Elizabeth Peeling, Orphan Train Rider

Elizabeth Peeling (1879 - ) was one of the children sent to the town of Odell in 1889. She appeared in the census in 1880 as the daughter of Benjamin and Anna Jane (McCartney) Peeling. Benjamin was a basket manufacturer and was born in Pennsylvania, the son of Pennsylvanians. Anna was a first generation American of Irish parentage. Elizabeth lived with the Blanchard family in Odell along with another orphan Harry Van Hove. Harry Van Hove's story is told in the Hancock County Orphan Train page.

The letters from Lizzie and the Blanchards reveal a great deal of affection between them. In a letter in 1891, Mr. Blanchard said that they had "adopted Lizzie in the full sense of the word, and have given her our name." They had no children of their own and thought they would not like to part with either of their children.

Elizabeth married John H. Schultz, a German immigrant, in February of 1900. According to one family tree they had five children: John, Grace, Jeanette, Harry and Howard. In 1910 John E. Schultz lived with his four children, with no wife: Harry, Grace, Genette and Howard. In 1920 Henry Schultz lived in Odell with three of his children: Harry, Grace and Howard. Sixteen year old Jeanette was living elsewhere. Lizzie died in November of 1909 and is buried in the Union Cemetery in Union, Illinois. John died in 1920, leaving a rather young family both motherless and fatherless.