John Will Switzer
B. April 7, 1856 D. Oct. 1, 1942
John Will's father and older brothers fought in the Civil War, his father drove a supply wagon. John Will's mother called him Johannes. She wove the cloth on her loom for all the children's clothes. When John Will was sixteen, the family moved from VA to Woodford Co. IL, the area in which John Will's older brother Jacob had already settled . They came with a wagon and extra horses to ride. John Will said that, "One thing I wish still is that I |
had put mother's loom in the wagon. I could have knocked it down and got it in. She always missed that loom." John Will carried his lunch to school during the Civil War in a hickory splint basket. That basket was brought to Illinois, and he used it to gather the eggs the rest of his life. His daughter, Erma used it for this and the author used it for the same purpose when he helped his grandma gather eggs. =) |
John Will's pride and joy were the grapes that he grew, and some of my favorite photos of him are of his tending of the grapes, said to have been brought by the Switzer family from Alsace-Lorraine. Married Martha Jane Tawzer Children Pearl Anna b. Feb.19, 1854, Jessie Mabel b. Feb. 20, 1887, Erma Gem b. May 18,1889. |
The Switzer Farm is completely gone now but below there is an aerial photo of how it was. |
Photographs
Joyce Wiley Whisler's Recollections of John Will Switzer After moving to Illinois, Grandpa walked across two mile sections to go to the Woltzen School, later named Zion. He took his exams and received a teacher's certificate, but was always too busy to teach. He took pride in the fact that I became a teacher. When he was able to rent a farm, he had a truck farm. When truck farming he would load up his produce in the late afternoon and start to Peoria well before light to get there for the morning market. After he had sold his load he would start home, traveling most of the way after dark, "But the horses knew the way, so I could often sleep part of the time." One time he went to sleep and the horses missed their turn and he awakened as they headed up the bluff." In later years when he was preaching afar, he had a car, but usually also had a driver. One day when it was necessary for him to drive home, his wife heard the heard the old car rumbling down the drive and could tell it was Grandpa at the wheel. She exclaimed, "He'll never make the garage door!". But make it or rather, hit it he did, going through the door and out through the back side of the garage. Grandma (Martha Jane Tawzer Switzer) had been raised in the same section where their truck farm was and she told of having to go to find the cows out on the prairie, "Where the buffalo grass was high enough to hide a man on horseback. But I always took my little dog along. One time when some 'bad boys' decided to way-lay me, I siccd the dog on them and he kept them busy until I got away", she said. She was born at Farmington IL, as the Tawzer family came by covered wagon to Panther Grove on Panther Creek. Her father, J.B. Tawzer, brought $1500. in gold with him from PA, with plans to invest in the steel plow company of Toby Anderson in Peoria, IL, but on arriving, decided to invest in prairie land instead. In 1898, J.W. and Martha Jane Tawzer bought 80 acres across the section from her home, that prairie land was his pride and joy. He built a good size barn and grainary, and enlarged the house. It had two or three rooms when he bought it, and it ended up with eight rooms and a small bath with a wood framed enameled tub, almost as big as tubs are now. When grandpa was forty he joined the Brethren Church and was called to the ministry. He still farmed for his living, but since he could not do things by halves, he attended seminary classes to do a better job. When his daughters were old enough to go on with their education, J.W. took them to the Church of the Brethren College at Mt. Morris, IL. His three daughters all got teaching certificates. J.W. stayed with his daughters while they attended school, and he also attended classes as well as doing carpentry work in that area. The girl's mother Martha also lived at Mt. Morris, as the farm was rented, but she periodically would return to the farm, knowing Grandma, you could guess why she had to oversee it. When the rest of the Switzer family left Mt.Morris College, the youngest daughter, my mother Erma stayed to further her education, and eventually married a schoolmate, Harold T. Wiley, my father. He came back with her, and taught at Woltzen School, later farming Grandpa J.W.'s farm. And that is how we all came to live together. Grandpa J.W. was very community minded and he was instrumental in getting the farmers organized to build the farmer's phone line so they could have a telephones. The first bill we have is dated 1904, and soon after that the electric lines were built. When I was starting to school, 1924, Grandpa was the elder of the Panther Creek Brethren Church, and had been for some time. He was also the Elder of the Oak Grove Brethren Church at Lowpoint, and the Hudson Church. Grandpa was a sought after speaker and in the fall when field work was done, he often held nightly meetings for a week or two in many of the churches in Central and Southern Illinois. Grandpa was a Christian in the best sense of the word, he taught us by example, and sometimes with further instructions. When he was almost 80, he had pneumonia, and the doctors had given up, but he asked for a prayer of intercession, a 'laying on of hands', he and those of us gathered around him asked that he be spared, as he said, "So he could continue to care for his invalid wife". He recovered and took care of his wife until her passing, then lived another 5 years. During this time, he found a prescription that had been written for him when he was so sick,and read the contents, which included alcohol. He became furious, and said, "you should have let me die!" John Will Switzer died in October of 1942. The minister who had worked with him for 10 years had the service, and said "Brother Switzer was a Prince of a Man". We couldn't believe that we couldn't keep him forever. And in some ways we have. Joyce Whisler 1985 A Letter Written by John Will Switzer in 1938 a few years before his Passing |
John Will's Daughters In our family it is almost imperative to list the 3 daughters of John Will and Martha Jane Switzer. There was an attachment that was lasting, particularly since Erma and her family lived in an extended family with J.W. and Martha. This kept the 3 sisters in close contact through the years. Erma was the youngest, and her older two sisters have their own pages here, that can be accessed by clicking the links below. Pearl Anna Switzer Cawley Jessie Mabel Yordy
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