ROBERT CLOW FAMILY

Robert Clow was born April 30, 1787 in the hamlet of Ecclefechan, Annandale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He died in 1844 at the home he established when he came to Wheatland Twp., Will County, Illinois and is buried in the Wheatland Cemetery.

About five years after the death of his wife, Sarah, (nee Henry), Robert Clow began to think seriously of his wife’s dying wish: “Sell out here and go to some new country where land is cheap and keep the children together.”

Accordingly, about 11 o’clock a.m. on August 31, Robert Clow with his six sons and two daughters, ages 8-26 years old, left the land where their mother was buried, boarded a coast boat at Annan on the Solway by the sea and headed for Liverpool. At Liverpool, they boarded the mail packet “England,” 600 tons, and weighed anchor on the morning of September 1, 1837.

After 35 days living in cramped quarters, doing their own cooking, stifled with impure air when ports and hatches were closed in rough weather, and drinking abominable water, they arrived in New York Bay, October 5, 1837. They took passage on the steamer, “Essex,” for Albany, thence they came by the Erie Canal to Port Gibson in Western New York.
From Port Gibson they moved some miles south to Canandaigua in Ontario Co., about 30 miles S.E. of Rochester, N.Y., and spent the winter of 1837-38.

In the spring of 1838 they rented and moved onto what was known as the old Shaker farm of some 1,400 acres, located on Big Sodus Bay, somewhat east of the center of the southern shore of Lake Ontario. There were buildings, large orchards, about 100 acres of plow land and the Clows spent six happy years on this farm.

In 1844 on the 26th of March, the Clows left Sodus and went to Lyons, N.Y. to await the opening of the Canal to continue their journey. They paid $1 per week for a kitchen and three rooms. Mr. Clow came down with the ague and fever but that did not deter him from traveling.

The locks on the canal did not open because of the water level and they were detained three days longer. Finally, on the 22nd of April they left Macedon, passed through Lockport to the Tonawanda Creek, which lay alongside the Niagara River all the way to Buffalo.

At Buffalo passage was secured on the Steamboat Chesapeake in a little room with nine berths in it for $7. The journey continued with many events through Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

On the 30th of April, they reached Chicago, stopped alongside Norton’s Pier where they stayed all night, paying $1 for bed and board. 

On May 1, 1844, Mr. Clow, Adam, and Robert left for the Fox River in a wagon. On May 4th they came in a stage to Naperville and began searching for a home site. They often walked miles, traveling in all directions before they decided on Section 15 and adjoining 80 acres in northwestern Will County, which they purchased from the government for $1.25 an acre.

The diary of Robert Clow, Jr., stated, “On July 16, 1844, fetched a load of lumber from Hobson and laid off the ground for the house. Contract for building the house was let to Mr. Lyman for $500.”

Some of the original land still remains in the hands of descendants of Robert Clow, Sr. At one time there were eight sets of Clow Brothers in northwestern Will County. With the passing of time many have left the farm but those remaining are endeavoring to carry on the hopes and aspirations of the original owner.

There are fifteen Clow lots in the Wheatland Cemetery in Wheatland Township, Will County, Illinois, where the early settlers are buried. This serves as a reminder to visitors of their love for the land and a desire to stay with their heritage.

11/01

 
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