The greatest disaster that had ever befallen the little village of Urbana, occurred one night in the year 1885 when a large portion of the business section of the town was destroyed by fire. The mercantile establishment of S.H. Burris, John Lightner and Sons, the harness shop of B. F. Harris, a drug store, a grocery store and some other small buildings were burned together with a part or all of their contents. My store was on the opposite side of the street from the buildings which were burned. Although it caught fire several times, by the timely and vigorous efforts of neighbors who formed a bucket brigade-- our only means of fighting the fire-- and kept the side of the roof and side of the store house nearest the fire constantly wet with water carried from the nearby public well, also a hard shower of rain fell during the last of the conflagration when the buildings on the opposite side of the street were burning, we succeeded in saving our building.

Despite all of our efforts and the rain, my store would no doubt have been burned, had not the wind changed from the south east to the north west after the shower, which blew the flames away from our store house, while many of our neighbors aided in saving my store building, other neighbors carried nearly all of my stock of goods out of the building to a vacant lot back of store and to safety. After the fire finally was under control, I found that very soon after the fire started, fearing that our dwelling house would be burned, Josie took the children, Joe and Mary, to the home of her sister, Mrs. Emma Thurston, who lived farther away from the burning buildings, and she, unaided, removed from our house, the greater part of its contents, all in fact, except the very heavy articles. After the fire, the next day we moved the stock of goods and household goods back to the store building and dwelling house, and were thankful that we had escaped the ravages of the great fire. Mr. Burris, Lightner and sons and some of the others who had suffered part or total loss of their property by the fire, had some insurance which partially covered their losses, and as soon as possible they erected new store houses and resumed business.

As soon as the excitement incident to the fire somewhat subsided, the citizens of the town began to investigate as to the probable cause of the fire. The prevalent belief was that it was of incendiary origin, and soon the belief became general that one Joel Crawford, a drunken shoemaker of the town, was the culprit. Evidence of his guilt continued to be produced and soon he was arrested and taken to Buffalo and put in jail to await the action of the grand jury, which as it happened was in session. An indictment was returned against him by the grand jury and he was tried for arson in the circuit court, convicted and sent to the state penitentiary for a term of years.

It was a good many years before the village recovered from the effects of the fire. During the time the town was inadequately supplied with mercantile establishments, some of tne trade that had been coming to Urbana was diverted to other towns and much of it was not for a long time, if ever, regained. But gradually after the new storehouses were built and filled with good stocks of new goods, Urbana again had a good trade.

Previous to their removal to our home not only had Mother become very frail, by reason of her long continued affliction, but Father’s health had become feeble too. He had failed to recuperate fully after the serious attack of dysentery and other old age ailments, and he had never resumed the practice of his profession after his illness. Subsequently his arterial system became affected resulting in hardening of the arteries and loss of circulation of the blood in his left arm, rendering it almost useless. A bronchial affection and also diabetes with which he had been afflicted for several years became more pronounced, all of which rendered his physical condition very bad. But he was still able to be up and around, attended church frequently at the Methodist Church in town and occasionally at Bower Chapel, two miles north of Urbana, and on such occasions, would sometimes conduct a part of the devotional exercises, but on account of his physical weakness, and especially, his persistent throat and bronchial affection, he had not been able to preach for some time.

For a few months after coming to live with us, Mother couid sit up some every day long enough to eat her meals and have her cancer dressed, which Josie did daily and gave her every attention she could in trying to alleviate her constant suffering and render her condition less painful. Mother gratefully appreciated the attention given her and frequently said that no one's own daughter was ever kinder or more attentive to her mother’s wants than Josie was to her. But her frail body wrecked by the ravages of relentless disease, became continually weaker, and finally on March 16, 1886 the weary, patient sufferer, the dear wife and loving mother passed away. The feeble tenement of clay, after enduring untold misery for years was at rest and the pure spirit of our dear mother, a faithful, devoted wife and a "Christian in whom there was no guile" passed to her eternal reward. In her death we, her sorrowing children, suffered the greatest loss one can experience in this life of many grevious heart rendering sorrows. Her body was tenderly laid to rest in the Bower Chapel Cemetery.

After Mother’s death, Father was greatly troubled by the loss of his life companion and his complication of ailments, especially the arterial affection, increased, but after a time, his health was partially restored by medical and electrical treatments and some time the next summer or fall he became well enough to make a trip to Buffalo and vicinity, where he spent a week or more visiting William L. Morrow and wife and other old friends. Not long after Father’s return from Buffalo, his granddaughter, Miss Mollie Slavens, a daughter of Brother Joe, whose home was in Texas, visited us and remained two or three months and then returned to Texas. Later she went to Arkansas where her mother and stepfather and her brother, Almus, lived. Almus had married but I do not know the name of his wife or whether he had any children. After Mollie had been in Arkansas some time she married, but t have forgotten her husband’s name. I heard that she and her husband went to Texas. I have not heard from Almus or Mollie for fifteen years.

From the time Father returned from his visit to friends in Buffalo until the spring of 1888, Father‘s health continued much the same. Then it began to rapidly decline and early in June of that year, he was confined to his bed and although all possible efforts were made to arrest the progress of his maladies, it was soon realized that the end of his earthly career was near. Gradually he became weaker and weaker until on June 23, 1888 he breathed his last, and again we sustained an irreparable loss. A faithful courageous minister of the gospel, a fearless advocate and defender of the Christian religion for more than half a century, a soldier of the cross, ever ready to do the will of the Master, passed from the scenes of this inconstant life to his reward in the mansions of rest. He was a man of positive convictions, of unquestioned integrity and ready at all times to stand boldly in defense of truth, right, and justice. During a long and active life he had not only made a splendid reputation as an humble minister but also as an able physician, in which profession he was recognized as one of the best, wherever he had lived and labored. He was a member of the Masonic Fraternity having become a member of that order early in life in Springfield, Missouri. His remains were interred in the Bower Chapel Cemetery beside those of his lamented wife. The pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church preached the funeral of Father and Mother at Bower Chapel, which was attended by all of his living children except my sister Mrs. Nancy Ann Price of Pana, Illinois, who was unable to be present, and a large number of sympathizing friends.

Some time previous to this, I think it was 1883, Josie’s sister, Mrs. Mary E. Creed of Hickory County, died of childbirth. She was one of the most genial persons I ever knew and was a kind and affectionate wife and mother and a most amiable woman. We were very much grieved and greatly lamented her loss. She was buried in the Bower Chapel Cemetery.

On September 21, 1888 occurred the birth of our second daughter whom we named Inez Lucy, the latter name for her Grandmother Lindsey. She was a wee little baby, and had black hair and big pretty black eyes. When she was only a few months old the hired girl carelessly let her fall, severely bruising the back of her neck, which developed into a rising that was very painful for some time. Inez was a remarkably vivacious little child, could talk though not plainly when she was quite small and could sing a number of songs by words and notes before she could talk plainly. She began to attend school when she was only four years old and learned to spell and read rapidly. It seemed that she could learn her lesson with the least effort of any child that I ever saw. She had a remarkable talent for music and became proficient in both vocal and instrumental music, but later she had the measles which very materialy injured her voice..

Sometime during the latter part of the summer of 1889 my health, by reason of long confinement indoors, having become very much impaired, I sold my stock of general merchandise and store building in Urbana to O. W. and Frank Darby and traded them our residence property there for a small farm in Polk County. Later I sold the farm for cash.

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