Peoria County, IL ... Genealogy Trails

This Funeral Card for Esther Hakes Record Reed was passed down to me from my great aunt, Mary Holt Hatchett. I didn't downsize it for the web, but it should be okay. Even though Esther died in Kansas and was born in New York State, she spent at least 20 years of her life in Peoria County, IL. After her husband and my gr gr gr grandfather John A. W. Record passed away, she married Elias Button. The marriage did not last. After the dissolution of that marriage, she married Thomas B. Reed who was a brother of Simon and Aaron Reed. They were part of the "Big Train" that came to settle Peoria County, IL. (As I mentioned in my initial email, two of Esther's and John A. W. Record's daughters married and settled in Illinois -- one in Knox County, IL, married to James Gale -- and the other one to Andrew Kimble; they lived in Chillicothe, IL.)

I am related to Thomas B. Reed also. My great great grandfather, Thomas Riley Carson, was the grandson of Thomas B. Reed through Harriet Reed Carson. Thomas Riley Carson married Lovina Jane Record, daughter of John A. W. Record and Esther B. Hakes Record Reed. Lovina Jane Record Carson is my great great grandmother. Anyway, my great aunt Mary had to explain it to me several times. I didn't understand it until I did more research and put the information on paper to study. - Deborah Turpin Astley source# 083

This is what my great Aunt Mary wrote when she sent the funeral card to me:

From a letter by Mary Holt Hatchett to Deborah Turpin Astley:

"June 17, 1985

Dear Debbie,

Thanks for your letter. I ran across this card in memory of Great Grandma (Esther Hakes Record) Reed. I copied off the message on it to keep for myself and am sending you the original. Grandma Reed went blind in her later years. She and Grandma (Lovina Jane Record) Carson, her daughter, lived in Winfield (Kansas) during her last days, I believe. Anyway, Grandma Carson had to leave the house for a while and told Grandma Reed not to try to get up and walk around. Well, I heard that she did get up and fell and broke her hip. Anyway, that is the story that was told to me."