AUTOGRAPH BOOK OF JESSIE BELLE LAWSON
ONARGA, ILL.
c. 1880

The following was transcribed from the autograph book of my 
g-grandmother, Jessie Lawson.  She became Jessie Lawson 
Whiteside with her marriage to Samuel Addison Whiteside.

1.	Inscription for this volume dedicated to Friendship's Record.

"Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes,
And fondly broods with miser care;
Time but the impression deeper makes
As streams their channels deeper wear."
				Burns
	May this be your happy experience as you read over these pages
	in after years and the sweeter recollection that your name is
	"written in heaven."
			Affectionately your friend and Pastor,
			W. C. Magner
			Onarga, Ill.
			Sept. 21, 1880

2.	Jessie!
"Get theu spindle and they distaff ready and God will
send thee flax."
	Your friend
	M. E. Magner

3.	To Jessie L.
A few lines in your book I'll write -
And wish you a future which may always be bright.
Be kind and good, faithful and true,
And the Lord will bless you in whatever you do.
	Your friend,
	J. Will Porter
	Greenwood Home
	9.26.1880

4.	For Jessie L,
Long tried, trusted and true,
Make friends of the truest blue,
Always remember a friend you've helped in need,
Will always endeavor your pleasure to speed.
	Your friend,
A.	Porter
Greenwood Home
Onarga, Ill.
Sept. 27th, 1880

5.	Dear Jessie,
"Tis weary watching wave by wave,
And yet this tide heaves onward.
We climb like coral, grave by grave,
But have a path that's sunward.
We've beaten back by many a fray,
But never strength we'll borrow.
And where the vanguard camps today,
The rear shall rest tomorrow."
		Lovingly,
		Jessie
		Onarga, Sept. 26, 1880

6.	"May friendships brightest gem of earth
E'er wreathe its smiles around your way;
	And Love - that flower of heavenly birth,
		Yield you its richest aroma.
			Your friend,
			Laura T. Grant
			Roseville, Ill.
			10-7-80

7.	Miss Jessie,
"The Lord bless thesee and keep thee; the Lord make his
face shine upon these and be gracious unto thee; the Lord
lift up him countenance upon thee and give thee peace."
		Sincerely,
		Frances M. Gilbert
		Rossville,
		Oct. 7, 1880

8.	Compliment of your friend,
Steward Jones
Ridgeville, Ill
1882

9.	Jessie
May sunshine gild your path through life,
Each day bring some new pleasure;
May you be free from care and strife,
And lay up heavenly treasure.
	Your cousin,
	Addie M. Coe
	March 23, 1882

10.	Jessie
May peace and plenty you every day attend,
May you never want or lose a friend;
May all your moments pass as you desire,
May you wed the one you most admire,
	Your Cousin,
	Jennie Coe
	Onarga, March 23rd, 1882

11.	"Imagine the rest"
Every your friend,
Ed. E. Whiteside
Ridgeville,
Nov. 3rd, 1880

12.	Like ripple following the wave to sea
So many God's blessing follow thee.
	Your friend,
	Albert M. Amerman
	Onarga, Ill
	Nov. 7th, 1880

13.	Onarga, April 24th, 1882
Jessie -
A long happy life I wish you.  The happiness will depend, in
a great measure on yourself, and will be of your own making
or marring, for life is what you make it.  We can make our 
own life pleasant by making others happy for tis said that: 'That
which the fountain sends forth returneth again to the fountain.'
	[this one is signed "Mc" or so it seems]
	Sheldon, Iroquois Co., Ill.

14.	[this page is headed with O.C.C.  Along the sides are written 
Banking, Journal, Ledger]
	Mistakes are the stepping stones by which we can learn.
		Very respectfully,
			Chas. E. Pickett
			Onarga, Ill
			May 25, 1882

15.	[this page is headed by G.P.C. - that is probably Grand 
Prairie Conservatory]
One of the Six
	E. L. Philbrook
	New Sharon, Iowa
	First Class and Union
	Paris, Ill
	12-6-80

16.	Friend Jessie
Take me as I mean, not as I say.
Your commercial friend,
	Jonas Vanderwoort
	Onarga, Ill
	May 12, 1880
[along the side of the page in parentheses in says Don't forget
the stripes we saw one day]

17.	Compliments and respects of
Ida A. Motte
Onarga, Nov. 28th, 1880

18.	Ever your friend,
H. L. Walton
Thomasboro, Illinois

19.	Mon ami,
In your selection of friends choose those who will support
your judgment and give peace to your affections, be slow
in choosing them and slow to change them.
	Very respectfully,
	J. Chall (?) Gray
	Watseka, Ill
	April 12, 1881
[along the side of the page is a long string of numbers
11-3
11.10.23-6.9.1.10.25.9-27.5-13.10.21.9-4.8.10.11.23-12.4.11.8-
23.3.9-14.4.24.24-13.10.21.8-6.22.23-6.9.1.10.25.9-27.5]

20.	Your resp'c't'y,
		Jno. T. Gourley
		Cornell, Ill.

21.  	That your life may be crowned with success, prosperity 
and happiness is the wish of
			Your friend,
			WR Kussel
			Buckley, Ill
	May 24, 1882 Onarga, Ill

22.	Miss Jessie,
		"Every hour that fleets so swiftly
		Has its to do or bear,
			Luminous the crown and holy
		If thou set each gem with care."
			Your friend,
			Sarah A. Robinson
			Onarga, Ill
			Nov. 7, 1881

23.	Miss Jessie:
		Remember me as long as you do Double Entry Book Keeping and
		I shall not soon be forgotten.
			Your loving friend,
			Mattie Haight
		Commercial Room
		Oct. 28th, 1881

24.	Dear J -
		In the boquet that represents your cousins, your sisters and 
		your aunts, please place a "forget me never" that is "hardly
		ever" for,
			Your best friend,
			Carrie Ludwick
		Onarga, June 20, 1881

25.	Onarga, Nov. 3rd, 1881
		In memorry's golden casket
		Place one little pearl for me.
			Irving M. Dean
			Racine, Wis.

26.	Yours commercially,
		E. L. McClave
		Buckley, Ill
	Onarga, March 15th, 1882.

27.	Sincerely your friend,
		Ida S. Sudwick
		Onarga, Ill
		June 11th, 1881

28.	Dear Jessie
		While virtue consecrates these lines
		And friendship holds them dear.
		Let memory of several to mind
		The hand that placed them here.
			Your friend
			Ida L. Morris
			Gibson City
		Onarga March 3rd, 1881
		G. P. Conservatory

29.	If scribbling in albums,
		Remembrance secures.
	With the greatest of pleasure
		I'll scribble in yours.
			Your friends and schoolmate
			Lewis _____________ [page torn]
	Buckley, Ill
	October 25, 1881

30.	"A millstone and the human
	  	heart are driven ever round;
	If they have nothing else to
		Grind, they must themselves be ground."
			[a stylish signature - perhaps R_____]
			1884

31.	"If thou dost bid they friend farewell -
	But for one night, though that farewell may be
	Press thou his hand in thine.
	How canst thou tell how far from thee
	Hate or caprice may lead his steps -
	Ere that tomorrow comes?
	Men have been known lightly -
	To turn the corner of a street,
	And days have grown to months,
	And months to lagging years
	Ere they have looked in loving eyes again
	Yea, find thou always time
	To say some earnest word
Between the idle talk,
Lest with thee hence-forth
Night and day, regret should walk."
	Your friend,
	P. G. Amerman
	Junction, Nov. 19th, 1880

32.	Dear Jessie -
		We part today, perhaps for years and perhaps for ever, but
	Please think of me kindly (if at all).  Your loving coz,
			Ella Lawson
			Westerville, Ohio
			Dec. 22

33.	May 22nd, 1882
	Friend Jessie,
		The lines, which here I humbly trace,
		Time will change and age efface.
		They will be read and valued not,
		When the one that penned them is forgot.
			Your friend,
			John Hickman
			Wellington, Ill.

34.	"I feel better now"
		Ever your friend,
		Sam Whiteside
		Ridgeville, Ill
		Oct. 4, 1880
	[this is my favorite because this is the man who Jessie 
married in 1883 -
		my g-grandfather]

35.  	Onarga, March 25th 1881
	Dear Jessie,
		May your pathway through life be strewn with never fading
	flowers.  May the rose of life you pull be ever blooming and fragrant.
	In short, may your happiness be commensurate with your exhalted worth,
	it can be no greater.
		Affectionately your,
			Aunt Nell

36.	Jessie -
		A wreath of good wishes for thee I twine.
		Each bud a wish of love devine.
		Whose fragrance ran through life may run
		And paint not with your setting sun.
			Your friend,
			Anna Sudwick
			June 26th, 1881

37.	We all sow,
	What shall we reap?
		Yours truly,
		Annie D. Atwood
	Onarga, December, 1881

38.	Friend Jessie
		There is not a truth in wisdom taught
		There is not a feeling pure and high
		There is not a grand inspiring thought
		That may not be read in a Mother's eye.
			Yours, a friend,
			E. O. Sheldon
			Clifton, Ill.
			"Ever remember New Years at W.P.P."

39.	"There is a ship named Sometime;
		Men dream of it and wait,
	One on the short, impatient,
		And one at the household gate
	Thinking, "If it come not in the morn,
		Then in the evening, it may."
	But one I knew, not thinking of ships,
		Worked till the close of the day;
	Lifting his eyes at the evening time,
		There his ship at anchor day."
			Your friend,
				Helen Amerman
	Onarga, Ill
	Nov. 19th, 1880

40.	1884
	"The aim of all is but to nurse the life with honor, wealth and
	ease, in waning age."
		[signature looks like Smallee]