See - Brasel

HENRY SEE (1822-1863) SON OF MICHAEL SEE III

Henry See, son of Michael See III (1785-1827) and Nancy Greenlee (1794-1871), was born February 27, 1822 in Mason County, Virginia. He came to Marion County, Illinois with his mother and two brothers Frederick and Michael IV. On July 21 1850 Henry married Judith Allmon (1828-1890), daughter of Thomas and Sarah Wilkenson Allmon.

Thomas Allmon came to Marion County, Illinois from Tennessee, settled five miles north of Salem. His wife was said to have been of Portuguese descent. The story goes that the people at home in Tennessee received glowing accounts of the fine country here in Illinois and the plentiful game which abounded but were skeptical of such reports. One old man said, "Well when Tommy writes back about the country we will get the truth." Soon Tommy wrote telling how many deer could be seen grazing from the Hartland hill near where he had settled. But the old fellow shook his head and said, "Oh, he's just like all the rest now that he's moved out there."

The story of Grandmother Allmon's nationality as remembered by her grandson, Michael Henry See, is that on one occasion when she told of her Portuguese origin, a tipsy fellow over hearing the statement exclaimed, "A Ginni-gee by Gar." It is believed that she came from Pennsylvania, and it is established that she spoke with an accent of some sort. She and Thomas had a family of 15 children.

Grandfather brought a seedling peach with him from Tennessee. It was a large white cling, which became known as the Allmon peach. Later nursery men tried to cross it with other varieties in order to get some color to it, but only succeeding in adding a faint pink, and we now know it as the Heath Cling. Many people set out the peach, and Grandmother Judy See had several trees, selling the fruit for as much as $3.00 a bushel - not long after the Civil War - also getting the same price for a bushel of black cherries.

Thomas Allmon had a horse mill where people brought corn to be ground. Uncle Thomas Smith of the Omega vicinity told of taking a grist to Allmon's mill but was too late to get it ground that day, so many others were ahead of him. He had to stay overnight. The next morning early, Grandfather called to the boys, "Hiram." "Yes, sir," responded Hiram instantly, and sprang out of bed, at once one after another, the other boys' feet hit the floor; without a word all dressed and left for the barn and the chores, and were seen no more until breakfast.

The family also had a lathe for wood turning and the boys made much of their furniture when they started their homes. Grandmother Allmon spent her last years with her son, Jackson. One morning at breakfast as she was drinking a cup of coffee she was stricken with a stroke, but lived for a year, a bedridden invalid. Her daughter, Judith See, tried to drive over to see her every month and Uncle Jack scarcely left the farm for any length of time during her long illness.

Henry and Judith were the parents of six children, George (1851-1937), who married Molly (Mary) Garner (1852-1928) and later married Molly's sister, Lee Garner (1864-1940), Sarah Elizabeth (1854) who died in infancy, Nancy Catherine (1855-56), Michael Henry V (1856-1940), who married Sarah Ann Craig (1855-1889) and then a second marriage to Alice Harrell (1873-1944), Thomas W.(1858-1911), who never married and spent much of his life at Anna State Hospital and Charles (1860-1939), who married Alice Gramley.

They farmed "across the prairie" in Omega Township. The homestead in later years became the home of Charles and Alice Gramley See (a place some of you readers visited during your childhood). Henry died June l4, 1863 from an injury sustained while digging a well and is buried in Eastland Cemetery near Kinmundy, Illinois. After his death Judith and her four young sons continued to farm the land in Omega Township. She died March 30, 1890 and is buried in Eastland Cemetery near Kinmundy.

MICHAEL HENRY SEE V (1856-194O), SON OF HENRY SEE

Michael Henry See V was born in Marion County, Illinois, Omega Township, October 15, 1856, son of Henry and Judith Allmon See and grew to manhood in the same locality. At an early age he was converted and affiliated with the Southern Methodist Church at Old Camp Ground where he faithfully served in various capacities.

In 1877 he was united in marriage with Sarah Ann Craig (1855-1889), daughter of James (known as Uncle Jim) and Catherine Wilkinson Craig. They were the parents of five children: Myrtle (1880) who died at the age of three months, twin infants who died shortly after birth April 7, 1878, Ellis Leroy, November 21, 1881 and Otis Elroy, July 2, 1883. Sarah Ann died February 16, 1889 and is buried in Cockrell Cemetery southeast of Kinmundy, Illinois.

On October 23, 1891 Michael married Alice Harrell (1873-1944), daughter of William James and Pachel Pless Harrell. In her autobiography Alice indicates that her ancestors were English and Pennsylvania Dutch and that in her very early years she and her father had a very close, loving relationship. She states that "no one could see the shadow that hung over our house. The summer I was four years old my mother died, leaving my sister, ten years old, my brother, two years old and I, too young to realize our great loss; but there was a great change soon evidenced in the home . . . in less than a year a stepmother came to rule our home." She states that her father went with her and Michael to the minister's house for the marriage ceremony.

According to Alice, Michael was patient, not quick to criticize, and simple in his manner of living. Money was never plentiful with the living coming off the farm and occasionally he got some carpentering to do. He was painstaking and conscientious in whatever work he engaged.

They were the parents of seven children: Irene Melba (1892), Eunice Velma (1894), Hobart Harrell (1896), Edith Fern (1897), Winifred Elma (1900), and twins Charlene and Georgia (1902). Georgia died at eight months of age. They lived in a house near Michael's boyhood home until around 1904 when Michael built a two story house on the land he had inherited from his parents. Alice often read to the children and a high priority with Michael and Alice was an education for their children.

Edith Fern See recalls that when she was a young child Uncle Jim Craig (Sarah Ann Craig See's father) would come to their house often and her mother, father and Uncle Jim would sit around and talk. One story Edith remembers is a tale told by Uncle Jim. The Craig family came to Illinois from Kentucky when Jim was a young boy and the family traveled with the Lincoln family; Nancy Hanks Lincoln was a relative of the Craigs. As they came overland one mule was to be used by Jim and Abe Lincoln. According to the story Jim had to walk the distance as Abe would not share! The Craigs settled in Marion County and the Lincoln's went on north.

When Irene and Eunice were in high school they would room in the home of a Kinmundy resident and then Michael and Alice would pay the room rent with eggs, potatoes, beans and other garden items. The family had a team of horses, Mae and Maude. Edith Fern tells the story that one time Irene stayed overnight with a friend in Kinmundy. The mother told Edith to drive Mae to town but park the buggy at the Methodist Church on the hill and walk down-town and get Irene. She did not want Edith to cross the railroad track with Mae and the buggy. Edith says she was nine years old at the time.

In 1912 Michael had the misfortune of having the scaffolding under him break while at work on the old Baptist Church in the southwest part of Kinmundy. The fall injured his back and finally caused him to lose his eyesight. Around 1914 the family moved to Kinmundy and Michael transferred his church membership to the Kinmundy Southern Methodist Church and when it terminated to the Methodist Episcopal Church. With this handicap he was still able to make his own way about the streets of town and could find any business house in Kinmundy. For many years he made two daily trips to the business district to get the mail and visit with the local gentlemen. During the winter months when walking was restricted by the weather Alice would read the Bible, newspaper and books to Michael.

Hobart Harrell began preaching at the age of 18 and the writings of Alice in her autobiography indicate that when our country entered the World War Hobart "felt it his duty to God and as a patriot to volunteer." He reported October 3, 1917 to Camp Grant and in May 1918 was sent to the front lines. He fell in action August 8, 1918 by machine gun fire being one to answer a call for volunteers to wipe out a machine gun nest. He died near Fismes, France. In 1931 Alice Harrell See was one of the many Gold Star Mothers to travel to France to visit the grave of fallen sons.

In 1933 Buster, a brown and white fox terrier who was the pet of the children of Charlene See Miller, came to Kinmundy to live after her death. He became the constant companion of Michael See and made the daily trips to town. The man and his dog were inseparable.

In 1939 the big two story white house with two large porches burned and many family treasures were lost. Michael and Alice moved into a house one block east of their first home in Kinmundy. Michael died January 29, 1940 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Kinmundy, Illinois. Alice Harrell See died October 28, 1944 and was interred at Evergreen Cemetery.

CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN OF MICHAEL SEE V

(1856-194O) SON OF HENRY AND JUDITH ALLMON SEE

Wife (1) Sarah Ann Craig 8/14/1855-2/16/1889

Twin infants 4/7/1878 died soon after birth

Myrtle 1880 died 3 months, 18 days

Ellis Leroy 11/21/1881-2/21/1955 m. Ella Merideth, Mary _____

Otis Elroy 7/2/1883-5/15/1966 m. Elizabeth Newbieser

Elroy Howard 6/23/1912-10/17/1964

Maurice Ray 9/23/1913 m. Mary Rebecca Waggoner

Wife (2) Alice Harrell 5/21/1873-1O/28/1944

Irene Melba 9/19/1892-7/5/1963 m. 4/6/1921 Glenn Dale Brasel

Priscilla Sue 9/10/1922

Edith Dorthea 8/15/1924-11/27/1994

Ned Gwynne 2/1/1928

Eunice Velma 7/23/1894-6/17/1980 m. John Harold Kettles 4/26/1919

Janet Haroldine 2/19/1923-unknown

Franklin Alan 2/5/1930

Hobart Harrell 3/3/1896-7/8/1918 killed Fismes, France, unmarried

Edith Fern 8/23/1897-5/30/1989, unmarried

Winifred Elma 11/5/19O0-11/21/1979 m. Frederick Carl Lamwersiek 5/18/1926

Elma Marie 10/14/1927

Robert Louis 1/24/1929

James Frederick 12/26/1932-3/16/1979 m. Goeffy Davis 1961

Charlene 3/21/1902-12/17/1933 m. George Washington Miller 3/21/1920

Ray George 10/17/1921

Donald Keith 7/19/1922-9/29/92

Harold Richard 12/14/1923

Phyllis Jean 10/14/1925

Doris Elaine 6/5/1929

Georgia 3/21/1902-11/1902