Link to Decendants of Henry Sadorus

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Henry "grandpap" Sadorus' Early Life in Pennsylvania
His marriage to Mary Titus
and move to Illinois

Henry Sadorus was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania on the 26th of July (or May) 1783, where he lived until the age of 16, when he moved with his parents to somerset county, in the same state. His birth was four years before the adoption of the Federal Constitution. His early life was spent on a farm, where he laid the foundation of vigorous health and gained the knowledge and experience that was so valuable to him as a pioneer agriculturalist. He remained in Somerset County for some time, and then he spent a winter or two in Canada in the employment of a stiller, then he took a voyage down the Ohio River into the Mississippi and to New Orleans where he spent 11 days enjoying the surroundings. He made application to become a member of that famous expedition of Lewis and Clark. Being unsuccessful in this he took passage o n a vessel bound for Baltimore. The memory of his voyage of the great gulf, the Florida Keys, the Island of Cuba, the tropical Seas, the Story of Atlantic, and the Chespeake Bay never faded from his mind. After he returned from his wandering he moved to Crawford Co., where he married miss Mary Titus in 1811. The mother of his seven children. He served 13 Months in the defense of his country during the war of 1812. His Pension records are attached) Six years later at age thirty five he and his family started its trek westward. His wife, Mary Titus Sadorus was also born in Bedford Co. September 6, 1781. The spring of 1817 found him living with his family on the Oil Creek, Crawford Co. Pennsylvania. William then 5 years old, having been born 4 July 1812 was the eldest . Eliza Jane the second child, due to become the wife of John Jordan, was born Feb. 24, 1814. Their other 5 children will be mentioned later. The western fever, which has prevailed among Americans since the landing of the Pilgrims, attached Henry "Grandpap" Sadorus and from the native timbers of that area he constructed a raft or flat boat upon which he loaded his worldly goods and wife and 3 children, after the manner of that time, set by water upon a journey westward. Most of the wagon roads were game trails and few bridges existed. His flat boat was built upon the water of Oil Creek and they started pursuit of a home in the west. Following the creek to its junction wit the Allegheny River they soon arrived at Pittsburgh and the Ohio River. They headed for Cincinnati, then the leading city of the far west. The flat boat having served it's purpose was sold for $1,700 in Cincinnati in James Platts Shimplaster money, making the travelers rich for the time being. But in six months it shared the fate of its kind and was worthless. The family remained in Cincinnati two years when they again started westward stopping successively at Connersville, Flat Rock, and Racoon in the state of Indiana. Three of their children were born at Rushville, Indiana. Melissa, Allen Marshall, and Henry Titus.) Where they found themselves in the Spring of 1824, still with a desire to go west. Early in that year, Henry and a neighbor Joe Smith fitted themselves out, each with a team of two yolks of Oxen and a covered wagon, suitable for moving their families. They again set their faces westward, intending to go to Illinois Country, possibly as far as Fort Clark, (Now Peoria) They passed the site of the City of Indianapolis where the foundation of the Capitol building had just been laid. Crossing the Wabash River by ferry at Clinton, Indiana, the family now entered the Grand Prairie. After entering Illinois, they met only one house between the state line aned his home in the SE quarter of Section 1. His home was built of split linn logs 16X16 covered with split oaken boards with linn puncheon for a floor plus the roof was laid upon logs or poles laid length wise of the cabin, each succeeding ply being a little higher than the last one converging toward the apex. These boards, for the want of nails, were held in place by weight poles laid lengthwise over the butts of each course. The door was made of split boards held in place by wooden pins. The window was only a hole cut in the log wall to let the light in. The hole was subsequently covered with greased muslin to keep out the cold. The Sadorus home which was built within the grove two miles North of Section 36 in what is now Colfax Township, was less pretentious. It was built of similar logs, 10 by 12 feet, but entirely open on 1 side. What is called a "half-faced camp". In this cabin windows and doors wee entirely dispensed with. Henry "Grandpap"Sadorus Builds His Home In Illinois The summer spent in the cultivation of the little patches of corn and garden by means of a crude prairie plow and other tools which they had brought with them. Hunting wild game for their meat and psalteries the result being that as the autumn approached, the larder of the families were well supplied with the best the country could afford. Joe Smith decided he wanted to go further west and sold his cabin to Henry Sadorus, who thus became the only inhabitant in the south end of the country. The Sadoruses became the first permanent white settlers in Champaign County and continued to reside on the Okaw for a period of 54 years. Henry Sadorus gave his name to the grove township, as well as the village in the extreme North Eastern part of the township. Their new home was daubed that fall, (intersections between logs were filled with chink and mud to prevent cold from intruding.) Its foundation was banked with mud for the same purpose. A mud chimney was built outside with a fireplace opening inside the cabin and carried up above the cabin roof with sticks and mud. A companion cabin, built subsequently a few feet away, in like manner supplied with mud a stick chimney and dubbed as the first, added to the comfort of the family. A single sadh window was bought in Eugene, Indiana a few years thereafter and that glazed with glass gave the family the first such window in Champaign county. These cabins did duty for fourteen years as the Sadorus domicile until 1838 when a more permanent home was erected. The Henry Sadoruses Builds a Tavern and Melissa Marries Sam Suver Henry "Grandpap" Sadorus and his wife Mary (Titus) had seven children. They were William the eldest, Melissa, Aldula, Eliza Jane, Henry Titus, Mary and Allen. "Grandpap" was the nickname given Henry Sr. and he carried it to his grave. The family remained 'squatters" until December 11, 1834, when "Grandpap" Sadorus entered the quarter section at the Vandalia land office. His son William, at the same time entered the eighty acre tract adjoining to the north, which were the first entries of land in the Sadorus Township. The family first lived in the Southwest quarter of Sec. 2 township 17, Rouge 7 then they decided to erect a building for a tavern. The nearest mile was at Covington, Indiana, sixty miles away, but the lumber (some 50,000 ft.) was hauled through unbridged sloughs and streams and the tavern was built. The Sadoruses did a thriving business. Their corn was sold to drovers who passed his place with herds of cattle for the east, beside being fed to great numbers of hogs on their farm. Their first orchard consisted of fifty milans procured somewhere near Terre Haute, Indiana. From them were taken innumerable sprocets, and that apple became very common in that area. The Sadorus family grew their own cotton at least enough for clothing and bedding. As the time came for the Mother and three daughters being so much occupied in cooking for and waiting upon the travelers, and when cloth began to get cheaper, they did not find time to continue weaving. The first marriage in the county took place between Melissa Sadorus and Samuel Suver of Monticello. The wedding was at the cabin of Henry "Grandpap" Sadorus, and was an old-fashioned one, attended by most of the settlers in that vicinity, besides several from Piatt county. Their first death in the area was one of the Henry Sadorus' children, Mary, in 1833 at the age of three. she was their seventh child. From the History of Rush Co, Indiana 1888--Brant and Fuller About 1819 the Indians ceded their title to land In 1819, Henry Sadorus was a squatter on land now owned (1888) by T.P. White on the south side of Flat Rock. He was a keen hunter and a skillful trapper. He built a house and stable, cleared some land, and had a wagon and horses. After the sale of the land, he entertained land viewers and movers, assisting them with his team when needed. In 1821, he sold his claim to Joseph Smith for $100, in which he purchased 80 acres on the north side of Flat Rock, now a part of farm of Jesse W. Smelser. After Indianapolis was laid out, he hauled the first dry goods from Cincinnati to that place and also assisted in moving families and their household goods there. In 1823, he sold his land to John Smelser for $300 and pushed out into what is now Champaign County, Illinois and located in a beautiful grove which bears his name as does the post office and railroad station, now there His son William, has his home there still Submitted by Carol Hewerdine 121 SW Church Champaign, Illinois 61820. Henry Sadorus Builds a New Home> Travelers became so numerous and Mr. Sadorus became famous as a host; he decided to build a real mansion. Walnut lumber was hauled from Eugene, Indiana. Carpenters were hired at one dollar a day. It took several carpenters over a year to build the old homestead--walnut doors, hand-mad shingles, walnut stairway to guest room, hewn frames of walnut logs. The whole home completed cost about $1,300. There were times when 40 or 50 travelers passed that way each day. The bricks for the fireplace and chimneys came from near Urbana. They cost $3 per thousand. Henry Sadorus In His Later Years Henry "Grandpap" Sadorus at the time of his death had attained the age of 95 years, lacking 8 days. He was about five feet 7 inches tall and in his prime weighed not far from 150 lbs. His religious faith was that of the Universalists, not believing that a merciful God was would cause any of his creatures an unbroken series of endless torments. In political faith he was a Jacksonian Democrat, but voted for Peter Cooper and a greenback currency at the presidential election of 1876. Rutheford B. Hayes in 1877. About the year 1846 Mary Titus Sadorus age 65 died and in 1853 he married Mrs. Canterbury, being 23 years younger than he, was a support to his declining years and she survived him. In his last days he became ambitious to have a pension (His papers are attached) He succeeded in getting a pension allowed but the final papers never reached him for his signiture because of his last illness, and were never signed. ...His life of industry was richly rewarded. His land of which he from first to last had about 1000 acres, he deeded to his children, who paid him a regular annuity in cash, which furnished him an ample support in his comfortable homestead in the eastern suburb of Sadorus Village. He was a man of irreproachable integrity and until his last sickness his mind remained unimpaired. Grandpap was very patriotic and celebrated July 4th of each year with all enthusiasm of youth on July 4, 1878 there was a big celebration in the north grove, and Grandpap over exerted himself by singing with encores until exhausted. He took to his bed the same day and on the 18 of July passed away. William Henry Sadorus William Henry Sadorus, eldest of Henry S "Grandpap" Sadorus and Mary Titus both born in the State of Pennsylvania. William was born a little less than five years old his parents embarked upon a flat boat and set out for their home in the West. A few weeks brought the family to Cincinnati, then the rising western town by the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers. Here they dwelt two years and then in March of 1824 they set out for the West. Their first and final stop was on the land of the Okaw in what was then Edger Co., Illinois. This point they reached April 9th and set up their camp. Their wagon was driven by two yoke of oxen and contained the mother and 6 children at this time. A simple wagon tent did duty as a home for the pioneers until after the ground had been broken with the rude wooden mould-board iron plow share plow they brought with them, and some seed put in the ground as a provision for the future. Soon after setting up their home, the family was visited by Indians of the Kickapoo, Delaware, and Pottawattami tribes. William often related in his later years how they treated the Indians kindly and in return received nothing but kindness from the Indians. On December 11, 1834 William being then 22 years old entered the N1/2, N1/4, Sec. 1T. 17 R.7. This was one of the first entries of land on the Okaw. William lived on this land for almost half a century. there were no schools when the Sadorus family came to Illinois, and William received his education at a school at George, Illinois, where his father sent him for some months when William was a young man. On the 22 Day of March, 1838 William was married to Mary Ann Moore of Lake Fork and soon afterward made a cabin near his fathers. His children were, George Wade Bacon, Henry Washington, Margaret (wife of O.C. McConney) Samuel Suver, Husband of Cecelia Marinda Whitaker), Sarilda (Married Thomas Hixon) and Sarah S Married Charles Mills, and John T (Possibly Titus) died at 3 1/2 months. The first Mrs Sadorus (Mary Ann Moore) died abut 1848. Then William married Miss Jincy Ann Brumley from which were born a son and daughter both of whom died young. The third Mrs William Sadorus was Mrs. Charity Hastings. One daughter, Ida, was born of their marriage. George wade Bacon, William's eldest son entered the army in 1862 in Company G 25th Illinois Regiment and came out a Captain of his company in 1865. Henry W, second son enlisted in Co G. 25th Illinois Regiment August 25, 1861. He was honorably mustered out of the service September 1864 All his life William had been engaged in farming, and which business he realized a handsome return. He was for a time the owner of a small stock of merchandise one of the first stores in the region, but soon retired from that business. He was always a democrat in politics and believing in the democratic maxim that the "office should seek the man and not the man the office". He was a member of the Baptist Church and one of the active promoters of that faith in his neighborhood. He was venerable in year, honored by his neighbors and highly favored by his make of whom he was a sincere worshipper. His children lived near him in last years of his life and he enjoyed them very much.  Although Henry "granpap" Sadorus, nor his son William Henry never joined the LDS Church while living, I am sure that as the gospel was taught to them in it's fullness in the Spirit world they has since then accepted it with all of their hearts, just as His grandson and son Samuel Suver did. He was a very good man and loved his family very much. They were honest and hard working and passed these same qualities down to their sons and daughters and this has blessed their posterity down through the generations. *~We love each of you, my dear grandparents of long long ago.*~ ~*Please sign my guestbook before you leave*~ ~*All graphics on this page are under copywrite and cannot be used for any purpose without permission. Thank you for your honesty and integrity*~