Abraham W. Carlock

As printed in 1874

Abraham W. Carlock was born April 7, 1800, in Hampshire County, West Virginia, near the west branch of the Potomac River. His paternal grandfather emigrated to this country from Germany, and settled in Virginia shortly before the outbreak of the Revolutionary war. During the war he was a soldier in the Continental army. Shortly after Abraham's birth his father moved to Overton County, Tennessee, about fifteen miles from Livingston, the county seat, on the Obey River. Here he began farming on a small scale, and hunting on a large scale. Young Abraham was then quite a rambler. His son, W. B. Carlock, says of him: "He busied himself in rambling over the mountains, hills and valleys, gathering chestnuts, chincapins, blackberries and whortleberries, and chasing squirrels and ground hogs (woodchucks)." If he did all of that in one day, it certainly must have kept him quite busy. But it seems that the big game was left for Abraham's father, for the same good authority says; "There were a great many bear in the country at that time, but that sort of game was left for the old gentleman to attend to, and it is safe to say that bear meat was no rarity in the old man's family." Abraham Carlock was a good, industrious boy, and did not neglect his "chores." He "tended" the m'lean county. 839 farm well, and raised corn, tobacco and sweet potatoes. He raised pork, too, for the Southern market, though his pigs had a bad habit of running wild and becoming, as his son says, "as wild as the wildest deer." At the age of twenty-four Abraham was married to Mary Goodpasture, and in his subsequent prosperity he might exclaim:

" She has my faithful shepherd been, In pastures good hath led me."

In the spring of 1827 Abraham Oarlock, with his wife and two children moved to Morgan County, Illinois. They walked nearly the whole distance. After remaining there three or four years he moved to Dry Grove, McLean County, and in 1836 he moved to White Oak Grove. At White Oak Grove his boys caught many prairie chickens close to his house, even within thirty yards of his door. Sometimes they would catch twenty or thirty in a trap. They were dried and hung on strings to be preserved. Shortly after the Black Hawk war he traveled over the northern part of the State, and especially over the Fox River country, to find land to purchase. While on his travels he met the old Indian chief, Shabbona, who lived on Fox River at the grove which bears his name. This chief had been a warm friend to the whites through good and evil report, and saved many lives during the Indian troubles in early days, by warning settlers of approaching danger.

In the fall of 1833 occurred the celebrated phenomena called the falling of the meteors. Mr. Carlock was at that time in the Fox River country, and the meteors fell at all points of the compass, and lit up the whole heavens. Of course this phenomena alarmed the superstitious, as such things always do, and many people thought the millenium was surely at hand.

In 1836 he sold his property at Dry Grove, and moved to White Oak Grove. His land at White Oak Grove lies partly in McLean and partly in Woodford County. His house stands about one hundred yards outside of the line of McLean County. Nevertheless he considers himself a McLean County man, as nearly all his interests are connected vith it. Mr. Carlock and his careful wife have been blessed with twelve children. Ten of these grew to manhood and womanhood, and eight are now living:.

Old Mr. Oarlock will be seventy-five years of age on the seventh of April next. He is nearly six feet in height, has round shoulders, a fair complexion and a strong constitution. His hair is perfectly white. He is very active, full of life and humor, and does as much work as any hand on the farm. He is a great hunter, and has been known to kill three or four deer in a single day. He is now worth about one hundred thousand dollars, and has fairly earned it by patient toil and strict economy. He has about one thousand acres of choice land, finely improved and under good cultivation. The old gentleman is jovial, kindhearted and hospitable by nature, and has a great many friends. In politics he is an uncompromising Democrat, one of the strictest kind. There is no milk and sugar about it; he takes his Democracy clear. He cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson, and his last for Horace Greeley, because Mr. Greeley was nominated at Baltimore. He is such a staunch, uncompromising- Democrat that many people who are unacquainted with his name know him as the "Old Democrat," and his son says his paper would pass current if signed with that soubriquet.

In religion Mr. Oarlock is a Universalist. His son says he has "read the scriptures strenuously,'' and believes in the salvation of all mankind. If a traveling minister of any denomination comes along, Mr. Oarlock will entertain him most hospitable, but will probably make him sit up until two o'clock in the morning to discuss doctrinal points. He is full of eccentricities. In the presence of his children he pleads great poverty, in order to induce them to study economy. He was never known to make a visit, in the strict sense of the word. He is very much attached to his home, and never gets into debt, and it would be well if people generally had these eccentricities. He has never ridden in a railroad car, a steamboat or even an omnibus.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

As printed in The good old times in McLean County, Illinois / containing two hundred and sixty-one sketches of old settlers, a complete historical sketch of the Black Hawk War and ... all matters of interest relate (1874). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.