William Kern
A Biographical Sketch of William Kern by Murry Loren Kern
December 1989
It is presumed William Kern was born at the home place of Mr. & Mrs. John
Kern -- his father and mother's home in the year of 1849 located about two miles
north of Bradfordton, Illinois. When he became of school age, he attended the
Popple school about one-half mile south of their home. Most farm boys only went
to school in winter. Some went to grade school to the age of 18 to 20 years of
age. Reading, writing, and arithmetic were their goal to master. They had to
help with the farm work when weather permitted. They were busy in fall moths
chopping wood, cutting shock corn, husking corn, and getting ready for winter.
William became a good hand with an ax. In those days most corn was planted with
a hoe. Finally they invented a planter that took a man and a boy to operate.
They marked off the rows both ways before they started planting. Then they put
the boy on a seat up front and the other fellow drove. As the planter came to
where the marked rows crossed, the boy would push a lever and the corn would
drop. They say William was an expert corn dropper.
His first job was helping a neighbor named Simon Lintweed who lived across the
creek west of their home. In his early years, he bought a ten acre tract of
timber at Roll's ford on the Sangamon River. Every winter for years he would cut
the trees and make rails, fence posts, and cordwood. It is said he could cut a
cord of wood and haul it to Springfield and be back home by nightfall. When the
timber was cleared of good trees, he built a rail fence around it and extended
it into the river so livestock could get water. In the fall when the acorns
began to fall, he would put his hogs in the timber to fatten on acorns. He
finally sold this piece of property to a John Sellinger. William bought it for
$100 and, after selling rails, posts, and wood, he got $1,000 for it.
Roll's ford was a busy place in those days. They had a ferry to cross the river
as there were no bridges. Miles north was the Irwin bridge. There was a large
sand bar and people would haul sand from there. On Saturdays, it was a busy day
for all of the people far and near would bring their buggies and carriages down
to wash off the mud and clean them up for Sunday. You might say it was a
forerunner of the do-it-yourself auto or buggy wash.
The Popple school was the social center in those days. Sunday school and church
were held there on Sundays. Percy Stone played the organ. He was Rolland Stone's
father. Also funerals and weddings were held there. They had social gatherings
and box suppers and festivals as they were called then. It is said the first
garden variety of strawberries in that part of the country were introduced by
Mary Stevens who resided on the Slatio at a festival held at the Popple school.
They were such a treat everyone wanted some plants to get a start for their
gardens.
Children liked to play hooky from Sunday school and go swimming in the spring.
One Sunday morning, two Zimmer boys and two Pfiefer boys went down through the
Slater 40 back of the school and on to the river. The river was high. Two
Pfiefer's and one Zimmer jumped in but Charles Zimmer was afraid and stayed on
the bank. All three drowned. Charles came home and it was dinner time. His folks
asked him where his brother was. The Pfiefer's were wondering where their boys
were. Finally after dinner, Charles told them the boys went swimming and didn't
come out. Their folks had to get help from the neighbors. William lived just
across the road from Zimmer's. He and some others went down and found the
drowned boys and brought them home. They are buried in Crowder's Cemetery about
two miles from Popple School.
Sangamo Town was located about one-half mile northeast of Popple School. It was
a short lived town but was going strong in the 1830's. There was a grist mill
still operating on the river below Sangamo Town and William Kern took grain to
be made into meal and flour. When it closed down, he took this grain to Koke
Mill on Spring Creek west of Springfield.
In the 1870's, William married Lottie Lacy. William's father died in 1877. He is
buried in Crowder's Cemetery. A daughter was born to William and Lottie in 1876
and they named her Ruth. William was farming the home place at the time. Butch,
or William the second, was born in 1878 and farming was going on as usual for
the Kern's. The Pfiefer's to the east and Popple's and Zimmer's were becoming
brother and sister in-laws and getting the itch to move to Nebraska. Finally,
two couples left and homesteaded 160 acres each and started farming there. They
built soddies to live in and did well farming the new land. They kept in touch
by writing the Kern's and telling them they ought to come out to Nebraska to
farm. In the month of August in 1882 after William had his crop tended and hay
stacked, he loaded a wagon with supplies and a shotgun, dog, plow, his six year
old daughter Ruth, and four horses and took off for Nebraska. There were no
roads most of the way; just a trail, notched trees, wagon tracks, and such. They
had to ford creeks and small rivers but the large rivers had ferries to take
them across. He took his dog to guard the horses at night as they slept. There
were horse thieves as well as robbers in those days. They would have to make
camp in evening to cook a meal. They had salt pork, meal, and flour to make
bread or pancakes. If they were near a stream, they would have fish or any game
that was handy. They must have traveled over a month when they arrived at their
destination. The Harrison's and Popple's told them not to build a sod house then
but to get to plowing and get some wheat in before winter. They said they could
stay with them. They did just that and when the wheat was in they helped him
build a soddie. When spring came, he wrote for his wife Lottie to come and bring
Butch, who was four years old. They came on the train as far as Omaha. Then they
had to travel by wagon the next 100 miles west of Omaha. William plowed all the
next spring and put in a large crop of corn for those days. It grew well and the
wheat was a bumper crop. Lottie didn't like the new country. The wind blew all
the time, no trees, neighbors miles apart, and just too lonesome. In the spring,
the ducks and geese blackened the sky flying; sometimes head high. Lottie would
go out with a broom and swat at them. There was not fire wood -- they had to use
buffalo chips for fuel. In summer, they had trouble with snakes getting in the
soddies. Lottie stayed only a few months and the neighbor took her and the
children to the train and they went home. William sold his crops in the field,
loaded up his wagon, and came home. He said he made more money making that trip
to Nebraska and back and farming there than he ever made before.
As William came down the road from Nebraska, all the help saw him coming and
said: "Here comes Bill back." He didn't have a farm now as George had
rented the home place because he thought William would stay in Nebraska. So
William bought a farm across the Sangamon of 140 acres. It was near the Central
Point school. He farmed there several years. Ruth and Butch went to Central
Point School. William finally bought the home place and moved back but still
farmed the farm across the river. He had to ford the river below Sangamo Town if
the river was low; if not, he had to cross down at the Irwin bridge. There was a
lot of walking across country in those days. In summer on Sunday morning, he
would do his chores at home, get a pail of salt and a fishing pole, and walk to
the farm across the river and salt the cattle. On the way back, he would fish a
while and bring a mess of fish home for dinner. They had to walk over to the
Cross Plains post office once a week for their mail. Paper was scarce in those
days. They read it over and over, then papered the house inside with it. It
helped keep the draft out.
There were plenty of visitors at the Kern residence. They must have kept a full
pantry. The Cox's (James and Sarah) lived down the creek in a log house. The
Mister worked by the month for a neighbor. They were poor people and had a hard
time making a living. The mother would gather her baby and a small boy and would
come to William's house before they would be up in the morning and start doing
household chores just for something to eat. She would make a place for the kids
to sleep on the floor in the corner of the kitchen. She would help do the
washing, help get the meals, and keep the fires going. Herbert Schlicht was
another boarder. He didn't like it at home because his dad wouldn't pay him.
William would give him some spending money for helping once in a while.
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