Lovica and Paschal Bandy are Grandpa Kenneth's great-grandparents. Kenneth was only a year old when Paschal died, but he was 7 when Lovica died, so he may have known her.
 |
| Lovica Holland and Paschal Bandy |
Lovica's father, William Holland (KJZW-SJ7), was born in 1786 in Lincoln County, North Carolina, and his mother, Lovisa (aka Levicy) Bess (or Best) was born in 1794, also in Lincoln. They were married in 1811. Matthew Holland put up the securities for their marriage and signed with an X, indicating he was not literate. William and Lovisa stayed in Lincoln County for about three years after their marriage, where there first two children, Lawson and Elizabeth, were born.
By the time their third child, Mathilda, was born in 1814, William and Lovisa were living in Hopkins County, Kentucky, 500 miles northwest from Lincoln, North Carolina.
Next, Senath Holland was born in Okoaw River, Territory of Illinois, near what is now Okaw, Illinois, about 240 miles north of where Mahilda had been born. Four more children were born in Illinois before our ancestor, Lovisa, was born in Peoria County, Illinois in 1824. The remaining five children were born in Tazewell County, just south of Peoria County.
So William Holland and his wife Lovisa Bess were born and married in North Carolina, but not long after they moved to Kentucky and then settled in Illinois where they spent the rest of their lives. I can't resist sharing the information about their experiences in Illinois which I just discovered this evening in the book, Early History of Washington, Illinois and Vicinity (1929), which popped up totally by "coincidence" as I was searching online and opened to the very page which referenced our ancestor Ruben Bandy (see below)!
"The first settlement in the town of Washington, or its vicinity, of which we have any account, was made in the spring of 1825, by William Holland, Sr., who came here from Peoria—then Fort Clark. He was formerly from North Carolina, and was employed by the United States government as a blacksmith for the Indians, who then inhabited this part of Illinois, and for several years after settling here he continued to work for the Indians." (p. 12). As blacksmith he repaired guns for the white settlers as well as for the Indians, and he built the first grist mill in 1827 on his homestead, run by horse power (p. 9).
"We have already shown that William Holland, Sr., was the first settler, the first to build a house and improve a farm, and we find him also the first mechanic. As such he carried on a blacksmith shop from his first induction into the country for several years. He did a general blacksmith business, and also repaired guns not only for the white inhabitants, but also for the Indians, who were then numerous in this part of the state. His was the only shop in town prior to 1835...." (p. 9).
"The first school taught in Washington was a subscription school. It was taught by George H. Shaw, now of Shaw's Grove, who was traveling through the country prospecting and stopped for the night with William Holland, Sr., where, owing to the severity of the weather—it being winter—he remained till spring. Holland soon discovered Shaw's fitness to teach, and engaged him to teach, and gave him, as compensation, his board, washing, and horse feed. Rather slender compensation, as it made no provision for clothing. After engaging the teacher, the next thing was a school house, which was built by Holland and his few neighbors in a day or two. It was a log house, such as was called in those days a single cabin, 16 x 18 feet. They seated it with split logs, the writing desks being constructed of similar material, and lighted it by sawing out part of one log at each end and pasting greased paper over the aperture or opening. This greased paper, while not highly transparent, admitted some light, and kept the wind out. This school was taught in the winter of 1827 and 1828" (p. 11).
"The first religious society here was organized by Jesse Walker, a Methodist preacher, in 1828 or 1829. Their first meeting was held at William Holland's, whose family and the family of James Harvey constituted most of the society at that time. Holland and Harvey were the only male members. Their meetings were held in Holland's house for the first few years, then at other private houses until the public school house was built, in which they held their meetings until 1840 or 1841...." (p. 12).
"In 1829 William Holland and William Thompson were elected to the office of justice of the peace for this precinct. They were among the first elected in this county. Their territorial jurisdiction were co-extensive with the boundaries of the county, which then embraced a broad expanse of territory east of the Illinois river and extended northward to Chicago and southward to Jacksonville" (p. 14). William was also a member of the board of county commissioners (p. 15). He laid out the town of Washington in 1834 (p. 21).
"In 1829 a band of Indians camped one and one-half miles west of Washington. The white women were afraid of them and Mr. Holland asked their chief to have them move farther away. They complied with the request and located near Fort Clark on the Tazewell side of the river. The Indians were harsh at times and would walk into the homes. They one time broke open Mrs. Jane Holland's trunk, but did not take any of the contents. They were after money. Mr. Holland was a quick tempered man and spoke to them about their act. They said they would not do harm to the 'pale face' " (p. 73).
Sadly, William's wife Lovisa died on January 27th, 1833, likely of complications of childbirth, as her last of 14 children, Catherine Jane was born on January 18th.
"During his long and eventful life he [William Holland] was married three times, and was the father of twenty-one children—fourteen by his first wife [Lovisa Bess] and seven by his second wife [Jane Wilson, p. 64]. He had eighty-two grandchildren...and fifty great grandchildren. He died...at the advanced age of ninety-one years. Up to within a few years of his death he was vigorous in body and in full possession of his mental faculties" (p. 12).
In the book there is the account of an interview of William Holland's last remaining child, Mrs. Esther Ann Weeks, who was born in 1842. Here is her account:
"...Mr. Holland had a gunsmith shop in Peoria and also raised corn on the Illinois river bottom on the Tazewell side of the river. In cultivating his crop he crossed the stream in a birch bark canoe. After Mr. Holland settled in Washington he continued to conduct his shop as gunsmith for the Indians at Fort Clark. In doing so he rode his gray horse, "Turk", to the river bank and let him loose to go home, and he swam the river both going and coming, and ran home to Washington. Turk was a great horse. The neighborhood children used his back to support their teeter board. Mr. Holland used to put Esther Ann and her little brother on his back and let Turk trot off to the barn. The children fell off, but the horse kept on his way and on reaching the barn looked back to see their predicament, and if a horse could laugh he surely did.
Mr. Holland had three wives and was the father of twenty-one children, fourteen by his first wife, Levycy Bess Holland, and seven by his second wife, Mrs. Jane Wilson Cowen Holland. By this third wife, Mrs. Meadows Holland, there were no children. Mrs. Meadows was a sister of Ezra Miles and Mrs. Borland. Mr. Holland had a family of ten children when he settled in Washington. He soon had a school conducted in his own home. He took a deep interest in helping his children with their studies. One of the family pastimes was to have a "spelling bee" with the father as the pronouncer.
The first religious meeting in Washington was held in Mr. Holland's log cabin....Before his death Mr. Holland had all his children come home and he preached them a sermon he had prepared. This sermon was delivered at his funeral by Rev. Howe of the Christian church. It has been preserved and is in print. It shows that Mr. Holland was a man of learning and was well posted on the Bible. It also proves that he was a firm believer in the Christian faith" (pp. 71-72).
This story not only provides fascinating details about William Holland and his life on the Illinois frontier, but it provides the name of his third wife, who until I added her this evening, did not appear in FamilySearch! We still need her full name, birth date, etc.
"William Holland gave a 4th of July dinner in the year 1850 in a fine grove where the Henry Denhart home now stands. He erected long tables and bought muslin for table cloths. The citizens did not wish for him to bear all of the expense, and they formed a procession in the square and marched to the grounds. As they passed his shop, which was south of the grove, they passed through a gate. Mr. Holland's little daughter, Esther Ann, about 10 years old, held her little apron to catch the coins of a free will offering from the dinner guests. Mrs. Holland, son William and Hamilton Riddle, a son-in-law, did all of the cooking for the big dinner" (p. 73).
Because William Holland was the first settler of Washington, Illinois, he was celebrated on Oct. 17th, 2015, "William Holland Day," with special events recreating the period when he lived--see this link. This article shows the location of William's property and recounts his role in founding the town. A photo of the home of our ancestor Matthew Holland, son of William, appears in this article. It has been designated as Washington's first historic landmark.
Reuben Bandy (L4WT-5N7), Paschal Bandy's father, came from Kentucky in 1831 and settled in Washington, Illinois. One of the early marriages in Washington was celebrated at his home in October, 1833, between Lawson Holland and Elizabeth Bandy (ibid, p. 4), so now we know how the Holland and the Bandy families met! In fact, as it turns out three of William Holland's children married three of Reuben Bandy's children: Lawson and Elizabeth, Lovica and Paschal, and Narcissa and George.
