Bela Hopkins Tryon (1849 - 1877)

Born 1849 in Tryon Grove, McHenry County, Illinois, United States

Ancestors

Died 8 Jan 1877 at about age 28 in Hebron, McHenry, Illinois, United States

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Biography

"[Bela] passed away at the age of twenty-six years."^[1]

News items

We are all proud to refer to the bravery of our soldiers in the late war, and we speak with exultation of their patience in suffering and deprivation. There is no doubt that the bravest men who ever followed any flag, in any age, are those who followed the stars and stripes in the second great struggle for the Union. But we also sometimes find in civil life, the stuff of which heroes are made. And probably the history of McHenry county can exhibit no more prominent example of fortitude under continued ill-luck and suffering that that of Bela H. Tryon. He has been singularly unfortunate. On the 17th day of March 1864, when riding a fractious horse, the restless animal fell with his rider, whose right femur was thereby fractured. On the 22nd of October of the same year, in jumping from a stack of grain and endeavoring to favor the lame leg by alighting on the left, the thigh bone of that leg was broken. It would seem that his misfortunes ought to have ended with the breaking of both legs inside of a year, but so the fates had not decreed. On the 9th day of April 1869 in a scuffle with a mate, the bone of the right thigh was again broken, and on the 10th of February 1873 when driving from Woodstock with Will Ercanbrack, the team becoming frightened and fractious kicked themselves loose from the sleigh, pulled young Tryon out, clinging to the lines, and his right thigh bone was again broken. With both legs broken twice and badly crippled he was allowed a respite only until July 2d, 1874, when a kicking horse inflicted the third fracture upon the left femur. Sometime prior to September 1875 pain began to develop in the lower extremity of this bone, but a physician was not consulted until near the end of that month when an examination at once revealed the existence of a serious disease of the bone. Active measures were at once taken to arrest it, but without avail. If ever a patient had careful, constant and tender nursing Bela Tryon had. His noble mother, while herself an invalid, was constantly ministering to his wants through weary weeks and months. Other relatives and friends were also kindly attentive, but neither the skill of the physician nor the tender care of friends could avail. The disease was of an incurable type, and the physician at last announced with a sorrowing heart that the only hope of life was in amputation. During all this suffering Bela had borne up like a Spartan. Never had a groan or a complaint been heard to issue from his lips. Never until came the sad day on which the limb was to be removed, did the poor boy's courage seem to fail, and then it was not the surgeon's knife he feared, but the terrible thought that he must be doomed to loose [sic] the limb forever. One can well imagine the terror of such a thought to a young and ambitious man just starting out in life. It would take more than human fortitude not to shrink under such cirumstances. But his old firmness quickly returned, he calmly laid back on his pillow, the anaesthetic was administered and the operation performed. That occurred on Wednesday, the 9th inst, and at this writing (Monday 14th) everything has gone on favorably and recovery seems quite certain.^[2]

"— Bela Tryon, only son of C. H. Tryon died at the residence of his father, in Hebron, on Monday last. The hand of Providence has fell [sic] heavily upon Mr. Tryon during the past few months."^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Various authors (1922) History of McHenry County, Illinois, Vol 2, Munsell Publishing, Chicago, p 905
2. ↑ The Woodstock Sentinel (Woodstock, Illinois) 17 Feb 1876, Thu Page 1 https://www.newspapers.com
3. ↑ The Woodstock Sentinel (Woodstock, Illinois) 11 Jan 1877, Thu Page 5 https://www.newspapers.com

• 1860 US Federal Census; Census Place: Hebron, McHenry, Illinois; Roll: M653_202; Page: 242; Image: 242; Family History Library Film: 803202 (Ancestry.com)

• 1870 US Federal Census; Census Place: Richmond, McHenry, Illinois; Roll: M593_257; Page: 459B; Family History Library Film: 545756 (Ancestry.com)

Given that there is a month between the two enumerations he could also appear in:

• 1870 US Federal Census; Census Place: Jefferson, Jefferson, Wisconsin; Roll: M593_1719; Page: 156B; Image: 316; Family History Library Film: 553218 (Ancestry.com) he appears as a probable boarder, and is attending school.

• Bela Hopkins Tryon's Find a Grave Memorial 55692655