Branches and Twigs of the Johnson County Illinois Comers

Travel from Halifax, Virginia (located in the Piedmont region of Southern Virginia) to the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia in 1800 would have been a slow, difficult, and potentially arduous journey, likely taking five to ten days depending on the route, weather, and method of travel. This trip would have involved crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains, one of the main geographical obstacles. Methods of Travel The primary modes of transportation available in 1800 were:  * Horseback: This was the fastest and most reliable way for a single traveler, covering an average of 30-40 miles per day in good conditions. Wealthier individuals might use a two-wheeled chaise or a carriage, though these were less practical on poor roads.  * Wagon/Cart: Necessary for moving goods or an entire family, but much slower than riding a horse. The speed was generally similar to a fast walk.  * Walking: The original form of transportation, averaging around four miles per hour. Road Conditions The state of...

The decade of the 1870s swept away the dust of the Civil War for Lee Roy Comer, replacing the chaos of the battlefield with the essential, grounding labor of family life. This era was less about national strife and more about staking a permanent claim to the soil of Johnson County. Building the Foundation (1870-1871)  The new chapter began on a warm spring day, May 15, 1870. At 26, Lee Roy was a seasoned man, even after the five years of post-war civilian adjustment. He married Mary Melissa "Aunt Lissie" Shires, a young woman of 16 who would quickly prove to be a tenacious partner. They settled on a parcel of the Comer land in the 13th township, literally building their future just a couple of doors down from Lee Roy’s parents. The 1870 census recorded them there, a modest beginning with a combined property value of $450. Their quiet endeavor was tested immediately. The summer of 1871 began with joy: the birth of their first child, Eppy, in June. But as the season turned, a g...

The 1860s were the most defining and tumultuous decade in the life of Lee Roy Comer and his family in Johnson County, Illinois. It was a time that shattered the quiet rhythm of farming and forced a rural boy to confront the brutal realities of a nation at war. The Last Days of Peace on the Comer Farm  The decade began with Lee Roy living the demanding but stable life of a farm boy in Johnson County. On July 10, 1860, the census officially documented the Comer household in Township 13 S Range 4 E. Sixteen-year-old Leroy lived under the same roof as his parents and his six siblings. He and his older brothers, John (20) and William (18), were the indispensable labor force on the farm. Their sisters—Mary (15), Nancy Panthea (14), Sarah (2), and baby Moses A. (8 months)—rounded out the bustling household. The Comer farm, owned by his father Moses, was a testament to their continuous labor. According to the 1860 Agricultural Schedule, the family held 65 acres of improved land and 25 acre...

Now, if you had journeyed down to Johnson County, Illinois, just after the middle of the century, you might have heard tell of the Comer place. Old man Moses Epps Comer (VA 1814– IL 1871) had brought his family up from Tennessee, following that call for good, fertile soil. And fertile it surely was. The family had settled in District No. 2, amongst the neighbors like the Davisons and the Cummings. This county was a right handsome spot, with its rolling hills and rich earth, a real farmer's dream. Most folk you’d meet there were simple, honest settlers, having come from Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, all looking to make a life on the land. By that year of 1850, the whole county held near about 4,500 souls, all of them pulling together. The farm was the main enterprise, of course. Folks here lived by the plow and the livestock, sending their crops and cattle up to Vienna, the county seat, or loading them onto flatboats down on the mighty Ohio River—that was the highway for a...

The Root in the Old Dominion (Late 18th Century) Our story begins in the very lap of the Old Dominion of Virginia, in the county of Halifax, where the sun first rose upon John Epps Comer on the fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord 1782. He was the trueborn son of John Comer and his good wife, Amy Elizabeth Epps. From them, young John inherited the bone and grit of a man who would work the earth for his living. Yet, like many men of his time, the soil of his birth could not hold him long, for the whisper of the west was strong in the air. The Early Years of Marriage and the First Trail (Early 19th Century) When the year 1804 turned to its closing weeks, John took his first solemn vow, binding himself to Sarah Wood. It was with Sarah that he began his great family, welcoming sons like Moses Moore Comer and Nathaniel Morgan Comer into the world. By 1810, the census takers found the young family no longer in the east, but in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where they worked ...