In November 1860, just a few months after the Cheneys arrived in Christian County, Abraham Lincoln from neighboring Sangamon County, Illinois was elected president. That caused seven Southern states to secede from the Union. They formed the Confederate States of America.
The Confederate army attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor on April 12, 1861, igniting the start of the Civil War.
Continue readingIn 1859, after decades of circuit riding, Shadrach Cheney hung up his saddlebags and headed west. The destination: Christian County, Illinois. With seven of their twelve children still at home, Shadrach and Mary Cheney joined a growing network of their family already rooted in the prairie.
In 1837, after eight years at home, Shadrach Cheney felt the call once more. He had resigned from itinerant ministry in 1829 to raise a growing family with Mary Taylor Squires in Salt Lick Bridge, (West) Virginia.
But the pulpit beckoned again—and this time, it would take Shadrach and his family on a 22-year journey across the rugged circuits of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
In the early 1800s, amid the hills and hollows of Lewis County, (West) Virginia, Mary Taylor Squires was born into a world of rugged terrain and deep faith. The daughter of Asa Squires and Sarah Eastep, Mary grew up along Salt Lick Creek, where her family helped build one of the region’s earliest Methodist meeting houses.
It was here, in the shadow of campfires and sermons, that she met a young circuit rider named Shadrach Cheney.
Family Nibbles 