In Memory of Elizabeth McNary Blue

The gravestone in Brittin Cemetery in Cantrall, Sangamon County, IL for Elizabeth (McNary), wife of John Blue.

On this day, November 23, in 1849, Elizabeth McNary Blue (my 5th great-grandmother) breathed her last and was laid to rest at the age of 67 years. She was an “early settler” (a person who comes right after the pioneers in order to “settle” a land for use by more people) from childhood until the end of her life, living the adventures of making new homes in wilderness areas and figuring out how to provide shelter for, feed, and raise her eleven children. Her father, John McNary (1752 – 1830) was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and received land in Kentucky in lieu of a salary when the war ended. It was there that Elizabeth and John Blue, Jr.  (1777 – 1841) married on 30 April 1801. The couple lived in Kentucky for 20 years before they “moved west” to Ohio sometime between 1821 and 1823. By 1830, they had moved even further west to the newly opened land of Illinois. Something of their lives in Sangamon County, IL was described in an earlier post.

Today is a celebration of a courageous, hard-working, sacrificing woman who gave up many of the comforts of life to contribute to the development of a very young nation.