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| The Women in John Deere's Life |
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Demarius Lamb Deere: The second chapter
A new life in Grand Detour: 1836-1848
So just as John's mother Sarah had done nearly 30 years earlier, Demarius now was left to support the family. As heartless as this sounds, it was not uncommon for women to be left behind as the man sought optimistic opportunities in the New West. Demarius, no doubt, was not alone in caring for her family as a single parent
One can only speculate how she managed that year. John's only assets were from his shop, which he had sold to his father-in-law for $200. He likely left some of the proceeds with his wife, but it is probable that she had to depend upon her parents and sisters for support.
While Demarius cared for the family in Vermont, John's skills as a blacksmith were in great demand in Grand Detour. He constructed a small blacksmith shop on rented land, and also began building a small house for his family. The simple three room house was a story and a half, with two rooms below and a large open sleeping space above. The entire structure was approximately 18 by 24 feet.
It was the summer of 1837 when John Deere introduced his self-scouring plow, and success was his. It was time to bring his family west. Demarius and the five children joined her sister Lucretia, Lucretia's husband John Peek, and their children on an arduous six week trip by wagon and barge to reach Grand Detour.
It must have been a joyous family reunion, especially when Demarius presented John their one-year-old son for the first time. A favorite story has Demarius walking the last few miles into Grand Detour with baby Charles in her arms. When John ran to meet them, she reportedly thrust the squirming bundle into his arms, saying, "Here John, you hold him a while. I've carried him all the way from Vermont."
The reunited family settled into their new life in Illinois. Grand Detour was a bustling, though isolated, frontier community full of new emigrants. The town had a cabinetmaker, carpenter, postmaster, a justice of the peace, a constable and a schoolteacher. Socializing centered around the town’s flourishing tavern and three churches.
Demarius soon understood the burden of her husband's newfound success and its impact on her family. A relative once wrote that John "would come to his meals with his hat in his hand, put his hat on the floor beside him, eat, put on his hat and return to the shop."
Demarius, and the family's neighbors, often heard John pounding at his anvil in the middle of the night. Clearly, Demarius was a tolerant, supportive wife who had no choice but to take the major responsibility for raising her family.
Within a few years, another daughter, Emma Charlotte, was born, and in 1842, Demarius welcomed her third son, Hiram Alvin. Hiram was quickly followed by the fifth daughter, Alice Marie in 1844. Sadly, while pregnant with Alice, two-year-old Hiram died. The following year, Demarius delivered a stillborn child.
The period of misfortune was not over for John and Demarius. In 1848, Francis Albert, the couple's oldest son, died mysteriously at age 19. Albert, as he was called, had recently joined his father in business as the bookkeeper, keeping track of the firm's financial matters. John and Demarius hoped that Albert, a recent business college graduate, would eventually succeed his father to head the growing company. It was a hope that never materialized.
The move to Moline: 1848-1865
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