Two daughters were born to Charles Dana and Mary Merriam Whipple
Monroe, namely, Mary Augusta, the subject of this sketch, and Lucy
Annette. Their birthplace was Grafton, Mass. Mrs. Ibbetson was born
April 9, 1845. Her father was a druggist at Grafton and he died when
Mrs. Ibbetson was four years of age. The mother with the two daughters,
decided to move West about 1850. She had two brothers, Josiah Whipple,
of Chesterfield, and Perley Whipple, of Alton. Mrs. Monroe made the long
journey by rail to Lake Erie, then to Chicago and down to Alton by
water. Arriving in Alton, they remained about two years, then moving to
Chesterfield, where Mrs. Monroe married Judge Z. B. Lawson. Mrs.
Ibbetson was educated at Greenwood Academy, a select school for girls
maintained at Chesterfield by Miss Matilda Williams. She finished her
education with two years at Mt. Holyoke College, at South Hadley, Mass.
Returning to Chesterfield she taught for one year in the
Chesterfield school. October 24, 1866, she was united in marriage with
William H. H. (Tip) Ibbetson, of Chesterfield. He was a veteran of the
civil war and served in Company D, 122d Illinois infantry. They resided
at the old homestead four miles west of Chesterfield until 1882 when
they moved to Carlinville to the Weer property on East Main street. Mr.
Ibbetson engaged in the grocery business on the south side of the
square. He died in 1883, at the age of 43 years. To their union were
born the following children, and at the time of the death of the father,
the eldest was 16 and the youngest about one year of age: Harry Monroe,
deceased; Marie Annette Goldsborough, of San Antonio, Texas; Robert
Edwin, Los Angeles, Calif.; Clara Ann Palmer, who died in Carlinville
May 11, 1934; Ernest Albert, now mayor of Carlinville; Mabel Augusta
Schuele, of Carlinville; William Henry Harrison, of Los Angeles, Calif.
Harry Monroe died Oct. 9, 1899. Left with this large family Mrs.
Ibbetson reared them to manhood and womanhood, displaying courage and
fortitude which deserves the greatest praise.
It does not fall
to the lot of many women, or men either, to have lived through such
marvelous changes as have taken place in our country, as Mrs. Ibbetson
has witnessed. She recalls the days of the tallow candle and remembers
quite well the first coal oil lamp in Chesterfield, at the home of her
uncle, Josiah Whipple. And Mrs. Ibbetson remembers vividly the days
before and during the civil war. Before the war, runaway slaves were
passed through Chesterfield on their way to Carlinville via the
underground railway and thence to Canada, where freedom could be found.
Josiah Whipple was one of the main men in the traffic to free the
slaves. Meals were cooked and mysteriously taken away and no questions
asked. The negroes were placed under straw in wagons and brought through
at night. The Carlinville station was located on what was once known as
the Braley property on East Main street. The house was destroyed by fire
a number of years ago.
None in Carlinville is more loved by her
children and revered by her many friends than Mrs. Ibbetson. She has
lived a long and useful life. All who know her congratulate her. Mrs.
Ibbetson has a sister, Mrs. Annette Loomis, residing at Centerville,
Cape Cod, Mass.
Extracted 15 Dec 2018 by Norma Hass from History of a Famous Courthouse, by W. B. Brown, published in 1934, page 42.
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