SEE FAMILY IN MARION COUNTY, ILLINOIS

Prepared by Irene See Brasel for Kinmundy Centennial Booklet

Issued by Kinmundy Woman's Club, 1957

Mrs. Nancy Greenlee See came to Kinmundy Township in 1844 from Point Pleasant in Mason County Virginia (West Virginia since 1863). With her were two daughters, Jane, the eldest, and Elizabeth and her husband, Richard Elred Shelton, and the three younger See boys. The widow of Michael See, Captain of the 106th Regular Virginia Militia of the War of 1812, she was left at thirty-three with nine children to rear; Shull Morris, Jane, Elizabeth, Minerva, Frances, John, Henry, Michael and Frederick.

At an early age, Shull M. See began working on the Ohio River; later he became a pilot for craft running to Cincinnati; John and Jane ran the farm, and all the younger brothers, in time, worked on the river. . . "a-boating", as it was called.

In 1843, Stokes Prewett, his wife Minerva See and their four small children moved to Illinois, coming down the Ohio by flat boat to Shawneetown. He bought land, now belonging to J. W. McCulley and J. Hoyt, which joined that of his half-brother, Robert Pruett, whose house was just west of the present Illinois Central Railroad reservoir. Minerva wrote her mother of the fine land still available in the township at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre.

In March 1844, the family arrived and moved into a cabin northwest of Evergreen Cemetery rented from Harvey Gray and his mother, who had gone to Tennessee to settle an estate. The boys farmed some of Robert Pruett's land that first year. Their cornfield extended from the present Kinmundy Methodist Church to a creek near the old Judge Snelling home. They, also, built a double-log cabin on their own land south of town . . . a half-quarter mile from the Sheltons.

Shull M. See, his wife Mary Elizabeth Day and little son, Charles Michael, followed the Prewetts' to Illinois. John See and young daughter, Susan, came in 1846, soon after the death of his wife, Catherine Day. Frances and Alexander Waugh were the last of the family to leave Mason County, settling near the others. After his wife's death, Alex Waugh moved with his children to Missouri. Mrs. Elsie Gee Alexander of Centralia is a granddaughter.

Money in this new country was scarce and there was no way to earn any. Michael and Frederick, in order to buy more land, decided to return to Virginia to work on the river. In mid-winter 1846, the two boys walked to Odin in bitter weather to catch the stage for St. Louis to take a boat for Pt. Pleasant. Michael returned after a year. Coming to Shawneetown by boat, he walked the rest of the way home. His money in gold coins had worn through a thick leather wallet. Frederick remained in Virginia for a number of years where he married Virginia Barnett. They moved with her people to Iowa. During the Civil War they joined the rest of the family in Marion County. Among their descendants here are: Mrs. Leona See Zimmer, Mrs. Edna See Telford, and Mrs. Hults Sipes.

Henry and Michael both married daughters of Thomas Allmon; this prominent family of Tonti Township came from Tennessee in 1829. Henry's wife was Judith; Michael married the youngest, Elizabeth, who died at seventeen, leaving a son, Henry William See. In 1851 Michael married Nancy Jane Carrigan, daughter of Robert Mabane Carrigan, Marion County pioneer, and brought her to the homestead, where their family has resided for more than one hundred years. The house built about 1860 is occupied by his youngest daughter, Miss Clara See and granddaughter, Mrs. Rhea White Lowe.

John and Henry later took up land "across the prairie" in Omega Township. Here, Henry died in 1863 from an injury sustained while digging a well. He left four young sons; George, Michael Henry, Thomas W., and Charles. His surviving grandchildren are Otis E. See, Lewin W. See, Irene See Brasel, Eunice See Kettles, Edith See and Winifred See Lamwersiek.

John See married Mary J. French in 1851. She was the daughter of Peter French, the messenger from General Andrew Jackson to Sir Edward Packenham at the battle of New Orleans. John See died in 1872 His land adjoining that of Henry has been in the family the past century. Paul See, John S. See, and Mrs. Hazel See Millican of this area are children of a son, Shull See.

Jane See became the third wife of John Martin of Alma, Illinois. Her only child, Matilda, who married John Gibson, died of cholera in 1902, while accompanying her husband on a trip to the Philippines. Her daughter, Jane Gibson Philipps (Mrs. Frank) lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Shull M. See died in 1857. Of his nine children, three sons grew to manhood, Charles Michael, Orcelas and George Robert. Miss Carrie See is a daughter of Orcelas See. Mrs. Agnes Crooker Bee of Alma resides in the old homestead of her grandfather, Charles Michael See. The George Robert See family moved to Missouri a number of years ago.

Among the ten children of Stokes and Minerva Prewett were three doctors. Robert and Granville Prewett practiced medicine many years at Marshall, Illinois. Dr. L. D. Prewett and his parents are buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

Miss Minnie Parker, Arlington, Virginia, a former teacher in the Kinmundy school, is a granddaughter.

Elizabeth See and Richard Eldred Shelton built their home on land now known as the Broom Orchard south of Kinmundy. A childless couple, their home was also the home of a niece, Matilda Waugh Gee and a nephew, Henry William See. Here Grandmother Nancy Greenlee See spend her last years. R. E. Shelton, stockman and land owner, died in l893, surviving his wife by one year.

During the Civil War, the See family, as their origin suggests, was sympathetic to the South, but two grandsons, Charles Michael See, 40th Illinois Volunteer Infantry and Vernal Prewett, 111th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, were with Sherman on his 'march to the sea." Vernal was captured at the siege of Atlanta and spent nine months in Andersonville Prison. Decades later in World War I 1917, numerous great grandsons fought for their country, for which two, George Herman Anna and Hobart Harrell See made the "supreme sacrifice."

Nancy Greenlee See died in 1871 and is buried in Eastland Cemetery south west of Kinmundy.

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