Meet Me in Heaven: Confronting Death along the Galena Trail Frontier 1825 – 1855

• Published in: Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1998) 2009-10, Vol.102 (3-4), p.248-281
• Main Authors: Goitein, Patricia L., Read, George D., Garner, John, Grove, Waddams, County, Jo Daviess, Cushman, Mary B. Waterbury, County, Ogle, Bradsby, H.C., Bigelow, Ellen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cemeteries; Children; Coffins; Community support; Deaths; Disease; Epidemiology; Fever; Funerals; Graves; Headstones; History; Immigration; Noncitizens; Obituaries; Prairies; Respondents; US State History
• ISSN: 1522-1067; 2328-3335
• DOI: 10.2307/25701237

According to later informants, Clapp "told of having a sister that was afraid of the Indians, and could not handle the rifle, so she made overtures of peace and friendship by offering them panfuls of doughnuts; this had a most taming effect on the Indians, and they would sometimes swarm about the premises, hungry for more doughnuts. [...]settlers suffered from milk sickness and other forms of food poisoning after mistakenly eating spoiled food, poisonous mushrooms and plants, or, in the case of milk sickness, after eating the meat or drinking the milk of cattle that had eaten the poisonous White Snakeroot. According to her obituary, "Mother Warner, from careful observation, and a very tenacious memory, together with a large experience, became quite successful in the treatment of diseases, especially those of children, and therefore was frequently called to attend the sick. [...]what looked like a green lawn surrounding the Lincoln Branch Library is proving to be a burial ground with numerous remains still in their original graves.