Winter Wonderland
By Myra Vanderpool Gormley © 2018
Sometimes I wonder about some of my ancestors. I mean, really.
Whatever possessed a man, who apparently had a comfortable life with hundreds of acres, horses, mules, and cattle, and a large family nearby, to pull up stakes in Rowan County, North Carolina and at age 73 go to Union County, Illinois — more than 600 miles away?
Not only did he, his wife and most of their family make the move — but they did it in the winter.
What were they thinking?
Jacob Fricks, of Germanic-Swiss ancestry, was born about 1750 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. A first-generation American, he served during the Revolutionary War in North Carolina; married in 1788 to Eva Elizabeth Earnhardt, also a first-generation American of Germanic heritage. They prospered in Rowan County, North Carolina where they raised a large family. Paul, their youngest of 12 children, was born in 1816.
So how do I know they made the move from North Carolina to Illinois in the winter?
From the obituary of their youngest child who died in 1897. It reads:
Jacob Frick was born in Pennsylvania and married in Rowan County, North Carolina to Elizabeth Earnhart [sic]. They had 12 children, of whom Paul Frick was the youngest. Jacob was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and came to Union County [Illinois] Christmas Day, 1823.
I think the least they could have done is to have left a written report explaining why the move and a record of how high the snow drifts were.
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