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- Obit: Feb 1873 HofT
In Woodford County, Ill., December, 24th 1872, of dropsy, JOSEPH BALSLY, snr., aged 70 years, 6 months, and 26 days. He leaves a bereaved wife and one son to mourn their loss. Services by Jacob Unzicker, Christian Esh, and Peter Gingerich. Peace to his ashes.
Called “Joe de laRouge” because of his distinctive red hair.
Joe was successful growing clover on his land, which had not been done before in that part of the country.
“As he prospered he continued to buy land. At the time of his death he was the owner of fifteen parcels of land ranging in size from forty acres to three hundred twenty acres.”
“Red Joe’s first wife, who is thought to have been a Schrock, died early after the birth of their son, Christian. According to Tazewell Co. marriage records, he married second on Feb 25, 1840, Barbara Engel, the daughter of Christian Engel and his second wife, Barbara Brunner. According to both Verna Belsly and Ida Belsly, bones of the two wives were interred in the same grave when the graves were moved many years ago a short distance to their present site in the Red Joe Belsly cemetery on Lourdes Road in Worth Township, Woodford Co., IL.”
Joseph (Red Joe) born 28 May 1802 in “Hof Helle Court, France” Lorraine, came to America in 1828, going first to Ohio (according to Verna Belsly in a 1961 letter to H. H. Schrock). He died 1872. His first wife, Barbara Schrock, according to Verna Belsly, died young, sometime after the birth of a child named Christian. He secondly married Barbara Engel (1803-1881), who came to Illinois with her family in 1833. Red Joe was the first Mennonite to settle in Woodford County.
Red Joe amassed a great deal of land (much of it in Marshall County) and left farms in life estates to each of his grandchildren. His favorite grandson, Joseph, received the Red Joe homestead (purchased for $1.25 an acre from the government ), a brick house, now painted white, on Lourdes Road. In the estate file, the name appears as Belsy.
Red Joe’s birthplace, Hellocourt, is today attached to Maizieres Les Vic. (Some say Fribourg) The present structures were built in about 1870 and were used by the Germans in WWI.
Cimetière Anabaptiste-Mennonite de Rhodes - Moselle Jan 4, 2016 post
Some additional information: (Translated by Google)
While their older brothers, Joseph, Jean and Pierre, as well as their sister Catherine emigrated to the us one after the other, Christian, Jacob and Nicolas Pelsy chose to marry and settle in their village of birth. Christian and Nicolas have married two sisters Abresol, Catherine and Barbe, both also of Rhodes. While Jacob has sought his wife, Madeleine Schertz, Meurthe and Moselle to here in the country of baccarat. They're all buried in this cemetery.
While their older brothers Joseph (Red Joe), John and Peter, as well as their sister Catherine emigrated to the USA one after the other, Christian, Jacob and Nicolas Pelsy all chose to get married and settle in their hometown. Christian and Nicolas got married to 2 Abresol sisters, Catherine and Barbe, who were both from Rhodes. As for Jacob, he found his wife Madelaine Schertz in Rehere (Meurthe et Moselle), a village near the town of Baccarat. All of them are burried in the cemetery.
It should be noted the existence in the 19th century on the levee of the pond of the mill (Farm of bachats) of a mill operated by the family Abresol.
This one is now destroyed, only remain the two wheels in the gardens of the field.
Red Joe’s Will
“On July 30, 1872, Red Joe wrote his will. It was a lengthy document covering nine pages 8 1/2 x 11 inches in size. It distributed cash and the approximately two thousand acres of land he owned. His wife Barbara received two thousand acres of land he owned plus her share of all real and personal property allowed by the Statute of the State of Illinois. He left his son Christian one hundred fifty dollars a year for the next twenty years following his death, plus one hundred twenty acres of land. His daughter-in-law Mary, Christian’s wife, received one hundred acres of land. He willed each of his seven living grandchildren the use of land ranging from two hundred to two hundred forty acres. He set other land aside for any unborn grandchildren. Three more were born, two of whom living to adulthood. Unique feature of his will was that no grandchild could own the land but had only a life estate in it. At their death the land had to be passed on to their living heirs. If the grandchildren had no living heirs at their death, the land was to be redistributed among the other grandchildren. He wanted to insure that many more of his descendants would enjoy the fruits of his labors. . . . .Red Joe left a legacy of courage, ambition and success to his son and g grandchildren. His descendants have continued in his example, making the Belsly name something of which to be proud.” [1, 6, 11, 15, 16]
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