ROMANCE AND HISTORY.
At a little country store down in Indiana where the settlers usually
gathered to read the weekly newspaper, William Munson, a young man
who was born in New York, first heard of the Hall girls and their
wonderful adventure. He was in the west seeking his fortune, and, being
an admirer of the brave and full of youthful fire, he remarked to the
people that he would some day marry one of those girls. His nearest
friends did not take him seriously, and the matter as a passing joke
was soon forgotten. However, with him it became a fixed idea, and in
the spring of 1833 he went to Illinois and took up a land claim in the
neighborhood where John W. Hall lived.
Every good woman is not satisfied until she has a home of her own. This
natural longing was particularly strong in the minds of the Hall girls,
whose home had been destroyed.
[Illustration: WILLIAM MUNSON.]
There is no record of how William Munson first met Rachel Hall, but
our information shows that their courtship was short; for in March,
1833, they were united in marriage, and shortly afterwards they settled
down on the land claim entered by her father, about a mile and a half
east of the scene of the massacre. They were thrifty and got along
splendidly, becoming one of the foremost families of La Salle County.
Besides the rich abundance of worldly goods, they were blessed with
a large family of whom four died in their infancy. As there was no
cemetery, the little ones were buried in the garden. Of the other
children who grew up to manhood and womanhood, several became very
prominent and their generations became numerous. Their four daughters
were married as follows: Irena, to Dr. George Vance, who moved to
California; A. Miranda, to Samuel Dunavan, who settled on a farm just
north of the Munson homestead, where she still lives; Fidelia, to
George Shaver, and Phoebe M., to John F. Reed, of Ottawa. Mr. Reed’s
daughter Fannie was married to James H. Eckles who was Comptroller
of the Currency under Cleveland; and Mr. Reed’s daughter Winnie is
married to Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, of Chicago. Mrs. Munson
left three sons: William, Louis and Elliot, and through them several
grand-children.
[Illustration: MRS. RACHEL HALL MUNSON, AGED 42, AND YOUNGEST SON
ELLIOT.]
Edward Vance, a grand-son of Mrs. Munson, is a well-known lawyer in
South Dakota, and Douglas Dunavan is a prominent lawyer at Ottawa,
Illinois. We shall not attempt to give sketches of the various
descendants of Mrs. Munson, as it would expand too much the limits of
this volume.
The shock of the massacre and subsequent captivity impaired the
splendid constitution of Mrs. Munson, who thereafter suffered from
nervousness; but through the earlier part of her life, she manifested
unusual vigor. As Mrs. Munson passed middle life she failed rapidly,
and on May 1, 1870, she closed her earthly career and was laid to rest
in the garden beside her infant children who had gone before her, and
when Mr. Munson died he was interred beside his faithful wife. Their
graves are about one and one-half miles east of Shabona Park, on the
original Hall homestead.
[Illustration: BURIAL PLACE OF RACHEL AND HUSBAND.]
Incidentally, we noted the fact that for a short spell the Hall girls
made their home at the residence of Rev. Robert Horn. He had a young
son, William S., who was studying for the ministry, and as both
belonged to the same church (Methodist) and were born in Kentucky,
we cannot say that the unexpected happened. He was one year younger
than Sylvia. The love story of these young people would gratify any
novel writer. When Sylvia left with her sister to make her home with
her brother John, she and Mr. Horn looked upon each other with great
affection. The marriage of Rachel emphasized the yearnings of Sylvia
for her own home, and May 5, 1833, she was married to Mr. Horn and
settled in Cass County, Illinois. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Horn,
eleven children. Mr. Horn’s vocation called him from one place to
another. Having served in the ministry in Illinois, he first went to
Missouri, thence to Peru, Nebraska, next to a parish near Lincoln, and
finally settled down at Auburn, Nemaha County, Nebraska, where he died
May 8, 1888, leaving him surviving, his widow, Mrs. Sylvia Hall Horn,
and several children and grand-children.
Mr. Horn became an elder of the M. E. Episcopal church, and held
several high church offices. Elder Horn was noted for his intense
religious zeal, and, figuratively speaking, he died in the harness of
exhaustion and old age. He was buried in Mt. Vernon Cemetery, Peru,
Nebraska.
After the death of Elder Horn, Mrs. Sylvia Hall Horn made her home with
her son, Thomas S. Horn, in Auburn, Nebraska, where she died January
11, 1899, aged 85 years, 10 months and 16 days. Mrs. Horn was buried
beside her husband with whom she had happily lived for 55 years. She
left surviving her a host of descendants.
[Illustration: MRS SYLVIA HALL HORN AND ELDER HORN.]
In the fall of 1867, John W. Hall, Mrs. Munson, and her husband, made
a visit to Elder Horn’s, Auburn, Nebraska, during which Mr. Hall and
his sisters narrated the incidents of the massacre and captivity, which
were reduced to writing by the Elder and published. The manuscripts
are now in the custody of Mrs. Eckels of Chicago. In his statement Mr.
Hall says: “After thirty-five years of toil have passed over my head
since the memorable occasion, my memory is in some things rather dim.”
Mrs. Munson and Mrs. Horn close their recital as follows: “Thus we have
given the circumstances of our captivity and the rescue as nearly as we
can recollect at this date, September 7, 1867.” The former published
statements of the ladies substantially agree with this last one. All
their statements and public interviews have been freely used and
completely worked into this narrative.[41]
[41] 3 Smith’s “History of Wisconsin” (1854), 187; “The Black Hawk War”
(Stevens), 150.
In 1833 the state of Illinois donated to Mrs. Munson and Mrs. Horn,
160 acres of land that the United States had given to the state towards
the construction of the canal between Chicago and Ottawa. At that time
the land was not valuable, and netted but a small sum to the ladies.
Now that land is within the city of Joliet and is worth considerable
money.
[Illustration: THREE GENERATIONS OF RACHEL.
1, Mrs. Dunavan (daughter); 3, Mrs. Hum, 4, Mrs. Watts and 8, Mrs.
Rogers (grand-daughters); 5, Howard and 6, Gladys Hum and 7, Baby Watts
(great-grandchildren); 2, Samuel Dunavan (son-in-law).]
It has been asserted--and published in books, that Congress voted gifts
of money to the girls; but in answer to an inquiry made at the United
States Treasury, the author was informed that no such appropriation
has ever been made, and Mrs. Dunavan says that she never knew of her
mother’s receiving any money from the government.
In 1877 Mr. Munson erected a very handsome monument on the spot where
his wife’s parents and the others who died with them were buried. It is
a graceful shaft.
In 1905, through the efforts of friends of the persons who were
massacred at Indian Creek on May 21st, 1832, the Illinois legislature
appropriated the sum of five thousand dollars to place a monument at
the grave where the victims were buried.[42] On August 29, 1906, the
new monument was dedicated with much ceremony, music and orations.
Among the speakers were the venerable Hon. John W. Henderson and
his brother, Gen. T. J. Henderson, who were boys at the time that
the massacre occurred, the former being one of the persons who were
planting corn south of the Davis cottage on that day, and who with John
W. Hall escaped to Ottawa.
[42] Laws of Illinois, 1905, p. 42.
A full account of the dedication will be found in the newspapers and in
the records of the Illinois Historical Society.[43]
[43] “Ottawa Journal,” August 30, 1906; “Bureau County Republican,”
August 30, 1906; XII., “Transactions of the Illinois State Historical
Society,” p. 339.