REDLONS OF OHIO.
643
State. He built cabins on his new land and lived there alone many
weeks at a time, while clearing his farm, before moving his family. He
was a good farmer and had a deep interest in breeding improved stock;
indeed he took the premiums at the State fairs on his cows for many
years. His farm was in Douglas County, in the well-known district called
"Egypt," and the land is not only remarkable for its corn and grain pro-
ducing qualities, but is also adapted to grass and all kinds of fruit. He
spent his last days in the family of his only son, and was for many years
nearly blind. Two daughters lived near him, and being in good health
himself, he would mount a horse, and some of his grandchildren would lead
it by the bridle-rein from house to house, and thus favor the old patri-
arch with the privilege, almost every day in pleasant weather, of visiting
his children. He was of medium height and build, and had, when in his
prime, black hair and beard. His eyes were very dark and bright until
he became blind. In general appearance he represented his mother's
family, and said she had always told him he had a "Tibbetts nose"; this
feature was large and prominent, and of a form (peculiar to the old mem-
bers of the Tibbetts family in New England) that would be hard to de-
scribe without the aid of the artist's pencil. His face was naturally quite
red. Mr. Ridlen's wife died in 1857. Children, nine in number. He
died in 1878, aged 86 years.
Polly Ridlen (3), third daughter of Abraham³ (2), was born in Phil-
lipsburgh, Mass.,-now Hollis, Me.,-Aug. 14, 1794; went to Ohio with
her parents when six years old, and married somewhere in the West. I
cannot learn anything about her family.
*The author of this book visited Samuel Ridlen at Webb's Prairie in 1873, and
remembers with pleasure the hours spent with his kindred while there. In com-
pany with a kinsman, Alpheus G. Ridlon of Norwood, Ohio, he had stopped over
night at Tamaroy, on the Illinois Central Railroad. Morning dawned bright and
beautiful. We hired a team and started on our way across the rolling, blossoming
prairies; the air was warm, but clear and invigorating. At noon we reached Ben-
ton, a neat little village, where we took dinner with a Mr. Nailor, who kept the
hotel there. Then away through groves and wheat-flelds till about 3 o'clock, P. M.,
when we asked a boy by the roadside how far it was to Webb's Prairie.
Why
you are there now," was his quick reply. We asked if there were families named
Ridlon in the neighborhood. "Just over that swell, sir; that's where they live,
sir," answered the lad. But before we had passed the "swell" I discovered a ven-
erable man sitting on the porch of a respectable cabin, and as we drew nearer I
called the attention of my companion, by saying, "There, see that old man; that
must be Uncle Samuel, for I see he looks like my grandfather." We stopped before
the gate, and I walked along the path to the house. He heard my step as I ap-
proached, and in reply to my question, "Is this Mr. Ridlen?" said, "Yes, sir, that's
my name; and pray tell me who you are." When he learned I was his kinsman from
the East, he shouted with all his powers for his daughter, Mrs. Aiken, who was at
that moment in her garden; she came in with haste, supposing something had hap-
pened to the old man, but to her surprise he cried out, "Good heavens! Jane, here
is Mr. Ridlon from my old home in Massachusetts, and another Mr. Ridlon; do
have their horse put up and get them some dinner." Taking a seat by my side he
felt of my hands, arms, and shoulders, to see — as he said if I was built like the
Ridlon family. We sang a hymn-"Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Chris-
tian love, etc.,
and knelt in prayer. How that dear old man shouted praise to
God! He was a Methodist of the primitive stamp, converted at a camp-meeting,
and loved to relate his "experience"; he would describe all the circumstances in
detail, and with considerable composure, till he reached that point where he found
"peace in believing," and then he would shout as only an old-fashioned Methodist
could. We had been at his daughter's of an evening, and on our return to his
other daughter's (Mrs. Sarah Alexander), we called at his son's, on the way.
The old man had gone to his bed in the cabin-chamber, but hearing us singing, he
