Elijah Pease, Sr. (1770-Aft. 1850)

Early Life

Elijah Pease was born on 12 February 1770 in Somers, Connecticut, the eldest son of John Pease and Zipporah Coy. His family had lived in New England for generations. The Pease line stretched back to Robert Pease, who emigrated from Essex, England, to Massachusetts in 1634.Movement was already part of the family’s history. Earlier generations had moved from Salem, Massachusetts, to Enfield, Connecticut, and then to Somers as families sought land and opportunities for their children.Elijah’s own childhood was also shaped by his father’s unsettled experiences. John Pease had survived the disastrous 1762 British expedition against Havana and later suffered financial losses. The family subsequently moved several times in search of greater stability.In 1795, Elijah married Anna Fuller in Stafford, Connecticut. They had five sons between 1797 and 1820.

Why He Left

Elijah and Anna spent the first decades of their marriage in Connecticut, but their sons gradually began moving west.Their eldest son, William, moved to Madison County, New York, after marrying in 1819. Their son James followed, settling in Napoli—later Cold Spring—in Cattaraugus County by the mid-1820s.Eventually Elijah and Anna also moved to the Cold Spring area, where several of their sons established households near one another. The pattern suggests that migration was not simply a matter of individuals seeking inexpensive land. The Peases repeatedly recreated their family network as they moved west.By the early 1840s, another opportunity lay farther west. Northern Illinois offered fertile prairie and federal land at relatively low prices. Several members of the Pease family decided to move again.This time Elijah and Anna went with them.

Journey to Illinois

In 1844, Elijah and Anna joined members of their family in leaving western New York for Kane County, Illinois.The route followed the major migration corridor available to western New York families at the time: travel to the Erie Canal, canal boat west to Buffalo, Great Lakes transportation toward Chicago, and then an overland journey into northern Illinois. This combination of water and overland transportation made a long-distance move considerably more practical for a family transporting household goods and farm equipment.For Elijah and Anna, however, the journey was remarkable for another reason. Elijah was about seventy-four years old and Anna about sixty-nine.Rather than remain behind while their children moved west, they undertook another migration themselves.

Building a Life in Illinois

The Peases settled in Plato Township, Kane County, where several members of the family established themselves near one another. Land records show Elijah and Anna’s sons acquiring federal land. David Pease purchased land in 1844 and continued acquiring property in subsequent years. Mason Pease also purchased land.By the 1850 census, Elijah was eighty years old and Anna seventy-five. They were living in Plato next door to their sons David and Mason, while their son James lived nearby. The census identified Elijah as a farmer, suggesting that even at this advanced age he remained connected to the agricultural life of the family.The settlement pattern resembled the one the Peases had established in western New York: parents, adult children, and siblings living close enough to provide assistance, labor, and companionship.

The 1850 census is the last confirmed record of Elijah and Anna. They likely died after 1850 and before the census in 1860.

Why This Story Matters

We often picture nineteenth-century migrants as young adults setting out to acquire land and establish families. Elijah Pease complicates that picture. He was about seventy-four when he moved to Illinois.By then, Elijah and Anna had already raised their children and spent decades building lives in the East. They could have remained in New York while their sons pursued opportunities farther west. Instead, they made the journey too.That suggests another way of thinking about migration. For Elijah, moving west late in life was less about starting over than about staying connected. The geographic center of his family had shifted, and he shifted with it.His age also reminds us not to impose modern assumptions about older people on the nineteenth century. Migration was physically demanding, yet Elijah and Anna were willing and able to undertake a major journey at ages when we might expect them to remain settled. At seventy-four, he was not leaving his family behind to seek a new future. He was moving with his family so that their future could continue together.

Source Documents

The research documents for the Pease 1844 migration story:

• Biographical Sketch (PDF)
• Migration to Illinois (PDF)
• Genealogical Summary and Children (PDF)
• Legacy (PDF)

Related Reading

• Pease, Anna (Fuller)
• Pease Migration Story
• Paths to Illinois, Volume II The Davis Family Story
• Migration Timeline of all sixteen families
• Ancestors & Surnames index

My Blog and Newsletter have additional stories and research related to the Pease family.