Historical Society.  The purpose was mainly to find information about other early Davis families that settled in what later became Jackson County (in 1816).  There were no earth shaking discoveries, only scattered, isolated facts that help to create a clearer picture of how some of the members of the various early Davis families relate to one another.