| 27 | The Zearing Family | 27 |
the luscious fruits and foliage display, in lavish profusion, the varied tints and hues of the rainbow. When far remote, oft at eve, has my heart appeared to have journeyed thitherward without me, leaving a solemn silence to mantle the clouding forest and casting deep slumber out afar on the wide spread prairie land.”
The quotation was copied as it appeared in Judge Zearing's letter. We might conclude that he became homesick when he thought of Harrisburg.
I would like to acknowledge at this time the excellent help received from Margaret Cameron, retired, University of Chicago library staff. Also the help given by Julia Tulpin, research specialist, of Springfield, Illinois. Without their help the story of Judge William Mitchell Zearing would not have been complete.
In September, 1953, I visited Bureau county, Illinois. I was accompanied by my wife, Emetic Hanson Grimm. Also by Alice Wick Platts and Vincent Platts of Steamboat Rock, Iowa.
We visited Dover and Zearing, Illinois. We were invited to the home of Robert Zearing, banker, at Princeton, Illinois. Robert showed us some of the places prominent in Zearing family history. We drove to Oakland Cemetery to verify from the tombstone that the W. M. Zearing buried there was Judge William Mitchell Zearing. We also had the pleasure of meeting Judge Louis A. Zearing of Princeton.
Luelja Zearing Gross stated in her family history that John Zearing served during the War of 1812. He served in the regiment commanded by Colonel Kennedy of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The regiment marched to Baltimore, Maryland, to defend the city. The enemy attack was launched in September, 1814.
It is possible that John Zearing took part in the battle that inspired the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. We do not state this as a fact. Because the matter is not a part of our local history we have not checked on it. According to Luelja, the Dover Cemetery has one marker of the War of 1812. It is at the head stone of John Zearing.
The Zearing family owned land in Lincoln township because of the fact that John Zearing served in the War of 1812. Military warrants were issued by the government covering 120 acres in Iowa, and forty acres in Illinois. The Iowa land was located in Lincoln township, Story county, Iowa. It consisted of the E½ of the SE¼ of Section 9. Also the NW¼ of the SE¼ of Section 9.
After the death of John Zearing, his wife, Margaretta Herman Zearing, owned the land in Lincoln township. Judge William M. Zearing acquired the land from his mother in the late 1850's. He owned the land until his death in 1899.
No one from the Zearing family lived on the land in Lincoln township at any time.