Following is one of the Biographies and Stories which where gathered by Charles Sumner McKamy in the 1950s for publication in a Crawford County History Book. Unfortunately he passed away before the book was published.
Hand, Arthur William, born March 12, 1904, Terre Haute, Indiana. Son of William S. Hand and Lida Swingley Hand. They were married January 1, 1902 in Rockford, Illinois. She was a granddaughter of one of the founders of the Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, Ill., and a descendant of Heinrich Zwingli (1380-1450) the Swiss patriot, father of Ulrich Zwingli, the famous religious reformer.
Hand, Martha Church, wife of Arthur William, born August 1, 1907, in Helt Township, Vermillion Co., Ind., daughter of George W. Church and Lizzie Mikel Church, who were married in Lincoln, Nebraska, Feb. 5, 1890. She is of pioneer descent, the second and third marriage licenses issued in Vigo Co., Ind. Were to her great grandfather and great grandmother and to a great great uncle and wife in 1818. It would take a sizable volume to record all her proven genealogy. She traces through David I, King of Scotland to the Kings of Scythis, who were the sons of Japhet, son of Noah, and as your Bible tells you it is not very many generations to Adam and through many lines to Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, etc.
Arthur William Hand and Martha Elizabeth Church were issued a marriage license on Dec. 21, 1935, and married that day in Greencastle, Putnam County, Ind. They moved to their home on R.F.D. No. 2, Robinson, in the following January. Their children are two sons; Jerry Mikel, born Oct. 11, 1936 in Robinson, and David Fleming, born Feb. 25, 1946, in Menard, Texas; and one daughter Ellen Rebecca, born Aug. 5, 1940, in Robinson. Both Mr. And Mrs. Hand have taught in high school for some years and both are graduates of Ind. State Teachers College at Terre Haute. Mr. Hand is also a graduate of Culumbia University. Mr. Hand has been interested in a soil improvement program on his farm for a number of years.
Arthur William Hand is a descendant of an old pioneer family in Crawford County, Illinois. His father, William Sherman Hand, was born on Quaker Lane in the old Hand homestead May 25, 1874, the youngest child of Woodford D. Hand and Mary Jane Cox Hand. William S. Hand died in Terre Haute, Ind. April 20, 1934. At the time of his death he was employed in the office of Auditor of Through Freight Traffic, Pennsylvania Railroad, Philadelphia, Pa. He had been traveling station auditor and had served in other capacities during his twenty-five years service with the railroad. He was a good provider and an extremely good judge of values.
Woodford D. Hand was born in the old Hand homestead on Quaker Lane, Hutsonville Township, in 1835. He died Dec. 21, 1909. He was a farmer and was sheriff of Crawford Co. for one term 1890-1894. From 1890 to the time of his death he was one of the most respected citizens of Robinson. He went through four years in the Union Army, Co. D 30th Ill., mustered in as a private and was for long first lieutenant and for a time captain of his company. He was at the siege of Vicksburg and with Sherman on the March to the Sea. Many newspaper stories of war experiences and pioneer times came from his pen. His first newspaper writing was probably the obituary of his father James Fleming Hand, who died in 1876. In this obituary he tells about his father's account of helping to cut a field of rye where Hutsonville now stands. Woodford had one brother, Eldridge K. Hand, a half-brother, James W.S. (Scott) Hand, and a half-sister, Malinda.
The wife of Woodford D. Hand was Mary Jane Cox, who was born in or near Washington, Indiana, May 3, 1838. She died July 13, 1899, and is buried in the Draper cemetery, Hutsonville Township with her husband. She is the daughter of Needham Cox, who was born in Wayne Co., N. Carolina, about 1815 and died in LaClede Co., Missouri, in Feb. 1873. Needham Cox had a brother Calvin Cox who was two years older. His wife was named Hannah. Their children were Richard, Nathan, John (fisherman John), William, Carden and Noah. There were other children who died young or are not remembered. The father of Needham and Calvin Cox was a brother of the John Cox, born 1777 in North Carolina. This John Cox was the father of Thomas Cox and the grandfather of Rev. John L. Cox. The wife of Needham Cox and the mother of Mary Jane Cox Hand was Mary Houts, born July 7, 1805, in Kentucky. Her first husband was Nathan Colton. They were the ancestors of he Mayfield family of Bruceville, Ind., and several Coltons of Indiana and Missouri. Mary Houts was married first in 1827 and a second time in 1837 to Needham Cox. Besides Mary Jane, they had another child, Isabel, eight years younger, who became the wife of Timothy Willard of La Clede, Co., Missouri. Milton Colton, one of Mary Houts' three children by her first marriage, married Rhoda Jane, only sister of Woodford D. Hand.
Mary Houts, the oldest child in the family was a sister of Isabel Houts, who married John Hollenbeck, and was the ancestor of Judge Hollenbeck of Marshall, Ill. Another sister of Mary Houts was Eliza Ann Houts, who married Isaac Shannon, was the mother of Woodford Shannon of the Shannon Spring Bed Mfg. Co. of Louisville, Ky. "Aunt Liza" Shannon and her two nieces, Mary Jane Cox Hand and Harriet Lindley, were as "alike as peas in a pod" according to the older people who knew them.
The parents of Mary Houts were John Houts, born in Pennsylvania in 1787 and died Nov. 14, 1834 in Kentucky (in the old "Dutch settlement" near Danville, Ky.), and Elizabeth Cook, born in Maryland March 1, 1785, married in Kentucky, and died there August 16, 1850. It is fairly certain, except for a slight discrepancy in given names, that the parents of John Houts were Christopher George Houts (Eliza Ann Shannon, 1822-1916, insisted that this individual went by the name of Jacob, regardless of his army record, etc.) and Maria (Mary) Brocaugh Jansen (Johnson). Christopher "Jacob" Houts volunteered for service with General George Rogers Clark in his expedition against Kaskaskia and Vincennes, served throughout the entire campaign, and was one of the soldiers under Captain Helm at the battle of Point Coupee on the Wabash, March 3, 1779.
This Revolutionary soldier, who also served as quartermaster in the War of 1812 under General Andrew Jackson, was a great-grandson of Thomas (Hondts) Houts, baptized in the Dutch Church, New Amsterdam, April 14, 1658. Thomas Houts married Elsie Jane in New Amsterdam in 1682. She was probably a granddaughter of the Annetje Jans who died in 1663. There has long been a tradition in the family that we were "heirs" to the Annetje Jans estate of about 67 acres which now constitutes the Trinity Church Estate in New York City.
The father of Woodford D. Hand was James Fleming Hand, born in or near Bourbon Co., Kentucky May 20, 1805. He died Oct. 9, 1876. He was the son of Eli Hand, born June 14, 1779 near Scotch Plains, New Jersey, the son of Jesse Hand, a shipping merchant who operated a trading vessel down the Delaware River to Philadelphia. Jesse's wife was Nellie ____, a Swedish girl, no doubt from the Swedish settlement on the Delaware. Eli Hand's wife was Jane Fleming, a granddaughter of the Col. William Fleming who was a commander in the famous battle with the Indians at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. He was of the very noted Fleming Family of Scotland and heir of the earldom of Wigton. For 500 years the royal fortress of Dumbarton Castle in Scotland had for its warden a Fleming. There is a tradition is the family that Jane Fleming was a descendant of Pocahontas, the Indian princess, but this has not been accounted for.
Jane Fleming Hand, wife of Eli Hand, was born in Virginia April 3, 1778. She was brought over the Blue Ridge Mountains into Kentucky when she was seven years old. She and Eli were married in "the wilds of Kentucky about the year 1800", according to their daughter Mary Ann Hand Shepard Franklin, whose letter to her nephew Woodford D. Hand was published in the Robinson Constitution on March 14, 1900. This letter was written on her 89th birthday, Feb. 23, 1900. She says further, "My two older brothers, James and George Hand were born there (Kentucky). From Kentucky my parents moved to Ohio, near Chillicothe (Deer Creek), where I and the younger members of the family were born." The other children besides those mentioned were Henry Wilson Hand, Margaret (who married Christopher Lamb), and Lorenzo Dow (named after the famous pioneer preacher of that name).
About 1820, Eli Hand and his family came to Crawford County and settled in with the family of James Newlin just north across the road from where Thomas Cox, son of Chambers Cox, now lives. A few years later, the Hands homesteaded on Quaker Lane. James Fleming Hand was second lieutenant in Ill. militia in 1827 and for many years was justice of the peace and county judge. He was married in 1830 to Nancy Draper, born Dec. 12, 1806, and died Aug. 23, 1860. Nancy Draper was the daughter of an old Quaker family, Chalkley Draper (1777-1834) and Rhoda Willard Draper (1784-1849), his wife. Rhoda Draper was the daughter of Martin Willard who died in 1819. He had four daughters who all married Evanses. Rebecca Evans was the mother of the well-known pioneer preacher, Nixon Evans. Woodford D. Hand went through the unbroken forest to bring his mother's cousin, preacher Nixon Evans, to the deathbed of Eli Hand in 1857. Jane Hand, his wife, had died in August 1854 -- the hottest and driest summer known in the history of the western country up to that time.
The old Hand home, where Guy Hand now lives, was built by James Fleming Hand about a half mile east of where it is now located. The James Hand family went to housekeeping there in 1830. A few years later when the road was surveyed and straightened, the big log room was moved to its present location and built around. What a world of historical incidents have been associated with this old house. It has been court room, marriage hall, local tax collection center where many hundreds of dollars have been deposited, and being so to speak at the cross roads of the Quaker Lane and old Robinson-Marshall road (the original location of the house was exactly that) it has been the refuge of many a weary traveler.
At least four men of the Hand family marched off to the Union Army more willing than they otherwise might have been. It would be impossible to relate all that took place, but the unrehearsed part started when Eldridge Hand threw an andiron through the window at Pratt Lindley.
We continued on north. Here is the proper place to introduce some further authorities for some of the asides that will be made. Charles Gurley, who was born Oct. 1, 1854, and lived until May 19, 1933, is authority for the following: At the time that Nancy Draper Hand, wife of James Fleming Hand lay paralyzed for seven years (she died in 1860), they lived by the huge willow tree that was on the north and west of what was then the Robinson-Marshall Road. This willow was a huge tree and known everywhere as the "Hand Willow" (it was a landmark in the same way the "Lone Elm" was a landmark in the Grand Prairie neighborhood). The willow stood in the right of way of the present Quaker Lane and about 30 rods west of the lane that leads back to the Gurley woods. From some place in north of William Boyd's house, the Robinson road angled east and passed the willow tree in a north-easterly direction. This Robinson Road was one of the earliest roads in the county. At the time Quaker Lane was surveyed it was found that it would have to run through the house of James Hand, so the big log room was moved west to its present location. It now forms part of the front of Guy Hand's home. Charles Gurley said that he lived with James Hand for eight years after the marriage of his mother to James Hand, his third marriage. Mr. Gurley said that he knew Jasper, "Dee", and "Ike" Hand. (They had helped with the "celebration" at William Boyd's wedding). All of them together with Eldridge and Woodford Hand marched off to join the Union Army. Jasper and Clinton Dee were orphan children of Lorenzo Dow Hand, youngest son of Eli Hand. Isaac Hand was an orphan son of Henry W. Hand. So James F. Hand took these three into his big household.
Just east of the "willow tree" about a mile was what was known as Conrad Prairie. This is now the farm belonging to William Heber. This was the drill ground for the militia and the "muster days" must have been sad trials for this Quaker community. James F. Hand was commissioned lieutenant of militia in 1827. West of the "willow tree", the notable landmark was the Hand home. The following excerpts are from newspaper articles published by the Robinson Constitution and written by Woodford D. Hand: ". . .My memory goes back to the past. My father and mother ate their wedding dinner in this house on Dec. 2, 1830 -- seventy-two years ago. (This was a double wedding; the other parties were Henry Wilson Hand married to Jane Bemus. This double ceremony was performed by John Griggs, J.P.). Besides a dwelling it has since been a court room. Judge Sterret, Judge Allen, Messrs. Callahan, G.N. Parker, A.H. Jones and many others have stood within its walls and made earnest appeals in behalf of their clients in J.P. Courts. Many couples have been united in marriage here. Many times has young America assembled here at apple outings, wood choppings and old time quilting bees. Many prayers have been offered here by able ministers. In the 40s and 50s the sheriff was the tax gatherer, and their home was one place where they collected many hundreds of dollars.
The plates in this building are solid oak 12 inches deep by 18 inches broad. They are supporting the fourth roof (as of 1900) that has been put on. Away back in the 40s, it was no uncommon occurrence to stand on the porch of that house and look east on Quaker Lane and see from two to sixteen covered wagons pulling west loaded with Buckeyes and their household goods. . . The Quaker Lane only extended a short distance beyond the Hand homestead and that was the last place where those pioneer immigrants . . . could get information to reach their friends in Licking Twp. Many times have I drove the oxen that hauled my mother to Old York and Hutsonville to trade her marketing for the necessaries of life."
The next authority to be consulted was George Bennett Hagar, who was born April 1, 1846, and died Jan. 24, 1934. He was the third child of a family of six children of Margaret and Henry Hagar. The entire family was born on the farm known as the Dan. Clements farm (now Jesse Buckner). Henry Hagar entered this land from the government. Just south of the Gurley woods and a little to the west of where an old well has been boarded up or filled in, there was a nice grove. During the Civil War, a preacher by the name of Crouch, from Hutsonville, preached to large crowds. By this old well stood the former home of Christopher Lamb, at this time of the War occupied by Rachael Gurley. Kate Gurley, who married Morge Evans, lived with her. Later Kate married Pliney Draper.
It was just in south of this house that the old Robinson Road made a bend to the east. However, it is to be noted that there was a road that branched off heading north and west up through the Gurley woods. It was over this trial that Bruce Boyd moved his household after his marriage in 1885. The other road up past O.H. Guyer and Brian Boyd farms had not then been built. Traces of this old road can be found in the Gurley woods to this day. Others who lived north of here also went through this woods. Just to the east of these forks in the Robinson Road and on the north side was the house of William Green.
The Robinson Road crossed Raccoon Creek by ford near the west side of the Samuel Green farm (a part of the estate now managed by Herschel Green). One day when Raccoon Creek was in flood, the young post rider, Joseph Hoel, decided to make the crossing instead of waiting over till next day. He put the mail pouch on his shoulders and tied it about his neck, and by swimming his horse, made it across. But he was not unobserved, for the good old Quaker, Samuel Green, said to him, "Thee must not do that anymore." This was not an isolated incident, there were many such hazards in crossing North Fork on the road to Greenup, etc.
The Old Robinson Road continued on in a north-easterly direction, but still west of its present location, passing the old Alfred Guyer home, (later Andrew Guyer and now Roscoe Lindley, et.al.), well to the west of the house, crossing Center Branch of Raccoon Creek. It undoubtedly passed the log house where Mort Guyer lived (on the old Abraham Guyer place), and across the farm that Henry Hagar entered from the government (George Hagar's boyhood home), to come out at the Pliny Draper (now Alvin Guyer) corner. This road continued on in a north-easterly direction to the N.W. corner of section 36 Melrose Twp. where present road crosses Raccoon Creek.
Here at this place in our story we must go back to the York-Melrose road which the Crawford-Clark County History of 1883 refers to as "an old Indian trail" (p. 443). On page 341 of this same county history it is stated that, "Until 1829, there were no regularly established roads through the township (York)". In reading this old county history due allowance must be made for errors and the nature of its compilation, "on the run" so to speak. But the wonder of it is that there is so much interesting and valuable material in it. The histories of York Township and those townships adjoining it are particularly rich in incidents and background of the early settlement of the state. In the early days of the river traffic when the state was in its first decade of development, York was probably the only settlement of cultured people on the river north of Palestine. It was to York that many of the well-to-do people of Kentucky came. The pioneers did not have time to be "cultured", they had to hustle to make a living, and if Darwin became a bigger pork packing establishment and a more important settlement than Terre Haute itself, it was because of enterprise.
This is not to say that the people of York did not work, but their background and outlook was somewhat different from the average. As a type of man, Woodford Dulaney would be an excellent choice as a representative citizen of the early settlement of York. There are eight or nine different entries in the county history in connection with his activities. In Section II of the history, page 20 is given a brief genealogical notice of the family and particularly that branch of it which is associated with the Dulaney National Bank of Marshall, Ill. Woodford Dulaney was a prominent merchant in York until 1839 when he moved to Marshall. It is stated in Section I of the history, page 309: "It was not until about 1840, when Woodford Dulaney secured a bushel of bluegrass seed from his native state (Kentucky), that the village (Marshall) made the first step toward civilization, and began the sowing of tame grass."
The name and the antecedents of Woodford Dulaney are doubly interesting to me because my grandfather Woodford Dulaney Hand was named for him. The mother of James F. Hand, Jane Fleming, was from a well-to-do family which I suspect to have been neighbors to the Dulaney family in Woodford County, Kentucky. Thus through old associations and the many kindnesses shown by Woodford Dulaney, the prosperous merchant, to the struggling pioneer family of Hands, it is only natural that such a name should be perpetuated. "Wood" Hand of Albuquerque, N.M. is the only living Hand who bears this name -- four generations from the original Woodford Hand.