“After his marriage, Mr. Casey began the development of a farm. His home was a little log cabin in the midst of an undeveloped tract of land. Deer could easily be shot and bears were frequently killed in the neighborhood. He entered about 250 acres of land from the Government,and bore all the hardships and trials of pioneer life while performing the arduous task of opening up a farm.

“He and his wife joined the Methodist Church in 1819, and he at once was made a Class-leader and soon became a local preacher. He was untiring in church work and the cause was greatly advanced by his earnest efforts. He gave the ground on which the Pleasant Grove Church was built, aided in the erection of the house of worship, and when it was destroyed by fire, helped to build the brick structure now [1894] in use. The poor and needy found in him a friend, and his neighbors a wise counselor.

“Thomas M. Casey was a farmer and became an extensive breeder and buyer of hogs, cattle, and mules. He was a devout Christian and took much interest in church, the Pleasant Grove neighborhood (4 miles north of Mt. Vernon) having the first place of worship in Jefferson County, and becoming famed all over Southern Illinois as a religious rendezvous. Thomas M. Casey's home was headquarters for the pioneer circuit riders and the wandering evangelists who carried the Bible messages to the dangerous western wilderness.

“He passed from this earthly life October 4, 1868, and was buried at Pleasant Grove. His wife, who shared with him in all religious work, and was a faithful member of the Methodist Church for 57 years, died March 15, 1877.”

“In the parental family of eleven children, ten grew to mature years, while four sons and two daughters are yet living. C.M., now residing on the old homestead, was a soldier of the late war; Malyntha Jane died March 20, 1877, at the age of fifty-four; Cynthia E. is the wife of Harvey Gaston, a pioneer of Jefferson County; Parmelia Caroline, who lives in McPherson, Kan., is the wife of Capt. B.T. Woods, a veteran of the Civil War; Rebecca V. was the wife of Edward Wood; Mary Sophrona died at the age of twenty-two; Wesley Barger, of Mt Vernon, was a cavalryman during the late war, and re-enlisted as Adjutant of the Eighty-third Illinois Infantry; Nancy Robinson died at the age of twenty-four; Abraham T., who served as aid-de-camp on the staff of General Payne during the late war, is now a lawyer of Larned, Kan., and has served as State's Attorney; Rhoda married John Henry Dukes, who was a Lieutenant in the Union army.”