DAR Celebrating Phebe Ashley Weed Today-- Part 2

The Battle of Hubbardton, led by Lt. General John Burgoyne, promised to destroy the village of Poultney.  While the men were busy defending the village, Beulah Wheeler Howe, Phebe's grandmother, and 12 other women, led all that could not fight to Fort Bennington -- over 50 miles away through wilderness to safety.

This extrordinary bravery of the of these thirteen women is still celebrated today woth a parade and festival in their honor called East Poultney Days.

Phebe's family relocated to New York where she married Amasa Mead, who had fought in the War of 1812, and had her first family.  A Kishwaukee Trail member is descended from her fifth child, Catherine Phebe Mead, born December 20, 1821.

Phebe's husband  died and she married John Weed.  They had three more children and she ran a very busy and happy household.

Phebe moved to be near her daughter, Catherine Phoebe Mead, sho married Frederick Morgan Webb.  They were residents of Marengo, Illinois, in the early 1850s.

--Cooter

DAR Celebrating the Life of Real Daughter Phebe Weed Today in Marengo, Illinois

On Sunday, August 14 at 1:30 PM, the Kishwaukee Trail Chapter NSDAR (Illinois) will have a ceremony at Old Marengo Cemetery in Marengo, Illinois.  They will mark the grave of Phebe Ashley Mead Weed, daughter of an American Revolutionary Patriot.

Phebe Ashley was born on Poultney, Vermont, the sixth child of 13 children.  Her uncle Thomas Ashley, Ethan Allen and Nehemiah Howe helped settle the small farming community where she grew up.

Phebe's father, William Ashley, served in the American Revolution and fought for our country's freedom in the Vermont militia.

Young Phebe grew up knowing that her grandmother, Beulah Wheeler Howe, was also a freedom fighter known for being among thirteen women who saved the children and citizens of Poultney from a British invasion.

--Brock-Perry

Marengo's Second Interurban Railroad-- Part 3

Dr. Charles Brown of St. Charles was the main promoter of the line and had sucsessfully developed interurban lines elsewhere in northern Illinois.

The line's first car, #711 was ordered in 1910 from McKean Motor Car Company in Omaha, Nebraska, which described its product as "a palace on wheels."

It took six months to complete the line from Genoa to Marengo.  On June 11, 1911, over 800 people attended the celebration of its dedication.

Not sure what happened to their first interurban railroad.

--DaCoot

Marengo's Second Interurban Railroad-- Part 1: Sycamore to Marengo

From the January 6, 2013, Marengo (Illinois) Union Times by Dorothy Otis.

Before the automobile put them out of business, interurban railroads were a popular and affordable way to get around between cities in the Midwest.

Marengo's second interurban began at the Sycamore city limits and followed a portion of the future Illinois Highway 23 north to Genoa then northeast to Marengo.  (This is the way we use when we go to DeKalb these days.)  By 1913, the line has 23 miles of track.

It was used for passengers and hauling light freight.  originally it was intended to use electricity as a power source but costs led to only gas cars ever being used.

--CootUrban