Calhoun county : its early history and first settlers

srr. 38S

Ll8c

John Lammy. Calhoun County. Its Early
— History and First Settlers. /loic

[rpt., 1904]^^^^^

err. 385

Li 8c

kUKOis Hisiasitu w::ci

iHrQYw. lV>«^ Ki^u.b\i

CyCLrv;

CALHOUN COUNTY.

Its Early History and First Settlers.
Prepared and Read at a Celebration
OF the Centennial Anniversary at Har-
din, 111m July 4, 1876.

By JOHN LAMMY.

Unwritten history becomes, in the
course of time, mere legend or tra-
dition. Written history preserves
the deeds of men and the events of
their day, and passes them down to
posterity as cherished realities or
monitory guides to the paths of duty
and of honor.

The history here given has been,
for the most part, obtained from
those who have been either eye wit-
nesses to, or actors in the events
narrated.

It ma}' bo well for us right here to
consider for a moment the fact that
the time is not far distant when our
actions, and the events of our time,
will be commented on and read by
others with an ir.'terest as great, if
not greater, than that with which we
regard those wlio have i)receded us.
And if their faults and weaknesses
serve to guard us against ours, and
their nol)leness and self-denying in
tegrity serve to inspire us with a
spirit of eniulr^tion to duty and to
right, then our history lias served its
purpose.

This is far from being a (•oin[)h'te
account oF ^iie past. In the first
place, the time was t( o limited for
its accomplishment. And although
the committee on whom devolved
the duty of obtaining the incidents
and facts required did all in their
power, yet many neighliorhoods are
omitted, and many settlers left out
from the lack of time and inabilit}'
to find those most competent to give
the information. What is here ob-
tained is mainly due to Mr. Ansell
of the Democrat; Attorney John F.
Nolte; Attorney A. W. Argust and
Capt. Stephen Child, of the com-
mittee appointed; and Messrs. A. G.
Squier, Aug. greamba, Aug. Smith
and others who very generously vol-
unteered much valuable information.

Early Settlement.

The lirst white man that ever took
up his abode in Calhoun county is
said to have settled, at the Two
Branches in Point precinct about the
year 1801. He lived for j-ears before
any other settler came, and remained
alone and unknown for a long time
after these settlers did come. His
home was a cave dug out by himself
and was about a quarter of a mile
from the Mississippi river. In 1850
Solomon Lammy, who now owns the
land, dug up the boards of the floor
and leveled the sides on which large
saplings were then growing, to make
way lor a garden spot. Wlio he was^
or where he came from, was known
only to himself, for he' refused all
intercourse with the settlers. fie
went by the name of the Hermit.

The next settlers were Freuch
trappers and half breeds who foirmed ?
quite a large colony on tlie Illinois .^
river al)out a mile above where the
Deer Plain Feny now stands. Tl'ese
remained there until the great high
watei' of 1815 or 1818 drove them
away. One Andrew Judy lived
there, but whether he was one of t'.iis.
number or one who came afterwards.
is not known.

After these in time was Major
lloberts, who came from Ohio in
June 1811, and settled on the farm
now owned by Henry Kiel. The
journey was made in a keel boat, from
wliicli he landed near the present site
of Bloom's Landing.

John Shaw was probably the next.
He first passed through with some
government expedition (Possibly ex-
pedition of Lewis & Clark in LSO^'r. |
and was so well pleased with the
country that he came I »ack and setth.'d.
He made extensive purchases of land
in tiie neighiiorhoodsof Gilead., Giiil-
ford, Helleview and Haml)urg. r, nd

his coming proved (jnilo an event In
llie hisU.iv of the future country,
lleference to Sliaw is made further
on.

Tht n, or it may have been some
time before, (f(jr the dates are not
given.) a number of French hunters
and trappers from Cape Girarileau
y. came by way of the vilhiges of St.
~ JjOuis and St. Charles, and settled at
Ijittk^ (Japan Gris. afterwards Milan,
-, and to a certain extent became tillers
-r of tiie soil.
J This place was afterwards laid out
- in town lots liy John Bolter ami tail-
ed Milan.

In May, 1822, the father of Ches-
- lew Twicl'.ell of Monterey with a larije
^ family, landed otf a keel boat, at
'. Coles Grove, on Gilead Slough,
i'heslcy was then eighteen years of
^ age and brought the iron in a canoe
from the village of St. Louis, a dis-
^ tance of sixt\'-five miles for the lirst
^ plow which his father afterwards
A made. This was the first iron
r plough that was ever in the county,
V\^ all the others being of wood. Jlajor
^ Roberts, actuated by this spirit of
enterprise, had old Mr. Twichell to
> make him a cart from a part of the
^^■^^iiirae canoe load of iron, which was
^ also the first cart in the county.
"^ In the year 1823. Chesley, with his
brother Koyal and \'ertner Church,
iielped a Mr. David E. Button drive
■".t-IqI of cattle and hogs to a place
eiglit miles al)ove the present town
of Atlas, in Pike county. The first
habitation they met after leaving
Salt Prairie or Cole's Grove was five
miles south of Bay Creek, and the
next was Ave miles south of Atlas.
.Vtlas they found to be a rather pop-
ulous place, containing eight or nine
houses. At the present site of
Mozi( rs Jianding they found the fire
still burning, which the old man.

(Mo/cier) had made after his first
landing with his family.

Mambufg was a wilderness of forest
and underbrush, and nothing for a
road but an Indian trail. Calvin
Twichell being of a rambling dispo-
sition wandered as far ott' as the
present site of Quincy, and while
there helped to build a log cabin for (
one Geo. W. Haight, which was the
second one built in the place at that
time. This was in 1827.

Samuel Smith, husband of Mrs.
ijucena Smith near Brussels, emi-
grated from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
in 1822. and built a house in a field
now owned by Marion Todd, near
the present Cresswell School House
in Point precinct.

Al)outthis time also, the Metz fam-
ily moved in. Johnnie, we l)elieve.
it was who built a house and made a
small clearing l)y the big spring on
the present site of Brussels. Others
of the family moved up and settled
in the neighborhood of Gilead.

In 182G, Robert Andrews, father
of Dr. R. G. Andrews and Mr. John
Andrews of Point precinct, settled
in what is known as the Cresswell
settlement, in which place he remain-
ed till his death. Then ';ame the
following settlers with their families:
Nathaniel Shaw, brother of John
Shaw, settled about half a mile south
of the present site of Deer Plain post
otiice. Traces of where the house
stood are yet to be seen in tlie tim-
ber; Comfort Shaw, who settled on
the place now owned by Pat Fitzger-
ald anti ;\Irs. Lizzie Kelly. '

— — Cline. who settled on Frank
Smiths place, on the bank of the
Mississipi)i.

Red, who settled on what is

now Johnsons Ijandinjj-.

('apt. .Nixon, who settled a attle
east of where dacolt Auer live.s. on

the last stretch of bluff in the county.

J. B. Maiechel, near Brock's
Landing.

Andrew Roy, on the "Thompson "
farm in Little Prairie, now owned
by Henry Tappmeyer.

Henry G. Stiles, who built a shan-
ty and lived on the Tappmeyer
place.

Amos IStiles, who settled on Little
Prairie.

Then Jacob Lutes, who settled
some two miles south of the present
Brussels.

Then three families of the Krites
came, who settled in the same neigh-
borhood.

Of all these families Amos Stiles,
one of the Shaws, Clines, Andrew
Eoy, Jacob Lutes and all three of
the Krites have no representative in
the county at present.

Most of these families came from
Cape Girardeau, St. Charles, St.
Louis and St. Genevieve, and gave
the first great impetus to permanent
settlement.

Another very influential family
was that of Capt. Marcus L. Adder-
ton who, by virtue of his military
discharge, entered a large tract |
of land in the present neighbor-/
hood of Dr. Andrews. The Captain
died only a few years ago after serv-
ing in various official capacities.

Aug. Greamba, father of Augustus
and Heniy Greamba, came in 1833
and settled near the present farm of
Mr Hiram Keithh'. In the year follow-
ing Augustus, jr. was born and is
now living veiy nearly on the same
spot where his childhood was spent.

The first settler here after Major
Rol)erts was Judge P>benezer Smith,
father of Augustus Smith. He came
in on the 10th day of May, A.D. 1819,
from the falls of the Ohio, and made
the entire trip in a barge which had

to he cordelled from the mouth of
the Ohio up.

He found the Indians — as he used
to express it-- "thick as blackberries."

Five families of Whites were all
that were to be found in ihe present
limits of Calhoun county. Among
these were those of Major Roberts.
John Shaw and Richard Dillon. The
county then was a part of Madison
county, and he paid his taxes at
Edwardsville. the county seat.

The onh' building of any kind for
miles around was an Indian trading
post. The house was close to the
road-side spring that lies midway
between the present residences of A.
G. Squier and Herman Imming.

This post was kept by a Canadian
Frenchman, who exchanged whiskey
and tobacco for Kirs. This man, Mr.
Smith bought out, for the purpose
of ridding himself of the dangers and
troubles of drunken Indians, and he
bui-nt the house as soon as possession
was given.

Among the first improvements
made on his place was the planting
of a few seedling apple trees, the first
in the count}-, and the planting of
these trees was the means of after-
ward procuring him a pre-emption
on the laud. He also entered the
land on which he died and his son,
Augustus, is now probably the onh*
man in the county who lives on, and
owns the land entered by his father.

E. Smith.

On his first coming he also found
a half breed Indian living on the riv-
er bank, at the present site of Guil-
ford. At this place he built a ferry
and employed this half-breed to run
it, which he did faithfully for a num-
I ber of years. This ferry connected
the prairie villages of Jersey, Greene
and Macoupin counties with the set-
tlements of Calhoun, the forts in

Missouri, and tbe villages of St.
(.'harles, St. Louis and St. (xt'iievieve,
wliieh i)laces were then, as now, the
centres of civilized wealth.

Jacol) Piuden stopped witli Kben-
ezer Smith a while before fettling
down, but finalh' located in 1829,
building near the big spring of A.
G. Squier. While living here his
wife had her three 3'ear old boy
stolen by the Indians, who held him
until he was re-captured five years
afterwards. This, proI)al)ly, is the
only instance in which Calhoun's
early settlers lost children I)y the In-
dians. In l(S2!t, Pruden moved on
the farm now known as the Mortland
farm. He bought out a man named
Still, whose reasons for selling were
that "the hollow was so fidl of
wolves and rattlesnakes that he was
afraid to stay. " Mr. Pruden owned
the first cart in this neighborhood.

John Ingersoll lived one or two
years at (Juilford and then moved to
the spring south of C. C. Scjuiers, in
the 3-ear 1825. His family consisted
of seven boys and one girl. The
house was 18x20 feet and served the
treble purpose of sleeping room,
kitchen and church.

Calvin Twichell and his mothers
family settled on what is now know
as the McDonald farm about the year
183U. Some one had built a cabin on
it years before, and the large I'ock
which is now the ornament of the
front yard was then the back of the
chimney of this primitive l)uilding.

Charles Sijuier, — father of A. G.
and C. C. Stpiier, came in here in
ISa;} and settled in Mortland Hollow,
in the spring of ls;-54. he and Jacob
Pruden built the first school house in
this neighl)orhood, his daughter Car-
oline, afterwards Mrs. Belt, teaching
1 lie first school, Mrs. Guthrie being
one of her pupils.

Heyne's Landing was first settled
by Richard Dillon shortly after the
coming of Major Roberts. Dillon
moved up the Hollow west of the
place now owned by Levi Smith.
HARDIN.

We have l)een unal)le to get very
little definite knowledge of the early
settlement of Hardin, and vicinity
north of it.

Dr. Terry, it seems, was the first
settler. He came in, and, after stop-
ping awhile with Ebenezer Smith,
moved up and l)uilt a house near
where the old warehouse now stands.
The place was known as Terry's
Landing until 1835, when, after its
purchase by B. F, Child, it was
known as Cliilds Landing. In 1847
it became the county seat under the
name of Hardin, both of which hon-
ors it retains to this day.

Aiitoine Degerlia, Sr. , moved into
its neighborhood at a veiy early day,
accomi)anied by several other fami-
lies whose names are unknown to the
writer at present, Mr. Degerlia had
a very large family who, with him-
self, had a marked influence in its
earl}' society and business.

GILEAD.

We cannot date the coining of John
Shaw, the earliest settler, and at the
same time the most noted man in its
early annals.

It is reasonabl}' certain that he did
not come alone and also probable
that he came with considerable prop-
erty.

in the first place he set up a horse
mill, which was the only means of
milling open to the settlers for 3ears.
In 1883, he was able to send to mar-
ket one hundred fat steers which
netted him an even thousand dollars.
His, store and his public business
gave him an influence over men
enoiiiih to t'Dubic him to rule the

county wliieli he indirectly ili<l for
3-ears. So great was iiis influence
and at the same time so injurious to
the settler, that the public issue was
gotten up in its politics of '-Shaw,'"
or "Anti-Shaw," and it was not un-
til after a great and united strug-
gle that John Shaw lost his supre-
macy.

However, like many others he had
his day. and he at last passed out of
liistor\- and out of memor}- of all ex-
cept the few whose injuries or friend-
ships keep his deeds fresh.

The final blow of his downfall was
the building of a steamboat at Ham-
burg. On this boat he lavished most
of his wealth, and on her first load
he expended all his credit. It is
said that every avilable neighborhood
was called on to ship by him their
surplus stores to St. Louis, and
await his return for their money.
This, manj' of them did, but John
Shaw considered St. Louis too small
a place for the patronage of his boat,
so he steamed on to New Orleans,
from whence, it appears, he never
came back. At any rate, we never
find him connected with any other
enterprise in the county.

Partly co-temporar}* with shaw,
were the families of Wm. Frye.
Richard Dillon. Lockwood. Sternes.
Howell and Wolf.

These men had made Gilead one
of the foremost settlements in the
county.

In 1828 the two families of Jacolt
and Samuel Crader moved into Salt
Prairie, now Gilead, With them
came the Winship's. Pattersons.
Byrd's, Stiles, Schells and Wise's.
They came from Cape Girardeau,
and made the trip in covered wagons.
With the exception of the Stiles fam-
il}" tiiey all settled in a neighborhood
north of Gilead.

Jacob Crader settled I)y the Cave
Spring, four miles west of Hanlin.
and the same distance north oi Gil-
ead. Here he built two water power
corn mills in 1829. the year long' re-
membered as the year of the great
snow. a snow falling in the
early spring of that year to a depth
never before experienced liy any of
the settlers.

In 18:i5U, Jacob moved with his
family to the old Uhrig place, now
the Catholic Church neighltorhood in
Crater precinct. He and his boys
had to chop a way for their wagon
through the forest to get there. The
early frost of 1831 so injured their
corn that it was unfit for food, but
necessity smothered their scruples
and they lived the year out on the
unpalatal)le stuft". The next season
he obtained his seed corn in St. Lou-
is, paying at the moderate rate of
S2.25 per bushel.

In the fall of 1832. xMr. Crader
moved from the bluft' to the river and
built on what is now called Crater's
Landing. Young Jacob, from whom
most of this information is obtained,
was then about ten years of age. In
the summer of 1833, he says that
the family was greatly alarmed by a
loud thundering noise from some-
where down the river. .About the
head of Hurricane Island they dis-
covered what they thought to be a
house coming towards them against
the current. Directly the '-house"
landed close to their cabin and proved
to be a steamboat. He believes she
was called the Argus. His father
helped the officers and crew to get
about six or eight cords of wood,
young Jacob doing the hauling with
a yoke of oxen and cart, robed in a
iJ-iffeoQ-tailed coat, blue cloth and
i)rass buttons, — something, he con-
sidered, very grand, although it be-

longed l<> a past aiiv and did trad tliv'
ground. Bill man's dearest treas-
ures are often mocked at., and to tins
i'ule young JacoI> was no exception,
for his much prized -'pigeon tail"
caused the oHicers and crew to name
him tlio '•L(.ng tailed hull driver. '
an inheritance he possesses to this
day, since several of the present
steamhoatmen yet give him this ti-
tle. After "wooding"' the l)oat the
<ifflcers took the whole family about
four miles up the river and back,
<luring wbich tbey had a grand time.
The captain arranged with the elder
Crader to have wood on the bank for
the next trip of the boat, which they
made in three or four weeks from
that dat", paying for it one dollar a
cord, and probalily inaugurating the
first wood-landing in the county.

Samuel Crater, brother to Jacob, Sr.
moved up to what is now known as
Indian Creek, in the year ]82y. On
this creek he also successively built
two water mills, and had a first class
l)lacksinith shop in connect ion,

John Huti' settled at the Great
Salt Spring at a very early day, date
not known.

After hiin came R. S. Quigley,
who took possession of the spring
and With a view ol' utilizing it for
the making of salt, erected a large
frame building and brought machine-
ry for salt making from Ohio. In
order to get a greater supply he
bored to a depth of 250 feet, but
only succeeded in getting a large
flow of fresh water containing sul-
phur, rendering the whole affair use-
less. Soon after he abandoned the
place and after remaining a while
longer in the county, moved away.

Anderson Wilkinson, father of
Wm. M. Wilkinson, carae Here in
]S:n from Missouri. He first set-
tl(d on the present Jeptha Dixon

farm, finding there a number of huts,
the last remnants of the desertetl
village of Bounty ville. From thence
he removed to the farm now occu-
l)ied liy Wm. H. PI u miner, and from
thence to the town of Gilead. wheic
he died,

Andrew T'hrig moved in. in lS2it,
and settled on the river near what is
known as Hurricane Island Slough.
Being a man of great wealth, he en-
gaged very largely in business. He
owned the steamer Pearl which he
ran for years in the trade. He
planted the first vineyard in the
county, sold the first l)eer and had a
a large store in connection with other
business. High water of '•44' drove
him to the lilutl' on what is known as
Uhrig's farm. In 1S47 he removed
to Hardin before it became the
county seat, and was one of the few
whose labors tended to make it this.

PANTHER CREEK.

Earliest scUler not known. Mrs.
John White came from Kentueky in
18;}4.' Found Peacock in possession of
the only orchard on the creek. Thert-
were about thirty acres in cultivation
all told, and the foUowintv families re-
siding- here: Otwell's, ISeman's, Pea-
cocks' and Gunthei-man's. Webb's,
NicholVs, Taylor's and .Jesse .Tackson
came in with Mrs. White in lf<;U.

In 1S45 Dan Looper owned the only
mill within twenty miles of thein, and
it was run by hand. Wild hogs were
numerous and very fat in the fall.
Wolves came into the door yards,
sometimes as many as twelve or fifteen
at a time. Indians were very numer-
ous, but peaceable. The Indians left
about 18;55-I«;5(i.

Mrs. Elizabeth Crosby moved from
St. Clair county to Greene in 182(5,
and from Greene to Panther Ch-eek in
IS.}". There was a school with an at-
tendance of twenty pupils. The ridges
that are now covered with Ijeautiful
forests, or that have just been cleared
of them were, at that time, were hare
as the prairie, without even a shrub.
FARMERS' RIDGE.

.John L^orroman was there in 1<S.><.

Hu5v much sooner, not kn(HT.

Incidents of Settlement.

From 1S1J5 up to 1S20. the St. Charles
settlers, who had rapidly increased
under the daring Bt)ou, beiran to ex-
tend their settlements as far as Lower
Dardenne, Barique and Cuivre creeks,
on the Mississippi. It appears that
this increase was due to the inalien-
able ri^ht and natural tendency of
woman to follow the fortunes and
share the vicissitudes and bonnet and
T'ibbon money of men. With a weak-
ness as ooraraon to man then as it is
today, be left his letharo-y and hshing-
tackle in the shade and emerged as a
hod carrier and master mason. The
rest was the erection of several good
forts inside which the women and chil-
dren could repair for safety. This
done. they found frequent opportunities
of visiting ''Mesopotamia" of the west
— the hallowed precincts of what is
now the county of Calhoun. The chief
allurements to it were the vast numbers
of wild turkey and deer, the presence
of honey and, we suppose, the absence
of women.

On one occasion a lot of "baruiB-
scarum"' young men, against the ad-
vice or the older ones, crossed from
Cap au Gris, Missouri, to take in a
lot of wild turkeys, whose cries they
distinctly heard. As they passed in-
to the woods, the turkeys receded until
all had passed some distance into the
forest. It w^as but a short time until
the forest echoed the tramj) of their re-
turning steps. They came hastily, too.
for not far in their rear was a lot of
savages anxious for their scalps.
Plunging into the river they hardly
succeeded in escaping with their lives.
One poor fellow, whose name is now
forgotten, was hedged in from his
companions and driven to the top of
the bluff. Being as daring as he was
desperate, he actually forced his horse
down the declivity, and plunging into
the river, followed by a shower of ar-
rows, he reached the Missouri shore
in safety. It is needless to say that
the turkey cries proceeded from Ihe
Indians.

On another occasion, a party of In-
dians who were on a raid of murder
and robbery, attacked the few settlers
and trap])er.s then in the Point. The
>ettlers seemed to have been ready for

fhem, for they were organized and
gave them a hot chase and had the
pleasure of reaching Cap au Gris fer-
ry landing in time to see the Indians
safely landed with their spoils on the
Missouri shore. One Indian brave
was so delighted with their discom-
fiture that stepping forward to the
bank, be stooped down to a very un-
dignified position and signaled his
contempt for the party. Captain Ad-
derton, who told this to the writer,
thought it was Capt Xixon who toolc
Dp his rifle with an oath, and firing at
the savage. drop]>ed him dead in his
tracks. The incident is well remem-
bered yet among the few and the place
is known as "The Long Shot."'

French and fndian High Water.

Captain Nixon visited the county
long before removing to it. He stated
that, while on his way in a canoe from
near the present Deer Plain postoTUce,
across Little Prairie down to the pres-
ent site of the town of Grafton; and
that, while on his way, he passed the
colonists of the Illinois River, who
bad taken refuge on a mound in Little
Prairie, near the place afterward set-
tled by I'atrick Cunningham. These
had their Indian ponies, canoes and
worldly wealth all around them, and
were much surprised and demoralized
by the unexpected flood. Their ponies
breaking away and leaving tbera for
the more congenial mainland, they
soon after pushed off in their ca-
oes and made for Portage Des Sioux,
where they afterwards settled. This
was between the years 1815 and 1820.
Some of these ponies were afterwards
caught and domesticated by Captain
Nixon.

This high water is now historical
from the damages it caused to the
trappers and early settlers who invari-
ably located on the lowlands along
the western rivers.

Manner of Life.

The county, from the first, furnish-
ed the necessaries of life. An acre or
two in potatoes and corn furnished a
year's breadstuff for any.family. The
wild turkey and deer furnished them
meat, and the hollow trees of the for-
est yielded them stores of honey. The
I'ultivation and manufacture of flax
yielded their clothing, but for the lux-
uries of life they had to repair to St.

Louis, To obtain Ih^se they resorted
to the following- means: Every spriny
and fall the men would cut a lot of
oordvvood neai- the river. Then mak-
ing a raft of ash or cottonwood logi,!,
they would shoulder the eordwood en
board. llunuini>- the raft to St. Louis
they would carry the wood ashore,
cord it, and sell it, g-ettin^- from a dol-
lar to a dollar and a rjuarter a cord.
With the proceeds they loaded their
canoes with such thiny-sas necessity or
fancy prompted, and then paddled
home with their riches to an expectant
and "ratified family. The cables used
to tie u}) the rafts were large and cost-
ly,—grapevines obtained" from the
forest.

The milling was first done by means
of a sycamore block hollowed"^by lire,
and then cleaned out. Into this was
emptied the shelled cctra which was
pounded to the required fineness with
a rock. Another method was by hand
mills, but these were very slow and
required considerable muscle and pa-
tience.

In the matter of courtship the vicis-
situdes were still greater. Instead of
the comfort of the modern front gate
and the shadowed recesses of a retired
parlor, with its turndown lamp and
inviting sofa, the young jjeopjehad to
sit by the light of a wood tire in the
wide tire place of a one room log cab-
in, the girl's mother on one side, and
the ''old man'" on the other, ready to
criticise every word said, and never
getting sleei)y— yet it seems that the
g-irls must have given their admirers
considerable encouragement from the
fact that, notwithstanding all these
difficulties, marriages were of frequent
occurrence.

FERRIES.

John Bolter at Milan, year not
known, used to communicate with
early settlers in St. Charles. Bolter
moved up the river afterwards to what
was called the Fishing Branch, and
there died.

Ebenezer Smith's ferry, at present
Guilford, 181!) or 1820.

Bushnell's ferry, at iiresent Colum-
biana, time of starting not known.
Bushnell s(jld to Mr. Farrow in whose
family it yet remains.

ClarksvilJe Ferry in September 182-j,
Abner Youno-.

Jone's Ferry on Illinois, year not
known.

Samuel Hill at Newport, March,
182o.

Jacques Ferry, now Deer Plain,
near mouth of the Illinois, year not
knt)wn. Existed in 1H2").

STEAMBOATS.

Cheslev Twichell thinks the first was
the "Utility" in the year 18:}1. She
was three days coming from St. Louis
to the present Twichell Landing.

According to Jacob Crader, the
^ 'Argus" came in I8;5.'{.

In 18;5o came the "Df)n Juan.'' with
DeWitt as Capt. and Fress Devinney,
as i)ilot.

Then th^ "America" which was
sunk in Diamond Island Slough (Dark
Chute) by collision with the "Friend-
shi])." which boat came into the trade
in 18."{(i. After lying three or four
weeks the "American" was drawn out
by aid of forty-two yoke of oxen and
sixty or seventy men, mostly settlers,
who were invited by the boat owners
to help them.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The freight of these consisted of
cattle, hogs, corn and wheat, and gave
great impetus in raising these com-
modities, from the fact of furnishing
the means of transportation.

The first wheat of anv note was
raised in 18.38.

The first threshing machine known
of was brought in to Crater precinct
by Henry Bechdoldt in 184(i.

Grain cradles were introduced in
1845, the first one on the farm of Jacob
Crader, and in the following year they
became very common. The people
thought them the greatest invention
out.

The first wagon in the county was
brought in by Winship, in 1828. The
next one was brought in by Nathan-
iel Shaw in about i8;{0.

The first frame dwelling house was
that b'lilt by Major Roberts on the
present farm of Kenry Kiel, in 1829.

The first frame barn was built on
the farm now occupied by A. G.
Squir, and is still standing.
SCHOOLHOUSES.

The first, not known. Probably the
Gilnian schoolhouse, afterwards Beth-
el, on what was then known as "Mud-
dv Creek.''

Point Pleasant, near Nathaniel
Shaw's residence, in Point precinct,
was probably the next. Date not
icDOwn.

Then one in Mortland Hollow, built
bv Charles Squier and Jacob Pruden
in 1829.

The first Sunday School not known.
Stephen Paxon orji'anized several in
the county, the first of which was ut
Belle view, in 1850.

IWrLLS.

The first, ])robably was that owned
by .John Shaw at Coles Grove. Date
unknown. It was a horse power.

Next was, probably, John Mett's. in
Brussels. A horse power, probably
in 1828.

Oilman's on Muddy Creek, probal>ly
co-temporary with Metts. A water
power.

The Cave Spring- mill, near the res-
idence of John SlcNabb. Built by
Jacob Crater in 1829. Water power.

Indian Creek mill, built bv Samuel
Crater in 1829 or IS.'JO.

ORGANIZATION.

C'alhoun county svas a part of what
was lonsr known as the ''Great Mili-
tary Tract" which extended from Chi-
cago, south and west, to the Mississ-
ippi River. It was known first as
Madison county, which then included
the present counties of Madison, Jer-
sey, Green and Pike, with Edwards-
vil^e^as the county seat. A subsequent
division formed the counties of the
present Madison, and Greene which
included Jersey and Pike which includ-
ed Calhoun. The county seat of Pike
was Cole's Grove, now Gilead. Cal-
houn at that day had well established
settlements long before permanent set-
tlers took possession of Pike, and the
weight of population for a long time
lay south of Cole's Grove.

By an act of the legislature, approv-
ed J ariuary 10, 1825, a county to be
called Calhoun was to be formed from
the lower part of Pike, and commiss-
ioners Were appointed to locate a per-
manent '"Seat of Justice" for toe same.
An election for county officers was
held on the second Saturday of Febru-
ary, 1825. in the houses of James B.
(iilmau and Jt)hn Bolter, resulting as
f(jllows:

James Nixon, Ebenezer Smith and
Asa Cai-rico, Commissioners. Bige-

low C. Fenton, Sheriff. James Levin,
Coroner. A. M. Jenkins, County
Clerk, by appointment.

A. M. Jenkins, first Notary Public
in 1825.

James Nixon, first Public Admini.-
trator, 1827.

Wm. H. Miller, first School Com-
missioner, I(i45.

A. M. Jenkins, first" Circuit Clerk.
1825.

The commissioners for locating the
"Seat of Justice." after due delibera-
tion, made formal choice of Cole's
(irove. In reward for this honor,
John Shaw presented the county with
a warantee deed to the south half of
the northwest quarter of section nine,
township eleven, range two, besides
nine lots in Cole's Grove, which, un-
der its new name of Gilead, it held the
exalted position of county seat until
1847, when it was changed to Hardin.

The first act of the new County
Couit was to confirm the choice of
Gilead as thecounty seat. The second
was the granting of a license to Jona-
than Simons to keep ferry on the Illi:
nois river at his residence where he
formei-lv kept a'ferrv. Point not stat-
ed.

Farther on in the records we come
to an order that sounds something like
the Blue Laws of Connecticut, and is
as follows:

Ordered, that William Frye have a'
licen.se to keep tavern at his residence
for the ensuing year, his paying one
dollar tax and complying with the
laws in such case made and provided:
and that he be allowed to charge and
receive the following rates of fare:

To each meal's victuals 25 cents.

To keepinghorseovernight J7A

To each half pint whiskey.. 12i "

To each horse fed 12i "

To each night's lodging (ii "

Rum, gin. brandy, wine, i pt.lSf ''

So it will be seen that foi', at least,
the necessaries of life ])eouIe could not
hen be overcharged. ^

So ends our history of the most im-
portant event in the life of either na-
tion or individual, — that is, its earli-
est existence. It is necessarily imper-
fect. First, from lack of date to first
settlements, and to the deeds of these
settlers. And again, from inability
to bring it down to later events and
incorjjorate the character and c.nii.i-

lion of the county and its inhabitants rojrardti and icindost wishes to tho])eo-
through the various changes of the pie of this. county, and without fui-th-
passintr years. er a])ology. this" is respectfully siil)-

We have dealt with the i)eT'sonal in- mitted.
terest and individual affairs of the
county, i-ather than with its political
or descriptive changes, statistics that
might record its jjrogress in wealth

and intluence. At some future day we The fort-oin- history was rcnu)>lishc.l on

mav take it up and publish its record t, , .^.. ,ru>. i

up to the i)i'esent day. and so leave

bright to a coining age what has been XHF DPDI!RI ir^AIM

dark to us. To this end we would i"L KCKUOLI^rll>(,

wish to receive from the old settlers jj \i;])ix ...... n ] ixois

such correction of dates or additional - > • ,

events as it may be in their power or Thos. d. ijare. Editor.

pleasui-e to give. With our highest

^mts HisfofficAt smi^

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA

977.385L18C
CALHOUN COUNTY

C001

3 0112 025398451