It has taken 2 ½ years but the permanent exhibit “When History Meets Archeology: The Hallock Family of Wabash County, IL” is finished. A grand opening by invitation has been scheduled as part of The Fabulous Fourth Celebration but anyone can visit the exhibit during regular museum hours.
The Wabash County Museum is located at 320 North Market Street in Mt. Carmel, IL and the regular business hours are Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m. (Winter hours are shorter. From 2-4 p.m.) The exhibit was planned by archaeologist Michael McNerney and designed and fabricated by artist Christine deShazo. Money was raised by friends in Wabash County and Southern Illinois. There have been many financial and informational contributors.
The Hallock family members were amazingly brilliant people who lived on the frontier of Illinois and made a living by their wits during difficult times. But times were difficult for everyone during those days. The Hallock family was contacted by Dr. Ezra Baker Jr. while they lived in Tukerton, NJ about making castor oil in Illinois. John Hallock, the patriarch of the family, had patented a cold press method for producing castor oil, but had to take a bankruptcy, due to business conditions of the time. Dr. Baker asked them to make the long journey and take a chance on Illinois. The National Road was completed by that time, 1838, and the family moved to Illinois. The farm they settled on, in Wabash County, had been started by others and Dr. Baker owned it, complete with one of the best water wells around.
Mary, the first-born child, kept a journal of her recollections. This is the reason we have so much information about the Hallock family. They had a mill built by Isaac Parmenter, their neighbor, and began to work, buying and trading castor beans from their neighbors to complete the needed product. Old John Hallock peddled the castor oil, using a “one-horse shay” throughout the country-side, going as far north as Terre Haute, IN and as far south as Evansville, IN. The product was produced, bottled and labeled on the farm.
As business proceeded, a room was added to the house and goods were kept in stock to trade with the neighbors. One of the original day books was donated by heirs of the Newkirk family which lists how the neighbors bartered with the Hallocks to do business of the day. That day book has been photocopied and is available for anyone to peruse in the exhibit.
Times changed and the Hallocks, under the leadership of John’s son, Aaron (who was Mary’s father), also added other cash crops—cider and hay. At one time they also had a mill for grinding corn. The cash crops were moved down river by flatboat and sold along the Mississippi River, sometimes at Memphis and sometimes as far south as Vicksburg. The price of hay was high during the Mexican and Civil wars since the Army needed hay and vinegar (made from the cider). Aaron had visited the village of New Harmony and saw the operation of the hay press there, came home and built his own. A video of a similar hay press loops daily with a video of the National Road for visitors to watch.
Mary married Joseph Shearer, who lived on the adjoining farm and they raised a large family. The other descendants were equally prolific and there are many Hallock descendants: Shearer, Newkirk, Ravenstein, Pixley and others.
The exhibit is only made possible because a surface mine came into the county. The site was judged to be significant historically because of Mary’s journal and an archaeological dig was completed during the winter of 2018. The artifacts were some of the most significant ever found and are borrowed from the Illinois State Museum on an ongoing basis for display and learning. The site has now been obliterated. But Mary’s story lives on because her great granddaughter Clara Shearer published her journal in 1967. Come see the exhibit. Read the exhibit labels and see the artifacts. Imagine the land at the time and how the family lived. It’s their story but its also your story.
