Read, Elizabeth (Wilkes) 1795 - 1867

READ, WILKES, REED

Posted By: Audrey Haught, volunteer
Date: 6/16/2015 at 21:28:32

Mrs. Elizabeth Reed*, an old resident of Garnavillo, the wife of the late Captain. R.R. Reed, died at that place on the 20th of October, 1867, aged 72 years. She had lived a long and useful life, and died respected and beloved in a community where she had lived for a quarter of a century.

Clayton County Journal (forgot to record the issue date)

*Read

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Added by S. Ferrall 7/23/2022:

It is seldom we are called upon to mourn for one more respected, more beloved by all who knew her, than we are in this instance. Her long residence among us, her extensive acquaintance, her respectable connections, and above all, her good and noble life, calls from me more than a passing tribute.

Men die, and the historian records their deeds in living words, which pass down the pathway of futurity, exciting either the wonder or the admiration of generations yet to come.

But women, calm, silent, patient and devoted in their sphere of action, pass thro' life with all its varied trials, achieving deeds of holy greatness, over difficulties which would make the stoutest heart of man shudder, and then after a finished life, sink into a silent grave without a word or a whisper from those they have left behind them, to connect their name with posterity.

Kind, loving, virtuous and noble Woman, thy sphere is above the ground; thy deeds are more than heroic, and thy devotedness is beyond the sublime. Nor has the world ever yet, by pen or pencil, justly thrown thy pictured life upon either curtain or canvass.

From the cradle to the grave thine is a holy mission. It is thine to tutor the youthful mind, and fit it to play its part in the great drama of life. It is thine to help the little ones in their griefs, to wipe away their tears and offer consolation.

Thine to watch over youth from infancy to manhood, instilling into their minds those principles and precepts of virtue by which alone they become honorable to themselves and ornaments to society.

It is thine to soothe the rugged paths of life, and when these become weary, to cheer us onward to deeds of daring and virtue.

The first at the bedside of sickness and the last to leave it; and it is thine to adjust the pillows and calm the weary spirit as it wings its way to a brighter land; and when thy own life is finished, when thy mission is ended and thy last admonition is given, to calmly, silently lie down and die.

If beyond this life there is another where we shall meet, surely thou shalt there have the reward, and if there is none, thou hast done thy part here, and made the most of a life of care and duty.

The venerable woman who is the subject of this sketch, was born in England in 1795, and it was there that she spent her youthful days, and grew up to womanhood. Under the care of tender and devoted parents she received a most excellent education which enabled her in after years to become a shining ornament in society.

Her father's name was Wilkes, and belonged to one of those ancient families, who, in the days of Cromwell, several times made not only England but Europe tremble in the cause of liberty and reform, and from whose valor we are to-day indebted for many of the blessings we enjoy. The historian cannot fail to trace a chain of circumstances, even down to our own time, connected, link by link, from the great uprising in England, by which Charles the First lost both his head and his crown, to that of the American Revolution.

In her youthful days, as she often informed the author of this, she would listen to the strange adventurer from the shores of the new world relate his thrilling stories of Border life, of hair-breadth escapes, romantic scenery, habits and customs of the Red men, lofty mountains and majestic rivers, woody vales and flowery plains, until her youthful mind itself became imbued with the same wild spirit of adventure, and, like many females of our own day who forsake kindred and friends, and traverse sandy deserts beneath an African sun, she sailed upon the broad ocean and landed in America in the year 1818.

To the West, to the land of the Sun-down, this heroic woman directed her way, and soon after she landed she made up her mind to cross the Alleghanies and settle on the banks of the Ohio. At this time no railroads traversed the broad continent as they do now. The steamer had scarcely begun to plow the rippled waves of western waters. The four-horse covered wagon was the car, and the keel-boat the steamer, and the road from Philadelphia to the Ohio would its way over lofty mountains and through dangerous defiles, but still she pushed on and arrived at Pittsburg.

Here she embarked in a keel-boat for Cincinnati where she proposed to make her future home. Cincinnati at this time was a frontier village, and Ohio from the borders of Virginia to the Wabash was almost a wilderness. The savage still held the largest portion of the State, and lurked in ambush on the banks of its rivers to gloat his vengeance upon those, who, only three years before had punished him severely at Brownstown and the Thames.

She remained but a short time in Cincinnati, for we again find her on the emigrant wagon threading her way through dark and tangled forests, amid the swamps and marshes of the muddy Wabash. Fearless and undaunted, this matchless woman, with almost the courage of Boone, traversed the whole state of Indiana with a few companions, and "pitched her tent" upon the blooming and smiling prairies of Illinois, "a scout from civilization's onward line sent out to inspect the forest's savage camp."

Here, at the little settlement of Carlisle, she met for the first time Robert R. Read, whose memory is still dear to those who knew him best, and who will never be forgotten by Clayton County while her present records last.

Their kindness, their sociability, their common nativity, their romantic adventures, drew them closer and closer together until this friendship and kindness ripened into affection and love, and they were married soon after her arrival.

Fit companions for the long journey of life; fit companions to travel over trackless waters and thread the windings of an Indian trail; fit companions to pioneer together the wilds of a new country, and dispute with the savage the land which he had inherited from his father.

Even death could not separate them and side by side they sleep their last sleep on the "prairie's wide breast," on the soil they had jointly contributed to rescue from the grasp of the Red man.

In some of his early adventures about Vincennes he had found a boon companion, one as restless and daring as himself; full of romance, and restless even under the restraint of a little frontier settlement, brave, daring, and ready for any enterprise that promised adventure. A lasting friendship sprung up between them which ended only with their lives. They met and talked together of the excitement of the chase, of the deer, the elk and the buffalo.

They both longed to tread where white man never trod before, and no sooner was the resolution formed than they placed their little families upon a keel boat, and, with their strong arms at the setting pole, day after day did they propel their little craft for more than five hundred miles up the Mississippi river, landing at Galena, then a collection of a few huts upon the banks of Fever river.

Not content where even this faint semblance of cizilization [sic] appeared, they pushed onward to the blooming prairies of what is now called Wisconsin, and here together they built their rude cabins resolved to live and die in their defence [sic].

They were not destined to enjoy even these rude cabins in peace, for Black Hawk and his warriors were upon the war-path resolved to drive every white man from the country. Already he had desolated the homes of the hunters and trappers, and his braves were sparing neither age nor sex. A cruel war was upon them, and like brave men they resolved to fight it out. They placed their families in a fort which they hurriedly built, seized the sword and the rifle and repaired to the field of danger. Side by side did these two men fight for their homes, their families, and their country. Nor did they rest until that brave and haughty Indian was driven from the country.

This companion was none other than the late Hon. Henry Dodge, who afterwards became Governor of the land he had conquered, and for many years filled an honorable position in the United States Senate. There is a history connected with these border wars which will never be written. No pen can do it justice, and romance and fiction become stale and feeble when compared with truth and reality.

It was during this war and service, pent up in a log fort that this fearless woman showed her courage. She seemed almost its commander, for in the absence of her husband, she infused, by her actions, courage and daring into its defenders, and her lovely and cheerful disposition chased away the dark hours of a more than captivity.

Peace once more dawned over the wilds of the South and West; the Indians were scattered and humbled, their brave leader was a prisoner, by order of Gen. Jackson, at Fort Monroe, and the western sun once again smiled over broad lands soon to become the abodes of cizilized [sic] life, converting even the most unpromising spots into fields of waving grain and fertile gardens.

No sooner had civilization begun to grown up around them than, we again find this restless couple, begin to grow uneasy, and with a natural accord they "knock the prop from out the cabin roof," shoulder their little all, "push their canoe from shore," and with their little family "glide o'er the silent waters out of sight."

In the year 1838, they halted upon the beautiful prairie about five miles south of Garnavillo, and here they reared up their children and made for themselves a lovely home. To their dwelling the weary hunter and way-worn traveler repaired to seek shelter from the storm and appease his hunger. The latch string was never pulled in, and a hearty welcome awaited the adventurer at their fireside. Their social qualities were such that the author of this, has often, while enjoying their hospitalities, listened to the recitals of different ancedotes [sic] related by both at the same time, and laughed first for one and then for the other.

Her husband being elected by the people of Clayton County to a responsible office, he left his farm in charge of his son and moved to Garnavillo. Here they lived for many years, he being elected again and again to any office that he chose in the county.

Worn out at last, and having lived to a good old age, this noble man, and kind philanthopist [sic], left her and his many friends, for, I trust, a higher and happier sphere. Her affection for him was the most sincere and religious devotion. Companions in their early days, they strove to comfort and solace the declining years of each other, and for nearly half a century they braved the vicissitudes of life together.

She could not long survive him, and after a good long life, she calmly laid her head upon her pillow, gave a last parting blessing to human kind, and while her lips were articulating the last words, her gentle spirit passed away to meet, as she often said, her Robin in eternal bliss.

Farewell good and noble woman! I have complied with thy dying request; I have performed a painful duty; I have paid this little tribute to thy memory, and I should be wanting in every sense of duty did I not drop a tear of sorrow for one who had been for many long years my kind friend and generous benefactor. S.M.

~North Iowa Times, Wednesday, November 20, 1867; pg 1

Note: Although the transcriber of this long obituary & tribute to Mrs. Read can't be certain, I believe the initials of the author "S.M.", are those of Samuel Murdock.