THE FREMONT COUNTY HERALD
November 27, 1902
AN OLD PIONEER. Uncle Jeff Lacy Contributes a
few incidents of Early Life. A Continuous Resident of Fremont
County for 51 years
At this time much attention is given to the pioneers of Fremont
county and, justly too, for they deserve a favored place in the
galaxy of citizenship. It was our good fortune to meet one of
these and in reply to a question propounded he voluntarily gave
us some bits of history which was indeed of the utmost
interest--much more so when spoken than to be read in cold print.
Born in Christian county, KY., July 15, 1823, and at the age of
five years the family moved to Adams county, Illinois, near where
the city of Quincy is now located. To an ordinary man that would
have been far enough from the portals of civilization as there
was no Quincy and the western portion of the state of Illinois
was sparsely settled. Not being content with surroundings in
Illinois, George Lacy, father of our subject, J. D. Lacy,
resolved to more fully distinguish himself as a frontiersman,
came to Fremont county in 1846 and abode for two years with the
Pottawattamie Indians who held this section of country as a
reservation and who also had a village northwest of here a few
rods from where the residence of D. J. McDaniel now stands.
J. D. Lacy first came to this county in November 1851, then
returned to Adams county, Illinois, and brought his family
arriving here March 6, 1852. He pre-empted a quarter of land,
built a log cabin 14x14 feet in size and for four years lived
happily in this mansion of the forest. In 1853, George Lacy, Sr.,
John Trewett, Sr., and J. D. Lacy drove to Canesville, (now
Council Bluffs) and proved up on their pre-emted land paying the
government price of $1.25 per acre. He stated that the government
building at Canesville was indeed a rude building and, also, that
they could not find lodging in town and were compelled to camp
out on the bank of Mosquito Creek. From Mr. Lacy's home the
nearest mill was at Coonsville (now Glenwood) a distance of at
least twenty five miles with only one stopping place and that was
at the Gaylord stage station three miles south of where Tabor now
is which was about six miles from his home. He stated that in
1848 the Indians indulged in a big hunt and set the prairie grass
on fire which swept over the whole country destroying everything
in its path--even the timber so when he began improving his farm
he had nothing to contend with except a small growth of
underbrush some two feet high. At that time he could not realize
that within a half century this wild unsettled country which then
belonged largely to the Indians and infested with wolves, could
be brought under such a high state of cultivation as now exists
and the same land selling form $80 to $100 per acre. He related
some amusing incidents that he was reminded of, and some of a
more pathetic nature, but the serious thought came when he spoke
of his old, old companions as having one by one gone on before.
He cast his first vote for Clay in 1844, then for Taylor in 1848,
then for Scott in 1852, then for Fremont in 1856. Since Lincoln's
election in 1860 he has affiliated with the republican party, but
the most remarkable thing is he has not missed an election
neither national, state nor county, for fifty years. In 1863 he
sold his farm in the Lacy Grove district, to John Jackson, and
moved to Sidney where he has since lived. The almost eighty years
that have come and gone have not dealt with him harshly for he
has retained his faculties to a remarkable degree; his step is
not as elastic as it was when he contested with the Indians in a
chase for game in the long ago, but it is the wish of a host of
friends that the brittle thread of life may be lengthened for
many years to come.
Twenty Years Service
In conversation with James Fletcher he informed us that his
services as sexton of the Sidney cemetery covered a period of
twenty years. One 5th of a century has elapsed since he began the
responsible duty of preparing a place for the reception of the
dead with as simple an instrument as a spade, and during this
time he has been called upon to perform his part in hundred of
cases where both great and small, old and young, rich and poor,
have entered the Silent City. He has been faithful to the trust
imposed in him in caring for the details that come to a person
holding such positions.