Guardians and Goats

Once upon a time in Lawrence County Illinois in the year 1835 Jacob Pargin was born. He was the son of Peter Pargin and Sarah Petty and in 1850, the 15- year- old teenager was living with his parents. Eventually Jacob decided that farm life wasn't exciting enough and enlisted in Captain Watts Company of the 7th Missouri infantry. Clearly, he thought marching and guard duty would be a nice change from milking cows.

Jacob's brother Daniel came home disabled before Jacob was even mustered in. Jacob probably thought, “Well that's not encouraging!” But, off he went bravely joining the regiment. They participated in Freeman's Campaign against Springfield Missouri which sounds impressive, but was mostly marching, camping, and probably complaining about the food.

Later they moved to Pittsburgh Landing Tennessee where they were on guard duty until August 15, 1862. If you think standing around watching nothing happen is boring, imagine doing it for months. The regiment then moved to Corinth, Jackson, and La Grange, which Jacob might have described as ‘a scenic tour of places you've never heard of’.

They joined the Grand Central Mississippi campaign and later survived not only the siege of Vicksburg but also the deadly assault of Vicksburg. Jacob was mustered out with the 7th Missouri non- veterans on June 14, 1864, his term of service having expired. He probably celebrated by sleeping for a week.

After his discharge Jacob returned home to the farm and married the widow Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Hagler Updike on April 5, 1868. He must have thought “I survived the war now let's try marriage.” They settled in Petty Township on a farm. A daughter Rosa was born before Jacob died at age 36 of pneumonia in March 1870. Many young soldiers came home in a weakened condition after the war, and this may have led to his early death. If only drugs were as popular then as they are now....oh wait I mean the good medicinal kind.

After Jacob's untimely exit, William H Harmon stepped up as guardian for little Rosa. He reported to the court of his expenses from May 7, 1881, to April 17, 1882. His initial amount on hand was $188.65 which in 1880s money could buy you a small herd of goats, a wagon and maybe a lifetime supply of mustache wax, ...not necessarily items that a young girl might desire.  To that, he added interest to total $202.00 proving that even in the 19th century, compound interest was a good thing. Not bad for a guardian, maybe he should have considered a career in banking. He could have become the Warren Buffet of Lawrence County.

He applied for a Civil War pension on Rosa's behalf as a dependent child on November 19, 1881. The expenses he reported included railroad fare because apparently the only way to travel between Lawrenceville and Clay City then was by train or by horse and horses don't give you receipts which the judge wants to see, express charges for sending money, bed and breakfast which probably meant a straw mattress and cold biscuits- continental breakfast 1880s style, but hey, it only cost 65 cents, dinner at Birds 15 cents, attorneys fees of $10 because even then lawyers were expensive, stamps 16 cents (wow), and eight days’ time spent on guardianship.  All these expenses totaled $26.09. 

If only Harmon had a rewards card for all that travel, he could have earned enough points for a free trip to Bridgeport or maybe a t-shirt that said "I went to Birds and all I got was this crummy t-shirt."

In September 1884 at age 16, Rosa traded her guardian in for a 19-year -old husband. Maybe she wanted those goats and a wagon after all. As for this writer I am going to Birds to look for that '15 cents dinner.'