George Slocum Wood and Eliza Raybound were married 18 March 1874. They had four children: Carrie R. (1875), Charlotte Slocum (1877), and George R. (1878), and Nina (1880). By June of 1880, at the time the family census data was taken, George Wood was not living with his family. Nina was born in August. No record of Eliza nor her son, George R. is available after this date. George married Jane Stedman in 1896; his daughter, Nina, is listed as living with them in the 1900 census. Carrie was married Charles Baker in 1893.
In 1892, 16 year-old Charlotte was sent west on the Orphan Train, likely via the state of Rhode Island’s network of orphanages and asylums. As the Rhode Island State Home and School Project states:
Admissions to the State Home in its earliest years were typical of other orphanages. Boys outnumbered girls 2 to 1. A small percentage (8%) of the children were true orphans. About one quarter lost either their mother or their father. Parents of the rest of the children were housed at state or local poor farms, had fallen ill or were destitute. In many cases, fathers’ whereabouts were unknown leaving mothers without the requisite support for their children.
She was taken in by James and Minnie Sterrett, who had a farm just south of Bowen, Illinois. (It is listed in the 1891 plat book on file at the Hancock County Historical Society.) According to a story posted at Ancestry.com, James’ parents, Robert and Susan Sterret, had fostered a local boy named Charlie Sparks some years before. (Ancestry link may not work for non-members.)
In 1894, Charlotte wrote to the New York Juvenile Asylum:
I was of age last August, and my guardian gave me fifty dollars, and October 18th I was married to William S. Allen, and we have commenced housekeeping. We have a cosey (sic) home three miles from Bowen, and our furniture is new and was presented to us by friends. I learned all kinds of housework and cooking at Mr. Sterritt’s (sic), and they were very kind to me. I received the Annual Report, and the book you sent to me last Christmas, and both are very interesting. I wish you would come and visit us when you are in this part of the State. My husband is a farmer and he has corn and wheat and hay to sell, and we are very comfortable. — Mrs. Wm. S. Allen, P.O. Bowen, Hancock, Illinois.
“Lottie” and William Allen had eight children: John, Jesse, Arthur, David, James, Lewis, Minnie and Hazel. They were members of the Bowen Methodist Church.
On 2 August 1930, William died shortly after an accident involving a runaway team of horses. The gravel-laden wagon crashed into a fence post near the Wabash railroad crossing just north of Bowen, crushing him in between. Two passerby found him some time later and he was brought to the hospital in Augusta, where he died the next afternoon as a result of a skull fracture.
Charlotte passed away after a long illness on 13 February 1967, at Memorial Hospital in Carthage. She was of late a resident of Basco and is buried at the Basco cemetery. Her daughter, Minnie, pre-deceased her.
Notes about their children:
John Frederick — enlisted in the Navy in May, 1917 and served in the USS Parker. He worked for the Burlington Northern railroad. He was also a member of the Worthern Earth Searcher’s (geology) Club and Siloam Springs Earth Science Club.
Jesse — Lived in Basco; worked as a plumber and farmer.
Arthur S. — lived in California for a time, then returned to Hancock County. He operated a cement block company in Hamilton and a salvage yard in Carthage. He was also a foster father to Leo Agnew.
David — served in the Navy during WWII. Worked as a mechanic.
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