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LIBRARY OF THE \
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS V
AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
977.359
D88g
I.H.S.
THE
GOOD OLD T r ES
McLEAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS,
CONTAINING
Two Hundred and Sixty-one Sketches of Old Settlers.
A COMPLETE
Historical Sketch of the Black Hawk War
And descriptions of all matters of interest relating to McLean County,
Written by Dr. E DUIS,
LATE PROFESSOR OF GERMAN IN THE BLOOMINGTON PtTBlilC SCHOOLS.
BLOOMINGTON :
THE LEADER PUBLISHING AND PRINTING HOUSE.
IS 7 4
5
Entered, according < V < in the year 1874, by
H. Dl IB,
Tn the office of the Libr: ran of Congress, at Washington.
? 77 3si
THIS VOLUME
OLD SETTLERS OF McLEAN COUNTY, '
Whose virtues as citizens, and as pioneers in the cause oi civilization and progj -
will be remembered with gratitude by all the
a iii their footsteps,
In the fulfillment oj ! . ■■ ppily inatti by theh
BKAVJ RY, [SiDUSTKI ANH INTEGRITY,
170987
PREFACE.
t The author of this volume does not wish to impose on the
public a narrative of his trials in collecting information and in
writing the sketches contained herein, although the difficulties
have been very great. Notwithstanding all of his troubles, it
has, on the whole, been a pleasant task. It has brought him in
contact with the pleasantest and most freehearted men with
whom it has been his lot to be acquainted. They are men whose
ideas were formed in the days when neighbors were few and
friendships were more highly prized than silver and gold.
It is possible that some mistakes have been made in this work
on account of the great variety of facts to be collected, but the
author has taken extraordinary pains to verify the matters herein
narrated, and he believes the mistakes are few.
He is under many obligations to old settlers for favors ren-
dered, and had it not been for the exertions of Judge J. E. Me-
Clun and John Magoun, it is doubtful whether the author would
have had sufficient courage to have brought the work to comple-
tion. He is also under many obligations to Mr. Jesse "W". Fell,
President Richard Edwards, W. H. Hodge, J. W. Billings and
others.
It has been impossible to obtain the sketches of all of the
settlers who came to McLean County before the year 1838. The
greater number of them are dead; ma^ 7 have moved away;
some could not be seen, and a few were unwilling to have the
incidents of their lives put into print. Nevertheless the sketches
of two hundred and sixty-one old settlers, and eight gentlemen of
McLean County holding prominent positions are given. Various
other short biographical sketches appear in different parts of the
Viil TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Capture of Black Hawk.
Conclusion of Peace.
Distinguished soldiers of the Black Hawk War.
General Harney.
Colonel Baker.
John T. Stuart.
General Albert Sidney Johnson.
General Zachary Taylor.
General Robert Anderson.
Jefferson Davis.
Abraham Lincoln.
General Scott.
THE OLD SETTLERS OF McLEAN COUNTY.
Allin- Township.
date of settlement. page.
Presley T. Brooks Winter of 1830 125
1001 J27
Greenberry Larison
Rev. Robert E. Guthrie
Adam Guthrie
David Cox
William McCullough
Dr. Isaac Baker 3 * l J> ls - 7
George Hinshaw. jr
Dr. W ill i am Lindley
135
136
Richard A. Warlow Fall of 1834
Arrowsmith.
John B. Thompson October, 1829
Jacob Smith 1833 U0
Bloomington.
John Hendrix Spring of 1822
John W . Dawson
John Dawson Time ' 1822
William Orendorff Spring of 1823
Thomas Orendorff
John B. OrendorfF
James K. Or endorff
Oliver H. P. Orendorif
Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes Spring of 1824
John H. S. Rhodes • "
Jeremiah Rhodes
William H. Hodge
William R. Goodheart Fal1 of
William Evans, sr,
141
143
14".
14'.'
151
157
158
163
1 66
168
173
" 177
182
1824
1825
William Piiiimitt
Robert Guthrie H»» 190
193
197
IMS
201
206
208
1828 211
Hon. James Allin 1829
William H. Allin
Jonathan Maxson September, 1830
215
216
TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX
IUTE OF SETTLEMENT. PAGE.
David Simmons Fall of 1830 22]
Hon. John Moore October, 1830 225
AmasaC. Washburn 1831 228
Dr. Stephen Ward Noble •' 236
Abraham Stansberry 1832 236
James 0. Harbord October, 1832 239
Ephraim Platte Spring of 1833 242
Hon. James B. Price October, 1833 245
George Price " ■" 246
John J. Price " " 251
Lewis Bunn 1833 252
William C. Warlow •• 255
John Lindley •• 256
Allen Withers " 258
Dr. John F. Henry " 261
General A. Gridley Fall of 1831 262
Judge David Davis 1835 276
Elder William T. Major " 288
Chastine Major " 290
Dr. Laban S. Major •• 292
Dr. John M. Major " 200
Thomas Fell October, 1835 298
John Magoun 1835 301
Thomas Jefferson Karr " 306
Hon. James Miller •' 308
William H. Temple " 309-
James Depew. " 312
Matthew H. Hawks " 314
1 Samuel Lander Fall 1835 318
William Thomas Spring 1836 320
Thomas Williams •' •• 326
Kersey H. Fell " ■' 330
William F. Flagg 1836 336
Judge John E. McCluu Spring 1837 338
Abraham Brokaw " •' 348
Andrew W. Scoggin 1837 351 <
Dr. C. Wakefield " 354
William O. Viney August, 1837 358
John T. Gunnel! " 361
John W. Billings " 364
Henry Richardson •' 369
Joshua Fell •■ 371
Jonathan Glimpse " 373
Dr. Henry Conkling Fall 1838 376
Cheney's Grove.
Jonathan Cheney 1825 383
Hon. William Haines Chene.y " 387
George Cheney " 389
X TABLE OF CONTENTS.
DATE OF SETTLEMENT. PAGE.
James Vanscoyoc 1829 390
Thomas Cunningham " 393
King Solomon Cunningham " 394
James 11. Means March 1830 395
Ephraim S. Myers April 1830 399
William Riggs 1830 403
Snowden Ball 1831 407
Hilleary Ball " 408
Williani'K. Stansberry October, 1833 410
Otha Owen Sept. 1834 413
Joseph Newcom 1835 415
Isaac Stansberry 1836 419
Dale.
Robert H. Johnson December, 1828 422
William Beeler Fall 1830 424
William Beeler, jr " " 427
Jesse Hill October, 1830 430
Abram Enlow Fall 1835 434
• Richard Rowell October, 1836 436
Dahvers.
EbenezerB. Mitchel March, 1825 438
Hon. Matthew Robb Spring 1827 344
Thomas McClure Spring 1827 446
Robert McClure " " 449
Jonathan Hodge " " 454
, Uriah S. Hodge , " " 457
William F. Hodge " " 457
James O. Barnard March. 1828 460
James G. Reyburn Sept. 1828 462
Levi Danley Feb. 1829 466
The Conger Family 1829 469
Israel W. Hall 1834 471
JeremiahS. Hall " 472
John Hay " 474
George F. Hay '' 475
Jonathan B. Warlow " 478
Downs.
Lawson Downs 1829 480
William Weaver 1832 482
William Bishop 1833 484
Elias H. Wall " 486
John Price 1834 491
Rev. Sylvester Peasley Fall 1834 497
Alexander P. Craig " " 500
Henry Welch March, 1835 502
Hon. John Cusey Fall 1836 505
Samuel Troop Richardson Summer 1838 510
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI
DATE OF SETTLEMENT. PAGE.
Dry Grove.
Henry Vansickles 1826 514
Stephen Webb July, 1827 516
George M. Hinshaw July, 1827 520
8enjamin S. Beeler October, 1830 521
Oriuond Robison 1832 523
John Enlow Fall 1835 524
Eleazar Munsell ( Spring 1837 525
Empire.
R. Franklin Dickerson 1825 528
Henry C. Dickerson " 531
Thomas Buckles 1827 533
James H. Conaway February, 1828 537
Esek E. Greenman July, 1829 538
Otho Merrifield 1829 546
Henry Crumbaugh March, 1830 547
Daniel Crumbaugh '• " 550
James H. L. Crumbaugh " " 553
Silas Waters November, 1830 555
James Bishop May, 1831 557
Thomas Jefferson Barnett April, 1832 561
Abram Buckles 1832 564
James Kimler 1832 568
Hiram Buck 18:;:; 570
Hon. Malon Bishop 1834 574
Thomas D. Gilmore 1836 578
Funk's Grove.
Hon. Isaac Funk April, 1824 580
Robert Funk 1824 590
Robert Stubblefield December, 1824 596
Absalom Stubblefield " " 599
John Stubblefield " " 602
Gridley.
William M. McCord 1827 604
John B. Messer March, 1829 607
John Sloan November, 1835 611
Jonathan Coon April, 1836 615
Isaiah Coon Tuly, 1837 619
James S. Coon " " 621
George W. Cox * 1837 »12)
Hudson.
Young Bilbrey 1827 625
Joseph" Messer March, 1829 628
Jesse Havens December, 1829 629
Hiram Havens " " 631
Benjamin Wheeler 1836 *■:'>!
John Smith " 637
Albert Y. Phillips " 640
Xll TABLE OJ ( OXTEXTS.
s .
Isaac Tumipseed fcsprii a '- ■! G43
Elijah Priest Iuly, :
Samuel Lewis.. May, 1836 646
Samuel H. Lewis " " 648
James T. Gildersleeve ..Fall l
Joseph* D, Gildersleeve " 1836
Jacob H. Burtis Winter L836
Enoch A. Oastman March, 16
Lawndalb.
David Henliae Fall 1828
William B. Henline "
Via in Henline " "
' Martin Batterton Fall 1833
Lexington.
Jacob Spawr Fall 1826
■ Spawr Fall 1827
ph Brumiiead 1828 671
Hens. >;\ B. Downey "
John Haner Fall 1828 7:;
Benjamin Patton 182s
Patrick Hopkins 1830 677
Peter Hefner 1830
John Dawson December, 1832 683
Ji mi Dawson
- Adams Fall 1834 687
I Smith •• •' 689
It on Smith •• 1835 692
McMackin ].. " 1838 694
l Wiley " 1835 69G
Lytic It. Wiley ■•
I urtis Batterton Spring 1837 699
MOK : REEK.
Be Trimmer June, 1826 701
Henry Moats Fall 1829 708
William Sh-cteh Fall 1830 703
Albert Ogden .... Fall 1831 704
William V5 ilcox June. 1832 705
John Ogden - Fall 1832 709
- MoAferty ! December, 1832 710
McAftSrty " " 711
muel Ogden Fall is:;:; 712
Jonathan Ogden " •• • 714
Madison Young ■• 715
James R. Wiley " 1835 716
• Weeley F. Bishop " I 718
William Crose ;7 720
TABLE OF CONTENTS. Xlll
DATE OF SKTTI.EMENT PAGE.
Mount Horn.
Geo bblefield December, 1824 722
Id L825 727
1 1 1 -• ; i : Hieronymus Fall lS2s 728
Enocb Hieronymus. " ;« 7:;o
John Hougham " 1831 732
VVeatley Hougham " " 734
John Longworth , 1836 7:;.")
Old Town.
Lewis Case July, 1833 738
Harvey Bishop 1833 74()
F. R, Oowden 1834 741
Padua.
William Evans, jr 1825 743
Daniel Jackson October, 1830 745
Jeremiah Greenman, Fall 1831 746
John Bishop March, 1832 747
Idolphu Dimmick Fall is:;:! 749
Josiah Horr : October, 1836 750
Randolph.
Alfred M. Stringfield Spring 1*23 752
Thomas 0. Rutledg Fall 1824 759
Robert II. Rutlcdgi " " 765
Jesse Funk December, 1824 769
George C. Hand " 182". 775
Nathan Low 1829 776
Purnel Passwa.ters Spring 1830 77'.'
Richard Passwaters '• " 780
Purnel Passwaters, jr '• '• 782
Enoch J. Passwat ers " " 783
clement Passwaters •• " 784
Jacob Bishop September, 1830 784
Matthew Covardale Fall 1830 788
Samuel Stewart Fall 1831 790
John If. Stewart '< •• .792
David Noble '• " 795
William C, Noble.. > " " 7'";
Joseph E. Noble V " " 798
Dr. Harrison Nobl ■ 1833 son
Walter Karr March, 1834 802
William Rust ' Fall 1831 805
John F. Rust Spring 1834 806
William M. Rust Fall 1834 so'.'
Harvey J. Rust '• •• 810
Campbell Wakefield Juu«>, 1835 812
Dr. Thomas Karr ..' Icto ■ 1. IS:;.", SI |
William Karr •• " 817
George Martin '• " 819
XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS.
DATE OF SETTLEMENT. PAGE.
TOWANDA.
Jesse Walden Fall 1828 820
White Oak.
John Benson, Br., 1823 823
John Benson, jr " 827
James Benson " 831
William T.T.Benson •. " 833
Elisha Dixon 1828 835
Smith Dennian September. 1829 837
Abraham Carlock Spring 1831 838
Stephen Taylor Fall 1837 841
PERSONS HOLDING POSITIONS OF HONOR OR TRUST.
Dr. Thomas P. Rogers '. 846
Judge Thomas F. Tipton 852
Judge Amasa J. Merrimau 863
Judge Reuben M. Benjamin 854
General John McNulta 857
Hon. John L. Routt 858
Henry Honscheidt 863
John Hull, Superintendent of Schools 864
THE OLD SETTLERS.
The old settlers of McLean County are one by one passing
beyond the shores of the unknown river, and in a few years not
one will be left of the noble band of pioneers who made their
homes in what was then a wilderness, inhabited only by red men.
Their descendants, and those who come after them, will live to
enjoy the full measure of happiness and prosperity built upon the
solid foundations laid by the old settlers ; and may the}- ever
hold in grateful remembrance those fathers and mothers whose
daring and hardihood were the source of our present greatness.
May the good actions, the intrepidity, and the daring of the old
settlers, remain green in the memory of coming generations, for-
ever !
Since this w T ork has been in preparation, five old settlers have
passed away. Their names are : James C. Harbord, of Bloom-
ington township ; Alexander P. Craig, of Downs township ; Dr.
John F. Henry, late of Burlington, Iowa; Patrick Hopkins, of
Lexington ; and Daniel Crumbaugh, of Empire township. Peace
to their ashes !
The present generation of McLean County is so near, in point
of time, to the old settlers, that, as a rule, sufficient importance
is not attached to their early struggles, their fortitude, and self-
sacrifice, which has resulted in the astonishing progress of the
county. While the pioneers are deservedly held in high esteem
by all who study the local history of Illinois, it will remain for
future generations to bestow upon them the full degree of grati-
tude and veneration to which they are entitled. In the same
manner we now look back to Revolutionary sires with a pride
we do not care to conceal.
Xvi THE OLD SETTLEllS.
The old settlers were ardent believers in the future greatn
of Illinois, where they had found a rich soil, a beautiful country,
and everything that could promise a wonderful development.
How well their anticipations have been fulfilled need not be told.
Doubtless they did not believe that the very next generation after
them would reap such golden returns from the original invest-
ments, but thev knew too well that such returns could not be
delayed many years after the first inhabitants should pass away.
In a few years the War of Rebellion will be the great dividing
line between early and late times in McLean Countv. Even now
it is thirteen years since that bloody storm commenced to sweep
over the land, and many who were engaged in its sanguinary
encounters have left the scene of action. How important, there-
fore, that the incidents connected with the first settlers should be
preserved and kept fresh in the recollections of their descendants.
The records in old times were few and imperfect, but that which
they reveal should be cherished with all the wealth of affection
owing to souvenirs and relics handed down from a sturdy
ancestry.
M'LEAN COUNTY.
Illinois was made a State in the Union in the year 1818, when
it had a population of about forty-five thousand. At that time
the settlements made were in the southern part, and the first
legislature met at Kaskaskia. But a new State Capital was
selected. The town of Vandalia was laid out for this purpose
in the wilderness on the Kaskaskia River. The town received
its name by means of a practical joke played upon the commis-
sioners who made the location. In Ford's History of Illinois
we find : " Tradition says that a wag, who was present, sug-
gested to the commissioners that the Vandals were a powerful
nation of Indians, who once inhabited the banks of the Kaskas-
kia River, and that Vandalia, formed from their name, would
perpetuate the memory of that extinct but renowned people !"
Vandalia was made the capital of the State and also the seat of
justice of the county of Fayette. This county included a large
territory, and the present county of McLean was within its
boundaries. Before the spring of 1822 not a single white per-
son had made a settlement within the boundaries of the present
McLean County. For thousands of years the country had be-
longed to the Indians, the wolves, the deer and the rattle
snakes. The rich soil had each year produced luxuriant crops
of prairie grass, which, on the lowlands, grew from six to eight
feet in height. In the fall of each year the prairie fires swept
over it, leaving it black and bare and desolate. These fires pre-
vented the growth of timber, except occasionally on the high-
lands or in broken country formed by streams of water.
In the fall of 1821 John Hendrix and John W. Dawson
came with their families to Sangamon County from Ohio. In
the spring of 1822 they came to what is now called Blooming
Grove and made a settlement, At that time not a single house
2 SKETCH OF
was to be found between Blooming Grove and Chicago. A few
men were then engaged in making salt at Danville and a few
miners were at ( ralena.
After the first settler conies and the country is heard of.
others soon follow. In about the year 1822 Gardner Randolph
settled at Randolph's Grove. In the spring of 1823 John Ben-
son, the old soldier of 1812. and his family came to Blooming
Grove and made a settlement, living first in a linn bark camp.
During the same year the Stringfield family, consisting of the
widow Stringfield and her sons Severe and Alfred M., came to
Randolph's Grove, where they lived at first in a half-faced
camp. Absalom and Isaac Funk and Mr. Brook came during
the same }-ear and settled in Funk's Grove. On the second of
May, 1823, the OrendorfYs, William and Thomas, came to Bloom-
ing Grove. It was during this year, too, that William II. Hodge,
the pioneer schoolmaster, came to Blooming Grove from Sanga-
mon County. Blooming Grove was the favorite spot for the
new settlers, and the most of them came there; but the other
groves were not long neglected. In about the year 1824 the
old Quaker, Ephraim Stout, and his son Ephraim Stout, Jr.,
made a settlement in Stout's Grove. During this year Robert
Stubblefield and family came to Funk's Grove and Thomas 0.
Rutledge came with his mother and the Rutledge family to
Randolph's Grove. The first sermon preached within the limits
of the present McLean County was delivered by Rev. James
Stringfield from Kentucky. He was an uncle of Squire String-
field of Randolph's Grove. The little congregation was gath-
ered at the cabin of John Hendrix and there the services were
held. In June, 1S24, Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes came with his
family to Blooming Grove. He was a member of the Separate
Baptist denomination, but afterwards joined the Christian
Church. Wherever two or three families could be gathered
together, Mr. Rhodes delivered to them a sermon. lie was the
first regular preacher in McLean County, and for a long while
the only one. He often traveled with Rev. Mr. Latta, and they
both preached at the same place.
When the first settlers came to the country, the Indians
were plenty. The Kickapoos ruled the country. They had
made a treaty sometime previous, by which the whites acquired
M LEAN COUNTY. 6
all their land ; but when the whiles came in to settle and occupy
it the Kickapoos were angry, and some of them felt disposed to
insult and annoy the settlers. When John Ilendrix came to
Blooming Grove the Indians ordered him to leave. Not long
afterwards they frightened away a family which settled on the
Mackinaw. Old Machina, the chief of the Kickapoos, ordered
the Dawson family away, by throwing leaves in the air. This
was to let the bootanas (white men) know that they must not be
found in the country when the leaves of autumn should fall. In
182-3, when the Orendorffs came, Old Machina had learned to
speak a little English. He came to Thomas Orendorff, and
with a majestic wave of his hand said, " Too much come hack,
white man, t'other side Sangamon." The Rhodes family was
likewise ordered away. These things appeared a little threat-
ening, but the settlers refused to leave and were not molested.
It is the almost unanimous expression of the settlers that the
Indians were the best of neighbors. They were polite and
friendly, and Old Machina was quite popular among the whites,
especially with the women, lie was particularly fond of child-
r< n, and this touched their motherly hearts.
The year 1825 was marked by some accessions to the little
band of settlers. On the third of March, during that year, Rev.
Peyton Mitchel came with his family to Stout's Grove. Mr.
Mitchel was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
and was a zealous and earnest Christian. In the fall of this year
Jonathan Cheney made a settlement with his family at Cheney's
Grove. His stock lived during the winter on the twigs of trees
and came out in good condition in the spring. This food was
liked by the cattle, and the settlers often fed their stock in this
way. During this same year the family of William Evans came
to Blooming Grove and made a settlement. This year was
marked by some few improvements. The settlers were obliged
to go long distances to mill and took large loads. They went
first to Attica on the Wabash, one hundred and twenty miles
distant. Afterwards they went to Green's mill on Fox River,
near where Ottawa now stands, about eighty miles distant. But
during the year 1825 Ebenezer Rhodes built a mill at Blooming
Grove. The stones for grinding were the "nigger heads'' or
boulders from the prairie. His mill was of the kind which be-
4 SKETCH or
came afterwards <juite common and was called a "corn cracker.''"
The most curious of these mills was the one afterwards built by
Major Baker. The stones were "nigger heads" cut in the shape
of a coffee mill, and while in motion the lower stone was the one
which revolved.
In August, 1826, the Trimmer family came to Smith's Grove.
Here John Trimmer died and his widow settled with her family
during the same year in Money Creek timber. Jacob Spawr
came about the same time and lived with the Trimmer famil}^.
It is pretty hard to bring clearly before the mind the circum-
stances of the early settlers. Everything was different in their
surroundings. In those days the green head flies became very
numerous and were almost an Egyptian plague. They became
so troublesome that, during about six weeks of the vear in fly-
time, travelers were obliged to go on their journeys at night r
and even then their horses or oxen were troubled by the flies, if
the moon w T as shining brightly. Their bite was so severe that
a horse, if turned loose during that season of the year, was liable
to be goaded to death with pain, loss of blood and incessant
kicking to become rid of the flies. They were the most numer-
ous and troublesome on the routes where travelers, usually
passed with their teams.
The devices used by the settlers were of every kind and
description, and a particular account of them would fill a volume
On Greenberry Larison's place, at Brooks' Grove, was for many
years a wooden grindstone, made by Josiah Harp. It was a large
wooden wheel, and the outer edge or rim was pounded full of
sand and fine gravel. This was done while the wood was fresh
and green, and when it dried, the sand and gravel w T ere tightly
held. By the revolution of this wheel an ax could be sharpened
or scratched, and something of an edge given to it. Thesettlers
were obliged to go long distances to have their tools sharpened.
Isaac Funk and Robert Stubblefield often carried their plough
irons on horseback fifty or sixty miles for this purpose.
The prairie grass in the early days grew very high, and its
roots w r ere tough and fibrous. It was therefore very hard for the
settlers to break their prairie. A good breaking team consisted
of five or six yoke of oxen, and the plow was an old fashioned
Barshear, which cut a furrow twenty-two inches in width. This
m'lean county. 5
plow would now be really a curiosity. It had a shear of cold
hammered steel and was attached to a wooden raouldboard. It
went out of use many years ago. The prairie grass with its
librous roots has also given way to civilization, and the pretty
blue grass has taken its place. The settlers were so far from mar-
ket, and the cost of transportation was so great that they could
buy but few articles of every day use. They were obliged to
make them or do without. They raised their own wool and flax
and spun and wove their own cloth. They wore home-made
jeans and linsey woolsey. Their shoes were of their own make,
and sometimes their leather was of their own tanning. They
raised their own sheep, of course. The earliest settlers say that
it was easy to raise sheep at first ; that the wolves would not
molest them. But the wolves soon acquired a taste for mutton
and became the most vicious and troublesome enemies with
which the settlers had to contend. It became as much the duty
of settlers to chase wolves as to plow, sow and reap. They
caught the wolves in traps and in pens, killed them with clubs
while chasing them on horseback, made ring hunts for the pur-
pose of exterminating them, poisoned them, offered bounties for
their scalps and made warfare on them in a thousand different
ways. Sometimes when a wolf became very troublesome the
settlers offered bounties for its particular scalp. More than a
thousand bushels of corn were once offered for the scalp of a
single wolf. It was killed by John Price of Downs, but he re-
fused to accept the bounty. The legislature at last raised the
bounty on wolf scalps. A grandiloquous speaker, named Hub-
bard, once expressed the feelings of the settlers, though in a
laughable style, when he said :
" Mr. Speaker, from all sources of information I learn that
the wolf is a very noxious animal ; that he goes prowling about,
seeking something to devour; that he rises up in the dead and
secret hours of the night, when all nature reposes in silent ob-
livion, and then commits the most terrible devastations among
the rising generation of hogs and sheep."
The stock, which the settlers raised, was collected by drovers
and taken to market toPekin, Peoria, Galena or Chicago. The
Funks were the greatest drovers and did by far the largest busi-
ness. They led a hard life, and the difficulties they encountered
and overcame seem almost beyond belief.
(. SKETCH OF
In 182(1 a man named Smith came to Dry Grove, made a
claim and lived for a while in a tent. In October of that year
Peter McCullough came from Tennessee, bought Smith's claim
and put up the first house in Dry Grove.
By this time the settlers in this section of the country
thought they ought to have a new county. Everyone was anx-
ious; petitions were circulated, and the legislature of 1826 and
'27 formed the county of Tazewell from a part of Fayette.
This action of the legislature was ratified at an election held in
April, 1827, at the house of William Orendorff of Blooming
Grove. William Orendorff was elected justice of the peace ;
William II. Hodo'e was elected sheriff and Thomas Orendorff
was elected coroner. The first court of Tazewell County was
held at the house of Ephraim Stout of Stout's Grove. But
Mackinawtown was made the seat of justice, and here the pub-
lic buildings were to be erected. The jail was built of logs by
Matthew Robb and others, and in order to test its strength this
gentleman was placed inside and the door locked. But lie suc-
ceeded in o-etting out of the little establishment.
The season of 1827 was remarkably early. Bv the middle
\j %f \j
of March the grass was ankle deep in the marshes, and the prai-
rie had a greenish tinge. This season was remarkable, too. for
the great storm, which passed through Blooming Grove and Old
Town timber. It was the twenty-third of June when it came.
Everything fell before it; the largest trees were uprooted and
twisted and broken, and in some places the logs were piled up
twenty feet in height. For many years afterwards the track of
this terrible storm was plainly seen.
During the summer of 1827, which was very wet, Stephen
Webb, William McCord and George and Jacob Hinshaw came
to the county. Stephen Webb settled in Dry Grove and the
Hinshaws settled in Blooming Grove, but afterwards moved to
Dry Grove. In March of this year Matthew Robb and Robert
McClure settled at Stout's Grove.
During the early days the West was thickly inhabited bv
snakes, and the settlers tell great stories of the number they'
killed. Nevertheless the settlers often went to the field and did
their ploughing barefooted. Mr. Peasley of Down says that
while ploughing around a patch of ground, the snakes continu-
m'lean county.
ally crawled away from the furrow to the center of the un-
plowed patch, and when it became very small the grass was
fairly alive with the wriggling, squirming reptiles, and they
would at last break in every direction. The rattlesnakes fre-
quently bit the oxen, but the latter seldom died on account of
snake bite. The poison of the rattlesnake is most virulent and
dangerous in August.
One of the greatest difficulties with which the settlers were
obliged to contend was the fire on the prairie. In the fall of
the year they prot ected their farms by ploughing furrows around
them, and sometimes by ploughing furrows w r ide apart and
burning out the grass between them. But in spite of all pre-
cautions the settlers often suffered. The tire sometimes came
before preparation was made, and sometimes it leaped over the
furrows and burned up fences, fields of corn, stacks of hay and
stacks of wheat. It moved so rapidly that very little time was
given to prepare for it. It drew currents of air in after it to feed
the flames, and the wind drove it on faster and faster. A prairie
tire moves with the central portion ahead, while the wings hang
back on each side, in the shape of a tiock of wild geese. Some-
times the settlers protected not only their farms from fire but a
considerable prairie. The prairie so protected soon became
covered with a growth of timber.
In March, 1828, the family of Francis Barnard came to Dry
Grove. During the same year the Henline family came to
Mackinaw timber and settled on the north of the Mackinaw on
Henline Creek. In February, 1829, Levi Danley came to
Stout's Grove, and in October of the same }'ear entered the
farm where he settled and which he still owns. The Conger
family also settled at Stout's Grove during the same year. In
March of this year the Messer family came to Mackinaw tim-
ber. During this year Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes organized the
first church in McLean County at his house in Blooming Grove.
It may be a matter of curiosity to readers to know how
Blooming Grove received its name. It was called Keg Grove
and Hendrix Grove and sometimes Dawson's Grove. There is
a story that the Indians found a keg of whiskey which had been
cached, and that this gave the name which the grove bore for
many years. But this story is not well authenticated. The
J
8 SKETCH OF
name was afterwards changed to Blooming, on account of
the flowers and foliage of the maple trees in spring-time.
This name was suggested by two different parties at about the
same time. Mrs. William Orendorff suggested to some ladies,
who were visiting her, that the grove should be called Bloom-
ing Grove. At nearly the same time John Rhodes and Thomas
Orendorff were out in the woods writing letters, and Rhodes
asked what name they should write at the head of their letters.
Thomas Orendorff looked up at the maple trees and said : "It
looks blooming here, I think we had better call it Blooming
Grove."
At the opening of the year 1830 the country was sparsely
settled, indeed it could hardly be said to be settled at all.
There were only three houses between Blooming Grove and
Mackinawtown ; and between the latter place and the present
village of Pleasant Hill were no houses at all. At that time
the most hopeful of the old settlers only dared to think that the
country would be settled in the edges of the timber, that a cor-
don of farms would be made around each grove.
In January, 1830, Jesse Havens and family settled in what
has since been called Havens' Grove. In the fore part of the
same year Benjamin "Wheeler also settled there. In the spring
of 1830 John Smith settled at Smith's Grove, and two years af-
terwards moved to Havens' Grove. During the previous spring
of 1829 James Allin came to Blooming Grove from Vandalia
for the purpose of merchandising. This was a great accession,
for the influence which this man exerted was of the greatest
importance to McLean County.
In the year 1830 the people of Blooming Grove and many
surrounding settlements determined to have a county cut off
from Tazewell. The idea was not favored by the people of
Mackinawtown, the county seat of Tazewell County. But
James Allin and many others were active in circulating petitions.
These petitions were taken to Vandalia during that same
year by Thomas Orendorff and James Latta. The speaker of
the house, William Lee D. Ewing, interested himself in the
matter, but Orendorff and Latta were obliged to wait several
days before their petitions could be attended to. At last Mr.
Ewing called the two gentlemen to his room and asked what the
m'lean county. 9
name of the county should be. James Latta wished it called
Hendricks County after Mr. Hendricks of Indiana. But Mr*
Ewing remarked that it was dangerous to name it after any liv-
ing man; for no one's reputation was safe until he had gone to
his grave. The man whom they chose to honor might do some-
thing mean, and the people would wish the name of the county
changed. Mr. Ewing then proposed to call it McLean County
after John McLean, who had been speaker of the lower house
of the Assembly, had been a representative in Congress and
United States Senator. This proposition was agreed to, and the
bill passed the lower house in the forenoon of that day and the
Senate in the afternoon. Ford's History of Illinois says of John
McLean: "He was very prominent in the politics of Illinois.
He was several times elected to the legislature, once elected to
the lower house of Congress, and twice to the United States
Senate, and died a member of that body in 1880. He was natu-
rally a great, magnanimous man and a leader of men. The
county of McLean was named in honor of him." McLean
Countj- was at that time much larger than at present. It was
bounded on the north by the Illinois River ; on the east by
Range six east of the Third Principal Meridian ; on the south
by the south line of Township Twenty-one north, and on the
west by Range One west of the Third Principal Meridian.
The winter of 1830 and '31 was the celebrated winter of the
deep snow. The weather during the fall had been very dry,
and continued mild until late in the winter. But at last the
snow came during the latter part of December; and such a
snow has never since been known. The settlers were blockaded
in their cabins and could do very little except pound their corn,
cut their wood and keep their fires blazing. A great deal of
stock was frozen to death during this terrible winter. The deer
and wild turkeys, which had been very numerous, were almost
exterminated. The wolves, on the other hand, had a pleasant
time of it. They played around over the snow, caught all the
deer they wished, and were bold and impudent. The stories of
this deep snow would fill a large volume, and in the sketches
of this work are found the experience of many pioneers, who
lived during the cold winter in their snow-bound huts. It has
been impossible to learn precisely the depth of the snow during
10 SKETCH OF
tliis winter. As the Bnow fell it drifted, and other snows fell
and other drifts were made. Many measurements were taken
in the timber, but even here great errors were likely to occur,
for the snow after falling soon settled. The settlers vary in their
statements, some of them placing the depth at a little less than
three feet, and some at more than four feet. In the spring of
1831, when the snow melted, the face of the country was cov-
ered with water. The little creeks became great rivers, and all
intercourse between the settlers was stopped; for people could
have traveled better with steamboats than with ox teams. The
spring was backward and the crops were sown late. Xeverthe-
less a fair crop of wheat was harvested; but the corn, upon
which the settlers depended most, was bitten by the early frosts
in the fall.
In 1831 the seat of justice of McLean County was located
at the north end of Blooming Grove, on land given by James
Allin for the purpose of founding the town of Bloomington.
The location was made by commissioners appointed by the legis-
lature. These commissioners also appointed Thomas Orendorff
the first assessor. His assessment was made roughly on what
each person was worth, without specifying the property particu-
larly, and it was completed in thirteen days.
The business of McLean County was transacted by a board of
three commissioners. The first meeting of the Commissioners"
Court was held May 16, 1831. The members present were Jona-
than Cheney, Timothy B. Hoblit and Jesse Havens, [saac
Baker was appointed first clerk of Court and held this office for
many years. The first tax levied by this Court was one-half of
one per cent. But though this tax was small, it was severely felt
by the settlers, much more so than heavy taxes at the present
day. Thomas Orendorff was appointed the first treasurer of
McLean County. It may perhaps interest the curious to know
of the first marriage solemnized in McLean County after its or-
eanization. It was between Robert Rutledee and Charity AVeed-
man, and the ceremony was performed on the ninth of June,
1831, by Nathan Brittin, Justice of the Peace.
The year 1831 was particularly celebrated for the fever and
ague. A great deal of rich soil was turned over for the first
time, and the vapors and exhalations made the climate nn-
m'lean county. 11
healthy. Mr. Esek Greenman says that out of twenty-four per-
sons belonging to three families, twenty-three had the ague. It
was as much to be expected as harvest or the changes of the
seasons. It was a disease to be dreaded because of its effect
upon the mind as well as upon the physical system. It induced
a feeling of despondency, and took away that spirit of enter-
prise and that strong will, which bore up the settlers under mis-
fortune. For many years the fever and ague was the scourge of
the West, and was one of the severest hardships.
In September, 1831, the Methodists held their first camp-
meeting at Randolph's Grove. Rev. Peter Cartwright, Rev.
Mr. Latta and others preached there. Mr. Cartwright was very
sensitive to the criticisms of Eastern men, and said : " They
represent this country as a vast waste, and people as very ignor-
ant; but if I was going to shoot a fool, I would not take aim at
a Western man, but would go down by the sea-shore and cock
my fusee at the imps who live on oysters." Mr. Latta preached
directly at popular vices and was particularly severe on horse-
racing. He said : " There is a class of people, who can not go
to hell fast enough on foot, so they must get on their poor, mean
pony and go to the horse-race. Even professors of religion are
not guiltless in this respect, but go under the pretense that they
want to see such a man or such a man, but they know in their
own hearts that they want to see the horse-race."
The year 1832 was the one' in which the Black Hawk War
occurred, a full account of wdiich is given in this volume.
Among the old settlers were to be found some soldiers of
the Revolution. The following is taken from the records of
the County Commissioners' Court for December, 1832 :
"John Scott came into 'open Court and on his oath made a
declaration purporting to prove himself a revolutionary soldier,
for the purpose of obtaining the benefit of the act of Congress,
passed June the 7th, A. I). 1832. The Court is of opinion,
after the investigation of the matter and putting the interroga-
tories prescribed by the war department, that the said Scott's
declaration is correct and that he is a revolutionary soldier."
Eight other revolutionary soldiers were certified by the Court as
being such. They were Ebenezer Barnes, William MeGhee,
Thomas Sloan, Edward F. Patrick, Charles Moore, William
Vincent, Edward Day and John Toliday.
12 SKETCH OF
The records of the Court also show another peculiar law,
which has been done away with. The following is taken from
the record of the June Term, 1835 :
"This day William T. Major presents a bond of one thou-
sand dollars, payable to T. B. Hoblit, Setli Baker and Andrew
McMillin, County Commissioners, and their successors in office,
conditioned that a negro girl named Rosanna Johnson, late a
slave in the state of Kentucky, shall not become a charge on
any county in this state, &c. The Court accepts of the said
bond and orders the same to be put on file for the benefit of the
said counties and also for the said Rosanna."
James Miller also gave his bond for a mulatto boy, Henry
Clay, whom Miller had brought from Kentucky.
In 1832 the accessions to McLean County, and especially to
Bloomington, were so great that a second addition was made to
the latter place by James Allin. In 1833 the first race track
was laid out. Four horses w T ere ridden in the first race. They
were the Bald Hornet, owned by Henry Jacoby and ridden by
Esek Greenman; the Gun Fannon, owned by Jake Heald ;
Tiger Whip, owned by Peter Hefner and ridden b}- James Paul,
and Ethiopian, owned by a man near Waynesville. The race
was won by Tiger Whip.
The prices of produce, of wheat, corn, &c, were in early
days sometimes very high, and at other times correspondingly
low. Corn was sometimes a dollar a bushel, and sometimes
only ten cents. In 1833 prices were very low. Corn sold for
ten cents a bushel, oats for eight cents, wheat for thirty-one
cents, flour for $1.50 per hundred weight, pork for §1.25, and
wood for one dollar per cord.
In 1834 the settlement of the country was such that people
began to calculate where to lay out the villages, which, with the
development of the countrj-, would one day become towns and
cities. The village of Clarksville was laid off in July, 1834, by
Joseph and Marston C. Bartholomew. During this year the
census of Bloomington was taken by Allen Withers, and the
little town numbered one hundred and eighty inhabitants. In
1835 the influx of settlers continued. The state of Illinois had
in 1818 a population of about 45,000 ; in 1830 it had a popula-
tion of 157,447; but in 1835 the people of the state numbered
m'lean county. 13
about 250,000. In November, 1835, the town of LeRoy was
laid out by Covel and Gridley. The year 1836 was marked by
a grand rush of settlers to Illinois. Many pamphlets had been
circulated among the people of the Eastern States, and the great
resources of the West became everywhere known. The settlers
came in every possible way. They crowded the steamboats on
the rivers; they came en horseback, with ox teams, or on foot;
everywhere they were coming. Scarcely any accommodations
could be prepared for them, and they lived in their wagons or
tents, or crowded into the little log cabins, which were hastily
built. They made settlements singly or by companies. It was
during this year that the Hudson and Mt. Hope Companies were
formed. The Hudson Company was formed at Jacksonville,
and the articles of agreement were drawn up in February, 1836.
Horatio 1ST. Pettit, John Gregory and George F. Pufkitt were
chosen a committee to enter and locate the land. Twenty-one
sections were entered in the name of Horatio N. Pettit, and
through him the colonists trace their title. The land was loca-
ted at Haven's Grove, and was surveyed by Major Diekason,
the county surveyor, assisted by John Magouu and S. P. Cox.
The town of Hudson was laid out, and the choice of lots was
made on the fourth of July, 1836. During this year little towns
were laid out everywhere. In January the town of Lexington
was laid out by A. Gridley and J. Brown, and in December fol-
lowing an addition was made by Edgar Conkling. In February,
1836, Concord (now Danvers) was laid out by Isaac W. Hall
and Matthew Robb. During the same month the town of Lytle-
ville was laid out by John Baldwin, and an addition was made
in the following March. Wilkesborough was laid out in June
by James 0. Barnard. The growth of Bloomington kept pace
with the development of the country and its population increased
to four hundred and fifty. During this year additions were laid
out, known as White's, Miller and Foster's, Allin, Gridley and
Prickett's and Evans'.
The Mt. Hope colony was formed by a company chartered by
the state of Rhode Island, under the name of the Providence
Farmers' & Mechanics' Emigrating Society. In December, 1836,
the company entered eight thousand acres of land very nearly
in the shape of a square, and as it had twenty-five shares, each
14 SKETCH OF
share-holder was entitled to three hundred and twenty acres of
land. The land entered by the Mt. Hope colony comprises near-
ly all of the present township of Mt. Hope. In the summer of
1837 General William Peck, one of the originators of the scheme,
came out and surveyed the land and laid out the village of Mt.
Hope.
The month of December, 1836, was marked by a sudden
change in the weather, more remarkable, perhaps, than the great
winter of the deep snow. The weather had been mild for some
time, and rain had been falling, changing the snow to slush,
when suddenly a cold wind-storm came and lowered the temper-
ature instantly from about forty degrees above zero to twenty
degrees below. The face of the countrj 7 w r as changed from
water to ice immediately and, as Rev. Mr. Peasley said, appeared
like a picture of the Polar regions. Squire Buck, of Empire
township, took some notes of this wind-storm, and says that it
came from the west to the Mississippi, which it reached at ten
o'clock a. M., that it continued eastward and reached Leroy at
three o'clock p. m., and Indianapolis at about eleven. It there-
lore moved from the Mississippi River to Leroy at the rate of
thirty miles an hour, and from Leroy to Indianapolis at the rate
of twenty miles an hour.
After the year 1836 the great rush of settlers to the West was
over. In 1837 the United States' bank suspended, and the spirit
of enterprise was checked. The rage for laying out towns was
stopped, for the little villages, which were brought into being,
refused to grow. In February, 1839, Conkling and Wood laid
out an addition to Leroy, and in April, 1840, Pleasant Hill was
laid out by Isaac Smalley.
The great coon-skin and hard cider campaign, when General
Harrison w r as elected President, was in 1840. The Democratic
party was represented by the cock, and the Whigs by the coon.
During that campaign the Whigs took an enormous canoe to a
mass-meeting at Springfield. The excitement rose to the highest
point.
The failure of the United States' bank and the closeness of
money did not affect the West as soon as the East ; but the com-
mereial distress slowly and surely worked westward. In 1842
the condition of things was frightful, worse than has ever since
m'lean county. 15
been known. During that year Judge McClun took to the East
some pork, which he had received in payment for goods, and he
says: "If the West was prostrate, the East was in even a worse
tix. Commercial distress was everywhere seen. Failures were
an hourly occurrence, and the only reliable money, gold and sil-
ver, was locked up. Factories had stopped and their goods were
thrown on the market at ruinous prices. My pork could not be
sold to realize even the cost of transportation." During this
year a number of the settlers concluded to collect their pigs in
a "bunch" and drive them to Chicago themselves, for they could
not believe that the price offered by drovers was really that of
the Chicago market. But these misguided settlers received for
their pork, after paying expenses, about twenty-five cents per
hundred. They were much wiser after this experiment. The
settlement of the country was for many years at a stand-still. A
great deal of land, which had been entered for a dollar and a
quarter per acre, was thrown upon the market and could be
bought for seventy-five cents or a dollar per acre. It was not
until about the year 1846 or '47 that the condition of things was
very greatly improved. Nevertheless the country was still un-
settled to a great extent, except around the groves. Prairie land
could be entered until the land office closed to allow the com-
pany, which was to build the Illinois Central Railroad, to se-
lect its land. This was in 1850, when the charter was granted.
It was then seen that prairie land would rise in value, and as
soon as the land office was re-opened, all the prairie within many
miles of the railroad was entered immediately. After the build-
ing of the Illinois Central and the Chicago & Alton Railroads
the country became rapidly settled. Cars were running on both
of these roads in 1852, and soon little towns sprang up and
grew rapidly. The town of Towandawas laid off by Peter H.
Badeau of St. Louis, and Jesse W. Fell, in December, 1854.
The town of Ileyworth was laid off in 1855. In June of the
same year the town of McLean was laid off by Franklin Price.
In March, 1856, the town of Saybrook was laid off by Isaac M.
Polk. Some indication of the rapid development of the coun-
try is seen in the censuses of Bloomington. In 1850 the city
contained sixteen hundred and eleven persons; but in 1855 it
16 SKETCB OF
contained five thousand. The growth of the county in numbers
and wealth has been continuous and steady.
On the third of November, 1857, McLean County voted to
adopt township organization by a large majority. The hard
times of 1857 gave a temporary check to the growth of the
country, but it was only temporary.
The presidential campaign of 1860 and the war which fol-
lowed are so recent and fresh in the mind of the reader, that
it is not necessary to dwell upon them here.
The building of the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western
and the Lafayette, Bloomington and Mississippi Railroads as-
sisted very greatly in developing the country by bringing the
markets nearer to the people along their routes.
Since the organization of McLean County in 1830, it has
been much reduced in size as other counties have been formed.
It now contains about eleven hundred and forty-seven square
miles of land. It is bounded on the north by Woodford and
Livingston Counties, on the east by Livingston, Ford and Cham-
paign Counties, on the south Irv DeWitt County and a small part
of Logan, and on the west by Tazewell County and a little of
Woodford. The Toledo, Peoria and "Wabash Railroad cuts
through the northern edge of the county, forming the enter-
prising villages of Gridley, Chenoa and Weston. The first
mentioned was named in honor of General Gridley of Bloom-
ington. The Gilman, Clinton and Springfield Railroad cuts
through the south-eastern corner of McLean County, and the
station of Bellefllower has sprung up on the line. The county
is now well supplied with railroads, and if it could keep down
the pace of transportation the people would indeed be blessed.
The " railroad question " is the one upon which the people must
exercise their wits for many years to come. The future pros-
perity of the people of McLean County is not doubted for a mo-
ment. All the opportunities for acquiring wealth are here, and
the people are disposed to take advantage of them.
As a part of the history of McLean County, the following
statistics of the schools are given as furnished by John Hull,
County Superintendent :
M LEAN COUNTY.
17
SCHOOL STATISTICS OF McLEAN COUNTY, FOR THE YEAR ENDING
SEPTEMBER 301I1, 1873.
a;
1
H
<6
O
Name of
Township.
<t-i G>
r3 O
W
c O
£ ft
Ha
c a
ftft
n 00
£
T ■A
a * a
5 -■ «3
O
S ft
m
T P
'5 <B
u,c|
— 03
w
fc
&
Hk
H
P5
Mt. Hope
9
442
551
$ 6,165 96
$ 4,814 00
% 643
85
45,890
9,415
Funk's Grove....
6
250
133
2,515 60
6,042 06
359
45
Randolph
10
320
481
6,898 15
3,462 29
895
86
2:; 251
Downs
y
11
11
371
536
347
375
788
407
3,211 28
6,276 75
4,898 88
5,859 '30
3,700 65
7,767 57
3,643 97
10'078 12
443
919
477
98
56
95
24,112
40, 055
l> 3 376
West
Bellflower
9
252
377
402
11
17,449
Allin
V
434
390
4,436 74
3,834 59
510
34
23 227
Dale
7
380
.",41
3,974 19
2.762 96
428
18
24,802
Bloomington
9
319
718
5,575 92
6,090 59
726
80
29,202
Old Town
'/
206
395
2,4s:; 63
2,683 51
381
57
16,263
Padua
9
9
380
427
486
459
5,152 13
3,714 17
3,685 39
6,281 48
546
410
68
01
25 177
In, 225
Cheney's Grove.
7
444
488
5,595 59
2,380 00
555
37
23,430
Dan vers (24 N.)
10
416
542
3, 960 40
2,9o4 30
5S2
23
29,144
8
400
450
5,571 10
3,140 50
562
48
27,570
Normal
8
7
17a
251
248
388
3,485 61
5,814 33
4,200 62
7,074 94
3,168 88
9,252 08
295
492
46
17
11 "00
Towanda
25 721
Blue Mound
9
2! 11
385
478
74
— J, 1 _x
24,281
Martin
6
167
161
27:;
252
2,180 50
3,69:; 24
3,478 00
15,340 50
312
196
05
71
12 700
Cropsey (24 N.)
7,181
Danvers (25 N.)
3
73
73
848 22
A
91
64
2,989
White Oak
4
116
137
1,501 91
B 2,782 25
184
86
7.784
Hudson
7
6
329
229
427
359
2,996 31
3,409 06
3,636 65
3,124 00
522
424
98
2;;
25 782
Money Creek ...
20,034
Lexington
9
550
784
9,363 00
3,486 58
927
46
07,592
Lawndale
7
227
284
4,149 22
3,664 03
373
67
11,004
Cropsey (25 N.)
8
C -
160
1,513 68
C
1S7
23
6,837
Gridley (2 E.)...
4
182
212
2,522 64
A
304 94
13,355
Gridley (3 E.)...
8
306
365
3,687 00
6,570 18
509
55
20,ooo
Chenoa
9
517
610
15 386 22
9,944 '88
9,115 98
1,080
488
7"
58 289
Yates
9
324
362
5 194 11
».)
20,454
DISI KM |s.
Kickapoo Union
1
87
115
729 37
1,105 00
150
10
6,337
Heyworth Scho'l
1
194
232
2,200 79
D
E
20,148
City of Normal.
1
430
843
12,685 74
D
812
12
60 000
CityBloomingt'n
1
252
3,247
4,981
72,290 52
D
5,718
02
487,050
13,786
18,879
$234,141 88
$155,015 93
$22,397
29
1,325,892
A. Reported to Woodford County.
B. Fund of whole Township.
C. Reported to Livingston County.
D. Receive semi-annually their portion of the interest on the funds of the town-
ships of which they form a pirt.
E. Included in amount reported above for Randolph Township.
The foregoing statistics are from the records in my office.
Bloomington, January 51I1, 1874.
2
JNO. HULL, County Superintendent,
McLean County, 111.
STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY.
Illinois is a growing State, and its people have from its early
settlement been conscious of its great destiny. In order to
build up the educational interests of the State it was deter-
mined, at an early day, to have a Normal School for the educa-
tion of teachers. In accordance with an act of the legislature
of February 18, 1857, the State Board of Education proceeded
to receive bids from the various towns of the State for the loca-
tion of the school. The county of McLean, and various indi-
viduals living in it and the city of Bloomington, offered by far
the greatest inducements. Meshach Pike, Joseph Payne, E. "W.
Bakewell and Judge David Davis, gave one hundred and sixty
acres of land, and its public and private subscriptions amounted
to one hundred and forty-one thousand dollars. The county
itself subscribed seventy thousand dollars, to be obtained from
the sale of swamp lands. In May, 1857, the school was located
at Normal, on the land donated for that purpose. Plans and
drawings for building were immediately called for and fur-
nished by Mr. G. P. Randall of Chicago, architect and super-
intendent of University buildings.
Mr. Charles E. Hovey was elected Principal of the Univer-
sity, and immediately issued circulars announcing that it would
be opened in Bloomington on the first Monday in October,
1857. The object of the Normal School was clearly seen in the
conditions imposed upon the students and published in this
circular. The qualifications were :
1. To be, if males, not less than seventeen ; and if females,
not less than sixteen years of age.
2. To produce a certificate of good moral character, signed
by some responsible person.
20 STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY.
3. To sign a declaration of their intention to devote them-
selves to school-teaching in this State.
4. To pass a satisfactory examination before the proper
officers in Reading, Spelling, Writing, Arithmetic, Geography
and the elements of English Grammar. Each county and each
representative district was entitled to one student in the school.
On the fifth of October, 1857, at the time advertised, the
school was opened in Major's Hall, which was fitted up for that
purpose. There were at the opening forty-three students. As
all of the counties and representative districts did not avail
themselves of the privilege of sending students, the principal
was authorized to receive candidates on examination and in
compliance with the qualifications published in the circular.
The formal School at the very outset showed its value and
took a high standing among the educational institutions of the
country. Its principal professor, Charles E. Hovey, (afterwards
General Hovey), was a man of great energy and the best of
judgment. In the year 1860 the splendid University building
was completed, and the Normal School entered on its course of
uninterrupted prosperity. During this year, in the month of
June, the first commencement exercises were held in the new
building.
Like all the educational establishments of the country, the
Normal School was affected by the war to suppress the rebel-
lion. Ten of its teachers entered the army, and among them
was the honored principal. Their example was followed by
nearly all the young men in the University, and the Thirty-third
Illinois, of which they formed so large a part, was known through-
out the war as the Normal Regiment. President Hovey entered
the army in 1861 as Colonel of the Normal Regiment and was
afterwards made a general. Leander H. Potter was made a
colonel in the army and is now president of the Soldier's Col-
lege at Fulton. Dr. E. R. Roe was made a colonel in the army
and is now a United States marshal. Ira Moore was a captain
in the army and is now principal of the Normal School at St.
Cloud, Minnesota. J. H. Burnham was made a captain, and
Aaron Gove an adjutant. Julian E. Bryant was made a lieuten-
ant, and during the war was drowned on the Texan coast.
Joseph G. Howell was made a lieutenant in the army, and was
STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 21
shot at Fort Donelson and buried in Bloomington Cemetery.
Edwin Philbrook was made a sergeant, and Dr. Samuel Willard
a surgeon. After President Hovey entered the army, the posi-
tion of principal devolved temporarily upon Perkins Bass, Esq.,
of Chicago, who held it for one year and then yielded it to
Richard Edwards, LL.D., who has held it until the present
time.
The aim of the Normal School, as before stated, is to educate
teachers in the duties of their profession.
Connected with the University is a Model School, which was
started at the opening of the University in Major's Hall. It
had a small beginning and was first taught by Miss Mary M.
Brooks, a lady of remarkable talent. It has grown from this
into the present large Model School, consisting of three depart-
ments, in charge of four regular teachers, assisted by many of
the Normal students. The range of instruction in the Model
School is from the primary department to the course prepara-
tory for college. Since the opening of the Model School it has
been under the charge of many lady teachers, who have uni-
formly given great satisfaction. One difficulty occurs with the
employment of lady teachers; they will occasionally get married,
and this is the cause of the many changes of instructors in the
Model School.
Connected with the Normal School is a Museum of Natural
History, which is estimated to be worth about one hundred
thousand dollars. This is indeed a fine collection of specimens,
illustrating the various branches of Natural History. These
collections have been made by Professor Wilber, Professor
Powell, Dr. Vasey, Richard H. Holder, Esq., and others. The
greater part of the stuffed birds were given by Mr. Holder.
These gentlemen are enthusiastic workers in the field of Natural
History, and, it would seem, have not always received the en-
couragement and support they deserve from the State. They
have been obliged, in a great measure, to bear their own ex-
penses ; and certainly their services, rendered as they have been
with the greatest enthusiasm, are out of all proportion to the
pay they have received. The Museum is a great benefit, not
only to the Normal School but to the entire State, as by means
of it every school in the State is encouraged to make collections.
22 STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY.
The following extract from a circular, issued by Professor
Forbes, the Curator of the Museum, shows its design and its
value :
" The recent introduction of the natural sciences into our
common school course of study has developed a general demand
for specimens in Natural History, which I am trying to supply.
It is designed to furnish, in time, to every school in the State
which will properly use and care for it, a small collection, so
selected as to illustrate in the best possible manner the branches
required to be taught. The time and resources at my command
are quite insufficient for this ; and, as it is a work undertaken
solely for the benefit of the public schools, I make this call upon
their officers and members for aid.
" The schools will encounter great difficulties in attempting
to form good cabinets unaided, each for itself. Among others
will be that of getting specimens correctly named, and that of
securino;, in a sino;le circumscribed localitv, a sufficient variety
to fully cover the whole field of study. It will be an easy mat-
ter, however, for the teachers and pupils of the State to collect
and send to this Museum, in one or two seasons, a sufficient
number and variety of specimens liberally to supply all our
schools; and these I will undertake to name, select, arrange and
re-distribute in such a manner as to give to each school partici-
pating in the work the benefit of a judicious selection from the
whole number sent by all.
" Good specimens in all branches of Natural History will be
acceptable, and directions for preparing and shipping them will
be sent upon application."
The cost of the Normal University to the State of Illinois is
a matter of interest. President Edwards shows, in his decen-
nial address, that all the money ever expended on the institution
by the State is, up to the year 1870, §279,740.63, while the pro-
perty belonging to it at that time and owned by the State
amounted to" §312,000, without including the Museum. When
we consider that the Museum is worth one hundred thousand
dollars, it will be seen that the investment made by the State is
a pretty good one, from a purely financial point of view. When
we consider further, that the State has given comparatively little
of its own monev to the institution, but has exercised its gener-
STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 23
osity by expending the interest on a fund donated to this State
for educational purposes, by Congress, in the year 1818 ; and
when we consider, too, the very moderate salaries paid to the
teachers of the institution, it certainly appears to an outsider
that the enthusiasm of the friends of education is far in advance
of the liberality of the State. We have yet to see an example
of a State which has been too liberal in educational matters.
When money is expended by a State for educational purposes, it
is usually laid out by men who are devoted to the work. We
have yet to hear of such a thing as an educational " ring." Vil-
lainy has no sympathy with science. When much money is
expended for schools, little money is required for penitentiaries.
It may seem like a sweeping remark, but we think it is strictly
within the bounds of truth, to say that there is no better way
for the State to expend money, as a mere financial speculation,
than to lay it out for schools. Capital always follows intelli-
gence. It seems very singular, sometimes, that our legislators
are a little slow to see these things ; but if the truth must be
told, the explanation of the matter is, that teachers and friends
of education do not understand the ways of politicians.
It is the business of teachers to instruct and improve the
students under their charge, and it will readily be seen that the
tendency of the profession must be to elevate and improve those
who earnestly devote themselves to it.
It is not easy to over-estimate the value of the Normal School
to the State of Illinois. Its graduates and students go out every-
where to teach and to learn. The members of the faculty of the
Normal School hold teachers' institutes annually at Normal, fre-
quently attend county institutes, and by their example and expe-
rience and earnestness in the profession in which they are en-
gaged, do a great deal to elevate the tone of the teachers of
Illinois, and point them to a higher standard of excellence.
President Edwards.
The principal of the Normal School is Richard Edwards,
LL.D. He was born in Aberystvvith, Cardiganshire, Wales, on
tne twenty-third of December, 1822. His father was a stone
and brick-mason, and his mother, whose maiden name was
Jones, was the daughter of a small farmer. The family moved
24 STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY.
to the United States and settled in Ohio in the Western Reserve,
when youDg Richard was a little more than ten years old. He
was employed on a farm until he was sixteen, and from that time
until he was twenty-two he worked as a house carpenter. Up
to this time he had received very little education, hut his turn
of mind was seen in his love of books and his habit of reading
in the evening by the light of " hickory bark." He was very
anxious to obtain an education, and by some good fortune made
the acquaintance of two graduates of Harvard, who advised him
to go to that scholastic paradise, Massachusetts. He was told
that " the culture which he so much yearned for was the staple
in which Massachusetts dealt." He went there and communed
for a while with the angels in the heaven of learning. He
taught school at Hingham and at Waltham, Mass., and was a
member of the Normal School at Bridge water.' In the spring
of 1847 he went to Troy, New York, and became a student at
the "Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute." Here he was for a short
time an assistant teacher. It seems that he kept himself always
employed. He was for a while a " rodman " on the Cochituate
Water Works, which were then being built. In May of that
year he became an assistant teacher in Bridgewater Normal
School, of which he was a graduate. This school was super-
intended by one of the best teachers of Massachusetts, the cele-
brated Nicholas Tillinghast. Here Mr. Edwards remained
until January, 1853, when he removed to Salem and took charge
of the English High School there. Shortly afterwards he be-
came the agent of the State Board of Education in visiting
schools. For three years he was principal of the State Normal
School in Salem, Massachusetts. In October, 1857, he accepted
the position of principal of the city Normal School of St. Louis.
In June, 1862, he was made President of the Illinois State Nor-
mal University, where he has remained ever since.
Of course President Edwards has been obliged to go the way
of all the earth and — get married. On the fifth of July, 1849,
he married Miss Betsy J. Samson of Pembroke, Massachusetts.
Her father, Mr. Thomas Samson, is still living in that town.
They have had eleven children, ten of whom are still living.
As will be seen from the foregoing sketch, Mr. Edwards has
received his education in a, very irregular manner, which he does
not think is very advantageous.
STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 25
He received the degree of A. M. from Harvard College and
the degree of LL. D. from " a less illustrious, but still very
honest source, viz: Shurtleff College, Alton, 111."
President Edwards is a man of medium stature, and is very
intellectual in his appearance. His manner is always pleasant,
and he loves the profession in which he is engaged. When he-
smiles, he shows by the expression of his eyes that he is tickled
at something. Profound thought has frightened the hair from
the crown of his head. He can endure a great deal of intellec-
tual labor; and it seems that he is now occupying the place for
which Providence designed him.
Members of the Faculty.
Edwin C. Hewett, Professor of History, was born in Wor-
cester County, Massachusetts, in November, 1828. He gradu-
ated at the State Normal School in Bridgewater, Massachusetts,
in 1852 ; the school was then in charge of Mr. Tillinghast, In
January, 1858, Mr. Hewett became an assistant teacher at
Bridgewater, where he remained for nearly four years. In the
fall of 1858 he entered upon his duties as teacher in the Normal
University, which have since been interrupted onty by one year's
absence by permission of the Board of Education. In 1863 he
received the complimentary degree of A. M. from the Univer-
sity of Chicago. His long and useful services as a teacher place
him among the first of his most honored profession.
Joseph Addison Sewall, M. E>.,
Professor of Natural Science, was born in Scarborough,
Maine, in 1830. He graduated from the Medical School of Har-
vard University in 1852. In 1854 he came West and taught
and practiced his profession in Bureau and LaSalle Counties.
He graduated in the Scientific Department of Harvard Univer-
sity in the summer of 1860. In the fall of the same year he en-
tered upon his duties at Normal, where he has remained until
the present time. Professor Sewall has that enthusiastic love of
natural science which has recently led to many interesting and
useful discoveries.
26 8tate normal university.
Thomas Metcalf.
Thomas Metcalf, Professor of Mathematics, was born in
Wrentham, Massachusetts, in 1826. He graduated from the
Normal School at Bridgewater, Mass., in 1848, under Mr. Til-
linghast. After leaving the Normal School he taught in Charles-
town and West Roxbury, Mass., for several years. He came to
St. Louis in 1857, and entered upon his duties as instructor in
the High School. From St. Louis he came to Normal, in the
summer of 1862, and has since been constantly at his work of
teaching in the University, with the exception of a few months
in the spring of 1871, while making a trip to Europe. Like all
the other members of the Normal faculty he loves his profes-
sion, and it is this which leads him to excel.
Albert Stetson.
Albert Stetson, Professor of Languages, was born in Kings-
ton, Mass., in 1834. He graduated from the Bridgewater Nor-
mal School in the spring of 1853. After teaching for three
years he entered Harvard University, from which he graduated
in 1861. He taught in Provincetown, Mass., until the fall of
1862, when he came to Normal and entered on the duties of the
chair which he now fills. He has been very efficient as a teacher
and thoroughly understands the duties of his position.
John W. Cook.
Professor John W. Cook was born in Woodford County,
Illinois, in 1844. He graduated at the Normal University, in
1865, and entered upon his present duties, as member of the
Faculty, in 1868.
Henry McCormick.
Professor Henry McCormick was born in Ireland, in 1837.
He graduated at the Normal University, in 1868, and became a
member of the Faculty in 1869.
Miss Myra Osbaxd.
Miss Myra Osband became Preceptress of the University in
January, 1871, having previously been engaged in teaching at
different places in New York and Illinois. This accomplished
lady excels as a teacher and thoroughly understands her delicate
and responsible duties.
STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 27
The members of the Normal Faculty take the greatest pride
in the University which they have helped to so high a standing,
among similar establishments, in the United States. It is well
known that the majority, and perhaps all of them, could obtain
larger salaries elsewhere, and some very tempting otters have
been made to them, but they still remain at their posts.
E. W. Coy.
Professor E. W. Coy, Principal of the High School in the
Model Department, graduated at Brown University in 1858. He
took charge of the Peoria High School in the fall of 1858, which
position he resigned in 1871, when he came to Normal. But his
service in the Peoria High School was not continuous from 1858
to 1871, as during that time he spent some time in practicing
law and in superintending the public schools of reoria.
Miss Martha D. L. Haynie.
Miss Martha D. L. Haynie, Assistant in High School, is a na-
tive of Kentucky, although most of her life has been spent in
Illinois. Her experience as a teacher has been long and varied.
B. W. Baker.
B. W. Baker, Principal of the Grammar School, was born in
Coles County, Ills., November 25, 1841. He was raised on a
farm. At the age of twenty he entered the army and served
from 1861 to 1864 in the 25th Ills. Volunteers. He was wounded
at Pea Ridge and afterwards at Perryville. He was at the siege
of Corinth, at the battles of Resaca, Dalton, Kenesaw Mountain,
Kingston, Noonday Creek, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta. He
was discharged in 1864. He entered the Normal University,
from which he graduated in 1870. He then entered upon his
duties as principal of the Grammar School, and still holds that
position.
The little Primary School is a gem ; to many visitors it is the
most interesting department of the whole University. It is now
in charge of Miss Gertie Case, a graduate of the Model High
School. Miss^Case entered upon her present work in the fall of
1872; previous to that time she had won an enviable reputation
in the public schools of Bloomington and Normal.
J I
jMpl
STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY.
THE SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOME.
The following, taken from the second biennial report of the
Soldiers' Orphans' Home, explains and describes the institution
and its object very clearly :
" The institution was incorporated by an Act of the General
Assembly, approved February 16th, 1865, and subsisted entirely
upon private charity, until by an Act approved March 5th,
1867, a certain fund in the hands of the Governor, known as
the "deserters' fund," was donated to the Home, and farther
appropriations made.
" The Home is located on a high and commanding tract of
land, donated by the Hon. David Davis, Judge of the Supreme
Court of the United States, adjoining the thriving village of
Normal, at the crossing of the Illinois Central and Chicago &
Alton Railroads. A better selection could hardly have been
made — beautiful, healthy, with fine railroad and educational
advantages, it being the seat of the State Normal University.
"The building is a splendid structure, 140 by 80 feet, built in
the Romanesque style of architecture, three stories of brick,
with a basement of stone, surmounted by a tine dome. It is
plain but substantial in finish, more attention being given to
such arrangements as would secure the comfort and health of
its inmates.
" The school building is a new brick structure, a short dis-
tance from the Home proper. It contains six large rooms,
furnished with the most improved equipments. One of the
rooms is devoted to library and reading purposes, where a large
number of the best papers and periodicals are kept on file.
" The persons entitled to the benefits of the Home are the indigent
children (under fourteen years of age) of all soldiers who have
served in the armies of the Union during the late rebellion,
and have been disabled from disease or wounds therein, or have
died or been killed during such service.
30 THE SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOME.
" Blank forms for admission to the Home will be furnished at
any time on application, by letter or otherwise, to Virginia C.
Ohr, Superintendent Soldiers' Orphans' Home, at ISTormal, Mc-
Lean County, Illinois.
Total number of children admitted to the Home, since its
organization 642
Number returned to their friends or good homes provided
by trustees 356
Number of boys who have run away 6
Total number who have died." 5
Number remaining in the institution at date of report 275
642 642
Total number of females admitted to the Home since its
organization 275
Number of males admitted 367
Total 642
Average daily attendance 290
Expense per capita, per annum ? 144 63
" " per month 12 05
" " per day 40
" This includes cost of subsistence, salaries of officers, teach-
ers and other employes ; in short, all expenses of the Home.
" We have very few special rules for the discipline and gov-
ernment of the children, and these are made as emergencies
arise ; acting upon the principle that a few rules, well kept, are
of far greater value than many broken and trampled on. The
law which guides and directs is that of love and kindness, par-
taking as much as possible of the parental character. "While
the most implicit obedience to all rules and regulations is re-
quired of each and every child, yet they are constrained to do
so by direct appeals to their better natures ; by pointing out to
them their social and moral obligations, one to another; by
giving them aid and encouragement in their efforts to do right.
They are, generally speaking, kind to each other, obedient to
those in charge and industrious."
NEWSPAPERS.
The first newspaper in m'lean county and the first editor.
In 1836 Bloomington became a very "lively" little town and
some of its citizens became anxious for a newspaper. General
Gridley, who was then a merchant in Bloomington, was about to
go to the East for his fall supply of goods, and he was instructed
by Jesse "W. Fell and James Allin, who, with him, became pro-
pri3tors, to lay in a stock of type, printing presses, compositors,
editors, &c. He did so, and engaged Mr. "William Hill and Mr.
W. B. Brittain, of Philadelphia., These parties shipped their
printing material during the fore part of October for Blooming-
ton by way of New Orleans, St. Louis and Pekin. About a
week afterwards Messrs. Hill and Brittain started, coming by
way of Pittsburg, down the Ohio river, up the Mississippi and
Illinois Bivers to Pekin, and thence across to Bloomington. The
latter part of their journey was accomplished on horseback. At
that time no bridge had been built across the Mackinaw, and as the
stream was high, it was thought they would be obliged to swim
their horses. Under this impression Mr. Brittain plunged in.
As he was mounted on a small horse he was wet to the waist;
but Mr. Hill, being on a large horse, stood on its back and went
through dry shod. They arrived in Bloomington about eight
o'clock that evening (October 25), Mr. Brittain nearly frozen and
not favorably impressed with the unbridged water courses of
Illinois. They remained in Bloomington for about two months
without hearing anything of their printing material, and Mr.
Brittain, becoming discouraged, disposed of his interest to Mr.
Hill, and returned to Philadelphia. A few days after he left,
word came that the material had reached Pekin. It was brought
across to Bloomington by little Benjamin Depew, in a six-horse
team, and on the first of January, 1837, it was arranged in an
32 NEWSPAPERS.
office which was fitted up in the northeast room of the old (then
new) Court House. On the fourteenth of January the first
number of the Bloomington Observer and McLean County Advocate
was published. After carrying it on through many difficulties
and vexations for one year, Mr. Hill sold out to Mr. Jesse W.
Fell, who continued it about a year and a half and then disposed
of it to other parties, who removed it to Peoria. Mr. Hill re-
turned to Philadelphia in the spring of 1889, where he worked
at the printing business, and did not return to the West until
1849. At that time he located at St. Louis and there engaged in
job printing. He was soon after joined by William Ale Kee, and
they together purchased the office and paper of the Missouri
Democrat. They afterwards purchased the office and paper of
the St. Louis Union, united the two papers and continued them
under the title of the Missouri Democrat, a Freesoil paper. After
two or three years, politics becoming a good deal mixed, Mr.
Hill became disgusted and sold out to F. P. Blair, Jr. and B.
Gratz Brown. In 1855 he returned to McLean County, having
purchased a small place a short distance northeast of the city.
In the spring of 1860 he went with a party from McLean Coun-
ty to the newly discovered gold mines in Colorado. After
spending six or eight months in the mountains and vicinity and
seeing the prairie dogs, jack rabbits, buffaloes, and big Indians,
and watching the regular Sunday gladiatorial sports among the
miners, in which pistols, bowie knives, &c, were in general use,
and after getting a glimpse of the elephant as he passed down
the "Western slope, Mr. Hill and his party returned to their
homes, satisfied that if the same means and exertions were used
here, a fortune could be made about as quickly.
Mr. Hill has for the last four years lived in Bloomington. He
is now upwards of sixty years of age, healthy and active, and
though in easy circumstances, continues to follow his business,
preferring anything to idleness.
Mr. Hill was born Nov. 18, 1811, in Cumberland County, New
Jersey, where he received his education. He went into a print-
ing office in Philadelphia at the age of fifteen, where he remained
until he came West in 1836. Just before coming West he did
as a good many other young men do when starting for a new
country — was married. His children, two daughters and one
NEWSPAPERS. 33
son, are all happily married. He has been, in political matters,
first a Whig and then a Republican. Mr. Hill is not a large
man, being rather less than the medium height. He has a very
intelligent and pleasing countenance, is a very pleasant writer
and has a lively appreciation of the humorous. He is much
respected and the first paper in McLean County under his man-
agement must have been very popular.
Bloomington Pantagraph.
The first paper published in Bloomington was the Blooming-
ton Observer and McLean Count)/ Advocate, the first number of
which was issued January 14th, 1837. William Hill, now em-
ployed as a compositor in the Pantagraph job office, was its edi-
tor and publisher. It was a small, five column weeklj-, non-
political. Mr. Hill published the Observer about a year, then
sold it to "Sir. Jesse W. Fell (now a resident of Normal), who
continued it about eighteen months. The paper was then dis-
continued for about seven years. In 1846 Mr. C. P. Merriman
(now of the Leader) revived the paper as the Western Whig. It
was afterwards owned and conducted by Johnson & Underwood,
Jesse W. Fell, and Merriman (C. P.) and Morris. Mr. Fell
changed its name to the Intelligencer and Mr. Merriman invented
for it the name of the Pantagraph while he and Morris owned
it together. The proprietors of the Pantagraph therefore con-
sider it to be the oldest paper in the city, and regularly de-
scended from the Bloomington Observer and McLean Count)/ Ad-
vocate, which was published in 1837.
The early numbers of The Observer speak of meetings called
for the purpose of establishing a public library in Bloomington,
but very little seems to have been done for such an undertaking.
Market houses and water works were also discussed at that early
day. The mails were carried to Peoria and Springfield twice a
week, to all other points once a week, or not so often. Merriman
& Morris issued a daily edition while the paper was in their hands,
but this did not pay and it was soon discontinued. In 1855 the
Pantagraph office was destroyed by the first great fire Bloomington
ever experienced. It was then owned by Merriman & Morris,
who soon after sold it to William E. Foote, C. P. Merriman con-
34 NEWSPAPERS.
tinning- to edit the paper for six months afterwards, or until June,
1856, when Edward J. Lewis became its editor. Mr. Lewis con-
tinued to edit the paper until January, 1860. During this pe-
riod the daily was successfully started, the first number being
issued February 23, 1857, and was published continuously during
Mr. Foote's proprietorship. W. R. McCracken was local editor
during the greater portion of the time. Franklin Price and
Charles L. Steele also had charge of the local columns succes-
sively. During this period (1858) the office was fired by an in-
cendiary. But some compositors, who slept in a room below the
office, were awakened by the barking of a dog kept by them, and
they promptly extinguished the flames. This dog, called
<• Major," was a favorite in the office and remained a great pet
until his death. His portrait was painted and kept hung up in
the office for a long time (between the pictures of George Wash-
ington and Florence Nightingale!) During Mr. Foote's pro-
prietorship (1855 to 1860) the Pantograph office became known
throughout the West for the excellence of its job printing. Mr.
Foote was a job printer of great skill and fine taste. In 1858
specimens of the Pantagraph job printing tookthefirst premium
at the great St. Louis Fair, at the National Fair in Chicago the
same year and at the Illinois State Fair.
In the early part of 1860 the office was sold to Judge Merri-
man, and his brother, C. P. Merriman, was made editor. The
daily was discontinued but soon after revived. The paper was
purchased early in 1861 by Carpenter & Steele, and E. J. Lewis
was again made editor and remained so until the breaking out
of the war, when he entered the army, (August, 1861). It was
then successively edited by H. B. Norton, Thomas Moore, Cap-
tain J. H. Burnham, and others. The paper afterwards par-
tially changed hands and was owned by Messrs. Carpenter,
Steele, Briggs & Packard, and one of them, Eev. F. J. Briggs,
was editor. The paper afterwards was sold to Scibird & Waters,
who, after conducting it rather less than a year, sold it to a com-
pany composed of Jesse W. Fell, W. O. Davis and James P.
Taylor. Mr. Davis is now the sole proprietor. Under the pro-
prietorship of Fell & Company the paper was edited for a while
by Mr. B. F. Diggs, who was succeeded by Dr. E. B. Boe, who
in turn was succeeded by E. J. Lewis a little more than two
NEWSPAPERS. 35
years ago. 1). A. Ray has been local editor most of the time for
several years. \V r . 11. Whitehead was also assistant editor for a
considerable time, and is now in charge of the local columns.
Under the management of Mr. E. J. Lewis and Mr. W. II.
Whitehead, the Pantograph is very efficiently conducted in all of
its departments.
The job office of the Pantograph is one of the best in Illinois,
and the job printing is remarkable for its good taste. German
printing of all kinds, under the supervision of Mr. Bach, is exe-
cuted in the best of style.
The Leader (Daily and Weekly.)
The Weekly Leader was started by John S. Scibird and Orin
Waters, proprietors, and Elias Smith, editor, November 15, 1868,
and soon attained to a fair circulation and influence. Its success
became so flattering that on the twenty-second of February,
1870, its proprietors began the publication of the Daily Leader,
which is ably conducted and well supported. The political de-
partment was edited by B. F. Diggs and C. P. Merriman suc-
cessively, and the local department by Thomas Moore, Elias
Smith, B. V. 1 >igg8, M. F. Leland and J. W. Nichols. The paper
is now published by the Leader Company with Orin Waters as
general manager and C. P. Merriman and J. W. Nichols as
editors. Tin.' paper has always been Republican in polities and
so continues.
The Leader Company publish, in addition to their daily and
weekly, the Alumni Journal, fifteen hundred copies per month ;
the Little Watchman, a Sunday-school paper, seven thousand
copies per week ; the Real Estate Journal, two thousand per
month.
The Job Office of the Leader is large and well conducted
under the supervision of Mr. E. P. Penniman, who displays the
best of taste in everything pertaining to his department.
The Anti-Monopolist ( Weekly).
The Bloomington Democrat was started in Bloomington in
April, 1868, by S. S. Parke, Esq. Previous to this the Demo-
cratic party had attempted to establish a party organ, but failed,
showing that with newspapers, as with all other matters, it is
36 NEWSPAPERS.
individual enterprise which brings success. This paper was
Democratic in politics as its name indicates, but during the last
campaign it strongly and effectively advocated the principles of
the Liberal party. On the fourteenth of August, 1873, the edi-
torial management of this paper went into the hands of Joseph
Carter, and the paper became the Anti- Monopolist. This paper,
on the 1st of January, was merged with the McLean County Anti-
Monopolist, at Saybrook, which office has been moved to Bloom-
ington, and the paper adopted the title of the Anti- Monopolist.
It is now very ably edited, and its articles are frequently quoted
in other papers.
The Republican ( Weekly.)
The Republican was started in Bloomington in 1866, by S. P.
Remington and A. B. Holmes. It was Republican in politics
and has remained so ever since. Its first editor was Major S. P.
Remington. Its present proprietors are A. B. Holmes & Bro.
It is a very pleasant, reliable paper and has the confidence of the
community.
Illinois Trade Journal.
This paper was started in November, 1872, by Goft' & Hewitt,
As it has recently been brought into existence, it has not yet
made a history. It is a commercial paper, at present owned and
edited by A. J. Goft*, one of its founders.
Mr. Goft' formerly published the Bloomington Journal, which
he started in January, 1868. This paper succeeded the McLean
County Journal, which had been published by E. B. Buck. In
November, 1868, the Bloomington Journal was sold to Scibird &
Waters, in whose hands it was succeeded by the Leader. While
Mr. Goff published the Journal he issued an edition of that paper
in Normal, called the Review, for which Mr. Ray of the Para-
graph acted as local editor.
The Banner of Holiness.
This paper was started October 5, 1872, by Henry Reynolds
and Rev. John P. Brooks. It is purely a religious paper, audits
conductors hope and believe that it is the means of doing much
good.
NEWSPAPERS. 37
McLean County Deutsche Press e — (German Weekly.)
The Presse was started by a company, of which the present
editor and proprietor, Johannes Koester, was a member in 1871.
He soon afterwards became sole editor and proprietor. During
the last campaign the paper favored the Liberal movement.
The Weekly Enterprise, of Lexington.
The Enterprise was started on the first of January, 1873, by
Charles M. King, who is editor and proprietor. It takes no
sides in political matters as its editor does not consider it old
enough to vote.
Saybrook Banner.
This paper w r as for a long time published in Lexington, but
on the eighteenth of December, 1872, was removed to Saybrook.
It was started by H. II. Parkinson and by him first edited. Mr.
Parkinson is the present proprietor of the paper. Messrs. Sabin
& Van Voris were for a time connected with this paper. It is
independent in politics as well as in name. The paper stands
high in point of ability and fairness. One thing connected
with it is certainly very marvelous — "it is said that the people
take a great interest in it." It must indeed be a very interesting
paper. The Banner was changed to the McLean Count)/ Anti-
Monopolist, and subsequently consolidated with the Anti-Monopo-
list of Bloomington.
Chenoa Times.
The Chenoa Times was started in July, 1867, by McMurtrie &
Dyer, editors and proprietors, under very flattering circum-
stances, with a good subscription list. It was edited successively
by McMurtrie & Dyer, Miss L. M. Dyer, Mr. C. M. King, Mr. C.
R. Spore and John & Bovard. The latter are now its editors
and proprietors.
BLOOMINGTON.
In the fall of 1829, James Allin came from Vandalia, Fayette
County, Illinois, to the north end of Blooming Grove and here
opened a store. In the spring of 1830 he built a double log
house, with one room for a dwelling and the other for a store.
During that year a number of gentlemen took active measures
to secure the location of a county seat at the north end of Bloom-
ing Grove, and the legislature of 1830 and '31 passed the act for
the formation of the county of McLean. A board of three
commissioners was appointed to locate the county seat. They
were Jonathan Pugh of Macon County, Lemuel Lee of Van-
dalia, and a certain Mr. Freeman. They were instructed to look
over the county and locate the county seat on the second Mon-
day in February or within five days thereafter; but the winter
of the deep snow made it impossible for them to locate it at that
time, and they were unable to make their report until the fol-
lowing April. The following is the report:
"April 21, 1831.
We the commissioners appointed to locate a county seat in
the county of McLean on the second Monday of February or
within live days thereafter, owing to the severity of the weather
and the depth of snow it was impossible for us to proceed to lo-
cate the same at the time specified by law; but as soon there-
after as practicable we proceeded to examine the situation of the
county, and have located the same on the land of James Allin,
on the north end of the Blooming Grove, for which we have his
obligation for a donation of twenty-two acres and a half of land.
Lemuel Lee,
Jonathan Pugh."
40 BLOOMINGTON.
The Fourth of July, 1831, was a great day at Blooming
Grove, for on that day the town of Bloomington came into be-
ins. The lots of the original town were then sold at auction.
The town then contained twelve squares and was hounded by
North, Front, East and West streets. On the record of the pro-
ceedings of the County Court appears the following :
"Fourth of July, 1831.
" The Court proceeded to sell the lots of the town of Bloom-
ington. James Allin was appointed agent to execute deeds and
Isaac Baker to take acknowledgments. (Recorded in Book Z.)"
The lots were cried off by William OrendorfF as auctioneer.
The bidding was lively and the excitement great. The highest
price paid for any lot was fifty-two dollars, which was given by
A. Gridley for town lot number sixty, where the McLean
County Bank now stands. Bloomington was a lively town from
the start, for it numbered among its citizens many men who have
since shown the most extraordinary foresight and business sa-
gacity. These men were united and earnest and determined
that the town should be pushed into prosperity at all hazards.
They were sharpened by strange experiences.
The first addition to the town of Bloomington was made by
James Allin, and the plat was recorded August 1, 1831. It con-
sisted of a tier and a half of squares on the south of the original
town and two tiers of squares on the west, making twelve squares
and six half squares.
James Allin worked for the growth and prosperity of the
town with the most untiring zeal, and was most enthusiastic in
his hopes for its development and future prosperity. He said it
was on a direct line between the rapids of the Illinois River and
Cairo, on a line between Chicago and St, Louis, and on a line
between Columbus, Ohio, and Flint Rock, (Burlington) Iowa.
It was situated on the edge of one of the prettiest groves in
Illinois. He lived to see his fondest hopes realized, as the town,
of which he was the founder, grew to an inland city. But it
was not because it was on a line between great points, for other
towns, not so fortunate, have quite as good a location ; it was
not alone because it was situated on the edge of a pretty grove
or because the soil was productive; but it grew and prospered
because its citizens were determined that it should grow and
BLOOMINGTON. 41
prosper. They worked for it and obtained for it every advan-
tage; they had faith in it, and it grew and continues growing-
The first court in McLean County was held in James Allin's
double log cabin, in that part which he used as a dwelling. But
on the fifth of January, 1832, the Commissioners' Court adopted
a plan for building a court house as follows :
"A building of one story high, eighteen feet by thirty,
to be finished as a comfortable dwelling house, and order that
the clerk give public notice for selling out the (erection of the)
building aforesaid to the lowest and best bidder on the sixth day
of March next,"
At the time appointed, the building of the court house was
bid oft' to A. Gridley for three hundred and thirty-nine dollars
and seventy-five cents. It was built by him and accepted in De-
cember, 1832. It was situated on the west side of the public
square. The jail was built by William Dimmitt for $321.
The interests of the little town were watchfully guarded, and
in 1831 it numbered one hundred and eighty persons, according
to a census taken by Allen Withers. During the next two years
the rush of people to Illinois from the East was wonderful, and
the town grew in 1836 to number four hundred and fifty souls.
The early merchants of Bloomington were liberal, enter-
prising men. The following from the pen of John W. Billings
places the condition of the town in the early days in a clear
light:
•'James Allin first displayed goods at the place now occupied
by Dr. Stipp as a dwelling, but soon moved up street, and about
the year 1839 built a brick on the corner of Main and Front
streets, the present site of the Livingston clothing house. The
mercantile firm of Gridley & Covel stood upon the site of the
McLean County Bank. This firm did perhaps more business
than any one house at that time and bore the brunt of the hard
times. After a while they closed out their mercantile matters
and w r ent into a steam mill for carding wool and grinding wheat,
doing business for a laige extent of country. Haines & Son
were dry goods merchants. More & Crow (not black) kept a
mercantile house on the corner of Main and Front streets ; but
their establishment passed into the hands of B. F. Wood, who
was afterwards drowned in the Missouri River. Mr. Goodcop,
42 BLOOMINGTON.
German from Philadelphia, flourished for a while in the mer-
cantile line, but returned to the citv of broadbrims. A hard-
ware firm by the name of Freylies Brothers settled about the
year 1835, but soon disappeared, their places being supplied by
George Dietrich about the year 1839. Mr. Dietrich was an in-
dustrious, enterprising young man, who has accumulated a for-
tune and retired from business and lives at Normal, honored
and respected by all. The first plastering mason in Blooming-
ton was William Goodheart, a Scotchman by birth, a former
soldier in the army of the great Xapoleon, a Methodist class
leader, and one whose life corresponded with his teaching. He
died at a ripe old age, leaving sons and daughters, worthy citi-
zens. Father Goodheart burned the first brick in this vicinity,
and Robert Guthrie was the next in this line of business. In an
early day J. M. Caleb kept a public house opposite Paist & Mar-
mon's drug store, where we received our daily rations. Some
of the lady boarders were so fastidious that they nearly fainted
on a hot day, when Postmaster Brown had the audacity to seat
himself at the dinner table without a coat. The Big Tavern
was kept by F. S. Dean, a ISTew York yankee, near the present
McLean County Bank, and was burned in 1855 or '56.
"A Mr. Bonesteel was among the first owners of steam mills.
His mill was on the water run, then called a slough, between
Main and Albert streets, biiip was f burned down at an early day.
Another steam mill, built by 0. Covel, was burned down some
years after. A steam saw mill, which stood between Centre
and Madison streets, and was owned by B. F. Wood, was also
burned. An Indian family living near was suspected of setting
it on fire, and some young men (mostly of the " baser sort") at-
tacked and destroyed their house and drove them off, though
they were probably innocent.
The people in those days were obliged to have their fun. A
long-legged, awkward young man, named Peter Bonesteel, was
arrested for some pretended offence and brought into Court;
but after a trial was discharged. He was afraid to leave the
court house, as he thought the boys would lynch him. At last
they became uproarious, pushed him out of the door and
shouted, " Run, Pete, run !" He did run, sure enough, and be-
ing tall, long-legged, with heavy boots, the mini an inch or two
BLOOMINGTON. 43
in depth, with a scare upon his mind and a lot of wolfish boys
behind, he made such time as would make a locomotive jealous,
leaving the howling hounds far in the rear, stopping not until he
crouched on the bottom of his father's cellar in Pone Hollow.
But he was a good boy and of a good family and did not deserve
such treatment.
Many of those who were in business in early days, have suc-
ceeded well. Lewis Bunn and Abraham Brokaw were among
the first plow and wagon makers in McLean County. Elijah
Rockhold, now deceased, was for a long while chief architect
and builder in Bloomington. Jesse Fell, a member of the Soci-
ety of Friends, father of J. W. Fell of Normal and a large fam-
ily of other children, most of them still living in McLean
County, came to Bloomington when it was in its swaddling
clothes. Mother Fell, as is usual with Friends, often preached
to us, as the spirit moved, many good and remembered lessons.
Father Fell also had a word for all, well-timed to profit. But
their earthly pilgrimage has long since ended ; they have obeyed
the mandate : " Come up higher." Mr. Robert Guthrie was
also a nurse to the infant Bloomington, settling first on the
Flagg farm, but soon selling out and coming down to Front
street. Perhaps he was the first regular plastering mason here.
"William Brewer, the first tanner and currier, died about the
year 1844 or '45.
About the year 1849 or '50 the California gold excitement
was greatest and Bloomington sent out a large delegation of
some of her best citizens. Dan. Robinson, since deceased, Ly-
man Ferre, at that time of wagon and carriage notoriety, Seth
H. Adams, familiarly known as Speedy Adams, and John M.
Loving and many others started for the golden El Dorado.
Doctor Colburn went some little distance, but returned. Rev.
D. J. Perry gave them a parting address, and one of his ideas
was particularly note-worthy. He said: "Many of the thou-
sands now leaving for the farther West think they are going out
of the world, where they may think, do and act as they please,
while the truth is, they are going right into the world, where
people from all climes and tongues are now congregating, each
peculiarly jealous of his rights and. ready to maintain them ; the
great I Am watches them with a no less jealous eye than if they
remained at home." Sound doctrine.
44 BLOOM INGTON.
"Among the most influential men of Bloomington was Gen-
eral Merritt Covel. He was the right man in the right place,
and the people respected his judgment. He was honorable in
his business transactions and shrewd in his calculations. He
was amiable of disposition — a gentleman and a genial com-
panion. He died in the year 1847. General Gridley (the old
folks called him Colonel) represented McLean County in the
legislature for one or more terms in 1840 and '41, and is re-
ported as second to none of his illustrious compeers of the State
Assembly. His constituents were well pleased with his ability,
legislative powers, fine eloquence, keen retort and skillful ma-
neuvering in all matters affecting McLean County. He served
his constituents in the State Senate in 1851, '52, '53 and '54.
About this time the Illinois Central Railroad Company was to
be chartered, and Bloomington had vital interests at stake. It
was then more of a hamlet than a city, and its future hung in
the balance. It was clear that General Gridley was the man to
espouse her interests and carry them through, and with hercu-
lean labors he was triumphantly successful. The chartered line
would have carried the track several miles east of the corporation
limits, which would have built up a town there and Blooming-
ton would have been left in the cold. General Gridley duly ap-
preciated this and nerved himself to the task of getting the
charter so amended as to make Bloomington a definite point,
the result of which is now before the people. It would be un-
generous and unjust to say that he did all this individually, but
he was the pioneer spirit linked with Jesse W. Fell, Judge
David Davis and others. The Bloomington Gas and Coke Com-
pany is the result of the enterprise and thrift of General Grid-
ley. Probably the head, trunk and limbs of this company are
contained in his person and pocket. "When the corporation was
in darkness, each person carrying his own lantern and each busi-
ness place supplying its own lamp post, a light sprang up to-
wards Sugar Creek and, though glimmering at first, it is now
magnified and the city shines in its radiance. The McLean
County Bank was the first institution of its kind established.
Its heart and safe respond to the autograph of General Gridley.
Our stock men are under obligations to him for engineering into
being the present banking facilities of our city.
BLOOMINGTON. 45
"Jesse W. Fell, of Normal, came to Blooming-ton about the
year 1833. He is of good old Pennsylvania Quaker stock. His
father as well as himself was naturally a horticulturist and
fruit grower. I have often looked at an orchard (perhaps their
first planting in McLean County) with much delight. The lines
of the trees were seemingly set in a diamond form, but were in
straight lines from every point of view. J. W. Fell edited the
Bloomington Intelligencer for a while. He was a fine scholar, an
able editor and a prolific writer, energetic in character and
ready of wit and repartee, sound in judgment and pointed in
debate, strong in reasoning powers and a fluent speaker, and
flush of right words in the right place. He has never been
chosen as a representative of the people in any legislative body,
but he has been an active worker in everything pertaining to
the interest of McLean County, and has been much more useful
than scores of members holding constituent papers. The Illinois
Central Railroad required his attention and services throughout
its construction. Mr. Fell has always been a friend of educa-
tion and temperance. The Illinois public school system is
debtor to him for many things. Among the other good things
it might be said, "he has education on the brain." He thinks
everything of the State Normal University, and was an indefati-
gable worker for its establishment in the place it occupies. He
has been no less untiring in ornamenting its grounds than in
locating its site. Trees, shrubbery and flowers, like education,
possess a green and flowery spot in his cranium.
"It would be a curiosity, indeed, if the Bloomington of early
days was to appear before us. I picture in my mind the Bloom-
ington of 1837, with its muddy streets, and I see the lone pedes-
trian, with pants in boots, wending his way to the post office,
kept in a sixteen by twenty feet room ; or I see the lady, with
skirts slightly raised, displaying a shining black bootee, daintily
picking her steps along single planks, over chip-piles and around
mud-puddles, to some store, where could be found many things
between the needle and the anchor, a spool of thread, a bolt of
muslin, a pound of tea, and tobacco, coffee, saleratus, curry-
combs, molasses, etc., in promiscuous plenty. How different is
this from the Bloomington of the present day, with its macad-
amized streets and its Nicholson pavement, its huge storehouses
46 BLOOMINGTON.
and fine private dwellings, and its monster court house, where
all capital criminals are proved to be insane.
" Although Bloomington is yet in the first blush of city wo-
manhood, her beautiful child, Miss Normal, is yet in her teens.
Suitors already come to her, attracted by her building lots and
shady streets. Under the protecting care of the Normal Univer-
sity and the Soldiers' Orphans' Home she will arrive at her law-
ful majority. The elder institution sends out from her desks
each year more or less of the sons of the gentlemen yeomanry
of the State — some as theologians, to be sent on home or foreign
missions; others to take up Blackstone and be prepared to prove
every culprit honest or insane, or every honest man a culprit;
others to seek the wisdom of Esculapius, in order that all the
ill, which liesh is heir to, may flee as chaff in the tornado track.
Others will go out to educate the youth and teach the young
idea bow to shoot — with impunity ! — while others will analyze
mother earth, in order to adapt the proper seeds to the proper
soils, a knowledge not possessed by all of the farming commu-
nity at present.
" Bloomington was a most fortunate town in the early days.
It contained few of that idle, vagabond class of people, who are
the curse of new places. It was no place tor them, as the ener-
getic, hard-working people were too numerous. Water and oil
will never mix ; the shiftless and lazy people went to other
localities."
Such are the ideas given by Mr. J. W. Billings, and the
reader will agree with me that such entertaining descriptions
seldom appear in print, Mr. Billings should have been a writer,
and in neglecting to cultivate his literary taste he has mistaken
his calling in life.
In about the year 1836 or '37 Bloomington was full of enter-
prising young men, who have since made their mark. In 1837
Judge McClun came to the town and started as a merchant.
He was little more than a boy and had not much of this world's
goods ; but he was full of pluck, hopeful of the future, careful,
and above all, honest in business and sagacious in his calcula-
tions. Allen Withers was then a young merchant and carried
on his business with his father, in Boyce Block. William H.
Temple was then an enterprising young man, and in 1838 began
BLOOMINGTON. 47
business od his own account. James Miller was a merchant in
the early days and afterwards treasurer of the State. Matthew
II. Hawks was about this time in the dry goods business, but
afterwards thought he saw more money in carding wool and
making linseed oil.
Judge David Davis and Kersey H. Fell w T ere then young men
destined to shine in the legal profession. The former now sits
on the Supreme Bench of the United States, and his friends be-
lieve that his splendid talents would do honor to a higher position.
Wm. H. Hodge and Amasa C. Washburn were then schoolmas-
ters, and if all reports are true, "they spared not the rod, as they
kept the old rule and beat in the A. B. C." The formeris remarka-
ble for his great memory, and his word concerning the transac-
tions of the early days is gospel, and no one disputes it. Thomas
Williams and Thomas Fell were house builders then, and their
services were appreciated, for many of the settlers had only the
canopy of heaven as a roof to shelter them. John Moore, the
wa^-on maker, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of the State,
O 7
made wagons for the settlers to haul their grain to market.
Abraham Brokaw, Lewis Bunn and William F. Flagg were hard-
handed sons of toil, and all were remarkably successful in their
profession. William McCullough, "the bravest of the brave,"
was sheriff, afterwards recorder, and at last a sacrifice to his
own daring on a Southern battlefield. William Evans was then
a farmer and lived out of town ; but the town came to him at
last and took him in, farm and all. William T. Major was then
here, an earnest, active Christian and the founder of the Chris-
tian Church in Bloomington. In those days, too, John Magoun,
the incorrigible bachelor, flourished. He was a bricklayer, a
merchant, a eapitalist, a landowner, and in everything he suc-
ceeded. He was then, as now, a practical philanthropist. The
good deeds which he did in secret, were known only to his
Heavenly Father, who has rewarded him openly. He was then,
as now, an advocate of temperance. One of the old settlers,
who has watched his course from then until the present time,
says of him : "He stands the highest of any man in this com-
munity. I have my enemies, and this may be said of nearly all
men who are pretty well known ; but he has none ; every man
is his friend/ 1 John Magoun is one of the trustees of the Wes-
48 BLOOM INGTON.
leyan University, which stands in the suburbs of Bloomington.
This institution has had many hard struggles with fortune, but
its friends have been numerous and strong. The present Uni-
versity building is a model of elegance and taste, and its professors
are gentlemen of culture.
Religious matters in early days received attention. The tirst
Sabbath-school was organized on the 8th and 9th of March, 1832,
at a school house, where A. C. Washburn was teaching. The
appointment had been given out by Rev. Mr. Latta, and on the
8th of March a few people attended. Great opposition was
manifested, and a learned doctor was loud in his declaration that
it was simply a measure to unite the church and state ! The
meeting adjourned until the next day, when the organization was
perfected. A. C. Washburn was chosen superintendent, and he
worked diligently for the little school of twenty or thirty
scholars. He made every effort to induce the scholars at the
week-day school to put on their prettiest clothes and come to the
Sabbath-school. But two or three children, who belonged to a
certain family, refused to attend, and he visited the mother and
inquired the reason. She said : "How much do vou charge for
tuition ?" and he replied that the schools were perfectly free.
She said : "I don't understand why you should leave your friends
and come away out here to the West, a thousand miles or more,
to teach my children for nothing." Then he spoke of benevo-
lence and good will, and how anxious he was for the spread of
the gospel, and thought her heart was touched ; but she sudden-
ly looked up and said : "Ain't you a 'cold water' man ?" He
was obliged to acknowledge his principles and said that he was
a temperance man. When the woman heard this she boiled
over with rage, and said that her children should never go to
Sunday-school to any such man, and that ended the interview.
In the spring of 1833 Mr. Washburn was away from Blooming-
ton, and the Sunday-school was, for a while, under the charge of
Rev. Mr. McGeogh, who died soon after, and the school became
scattered. But it was revived in the fall on the return of Mr.
Washburn. He was superintendent until the spring of 1834,
when he was absent for a while, and it was conducted by Rev.
Samuel Foster. In 1836 Mr. Washburn returned and wasairain
made superintendent. This year was marked by a great sensa-
BLOOMINGTON. 49
tion. A colored family moved into the place, and four or five
little Ethiopians made their appearance at the Sunday-school. No
one could be found to teach them, except the superintendent,
and he was obliged to use a part of his time in doing so. Some
of the remaining scholars considered this an outrage and threat-
ened to deprive the school of the honor of their presence ; but
Mr. Washburn was firm ; a few left, but the school continued
prosperous. This was a union school until 1838, when a Meth-
odist school was formed, and the union school became Presby-
terian, and at the present time numbers two hundred and seventy
scholars.
The Bloomington of to-day is a great improvement on the
village, which stood here thirty-five years ago. It is an improve-
ment in material wealth, an improvement in culture and knowl-
edge, and an improvement in appearance and external polish.
But are the people more polite? that is, have they more of po-
liteness of the heart ? have they more good feeling and more of
the disposition to love their neighbors as themselves ? The truth
is, there are too many of them to be all neighbors. When only
a few are gathered together in a village, the affection and good
feelings of the people can go out after each other ; but when a
person is obliged to extend his affections over twenty or twenty-
five thousand people, his kind feelings become thin and elastic
everywhere. The change in feeling is due to the change in
circumstances. People have their friends now as they had in the
early days, but their friends do not at present consist of all
Bloomington. Bloomington extends over four square miles and
contained on the first of July, 1873, a population of twenty
thousand one hundred people, and Normal contained two thou-
sand eight hundred and twenty, making in all twenty-two
thousand nine hundred and twenty. Instead of being a village
with a little local traffic, it has become a center for supplies for
the towns and villages round about. It has three large wholesale
dry goods establishments, two wholesale groceries, and three
groceries which do a wholesale and retail trade. It has four com-
mission merchants, eight large establishments dealing in lumber
and nineteen retail dry goods stores. It has nine clothing stores
and twenty-six dress and cloak making establishments, from
which the descendants of the pioneers buy their clothing, iu-
4
50 BLOOM INGTON.
stead of using the linsey woolsey, the blue jeans, or the whang
sewed buckskin of their fathers. It has seventy-three grocery and
provision stores, four wholesale and retail hardware establish-
ments, and seven exclusively retail. It lias four foundries, four
flouring mills, three machine shops (exclusive of those of the
( 1 hicago and Alton R. R.), two agricultural implement manufac-
tories and one chair manufactory. As the city contains many
school girls it has been necessary to start a chewing-gum manu-
factory. The wax affords the most healthy exercise for the jaws,
and when these school girls grow up and go to tea parties, they
can talk by the hour and their jaws will never fail. How great
are the privileges enjoyed by the children of to-day ! The little
pioneer girls had no manufactured chewing gum ; they gathered
the wax from the rosin weed and upon this they exercised their
jaws. The city contains twelve cigar and tobacco manufacturing
establishments, and the youth of Bloomington can chew and
smoke with the elegance befitting the cultured gentlemen of
America.
Bloomington has five banks, which furnish all commercial
facilities ; thirteen hotels, to accommodate the customers who
come to purchase goods; four fast freight lines; four railroads
and one branch road, which make the city a distributing depot.
It has two patent medicine factories, which send out medicine
warranted to cure the ills which afflict the nations of the earth.
It has twelve large drug stores, two of which are wholesale
establishments, and they distribute the purest drugs to kill or
cure the descendants of the pioneers. It has forty-two physi-
cians, who sometimes restore men to health and sometimes
make work for the undertakers. It has fifty lawyers, who dis-
play their genius by tangling up that which is plain and straight,
or by throwing a light upon that which is dark and obscure. It
has eight photographic galleries, where people go for pictures
of their beautiful selves, taken in all kinds of unnatural atti-
tudes, with foolish smiles or strange expressions. It has eight
book and job printing establishments, which turn out two daily
papers, one semi-weekly, five weeklies and four monthlies. It
has factories of various kinds — a shoe factory, a spice factory, an
organ factory — and quick-sighted capitalists will doubtless dis-
cover man}- other things which could easily be made by a factory
BLOOMINGTON. 51
in Bloomington. The pioneers washed their own clothing by
the use of soap and muscle ; but their thrice happy descendants
were for a while served by pig-tailed Chinamen, sent from the
Celestial Empire, twelve thousand miles away. Bloomington
exercises a paternal watch-care over the surrounding country ;
the streams are spanned by the King Iron Bridge Company, and
the bridges are not broken down by heavy weights or carried
away by freshets.
The second court house in Bloomington was a brick build-
ing, fort} T by forty-five feet and two stories high. It was built
in 1836 in the center of the court house square, by Leander
Munsell, for six thousand three hundred and seventy-five dol-
lars. A little of this was paid in cash, but the greater part
remained for many years a debt upon the county, drawing eight
per cent, interest. The tax required to pay this interest was
severely felt.
The old court house served well in its day, and as a usual
thing the people obtained substantial justice from the judges
and juries within its walls. But the business of the county in-
creased with wealth and numbers, and it became necessary to
have larger public buildings. On the fifth of December, 1867,
Hon. John M. Scott and Robert E. Williams, Esq., addressed
the Board of Supervisors upon the subject of erecting a new
court house. Investigations were made and reports presented,
and in March the matter took definite form. A building com-
mittee, of which O. M. Colman was chairman, was appointed, a
contract for the present court house was made and the building
commenced. It was superintended by Cochran & Piquard,
architects from Chicago. The building was contracted for
$285,842. It is built of Joliet stone and is a very imposing
structure.
The first preacher who delivered a sermon at Blooming Grove
was Rev. James Stringfield from Kentucky, who belonged to
the Methodist denomination. The exercises were held at the
house of John Hendrix, in the year 1823, eight years before
Bloomington was laid out. But Mr. Stringfield only came on a
visit. Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes came in 1824, and preached when-
ever he could collect half a dozen persons together, but had no
regular appointments for some time. He belonged first to the
52 BLOOMINGTON.
Separate Baptist denomination and afterwards to the Christian.
Rev. James Latta came to Blooming Grove in 1824, but did not
preach regularly until 1828. The first circuit preacher in Mc-
Lean County was Rev. William See, who came in 1826. He
was succeeded in 1827 by Rev. Smith L. Robinson, who was
succeeded in 1828 by Rev. James Latta. Mr. Latta was quite a
noted old settler. He had been connected with the militia in
1827, while the Winnebago Indians were making some trouble
up in the mining, country, and he was called Col. Latta. He
was a very effective preacher and talked to the people directly
concerning their errors and short comings. Mr. Latta was suc-
ceeded as a circuit preacher by Rev. Stephen Beggs in 1829.
The circuit was then called the Salt Creek Circuit, but was
afterwards divided. In 1830 Rev. Mr. Shepherd took charge of
the circuit. He was an old man and has no doubt long since
passed from the living. He Avas again pastor in Bloomington
in 1839. In 1831 Rev. Dr. Crissey came.
The first sermon preached in Bloomington was delivered by
Rev. William Crissey, in November, 1831, in the school house
which formerly stood near where the marble works of Halde-
man Brothers are located. He was invited by James Allin to
preach there. Mr. Crissey had before this preached in what
are now the suburbs of Bloomington. Gen. Gridley gives some
items with regard to the matter as follows :
" I arrived in Bloomington on Saturday, October 8, 1831.
The next day (Sunday) I attended Methodist meeting at the log
cabin of John Canady, one and a half miles southeast of town,
on the farm now owned by the Hon. John E. McClun. The
con^reo-ation consisted of James Allin and wife, David Trim-
mer and wife, M. L. Covel, Samuel Dnrley, W. IT. Hodge and
wife, and the family of John Canady. The sermon, which was
a very good one, was preached by Rev. Dr. Crissey, late of
Decatur. He was a boy about my age at that time, not quite
twenty-one."
In 1831-2 Rev. Mr. Johnson, a Cumberland Presbyterian,
preached here. In 1832 Dr. Crissey, of the Methodist denomi-
nation, was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Royal. He was succeeded
by a young preacher, whose name cannot be ascertained. Rev.
Zadoc Hall was circuit preacher in 1835, and he took the con-
BLOOMINGTON. 53
tract for building the first Methodist church. He was succeeded
by Mr. Chase in 1836. The latter was the first stationary
preacher in Bloomington. He was succeeded by Rev. Richard
Haney in 1837, who remained two years.
The first Presbyterian preacher was Rev. Calvin W. Babbitt,
who came in December, 1832, and organized the Presbyterian
Church in January, 1833. He was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Mc-
Geogh in the spring of 1833. The latter was a Scotchman
and a man of great learning. He had a large and well selected
library of books in various languages. He died in Blooming-
ton. Rev. Lemuel Foster, also Presbyterian, came in the fall
of 1833.
The Catholic Church, called the Church of the Immaculate
Conception, presents the strongest membership of any in Bloom-
ington, having about six thousand. The pastors are Rev. James
J. McGovern, D. D. ; First Assistant, Rev. L. Lightner, D. D.;
Second Assistant, Rev. F. A. O'Connor. It has a large and
flourishing Sunday-school. The number of girls in attendance
at the Academy of St. Joseph is two hundred. The church
building is situated on Main street, corner of Chestnut. The
St. Mary's German Church, Catholic, is on North Water street,
corner of Short.
The Methodist Church is very strong in numbers and in-
fluence. The first Methodist Church has a membership of eight
hundred and twenty-five. The pastor is the Rev. R. M. Barns.
The building is located on Washington street, corner of East.
A new building will shortly be erected on the corner of Grove
and East streets. This church has nine local preachers, six ex-
horters, six stewards and twenty-six leaders. The Sabbath
school is superintended by C. S. Aldrich and numbers four
hundred and twenty-five scholars and has thirty-two teachers.
The German Methodists, Rev. E. C. Magarat, pastor, have their
place of worship at 415 North Centre street. The Sunday-
school connected with it has an attendance of one hundred and
seventy-five scholars. The University Methodist Church, with
a membership of two hundred and eighty-five, Rev. J. G. Little,
pastor, holds services in Amie Chapel, in the Wesleyan Univer-
sity. The Sunday-school is superintended by H. G. Reeves.
Number of scholars two hundred, and teachers, seventeen. The
54 BLOOMINGTON.
German Mission is located at 1302 S. Main street. The African
M thodist Church is located at 806 1ST. Centre street, and the
African Baptist Church is on Main street, near N. Water.
The Baptist Church has a large and influential membership.
The first Baptist Church, Rev. C. E. Hewitt, pastor, is located
on the northeast corner of Madison and Jefferson streets. It was
organized in 1835, numbers five hundred and twenty members,
and has a Sabbath-school with an attendance of four hundred
scholars and thirty teachers. The Superintendent is D. B. Har-
wood. The West Baptist Mission Sunday-school is on the cor-
ner of Locust and Cranmer streets. It has seventy-five scholars
and nine teachers, superintended byR, G.Lambert. The South
Baptist Mission Sunday-school numbers fifty scholars and nine
teachers, and is superintended by H. C. Crist. The Mt. Pisgah
Baptist Church (colored), Rev. T. Reasoner, pastor, has sixty
members. The Sabbath-school, superintended by J. W. Hag-
gard, has an attendance of forty-five scholars. The building is
located at 504 S. Lee street. The Mission Chapel, (German)
Rev. W. Deininger, pastor, is located at 1002 S. Main street.
The strength and influence of the Presbyterian Church is
due in some measure to the tact that it was the first, or about
the first, which became organized in Bloomington. The Lord's
Supper was administered in January, 1832, and the church soon
became firmly established. The First Presbyterian Church,
Rev. J. McLean, pastor, is located on the corner of Grove and
East streets, and numbers one hundred and eighty members.
The Sunday-school numbers about two hundred and seventy-five
scholars, and great interest is manifested in it. The Second
Presbyterian Church, Rev. W. Dinsmore, pastor, is on the cor-
ner of East and North streets. It numbers four hundred and
fifty members. The Sunday-school connected with it is super-
intended by B. P. Marsh and numbers three hundred scholars
and thirty-five teachers.
St, Matthew's Episcopal Church, Rev. T. K". Morrison, pas-
tor, is on the corner of Washington and West streets. It was
organized July 31, 1853. It now numbers about one hundred
and fifty members. The Sunday-school was organized about
the same time as the church and numbers about one hundred
and forty members.
BLOOMINGTON. 55
The Christian Church, Rev. J. II. McCullough, pastor, is lo-
cated at 401 West Jefferson street. It is strong and flourishing.
The Sunday-school, superintended by M. Svvann, numbers one
hundred and sixty scholars and thirteen teachers. The Mission
School of the Christian Church meets at the corner of South
Grove and Vine streets, and numbers one hundred and ten
scholars and ten teachers.
The First Congregational Church, Rev. J. M. Baugh, pastor,
meets at Schroeder's Opera House. It numbers eighty members.
The Sunday-school, superintended by S. D. Gaylord, has thir-
teen teachers and one hundred and fifty scholars.
The Free Congregational Church, Rev. C. C. Burleigh,
pastor, is located on the corner of East and Jefferson streets. It
was organized in 1859, and has one hundred members. The
Sunday-school, superintended by Thomas Metcalf, has one hun-
dred and ten scholars and eleven teachers.
The German Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church, Rev. E.
Mangelsdorf, pastor, meets at corner of Madison and Olive
streets. The number of voting members is five hundred and
seventy-five. The congregation is now building two day school
houses, as the number of pupils at the day schools of this de-
nomination amounts to one hundred and twenty-five. The Sun-
<hiy-school has about one hundred and fifty scholars.
BLOOMINGTON HIGH SCHOOL.
BLOOMINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
The public schools of Bloomington are a matter of just pride
to its citizens. The willingness of the people to submit to
many sacrifices for their children, and the interest they have
taken in the cause of education, have made the schools efficient
and given them a high standing. Until the year 1857 the public
schools of Bloomington were managed under the common school
system ; but during that year a Board of Education was organ-
ized under an act of the Legislature. The board consisted of
seven members, elected for two years, and possessed very full
powers. But after the first of April, 1869, it was continued by
electing two members in each of two years and three members
every third year. It first met and organized in the office of 0.
T. Reeves, on the eighth of April, 1857. The members of the
board were C. P. Merriman, 0. T. Reeves, E. R. Roe, Eliel
Barber, Samuel Gallagher, Henry Richardson, and R. 0. War-
riner. C. P. Merriman was made President; R. 0. Warriner,
Secretary, and 0. T. Reeves, Treasurer. It was soon evident
that the Board of Education meant to do something in the way
of making the schools efficient and giving them a high stand-
ing, for it immediately chose a board of three examiners into
the qualifications of teachers, and a committee of three to ex-
amine into the wants of the city with regard to school rooms.
The latter committee reported it necessary to build school
houses costing ten thousand dollars, and their report was
adopted by the Board of Education, and measures were taken
to carry it out. But some difficulty was experienced, as the
City Council refused to levy the tax required for the schools.
The Board of Education therefore, at the session in June, 1857,
passed the following resolution :
58 PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
" Resolved, That the superintendent be instructed to employ
Hon. A. Lincoln to take the necessary steps to procure from the
Circuit Court a writ of mandamus to compel said City Council
to levy the tax as required of them by section eight of said
school law."
But the matter was finally settled without resorting to the
courts. In 1857 the board decided to rent school houses in four
of the districts, and some idea of the value of property at that
time may be obtained from the prices paid as rent for these
school houses. They rented houses as follows :
District No. 1 §45 per quarter.
" 2 30
" " 3 20
" " 4 30 "
The first superintendent of schools elected by the Board of
Education was D. Wilkins, Jr., who was chosen in October,
1857. He seems to have acted very efficiently and to have
understood his responsibilities. But the " hard times" were
felt very severely, and in March, 1858, the wages of teachers in
the lower grades were cut down to §35, $30 and §25. In July
of the same year the High School was re-organized, with Mr. II.
Kellogg as principal, and in the following year Mr. Gilbert
Thayer was elected superintendent of schools.
The government of the schools was early a subject of anxiety
to the Board of Education, and on the second of March, 1859,
it was
" Resolved, That this Board of Education disapprove of cor-
poral punishment in our free schools."
In July following it was
" Resolved, That no teacher hereafter shall condemn or cen-
sure any pupil until said pupil shall have the opportunity of
being heard in his or her own defence, and that the language
used by a teacher in administering discipline shall always be
respectful and dignified."
On the twenty-ninth of June, 1868, Mr. Samuel M. Etter, of
Kewanee, was unanimously chosen superintendent of the Bloom-
ington schools. He filled his position with marked ability
until October, 1872, when he resigned for the purpose of en-
PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 59
"•aginor in other business. The following: is the resolution
passed by the Board of Education, accepting Mr. Etter's resig-
nation :
" Resolved, That the resignation be accepted, to take effect on
or before October 25th, and that we hereby declare our confi-
dence in the ability of Mr. Etter as a manager of the many per-
plexing details of a comprehensive school system ; and that in
parting with him we desire hereby to assure him that lie has
the best wishes of this board for his success in his new field of
labor."
On the thirty-first of August, Mr. B. P. Marsh, of Galesburg,
was elected principal of the High School, which position he has
filled with honor to the schools and credit to himself. He re-
signed this position at the close of the school year in June,
1878, for the purpose of engaging in the practice of medicine.
On the twenty-first of September, 1868, the Board of Edu-
cation contracted with Packard. & Thomas to put up the High
School building for $28,499. This was absolutely necessary, in
order to accommodate the growing wants of the scholars.
On the twenty-ninth of May, 1871, it was resolved that the
superintendent be instructed to report to the Board of Educa-
tion a plan for the introduction of the German language as a
branch of study in the public schools of the city. On the last
of July following Mr. Etter reported that he had visited and
corresponded with various parties at Davenport, Iowa ; Rock
Island, Chicago, and Beloit, Wis. ; and said that the teaching
of German in the schools could be made successful. The com-
mittee on teachers and course of instruction was directed to
report a definite plan, and the superintendent was directed to
correspond with a view of procuring a German teacher. On
the twenty-fifth of September, 1871, Herr Von Loewenfells was
appointed teacher of German in the various schools of the city,
at a salary of $900 for eight months' work. On the twenty-
seventh of jSTovember, 1871, Von Loewenfells resigned, and Rev.
Mr. Deininger was appointed in his place, at 'a salary of $100
per month. On the third of June, 1872, Professor E. Duis was
chosen teacher of German, and continued in that capacity until
June, 1873.
On the nineteenth of October, 1872, S. D. Gaylord was
60 PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
elected superintendent of schools, and continues to fill this re-
sponsible position with satisfaction to all.
In the city of Bloomington are ten school buildings, of which
six are brick and four are frame. These buildings with their
furniture have cost the city more than one hundred and seventy
thousand dollars, and can accommodate more than twenty-seven
hundred scholars. At the close of the year 1872 twenty-seven
hundred and fifty-one scholars were enrolled in the city, and of
these twenty-six hundred and thirty were in actual attendance.
The colored school is open to pupils from all parts of Bloom-
ington. The city is divided into eight school districts. The
departments below the High School have ten separate grades.
In the High School are three separate courses of study : the
scientific, requiring four years, the classical, requiring five years
and the course preparatory for college, requiring three years.
In the scientific course great attention is paid to mathematics ;
in the classical course hardly as much attention is given to math-
ematics, but more than four years are given to Latin. In the
course preparatory for college three years are given to Latin and
two years to Greek. German is taught in the High School.
English literature receives much attention and one entire year
is devoted to it. The natural sciences are not neglected. One
term is given to geology and two to physiology, botany and
chemistry.
The members of the Bloomington Board of Education are :
Samuel S. Parke, Jacob Jacoby, Cyreneus Wakefield, J. A.
Jackman,K. H. Fell, E. M. Piince and B. P. Marsh.
The Superintendent of Schools is S. D. Gaylord. He was
chosen Superintendent of the Bloomington Public Schools, Oc-
tober 19, 1872. Mr. Gaylord was born of American parentage
at Ashford, Conn., in 1833. He was the third in a family of
seven boys, all of whom, with their parents, have been school
teachers during some part of their lives. He received his edu-
cation principally in the public schools and academies of New
England. He educated himself, as his father, though in com-
fortable circumstances, was notable to educate his large family.
Mr. Gaylord graduated at the Connecticut Literary Institute at
Suffield. He began to teach in district schools when eighteen
years of age. He taught for three years in Mt. Hollis Seminary
PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 61
at Holliston, Mass., and while there continued his studies under
Prof. E. J. Cutter of Harvard College, until he completed the
course required in that institution. He came to the West in the
year 1858 in answer to a call from the Board of Education at
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to take charge of the free schools in that
city. In 1861 he went to Sheboygan, Wis., where he became
the superintendent of schools. In 1867 he received a call to
the Milwaukee High School, which was being re-organized, and
remained there two years ; but failing health compelled his
resignation. Some time afterwards he accepted a call to organize
the public schools of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, but at the end
of two years he found that entire rest from school room duties
was necessary to restore his health, and therefore resigned his
position and spent some time in traveling. On the nineteenth
of October, 1872, he accepted the invitation of the Board of Edu-
cation of Bloomington to take charge of the public schools in
place of Mr. Etter, resigned. Mr. Gaylord has had twenty
years of experience in teaching, and has always been promi-
nently identified with educational movements and institute work.
He was a member of the State Board of Examiners for state
certificates in Wisconsin, and in 1866 was President of the Wis-
consin State Teachers' Association.
B. P. Marsh.
B. P. Marsh was born 1841 in Nunda, New York; he ob-
tained under difficulties an education which prepared him for
his favorite study, that of medicine, which he has made his
profession. He graduated from Knox College, Galesburg, in
1864. He has been principal of the High School during the
past five } 7 ears, longer than any one before, and has done much
for the schools. While engaged here he has several times been
offered professorships in educational institutions ; but as it is
not his intention to spend his days in teaching, he resigned his
position as principal of the High School in June, 1878, and com-
menced the practice of medicine. He is now connected with
Dr. H. B. Wright, with whom he has formed a partnership. He
still takes an interest in educational matters and is a member of
the Bloomington Board of Education.
62 PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Samuel M. Etter.
Mr. Etter is not now in any way connected with the schools
of Bloomington, but he filled the position of superintendent
during a very important period, while nearly all of the school
buildings used at present were constructed, and while various
changes were made and modern improvements introduced.
Something concerning his life is therefore called for by those
who have taken an interest in the Bloomington schools. From
a sketch published in the Illinois Teacher are taken the items
for a short account of his life.
Mr. Etter was born May 16, 1830. His father was of Ger-
man descent. He lived in Pennsylvania during the first ten
years of his life and then went with his father's family to Ohio,
where he exercised his youthful muscle on a farm. During the
first fourteen or fifteen years of his life he received very little
education, but determined to acquire knowledge at all hazards.
At the age of sixteen he attended a boarding school at Twins-
burg, Ohio, and walked fifty miles to get there. He succeeded
in his studies of course, for such pluck as he showed was sure
to win. When his money was exhausted he taught school to ob-
tain more funds. Mr. Etter attended the High School at Mas-
sillon, Ohio, and afterwards the college at Kalamazoo, Michigan.
He taught school at Perrysburg, Ohio, at Lacon and at Clalva,
Illinois. Without discontinuing his school at the latter place,
he was in 1861 - elected County Superintendent of Henry County.
In 1863 he was chosen President of the State Teachers' Associa-
tion, which was held the following year at Joliet. In 1864 he
received the degree of Master of Arts from Knox College, and
during the same year was chosen Superintendent of Schools at
Kewauee. In 1868 he was unanimously elected Superintendent
of Public Schools of Bloomington, which position he held until
October, 1872. Mr. Etter has been remarkably successful as a
teacher wherever he has gone. He has the determination and
good judgment which makes him successful and the pleasant
manner and kind disposition which make him popular. He has
been ever careful never to neglect his duties, and he certainly
has the good will of all the old teachers and friends with whom
he labored.
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
In 1850, a number of the leading citizens of Bloomington agi-
tated the subject of founding a university complete in all its
departments. Illinois was felt to be a growing State, and these
citizens were anxious that its educational advantages should be
of the first order. It was decided that the university should be
placed under the control of the Methodist Church. This was
not done for the purpose of making it a sectarian institution,
for science can never be made sectarian. It was felt that it
should be placed in careful hands, where it would be likely to
have good management ; and as the Methodist Church was then,
as now, very large and influential, the care of the new univer-
sity was confided to it. It was intended that its influence
should be of a Christian character, but the students of all de-
nominations should find a home within its halls. This idea has
been faithfully carried out.
The first Board of Trustees organized under the general laws
of the State on the second of December, 1850. Their names
were Hon. Isaac Funk, Silas Waters, Rev. James C. Finley, C.
P. Merriman, Rev. W. D. R. Trotter, D. D., David Trimmer,
Rev. C. M. Holliday, John Magoun, ¥m. H. Holmes, Col.
James Miller, Lewis Bunn, Rev. John Van Cleve, D. D., John
N. Ewing, Rev. John S. Barger, William Wallace, Rev. Peter
Cartwright, D. D., Rev. Calvin W. Lewis, James Allin, Rev.
Reuben Andrus, A. M., W. C. Hobbs, Rev. Wm. J. Rutledge,
K. H. Fell, Rev. James Leaton, Rev. J. F. Jaques, A. M.,Dr.
T. P. Rogers, Linus Graves, Rev. Thomas Magee, Hon. John E.
McClun, Dr. Ezekiel Thomas and Wm. H. Allin.
In the winter of 1850 and '51 a preparatory school was or-
ganized under the charge of Rev. R. Andrus, A. M., in the
basement of the Methodist Church. Subscription papers were
(}4 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
at once circulated to obtain funds necessarj- to put up suitable
buildings, but the amount raised fell far short of the necessities
of the institution. Nevertheless the work was begun and the
foundations of the building were laid.
In July, 1851, a second professor, Rev. Wm. Goodfellow, A.
M., was elected, and at the opening of the college year in Sep-
tember the school was much enlarged. On the sixth of July,
1851, Rev. John Dempster, D. D., of Concord, Xew Hampshire,
was elected president. The first annual commencement was held
on the seventh of July, 1853. At this commencement the de-
gree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred upon James Hughes
Barger, the first graduate. The degree of Master of Arts, in
course, was also conferred upon Daniel Wilkins, A. B., a grad-
uate of the University of Michigan. Shortly after this President
Dempster moved to Evanston. In the meantime the work of
raising funds and of putting up the building went on very
slowly, and the institution began to be much involved in debt.
The members of the faculty would not get even the small sala-
ries which belonged to them, and resigned and sought other
fields of labor. On the 9th of August, 1855, Rev. Clinton W.
Sears, who had been a professor in the institution, was elected
president, and a strong effort was made to establish it on a firm
basis. The building was so far advanced that a part of it could
be occupied, but the great difficulty in procuring funds caused
the failure of all of these plans. The faculty all resigned, the
school was discontinued and the building sold under a mechanic's
lien. But the friends of the institution did not despair. They
secured the services of Rev. Charles W. C. Munsell as canvasser
to procure the funds necessary for placing the institution once
more upon a sound basis. Mr. Munsell went to work enthusi-
astically and used his own private means to redeem the buildino-
after its sale under the mechanics' lien. A new charter was
granted to the institution by the Legislature and a new Board of
Trustees was nominated by the two Methodist Conferences.
This Board elected Rev. Oliver S. Munsell, A. M., president
of the University, and authorized him in connection with the
Executive Committee to organize the faculty and decide upon
the courses of study and re-open the University. A small loan
was effected and the building was completed. On the tenth of
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 05
September, 1857, the school was re-opened with three professors
and seventeen students. But even this small number of students
was not kept up during the term. Some four or five of them
began to feel so lonesome in walking through the almost deserted
halls that they, too, left the school. During the entire year only
sixty students were enrolled, and of these all but seven were in
the primary and preparatory departments. The agent of the
institution worked hard to secure funds and was successful.
But it was not until July, 1860, that the trustees assumed the
pecuniary responsibility of the institution. At that time they
felt justified in giving the president and professors each a salary
of five hundred dollars per annum. During this year there were
in the institution ninety-one students, of whom only nineteen
were in the collegiate department. The faculty numbered live
professors. At the annual commencement of 1861 Harvey C.
De Motte, of Metamora, and Peter Warner, of Kappa, received
the degree of Bachelor of Science, and were the first graduates
under the new organization. Mr. De Motte was immediately-
elected Professor of Mathematics, a position which he retains
with credit to the institution.
The institution suffered quite seriously in the autumn and
winter of 1862 by the volunteering of the students. In the sum-
mer of 1863 upon a sudden and urgent call from the Governor
of the State, Professor De Motte and thirty-two out of forty-three
students then in attendance volunteered for three months, and
were transferred for garrison duty to Alexandria on the Poto-
mac. Of the three graduates at this annual commencement one,
W. C. Adams, was graduated while absent in the army and died
soon after. Another, Henry W. Boyd, enlisted for the war as a
private within a week after his graduation ; but having studied
medicine, he was by his own merit promoted to the rank of
brigade surgeon. The growth of the University during the war
was slow but sure, and in 1865 the University became free from
debt.
In the year 1866 the Methodist Church in America celebrated
its first centennial anniversary and the sum of fifty-four thou-
sand dollars was subscribed on this occasion by the friends of the
institution. Twenty thousand dollars of this was subscribed by
the city of Bloomington, and also ten thousand dollars was
5
66 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
given by the Funk family to endow the Isaac Funk Professor-
ship of Agriculture. The total endowment of the University
was then seventy-nine thousand dollars. In addition to this, the
various departments of the University had been provided with
apparatus necessary for them, and the museum of ^Natural His-
tory and the libraries had been growing steadily. All of this
gave the institution a respectable standing, and one of the results
was an increase in the number of students.
But the increased number of students made a larger building
a necessity, and in March, 1868, an educational convention of
the friends of the University met and decided that the trustees
should take action in the matter immediatelv. Before Ions;,
thirty thousand dollars were subscribed for the building, and of
this twenty thousand dollars were given by the citizens of Bloom-
ington. The trustees immediately proceeded with the work in
accordance with a beautiful plan drawn by R. Richter, Esq.,
architect, of Bloomington. The work was steadily pushed and
a fine brick building, seventy by one hundred and forty feet, five
stories high, with a stone basement and Mansard roof, arose as a
monument of their efforts. When the time came to finish the
chapel, Col. W. H. Coler, of Champaign City, stepped forward
and pledged five thousand dollars for that purpose on the sole
condition that it should be called Amie Chapel in honor of his
mother.
The Belles Lettres and the Munsellian Literary Societies have
fitted up the halls assigned to them with the finest taste, and
have expended on them not less than four thousand dollars.
Amie Chapel was dedicated on the sixteenth of Jane, 1872,
by the Rev. B. J. Ives, D. D., of Auburn, Xew York, and the
large congregation present celebrated the occasion by subscrib-
ing twelve thousand dollars to prosecute the work, and it is
hoped that the entire University building will be finished at an
early day.
In 1870 the trustees were called upon to decide whether or not
ladies should be admitted to the privileges of the Universitv.
This important question was referred by the trustees to the two
conferences (the Illinois and Illinois Central), and by their de-
cision the ladies gained the day, and twenty-five of them were
immediatelv enrolled as students. The first lady graduate was
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 67
Hannah I. Shur, of El Paso, upon whom the degree of Bachelor
of Science was conferred on the twentieth of June, 1872. The
courses of study for the ladies are precisely the same as those
marked out for the gentlemen.
The classical and scientific courses of study, both require four
years in the collegiate department, and one and two years re-
spectively in the preparatory department. At first the scientific
course required only three years to complete, but this was
changed to the present extended course, and now the degree of
Bachelor of Science means something.
The department of agriculture is also well attended to. The
Professorship of Agriculture was endowed by. the Funk family
and is named after Hon. Isaac Funk, of McLean County. It is
well filled by Bradford S. Potter, A. M., an enthusiast in the
natural sciences. In addition to the regular collegiate course of
study, lectures are given on International and Constitutional
Law; on Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene, and on Music.
The lectures on law are delivered by Robert E. Williams, Esq.,
those on Physiology by J. L. White, M. D., and those on Music
by Prof. F. A. Parker. These lectures are not designed as
schools of law and medicine, but it is hoped that they may pre-
pare the way for the organization of such departments at some
future time.
The fact, is conceded that the Wesleyan University is yet
only a college, but its friends are slowly and surely preparing
the way to make it a university of the highest standing, and add
to it regular departments of law, medicine and theology. In
order to do this, time and, most of all, moiwj is required. There
is hardly a college or university of good standing in existence
which is self-supporting. The cause of learning everywhere
must depend upon the generosity of the people. It is not easy
to over-estimate the effect of a university upon the people of a
state. It gives them a higher standard by which to judge of
themselves. The University of Michigan places that State in
the highest rank among those of the Union and the same may
be said of the relation of Harvard and Yale to Massachusetts
and Connecticut. We are called upon then by every considera-
tion of philanthropy and of patriotism to take care of our schools
and colleges. It is earnestly hoped that the Wesleyan Univer-
68 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
sity may be remembered by its friends in the future as it has
been in the past ; that it may grow in numbers, in influence and
in usefulness; that it may take a leading position among the
universities of America, and place Illinois in the first rank
among the States of the Union, in learning and the fine arts.
Eev. Samuel Fallows, D. D.
The following biographical notice of Rev. Samuel Fallows,
the recently chosen President of the Wesleyan University, is
taken from the Alumni Journal, which republished it from the
Christian Statesman of Milwaukee, Wis. :
" Dr. Fallows was born in Manchester, England, December
13th, 1835. He came to Wisconsin in 1848, and first settled at
Marshall, Dane County, and has since resided at Galesville, Ap-
pleton, Oshkosh, Milwaukee and Madison. He has officiated as
assistant professor in the State University, from which institu-
tion he graduated in 1859 with the highest honors, being the
valedictorian of his class. From 1859 to 1861 he was Vice Presi-
dent of Galesville University, in this State. He was elected
Professor in Lawrence University in 1863, and Professor of
Rhetoric in the State University in 1867, both of which positions
were declined. He was pastor of Summerfield Church from
1865 to 1868, and of the Spring Street Church from 1868 to
1870, in the city of Milwaukee. During his pastorate the latter
society built one of the most elegant churches in the State. He
has been a regent of the State University for the past, eight
years. He entered the military service during the late rebellion,
and was commissioned chaplain of the 32d Wisconsin Volun-
teers, September, 1862; was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of
the 40th Wisconsin Volunteers, 1864, and in 1865 was appointed
Colonel of the 49th Wisconsin Volunteers, and breveted Brioa-
dier General in October of the same year for meritorious service.
Was appointed State Superintendent, July 5th, 1870, by Gov-
ernor Fairchild, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of
Hon. A. J. Craig. In November he was elected to fill the bal-
ance of the unexpired term. Was renominated by the Republi-
can State Convention in 1872, and re-elected, and no doubt
would have been again nominated this year, for the same
position.
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 69
"As State Superintendent, Dr. Fallows has won a fine repu-
tation, by his indefatigable, zealous and efficient labors in the
cause of public education. lie has industriously traversed the
♦State, organizing teachers' institutes, and delivering sound and
stirring lectures. His grand object has been to harmonize and
unify the educational system of the State ; and he has assidu-
ously labored to bring the graded schools and the State Univer-
sity into line. This may be called the distinctive feature of his
administration of the office, and, from the progress made, there
is no doubt that his efforts would have been crowned with suc-
cess. In recognition of his services in the cause of education
and religion, Lawrence University last year conferred upon him
the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
"As a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Dr.
Fallows has been no less efficient and successful, than as an edu-
cator. As a pulpit orator he has but few superiors, and, when
announced to speak upon any great question of the day, never
fails to attract a large audience. Our friends in Illinois will find
in him not only an efficient educator, but an earnest and elo-
quent champion of every worthy cause. He will be a valuable
accession, not only to the Wesleyan University, but to the State
of Illinois. We part with Dr. Fallows with regret, and heartily
wish for him a continuance of the abundant success which he
has heretofore deserved and achieved."
II. C. De Motte, A. M.,
Professor of Mathematics, and Vice President, was born in
Greene County, Illinois, July 17, 1838. After having pursued
certain preparatory studies, he entered the Wesleyan University
September 1, 1850, was appointed janitor, November 1, in 1860,
which office in those days was filled by the most worthy student.
He was appointed tutor in mathematics April, 1861, was gradu-
ated and elected Professor of Mathematics in June, 1861. He
entered the Union army as First Lieutenant of Company Gr,
68th Regiment Illinois Volunteers, a regiment enlisted for three
months. He was appointed Assistant Provost Marshal of Alex-
andria, Va., August 23, 1862. Having been duly mustered out
of service, he returned to duty as Professor of Mathematics in
October, 1862, and in June, 1865, as senior professor, he was
70 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
made Vice President of the University. Professor De Motte,
in the absence of the President, has through a period of nearly
three years performed the duties of that office with great ef-
ficiency.
Rev. J. R. Jaques, A. M.,
Professor of Greek language and Instructor in German,
was born in Warwickshire, England, December 8, 1828. He
came to the United States in 1838 : was trained in district
school, academv and bookstore from 1840 until 1845 in Palmvra,
N. Y. During the next three years he was trained in a printing
office. From 1848 until 1850 he prepared for college in Union
School, Lyons, X. Y. He was licensed to preach in 1850. Dur-
ing the same year he entered as Freshman, Genesee College,
(now Syracuse University) IS". Y. ; was tutor in Latin and Greek,
and graduated as A. B. in 1854. lie was for a while principal
of an academy in Steuben County, N. Y. In 1856 and 1857
he organized the Mansfield Classical Seminary, Pa., (now State
formal School). Released by the temporary suspension of the
school by the burning of the building in 1857, he was pastor of
first M. E. Church, Elmira, N. Y., then of the M. E. Church in
Hornellsville, X. Y., and lastly of first M. E. Church, Roches-
ter, N". Y. Leaving the pulpit in 1862 on account of throat
trouble, he taught Latin, Greek and German in the Collegiate
Institute, Rochester, !N". Y. From thence he was called in 1865
to a chair in the Illinois Wesleyan University for which he had
given many years to prepare himself by the philological study
of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, French, Spanish, Italian,
&c, &c.
Bradford S. Potter, A. M.,
Professor of Natural Science, was born in Walworth, Wayne
County, New York, June 5, 1836. He attended the Walworth
Academy in 1*4!», and taught district school during the winter
of 1853 and "54. He entered as classical Freshman Genesee
College (now Syracuse University), August, 1854. He was Prin-
cipal of Webster Academy from the winter term of 1856 and
'57 until the summer of 1858. He returned to college in the
fall of 1858, and in connection with his studies was employed as
tutor in Latin in the preparatory department (or Genesee Wes-
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 71
leyan Seminary). He was also employed as teacher of the
Normal department of Waterloo Academy in the winter of 1859
and '60. He graduated as A. B. in 1860. During the next six
years he taught in New Albany, Indiana, and for a time was
Principal of Mexico Academ}^, New York. From New Albany,
Indiana, he was called in 1860 to Baker University in Kansas, as
Professor of Mathematics ; but his work as an educator attracted
the attention of the Trustees of the Illinois Wesleyan Univer-
sity, and in 1867 he was called to his present position, which for
six years he has maintained with success.
S. S. Hamill, A. M.
Professor of Elocution and English Language and Literature
was born in Butler County, Ohio, March 19, 1833. Having com-
pleted his academic course, he entered the Freshman class of
Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, Sept. 10, 1850. He was elected
instructor in Elocution in Monmouth College, Illinois, in 1857,
and entered as a Junior in the classical course. In 1858 he was
elected Instructor in Elocution in Knox College, where he grad-
uated in the classical course, June, 1859. For ten years he taught
elocution in nearly every leading college between the Hudson
River and the Missouri, including Michigan University, Gettys-
burg College, &c. He traveled from one college to another. In
1860 he was elected Professor of Elocution in Monmouth Col-
lege and in 1868 he was called to the same chair in the Illinois
Wesleyan University, and in 1870 the department of English
Lano-ua^e and Literature was added. In 1872 Professor Hamill's
text book, entitled "Science of Elocution" was published, and
now editions were soon called for. This book has received the
favorable notice of the highest authorities in the LTnited States.
Professor Hamill, as a dramatic reader, has a wide reputation.
Since the above notice of Professor Hamill was written he
has accepted a position in the North Missouri Normal School at
Kirksville, as Professor of Elocution.
'5
Geo. P. Crow, A. M.,
Professor of Latin, was born in Ohio, Sept. 26, 1832. He
graduated in the Ohio Wesleyan University in 1861, with the
degree of A. B. He enlisted in the army, July, 1862, and took
72 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
part iii all the important engagements of the Army of the Cum-
berland from the battle at Perry ville, Ky., October, 1862, to the
battle of Nashville, December 16, 1864, including the pursuit of
General Bragg and the expedition to Atlanta, Ga. For distin-
guished services at the battle of Murfreesborough he was com-
plimented by his commander and soon after promoted to the
rank of Captain. On account of his special qualifications he
was assigned to the corps of Engineers. Here he was engaged
in making surveys of the country in advance of the army in its
southward march, and in superintending the construction of for-
tifications and lines of defence. After the close of the war he
engaged in agricultural pursuits in Logan County, Illinois, until
August, 1870, when he was elected Professor in the Illinois Wes-
leyan University, which position he has tilled with marked
ability.
Prof. Jennie Fowler Willing, A. M.,
Was born in Canada West, January 22, 1834. She removed to
New York in 1840, and in 1842 settled in Kendall County, 111.
At the age of nineteen she was married to Rev. W. C. Willing of
Western New York. After a residence of seven vears in New
York she returned to Illinois. She began writing for the press at
sixteen, which, with teaching and other duties, she has continued
till the present time. In 1862, being relieved of other duties,
she gave close attention to literature till called to more public
duties. Her contributions to the periodical press have been
numerous and highly prized. She wrote a serial for the New
York Methodist, entitled "Undei-ground;" also a volume of reli-
gious fiction, entitled "Through the Hark to the Hay." She has
a wide reputation as a public speaker, having delivered anniver-
sary addresses in the principal cities East and West. In 1869
she was made one of the three corresponding secretaries of
the newly formed "Woman's Foreign Missionary Society" of the
M. E. Church. Of late years, she has had charge of the North-
western branch of this society, with headquarters in Chicago,
traveling through all the States of the Northwest, organizing
societies, delivering addresses and serving as one of the editors
of the Heathen Woman's Friend. By the general Conference of
1872, in Brooklyn, N. Y., she was elected a manager of the
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 73
Ladies' and Pastors' Christian Union. She is a secretary of the
Evanston Educational Association, Trustee of Northwestern
University, &c, etc. She was licensed to preach by the Joliet
District Conference in 1873. She has the degree of M. E. L.
from Jennings Seminary, and the degree of A. M, from the
Northwestern University. In the summer of 1873, she was
elected Professor of English language and literature in the
Illinois \Wsleyan University, Bloomington.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
Bloomington Business College.
This institution is under the control of M. De La Brown,
proprietor and principal. The object of this business college is
to teach penmanship and book-keeping. Penmanship is taught
in three departments, the business, the teacher's and the pri-
mary. The first is made up of those who desire to become first-
class business penmen ; the second is for those who wish to fit
themselves for teaching penmanship, and the third is for begin-
ners. All branches of book-keeping are taught thoroughly. It
is not easy to over-estimate the great advantages of thorough
training in business, and the ability to keep books is one of the
most important qualifications of a business man. M. De La
Brown, the present proprietor of the Business College, took
charge of it in January, 1870, and since then it has been in a
nourishing condition. Its location is on the southwest corner
of North Centre and Washington streets, over the Peoples' Bank.
German School.
This school was founded in 1863, for the purpose of giving
instruction in all common branches of study. The instruction
is given in German, though the rudiments of English are taught.
The school numbers from seventy-five to ninety scholars, of all
ages and both sexes. The property of the society is valued at
fourteen thousand dollars, and is under the control of the Ger-
man English Society. The officers of the society are :
L. Theis, President; William Schausten, Vice President;
F. Volz, Secretary ; Frank Oberkoetter, Treasurer.
The Trustees are : Llenry Neuburg, Wm. Schausten and C.
A. Price.
The teacher of the school is F. C. Finkbohner. Mr. Fink-
bohner was born July 14, 1833, in Wurtemberg. In early life
76 PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
he showed a scholastic turn of mind. In 1850 he went to the
University of Tuebingen and for four years studied theology and
philosophy. After receiving his degree, he was for six years
pastor in Wurtemberg and Switzerland. Bat he was very free
in his opinions, and this led him to abandon the ministry. He
emigrated to America in 1860, and for three years was the pastor
of a Lutheran congregation in New Jersey. For a few years
afterwards he was a teacher in a German-English school in De-
troit, Michigan. In 1866 he came to Bloomington, and from
that time until the present has had charge of the German school
here. He was first employed on a salary, but now is paid by the
scholar. He is a man of fine ability and high attainments. He
is conscientious and independent in his opinions, and has been
obliged to suffer because of them.
" I honor the man, who is willing to sink
Half his present repute for the freedom to think ;
And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak,
Will risk t'other half for the freedom to speak."
Bloomington Female Seminary.
This school was established in September, 1856, by Eev. E.
Conover, for the education and moral training: of voting ladies
and misses. The principal says that the aim of the Seminary is
to secure "thorough scholarship, exemplary morals and lady-like
and accomplished manners." The school, which is located
at 507 East Grove street, has four teachers connected with it,
including the principal. The number of pupils is limited, and
each receives very careful attention. The institution has
been conducted for seventeen years by its founder, and has ful-
filled all expectation. It has prospered with the best free school
system in the West, and with other liberally endowed state and
denominational institutions. It is thought that with the growth
of the West in numbers and wealth, the demand for this school
will be increased by such as desire to educate their daughters
thoroughly in a quiet and unpretending manner.
Rev. R. Conover, the founder and principal of this Seminary,
has nearly all of his life taken an interest in educational and
religious matters. He organized the first Presbyterian Church
in Towanda township, and of this church he is still the pastor.
BLOOMINGTON LIBRARY.
The Library of Bloomington is one of the oldest established in-
stitutions of the city. It was organized in 1856, and though
at first small, its growth has been sure. The Library is located
on North street, between Main and Centre streets. The Presi-
dent of the Library is Richard H. Holder, Esq., who takes the
liveliest interest in its success. The Corresponding Secretary is
Charles L. Capen and Mrs. H. R. Galliner, Librarian. The
Library has now on its shelves five thousand eight hundred and
seven volumes. The number of life members is one hundred
and seventy-five ; the number of transient subscribers is three
hundred and twenty, and the daily attendance of readers is one
hundred and twenty-three. The following, taken from the re-
port of the Board of Managers for the year closing March, 1873,
shows more than anything else the value of the Library, and its
influence over the rising generation of Bloomington:
"More persons have taken books and more have circulated
than ever before. Twenty-six thousand volumes have been
drawn by nine hundred and twenty-five subscribers. About
thirty thousand persons have visited the Library rooms within
the year ; and it is pleasant to note the fact that a large propor-
tion of these visitors have been young men and boys, who are
thus acquiring and strengthening tastes which can hardly fail to
prove valuable safeguards in after life. The gratifying increase
in the number of readers and visitors is doubtless due, in a
measure, to the attractions furnished by the reading tables."
From the Librarian's report for the same date, the following
is taken :
" Three thousand more books have been given out this year
than in any previous one. Twice the amount of money has
been expended for books, and more historical and valuable works
78 BLOOMINGTO'N LIBRARY.
have been added. Among the additions were forty-seven old
and rare historical works. Twenty-live volumes are worn out
and need to be replaced. The increased attendance of readers
in the Library over last year has been seven thousand."
It is hard to over-estimate the good influence of a popular
Library. The books, which are first read, are of the most popu-
lar kind, but gradually a taste for better literature is cultivated,
and a demand for the best class of books is manifested. It is
seen by the report that thirty thousand persons visited the Li-
brary in one year, and when we consider that the population of
Bloomiugton is only about twenty thousand it will be seen what
a vast influence is exerted by this single institution. The peo-
ple of Bloomington have been remarkably liberal in their dona-
tions of money and books, which shows how well the Library
is appreciated. Their generosity is richly deserved.
M'LEAN COUNTY COAL COMPANY.
In 1867 four enterprising young men of Bloomington formed a
company for the purpose of opening a coal mine in the city. At
the same time (or shortly afterwards) another company was or-
ganized by O. Vaughan, M. T. Scott, Dr. T. F. Worrell, H. A.
Ewinsr, A. E. and J. B. Stevenson under the name of "McLean
County Coal Company," both companies immediately sunk their
shafts striking coal at the depth of about three hundred feet.
After working this vein for a year or more they sunk again to a
second vein, which was found about one hundred feet below the
first, and proved to be of a better quality, but also very expensive
to work. After a period of about three years of discourage-
ment and unforeseen difficulties the McLean County Coal Com-
pany again prospected and found a third vein of coal about one
hundred and forty feet below their second. The shaft was im-
mediately lowered and coal struck July 30th, 1870, five hundred
and forty feetbelow the surface, being the deepest working shaft
in the State. This vein has proved to be of the very best qual-
ity, although great expense is incurred in mining it. The first
company deciding not to sink farther than their second vein,
finally abandoned their enterprise as a failure. The McLean
County Coal Company are now raising from three hundred and
fifty to four hundred tons of coal per day, and their pay rolls
amounting from $16,000 to $19,000 per month, giving employ-
ment to about three hundred men, reducing the price of coal to
half of its former cost, and saving many thousand dollars to this
community. In fact it has been of incalculable benefit to the
city and country, and it is hoped will yet prove a success finan-
cially to those who have shown such indomitable will and pluck
in carrying through that which has proved to be an immense en-
terprise. Below is appended a table of the different stratas
passed through in reaching the third vein :
80 m'lean county coal company.
Feet. In.
Surface soil, sand and gravel 19 7
Blue clay 61 2
Sand and water 4
Blue clay 76 4
Soapstone 39
Lime rock 1
Blue clay 35 5
Yellow clay 15 10
Soft shelly rock 4
Soft gray sandstone 11
Conglomerate lime stone (hard) 12 1;
Soapstone 5
Coal (first vein abandoned) 3 6
Fire clay 9 3
Gray sandstone 4
Soapstone 22 6
Dark shale 8 6
Soapstone , ! 1 t ;
Fire clay 10
Gray slate 22
Black slate 5
Coal (present vein, 2d) 4 4
Fire clay 10
Slate 3
Fire clay 4 6
Sand rock 20 6
Soapstone 02 5
Black slate 2 7
Fire clay 1 7
Sulphurous rock 1 2
Gray slate 11 1
Shale 1 2
Hard lime rock 2 1
Gra} r slate 2 8
Soapstone 8
Coal (3d vein) 3 8
Soapstone, coal and slate 25
Total 541 8
GERMAN SOCIETIES.
Bloomington Turn-Verein.
The aim of the society is to develop the physical system by
means of gymnastic exercises, and to cultivate the intellect by
literary entertainments. The society also renders assistance to
members in sickness or distress. The society was organized in
April, 1855. Their business meetings are held on the first and
third Friday in each month, in their hall on Madison street.
Meetings for gymnastic exercises are held on Tuesday and
Thursday of each week. The members of the Turn-Verein
make great exertions to obtain lecturers. They pay great atten-
tion to music, and during the winter months have concerts,
where the most classical pieces are performed and the finest
musical taste is exhibited. They also have theatrical pieces at
their exhibitions, which are of the best character.
Bloomington Turn-Gemeinde.
This society was chartered in January, 1872. It had existed
for some years previous, but was not incorporated. Its present
charter was obtained by W. B. Oarlock, Esq., one of Blooming-
ton's enterprising young lawyers. The meetings of the Turn-
Gemeinde are held on the first and third Tuesday of each
month. Their hall is on the southeast corner of Chestnut and
Lumber streets. The objects of the society are physical develop-
ment and mental improvement.
6
RAILROADS.
Chicago & Alton Railroad.
On the seventeenth of February, 1847, an act was passed by
the Legislature, granting a charter for the construction of a rail-
road from Alton to Springfield, to be known as the Alton &
Sangamon road. It was to be built byway of Carlinville and
New Berlin, and was to have a capital stock of five hundred
thousand dollars, which might be increased to one million.
The prime mover in the matter was Benjamin Godfrey, a noted
man at Alton. The road was constructed, and on the eleventh
of February, 1851, an act was passed authorizing the railroad
company to extend the road to Bloomington, and for this pur-
pose power was given to increase the stock, not exceeding one
million dollars. Six years afterwards, February 17th, an act
was passed allowing the Alton and Sangamon Company to con-
struct" a branch, from some point between Springfield and
Bloomington, to Pekin and Peoria, and for this purpose were
allowed to increase their capital stock five hundred thousand
dollars. The road was completed to Bloomington in 1852, and
on June 19th of that year the company was authorized to ex-
tend its road from the latter place to connect with the Chicago
& Rock Island Railroad, at a point not west of Ottawa nor east
of Joliet; and the company might, at its option, extend its road
by way of the latter place to Chicago. The name of the com-
pany was changed to one more comprehensive, and it was called
the Chicago & Mississippi Railroad Company. The capital
stock was not allowed to exceed three and a half millions of
dollars. On the eleventh of Februaiy, 1863, the company was
allowed to increase its capital stock to eight millions of dollars,
and was authorized to borrow money and issue " preferred
84 RAILROADS.
stock." But it did not stop here; it grew with the growth of
the country, and on the 14th of February, 1855, its name was
changed to the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, and it was
authorized to use the road of the Terre Haute & Alton Com-
pany from Alton to near Wood Eiver. There it was authorized
to unite with the Belleville & Illinoistown Railroad and to make
contracts with the Belleville & Illinoistown Company. On
the eighteenth of February, 1861, the company was authorized
to sell the road to William B. Ogden, Jacob Bunn and others,
and after such sale the name might be changed to the Chicago
& Alton Railroad Company. The sale was effected and the
name was accordingly changed. On the first of January, 1864,
the company leased the Joliet & Chicago Railroad, and on the
sixteenth of April following leased the road of the Alton & St.
Louis Company, between the two latter places. The business
of the company, under good management, has grown rapidly
and the corporation is now the wealthiest in the State. The
railroad has been put in Class A. by the Railroad Commis-
sioners of the State, and stands alone in this grade.
The following description of the machine shops of the Chi-
cago and Alton road, is condensed and revised from articles
published in the Pantograph, in May, 1870:
"The machine shops of the Chicago and Alton Railroad cover
forty acres of ground. They are divided into fifteen buildings.
The store house of the company is a fine building, sixty by one
hundred and twenty feet, and two stories high. It is built of
Joliet stone, and is roofed with slate, supported by iron frame
work. The first floor is used as the store-room, and here can
be found everything necessary for repairing engines or cars. If
by accident a car or locomotive is broken, the storekeeper is im-
mediately informed by telegraph and in ten minutes he finds
the necessary articles for repairing the damage, and they are
sent to the spot by an engine. The value of the articles in the
store room is estimated at four hundred thousand dollars. They
are under the charge of Robert Bell, Storekeeper. In the hall of
this building is the clock, which furnishes the time for the road.
It keeps Chicago time, which is used on the entire road, and is
about five minutes faster than Bloomington time. It has become
the time generally used in Bloomington. On the upper floor
RAILROADS. 85
are the offices of the various departments of the road. Here is
the office of O. Vaughan, the assistant superintendent and
train master, who directs the running of all trains on the road
and its branches. Adjoining this is the office of superintendent
of telegraph, C. H. Seaver. There are five instruments in use
for night and eleven for day work. They are improved instru-
ments of Mr. Seaver's own invention, and are manufactured at
Ottawa. The battery -room is lower than the ground floor, with
a stone flagging pavement. A Grove battery of fifty cups is
used to supply electricity for all the telegraph lines of the road.
It is perfectly insulated. The Hill battery is used for local pur-
poses. On the upper floor is the office of J. A. Jackman,
superintendent of machinery. He has general charge of all the
machine shops, and furnishes the designs by which all locomo-
tives, boilers and articles of use in the shops are made. The
conductors' room is the headquarters of the conductors when off
duty. In the northeast corner of the building is the office of
Rufus RenifF, the superintendent of the car shops, and adjoining
is the office of Thomas White, the roadmaster of the 3d divi-
sion. On the same floor H. J. Stierlin, the car-accountant and
train master's clerk, has his office. Here are kept the accounts
of cars loaned to various railroads.
The car-shops, under Rufus Reniff, superintendent, are in a
building two hundred and sixty-three feet by eighty, built of
stone, with a wrought-iron truss roof covered with slate. During
cold weather the building is heated by steam. One-half of this
building is used for making passenger cars, and the other half for
freight cars. The Reniff & Buttolph ventilator, and President
Blackstone's platform and coupler are used on all passenger
coaches. The latter invention is considered of great importance
by railroad men, as the cars are kept in actual contact, and it is
almost impossible for one of them to be thrown from the track.
The planing and car machine shops are in a building two
hundred feet by sevent}^-flve. Here the various parts of cars
are made. Mr. L. E. Munson is foreman of the woodwork. A
part of this building is used for the iron machine shops. On the
same floor is a machine for pressing car wheels on their axles.
It is an hydraulic press driven by steam, and exerts a pressure
86
RAILROADS.
of five thousand pounds per square inch, or one hundred and
iifty-seven tons upon the end of an axle.
The engine room contains the engine to drive the machinery
of the building. It is of eighty horse power, and works with
scarcely any noise, as it drives a belt twenty-three inches in
width.
The paint shop is in a building one hundred and seventy by
seventy-five feet, made of stone with an iron-trussed slated roof.
The shop was under the charge of M. E. McGrath, now deceased,
as foreman. In the varnishing room all the ornamental painting
is done and the glass-etching. The latter is accomplished by
the -use of fluoric acid. The glass is coated with parafine, the
pattern is marked out, the parafine removed from all the glass,
except the ornamental pattern, and the fluoric acid is applied.
It acts upon the glass exposed and gives it a frosted appearance.
On the upper floor is the trimming room under the charge of
G. J. Rawson. Here all the trimming of the seats and cushions
is done.
The paint shop proper is on the upper floor, and in it is to be
found at all times from six to nine coaches and sleeping cars in
the hands of the finishers and painters. The landscapes and
flower pieces are done by P. M. -lander, a first-class artist.
The dry house is a brick building, nineteen by sixty-three
feet. It is heated by steam. All the lumber used in building
cars is dried in it.
The foundry is a building one hundred and eighty feet by
sixty with an L-shaped addition forty by fifty feet. It is built in
the same manner as the buildings previously described. It is
under the charge of M. A. Moulton, who makes all the castings
for the company under contract.
The new round house, near the foundry, is two hundred and
forty feet in diameter, and has room for twenty-eight locomo-
tives. In the center is an iron frame turn-table.
The blacksmith shop is built of stone, and has fifty forges,
two furnaces and eight steam hammers. One of these hammers
Aveighs three thousand pounds, one weighs fifteen hundred, and
the remainder weigh from eight to twelve hundred pounds. The
shop is superintended by William Hughes.
RAILROADS. 87
The boiler shop is one hundred and fifty by sixty feet, and is
under the charge of J. E. Eastman. The boilers built allow
four hundred and fifty pounds pressure to the square inch, but
in actual use not more than one hundred and thirty pounds pres-
sure is exerted at the highest.
The machine shop, J. A. Jackman, Jr., foreman, is two
hundred and sixty feet by one hundred, with two additions, one
forty-five by fifty feet for engine and boiler room, and the other
forty-five by eighty feet. On the south side of this shop is the
locomotive transfer table, three hundred feet in length, from
which fourteen tracks extend into the building, where engines
are taken in for repair.
The brass foundry and coppersmith shops are located near by.
The new round-house has already been referred to, but an-
other round-house of the same size, two hundred and forty feet
in diameter and holding twenty-eight locomotives, was con-
structed. A bulletin-board is kept, on which is daily posted
the time of the departure of each train and the name of the
engineer to run it. Both of the round-houses are in charge of
A. A. Ackley. The old machine and repair shops are in a
building two hundred and seventy feet long and forty feet wide.
Here are lathes, planes, drills and man} 7 other machines for
saving labor.
The pattern shop, where the patterns for castings are made,
is under the charge of Frank White. The coppersmith shop is
north of the machine shop, and here all the brazing is done and
the joining of metals.
Near by is the wheel foundry, which uses the best of iron.
The wheels used seldom or never break.
The rolling mill in Major's Grove, near by, is one hundred
and thirty-two feet by fifty-seven, and has two smoke-stacks.
The well, close by, is thirty feet in diameter and thirty feet
in depth, and is supplied by an inexhaustible underground
stream. The pumping-house is near the well, and the pumps
of the Knowles' pattern, worked by steam, force the water
through underground pipes to all parts of the depot and shop
grounds. The switching ground is about a mile in length, and
extends from the coal shaft on the south to Seminary avenue on
88
RAILROADS.
the north. This ground is called "the yard," and is under the
charge of John Weichlin. All trains are made up here.
All the shops of the company are well lighted by gas and
kept in the most perfect order.
The following items are of interest to those who are curious
to know what it costs to manage a railroad :
The company uses for lubricating machinery and burning in
lamps, thirty-two thousand one hundred and seventeen pints of
oil per month, worth $2,816.19. It uses nine thousand one
hundred and fifty-nine tons of fuel per month, worth .824,134.
The repairs cost, per month, $20,516.48. The number of en-
gines on the road is one hundred and fifty-six, and the number
of miles traveled by them, per month, is three hundred and
thirty-seven thousand five hundred and sixty eight. The was-es
paid in the machinery and car departments at Bloomington, per
month, are :
Machinery department 845,000
Car « 18,600—863,600
Of this, employes living in Bloomington receive, $43,278
per month. The conductors, brakemen, telegraph operators
and switchmen receive $20,000, of which, those in Bloomington
receive about $14,400. The total paid out per month, in Bloom-
ington, is $57,678. The average cost per mile run of an engine
is about 22.95-100 cents. The number of employes in Bloom-
ington is: In machine shops, 280; in the car shops, 230; engi-
neers, 80 ; firemen, 90. Total, 680.
The following are the connections of the Chicago & Alton
Railroad :
Great Eastern Railroad crosses Chicago & Alton at Brighton
Course.
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad crosses at Joliet,
the Chicago & Alton passenger station.
At Dwight Junction the main line of the Chicago & Alton
Railroad joins with the Western Division.
At Pontiac the Chicago & Paducah Railroad crosses the
Chicago & Alton Railroad. The Chicago & Alton Railroad runs
through cars between Chicago and the terminus of the Chicago
& Paducah Railroad. The Toledo, Peoria & Wabash crosses at
Chenoa. Passenger station for both roads at the junction.
RAILROADS. 89
The Illinois Central Railroad crosses at Normal. Passenger
station for both roads at the junction.
Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western crosses at Blooming-
ton. Passenger station for both roads at the junction. Also
junction of main line with Jacksonville Division.
At Lincoln the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Rail-
road and the Pekin, Lincoln & Decatur Railroad cross the Chi-
cago & Alton Railroad.
The Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad crosses Chicago &
Alton Railroad at Springfield. Passenger station for both roads
at the junction. The Springfield & Southeastern Railroad also
crosses here.
The Edwardsville Railroad runs up to Edwardsville Junction
and uses the same depot with the Chicago & Alton Railroad.
The Ohio & Mississippi crosses Chicago & Alton Railroad at
Venice.
At Godfrev the Alton Branch of the Jacksonville Division
joins main line of Chicago & Alton Railroad.
The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad crosses
Chicago & Alton Railroad at Delavan.
Springfield & Southeastern Railroad crosses the Chicago &
Alton Railroad at Ashland.
The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad crosses
Jacksonville Branch of Chicago & Alton Railroad at Mason City.
The Farmers' Railroad crosses Chicago & Alton Railroad at
Jacksonville.
The Rockford & Rock Island Railroad crosses main line of
Chicago & Alton Railroad at Brighton.
The Rockford & Rock Island Railroad crosses Alton Branch
of Jacksonville Division at Whitehall.
At Pike the Quincy, Alton and St. Louis Railroad joins the
Chicago & Alton Railroad. Both roads use the same passenger
depot.
The St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroad crosses the
Missouri Division of the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Mexico.
Both roads use the same depot.
The Toledo, Peoria & Wabash Railroad crosses at Washing-
ton Station, the division of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, which
branches from main line at Dwight.
90 RAILROADS.
At Pontiac the main line of the Chicago & Alton Railroad is
crossed by the Chicago & Paducah Railroad.
Illinois Central Railroad.
A central railroad for the State of Illinois was suggested by
Judge Breese, now of the Supreme Court, at a very early day,
some time before the session of the Illinois Legislature in
1832-3. In the State Senate at this session Lieutenant Gov-
ernor Jenkins proposed a survey of a railroad from Peru to
Cairo, but nothing was done for some years afterwards. The
idea was not suffered to perish but was revived from time to
time. The matter was brought before Congress, and that body
was asked to donate public lands in aid of the work. But the
scheme was rejected, as it was considered a matter of local im-
portance. It was reserved for the brain of Stephen A. Douglas
to invent the method of carrying the measure through. He saw
that it must in some way be made a matter of national import-
ance, and he devised a plan which was comprehensive and in-
genious, and carried it out boldly and confidently. His plan
was to give the alternate sections of land in Illinois for
six miles on each side of the railroad. The company was
authorized to an extreme limit of twelve miles on each side for
the purpose of making good deficiencies caused by entries of
lands prior to this act and to issue the full amount of land in-
tended thus to be donated to the State to enable it to build a
railroad, and to charge $2.50 for the remaining sections instead
of $1.25. In order to enlist the support of the senators and
representatives from other states, his plan was to provide for the
extension of the road from Cairo to Mobile, Alabama, which
has been put in actual operation, only this winter, throughout.
His scheme embraced the construction of a road from Little
Rock, Ark., to Texas by way of the Red River Raft,, also an ex-
tension of the Illinois Central road from Galena to a point op-
posite Dubuque, Iowa ; a branch to Mineral Point, Wis., and a
branch to Chicago. He proposed to give an appropriation to
the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad, to favor the interests of Mis-
souri, and to do something for a railroad in Michigan, extend-
ing from Detroit to the lumber regions. After an interval of a
quarter of a century, only a part of this vast plan has been car-
RAILROADS. 91
ried out, but it served its purpose, and the votes of senators and
representatives were secured for the donation of lands for the
building of the Illinois Central Railroad. On the '20th of Sep-
tember, 1850, Congress passed the act entitled "An act granting
the right of way and making a grant of land to the States of
Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama in aid of the construction of a
railroad from Chicago to Mobile." As soon as the act was
passed various New York and Boston capitalists were anxious
to build the railroad, and the State of Illinois granted them a
charter for the Illinois Central road on the 10th of February,
1851. By this charter the railroad company was given the al-
ternate sections donated by Congress to the State of Illinois.
The company was allowed a capital stock of one million dollars,
which might be increased not to exceed the entire amount ex-
pended on the road. The charter vested the control of the
railroad in thirteen directors, one of whom was the Governor
of Illinois. The State of Illinois looked out for number one
in granting the charter, for it provided that seven per cent, of
the gross earnings of the railroad should be paid into the treas-
ury of the State. The road was immediately built, and the
country of Central Illinois was rapidly developed. The large
waste lands were broken, and the crops of prairie grass gave
place to crops of wheat and corn. The Illinois Central Railroad
is now one of the largest and most important lines in the world.
It extends from Dunleith to Cairo with a branch to Chicago,
and with various leases and connections it reaches the lumber
regions of the North and the stock raising country of Centra^
and Southern Illinois. The following are the connections of the
road :
At Chicago with Chicago & Northwestern ; Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific ; and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and Mil-
waukee Railroads.
With Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and Pittsburgh, Fort
Wayne & Chicago Railways.
At Calumet with Michigan Central Railroad.
With Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway at Oilman.
With Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railway at
Champaign.
With Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad at Tolono.
92 RAILROADS.
AVith Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad at Mattoon.
With St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute & Indianapolis Rail-
road at Effingham, forming a through line without change of car 8
between Chicago and St. Louis.
With Springfield & Illinois Southeastern Railroad.
With Ohio & Mississippi Railway at Odin.
With St. Louis & Southeastern Railroad at Ashley.
With Belleville & Southern Illinois Railroad at DuQuoin,
forming, in connection with Illinois Central Railroad, a short
line between St. Louis and Cairo.
With Grand Tower Railroad at Carbondale.
At Cairo with Mississippi Central Railroad, forming a great
trunk route from Chicago to New Orleans without change of
cars ; also with Mobile & Ohio Railroad for Mobile, and with
the Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Railroad for Little Rock, Fulton,
Houston, and points in Arkansas and Texas.
With Mobile & Ohio Railroad and connections.
At St. Louis with Pacific of Missouri, St. Louis, Kansas City
& Northern Missouri and Atlantic & Pacific ; Missouri, Kansas
& Texas Railroad.
At Waterloo and Cedar Falls with Burlington, Cedar
Rapids k Minnesota Railroad.
With Des Moines Valley Railroads at Fort Dodge.
Connections of Northern and Iowa Divisions :
At Acklev with Central Railroad of Iowa.
At Farley with Dubuque & Southwestern Railroad.
At Dubuque with Chicago, Dubuque & Minnesota Railroad.
At Warren with Mineral Point Railroad.
At Freeport with Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and
Western Union Railroad.
At Forristou with Chicago & Iowa Railroad, which, in con-
nection with the Illinois Central Railroad, forms a through route
without change of cars between Chicago and Dubuque.
At Dixon with Chicago & Northwestern Railway.
At Mendota with Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.
At La Salle with Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad.
At El Paso with Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway.
Crossing of the Chicago k Alton Railroad at Normal.
At Bloomington with Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western
Railwav.
RAILROADS. !>3
At Decatur with Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway.
At Pana with Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad and Spring-
field, Illinois & Southeastern Railway.
At Vandalia with St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute & In-
dianapolis Railroad.
At Sandoval with Ohio & Mississippi Railway.
At Centralia with line to Cairo.
Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railway.
On the twenty-sixth of June, 1866, fifteen or twenty persons
met in the court house in the city of Urbana, Champaign County,
Illinois, for the purpose of taking steps to secure the construc-
tion of a railroad from Danville, 111., to the Illinois River. This
was the small beginning from which came the Indianapolis,
Bloomington & Western Railroad. Very little was done at this
meeting, the parties present merely exchanged views and ad-
journed to meet on the seventh of August, at Leroy. The at-
tendance at Leroy was large, delegates being present from va-
rious places along the line of the proposed road. The matter
was discussed at some length and all things looked hopeful.
Every one thought the road necessary as well as practicable.
But the meeting adjourned without organizing and another was
called for the twenty-seventh of August. The enterprise was
then fully discussed by the newspapers, and when the time for
the meeting came some opposition to the road was manifested.
It was a matter of some difficulty to effect an organization, nev-
ertheless it was done under the general railroad law of the State.
This law required one thousand dollars to be subscribed for every
mile of the proposed road, and ten per cent, of this to be paid
in. The law was a good one, though it caused some trouble to
the originators of this railroad. But after some delay the various
towns along the line subscribed the required amount and paid
up the necessary ten per cent. This, as nearly every one in this
section of the country knows, was accomplished through the
efforts of Dr. Henry Conkling, who worked for the road with
great zeal and wonderful success. The road proposed was one
hundred and sixteen miles in length and the subscriptions
amounted to one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars. The
94 RAILROAD-.
company immediately elected officers, making C. R. Griggs,
President; William T. McCord, Vice President, and Dr. Henry
Conkling, Secretary. The necessary papers were filed with the
Secretary of State, and during the following winter the Legisla-
ture gave them a charter, which was approved by the Governor
on the twenty-eighth of February, 1867. The road was then
called the Danville, Urbana, Bloomington & Pekin Railroad.
This charter was adopted by the company at a meeting held
in Pekin on the twenty-seventh of the following March, and
officers and directors were elected. Commissioners were imme-
diately appointed to secure the right of way and push the work.
Steps were taken to obtain subscriptions, and indeed it was clear
that the matter was in the hands of live, active men, who under-
stood their business, and were determined to go through at all
hazards. Most of the cities and towns responded to the call and
subscribed to the stock to the amount of eight hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. The road had three divisions. The first ex-
tended from Danville to Champaign City, where it connected
with a branch of the Illinois Central ; the second extended from
Champaign City to Bloomington, where it connected with the
Chicago, Alton & St. Louis road ; and the third extended from
Bloomington to Pekin on the Illinois River. Work on the road
was commenced on the first of October, 1867, and, notwith-
standing some unavoidable delays, the last rail was laid in the
city of Bloomington on the first of May, 1870. While this road
was being built another road was projected from Indianapolis to
Danville, known as the Indianapolis, Crawfordsville & Danville
Railroad, and in August, 1869, the two roads were consolidated
under the name of the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western,
extending from Indianapolis to Pekin, a distance of two hundred
and two miles. Since then the road has been extended to sev-
eral points. One extension connects Pekin and Peoria, another
extension runs from Urbana to Havana on the Illinois River, and
a third extension runs from Danville to Monticello and Decatur.
The road now runs through more than five hundred miles of the
richest and prettiest country in the West. On its line of road are
found some of the most enterprising and thriving inland towns.
Among these are Peoria, Pekin, Bloomington, Champaign, Ur-
bana, Danville, Covington, Crawfordsville, Indianapolis, Monti-
RAILROAD*. 95
cello, Decatur, Clinton, Lincoln and Havana. The farming
lands along the road are all well fenced and cultivated. A great
abundance of the best coal in Illinois is found on the line of the
road, and wood of excellent quality in the State of Indiana.
The road is now in its infancy ; nevertheless it will compare fa-
vorably in its construction and rolling stock with the best and
oldest roads in the State. Its connections with other roads are
good. Going East it connects at Indianapolis with the Tan
Handle & Pennsylvania Railroad to New York ; going West it
connects at Peoria with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy to
Omaha and the Pacific coast, or with the Peoria & Pock Island
road to Rock Island and Davenport. The fine country through
which it passes, its connections and enterprising management
give this road a promising future.
The Lafayette, Bloomington & Mississippi Railway.
The items for the following sketch of the Lafayette, Bloom-
ington & Mississippi Railway have been furnished by Colonel 0.
T. Reeves :
The Lafayette, Bloomington & Mississippi Railway Company
was chartered in February, 1867, and was organized in the Sep-
tember following, A. Gridlev was elected President : C. W.
Holder, Treasurer, and 0. T. Reeves, Secretary. These officers
served until January 31, 1872, when the management of the road
passed into the hands of parties in New York, interested in the
Toledo, "Wabash & Western Railway. A. B. Ives, J. H. Cheney,
of Bloomington, and W. H. Pells, of Paxton, were, with the
officers above named, the managing spirits of the enterprise.
The capital stock of the company is $1,000,000. Of this $467,-
000 is held by McLean and Ford counties, and townships of
McLean and Vermillion counties. The right of way was pro-
cured and the grading and bridging done out of the proceeds of
the bonds issued by the counties and townships in payment of
their stock. The ties and iron were purchased and laid, the
station houses, round houses and other necessary buildings
erected and the road fenced, with the proceeds of the first mort-
gage bonds of the company. The length of the road is eighty
miles. At the Indiana line it connects with a road running to
96 RAILROADS.
Lafayette, where it connects with the main line of the Toledo,
Wabash <fc Western Railway. The amount of the first and only
mortgage is $1,300,000. The road is leased perpetually to the
Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway Company, the latter assum-
ing to pay the interest on the mortgage debt, to pay all taxes
assessed against the road and to keep the road in repair. After
these disbursements, the surplus of the net earnings, if any, are
to be divided upon the [stock of the company. The road was
substantially completed January 1, 1872, and the Toledo, Wa-
bash & Western Company commenced running trains at that
time. This, like all railroads, began with the people without the
aid of large capital, and this enterprise struggled long and hard
for success. Its final completion was a matter of just pride and
satisfaction to those engaged in its management.
THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
The hero of the Black Hawk War was Black Hawk, whose
Indian name was Mucatah Muhicatah. He was an old chief of
the Sacs, who had united with the Foxes, forming a single na-
tion. He was born in a Sac village in 1767. His personal
appearance was not at first sight prepossessing. He was small of
stature, but he was finely formed, and his eyes were bright and
intelligent. He had a quick sense of propriety, and his manners
were dignified and graceful. He had a lively sense of honor,
and was remarkable for his uprightness and fair dealing. He
was very active and loved the war-path. Nature made him a
nobleman, and gave him that spirit of chivalry, which has been
celebrated in poetry and song. He was a kind and affectionate
father, and Ford's "History of Illinois" tells us that he went
every year to visit the grave of his daughter at Oquaka. Black
Hawk was a good deal of a diplomatist, too, he would say the
right tiling at the right time, and he gained the good will of all
with whom he came in contact. Let it not be supposed that this
picture of Black Hawk is overdrawn. He was indeed a remark-
able genius, and had he been born in happier days and a member
of a civilized race, his talents would have made for him a grander
name. He gained a remarkable ascendency over the fiery, war-
like portion of the Sacs and Foxes, and was the leader of that
portion of them called the British Band. He was very proud
and sensitive, and his feelings were outraged as he saw the In-
dians steadily crowded westward before the advancing Avhites.
He did what he could to oppose it, and, during the Avar of 181-!,
he fought against the Americans under the eye of Tecumseli.
He saw his followers defeated at Tippecanoe under the Prophet,
7
98 BLACK HAWK AVAR.
and Tecumseh slain at the battle of the Thames. He was at the
attack on Fort Madison, at the River Raisin, at the attack on
Fort Stephenson on the Lower Sandusky. He kept up some sort
of connection with the British in Canada, and cherished the
hope of being yet able to stop the westward march of the whites.
In 1804 some kind of a treaty had been made between the
whites and the Sacs and Foxes, by which the latter ceded the
whites all their lands lying east of the Mississippi. What this
treaty was it is hardly possible to ascertain very definitely.
Black Hawk complained that it was made without proper author-
ity by the chiefs of the nation, and that the nation had never
been consulted in the matter. In making an Indian treaty it
has never been very easy to learn who were the parties author-
ized to sign and enforce it. The whites have unfortunately
shown more anxiety to make a treaty advantageous to them-
selves and "get the best end of the bargain," than to make it
with the proper parties in a fair and equitable manner.
In the spring of 1831, as the countiy began to be settled, the
whites commenced to occupy the lands situated in the vicinity
of Rock Island, acquired by treaty from the Sacs and Foxes.
Many of the Indians then removed to the western bank of the
Mississippi River, in accordance with the order of government
issued to that effect. But the anger of Black Hawk was aroused.
He collected a force of Indians, crossed over to Rock Island and
ordered the settlers to leave the country. He unroofed some of
their houses, and his followers committed other depredations.
When Governor Rejmolds learned of this he reported the matter
to General Gaines, of the United States army, and General
Clark, superintendent of Indian Affairs. General Gaines with
some regular soldiers proceeded to Rock Island, but without
taking further steps, called upon Governor Reynolds for seven
hundred mounted volunteers. The Governor issued the call and
about fifteen hundred volunteers responded. By the tenth of
June, 1831, they were organized at Beardstown, and within four
days had marched to the Mississippi River, where they met Gen-
eral Gaines about eight miles below the mouth of Rock River.
The next day they marched to Vandruff's Island at the mouth
of Rock River, expecting to find the Indians there to decide who
should be master of the situation. But an Indian is never where
BLACK HAWK WAR. 99
he is expected to be. After beating around the island for some
time they learned that Black Hawk and his band had crossed to
the western bank of the Mississippi. The volunteers were dis-
appointed, as some of them were "spoiling for a tight" or pre-
tended to be. It was then necessary for them to perform some
signal act of gallantry before going back to their wives and sweet-
hearts. They could not go home and tell the lovely maidens, who
were waiting for them, that they had simply done as did a certain
king of France, who "marched up the hill and then marched
down again." Opposite Vandraff's Island stood the village of
the Sacs and Foxes, lonely and deserted. The volunteers crossed
over to it, set fire to the wigwams and reduced the village to
ashes. This wanton act of barbarity was no doubt performed for
the double purpose of Christianizing the Indians and of giving
a splendid exhibition of the bravery of the volunteers ! Ford's
History, while speaking of it, says :
"Thus perished an ancient village, which had once been the
delightful home of six or seven thousand Indians ; where gener-
ation after generation had been born, had died and been buried;
where the old men had taught wisdom to the young ; whence
the Indian youth had often gone out in parties to hunt or to war
and returned in triumph to dance around the spoils of the forest,
or the scalps of their enemies ; and where the dark-eyed Indian
maidens, by their presence and charms, had made it a scene of
delightful enchantment to many an admiring warrior."
The next clay the volunteers marched to Rock Island. Gen-
eral Gaines threatened to cross the Mississippi and continue the
war. When Black Hawk heard this he made peace and agreed
never again to cross the Mississippi without permission from the
" Great Father at Washington."
During the following year some Indians belonging to the
Pottawotamies, living near Lake Kushkanong in Wisconsin
moved across the Mississippi. When they went they gave per-
mission to Black Hawk and his followers to take possession of
their old hunting grounds. Such at least was the claim made
by Black Hawk and the Indians under his command. This offer
threw the Sacs and Foxes into commotion. Some were anxious
to go, while some remembered the power of the whites and the
100 BLACK HAWK WAR.
agreement never to cross the Mississippi. Keokuk, the leading;
chief of the nation, headed the party of peace, and used all of
his eloquence to restrain his tribe. But Black Hawk favored
the measure, and urged it with all his power. He collected a
band of about seven hundred warriors, composed of Sacs and
Foxes with a few Pottawotamies and Kickapoos; and these with
their squaws and pappooses started on their adventurous journey.
When this was made known to Governor Reynolds he called
for a thousand mounted volunteers immediate! v, and the United
States government also raised troops. Eighteen hundred vol-
unteers responded to the call of Governor Reynolds, and by the
twenty-seventh of April, 1832, were on the march.
Black Hawk with his band had proceeded up the Rock River
valley very quietly. They had done no harm to the whites, and
no one was afraid of their committing depredations. When
the} 7 came to Dixon's Ferry the chiefs of the band, who were
Black Hawk, Wishick and Xaapape, and also Old Crane, a chief
of the Winnebagoes, went to the house of the old pioneer, John
Dixon, and were by him very hospitably entertained. He de-
scribes Black Hawk as a very inferior looking man in stature,
but with a very expressive countenance. He speaks of Wishick
as a man of commanding disposition, very stern and very per-
emptory. He says that when the Sacs and Foxes first came they
tilled his house full, and his wife was in great fear. Old Crane,
a chief of the Winnebagoes, spoke to Wishick, who immedi-
ately ordered the Indians to puckachee (depart), which the}- did
immediately.
Before the Indians came, Mr. Dixon had been in consulta-
tion with General Atkinson with reference to them, and was re-
quested to ascertain their numbers. He estimated their force to
amount to six hundred warriors. Other accounts place their
number at seven hundred.
The Sacs and Foxes proceeded up Rock River, about forty
miles from Dixon's Ferrv, to the mouth of the Ivishwaukee
River (called by some Sycamore), where they temporarily fixed
their camp. The volunteers under the command of General
Samuel Whiteside had in the mean time been coming up to the
scene of action. They marched up to the mouth of Rock River
and there met^General Atkinson, who commanded the regulars.
BLACK HAWK WAR. 101
A part of the volunteers started up Rock River, having orders
to stop at Prophetstown, about fifty miles distant. There they
awaited the arrival of General Atkinson with his regulars, who
were to bring provisions up the river in boats. But when the
volunteers came to the Indian village of Prophetstown they
acted with that folly which is characteristic of men who have
been but a few days in the field, and who are imperfectly con-
trolled by their officers. They burned the Indian village and
proceeded on their march without waiting for the regulars, of
whom they contracted a jealousy which continued during the
whole of the campaign. In order to march easily they left their
baggage and a large quantity of provisions at Prophetstown.
They afterwards felt the result of their folly when they had
lived for three days on coffee and parched corn. The trouble
with the volunteers was that they had been but a short time in
the field, and their officers were in many cases men who after-
wards expected to exert some political influence. The result was
that the officers were to some extent commanded by the privates,
and the army was liable to be governed by any whim which
might overtake it. When the army arrived at Dixon it found
there two battalions of mounted volunteers, numbering about
two huudred and seventy-five men. The men had collected
from McLean, Tazewell, Peoria and Fulton Counties, and were
commanded by Majors Stillman and Bailey.
By this time the regulars under General Atkinson were
near Prophetstown, and were coming up with boats filled with
provisions. Their steady, careful movements made the volun-
teers very impatient, and the latter were also exceedingly anxious
to obtain the laurels to be won. The}' were only called out for
thirty days, and they expected to wind up the whole matter in
that short space of time, very much as our Union army expected
at a later day to crush the rebellion within three months. The
men under the command of Major Stillman were particularly
anxious to "ketch the Indians" before the latter could get
away. They said the regulars w T ould come crawling along stuff-
ing themselves with beef, and the Indians would never be
"ketched. " The officers yielded to the impatience and jealousy
of the men and requested Governor Reynolds to let them go out
and reconnoiter the country and rind the Indians. A certain
102 BLACK HAWK WAR.
Captain Eades from Peoria came up and insisted very strongly
that they should be allowed to go. The other captains all vol-
unteered, for they wished to be considered very plucky, and the
question with them was not whether the matter was prudent and
necessary, but whether they dared to go. From all that can be
learned, Major Stillman consented to go against his better judg-
ment. He asked Mr. John Dixon's opinion and the latter told
him very decidedly that the business of "ketching the Indians'
would prove very disastrous for a little force of less than three
hundred men. Major Stillman then said that as all of his offi-
cers and men were determined to go, he must lead them if it
cost him his life. Governor Reynolds was very angry at the
course taken by the volunteers but reluctantly gave his consent.*
Major Stillman's men provided themselves w T ith some whisky,
and of course were invincible. They started on the 13th of
May, and, according to David Simmons, numbered two hundred
and six men. Nothing w r as heard of them until midnight of the
second day. At that time John Dixon was aroused from his
slumber by a voice saying :
" Oh, Mr. Dixon, can I lie down here ?"
" Why, what's the matter ?"
" Oh, our folks had a big battle !"
"Are many killed ?"
" Oh, yes !"
" How many ?"
" Oh, I don't know; it was an awful battle; I don't know
who is killed or who is hurt."
" Did you get whipped ?"
"Oh, yts!"
James Benson of White Oak Grove says that he was
awakened from his slumber by a volunteer, who said that the
Indians had crawled on the whites and said " woo, woo," and
butchered them all in their camp.
This was the way the volunteers " ketched the Indians."
During the remainder of the night and all the next day Major
Stillman and his men came straggling into camp. It was at last
found that only a few of their. number had been killed and sev-
* In his autobiography entitled " My Own Times," Governor Reynolds gener-
ously assumes the responsibility for the disaster at Stillman's Run, but the movement
was certainly made against his wishes.
BLACK HAWK WAR. 103
eral wounded. The following are facts, as learned from Thomas
O. Rutledge, James Phillips- and David Simmons, who partici-
pated in the fight.
At noon during the second day, while they were eating din-
ner, an alarm was raised by the guard in front, who discovered
moccasin tracks. The men gathered up their coffee pots and
other utensils and excitedly rode forward a few miles, but found
no Indians, though the tracks were fresh. Then they came to a
halt. Their baggage wagon came on slowly, loaded with am-
munition and whisky. In order to dispense with the wagon,
the whisky barrel was broken open and every man took what
he wanted. They filled their canteens and bottles and coffee
pots, and men rode up and down the line offering everybody a
drink. The ammunition was also issued and men filled their
powder horns and tied up powder in handkerchiefs. Then they
moved forward, from three to five miles, and crossed Old Man's
Creek, since called Stillman's Run. It was about thirty-five
miles from Dixon. At the point where the volunteers crossed
was a bend, concave towards the north. In that bend they
stacked their baggage and partly went into camp. The guards,
who had been out during the day to the right, left, rear and
front, came in. The left guard brought in some Indian ponies,
which they had found, and this created quite an excitement.
Some of the men began to ride the ponies. Just then ten or a
dozen Indians appeared on a hill a quarter or half a mile distant.
The officers and men inquired who they were, and some thought
they were the advanced guard. David Simmons said to Still-
man : "No, the advanced guard came in some time ago, Gen-
eral ; it's Indians !" The men then commenced saddling their
horses ; some started immediately, and some went without their
saddles. Twenty-five or thirty men and officers with Captain
Covel, came up to where the Indians had been. All of the lat-
ter had retreated except two, who claimed to be Pottawotamies.
The men chased the retreating Indians and killed one. The
two Indians, w r ho refused to run, were brought into camp. They
each said: "Me good Pottawotamie," but pointed over the
hill and said, " Heap of Sac." Captain Covel, returning, said:
" It's all nonsense, they're friendly Indians." The two captured
Indians then proposed to trade for a gun belonging to David
104 BLACK HAWK WAR.
Alexander from Pekin. "While they were poking their fingers
into the barrel some of the men who chased the retreating In-
dians into Black Hawk's camp on the Kishwaukee, returned
and said : " Parade, parade." They declared that the Indians
were thick over the hill. The men were formed and moved for-
ward. Before going far an Indian prisoner w 7 as brought in from
the party in the advance and sent to the rear. The men moved
on and made a halt near a slough. Here the officers went ahead,
and Thomas 0. Rutledge says some kind of a parley was held
with the Indians. The latter swung a red flag in defiance. Gen-
eral Gridley, who was then lieutenant, came back with orders to
march forward. Captain Eades of Peoria came riding back,
and said he was not easily fooled, that there were not less than
a thousand Indians coming. The men were then marched back
in some confusion across the slough to high ground. There
they formed, or tried to form, but were in bad order. The In-
dians then poured out of the timber to the front, right and left,
and Mr. Simmons said it reminded him of the pigeons in In-
diana flying over one another and picking up mast. Both par-
ties commenced firing. But the whites were in such bad order
that those in the rear were in danger of shooting those in front.
The Indians came on whooping, yelling and firing, and the
horses of the volunteers began to prance about. The Indians
circled around on both sides, and Mr. Rutledge thinks they came
clear to the rear. Major Still man ordered his men to mount
and retreat, and form a line across the creek, and also told them
to break the line of the Indians on the left. Mr. Rutledge
says : " Right there was confusion. We did not go to the
right or the left, but right square for home !" When they ar-
rived at the creek (Stillman's Run) Captain Covel tried to form
a line on the north side, but an order was given to cross it and
form a line on the south side. Here the Indian prisoners began
to whoop, in answ T er to their friends, and the guard was ordered
to shoot them, and it did so immediately. The whites plunged
through the mud and water of the creek and tried to form a
line on the south side. The Indians came up close and both
parties were firing. But the whites kept breaking away to the
rear. Some were calling " halt and fight." Those who had lost
their horses said: "For God's sake, don't leave us." Mr.
BLACK HAWK WAR. 105
Phillips particularly remembers Captain Adams, who called out
continually, " Damn it, stop and fight." But in a moment an
order was given to retreat to Dixon, and it was obeyed imme-
diately. A few of the Indians followed the volunteers across
the creek, but the most of them stopped to plunder the bag-
gage, which had been piled up so convenient for them. The
whites ran, every man for himself, to Dixon's Ferry. They lost
but few men in the fight and retreat. Joseph Draper was shot
when the two lines met in the retreat, but in the dusk of the
evening he crawled away and lived some days afterwards, and
when his body was found he had marked his adventures and
wanderings on his canteen. Andrew Dickey was shot at the
creek through the thigh, but crawled under the bank and es-
caped. Mr. Hackelton who was also w r ounded, hid under the bank.
Captain Adams had his horse shot from under him when the
retreat commenced, but he ran back, crossed the creek and went
three-quarters of a mile towards Dixon's Ferry, when he was
overtaken by the Indians and killed, but succeeded in killing
one or two of the Indians who followed him ; Major Perkins
was oyertaken and killed about a mile and a half from the creek.
He was probably delayed while crossing it. James Doty of
Peoria was also killed. The loss of the whites, according to
Ford's History of Illinois, was eleven, but James Phillips says
it was thirteen. Seven of the Indians were buried, and their
loss may have amounted to more.
A great deal of fun was made of Stillman's men by their
friends who had been wise enough to remain behind. Some of
the gentlemen who had run so fast were very angry, while some
took it in good part. Colonel Strode (an old militia colonel)
created a great deal of amusement by his humorous accounts of
the fight. He said that the Indians formed in solid columns,
and that their flanks extended to a long distance on both sides
of Major Stillman's command. Suddenly the flanks of the In-
dians began to close in on Major Stillman's men like a pair of
scissors, and the whites turned and ran for their lives, and Col-
onel Strode followed suit. He said he was none too quick, for
as the flanks of the Indians came together they just grazed the tail
of his horse, but he escaped ! He told a great many humorous
stories, and one of his accounts is given in Ford's History of
Illinois, as follows :
10G BLACK HAWK WAR.
" Sirs, our detachment was eucamped amongst some scatter-
ing timber on the north side of Old Man's Creek, with the prairie
from the north gently sloping down to our encampment. It was
just after twilight, in the glooming of the evening, when we dis-
covered Black Hawk's army coming down upon us in solid
column ; they displayed in the form of a crescent upon the brow
of the prairie, and such accuracy and precision of military
movements were never witnessed by man ; they were equal to
the best troops of Wellington in Spain. I have said that the
Indians came down in solid column, and displayed in the form
of a crescent; and what was most wonderful, there were large
squares of cavalry resting upon the points of the curve, which
squares were supported again by other columns fifteen deep, ex-
tending back through the woods and over a swamp three-quarters
of a mile, which again rested upon the main body of Black
Hawk's army bivouaced upon the banks of the Kishwaukee. It
was a terrible and a glorious sight to see the tawny warriors as
they rode along our flanks, attempting to outflank us, with the
glittering moonbeams glistening from their polished blades and
burnished spears. It was a sight well calculated to strike con-
sternation into the stoutest and boldest heart, and accordingly
our men soon began to break in small squads for tall timber. In
a little time the rout became general, the Indians were upon our
flanks, and threatened the destruction of the entire detachment.
About this time Major Stillman, Colonel Stephenson, Major Per-
kins, Captain Adams, Mr. Hackelton, and myself, with some
others, threw 7 ourselves into the rear to rally fugitives and pro-
tect the retreat. But in a short time all my companions fell,
bravely fighting hand to hand with the savage enemy, and I
alone was left upon the field of battle. About this time I dis-
covered, not far to [[the left a corps of horsemen which seemed
to be in tolerable order. I immediately deployed to the left,
when, leaning down and placing my body in a recumbent pos-
ture, upon the mane of my horse, so as to bring the heads of
the horsemen between my eye and the horizon, I discovered by
the light of the moon that they were gentlemen who did not
wear hats, bv which token I knew thev were no friends of mine.
I therefore made a retrograde movement and recovered my
former position, where I remained some time meditating what
BLACK HAWK WAR. 107
further I could do in the service of my country, when a random
ball came whistling by my ear and plainly whispered to me,
'Stranger, you have no further business here !' Upon hearing
this I followed the example of my companions in arms, and
broke for tall timber, and the way I ran, was not a little, and
quit."
"The Colonel was a lawyer, just returning from the circuit,
with a slight wardrobe and Chitty's Pleadings packed in his sad-
dlebags, all of which were captured by the Indians. He after-
Avards related with much vexation that Black Hawk had decked
himself out in his finery, appearing in the wild woods, among
his savage companions, dressed in one of the Colonel's ruffled
shirts drawn over his deer-skin leggings, with a volume of Chit-
ty's Pleadings under each arm."
A funny story is also told of Colonel Strode. It is said that
when he attempted to retreat, as the Indians came charging on,
he mounted his'horse without untying it from the stump to which
it was fastened. As his horse could not move from the spot, he
thought, in his excitement, that the stump was an Indian hold-
ing the bridle, and he said :
" Don't shoot, Mr. Indian, I am Colonel Strode of the Illinois
volunteers, I surrender at discretion!"
"While Major Stillman was carrying on his operations, the
forces at Dixon's Ferry were increasing. The volunteers came
in rapidly, and the quartermaster was obliged to take John
Dixon's cattle and hogs to feed them, because by their improvi-
dence they were left without anything to eat except corn and
coffee. General Whiteside, who commanded the volunteers,
after calling a council of war, proceeded to the scene of the late
fight, and buried the bodies of the eleven whites, who were
slain.
In speaking of the fight at Stillman's Run, the follies of the
volunteers are pointed out without hesitation, because it is nec-
essary for us to know the truth of the matter. It would, how-
ever, be wrong to give the impression that they were in any
respect wanting in courage or good sense, and those who judge
harshly of them in all probability would not have done any bet-
ter, perhaps not as well. Volunteers who have been but a short
time in the field are peculiarly liable to take a panic, although
108 BLACK HAWK WAR.
they may be possessed of unusual courage and coolness. This
was the case at Bull Run, at the opening of the rebellion, yet no
one doubts the courage of the troops in that battle. My dear
reader, if you had been there, or if you had been at Stillman's
Run, you would probably have made as good time as any of them,
though you may be as brave as the bravest.
As soon as the Sacs and Foxes were attacked they were a
changed race of beings. Before that they had been very quiet,
and had done no one any harm. They had not taken the prop-
erty of the white settlers, and had behaved themselves much
better than could have been expected of savages. But after they
were attacked they raised the war-whoop, and it is probable that
this is the time to which Black Hawk referred when he said :
"I took up the hatchet to revenge injuries which could no longer
be borne."
After the tight of Stillman's Run the Indians scattered'all over
the country, and every settler who had not taken refuge in some
well-protected place was killed and scalped and his house burned
to the ground. Many of them received timely notice and es-
caped. Shaubana, a friendly chief of the Pottawotamies, gave
notice to many settlers, and thus saved many lives. Mr. Dixon
took occasion to warn as many as possible. The Kellogg and
Reid families, of Buffalo Grove, were notified by his exertions.
They hastily packed up what things they could and came to
Dixon's Ferry. They had only been gone from their homes a few
hours when the Indians came there and destroyed what things
could not be carried away. They ripped open the feather beds
and scattered the feathers in high glee. But there were three
families living on Indian Creek, about fifteen miles from Ottawa,
which did not soon enough come under protection. They were
the Davis, Hall and Pettigrew families. The Indians appeared
in the day-time and massacred them in cold blood, taking a sav-
age delight in their infernal deeds. They toldhow r ,terror-stricken
were the women and how they screamed and, as they said
"squeaked like geese," when they were massacred. But there
were twy young ladies, Rachel and Silvia Hall, who tried
to conceal themselves by crawling into bed. They were discov-
ered by two young braves, who determined to have them for
BLACK HAWK WAK. 109
wives. They were aged fifteen and seventeen years respectively
and were carried off by the delighted braves.
After this deed the Indians rapidly retreated with their pris-
oners. The young ladies were afterwards ransomed for two
thousand dollars, paid in trinkets, horses and finery of various
kinds. It is said that the Indians exacted by far the largest ran-
som for the elder sister, as she was more quiet and gave less
trouble ; but they let the younger sister go pretty cheap, as she
was so saucy and impudent that she made her captors much
difficulty.
The volunteers for thirty days were mustered out of service
on the twenty-eighth of May. They had grown tired of the ser-
vice. They thought they would have a play-day, but the war
turned out to be a serious business and promised to last for some
time. They were mustered out of service at Ottawa, and the
most of them returned to their homes. Nevertheless a regiment
was raised out of their number, enough enlisting for that pur-
pose at the urgent solicitation of Governor Reynolds. Another
call was made by the Governor for two thousand men for sixty
days, but they did not take the field until the twenty-second of
June. In the meantime the regiment raised from those recently
discharged, was put in active service. It was commanded by
Colonel Jacob Fry, while James D. Henry, who was afterwards
General Henry, was made Lieutenant Colonel. General Whiteside,
w y ho had commanded the volunteers for thirty days, enlisted as
a private. The regiment was divided up for the purpose of pro-
tecting as much of the country as possible. In the meantime
there were some lively skirmishes with the Iudians. One com-
pany, commanded by Captain Adam W. Snyder, being fired upon
by four Indians, near Burr Oak Grove, drove them into a sink-
hole and killed them. The warfare was of the most merciless
nature ; no prisoners were taken ; it was simply kill or be killed.
Shortly after the Indians were killed in the sink-hole, Captain
Snyder's company was suddenly attacked by a force of seventy
Indians. The moment w r as a most trying one, but the men stood
it bravely. The Indians pressed their attack, until General
Whiteside, who was a splendid marksman, shot the chief who
was riding on horseback. This discouraged the Indians, and
they retired from the contest.
110 BLACK HAWK WAR.
But notwithstanding the checks which they received, the In-
dians displayed the most astonishing activity. They seemed to
be everywhere, and they fought with the greatest fierceness.
They threatened Galena, and they attacked or threatened nearly
every point between Galena and Ottawa. Two settlers were
killed by them on the east bank of the Fox River, within six
miles of Ottawa, and another up at Buffalo Grove, in Ogle Coun-
ty. Such wonderful activity as they displayed has seldom been
shown by the most daring and war-like of savage foes. Every
exposed place was attacked. The fort at Apple River was used
as a rendezvous for the settlers, and protected a village of miners.
It was defended by twenty-five men. Suddenly three men, who
started on an express from Galena to Dixon, w r ere fired on near
the fort and retreated to it. They were followed by one hundred
and fifty Indians commanded by Black Hawk in person. The
miners and settlers collected in the fort, which consisted of a
stockade of logs, and let their houses go. The Indians imme-
diately took possession of the houses, smashed up the furniture,
tore open the feather beds, scattered the feathers to the winds
and rioted in the work of destruction. Then, using the houses for
protection, they, for fifteen hours, kept up a keen fire on the
fort. But, as it became clear that the fort could never be cap-
tured, thev retired.
The activity and fierceness of the Sacs and Foxes seemed to
show that they were wrought up to a pitch of frenzy. Mr. St.
Vrain, the Indian agent, had been on terms of intimate friend-
ship with one of the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, called Little
Bear. Indeed he had been adopted by Little Bear as a brother.
Mr. St. Vrain was sent with a small party of men to Fort Arm-
strong, and on his way there he met Little Bear with a party of
Indians. Mr. St. Vrain, not thinking that any harm would be
done to him by Little Bear, by whom he had been adopted as a
brother, approached without fear. But he and his party were
immediately scalped. The very ties of brotherhood counted for
nothing among the infuriated savages. Every place in the
countiw was either attacked or threatened. Galena was at one
time in some danger, but Colonel Strode, the humorous soldier
at Stillnian's Run, prepared thoroughly for its defense. He de-
BLACK HAWK WAR. Ill
clared martial law and pressed every man into the ranks at the
point of the bayonet, and the attack was not made.
But the volunteers had by this time learned some of the arts
of Indian warefare, and they fought quite as desperately as the
Sacs and Foxes. Captain James W. Stephenson, of Galena, with
a small portion of his company attacked a party of Indians,
whom he discovered in a thicket on the prairie. He charged
upon them again and again, and even penetrated the thicket, but
having half a dozen or more men killed, and being himself se-
verely wounded, he was obliged to retreat.
A party of eleven Indians fired upon some whites near Fort
Hamilton, up in the lead mines. General Dodge, of Wisconsin,
collected a party of whites and went after them in hot pursuit.
His little command came up with the Indians on the bank of the
Pecatonica River, and killed every one of them. Not one was
left to carry the news to Black Hawk. The loss of the whites
was one man wounded severely and three mortally.
But by this time (20th of June) the volunteers for sixty days
were in the field. Thej^ had rendezvoused at Fort Wilburn,
near LaSalle,and amounted to three thousand two hundred men,
exclusive of the regular troops. They were divided into three
brigades, commanded by Alexander Posey, Milton K. Alexander
and James D. Henry. General Atkinson, of the regular army,
commanded the entire force of volunteers and regulars. The ball
was opened by Major John Dement, who commanded a spy bat-
talion. He was ordered to push ahead while the army should
follow and make its headquarters at Dixon's Ferry. When he
came to Dixon's Ferry his men displayed some of that ineffable
greenness for which the volunteers in those days were distin-
guished, before they had seen service. One of the volunteers, a
long-legged, awkward looking geutleman, rode up to Mr. John
Dixon and asked in a voice rich with concentrated greenness:
"Where's y' Injins ? If you want y' Injins killed, fetch 'em
on!"
He soon had all the fighting his heart could wish, for Major
Dement crossed Rock River and pushed on to Kellogg's Grove,
where he was attacked by the Indians under Black Hawk, fresh
from the Apple River fort. The circumstances were these.
Major Dement learned that the trail of a large party of Indians
112 BLACK HAWK WAR.
was discovered near Kellogg's Grove, and he immediately started
for it. He took twenty men and with them kept in advance of
his command. Pretty soon they came upon a few Indians who
rapidly retreated. This excited the little squad of inexperienced
volunteers, and they pursued the Indians as the hunter pursues
the game. But Major Dement was collected and cautious, and
made every effort to restrain his men. They chased the Indians
ahout a mile on the prairie, and when they came uear the grove
the Major's little squad, which was slightly reinforced, was at-
tacked by a large body of Indians under Black Hawk. Dement
retreated slowly to his camp, while the Indians came yelling
like fiends. The volunteers took refuge in some log houses
near by, and were able to successfully repel the attack. The
battle raged fiercely, the Indians being determined to dislodge
the whites from their strong position. It seemed as if the In-
dians could not bear to give the matter up, but they were finally
forced to do so, as the volunteers were so well protected. The
loss of the whites were five killed and three wounded, while that
of the Indians w T as nine killed and left on the field ; and it is
supposed many others were killed and carried away.
While Major Dement was contending with the Indians. Gen-
eral Atkinson brought up the army to Dixon and made his head-
quarters there. When he learned the result of the fight at Kel-
logg's Grove, he sent General Alexander to the mouth of Plumb
Eiver, to guard against the possibility of the Indians crossing
the Mississippi, for it was determined to capture them and not
to allow T one of them to get away. But if General Atkinson
could have known the fatiguing marches which he afterwards
was obliged to make, and the great difficulty of capturing a
band of the most fierce and active Indians in America, he would
have been perfectly willing to let them go on any terms. After
remaining two days in Dixon, General Atkinson started with his
army northward to the Four Lakes in Wisconsin, having heard
that Black Hawk was there fortified, and that he had deter-
mined to risk the whole campaign on a single battle. But when
General Atkinson arrived there he found that the Indians had
vanished.
It would be a tiresome task to relate all of the fatiguing
marches made in search of the wily Black Hawk. The volnn-
BLACK HAWK WAR. 113
teers for sixty days had, as usual, enlisted with no expectation
of hardship. When the campaign opened th<-M*e were three
thousand two hundred volunteers in the field and four hundred
and fifty regulars. But, after eight weeks of campaigning
which consisted of tiresome marches, to find the ever absent
Black Hawk, there were left not more than half of the volun-
teers, although the regulars had not lost one of their number.
What was the reason of this? It is not pleasant to write it, but
the truth must be told. A great many volunteers took French
leave — they went away without saying "good-bye" — they de-
serted. The volunteers made sometimes short, quick marches,
and sometimes long, continued travels; at one time they were
obliged to go fifty miles in one day. Sometimes they had
plenty to eat and sometimes they were nearly starved. The re-
sult was that about one-half of their number gradually dropped
off without permission and returned to " home, sweet home."
There is very little doubt that while the volunteers w r ere
hunting for Black Hawk, that wily chieftain was posted with re-
gard to their movements. It was a game of "blind man's buff"
with our arm}' to represent the blind man.
When General Atkinson found no enemy at the Four Lakes
he went to Turtle Village, on Rock River, but Black Hawk was
not there. lie then went to Lake Kushkanong, and his army
was kept continually on the alert by all kinds of i'alse alarms,
but the Sacs and Foxes were not to be found. He then went to
Burnt Village, on the White Water River, but the ever vanish-
ing Black Hawk was not there. At this point the brigade of
General Posey joined them. This brigade had been separated
from the army ever since the fight at Kellogg's Grove. The
army was also reinforced by a battalion of troops under Major
Dodge of Wisconsin. It was now strong enough to wipe Black
Hawk's band out of existence, if it could only be found. At
the Burnt Village it was thought that at last they had the trail
of Black Hawk, but the army was, after some troublesome in-
vestigation, found to be on the wrong track.
General Atkinson then sent General Posey with his brigade
to Fort Hamilton, in the mining country, to protect the settlers,
while General Alexander, General Henry and Major Dodge were
sent to Fort Winnebago to procure supplies. General Atkinson,
8
114 BLACK HAWK WAR.
with the regular troops, fell back to Lake Tvushkanong, where
he built a fort and waited for supplies.
And now was found by an accident, as it were, the trail of
Black Hawk's band. The troops, which were sent to Fort Win-
nebago for supplies, reached that place, eighty miles distant, in
three days. Here they learned from some Winnebago chiefs
that Black Hawk and hi? band were at Manitou village on Rock
River. General Alexander, General Henry and Major Dodge
immediately held a council, and agreed to violate orders and
march upon the Indians. When this resolution was communi-
cated to the men they determined not to go, and some of them
seemed resolved on open mutiny. But all except Alexander's
brigade yielded to General Henry's vigorous measures.
Alexander's brigade was sent back to General Atkinson,
while the troops under General Henry and Major Dodge went
after the Indians. They threw aside all their heavy baggage.
Some of them had horses and some had not. Those who were
obliged to walk made their loads as light as possible. Then
they started on their race, and it was a lively one. They
marched to Rock River in three days, but learned that the In-
dians were also doing their best to make time, and were en-
camped at Cranberry Lake, farther up the river. The army had
now a clear trail to follow, and they marched with astonishing;
celerity; it is said that in one day they traveled fifty miles.
Sometimes the men on foot were almost pressed into a run. As
they drew nearer to the Indians they saw by unmistakable signs
that the Sacs and Foxes were also marching with the greatest
speed. The Indians threw away all articles which impeded
their flight. Their camp kettles and articles of various kinds
were strewn along the trail. At noon on the seventh day of
their march the advance guard of the whites came upon
two Indians and killed them. Then they occasionally met a
few Indians who guarded the rear of the band. A little skir-
mishing would follow for the purpose of gaining time for the
Indian- ; but the whites pressed on without giving them time to
breathe.
Suddenly, when they came near the heights of the Wiscon-
sin River, the advance guard of the w'hites, commanded by Ma-
jor Ewingand Major Dodge was fired upon by the Indians. The
BLACK HAWK WAR. 115
advance guard immediately dismounted and formed in line.
The main body, under General Henry, soon came up, and hav-
ing formed into line, the whole army charged without delay.
The Indians fought fiercely, but they were driven back, some
of them down a hollow to the river bottom and some alomr the
heights of the Wisconsin, until gradually they came down to
the river. The grass in the river bottom rose very high and the
ground was swampy. The Indians concealed themselves in the
grass and, as night was coming on, the contest ceased. The
next morning it was found that the Indians had crossed the
river.
The losses in this contest, according to Ford's History of
Illinois, were, for the whites one man killed and eight wounded,
while the Indians lost sixty-eight dead on the field and probablv
many wounded who escaped. The same authority says twenty-
five Indians wounded in this battle died on their way to the
Mississippi River. Such extraordinary figures should be re-
ceived with some caution. The explanation given in Ford's
History is that the Indians were taught to fire high, expecting
to shoot at men on horseback.
But, be this as it may, the whole affair reflected great credit
on the volunteers. They had made a most extraordinary forced
march, and had shown that, notwithstanding their freaks and
their shortcomings at the opening of the campaign, they could,
when it became necessary, march longer and farther, and fight
as hard as the soldiers of the regular army.
Some controversy has been occasioned by the various ad-
mirers of General Henry of Illinois, and Major Dodge of Wis-
consin as to which of these officers deserved the greatest credit
for the victory at Wisconsin Heights. This controversy has oc-
casioned an unpleasant feeling which lasts to the present time.
As nearly as can be ascertained they were both men of remark-
able merit. They were both men of the very best judgment,
and of great executive ability. From all that can be learned,
General Henry must receive the credit of going on the expedi-
tion, for had it not been for his determination the revolt of the
volunteers w r ould have been successful and they would never
have started on their race. They were both men of cool judg-
ment and displayed great ability on the field of battle ; but as
116 BLACK HAWK WAR.
to their merit, it is not in the power of the author to decide be-
tween them.
After the light at Wisconsin Heights General Henry's army
was without provisions, and he had eight wounded men to take
care of. Under these circumstances he fell back to Blue Mounds
w 7 here he met General Atkinson with the regulars and with the
brigades commanded by Alexander and Posey. After two days
of preparation the army started on its march for the Indians.
The latter had started for the Mississippi River, which they were
anxious to cross in order to protect themselves from the perse-
vering attacks of the whites. The Indians were now in a starving
condition. They had with them their squaws and pappooses-
they had for some time been traveling through a wild country
where they could obtain very little to eat. They were, therefore,
unable to march very fast, and by the time they had reached the
Mississippi River the whites were close after them. The whites
reached the Mississippi on the fourth day of their march from
the Blue Mounds. The soldiers had been excited by seeing
along the trail the various articles abandoned by the Indians in
order that the latter might accelerate their flight. Many of
their wounded in the last battle had died along the route. All
of these things encouraged the men and they hastened on to the
closing battle of the campaign. The Indians had reached the
Mississippi River about forty miles above the present city of
Prairie du Chien and some two or three miles below the mouth
of the Bad Axe River. As soon as they reached the river they
began to cross, some swimming and some crossing in canoes.
On the day of their arrival a steamboat came up from Prairie
du Chien, commanded by a certain Captain Throckmorton.
"When the Indians saw the steamboat, they raised a white flag.
But Captain Throckmorton said he thought this was an exhibi-
tion of their treachery, and hallooed to them to "send a boat
aboard," evidently expecting that the Sacs and Foxes understood
English and were versed in the slang of steamboat captains. As
the Indians did nothing but display their white flag the captain
opened on them with canister shot and musketry, and Ford's
History says that twenty-three Indians were killed by this
"fight." But how 7 the number killed in this affair was ever as-
certained, does not appear. Captain Throckmorton, while
BLACK HAWK WAR. 117
boasting of the "fight," said : "If you ever saw straight blankets,
you could have seen them there."
The next day the army of General Atkinson came on. It was
met some three or four miles from the Indian camp by a party
of about twenty Indians commanded by Black Hawk. Black
Hawk's design was to make a little stand with this small band
and retreat in a different direction from the Indian camp and
thus mislead the whites and give the Indians time to cross the
river. But the little stratagem w r as not successful. The Indian
trail was a little too clear, and the whites followed it up and
charged upon the half-starved remnant of Indians who had not
yet crossed the Mississippi. Of course their charge was success-
ful for the Indians could not hope to seriously oppose them, and
the little half-starved band, which was anxious to surrender, was
mercilessly driven into the river with their squaws and pap-
pooses. Some of them succeeded in swimming across, some
were drowned and some were shot in the water.
There was a strange little incident connected with this fight.
It is given here on the authority of the old pioneer, John Dixon,
who was present :
Not far from where the contest was raging was a little willow
island, separated from the shore by a few rods of water. A
company of regulars, commanded by Captain Reilly, was or-
dered to cross over and occupy the island. Ford's History says
they were driven back by the severe fire of the Indians. The
circumstances were precisely these : The company of regulars
charged into the water, when one of their number was shot
down. They turned back, leaving the poor fellow floundering.
Two soldiers then sprang into the water to bring him out, and
one of them was shot through the head and killed instantly.
Others then jumped into the water for the purpose of bringing
both men out, when still a third was shot down. The soldiers
then kept out of the water altogether. In the meantime they
caught sight of a colored object on the island and fired at it
volley after volley. The next day a small party, among whom
was Mr. John Dixon, crossed over to the island to see how large
a force of Indians had been there. They found that the island
had only been occupied by one Indian, with his squaw and little
pappoose. The colored object which drew the fire of the regu-
118 BLACK HAWK WAR.
lars was a blanket hung up for that purpose; it was shot into
shreds ! The Indian had escaped ; the squaw was dead, being-
shot through the breast; the little pappoose was alive, but his
arm had been broken by the shot which killed his mother. The
little fellow was tenderly cared for at the hospital, but he died
shortly afterwards. The Indian who escaped from the island
swam the Mississippi on a little log. He was tracked up by a
party of Winnebago Indians and soldiers, who found where he
landed with his log. They followed his trail for some distance
when one of the Indians saw him in a tree-top. They tired a
volley at him, and the poor fellow came tumbling down — dead.
The old jealousy between the admirers of General Henry and
those of Major Dodge has made it difficult to learn the truth
with regard to the battle of Bad Axe. Ford's "History of Illinois"
says that the regulars and volunteers commanded by Major Dodge
were led astray by the little party of Indians which met the army
three or four miles from the scene of the fight; and it says that
General Henry, who was jealously placed in the rear with his
brigade, came up, and seeing the mistake of those who were in
the lead, followed the main trail of the Indians and charged
them into the Mississippi. It says further that Henry's brigade
did the most of the fighting, and that General Henry was the
hero of the battle.
From all that can be learned this does not appear to be en-
tirely correct. The regulars were commanded by Colonel
Zachary Taylor, and the Wisconsin volunteers by Major Dodge.
These officers, with General Atkinson, who commanded the en-
tire army, were in the advance, and possibly might have been
drawn a little out of the way by the stratagem of Black Hawk :
but it probably did not interfere very seriously with their move-
ments. The poiut is not one of importance, as very little honor
can be claimed for driving a small band of starved savages into
the river.
While the Black Hawk war was in progress a great many
inducements were held out by the Sacs and Foxes to the Rock
River Winnebagoes to join in the war, and Ford's History tells
us that the Winnebagoes were very treacherous and inclined to
favor Black Hawk. There is no doubt that the Winnebagoes
were very much opposed to the w^ar. Their Indian corn was
BLACK HAWK WAR. 119
destroyed, and it annoyed and harrassed them very seriously.
The Winnebagoes were much opposed to the coming of the Sacs
and Foxes, and gave information concerning them to the whites;
but when the Sacs and Foxes determined to get away and go to
the west of the Mississippi River, the Winnebagoes were will-
ing to assist them a little. Some of the Winnebagoes were no
doubt strongly tempted to join in the war against the whites, as
they feared that some evil might be intended for them. After
the war Deeori, a Winnebago chief, said to General Street : "My
father, many little birds have been flying about our ears of late,
and we thought they whispered to us that evil was intended for
us, but now we hope they will let our ears alone."
On account of the neutrality of the Rock River Winnebagoes
and because they had not been able to raise any corn, the gov-
ernment ordered three thousand rations of flour to be issued to
them during the following winter. This was done by John
Dixon with great care and fidelity.
Our readers would doubtless be glad to know the fate of
Black Hawk. When Black Hawk found that his stratagem to
mislead the whites at the battle of the Bad Axe was unsuccess-
ful, he and his little band of twenty men, among whom were his
son and the chiefs Wishick, iSTaapape and the Prophet, started
northward, and went near the head waters of the Wisconsin
River in the Chippewa country. A band of Indians, composed
of Sioux and Winnebagoes started after them, with the promise
that if Black Hawk and the other chiefs were captured no harm
should be done to them. They captured Black Hawk and
brought him back with his son and the chiefs Wishick, Naapape
and the Prophet, and delivered them up to General Street at
Prairie du Chien. Black Hawk and the chiefs surrendered to
a young Winnebago Indian, called Cheater, and, when they were
given over to General Street, Cheater was allowed to make a
little speech. Among other things he said to General Street:
"My father, near the Dalles, on the Wisconsin River, I took
Black Hawk. No one did it but me. I say this in the ears of
all present ; they know it to be true. My father, I am no chief,
but what I have done is for the benefit of my nation ; and I now
hope for the good that has been promised us. My father, that
one Wabokishick (the Prophet) is my kinsman. If he is hurt, I
120 BLACK HAWK WAR.
do not wish to see it. The soldiers sometimes stick the ends of
their guns into the back of the Indian prisoners when they are
going about in the hands of the guard. I hope this will not be
done to these men."
The good sense and fine feeling shown by this young savage
is unusual, even among white men.
The volunteers were mustered out of service at Dixon, and
they were perfectly willing to go home. They had seen many
fatiguing marches and much severe fighting. When they entered
the army they were as verdant and ignorant of their duties as
can well be imagined. But they learned wisdom by experience,
and when they were mustered out of service they had received
a practical education in the realities of life, which assisted
many of them afterwards to rise to positions of trust and re-
sponsibility.
Peace was concluded with the Sacs and Foxes at Jeflersou
Barracks, below Rock Island. Here were collected all the
chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, both those who had been en-
gaged in war and those who had been at peace. A treaty was
made by which the United States acquired not only all the lands
east of the Mississippi River, but also a large slice of Iowa Ter-
ritory from the Des Moines to the Turkey River. The four
captured chiefs, with Black Hawk's son, were held by the Uni-
ted States as hostages for the faithful execution of this treatv.
At this treaty there were present General Scott, who had come
from Washington with the intention of taking command of the
army and conducting the campaign against the Indians. But his
troops were attacked on the route with the Asiatic cholera, and
he did not arrive until the fight at Bad Axe ended the contest.
Black Hawk and his son were kept nearly a year in captivity,
but on the fourth of June, 1833, they were ordered to be re-
leased. It has been the custom of the government to take every
prominent savage it can catch, around through the country and
show the uncivilized barbarian what a big people the Americans
have become. This is done for the purpose of showing the poor
fellow how hopeless it is to contend against us, so that when he
goes back to his kindred barbarians he will make them keep the
peace, and will tell them that the "long knives" (white men)
are more numerous than the leaves of the forest, the peb-
BLACK HAWK WAR. 121
bles by the riverside, or the stars in the sky. Acting on this
theory the government invested a little money in the traveling
expenses of Black Hawk. It sent him and his son around to
the large cities, to New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and
others. Great crowds turned out to see the hero of the Black
Hawk war. They shook his hand and made a great ado over
him, as Americans always do when they catch a poor savage.
The ladies all admired Black Hawk, junior; they said he was
"perfectly splendid," and one of them actually kissed the little
barbarian before crowds of people. If he had only carried a
cane and parted his hair in the middle he would have driven the
whole of them crazy.
Black Hawk returned to his people, as he greatly desired,
and lived with them in peace for some years after the stormy
times of his campaign in Illinois. He died on the third of Oc-
tober, 1840, and his grave was made on the bank of the Missis-
sippi.
It has been necessary while writing this account of the Black
Hawk war to criticise some of the statements made in relation
to it in Ford's "History of Illinois." This history is a valuable
one : it contains a great deal of information set forth in the
clearest manner. Judge Ford seemed to take pleasure in setting
forth the facts as they were ; and he had a love of poetic justice
and delighted in bringing the truths out of hidden corners. But
his very love of justice sometimes made him a little unjust, and
caused him to exaggerate those faults, which were plain to him.
His "History of Illinois" is invaluable and may be pronounced
one of the greatest works of the age.
A great many men served in the Black Hawk war who af-
terwards became great generals or great statesmen.
General Harney, who was a distinguished officer in the Mex-
ican war, was captain of a company of regulars during the Black
Hawk campaign.
Colonel Edward Baker was a private in the Black Hawk
war. He was afterwards a member of Congress from the north-
ern district of Illinois, and still later was a United States Senator
from Oregon. At the breaking out of the late rebellion he was
very decidedly in favor of coercive measures, and entered the
army as a colonel. He was killed at the battle of Ball's Bluff,
one of the first of the campaign.
122 BLACK HAWK WAR.
John T. Stuart was a private in the volunteer service during
the Black Hawk war. He was afterwards for many years a
member of Congress from Illinois. It was in his law office that
Abraham Lincoln prepared himself to become a member of the
bar. For many years Mr. Stuart was, perhaps, the most influ-
ential man in the State.
General Albert Sidney Johnson was a lieutenant in the reg-
ular army during the Black Hawk war. I have not been able to
find out anything relating to his ability during the hardships of
this Indian campaign. He was an aid to General Atkinson. At
the outbreak of the late rebellion he hesitated for some time as
to the course he should take, and at last decided to go with the
South. He commanded the rebel army at the battle of Shiloh,
and it is a matter of regret that the ability he there displayed
was not employed in a nobler cause. He was killed on the field
of Shiloh, and his death was a severe blow to the rebel cause.
He was a man of fine appearance and splendid talents.
General Zachary Taylor was a Colonel at the beginning of
the Black Hawk w^ar, and was second in command. He was the
leading spirit, and the campaign was conducted according to
his plans. He was breveted a Brigadier during the war against
the Seminoles in Florida, and was made a Major General for his
services at the outbreak of the Mexican war. The subsequent
career of General Taylor is so well known that it is impossible
to add anything to it here. The reputation he acquired in the
Mexican war made him President of the United States.
General Robert Anderson was a young lieutenant in the reg-
ular service during the Black Hawk war. He was a slender,
pale looking young man, and his health seemed very poor. He
was a man who thought a great deal of performing his duty. He
w^as very conscientious, and wished to attend to every duty faith-
fully and religiously. His defence of Fort Sumpter, at the
opening of the rebellion, gave him a national reputation, but the
anxiety to which he was subjected so affected his health that he
was unable to perform any service afterwards. He said himself
that "for several days and nights he had no sleep during those
terrible scenes at the outbreak of the rebellion, and that since
then he has been unable to bear any mental anxiety."
Jefferson Davis was a young lieutenant in the regular army.
BLACK HAWK WAR. 123
He was a Southerner, and did not like the Yankees, but he had
the Yankee trait of inquisitiveness. His curiosity was particu-
larly aroused concerning the Indians, their habits, peculiarities,
and modes of life, and he was continually asking questions
about them. His subsequent life is well known. He was Col-
onel of a Mississippi regiment during the Mexican w r ar. After
the close of that war he made some uncomplimentary remarks
concerning the Illinois troops. This aroused the anger of Col-
onel Bissell, of Illinois, who sent Davis a challenge. The matter
was explained away in some shape, and Mr. Davis apologized so
that the duel never was fought. Mr. Davis was afterwards Uni-
ted States Senator from Mississippi, and still later President of
the Southern Confederacy.
Abraham Lincoln was a private in the volunteer service dur-
ing the Black Hawk war, under the call for thirty days. But
when the call for sixty days was made he had become so popular
by his humorous and pointed stories that he was elected captain
of a company. Mr. John Dixon says that Lincoln was the
pleasantest man he ever knew. In the evening Lincoln would
sit by the camp tire and tell stories until the lights were ordered
out. His stories nearly always illustrated some truth or pointed
some moral. He was decidedly the most popular man in the
army, although he was certainly the most awkward looking.
When he sat around the camp fire with his long arms and legs
twisted up, he appeared to be the worst looking and best natured
backw T oodsman in the volunteer service.
General Scott had very little to do with the Black Hawk war.
He was sent with reinforcements of regular troops to the West,
by way of Chicago, but the Asiatic cholera carried off so many
of them that he was delayed in getting to the seat of war.
General Scott was a very precise and dignified man, and his
dignity and precision gained for him the title of "Fuss and
Feathers." He thought a great deal of his friends, but was cold
and formal to strangers. He loved a good joke almost as well
as Mr. Lincoln, but his jokes were of a different kind. Mr.
John Dixon, who had charge of the cattle belonging to the
army, was introduced to General Scott as the "Major of the
Steer Battalion." General Scott asked very promptly, whether
Major Dixon had any report to make. Mr. Dixon replied with
124 BLACK HAWK WAR.
equal promptness, that one of his command had deserted, eight
had been killed, and sixteen were on parade, and he pointed to
the steers straying around the camp. The General replied :
"Major Dixon, you have deserved well of your country ; you
have suffered more than any other officer in my command."
When Mr. Dixon saw General Scott in "Washington, the lat-
ter, recognizing his friend instantly after eight years of separation,
greeted him warmly as "Major Dixon." It is not necessary to
say anything here of the life of General Scott, as it is written in
the history of his country.
OLD SETTLERS OF M'LEAN COUNTY.
ALLIN . TOWNSHIP.
Presley Thornton Brooks.
Presley T. Brooks was born November 9, 1821, in Hart
County, Kentucky. His father's name was Miles Brooks and
his mother's name before her marriage was Lucy Pulliam. Both
were born in Virginia and were of Scotch or Irish descent.
Miles Brooks volunteered as a soldier in the war of 1812 and
started from home on a campaign, but the war closed and the
troops were discharged.
In the year 1828 Mr. Brooks, si\, sold his property in Ken-
tucky for the purpose of going to Illinois or Missouri. He
started late in the fall of 1828, but stopped in Indiana until
September, 1829, when he came to Illinois. During the winter
of 1829 and '30 he stayed at Clearry's Grove in what was then
Sangamon County, but is now contained in the county of Me-
nard. During that winter he selected and entered land at a
grove which has ever since been called Brooks' Grove, in the
present county of McLean. In February, 1830, Mr. Brooks
moved from Sangamon Countv to Hittle's Grove in Tazewell
Count}-, and on the fourteenth day of March of that year he
moved into a very rough log cabin in Brooks' Grove. The
Brooks family was the first to settle in the present Allin town-
ship. This was before the organization of the county of McLean.
The Indians, wolves and deer seemed to have things all their own
way and were veiy numerous. The Indians were exceedingly
kind and friendly and alwaj's wanted to trade some of their
pappooses for white children.
Mr. Brooks relates nothing remarkable concerning the winter
126 OLD SETTLERS OF
of the deep snow, beyond what is stated in other places in this
volume. The Brooks family was snowbound for six weeks and,
during that time, saw no living persons outside of their own
family circle.
In 1832, when the Black Hawk war occurred, the settlers
were panic-stricken, and Mr. Brooks says : " When old Black
Hawk was captured, there was rejoicing, you better believe."
Mr. Brooks describes the sudden freeze of December, 1836,
and says it came so suddenly that fowls were frozen into the
slush of snow and water, which covered the ground. The west
wind came cold after a thaw " as quick as thought," and the
water and slush became a sheet of ice.
Mr. Brooks had no opportunity to attend school until about
fifteen years of age. During the winter of 1836 and '37 he
boarded about six miles from home and attended school for
about six weeks. During the next summer he went to school
for three months and his education was finished. Money was
valuable in the early days. Mr. Brooks went to Chicago in
1846, and one dollar paid all of his expenses. But as he camped
out during the trip this does not appear so wonderful. In the
fall of 1847 Mr. Brooks made a visit to his native hills in Ken-
tucky and returned with his sister's family to Illinois.
The people of Allin township seem to take pleasure in em-
ploying the services of Mr. Brooks in the various township
offices. He has been constable, justice of the peace and super-
visor, and has been elected to these offices without opposition
and in some cases against his will. At one time he refused to
qualify as a justice of the peace, when his townsmen held a
special meeting and chose him once more, and he consented to
act. He has been school treasurer, assessor and collector, and
if a new office could be invented in Allin township Mr. Brooks
would, in all probability, be called to fill it.
On the twenty-ninth of December, 1842, Mr. Brooks married
Miss Eliza Silvey Larison, and in April following began keeping
house at Brooks' Grove. There Mr. Brooks had built a frame
house, one of the first in the township. In November, 1870,
the Brooks family moved to Stanford where they have resided
ever since. His son-in-law, William J. Haines, lives on the old
farm. Mr. Brooks has had ten children, of whom eight are
m'lean county. 127
living. Tbev are : Mali n da Catherine, wife of William Haines :
Miles Brooks, one of the partners of the firm of Brooks & Son ;
Mary, wife of George W. Kaufrnann, who resides half a mile
northwest of Stanford ; Ahel Brooks is a teacher, and lives at
home; Rachel B., Lucy Ann B., Millie Frances B., and Eliza
Ellen B., the pet, live at home.
As to personal appearance, Mr. Brooks is five feet, nine
inches, in height, well set, wears glasses when he reads and
writes. His hair is turning gray, hut he has plenty of it ; he has
a short aquiline nose and blue eyes. He has been very successful
in life, which is due in a great measure to his wife.
Greenberry Larison.
Greenberry Larison was born January 21, 1810, in Bloom
township, Morgan County, Ohio, on the banks of the Mus-
kingum River. The ancestors of his father, Abel Larison, came
from Holland, and were among the earliest settlers in New York.
His mother's ancestors settled in Maryland at an early day, but
Mr. Larison does not remember from what country they origi-
nally came. The Larison family is very large. There is now
in New York a large property, worth perhaps eight millions of
dollars which it is thought, belongs to the Larison family ; but
matters are so mixed that it is doubtful whether they will receive
any benefit from it. It consists of some real estate which was
leased for ninety-nine years. The term of the lease expired five
or six years ago, but the difficulty now is to find all the heirs
and to prove their right. Henry Ward Beecher's church stands
upon one of the lots comprised in the real estate claimed by the
Larison family.
There were ten children in the Larison family, five bovs and
five girls; Greenberry was the oldest boy. The little education
he received was obtained in a log school house, where he at-
tended about three months in the year up to the age of seven-
teen or eighteen. He was a pretty bright scholar, as good as
there was in the settlement. He learned reading, writing, spell-
ing and geography, and was taught to cipher up to the rule of
three: but grammar was badly neglected.
When Mr. Larison was seventeen years of age he killed his
first deer. The circumstances were these. There was a pretty
128 OLD SETTLERS OF
maid at his father's house, and though Greenberry was then
young he wished to do something manly and chivalrous. He
took his father's gun and went hunting, and when about a mile
and a half from home he killed a deer, a tine buck. The happy
youth cut off the head of the deer, put a stick through its neck
and dragged it home in triumph, and succeeded in getting there
before the pretty maid had left, The name of the charming
maiden was Araline Whitehead, but a few years afterwards it
was changed to Mrs. Larison.
When Mr. Larison was sixteen years of age he had shown
himself very bold and venturesome on the water, and had found
some valuable articles and parts of cargoes, which had been
lost from fiatboats which had been wrecked on the river. He
hunted among the drifts and became so skillful that at the age
of sixteen he "followed the river." This is a rough life, and
the boatsmen are the hardest of characters. On the Muskingum
River merchandise was floated on fiatboats. These fiatboats
were sixty or seventy feet in length and eighteen or twenty feet
wide, and were loaded with merchandise until they sank two or
three feet in the water. It can very readily be seen that they
were unwieldy, and in order to move them a hundred feet across
the current the boatmen were obliged to let them float a half
mile or more. Unless the boatmen were skillful they could not
stop or hitch up their flatboat along the shore. A rope thrown
from the boat around a tree would soon tighten up and snap in
two. In order to manage their craft the boatmen were obliged
to know the river and understand all the currents and shoals and
eddies. If they wished to stop their boat they tried to run it
into still water, or, better than this, into an eddv, and gradually
bring the unwieldy craft ashore. Sometimes the boat was car-
ried by the current on rocks, or crowded into shore on some log
and a hole torn in the side or bottom. When such a misfortune
happened the boat was sure to sink, and the merchandise was
of course pretty widely distributed by the water. Some of it
would be carried down stream or sunk in an eddy, or caught in
a drift. It was in hunting for articles of merchandise lost from
sunken flatboats that Mr. Larison learned the river and acquired
skill in the management of water crafts. He followed the river
for some years, whenever the Muskingum was not frozen too
m'lean county. I2i>
hard for flatboats to run, and lie learned all the currents and
eddies.
But he was not destined to be a flatboatrnan all his life. At
the age of twenty he married Araline Whitehead, the handsome
young lady who had captivated his affections a few years before.
This interesting event took place on the first of April, 1830.
In the fall of that year Mr. Abel Larison came West with all of
the family except Greenberry, and settled at Kickapoo, near
what is now called the village of Waynesville. It was not until
April, 1831, that Greenberry Larison came to Illinois. He came
by water and landed at Pekin. He had, in coming up the river,
been carried past this place up to Fort Clark (Peoria), but came
back to Pekin, and from there across to Kickapoo, where his
father lived. His father had bought three claims, those of Wil-
liam and James Murphy and Josiah Harp. The latter claim
was given up to Greenberry Larison on his arrival. At that
time he had a five franc piece in his pocket, a bed, and cooking
utensils enough for his young wife to cook their scanty meal.
He settled on the farm without a horse, cow, pig, sheep or goat.
There was on the place a curiosity in the shape of a wooden
grindstone. It had been made probably by Josiah Harp, from
whom the claim had been bought. When made it was of green
wood, and had sand and fine gravel pounded into it. When it
had seasoned, the sand and gravel were held fast, and though it
did not sharpen an axe very well or put on a fine edge it would
give it a lively scratching. The grindstone was a very important
article always. Mr. Larison was obliged to go sixteen miles from
his place to 'Squire Gates', in Blooming Grove, on the farm now
known as the Kitchel farm, to get his axes sharpened.
Mr. Larison worked hopefully though he expected and re-
ceived many set-backs. In the fall of the year in which he came
West he had become wealthy enough to own a fine litter of six
pigs, but, during the second night after this sudden wealth had
been thrust upon him, the prairie wolves came up within thirty
feet of his house and captured the youthful porkers and they
were never heard of more. " Riches take to themselves wings
and fly away." But Mr. Larison did not despair; during the
fall he bought a cow on credit agreeing to pay for her by the
following Christmas. He made the money to pay for her bv
9
130 OLD SETTLERS OF
cutting cord-wood at twenty-five cents a cord from the logs lying
where Mr. Scott now lives. He also made rails for Mr. William
Murphy at thirty-three cents per hundred and boarded himself
and walked three miles to work.
He had in the early days some slight opportunity for seeing
and understanding the Indians. In the fall of 1831 some In-
dians came to William Murphy and offered him a little Indian
girl five years of age for four bushels of ground wheat, but he
declined the offer. When Mr. Larison heard of this he was
astonished and anxious to get the child and willing to give the
wheat. He asked Murphy why he refused the bargain, and the
latter, having had some experience and knowledge of the In-
dians, replied that they would soon return and steal the little
girl away.
The season of 1831 was cool and short and few of the farm-
ers raised good corn. The winter previous Avas the winter of
the deep snow, and the climate was so chilled that the effect was
felt during the whole season of 1831. There was a frost every
month in the year and the corn could not ripen. It was so
worthless that seed corn could not be gathered to plant during
the following season. In the spring of 1832 nearly all the seed
corn was brought from Ohio and Kentucky and sold for two and
a half dollars per bushel and sometimes for more. John Duffy
of Randolph Grove brought on a lot of small yellow corn that
matured early and this is yet called the Duffy corn.
Mr. Larison was a great hunter. Although the game was
made comparatively scarce by the winter of the deep snow, yet
the skillful hunter could find it. The big game was deer and
turkey and it was well worthy of the hunter's exertious. Mr.
Larison says that he has killed " a power of deer and turkey."
Mr. Larison worked hard for two years on his farm at Kicka-
poo and then removed to Bloomington and bought out a drink-
ing saloon. In those days saloons were patronized by nearly
every one and the saloon-keeper was one of the most honored
members of society. It is said that Abraham Lincoln once sold
liquor at retail when he first came to Illinois. Some years after-
wards when Lincoln took the stump against Judge Douglas, the
latter alluded to Lincoln's calling in early western times; but
Lincoln retorted that while he had officiated in one capacity on
m'lean county. 131
one side of the bar, Judge Douglas had officiated in the other
capacity on the other side !
In 1835 Mr. Larison ran for constable at the solicitation of
his old friend, General Gridley, and was fortunate enough to be
elected. He served in that capacity for five years, and in 1840
was elected sheriff of McLean County for two years. He was
the third sheriff of the county, but he was the first one who took
a prisoner to the penitentiary. The prisoner, whose name was
Webb, had been arrested by Larison for passing counterfeit
money. He was one of that numerous band of counterfeiters
and burglars that infected the western country, and had just ar-
rived from the Rock River Valley. As soon as the prisoner was
remanded to jail a certain individual of Bloomington began to
plot to release him, for the band of thieves had agents in every
town. But Mr. Larison "got wind" of this little arrangement
and carefully guarded the jail, and had the pleasure of seeing
Webb tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for five
years. Mr. Larison carried the counterfeiter to Alton, and has
every reason to suppose that for five years he did the State sub-
stantial service.
Occasionally the early settlers enjoyed themselves by dancing
and the pleasures of society. At these pleasant gatherings Mi-.
Larison was usually the fiddler, and he did what he could to
make things lively. Judge Davis was a great dancer in those
days, and could step around very lively, but he was not quite so
heavy as at the present time. About five years ago some peo-
ple in Bloomington got up a dance in the style of the early days.
Mr. Larison acted in the capacity of fiddler, and the company
had a grand time.
In 1850 Mr. Larison was anxious for a chance to hunt, and
went to California with a company of sixty persons. They had
a great time of it, and Mr. Larison did not return for two years.
While crossing the plains they came upon the great game of the
West, buffaloes. Some of the party mounted their horses and
started for them. The buffaloes, of course, made as good time
as they could to get out of the way. Mr. Larison did not have
his own horse near, so he borrowed one with little ceremony,
and started. He soon came across a buffalo which had taken
refuge in a hollow, and gave chase. He rode up by the side of
132 OLD SETTLERS OF
it and was about to shoot when the ferocious beast turned upon
him and, to make matters more troublesome, his horse refused
to get out of the way or move until the buffalo was within
about fifteen feet of him. But when the horse saw the danger
he sprang out of the way. Shortly afterwards Mr. Larison dis-
mounted and shot the buifalo, but did not kill it. John W.
Dawson, after snapping a few caps at the animal, held Larison's
horse while the latter tried again and succeeded in bringing the
buffalo down. They had a great many interesting adventures.
When they came to Sweetwater they heard of a place a few
miles above them called Devil's Gate. It seems to be a ledge of
rock cut through by the washing of water. It is about two hun-
dred feet high and not far from perpendicular. Near the top of
this ledge Fremont made his sign, and of course all persons who
pass that way must do the same and gain for themselves a cheap
notoriety. The most of the company went to the top by a wide
circuit, but William Hodge (a son of W. H. Hodge) climbed up
this ledge of rock two hundred feet, almost perpendicularl}-, and
when he came within twenty or thirty feet of the top he found
it so steep that it seemed impossible to go further, and equally
impossible to retreat. In order to climb the remaining short
distance the young man pulled off his boots and threw them up
to the top. One of them landed safely, while the other tumbled
down two hundred feet to the bottom. But the vounsr man sue-
ceeded in getting to the top. jS t ow it so happened that a party
from the company went to visit the Devil's Gate and while there
were suddenly astonished by a boot which dropped down among
them. They carried it to camp and found young Hodge coming
in barefoot. He had dropped one boot and thinking the other
of no use threw it away. Mr. Larison had a little experience of
this kind. He tried to climb a steep ledge, and when part way
up, at a giddy height, he found it impossible to retreat, and a
little green bush growing from a crevice in the rock was all that
made it possible for him to proceed.
Mr. Larison was a hundred and four days on the plains. On
his route he found many things new and strange. He saw In-
dians, of course, but during his trip he saw a new variety, the
Digger Indians. They live in holes in the ground, and this cir-
cumstance has given them their name. They are the lowestin the
m'lean county. 133
scale of humanity, and are as innocent of clothing as Adam and
Eve in the Garden before the fall. They show very little inge-
nuity, and rely upon their bows and arrows to kill their game.
Sometimes they build brush fences a half a mile or more in
length. Two of these fences converge and form an acute angle
with a small opening in the angle. The Indians then collect in
large numbers and drive deer and other game between these
fences, and as it comes out at the angle parties of Indians shoot
it down with arrows.
While in California Mr. Larison transported goods from the
sea-coast inland about one hundred and fifty miles to the mines,
which were between the summits of the mountains and the val-
leys. There he traded groceries and provisions to the miners.
But it was during the season of 1850 and '51 when there was a
drouth. During the winter when rain was expected it continued
perfectly dry, and the miners could not wash their gold. They
had great heaps of earth piled up ready to be washed when the
rain should come and the water should flow down the moun-
tains. But the rain did not come, the miners were "dead
broke," and Mr. Larison lost about twelve hundred dollars in
his speculation. He then left and went to mining, but it was a
year before he made enough money to bring himself home.
The society in California was hard, there was no safety for
life or property, and that man was in danger who had money or
a good mule. The miners had a very sure way of stealing
mules. When a stranger came along with a good mule, some
tough old miner would claim that he had lost the mule a few
months before, that it had been stolen, and he would bring up
four or Ave of his companions who would swear to his state-
ment. The stranger was brought before a justice, who ot
course was obliged to decide in accordance with the weight ot
evidence and give the miner the mule ! Mr. Lnrison bought a
very fine mule at Rough and Ready. It was a splendid creature,
coal black, with three Spanish brands. It was sure-footed, and
would pick its way carefully with its heavy load through the
dangerous defiles and over the mountains. After traveling two
hundred miles, and having kept it for a long time he sold the
mule to Solomon Baker for seventy dollars. Baker enjoyed
possession of the animal but a very short time. He was incau-
134 OLD SETTLERS OF
tious enough to leave bis companions, and before long a stalwart
miner laid claim to tbe mule and brought on a gang of villains
who all swore the animal away from the unfortunate Baker.
The latter came back on Larison, who, in turn, was obliged to
refund the seventy dollars and pay also twelve dollars costs for
the crime of having owned a pretty black mule ! But some-
times this little game does not work. Occasionally the owner
of the mule has proof unexpectedly near. One of the party
happened to be riding a mule ten miles from Rough and Ready,
when a hard-looking character claimed the animal and said he
could produce his witnesses at Rough and Ready. The owner
said "come right along," he had some witnesses there too. This
rather astonished the strange claimant, and he concluded he had
" struck the wrong lead."
When Mr. Larison had made enough money by mining to
come home he left the hard societ}* of California. He was de-
lighted with the climate, and would have been glad to have lived
there if it had not been for the lawless people who first settled
in that golden country.
Mr. Larison is a man of rather less than medium height and
not heavily built. In his younger days he was heavier, but he
had a severe attack ot erysipelas and has never since been so
health}' and strong. His eyes are small, but show good
sense. His hair and beard are becoming a little gray with
age. He seems to be a man of very good judgment. He has
plenty of courage, and it is safe to say that he has never aban-
doned any enterprise on account of fear. He is very cheerful,
and his conversation is very interesting, particularly when he
talks of early days.
Mr. Larison has had nine children, of whom seven are
living. They are :
James M. and Lee Larison, live in Bloomington.
Sarah, wife of A. S. Tompkins, lives in Hittle's Grove, Taze-
well County.
Melinda F., wife of Henry C. Fell, lives in Xornial.
George AY. Larison lives in Arrowsmith township.
Greenberry Larison, jr. lives one mile northwest of his father.
John, familiarly called Jack, lives at home.
m'lean county. 135
Richard A. Warlow.
Richard A. Warlow, sou of Benjamin Warlow, was born
March 20, 1822, in Oneida County, New York. The family
moved to Ohio, and in the fall of 1834 they came to Dry Grove,
McLean County, Illinois. There they settled on a farm bought
by Joshua Bond, an uncle to Richard. The family soon became
acquainted with the people in the West, and during the fall of
their arrival had a great corn-husking frolic. The inconven-
iences of the country were severely felt, and Mrs. Warlow
often said she would be perfectly satisfied if she could only have
what wheat bread she wished to eat. The paradise on earth
would be prepared, if she could have an unlimited supply of
wheat bread.
Mr. Warlow sustains all that has been said of the great
change in the weather of 1836, and speaks of the geese which
he saw frozen fast to the ice which covered the ground.
In the fall of 1836 Mr. Warlow, si\, entered land a little
north of Brown's Grove. There he built a little cabin of split
logs, roughly notched and fitted and covered with bark. In
this cabin three of the Warlow boys lived for a while, and cut
rail timber and hauled it out of the grove. In February the
family, which then numbered eight, moved down to their log
cabin, which was twelve by fourteen feet. This cabin was near
the place where R. A. Warlow now resides, in Allin township.
Mr. Warlow's opportunities for obtaining an education have
not been good. For two winters he attended school in Dry
Grove. After he was twenty-one years of age he boarded and
attended a subscription school at Dry Grove for twenty days,
but at that time the school-house burned dowu and his school days
were ended. When he began work for himself he engaged in
various occupations ; he worked at pump making ; for many
years he ran a threshing machine, and for a short time he at-
tended to a saw-mill. He was handy at everything and suc-
ceeded well.
Mr. Warlow tells a pretty hard story of the prices of things
in early days. In the year 1844 he attended a sale of stock at
Dry Grove, and there bid off' a yearling steer for $3.50 and was
allowed one year's credit. After keeping it for a year or more
he sold it for nine dollars ! II. A. Warlow obtained his start by
136 OLD SETTLERS OF
raising corn and selling it in the neighborhood for twelve and a
half cents per bushel. With money so obtained he bought the
Clark estate at Stout's Grove. It consisted of about one hun-
dred and thirteen acres, and he paid four hundred dollars for
it. He afterwards sold oufin order to enter land at Brown's
Grove; but when he was ready to enter, the land office was
closed. The charter had been passed for building the Illinois
Central Railroad, and no land was sold until the company had
selected what belonged to it. But when the Illinois Central
Company at last obtained its land the remainder of the unen-
tered government land was all sold at once. When the sale
took place the speculators were numerous. They would allow a
farmer to buy a hundred and sixty acres of land for a farm, but
this was all. If the farmer attempted to buy more they would
bid up on the land until he was driven off altoo-ether. Mr.
Warlow afterwards bought land of the railroad company, and
now owns six or seven hundred acres. He has been once burned
out, and has lost* some money by becoming security, but other-
wise has had good fortune. The good luck, which always at-
tends the careful and industrious farmer, has been w T ith him, and
he is prosperous.
Mr. Warlow married Miss Lavinia Bosarth, April 29, 1849.
He has had seven children, all of which are living. They are :
Leslie, John, Belle, Ellen, Julia, Charlie and Annie.
Mr. Y\ arlow is six feet and an inch and a half in height, is
rather spare but muscular. He has dark and rather straight
hair and dark eyes. His features are prominent, and his face is
somewhat long. He is a good-natured man and very kind. He
attends to his business, sees quickly what will pay, and manages
all of his affairs well. He is very straightforward in his deal-
ings.
Jonx B. Thompson.
John B. Thompson was born January 31, 1790, in Culpepper
County, Virginia. His father's name was William Thompson
and was of French descent. William Thompson enlisted in the
Continental army when only sixteen years vf age, and served
until the close of the revolutionary stru«;°-le. William was
sometimes up to his capers, and one little trick which he played
m'lean county. 137
came very near winding up his career as a soldier, lie by some
means obtained possession of two kegs of powder, which had
been wet and were taken out to dry. He tired them with a slow
match, and the excitement which followed may be imagined.
The soldiers of the entire camp were called into line, and great
efforts were made to discover the perpetrator of the trick, but
without success. William Thompson was in a number of severe
engagements. When the war was ended and peace declared, he
returned to his farm. He became a minister of the gospel of
the Baptist denomination, and lived to a ripe old age. He was
married to Elizabeth Gardner, who was born in Albemarle
County, Virginia, but who was of Irish descent.
In 1805 the Thompson family moved to Madison County,
Kentucky, and in 1812 they moved to Boone County, same
State. On the 24th of June, 1813, John B. Thompson was mar-
ried to Polly Steers, who was born August 4, 1791, and was of
Irish parentage. He remained in Boone County until Septem-
ber, 1829, when he determined to seek a home in the far West.
He was not in affluent circumstances, and he did not like to live
in the midst of slavery and bring up a family there. His outfit
consisted of a four-horse wagon, one yoke of oxen, a few cows,
and a little money. After a journey of twenty days he pitched
his tent on the Mackinaw, about five miles east of where Lex-
ington now stands. After looking around in various places he
at last settled in the old Delaware Indian Town, situated on the
banks of the Mackinaw. Many of the Indian lodges were then
standing, and he used them for stabling and other purposes.
The appearance and prospects of the country were not then very
bright, as the people were obliged to go long distances for the
necessaries of life. They were obliged to go nearly a hundred
miles to mill. Mr. Thompson's house was a large sized log
cabin, with a clapboard roof, and greased paper windows. When
the " mansion " was built, Mr. Thompson went to Orendorff 's
mill, down on Sugar Creek, and, in his absence, as the family
was without breadstuff's, it was necessary for the children to
grate and pound the corn to make the meal.
During the spring of 1830 Mr. Thompson was very busy com-
pleting an improvement on his farm. It seems that when the
Indians were there, they had cut down many trees for the pur-
138 OLD SETTLERS OF
pose of burning the tops, and in some places had cut enough to
make a little Indian farm or patch for growing corn. With this
clearing Mr. Thompson had about fifteen acres under cultivation
and raised a fair crop during the first season.
During the latter part of December, 1830, Mr. Thompson,
with his brother-in-law, John Steers, each with a team, started
to mill. They had been gone only a few days when the deep
snow began to fall. Not anticipating the great storm, they kept
on -their course, obtained their loads of meal and returned to
within eleven miles of home. By this time the snow became so
deep, that they were compelled to leave one of their wagons and
double their teams to an ox-cart, in order to travel. They each
took a sack of meal and succeeded in reaching home. But this
did not last long, and the families were obliged to pound corn
during the remainder of the winter, though they had plenty of
meal only eleven miles distant. While the snow was on the
ground, Mr. Thompson made an unsuccessful attempt to go to
Indian Grove, a distance of ten miles, to see his brother-in-law,
Martin Darnell, who was the only settler there. Mr. Thompson
did not make another attempt to go there until the deep snow
was partly melted, when he and John Henline were successful
in making their way to the grove. The Darnell family were in
good health, but had lost the day of the week, and were ob-
serving Saturday as the Lord's day of rest.
The Mackinaw is a very uncertain stream, and sometimes
rises very high, and Mr. Thompson built a canoe to be used in
this stream when it overflowed its channel. It was used several
years for this purpose until a bridge was built.
During the year 1831, many people came to the western
country; the older settlements were strengthened and new ones
were formed. Society was then forming, election districts were
formed and officers were chosen. During that year Mr. Thomp-
son was elected justice of the peace, and served in this capacity
for eight years. He assisted in the organization of the county
and was one of the first grand jurors. He was at Bloomington
when the county seat was located, and saw the stakes driven
with a " nigger head " mall.
During the Black Hawk war in 1832, the settlers on the
Mackinaw were very much afraid of an attack by the Kicka-
m'lean county. 139
poos, who had a camp at Indian Grove, and a fort was builtat
the house of John Henline to afford protection. A full descrip-
tion of this matter is given in other sketches, and it is unneces-
sary to repeat it here.
The early settlers were not immortal, and occasionally had a
funeral, and this of course made the services of an undertaker
very convenient. Mr. Thompson made coffins out of lumber
dressed down from split puncheons.
In 1834 immigration to Illinois was strong, and all comers
met with a hearty welcome at their cabins. But money was
liable to great fluctuation, as the land was in market, and settlers
made great efforts to collect money enough to enter their im-
proved claims. This they were sometimes unable to do, and
their improvements were in some cases sold at a great sacrifice.
John B. Thompson is a man of fine appearance, rather above
the medium height, with dark complexion and dark eyes. His
head is a little bald ; his hair, which in his younger days was
very black, is now partly gray; in walking his step is quick, but
not so buoyant as formerly ; he retains his original vigor of
mind, is a fluent talker, and while speaking of the country and
telling how "it used to be," he is very animated and earnest. It
is said of him that " he is quite a young man, to be nearly
eighty-one years of age."
On the twentieth of April, 1873, the wife of Mr. Thompson
died, after a happy married life of nearly sixty years. All of
their living children, seven in number, were present at their
mother's funeral. They are :
Eliza Travis, born March 31, 1814.
William II. Thompson, born January 12, 1818.
Simson E. Thompson, born February 29, 1820.
James F. Thompson, born September 13, 1822.
Cirenia J. Cunningham, born October 3, 1824.
David L. Thompson, born January 20, 1827.
George W. Thompson, born September 11, 1832.
Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have had three children who are
now dead, making thus in all a family of ten children.
140 old settlers of
Jacob Smith.
Jacob Smith was born April 21, 1821, in Switzerland County,
Indiana. His father's name was Charles Smith, and his mother's
name before her marriage was Elizabeth Adams. Charles Smith
was of Irish descent; that of his wife Elizabeth is not known.
Charles Smith was not confined to one occupation. He was
sometimes a farmer and sometimes a flatboatman on the Ohio
River. He was a captain in the militia and held this position
until death, which occurred in the fall of 1832. During the spring
of 1833 the Smith family of seven children, four girls and three
boys, came with their mother to the head of the Mackinaw,
about five miles above where Lexington now is. Their journey
was a hard one, as it was rainy and muddy. They broke down
on one Sunday, and an old Quaker on his way to church stopped
and helped them to mend the wagon. That was the way the
spirit moved him. They bought a claim of one hundred and
sixty acres of land, with a cabin on it and twelve acres fenced
and broke. But during the latter part of the summer the family
took the ague; it was a family affair and all came down with it.
This discouraged them so much that in the fall of the year they
went back to Indiana. There they remained a year, and in De-
cember, 1834, started again for Illinois. At Indianapolis it
began snowing and continued until eight inches of snow covered
the ground. They stopped in an old shanty for a week, b} r
which time the roads became broken and smooth and they again
started on their journey. When they came near Terre Haute
they found it difficult to get a place to stop, but at last a good
man named Steele took them and charged them nothing for
entertainmeut. When they arrived at Cheney's Grove they had
twenty-five cents in money, which they used to buy a bushel of
corn meal. They went on to the head of the Mackinaw, where
they stayed one year and then moved back to Cheney's Grove,
where they made a permanent location. Mr. Smith has lived
near Cheney's Grove ever since. For the last twenty-eight or
nine years he has lived on his place, about a mile west of the
grove, in Arrowsmith township. He farmed for a while on old
Jonathan Cheney's place. For a long time he was not rich
enough to afford a strap for a line with which to guide his horses,
but used linn bark.
m'lean county. 141
Mr. Smith has hunted deer, wolves and wild hogs. The lat-
ter he considers very dangerous game, as their tusks grow out
long, forming the most effective weapons for fighting. At one
time, while hunting, he saw a dog take a wild hog by the ear;
but the hog threw up its snout and struck its tusk into the
breast of the dog, penetrating to the heart at one stroke, killing
the dog instantly.
Mr. Smith married in April, 1842, Rosanna Neweom. He
has had seven children, but only three are living.
Ethan Allen Smith, the eldest son, enlisted in the 116th Illi-
nois Volunteers, during the late war, and died at Memphis,
Tenn., of typhoid fever.
Charles W., Annie J. and Joseph Smith live at the home-
stead with their father. Albert, Mary Ellen and Lucinda J.
Smith are dead.
Mr. Smith is about five feet and eleven inches in height, has
brown hair, rather gray whiskers, and light grayish-blue eyes.
He is broad-shouldered and very muscular. He has worked
hard, has saved his earnings and never gone security for any
one. He would rather pay a debt or lend the money than go
security for it. He has never sued any one or been sued. He
has a fine farm, well arranged, and certainly ought to enjoy life.
BLOOMINGTON TOWNSHIP.
John Hendrix.
John Hendrix was born December 9, 1790, in Virginia. His
parents were Susannah and William Hendrix. The Hendrix
family moved to Champaigu County, Ohio, and there John
Hendrix married Jane Britton, in about the year 1813 or 1814.
In the fall of 1821 John Hendrix and John W. Dawson came
with their families to Sangamon County, Illinois, where they
arrived about Christmas time, and there remained during the
wi nter. In April, 1822, the Hendrix family came to what is
now called Blooming Grove. Mr. Dawson came with them, but
left his family in Sangamon County. An old man named Segar
was also with the company. Mr. Hendrix settled on the place
now owned by Oliver II. P. Orendorff. This was the first set-
tlement made within the limits of the present McLean County.
142 OLD SETTLERS OF
Mr.- Hendrix was therefore the first white settler with a family,
and Mrs. Hendrix was the first white woman, who set foot upon
this soil. Mr. Segar also made a claim and commenced work
upon a place which he sold to William Orendorff. Mr. Dawson
brought his family shortly afterwards and settled where Mr. Cox
now lives. This was just north of Segar's, afterwards Oren-
dorff's claim. The Hendrix and Dawson families lived about
one mile apart, and visited each other every Sunday. Indeed
they seemed two branches of one family. They could see no
one else and they formed a world for themselves. The Hendrix
family was very religious. Mr. Hendrix was a member of the
Methodist Church and his house was for many years a preach-
ing place for that denomination. The first sermon preached in
what is now McLean County was delivered in 1823, in Mr. Hen-
drix's house, by James Stringfield from Kentucky, an uncle to
Squire A. M. Stringfield of Randolph's Grove. Mr. Hendrix
was for many years previous to his death a class-leader in the
church. He was an industrious man and accumulated enough
property to enable him to live in comfort. He never became
wealthy, for he died before the land became valuable. Mr.
Hendrix had eight children, of whom five lived to be grown.
They are :
Nathan Evans Hendrix, who now lives in Monroe County,
Iowa.
William Hendrix, who lives in Placerville, Eldorado County,
California. He has been there since 1850.
Elizabeth, wife of Hiram Harbert, who died in 1842.
John Britton Lewis Hendrix, who lives in Monroe County,
Iowa.
Sarah Lovina Sales Hendrix, now Mrs. Orendorff, lives at
Blooming Grove.
Mr. Hendrix was rather above the medium stature and
weighed perhaps one hundred and sixty pounds. His hair was
rather dark and his eyes blue. He was very quiet in his man-
ner, was always ready to do a favor, indeed always glad to do
so. He died on the farm where he made his early settlement
and was buried there.
m'lean county. 143
John Wells Dawson.
John W. Dawson was born March 9, 1792, on a farm near
Maysville, Kentucky. His father was of English descent and
his mother was of Welch. He belonged to a family of eight
children. His parents died when he was quite young. He
served in the war of 1812 as a wagon-master. A few months
after peace was declared he married Ann Cheney, who was born
September 17, 1794, in Kentucky. John W. Dawson lived for
some time in Alabama and afterwards in Clark County, Ohio.
From the latter place he came with John Hendrix to Sangamon
County, Illinois, in the fall of 1821, arriving about Christmas
time. Their journey lasted six weeks. It was at times unpleas-
ant because of the swamps, the wolves often came howling
around them, particularly while cooking, but they came through
safely at last. On the road they killed turkeys, prairie chickens
and deer. In April, 1822, John W. Dawson came with John
Hendrix and his family to Blooming Grove. The family of Mr.
Dawson remained in Sangamon County at the house of Evans
Britton, an uncle of Mrs. Hendrix. This was on account of the
sickness of Mrs. Dawson. Sometime in June the family came
on to Blooming Grove and made a permanent settlement on a
farm now owned by David Cox about one mile from Hendrix's
place. Here he remained four years, and the settlers came in
rapidly. In March, 182^ he sold out for four hundred dollars
and moved to Old TotM timber. The land was not then in
market, and when he sold his farm it was simply the claim and
improvement to which he gave title. He made a settlement at
Old Town timber on one hundred and sixty acres ; but when
the land came in market he entered nine hundred. It is now
all cut up into farms.
Mrs. John W. Dawson was a jovial and witty woman. At
one time while Harrison and Van Buren were candidates for
president, an opponent of General Harrison declared that the
latter had mismanaged his men at the battle of Tippecanoe, and
that they were nearly all killed. " Oh no," said Mrs. Dawson,
"enough are left to elect him." The stranger gazed at her for
some time and then concluded to drop the discussion of political
questions. Mrs. Dawson thought a great deal of her neighbors
and liked to visit them. People, who lived a long distance
144 OLD SETTLERS OF
away, were neighbors. On a very cold day Mrs. Dawson mount-
ed a horse and started with her babe in her arms to visit a friend
ten miles distant. On her way she met a stranger, who came
to look over the country. " Arn't you afraid of freezing ?" said
the stranger. " No," said Mrs. Dawson, "I am only going over
to the neighbors."
During the winter of the deep snow the Dawson family lived
happily, pounded their corn, of course, but had flour which
lasted until March. Mr. Dawson amused himself during that
long winter by teasing an elderly maiden lady and a bachelor
by making propositions to unite them in the holy bonds of
matrimony. His efforts were unsuccessful.
Mr. John Hendrix sometimes hauled goods for James Allin
from Pekin. At one time, when he arrived at Bloomington,
Mr. Allin examined the bill of lading and asked "Where is the
box of fish ?" " The fish were spoiled," said Mr. Hendrix, "and
smelt fearfully, and I threw off" the box at Mackinaw timber."
"Why, Mr. Hendrix, they were codfish. Don't you know that
codfish always smell.'"' Hendrix returned for the box.
In about the year 1853 Mr. Dawson moved to Iowa about four
miles from Fort Dodge. Only his wife and his youngest daugh-
ter went with him. He died there on the 7th of October, 1865,
and his wife died during the fall of 1871.
Henry Dawson, who lives in Indianola, Iowa ; Maria, who
married Owen Cheney, who died some years ago. She is now
the wife of Mr. William Paist of Bloomington.
John Dawson, whose sketch appears in this volume. Isaac
Dawson, who was born in Sangamon County, when the family
first came to Illinois. He is now dead. Nancy Jane, wife <>t"
William Harrison of Old Town, died some vears since.
Lucinda, wife of Dr. A. H. Luce, lives in Bloomington.
Mary, wife of Daniel Stine, lives in Olathe, Johnson County,
Kansas.
Clarinda, wife of Alexander Miller, lives in De Sota, John-
son County, Kansas.
Lewis Dawson died six or seven }-ears ago.
Martha Ann, wife of Sillman Sherman, lives at Fort Dodge,
Iowa.
John W. Dawson had ten children,^)!' whom nine lived to be
grown. They are :
m'lean county. 145
John W. Dawson was of medium size, was heavy set, had
black hair and black eyes and weighed one hundred and sixty
or seventy pounds. He was very hospitable, and strangers
always found a home there.
John Dawson, (of Bloomington.)
Among the earliest and best known settlers in McLean
County was John Dawson. John Dawson was born August 14,
1819, on Buck Creek Farm, Clark County, Ohio. His ancestors
were from old English and Welch stock, his grandfather, Henry
Dawson, having emigrated from the old country at a very early
day. Both his grandfather and his father, John Wells Dawson,
were farmers, and from their out-of-door life acquired healthy,
rugged constitutions. There were ten children in the Dawson
family, six girls and four boys. One of the boys, the eldest son,
now resides at Indianola, Iowa. He, too, is a pioneer.
John Wells Dawson came with his family to Sangamon
County, Illinois, in the year 1821, about Christmas time, young
John Dawson being then only three years old. In April, 1822,
John W. Dawson and John Hendrix and family came to Bloom-
ing Grove about four miles from the present city of Blooming-
ton and built three shanties. The present farm of David Cox
and that of the widow of John Cox were Mr. Dawson's property.
Hendrix settled one mile west of this, at a place now known as
the Orendorff farm. It was here that they had a lively experi-
ence with " Lo," the poor Indian. The Ivickapoo Indians were
jealous of the incoming white men and their chief, Machina,
ordered Mr. Dawson's family to quit the country before the
leaves fell. This he did by throwing leaves in the air. By this
and other signs he gave them to understand that if they were
not gone when the leaves in the forest should fall, he would kill
all the bootanas (white men). Mrs. Dawson replied to him that
the time he had given would be sufficient to call together enough
bootanas to exterminate all the Indians. The old chief was
very "wrathy" at this and made some terrible threats which he
had the good sense never to carry out. At the close of the
summer of 1822 some Indians, about fifteen hundred in number,
encamped in front of Mr. Dawson's farm-gate and remained
during the following winter. Contrary to expectation they were
10
146 OLD SETTLERS OF
the best of neighbors and were on terms of perfect friendship
with the Dawson family. The youthful John was highly de-
lighted with his copper-colored friends and was a great favorite
with them, especially with the squaws. Two of the old squaws,
called aunt Peggy and aunt Nancy, dressed him up in a heavy
suit of buckskin and made a fine looking papoose out of him.
But the Indians could never stand before civilization, and in
the winter of 1833 and '34 they were paid at Chicago the money
due them from the government and removed to the far West.
"When the Dawson family settled at Blooming Grove in 1822
there was not a single house between their place and Chicago ;
the whole country was wild prairie. Springfield, Danville and
Peoria were their nearest neighbors. Mr. Dawson lived on the
Blooming Grove farm until the spring of 1826, when he moved
to Old Town timber or Dawson's Grove about fifteen miles east
of the present city of Bloomington. Two miles southeast of
his farm was the Indian village of the Kickapoo nation. The
old Indian fort is still to be seen, and curiosities of all kinds,
such as brass kettles, Indian brooches, etc., are still found there.
The early settlers were anxious for the education of their chil-
dren, and indeed a plentiful crop of school children is better for
the material interest of the country than a crop of wheat or corn.
There were many difficulties to be overcome, but the pioneers
had learned never to hesitate at trifles. The school-houses were
not the little palaces of learning in which the children now study
their lessons ; they were not so comfortably heated in winter,
but on the other hand there was no lack of ventilation, for the
fresh prairie breezes could come through the chinks between
the logs without any patent appliances. There were no pale
students driven into the early stages of consumption for want of
pure air.
In 1828 Mr. Dawson (senior) built the first school-house in
McLean County. It was made of logs and lighted with win-
dows of white paper iustead of glass. The first school-teacher
was Delilah Mullen, who taught her young pupils at Mr. Daw-
son's house before the school-house was finished. The first
house where the city of Bloomington now stands, was built by
William Evans in 1827. But this house was not in the original
town. The south part of the city was then scattering timber,
m'lean county. 147
commencing from near Gridley's residence and running up to
the Court House.
In the winter of 1830 aud '31 Bloomington was chosen
county seat of McLean County. Judge Lockwood held the
first session of court in 1832; but as far as Mr. Dawson can re-
member there were no cases on the docket. The first Court
House was a frame building twenty by thirty feet and stood on
the site of the present Court House, but was afterwards moved
away to make room for a finer building. The first sale of town
lots in Bloomington took place on the Fourth of July, 1831. It
was then that John Dawson bought a lot which was sixty feet by
one hundred and fifteen for four dollars and thirty cents. In
1848 he built a house on it and sold it to a Rev. Mr. Perry for
$800. It now belongs to Dr. II. Schroeder who purchased it of
Perry for $5,500. The lot and house are east of Schroeder's
Opera House and belong to the Postoflice Block. Of the origi-
nal town of Bloomington only forty acres were laid out; all of
the other parts are additions. The streets of the original town
running east and west are Washington, Jefferson and North
streets ; those running north and south are East, Main, Center
and West streets.
In early days the modes of travel were more picturesque than
convenient. On land were ox-teams and on water were fiat-
boats. The railroad was a " down east" institution. Pullman
had not then invented palace cars, and if he had done so, the
early settlers could not have enjoyed their magnificence. The
forest and the prairie were occasionally marked by solitary In-
dian trails, and these were all the guides from point to point,
Old Town timber and Peoria, which was then called Fort Clark,
were connected by an Indian trail.
The first train of the Illinois Central railroad ran into
Bloomington from La Salle in the spring of 1853 and the Chica-
go and Alton road was finished in June of the same year.
Bloomington had at that time fifteen hundred inhabitants and
its progress has been rapid ever since.
The weather was a matter of greater moment to the pioneers
than to us, as they were always exposed to its changes, and all
of them have sharp recollections of the frosts of winter. The
year 1830 was perhaps the most remarkable for the severity of
148 OLD SETTLERS OF
weather. During that year the snow commenced falling on the
last day of December, until in the timber it laid three feet in
depth while on the prairie the drifts rose to great heights. The
wild animals became ferocious and the wolves killed nearly all
the deer ; the few deer that remained could scarcely iind any-
thing to eat. They were so poor and hungry that they could be
caught by hand. They could be attracted by felling a tree and
when the poor creatures came to pick the leaves they could be
easily caught. Since that time deer have been comparatively
scarce. But the year 1836 was perhaps the most remarkable for
its sudden changes. Mr. Dawson relates that during that year
he had a very severe experience. During the winter he went to
William's mill which is located on Salt Creek, six miles south
of LeRoy. He had two yoke of oxen drawing a load of wheat
and corn to be ground. The snow was two feet deep; in the
afternoon it commenced raining and continued until noon the
next day. On that day Mr. Dawson started for home and at
about three o'clock in the afternoon he was one mile from Henry
Crumbaugh's place. Suddenly he heard a noise like the roar-
ing of distant thunder and on looking around could see the
approach of a storm. An intensely cold wind then came, freez-
ing everything almost immediately. He had scarcely gone one
hundred yards with his ox-team before the frozen slush would
bear his weight, and it was with the greatest difficulty that he
succeeded in getting back to Crumbaugh's and in preventing
his team from slipping.
Of course Mr. Dawson has been married. This interesting
event took place in the year 1842 at Albana, Champaign County,
Ohio. The name of the happy bride was Caroline Wiley.
Perhaps the reader who has taken some interest in the expe-
dience of this pioneer may wish to know something of his per-
sonal appearance. John Dawson is well formed and is a little
above the medium size. He has a very honest and intellectual
countenance and his nose is sometimes ornamented with spec-
tacles. He is not a man of much book learning, as the pioneers
did not have the best facilities for education; but he has, as
much as possible, educated himself. He possesses a jewel which
we are sorry to say is somewhat rare, and that is good common
sense. He is a man who commands respect among his fellows
and is able to clear the way and contend with difficulties.
m'lean county. 14!>
William Orendorff.
William Orendorff was born March 26, 1792, in Georgia. He
is of German descent. His father's name was Christopher Oren-
dorff and his mother was Elizabeth Phillips before her marriage.
William OrendorfT was the oldest of a family of twelve children,
eight boys and four girls, all of whom grew up to manhood and
womanhood and all, except one, were married. He visited Illi-
nois first in 1816 and emigrated to the State with his family
during the following year, to St. Clair County and lived there
and in Clinton County until the fall of 1822. During the winter
of 1822 and '23 he lived in Sangamon County. In the spring
of 1823 he moved to Blooming Grove. Fayette County, in what
is now the county of McLean, and arrived there on the second
of May, 1823. Soon after his arrival he was ordered away by
Machina and others of the Indians, but refused to go and was
not molested. Mr. Orendorff was a man of first-rate judgment
and very popular and in 1825 was appointed justice of the
peace by Governor Coles. It is seen by his commission that he
was first nominated by the House of Representatives, confirmed
by the Senate and commissioned by the Governor, and hold the
office during good behavior. The following is the commission :
" Know ye that William Orendorff", having been nominated
by the House of Representatives to the office of justice of the
peace for the County of Fayette and his nomination having been
confirmed by the Senate, I, Edward Coles, Governor of said
State, for and on behalf of the people aforesaid, do appoint him
Justice of the Peace for said county and do authorize and em-
power him to execute and fulfill the duties of that office accord-
ing to law. And to have and to hold the said office with all the
rights and emoluments thereunto legally appertaining during
good behavior. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my
hand and caused the State seal to be affixed this sixth day of
January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and twenty-five, and of the independence of the United States
the forty-ninth.
By the Governor :
[seal.] EDWARD COLES:
M. Birkbeck, Secretary of State."
He did not take the oath of office until the following Decern-
150 OLD SETTLERS OF
ber. When Tazewell County was cut oft' from Fayette, Mr.
< )rendorff was re-commissioned during good behavior, but when
the new constitution of Illinois making his office elective went
into effect, Mr. Orendorff was, at the first election held in Taze-
well County, chosen justice of the peace and was commissioned
Sept, 29, 1827. This election was held at William Orendorff 's
house.
The great hurricane, which passed through Blooming Grove,
came late in the afternoon of the nineteenth of June, 1827. Mr.
Orendorff returned soon after, and when he saw the destruction
it caused and the trees in the timber piled up twenty feet high,,
he declared that he would sell out everything for S200, if he
could get it, and move away. This great hurricane covered
seven acres of land, which William Evans had planted in corn^
with limbs and brush and it was considered utterly ruined. Then
William Orendorff, who was one of the most generous and kind-
hearted of men, gave Mr. Evans five acres of growing corn, pro-
vided only that the latter would cultivate it. Evans' corn, which
was so injured, afterwards produced something of a crop, and
he sold it for $100, and entered with the money eighty acres of
land which he lived on near Bloomington and which is now
included in the city. Mr. Evans always gave the credit for his
start in the world to William Orendorff.
During the winter of the deep snow he helped Major Baker
to build his mill, with " nigger head" stones for grinding. In
the fall of 1832 Mr. Orendorff was sick with the cholera, so
sick that his physicians gave him up. At one time he arose in
his bed and said : " What is the use of a man's being dead
and alive again," and from his flightiness it was thought he
had but a few moments yet to live, but he rallied and recovered
from the jaws of death. The disease was accompanied by a
troublesome hiccough, and when the hiccough ceased the dis-
ease was broken up.
Mr. Orendorff was married four times. He first married in
Kentucky in about the year 1811 Miss Sally Nichols. By this
marriage he had three children, James, Elizabeth and William.
She died not long afterwards. He next married in Illinois
Miss Lovina Sayles, in about the year 1819, and by this mar-
riage had five children, two boys and three girls. They were
m'lean county. 151
Sarah, Oliver, Lewis, Mary J. and Nancy. His wife Lovina died
November 9, 1831. In 1834 he married Miss Susan Ogden,
and by this marriage had two children, Christopher and Mar-
garet. She died not long afterwards. On his sixty-second
birth-day Mr. Orendorff married Miss Naomi Abel and by this
marriage had four children, Francis, Orrin, Emma and William.
Four of his children are now living in McLean County. James
K. Orendorff, Oliver H. P. OrendoriF and John Lewis Orendorff
live at or near Blooming Grove. Christopher Orendorff lives
near Cheney's Grove.
Mr. Orendorff was a man of great popularity and had many
friends. He took great pleasure in entertaining everyone who
came to his house. He loved to see their friendly faces and
probably thought that the most perfect happiness consisted in
giving the people of the earth a good dinner and enjoying
their smiles and friendly greetings. He had indeed a generous
disposition, too generous for his own good. He was always
ready to help and assist. This disposition made him a man of
great popularity and influence. He became, not long before
his death, a member of the Methodist church; he had pre-
viously inclined to uuiversalism. He died May 12, 1869, in the
seventy-eighth year of his age.
Thomas Orendorff and John Berry Orendorff.
Thomas Orendorff was born August 14, 1800, in Spartan-
burg, South Carolina. His father's name was Christopher
Orendorff and his mother's, before her marriage, was Elizabeth
Phillips. His father was of German descent, and his mother
was American. His father had a family of twelve children, all
of whom grew to be men and women. The Orendorff family
left Spartanburg before Thomas was seven years old ; neverthe-
less he remembers much of the place, and particularly calls to
mind a fire in the thickly wooded pine forest. This fire was grander
than any prairie fire he has ever seen in the West. Impressions
made upon children are sometimes very lasting. Mr. Oren-
dorff remembers a preacher by the name of Golightly, who
did indeed go light!}- upon his religion, for he became very
worldly minded. Mr. Orendorff remembers very well the ne-
152 OLD SETTLERS OF
groes of South Carolina, who were very kindly treated and lived
in comfortable quarters.
In about the year 1807 the OrendorfF family moved west of
the Cumberland Mountains, to Franklin County, Tennessee.
The land there was owned principally by speculators, and had
been surveyed in large tracts, so the Orendorff family took a
new departure, and in 1811 came to Kentucky. The country was
then very wild. He remembers that two little boys were lost in
the mountains, one a white and one a negro, and were not found
until nearly starved to death. Religious excitement sometimes
became very high in Kentucky, and at revivals the most out-
rageous antics would be performed. People would dance and
jerk and run and fall on the floor.
It was in the year 1811 that the earthquake of New Madrid
occurred and the shocks were plainly felt in Kentucky. They
felt the earth shake and heard noises similar to distant thunder.
Mr. Orendorff afterwards saw many chimneys, which had been
shaken down on the American bottom opposite St. Louis, but
the earthquake did no particular damage in Kentucky. After
raising one crop in Christian County, the Orendorff family
moved to Henderson County, Kentucky, near the site of the
present town of Hendersonville, and remained there until the
spring of 1817, when they came to Illinois. They stayed one
year on the Little Wabash, and in the spring of 1818 came to
St. Clair, east of Belleville. In the spring of 1819 Thomas
Orendorff went to Sangamon County, and the family followed
in the fall. It was then called the Saint Gamy country, but the
words were afterwards united by common usage and became
Sangamon. Their occupation was fighting mosquitoes, breaking
prairie, splitting rails, &c. At that time very few settlers had
come to Sangamon County; but during the year 1820 they came
in very fast. That part of the country was then very wet, and
Thomas Orendorff determined at once to find a better loca-
tion. In 1823 he and his brother William mounted their horses
and came to Blooming Grove, then called Keg Grove, where
they found two settlers, Dawson and Hendrix. They looked
over the country for some time, and at last Thomas found a spot
at Blooming Grove that suited him, and said : "There's my
claim," and took it. This is the place now owned by Stephen
m'lban county. 153
Houghton. William Orendorft' bought a claim for fifty dollars
in the southeast of Blooming Grove and settled there. Thomas
Orendorff returned twice to Sangamon County, and the last
time brought the family of William Orendorff from there to
Blooming Grove, where they arrived on the second of May,
1823.
When Thomas and William Orendorff settled in McLean
County the old chief of the Kickapoos came with Machina (af-
terwards their chief) and ordered them to leave. But the old
chief spoke English in such a poor manner that Thomas Oren-
dorff told him to keep still and let Machina talk. Then Machina
drew himself up and said in his heavy voice : "Too much come
back, white man. T'other side Sangamon." Mr. Orendorff told
Machina that the latter had sold the land to the whites ; but
Machina denied it, and the discussion waxed warm, and the
chiefs went away feeling very much insulted. Mr. Orendorff's
friends considered his life very much in danger, and he was
advised to leave the country by Judge Latham, the Indian
agent, but he attended to his business and was not molested. At
one time an Indian, called Turkey, came to Mr. Orendorff and
gave him warning that Machina would kill him ; but no attempt
was made to put such a threat into execution.
The Indians in this locality w r ere principal^ Kickapoos, but
after a while some Delawares came, but they looked to the
Kickapoos for protection. The Pottawotamies also passed
through occasionally.
The Delawares were much like the Kickapoos. For the cu-
riosity of the reader we give here a few words of the Delaware
language, which were remembered by Mrs. Orendorff. They
used the decimal system in counting, and the following are their
numerals up to ten : Cota, nitia, naha, nawai, palini, cotosh,
nishhosh, hosh, pashcon, telon.
The Indians, it is well knowm, never loved work, but occa-
sionally they indulged in it by way of variety. One Indian,
called Moonshine, chopped logs for Mr. Orendorff while the
latter split rails. Mr. Orendorff paid him a twist of tobacco
for each cut, which made fifteen or twenty rails. The Indian
earned nine twists of tobacco and was rich. Mr. Moonshine
also assisted Mr. Orendorff in putting up a cabin.
154 OLD SETTLERS OF
Among the Kickapoos were two Delaware squaws, who were
really curiosities. They were Aunt Peggy and Aunt Nancy.
The former was said to have been the wife of one of the Girtys,
who, it is well known, left civilization, joined the Indians and
fought against the whites. These were well educated squaws,
and Aunt Peggy was a Presbyterian, but it is unpleasant to relate
that, notwithstanding Aunt Peggy's education and her member-
ship in the Presbyterian Church, she had the failing so common
among Indians — she drank more whisky than was good for an
elderly matron.
Mr. Orendorff says the Indians have the same little jealousies
and heartburnings which trouble the whites, and these little
feelings are sometimes manifested in curious ways. At one time
he saw a Kickapoo and a Delaware talking together in a pleasant
way. They seemed to be on the most intimate terms of friend-
ship. They had been to a dance together during the evening
previous, and it seemed that they were Damon and Pythias come
to earth again, and that in their warm affection they would be
willing to «;ive their lives for each other. But a moment after-
wards their backs were turned and the Delaware said to Mr.
Orendorff: "Ugh! don't like Kickapoo: Kickapoo is mean":
and probably the Kickapoo had the same opinion of the Dela-
ware.
Mr. Orendorff settled on his claim in Blooming Grove in the
fall of 1824, and in October of that year married Mary Malinda
Walker. The service was performed by Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes.
Mr. Ollendorff's experience with the winter of the deep snow
was very much like the experience of others. His stock walked
over stake and rider fences, and he pounded corn as did the rest
of his neighbors.
When Mr. Orendorff came to this country, the county was
called Fayette, but shortly afterwards Tazewell County was or-
ganized, and the excitement over it was very great. The first
election in Tazewell County was held at the house of William
Orendorff, where Mr. W. H. Hodge was elected sheriff and
Thomas Orendorff coroner.
Mr. Orendorff thinks he was the first who gave the name of
Blooming to the grove. The circumstances are related in the
sketch of John Rhodes. The two men were writing letters and
m'lean county. 155
when Rhodes asked what name to give the grove, Mr. Orendorff
looked up to the maple trees which were just coming out with
blossoms and said : "It looks blooming here, I think we had
better call it Blooming Grove.
In the year 1830 the county of McLean was organized.
Various petitions were circulated for that purpose, and in order
to show that no "snap judgment" was taken a small protest
against it was presented from Waynesville. The petition was
taken to Vandalia by Thomas Orendorff and Colonel James
Latta. Mr. William Lee D. Ewing, a very fine man, who was
the speaker of the house, interested himself in the matter. But
Mr. Ewing was rather slow about it and the two men were
obliged to wait for several days. At last Mr. Ewing called them
into his room and asked what the name of the county should be.
Colonel Latta wished it named Hendricks County after Mr.
Hendricks of Indiana; but Mr. Ewing remarked that he was
afraid to have it called after any living man, for no person's
reputation was safe before he was in his grave, for if he was
living he might possibly do some thing mean and the county
would be ashamed of him. Mr. Ewing therefore proposed to
call the name of the county McLean after John McLean, who
had been their representative in congress and was very much
thought of. This was done and the great county of McLean
received its name. The bill was passed without any opposition
through the Lower House in the forenoon and through the Sen-
ate in the afternoon. In the bill, creating the county, three com-
missioners were named to locate the county seat. They were
Mr. Freeman and Jonathan Pugh of Macon County and Lemuel
Lee of Vandalia. The commissioners appointed Thomas Oren-
dorff the first assessor. The first assessment was made roughly
on what each person was worth without specifying his property,
and was completed in thirteen days. The lowest valuation of
property was eleven dollars.
After remaining at Blooming Grove for some time, Mr.
Orendorff began to take a philosophical view of the country and
of the general prospect, and came to the conclusion that the
groves would be well settled around their edges in the course of
time, and he expected some day to see Blooming Grove sur-
rounded by a cordon of farms. Then he began to ask himself
156 OLD SETTLERS OF
how in such a case the cattle could get out from the grove to the
prairie to graze. After thinking the matter over for some time
he moved to Little Grove about three-quarters of a mile east of
the lower end of Blooming Grove, where he lives at the present
time. But his expectations of always having range for his cattle
have been blasted. The prairie has become thickly settled and
is covered Math farms, and the almost boundless pasture is gone.
Mr. Orendorff has had thirteen children of whom eleven
grew up to manhood and womanhood. They are :
John Berry Orendorff who lives near his father.
David Owen Orendorff who now lives in Kansas.
Mrs. Mar} r Sophronia Able, wife of Daniel Able of Cheney's
Grove.
Mrs. Catherine Scott, wife of John Scott of Bloomington
township.
Mrs. Caroline Baremore, wife of John Baremore of Bloom-
ington township.
Mrs. Sarah Margaret Orendorff, wife of Thomas Orendorff of
Hopedale.
Thomas Walker Orendorff.
Mrs. Martha Malinda Luce, wife of Albert Luce of Bloom-
ington township.
Charles Orendorff lives at home.
Ben Jay Orendorff, who lives in Chicago.
Mrs. Olive Jane Hollis, wife of Allen Hollis, lives at her
father's house.
Mr. Orendorff is veiy tall, is six feet four and one-half inches
high. It is pretty hard to give a clear idea of his appearance
and expression. When he smiles, his laugh goes into his chin
and he appears exceedingly amused. It is a pleasure to be in
his presence and see him smile. He is kind to his family and
his neighbors, and when he parts with them he says kindly " I
wish you well." We are sure that everyone who knows him
must wish him well, and even if old Machina, the Kickapoo
chief, were living, he would be willing to forget their old ani-
mosity and " shake hands across the bloodv chasm."
m'lean county. 157
John Berry Orendorff.
John Berry Orendorff was born May 3, 1827, on the old
Mason farm, in the south part of Blooming Grove, on the place
now owned by Stephen Houghton. Although he was very young
when the deep snow came in 1830 and '31, he clearly remembers
it, and remembers the walls of snow which were thrown up to
make a path from the house to the barn.
The sudden change in the weather which came in Decern-
ber, 1836, came when the little Orendorffs were out at play in
the yard and nearly blew them away and froze their little noses
before tbey could get into the house.
Mr. Orendorff 's experience has been that of nearly all the
old settlers. He has fought fire on the prairies when it threat-
ened to take everything before it; he has at a single time been
obliged to fi^ht it for two miles and a half, when it rolled on be-
tween Blooming and Randolph's Grove.
Mr. Orendorff remembers very clearly, and gives a good de-
scription of the queer contrivances used by the people of early
days. It was the duty of every settler to exercise his ingenuity
in fighting against the common enemy of the farmers, the
wolves, which carried off the chickens and sheep and little pigs.
Traps were made for them of the most ingenious kind. A trap
was made of logs or heavy poles, and was ten feet square and
two and a half or three feet high. The fioorwas of puncheons,
so that the wolves could not scratch out underneath. One of the
top logs was hinged, and was raised up and braced with a trig-
ger after the fashion of a rabbit trap. The trigger was inside,
and had attached to it a piece of meat. The wolves would
smell the meat for a long distance and come up to the trap cau-
tiously and jump in and grab the meat, when the log above
would fall and capture them.
The first plows used by the settlers were made of wood, the
next of iron and the last of steel. The first plow which Mr.
Orendorff" used was called the Barshear. This was a plow hav-
ing a piece of iron for a shear, which ran fiat on the ground
and had a bar attached which extended from the point several
feet back, and held the plow steady. The mould board was
made of wood, and the plow worked very well. Many hundreds
of thousands of acres have been ploughed with the Barsheiir.
1-58 OLD SETTLERS OF
But after a while an improvement was made, and the Gary plow
with an iron mould board was manufactured. But this would
not scour, and a plow with a mould board of steel was substi-
tuted.
Corn was formerly ploughed by going three times through
the furrow, but with the modern cultivator it is only necessary
to go once. The wheat was formerly cut with a sickle, pitched
with wooden forks and tramped out with horses. The first har-
rows were A shaped, and had wooden teeth, but now they are
of various shapes and have teeth of steel. Wheat was cleaned
by throwing it in the air, or slowly dropping it from some high
place and fanning it as it fell, with a sheet which two persons
raised and lowered. The people raised their own sheep, cut
the wool, washe it, picked it to pieces and carded it, and the
women spun it. Every farmer raised flax. It was pulled by
hand and laid in .ales, until it was bleached and rotted, then it
was tied up and hauled in. When dry it was broken with a
hand break and the shives (or bark) were separated by striking
the iiax with a wooden knife, as the flax was held over a board,
called a scutcheon board. The tow was afterwards separated
by a fine hackle or comb, and was used for coarse goods, while
the flax was used for fine goods. It was spun and woven by the
women, liopes were made of tow by twisting the single strands
with crank-, then passing them through holes and twisting thorn
all together Cotton was often raised and taken to Springfield
to be ginned, : fter which it was spun and woven by the indus-
trious women. '
Mr. Orendoiil'is a man rather above the ordinary .-tature and
is quite heavily built. He is a thriving and industrious farmer,
a hard worker, and a good father to his interesting family, lie
likes to see his friends and usually keeps some good cider for
them. He married Xovember 18, 1847, Xancy Jane McCairn,
and has had six children in all, five of whom are living.
James K. Orbndokff.
James K. Orendorffwas born December 28, 1812, near Hop-
kinsville, Kentucky. His parents were of German and Welch
descent. His father, William Orendorff, was born in Georgia.
He made a visit to Illinois in 1816, and in 1817 came with his
m'lean county. 159
family to live here. He settled in St. Clair County and lived
there and in Clinton County until the fall of 1822. He lived
during the winter of 1822 and '23 in Sangamon County, within
six miles of Springfield. During the fall of 1822 he made a visit
to Blooming Grove, and moved there on the second of May,
1823. He first made a log cabin, then hewed puncheons and
clapboards and made a house. These early houses were curios-
ities in their way. The door of Mr. OrendorfT's cabin was, he
thinks, pinned on with wooden pins. The shelves were made
of boards held up with pins. The hearth and fire place were of
beaten earth, and the chimney was made of sticks and clay. The
first school teacher to whom he went was "William II. Hodge,
who understood how to teach the little pioneers their a, b, c's
successfully. When Mr. OrendorfF came here the country was
an almost unbroken wilderness. A few miners were at work
near Galena, and a few whites at the salt works about six miles
this side of Danville.
Mr. Orendorft" remembers the changes in the weather.
These are matters more particularly noted by the early settlers,
as the} 7 were more exposed to wind and storm and sudden
changes. In the spring of 1827, by the middle of March, the
grass was ankle high in the marshes, and the prairies had a
greenish tinge, but not enough grass for cattle, except near the
sloughs.
The people did their trading at Springfield, and there they
wont to mill. Every settler who went did trading for himself
and his neighbors. People then had very little money to buy
with, and nearly all business was done by exchange.
The people then practised the most rigid economy. They
spun their own clothing and colored it with walnut bark, indigo
and hickory bark. They raised their own cotton and flax and
made their own sugar. They boiled maple sap .in large iron
kettles, which they bought by weight, giving for them maple
sugar and trading pound for pound. The settlers made their
own boots and shoes and clothing of all kinds. Mrs. Orendorff
has a quilt made of cotton by hand before the deep snow. It is
finely made and a great curiosity, and Mrs. Orendorff is justly
proud of it.
160 OLD SETTLEKS OF
The taxes paid by the people at first went to Vandalia, as
that was then the county seat of the great county of Fayette.
In 1831, on the Fourth of July, William Orendorft', the father
of James, was the auctioneer to sell the town lots of Blooming-
ton, as on that day the little town was born.
Mr. James K. Orendorft' takes great interest in the peculiar
customs of the first settlers and the devices used by them in
their labor. Their wheat was first separated from the straw by
tramping it out with horses. They cleaned the wheat by throw-
ing it in the air and allowing the wind to blow out the chaft', or
by letting it fall from some altitude and fanning it with a sheet
which two persons waved in the air. The settlers would use a
hollow log or one which they gouged out with an axe, for a sugar
trough or as a convenient receptacle for pork. Old Ephraim
Stout was most skillful in the work of makiug these troughs
and used them for wash tubs. He put legs to them to hold them
up and fitted pins in the bottoms to empty the water. An old
A T ermonter used a tin pan scoured up brightly, as a looking
<dass. One would think that a device of such a nature would
have been discovered by a woman. The pitchforks used Irv
early settlers were made of wood, and it was many years before
the iron-toothed forks were seen in the West.
Mr. Orendorft' was in the Black Hawk war and was a
member of the company commanded by Merritt Covel. The
company went first to Pekin, from there to Peoria and on to
Dixon's Ferry. They had very few provisions. On their way
to Dixon they joined the command of Major Stillman at Red
Oak Grove. There Mr. Orendorft and six others lost their
horses, but he came along on foot. When the command
came to a high ridge, overlooking the Winnebago Swamps, they
saw far off" to the left down Rock River a smoke suddenly rising,
which was supposed to be a signal made by the Indians of the
coming of the whites. Major Stillman's men left their baggage
wagons at the Winnebago Swamps, and made a forced march to
Dixon's Ferry, where they arrived at night. The next morning
their baggage wagons came in, and one of the soldiers (Bob
Harbert) said, "they arrived more by good luck than good con-
duct." They remained for several days at Dixon, until the
"Governor's troops" with Governor Rejmolds came up. Major
m'lean county. 101
Stillman's men there drew live days' provisions and went up
Rock River on the famous expedition which resulted in ''Still-
man's Run." When the five days' provisions were drawn, the
baggage wagons were empty. As Mr. Orendorff had no horse
he did not go up Rock River with his company, but took the
empty baggage wagons back to Winnebago Swamps to meet
Captain McClure's company, and carried orders for Captain Mc-
Clure to turn up Rock River with his men and provisions, in
order to supply the men under Stillman. There Mr. Orendorff
got his horse, which had been found by John Rhodes, Owen
Cheney, and others. It was a fine, dark, chestnut sorrel, and he
has the same breed yet. Captain McClure's company had no
provisions, and they came immediately on to Dixon's Ferry,
where they arrived the evening before Stillman's defeat. The
second morning afterwards from two o'clock until eleven Still-
man's men came straggling in. On that day the greater part of
the army went up to bury the dead of Stillman's Run, but
Mr. Orendorff was sent with some others down to the rapids,
ten or fifteen miles distant, to bring up provisions which were
taken up that far in keel boats. Nothing further of any conse-
quence occurred, in which Mr. Orendorff took part, previous to
the discharge of the men, and the re-organization of the army.
The soldiers in the Black Hawk war were remarkable for their
ingenuity and good management under the difficulties and hard-
ships to which they were subjected. They mixed up their flour
in a hollow hickory bark, put a piece of the dough on a stick
and roasted it. They made meal soup of water, meal and gravy,
after frying their meat ; and they resorted to a thousand ingen-
ious devices to prepare their food and make themselves com-
fortable under difficulties.
When the country was new, all lumber for building purposes
was first hewed out with axes, but afterwards a great improve-
ment was made when the whip saw was introduced. The log to
bg sawed was first made square, then raised high enough from
the ground for a man to stand under it conveniently, and the
whip saw was pulled up and down, one man standing above and
another below. Two hundred feet of lumber could be sawed
out in a day.
11
162 OLD SETTLERS OF
The land in Illinois was surveyed in October, 1823, but the
sale did not take place until 1829, and then the settlers had to be
active in securing their titles.
Game was plenty in early days. On the Okaw River Mr.
Orendorff saw deer in droves of from fifty to three hundred, in-
deed the number of deer in the country was astonishing. "When
the settlers came in they cultivated corn, which stood ungathered
during the winter, and the deer fed on it and came out in the
spring in fine condition. In addition to this the settlers made
constant war on the wolves, gave bounties for their scalps, and
hunted them with dogs and horses, and as these pests of the
earth became thinned out the deer multiplied more rapidly. The
Indians went down to the Okaw in the fall to hunt deer and re-
turned in the spring.
Mr. Orendorff remembers among the Indians two old squaws,
Peggy and Nancy, who stayed in Blooming Grove during the
wi nter while the tribe went down on the Okaw. Aunt Peggy
was supposed to have been the wife of Simon Girty, the cele-
brated white renegade. Both of these squaws were splendidly
formed women. Aunt Nancy was fully six feet in height.
James K. Orendorff is of rather less than the medium sta-
ture, has small, dark, expressive eyes, is a hard worker, gets on
well in the world, has a fine farm well stocked, and appears
prosperous. He is a man of positive ideas, and thinks he would
rather rely upon the honesty of the old settlers than upon the
obligations imposed by law. He thinks a great deal of his fam-
ily, takes pride in them and makes great exertions for their
welfare and comfort. He married, May 4, 1837, Miss Lovina
Sales, daughter of Elias and Sarah Sales. They have had six
children, of whom four are living. One died in infancy. The
children are :
William Orendorff, born December 9, 1839, lives temporarily
on his grandfather's place, about half a mile north of his father's
house.
Perry Orendorff, born July 7, 1842, lives in West township,
section thirty-six.
James Orendorff, born August 20, 1844, lives at home.
Mary Francis Orendorff, born, September 21, 1847, lives at
home.
m'lean county. 163
Sarah Adeline Orendorff, born January 21, 1854, died Feb-
ruary 7, 1857.
Oliver Hazard Perry Orendorff.
Oliver IT. P. Orendorff was born May 16, 1822, in Washington
County, Illinois. When he was about one year old his father
came to that part of Fayette County, which now forms the coun-
ty of McLean, and settled at Blooming Grove. This was on the
second of May, 1823. Mr. O. II. P. Orendorff has lived here
ever since. The first school he attended was kept by William
H. Hodge. Books were then scarce in the West and the one
Oliver studied was an old fashioned almanac. He was rather a
precocious youth and his memory goes back to an early period.
He remembers when David Cox came to the country, which was
in September, 1826. Mr. Orendorff went to school to Mr. Hodge,
when it was kept about a mile distant. He was then very small,
and at one time, when the weather was cold, he would have been
frozen to death, had he not been dragged to the school-house by
his sister and Maria Dawson.
The great hurricane, which swept through Blooming Grove
came on the nineteenth of June, 1827. Although the house,
where the Orendorffs lived, was not in the immediate track of
the hurricane, it blew there fearfully. While it was coming up
even the beasts of the field understood the danger. The Oren-
dorff boys, who were at home alone, had just driven up the
cattle, and when the dumb creatures saw the coming storm they
took refuge in a new and unoccupied log house. The hurricane
unroofed the houses of William Evans and William Walker
although the} 7 were not in its immediate track. It passed through
the timber and piled up the trees in some places twenty feet
high. Nothing in the forest could stand before it. The trees
were broken and twisted and torn. About nineteen days after-
wards as Mr. William Orendorff and some others were looking
at the wreck of the scattered timber, they found a hog pinned
fast to the ground by the limb of a tree and much bruised and
unable to move. The logs were cut and it was released from
confinement and afterwards made a fine porker. The width ot
the hurricane was about half a mile and its lengrth no one knows.
164 OLD SETTLERS OF
Its direction was almost due east. It passed through Blooming
Grove at about twilight in the evening.
During the winter of the deep snow Mr. Orendorff went to
school to Cheney Thomas through the timber. After the heavy
snow fell a road was broken and the little Orendorffs by passing
back and forth kept the road clear. But outside of the timber
no road remained broken longer than a few hours, as the snow
drifted over it. The Orendorff family suffered very little during
this winter, but many families were so distressed with the cold
and lack of corn that they allowed their cattle to take care
of themselves. The corn crop during the season previous was
very line, but the season following was so cold and short by
reason of the length of time required to melt away the deep
snow, that very little corn came to maturity. The suffering
caused by the difficulty of obtaining food was sometimes ex-
treme. A man named Rook, who lived on Rook's Creek about
twenty miles north of Lexington, became short of provisions,
and it seemed that his family must starve. He made himself
some snow shoes, took a hand sled and walked twenty miles to
w T here Lexington now is, and there found corn which he took
home to his starving family.
Mr. Orendorff has a lively recollection of the Indians, and
particularly of two squaws, Aunt Peggy and Aunt Nancy.
These squaws were pretty well educated, and it is said that, while
listening to a backwoods preacher, they amused themselves by
criticising his grammatical blunders. They often came to the
house of Mrs. Orendorff (mother of Oliver) and helped her wash
and do her work. They were particularly pleased with children,
and greatly .admired every likely looking white papoose. They
took a great fancy to Oliver, and wished to bring him up and
make an Indian chief of him.
Mrs. Orendorff died on the 9th of November, 1831, and this
sad event affected Oliver very deeply.
Oliver Orendorff' had a somewhat adventurous disposition.
When he was very young he went with his brother James with
a six horse team to St. Louis for a load of goods for Greenberry
Larison. They passed through Springfield, which was then a
village of log huts. In 1834 he went with a party of drovers to
White Oak Springs, near Galena, with a lot of hogs. They
m'lean county. 105
crossed Rock River at Dixon's Ferry, and there Mr. Orendorff
saw old Father Dixon, then the only white inhabitant at that
point. At Kellogg's Grove, where during the Black Hawk war
Colonel Dement had fought the Indians with his Spy Battalion,
he saw the bones of horses and a human skull. Although Oli-
ver was only twelve years of age, he was taken along with these
drovers for something besides amusement ; it was his business to
take care of a team. He was then a "sassy" little driver, but
hardy and tough. He had no remarkable adventure on the way.
He often went to Chicago, was once seventeen days on his jour-
ney, and received only fift}^ cents a bushel for his wheat. Of
course he always camped out on these expeditions.
During the sudden change in the weather in December,
1836, Oliver Orendorff was at school. The ground was covered
with slush and water, and young Benjamin Cox made a wish
that the weather would turn cold, and freeze over the creek. It
did turn cold, so cold that many of the scholars could not go
home ; the little Orendorffs were "weather-bound," and staid over
night at William Michael's. The following morning Oliver went
home on horseback, and while crossing a creek his horse broke
through the ice at a riffle and at the same time went under a low
hanging limb of a tree which brushed Oliver from the horse's
back. Unfortunately he got his boot full of water, but he mount-
ed his horse and rode home, a half a mile distant, on the
keen run. When he arrived there his boot was frozen fast to
his foot, and he had great difficulty in pulling it off.
During the famous wet season of 1844, Mr. Orendorff moved
the goods and stock of an aunt of his to Iowa. He started on
the Itlh of May, walked the whole distance and with his cousin
drove twenty head of cattle. They waded and swam the sloughs
and creeks, and crossed the Illinois River by wading, ferrying
and swimming. The horses attached to their wagon went
through with much kicking, and scratching, but came out safe
at last. He returned home by the fourth of June, and says that
daring all the time he was gone his clothes were never once en-
tirely dry. He helped his uncle plant corn before he started,
and on his return helped his father plant corn, as the ground had
been difficult to plow on account of the wet.
The first camp-meeting Mr. Orendorff ever attended was held
166 OLD SETTLERS OF
on the place where he now lives. The Rev. Peter Cartwright
was present, and preached in his most interesting and humorous
stvle.
Mr. Orendorff" married, April 1, 1847, Sarah Levina Hendrix,
the daughter of John and Jane Hendrix, the first settlers within
the limits of the present McLean County. The marriage was
celebrated at the home of Mrs. Jane Hendrix, near where Mr.
Orendorff" now lives. They have had two children, one daugh-
ter and one son, both of whom are now living. They are :
Mrs. Mary Jane Cox, wife of William M. Cox, lives near
the line between Bloomiugton and Randolph townships.
George Perry Orendorff lives at the homestead with his
father.
Mr. Orendorff is five feet and ten and one-half inches high,
is not heavily built, seems to enjoy a fair degree of health, and
appears pretty muscular and well developed. He is very posi-
tive in his opinions, is a man of good sense, is very kind and
sociable and ready to do a favor, thinks a great deal of old
times and the old settlers, and is himself one of the best of
them. He works hard, is careful and thrifty, and is blessed
with a fair portion of the world's goods.
It will be seen from the sketches in this book that the Oren-
dorff" family has certain characteristics which are common to all
of its members. They are all of them blessed with social and
pleasant dispositions, and they all of them have that kindness of
heart and genuine good feeling for which the early settlers were
so distinguished.
Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes.
The information necessary to write the following sketch of
Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes was furnished by Mrs. Jeremiah Rhodes,
his daughter-in-law. Reverend Ebenezer Rhodes was born in
1780 in Holland. He has often said that when he was very
young the people were obliged to go in boats to milk their cows.
Mr. Rhodes was, even when a boy, very tender-hearted. Atone
time a widow lady came to his father's house and asked for a
little corn. But provisions were scarce then, and the old gentle-
man was afraid of a famine, and refused. But when you tig
m'lean county. 167
Ebenezer and his brother learned of the circumstance they took
a bushel and a half of the old gentleman's corn to her, a dis-
tance of about four miles. The Rhodes family came to America
when Ebenezer was very young, so that he was enabled to learn
a few of the pranks to which the American youths were addicted.
His father was very particular about the watermelon patch, but
Ebenezer sometimes " lifted" it.
When he was about nineteen years of age he married Mrs.
Mary Starr, a widow, who lived in Maryland. In about the
year 1803 he moved to Champaign County, Ohio, near the pres-
ent town of Urbana, on Derby Creek. "While near there in
1806 the neighborhood was alarmed by threats of an Indian
massacre, and the Rhodes family rode forty miles in one day to
escape. But it proved a false alarm, caused by an Indian dance.
In 1807 Mr. Rhodes moved to Buck Creek, six or seven miles
distant. In about the year 1819 or '20 he was ordained as a
preacher. In October, 1823, he came to Sangamon County, Illi-
nois, and in April following he came to McLean County. As
soon as three or four families could be collected together, Mr.
Rhodes began preaching. He preached without receiving any
salary or any hope or thought of reward.. He belonged first to
the Separate Baptists, but afterwards united with the Christian
church. He and the Rev. Mr. Latta, a Methodist minister, often
traveled together and frequently preached at the same place.
Mr. Rhodes preached at Hittle's Grove, Cheney's Grove, Sugar
Grove, Long Point, Big Grove, Twin Grove, Dry Grove, the
head of the Mackinaw and other places. He was the first
preacher in McLean County and for a long time the only one.
He organized the first church within the bounds of the present
McLean County at his house at Blooming Grove, and everybody
in the county met there to celebrate the occasion. This was in
1829. No building for public worship had then been put up,
but people met everywhere in private houses. While not en-
gaged in preaching Mr. Rhodes made chairs and reels and wheels
for spinning flax, cotton and wool.
In February, 1840, Mr. Rhodes met with an accident which
made him an invalid the remainder of his days. While cutting
a tree in the timber it fell on him breaking one of his thighs
and mashing the knee of the other leg. He was obliged always
168 OLD SETTLERS OF
afterwards to go on crutches and lived only two years more.
He died of consumption which was probably brought on by the
accident in the timber.
In 1832 Mr. Rhodes and his son Samuel built a saw mill on
Sugar Creek which they ran by water for two years. They made
the mill, dug the race and ran it together. But young Aaron
Rhodes was drowned there while swimming in the pond, and
this sad event so disheartened the old gentleman that he tore
down his mill shortly afterwards and sold his saw and the iron-
work with it.
There were in the Rhodes family six boys and three girls,
and of these four boys and one girl are now living. They are :
John H. S. Rhodes lives about two miles southeast of Bloom-
incjton on the Lerov road.
Samuel Rhodes lives in Iowa, near Winterset.
Mrs. Xaorni digest, wife of Samuel Xigest, lives in Jones
County. Iowa.
Jeremiah Rhodes lives three miles southeast of Bloomington
on the Leroy road.
Rev. James Rhodes lives at Des Moines, Iowa.
Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes was about six feet in height, had a
Roman nose, weighed one hundred and seventy-five pounds, had
a long, narrow face and was ver}- stoop-shouldered. He was an
earnest preacher and an active wide-awake man. He read the
Scriptures carefully and was well versed in biblical lore.
John H. S. Rhodes.
John H. S. Rhodes was born October 16, 1796, on George's
Creek in Maryland. His father, Ebenezer Rhodes, and his
mother, Mary Starr, were of English and German descent.
"When he was three years of age he moved to Pennsylvania with
his father's family, and at the age of nine years he came to Ohio.
Here he grew up to manhood, and in course of time was mar-
ried, as would naturally be expected. In 1823 all of the Rhodes
family came to Illinois. During the first winter of their arrival
they stayed in Sangamon County, and in April, 1824, came to
Blooming Grove, then called Keg Grove. There are two ex-
planations of the change of name to Blooming Grove; one is
that its latter name was suggested by Mrs. William Orendorff,
m'lean county. 169
and the other is that it was agreed to by Thomas Orendorff and
John Rhodes. It is very probable that both of these ex-
planations are correct, and indeed the evidence'in favor of either
cannot be disputed. Mr. Rhodes says that while he and Thomas
Orendorff were writing letters they asked each other what they
should call the place, and Mr. Orendorff, glancing at the maple
trees, which were in full bloom, said : "It looks blooming here,
I think we will call it Blooming Grove." It has kept the name
ever since. Mr. Rhodes was very poor when he came to Bloom-
ing Grove, indeed his worldly possessions consisted at that time
of almost nothing at all. The winter after he came to the Grove
he went to Sangamon Count}' and husked corn for Hardy Coun-
cil and his brother-in-law, McClellan.' He received his wages
in corn, and was allowed two and a half bushels per day for
himself and team. He husked corn until his wages amounted
to a load and then started home. When he arrived at Elkhart
Grove he ground his corn at the little horse mill belonging to
Judge Latham, the Indian agent. He crossed Salt Creek and
the Kickapoo during the following day. As the Kickapoo was
high he took his load across in a canoe, took his wagon across in
pieces, and swam his horses over. It was very cold and they
were covered with a coating of ice. After going three miles he
stopped over night at the house of a man named Lantrus, and
the following morning started at day-break for home. After
going about five miles he was obliged to walk on account of the
cold; but after a few miles walking he found that the bottoms
of his moccasins were worn off and his bare feet were pressing
the snow, for in the meantime a severe snow storm had set in
from the. northwest. When he had gone half way home it
seemed that he must freeze to death. Then he thought of his
wife and children, who would starve for the want of the corn in
his wagon ; and the strong man began to cry. But the thought
of his family nerved him, and he hung on to the wagon, and his
horses walked home. It was after night when he arrived, and
found his feet frozen to his ankles. He immediately put them
in a tub of water, while his wife took care of the horses. For
weeks afterwards his feet were all drawn up and he felt in them
a burning sensation as if a hot iron had passed over them.
170 OLD SETTLERS OF
While he had been gone every one at home had been indus-
trious ; even the dogs had done their duty and killed fourteen
wolves.
Mr. Rhodes has had many adventures while hunting. A few
years after he came to Blooming Grove, he went on a hunt to
Old Town timber. There he slept one night in a hollow log,
and the next morning started a buck, and shot it a little too far
back to kill it. After following the buck some distance, he
saw it standing and tossing his head up and down as if in dis-
tress. Mr. Rhodes shot at the head, as the buck was not standing
sideways to him, and down it came. The hunter incautiously
ran up and struck the deer in the forehead with a tomahawk ;
but the deer sprang up and pitched Mr. Rhodes on the ground,
and attempted to gore him with its horns. Mr. Rhodes grasped
the antlers, and they struck in his stomach. The buck tried to
draw back to come with force on the prostrate hunter, but Mr.
Rhodes held it fast. Then it lifted Mr. Rhodes up on its antlers
and tried to pitch him over its head, but the hunter's shoulder
struck on the neck of the deer. Then the buck thrashed him
around for nearly three-quarters of an hour and made a noise
like the bellowing of a bull. But at last it tired of the contest
and stopped to blow, with its tongue hanging out of its mouth.
The second time he stopped to blow, Mr. Rhodes grasped his
butcher knife and quickly cut the cords behind the deer's fore
leg, and the next time the buck made a lunge it came down on
one knee. Then Mr. Rhodes, with another stroke cut the cords
of the remaining fore leg, and the buck fell, and the hunter
rolled off of the horns. He was so badly bruised that he ex-
pected to die immediately, and was for a while in great pain ;
but he recovered himself soon after and killed his deer. After
this contest he never approached his game without a loaded gun.
The buck was one of great size, and when dressed his meat
weighed nearly two hundred pounds.
Mr. Rhodes' experience with the Indians has usually been
pleasant. He found them to be like their white brethren in
many things; some were honest and some were dishonest. There
were large numbers of Kickapoos when he first came, and after-
wards a few hundred Delawares made their appearance, and
stayed until the commencement of the Black Hawk troubles.
m'lean county. 171
The Indians were usualty very playful and loved fun and prac-
tical jokes. The old chief Machina was a very cunning Indian
and had some strange peculiarities. He always denied selling
the country to the whites. John Rhodes told him that he did
sell the country to the whites, and that Boss Stony (the Presi-
dent) had it on paper. Machina replied: "D — n quick putting
black upon white."
When what was called the Winnebago war was threatened,
John Rhodes called out the company of men of which he was
captain and responded to the call made by the Governor for
troops ; but the matter was soon settled and the troops never
took the field.
During the Black Hawk war, which occurred a few years
afterwards in 1832, Major McClure and Captain Rhodes called
out a company, of which McClure was chosen captain and
Rhodes first lieutenant. They marched to Dixon where they
arrived the evening before the fight at Stillman's Run. After
the fight they moved with the rest of the army up to the battle-
ground and helped to bury the dead. From there his company
went to Indian Creek where the families of Davis, Hall and
Pettigrew were massacred. These they buried and John Rhodes
himself carried out their bodies. It seems that these people had
been told of the coming of the Indians; but Davis, who was a
blacksmith and a man of great strength and courage, refused to
heed the warning. When the Indians came they found him at
a building at work and the families in the house. The families
were massacred almost without resistance, but Davis had his
gun with him and fought with desperation. He was found
covered with a hundred wounds and his gun was bent and twist-
ed in every direction. Shortly after the burial of these families
the troops were discharged, and the army was re-organized, and
John Rhodes and the most of his company came home.
In early days great attention was paid to military drill. At
first a company was organized under the militia law of the State,
and Mr. Rhodes was chosen captain ; but afterwards the country
became so well settled that the company grew to a regiment, of
which Merritt Covel was chosen colonel, Robert McClure was
made major and A. Gridley, adjutant. The regiment was obliged
to drill five times a year, and whoever failed to come to training
172 OLD SETTLERS OF
was court-martialed. On these occasions the colonel presided
and in his absence the eldest captain, which was John Rhodes.
Mr. Rhodes takes great pleasure in calling to mind the
scenes of the early settlement. He helped to build the first mill
on his father's place in 1825, with the grinding stones of nigger-
heads. He has been a great hunter and often killed deer and
wolves where the court house stands. While bringing up a lot
of hogs from Sangamon County, he was followed by a wild boar.
He shot the animal twice without killing it, when it attacked
him and he was obliged to climb a cherry tree to escape. The
wild hogs had once been tame, but had lost all the qualities of
domestic animals, and were as wild as if their swinish ancestors
had never known a pig-pen.
Mr. Rhodes was a natural hunter, and a sharp marksman
and never felt the cold tremors or " buck ague " come over him
when about to shoot. He was a man of steady nerve, and when
his finger pressed the trigger the gun was covering the game.
In his early youth he was a hunter. At one time while living
in Ohio, and only seventeen or eighteen years of age, he was
called to help kill a bear, which had been found not far away.
The dogs drove the bear into a swamp and brought him to bay,
and when Mr. Rhodes came up, the animal climbed a tree, the
dogs hanging to him until he was ten feet high. The bear's
jaw was broken by a shot and he came down when the dogs
pitched into him. Mr. Rhodes joined in the melee, and struck
the bear in the forehead with a tomahawk. The weapon stuck
fast and the bear raked Rhodes' arm from the shoulder down.
He succeeded in loosening it and struck again, when it again
stuck fast, and he received another rake, from the shoulder
down. Then a hunter, who was looking on, called out : "John,
a little lower," and Mr. Rhodes struck the bear just above the
eyes, which killed it.
Unlike most hunters, Mr. Rhodes has acquired a great deal of
property. He has purchased in all about two thousand acres of
land and has five hundred acres under his own management.
John Rhodes is fully six feet in height and was formerly very
straight and muscular. Although he is now far advanced in
years, his eyes have a bright, expressive look when he is inter-
ested in anything. He is a good business man, and has as much
m'lean county. 173
confidence in his ability to manage his financial affairs as in his
ability to kill a deer or run a wolf. He appears younger than
he is, and seems to be in the full possession of all his faculties.
It would appear that he has many years yet to live, and his
great vitality would even now bear him up under many hard-
ships.
John Rhodes has been married three times, and has had thir-
teen children, seven of whom are living. He first married Mary
Johnson, who died December 15, 1845. Five children of this
marriage are living. They are :
Cynthia Ann, wife of Benjamin Turnipseed, born July 28,
1819, lives at the head of the Mackinaw.
Caroline Bellew, wife of William Bellew, was born February
6, 1823, and lives at the head of the Mackinaw.
William J. Rhodes, born February 16, 1825, lives a mile east
of his lather's.
Emily Brewster, wife of John Brewster, was born June 21,
1827, and lives one mile south of her father's.
Aaron Pain Rhodes was born April 28, 1833, and lives one
and a half miles southeast of his father's, on the Leroy road.
John Rhodes married the second time to Mrs. Mary Ann
Yazel, a widow, and by this marriage has two living children.
They are :
Samuel M. Rhodes, born September 16, 1850, and Cinderella
Rhodes, born August 15, 1852, live at home.
John Rhodes married, the last time, Mrs. Maria Ensminger,
a widow, on the 13th of March, 1863. They appear to take the
world comfortably. Mrs. Rhodes is a wide awake lady. She
takes a great deal of interest in the history of other days, and
is one of the most agreeable of women.
Jeremiah Rhodes.
Jeremiah Rhodes, son of Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes, was born
February 11, 1806, in Champaign County, Ohio. There he re-
ceived his common school education until he w T as eighteen
years of age. School began there at eight o'clock in the morn-
ing and was kept eight hours during the day. He remembers
the war of 1812 very clearly, though he was then very young.
His father was a corporal in the army during that exciting con-
174 OLD SETTLERS OF
test. Ill the fall of 1823 the Rhodes family came to Illinois, to
Sangamon County. Thev had no very exciting adyentnres on
their journey, but 'when they arrived at their destination at
Blooming Groye matters became interesting enough. The In-
dians came for them and ordered them away from the country.
Mr. Rhodes, sen., was out in the woods making rails, when a
party of Indians came to his house and sent one of their number
to bring him in. Old Machina, the chief, then told Mr. Rhodes
not to make corn there, but to go back to the other side of the
Sangamon Riyer. The chief declared he had never signed any
treaty ceding the land to the whites, and that white men should
not settle there. The facts relating to the treaty were, that Old
Machina was sick at the time, but sent his son to treat with the
whites, and the son signed the articles. When the Indian agent
told Machina of this he acknowledged its truth, but said: "My
heart did not go with it." Old Machina threatened to burn the
houses of the settlers, but at last allowed Mr. Rhodes' family to
remain until fall to gather their crops. Mr. Rhodes' recollection
of the Indians is pretty clear. He remembers one time when
the whole tribe of the Kickapoos went on a spree or drunken
dance. They used up twenty gallons of whisky, and invited in
their Pottawotamie friends. On this grand occasion one of the
Indians showed that he had learned a beautiful lesson from civ-
ilization, for while drunk he beat his wife over the head with a
whisky bottle. At the great dance, about six or eight Indians
formed in twos and jumped around flat-footed, with tinkling
bells attached to their ankles. Old Machina had a gourd with
stones in it, and these he shook up and down to keep time. An-
other musical instrument was formed from a ten gallon keg with
a deer skin drawn tightly over one end. This was carried on
the back of a half-grown papoose, and was beaten with a stick.
The dancers had their bodies painted black, but over their breasts
was painted in white a pair of hands and arms crossed. Outside
of the circle of dancers an Indian held up a stick cut in the
shape of a gun. The stick was pointed upwards, and was sup-
posed to be an emblem of peace. Another Indian held up a
tomahawk, with his hand close to the blade, but what this meant
is not easy to be seen. The Indians received a little assistance
in their performance by old John Dawson, who danced and sang
m'lean county. 175
with them. They were willing to allow his dancing, but stopped
his singing, as it spoiled the exquisite music of the gourd full of
rocks and the keg. The Indians kept time by repeating monot-
onously the words : "Hu way," "hu way," &c, and the squaws,
who were gathered in a circle around the dancers, looked on
admiringly.
The Indians were very superstitious, and their ideas some-
times took queer shapes. At one time a squaw died from some
sickness, which brought on the lockjaw, and as she was drawing
her last breath an Indian went out and fired his gun in the air to
send her spirit up to heaven. The Indians believed in witch-
craft. An old squaw was once accused of bewitching a child,
which was sick, and it was said that she held communication
with an Indian at Fort George, four hundred miles distant, and
that they flew to each other as fast as a chicken, and held con-
sultation as to how many people they were able to kill.
The Indians were very revengeful, and their quarrels nearly
always resulted fatally. They sometimes practiced the duello to
settle their difficulties. Mr. Rhodes remembers two Indians who
fought a duel on the banks of the Illinois River. One of them
was a Kickapoo and the other a Pottawotamie. One fought with
a tomahawk and the other with a butcher knife ; the one with
the butcher knife was successful.
The Indians wished very much to prevent the settlement of
the country by frightening off the whites, and succeeded in scar-
ing away three families, who had settled on the Mackinaw, by
firing guns and brandishing butcher knives. They threatened
to kill Mrs. Benson's cattle and pigs if she went to her husband
who lived at Blooming Grove, thirty miles away. But the brave
woman replied to the threat by holding up one of her children
and saying : "And my papooses too ?" "No," replied the chief,
Machina, "I would go to damnation if I should do that."
The Indians traded with the settlers giving them beeswax
and moccasins in return for corn. In the fall of the year when
they made preparations to move into winter quarters, they fre-
quently buried their corn to keep it during the winter.
The Indians had occasionally some curiosity to hear the
preaching of the gospel, and to learn something of the God of
the white man. At one time the Kickapoos went so far as to
176 OLD SETTLERS OF
hold a meeting, and have an interpreter to tell them what the
]' readier said.
Among the various devices for grinding wheat and corn was
the mill with grinding stones cut from nigger heads on the prai-
rie. After the wheat was ground, the flour was separated from
the bran by sifting in a box with a bottom of two cloths, through
which the flour passed. Mr. Rhodes' father built one of these
mills, which served the neighborhood for three 3-ears. The
nearest mill besides this one was forty-five miles distant. It is
not easy for us to appreciate the difficulties, which sprang from
the absence of the common conveniences of life. The settlers
were obliged to go to the Sangamon River to get their plough
irons sharpened, a distance of fifty miles.
The old settlers being liable to all the ills that flesh is heir to
occasionally stood in need of the attentions of the doctor or the
surgeon. They could get along very well so far as the doctor
was concerned, but the surgeon's skill was not easily obtained.
Mr. Rhodes' younger brother was so unfortunate as to break his
leg, and old John Dawson attended him and set the limb. The
patient recovered, but his leg was always crooked.
The West was formerly subject to occasional whirlwinds
and hurricanes, but it does not seem to have been visited bv
them of late years. A terrible hurricane passed through Bloom-
ing Grove and tore down many forest trees. Still another passed
through in 1859, and was strong enough to pick up a mule out
of a pasture and carry it over two fences.
The Rhodes family tell some curious things of the memora-
ble change in the weather, which occurred in December, 1836.
After being warm and rainy it turned so suddenly cold that the
geese and chickens froze fast in the slush of snow and water.
When they became frozen fast, they squalled as they always do
when caught. Mrs. Rhodes thawed them out with warm water.
Some of the chickens had their bills frozen full of ice. When
the sudden change took place and the wind came, the cattle ran
bawling for the timber and were not seen again for three days.
Mr. Rhodes has been^a thrifty farmer, but his trade was that
of a chairmaker. He built the substantial dwelling where he
now lives, with the assistance of his eldest son.
m'lban county. 177
Mr. Rhodes now feels the effects of age, though he enjoys a
fair decree of health. He is about five feet and eleven inches
in height. His hair was onee dark, but is now sprinkled with
gray. His eyes are dark, but have a mild, honest expression,
and he is a kind-hearted, pleasant old gentleman.
Mr. Rhodes was married March 26, 1835, to Mathurza John-
son. He has raised ten children, five boys and five girls, and
of these nine are living.
William Herron Hodge.
In writing this work the author has had some difficulty in
getting such items as he wished ; but whenever he made any in-
quiry he was always directed " to Mr. Hodge." "Hodge knows
all about it. He remembers everything." If the writer asked
information of any one concerning the Indians, the reply was :
"Oh, ask Hodge, he knows as much about them as if he was an
Indian himself." This reputation which Mr. Hodge has ac-
quired for knowledge of the early history of the country has
been fully sustained, and many of the most interesting facts and
incidents related in this work have been furnished by him.
William Herron Hodge was born January 4, 1794, on a farm
near the town of Windworth, the county seat of "Rockingham
County, North Carolina. His father, Francis Hodge, came from
English stock, and his mother, whose maiden name was Nancy
Walker, was of Scotch-Irish descent. His ancestors came from
England and settled in Pennsylvania, about the year 1700, and
moved from there to North Carolina. From here, his father, Fran-
cis Hodge, came to Tennessee in the year 1812. Young William
received some slight education in North Carolina, but he after-
wards took the matter in hand himself and became well enough
advanced in his eighteenth year to teach school. He taught
school in Tennessee and Kentucky, obtaining his scholars by
the subscription system.
In 1820 he started for Illinois, where he arrived on the twen-
tieth of February of that year. He settled first in Sangamon
County, which he helped to organize. In 1824 he moved to
Blooming Grove. Here he bought land quite extensively. At
this time there were but twelve families in Blooming Grove and
three at Randolph Grove. When the country was divided into
12
178 OLD SETTLERS OF
counties, Vandalia became the county seat, one hundred and
four miles south of the present city of Bloomington. But as
the State grew in population, these enormous counties were sub-
divided. Tazewell County was organized in 1827. Mr. Hodge
assisted in its organization. McLean County was not organized
until 1831, and in this organization Mr. Hodge also assisted.
At that time he lived in a house situated in three counties. It
was section ten, town twentj-three, range two east of the third
principal meridian. Only four men are now living who were
settlers in McLean County when it was organized in 1831.
These are John II. S. Rhodes, Thomas Orendorff, John Ben-
son and William II. Hodge, whose sketch we are writing.
The settlers first took their produce to the Illinois River,
where it was shipped to St. Louis and New Orleans. Mr. Hodge
saw the first shanty built in Pekin, on the Illinois River, in 1825.
It was put up by three citizens of Blooming Grove, namely,
John Hendrix, James Latta and a man named Egman.
Mr. Hodge is particularly eloquent over the growth of Chi-
cago. He says that when he first saw it in 1834, it contained
about fifty families, and was scarcely a fly speck compared with
the great metropolis of to-day. The people of Chicago were al-
ways hopeful and sanguine of the coming greatness of their
city, but it is doubtful whether any imagination has ever exceed-
ed the reality. Ford, in his history of Illinois, reproves those
who in early days had great expectations of Chicago, and said,
while speaking of a certain man :. " Politicians estimate the
value of such a man as the speculators estimated the value of
Chicago lots in 1836. Chicago was then a village, but it was
believed that it would soon be a city, which made lots sell for
more than they are worth, now that it has become a city of fif-
teen thousand inhabitants !" This was written in 1846 or '47.
Mr. Hodge remembers many interesting items about the
weather ; indeed, he is a perfect weathercock. He remembers
particularly the circumstances of the deep snow which came in
the winter of 1830 and '31. During that terrible winter the
first great snow-fall, on the twenty-ninth of December, covered
the ground three feet deep with snow, and from that time until
the thirteenth of February it snowed nineteen times. When the
snow began to fall on the twenty-ninth of December, Mr. Hodge
m'lean county. 179
was fifty miles away from home, and it took him three days to
return. The snow stopped nearly all communication between
the settlers living at different groves, and people did not attempt
to travel except in the most urgent cases. During this winter
people suffered severely from want of food, and every old settler
tells how he pounded corn in a pestle, or ground it in a coffee
mill and made it into hominy. Mr. Hodge speaks of a man
named Rock, who walked sixteen miles on the snow to get a
bushel and a half of corn, and carried the precious burden home
on a hand sled. The winter was very severe for all animals,
both wild and domestic. The cattle bore the severity of the
weather better than the ho^s, the latter in many instances freez-
ing to death. Many deer and other wild animals died of cold
and starvation. They were easily caught but were very poor.
Mr. Rowen, of Old Town, managed the matter well; he caught
several deer and penned them up and fattened them on corn.
The season following the winter of the deep snow was a very
late one, and frost came every month in the year. The crops
were poor, as may well be supposed, and the corn did not ripen.
In June, 1826, four years before the year of the deep snow,
the terrible wind storm occurred which passed through the
south end of Blooming Grove eastward to Old Town. This
terrible tornado swept down everything in its way ; the trees
were twisted oft", and everything was leveled with the ground.
At this time Mr. William Evans, of whose life we have written
a sketch, had a crop of several acres of corn in Old Town. The
hurricane passed over it and it was gone. But the old settlers
wore friends in need. Mr. Orendorff, whose place at Blooming
Grove Mr. Evans had rented, gave the latter a patch of from
five to seven acres of corn, so that, notwithstanding his misfor-
tune, Mr. Evans was again encouraged.
All the old settlers remember the sudden change in the
weather which occurred on the fourteenth of December, 183<i,
when the weather had been very moderate, and suddenly be-
came so cold that many animals were frozen to death. Mr.
Hodge says that the longest winter was that of 1842 and '43,
when cold winter weather set in on the fourth of November, and
lasted until the following April.
180 OLD SETTLERS OF
Mr. Hodge was sheriff, collector and assessor of Tazewell
County from 1827 to 1831, which makes him a pretty old office-
holder. At that time and until 1838, the sheriff was obliged to
collect the taxes.
Mr. Hodge married in the year 1814, and was blessed with a
tine family of eight children, seven of whom are now living.
Mr. Hodge is a man of medium height. His eyes are keen
and penetrating, and his appearance would indicate that in his
younger days he must have been a good man of business. He
is sharp enough yet, and a person must rise early in the morn-
ing to take him in. While walking he uses a cane-, as his right
foot is crippled in consequence of a white swelling. His mem-
ory is still very good — remarkably good for his age. His hair
is white and his head is a little bald. He is a man of very agree-
able and pleasant humor. Taken altogether he is a fine exam-
ple of the honest, jolly, hard-working, humorous old settlers.
We are sure the reader will be glad to see the following from
the pen of Mr. Hodge himself, as it tells the condition of things
in early days, and also gives some idea of the character of Mr.
Hodge :
" I came to Blooming Grove in 1824, and found sixteen fam-
ilies within the present bounds of McLean County, all of us be-
ing in very straightened circumstances as to money or property,
and far from market and very little to sell. Springfield, the near-
est place of business, was composed of about twenty what we
now call shanties. The place was chosen as the temporary seat
of justice of Sangamon County in 1821. I voted at the organi-
zation of that county at the first election, which was held in
February, 1821. I came to Sangamon County in February.
L820. During that year the first census of Illinois was taken,
and the population numbered sixty-five thousand. When the
first settlers came to the wilderness they all supposed that their
hard struggle would be principally over after the first year; but
alas! we looked for 'easier times next year' for about ten
years, and learned to bear hardships, privations and hard living
as good soldiers do. As the facilities for making money were
not great we lived pretty well satisfied in an atmosphere of good,
social, friendly feeling, and thought ourselves as good as those
we left behind when we emigrated to the West. After a while
m'lean county. 181
they began to come after us to teach us the way more perfectly,
and we took such lessons as were most congenial to our views.
I might here give an account of the cold winters we had to live
through in open cabins, and the big snow of 1830 and '31 ; but
these are past, and have been narrated so often that they are cer-
lainly worn stale and not entertaining. All who have helped to
subdue the wilderness in any of the Western States and are yet
living know that it is hard work, with great suffering and hard
living, without church or school privileges, and to those who
have not tried it let me say there are more wildernesses to settle,
and if you wish to know what a pioneer's life is, put out and
try it, if you think you have the pluck to stand it, for I assure
you it takes a pretty good soldier to do so.
" There are yet living four of the sixteen men who first set-
tled in this country, viz. : John Benson, aged ninety-five, John
H. S. Rhodes, aged seventy-eight, Thomas Orendorff, aged sev-
enty-one, and your humble servant, aged eighty-one. The two
Mr. Funks (Absalom and Isaac), who were both single men, and
Samual Rhodes, were not counted among the sixteen pioneers
of 1824. The ministers of the Gospel of the Savior of the
world hunted us up and preached to what few there were ; there-
fore, we did not degenerate and turn heathen, as any communi-
ty will where the sound of the gospel is never heard. I shall
not give their names, though sacred in memory, for they were
not after the fleece, but after the flock, because they had but
little to say about science and philosophy, but spoke of purer
things. I claim no honors for being an emigrant pioneer, for
I came to bear the turmoil of the new country to better my own
condition, and what little I have done toward advancing the
public interest has been done freely. I do not wish to write
my autobiography, for my life has been a checkered scene,
with probably more to condemn than applaud, still I am will-
ing to have my deeds brought to the light and reproved. My
reason for writing these few lines is this : I have frequently
been called upon to give some account of pioneer life, the
seasons, the cold winters, and the storms of snow with which
the early settlers had to contend, and give dates, and when I
have tried to do this I have seen my statements come forth'
182 OLD SETTLERS OF
in public print, garbled and incorrect, so I thought I would
write a few lines myself, but hereafter I must beg to be excused
from writing any more. W. H. Hodge."
William Richard Goodheart.
William Richard Goodheart was born December 1, 1780,
near Edinburg, Scotland. Here his father farmed some land,
and here William received his limited education. When he
was about fourteen years of age the family emigrated to Hol-
land. On their arrival there Mr. Goodheart was bound out to
learn the stone mason's trade. But he had no affection for his
master, and soon ran away with one of his companions, and took
service on board of a merchant vessel. This vessel was shortly
afterwards captured by the French, and William Goodheart
served in the French navy. While he was in the navy the
French became engaged in a war with England, and the French
fleet was ordered to attack the English, after a consultation of
the officers. On board of the man-of-war, on which Mr. Good-
heart was serving, was an Englishman, who was captain of the
forecastle. This Englishman did not wish to fight against his
own country, and rather than do so he hung himself. Mr.
Goodheart was not so sensitive, as he was a Scotchman, and the
Scotch had not then much affection for England. He was se-
lected to fill the place of the Englishman. He was in the ser-
vice of the French for about seven years, partly on sea and part-
ly on on land. He belonged to the cavalry, and was for several
years with Napoleon in Italy. He rode a fine horse, of which
he was very fond. At one time he had very little provision for
himself or fodder for his horse. All he had was one pound of
bread, but gave this to his horse and endured hunger himself.
He was obliged at last to kill his horse while crossing a muddy
stream, as the animal became mired down, and was likely to fall
into the hands of the enemy. He was with Napoleon on the
Russian campaign, and saw the destruction of Moscow.
After leaving the French service Mr. Goodheart went to
England and entered into the English service against the United
States during the war of 1812. He was taken prisoner in the
naval conflict on Lake Erie, when Commodore Perry gained his
great victory. A friend, while speaking of this, says : " In re-
m'lean county. 183
latins: to me the incidents of that terrific battle he told me the
following anecdote : Three Indians, who had enlisted in the
British service, were placed under Goodheart's command over
one of the guns on the ship. During the heat of battle Good-
heart was called below to receive some order, and before he
could return, that part of the ship was shot away, and he
thought the poor savages had perished. But after the battle
closed he was surprised to see them coming out of the coal hole,
where the rascals had fled as soon as their captain had momen-
tarily left the gun. Many years after this, when Mr. Goodheart
had moved to Blooming Grove, he saw a company of Indians,
and one of them, advancing in front, called him captain, and
said he was one of the Indians who had served under Goodheart
on board of the man-of-war on Lake Erie." Mr. Goodheart
was taken prisoner in this battle, and was landed on the coast of
Pennsylvania. But he did not wish to be exchanged and go
back to the British service, and he with two others escaped dur-
ing the first night -after they were brought to land. They
walked all night into the interior of the country, as they
thought, but when morning broke were surprised at beholding
their own ship. They concealed themselves in a hay stack until
night, and started again into the interior. After a hard travel
they arrived at Lancaster, Pa. While there a great many troops
came to a muster, and among them was a bully who conceived a
particular aversion to Goodheart, and would not rest content
until they tried their muscle. Mr. Goodheart wished to avoid a
personal encounter, but it was forced upon him, and he had no
choice in the matter. He was a man of great strength, and de-
fended himself successfully. He enlisted in the American army
and fought under General Harrison.
On the 2d of August, 1814, Mr. Goodheart married Sarah
Ann Clouse, at Franklin, Ohio. He made a claim there, and in
order to pay for it, made a trip to New Orleans on a flatboat.
He was gone six months, was very sick a part of the time, and
from his prolonged absence, his wife despaired of ever seeing
him again, In 1819 Mr. Goodheart had his leg broken by the
falling of a tree. During the illness which followed he medi-
tated on religious matters. He was converted to the cause of
Christ at a camp-meeting, under the preaching of Elder Wright.
184 OLD SETTLERS OF
About that time he sold his home and prepared to come "West,
but his wife refused her consent for several years. During the
fall of 1824 Mr. Goodheart and his wife and six children started
for the West and arrived at Mackinawtowu, in what was then
Fayette County, Illinois. He was warmly welcomed by the set-
tlers, who built him a cabin and did everything in their power
to assist him. He left his wife and children and made a visit to
Blooming Grove. The Indians annoyed his family somewhat
during his absence. On his return he put his things into the
wagon to go again to Blooming Grove, and also tied his horses
to it. Just then a party of drunken Indiaus came up at full speed
on their ponies and were yelling and whooping with their loud-
est voices. Mr. Goodheart's horses were so frightened that they
upset the wagon. He spoke to them, but they paid no attention
until he addressed them in the French language. This they
understood at once and stopped their noise. When a party
of Indians become intoxicated, they place themselves under the
control of some sober Indians, in order to be well taken care of.
The party which came up to Mr. Goodheart was under the con-
trol of two Indians, who were sober.
The Goodheart family settled at Blooming Grove, near the
present Central depot, on a farm now owned by Judge J. E. Mc-
Clun. On this farm are to be found some apple trees planted by
Father Goodheart more than fifty years ago. They still bear
fruit. He made his claim here on the tenth section, and sold it in
1827 to a man named Canady, who entered it. On this farm Mr.
Goodheart made the first brick manufactured in McLean Coun-
ty. After this the people began building chimneys of brick
instead of sticks and clay. In 1827 he moved to Old Town tim-
ber, where he lived until 1830, when he entered land at Bloom-
ing Grove. He afterwards moved to the north side of Bloom-
ington to the place now known as the Davis, Allin and Flagg
Addition. There he stayed two years, then sold out to Samuel
Durley, moved to Sugar Creek to a farm since known as the
Robert McClun place, and now in the possession of Colonel
Rouse. Here he lived two or three j^ears, and then moved to
Bloomington, where he lived until the time of his death, which
occurred in 1842.
Mr. Goodheart is well described by his old friend and ad-
mirer, Judge J. E. McClun, as follows :
m'lean county. 185
"He was large, robust and of dark complexion, like his son,
our fellow-citizen, James Goodheart. He had served in the
great European war, both on the side and against Napoleon the
Great, and having a fine memory and a talent to communicate,
it was a treat to hear him tell of the incidents of those great
campaigns. He was at one time quartered in the city of Rome,
and gave me the most satisfactory account of the cathedral of
St. Peter I had ever heard. He had stepped the great edifice,
and told me its dimensions with great particularity. He received
his wages in coin and carried them in a belt around his
body until he became galled by its weight. When the wars and
wanderings of Mr. Goodheart were ended, he embraced the re-
ligion of the Savior, and often said that though he loved Napo-
leon and General Harrison very much, yet he loved Jesus Christ
far better. Every person had confidence in Father Goodheart.
He told his religious experience with an earnestness and sincerity
that enlisted the attention of all and carried the conviction to
every heart that this good old man's profession was an honest
and sincere one. After a life of great purity and uprightness
he died in Bloomington, and has without any doubt been for
more than thirty years in the heavenly kingdom."
Mr. Goodheart was for many years an exhorter in the Meth-
odist Church, and his license given by Rev. Peter Cartwright is
yet in the possession of his son, James Goodheart.
William R. Goodheart had ten children. They are :
Jacob, who died in June, 1855.
Elizabeth C, wife of William II. Rankin, lives in Belleflower
township.
Mary Christina, wife of Loyal T. Johnson, lives in Kansas.
George W., who lives near Lancaster, Keokuk County, Iowa.
William R., who died of cholera in 1850.
Ann Catherine, wife of Joseph Douglas, lives near Michigan-
town, Indiana.
Sarah Maria, wife of Durham Livingston, died in February,
1849, and is buried by the side of her father.
John H. was a soldier in the army during the rebellion, was
second lieutenant of company C. Second Illinois Cavalry, and
was killed at Merryweather's Ferry in Tennessee, in July, 1862.
He was a brave soldier and worthy of his father's reputation.
186 OLD SETTLERS OF
His widow and two daughters live in Pekin. Even in early boy-
hood he possessed a peculiarly fearless iron will ; in business he
was energetic and industrious ; in society rather quiet, and to his
family he was a kind and tender-hearted father.
James Goodheart, the ninth child, lives in Bloomington. He
and his amiable lady gave many interesting items for this sketch.
He has many of those attractive qualities for which his father
was distinguished.
The youngest child, Julia Ann Perrv Goodheart, is the wife
of Denison Douglas, of Padua township. The name Perry was
given to her because she was born September 10, 1832, the anni-
versary of Perry's victory on Lake Erie in 1812.
"William Evans, Sr.
One of the oldest of the old settlers was William Evans. He
was born September 1, 1775, near Carlisle, Cumberland County,
Pennsylvania. His father was a soldier in the American army
during the Revolutionary war. While the war was raging young
William and his mother lived for a while in one of the Ameri-
can forts on the Juniata liiver. Here he caught the small-pox
and so severe was the attack that one of his eyes was made
sightless forever. The strength of his other eye was also much
impaired and rendered his power of vision always dim. Being
possessed of a strong constitution he triumphed over the sick-
ness of infancy.
We hear nothing more of the childhood of William Evans.
After Wayne's treaty with the Indians his father's family moved
to Pittsburg, Ohio. Here young William showed that daring,
adventurous disposition which afterwards made him one of the
most successful of the early pioneers.
It was customary for the people on the upper Ohio to load
their flatboats with goods or lumber and pole them down the stream
to New Orleans. After disposing of the cargo the enterprising
traders walked back through the unsettled wilderness to the
upper Ohio. Young William Evans made this journey twice
on foot. This was the stern education which prepared him for
the success of after life. While living near Pittsburg he cleared
two farms of fortv-five acres each ; one of these he lost because
he could not redeem it from an incumbrance of fifty- dollars;
m'lean county. 187
the other he sold for one hundred dollars in cash and twenty-rive
dollars in goods and started for Illinois. This was in 1825. He
first settled in Old Town in McLean County, but in 1829 he
moved to his farm which is now a part of the city of Blooming-
ton. He was the first settler on the ground now occupied by the
present city of Bloomington, although when the city was first
laid out it did not include within the boundaries the house where
Mr. Evans lived. Mr. James Allin was the first settler on the
original site of the city. Both of these men may be considered
the founders of Bloomington. On Mr. Evans farm, where now
stand the residences of Dr. Wakefield and others, he broke the
first sod in Bloomington and in 1828 raised a splendid crop of
winter wheat, the yield being thirty bushels to the acre. The
wheat brought forty cents per bushel and was sold to settlers
moving into the country.
The first addition to Bloomington was laid out by James
Allin. The second addition was laid out by Jesse W. Fell and
a certain Mr. White. The land was bought by them of William
Evans and was a part of his original farm. Mr. Niccolls and
Judge J. E. McClun bought thirteen acres of Mr. Evans and
laid out a third addition.
Mr. Evans married in the year 1800 Miss Effie Winebriner.
He had a pleasant family of children. His wife Effie died in
1839 after thirty- eight years of happy wedded life. In 1840 he
married Mrs. Martha Bay. He lived with her a contented and
happy life until the year 1868 when he died at the advanced age
of ninety-three years two months and seven days. Mrs. Evans
is still living, and resides with her youngest daughter, Mrs. Hay-
wood, who almost worships her.
William Evans was of mixed Welch and Irish descent, his
father being Welch and his mother Irish. He had a tolerable
common school education which he obtained at a district school
near his birthplace in Pennsylvania.
William Evans was a quiet, unassuming man. He had in
him a great deal of the " milk of human kindness." His good
acts were done without ostentation ; he never allowed his right
hand to know what his left hand did ; and there are many who
will remember his generosity until their latest day. He gave
many building lots to poor widows and it is probable that all of
188 OLD SETTLERS OF
his generous deeds will not be known until the final day when
the Lord makes up his jewels. Mr. Evans possessed a remark-
able influence over the Indians. These wild men of nature are
wonderful in their quick and accurate estimate of character.
They saw instantly that Mr. Evans was a man in whom they
could trust. They rested often before his door and delighted in
his presence. They often slept on his floor at night and some-
times covered it, and he always made them welcome. He was
a man who would have many friends wherever he went. The
Rev. Mr. McElroy, w r ho preached his funeral discourse, said:
" He was wont to sav : ' A man always takes his neighbors
mf ml o
with him wherever he goes ;' and was fond of relating the fol-
lowing anecdote as illustrative of the truth: "Two men had
emigrated at an early day to the West. They put up together
at the same tavern at night. The landlord inquired of one where
he was going and why he came to the West. " I am going to
settle in the bottom here," said he, "and I came West to get rid
of my troublesome neighbors." " You will have bad neighbors
where you are going," said the landlord, and turning to the
other he asked the same question. " I came West," said he,
" because my farm was small and I desired to get more land, as
I have a large family of children. I am going to settle in the
bottom, and the only regret I have in leaving my old home is,
I have left many good neighbors." " You will have good neigh-
bors where you are going," said the landlord. " How is this ?"
said the first, when we are going to the same place ?" " Sim-
ply," replied he, "a man takes his neighbors with him when he
goes. ' "
This quaint little story shows the influence of character and
a kind and neighborly disposition.
Mr. Evans was a man of God, a quiet, earnest, devoted
Christian. He united with the Methodist church in 1835 and
patiently upheld the cross of Christ until the day of his death.
As to his personal appearance, William Evans was quite
heavily set and weighed perhaps two hundred pounds. He was
careful in business matters, and in his old age when sight and
hearing had partially failed, his mind was always sufficiently
clear to allow him to manage his business. All who knew Mr.
Evans speak of him as a kind and excellent neighbor. He took
m'lean county. 189
great delight in playing the violin which was nearly always the
musical instrument of early days. Music was a rare treat to the
early settlers and the old airs played by Mr. Evans were gladly
received.
William Dimmitt.
"William Dimmitt was born on a farm in Alleghany County,
Maryland, about eight miles from Cumberland, in June, 1797.
His father emigrated from England, but his mother was Ameri-
can born. When he was three years of age his father died.
After that he lived with his grandparents until he was married
at the age of nineteen. He received his very moderate educa-
tion partly in Ohio, where his grandparents removed when he
was ten years of age, and partly in Illinois. He was considered
rather an old scholar, as he did not remove to Illinois until he
was twenty-eight years of age. He came to Illinois in 1825, and
stayed the first summer on the Vermilion River, near the pres-
ent town of Danville. In the fall he came to Blooming Grove,
and located on the present site of Bloomington. Here, with the
assistance of another party, he entered one hundred and thirty
acres of land. He found, as settlers here, William Orendorff,
William Walker, John Benson and the Rhodes family, consist-
ing of John, Jerry, Samuel, Aaron and James.
When Bloomington was laid out in 1831, Mr. Dimmitt had
no thought of its future greatness and prosperity. But he lived
to make six additions to the city. He sold these additions grad-
ually as the demand for lots increased. He says that when the
city was laid out the land was worth from five to six dollars per
acre, but now much of it is worth from five to seven hundred
dollars per foot. He says that at the sale of lots in 1831, forty
dollars was a high price to pay for a lot.
When Mr. Dimmitt first came here the people suffered from
that most disagreeable but not very dangerous disease — fever
and ague. The changes in the weather were then more sudden
and more severe than at present. He thinks the coldest winter
was in 1843. On the tenth of March of that year people were
crossing the river at Ottawa on the ice.
Mr. Dimmitt speaks well of the Indians. He always lived
at peace with them ; they were good neighbors. All trade with
190 OLD SETTLERS OF
them was exchange. He served six months in the Black Hawk
war. He went to Dixon's Ferry, where the volunteers were
gathered together, but after the unfortunate defeat at Stillman's
Run, about twenty-five miles northeast of Dixon, he was mus-
tered out with the entire force, as the term of their enlistment
had expired. He was well acquainted with John Dixon, one of
the early pioneers of the "West, and the founder of the pretty
little village which bears his name. He was also well acquainted
with Colonel John Dement, who was a Major and who made for
himself so honorable a record during the Black Hawk war.
But those stirring times are gone. Nearly all of the early
hard working pioneers, who are now living, have acquired a fair
competence. Mr. Dimmitt has made some money by his good
sense, good management and hard work, and he now enjoys the
fruits of his labors. He has raised a family of ten children,
three sons and seven daughters, all of whom are living. Al-
though he is seventy-five years of age he is enjoying most
excellent health, and we may indulge in the hope that, on ac-
count of his vigorous constitution, it will yet be many years be-
fore he is gathered to his fathers.
The "times" with the first pioneers were not flush. They
received at first but a small return for their labor. Oats and
corn brought from eight to ten cents per bushel ; wheat brought
from forty to fifty cents per bushel", and pork ranged from $1.25
to §1.50 per hundred.
As to personal appearance, Mr. Dimmitt is about five feet and
ten inches in height. His face is full ; his hair is white, but he
has plenty of it, and his eye-sight is still pretty good. He made
a fortune without expecting to do so by the sale of town lots.
He has never held a public office, and never sought one. His
taste has never led him in that direction ; he is a good American
citizen ; he has lived a useful life, and the community where he
resides is the better for his exertions.
Robert Guthrie and Rev. Robert Elton Guthrie.
Robert Guthrie was a native of Pennsylvania, and was of
Scotch and Welch descent. He was born November 1, 1795.
His wife was Catherine Spawr, also a native of Pennsylvania,
and a daughter of Valentine Spawr, late of McLean County,
M'LEAN COUNTY. 1 91
Illinois. She was of German descent. In the fall of 182.6
Robert Guthrie moved with his family to Funk's Grove in Mc-
Lean County, Illinois. His family then consisted of his wife
and five children, named John, Margaret, Robert Elton, Jacob
and Adam. He made his first improvement where the Chicago
& Alton Railroad now enters the north end of Funk's Grove,
before the land was in market. He had when he came but fifty
cents in his pocket, and was fifty dollars in debt. He husked
corn for Isaac and Absalom Funk for fifty cents per day and
split rails for twenty-five cents per hundred, and it was very
hard to support his family during the first winter. He was
helped very much by his good luck in killing two fine bucks that
had been fighting and had locked their antlers together so tight-
ly as to be unable to get loose. He considered this a special
interposition of Providence. These fortunate circumstances oc-
curred when he had just lost some of his stacks by a prairie fire
and when he felt very much depressed. The fire was one of the
grandest and most terrible ever known in the West. It extended
around the whole north and west sides of Funk's Grove, and
the walls of flame moved rapidly forward. The whole heavens
were lit up, and at midnight everything was almost as easily
and clearly distinguished as at mid-day. In the morning the
whole country was black, and many stacks and rail fences were
simply smoking cinders.
At the end of two years Mr. Guthrie had a farm opened up,
but was obliged to sell it in order to pay a note of fifty dollars,
which fell due. It was given for fifty dollars which he had bor-
rowed of Mary Cox in order to come West. But she had in the
meantime become Mrs. Kimler, and needed her money in order
to get her outfit for housekeeping.
While Mr. Guthrie lived at Funk's Grove he had his corn
ground at a mill at the north end of Twin Grove near the pres-
ent M. E. Church on the old Dan Munsell place, then owned by
Mr. Matthew Harbord. He shelled his corn by scraping the
ears on the edge of a fire shovel held over a wash-tub, and
his sons took it to mill on horseback. There they were obliged
to wait to get it ground, and when their turn came they hitched
their horses to the mill and ground their grain. These boys,
John and Robert Elton Guthrie, aged respectively twelve and
192 OhD SETTLERS OF
nine years, sometimes had a hard time of it going ten miles on
horseback to mill, but the children of the early settlers learned
to be men when they were very young. At the mill was nearly
always a crowd of men and boys waiting their turn to grind their
grain. They passed their time in racing their horses, running
foot races, wrestling, jumping and fighting. They felt obliged
to exercise their muscle in some way all the time.
After selling his claim and improvements in 1829, Mr. Guth-
rie moved to Money Creek, about nine miles northeast of where
Bloomington now stands, on a place npw owned by Benjamin
Ogden. Here he built a hewed log cabin, fenced and broke from
forty to sixty acres of land, and began to get a good start once
more. But the land came into market in the meantime and Mr.
Guthrie was unable to enter it and was again thrown out of a
home.
The winter of 1830-31 is remembered by all as the winter of
the deep snow. Three days before the snow began falling, Mr.
Guthrie and Frederick Trimmer started for St. Louis with teams
and wagons to haul goods for James Allin, who had opened a
small store where Bloomington now is. They intended to be
gone only ten days or two weeks, but they did not see their
families again for five weeks. They were obliged to leave their
goods, wagons and Mr. Guthrie's oxen about fifteen miles the
other side of Springfield, and came through with Mr. Trimmer's
horses to break the way. During this time their families were
in a state of anxious suspense, and were obliged to live on boiled
corn ; indeed, during the whole winter they had very little to
eat except pounded meal. During that winter Mr. Guthrie
sent his children to school, though they had to work their way
for a mile through snow that reached nearly to their necks ; but
when it became packed they walked over the crust.
In the spring of 1831 Mr. Guthrie moved to Major's Grove
near where the Chicago and Alton railroad shops now stand.
There he improved a farm for Mr. James Allin. But in the fall
of 1832 he gave up farming, built a house on the southwest cor-
ner of Front and Lee streets and began the business of plaster-
ing and carpentering, and continued it until the day of his death,
which occurred in the spring of 1846. He was buried in the
Bloomington cemetery. His wife who died in 1856 now rests
m'lean county. 193
beside him, and four of their children, Jacob, Rebecca, Thomas
Haines and Catherine Elizabeth are laid there also.
Robert Guthrie was about five feet ten inches in height, was
slenderly built and a little stoop-shouldered; had dark hair in
his younger days, dark eyes and swarthy complexion. He was
not a very excitable man, was a kind father but strict with his
children, and was a sincere but unostentatious Christian. He
was temperate in all of his habits except the use of tobacco.
Rev. Robert Elton Guthrie.
Robert Elton Guthrie was born in Pickaway County, Ohio,
on the Fourth of July, 1819. His life is pretty well shown in
the foregoing sketch of his father. When his father took up
the business of plastering and carpentering, the eldest son John
was apprenticed to Lewis Bunn to learn the trade of blacksmith,
while Robert learned his father's trade. He was a stout lad and
soon became quite skillful in the use of tools, and a great sup-
port to the family. His services were so important that he went
very little to school, only five months to Mr. Amasa C. Wash-
burn in an old log school-house that stood in the crossing of
Main and Olive streets.
In the spring of 1835 Mr. James Miller and his brother-in-
law, Mr. Moore, came to Bloomington, and this so strengthened
the Methodist community that they built a church and finished
it in the fall of 1836. This was done under the charge of Rev.
Zadoc Hall now of the Central Illinois Conference. Before this
all religious services had been held in the court house. In the
fall of 1836 Rev. S. W. D. Chase was stationed at Bloomington
under Rev. John St. Clair as presiding elder. During the fol-
lowing winter the community was awakened by a great revival
and among the converts were John, Margaret, Robert and Jacob
Guthrie. This revival had a great influence upon the morals of
Bloomington.
After his conversion Robert Guthrie determined to be a min-
ister of the gospel and considered this his solemn duty. He
studied, when he could snatch a moment's time from his work,
and recited to Rev. Richard Haney, who had succeeded Mr.
Chase as pastor of the church at Bloomington. At the Illinois
Annual Conference held at Jacksonville in September, 1841,
13
194 OLD SETTLERS OF
Mr. Guthrie was admitted on trial on the recommendation of
the quarterly conference of Bloomington station. He was ap-
pointed to travel the Wauponsett mission and his work that year
had for its outposts the Mazon settlement, South Ottawa, Ver-
milionville, Long Point, Pontiac and Indian Grove, where the
town of Fairbury now stands, and all the intermediate territory.
He made this circuit every three weeks, with nineteen regular
and from two to six extra appointments. This kept Mr. Guth-
rie very busy, and he was obliged to read and study in the sad-
dle while going from point to point. For his year's salary he
received fifty dollars from the missionary fund and twenty-five
or thirty dollars collected on his circuit, paid principally in arti-
cles of clothing, money being almost out of use at that time. At
the close of his pastoral year he was presented with some half a
dozen pairs of socks and fifteen pounds of wool. He carried the
wool to Ottawa on horseback and sold it for an order on a store
for three dollars. The result of his first year's work was the
addition of twenty-five or thirty members to the church. The
following j^ear was marked by a sweeping revival, which ex-
tended over the whole circuit. The next five years were spent
by Mr. Guthrie in the traveling circuits in the southern part of
the State, which was then all within the Illinois Conference. He
was many times troubled with regard to his financial matters, as
his salary was barely enough to keep him in the necessaries of
life. The great flood was in the year 1844, and as his work em-
braced the section of the country bounded on the south and
east by the Mississippi and Big Muddy liivers, and on the west
by the Kaskaskia, he had great difficulty in traveling from one
point to another. He was often obliged to ride through water
on the bottom lands for many miles, and sometimes was com-
pelled to swim his horse. His salary for this labor was one hun-
dred dollars a year, and was paid by the people in calves, pigs,
corn, oats, castor-beans, pork, hoop-poles, barrel staves, barrels,
and orders on stores ; nevertheless he was happy, knowing that
he was engaged in a useful and blessed work. In 1844 he was
appointed to the Jonesboro circuit, in Union County, and re-
ceived only forty-five dollars for his salary. At the close of the
conference year, on the twenty-sixth day of August, 1845, he
was married by the Rev. S. W. D. Chase, his presiding elder, to
m'lean county. 195
Miss Lucy Kelsall, at the residence of her father, in Randolph
County, and she has been his good and helpful wife ever since.
At the next conference Mr. Guthrie was elected and ordained
an elder. For the next year he was appointed to the Nashville
circuit, and during the following year to the Sparta circuit, where
he promptly began his labor. But at the second quarterly meet-
ing he found his pay so small that he was obliged to resign his
charge and work for his support. He rented a small farm, the
one formerly owned and occupied by his father-in-law, then re-
cently deceased. His worldly goods were then very few, and he
and his wife and child were forced to live for some time on corn
bread. But he was fortunate enough in February to kill three
deer, which greatly assisted him. He worked hard and succeed-
ed well, and by the next conference he was free from all finan-
cial embarrassments and again went into the work of the minis-
try. He was appointed to Rushville station, in Schuyler Coun-
ty, but at the end of the year was again in financial difficulty.
The year following he was appointed to the Beardstown circuit,
but his financial embarrassments became so great that he re-
quested to be located, and went to work at his trade, carpenter-
ing and plastering. He worked at Beardstown in the winter,
during the day, and preached every other evening, as a great
revival of religion was in progress there. Rev. Mr. Rucker and
himself conducted the exercises, and great good was accom-
plished. By the time the conference met during the following
summer, he had relieved himself of his financial troubles by his
hard labor, and was again ready to work in the ranks of the
itinerants. He was appointed to the Springfield station, where
he labored with success for two years. After this he was ap-
pointed to fill the East Charge in Jacksonville, which he did for
one year very pleasantly and successfully. In the following year
he was appointed agent to sell scholarships for the Illinois Con-
ference Female College. This was done against his better judg-
ment, at the request of Rev. J. F. Jacques, the President of the
institution, and B. Newman, the financial agent. After this ap-
pointment was made, while Mr. Guthrie was returning from
Jacksonville, in company with Rev. William Hindall, Dr. J. C.
Finley and Samuel Elliott, Dr. Finley said : " Guthrie, I th-th-
think the B-Bishop has spoiled a t-t-tolerable good pr-preacher
196 OLD SETTLERS OF
to m-makea v-very poor agent," to which Mr. Guthrie replied :
" I fear so, Doctor." The appointment was not a success, and
that vear ended his work as a financial agent.
The following year he was appointed presiding elder of the
Quincy district, and traveled it for three years in succession. He
felt greatly encouraged with the prosperity of the church in
most of the pastoral charges. Rushville, Mt. Sterling, Clayton,
Columbus, Menden and Plymouth all had special visitations of
grace and a large increase in membership. But the salary was
small, and after three years he was changed to Decatur station.
Here he spent one of the happiest and most successful years of
his life. The church enjoyed a revival and paid off a debt on
its property of more than four hundred dollars. He says "there
is no more warm-hearted people for a minister to labor with in
the Illinois Conference than is found in the Methodist church
and congregation of Decatur." In the fall of 1858, Mr. Guth-
rie was appointed to the charge of the Bloomington district as
presiding elder, and was continued at that work for four years.
During that period nearly every charge in the district enjoyed
revivals. The charge at Bloomington, under Rev. I. C. Eim-
ber, and afterwards under Rev. L. C. Pitner, and the charge at
Leroy, under Rev. Ira Emerson enjoyed very extensive re-
vivals.
During those four years Mr. Guthrie laid up enough money
on a salary of nine hundred dollars to buy a quarter section of
land to which he could retire when age or infirmity should pre-
vent him from continuing his labors in the ministry. It is the
southwest quarter of section eleven, in Bellefiower township,
McLean County, and cost four dollars per acre.
In 1868, at the urgent solicitations of his friends, Mr. Guth-
rie became a candidate for the office of Circuit Clerk of Mc-
Lean Count}*. He was elected and held his office four years.
He never held any other public office, and at the expiration of
Lis term did not come forward for re-election.
Robert Elton G uthrie is five feet and eleven inches in "height,
is well set, well proportioned, and has a broad chest and broad
shoulders. His hair was dark when young, but now is rather
gray. He has a high forehead, hazel eyes, good countenance,
and a healthy constitution. As will be seen in this sketch, he
m'lean county. 197
prizes very highly his Christian experience, and wishes to see
the power and influence of Christianity extended.
Adam Guthrie.
Adam Guthrie was born March 10, 1825, in the town of Cir-
cleville, Pickaway County, Ohio. His father was Scotch-Irish,
and his mother was German. He was one of a family of twelve
children, eight boys and four girls. It is worthy of remark that
nearly all of our old settlers were members of very large fami-
lies, the children usually numbering from eight to twelve, and
in one case twenty-one. Adam's father came to McLean Coun-
ty with his family in September, 1826. He bought and sold
land claims in McLean County until 1832, when he came to
Bloomington and invested some money in town lots. After
building a house he began to work at plastering, but never ac-
cumulated much property. Adam, being only one year old
when his father came to McLean County, received the education
of a pioneer school boy. Mr. "Washburn, of whose life we have
written a sketch, was one of his teachers. Young Adam at-
tended school in winter and helped his father in the plastering
business during the summer. In 1846 his father died, and
• Adam learned the trade of plastering of a Mr. Lawrence, usually
called Squire Lawrence. After two years' service for Lawrence
he went to work on his own account, and has continued at this
business until the present time, when not interrupted by the
duties of public office. From 1865 until 1873 he has held the
office of assessor, and has performed his duties carefully. Mr.
Guthrie also acted as deputy recorder from 1868 to 1870 for his
brother, who was clerk of the Circuit Court, from 1868 to
1872. In 1870 he took the United States census in district
number seven.
Adam Guthrie married, in 1849, Miss L. L. Butler, of
Bloomington. The marriage service was performed by the
noted Wesleyan minister, Thomas Magee. He has now an in-
teresting family of three children, two boys and one girl.
Adam Guthrie has plastered or helped to plaster nearly two
hundred houses, and has indeed earned his bread by the sweat
of his brow. The price paid for plastering is now much greater
than it was twenty years ago, nevertheless Mr. Guthrie says that
198 OLD SETTLERS OF
more money could be made by the contractor in early times, be-
cause the price of labor and material was so much less. In
early days the wages of the best workmen were from $1.00 to
$1.50 per day, while they are at present from $3.00 to $3.50.
During the late rebellion Adam Guthrie enlisted as a private
in the Ninety-fourth Illinois, and was soon made corporal, but
after serving eight months he was discharged on account of ill-
health. He participated in one engagement, that of Prairie
Grove, on the seventh of December, 1862.
Adam Guthrie has the feeling of an old settler, and takes
pride in the growth and development of the country, and in the
fact that he is identified with it. He takes pleasure in recalling
the incidents of early life, and any little event awakens this
feeling. He even takes satisfaction in having attended the first
funeral in the old cemetery, that of Mrs. Pennington. He says
she lived in the house now occupied by L. Matern, carriage
maker, the same in which Mr. Hill printed the first newspaper
published in Bloomington.
As to personal appearance, Adam Guthrie is well formed,
and nearly six feet in height. His constitution is not very good.
His features are strong and his nose a little Roman. He has
never been much of a speculator, although he understands the
value of property, and knows how to make the assessment.
David Cox.
David Cox was born January 12, 1811, about four miles from
Circleville, in Pickaway County, Ohio. His father's name was
Benjamin Cox, and his mother's was Phileua Dye. He thinks his
mother was of Welch descent. He went to school in Ohio, but
in this respect differed little from other boys of that time. Edu-
cational advantages were not remarkably good. He was a very
industrious boy, his father never allowed him to be idle, and the
habit of industry became so fixed that it has remained in his old
age. In 1825 his father came to McLean County and bought
of John W. Dawson an improved claim with a log cabin, a barn
and seventy acres under fence, for two hundred dollars. He re-
turned to Ohio to bring out his famil}", but died within two or
three weeks afterwards. But Mrs. Cox, the mother of David,
brought out the family, which consisted of eight children, four
m'lean county. 199
sons, three daughters and one nephew, John Kinder. They
left Ohio August 29, 1826, and arrived September 23. The sea-
son was pleasant and the roads were good, until they came to
the beech woods of Indiana. There they were troubled by mud,
but when they came to the prairie they had a pleasant road once
more. They saw only three houses between the Vermilion Salt
Works (twelve miles this side of Danville) and Blooming Grove,
then called Keg Grove. This is a distance of about seventy
miles. They had no particular adventure or trouble, except that
once their horses strayed away, and the Indians took them, and
the animals were not recovered for some time. They came back
poor from neglect and hard Indian fare. The family settled on
the east side of Blooming Grove, where David Cox now lives.
It is near the track of the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western
Railway.
The Cox family had a hard time during the winter of the
deep snow, as all the settlers had, and pounded their corn, of
course. Mrs. David Cox (then Miss Walker) says they parched
corn and ground it in a coffee mill, and thought it good
living.
David Cox was more of a worker than a hunter ; he says the
deer always saw him first, and he preferred the certainty of the
reward of toil to the uncertainty of finding game which could
see him first. The falling of the meteors in 1833 was quite an
era for the old settlers. The meteors came by millions, and
made the night much lighter by their falling. It is said that
James Rhodes thought the world was coming to an end, and
arose and began reading his Bible.
Mr. Cox never lost much by prairie fires, being always care-
ful to guard against them. The vegetation of the country has
been changed by settling it up. The prairie grass has disap-
peared, and the blue grass has taken its place. Mr. Cox tells of
some peculiar vegetables, called the ramps, which formerly
grew in the timber. They tasted like onions, and were liked
by the cattle, but gave a bad flavor to the milk. They flavored
everything they touched and were very disagreeable, but are
now nowhere to be seen.
David Cox married, May 29, 1833, Miss Sophrona J. Walker,
a very amiable and pleasant lady. Mrs. Cox is a good house-
200 OLD SETTLEKS OF
wife, and takes care of her household goods. She has coverlets
which were woven before the Black Hawk war. She has in
constant use the table, the stand, the cupboard and the chairs,
which were made in the days of the early settlement. She is a
very entertaining lady, as may he seen from the following, which
she writes of the early settlement :
I" Only a few white families were settled in Blooming Grove
when we came, but the Indians were plenty. The squaws called
on us occasionally for the purpose of trading beads, bead baskets
and trinkets of various kinds. I thought it very amusing to be
visited by the red ladies of the forest. Though I was but a
child I took particular notice of their language. They always
wanted something to eat, and would sometimes call for husqw I
(corn) and for cookcush (meat). 'When we came here our family
was in limited circumstances, and when I wanted a nice dress,
something better than father felt able to buy, I would take my
basket and hoe and hunt through the woods and dig ginseng,
which was dried and sold. Our way of visiting was different
from what it is at present. We thought it no trouble to walk
seven or eight miles to go to a spinning party. The school-
masters in the early days thought it necessary to be more severe
in their punishments than at present. I remember well when I
was going to school to Mr. H . He left the school house
during one noon, and when he returned he made the boys think
he had been on the house-top watching their proceedings while
they thought him absent, and he called them up one by one, and
asked what they had done. He called up one boy and said :
' Henry, what have you done V The reply was : ' I took after
one of the girls and tried to hug her, and chased her out in the
rain.' He was severely whipped. Every boy had to draw his
coat for each trifling offense. I wonder if Air. H. ever thinks
of it? My parents were very pious people, and tried to bring
up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. They
often had preaching at their house."
Mr. and Mrs. Cox have had six children, of whom five are
living. Thev are :
Mrs. Martha M. lihodes, wife of Aaron Rhodes.
William Marcus Cox, born August 0, 1836, lives two miles
south of his father's.
M'LEAN .COUNTY. 201
Mrs. Mary Ellen Sweeney, wife of Dennis Sweeney, lives in
Bloomington.
Leander Melville Cox was born April 18, 1841, and at pres-
ent lives in Bloomington.
Mrs. Hnldah M. Deems, wife of George Deems, lives with
her father.
Cora Ellis Cox, born February 17, 1854, died in infancy.
Mr. Cox is a man rather less than the medium height, weighs
one hundred and thirty-five pounds, is always busy, too busy
to ever weigh much. He is always on the move, and is quite
noted for his ceaseless activity. He is a pleasant and somewhat
humorous man, very kind to everyone, and quite noted among
the old settlers. His neighbors are always glad to see him, but
they never catch him idle. Mr. Cox has been very temperate in
his habits, and never was intoxicated in his life, though he lived
in times when it was the custom to use ardent spirits. He has
never used tobacco nor made use of profane language. He is a
very hardy old settler, and can bear a great deal. In 1854 or '55
he was on board of a railroad train which was snowed up near
Mt. Pulaski. The snow came so thick and fast that many peo-
ple were lost while at home feeding their, stock, and it was so
deep that they could not travel with teams. Mr. Cox walked
through that snow from near Mt. Pulaski to Funk's Grove, a
distance of thirty miles. Mr. Cox was an Old Line Whig and
afterwards a Republican ; nevertheless, he voted for Jackson,
who was certainly the most powerful political man in the United
States.
William McCullougii.
William McCullough, son of Peter and Levina McCullough,
was born September 11, 1812, in Flemingsburg, Kentucky. Pe-
ter McCullough was a noted character. He was a man of re-
markable shrewdness. The McCullough family came in the year
1826 to what is now McLean County, Illinois, and settled at Dry
Grove. Here Peter McCullough kept for a while a house of
entertainment. A queer incident is related of him which shows
his disposition and character. At one time a stranger stopped
with old Peter and used some profane language without any oc-
casion. Old Peter paid no attention for some time, but at last
202 OLD SETTLERS OF
he said : "Stranger, I generally do what little swearing is neces-
sary on these premises !" At another time, some years later,
while Peter McCullough was in Bloomington, some merchants
insisted on selling him some fine clothes. This happened while
the bankrupt law was in force, and while so many men were
taking advantage of it to pay their debts. These merchants had
themselves been through bankruptcy, and when they asked old
Peter to buy some fine clothes he refused, saying that, if he did
so, people would think him a miserable bankrupt.
In early life "William McCullough worked on a farm. He
was a boy of remarkable spirit, and his great resolution was
plainly seen even in his youth. In 1882 he enlisted as a private
soldier in the company commanded by Merrit Covel, and went
to the Black Hawk war. There he was distinguished for his
great personal courage. He was so unfortunate as to lose his
gun, but made good the deficiency by snatching a gun from the
hands of an Indian on the ground of Stillman's Run. This af-
fair is a matter of great notoriety ; but to one unacquainted with
the matter it seems almost incredible. But it is certainly true
that McCullough took a gun from a hostile Indian on the field
of Stillman's Run. The gun, however, was not a very good one,
as it exploded in his hands after the close of the Black Hawk
war, while he was firing on parade.
In December, 1833, William McCullough was married to
Miss Mary Williams. The}' had been in their youth schoolmates
and were taught by Milton H. Williams, the father of Mrs. Mc-
Cullough.
In 1840 William McCullough lost his right arm in a thresh-
ing machine. After it was torn oft", the stump was amputated.
When the amputation of the arm was about to be made, McCul-
lough was asked whom he wished to hold it, and he chose
Osborn Barnard. During the operation McCuiiough sat quietly
smoking, but he thought he saw Mr. Barnard tremble a little,
and cautioned the latter to be careful and steady. This incident
is given by Mr. Barnard himself.
In the fall of 1840 Mr. McCullough was elected sheriff" of
McLean County, and held this office for three successive terms.
He was then elected Circuit Clerk of the countv, and held this
office for four successive terms. He was an exceedingl}' popular
man, and had the warmest of friends.
M'LEAN COUNTY.
203
In August, 1861, Mr. McCullough entered the army and was
commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Illinois Cavalry.
With only one arm and a defective eye, he nevertheless, per-
formed his duty fearlessly and efficiently. He was at Fort Henry
and Fort Donelson, at Shiloh, and at Corinth. On the fifth of
December, 1862, Colonel McCullough was killed in the engage-
ment with the rebels near Coffeeville, Mississippi. His body was
brought home and buried in the Bloomington Cemetery. When
the news of the death of Colonel McCullough reached Bloom-
ington, the bar of McLean County held a meeting and passed
resolutions to his memory, as he continued to hold his office of
clerk of the Circuit Court. The following is taken from the
report of this meeting :
" William McCullough entered the military service of the
United States in August, 1861, and was immediately commis-
sioned lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Illinois Cavalry. From
that time he gave his whole heart to the cause of his country,
and put all his energy to the suppression of the foulest rebellion
that ever disgraced the pages of history. He was present with
his regiment at the operation which resulted in the capture of
Fort Henry, and in the taking of Fort Donelson he rendered
such efficient and valuable service that he attracted the attention
of his commanding officer (the lamented General Wallace) whose
official report acknowledges and commends his gallant conduct.
He was also in the battle of Shiloh and in all the movements of
the army that led to the evacuation of Corinth by the rebels un-
der General Beauregard, and from that time until his death he
was always present where danger was to be met, or laurels won,
and was ever a brave, faithful, energetic and accomplished sol-
dier.
" In consideration of the service he has rendered the country,
and inasmuch as he was long officiall} 7 connected with this Court,
the members of this bar in perpetuation of his memory, pray
that this paper together with the following resolutions be spread
upon the records of this Court:
"Resolved, That we, the members of this bar, have heard
with the deepest regret of the death of Lieutenant Colonel Wil-
liam McCullough, the clerk of this Court, who fell in battle,
bravely contending for the liberty and laws of his country,
against a causeless and most wicked rebellion.
204 OLD SETTLERS OF
" Resolved, That in the death of Lieutenant Colonel McCul-
lough, we feel that we have lost a warm-hearted, faithful friend,
but our greatest regret is that the Government has lost a brave,
accomplished and patriotic soldier, and liberty a valiant cham-
pion.
" Resolved, That we take this solemn occasion to renew, with
a firmer purpose, our unalterable attachment to the Constitution
and laws of the country, and to again pledge to the Govern-
ment our unswerving support and warmest sympathy in all its
efforts to suppress this infernal rebellion.
'■'■Resolved, That the clerk of this Court, furnish to the familv
of Lieutenant Colonel McCullough a copy of these resolutions.
" Colonel Gridley then addressed the meeting, referring to
his long acquaintance and intimacy with the deceased, touching
upon many tender incidents of his life, demonstrating the kind
and social feelings, the sterling integrity and true bravery of the
man. That he was not ambitious, yet always by the choice of
the people filling important positions of trust. He spoke elo-
quently and feelingly of the great cause of our countiy to which
Colonel McCullough had so unhesitatingly given up his life.
" His Honor, Judge Scott, also spoke to the same effect, tes-
tifying from his long and intimate acquaintance, to his goodness
and nobleness of heart, and of the kindness he had received,
both from him and his family, when, some years ago, he made
his home with them, and of the many endearing reminiscences
that crowded upon his mind in this sad hour of bereavement.
" Hon. Leonard Svvett commencing by saying : 'At a time
like this silence seems most eloquent,' referred to our mam-
brave and good citizens that had before fallen by the hands of
this terrible rebellion. He spoke particularly and at some length
of the history of Colonel McCullough in connection with this
war, of his braver}^ and noble bearing upon the battle-field and
of the loss this community and the country have sustained in
his death, and that 'those gaps that death makes are not easily
filled.' He spoke most feelingly and tenderly of the family of
the deceased, of his bearing to them the sad message of death.
" The meeting was further addressed most eloquently and ap-
propriately by Messrs. W. H. Hanna, Jesse Bishop, David Brier
J. H. Wickizer, R. E. Williams, James Ewing and M. W
M'LEAN COUNTY. 205
Strayer, all giving some pleasant incidents of kindness which
they had received at the hands of the deceased, and all bearing
testimony to the uniform urbanity, sociability, kindness, gener-
osity, fidelity and integrity of Colonel McCullough in all the
walks of social and public life.
" Upon motion, the preamble and resolutions were then unan-
imously adopted.
"Also upon motion, W. H. Hanna, Esq., was appointed a
committee on behalf of the bar to present these resolutions to
the Court and to ask that they be spread upon the records of the
same. W. P. Boyd, President.
Jesse Bircii, Secretary."
?
William McCullough had eight children, four of whom grew
to manhood and womanhood. They are :
Mrs. Nannie L. Orme, widow of General William W. Orme,
who, during the rebellion, entered the United States service as
colonel of the Ninety- fourth Illinois Infantry, and was after-
wards made a general. Pie died September 13, 1866, of sickness
contracted while in the army.
Mrs. Fannie M. Orme, wife of Frank D. Orme, lives in
Washington, D. C.
William A. McCullough, died September 2, 1869. He was,
during the war, a soldier in the Fifth Illinois Cavalry.
Howard M. McCullough died July 1, 1871. He was, during
the war, a soldier in the Ninety-fourth Illinois Infantry.
Colonel McCullough was of medium height, was very pleas-
ant and polite in his manners and warm-hearted and generous in
his disposition. His hair in his younger days was dark, afterwards
gray, and his eyes were black and expressive. He was one of
the most bold and fearless of men, and it may be doubted
whether he ever had the feeling of fear or really knew what it
was. He was frank and outspoken in his manner and a warn:
friend. He wasoneof the most popular men in McLean County.
for he had those bold and generous qualities which men and
women admire.
206 old settleks of
Dr. Isaac Baker.
Dr. Isaac Baker was born September 13, 1783, in Fairfield
County, Connecticut. The ancestry of Dr. Baker was Puritan
and is traced to the settlement of the Plymouth colony. He was
educated at an early day for a physician and studied seven
years.
He married in Ohio in the fall of 1803, Susannah M. Dodge.
In 1810 or '11 the Baker family moved to Marietta, Ohio. During
the war of 1812 he lived at the block house at Marietta, and it
was his duty for a part of the time to watch from a tree top for
Indians, while the men were at work in the field. He learned
surveying in Ohio and became quite skillful in the use of the
instruments. He was also an architect and superintended the
construction of many buildings. " In 1820 he went from Ohio
to New York to aid his brother-in-law in the erection of steam
works for a factory, and from there he went to Bath, in Maine,
where he built the first steam mill ever erected in that State."
On the eleventh of July, 1827, he came to what is now
McLean County, Illinois. The journey was made in wet weather
over muddy roads and corduroy tracks through the swamps. He
settled first at Harley's Grove and there built a house. But after
some calculation he concluded that it would never be sufficiently
settled to support a school to educate his children and he sold
his claim, having lived on it only a few months. He next settled
in the southwestern part of Funk's Grove, where he remained
two years and sold out to a man named Rankin and bought a
claim a little south of William Ollendorff's at Bloomino- Grove.
When the land came into market, he entered his claim of one
hundred and sixty acres.
In the spring of 1831 Mr. James Allin came to Isaac Baker
and said : " Come, get your chain and compass and let's lay out
a town." Then Allin and Baker and William Orendorff laid
out the town upon land which James Allin had given to be used
for that purpose. Mr. Allin was very enthusiastic about the
future of Bloomington and took out a map to convince the gen-
tlemen of the favorable situation of the place. He put a hazel-
switch across it and said it was on the direct route from Chicago
to St. Louis and that it was between Columbus, Ohio, and Flint
Bluffs (now Burlington), Iowa, and he was very positive that it
m'lean county. 207
would be a great city in the future. The town was finally
located and called Bloornington. Isaac Baker surveyed the lots
and laid them out. It had been decided before this that the
place should be a county seat.
When the first Board of Commissioners of McLean County
met, Isaac Baker was chosen clerk of the County Commissioners
Court, which position he held for fifteen years. He was after-
wards postmaster of Bloornington and held this office for some
years, and "his old residence still stands on South Centre street,
hard by which was the old post- office and which then marked
the commercial center of the city." Dr. Baker helped in build-
ing the first house put up in Bloornington, after it was laid out.
While Dr. Baker was county clerk, some incidents occurred,
which show how difficult it was sometimes to procure money.
A young man, who wished to get married, made application for
a license, but had no money to pay the fee. After some discus-
sion Dr. Baker gave him a license, and the man promised to pay
the fee in maple sugar in the following spring. It was a sweet
transaction for all concerned. Another young man, who expe-
rienced the same difficulty, promised to pay for his license in
wolf-scalps.
Dr. Baker was a liberal-minded man and would not allow
anything like persecution or ostracism, if he could help it. At
one time, a Mormon preacher wished to deliver a sermon, but
the people refused to listen and seemed disposed to use violence.
But Dr. Baker took the Mormon home and kindly cared for him
and entertained him in the best of style, shod his horse, gave
him money and sent him on his way rejoicing.
The first Methodist conference was held in Bloornington in
1836, and in this Dr. Baker took great interest.
In 1853 or '54 he moved to Leroy, where he lived until the
time of his death, which occurred April 28, 1872.
He was married three times and his domestic life was always
very happy. He married, the second time, Mrs. Rath Green-
man, the widow of John Greenman, and the third time, Mrs.
Nancy Miller, a widow. By his first marriage he had eleven
children. They are : Seth, Elliot, William, John, Susannah,
Charles, Sidney D., Mary Ann, Solomon D., Hiram and Albert.
By his second marriage he had two children : Laura W. and
Julia A. Baker.
208 OLD SETTLERS OF
The following description of Dr. Baker was written at the
time of his death by one of his intimate friends, and was pub-
lished in the Bloomington Pantograph :
Dr. Baker was of medium height, and rather corpulent.
Sidney Baker, Esq., of Leroy, is a very good type of what his
father was in the days of his prime. Dr. Baker was a quiet, un-
pretending man, and the honesty and uprightness of his charac-
ter was never called in question. Such was the general confi-
dence the people reposed in him while in office that he was
consulted as an oracle, and his opinions taken for law. He was
a man of literary taste and very extensive reading and informa-
tion. Scarcely any subject within the range of human investi-
gation but had to some extent come under the knowledge and
observation of Dr. Baker. He was communicative and interest-
ing in conversation, and always impressed you with the sincerity
of his opinions. He was a friend of peace and a lover of con-
cord, and passed through his long life without having any trou-
ble with his fellow-men ; and in addition to this he healed up
the difficulties of others and poured oil on the troubled waters
wherever he went. He was benignant and kind to everybody,
but especially to the poor. The fatherless, the widow or the
needy were never turned empty away from Dr. Baker's door.
He believed in immortality and eternal life, and lived and died
in hope through Christ of a brighter and more beautiful world
beyond the grave. Thus after a long and eventful life of four
score and nine years, the wheels of his mortal life stood still.
and Dr. Baker passed over and now lives beyond the river.
Peace to his memory here, and glory and immortality here-
after.
George Hinshaw, Jr.
George Hinshaw, Jr., was born December 26, 1820, on a farm
two miles from the town of Monroe, the county seat of Overton
County, Tennessee. He came from old English Quaker stodc.
his ancestors having emigrated from England to Ireland at an
early day and from there to America. The majority of his rel-
atives are still Quakers, though Mr. Hinshaw does not belong to
that honored sect.
m'lean county. 209
His father's name was George Hinshaw, and his mother's
maiden name was Susannah Johnson. Mr. Hinshaw, sr., the
father of George Hinshaw of whom we are writing, came to
Blooming Grove, McLean County, Illinois, in July, 1827. He
had visited Illinois during the year previous, in company with
Stephen Webb (now living at Twin Grove), and had made a
claim of some land on the Kankakee River not far from Joliet.
But when the family moved to Illinois the country was very wet,
and it was impossible to go up to the Kankakee. More than
that, some difficulty had occurred between the whites at the
mining country near Galena and the Winnebago Indians, and
the settlers feared an Indian war in the northern part of the
State. All of these considerations determined Mr. Hinshaw not
to go up on the Kankakee. The weather during their journey
was terrible, and they were seven weeks in traveling. It rained
very hard and the whole face of the country seemed covered
with water. They crossed the Sangamon River at Newcom's
Ford, this side of Urbana, on a raft, which they were obliged to
build. They were delayed there one week. When they came
to Cheney's Creek, they had great difficulty in crossing, and
stopped to camp, and there a great hurricane came near blowing
their horses and wagon away. Mr. Hinshaw, sr., bought a claim
of twenty acres with a cabin and growing crop, in the south side
of Blooming Grove, and there he built a house. He gave a
wagon and yoke of oxen, worth in all about fifty dollars, for his
claim. Money was then scarce. The price of a good cow was
only five dollars. When he settled in Blooming Grove the gov-
ernment had surveyed the land, and shortly afterwards it was
brought into market, and he bought two hundred and twenty
acres for $1.25 per acre. This was all the money he had and he
was thought to be rich ! At that time the Kickapoo and Potta-
wotamie Indians were plenty, and both tribes lived together in
friendship. But they moved West about the time of the Black
Hawk war. The Indians were always ready to trade, and ex-
changed buckskin and moccasins for pork, flour, tobacco, &c.,<tc.
Mr. Hinshaw thinks these savages very polite people. When
they make a visit, only one talks at a time, and in this respect
they differ somewhat from the ladies of a sewing circle or a mite
society. But these barbarians resemble the ladies in one respect,
* 14
210 OLD SETTLERS OF
they are fond of display and love jewelry and trinkets, which
they wear in their ears and sometimes in their noses. The In-
dians sometimes cultivated the ground and raised what they
called squaw corn. This they buried in the ground when they
went hunting in the fall, and sometimes did not dig it up until
the following spring. They ground their corn by putting it into
the hollow of a log and beating it with a pestle, as the settlers
were obliged to do during the winter of the deep snow.
The early settlers were generous and hospitable. The "latch-
string was always out." They kept no locks on their doors, a
simple wooden latch was used, but only for the purpose of keep-
ing out the wind and storm. They were more sociable than
people now, and were always anxious to help their neighbors.
There was not so much hunting after money then, for they had
little money to hunt after. A word was as good as a bond, and
they had no promissory notes, no bills, no banks, no newspapers
and verv little news. A letter from Tennessee was four or five
weeks on the road, and postage was twenty-five cents.
Mr. Ilinshaw went to school during the winter of the deep
snow and spent his Saturdays in gathering corn and pounding
it in a mortar. He thinks children learned more in those earlv
days in a giveu length of time than they do at present, for then
the teacher made them fear the rod.
Mr. Hinshaw has done his share of hunting, especially after
wolves, which were a common pest. He has hunted them to-
wards a pole put up in some central locality, when all the settlers
would turn out from various parts of the country.
Mr. Hinshaw has had his experience, too, with fires on the
prairie. He remembers one hard experience when he was going
to mill with oxen and was overtaken by a fire. He tried to
drive his oxen through it, but they refused to face the flames and
turned and ran away in spite of all his efforts. At last he saw
a place where a part of the fire had gone faster than the rest,
leaving a gap in the road. Into this gap he rushed with his oxen
and got through.
The year 1844 was the wet season. During that year he
drove a herd of cattle from here to Milwaukee, "Wiscon-
sin. He swam creeks and rivers of all kinds and sizes. He was
delayed at the Kankakee and was fifteen days in crossing it. He
m'lean county. 211
frequently drove his cattle in tbe river, but vvheu they struck the
swift current they turned for the shore from which they started,
and came back. But at last he found a tall ox, which touched
bottom, and went across, and the rest followed. Mr. Ilinshaw
has had a varied experience with stock. About three years ago
he went to Kansas and invested in Texas cattle with rather bad
fortune. He had one hundred and thirty head of cattle in the
fall, and only fifty-three of them were left in the spring. The
remainder died.
Mr. Ilinshaw has lived in Bloomington for about ten years,
but he has owned a farm ever since he was twenty-five years of
age. He now lives at Sulphur Springs, in the outskirts of
Bloomington, on the Chicago & Alton Railroad.
Mr. Ilinshaw was married July 1, 1848, to Polly Maria Toli-
ver, daughter of James Toliver. He has had ten children, of
whom four are now living. As to personal appearance he is tall
and portly. When he was twenty-seven years of age he had a
severe sickness, was ill for a long time with the typhoid fever,
and since then he has been very stout in appearance. He has a
large head and a large brain; has small sparkling eyes, and a
pleasant, genial countenance; he is full of fun and appreciates a
joke. He has a firm, resolute character, combined with a mild
and pleasant disposition. He is always ready to meet his friends
with real English cheer, and indeed he appears a "fine old Eng-
lish gentleman, one of the olden time."
His children living are :
Ida May, born January 1, 1857.
Ezra, born July 11, 1862.
Toby, born April 16, 1865.
Rollo, born August 21, 1867.
They are all living at home.
Dr. William Lindley.
William Lindley, son of John Lindley, was born November
16, 1803, in Christian County, Kentucky. At the age of twelve
he was apprenticed to learn the boot and shoe trade and worked
at this until 1827. On the 26th of July, 1822, William Lindley
married Unity Warren in Christian County, Kentucky. She
was then only fifteen years of age.
212 OLD SETTLERS OF
Iii the fall of 1827 he moved to Sangamon County, Illinois.
There he raised one crop. In the fall of 1828 he came to Bloom-
ing Grove in what is now McLean County, Illinois. He settled
in the southern edge of the grove and commenced farming.
The first divine service he attended here was held at the house
of John Hendrix at Blooming Grove. The sermon was preached
by James Latta. In November, 1828, he cast his first vote for
General Jackson. The voting was then done by word of mouth
us they had no tickets. He did his trading at that time in
Springfield ; but after Bloomington came into being he bought
his store goods there. He worked on his farm using the Carey
plow with its iron shear and wooden mould-board. On his first
arrival at Blooming Grove he worked for good wages, rather
better than people could expect. He worked during twenty
days receiving ten bushels of corn per day for his labor. He
first entered eighty acres of land and gradually acquired more.
Dr. Lindley followed farming until 1862. He then resided for
a year in Bloomington. He then sold out his farm and bought
another near by and has lived on it ever since. Dr. Lindley has
always had a liking for horses, has done a great deal of trading
and has studied the diseases to which horses are subject. By
this means he has become a very skillful veterinary surgeon.
He has been very fortunate in his treatment of horses and has
acquired a considerable reputation.
Dr. Lindley has had eleven children, but only four are liv-
ing. They are : John, a physician, who lives at Clinton, Illi-
nois; Stewart Lindley, who lives at Blooming Grove; Lucinda,
wife of Walter Smith, who lives in Pike County, Illinois, and
Robert, who lives at home.
Dr. Lindley is about six feet in height, weighs about two
hundred and ten pounds, has good eyesight, never wears glasses,
has a rather heavy head of hair, which was rather light colored
in his younger days, but now is turning gray. His beard is
sandy. He is a well-formed, muscular man. He has succeeded
in acquiring some property, but has lost a good deal of it, as
people sometimes do.
Hon. James Allin.
James Allin was born January 13th, 1788, in North Caro-
lina. When he was ten years of age his parents moved to
m'lean county. 218
Boone County, Kentucky. Young James bore all the hardships
of travel manfully, riding over the mountains on horseback and
sustaining all the perils of the journey. The family, after re-
maining one year in Kentucky, moved across the Ohio River
into Dearborn County, Indiana. Here young James lived, and
in the year 1817 he did as all active, vigorous young men should
do, got married to a kind and affectionate woman. Her name
was Catherine Livingston. He has been blessed with seven
children, three of whom are now living. Two years after this
important event he moved to Edwardsville, Madison County,
Illinois, where he remained until 1821, when he removed
to Vandalia, which was then the capital of the State. In No-
vember, 1829, he came to the present site of Bloomington,
and moved his family there in the following spring. Mr. Allin's
removal to Bloomington was not the result of accident but of
calculation. He saw that a line drawn from the rapids of the
Illinois River to Cairo would pass through Blooming Grove. It
was also on a direct line from Chicago to Alton and St. Louis.
He admired the country for its natural beauty and fertility, and
it seemed to him that as the country grew in population and
wealth a town situated in Blooming Grove would not fail to
have before it a brilliant future. In March, 1830, Mr. Allin
built the first house in Bloomington. It was a double log house,
one part being used as a dwelling and the other part for a store.
In the session of the Legislature of 1830 and '31 Mr. Allin suc-
ceeded in getting a bill passed laying off the county of McLean.
When the commissioners came to lay off the new county, Mr.
Allin offered twenty-two and a half acres of land for a county
seat. The offer was accepted and the county seat was named by
him Bloomington. The twenty-two and a half acres given by
Mr. Allin are bounded by Front and North and East and West
streets. The first court held in Bloomington was at Mr. Allin's
dwelling, the log house which stood in the edge of the timber,
nearly opposite the present location of the First Presbyterian
church.
Mr. Allin was a mau of business. He brought to Blooming-
ton the first lot of goods and drove his business as a merchant,
with great energy. His public spirit and his energy made him
very popular, and in 1836 he was elected to the State Senate.
214 OLD SETTLERS OF
This election was afterwards repeated, confirming Mr. Allin's
influence and popular strength. He died on the fifth of May,
1869.
James Allin was a man of medium stature ; in build he was
slim ; his hair was light brown; his eyes were gray and pene-
trating in expression, but his eyesight was not good during the
latter portion of his life, and he was obliged to wear spectacles.
His complexion was healthy, but this was a deceptive appear-
ance, as he was during his whole life a feeble man, and his
health was delicate. He had extraordinary business capacity,
and the energy and determination with which he followed out
his plans were wonderful. The man's strength of will was once
shown when his son William Allin was sick and not expected
to live. Mr. Allin said to him : " William, I would not die if
I were you, I would not give way." His public spirit, his qual-
ities of heart as well as of head, will make him remembered as
long as the city of Bloomington, which he founded, shall stand.
The following is taken from the Bloomington Pantograph of
an early date, and relates to an old settlers' dinner where James
Allin was present :
" Mr. Allin's health is poor, and he has never recovered from
a fall on the ice which severely injured him about three years
ago. He walks on crutches, and was assisted up stairs by two
men. He was complimented by the speakers as the man whose
superior foresight pointed out Bloomington as the site of a fu-
ture city, when all around was an uncultivated wilderness. Ac-
cording to what Governor Moore and Colonel Gridley said, Mr.
Allin, in his younger days, was very much such a man as we oc-
casionally hear of now in frontier places.
" He used every honorable endeavor to induce emigrants to
locate in this county. If they wished to settle in the new town,
Mr. Allin would sell them lots at a low price, if they had money,
and would sell them at a lower figure if they had little money,
or would give lots outright if they had no money, always stipu-
lating that improvements should be made. It was such unre-
mitting care and exertions, which, in the course of a few years,
gave this settlement a start that made it out of the question for
any neighboring town to compete with it, and made it eventu-
ally a point to be aimed at by railroads, which have now made
m'lean county. 215
Blooming-ton one of the thriftiest and best business places in the
State.
" It must have been a proud day to Mr. Allin to meet so
many old friends and neighbors, not one of whom bears the
slightest grudge against him, and to listen to such eloquent and
appreciative tributes to his life-long public spirit. With all his
opportunities for building up a large fortune, Mr. Allin's valua-
ble lands slipped from his hold in one way and another, to par-
ties who could not or would not pay much for their lots, and to
parties who afterwards speculated upon the rise of town lots,
until when property came to be really valuable he had little left
to sell. He, however, acquired a comfortable competency, so
that his old age is pleasantly passing in the midst of a commu-
nity he took such pride in drawing together. A more grasping
man would have so hesitated to sell property that settlers would
have been driven away, and a less honorable man, if he had
made more money, would have had fewer friends in his old age.
Blooming-ton owes a debt to Mr. Allin which it can never re-
J5
pay.
William Ii. Allin.
AVilliam H. Allin was born in 1818, in Indiana. When he
was quite small his father removed to Vandalia, Illinois, where
he remained until the spring of 1829, when he came to Bloom-
ington, Illinois. Mr. Allin was a great favorite with all with
whom he was acquainted. He was remarkable for his business
talent, and he was pre-eminently remarkable for his honesty.
One of his friends has happily described him thus :
" Possessing naturally a strong and vigorous intellect, with
good discriminating powers both as to men and measures,
and with a large development of the moral faculties, he seems
to have entered upon the active duties of life with the fixed
purpose of hewing his way successfully through by an adher-
ence to that great cardinal virtue, honesty, which is the on In-
sure basis of ultimate success, and which was undoubtedly the
leading trait of his character."
Mr. Allin was remarkable not only for his honesty but for
his energy. When he was only ten years of age his father sent
him on horseback to Springfield to enter some land. At that
216 OLD SETTLERS OF
time the roads were scarce and the bridges were scarcer, and
young William was sent across the prairie. It was necessary to
do this, as his father had heard that a neighbor of his was try-
ing to get the start of him, and enter the same land. Young
William made the journey successfully, and entered the land.
Just as he was coming out of the land office the rival neighbor
met him and asked "how he got there?" Young William re-
plied that he came across the prairie. The gentleman did not
feel pleasant at being outwitted by a child ten years of age.
In the year 1850, the Whigs of McLean County nominated
Mr. Alliu for the office of Circuit Clerk. At their earnest so-
licitations he accepted the nomination, as it was impossible for
them to agree on any other man, and he was elected. But after
one year's service he resigned in favor of his brother, who was
deputy.
In the winter of 1838 Mr. Allin married Miss Judith A.
Major, and his married life was remarkably happy. He was a
kind and faithful husband and a loving father.
Mr. Allin was a man of medium size, slenderly built, healthy
complexion, rather light hair, sharp-pointed nose, and dark, pen-
etrating eyes. He was very polite in his manners, and a favor-
ite with all with whom he had anything to do.
Jonathan Maxson.
Jonathan Maxson was born June 11, 1820, on a farm about
half a mile from the town of Freeport in Harrison County,
Ohio. His ancestors were of Scotch, Irish and French descent.
He was one of a family of ten children. His mother, whose
maiden name was Sarah Kinsey, was twice married, and he had
four brothers, two sisters and four half sisters. Jonathan was in-
tended by his father to be a farmer, and while a little lad he
learned the duties of that laborious but independent calling.
Farmers' boys do not usually pine away for the want of work,
and Jonathan could always find plenty to do. His education
was not very well attended to, as educational advantages were
not to be had where he lived. He went to school only two terms
and learned to read and spell. Some time after the death of his
father, David Maxson, his mother married a very worthy man
named Jesse Hiatt, and moved to Clinton County, Ohio. Short-
m'lean county. 217
ly after this the family determined to move to Illinois, and in
the fall of 1830 started on their journey to Tazewell County, (of
which McLean was then a part), as they had friends and rela-
tives there. They went in two wagons, one under charge of
Mr. Hiatt and the other driven by Christopher Kinsey, Jona-
than's grandfather. They had also five hundred sheep and four
milch cows. Their journey of two hundred and fifty miles oc-
cupied twenty-one days, because of the difficulty in taking
charge of their large flock of sheep. They camped out every
night of their journey, except one, and by day they traveled
from point to point without any road to guide them. It was
necessary every night to guard the sheep from the wolves, but
this was easily done as the frightened sheep huddled closely to-
gether. The entire expense of the journey was ten dollars spent
for food, which was less than a dollar apiece, as the caravan con-
sisted of eleven persons. They had a very easy and pleasant
journey, with no remarkable adventures. One of the party
caught in the White Iliver, with his hands, an eel about four feet
long and weighing six pounds. It made a supper for the whole
party. Jonathan says this is not a fish story. The party arrived
at Stout's Grove on the twenty-first of September, 1830, but
after a few days' of rest proceeded to Dillon's Settlement (now in
Tazewell County). After spending two or three weeks in taking
observations of the country, Mr. Iliatt returned to Stout's Grove
and bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, (twenty acres
under fence) with a log cabin, for four hundred dollars. One
half of the farm was prairie and the other half timber. Here
the family succeeded very well. Mr. Hiatt followed his trade as
a blacksmith, and the boys attended to the farm, and they all did
well. Jonathan went to school sometimes during winters, for
five years. His teacher was Hosea Stout, the nephew of Ephraim
Stout, the founder of the settlement at the grove which bears
his name. The school was attended by thirty or forty children,
who came great distances and boarded with the farmers near by.
He also went to school to Richard Howell, a most excellent
teacher from New England.
Jonathan remembers some strange peculiarities concerning
Ephraim Stout, the most eccentric man in that part of the coun-
try. Ephraim Stout was a great hunter, greater than Nimrod,
218 OLD SETTLERS OF
or Esau, or Daniel Boone, indeed the latter had been a com-
panion to Ephraim, and many were the stones told by him of
their adventures together. When Ephraim was a young man
he became married, of course, but no sooner had he done so than
he regretted it bitterly. He loved his wife with all the love of
a young husband, but he happened to meet with Lewis and
Clark, government agents, who were going to explore Oregon
Territory, and his marriage prevented him from going with them.
Then there was wailing and gnashing of teeth, and he declared
he would give five hundred dollars to be unmarried ! (Some
persons would give more than that). Mr. Maxson tells a curious
story of the old hunter, showing his ingenuity. The hunter,
with a party of men, went out searching for bee trees, and they
had such luck that they filled their pots and pails and kettles
with honey, and there were not enough to hold it all ; and it
seemed that the}- must leave a large part of it to be spoiled. But
Ephraim's ingenuity never failed him ; he cut down a butternut
tree, cut off a section in the shape of a cylinder, split it through
the middle, made a trough of each half, hooped them together
and had a water-tight barrel which he filled with honey. All
this was done with an axe and a jack-knife. That was ingenuity.
Ephraim Stout was a Quaker, and when he settled in Stout's
Grove he thought he would make of it a Quaker settlement.
He collected Quakers from far and near and everything seemed
"merry as a marriage bell'" ; but in an evil hour he allowed
Squire Robb, who was a Cumberland Presbyterian, to come in
to the settlement. Xow Squire Robb had married a daughter
of a gentleman named MeClure, and when the former settled in
Stout's Grove the MeClure family insisted on settling there too,
and they were followed by some one else, and these by still
others until that Quaker settlement was swallowed up, and the
sonl of poor old Ephraim Stout was racked within him. He was
accustomed to live in the wild woods, and did not like to see so
many people around him. When he was married he had prom-
ised his wife that he would always live in the forest where she
could pick her own fire-wood, and when so many people came there
and broke up his Quaker settlement, he picked up his gun and
all his hunter's accoutrements and started for Iowa Territory
and then for Oregon. In 1830 he was an old man, leaning on
m'lean county. 219
his staff for support, and when he told the stories of his adven-
tures with Indians and with all the wild animals of the forest,
it certainly seemed that it was time for him to rest from his la-
bors and live the remainder of his life in peace ; but there was
no peace for him within the bounds of civilization, so he gath-
ered together his worldly goods and went out to the still farther
West.
Jonathan Maxson never saw any candy until he was eighteen
years of age. How terrible this must have been for a boy.
People spun and wove their own clothing. A calico dress to
wear on Sunday was a piece of unwarrantable extravagance.
The family was always quite independent of the market, Their
tea was made from roots and herbs, their sugar from maple sap,
and they kept twenty swarms of bees for honey. Jonathan
Maxson states that during the winter of the deep snow (1830) he
and his brother went out into the woods where it did not drift
nor blow away and took a careful measurement of the depth of
the snow with a stick and found it four feet deep. During the
early part of that terrible winter deer were very numerous, but
when the deep snow came they were starved and hunted by
famished wolves and by settlers with snow-shoes, until they were
almost exterminated. Shortly after the snow fell Mr. Jesse
Hiatt killed a very large deer, which he was unable to carry
home. He buried it in the snow and covered it with his coat
to keep the wolves away. But the snow afterwards fell so deep
that he was unable to visit the spot for two weeks. At last he
put a harness on one of his horses and went to drag it home.
On his return with the deer he killed three others and attached
them also to his horse. But the load was so hard to drag that
he did not return until late at night, when he found the fright-
ened neighbors collected at his house, about to start on a search
for him. They had collected on horseback with trumpets and
horns and various things with which to make unearthly noises,
and were no doubt disappointed to find that there was no occa-
sion for their fearful shrieks. The remainder of the night was
spent in dressing the deer.
Some of their neighbors caught deer alive by putting on
snow-shoes and running them down, but towards the latter part
of the~winter they were so poor and emaciated that they were
hardly worth catching.
220 OLD SETTLERS OF
Jonathan's stepfather, Jesse Hiatt, kept for a long time a gun
which went through the Black Hawk war. The circumstances
were these. At the outbreak of the Black Hawk war a man
named William Anient resided near what is now the village of
Bureau in La Salle County. He was informed by a friendly
Indian that some Indians had determined to kill him and his
family and burn his house. He at once took his family and
what furniture and provision he could carry, to the house of his
father-in-law, Jonathan Hodge, who lived in Stout's Grove.
Alter staying there a fortnight Mr. Anient decided to go back
and look at his property. His father-in-law went with him, and
on the road they took with them about a dozen men. On ar-
riving at the house they found everything untouched. They all
had a good supper and discussed what seemed to them to be the
hoax: played by the friendly Indian. The next morning the first
man who stepped out of doors was shot. The party grasped
their guns, and after reconnoitering found that some Indians,
who had been concealed among some hazel bushes, had retreated
leaving some blankets and two guns in their haste. The party
returned, and when the news reached Stout's Grove a company
of volunteers was formed under Captain McClure. The latter
borrowed Mr. Jesse Hiatt's gun and carried it through the Black
Hawk war, and when that exciting and troublesome campaign
was finished, returned the gun to its owner.
When Jonathan Maxson was eighteen 3'ears of age his step-
father died and upon the former devolved the duty of overseeing
the farm. For five years he was the head of the family, but at
the end of that time the responsibilities of the farm fell upon
the younger brothers, and Jonathan was married and had re-
sponsibilities of his own. He married Amanda Curtis, the
daughter of Squire Eber Curtis, on the sixteenth of April, 1843.
He moved to Bloomington on the first of January, 1844, where
he lived on a farm.
Jonathan has been a foreman in a reaper factory for five
years ; he has been a carpenter, builder, millwright and now has
the position of engineer and janitor in the Court House. He has
had a family of eight children, two of whom are dead.
It is very easy in this country for friends and relatives to be
scattered about ; some of Jonathan's relatives are here and
m'lean county. 221
others there, some are in South Bend, Indiana, some in Kansas
and some in California.
In personal appearance Jonathan Maxson is healthy and good
looking. He is strongly built, is about five feet ten inches in
height, has broad shoulders, pale blue penetrating eyes set wide
apart showing his mechanical skill, his hair is dark and turning
gray, and his head is a little bald on the top. In the evening
when he reads and writes he wears spectacles. He enjoys the
best of health and is a fine specimen of the old pioneers.
David Simmons.
David Simmons was born July 15, 1802, in Monroe County,
Virginia. His father's name was Ephraim Simmons, and his
mother's name before her marriage was Elizabeth Calloway. To
the best of his knowledge, his father was an American, and his
mother was of English descent. When Mr. Simmons was about
twelve years old, the family went to Ohio, then back to Nicholas.
County, Virginia, and from there to Cabell County, where old
Mr. Simmons died. David Simmons was then only eighteen
years of age, and had only five dollars and a half in his pocket.
He moved the family to Decatur County, Indiana, where he re-
mained nearly nine years. When he arrived there he had not
five cents in his pocket. His mother was afterwards married,
and he was at liberty to work for himself.
On the 11th of November, 1824, he married Elizabeth Jones.
He was not worth a hundred dollars. His wife had a cow. a
spinning wheel and a bed. They took some of the feathers from
their bed and traded them for three knives and three forks.
In the fall of 1830 Mr. Simmons came to Illinois and arrived
at the south side of the grove on the 7th of November. He
traded his team, two yoke of oxen, his wagon and all of his
money, except $2.15, for eighty acres of timber land with a
cabin on it. He afterwards sold forty acres of timber for the
purpose of entering prairie. But by reason of the Black Hawk
war he wasted his money and was obliged to borrow and pay
twenty-five per cent, interest in order to enter land.
During the Black Hawk war Mr. Simmons was the third
sergeant in Captain Covel's company. They went up to Dixon's
Ferry, where the troops were for some days drilling and getting
'222 OLD SETTLERS OF
themselves in order for fight. On the 13th of May, 1832, the
troops started on the famous Stillman's Run expedition. Major
(afterward general) Stillman had two hundred and six men with
him, all told, according to Mr. Simmons. They went about five
miles during the first day, to a little grove, and there camped.
The next morning they traveled on until noon, when they
stopped for dinner. Then the guard in front discovered mocca-
sin tracks, and a false alarm was raised. The men jumped on
their horses and ran up to the tracks, which were perhaps two
or three miles from the place where they stopped for dinner.
They rode very excitedly, and some lost their tin cups and other
articles. The tracks were fresh and clear on a sand ridge, but
no Indians Avere found. The men waited there until the baggage
wagon came up. The baggage master had great difficulty in
crossing sloughs with his heavy load in his little two-horse
wagon, and it was therefore determined to lighten the wagon by
issuing the ammunition and whisky to the men. The men filled
their powder horns, and some of them tied up powder in their
handkerchiefs. They filled their canteens and coffee pots and
bottles with whisky, but were not able to take it all and left
some in the barrel. Then they took up their line of march, and
during the afternoon while on the route some of them passed
along the line offering whisky out of their coffee pots to who-
ever would drink, for it was as free as water and more plenty
just then.
They went into camp in the evening on the north side of
Old -Man's Creek, and hobbled their horses, and the advanced
guard came in. Just then about ten or a dozen Indians ap-
peared on a high hill about a quarter or a half a mile distant.
The officers and men were inquiring what they were, and some
thought it Was the advanced guard. David Simmons said to
Stillman : " No, the advanced guard came in a while ago.
General, it's Indians." Then the men commenced catching their
horses, and some started without putting on the saddles, and
went at full speed to where the little squad of Indians appeared.
All the Indians retreated except two, who claimed to be Potta-
wotamies. Covel then turned to Stillman and said : "It's all
nonsense, they are friendly Indians," and said that enough of
the boys had gone to take the others, as they were pursued by
m'lean county. 223
twenty or thirty'men ; the two were then brought iuto camp.
While the Indian prisoners were coming into camp they said :
u Me good Pottawotamie," but pointed over the hill and said :
" Heap of Sac." The Indians then offered to trade for a gun
belonging to David Alexander, from Pekin, who was commis-
sary. Then David Simmons brought out his double-barrel
gun for the Indians to look at, and while they were poking their
fingers first into one barrel and then into another, a man came
running back at full speed, calling, " Parade, parade." Then
the officers had their men formed into companies. David Sim-
mons was ordered to guard the prisoners, but George Wylie
took his place. The men moved forward leaving the prisoners
guarded in the rear. Before going for they met a few men com-
ing in with an Indian prisoner. The twenty or thirty men had
pursued the Indians aud killed one and captured another. The
captured Indian had fought hard, and Mr. Hackleton had been
speared in the hands. The whites moved on, after sending the
Indian prisoner to the rear. They went to where twenty or
thirty whites were stationed, near a big slough, and there were
told of an Indian who came out and offered his hand in friend-
ship, and that McCullough extended his hand and snatched the
Indian's gun. Mr. Simmons saw the gun, but did not see Mc-
Cullough snatch it. McCullough snapped at the Indian, and
Vandolah shot but missed. The officer halted and said that if
the Indians did not want to fight they would not rush on them,
but would see what the Indians did w r ant. The officers then
went on across the slough to the top of a bluff beyond. Then
Gridley came back with orders to march across the slough, and
the men started, and the officers came dashing back. Captain
Eacles of Peoria came riding up, and said he was not easily
fooled, and that there were not less than a thousand of the In-
dians. The officers ordered the men to countermarch, and fall
back across the slough. The front of the line obeyed orders,
but the rear broke back ahead of those in front and made con-
fusion. They went back across the slough to high ground, and
there the officers tried to form a line, but the men were in poor
order and in bunches, so that they could not shoot without hit-
ting some one in front of them.
The Indians then began to pour out of the timber, and Mr.
Simmons said it reminded him of the pigeons in Indiana flying
224 OLD SETTLERS OF
over one another and picking up mast. The Indians began firing
and the flashes of their guns could be seen, as it was just be-
coming dusky in the evening. The whites fired in return, but
were so mixed up that some fired in the air, as they could not
shoot ahead without hitting some of their own number. The}-
were then ordered to retreat to their camp ground and there form
a line. They went back on a gallop. Simmons and Coffey and
Murphy agreed to go for Dixon's Ferry, when the}' arrived at
the creek, Captain Covel tried to form the men on the north
side of the creek; but an order was given to shoot the prisoners
and go back across the creek and form a line on the other side.
Mr. Simmons started for the lower crossing and met Jim Paul
putting on his saddle and said to him: "What are you about?"
He replied with an oath that he would have his saddle. When
Mr. Simmons crossed the creek the whites were shooting at the
Indians and the latter were shooting at the whites. Simmons
went a little above the ford after crossing and stopped when a
bullet whistled close to his ear. There was then the greatect
confusion and yelling. Some were calling "halt and fight,'' some
said "don't leave us," and some called "murder." But in a mo-
ment or two an order was given to retreat to Dixon, and that
order was obeyed. They took the trail back at the top of their
speed. Some Indians came in on the left and tried to outflank
the party, but the whites went too fast, and did not stop until
they came to Dixon. The next day the greater part of the arm y
went up to Stillman's Run and buried the dead. On their re-
turn horsemen were sent down to meet the boats coming up with
provisions, and their baggage wagons came up in a -few days.
The governor then started up the river with troops to fight the
Indians, and left a part of the army to guard the families at
Dixon. During that evening an express came from Ottawa
asking for men. This express was sent on after the Governor,
and he sent back an order for Colonel Johnson to take several
companies and go on to Ottawa and build a fort, which was
done. Covel and McClure's companies were among those that
went to Ottawa. They started and camped within three or four
miles of where the three families were murdered on Indian
Creek, but knew nothing of the matter at the time. They went
on to Ottawa next day and saw a little squad of whites. Each
m'lean county. 225
party supposed that the other were Indians, and stopped and
formed lines, but discovered their mistake. The party was a
squad of men going- out to bury the dead at Indian Creek.
They went on to Ottawa, where a great many families were
gathered for protection. They built a fort there. Mr. Sim-
mons and some thirteen others then came home, as they heard
that the Kickapoos in the rear were going to make trouble, and
that the people were going into the forts for safety. A few
days after this the troops, who had been called out for thirty
days, were all discharged, Mr. Simmons among the rest. At
Bloomington they had talked of forting, but had not done so,
but at Pekin a fort was built. A company of rangers was form-
ed for sixty days, to traverse the frontier of McLean County.
Mr. Simmons has lived in Bloomington township ever since
his first settlement here, living sometimes in town and some-
times in the country. He still owns one hundred and eighty
acres of land in the county. He also owns some city property.
He was for a while supervisor of Bloomington township.
Mr. Simmons has had ten children, of whom six are liviner.
They are :
Levi Simmons lives on a part of the old farm.
Annie, wife of Isaac Lash, lives in Hudson township.
Margaret, wife of James Dozier, lives in Blue Mound town-
ship.
Benjamin Simmons lives in Missouri.
David Simmons, jr., lives on the old homestead.
Mary, wife of William H. Fielder, lives at Funk's Grove.
Mr. Simmons is about five feet and ten inches in height, has
a strong constitution, a sanguine complexion and light blue
eyes. He is very muscular and one of the hardest of workers.
His clear statement of the fight at Stillman's Bun is perhaps the
best ever given of that celebrated affair, and its correctness may
be seen at a glance.
Hon. John Moore.
John Moore was born on the eighth of September, 1798, at
Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. He received but little edu-
cation at school. Up to his fourteenth year he attended the
common school, and all his subsequent education was obtained
15
226 * OLD SETTLERS OF
by study without a teacher. He often studied while at work at
his trade as a wheelwright, keeping his open book on his bench.
His parents/who were not well to do in the world, died when
Mr. Moore was quite young, and he was left to take care of him-
self. At an early age he moved to Sibsey (England) and was
apprenticed to a Mr. Teesdale to learn the trade of wheelwright.
The Spalding Free Press (English paper) says of him : " There
are some now living in that village who well remember John
Moore as an apprentice, and who can bear witness to his sterling
good qualities as a young man at that time."
In 1817 John Moore concluded to try his fortune in a new
country. He came to America in a sailing vessel as our pilgrim
fathers did a great many years before. He was three months
on the way, but at last the vessel came into port. He settled
first in Virginia but remained there only a short time when he
removed to Harrison, Hamilton County, Ohio. Here he began
to work at his trade as a wheelwright on his own account.
On the ninth of March, 1820, he married a widow, Mrs.
Misner. She was a Kentucky lady and had one child, a daugh-
ter, with her at the time of her marriage with Mr. Moore. Mr.
Moore has had a family of eight children, rive sons and three
daughters, and of these three sons and one daughter are now
living.
In October, 1830, Mr. Moore came to McLean County, Illi-
nois, and settled on a farm at Randolph Grove. There he en-
tered fortv acres of land and did some farming and worked at
his trade. He often bought land but never owned any large
tracts. He was always ready to sell, especially to his old friends
who came with him from Ohio. In 1831 William Lindley, one
of the old settlers, proposed that Mr. Moore should be elected
justice of the peace because he had made himself already quite
' popular. This was the first office Mr. Moore held. In 1835 he
was elected to the legislature, which then held its sessions at
Vandalia. In 1839 he was elected to the senate of the State and
in 1840 was chosen lieutenant governor of Illinois. This office
he held up to 1846 when the Mexican war broke out. As he
had strongly favored the war he enlisted as a private in the
fourth regiment of Illinois volunteers. He was almost immedi-
ately chosen lieutenant colonel, and when the army took the
m'lean county. 227
field he participated with it in several engagements. He was
at Rio Grande, Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo. When he returned
from the Mexican war the State of Illinois presented him with
a sword to show its appreciation of his distinguished services.
This sword is now in the possession of his son Enoch J. Moore,
and of course is prized very highly. This sword bears the fol-
lowing inscription :
" Presented to Lieutenant Colonel John Moore by the State
of Illinois for his services during the late war with Mexico and
especially for his gallantry at the battle of Cerro Gordo."
In 1848, on his return from Mexico, Mr. Moore was appoint-
ed treasurer of the State of Illinois by Governor French to fill
the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Milton Carpenter. At
the expiration of the term in 1850 Mr. Moore was elected to
hold the same office and was re-elected in 1852. In 1854 he was
again a candidate but was beaten by James Miller on account of
an absurd prejudice, which was felt at that time by many against
foreigners. Being an Englishman by birth Mr. Moore was
obliged to suffer. It is a matter of pride to his friends to know
that his reputation for ability and honesty was as high as ever.
In 1853 Mr. Moore was appointed by Governor Matteson to in-
vestigate and settle the difficulty between the firm of Thompson
& Foreman and the State of Illinois, growing out of a contract
by which the English firm was to deliver to Illinois a certain
amount of railroad iron. This difficulty was arranged by Mr.
Moore to the entire satisfaction of all parties. He was one of
the trustees of the Illinois Central Railroad up to the time of his
death which occurred on the twenty-third of September, 1866.
His death was occasioned by a surgical operation performed upon
his eyes for cataract. The operation gave such a shock to his
system as to cause his death.
Some queer incidents are related of Mr. Moore when he was
beginning his public life. When he was first proposed as a
candidate for justice of the peace Mr. William Lindley said of
him that he was a " pretty piert fellow and guessed he'd do."
When Mr. Moore was a candidate for the legislature his oppo-
nent was Judge Davis. At one time Davis was asked what his
chances for election were. He answered that he expected to be
defeated because Mr. Moore could adapt himself to the different
228 OLD SETTLERS OF
classes of the people. If he met some Methodists he could pray
with them, and if anyone in the neighborhood became sick and
died Mr. Moore could make a coffin for him !
During the winter of the deep snow, which was the first of
Mr. Moore's settlement in Illinois, he went every day to Mr.
Randolph's house and obtained corn which he pounded into
hominy on shares (one-half). He endured the privations of the
early settlers and was as cheerful as the bravest among them.
The first elegant team which he drove to town was a yoke of
oxen, but when he attended the legislature he had become
wealthy enough to go on horseback !
Mr. Moore was about five feet and ten inches in height and
was heavily built ; a few years previous to his death he weighed
about two hundred and thirty-eight pounds. His shoulders were
broad and his carriage erect. His hair was orange color and
was turned a little gray ; his nose was aquiline and his com-
plexion was fresh and healthy. His health was remarkably good
which no doubt contributed to his cheerful, happy disposition.
A lady friend thus describes him : " He was a large, fleshy man,
very refined in his feelings, and especially so in the society of
ladies. He was too large to be graceful, but he was above all
things a good man." An old friend speaks of him thus : "He
was a man of naturally great force of character. He was an
honest man, and the State of Illinois never had a more faithful
guardian of her interests. His ability to remember and his
powers of conversation were wonderful. Although his educa-
tion at school had been neglected he read a great deal and could
tell what he had read in a pleasant way. He was a fine presid-
ing officer and the chair of the senate has never been tilled by a
more accomplished parliamentarian."
Governor Moore made no pretensions to great oratory, never-
theless he was an effective public speaker when occasion called
him out. At his death his remains were brought from Boston
to the old burying-ground at Randolph's Grove. The funeral
services were conducted by Rev. Dr. Ballard and were attended
by Judge Davis, General Gridley and many other old citizens.
Amasa C. Washburn. .
Amasa C. Washburn was born May 25, 1807, on a farm, in
Putney township, Vermont, His ancestors came from England.
m'lean county. 229
He was the only son, but he was by no means at a loss for play-
mates, as he had four sisters. He was educated in Putney, that
is, he attended a common school there until he was eighteen
years of age. At that time he started on his career as a school-
master, and taught school in various districts in Vermont for
twelve dollars a month and boarded around.
After having taught for five years in Vermont and New York
he determined to come West. He went to Albany, New York,
where he met a company of about thirty persons, bound for the
West, and joined with them. On the fifth of May, 1831, the
party went aboard of a canal boat for Buffalo, and Mr. Wash-
burn was fairly started on his way to the Great West. The
journey was interesting and full of adventures. Mr. Washburn's
trials began at the start. There was very little room on the
canal boat for the party to lie down at night, so they took turns
in sleeping. They arrived at Buffalo on the fifteenth and the
next day started for Detroit in a steamboat. The steamboat was
crowded. Mr. Washburn slept during the first night on some
trunks, and the second night on deck on buffalo skins, with
some others of the party. About two o'clock in the morning it
began to rain, and the party were drowned out. That night
they came to Cleveland and the next day started out for Detroit
but put back on account of high wind. A second time they
started, although the wind blew violently. The boat rolled fear-
fully and the women and children on board were sea-sick. They
arrived at Detroit on the nineteenth. Here a part of the corn-
pan}', among whom was Mr. Washburn, hired three wagons and
teamsters and eight horses to carry them to Chicago, but after
they had been for some time on their journey they changed their
minds and went down the St. Joseph River. They started on
the twenty-fourth of May. During their journey they fared
very hard and their horses fared harder. On the second night
the poor brutes ate up a part of the side-board of one of the
wagons. The party had many difficulties in passing through
sloughs, swamps and creeks, and sometimes they were obliged
to lift the wagons out of the mud. When they came to the St.
Joseph River, near Montville, they dismissed their teams,
bought two log canoes, lashed them together, put their baggage
aboard and started down stream. They went down sixty miles
230 OLD SETTLERS OF
and then had their canoes and baggage transported by land six
miles across to the Kankakee River. This stream was small,
crooked and narrow, and after one day's sailing down it they
were almost in sight of their starting point. The country was
desolate and marshy, and when they touched the banks with
their poles they were usually saluted with rattlesnakes. During
the evening of the third of June they came to where the river
widened into a lake, and as darkness approached they were lost,
and clouds of mosquitoes surrounded them, and it seemed as if
their troubles all came at once. But they built a fire and drove
ofT the insects, and were made to feel that they had at least
some company, for the croaking of bullfrogs on every side was
varied by the squealing of wild geese. At last they found where
the lake became narrow and the river flowed on. But they
could not land because the banks were lined by thick grass,
which prevented them from coming near the shore. Soon after-
wards the wind arose and the waves rolled high. In the morn-
ins: the wind became more violent and drove them on with
fearful velocity, and it required all their skill to save themselves
from upsetting. About noon they were soaked through and
through by a thunder storm. Towards night they entered a
lake and became lost a second time. The lake was full of trees
that grew up out of the water. But after some difficulty they
found their way out and came to where the stream was narrow
and rapid. Here they ran against breakers (trees in the water)
but happily found a shore where they could land. On shore
they were saluted by the howling of wolves in all directions,
which did not make them at all cheerful. On the sixth of June
they killed a deer, and felt very much encouraged. In the after-
noon they saw half a dozen Indians, the first they had encoun-
tered during their journey. They sailed nearly all night being
aided by an extraordinary light which appeared in the "West.
Mr. Washburn said it made him think of the pillar of fire which
guided the children of Israel. On the eighth of June they came
very near being shipwrecked by the high winds and the large
waves. At night they tied up to some small bushes by the shore
and made their supper of slippery-elm bark, as their provisions
were now almost gone. On the next day they mixed a little wheat
flour (the last they had) in water and divided it among the party.
m'lean county. 231
This they ate at three different times. In addition to this they
had only a few roots and some shoots of grapevines and briers.
That day they passed several rapids and many dangerous shoals,
sand-bars and rocks. At one time they ran against a rock in
rapid water and were pressed against it sideways ; they became
free from the rock, but had only time to turn their craft straight
with the current when they went over some falls a few rods
farther down. Soon after this they came to what appeared an
inclined plane. The water ran swiftly, and after descending for
about a hundred rods, the stream united with the Desplaines
River, and formed the Illinois River. In the evening they spread
out their buffaloes and tried to get some sleep. But they were
wet through again and again by successive showers, and could
do nothing but stand around the fire. In the morning they
started on and came in sight of some Indian wigwams. They
learned from the Indians that there was a white settler five or six
miles below and they joyfully started on. About eight o'clock
they "heard the lowing of cattle and the crowing of roosters."
At a log hut they obtained some milk and hasty pudding. They
passed the dangerous rapids of the Illinois River, and came in
the evening to a house where they received hospitable enter-
tainment. On the tenth of June they passed the Fox River and
went to the head of steamboat navigation, a little below the
mouth of the Vermilion River. From there they went to Bai-
ley's Grove where the company wished to settle.
On the eleventh Mr. Washburn started in a wagon for Fort
Clark (Peoria), where he arrived on the evening of the twelfth.
The next day was Sunday, and there being no church to attend,
Mr. Washburn listened to the preaching of a man called Live
Forever. This old gentleman had made appointments to preach
five hundred years in the future. He said it was not God's in-
tention that man should die, but, if they would exercise faith in
Christ, they might live on the earth during all eternity.
On the fourteenth Mr. Washburn walked toPekin, and there
learned that a school teacher was wanted at Blooming Grove.
Going back to Fort Clark he expected to take a stage, hut being
disappointed, started for Blooming Grove on foot, and arrived
there on the seventeenth of June, 1831. By the twentieth he
had obtained enough scholars at two dollars per quarter to com-
282 OLD SETTLERS OF
mence teaching, and on that day he opened school in a log hut
with "no floor, no door, and a crack all round." In the after-
noon he chose his boarding place with Mr. William Lucas, for
which he was to pay thirty-seven and a half cents per week. It
was the best house in the neighborhood, but it contained only
one room, and in it lived Mr. Lucas and his wife, ten children,
three dogs, two cats, and the schoolteacher! On the twenty-
sixth Mr. Washburn opened a Sabbath-school at Mr. Lucas'
house ; it being the first ever held in Blooming Grove. He was
very much shocked at the ignorance of the children with regard
to religious matters ; one little boy declared he had never heard
of such a being as God.
The crowded condition of Mr. Lucas' house made things ap-
pear a little strange, sometimes. He had a daughter about
eighteen years of age, who received a great deal of attention
from a young man in the neighborhood. He made lengthy visits
sometimes, and as the house contained only one room the lovers
got their stools together and carried on their conversation in
whispers. Sometimes the young man stayed all night and, when
he did so, the school teacher was somewhat wakeful ! On one
occasion Mr. Washburn heard the Lucas children discussing
among themselves as to which they preferred should marry their
sister, the young man or the school master, and the school mas-
ter received the most votes. But the fates decided that neither
of them should have her.
The country was wild and game was plenty. There were
prairie chickens and deer and wild turkeys. On one occasion
Mr. Lucas killed a deer without stepping out of the doorway.
In September, 1831, the Methodists held a camp-meeting at
Randolph's Grove, which Mr. Washburn attended. The ser-
mons preached at this camp-meeting were more remarkable for
force than elegance. One of the preachers enumerated the of-
fences which they should beware of, and spoke of the liar and
said that to "be a liar was to act the part of a poor, mean, black
devil, and for any one to be a devil was degrading !" Another
preacher wished to have something done for the children and
thought he must alarm the parents on the subject; he said :
"How sportive the} 7 are in vice, and you often laugh instead of
weep ; the devil has got your children, the fiend of hell has got
m'lean county. 233
them and is leading them captive at his will and yon smile !"
The next day Mr. Latta preached, and made some very queer ob-
servations. He said : "There is a certain class of people who
cannot go to hell fast enough on foot, so they must get on their
poor, mean pony and go to the horse-race ! Even professors of
religion are not guiltless in this respect, but go under the pre-
tense that they want to see such or such a man, but they know
in their own hearts that they went to see the horse-race!" But
he preached a strong sermon, and when he was through one man
jumped up and said he was as light as a feather, another
clapped his hands and went around shaking hands with every-
one ; some laughed, some cried, and some shouted. Reverend
Peter Cartwright then arose and said, he had been requested to
preach a funeral sermon but would say what he pleased. He was
peculiarly severe on Eastern men because of their low opinion
of Western intellect and Western character. He said : "They
represent this country as being a vast waste, and people as being
very ignorant, but if I was going to shoot a fool I would not
take aim at a Western man, but would go down to the sea-shore
and cock my fusee at the imps who live on oysters !" But his
sermon had a great effect and he concluded by giving a descrip-
tion of the glories of heaven. When he finished, some people
fell down, some screamed, the children were frightened and Mr.
Washburn says that he never before heard such a noise and saw
such confusion. The camp-meeting was a great success and, it
is to be hoped, did great good.
Mr. Washburn continued teaching and charged as quarterly
tuition two dollars per scholar. But he was usually obliged to
take his pay in chickens or calves, or some kind of "trade." In
December, 1831, he began teaching in the town of Bloomington.
Here it had been the custom of the scholars to study their les-
sons as loudly as they could shout and this was the custom
everywhere, for parents thought this the only way children could
learn. Mr. Washburn, after teaching in Bloomington for three
mouths in this manner, told the parents he would do so no
longer. He convinced them with great difficulty, but had his
own way at last.
On the fifteenth of April, 1833, Mr. Washburn started for a
visit to his native home in Vermont. On the twenty-seventh he
234 OLD SETTLERS OF
arrived at Chicago and put up at Beaubien's Tavern. He said
that at that time he "considered Chicago a very important sta-
tion." On the twenty-eighth, which was Sunday, he was
shocked to see people go about their common business. A large
number were engaged in shooting pigeons in the streets of the
town. (Was this their common business ?) On the thirtieth he
visited the place where the soldiers of General Scott's army who
died of the cholera the year previous, were buried. It is said
that one poor fellow, who was detailed to dig graves, cursed and
swore a good deal; he was taken with the cholera that day and
died before night, and was buried in one of the graves which he
himself had dug. On the first of May Mr. Washburn went
aboard of a sail vessel for Detroit, which place he reached on
the evening of the ninth. On the eleventh he started for Buffalo
on the boat, Sheldon Thompson. The crew got to racing with
another vessel and were much the worse for liquor, but they
came safely to Buffalo on the eighteenth. He started for Al-
bany by canal but walked the last thirty-three miles of the way.
He went by steamboat to Troy, and walked from there to his
old home in Vermont, a distance of eighty-six miles and — found
that his father had sold out and moved away. On the twenty-
seventh he found him and the whole family, all well. On the
fifteenth of August he married Miss Paulina Parker. On the
twenty-seventh he started for the West.
Mr. Washburn was a very religious man, and about this
time he read one quite remarkable passage in a book called
''Flavel on Keeping the Heart," which made a serious impres-
sion on him. "A man had taken great, pains and made great
efforts to amass wealth, and had been very successful. He had
only one son, and this property was all designed for him.
When the old gentleman was laid on his death bed he called
his son to him and asked him if he loved his father. The son
replied that the bonds of nature, as well as the kind indulgence
he had met with obliged him so to do. Then, said the father,
manifest it by holding your finger in the candle while I say a
Pater Foster. The son made the attempt, but could not endure
the pain. The father replied : " I have risked my soul for you
and must burn in hell forever, instead of a finger in a candle
for a few short moments."
m'lean county. 285
Very little of importance occurred on their journey home.
At Chicago they found a great many Indians who had come
there to make a treaty with the government and get their pa} 7
and go to the far West. While coming from Chicago to Bloom-
ington Mr. Washburn had very little adventure; he was once
soaked with rain, and the teamster was at one time incautious
enough to break a wheel, but these were trifles. At Blooming-
ton he began teaching once more. On the thirteenth of July,
1834, r Mrs. Washburn, who seems to have been a very amiable
lady, died.
In the spring of 1834, Mr. Washburn taught school at
Buckles Grove, nearLeroy, but returned to Bloomington in the
fall, where he has resided ever since. On the thirtieth of Sep-
tember, 1834, he was elected Secretary of the McLean County
Bible Society, and agent for the purpose of distributing Bibles.
He was very active in the work. In 1835 he was appointed the
agent of the American Sunday School Union for Illinois, and
worked to establish Sunday-schools all over the State.
On the thirtieth of April Mr. Washburn married Ann
Packard, who has since shared with him the difficulties and
trials of pioneer life. From the year 1835 to 1843, Mr. Wash-
burn followed various pursuits. For a while he kept a meat
market. He kept the first regular provision store in Blooming-
ton, and continued in that business for twenty-five years. In
1868 he retired from business.
Mr. Washburn was one of the eight members who organized
the First Presbyterian Church. This was in 1832. In the
spring of 1833 he organized the first temperance society in Mc-
Lean County. In 1833 the first Sabbath-school in connection
with this church was organized with from fifteen to twenty-five
scholars, but now it has from a hundred to a hundred and fifty.
He has always been connected with schools and churches. His
seven friends who worked with him to organize the church are
now all dead, and the pastor, too, has long since joined the
church above. Mr. Washburn is about five feet six or eight
inches in height. He is very muscular, and has all his faculties
unimpaired. Pie has a very honest looking countenance, and is
a man of sincere piety. His hair is a little white and the crown
236 OLD SETTLEBS OF
of his bead is rather bald. He never meddled with politics, has
always lived very quietly and has " done unto others as he would
have others do unto him."
Dr. Stephen Ward Noble.
Dr. Noble was born at North Bend, Hamilton County, Ohio,
March 9, 1826. He came to Illinois with his parents in the fall
of 1831, and settled at Randolph's Grove. He obtained his
schooling there, and there began the study of medicine with his
uncle, Dr. Noble, under charge of Dr. Colburn, of Blooming-
ton. At the age of twenty he took his first course of lectures
at the medical institute at Cincinnati. He afterwards attended
another course, and in 1849 commenced practice as a physician
in Lero}., in partnership with Dr. Cheney.
He married February 21, 1854, Miss Amanda M. Greenman,
daughter of John Greenman, of Leroy. It was a veiy happy
marriage. Four children were born, of whom two are living.
They are :
Frank Noble, born December 8, 1854, died in infancy.
Mary D. Noble, born December 14, 1859, lives with her
mother.
Carrie Noble, born June 4, 1864, died in November of the
same year.
Nellie Ward Noble, born March 27, 1871, lives at home.
Dr. Noble died of consumption in 1871, and was buried in
Bloomington Cemeterv. He had moved to Bloomington in 1865.
He was about five feet and ten inches in height, was squarely
built, but rather stoop shouldered. He had dark brown hair and
almost black blue eyes. He was a very popular man, and very
successful in his profession. He was several times President of
the McLean County Medical Society, once President of the
Medical Society of the State, and frequently a delegate to the
Medical Societ}' of the United States. He was a very kind
husband and father, and is remembered by the friends who
knew him and delighted in his society.
Abraham Stansberry.
Abraham Stansberry was born June 19, 1807, on a farm
about thirteen miles from the town of Greenville, in Greene
m'lean county. 237
County, Tennesse. His ancestors were of German and Welch
stock. He was one of a family of fifteen children, eleven boys
and four girls, all of whom grew up to manhood and woman-
hood. Eleven are now living. The youngest son served in the
army for three years ; after receiving his discharge, and while
on his way home, he visited an old mill, and was there killed by
the rebels.
Abraham's education was not very extended. He was
obliged to work very hard, and attended school very little, and
when he did so he had a much more thorough acquaintance with
the schoolmaster's rod than with his books. The schoolmaster
thought a great deal of his rod, and used what was called leath-
er-wood, which grew in the clefts of the rocks. This wood was
very tough and pliable and made a barbarous instrument of tor-
ture; but the schoolmaster was obliged to flog unmercifully in
order to keep up his reputation as an excellent teacher.
When Abraham was about seven years old his father died,
and his mother took charge of the farm. When he was twenty-
two years of age he was a strong, healthy man and loved horses
better than books. He wished to go West and lead an active
life, where his vigorous nature could have play. Although only
a young man, he did not wish to live in a slave state, and could
plainly see the evils brought about by this system. He said it
resulted in forming three distinct classes, those who owned
slaves, those who were rich, but owned no slaves, and the poor
whites, who had neither negroes nor money. All these causes
induced Mr. Stansberry to leave for the West. He had heard a
great deal of Illinois through various pamphlets setting forth its
fine climate and rich soil. He started as the driver of a five-
horse team for a man named Henry Pain, who emigrated with
his wife and seven children to the Vermilion and Big Wabash
Rivers. Mr. Pain left for Illinois because he was anxious to
have his family grow up in a free state. The journey lasted forty -
three days, and it rained almost incessantly. They first came to
Bear Station, in Tennessee, from there to the Clinch Mountains,
crossed the Tennessee River, went to Cumberland Gap, crossed
the Cumberland River, went to Crab Orchard in Kentucky, then
to Danville, then to Louisville, crossed the Ohio to New Albany
and went to Salem, thence to Greencastle, thence to Blooming-
238 OLD SETTLERS OF
ton, Ind., and to Eockville. Between those places they crossed
Salt Creek by putting their wagon in canoes lashed together, as
the creek was high. Although it was rainy, Mr. Stansberry en-
joyed the trip, as there were two young ladies in the family, and
of course they made matters pleasant for him. They crossed the
Big Wabash about six miles from Eockville and went to New-
port on the Little Vermilion, and from there to the town of
Eugene, the point of destination. There Mr. Pain expected to
find a brother who had lived in the place some time before, but
his brother had died a short time previous to Pain's arrival.
Abraham celebrated his first year in the West by working on a
farm, but from the fall of 1830 to the spring of 1832 he carried
the mail between Eugene and Fort Clark (Peoria). He traveled,
on an average, forty-five miles per day, and could make the trip
to Fort Clark and return in seven days. At that time the
streams were not provided with either bridges or ferry boats,
and Mr. Stansberry was obliged to cross them by tying his
clothes and mail bag to his shoulders and swimming over with
his horse. He often met Indians on his route, and they were
always glad to see him. He had three stations where he stayed
over night on his journeys; these were Ponge Station, Cheney's
house and Robert McClure's house. The number of letters
carried varied from one to a dozen. Postage was twenty-five
cents per letter. Mr. Stansberry received for his services twelve
and one-half dollars per month.
On the sixth of June, 1832, Mr. Stansberry married Mary
Cheney. He had formed her acquaintance while carrying the
mail. He lived on a farm in Cheney's Grove until the year
1864, when he moved to Bloomington. He has had two chil-
dren, a son and a daughter, who both grew up to years of dis-
cretion, but both are now dead. But he has three grandchil-
dren who will inherit his property. His son died while fighting
in the army. His wife died of consumption on the ninth of
August, 1866.
When Mr. Stansberry commenced farming at Cheney's
Grove, he entered thirteen hundred acres of land, a part of
which he sold for twenty-three dollars per acre, a part for thirty
dollars and his timber land for fifty dollars. He afterwards
bought three hundred and twenty-four acres, which he has di-
vided into three farms.
m'lean county. 239
On the twenty-seventh of April, 1869, Mr. Stansberry mar-
ried Mrs. Matthews, a widow lady, a daughter of Esquire Robb.
She is one of the most agreeable of women, and has that polite-
ness of the heart, which comes from wishing well to others.
Mr. Stansberry never held a public office, and never sought
one ; he was an " old line Whig," and is now a Republican. He
is a man of medium stature, strong and well proportioned, his
hair is light brown, turning gray. His eyes are gray and he
wears spectacles when he reads or writes. He was always very
fond of horses and greatty enjoyed riding. During the fall of
1827 he rode to Tennessee on horseback, and returning brought
his mother and niece to Illinois in a carriage. Afterwards three
brothers and three sisters came to the West, and one brother
and three sisters are still living at Cheney's Grove.
James C. Harbord.
James C. Harbord was born in Wayne County, Kentucky,
December 16, 1803. His ancestors were of English and Irish
stock. When James was about six vears of a^e his father emi-
grated to Indiana, where he lived until October, 1832. His
education was limited. He went to school in Indiana, but the
educational advantages were poor and he received very little
benefit from his schooling. He remembers clearly the war of
1812 and some of the incidents connected with it. The Indians
took advantage of the unsettled condition of affairs to make
their stealthy attacks upon the isolated settlers on the frontier,
and he remembers clearly the terror inspired by their ravages.
Many of the settlers fled across the Ohio River into Kentucky.
During the war a company of soldiers were forted near the
house of Mr. Harbord (the father of James). This company
visited different parts of the country at different times, and did
its utmost to protect as large a district as possible. In 1824 Mr.
Harbord came to Illinois to look at it, and see what its prospects
were. He found one house about six miles this side of the pres-
ent city of Danville, but with that exception the country bound-
ed by Danville, Blooming Grove and Peoria was a wild and
dreary wilderness without any settlement to relieve the monoto-
ny or cheer the traveler. The powers of nature were wasted.
The rich soil -sustained only the prairie grass, which afforded a
240 OLD SETTLERS OF
cover for rattlesnakes, and in the fall the lire swept over it and
made desolation more desolate. lie visited Blooming Grove,
Stout's Grove, Twin and Dry Groves, but no settlement was
found in an} r of these places. He laid a claim in Twin Grove
on what is now known as the old Dan Munsell farm. Some
time afterwards his uncle came on and took up this claim. Mr.
Harbord also bought a farm of Major Baker. Upon this land
was a mill for grinding wheat, built by Major Baker in the fall
of 1830. It is still a great curiosity and shows what can be done
in case of necessity. The stones in this mill were made of the
hard "nigger heads," that are found on the prairies. They
were made into the shape of a coffee-mill, and while in motion
the lower stone was the one that revolved. It ground wheat
very slowly, but the settlers came to it from twenty-five miles
around, as the nearest mill besides this one was at Springfield.
The mill was not long in use, but soon was superseded by others
with more modern improvements. The farm on which the old
mill stands lies about four miles south of Bloomington and >till
belongs to the Harbord family.
After visiting various points in his tour of 1824 Mr. Harbord
returned to Indiana, and being a sensible man, got married.
This event occurred on the twenty-seventh of January, 1825. In
October, 1832, he came to McLean County, Illinois, and settled
on the south side of Twin Grove on a place now known as the
Johnson place.
Every old settler has something to say of the schools in early
days. The first school-house at Twin Grove was in the middle
of the grove. It was a round-log house with a door cut through
it, greased paper for windows, and a fire-place which extended
across one entire end of the building. It had a puncheon floor
and seats made of hewed logs with legs to them.
The court house is described by Mr. Harbord as a little, old.
struck-by-lightning looking building (it really was struck by
lightning), but the justice administered within its walls was very
substantial, and manv of our modern communities would be
glad to take that old court house, if they could have the justice
which was obtained within it.
In 1832 the State was Democratic, but Mr. Harbord was an
uncompromising Whig. He voted, for the first time, for John
m'lean county. 241
Quincv Adams and for every Whig afterwards nominated, and
since the demise of the Whig party, for every Republican candi-
date for president until 1872, when he was too unwell to attend
the polls. His sympathies were for the re-election of President
Grant.
After coming to the country in 1832 Mr. Harbord lived for
seven years at Twin Grove and then moved to a farm which he
purchased in the southeast part of Blooming Grove. There he
lived for twenty-nine years when he removed to Bloomington
where he resided until his death, which occurred on the eighth
of March, 1873.
Mr. Harbord related some strange experiences with regard
to the prices paid for produce during the early settlement.
Everything the farmers produced was sold cheap, and for every-
thing they bought they were obliged to pay dear. During the
year ^1840 or '42 (Mr. Harbord cannot remember precisely
which) the farmers of Blooming Grove became much dissatisfied
with the prices paid for pork by Depew & Foster, who were
dealing in that line and who bought and shipped farm produce.
So dissatisfied were the farmers, that they clubbed together and
took their pigs to Chicago and obtained for them one dollar a
head ! Mr. Hiram Harbert sold seven hogs for three dollars !
They had better have dealt with Depew & Foster. The latter
firm broke up in their attempt to give the farmers good prices.
Every old settler has a particular experience to relate con-
cerning the sudden change in the weather, which occurred in
1836. One day, during the latter part of December, it had been
raining, and the good house-wives were anxious to catch as
much water from the eaves of the house as possible. Their tubs
were full when a gust of wind came from the North, and Mr.
Harbord says it was so intensely cold that the water in the tubs
froze almost immediately ; the change took place instantly. >Such
a phenomenon has never been known before or since. During
the winter of 1842 and '43 scarcely any snow fell and the ground
became so deeply frozen that winter weather did not break up
until in April. Farmers often struck frost while ploughing on
the north sides of fences in the early part of May.
Mr. Harbord has had eleYen children, of whom four are
living
16
242 OLD SETTLERS OF
Martha A. Harbord was born January 21, 1827, and was
married to John Wesley-Walker, August 17, 1848. Mr. Walker
was born in Sangamon County, January 9th, 1819, and while yet
a boy moved to McLean County with his father. He died Jan-
uary 1, 1858. He never was out of the State of Illinois.
Moses G. Harbord was born July 3, 1837. He lives near
Portland, Oregon. He married Jane Price, the daughter of
George Price, and has four living children.
George W. Harbord was born October 22, 1840, lives in
Pettis County, Missouri ; he has a wife and three children.
Mahila Cassandra Helen Harbord was born September 22,
1846. She was married to James A. Hunt, and died July 8,
1873.
One may read the foregoing sketch of Mr. Harbord without
obtaining much of an idea of his character. He was very de-
cided in his opinions and had that fine feeling and sense of honor
for which so many of our early settlers were distinguished. He
was tall and somewhat slenderly made, and his appearance and
expression showed his honesty and uprightness.
The orthography of Mr. Harbord's name has been the sub-
ject of some discussion, and he has near relatives who spell their
name "Harbert." It seems that one of the ancestors of the fam-
ily unfortunately was obliged to sign his name by making his
mark, and as other parties wrote the name as it happened to
sound, it became signed to various documents in different ways.
His descendants did not agree upon any one signature and con-
sequently spell their names differently.
The greater part of the items of this sketch of Mr. Harbord
were given by him a short time before his death, which occurred
March 8, 1873. He was then so sick as to talk with difficulty,
but the spirit of the man was as firm and honest as ever. It
seemed to afford him great satisfaction to know that he was to
be remembered, and indeed he well deserved to be, for this
world is made better by the examples of men, who by honest
labor have triumphed over all of their difficulties.
Ephraim Platte.
Ephraim Platte was born in Monmouth County, New Jersey,
September 22, 1804, near Barnegat Inlet. His father, Jonathan
m'lean county. 243
Platte, was of French descent and his mother, whose maiden
name was Emilia Brindley, was of English. Jonathan Platte
was a sailor and owned a small trading vessel. At the opening
of the war of 1812 his vessel was three times intercepted by the
British and once was stopped, while he had a cargo of pig-iron
covered with lumber. The iron was afterwards melted into
cannon balls. Mr. Platte's vessel was at last burnt by the
British, but he was allowed to go. Nearly all of his property
was invested in this vessel, and when it was burnt he went into
the service of the United States. He was a lieutenant under the
command of Col. John Fieldenhousen and was stationed at
Paulus Hook, near New York. At the close of the war he
bought a vessel, with which to engage in the coasting trade, as
before. When Ephraim Platte was ten years of age he was ap-
pointed a cabin boy. But Mrs. Platte did not wish the family
brought up in that way, as she did not believe the morals of the
children would be improved by a life on the water. She in-
sisted that the family should try their fortunes in the West, and
her influence prevailed. In 1816 the family went to Green Coun-
ty, Pennsylvania, and there worked a farm for two years. Then
they moved to Licking County, Ohio.
Ephraim Platte married on the 15th of December, 1824,
Susan Platte, a distant relative, in Licking County, Ohio. In
the spring of 1833 he came with his family to McLean County,
Illinois. During that year he traveled from Bloomington to Fox
liiver and made a claim on Indian Creek. There he intended
to settle. On his travels nearly every family he saw was stricken
down with fever and ague. Mr. Platte's wife died December 11,
1833, and his youngest child died a few weeks previous. Mrs.
Platte was a remarkably good woman, very amiable in her dis-
position and anxious to please. She died on Money Creek and
was buried at Haven's Grove. Her death changed the plans of
Mr. Platte. His two children were sent back to Ohio. In the
fall of 1836 he came to Bloomington and worked at the carpen-
ter's trade. This has been his business principally ever since.
Ephraim Platte married Mrs. Sarah Woodson, March 7, 1837.
She was a widow and had four children. She is still living and
the marriage has been a very happy one.
Jonathan Platte, the father of Ephraim Platte, died in about
244 OLD SETTLERS OF
the year 1849 in Washington, Tazewell County. After his death
his wife received a pension. This continued until her death,
which occurred in 1860. She had then reached the age of nearly
eighty-four years. Of her family of ten children, four boys and
two girls grew to manhood and womanhood. At present only
two are living, one besides Mr. Platte.
Ephraim Platte had six children by his first marriage, but
only one is living. This is Calvin W. Platte who now resides
in California. He was a soldier in the Mexican war. By his
second marriage Ephraim Platte has had seven children, of whom
five are living. They are :
Susan, wife of John R. Stone, lives in Bloomington.
Charles D. Platte lives in Bloomington and is foreman of the
establishment of Gillett & Case, jewelers. He was a soldier in
the army during the rebellion, served first under the call for
three months. He enlisted in the Thirty-ninth Illinois and
served during the war, was wounded in the left shoulder and
yet carries the ball. He was in many of the great battles on
the James River.
William H. Platte was a soldier in the Fiftieth Illinois Vol-
unteers and was discharged on account of disability. He died
in Arkansas near Little Rock.
Albert L. Platte lives in Bloomington.
Maria, wife of Louis A. Burk, lives in Bloomington.
George D. Platte lives at home.
Ephraim Platte is about five feet and seven and one-half
inches in height and weighs about one hundred and ninety-eight
pounds. He has a sanguine complexion and white hair and
beard. He was never much of a speculator, has had property,
which is now very valuable, but he did not keep it, as he had
no idea that Bloomingtou would grow to its present proportions.
He was a warm supporter of the Union cause during the rebel-
lion and wished to enter the army, but age prevented. Mr.
Platte possesses a great deal of mechanical talent, and his son,
Charles D. Platte, is very much like him in this respect. The
latter is a skilled workman in Gillett & Case's establishment and
his skill really amounts to genius. Ephraim Platte is very libe-
ral in his religious belief, but insists on strict morality. In poli-
tical matters he was originally a Jackson Democrat, afterwards
m'lean county. 245
a Free Soiler, and was a member of the Republican party when
it was organized.
Hon. James B. Price.
James B. Price was born July 24, 1792, on a farm in Meck-
lenburg County, North Carolina, about fifteen miles from the
town of Charlotte. His father was Welch and his mother
Irish. In 1804 his father emigrated to Kentucky. Mr. Price's
life has been the life of a hard-working farmer, with plenty of
work, and otherwise not very eventful. He heard a great deal
of the beauty and fertility of Illinois, and obtained a book
which particularly set forth the advantages of this territory. It
told what reliable people and good neighbors the Indians were,
&c, &c, and when Mr. Price read this book he at once decided
to come to Illinois.
He visited Illinois every year from 1829 to 1838, when he
moved here with his family. During his visit in 1829 he bought
a claim consisting of a log house and a few acres of land, and
on his road home he stopped at Vandalia and entered one hun-
dred and sixty acres. He came to Illinois to settle in 1833, with
his brother-in-law. Mr. Price entered a good deal of land at
various times, worked hard, raised stock, and throve well.
Mr. Price assisted in organizing McLean County, and has
fulfilled his duties as a citizen in a public capacity as well as in
private. He has been School Commissioner and School Treas-
urer for many years. He served one term in the Legislature,
at Springfield, in 1849 and '50. He was then fifty-seven years
of age. During that session he assisted in getting the Illinois
Central Railroad bill passed. Stephen A. Douglas made two
great speeches in favor of it. It was during this session that
General Shields and Sidney Breese had their great contest for
the United States Senate, which resulted in the election of
Shields.
Mr. Price lives two miles southeast of Bloomington, on the
Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railway. When he came
there he found only a few families, the Rhodes family, the Oren-
dorff, the Hendrix and the Baker families. He was always on
good terms with the Indians, and sympathized with them very
much. He says that when they were paid off and moved West,
246 OLD SETTLERS OF
many of them passed his house and wept bitterly at the thought
of leaving. This was before Mr. Price settled in Illinois in
1833.
Mr. Price received his little schooling in Xorth Carolina and
Kentucky, and it was little enough. His study and application
certainly did not drive him into consumption. He appears like
a man southern born, is about six feet in height, and walks erect.
He is somewhat hard of hearing, but all his other senses are
good. He has always been very honest in his dealings, is very
kind-hearted, and would not knowingly injure the smallest crea-
ture. He looks as if he would live another ten years. He is
much - respected, and is almost worshipped by his grand-
daughter and her husband, who keep house for him.
He married, February 10, 1814, Mary H. "Wall. It was a
remarkably happy marriage, and both parties possessed always
the confidence and respect of each other. They had five chil-
dren :
George Price, whose sketch appears in this work, lives on his
farm, next adjoining that of his father.
Robert D. Price was born April 5, 1818, and died September
27, 1842.
John Price, whose sketch is in this volume, now lives in
Bloomington.
Rachel C. Price was born October 25, 1825. She was mar-
ried first to Dr. Short, of Bloomington, and after she became a
widow she was married to Mr. Dent Young, who lives now
on the plains near Cheyenne. She is now dead.
Charles Luther, who is unmarried, lives with his father.
George "W. Price.
George W. Price was born October 3, 1816, on a farm in
"Warren County, Kentucky, ten miles east of Bowling Green.
His ancestrv was "Welch and Irish. He received the usual edu-
cation of those days, that is, was sent to school three months in
the year until he arrived at the age of seventeen.
In the year 1829 his father, James B. Price, moved three
families from Kentucky to Missouri, in a four-horse wagon. On
his return he visited the country around the present city of
Bloomington, as a sister of his wife lived there. The soil pleas-
m'lean county. 247
ed him so well that he bought a claim consisting of a log house,
log stable, and one hundred and sixty acres of laud. He re-
turned to Kentucky, and on his way he entered the land at the
office at Vandalia. In 1833 he sold out in Kentucky and came
to Illinois. He now lives, at the age of eighty-one, on the land
he first entered. He has bought much land since that time,
principally timber. He brought with him from Kentucky two
whipsaws, which were put to good use by George Price and his
brother Robert. These young men sawed by hand from two to
three hundred feet of lumber per day. At one time, in a race,
George Price and a negro sawed two hundred feet of white
walnut lumber in five hours and seventeen minutes. From No-
vember, 1833, to November, 1835, he helped to saw thirty-two
thousand feet of lumber ; but by this time the steam-mill was
built, and the whip-saws were hung up to be kept as relics of
early days. After the building of the steam mill, Mr. Price
went into partnership with Mr. Platte in making chairs and other
furniture.
On the sixth of April, 1836, before George Price was twenty
years of age, he started on horseback for Warren County, Ken-
tucky, to attend to that most important matter, his marriage.
The horse he used had never been ridden before without throw-
ing the rider, and when he mounted the animal it made power-
ful efforts to unseat him by jumping stiff-legged and kicking
and springing, but at last became subdued. During the evening
of the first day he came to Salt Creek, and found it overflowed,
but crossed in a canoe, swimming his horse. He then attempted
to replace the saddle, which he had taken off, but the horse was
cold and frisky, and sprang in every direction. At last he tied
the horse between the forks of a tree which had fallen, and sad-
dled and mounted the animal. Then it commenced bouncing
and jumping stiff-legged, but at last became quiet and he pro-
ceeded. The next day he crossed the Sangamon River. On the
night of the eighth occurred a great rain storm; the sloughs became
creeks and the creeks rivers. In the morning he started, and at
one place he traveled six miles with the water from six inches to a
foot and a half in depth. He kept the road by the dead weeds,
which stood high on each side. He swam two creeks that day,
becoming wet to the waist. In the afternoon the weather be-
248 OLD SETTLERS OF
came very cold and snow fell fast and thick, and Mr. Price lost
his way in the blinding storm. But at night he came to the
house of a " down-east " Yankee, who took care of him in the
kindest manner. He received the best in the house, a brandy
stew and some dry clothes. During that night a man died of cold
near Farmer City. In the morning the ground was frozen hard
and Mr. Price went on to the Wabash, over which he was fer-
ried by a woman, Mrs. Taylor. The boat was leaky, but Mr.
Price bailed for life, and for the handsome young lady in Ken-
tucky. Towards evening Mr. Taylor came home, and Mr. Price
stayed there overnight. The latter climbed up a ladder, and made
his bed in the loft of the house. Soon after he retired he was
awakened by the fall of his saddle stirrup on the floor of the
room below. He looked through, a crack and by the dim light
of the fire place he saw Taylor trying to pick the lock of his
saddle bags. He sprang up, and Taylor immediately hung up
the saddle and jumped into bed. Mr. Price kept a sharp look-
out during the remainder of the night, as he had fifty dollars in
silver money in his saddle bags. In the morning Taylor acted
as though nothing had happened, and charged only thirty-seven
and one-half cents for entertainment. He directed Mr. Price to
William's Ferry, on the Big Wabash. Mr. Price was told to
take the right hand road ; but when he came to the forks he con-
cluded to take the one on the left. After going twelve miles
he made inquiry at a house, and was told that the right hand
road led far from the true direction, and was simply a wood
road. He learned, too, that Taylor was a dangerous character,
and probably had his own purposes in view in attempting to
mislead the traveler. Mr. Price went on to Williams' Ferry,
which he crossed with great difficulty in a ferry-boat. As the
boat left the shore the overhanging branches of a sycamore came
near brushing his horse into the water; but the intelligent ani-
mal laid down in the boat and went under the limbs of the tree.
After crossing he went to the Ohio River at Mt. Vernon, In-
diana. The river was overflowing and large trees were carried
down by the current. He went up twelve miles to find a ferry,
and came to a little village, where the people were all on a spree.
But eight men were hired to take him across. They had a boat
which they worked with four oars and four pike poles. After
m'lean county. 249
drifting down the stream four miles the boat was landed on the
Kentucky shore. There they found the bank twelve feet high,
very difficult for the horse to climb ; but it was taken up by-
passing a rope around it and pulling, while the horse scratched
and scrambled. The eight ferrymen received a dollar in silver,
with which they could enjoy themselves on a spree for some
time ; for a little money in those days would buy a great deal of
whisky. He went from there to Bowling Green, Kentucky,
and on the road met his intended father and mother-in-law,
Jesse Adams, F. R. Cowden, and John Price, who were travel-
ing to Illinois. He stayed with them over night and went on the
next morning bright and early. He " steered for the object of
his visit, about fifteen miles away, and at about ten o'clock his
object saw him alight at the gate and walk to the front door."
This was on the twenty-third of April, 1836. On the fifth of
June his intended father and mother-in-law returned, and on the
fourteenth of that month he married Matilda B. Prunty, an old
schoolmate. On the thirteenth of September following he
started back to McLean County, in a two-horse wagon. He
crossed Mud River, Kentucky, by swimming his horses and taking
the provisions and wagon in a ferry-boat. The boat sank when
it reached the western shore, but the wagon was drawn out after
great exertions. At Shawneetown he had great difficulty in
crossing the Ohio River on a horse ferry-boat, but at last suc-
ceeded. He went on to Saline River, near Equality, and found
the stream very high and no ferry. He took off his goods, tied
the wagon box down firmly to the running gear, tied some of
his goods to the top of the box, and went across, swimming the
horses. He made five trips, and on the last one brought over
his wife. He then went to the Sangamon River. A heavy rain-
storm came up during the night before he crossed it, and it was
very high. He unloaded his goods and swam back and forth
with one horse, carrying a bundle of goods above the water
each time. The most difficult bundle to transport was a feather
bed with fifty-four pounds of feathers. When his goods were
across he hitched up his wagon, put in his wife, and came across.
On the third of October, 1836, he arrived safely home. He was
occasionally serenaded on his journey by the howling of wolves,
but did not mind them much.
250 OLD SETTLERS OF
George Price worked for his father for two years after his
marriage, and then built himself a house, where he now lives.
On the twenty-sixth of December, 1836, occurred the sudden
change in the weather, when, Mr. Price thinks, the mercury
must have fallen from forty degrees above zero to twenty de-
grees below in less than fifteen minutes. The ground was cov-
ered with a slush of water and snow, and suddenly a wind came
from the west, a fine flour of snow fell to the ground and the
cold became most intense. By the time Mr. Price could run
two hundred yards to his house, the slush was so frozen that it
bore his weight. The change was so sudden and severe that
some geese, which had been playing in a lot near by; had the
points of their wings frozen in the ice and it was necessary to cut
them loose.
The first tax paid by Mr. Price was in the spring of 1839,
and it amounted to $1.57. He paid, up to the year 1861, in the
aggregate, $885.49, but during the last twelve years he has paid
$3,741.19, and he thinks this has been due, in some measure, to
the Republican administration.
Mr. Price has been a life-long Democrat. He voted for
Martin Van Bnren, James K. Polk, General Cass, Franklin
Pierce and for James Buchanan under protest (Douglas was en-
titled to the nomination). Mr. Price voted for Douglas in 1860,
with a good will, in 1864 for McClellan under protest, and in
1868 for Seymour under protest. Mr. Price thinks the Demo-
cratic party has been sold out by August Belmont on two dis-
tinct occasions, and that it is now time for the latter gentleman
to retire from politics altogether.
Mr. Price has had fourteen children, of whom ten are living,
five boys and five girls. They are :
Ann, born February 22, 1840, wife of Stephen Triplet, lives
in Normal.
Hetta, born September 22, 1841, wife of George Horine, lives
in Bloomington.
Jane, wife of Moses G. Harbord, born February 8, 1845,
lives in Oregon.
Chase Price, born September 24, 1846, lives at home.
Belle, born September 13, 1848, wife of John M. Payne, lives
in Oregon.
m'lean county. 251
Scott, born March 23, 1854 ; Ada, born January 12, 1856 ;
Perry, born May 25, 1858 ; Minor, born March 12, 1861, and
Frank Price, born August 6, 1863, live at home.
George Price is of medium height, is strongly and squarely
built, has black hair and beard, though slightly sprinkled with
gray. He seems to enjoy the best of health, and the physicians'
bills he has paid on his own account cannot have been many.
He has been very upright in his dealings and careful in the man-
agement of his property, and as a result has succeeded remark-
ably well in life. "Fortune favors the brave," and Mr. Price's
success has undoubtedly been greatly due to his pluck. Not
many men would face the storms and swim the creeks and rivers
as he did, though his accomplished lady was in every way worthy
of his exertions. His lady, Mrs. Price, who came on the ro-
mantic wedding journey from Kentucky, is a woman of fine taste
and quick perceptions.
John J. Price.
John J. Price was born April 13, 1823, ten miles east of Bowl-
ing Green, in Warren County, Kentucky. His parents were
of Welch and Irish stock. He had three brothers and one sister,'
and of these, two brothers, George and Charles Luther are living.
John J. Price was brought up to be a farmer. His father's fam-
ily came to Illinois, October 15, 1833, and his father still resides
where he then settled, about one and a half miles southeast of
Bloomington. John J. Price worked for his father until the former
was twenty-one years of age. He then began life on his own ac-
count. He traded in stock and horses and drove them to Chi-
cago. For the last eighteen years he has been engaged in
buying and shipping grain, principally for the Eastern markets.
During 1852 and '53 he was engaged in the boot and shoe busi-
ness, but with that exception has been engaged as before stated.
He served one term as Sheriff of McLean County, being elected
to that office in 1854.
On the loth of January, 1857, he married Miss Henrietta
Olney, a very amiable lady from Joliet. While he served as
sheriff no very remarkable circumstance happened. The people
of the West were at that time more free-hearted and credulous
than at present ; and if the sharpers and confidence men, who
252 OLD SETTLERS OF
are so numerous now, had operated in the early days they would
have secured a harvest. Occasionally they did appear. It became
Mr. Price's duty to arrest one such gentleman on a requisition
from the Governor of New York, and the young swindler, who
appeared so handsome and gay, was obliged to serve a term in
Sing Sing. While Mr. Price was sheriff he was also collector
of taxes in the county. The taxes amounted to a little more
than .$100,000 per annum. The collector visited the various pre-
cincts of the county, giving notice of his coming by advertise-
ments. In each precinct he remained one day to receive the
taxes due. His pay for collection was nearly four per cent., aud
the office was worth about three thousand dollars per annum.
Mr. Price is a shipper of stock, and has had a great deal of
experience with railroads. He thinks the farmers Avho are con-
tending against the railroads should do the work thoroughly or
not at all ; for if it is only half done the railroad officials become
more extortionate than before. They allow no accommodations
to shippers, and when special rates are asked for, the officials
say: "Go to the Grangers."
Mr. Price has had a pleasant life. His early days were
.marked by the incidents usual to early settlers, but he did not
have so hard a time in finding a wife as his brother George ex-
perienced. The latter was obliged to brave many storms and
hair breadth escapes and swim many rivers to obtain his bride.
J. J. Price did nothing of the kind, but his wife thinks it would
have been very beneficial to him to have had such an experience.
It would have called out his resolution, and he would have ap-
preciated his lady much more.
John J. Price is of medium stature, has broad shoulders, is
very active and has never been sick. He has an aquiline nose
and sharp, penetrating eyes. He is a good business man, leads
an active life, and is on the trains every day. All his senses are
good and he bids fair to lead a long and busy life.
Lewis Bunn.
Lewis Bunn was born September 16, 1806, on a farm in Wal-
nut Creek Township in Ross County, Ohio, about four miles
from the town of Delphi. His father, Peter Bunn, was a farmer
and land speculator; he was a Pennsylvania German, while his
m'lean county. 253
mother was an English lady. Lewis Bunn was one of twenty-
one children ! His father was twice married. From his first
marriage sprang eight children, and from his second, thirteen.
Lewis was the youngest but three.
Lewis received his scanty education in a school formed by
the farmers who clubbed together and hired a teacher, to whom
they paid three or four dollars per quarter and board. Such a
schoolmaster usually taught during the winter months and
worked a farm in summer. The school-houses were simply log
cabins. When Lewis was seventeen years old his school days
ended. He had then acquired very little knowledge, indeed the
chance for acquiring knowledge was very limited. At the age
of eighteen he was sent to Chillicothe, and apprenticed for four
years, to learn the trade of blacksmith. He learned his trade
rapidly and well, but he was not satisfied with his education,
and took private lessons in his leisure moments. When his ap-
prenticeship was ended he moved to Clark County, Ohio, where
he stayed three years.
In 1831 he was married to Margery Haines, of Xenia, Ohio.
His marriage was a happy one, and was blessed by the birth of
five children, three boys and two girls, four of whom are now
living. His wife afterwards died.
In 1833 he moved to Bloomington, Illinois. Here, in 1846,
he married Lucinda Blewins. By this marriage he has had five
children, all of whom are dead. When he came to Bloomington
he followed his trade and continued at it until 1859, when he
retired from business. Immediately upon his arrival at Bloom-
ington he connected with his trade the manufacture of agricul-
tural implements, and in those days he was enabled to make this
quite a profitable business. Oliver Ellsworth, who died about a
year ago, was for eighteen years Mr. Buun's partner. Their
ploughs, which they made by hand, were in great demand and
were called for even from Texas. They bore the trademark of
Bunn & Ellsworth, and are still well spoken of. The price of
one of their ploughs at that time was eleven or twelve dollars,
while a plough made by machinery at the present time costs
from twenty-two to twenty-four dollars. Mr. Bunn thinks this
remarkable difference is due partly to the high price of labor,
and partly to the high price of steel. A carpenter earned in
254 OLD SETTLERS OF
those days one dollar per day ; at present he earns from three
to four dollars. The steel used by Bunn & Ellsworth was Ger-
man and American, while that used at the present time is cast-
steel. They formerly obtained their steel from St. Louis whence
it was shipped to Pekin by water, and from there it was brought
overland to Bloomington ; but when the Illinois River was low
it was hauled here from St. Louis, a distance of one hundred
and seventy miles. It cost for hauling this distance from seven-
ty-five cents to one dollar per hundred pounds, and after all of
this trouble and expense the ploughs were sold for eleven or
twelve dollars a piece.
Mr. Bunn came to Bloomington with his brother-in-law, Dr.
Haines. The town was then two years old. At first he did not
like the country, it seemed so wild and naked, and in nearly
every log cabin some one was shaking with the ague. The popu-
lation was very sparse and the conveniences of life were want-
ing. If a farmer lost a screw from his plough he was obliged
to travel sixty miles (from Bloomington to Springfield) to get
the little matter fixed. Lewis Bunn did all the blacksmithing
for forty miles around, with three fires. He was quite skillful
in mending the little breaks and doing the job work, and could
make any thing from a horse shoe nail to a mill spindle.
Although Mr. Bunn was not a man of much speculation, he
saw many ups and downs. Fortunes in the "West were some-
times easily made and much more easily lost, but Mr. Bunn
preserved his independence and usually stuck to his trade; al-
though it was rather black business it brought shining dollars.
, In 1833 Bloomington had about one hundred and fifty in-
habitants. The best business lots were then selling for fifty
dollars. He bought one where the hardware store of Harwood
Bros, stands for fifty dollars and sold it for one hundred. It is
now worth three hundred dollars per foot without any improve-
ments. But the changes in value in Bloomington are scarcely
to be noticed compared with Chicago. On the west side of the
river in Chicago some lots were traded for a horse worth fifty
dollars. The same lots are now worth one million two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. In 1833 corn sold for ten cents per
bushel, oats for eight cents and wheat for thirty-one cents. Flour
was $1.50 per hundred and pork $1.25. Wood was one dollar
m'lean county. 255
per cord and coal 12| to 16 cents per bushel. In early days
everything was unsettled. Prices were sometimes very high
and sometimes very low ; people became suddenly rich and sud-
denly poor. Everything was changing. The spirit of enter-
prise was great and people would be willing to do a great deal
to accomplish a very little.
Sometimes the early settlers went to law. People will do so
occasionally, though they do not as a usual thing, get rich by it.
I have heard of a couple of worthy citizens who spent two or
three hundred dollars a piece in a suit for the possession of a
calf not worth five dollars. Lawyers are not generally very
modest in charging their fees. But Mr. Bunn tells some queer
things of the fees charged by Lincoln and Douglas. Abraham
Lincoln received the highest fee known to have been paid to a
lawyer in Illinois. The Illinois Central Railroad Company
thought their lands should be exempt from taxation. Lincoln
was employed for the company and won the battle and received
five thousand dollars as his fee. This was pretty large, but on
the other hand lawyers' fees were sometimes correspondingly
small. Mr. Bunn once employed Stephen A. Douglas in a case
against Col. Gridley. Douglas came all the way from Spring-
field, made a first-class speech, won the case and charged for his
services five dollars !
As to personal appearance Lewis Bunn is five feet ten inches
in height. He is well formed and of good muscular develop-
ment. The latter is due to his occupation. He has a very
peaceable disposition, a very even temperament and does not
easily get excited. He is fond of fun and practical jokes. He
has a genial, healthy countenance, though his eyes are rather
weak, probably made so by working at the forge. He is natur-
ally a peacemaker and is glad to say that he never struck a man
in his life and never ran away from one.
William C. Warlow.
William C. Warlow, son of Benjamin Warlow, was born
June 8, 1817, in Oneida County, New York. The family came
to Bloomington on the 10th of October, 1833. During the first
night of their arrival they went to see a prairie fire, where the
postoffice now stands. From Bloomington they went to Dry
256 OLD SETTLERS OF
Grove, where his uncle, Jonathan Bond, entered land. Mr. "War-
low lived with his father on the farm working faithfully. Mr.
Warlow, sr., entered land at Brown's Grove and moved there.
On the 31st of October, 1844, W. C. Warlow married Nancy
Garr, daughter of Joseph and Margaret Garr, of Old Town.
After his marriage Mr. Warlow bought out John Stout at
Brown's Grove, paying five hundred dollars for one hundred and
twenty acres of land. On this he lived for thirteen years adding
to it continually until he acquired about six hundred acres. In
the fall of 1857 he moved to Bloomington and went into the dry
goods business with his brother, B. W. Warlow. They had two
sleeping partners by the name of Fleming, who were the cause
of much trouble and at last of great financial difficulties.
Mr. Warlow did some hunting and often killed deer and
wolves. Once while living on his farm he stood on his door
step and killed a deer, which was standing near by. He several
times killed two deer before breakfast.
At the outbreak of the war, Mr. Warlow went to Camp But-
ler, and was for some time a clerk for a sutler there, and for a
while did quite well.
On the 1st of February, 1867, he became a hotel keeper at
Peoria. On the 10th of May of the same year he was burnt out
and lost everything. He had been insured for five thousand
dollars in two bogus insurance companies, which could not pay
one cent of his losses. He has lived in Bloomington ever since.
Mr. Warlow has a family of three children. They are :
Benjamin W., Belle and Maggie. The last named is mar-
ried to Nelson Sweeney, of Bloomington. Miss Belle Warlow
lives at home. Benjamin W. Warlow lives in Hiawatha, Brown
Count}', Kansas. Mr. Warlow's domestic life has been very
pleasant. His wife has been a remarkably good woman, and a
supporter of her husband during their eventful life.
Mr. Warlow is six feet six inches in height, is well propor-
tioned, has black hair, hazel eyes and a beard, which is turning
gray. He is a man of great strength. He used the first reaper
which worked with success in this section of country.
John Lindley.
John Lindley was born February 9, 1806, in Christian Coun-
ty, Kentucky. His father's name was John Lindley, and his
m'lean county. 257
mother's name was Elizabeth Gray. In 1827 he moved his
brother William to Illinois and stayed a few months. In March,
1831, he came again, moving his father's family. The deep
snow was then melting away, and the country was a sea of water
from one to three feet in depth. This was the case more partic-
ularly in Macoupin and Sangamon Counties. Nevertheless he
came through, driving his six-horse team with a single line.
His father's family settled on the south side of Blooming Grove.
John Lindley entered some land about a mile from the
southern edge of Blooming Grove. One tier of farms had al-
ready been entered around the grove, and he was obliged to take
to the prairie or go to some other timber. After entering his
land John Lindley returned to Kentucky.
On the twentieth of November, 1881, he married Melinda
Jones, in Kentucky. In 1833 he came to the West and settled
on the land which he entered in 1831. His wife, Melinda, died
in 1837. Two children were born of this marriage. They are :
Mary Jane, wife of Isaac Pemberton, and William Lindley. Mr.
Pemberton lives on the edge of Blooming Grove, and Mr. Wil-
liam Lindley lives at Long Point, in DeWitt County.
On the first of March, 1840, Mr. Lindley married Jane Wil-
liams. Nine children were born of this marriage, and seven are
living. They are :
Gabriel Lindley lives in Christian County, Kentucky.
John W. Lindley lives about a quarter of a mile from his
father's.
Sarah, wife of Frederick Barnes, lives near her father's.
Elizabeth, Daniel, Emma and Ella live at home.
Mr. Lindley is five feet and eleven inches in height, and
weighs about two hundred pounds. He is a man of some reso-
lution, is very pleasant in his manner, is a strong opponent of
the railroads, and thinks these monopolies eat up a great deal of
his substance with their high freights. He cast his first vote
for Andrew Jackson, and has since voted the Democratic ticket.
He gave an acre of ground to build a school house in district
number eight, where he now lives. He is a director, and takes
great interest in the cause of education. He thinks a great deal
of McLean County, as he has traveled all over the State and
found nothing equal to i.t for a farming country. He lives about
17
258 OLD SETTLERS OF
five miles south and a little west of Bloomington. Mr. Lindley
is very decided in his views, and is bitterly opposed to salary
grabbers, and does not like President Grant for signing the bill
which doubled his own salary.
Allen Withers.
Allen Withers was born January 21, 1807, on a farm in
Jessamine County, Kentucky, about seven miles from Nicholas-
ville. His ancestors were of Welch and Irish stock. The father
of Allen Withers was twice married. Allen was one of a fam-
ily of twenty-one children ; seventeen of these, including Allen,
reached manhood and womanhood. His opportunities for ac-
quiring knowledge were not very good, but such as they were he
improved them, and obtained a pretty good English education.
At an early age he showed much taste for commercial pursuits,
and a great love of travel. At the age of eighteen he began
traveling through the states of Missouri and Indiana. He trans-
acted some little business on his journey, but not much. His
object was to obtain amusement and information, as well as to
visit his friends and relatives in these states. In his travels he
learned the, ways of the world and particularly the commercial
world, he could buy and sell. He then began business. He
bought horses and mules in Missouri and took them to Mexico,
though he was yet very young. He spent two years in Mexico
in trading with the Mexicans and Indians. He understood Span-
ish as well as the Indian dialect, and could converse very fluent-
ly in either. He was a great favorite among the Indians, and
understood their character and mode of life thoroughly. His
experience among the Indians was no doubt richly worth pre-
serving. He was obliged frequently to live for some weeks
upon sugar. But, after all his hardships, he made but little
money, as many of his horses and mules would go astray in the
wild Mexican territory.
Allen Withers came to Illinois in August, 1834, his father
having removed to this State two years previous. He came at
once to McLean County. In the spring of 1835 he entered the
dry goods establishment of M. L. Covel as a clerk. Not long
afterwards his father bought out this establishment and carried
it on with the assistance of his son. The business was con-
ducted in Eoyce Block, which became the Withers property.
m'lean county. 259
On the second of May, 1835, he married Miss Sarah B. Rice,
of Kentucky. He had known her in early youth, and in his
later years she became his devoted, affectionate wife, his com-
panion and supporter in the vicissitudes of a very eventful life.
His wedding trip to Bloomington lasted two weeks; indeed, it
required one week to go from St. Louis to Pekin.
In the spring of 1834 Allen Withers took the census of
Bloomington, and the population amounted to one hundred and
eighty persons.
In the fall of 1837, Mr. "Withers' brother-in-law came to
make him a visit, from Kentucky, and Allen wished to make
everything as pleasant as possible. So he tried to furnish some
of the luxuries of civilization, and hunted over the country for
two days to find some butter. He succeeded in getting one
pound.
In 1837 and '38 Mr. Withers was unfortunate in business,
and moved to Waterloo, Clark County, Missouri, in the spring
of 1839. Shortly afterwards he moved to Alexandria, on the
Mississippi River. This place was laid out by Dr. Mitchell, the
brother-in-law of Mr. Withers, and by Dr. Mitchell's brother.
Here Mr. Withers acted as a clerk in his brother-in-law's gro-
cery. He built a two-story log house on some land given him
by his brother-in-law, and his wife kept boarders, sometimes ten
boarders at once. There was but one hotel at the mouth of the
Des Moines River, and when it was too full the landlord sent
some of his guests to Mrs. Withers. Mrs. Withers frequently
was obliged to do her cooking outside of the house, but she
persevered and fairly earned the prosperity which she and her
husband afterwards enjoyed. After eighteen months of working
and saving in Alexandria Mr. Withers succeeded in making a
little money and bought eighty acres of land in Waterloo at
twenty cents per acre. After building a home on it he sold
house and land for six hundred dollars.
In 1847, at his father's earnest desire, Allen AVithers re-
turned to Bloomington, and commenced business with William
H. Temple, in the dry goods line. But he soon sold out and
went into the hardware business, and shortly afterwards sold out
the hardware business and came back to Mr. Temple. But after
a while he left the dry goods business and began trading in
260 OLD SETTLERS OF
stock and working a farm which he owned about three miles
south of Bloomington. This farm, which contained three hun-
dred and twenty acres, is now owned by Mrs. Withers.
Allen Withers died very suddenly of congestive chills on the
third of March, 1864. He was at the time possessed of a vig-
orous constitution, and bid fair to live for many years.
Mr. Withers was a man of fine personal appearance. He
was six feet and two inches in height, and was possessed of more
than ordinary intellect. He was the soul of honor and his
candor was seen in his clear, honest, blue eyes, and in every line
of his countenance. He was very muscular and could endure a
great deal. He was a kind, warm-hearted man and one who
would naturally have a great many friends. In his political
sympathies he was a warm partizan, but his dignity and kind-
ness and good feeling preserved for him the friendship of mem-
bers of all parties. His popularity was shown very clearly when
he was nominated against his will as a candidate for the legisla-
ture. He came within nine votes of being elected in a county
which gave six hundred majority for the Republican ticket. He
was a good business man for, though he had many misfortunes,
he became wiser from experience, and at the time of his death
he had accumulated a great deal of property and all of it by his
own exertions. Mr. Withers left no children. His only child
had died many years before. But he and his generous wife
adopted several children who needed friends. One of their
adopted children, Mrs. Winter, has grown to womanhood and is
now married ; and she is indeed worthy of the kindness and
affection bestowed upon her.
Mr. Withers many years ago made free a colored boy and
brought him up as a servant in his family. The colored man
still remains with the family and would not be induced to leave
it for any consideration.
The generosity and kindness of heart shown by Mr. Withers
will make him long remembered.
" The pitcher at the fountain is broken ;
The silver chord is in twain ;
But he leaves behind him a token
That he'll greet his dear loved one? again."
m'lean county. 261
Dr. J. F. Henry.
John Flournoy Henry was born at Henry's Mills, in Scott
County, Kentucky, on the 17th of January, 1793. He was of
Huguenot ancestry. He was the fourth son of William Henry,
who was the son of Reverend Robert Henry, pastor of Cub
Creek church, of Charlotte County, Virginia. The father of
Dr. Henry fought under General Greene at the battle of Guil-
ford Court House in March, 1781, where the victorious career of
Lord Cornwallis was arrested and a retrograde movement of
the British troops compelled, which resulted in the surrender of
Cornwallis at Yorktown.
In the autumn of 1781 William Henry moved to Lincoln
County, Kentucky, and on the 12th of October of that year was
married to Elizabeth Julia, second daughter of Matthias Flour-
noy, who had been killed by the Indians at Cumberland Gap.
Matthias Flournoy was of Huguenot ancestry on both sides.
After completing his early education, Dr. Henry entered
upon the study of medicine, and for a time, during the war of
1812, he served as surgeon's mate. In October, 1813, he was at
the battle of Thames, where his father, as a major general under
General Harrison, commanded a wing of the United States
forces. It may be mentioned here that Dr. Henry, in common
with many of the old soldiers of 1812, availed himself of the
act of congress giving a pension to the surviving soldiers of that
war, and at the time of his death his name was on the pension
rolls of the country, where he had it placed as a matter of pride
rather than for the small pecuniary consideration connected
with it.
Dr. Henry graduated at the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons in New York City, in 1818, and soon after went to Mis-
souri, where he spent some time, but afterwards returned to Ken-
tucky. Some time after this he was engaged as a professor in
the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, with the late Dr. Daniel
Drake, between whom and himself there existed a warm per-
sonal friendship. Previous to this, in 1826, Dr. Henry was
chosen to fill a vacancy in Congress, made by the death of his
brother.
In 1833 Dr. Henry settled in Bloomington, McLean County,
Illinois, where he pursued the practice of medicine for twelve
262
OLD SETTLERS OF
years. He came to this State in an Illinois River steamboat,
landing at Pekin. In 1843 he purchased property in Burlington,
Iowa, and two years later moved to that city with his family.
He had by that time secured a competence, and soon after mov-
ing to Burlington he retired from the active practice of his pro-
fession. He died in Burlington on the 13th of November, 1873.
He was twice married. His first wife was a daughter of Dr.
Basil Duke of Mason County, Kentucky, who, with an infant
child, died a year or two after their marriage. His second wife,
who survived him, was a daughter of Dr. Ridgely of Lexington,
Kentucky. The surviving children of the second marriage are
Dr. G. R. Henry of Burlington, Iowa; John Flournoy Henry of
Louisville, Kentucky, and Mrs. Mary Belle Robertson of Bur-
lington, Iowa. His youngest daughter, Flora, died in Burling-
ton in 1862.
Dr. Henry was for the greater part of his life an honored
member of the Presbyterian church. One, who knew him well,
says of him : " He was one of nature's noblemen. Tall, straight
as an arrow, with a splendid presence and a physical vigor, which
is rare in these latter da} y s of fast habits and rapid living; he
enjoyed a robust health, which gave way at last from sheer old
age. Upright, honorable, temperate, sagacious, and a thorough
man and a gentleman, his course can be emulated with profit.
He was a fine specimen of the Kentucky gentleman of the old
school, of elegant and dignified manners, kindly sentiments and
genial disposition."
General Asahel Gridley.
A very important part of the history of McLean County con-
sists of the acts and doings of General Gridlev. While collect-
ing information and statistics for this work the author has been
questioned more concerning the sketch of General Gridley than
of any other old settler in McLean County. He is a man of positive
character, and even his enemies are interested in him and anxious
to read his sketch.
General Gridley was born April 21, 1810, in Cazenovia, Xew
York, and received his education at Pompey Academy, same
State. At the age of twenty-one he determined to " go West,"
and on the 8th of October, 1831, he located in Bloomington.
m'lean county. 263
He immediately commenced selling goods of all kinds and es-
tablished a large trade. The business of a merchant in those
days is described by General Gridley, who says : " At that time
a vender of goods was required to keep for sale every kind of
merchandise wanted by the settlers, to-wit : dry goods, groceries,
hardware, queensware, drugs, medicines, liquors, saddles, har-
nesses, leather, salt, iron nails, hollow ware, in fact anything
which the wants of the settlers required."
General Gridley's place of business was on the lot where the
McLean County Bank now stands. This lot he purchased for
fifty-one dollars. When he settled here the only inhabitants
were James Allin and fami'y, Robert E. Guthrie and family,
John Kimler and wife, Rev. James Latta and wife, David Trim-
mer and wife, Dr. Isaac Baker and family, Dr. David Wheeler
and daughters, William Evans and family, William Dimmitt,
Samuel Durley, William Durley, General Merritt L. Covel and
Amasa 0. Washburn. Of these there now remain James Allin,
jr. and Dr. Lee Allin, sons of James Allin, deceased, Adam
Guthrie, son of Robert Guthrie, deceased, William Dimmitt and
Amasa C. Washburn. The condition of the country in those
early days is shown by the following from General Gridley :
" In the fall of 1831, Col. James Latta commenced enclosing
with a rail fence the one hundred acres now known as the Dur-
ley addition to Bloomington, the land then being open prairie
and in a state of nature. In 1832 he broke the ground and
planted sod corn, and the settlers expressed surprise that Col.
Latta should attempt to make a farm so far from timber. No
one then supposed that the prairie would ever be cultivated more
than a mile distant from the timber, and the only farms were
those skirting the groves."
General Gridley carried on the business of merchandising
with Ortogrul Covel, his brother-in-law, now deceased, from
1831 until 1838. Their business was milling, merchandising
and manufacturing.
The life and services of General Gridley are told by Jesse
W. Fell, Esq., so clearly and so perfectly that it is impossible to
add anything to it.
" De. Duis :
" My long delay in responding to your request to write some-
264 OLD SETTLERS OF
thing about my old friend and comrade, General Gridley, pro-
ceeds not from a want of interest in the subject, but from the
press of business engagements. With no man, outside of our
immediate family circle, have I been so long and so intimately
acquainted, and it affords me great pleasure to say, with no man
have my relations personally been more agreeable, notwithstand-
ing we have differed widely in our views and feelings on many
topics. Though, in common with every one who has cut any
figure in our local or general affairs, I am fully aware that I
have been the subject of sharp, and at times undeserved, criti-
cisms at his hands, yet knowing the constitutional temper of the
man I have scarcely ever seen the day when I could not take
him cordially by the hand, and I have abundant reason to know
the same is true on his part. As our intimacy and friendship,
therefore, reaches over a period of more than two score years, it
is a work of pleasure to say a few words as to his general char-
acter and the services he has rendered this city and neighbor-
hood.
" The salient or leading facts connected with his life, I find
presented in the paper you have just placed in my hands, and I
need not repeat them. You ask for some general additional in-
formation relating to him as derived from my long personal ac-
quaintance. In giving this I beg you to bear in mind that I do
it in precisely the same way I did in the case of another old and
cherished personal friend, Judge Davis. Without any attempt
at system, order, or chronological arrangement, and with no at-
tention whatever to style of composition, I wrote what came
uppermost, on very slight reflection, aiming to give facts only.
"I came to Illinois in the fall of 1832, and in November of
that year arrived at Bloomiugton, then a village of perhaps one
hundred inhabitants. The persons then composing the town
are nearly all embraced in the paper alluded to, and among them
certainly no one occupied so prominent a place as General Grid-
ley. That prominence he has maintained from that day to this.
Whilst other of our citizens have reached higher official posi-
tions, and are consequently more widely known, no man has
occupied so large a place in the public mind since the day he
arrived here, in the general business operations of the neighbor-
hood, whether as a merchant, lawyer, legislator or banker.
m'lean county. 265
" No history, however brief, can ever be written of McLean
County, without frequent reference to his name, as identified
with almost everything connected with our development and
prosperity. To omit it would be impossible. As well might
you attempt to write the history of our country and omit that
name that stands at the head of all American history.
" In what little I have to say I will consider him — as above
indicated — as a merchant, lawyer, legislator and banker.
" Previous to my arrival in Bloomington I heard of him in
connection with the Black Hawk war. General M. L. Covel and
he raised a cavalry company in this county, and of this General
Gridley was made first lieutenant. That he creditably acquitted
himself in that war was practically attested by the result of a
military election which soon after took place, at which he was
elected a brigadier general. This conferred upon him a title
which he has since borne.
" The war in question occupied quite a space in the general
and striking news of the day throughout the country, having be-
gun in 1831 and closed about the time I reached the State.
" On my arrival at Bloomington, in the autumn of 1832, I
found the General had just returned from the war, and was do-
ing a general mercantile business, dealing in almost everything
that the wants of the country demanded, in a one-story frame
building, occupying the place where his bank now stands. For
some years he purchased his goods largely in St. Louis, of the
then celebrated house of Warburton & King, and others, and
not unfrequently rode to St. Louis on horseback to make his
purchases, and occasionally wagoned his goods from that city to
Bloomington. The ordinary conveyance, however, was by
steamboat to Pekin, and thence to this place by wagons. Sub-
sequently his principal purchases were made in the cities of New
York and and Philadelphia, whither he repaired twice a year to
keep up his supply of goods. It was during one of these semi-
annual visits that he became acquainted with the accomplished
lady, Miss Mary Ann Enos, whom he afterwards married, and
who has since shared his fortunes through life. It was also dur-
ing a visit of this kind that he became acquainted with Mr. Hill,
one of our oldest and most reputable men, still living among
us, whom he, aided by his friends, James Allin and J. W. Fell,
266 OLD SETTLERS OF
prevailed upon to remove to Bloomington and establish the first
newepaper here published, the Bloomington Observer. This paper
was well conducted, and had much to do at that early period
(1836 and '37) in attracting attention to McLean County of
emigrants and others seeking locations in the West. Though
there was a period of several years after the discontinuance of
this journal, during which no paper was here published, the
Bloomington Observer may not inappropriately be considered as
the beginning of one of our leading papers, which, under the
various names of Western Whig, Intelligencer, and Pantograph, is
still published in our midst.
" The ordinary way of travel to and from the East at that
time was by steamboats on the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio
Rivers to Pittsburgh, and thence by stage across the mountains
to Philadelphia and New York. Not unfrequently the whole
trip there and back, particularly in the winter season, was per-
formed by stage. It was my good fortune to accompany the
Genera] during one of these winter trips by stage, and I shall
never forget the hilarity and sport of that memorable trip. We
had in company a Missourian as distinguished for his geniality,
mirthfullness and fund of anecdotes as the General himself, pos-
sibly even more so, and we were never at a loss for something to
relieve what would otherwise have been not only a cold but
tedious, monotonous trip.
" General Gridley's customers, at this time, extended over
the whole county, then embracing nearly double the territory it
now does ; and it is not too much to say that he was not only
known by all the people of the county, but that a very large
share of the goods here sold were over his counter. The ordi-
nary mode of doing business at this time was on credit, the peo-
ple paying their store bills annually on Christmas, or the first of
January. This being the case, it is not surprising that a man
of his superior business qualifications should have so far extended
his line of credit, that when the financial crash, commencing in '37
with the removal of the public deposits from the old United States
Bank came, he was carried down in common with almost every
man at that time, who did business on that basis. So entirely
prostrated was the credit and business of the country that credit
was not only gone, but property of every description was almost
m'lean county. 2f>7
valueless. As an illustration in point, property in which I was
interested, and for which $200 per acre had been offered and re-
fused, was sacrificed by selling at less than $10 per acre. It re-
flects, therefore, no discredit on the business capacity of General
Gridley, which then, as now, was considered of the very highest
order, to state that, failing in collecting of those who justly
owed him, he shared the common lot, and had to begin anew at
the foot of the financial ladder. In its results, this failure, how-
ever, looking at it from a financial stand-point, I have always
looked upon as fortunate, as it developed his powers in other
directions, and thereby secured a higher measure of success than
he could reasonably have hoped for, had he continued in his old
business. And this brings me to consider him in another re-
lation.
" About this time the whole country was stirred by the mem-
orable contest of 1840, the chief basis of the contest being the
financial blunders, as viewed from the Whig stand-point, of the
then dominant party. This, aggravated by the disclosure of an
alarming amount of official corruption in high places, gave to the
"Whig party an opportunity to make a contest with reasonable
prospects of success, and to make the matter doubly sure, that
party laid aside their old and tried statesman, Henry Clay, and
placed in nomination a successful military man, General Harri-
son. The whole country, from center to circumference, was
deeply excited ; monster mass meetings and immense proces-
sions consisting not only of men and women, bands of music,
&c, but canoes on wheels, drawn by horses, and filled with men
going through all the motions of boatmen; log cabins drawn in the
same way, conveying coons perched in conspicuous places, bar-
rels of hard cider, &c, were everywhere in order, and in no part of
our country more conspicuously so than here in Illinois. Into this
contest every man having any capacity for stump-speaking threw
himself; and not a few made their appearance who, up to this
period, had never supposed they had that capacity. Among this
number, as I have good reason to know, was Asahel Gridley.
"During the period I am reviewing it was thought necessary to
get up one of those formidable processions then so common and
visit what was then called the village of Peoria, demonstrating very
largely on the way, particularly in the towns, in two of which
268 OLD SETTLERS OF
— Trernont and Washington — we stopped to hold mass meet-
ings. It was at the latter place that I first heard the General
make a regular or set speech. Judge Davis, Dr. John F. Henry
and a number of others, myself included, accustomed to speak-
ing, had taken our turn, when, seconded by a number of others,
I called for the General. He immediately responded, and
though wholly unprepared, made a speech that for clearness,
point, and telling effect, was inferior to nothing we had heard dur-
ing our trip. I slept with him that night, and have good reason
to know that that was a turning point in his history. This ef-
fort had roused him to a consciousness of power in a new di-
rection.
■' Shortly after this it became necessary to place in nomina-
tion candidates for the legislature, and it was quite natural that
the people should fix upon one so capable as General Gridley of
leading them to success in a county which had up to that period
been regarded as Democratic. I need scarcely say he was elect-
ed, and that though so recently in political life, he immediately
took a high rank among the members of the House, composed
of such men as Lincoln, Hardin, Governor Bissel and others.
Nothing of striking interest occurred during the period for
which he was elected to the Lower House, particularly as affect-
ing the interests of his immediate constituents. So far as I now
recollect, and though out of chronological order, I will pass over
his early professional experience, and say a few words in con-
nection with his services for four years in the other branch of
the legislature.
" For several years prior to 1850 a good deal had been said
in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
in favor of a grant of land to aid in the construction of what is
now the Illinois Central Railroad, and through the efforts of
Judges Breese, Douglas and others the prospect of such a grant
began to look promising. It was, therefore, eminently proper
that the people of this part of the State should at this time send
to the legislature some of their most efficient men, in order to
secure, if practicable, Bloomington as a point on the contem-
plated road, should the grant be made. Most fortunately for
the future of Bloomington aud McLean County (and I may say
with equal propriety for the interests of DeWitt and Macon
m'lean county. 269
Counties and their respective county seats), the people were alive
to that matter, and, overlooking mere availabilty (which unfor-
tunately too often controls such matters) elected General Gridley
to the Senate for four years commencing December, 1850. It
was during this period that the grant in question was made, and
the great struggle was had as to the location of that road. It
was at this time too that the charter of the Alton & Sangamon
Railroad — as it was then called — was so amended as to make
Bloomington a point on another great trunk road, (now known
as the Chicago & Alton Railroad,) and thus Bloomington secured
to us a pre-eminence as to railroad facilities equal, if not supe-
rior, to any other point in the State ; for it is well known that
the roads subsequently located here were attracted, largely, by
our prominence as a railroad centre. Few among those who
now constitute our population — a population more than twenty
fold what it was then — stop to reflect or even know the great
point on which our rapidly increased population was deter-
mined. From a somewhat intimate acquaintance with our State
and its legislation for the last forty years, I have no hesitation
in saying a solution of the matter is found largely in the legisla-
tion above alluded to, and that, had we not had General Gridley,
or some other man of much more than ordinary ability to then
represent us, Bloomington's population would now probably be
numbered by hundreds instead of thousands. This opinion will
not seem unreasonable when we reflect that in the act of con-
gress making the grant no points except the termini were de-
signated, and that by a slight deflection west of the third prin-
cipal meridian the neighborhood of which the road had to be
located, it would run through a country at that time much better
developed, passing through a large number of county seats a
little west of that meridian, including Springfield and Peoria,
the former then, as now, the seat of government and the latter
then largely outnumbering us in wealth, population and influ-
ence. True, the railroad company, if such a location had been
made, would not have secured quite so much land on the imme-
diate line of it3 road, but it would thus have insured more speedi-
ly a business for the road, which was a matter of paramount
importance, and also a readier sale for the contiguous lands
which it would thus have secured.
270 OLD SETTLERS OF
" The railroad company, however, had not the fixing of the
location. It was done by representatives of the people, and the
odds in numbers being against us, growing out of a more sparse
population east than west of the meridian, and having the State
government influence, added to that of Peoria, to contend with,
it was a fight of no ordinary importance to us, in which the
chances against us seemed largely to preponderate. Thanks to
the untiring devotion and consummate ability of our senator,
aided, of course, by help outside, as well as in the legislature,
those seeming advantages were overcome, and the location was
so fixed in the charter as to secure the road through our midst,
and, what was more, through the county seat of two of the other
counties by him represented. If General Gridley had rendered
no other service to this community, this alone is of sufficient
importance to entitle him, in all coming time, to our grateful
remembrance.
"And here it may not be inappropriate to observe, that, not-
withstanding he has been thus intimately associated not only
with the legislation connected with our system of railroads ex-
tending out from this point, but, more or less, with the practical
construction of several of them, no man can truthfully say, that
he ever derived the slightest pecuniary benefit from any contracts,
speculations in stocks or bonds, connected with any of said
roads, or, even the less objectionable way, of sharing in the pro-
fits of town speculations on their lines. Though the General
makes no pretensions to any superior virtue to his neighbors,
and has never been averse to availing himself of proper and
legitimate modes of speculation, he has wisely concluded he
would not avail himself of the facilities for money-making
offered by any official position he might hold. Had our repre-
sentatives in the State Legislatures and in Congress, our rail-
road directors and others officially connected with the building
of our roads, more generally observed the same rule, how widely
different would be the present condition of things financially
throughout the country; and how much higher would stand the
American character among the nations of the world. In sketch-
ing the life and character of anyone in times like these — of
wide-spread official degeneracy — it is indeed pleasant to note
this, to my mind, important and most creditable fact.
m'lean county. 271
" Omitting other and important services which he rendered
his constituents, the four years of his senatorial career, during
which there were no less than four sessions of the Legislature, let
us pass to a brief notice of his career in another and more lucrative
department of business. I shall never forget an interview I had
with him at his own house, and at his own suggestion, soon after
his return from the Legislature in the spring of 1841. We had
both, financially, been utterly prostrated, and both ambitious of
getting ' on our pegs ' again. We were in a fitting condition to
sympathize with each other and take counsel together. The ex-
citement of political life and the events of the winter had up to
this period kept him from dwelling with too much intensi-
ty on the dark picture then opening before him, but he was now
at liberty to concentrate his mind on home matters, and seemed
more thoroughly saddened in spirit than I had ever before or
since known him. The great question was, what he should do
to repair his shattered fortunes, and to supply the wants of a
growing family. His private affairs financially, added to the de-
pressed condition generally of the country, forbid his return to
his former calling ; politics were too precarious to tempt him to
do what thousands of lesser pretensions were then doing, flock-
ing to "Washington to get some 'fat office,' and though his mind
had been running on "the probable chances of professional suc-
cess he seemed quite undetermined what to do. I need scarcely
say I advised him to immediately qualify himself for the prac-
tice of law, and this advice, aided by similar suggestions from
other quarters, may have contributed to bring about that result.
Knowing his intellectual sharpness, and his success as a public
speaker, I felt, and so expressed myself, that he had only to try,
to succeed. How well my anticipations have been verified let
the legal dockets of McLean and adjoining counties for more
than fifteen years, commencing soon after the period here alluded
to, answer. Lacking the advantages of a collegiate education
and of a thorough course of legal studies, in special pleading
and the more technical departments of practice, it will hardly
be pretended that he was an adept — very few are — but, if good
hard 'horse sense,' as he would call it, in the management of
a suit; if a rare faculty of seizing hold of the strong points of
a case, and making the most of them ; if the ability to present
272 OLD SETTLERS OF
in strong, forcible and telling language adapted to the common
apprehension, the leading facts in behalf of the interests of a
client, omitting those non-essentials, the enumeration of which
only tends to bother and confound a juror ; in short, if success is
to be the measure by which his ability as a lawyer is to be esti-
mated, then was he not merely a respectable but an able attor-
ney. That such is the popular verdict, not only the records in
question will testify, but all our old inhabitants who knew him
when in professional life.
" Let us now consider him as a banker. It was during his
senatorial career that he formed an acquaintance with the Hon.
Jonathan Scammon, a politician of some reputation, and one of
the leading bankers of Chicago, who encouraged him to organize
a bank in Bloomington — the McLean County Bank — being the
first here established. It w T as in the spring of 1853, in pursu-
ance of an act of the legislature, this bank was organized for
business, with General Gridley as its president and financial
manager, and in that position he has ever since remained, gradu-
ally absorbing, as his means would enable him, the stock of his
two co-incorporators, J. Y. Scammon and J. H. Burch, having
lono- since become its sole proprietor. This bank has now been
in operation more than twenty years, affording banking accom-
modations in the way of loans to a vast number of our leading
dealers in stock and other business men, and furnishing a safe
and reliable depository to our merchants and others for their
cash, as received in the ordinary way of business. It would be
interesting to know how many millions of other people's money
have passed through this bank, undiminished by the loss of a
farthing, but I am reliably informed it is more than ten-fold
greater than the aggregate wealth of the entire county.
Here, too, adopting the practical standard, it may very
safely be said he has achieved a great success, and at the same
time extended accommodations to thousands in the w T ay of mov-
ing our annual crops, operating in cattle, hogs, etc. For a long
time this was the only bank for a vast circuit of country, reach-
ing in most directions more than fifty miles, and it is fair to
assume that a large share of the ample fortune accumulated by
the General is in the results of its operation.
In the year 1857, the Bloomington Gas Light and Coke Com-
m'lean county. 273
pany, having been unsuccessful, was taken hold of by the Gene-
ral, and that here, too, his efforts have been crowned with suc-
cess, let the massive and thoroughly appointed gas works, with
their fifteen miles of piping, their four hundred city lamps and
nine hundred individual consumers, bear witness. Into this, a
mere wreck, financially, he infused life and vitality, and has
built a business that of itself most men would be exceed-
ingly proud ; and yet this has constituted but a small part of
the work of this remarkable man. In addition to his daily and
never ceasing labors in connection with the bank, he has not only
accomplished this and a part of the time, as has been seen, served
us faithfully in the Senate, but he has made large and costly im-
provements in the way of building ; acted for years as railroad
director and president of one of our leading roads that had not
yet been built had not he and a few other co-workers performed
labors and assumed responsibilities few would have done ; be-
sides doing his full share in matters of general interest, as ef-
fecting our material prosperity, in fostering into being manufac-
turing and other improvements demanded by a growing city.
It is no disparagement to the just claims of others who have
aided in building up our city, to state that in both public and
private improvements no man has cut so important a figure ; and
when we add to this the highly important services he rendered
us in his labors to secure to Bloomington its prominence as a rail-
road center, as heretofore stated, it is no easy matter to estimate
the amount of good he has accomplished. That he has here
left his mark in ineffacable characters, and that he will long be
remembered as one of the chief actors in building up our city
and neighborhood, cannot admit of a doubt.
"Omitting any mere personal description of the man, and the
leading traits of his character, except as herein disclosed, about
which much that is highly complimentary to him might be said,
I cannot close a notice of one so prominently known among us,
without briefly referring to a somewhat striking feature in his
character that has made him not unfrequcntly many enemies,
and which we feel is not properly estimated by those who know
him but superficially. I allude to that spirit of sharp criticism
— shall I call it ? — in which he is too much accustomed to in-
dulge towards those with whom he differs, or whose interests and
18
274 OLD SETTLERS OF
his seem to come in collision. Many have supposed, on slight
acquaintance, that this proceeded from a malevolent disposition
and general ill-will towards those who differed with him. Long
acquaintance has taught me, as it has hundreds of others, that
this is a mistake, and that, whilst it is undoubtedly true that this
is a defect in his character (and who have not their defects ?) it
is wrong to suppose that he indulges in any such feelings as
above indicated, except in the most transient and superficial way.
Being of a highly impulsive nature, never having learned prop-
erly to restrain a warm and imperious temper, — and being too
utterly incapable of deceit or mental reservation, when any in-
vasion is supposed to be made upon his rights he immediately
fires up, with a zeal often more intense than wise, and under its
influence says things which he would be far from doing in his
cooler moments, and which are frequently recalled with equal
emphasis, very soon thereafter. Under such circumstances, who
that is well acquainted with him has not known him sometimes
to assail even a friend, who, the very next hour, perhaps, he
would not only speak well of, but cordially embrace, and per-
chance render a most important favor. Ought not such invec-
tives, as he himself will admit are much too often and too freely
indulged in, instead of being imputed to a bad and malevolent
heart, as some have done, to be asscribed to a mind so mercurial
in its temper, so irrepressible, and so utterly incapable of giv-
ing expression to anything else than the feelings of the moment ?
In other words, without wishing to dignify as a virtue what he
himself has often admitted to me to be decidedly wrong, is it
not a species of frankness in speaking his thoughts, extravagant-
ly and too often unjustly expressed of course, which many of
us mentally indulge in when our rights are assailed, without
giving expression to our feelings? In other words, does not the
average man very frequently think what he has the boldness,
though indiscretion, at times certainly, to utter outright?
" In closing this very important sketch of one of our leading
citizens, it ruay not be amiss to say a word in relation to the part
he took in the last political movement, with which his name is
identified. I mean the Cincinnati Convention, in doing which,
I confess lam largety influenced by a desire to show the mag-
nanimous spirit displayed by him on that occasion.
m'lean county. 275
" Though connected with the Republican party, and feeling
a deep interest in the election in 1860 and 1864 of its most dis-
tinguished champion, the cares of business had so multiplied
around him, that he had not taken, since the dissolution of the
old Whig party, that active part in politics he had previously
done. In 1872, believing that the mission of the Republican
party had been accomplished, and that those in power, from
their long continuance in office, had become both extravagant
and corrupt, he was very decidedly in favor of a change; and
overlooking entirely the fact that his personal relations had not
been at all of a genial character with Judge Davis, and differing
with him as he had on most measures of a local character, he
yet was one of the very first to suggest that name as the most
suitable for the American people to rally around, in order to
reform the abuses that had crept into our national affairs.
" I shall never forget the response he made when I first spoke
to him on the subject, in answer to which he made substantially
this reply : ' Fell, you know my relations with the Judge have
not been as pleasant as your own ; we are totally different men ;
but he is a pure man, an able man, a man of immense executive
ability ; he hates all kind of thievery and official corruption, and
in short is the man of all men to reform existing abuses. I am
for him against the world.' And when General Gridley said
he was for any man it meant something. There was no double
meaning ; no mental reservations ; no backing down ; no half-
way support. It meant work, and work he did with a zeal and
ability inferior to no one, so long as there was a ray of hope of
our success.
" In working in this cause, in the national convention, an-
other pleasant incident occurred, in which friendly personal re-
lations were restored between him and another of our old and
leading citizens, between whom unpleasant relations had unhap-
pily previously existed, I mean Dr. Stipp. In response to a sug-
gestion of a friend he said: '"We are not on speaking terms,
but I am the youngest man, and I'll go this moment and tender
him my hand.' He did so, saying: ' Doctor, here is my hand.
Let us be friends ;' and it was grasped by the doctor with the
same frankness and cordiality with which it was offered. It was
beautiful to see the magnanimous spirit evinced by both these
276 OLD SETTLERS OF
men ; and I am glad to know that pleasant personal relations be-
tween all these men have not only been thus restored, but re-
stored as we have every reason to believe permanently.
" A misapprehension, quite too common, to which the Gen-
eral has exposed himself, by these outbursts of feeling, is my
apology for thus noticing this feature of his character.
" Hoping you may be able to pick up something that may
be of value, as illustrating the life of one who has occupied so
large a space in the public mind, from among these rambling,
fragmentary thoughts, I have the honor to be
"Yours truly, Jesse W. Fell."
Such is the sketch of General Gridley, which Mr. Fell has
written. The reader has found it full of thought, showing a re-
markable insight into the workings of the mind, and full of
knowledge of him of whom he writes.
On the 18th of March, 1836, General Gridley married Mary
Ann Enos. They have four children living. They are Juliet,
Albert, Mary and Edward. The last named lives at home with
his father, and is a young man of great promise.
Judge David Davis.
The greatest legal light of Bloomington is Judge David
Davis. He was born in Cecil County, Maryland, on the ninth
of March, 1815. He graduated at Kenyon College, Ohio, on
the fourth of September, 1832, and commenced the study of
law at Lenox, Massachusetts, in October following, in the office
of Judge Henry W. Bishop. After studying there for two years
he went to the New Haven Law School where he remained until
the fall of 1835, when he removed to Pekin, Tazewell County,
Illinois. After practicing law for one year in Pekin he removed
to Bloomington, which has ever since been his home. Here he
succeeded to the law business of Mr. Jesse W. Fell, who became
much interested in operations in real estate. He took possession
of Mr. Fell's old office which was one door east of what is now
Larison & Espey's drug store. Mr. Davis succeeded in the law
at the very outset. He was not a great orator nor even a very
fluent talker, but he was a clear-minded man and soon took a
front rank in his chosen profession.
On the thirtieth of October, 1838, Judge Davis married Miss
m'lean county. 277
Sarah Walker at Lenox, Massachusetts. She is a daughter of
Judge Walker of that State. Judge Davis has two children
living, a son and a daughter; the former is living with his family
near Bloomington.
In the year 1840 Mr. Davis was the candidate of the Whigs
for the office of State Senator against Governor Moore, but the
latter was successful. The senatorial district theu embraced the
counties of Moultrie, Macon, Piatt, DeWitt, McLean and Living-
ston. In 1844 Mr. Davis was elected to the lower house of the
Assembly, but declined to be a candidate for re-election.
In 1847 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Con-
vention and in 1848 was chosen by the people, without opposi-
tion, to be Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, embracing four-
teen counties. This was a position for which Judge Davis was
eminently fitted. It has been said of him that his leading char-
acteristic is love of equity, and this, combined with a strong
will, quick perceptions and the very clearest judgment, made
his decisions universally respected. His decisions were seldom
appealed from and more seldom reversed. An old settler, while
speaking of the time when Judge Davis was on the bench, re-
marked, rather sarcastically: " Everybod}^ seemed to think in
those early times that the administration of justice was the ob-
ject of going into our courts." The love of justice and the pen-
etration which characterized Judge Davis are well illustrated by
the following incident which was told of him by Mr. Lincoln,
when the latter appointed Judge Davis to a seat on the Supreme
Bench of the United States. On one occasion a guardian, for
mercenary purposes, proposed to sell the estate of his ward and
thereby have some money to handle. The guardian by his coun-
sel had made out a prima facie case and his witness was about
to leave the stand, when Judge Davis stopped him and put him
through a severe examination, which showed up the guardian's
bad faith ; he then turned to the latter and said in his sharp
shrill voice : " Now ain't you ashamed of yourself to be trying
to cheat your ward in this way ! Clerk, dismiss this application
at plaintiff's cost."
Judge Davis did not enforce the most rigid rules of order in
his court, though he was careful that everything should be done
with propriety. He was fond of humor and did not wish to
278 OLD SETTLERS OF
spoil a joke for the sake of any false or extreme ideas of dignity.
On one occasion, when a case of assault and battery was being
tried, a witness who was a participant in the affair was telling
of his movements and remarked that while the fight was hottest
he providentially knocked his antagonist down. The Judge said
he could not allow such testimony, as Providence had very little
to do with such a fight, and the witness corrected his testimony
by saying that as good luck would have it he knocked his antago-
nist down. At one time a witness while describing a horse was
very profane in his language and continued so while speaking of
the reputation of the brute, without any interruption from the
Judge ; but when the witness stepped from the stand the court
remarked : " Mr. Sheriff, you will take charge of this man until
he pays a fine of twenty-five dollars ; the court will give the
witness until he is called again to testify, to determine what por-
tions of his evidence are objectionable in style." Judge Davis
was always impatient when he discovered any symptoms on the
part of a witness to evade or conceal the truth. In a warmly
contested lawsuit one of the witnesses swore strongly against
the defendant and did so in a fierce, revengeful manner. The
attorney for the defendant then asked the witness if he did not
have some ill-feeling, some old grudge against the defendant,
but the witness evaded the question and the lawyer pressed the
matter strongly until the witness was obliged to admit having
had a slight misunderstanding. The case was growing exciting
when the lawyer enquired: "Don't you hate the defendant?"
The witness began his usual prevarications when the Judge ex-
claimed with his shrill voice : " Man, why don't you say you
hate the defendant ! Say so, of course you hate him, of course
you hate him, say so, say so, say so and stop your lying !" Judge
Davis was not a severe man in the administration of criminal
law, but he was always anxious to have the community as well
as the law-breakers impressed with its efficiency. While sen-
tencing criminals his manner was most impressive, and when
any particularly evil trait of character was apparent, his appear-
ance was really terrible. At one time a young man, who had
been found guilty of robbing a very old and almost helpless
gentleman on the highway, was brought up to be sentenced. The
case was one which showed the lowest state of depravity in a
m'lean county. 279
young man in the vigor of life. The Judge called the attention
of the accused to the enormity of highway robbery and spoke
particularly of the fact that the young criminal in committing
the offence had thrown aside all respect for age. The manner
and appearance of the Judge were really terrible as he closed
his remarks by sentencing the prisoner to serve seven years in
the Illinois Legislature ! " Penitentiary, your Honor," suggested
the prosecuting attorney. The Judge directed the clerk to let
the record show " penitentiary" instead of " legislature."
The Eighth Judicial Circuit which embraced at first four-
teen counties contained an array of talent rarely equalled among
the same number of lawyers. Judge Logan was the leader of
the bar, but following him closely were Lincoln, Stuart, Baker,
Linder, Gridley, Judge 0. L. Davis, Judge Thornton, Hon. 0.
B. Ficklin, Judge Emerson, C. H. Moore, Judge Benedict,
Judge Parks, Judge Edwards, and others, some of whom have
since become immortal in history. Lincoln was the constant
companion of Judge Davis in their travels around the extensive
circuit, and at the close of their journey each day Lincoln re-
lated those humorous stories which have made him so famous.
Mr. Davis traveled in a two-horse buggy and Mr. Lincoln rode
iu his own conveyance drawn by his celebrated horse " Buck,"
the one which followed the great martyr in the funeral proces-
sion to his final resting-place.
The year 1860 was one memorable in Illinois. Some years
before this many prominent citizens of the State resolved to
press Abraham Lincoln as a candidate for President of the
United States, and during this year the excitement was so in-
tense that nearly all law business was at a stand-still, because
the lawyers and judges devoted all of their time to the campaign.
Judge Davis was by far the most active and influential of Mr.
Lincoln's supporters and his labors were almost herculean. Per-
haps some idea may be given of the labors of Judge Davis by
giving an extract from a letter, written by Mr. Jesse W. Fell to
a late distinguished senator of the United States, in reply to a
question by the latter as to the part taken by Mr. Fell in the
campaign of 1860. The question was suggested by an autobi-
ography of Abraham Lincoln, of which Mr. Fell was the pro-
prietor, recently published by Osgood & Co. of Boston. The
following is the extract :
280 OLD SETTLERS OF
"Before responding to your inquiries, allow me to say, you
give me much more credit than I am entitled to for the part I
took in bringing before the American people the name of Abra-
ham Lincoln as a candidate for the Presidency. Your original
impressions were entirely correct. To Judge Davis more than
any other man, living or dead, is the American people indebted
for that, extraordinary piece of good fortune, the nomination and
consequent election of that man who combined in his person in
so high a degree the elements necessary to a successful adminis-
tration of the government through the late most critical period
in our national history.
" It is quite possible Mr. Lincoln's fitness, or rather availabil-
ity, as a candidate for that position may have occurred to me
before it did to the Judge, but at an early day — as early, I think,
as 1858 — it had his earnest approval, and I need not say his
vastly superior influence gave to his opinion on this subject a
weight and character which my private and humble opinion
could not command.
" It is well known that Judge Davis, though not a delegate,
was one of the leading men at the Decatur State Convention in
May, 1860, that elected delegates to the Chicago National Con-
vention ; that he was there selected as one of the senatorial
delegates to the latter body ; that for more than a week prior to the
nomination he had in connection with other friends of Mr. Lin-
coln, opened the 'Lincoln Headquarters' at the Tremont House,
Chicago, where, and throughout the city, wherever delegates
were to be found, he labored day and night, almost sleeplessly,
throughout that long and dramatically interesting contest, work-
ing with a zeal, assiduity and skill never surpassed, if ever
equalled ; and that when those herculean labors culminated in
the choice of his trusted and most confidential friend, his feel-
ings so overpowered him that not only then but for hours after,
in grasping the hands of congratulating friends, he wept like a
child.
" Whilst it is undoubtedly true that, without the hearty and
vigorous co-operation of quite a number of equally eminent men,
the prestige attached to the names of Seward and others could
not have been broken, and this nomination secured, no one, as
familiar as I was with what was then and there enacted, can
m'lean county. 281
doubt for a moment the pre-eminent part there played by the
Judge. Among Lincoln hosts he was emphatically the great
central figure ; the great motor of the hour. 'Render unto Csesar
the things that are Caesar's.' "
In 1861 Judge Davis, Judge Holt and Mr. Campbell were
chosen by President Lincoln to investigate the management of
the Quartermaster's Department at St. Louis, which was under
the management of Quartermaster McKinstry who held his office
under General Fremont. The investigation was thorough and
laid bare the corruption and mismanagement of affairs at St.
Louis.
In 1862 Judge Davis was appointed by Abraham Lincoln one
of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United
States. This appointment was not made by any personal solici-
tation of Judge Davis, but simply on account of Mr. Lincoln's
knowledge of the man, and by the effort of friends. At the
time of his appointment he was well known in Illinois as a man
of great judicial learning and the best of judgment, but his rep-
utation had not gone beyond his State, as he had never filled, a
position where his decisions would be published. But when he
came to the Supreme Bench of the United States his reputation
as a jurist went beyond the most sanguine expectations of his
friends. A writer in the American Law Times, in discussing the
character of Judge Davis, says : "Judge Davis is a natural law-
yer, a character so truly great that to doubt him would be im-
possible. His mind is all equity, and as vigorous as it is kind.
He is progressive, and yet cautious; a people's judge, and yet a
lawyer's." His opinion in the Milligan case has attracted more
attention from the people at large than any decision since that
of Judge Taney in the Dred Scott case. Judge Davis lays down
some fundamental principles of constitutional law which will
stand as land marks for ages after he shall have been gathered to
his fathers.
That which people are most anxious to learn about Judge
Davis is his connection with the Cincinnati Convention. The
active principles of the movement which resulted in the Cin-
cinnati Convention were :
First. — The administration of public affairs in the interest not
of a party but of the whole people.
282 • OLD SETTLERS OF
Second. — Official responsibility and a war of extermination
against that system of jobbery and corruption which disfigures
both of the great political parties, and which is sapping the very
foundations of civilized society.
Third. — An absolute destruction of the old doctrine : "To
the victors belong the spoils," and a restoration of the Jeffer-
sonian maxim : "Is he honest ? Is he capable ?"
Fourth. — Reconciliation. Freedom and local self-government
for the South, and an end of bayonet rule.
Judge Davis was well fitted by nature and education to be at
the head of such a movement. He had been elected several
times to the position of Circuit Judge by the voice of the people
irrespective of party, and his every feeling was in sympathy with
its active principles. His quick perception and his hatred of
all forms of peculation and jobbery would make him an effective
executive officer and a terror to evil-doers. Judge Davis was
nominated for President by the Labor Reformers at the Colum-
bus Convention, and this made him an object of jealousy by
many of the friends of the candidates who were to come before
the Cincinnati Convention, and they began to combine against
him. So effective was their combination that he was beaten
and Mr. Greeley nominated in his stead. It is now gener-
ally acknowledged that this was a great mistake. The following
"Scrap of Political History," which was published in the Bloom-
ington Pantograph, sheds some light upon the condition of affairs
at Cincinnati :
A SCRAP OF POLITICAL HISTORY.
" Editor Pantograph : Overhauling old papers my attention
has just been called to the following, written by one of the dis-
tinguished men of our country — the late Senator from Wisconsin —
who, by the way, has wisely quit politics and taken to a profession
he is so eminently fitted to adorn. He may not thank me for
thus resurrecting old matters with which his name is associated,
but at the risk of incurring not only his displeasure, but that of
one still more distinguished, I feel constrained to ask its publi-
cation. Had the Senator written in the light of subsequent
history, it could not have been more truthfully and strongly
done.
m'lean county. 283
" Just as the Cincinnati Convention was going into that
memorable session that terminated in the nomination of that
great and good man that now rests from his labors, this corres-
pondence was thrown before that body, and to that fact may be
ascribed that other fact that this masterly expose of the duty of
the hour never afterwards appeared.
"As politics are now dead, and these names forever removed
from the political arena, I trust and believe this publication will
excite no unfriendly criticisms.
" (The letter of Senator Doolittle was in reply to one from
the Wisconsin delegates at Cincinnati, asking his 'opinion on
the candidates prominently named, in the order of their sup-
posed strength, in securing the votes of both Republicans and
Democrats to secure success.')
Mr. Doolittle's Response.
" Cincinnati, May 1st, 1872.
" Hon. H. A. Tenner/, Chairman, etc. :
" You ask me my opinion as to the candidates prominently
named. They are Judge Davis, Governor Brown, Mr. Adams,
Senator Trumbull and Mr. Greeley; and you ask me to speak
frankly my opinion as to which would carry the greatest number
of Republican and Democratic votes.
" Of all these men, I can speak in high terms as to capacity,
integrity, and as to their being in full sympathy with the present
Liberal Republican movement.
" Personally, as against the probable nominee of the Phila-
delphia Convention, I could support either of them. But what
you ask is my opinion as to their strength. I state their names
in order just as I believe they really stand in their popular
strength as nominees against General Grant : First, David Davis ;
second, B. Gratz Brown; third, Lyman Trumbull; fourth,
Charles Francis Adams ; fifth, Horace Greeley. Without giving
reasons why others should not be nominated, I give some
reasons why I think Judge Davis should be, in order to insure
union and success.
" First. — He is and always has been a Liberal Republican.
In himself he is a true representative of the principles upon
which the Liberal movement is based.
284 OLD SETTLERS OF
" Second. — He will take as large a Republican vote as any
man in the East, and more than any other in the West. As a
test of his popularity a gentleman from Illinois informs me he
has been five times elected to important offices by the votes of
the people ; three times as Circuit Judge in a large district, re-
ceiving each time evert/ vote in the district, once as a member of the
Legislature without serious opposition, and once as a member
of the Constitutional Convention, receiving every vote in his
county. Where can you find a better record than that ? He
lives in a Republican county, where there is a Republican ma-
jority of two thousand. If nominated, he will receive more
than one thousand majority, as we are assured by more than five
hundred Republicans from his own county, now here, who have
come two hundred and fifty miles to attend this convention to
show how he stands as a Republican and as a man at the home
where he has lived for thirty-five years. In the history of the
United States no record of any man can be found to show greater
popularity than the almost unanimous election of Judge Davis
five times in succession to public office. He will carry a large
Republican vote, also, because he was the bosom friend of Mr.
Lincoln. He was the man, who, more than any other, brought
him out for President. He was the administrator of his estate,
and the guardian of his children. He is in every sense a great
man — great headed, great hearted, and full of vigor, and of as
much executive will and force as any other man that lives.
" Third. — He would be, in my opinion, unanimously indorsed
by the Democratic Convention, and would carry the solid vote
of the Democracy of 'the United States, North and South,
against Grant.
" Fourth. — His nomination here, followed by his indorse-
ment at the Democratic Convention to be held hereafter, insures
an election.
" Fifth. — His nomination will carry the Legislature of Illinois,
and will re-elect Mr. Trumbull to the Senate, where, instead of
being under the ban of a tyrannical majority, as he is, he would
be the leader of the Senate. This is Mr. Trumbull's great role.
It is where duty and interest and public good should lead him ;
it is the place to which he is best fitted. There is too much at
m'lean county. 285
stake upon the success of this movement to allow personalities
to control the action of the convention.
" Respectfully yours,
"J. R. Doolittle."
Judge Davis has been remarkably successful as a dealer in
real estate, and in all of his purchases and sales has shown the
very best of judgment. His first purchase of real estate was
made in Chicago, but as he "was associated with others, and the
disposition of the property was in a great measure beyond his
control, the speculation was not fortunate. Nevertheless he had
great faith in the future of Chicago, although it then numbered
only a few hundred inhabitants, and he purchased an eighty-acre
tract of land lying about three miles from the harbor. It now
sells by the foot, so far as it is offered for sale. It is to this for-
tunate investment that he is indebted, in part for the ample
fortune he possesses. His policy in dealing in real estate has
been to purchase property in the suburbs of a growing town, in
order that it might become valuable with the increase of the
place in size and prosperity. He was always careful to buy land
intrinsically valuable, considering what it would produce, so that
in any event his speculation would be a safe one.
As is well known, Judge Davis is a man of great public
spirit, but thinks public matters should be managed as other
business matters are, on a good financial basis. He has been
charged with being indifferent in the matter of subscribing to
build railroads. His theory with regard to railroads is that they
should be built where it will pay to build them as an investment,
and that the idea of voting aid from towns, counties and states,
or donating lands along the line of the proposed road is wrong
in principle. He believes that capitalists are always sharp
enough to see where it will pay to invest their money and are
ready to build railroads which will return a fair profit to the in-
vestors. He thinks that the voting of aid by towns and counties
and making land grants results in many cases in building roads
which will not pay running expenses, and in others of putting
roads in the hands of unprincipled managers who care nothing
whatever for the people who have helped them and the towns
that have voted them aid. Under these circumstances he has
286 OLD SETTLERS OF
always been very conservative and cool about assisting railroads
and some fault has been found with him for so doing ; but many
of those who have blamed him in times past are now very much
of his way of thinking.
Bloomington and Normal have been much benefited by their
State institutions, the Normal School and the Soldiers' Orphans'
Home. The location of these institutions here was due in a
great measure to Judge Davis, who donated forty acres of land
to the Normal School and sixty acres to the Orphans' Home.
The former donation was worth at the time when given, four
thousand dollars and the latter twelve thousand. It will be re-
membered that great exertions were made to have these institu-
tions taken elsewhere and Judge Davis' example and influence
did very much to prevent their transfer.
So far as matters of charity are concerned it is not usually
safe to speak definitely of any one. People who have the greatest
reputations for charity usually deserve only a part of the credit
they receive, as a suspicion is sometimes aroused that their
charities are performed to be seen of men. Judge Davis does
not indulge in ostentatious charity, but his friends assert that
very few can be found anywhere so liberal even when judged by
the proper standard — ability to give.
Judge Davis was at one time enabled to do some service to
the city of Bloomington by saving to it the machine shops of the
Chicago & Alton Railroad. These shops secure a monthly dis-
bursement of fifty thousand dollars and the matter is of the
greatest importance to Bloomington. When they were burned
down, Judge Davis was holding court in Chicago. He there
learned that it was the intention of various parties to make an
effort to transfer the machine shops to another point. He im-
mediately gave notice to the citizens of Bloomington who took
active measures to save them.
The character of Judge Davis is pretty well shown by the
incidents related in the foregoing sketch. It is also indicated
by his appearance and manner. He is about five feet and eleven
inches in height, has a large, commanding form, a broad, expan-
sive forehead, blue, penetrating eyes and a rather prominent
nose. He has a very pleasant address and superior conversa-
tional powers; in his manner he is disposed to be familiar, par-
m'lean county. 287
ticularly to those who are modest in their demeanor and who
seem to need encouragement. lie is a very companionable man
and much devoted to his friends. He is a straightforward busi-
ness man and has the best of judgment in all financial matters.
An old pioneer while writing of Judge Davis says : " If I were
called upon to state the leading characteristics of the man I
would say they are Honesty, Will and Concentration." Judge
Davis' power of will was once very conspicuous when he and
seven others started from Bloomington to attend a mass meeting
at Peoria during the political campaign of 1844, when Henry
Clay was a candidate for the presidency. When they came to
the Mackinaw Creek they found -it swollen by recent rains, for
the season was the wettest ever known in the United States.
The west end of the bridge where they were to cross had been
washed away, and workmen were trying to repair it. The cur-
rent was strong and threatened to carry them away if they at-
tempted to ford the stream, and their horses would be liable to
be swallowed up by the mud where they would be obliged to
land, for after breaking through a thin crust the mud seemed
bottomless. The party gave up all hopes of attending the mass
meeting; but Judge Davis insisted on going ahead. After
agreeing to indemnify the owner of the team, if his horses were
lost, Judge Davis took charge of matters, and, unhitching the
team, managed to carry the party across on horseback, near
enough to the opposite bank to land ; then by attaching a long
rope to the wagon they pulled it triumphantly through and went
their way rejoicing. At one time Judge Davis and Abraham
Lincoln were traveling on horseback to attend court at Decatur.
When they reached the Sangamon River it was late at night,
and it was necessary for them to be in Decatur on the following
morning. But as they could see nothing ahead of them, Lin-
coln gave up the idea of proceeding further. When they came
to the river's bank Judge Davis, without saying a word, plunged
into the stream with his horse and swam across ; but being un-
able in the darkness to find a landing, returned to the point
from which he started. After going some distance down stream
Judge Davis again swam across and this time was fortunate
enough to find a landing. Then with the assistance of some
farmers he built a fire on the bank of the river to show Mr.
288 OLD SETTLERS OF
Lincoln where to land, if he chose to swim over. The latter
swam towards the light and was safely landed, and on the fol-
lowing morning both parties were enabled to be in attendance
at court. This incident shows the resolution which has always
been so marked in Judge Davis' character and which has so
largely contributed to his success.
Elder "William Trabue Major.
The memory of William Trabue Major is preserved with
affection and reverence by all who knew him. He was born
about three miles from Frankfort, Kentucky, on March 1st,
1790, and died January 11th, 1867. His father's name was John
Major and his mother's name Judith Trabue. The ancestors of
his father were English, and of his mother, French. The pa-
rents of his mother emigrated from France at an early day in
consequence of some of the many revolutions for which that
country has become so famous. William T. Major was the
eldest of six children, and it was his father's intention to bring
him up to the study of the law. But after he had finished his
education, which he received at Georgetown, Kentucky, it was
evident that his failing health would never allow him to study
law. In order to recover his health he visited his relatives in
Xorth and South Carolina, riding on horseback to make his
journeys. He returned with restored health, and went to farm-
ing in order to acquire a robust constitution.
He married Margaret Shipp February 18th, 1812. This lady
is still living. She is widely known and respected, and is almost
worshipped by her children.
Mr. Major lived for six years in Bourbon County, and sev-
enteen years in Christian County, Kentucky. From the latter
place he moved, in 1835, to Bloomington, Illinois. Mr. Major
was a man of deep and earnest convictions. In childhood his
mind was directed to the subject of religion, and when he grew
to manhood his religious convictions were quickened. He was
for six years a member of the Baptist Church. In 1830 there
was in Kentucky a great religious awakening. It was during
this year that in consequence of a difference of doctrine Mr.
Major was excluded from the Baptist Church. It was his sole
anxiety that the Bible alone should be his rule of faith, and
m'lean county. 289
that all human ceremonies should be thrown aside. After leav-
ing the Baptist Church Mr. Major joined the Christian Church,
which he has done much to build up. He was the founder of
this church in Bloomington, and never ceased working for it
until the day of his death. lie was strongly opposed to the in-
stitution of human slavery, He believed it to be a most terrible
curse to America, and it was on account of this belief that he
determined to leave Kentucky and go to Illinois. His devoted
wife always shared his convictions, and always supported him by
her faith and love. With his family he came to Bloomington in
1835. Here he worked earnestly in the cause of Christianity.
He built the first Christian Church in Bloomington, and when
it became too small he built one larger. The old building is
now used by the Lutherans as a church and school house. Mr.
Major frequently preached and administered the rite of baptism.
There were at that time many Methodists and Presbyterians in
Bloomington, and they seemed to think strangely of Mr. Major's
doctrine; but he relied with faith and simplicity on the Bible as
his guide. The Christian Church in Bloomington has now from
three to four hundred members ; this is more than the entire
population of Bloomington when the church was founded. Mr.
Major has been remarkably liberal in making gifts to build up
the Christian Church. He gave one thousand dollars towards
building Eureka Christian College, at Eureka; he also gave
largely to a Christian College at Indianapolis, Indiana, and to
Bethany College in Virginia. The last mentioned is the largest
in the United States, belonging to the Christian denomination.
Young men are there educated free of charge. In 1856, Mr.
Major built the Eemale College at Bloomington. It was first
designed as a Female Orphan School, but afterwards changed to
a Female College. At first it flourished well. Mr. Major pro-
vided in his will that it should have a boarding establishment
where the pupils should pay but four dollars per week. It also
provided that they should be instructed in the doctrines of the
Christian religion in accordance with the tenor of the Bible.
But after the death of Mr. Major, which occurred in 1867, the
school gradually sank, and was not a paying institution. The
building is now used as a Water-Cure Estabtishment by Dr.
Burrows.
19
290 OLD SETTLERS OF
Mr. Major was a remarkably public spirited man. He was
very free with his gifts to all religious denominations, but par-
ticularly so to the Christian Church. When at last the time
came for him to render an account to his Maker for the deeds
done in the body, he was peaceful and collected and met his ap-
proaching change with the serenity of a saint. Nearly all the
people in Bloomington paid their last tribute to his memory, for
they felt that indeed a man of God had passed from earth. He
left a family of eight children living, four boys and four girls.
Mr. Major was very prosperous in his business affairs. When
he came to Bloomington land was very cheap, and he bought a
great deal for five dollars per acre, and a great deal he bought
from the Government at $1.25 per acre. His investments proved
very profitable to him, although he was no speculator.
In the year 1852 Mr. Major built the first public hall in
Bloomington. It was a brick building, and was destroyed by
fire in 1872. Major's Hall has become historic. The first Re-
publican meeting was held in this hall on the twenty-ninth of
May, 1856. It was called the Anti-Nebraska State Convention.
The president of the meeting was John M. Palmer, since governor,
and it was at this memorable meeting that Abraham Lincoln deliv-
ered one of his grandest speeches. It was at this meeting that
the first Republican governor, W. H. Bissell, was nominated for
that office. This hall was first used by the State Normal School
before the Normal school building could be made available for
use.
As to personal appearance Elder Major was a little above the
medium height; his hair was gra}-, almost white. His counte-
nance wore the expression of a saint. He was always ready
with a kind word and a smile, and always willing to succor the
distressed.
Chastine Major.
Chastine Major was born May 25, 1800, on a farm in Frank-
lin County, Kentucky, three miles from the city of Frankfort.
His paternal ancestors were of English stock, while his mothe r
was of French descent. Chastine Major was the youngest son
in a family of six children, five boys and one girl. His sister
was still younger. All of the children grew to manhood and
m'lean county. 291
womanhood. It was a family of farmers. All of the boys were
farmers except his brother John, who became a commission
merchant in New Orleans.
John was a soldier in General Jackson's army, when the
British were defeated at New Orleans in 1815. In 1817 his
father removed to Christian County, Kentucky, where he died
in 1821. His brother Joseph remained on the homestead, while
the rest of the boys, except John, came to Illinois. Chastine
Major received his little education in the usual way in Kentucky,
that is, the farmers clubbed together and hired a teacher. In
1824 he did his duty to himself and his country and was married.
The bride was Joanna Hopkins, daughter of Captain Samue
Hopkins of Christian County, Kentucky.
During our Black Hawk war he made a trip to Illinois to
see the country, and in 1835 he and his brother William Trabue
Major emigrated to this State. While in Kentucky they were
both of them strongly opposed to the institution of human
slavery and this was the occasion of their leaving that State.
Mr. Chastine Major located in Stout's Grove, Danvers township
about twelve miles from Bloomington. This grove was named
after Ephraim Stout, the first white settler there. At Stout's
Grove Mr. Major bought a quarter section of improved land,
well fenced in, with a log house on it, for six dollars per acre
His remaining land he entered from the government.
The market at that time was Pekin ; the most of the produce
was taken there. Oats brought fifteen cents per bushel, corn
ten cents and wheat from forty to fifty cents. For beef and pork
the demand was slight. But when Chicago began to flourish,
he prices began to rise. The first drove of fat cattle sold to
Chicago dealers from this section of the country was taken in
by Isaac and Absolom Funk, father and uncle of the present
Mayor of Bloomington. In 1841 it began to be profitable to
raise pork because of the packing establishments at Pekin and
Peoria, which shipped it down the river to New Orleans. The
prices then ranged from two to three dollars per hundred. When
Mr. Major came to the country the town of Bloomington was a
very insignificant place. At one time some ten or twenty teams
came in to Bloomington from Bond County on their way to
Galena. The owners of the teams went on a spree and threat-
ened to carry off the whole of Bloomington on their wagons.
292 OLD SETTLERS OF
When Mr. Major came to Danvers township all of the settlers
combined could not get up a respectable school ; but now they
sustain six and all are well filled with scholars and doing finely.
Mr. Major moved from Stout's Grove to Bloomington in 1860
and has been living at the latter place ever since. He has raised
a family of ten children all of whom are living, and three are
at home with their father and mother. Mr. Major has four hun-
dred and thirty acres of land in Danvers and sixty acres near
Bloomington.
He has never been an office-seeker and has paid but little
attention to public affairs ; nevertheless he has been made over-
seer of public roads, school director and judge of elections.
As to personal appearance, he is of medium stature and well
made. His face is full and fleshy ; his eyes have a very pene-
trating expression. His hair is rather gray, and his head is a
little bald on the top. He is a man who would not have ene-
mies; he mixes very little with the world and is generally found
at home.
Dr. Laban Shipp Major.
Laban Shipp Major was born May 25, 1822, in Christian
County, Kentucky. In 1835 he came with his parents from
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to Bloomington, Illinois, where he
arrived on the sixteenth of April. They traveled with a two-
horse wagon which brought their furniture, and the family carri-
age and two or three horses. The night before their arrival in
Bloomington they stayed at Salt Creek, near what is now the
thriving city of Lincoln. The next morning, when they awoke,
they found the ground covered with an inch of snow. At noon
they stopped for dinner at the house of Isaac Funk at Funk's
Grove. Dr. Major describes the dwelling of Mr. Funk, one of*
the most celebrated of the early pioneers. He says : " It was
a log cabin about twenty-five feet square and one story high,
with a loft reached by a rude ladder. Here all the family, which
was quite large, slept as well as all the wayfarers whom the hos-
pitable host saw fit to eutertain. But that which most attracted
my attention was the immense fire-place which extended across
the greater part of one side of the house. It had in it two or
three logs some twenty feet long and two or three feet thick,
m'lean county. 293
and they made a fire large enough to roast an ox whole. No
chairs were to he found in this mansion; hut the hearth in front
of the fire-place was very capacious and about eighteen inches
lower than the puncheon floor, and this answered all the pur-
poses of chairs. But it troubled my inquiring mind to know
how Mr. Funk ever got those immense saw-logs into his fire-
place to burn. But he explained the matter. The doors on each
side of the house were opposite each other, and with four yoke
of oxen he hauled one end of a log as near one of these doors
as it could be got by pulling it at right angles, then going with
his oxen to the other side of the house he passed a log chain
from them in at one door clear across the house and out at the
other door where it was attached to the end of the log. Then
the oxen pulled the log into the house end foremost, when it was
an easy matter to roll it into the fire-place. A fire made by these
logs would last from five to seven days."
Dr. Major's school days were happy ones. He attended the
High School in the old Court House in what was known as the
Fourth room. It was in this Court House that many of the
greatest men of Illinois made some of their famous speeches.
It was here that Edward Baker spoke so eloquently — the man
who was afterwards senator from Oregon, who entered the army
during the rebellion and was killed at Ball's Bluff. Here Doug-
las and Lincoln frequently met to discuss the issues between the
Whigs and the Democrats, and in some measure prepared them-
selves for the great political contests in which they were after-
wards to engage.
Only twenty-five scholars were allowed to attend school in
the old Court House, and the teacher, Dr. William C. Hobbs,
was the great light of Bloomington's social circles. Dr. Major
says that hardly any lady in Bloomington could buy a dress or
bonnet or ribbon without consulting Dr. Hobbs as to whether
or not it was becoming. He was at every ball, wedding and
funeral. When he attended a party of any kind the lady of the
house never dared to pass the cake before submitting it to him
for inspection. He would break off a small piece and taste it
and say in his ceremonious way, "Very good, indeed, but it has
a little too much sugar," or, "not quite enough flour." But an
occasion was soon to arise when the skill and tact of Dr. Hobbs
294
OLD SETTLERS OF
were to be severely tried. Perhaps the reader is not aware that
an English nobleman once came clear across the Atlantic ocean
and over the continent to see the city of Bloomington and make
the acquaintance of the people in the Athens of Illinois. Such
was the case. The great Col. Houghton came and Dr. Hobbs
was obliged to take charge of him and introduce him to the
brilliant society of Bloomington, until young Croesus had seen
the wealth and beauty of Athens. He had come all the way
from England to establish banks and loan money to the people
of Bloomington at six per cent, interest. Of course the beauty
of Bloomington came out in ribbons, and as everyone wished to
consult Dr. Hobbs in the matter, the courtier was driven nearly
crazy by the demands made upon him. But the English noble-
man was resolved to have security for his money and took noth-
ing less than first mortgages on real estate, and the money was
to be given to the borrowers when the ship of gold from Eng-
land should arrive at K"ew York. Dr. Hobbs had no real estate
and could not borrow, but he commended the nobleman to others
and advised them to bring on their mortgages. Just before Col.
Houghton left, the citizens gave him a Peacock dinner with
great ceremony. The nobleman was so pleased with this gracious
reception that he decided to have some of the portraits of his
hosts for vignettes to his bank bills. He carried off many of
their mortgages. Nothing was heard of him for a long time or
of the mortgages which had been given him ; but at last Cap-
tain Cozzens of St. Louis arrested a stranger answering to Col.
Houghton's description. The prisoner was brought back as far
as Springfield and identified as the supposed English nobleman.
There he compromised matters, went away and was never heard
of more. Dr. Major says that those who trusted the Colonel
say : " Put not your trust in riches, English nobles or pea-
cocks."
Dr. Major attended the school of Dr. Hobbs for about a year.
He attended Hillsborough Academy, a select school south of
Springfield, for two winters, working during the summer. A
severe sickness, brain fever, made him an invalid for nearly a
year. After this he attended Knox College at Galesburg for
fifteen months, when he was prostrated by a second attack of
brain fever. After a short sickness he recovered. He taught
m'lean county. 295
school for a while on Panther Creek about twenty miles north
of Bloomington. When Mr. Major was twenty-two years of
age he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Gish, who
was at that time and still remains one of the most celebrated
physicians of Kentucky. He remained with Dr. Gish about two
years and then attended a course of lectures at the Medical
School at Cincinnati. After practising medicine for two years
he graduated at the medical school where he had attended lec-
tures. This was in March, 1848. In September of that year he
went to Chicago and commenced the practice of medicine, at
which he continued for twenty years with success. He attended
the first case of cholera reported in Chicago in 1849. The
patient was himself a physician and fortunately recovered. Dr.
Major was obliged to make the study of cholera at that time a
specialty, as most of the physicians fied from fear. But after
twenty years of successful practice he gave up the profession of
medicine. In 1867 he built Major Block on the S. E. corner of
La Salle and Madison streets for $75,000. The great fire of
Chicago burnt it up, but it has recently been restored at a cost
of $250,000, and is a magnificent building. The ground on a
portion of which this block stands was bought in parts in 1856,
'62 and '67, at a cost altogether of $25,000. In 1867 Dr. Major
sold a piece of it, fifty by sixty-six feet, for $86,000, and had one
hundred and forty by sixty-six feet left, on which Major Block
now stands. The ground is now worth from two to three thous-
and dollars per foot. In this same locality Dr. Major was offered
in 1853 a lot, forty-five feet by one hundred and ninety, for
$2,250. He went to Bloomington to get $300 as a loan from his
father in order to make the first payment. His father remarked
that this would be paying $50 per foot, for which sum he might
buy forty acres of land near Bloomington at Congress price, and
considered Dr. Major to be fit for a cell in the Jacksonville
asylum. Three years afterwards this same ground was sold for
$400 per foot.
Dr. Major married, September 26, 1849, Miss Elizabeth
Dunlop in Indianapolis. She was the daughter of Rev. John
Dunlop of that place. She died December 1, 1863. The mar-
riage was a very happy one and was blessed with six children
of whom three are living, two girls and one boy. On the thir-
296 OLD SETTLERS OF
tieth of January, 1866, Dr. Major married Miss Margaret Lar-
rainie, daughter of Charles Larminie, Esq., of Chicago. She
is a very estimable and accomplished lady. Two children have
been born of this marriage.
Dr. Major is rather a heavily built man, is well set, has broad
shoulders, a full face and a jovial countenance. He has the
family expression. He has, too, those qualities of mind by
which the family is distinguished, that is, good judgment, espe-
cially in financial matters, first-rate business capacity, and firm-
ness in all his dealings. He enjoys a joke heartily, whether it
is at his own expense or at some one else's.
John Milton Major, M. D.
John Milton Major was born on the seventh of September,
1824, at Hopkiusville, Christiau County, Kentucky. In the
spring of 1885 his father, William Trabue Major, emigrated to
Bloomington, Illinois, taking young John with him. While in
Kentucky the elder Major had been a strong opponent of sla-
very, and this had much to do with his emigration from that
State. When he came to Illinois he invested ten thousand dol-
lars in real estate, lying north of Bloomington in the present
town of Normal. It was not his intention to be a speculator, but
his investment became so profitable and the rise in land so rapid
that he was soon quite wealthy. He was a man of great energy
and did much for the city of Bloomington, having laid out no
less than six additions to the place.
When the parents of John Milton Major came to Blooming-
ton, young John was sent to "pay" school to get his early educa-
tion. The "pay" school was one requiring a weekly or monthly
tuition to be paid for each scholar. If a person wished to start
a school he went the rounds with his subscription paper to find
scholars, and if he found enough pupils, after canvassing the
neighborhood, he started the "pay" school. A teacher was sel-
dom questioned as to his ability, and there were no school di-
rectors or boards of education to examine him, so the scholars
were obliged to take their chances.
In 1846 young John was sent to Bethany College, Virginia,
where he studied literature and science for two years. He then
studied medicine in Bloomington under the care of an elder
m'lean county. 297
brother. In 1848 and '49 he attended his first course of medical
studies in Cincinnati, after which he began to practice as a phy-
sician at Quincy, Illinois, with old Doctor Parsons. Here he
encountered many of the difficulties which are peculiarly trou-
blesome for young physicians. People want an old doctor, and
Doctor Major's brow was not wrinkled with years. On one oc-
casion, in January, 1850, Dr. Parsons was called to go twenty
miles in the country, and, as he did not wish to face the intense
cold, sent young Dr. Major. He gave the latter a letter of in-
troduction to an old widow lady, whose children were very sick
with pneumonia. Dr. Parsons had been the old lady's family
physician, in whom she had great confidence, and she was much
disappointed with the juvenile appearance of Dr. Major. She
heaved a great many sighs and thought she could not trust her
children in the hands of this youth. But when this juvenile,
adding a year or so to his age, told her he was twenty-five, she
allowed him, with some misgivings, to prescribe for her children.
He was successful in curing them, and she was quite as well sat-
isfied as if the old doctor had been present, for she had thought
it was age that made the doctor, and not the man.
In the summer of 1849 the Asiatic cholera was very bad at
Quincy, and the doctor had much practice with it. He only re-
mained at Quincy one year before he removed to Macomb,
where he again met the cholera, which was very wide spread.
He remained at Macomb five years, when he again attended lec-
tures in the hospital in the Ohio Medical Institute at Cincinnati.
After this he returned to Bloomington, and continued his prac-
tice. In 1855, the doctor saj-s, the cholera again broke out
among our Irish friends in the forty acres. In one family there
were five cases of cholera at one time, two in the collapsed stage,
when the doctor was called, but they all recovered except one.
The doctor practiced medicine in Bloomington until 1867.
In 1857 he bought out the interest of Dr. Wakefield in the
drug store of Wakefield & Thompson, and the new firm became
R. Thompson & Co. In 1867 he bought out Thompson and gave
up the practice of medicine, but soon afterwards sold out the
establishment to Ira Lackey & Bro. Since then Dr. Major has
been engaged in trading.
In 1851 he married Adeline Elkin, the daughter of Dr. Gar-
rett Elkin, of Springfield, who was one of the oldest settlers of
298 OLD SETTLERS OF
that place. He has a family of two hopeful and enterprising
boys.
Dr. Major is of medium stature and rather slenderly built.
He is very quick in his movements ; his eyes are very keen, and
he is always ready for business. His nose is aquiline, and, like
that of Tennyson's heroine, it is "tip tilted like the petal of a
flower." He is a man of great energy and is far-sighted in his
calculations. He has great versatility of talent, and sees into
all things quickly. He is careful in business, and can make
profits where many another would fail. He is very upright in
all his doings, and is worthy of his father's reputation.
Thomas Fell.
Thomas Fell was born June 11, 1806, on a farm in Chester
County, Pennsylvania. His father, Jesse Fell, was a farmer and
hatter. His ancestors were English and were members of the
Society of Friends, but Thomas Fell now belongs to the Metho-
dist Church. He is the second son of nine children (seven sons
and two daughters). It seemed to be the practice in the Fell
family to keep those children who were rugged and healthy at
work on the farm, while those who were sickly were sent to
school. It happened that Thomas Fell possessed a remarkably -
good constitution, and he was therefore kept at work, while his
brother Jesse, whose health was somewhat delicate, was sent to
school and received a better education than any of the other
children. When Thomas Fell was about seventeen years of age
he was sent to Cecil County, Maryland, to learn the trade of
wheelwright. Two years of his apprenticeship were spent here
and two years in Uwchlan township, Chester County.
Thomas Fell was married January 24, 1830, to Eleanor
Evans, in Uwchlan township, where he finished his apprentice-
ship. During this same year he commenced working at his
trade on his own account in a place called Gallagherville, about
thirty-two miles west of Philadelphia. There he remained for
two years when he moved to Pequa Valley, Lancaster County,
where he stayed two years and then went to Chester County,
where he stayed one year, after which he emigrated to the great
West.
He left Chester County in May, and went to Lancaster,
Ohio, and in September started for Bloomington, Illinois, where
m'lean county. 299
he arrived October 10, 1835. At that time his brother, Jesse
W. Fell, who had come two years previous, was the only lawyer
in Bloomington, that is, the only one who had earned a diploma.
Here Thomas Fell went to work as a house-builder, and con-
tinued at this business from 1835 to 1852.
In February, 1848, while Mr. Fell was living at Randolph's
Grove, he was called upon to act as auctioneer to sell a large
amount of cattle and other stock at Smith's Grove in McLean
County. He left home the evening before the sale and came as
far as Bloomington, the weather being as mild as in the month
of May. The next morning he started for Smith's Grove, while
the mercury was twenty-six degrees below zero. It began snow-
ing, and the wind, which was in the northeast, blew with such
terrific force that he was obliged to go back to Bloomington, as
his horse would not face the storm. Within half an hour after
his return the sun shone clear and bright and he started once
more and arrived at Smith's Grove with frozen ears, but saved
them by an application of snow. The sale lasted until late, and
nearly every one stayed over night. The next morning he re-
turned to Bloomington, while the mercury was down to thirty
below zero, and went to the home of his father. It was all he
could do to get into the house, and there he found himself so
frightfully frozen that it was a hard matter to save his life.
When he stepped into the house, he was so drawn up and dis-
torted with cold that his own father did not recognize him.
In 1853 Thomas Fell and Jesse W. Fell furnished forty thou-
sand ties and between three and four thousand cords of wood
for the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad.
In 1860 Thomas Fell went twice to Colorado and returned,
crossing the plains four times. He was anxious to find gold.
He started first with a company of about fourteen persons.
Among them were his nephew, Henry C. Fell, W. O. Davis, the
present proprietor of the Pantograph, John Rese, William Hill
and others. After remaining in the Rocky Mountains for some
time, his health and that of Mr. Davis began to fail, and these
two determined to return to Illinois. On their way they had a
few little experiences with the Indians. Near Box Elder Springs
on the plains they stopped to feed their horses and eat dinner,
and when they had finished, Mr. Davis drove oft' with the team,
300 OLD SETTLERS OF
leaving Mr. Fell alone to write up his diary. Suddenly an In-
dian made his appearance out of a gully near by, and then a
second and a third, and Mr. Fell retreated pointing his pistol at
thera. At sight of his pistol they held up their hands for peace ;
nevertheless they seemed to be working to surround him, but
he ordered them away very peremptorily, and they left. Atone
time one of their party, a rather quick-tempered man, became
involved in a difficulty with an Indian and attempted to strike
him, but missed him and struck his horse instead. The Indian
went away, but Mr. Fell, knowing their revengeful character, felt
confident that the matter was not ended, and the man, who had
become involved in the difficulty, hastened on ahead to Denver.
The Indian soon returned with a squad of others to help him,
and the whites, who were scattered around, all pointed the In-
dians to some timber near by, all telling the same story, and the
red-skins finally left. From Denver the party went to Colorado
City, which is at the base of Pike's Peak, and here entered the
mountains and crossed South Park for California Gulch, which
is one hundred miles west of Denver in the second snowy range
of the Rocky Mountains. At one place on this journey Mr.
Fell broke his collar bone in lifting a wheel, while ascending
the mountains. He had no physician to attend him, aud was
obliged to allow nature to work her own cure. He returned to
Bloomington, where he arrived in August, and by the following
October he was so far recovered as to be able to do some work.
Mr. Fell has lived a pleasant life with his amiable lady. He
is a heavy set man, of medium height, is very muscular aud can
endure much. He is very kind, good-natured and accommo-
dating, and takes pleasure in giving help or information. He
has had a family of twelve children, of whom five are living,
four daughters and one son. All are married and settled in
life. They are :
Rebecca R. Flesher, wife of Josiah Flesher, was born Octo-
ber 19, 1836. and lives in Bloomington.
Ellen Amanda Dawson, wife of George Dawson, was born
December 16, 1838, and lives in Bloomington.
Rachel G. Luccock, wife of Thomas E. Luccock, was born
August 14, 1841, and lives at Lexington, Illinois.
Thomas Hardin Fell was born November 26, 1847, and lives
at Jacksonville, Illinois.
m'lean county. 301
Jane Ann Williams, wife of John A. Williams, was born
May 20, 1850, and lives in Normal.
John Magoun.
John Magoun was born June 14, 1806, in Pembroke, Ply-
mouth County, Massachusetts, twelve miles from Plymouth
Rock, and five miles from the farm of Daniel Webster, at Marsh-
field. The century and a-half old house where he was born is
still standing, and has always been in the possession of the Ma-
goun family. The first of the Magoun family of whom any
record exists was John Magoun, who was a freeholder in 1666.
The name "John " has ever since been a favorite with the Ma-
goun family, and nearly every generation has taken care that it
should not be forgotten. The father of the John Magoun of
whom we are writing was Elias Magoun, and his mother was
Esther Sampson before her marriage. They had five sons :
Elias, who was for a while cashier of the Hope Bank of War-
ren, Rhode Island ; William, who graduated at Brown Univer-
sity, Rhode Island, and died in Turin, Italy, in 1871 ; Calvin,
who died at Marsh field, Massachusetts, and John and Luther.
The parents of these five sons were earnest Christians, and
lived honored and esteemed by all who knew them. The chil-
dren were brought up on the Magoun farm, and learned habits
of industry. John Magoun was seventeen years of age when
his father died. After this sad event he went to Boston and for
several summers worked there at the mason's trade, and during
winters taught school in the country. While in Boston he saw
Lafayette, during the visit of the latter to America ; he heard
Webster's eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, in Fanuil Hall; he
saw the corner-stone of Bunker Hill monument laid in its place,
and he listened to the sermons of Br. Channing, Br. Lyman
Beecher and Father Taylor. Mr. Magoun had, in his childhood,
known Father Taylor, and the latter had in the beginning of his
ministry made the Magoun farm his favorite home.
On the thirtieth of September, 1835, John Magoun and his
cousin, Calvin C. Sampson, and S. P. Cox left Boston for New
Orleans. These three friends, who went out together to seek
their fortune, had many adventures. Mr. Sampson died in
Marshfield, August 9, 1868, a few days after he and John Ma-
302 OLD SETTLERS OF
D
goun had met each other in accordance with a previous arrange-
ment. &. P. Cox is now a resident of Bloomington. The voy-
age of these friends to New Orleans was a rough one of twenty-
one days, and all on board were sea sick. All three were soon
engaged in business, but Magoun and Cox could not be satisfied.
They had read " Peck's Guide for Emigrants to Illinois," and
nothing could prevent them from making a visit to this mar-
velous country. They took a steamer for St. Louis, and made
the acquaintance of the river boatmen. Mr. Magoun says that
the latter patronized the bar very extensively, and this showed
to his satisfaction the cause of the accidents which were con-
stantly occurring. He found St. Louis a city of eight thousand
three hundred and eighteen inhabitants. From St. Louis, Ma-
goun and his companion went to Naples, on the Illinois River,
and from there to Jacksonville, where a colony was being form-
ed with the intention of settling somewhere. They each bought
a share in the colony, and this entitled them each to a quarter
section of land and three town lots. The locating committee,
Horatio N. Pettit, John Gregory and George F. Purkitt, located
the land and reported that they had entered twenty-one sections
at Haven's Grove, about ten miles north of a little town
called Bloomington, in McLean County. The hopeful colonists
were soon on their way to the promised land, and on their ar-
rival put up at the houses of Jesse Havens, sr., and his sons-in-
law, Benjamin Wheeler, David Trimmer and John Smith. Of
these colonists five are now living : James H. Robinson, Presi-
dent of the National Bank of Bloomington, who joined the corn-
puny at Springfield, James F. and Joseph D. Gildersleeve, S.
P. Cox and John Magoun. Messrs. Cox and Magoun assisted
Mr. Dickason, the County Surveyor, to survey the colony lands
and lay off the colony town, which was afterwards called Hud-
son. On the fourth of July, 1836, the colonists made their se-
lection of town lots. After this Mr. Magoun came to Bloom-
ington, where he had the honor of laying some bricks in the old
court house.
In the latter part of December, 1836, Mr. Magoun started on
foot with two others, Joseph Bedell and Chester Foster, to re-
visit their homes in the East. A record of their travels was
kept and published by Joseph Bedell. From his little book the
following incident of their journey is given :
m'lean county. 303
" The first night we put up at a farmer's house, and one of
his daughters, scarcely out of her teens, of no extraordinary
beauty, attracted my special attention. In reply to an inquiry
of one of my companions, in the simplicity and awkwardness of
her nature, exclaimed : ' Mar ! Mar ! that are feller wants
some grease to grease his boots,' causing one of my companions
to bite his lips tightly while the other burst into a fit of laugh-
ter. "We turned it off" upon some other incident, and the young
lady never knew that she was the object of our sport." The
same author says : " The ladies in the West in those days were
downright home-made looking, no artificial fancy fixings to
adorn their persons."
The three travelers walked twenty-two miles per day on an
average; but in Ohio they bought a horse and jumper and rode
to Morristown, New Jersey, and went from there to New York
by stage, where they arrived February 5, 1837. On their route
they visited the capitols of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New
Jersey, and saw the assembled wisdom of all these States in
their legislative halls.
Shortly after Mr. Magoun arrived at his old home, his mother
died. Just before her last change took place she said to her
son : " I greatly desired to see you once more ; this desire is
now gratified, and I am ready and willing to depart."
While on a subsequent visit to his old home Mr. Magoun as-
sisted in building the tall chimney of the Roxbury Chemical
Works. While at work on this chimney, at the height of one
hundred and seventy-six feet from the ground, the inside scaf-
folding gave way and precipitated Mr. Magoun and two others
a distance of one. hundred and thirty feet, among the broken
fragments. One of the three was killed, another nearly so, but
Mr. Magoun escaped with a few bad bruises and scratches. He
says of the one who was killed : " He seemed to have a pre-
sentiment of his sad fate. The moment before he fell he sud-
denly said, as he looked eastward over Boston harbor : ' I must
have one more look towards my dear old Ireland home.' "
Mr. Magoun was in business in Clinton, Illinois, with James
Miller, and afterwards in Bloomington with J. E. McClun and
others. At present he is one of the partners of the Home Bank
in Bloomington. He has some eleven hundred acres of laud of
the Hudson colony in a farm.
304 OLD SETTLERS OF
During the year 1849 Mr. J. Seeley, of Hudson, went to
England for his family. On his return, he left them at Chicago
until he could go to Hudson to procure a conveyance to trans-
port them to their new home. On his way to the latter place he
stopped at Mr. Lillie's, was there attacked with the cholera and
soon died. The most of Mr. Lillie's family and also the attend-
ing physician died of the same disease. This event of course
caused general alarm in Bloomington and elsewhere ; neverthe-
less but one case occurred in Bloomington. Lucian A. Samp-
son, a merchant and worthy citizen, was the victim. He had
been to Chicago, where the cholera was prevailing, and on his
return was stricken down without a moment's notice with this
disease in its worst form. Mr. Magoun was told of the condi-
tion of his friend Sampson and asked to attend him in his sick-
ness. This was not a pleasant task, but Mr. Magoun could not
endure the thought of seeing his neighbor in distress, and went
to his assistance, resolving to take the consequences whatever
they might be. This was in the afternoon. During that night
Mr. Sampson bade adieu to his child and weeping wife, saying :
" We shall meet again in heaven," and died the following morn-
ing. Abraham Brokaw and Goodman Ferre assisted in the
preparations for the burial. Every precaution was taken to pre-
vent the spread of the disease, and no other cases appeared in
Bloomington. Nevertheless this single case created a panic.
One of the citizens, who was called in and assisted in placing
the body in the coffin, inquired the disease, and, when told it
was cholera, ran for life, and leaped a high fence, which would
have been impossible in his usual state of mind.
Mr. Magoun was too old a man to serve in the army during
the rebellion ; but he once saw a day or two of service. On the
second of September, 1862, at nearly midnight, a dispatch was
received requesting a force of two hundred men to be instantly
raised in Bloomington, and sent to Springtield without delay.
Mr. Magoun and thirty others enlisted at once, and the entire
force was made up in the morning and sent to Springfield, where
it was ascertained that it was required to guard the confederate
prisoners at Camp Butler. He was discharged after a few days
service, and returned home with the pleasant reflection that
he had done no one any damage and no one had damaged him.
m'lean county. 305
Mr. Magoun is a strictly temperate man and believes in total
abstinence. While a boy he often visited a good aunt, the eldest
sister of his father. Her once kind and loving husband was
made a drunkard by a wealthy neighbor, who kept a licensed
saloon at one end of his country store. There this rum-seller
sold liquor to the mau, whose nerves were so shattered and
whose resolution was so wanting that he was absolutely without
self-control, and when the wretched man's broken-hearted wife
pleaded with the rum-seller, with tears in her eyes, not to make
her home desolate, he would tell her that her husband's money
was as good as any other man's money, and that a license was
issued to sell liquor to all comers. It was then that John Ma-
goun learned to hate all intoxicating drinks, including beer and
wine, and then that he became a strong advocate of the Maine
Liquor Law. The unfortunate man, who was so completely un-
der the influence of liquor, died at last a victim of intemper-
ance; but in this case poetic justice was done, and the liquor-
seller himself died of strong drink.
John Magoun is also opposed to the use of tobacco, and
thinks it "the vilest of weeds."
From Mr. Magoun 's well known philanthropy it may be sup-
posed that he was an opponent of slavery, when the questions
relating to that American institution were being agitated ; and
hardly the bondmen themselves were more rejoiced than he,
when the proclamation of President Lincoln was issued to free
the slaves of America. And the same benevolent feelings, which
cause him to sympathize with the distressed, make him an ad-
vocate of peace, and he desires and hopes for the coming of
that brighter day "when nations shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they war any more."
Mr. Magoun is very fond of children and very highly esteems
the gentler sex, among whom he is a great favorite. He was
never married but advises all young men not to follow his exam-
ple, and exhorts them earnestly to go and not do likewise.
Mr. Magoun is about five feet nine inches high, has dark
hair, blue eyes, weighs one hundred and sixty pounds, and
though sixty-seven years of age he would not be taken by a
stranger for more than fifty. Few gray hairs have obtruded
themselves upon his temples; his carriage is erect and his step
20
306 OLD SETTLERS OF
elastic. He enjoys the society of friends, especially of ladies,
as he used to do in days gone by, and looks as if his lease of life
was good for many years to come. Few men have lived in any
community so distinguished for kindness of heart, for charity
and purity of life. For thirty-seven years he has lived in Bloom-
ington, and perhaps no man is better known throughout the
county of McLean. Though generous and liberal almost to a
fault he has accumulated considerable personal and real estate,
and has thus verified in his own history the truth of the scrip-
ture which says, "there is that which scattereth and yetincreas-
eth." He liberally assisted the Wesleyan University when that
institution was struggling in its infancy and he is now one of its
trustees and rejoices in its prosperity. He is a man of the
warmest affection and cherishes the memory of his dear brother,
who a few years since died at Turin in Italy. Perhaps the best
idea of his character will appear from the language of one of
his friends who wrote of him :
k - Xo man ever lived whose heart has been more warm and
open to the wants of the poor. Crowds of the distressed and
destitute have always waited upon him, and the worthy and
needy applicant has never been turned empty away. It may be
said of him in this community, as it was in relation to one of
old, that " the ear that hears him blesses him, and the eyes that
see him give -witness to him," for he has delivered so many poor
who have cried, and the fatherless and him that had none to help
him. The blessings of those who were ready to perish are
bestowed upon him, and he has caused the widow's heart to sing
for joy. Eyes has he been to the blind and feet to the lame.
He has been a father to the poor and the cause, which he knetv
not he has sought out. Such has been the life of John Magoun.
lie has sought neither honor nor position in the world, but has
striven only to do good and to make all with whom he came in
contact happier and better, and when he lays him down to die
the people among whom he has lived so long will rise up and
call him blessed, yea, they will weep over his grave and say in
their hearts 'Here lies the poor man's friend.' "
Thomas Jefferson Karr.
Thomas Jefferson Karr was born in Whitewater township,
Hamilton County, Ohio, near Miami Town, close to the Miami
m'lean county. 307
River, February 10, 1821. His father, Thomas Karr, was a
farmer born. Young Thomas received some little education in
Ohio. He came with his father to Randolph's Grove, about
eight miles from the present city of Bloomington, in 1835. Here
he attended a district school in a log school house. In 1843 he
married Elizabeth Low, the daughter of Nathan Low, one of
the old settlers of McLean County. Mrs. Karr is still living,
and with her youngest son Guy manages the property acquired
by the patient toil of her husband. Mr. Karr was an extensive
farmer and dealer in stock. He commenced life with some as-
sistance from his father, but the most of his property was ac-
quired by his own foresight and patient toil. He was rather
delicate in his constitution, and died on the 17th of February,
18G6, in consequence of a railroad accident received about two
weeks previous.
Mrs. Karr could not claim damages of the railroad company
for the loss of her husband because she refused to allow a post
mortem examination.
Mrs. Karr remembers ver}' clearly the Black Hawk war in
1832. At that time many of the settlers moved South for fear
of an Indian massacre ; but Mr. Low and his family, of which
Airs. Karr was a member, remained. Mrs. Karr has lively re-
collections of the trips to Chicago, which required from fifteen
to seventeen days. Mr. Karr hauled wheat to Chicago for
thirty cents per bushel. There were four stopping places on the
road between Blooming Grove and Chicago. These were Oli-
ver's Grove, Brewer's Grove, Ephard's Point and Kankakee.
The weather in early days was more changeable than now.
Mrs. Karr remembers that very often there were four decided
changes of the weather in twenty-four hours. During the win-
ter of the deep snow she walked on the hard crust to school at
the Hinshaw school house.
The late Thomas Jefferson Karr was a man of medium
height, slender and well proportioned. He was very keen in
business matters, but upright and honest in his dealings. His
eyes were mild and gentle in expression. He was well known
and universally respected ; he was very kind and hospitable and
always ready to help his neighbors.
308 OLD SETTLERS OF
The following are Mr. Karr's children :
Harvey B. Karr, born October 26, 1843, lives on his farm
near Shirley. He deals in stock. He has a family.
Mrs. Lizzie Bradley, wife of Dr. Bradley, was born Decem-
ber 8, 1845. She lives in Pekin.
Guy Karr was born May 20, 1850. He lives with his
mother.
Martha Karr was born December 9, 1853, died July 2, 1856.
Dora Karr was born April 16, 1857 and lives at home with
her mother.
Hon. James Miller.
James Miller was born May 23, 1795, in Rockingham Coun-
ty, Virginia. His ancestors were Scotch-Irish ; his grandfather
was a Presbyterian minister in Ireland. Young James received
such an education as could be obtained in a district school, for
his father had quite a flock of little ones to take care of; there
were ten of them in all, nine boys and one girl. In 1811 his
father moved to Madison County, Kentucky, on account of his
ill health. This was when James was sixteen years of age. It
was intended that James should be a farmer, and he was raised
with a view to this occupation ; but, having a talent for trade,
he became a merchant. When he was twenty years of age he
was filling the offices of collector and sheriff, positions of trust
and responsibility. At that time he became a member of the
Methodist church. Christianity was not then fashionable.
Popular feeling was against it, and especially against the Meth-
odist denomination. It was in the face of this popular feeling
and in spite of the fact that he was holding a position depend-
ent, in a great measure, upon popular will, that he took Li-
stand for the Lord and determined to lead a Christian life. Mr.
Miller was earnest and devoted and soon was made a class
leader, and afterwards a recording steward. During the whole
of his remaining life he occupied positions of trust and respon-
sibility in the church, and was indeed one of its brightest orna-
ments.
Mr. Miller has been twice married. His first wife lived only
one year. His daughter, who was born during his first mar-
riage, is living in Kentucky.
m'lean county. 309
On the 18th of March, 1827, he married Mrs. Belle McGar-
vey, the ceremony being performed by Bishop Morris. She is
an excellent lady, and during their whole wedded life, a period
of forty-five years, she sympathised with him and worked with
him in the cause of Christianity. They have had three boys
born to them, all of whom are living.
While in Kentucky Mr. Miller was dissatisfied with the in-
stitution of slavery, and for that reason he determined to leave
the State. His wife disliked this very much, but when she saw
how much Mr. Miller was annoyed by the condition of things
around him, and how much he wished to go, she said, like a
prudent wife : " Husband, in case you wish to go, now is the
time. I will not stand in the way. Our children will soon be
waited on by slaves, and it will then be hard to break away."
In 1835 he came to Bloomington, Illinois. Here he went
into mercantile business in partnership with John Magoun, and
afterwards with John Magoun and Judge McClun. He entered
a great deal of land and had a large city property.
In 1856, Mr. Miller was elected State Treasurer of Illinois,
and so well and faithfully did he fulfill the trust reposed in him
that he was re-elected in 1858. Mr. Miller's long and useful
life was brought to a close on the twenty-third day of Septem-
ber, 1872. His funeral was largely attended ; the Masonic fra-
ternity, of which he was an honored member, taking an active
part. At the Quarterly Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, held October 14, 1872, in Bloomington, resolutions of
respect were passed to the memory of Mr. Miller. The follow-
ing is one of the resolutions passed :
" Resolved, That our faith is an unfaltering one that the de-
parted, who has so long been to us a brother, a counselor and a
friend, is now among the angels and the redeemed in heaven,
where we hope to meet him when the journey of life is ended."
William H. Temple.
William II. Temple was born December 10, 1811, at Rich-
mond, Virginia. His ancestors emigrated from England at an
early day. He was one of eleven children, but of these only five
grew to manhood and womanhood. When he was four years old
his father, who had been a merchant in Richmond, removed
310 OLD SETTLERS OF
with his family to a farm in Davidson County, Tennessee, about
four miles from Nashville. Here William worked on the farm
in summer and attended school in winter, from his sixth to his
sixteenth year. At that time he obtained a situation as clerk in
a dry goods and hardware store in Nashville, kept by a jolly
Scotchman. Here he stayed four years, when his father sold
out and moved to a farm in Shelby County, "West Tennessee-
Here William lived until December, 1835, when he came to
visit his uncle in Bloomington. He came with no intention of
remaining, but concluded to stay one year as a clerk for J. W.
S. Moore, and at last settled here for life.
In February, 1838, he married Miss Mildred Elizabeth Parke.
This lady was born in Virginia. She came to Illinois in 1835.
She is still living, and also her mother, Mrs. Parke, who is now
seventy-three years of age. Mr. Temple's marriage was blessed
by the birth of ten children, all of whom are living.
In the fall of 1838 he commenced business on his own
account. There were then in Bloomington only five stores.
These belonged to J. E. McClun, Baker & Son, 0. Covel k Co.,
James Allin and William H. Temple. Trade was small, but
profits were larger than at present. Some of his first and best
customers were old James Price, John Benson, Jesse Funk,
Isaac Funk, Omey Only and Bailej- Harbord. The last four are
now dead. Business was then done on the credit system. The
customers traded for a year before they paid up, and perhaps
even then they failed to square their accounts. Mr. Temple has
sold goods longer than any other merchant in Bloomington,
havins: continued in the business from 1838 until 1871. This
period of time covers a great many financial crises. In 1837 the
United States Bank suspended payment, and nearly all the
banks in the country did the same, which made money very
close. In February, 1842, the Illinois State Bank in Springfield
suspended and money became so scarce that sometimes people
could not pay the postage on letters sent to them. Postage on
letters was then from eighteen to twenty-five cents. The failure
of the State Bank was caused by its making heavy loans to
farmers in McLean and adjoining counties, and the failure of the
farmers to pay. But by the breaking of the bank a great many
farmers made their fortunes ; for the bank paper could be bought
m'lean county. 311
for thirty-seven and a half cents on the dollar, and many who
were owing the bank bought up its paper and paid their indebt-
edness. Mr. Temple remembers that his friend, Isaac Funk, was
security to the amount of six thousand dollars for a farmer
named Albert Dickinson, who lived on Money Creek. Mr.
Dickinson gave Mr. Funk a deed of one thousand acres of land
for it, and Mr. Funk bought bank paper for thirty.seven and a
half cents on the dollar and paid the loan, thus making in this
little transaction §3,750. People who had a little cash in those
days could make a fortune in a few minutes. In 1841, the year
previous to the failure of the State Bank, the bankruptcy law
was passed and many people took advantage of it and failed.
This was during Harrison's (or rather Tyler's) administration.
At that time the best butter was sold for five cents per pound,
corn from eight to ten cents per bushel, and wood for one dollar
per cord. Game was plenty, and quails sold for twenty-five
cents per dozen. On the other hand, many things which farmers
bought were exceedingly high. Calico was thirty- seven and a
half cents per yard (now twelve and a half cents), and it may
well be supposed that ladies wore very economical in their
dresses. Seven yards of calico were considered sufficient for a
dress, and the largest took only eight yards, but now twelve or
fifteen yards are thought necessary. People usually wore home-
spun which they brought to a tailor to be cut and then carried
it home to their wives to be made into garments. There were
then only two tailors in Bloomington and no dressmakers or
shoemakers. A couple of cobblers were kept busy mending
boots and shoes, but not in making them. The best imported
calf-skin boots sold for five dollars. The merchants in Bloom-
ington usually bought their goods in St. Louis, but Gridley and
Covel bought in Philadelphia. When the river was sufficiently
high, goods were brought by way of Pekin. This was usually
done in the spring ; but in the fall the river was low and goods
were hauled by team from St. Louis. The mail to SULouis or
to New York was carried by land.
Mr. Temple has many pleasant recollections of the old
settlers. He was three times in partnership with Allen Withers,
of whom we have written a sketch, and found him to be at all
times the soul of honor. Owing to long sickness and infirmity
312 OLD SETTLERS OF
Mr. Temple failed in business about two years ago, and in this
trying period his integrity and fine sense of honor compelled
him to give up everything to his creditors, except the house and
lot where he lives. But he may be sure that in all of his hours
of trial his old friends will have for him the warmest respect
and the most tender sympathy.
Mr. Temple is now quite broken down in health ; he is much
troubled with rheumatism, so much so that his right arm cannot
be used. He is about five feet and ten inches in height, is slen-
derly built and walks a little bent, as if with age and care. He
is a man of delicate sensibilities and of a rather nervous temper-
ament. His eyesight is good, though his hearing has partially
failed. Hie features are rather small and his nose sharp. His
hair is gray, but he has plenty of it. His uprightness and
honesty are written in his countenance. All who dealt with him
while he was a merchant speak particularly of his fairness and
strict integrity.
James Depew.
James Depew was born January 8, 1800, in Botetourt County,
Virginia, fifteen miles from^Fincastle, the county seat. His
grandfather on his father's side, named John Depew, emigrated
from England before the Revolutionary War. He was too old
to serve in that contest, but his two older sons were engaged in
the whole of it. He emigrated from England to New Jersey in
1745, when he was twenty years of age. Then he moved to
Rockbridge County, Virginia, and thence to Botetourt County.
Here he resided until his death, which occurred when he had
reached the advanced age of eighty-five years. He raised six
sons and one daughter, all of whom grew up to years of discre-
tion. Elijah Depew, the father of James Depew, was the fifth
child. The mother of James was of the race of Ben Burden.
Ben Burden was a notable man. lie came to America from
England and shortly after signalized his arrival by capturing a
bufi'alo calf and sending it to England as a present to Queen
Elizabeth. The Queen showed her appreciation of it by grant-
ing him one hundred thousand acres of land in the Virginia
Valley, between the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny Mountains.
Ben Burden's daughter married a man named Peck, and Peck
m'lean county. 313
was James Depew's grandfather. Peck was a German, and
received from Ben Burden, with his wife, a gift of one thousand
acres of land. He lived to be one hundred and twelve years of
age. When he was over one hundred years of age a man named
Harvey made him drunk with wine and bought his land for four
hundred dollars. The Pecks sued Harvey and the case remained
in court for seventy years before it was decided, by which time
the old generation of Pecks were all dead. But the new gener-
ation won the case ; nevertheless, Elijah Depew, whose wife was
a daughter of Peck, never received any of the money, as he left
Virginia in 1816, and did not learn of the matter until the money
had been divided.
Elijah Depew came to Orange County, Indiana, in 1816,
where he settled as a farmer. James Depew received some edu-
cation in Virginia and continued his studies in Indiana during
the winter months. In 1824 he made a trip to New Orleans on
a flatboat, with his brother and a man who owned half the boat
and cargo. The cargo consisted of two hundred bushels of
potatoes and eight hundred bushels of corn. They started from
the east fork of White River on the fourteenth of February and
arrived at New Orleans on the twenty-ninth of March. The
latter part of their journey was made rough by storms, but they
went safely through them. They realized very little from their
venture, scarcely making enough to pay expenses. After selling
the cargo James returned by steamboat, while his brother stayed
some time longer to dispose of the cargo. While he was in New
Orleans a terrible storm occurred, which sank twenty flat-boats.
All of these things made such an impression on James' mind
that he declared that one journey was enough.
James Depew's father died July 24, 1824, and James and his
brother took charge of the family until 1831. James Depew
then married Judith Hill in Orange County, Indiana. She had
come to the new country with her parents from North Carolina.
She died in April, 1846, and Mr. Depew has never since been
married. He has had a family of six children, three of whom
are now living.
In November, 1834, James Depew went with a company of
nine persons to look at the far West, and decide where to locate.
They started from Peoli in Southern Indiana. At Indianapolis
314 OLD SETTLERS OF
the mother, sister and brother of James Depew remained behind.
The remaining six proceeded to Chicago which was a little town
of perhaps seven hundred people. He enjoyed himself shooting
black squirrels which were then very plenty. Very little of
interest was to be seen in Chicago. It was a muddy little place
and one of their company, David Adams, a New Englander,
could not be induced to invest six hundred- dollars in Chicago
property; indeed, hardly any of the party would then have
taken property there as a gift and settle on it. From Chicago
they went to Ottawa, which then contained a few little houses
among the bluffs. Here the party separated. James and two
others went to Danville, crossing the big prairie near Pontiac.
From there he returned to Indiana. In the spring of 1835 James
Depew and his two brothers came West with all their effects
and wives and children, (the elder brother was married, the
younger not). At Blooming Grove Mr. Depew commenced
farming on land rented of his cousin. He afterwards farmed for
seven years where Normal now stands on land owned by James
Miller. Mr. Depew has bought and sold some real estate in
Bloomington, has acquired a competency and now enjoys his old
age among his happy and grateful children. When he came
here Bloomington had about two hundred inhabitants, and he
has been most agreeably surprised at its magnificent growth.
He hauled the brick and mortar for the present court house,
from the first story up.
James Depew is of medium height, has gray eyes, reads
common print without spectacles. His hair is white and he has
plenty of it. In his younger days he was very active, and he has
always enjoyed the best of health.
Matthew Huston Hawks.
Matthew H. Hawks was born April 4, 1804, in Clark County,
Kentuck3 T . His father's name was Lewis Hawks, and his mother's
maiden name was Elizabeth Blanton. His father was of Ger-
man and Scotch descent. His father's remote ancestors were a
family, which came at an early day from Germany to New York,
where the brothers scattered. When Matthew Hawks was four
years of age his mother died, and when he was twelve years of
age his father also died, and Matthew was left alone in the world.
m'lean county. 315
His father had, before his death, moved to Jessamine County.
At the age of fourteen Matthew Hawks was apprenticed to a
man named Hugh Foster to learn the tailoring business. He
served his time as an apprentice faithfully for five years. Mr.
Foster was one of the best of men and treated the orphan under
his charge as a father would his son. This kind treatment was
appreciated and the sensitive and grateful apprentice never dis-
appointed the master, but often sat up until twelve or one o'clock
at night in order that some contract might be fulfilled at the
time promised. He remained with his old master for eight years
after the apprenticeship was ended. When he was twenty-two
years of age Mr. Hawks was married to Elizabeth Campbell,
with whom he lived until November, 1832, when she died of
consumption. In 1829 he went to Hopkinsville in Christian
County, Kentucky, where he engaged in business with his
brother and remained with him until 1835. In 1834 he was
married to Elizabeth Major, the daughter of William T. Major.
In the fall of that year he came to Illinois to look at the country,
with his father-in-law, who had bought land in McLean County.
Mr. Hawks himself bought property here before he saw it,
though he intended to go to Chicago. He came to Blooming-
ton on his way to Chicago, but found that the road to the latter
place was simply a trail, and exceedingly dangerous to travel
by one not accustomed to it. He went back to Kentucky that
fall and returned to Bloomington the following fall with the
intention of buying land and going to farming, but some of his
friends persuaded him to go into the dry goods business with
which he was acquainted. He started in business in AVashing-
ton, Tazewell County, where he remained three years and then
came to Bloomington, where he continued his business until
1845 on twelve months credit. But he found it impossible to
make money and stopped and went into the oil business and to
wool carding and cloth dressing. He was anxious to obtain
flax-seed and advertised the country thoroughly for that purpose
and succeeded in getting three bushels only. He sowed the
three bushels and during the next year re-sowed all the flax seed
gathered from his first crop, raising thirty acres of flax. He
then loaned seed to the farmers for planting. All this was done
for the purpose of starting the oil business. In the meantime
316 OLD SETTLERS OF
he was carrying on the wool carding business. He carded wool
from May until September, running three large machines. After
that he made linseed oil and sent it to Chicago by team, for
seventy-five cents less per barrel than he could send it now by
railroad. There he found ready sale for it, but at moderate
prices. He retailed the oil in Bloomington for seventy-five cents
per gallon and sold about a barrel in a year. He manufactured
from one to two barrels per day in the season for running. The
oil cakes, weighing six or seven pounds each, were sold for a
cent a piece, and were used for fuel. He once received an offer
for his oil cakes from St. Louis, but it was so low that he could
not have delivered black dirt there at such a figure. He sold
oil at St. Louis and Chicago, but the latter was the better mar-
ket, and there he found very honorable men to deal with. In
the St. Louis market he could not find one honorable man in
the commission business; they would "chisel" him every time
he dealt with them. Pie often took oil to the St. Louis men and
when it was low he would tell them to hold until it came up, but
when it rose they would sell it and report to him that it was sold
while low, and they pocketed the difference. In addition to this
they would charge cartage, storeage, cooperage and a half dozen
other things ; they would swindle him on the guaging at the rate
of a gallon per barrel, and at last he refused to send oil there
any more. When a man named Flint, at Pekin, wished to for-
ward some oil to St. Louis for Mr. Hawks, the latter refused,
unless the cash was paid before the barrels of oil were rolled on
the steamboat. But when he shipped to Chicago he dealt with
a Mr. L. M. Boice, who was one of the most honorable men in
the commission business. Mr. Boice would charge interest on
advances, but would allow interest on sales as fast as made. The
people were then troubled by counterfeiters more than at pres-
ent, as less care was taken at that time in the engraving of bank
bills. Mr. Boice would paste such counterfeit bills as he received
in his book for reference. But at one time a clerk knowingly
passed a counterfeit bill and Mr. Boice discharged him immedi-
ately, saying that any one who would cheat a customer would
cheat an employer. Mr. Hawks thinks the honorable course
pursued by the Chicago commission merchants was one great
cause of the growth and prosperity of that city.
m'lban county. 317
On the whole Mr. Hawks did pretty well with the cloth-
dressing business, but the oil business was much poorer. During
one year he worked up ten thousand bushels of flax-seed. He
thinks the raising of flax prepares the ground for wheat. Mr.
Samuel Barnard had a piece of ground sowed to wheat which
followed a crop of flax. He threshed out one acre to find the
yield precisely, and it was forty-two bushels of the best of wheat.
In 1850 Mr. Hawks sold out his business in Bloomington and
went to Lacon, Marshall County, and kept a hotel, then went to
Pekin and there engaged in the same business. When the rail-
roads started up a year or two afterwards, he left the hotel busi-
ness and in 1853 came to Bloomington and kept a boarding-
house for twelve or fifteen years.
Mr. Hawks has had four children, one born during his first
marriage and three during his second. They are all married,
and he has children in the third generation. His children are :
Mrs. Sarah Munsell, wife of Zerah Munsell, lives at Chenoa.
Mrs. Margaret Lander, wife of Richard M. Lander, lives in
Bloomington.
Mrs. Mary Reeves, wife of 0. T. Reeves, lives in Normal.
Tom Jefferson Hawks was named Tom to prevent him from
being nicknamed, but he is now nicknamed Thomas. He lives
in Bloomington.
Mr. Hawks is five feet and eight inches in height. He is
strongly made and seems a very solid man. He has always been
remarkably healthy, was never sick enough to be in bed. He
has the full possession of all of his senses, has a healthy red face
and seems to enjoy life. He seems to be a good man of busi-
ness ; he likes to see men do business honestly and wishes dis-
honesty rebuked. He is a very cheerful man, loves a joke and
appreciates wit and humor. He has been a kind father to his
children ; he never struck one of them in his life, and this plan
has been remarkably successful. He has raised two children not
his own and has ever been careful to govern by kindness. He is one
of the most tender and kind-hearted of men. He left Kentucky
on account of slavery, as the goodness of his heart would not
allow him to remain longer than was necessary in the presence
of that terrible evil ; more than that he thought it no place to
raise children. He has always been kind to orphan children,
318 OLD SETTLERS OF
for he remeinbers that he was himself an orphan. He loves to
talk of the early settlement of the country, and thinks he enjoyed
himself more in those early days, when people helped each other
and raised each other's houses, than he ever has since. He was
twice justice of the peace in Bloomington. He resigned during
his first term, but was re-elected. While serving as justice of
the peace he had the pleasure of marrying Captain John L.
Routt, who is now Second Assistant Postmaster General.
Samuel Lander.
Samuel Lander was born January 21, 1798, in Clark County,
Kentucky. His father's name was John Lander and his mother's
name before her marriage was Sallie Skinner. John Lander
was of English and Yankee descent. His grandfather, Henry
Lander, came from England and lived to be one hundred and
fourteen years of age. Sallie Skinner was probably of German
descent. In 1816 the family came to Christian Count}-, Ken-
tucky. There Mr. Lander lived until 1835 when he came to
Illinois. The journey was a pleasant one. They traveled by
team in company with three other families, numbering sixteen
persons in all. They camped out b} 7 the way and enjoyed life
in the open air. They arrived in Bloomington, October 20, and
for a few weeks Mr. Lander's family lived with the families of
Ludwell E. Rucker and John Enlow, in a little shanty about six-
teen feet square. It was made of rails and was weather-boarded
with clapboards split and shaved. This shanty had been put up
by Mr. Lander sometime previous to his settlement, when he
came to the country and bought land. He afterwards made an
addition to the shanty by moving a little eighteen feet square
cabin up from the woods. He made a chimney for it by laying
up brickbats without mortar, because of the cold weather.
Mr. Lander commenced farming and raising stock. The
wolves troubled him and he troubled the wolves, and at last suc-
ceeded in getting the better of them.
The finances of the State of Illinois were in a fearful condi-
tion from 1838 to 1847. " Money was then a great rarity." Men
of the best of judgment were discouraged, and land within two
miles of Bloomington sold for a dollar per acre. \Vheat, pork,
cattle, everything sold for a song. During the winter of 1841
m'lean county. 319
and '42 Mr. Lander and several others put their hogs together
in a " bunch," took them, about five hundred in all, to Chicago,
and after they were butchered the meat brought two dollars per
hundred. Mr. Lander took oxen to Milwaukee, "Wisconsin, and
there sold them for between twenty-five and forty-five dollars
per yoke. Cows were sold there for twelve or fourteen dollars,
and bacon hams for five cents per pound. During the spring
of 1842 Mr. Lander sold three barrels of lard for three cents per
pound. He took some first rate horses to Chicago and sold them
for between twenty-five and thirtj^-five dollars a piece. This
was in 1844. During the following year he sold a hundred fat
wethers for one dollar and sixty cents a piece. Men sunk money
in Bloomington by buying pork for $1.50 per hundred, nett.
Mr. Lander wishes the rising generation to take note of these
prices, and if they feel discouraged, he wishes them to think
how much better off they are than their fathers were, and go to
work with renewed energy. The present is their opportunity.
The tide began to turn in 1847. During that year a constitu-
tional convention was held. Judge David Davis was chosen a
delegate from McLean County, and Mr. Lander was selected to
represent McLean and Livingston counties. This convention
showed clearly that the people of the State of Illinois were reso-
lute and earnest in trying to pay their State debt and relieve
themselves from their financial difficulties. A two mill tax was
levied to meet the interest on the public debt, and confidence
was restored. This honest attempt on the part of the people
to meet their obligations was worth untold millions to the State
of Illinois. Its credit improved at home and abroad, and pros-
perity came again.
The convention also passed a general banking act, which
afforded great relief and inspired the people with confidence and
cotfrage. The period embraced by the years 1842 and 1847 is
most instructive to the people of the State, and it is to this
period that the citizens of Illinois may point with pride. It was
during this time that the idea of repudiating the obligations of
the State were cast aside and an honorable course adhered to.
The convention of 1847 finished the work by making provision
for meeting the State debt and paying the interest. The finish-
ing of the Illinois and Michigan Canal also assisted wonderfully
in developing the State and diffusing confidence.
320 OLD SETTLERS OF
Mr. Lander had his share of sport in the early days and often
hunted wolves and deer. The former, he says, were very tena-
cious of life, almost as much so as an opossum. He once caught
a wolf and killed it, as he supposed ; but after it was skinned it
showed signs of life. His son, John Lander, and a party of
others chased a wolf twenty miles, caught it and thought it dead.
After bringing it eight miles home it showed signs of life.
In May, 1822, Mr. Lander married Sallie Haggard, in Chris-
tian County, Kentucky. By this marriage he had six children,
of whom four are living. They are :
John Lander, who lives in Arrowsmith township.
Charles W. and Richard M. Lander, live in Bloomington.
Zarelda, wife of William Doyle, lives in Clark County,
Kentucky.
Mrs. Lander died in December, 1843. In February, 1845,
Mr. Lander married Ardela C. "Wilson. By this marriage he has
had six children, of whom two are living. They are : Clara J.
and Walter S. Lander, and both live at home.
Mr. Lander is about five feet ten inches in height, has a san-
guine complexion, a bald head and heavy eyebrows. He is now
seventy-five years of age, but no one would think him so old.
He bids fair to live to the age of one hundred and fourteen, as
did his great grandfather, Henry Lander. Samuel Lander
appears to have been prosperous and successful. He is a kind-
hearted gentleman. In politics he was an Old Line Whig,
afterwards a Democrat, and now a free political thinker, not
bound by any exclusive ties.
William Thomas.
William Thomas was born April 26, 1806, on a farm in
Champaign County, (then called Madison County) Ohio. His
ancestors were descended from Scotch and Welch stock. In the
year 1600 three brothers named Thomas emigrated from Wales
to the American colonies. One of them settled in New England,
one in Virginia and one in North Carolina. William Thomas'
father, whose name was Francis Thomas, was born in North
Carolina in the year 1781, but when only two years of age his
father moved to Virginia, where Francis grew to manhood. _Jn
the fall of 1805 he moved to Ohio, where William Thomas,
m'lean county. 321
whose sketch we are writing, was born. The circumstances of
Francis Thomas' removal to Ohio were curious. Many years
before, Mr. John Thomas, an uncle of Francis, lived in Vir-
ginia with his wife and family of nine children. He was a very
religious man, and a member of the Baptist church. One even-
ing, while the family were engaged in singing and devotional
exercises, some Indians crept up and shot the old gentleman
through a hole in the door; they then rushed in and massacred
the whole family with, the exception of a bound girl, who re-
lated the circumstances of the tragedy, and one little boy five
years of age. The Indians set the house on fire, stole the horses
and left, taking the little boy with them into captivity. ' But the
little girl succeeded in hiding herself from them in the sheep
fold, and related the circumstances of the massacre. The little
boy who was made captive was the cousin of Francis Thomas,
and many years afterwards the latter heard of a young man who
was seen with the Indians on the Sandusky Plains. The young
man had light hair and blue eyes, and Francis believed him to
be his captive cousin. He started immediately to find him, and
made extended journeys and long searches, and at last found
the young man and fully identified him as his cousin. The In-
dians said he was taken a captive from Western Virginia. The
two young gentlemen were glad to meet; they hunted together
(a great sport in those days), and were much attached to each
other. Perhaps the reader will think the captive cousin was glad
of an opportunity to return to his relatives. Nothing of the kind.
He had become an Indian; savage life was apart of his nature, and,
though he had the warmest affection for his cousin Francis, he
could not be persuaded to accompany him. Francis remained
a week with his cousin, parted from him with tears, and sorrow-
fully returned to his home in Virginia.
But during his travels to find his long lost cousin, Francis
had a view of the western country, and was so charmed with it
that, after sensibly marrying a wife, and making all necessary
arrangements, he left the hilly country of Virginia and came to
Ohio. Here William was born.
William Thomas remembers very clearly the war of 1812,
although at that time he was only six or seven years old. The
northern part of Ohio was then infested with Indians, and Mr.
21
322 OLD SETTLERS OF
Thomas lived only nine miles south of the boundary line. Wil-
liam's uncle, Arthur Thomas, was captain of a company of vol-
unteers who were called together to defend the country from
the British and Indians. At the close of their enlistment the
company of volunteers celebrated their return by shooting and
making a great noise, and they frightened a horse belonging to
Captain Thomas (William's uncle) so that the animal broke
away. Captain Thomas and his son started for the horse, but
did not return. After waiting several days, their friends made
search for them and found them nine miles from home, massa-
cred by Indians.
About this time, or a little before, occurred the death of the
mother and the wife of Francis Thomas, and the latter became
so disheartened in consequence that he returned to Harrison
County, Virginia, where he had formerly lived. There he re-
mained two years, again married, and removed to Xenia town-
ship, Green County, Ohio.
Here William received some little education in the often de-
scribed log school house, lighted by a greased paper window.
His course of instruction embraced arithmetic, reading and
writing ; when he became larger he received some instruction
in grammar. He had only two teachers. One of them was
a muscular man named Duff, who was warranted strong enough
to whip anyone of his size ; and indeed the teachers in those
days stood in need of all their muscle. But William was a
good boy, and never was whipped. The other teacher was
named Robert P. Black, a young man, who managed his scholars
by his ingenuity, if he could not succeed with his muscle. It
was the custom in those days to bar out the teacher on Christ-
mas day and keep him out until he agreed to treat the scholars,
usually to one bushel of apples and two gallons of cider. One
Christmas morning Mr. Black found that his scholars had barred
him out; the boys were inside ; the girls had stayed at home,
knowing what was to happen. Black, who was a tall young
man, came to the school house, and, finding himself barred out.
went away. Now, there was in the neighborhood a certain Mrs.
Kendall, who was in the habit of riding around on a pony. She
was a very tall lady and well known in the neighborhood. Some
time after Mr. Black left the school house the scholars came out,
m'lean county. 328
hardly knowing- what was to happen next. While they were
standing there Mrs. Kendall came riding along on her pony,
and dismounted at the school house and quietly walked in. The
scholars curiously followed her, when, to their astonishment,
she pulled oft" her bonnet and gown, and their teacher, Mr. Black,
stood before them. The scholars were completely outwitted ;
nevertheless the teacher furnished the bushel of apples and two
gallons of cider.
Francis Thomas died in 1828, when William was seventeen
years of age. The eldest boy, Ezekiel, left home shortly after
his father's death, and studied medicine. He is now practicing
as a physician in Clinton, DeWitt County. William stayed at
home on the farm and supported his step-mother, of whom he
was very fond, and who was worthy of his affection.
When William Thomas was nineteen years of age he went
with a drove of horses to Virginia, and while there visited Rock-
bridge County, and saw the natural rock bridge, about which so
much has been written. This is the bridge which was climbed
by Dunlap, a medical student from Lexington.
On the eighth of April, 1830, William Thomas was made a
happy man. He married Catherine Haines, who lived about
two miles distant, and whom he had known from childhood. He
has had a family of twelve children, six of whom are now living,
three sons and three daughters.
In the fall of 1881, Benjamin Haines, Mr. Thomas' father-in-
law, moved to Bloomington, Illinois, and this determined Mr.
Thomas, some years after, to go farther West. He started for
Illinois on the eighth of December, 1835. He traveled with his
wife and two children in a wagon to Cincinnati, and took a
steamboat from there to Pekin, Illinois. But the ice in the
river caused a great deal of trouble, and they were sometimes
unable to move more than three or four miles in a day. When
they came to Louisville they entered the canal, which goes
around the falls, and came in contact with another steamer going
the other way. Alter a long and vexatious delay they proceeded,
but were six weeks on the way from Cincinnati to Pekin. From
the latter place they came by team to Bloomington, and lived
with Benjamin Haines, a merchant, until spring. In the spring
Mr. Thomas moved to a farm now owned by Judge J. E. Mc-
324 OLD SETTLERS OF
Clun, near the eastern depot. In the fall of 1837 he rented the
Durley farm, and the house where he lived stood on the ground
now occupied by Durley Hall. This was then a part of the
Durley farm. He rented this farm of one hundred acres for two
hundred dollars per annum for five years. In the spring of 1840
he sold the lease of this farm and moved to Main street. From
1842 to 1849 he lived where Thomas Ashley has since built Ives
Block, corner of Jefferson and Madison streets. In 1849 he
moved to East Jefferson street, where he has resided ever since.
In March, 1848, Mr. Thomas took a drove of fifty-four
horses to Chicago for J. C. Duncan & Co., merchants in Bloom-
ington. He had great trouble in getting them over the Ver-
milion River as the season was very wet and the bridge across
the river had been washed away. He had with him a man who
had formerly been a soldier and was very courageous. The old
soldier swam the river seventeen times in one day during that
cold March weather. But when the wagon was taken across a
horse collar fell into the water and the old soldier sprang in to
get it and was taken with cramps. When rescued he was in-
sensible, and it was thought that his adventures were ended,
but whisky and pepper revived him. Mr. Thomas succeeded in
taking his horses safely through to Chicago. "While there he
attended the great canal boat celebration, when the Illinois and
Michigan Canal was completed. This was considered a great
event at the time. The first boat came from the Illinois River
into the Chicago River, and was landed between State and
Dearborn streets, at the wharf of Mr. Samuel Walker. This gen-
tleman made a grand speech on that occasion ; many other gen-
tlemen also made speeches, for eloqueuce was as cheap then as at
the present time. At this time, too, work was done on the six
mile iron railroad. This road was built by a company and was
the second in the State. It started from Wells street, on the
North side of the Chicago River, and ran west, crossing the
north branch of the river, and continuing to the Six Mile House
Tavern. It was completed on the tenth of November, 1848 ; a
free ride was offered to all and a free treat at the Six Mile
House. Mr. Thomas did not go on the excursion because the
railroad was a " snakehead." A railroad of this kind was built
by extending wooden beams upon sleepers and bolting to the
m'lean county. 325
beams straps of irou, which served as rails, upon which cars
were to run. The heads of the bolts were sunk low enough to
prevent friction to the trains passing over them. But this ar-
rangement was subject to a peculiar danger. The ends of the
iron straps were sometimes torn loose from the beams and curled
up, and when the train passed over them swiftly they would
sometimes spring up and strike the bottom of the car and go
through it instantly, to the danger and perhaps death of the
passengers. These straps of iron, which curled up, were called
" snake-heads," and the roads were called " snake-head " roads.
At that time Mr. Thomas was offered four and a half acres ol
land, situated about one mile south of Lake street, in the present
heart of the city, for one hundred dollars per acre. If he had
such an offer made to him now he would probably accept it.
William Thomas was treasurer of McLean County for eleven
years, beginning in the spring of 1851 and ending in the fall ol
1861. During the first seven years that he served as treasurer
he was also assessor, but after that time the offices were sepa-
rated, as the county adopted township organization and each
township chose its own assessor. In the spring of 1836 the
brick court house was built by Leander Munsell for six thousand
three hundred and seventy-five dollars, of which sum five thous-
and three hundred and seventy-five dollars was to be paid in
twenty year bonds, bearing interest at eight per cent. When
Mr. Thomas came into office no interest had been paid for three
years and no money was in the treasury. In order to meet this
he immediately raised the valuation of the propertj T in the
county. The approximate value then amounted to three mil-
lions of dollars, and the tax was thirty cents on a hundred dol-
lars. The interest was then paid, and in 1852, '53 and '54, the
principal was paid, and the count}- was out of debt. Mr.
Thomas says that while he was treasurer, the townships improved
every year and became more settled. The farmers had fine
crops of wheat from 1851 to 1856, but since then the wheat has
partially failed. He says that in 1853 a new-comer bought a
quarter section of railroad land for twelve dollars an acre. His
crop that year paid for the laud and all improvements on it and
left money in his pocket.
William Thomas is five feet eleven inches in height, not
326 OLD SETTLERS OF
heavily built, has sharp features, light hair and plenty of it.
Both hair and whiskers are turning gray with age. He is very
healthy and has many years yet to live.
Thomas Williams.
Thomas Williams was born in the town of Bracon, Count}-
of Bracoo, South Wales, England. His ancestors were of the
real Welch-Irish stock. The Williams are very numerous in
that part of the country and have lived in the County of Bracon
for five hundred years or more. The father of the subject of
this sketch was called Thomas Williams, and his name has been
carried through five generations, one of the sons of the family
taking that name. Thomas had two brothers and one sister, all
of whom were younger than he. He received a very fair Eng-
lish education, having attended school from his sixth to his six-
teenth year. He remembers nothing of interest when a boy.
He was a lively lad and sometimes " up to his trick*. '' His
father was a carpenter and joiner in the town of Bracon, and died
when young Thomas was in his sixteenth year. Upon the
death of his father, his mother moved into the country to a
cousin of her's, where she had been a dairy-maid before her
marriage. She took with her the youngest child, a boy of six
years, and kept her cousin's house. The boy was sent to school
and Thomas paid his tuition. His sister and remaining brother
were taken care of by other relatives of the family, while
Thomas was bound out for five years to learn the carpenter and
joiner's trade. He had served under his father as an apprentice
for two years, and had an aptitude for the work. When he had
finished the time required for an apprentice according to the
English custom, he was twenty-one years of age, and he then
commenced working as a journeyman carpenter and assisted his
brothers and sister. When he was twenty four years of age he
began to keep house and do job work on his own account. His
sister became his housekeeper and his next younger brother was
apprenticed to him as a joiner, and when the youngest brother
was fourteen years of age, he, too, became his brother's ap-
prentice.
Thomas was the first of the family who proposed going to
America in order to improve their circumstances. He had read
m'lean county. 327
a great deal of America and especially of Illinois, and on the
nineteenth of April, 1880, all except the second son, Henry,
embarked on an English sailing vessel at Newport in Wales for
New York, where they arrived on the seventeenth of June. On
board of the vessel they furnished their own bedding and pro-
visions, and before starting, the captain took notice that all pas-
sengers were well supplied. He was a very fine man, had been
a captain twenty-one years and had never seen America. Their
fare was seven pounds sterling each. They had a very favor-
able journey, which lasted about six weeks, but at one time
experienced a severe storm. During the storm, a little before
sunset, a whale was seen near the vessel, but it soon disappeared.
The next morning when everything was calm, they spied a
vessel in distress. When they came near, the strange vessel
was found to be an American ship bound from Bordeaux, France,
to New York, laden with wines and perfumes. Another ship
also came to assist the one in distress, which was found to be in
a sinking condition. It had already turned upon its side, but
the crew was safely removed and divided between the two ships
and carried to New York. One of the rescued crew was a
sailor who had served on board a ship, which had been lost a
year previous in the same latitude, and the poor fellow was very
much affected by the circumstance, for he had all the supersti-
tion for which sailors are remarkable. Mr. Williams speaks in
very high terms of the captain, who was a Christian gentleman,
and used all the means in his power to make the crew of the
distressed ship comfortable, and the men under his command
followed his example.
As soon as they landed in New York Mr. Williams obtained
work in the city, while his mother and sister and youngest
brother went to live with some distant relatives in Pennsylvania.
Being a good workman he received two dollars per day, which,
considering the value of money then, was good wages. Board
and lodging were five dollars per week. He stayed three years
in the city and three years on Long Island, always working at
his trade. In 1832 that great pestilence, the Asiatic cholera,
broke out in New York. It began in the latter part of June
and lasted until September. On a single day three hundred
cases were reported and of these one hundred and fifty died.
328 OLD SETTLERS OF
The corporation cars carried off from four to six coffins at once.
The cause of this fearful mortality was seen in the condition of
the streets, which were exceedingly unclean, and the pigs ran
through them without hinderance. Bat when the cholera broke
out the streets were put in fine order and the pigs were not
allowed to take their out-of-door amusement.
In December, 1835, a great fire burned over a large tract of
ground adjoining the East River; the buildings on seventeen
acres of land were laid in ashes. The fire was checked with
great difficulty as the weather was so exceedingly cold that the
water was frozen in the hose before it could be forced on the
burning buildings. Mr. Williams was somewhat astonished at
the spirit of enterprise by which the whole seventeen acres were
rebuilt by the year 1836.' In 1833 he helped to build the Pavil-
ion Hotel at Far Rockway, twenty-one miles southeast of ISTew
York. It was built by a compauy and was destroyed by fire
about five years ago.
In 183G Mr. Williams came to the West. He, in company
with two families, six persons in all, formed a party. They went
to Philadelphia by water and rail, thence to Ilarrisburg, Pa., by
rail and canal; thence by rail and canal to Pittsburg; thence by
water down the Ohio to Cairo, and up the Mississippi and Illi-
nois Rivers to Pekin. They came across from Pekin to Hudson
on a wagon drawn by a double yoke of oxen.
Here Mr. Williams remained two vears following; his trade.
In July, 1838, he moved to Bloomington. While here he has
successfully carried on his business as a builder and contractor,
and has done rernarkablv well at it. In 1850 he built the First
Methodist Church, and can look with pride upon many fine
buildings which have been put up under his direction. On the
fourth of October, 1838, Mr. Williams married Miss Ann E.
Fling of Money Creek. Her parents had emigrated to that
place from Ohio and to Ohio from Virginia, where Mrs. Williams
was born. Mr. Williams hits a family of ten children, of whom
seven are uoav living, three boys and four girls.
- i far as political matters are concerned, Mr. Williams is
very reserved. He goes to the polls and ca^s his vote on elec-
tion day and that is all. He was an "Old Line Whig" until the
Republican party was formed when he joined that organization.
m'lean county. 329
When lie came toBloomington the population numbered lour
or live hundred persons; but improvements were few indeed
before the railroads came. On his arrival in town Mr. James
Allin offered him the use of an old log cabin to live in for one
year free of rent. It stood near Major's Hall, and was kept for
all new-comers, who had no place to go to. Mr. Williams was
never much of a speculator, but he has made some good invest-
ments, which would perhaps have been better if he had held to
his property longer. He bought of James Allin for seven hun-
dred dollars block No. 108 of Allin's Addition. It had one
hundred and ninety-eight feet front on Washington street, and
was two hundred and forty feet deep. He sold ninety-nine by
one hundred and twenty feet to A. C. Moore for sixteen hundred
dollars, and the north half to Ellsworth and Richardson for six-
teen hundred dollars. It is worth now at least one hundred and
twenty dollars per foot. On this block Mr. Williams' own resi-
dence stands. In 1850 when he contracted to build the First
Methodist Church he bought five acres of timber land in the
school section for thirty-five dollars per acre. After taking from
it one thousand dollars worth of walnut timber and two hun-
dred cords of fire wood he sold it for two hundred dollars to
James Depew. He bought five acres of land in what is now the
Third Ward for sixty dollars. He took from it a great deal of
lumber for business and his fire-wood for sixteen years and sold
it for three hundred dollars; it was afterwards sold with a little
house for fifteen hundred, but its value now is out of all propor-
tion to these figures. He bought the lot of sixty- six feet front
of Judge Davis, where now the Burch House stands, for one
hundred dollars, and worked out the purchase money. At pres-
ent it is worth at least two hundred dollars per foot.
Mr. Williams is a very muscular, hard working man. With
the exception of a little fever and .ague on his first arrival in the
West he has never suffered from sickness. He is rather small
in stature but very active and strong. He has worked at his
trade fifty- four years, and can do a good day's work now. His
eyes are gray and still very good ; he was fifty-four years of age
before he wore spectacles. He has throughout his life sustained
a most honorable reputation, and no man in the community
stands higher than he in this respect. He has been very happy
330 OLD SETTLERS OF
in his domestic life, and has had ten children, of whom seven
are living, and at home. They are :
Rebecca, born October 26, 1839, wife of H. W. Johnson.
John Henry, born June 1, 1841.
Thomas Fling, born October 25, 1850.
Frances Allen, born December 24, 1852.
Charles Edward, born December 11, 1854.
Ida May, born February 8, 1857.
Delia Ora, born February 14, 1859.
The following are dead : George William, born March 7,
1843, died January 8, 1848 ; Mary Frances, born August 6,
1845, died August 29, 1847 . Sarah Allen, born December 25,
1848, died January 16, 1851.
Kersey II. Fell.
Kersey H. Fell was born May 1, 1815, on a farm in Chester
County, Pennsylvania. His ancestors were of old English
Quaker stock, and Mr. Fell is himself a Quaker. All of the
Fells in the United States are descended from Judge Fell, who
came to this country from England in the year 1705.
About forty years ago the Society of Friends was divided
into two sects by the question of slavery. A man named Elias
Hicks, a Unitarian Quaker preacher, agitated for the abolition of
slavery, and was in favor of taking all legal and moral measures
for the purpose of bringing a'oout this result. Those who be-
lieved in this doctrine formed themselves into a separate organ-
ization, and were called "Hieksites," and it was to this
denomination that the Fell family belonged. The other division,
called "Orthodox" Friends, also wished for the abolition of
slavery, but did not think it right to iuterfere in the matter.
They believed that the Lord would in his own good time bring the
wicked system to an end, bu* they did not wish to hasten the
decrees of Providence. Although slavery has been abolished
the division among the Friends still continues. A small organ-
ization of Orthodox Friends exists at Normal and one of the
Hicksite or Liberal order at Benjaminville, but their numbers
are few. Mr. Fell thinks their numbers are decreasing. Mr.
Fell's father was a Friend, and was known as "Honest Jesse
Fell," and his mother, whose maiden name was Rebecca Roman,
m'lean county. 331
was known as a ministering angel, not only in her own society
but among all with whom she became acquainted.
There were nine children in the Fell family, seven boys and
two girls, and it may well be supposed that great exertion was
required to provide for them and educate them properly. Mr.
Fell attended a common school three months iu the year until
he was seventeen. At this time he had the misfortune to dislo-
cate his shoulder which unfitted him for farm work, and he
determined to obtain more schooling. Jonathan Gause, a noble
hearted Friend, kept the West Bradford boarding school in
Pennsylvania, and to him Mr. Fell made application for admis-
sion, but was poor and could not pay his tuition. But Jonathan
took the poor student into his establishment for six months,
though it was contrary to his custom. Mr. Fell promised to pay
some time in the future, and Jonathan answered : "I will trust
thee." Mr. Fell afterwards taught school and earned money to
pay this obligation, and also to obtain money to come West.
He came to Bloomington, Illinois, in the spring of IS-' 1 )*!.
about six months before Judge David Davis came. It was his
purpose to visit his brothers Jesse and Thomas, who had arrived
some time previous, and then go to a Manual Labor College
near Hannibal, Missouri, started by a certain Dr. Stiles Ely, of
Philadelphia, Dr. Stiles Ely was a Presbyterian minister and
a great theorist and his pamphlet, which was widely circulated,
caused a s^reat sensation. But his theory was better than his
practice. He selected the location for his college during a dry
season and did not guard against the chances of rain. During
the following season "the rains descended and the floods came"
and washed his college away, and the people who had gathered
there were obliged to flee to save themselves from drowning.
Dr. Ely lost a fortune in this undertaking, which promised fair
had he selected a better location.
Mr. Fell learned while in Bloomington of the disaster which
overtook Dr. Ely, and, as his plans were broken up, took a situ-
ation as clerk with Messrs. 0. Covel and A. Gridley, merchants.
But it was Mr. Fell's intention to study law and he had by no
means given up his plan. He had occasion to go to Springfield
in the interest of his employers and while there called at the
office of the Hon. J. T. Stuart who was practicing law. Here he
332 OLD SETTLERS OF
ni< r Abraham Lincoln, a young law student. After some con-
versation with young Abraham, Mr. Fell came to the conclusion
that, if Mr. Lincoln could study law with as little education as
he had, Mr. Fell would do the same, and he hesitated no longer.
He read law in his leisure hours. During the following winter
he was appointed clerk with the power to organize DeWitt
County. His appointment was probably made through the influ-
ence of his brother Jesse. Jesse W. Fell and James Miller had
previously laid out the town of Clinton, and they wished it to be
the county seat. The county was formed from parts of Macon
and McLean counties. Mr. Fell kept this position from the
winter of 1838-39 until 1840. During that year all the
Whig judges and clerks were legislated out of office by the
Democrats, and Mr. Fell, being a Whig, was obliged to lose his
position. He went to Bloomington and became deputy clerk of
the circuit court under General Covel, who, being a Democrat,
had been re-appointed to his office. While in this position Mr.
Fell studied law and during the wiuter of 1840-41 he passed
hie examination before the nine judges of the Supreme Court at
Springfield and was admitted to the bar. He speaks very feel-
ingly of the terror he felt while thinking of the ordeal of the
examination when nine pairs of spectacles should be leveled at
him. But they admitted him and made the young and deserving
man happy. Before being admitted to the bar he had formed a
partnership with Albert Dodd, a promising }*oung lawyer from
Connecticut. He and Mr. Dodd continued their partnership
until 1844. During- that year Dodd was drowned in crossing the
Mackinaw River, while returning from a convention at Joliet.
This was the convention which nominated John Wentworth
(Long John) for Congress for the first time. Dodd would prob-
ably have been nominated himself had he lived a little longer.
While he was absent in attendance at the convention Dodd was
nominated in Bloomington for the Legislature. Mr. Fell was at
this time attending court at Springfield and was there detained
by the flood aiid did not learn of his partner's death until ten
days after it occurred. The flood during that year was fearful.
The Mississippi River rose so high that a great part of Cairo
was swept away. After the death of Dodd, Mr. Fell practiced
alone in his profession until the year 1856, when he gave it up,
making room for the generation of voung lawyers.
m'lean county. 833
Mr. Fell belonged to a class of lawyers which it is feared
does not include the entire legal profession. He always tried to
settle a case before taking it into court. There is a German
proverb which says : "A meager making up is better than a fat
law suit." Whether Mr. Fell ever heard of this we do not
know ; but he always did what he could to arrange matters
fairly and impartially without taking the case into court. He
thinks this should be the lawyer's course, and that it really pays
better in the end ; for by settling cases fairly he sometimes
gained his opponents for his clients. "Blessed are the peace-
makers."
In the fall of 1844, after the death of Albert Dodd, Mr. Fell
took the young man's books, papers and correspondence to his
father in Connecticut. When he arrived in Hartford, the people
were having a great time with the Millerites. The day after his
arrival there was the one set by Miller for the end of the world
and was a time of great excitement. Many of the followers of
Miller had given away all of their property, expecting to need
it no longer, and were standing around the streets in Ions: gar-
ments, expecting the call which should translate them to another
world. Mr. Fell retired late that evening, as he had watched
pretty sharply for the angel which was to bring on the millennium.
At a late hour the angel had not put in an appearance and Mr.
Fell went to sleep. The next morning he was awakened by the
most fearful sound that ever smote his ears. He sprang up
thinking that the millennium must certainly have come, but
found that the noise proceeded from a hotel gong, which was the
first he had ever heard.
From Hartford Mr. Fell went to New York where the Whig
convention, which nominated Henry Clay for President, was in
session. At this convention were some of the great lights of
the Whig party. They formed a procession through the city,
which required two hours in passing a single point. In order
to obtain a good view of it Mr. Fell climbed up on a corner of
the fence surrounding the square and, as the weather was severe,
he was alternately frozen with cold and warmed with excite-
ment. All of the trades were represented in this proces-
sion. The printers struck off bills and dispatches and scattered
them among the crowd, and each of the trades was distinguished
334 OLD SETTLERS OF
in an appropriate manner. The crowd along the line of march
was partially composed of Democrats, who attempted at times
to hinder and annoy the procession, and occasionally succeeded >
but when the butchers passed along their brawny and muscular
appearance made the crowd respectfully give way !
In the evening a grand meeting was held out of doors,
and a large platform was erected for the distinguished lights of
the party. When many strangers had spoken, a loud call was
made for Horace Greeley. Mr. Greeley came forward. He was
then a tall, slender young man, with light hair, a white face, and
dressed in a plain suit of drab. His speech was short, but it
went to the root of the matter, and touched the heart of the
people.
From New York Mr. Fell went to Philadelphia, and from
there to Chester County, where he found the lady who was to
be his wife. They were married in Philadelphia on the first day
of January, 1845. Her name was Jane Price. Her family came
from old English stock. Mr. Fell has a happy family of eight
children, five boys and three girls.
Mr. Fell's parents came "West with the entire family in 1837.
His mother died in October, 1846, and his father, who was totally
blind during the last twelve years of his life, died in the fall of
1853. The children took pride in making the last years of the
old gentleman's life pleasant, and sustained him on his down
hill journey.
Mr. Fell has never been a candidate for any public office, or
sought one. He has great aversion to seeking office and would
not work or scheme for one, however lucrative. He has held
some offices but they have involved much work and no pay.
In 1856, at the State Convention in Bloomington, Mr. Fell
nominated Abraham Lincoln as a delegate to the National Con-
vention at Philadelphia. Lincoln arose and declined on account
of his poverty and business engagements ; but he consented to
go if his business would allow him, when Mr. Fell promised that
his expenses should be paid. At last it was arranged that in
case Lincoln could not leave, Mr. Fell should go in his place.
About two hours before the time to start Mr. Fell received a
dispatch from Lincoln, saying that the latter was unable to leave,
and Mr. Fell therefore went in his place. At this convention
m'lean county. 335
Lincoln received one hundred and fifteen votes on the first bal-
lot for Vice President. But on the second ballot his name was
withdrawn by the Illinois delegation, with the intention of put-
ting him forward at some future day for President.
Mr. Kersey Fell was probably the first man who thought
seriously of making Abraham Lincoln a candidate for President
of the United States. He mentioned the matter first to his
brother Jesse, but the latter did not immediately think favorably
of the matter. But after a little reflection he favored it and
spoke of it to Judge David Davis. Mr. Davis did not at first
think well of it, but after some steps were taken to bring Mr.
Lincoln's name before the public, Mr. Davis favored the move-
ment strongly and worked with all his might to make it suc-
cessful. Mr. K. H. Fell mentioned the matter of Lincoln's
proposed candidacy to Judge Joseph J. Lewis of West Chester,
Pennsylvania, and Judge Lewis wrote a biography of Mr. Lin-
coln which was widely circulated. The items and information
for this biography were furnished by Mr. Jesse W. Fell. Mr.
Kersey Fell did everything in his power to forward Lincoln's
chances, and called out his name as a candidate for president at
a mass meeting held at "West Chester, Pennsylvania. Mr. Fell
spared no exertions, and in 1860 the object was accomplished
and Mr. Lincoln was nominated by the Republican party at
Chicago and triumphantly elected by the nation. Mr. Fell was
long and intimately acquainted with Mr. Lincoln, and states what
is well known to the legal profession, that if Lincoln thought he
was right in any case in which he was engaged he was invin-
cible; but if he thought his cause unjust he was weak and his
arguments without force. He was oue of the most tender-
hearted of men. While on his circuit in the village of Pontiac,
the hotel where he stayed was crowded and he slept in a small
detached house. The night was stormy, and a little cat outside
made a pitiful noise and wished to come in. The thought of the
suffering cat troubled Lincoln so much that he could not sleep
until he had opened the door and let the poor creature in.
Mr. Fell did not take part in the canvass of 1860 as his health
was very poor. During that year he went to Europe, visiting
Switzerland, Vienna, and many other interesting places, but
returned in the fall to cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln.
336 OLD SETTLERS OF
Mr. Fell has filled many positions with more benefit to the
community than profit to himself. He is now a member of the
Board of Education of Bloomington and attends to the duties
of his position with fidelity. He knows the value of an educa-
tion and struggled hard for it when in youth, and he is anxious
that the children of to-day shall all of them have a chance to
learn.
Mr. Fell is not a large man in appearance and is slenderly
built, but he is well proportioned and very active. His hair is
gray and his beard is almost white. His nose is aquiline and is
bridged with spectacles when he reads or writes. He is a deep
thinker and forms his opinions with great care. Good nature
appears in his countenance and there are few men in the com-
munity so much respected and honored.
"William F. Flagg.
William F. Flagg was born April 2, 1808, on a farm in
Boilston township, Worcester County, Massachusetts, about
forty miles from Boston. His ancestors came from English
stock. His grandfathers were both soldiers in the Revolution-
ary war. He had four brothers and one sister ; of these, his
sister and two brothers are yet living. He received his scanty
education in a district school until he was eighteen years of age.
He then went to Worcester to learn his trade of architect and
builder. While there he was employed by his master on
churches and public buildings for three years. This terminated
his apprenticeship. He then went to work on his own account.
At the age of twenty-five he married Miss Sarah Walker of
Natick. This place is twenty miles from Boston, and is the
home of Henry Wilson, the Vice President elect. At that time
Mr. Wilson was working at his trade as a cobbler.
In 1836 Mr. Flagg determined to go West. Before going
he traded his property in Worcester for some in Bloomington,
and in course of time his trade turned out to be very profitable.
He came to Bloomington alone in August, 1836, and his family
followed in the spring of 1837. He immediately engaged in
his trade as a builder, and in 1837 built a court house for Putnam
County. During the following year he built a court house for
Tazewell County, and in 1839 and 1840, he built a court house
m'lean county. 337
and jail at LaSalle. During this year he bought one hundred
and seventy acres of land northeast of Blooraington (joining the
city limits) for which he paid $4,000. This was considered an ex-
orbitant price, but since then he has received as much as two
thousand dollars for a single acre laid out in building lots.
Ground was first broken for the Illinois Central Railroad in
front of Mr. Flagg's door in June, 1852, and cars were running
the following year. He formerly owned a tract of land em-
bracing the present location of the Lafayette depot, and in 1847
he built on it saw mills and machine shops. In 1855 he built
the Bloomington Works, now owned by K. II. Fell & Co.
He managed these works until the year 1865. From 1865 to
1870 he was engaged in laying out second and third additions to
Bloomington, and he built and caused to be built about one hun-
dred residences. In 1856 he, in connection with Judge Davis
and William II. Allin, laid out the so-called Durley addition.
In 1870 Mr. Flagg built the Empire Machine Works, close
to the Illinois Central Railroad. They are carried on under the
name and style of the company of the Empire Machine Works.
They keep one hundred men constantly engaged in manufactur-
ing agricultural implements and building materials, and are in-
deed a credit to the city.
Mr. Flagg has been twice married and has an interesting
family of three sons and two daughters living.
He tells a curious anecdote of Mr. Lincoln. In 1848 Mr.
Flagg commenced manufacturing reapers and was sued for an
infringement of patent by C. W. McCormick, and damages were
laid at $20,000. Abraham Lincoln was employed as counsel for
the defendant. The suit was carried on for two years in the
United States Court at Springfield, and Mr. McCormick was
finally beaten. Shortly after this Mr. Lincoln met Mr. Flagg
on the street in Bloomington and sauntered into the latter's shop.
Mr. Flagg asked how mueh the attorney's fee would be. Mr.
Lincoln leaned on the counter, rested his head on his arm, and
after a little consideration said : " I think ten dollars will pay
me for my trouble !" Mr. Flagg says that nothing could induce
Mr. Lincoln to take more and adds : " At the present day our
lawyers would have demanded just about one thousand !"
22
338 OLD SETTLERS OF
When Mr. Flagg came to Illinois every event was dated from
the Black Hawk war. In this war a man named McCullough
was high private. Among the many incidents related of this
war, it is said that when our soldiers first went out to meet the
Indians the latter made so 3trong an attack that our men became
terrified and took to their heels ; but McCullough, the high pri-
vate, alone stood the fire, and was not afraid to meet the enemy.
This circumstance is a little exaggerated, but it will do to tell as
a story.
Mr. Flagg is rather above the medium height. He is broad-
shouldered and well built. He has a sharply pointed nose and
a penetrating eye. Business and speculation are seen in his
countenance. He gives one the impression that where many
will lose money he will make some. His beard and hair are
turning gray, but his spirit is as strong as ever. The new resi-
dence which he is erecting shows him to be as energetic and ac-
tive as in his youthful days.
John Edward McClun.
John Edward McClun was born on the nineteenth of Feb-
ruary, 1812, in Frederick County, Virginia. His ancestors on
his father's side were members of the Society of Friends. His
mother's father, whose name was Bailey, was a soldier in the
Revolutionary war, and died in the army. John Edward was the
youngest son of a family of eight children, seven boys and one
girl ; the latter was an adopted daughter. The circumstances
of the family were far from easy, and in early life young John
worked hard. His father died when John was only seven or
eight years of age, and the family was obliged to toil hard for
support.
It is worthy of remark that a very large proportion of the
men who are successful in life have had good mothers, and very
many, if not all, of our old settlers speak of their mothers with
affection and reverence. Judge McClun says : " If I have
anything commendable in my character I certainly owe it all
under God to my mother ; she taught me to be honest, and I
have tried so to live ; she taught me always to be employed at
something, and I have tried to be industrious ; she taught me to
speak evil of no man or woman so far as I could avoid it, and
m'lean county. 339
the observance of that rule has wonderfully smoothed the as-
perities of my life ; she taught me the fear of the Lord, and I
have always been able to realize through a long life that God
was around and about my pathway." She must indeed have
been an excellent lady and a woman of great moral elevation,
for she made an impression upon her son in his tender years,
which is deep and decided after the lapse of half a century.
Young John was a great pet with his brothers, and when
they came home from work he was in the habit of running out
to meet them to be carried back by them in triumph. He re-
members particularly his brother Jefferson, whose death affected
him very much, and he describes it now as the " most tender
event of his whole life."
Young John wished an education, but the way to get it was
a puzzle. He was eighteen years of age when, by the greatest
economy on his own part and the greatest sacrifice on the part
of his mother, he was sent to the Middletown common school.
The accommodations were none of the best. The school-house
was made of logs daubed with clay, and the benches had no
backs. The schoolmaster is described as a " small, spare, sharp-
visaged young man, with eyes approaching in color to green."
His new scholar did not appear to much advantage. John was
but recently recovered from a severe illness and his color was
cadaverous. He wore a long-tailed drab overcoat which ex-
tended to his feet, and had a number of old-fashioned capes
falling in succession about his shoulders. Nevertheless he was
a good scholar, and made rapid headway with his lessons. When
spring came he left school and went to work, but even then he
did not neglect his books. He studied his grammar while plow-
ing, and says that " while those fat, lazy horses belonging to the
man to whom I was hired at seven dollars per month, were turn-
ing at. the end of the furrow, I was busy with my grammar, and
by the end of the season I had committed the whole to memo-
ry. * * * Necessity is the mother of invention,' and the tail
of the plow after all is not a bad place to study grammar."
In the fall he returned to school, where he made rapid pro-
gress, and the next year obtained a situation as a teacher in a
little log school-house. In a little room about eighteen feet
square were forty scholars of all ages from six to twenty-one.
340 OLD SETTLERS OF
The text books used in the school were written by a great varie-
ty of authors. Pike, Jess, Parke and Dabold had written arith-
metics, and thev were all used in the school. The schoolmaster
had to be lively to do all the " sums."- Mr. McClun taught
school three years and then determined to come West. He
started on horseback, and after traveling through some of the
Western States he returned for his mother. Thev started in a
little two-horse wagon in October, 1835. But winter set in be-
fore they could get through to Illinois, and Mr. McClun left his
mother at his brother Robert's residence in Indiana, and went
on to Springfield, Illinois, where he arrived on the fourth of
December.
Judge McClun describes Illinois very particularly. He says
that the population of the State was then about two hundred
and fifty thousand. The improvements consisted of log cabins
near the groves while the prairies were bare. The grass grew
high, and the deer and wolves roamed in droves, with little to
molest or make them afraid. The streams were unbridged,
crossings were difficult, teams were swamped in the sloughs and
had to be pulled out by oxen. The people lived plainly and
simply ; the men wore home-made clothing, and the garments
of the ladies were sometimes of the same material and some-
times of the cheaper kind of store goods. The oxen that broke
the prairie were frequently used to draw the people to church.
Preaching was held at the private houses, for meeting houses
were not built except in a few of the towns.
In the summer time the °rreen-head flies made traveling: across
the prairies difficult and even dangerous. Mails were seldom,
and newspapers few. Chicago was a village of a few shanties
on Lake Michigan. The houses of the most wealthy consisted
usuallv of one room. A loe; fire ten feet long; warmed the fami-
]y, cooked the provisions, and rendered the bed room comforta-
ble. The eating, sleeping and cooking were all done in one
room, and that with the greatest propriety. " The family, the
workhands and the visitors all lodged in close proximity to one-
another, and without much trouble. The men generally retired
first, and afterwards the ladies. Everything was not only done
decently and in order but with the utmost delicacy and proprie-
ty. This manner of life in no way contributed to indelicacy, for
m'lean county. 341
nearly all men would be gentlemen under such circumstances.
The people were for the most part a moral and religious people,
and Christianity was universally respected."
When the stranger remained over night at one of these log
cabins, he might at first be rendered uneasy by the roughness
of the people, and by the guns upon the hooks, but when a
blessing was asked at supper he would feel reassured. Such was
Illinois in 1835, given partly in Judge McClun's own language.
Springfield was then a lively place, as the capitol of the State
was soon to be taken there from Vandalia. It was full of ad-
venturers and speculators. John T. Stuart was then a rising
lawyer and politician. Stephen A. Douglas, who was then com-
mencing the practice of law in Jacksonville, sometimes made
his appearance in Springfield. He was described as " a very
boyish looking little giant." Abraham Lincoln was then living
at Salem, in Sangamon County.
During Mr. McClun's first winter in Illinois he could find
nothing to do, and his money melted rapidly away. At last he
met a young man named Thorp, who had contracted for a stock
of goods, provided he could give security, and asked Mr. McClun
tobecome his bail ! The latter agreed to the arrangement and
the goods were actually forwarded on the credit of these two pen-
niless young men ! Young Thorp went East for his wife, and Mr.
McClun sold the goods at a fair profit and paid the parties who
had so strangeh' trusted them. Being disappointed in a mer-
cantile partnership with a friend from Virginia, Mr. McClun
finally found business in Waynesville, McLean County, where
he entered the store of David Duncan as a clerk. This was dur-
ing the last of June, 1836. Waynesville, though a new town,
did considerable business even at that early day. The town,
however, had no tavern, no church, no school house, and no post
office. The nearest post office was at Bloomington. Dry goods
and groceries were sold in considerable quantities, and whisky
and tobacco were in great demand. Saturday was the great day
of trade, and then the people came in from all quarters to pur-
chase the necessaries of life, discuss politics, talk about their
farms, wrestle, run foot races, run horses, &c, and a Saturday
that wound up without a fight was considered very dull. Nev-
ertheless, even then "Waynesville contained some fine families,
342 OLD SETTLERS OP
whom anyone might have been proud to number among his
friends.
Judge McClun first saw Bloomington in the fall of 1836, but
did not locate here until the spring of 1837, when he went into
business on his own account as a merchant. He describes the
place at that time as follows :
"It was even then, young and new as it was, a beautiful little
city set upon a hill. It contained about three hundred inhabi-
tants. The houses were small, plain and cheaply built, yet they
were painted white, which gave to the place an air of neatness
and beauty. The improvements were then on Front street and
south of that. There was nothing on the public square but the
old brick court house then being built. The slough north of
the bridge where Bridge Fork now is was a wide marsh. Pone
Hollow was also a marsh, even wider than the other. The grove
extended in a scattering manner up to Grove street. The prai-
rie came up to the town in a state of nature, except a few farms.
The deer roamed at large on the prairie, and the wolves
howled a chorus in what is now the heart of the town. Quails
and prairie chickens were plenty. Rattlesnakes crawled through
the town, and now and then the bull snake, that monster of the
prairie, would crawl into the very heart of the city. One single
buggy, and only one, was in the county of McLean. We had
no gold watches nor gold chains. We had no sidewalks, and
when the roads became muddy we put our pants in the tops of
our boots and launched fearlessly forth into the great deep.
When I came to Bloomington David Davis had just succeeded
J. W. Fell in the practice of the law. General Covel and Col-
onel Gridley were prominent and leading citizens. James Allin
was the most prominent man of the place, and the wealthiest
citizen. Dr. Henry was here, and Doctors Anderson and Haines
were practicing physicians. Dr. Baker was clerk of the Circuit
Court, and Welcome P. Brown was Probate Judge and city
Postmaster. Ort, Covel was selling goods and William H. Tem-
ple was a young man in a store. Rev. Mr. Foster preached and
taught in the old Academy, and John Rockhold made shingles
for the newly made houses. Allen Withers merchandized, and
William Dimmitt lived upon the site he now occupies, which
was then a great ways from town. A. Brokaw was working as
m'lean county. 343
a journeyman and Gaylord kept the old tavern. The old Meth-
odist church was then being built, and the Rev. Zadoc Hall was
the circuit rider. John Magoun had just come. He laid the
brick for the city and country, and did the plastering with old
Mr. Guthrie, of the same profession. William G. Thompson
and Benjamin Haines were here, and Wilson Allin had already
built a mill."
On the last day of January, 1839, Mr. McClun married Han-
nah Harkness.
His mercantile adventure in Bloomington had prospered
well, so far, but the hard times came, the most severe ever
known in the West. Judge McClun says that the summer of
1842 was "the bottom of the distress." It was customary for
the merchants to receive pork in payment of goods, but with the
fall prices the pork they had accepted became almost worthless.
Mr. McClun went to Baltimore, where he had shipped his pork,
and found the times there even worse. He says: "If the West
was prostrate, the East was in even a worse fix. Commercial
distress was everywhere felt and everywhere seen. Failures
were an hourly occurrence, and there was no reliable money but
gold and silver, and it was locked up. Manufactories had
stopped and their goods were thrown upon the market at ruin-
ous prices. Everything was completely prostrate. I have never
seen the like before nor since. My pork could not be sold even
to realize the cost of transportation." This condition of things
troubled the young merchant very much, but he bore the storm
and was successful in the end. He understood his business and
managed it well. He had credit even in the darkest times. At
one time, when he was so closely pushed that he did not himself
dare to ask for credit, and when almost his only assets were
depreciated Illinois money, he saw his creditors in Philadelphia
and told them his circumstances. When he had done so a good
old Quaker merchant said to him : "I believe thou art an honest '
man, and we will do the best we can for thee." They let him
have a new stock of goods, and he showed by his good manage-
ment that their confidence was well placed.
On the first of June, 1843, the mother of Judge McClun,
who had followed her son to Bloomington, passed from earth to
a happier world than this. She had taken a cold during the
344 OLD SETTLERS OF
preceding fall, which resulted in a quick consumption, and she
saw her change approaching and was reconciled to death. Judge
McClun says : "During the month of May when the flowers
were out and the birds singing, she asked me to take her to the
door that she might look once more on this beautiful world, and
it was her last look, unless she has since looked down from the
hills of immortality."
In 1843-44 the merchants began to recover from the shock
given by the hard times. Confidence was restored and people
were again prosperous. During this year political excitement
was very high, though not so high as during the campaign of
1840. The cock was the emblem of the Democrats and the coon
that of the Whigs, and when a Democratic victory was an-
nounced the cock was crowing over the coon, and when the
Whigs were victorious the coon was eating the cock. Henry
Clay was the candidate of the Whigs, but he was doomed to
defeat, for James K. Polk was carried through by the feeling in
favor of the Mexican war.
Judge McClun has had some experience with the law and his
advice to all persons is to keep out of its entanglements. The
intention is to make the law a rule of right, but there is a "glo-
rious uncertainty" in the practice.
Mr. McClun obtained the mail contracts from 1842 to 1846,
of all routes coming into Bloomington or passing through it,
and by careful management he was enabled to do quite well with
them. All these mails were carried on horseback, except the
one from Peoria to Danville, which was taken in two-horse coaches.
They were carried three times a week, with considerable regu-
larity. Carrying the mail was sometimes attended with great
difficulty. The sloughs were unbridged and the carriages were
sometimes swamped in them and had to be pulled out by oxen.
Sometimes when the roads were very bad the drivers would put
the mail in a queensware crate on the fore-wheels of a wagon ;
to this they would attach three horses, and go through. The
lead-horse was usually able to reach solid ground and pull the
remainder of the concern after him. The drivers were some-
times lost on dark nights and during snow storms. They were
occasionally stopped by swollen streams, and in cold weather
they often frosted their ears, noses and feet.
M'LEAN COUNTY.
345
But Judge McClun did pretty well with his contracts. Oats
cost only eight or ten cents per bushel and hay three or four
dollars per ton, while good horses could be obtained for forty or
fifty dollars a piece. All other expenses were in this proportion,
so that the very things which were disastrous to the country
made his mail contracts profitable.
In 1849 Mr. McClun was elected County Judge. The vote
polled at that election was 1,365 for the whole county aud there
was a full turn out. He held the office until the spring of 1852
when he found himself unable to endure the confinement, and
resigned. He attended faithfully to the duties of his ofiice
while he held it, although it subjected him to a great deal of
trouble and annoyance.
In 1852 the Illinois Central Railroad passed through Bloom-
ington, and cars commenced running. A great change took
place ; land became valuable, and real estate of all kinds rose in
the market.
In 1852 Judge McClun was elected to the Legislature and
was re-elected at the end of his term. He served until the end
of the session of 1857. During this term he served four years
on the State Board of Agriculture. At this time, too, he was
superintendent of a Sunday.School, an active steward in the
church and a live member of the McLean County Agricultural
Society. He took a great interest in the organization of the
Sons of Temperance, and in many other matters of public impor-
tance. It will thus be seen that he had enough to think of
during his leisure hours ! He was also a trustee of the Wes-
leyan University, and this institution being still in its infancy
greatly taxed his time and energy. His experience as an office-
holder has taught him not to seek for promotion in official life,
for there is very little in it but vanity and vexation of spirit. It
is well known that Judge McClun has accepted the various pub-
lic positions, which have been offered him, simply as duties to
be performed, and that when his term of service expired, he
asked only to be relieved of the responsibilities of public life.
He was chairman of the first Board of Supervisors in 1858,
after the county adopted township organization, and has always
favored this system of managing county business.
346 OLD SETTLERS OF
In politics he was an 'Old Line Whig, and afterwards a
Republican, but during the last campaign he acted with the
Democrats and Liberals. In early days he took a particular
interest in the emancipation of the slaves, and when, during the
war, the proclamation was made that freed the slaves no one was
more gratified than he.
Judge McClun takes the greatest interest in Bloomington
and McLean County, and, indeed, in the whole State. Their
progress and their prospects are very dear to him. He ha3 seen
the city grow up from an insignificant village: he has seen the
county changed from a wilderness to one of the leading counties
in the State, and he has seen the State increase from two hundred
and fifty thousand people to two and a half millions. He says :
"I have been in Illinois for almost thirty-eight years. The wil-
derness and solitary places have been made glad, and the desert
has blossomed as the rose, and yet the next thirty-eight years
will be just as full of changes and improvements. Bloomington
now has twenty thousand inhabitants, and then it will have fifty
thousand souls. Her manufactories will be sending up their
smoke from her workshops in all parts of the city. The spires
of her new churches will be pointing towards heaven, and sur-
rounding lands, now cultivated as farms, will be covered with
houses."
It will be seen in the foregoing sketch that Judge McClun 13
a man of the strictest integrity in his business, and he is no less
careful as a father of a family. We re-produce here some of
the advice given by him to his children, although it was not
written for publication :
"Hear, my children, a few words of advice from your father.
Be honest in all the transactions of your life to the smallest
fraction. Do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Be known as gentlemen and ladies wherever you are known. It
is a very easy matter to point out a well-bred gentleman or lady
anywhere, and I hope you will always be so distinguished. Say
all the good you can of every person, and as little harm as pos-
sible ; and, especially of women-kind, never even listen to an
evil report. This rule, so far as I have kept it, has wonderfully
smoothed the pathway of my life. Never be idle, pitch into any
kind of honorable employment rather than be seen idle. Idle-
ness has been the first cause of the downfall of most of the men
m'lean county. 347
and women I have known ruined. Avoid bad habits of every
kind, and especially the use of intoxicating drinks and tobacco.
Endeavor to make everybody happy. Courtesy and kind words
cost nothing, and yet are of great value. Make the world a
little better as you pass through it. Cultivate self-government
and self-control. Govern yourselves and then you may influ-
ence people around you. Let your thoughts be pure thoughts,
and then indeed will your lives be pure lives. Be modest. How
I love to see modesty. Do not talk too much ; the silent people
get through the world best. Even a fool, Solomon says, will be
counted wise if he but holds his tongue. Don't seek office. If
positions be thrust upon you, fill them like men, but do not be
office-seekers. Say no, emphatically, and without hesitation,
when you ought to say it. Never read obscene books or listen
to obscene stories. Be saving in your expenses and study econ-
omy in your families. A little saved in the beginning of your
life will make you rich in the end. Love your homes. Make
them your delight, yea, your heaven upon earth and let thern be
models of neatness and happiness. Be kind to the poor, and
considerate to the unfortunate, for you know not how soon you
may be in their condition. Above all make a public profession
of Christ, and serve God with a perfect heart and a willing
mind. The Christian's faith will make you strong to withstand
the troubles and disappointments of life. It will be your conso-
lation in sorrows, bereavements and death, and constantly point
you to that bright and beautiful land, where your parents are
gone, and where, if virtuous and good, we will again be
united as a family. How sweet the thought to meet again as
parents and children in Heaven's Eternal Home."
As to personal appearance, Judge McClunis about the medium
height; has broad shoulders; his forehead is broad; his nose
is aquiline and very prominent; he wears spectacles when he
reads or writes ; his hair and beard were once dark but now are
turning gray. Good nature is stamped on his face ; he has a
hearty, polite manner of speaking, and it is very evident that
his politeness is that of the heart. His voice is melodious and
pleasant, and gives confidence to the bashful; he loves mankind
and especially children, and wishes earnestly to see people
happy and made better. He is straightforward in every trans-
348 OLD SETTLERS OF
action, and no one stands higher throughout the country than
he. For twenty years he was superintendent of the Methodist
Sunday-School in Blooinington.
Judge McClun has had eleven children, of whom five are
living. They are :
Elisha EL, married and lives in Bloomiugton.
Isaac B., married and lives in Bloomington.
Robert, lives at home.
Esther E., wife of Foreman Martin, lives in Chicago.
Edward, lives at home.
Abraham Brokav.
Abraham Brokaw was born November 6, 1815, on a farm in
Somerset County, New Jersey. His father was of French and
Dutch descent. His great grandfather was a Huguenot who
emigrated from France to Holland at an early day on account
of religious persecution. It is now pretty well understood
among civilized people that each man is to be held accountable
for his opinion of the great Hereafter, only to the Supreme
Being, who rules the Universe. But in early days the French
held the paternal theory that the State should kindly relieve its
citizens of the trouble of thinking for themselves in religious
matters. They thought they would glorify God and lay up
treasure in heaven by burning or banishing heretics on earth.
The Huguenots, who insisted on being the guardians of their
own consciences, were the best of French citizens; they were
the artizans whose skill made France the " grand nation," the
most eminent among the kingdoms of the earth. They man-
aged the looms and spindles and were engaged in various useful
trades, and in return they asked only the privilege of worship-
ping God as they thought proper. But this was not to be ; they
were expelled from their country and settled principally in Hol-
land and in the various German States. Mr. Brokaw's great
grandfather settled in Holland and the family became identified
in all its interests with the thrifty and enterprising Hutch. But
America was at last the resting-place of the persecuted Hugue-
not. He came here, and here the family has displayed that same
industry and real love of work which characterized the artizans
m'lean county. 349
of France. William Brokaw, the father of Abraham, was of
French and Dutch descent, and his wife, the mother of Abra-
ham, was descended from the Dutch. She was a quiet and un-
assuming lady, but very industrious. She was a very religious
woman and belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. All of
the letters which she wrote to her son gave evidence of her deep
religious convictions, although she never asked him to join any
church, being willing to rely on his own judgment in that matter.
She died of palsy in New Jersey in 1843, when she was about
forty-five years of age. Mr. Brokaw does not belong to any
religious denomination, but is a supporter of the Second Pres-
byterian Church.
Mr. Brokaw's early education was not extended and was
finished when he was twelve years of age. He was obliged to
depend upon his industry and his good sense to make his way in
the world. He worked on his father's farm until the age of
eighteen, when he was apprenticed as a wheelwright to Darius
Gilmore of Mechanicsville. In 1836 Mr. Gilmore came to the
West bringing Abraham with him. As the wagons were heavily
loaded the latter was obliged to walk. At that time the Mor-
mon excitement was very high and proselytes to the faith of
Joe Smith were coming from all directions. Mr. Gilmore and
Abraham were often mistaken for Mormons. Mr. Gilmore went
to Springfield and there Mr. Brokaw finished his apprenticeship
under another master. But the wages he earned belonged to
Mr. Gilmore. Mr. Brokaw had then become a workman of great
skill ; he earned the very highest wages, but they were drawn
by his old master.
In October, 1836, Mr. Brokaw's apprenticeship came to an
end, and he began to calculate for himself. During the Novem-
ber following he formed a partnership with one Jacob Leader,
and they came to Bloomington on foot to try their fortunes. Mr.
Brokaw carried with him a letter of introduction to Lewis Bunn
and found the latter out in the woods making charcoal. The
exercise of walking had flushed Abraham's cheeks, and when he
presented the letter, was directed to read it. When it was
finished Mr. Bunn looked at the flushed cheeks of young Abra-
ham and said : " I do not thank my friend for sending me a
drinking man !" but was satisfied when he learned that the
350 OLD SETTLERS OF
flush was not produced by wine or rye whisky, but by youth and
health and exercise. The young wheelwrights, Brokaw and
Leader, employed Lewis Bunn to build them a shop, and de-
posited fifty dollars with him to buy lumber for them to com-
mence their business. But shortly afterwards they returned to
Springfield and while there Mr. Leader became afraid of their
contract with Bunn, and as the hard times were coming on and
banks were breaking he backed out. Mr. Brokaw also wished
to withdraw from the contract and offered Mr. Bunn the fifty
dollars which had been deposited with him, but the latter refused
to accept it. Mr. Bunn built the shop on his own land and
leased it to Mr. Brokaw who had returned to Bloomington. Mr.
Brokaw opened business. He made the first wagon manufac-
tured in McLean County, for Elijah Hedrick of Randolph Grove,
but it was sold to Dr. Thomas Karr. During the next six years
Mr. Brokaw worked very hard, but it seemed almost impossible
to accumulate anything or even pay running expenses, on ac-
count of the hard times. In 1843 Mr. Brokaw bought two lots,
where the People's Bank now stands, of James Miller, for
seventy dollars in cash and fifty-five dollars in work. They were
each sixty-six feet by one hundred and fifteen. Here Mr. Bro-
kaw kept his shops for twenty-five years. In 1869 he sold eighty-
two by ninety-three feet of these lots to the People's Bank Com-
pany for twenty-five thousand dollars. In 1839 or '40 he bought
ten acres of fine timber land near Bloomington for ten dollars an
acre, and after hauling from it a large quantity of lumber sold
it for fifteen hundred dollars. He bought a one-third interest in
the shops, where he is now located, of Lewis Bunn, for six thous-
and dollars.
On the twentieth of October, 1847, Mr. Brokaw was married
in Janesville, Wisconsin, to Miss Eunice Ellsworth, the sister of
his partner, Ellsworth, who died rather more than a year ago.
She has been his pleasant and loving companion ever since.
Mr. Brokaw has had very little to do with politics and has
held only one office of any note. He was trustee of Blooming-
ton in 1845 and '46 under the old organization of the town. In
politics he is a Democrat, of the strictest kind. He voted for
Horace Greeley during the last campaign, because Greeley was
nominated at Baltimore.
m'lean county. 851
Mr. Brokaw leads a very even life and one day is very much
like another. He is a man of medium height, well set and
muscular. He is very quiet in his manners, is strictly honest in
his dealings, is rather bald, wears glasses in the evening, works
as hard as ever, and indeed he could never be content without
work. He is the oldest mechanic in the county, and by his skill,
industry and patience he has acquired a fortune and has fairly
earned the wealth he enjoys.
• Andrew W. Scogin.
One of the earliest and best known settlers of McLean
County was Andrew W. Scogin. He was born in 1823 in Crosby
Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, about thirteen miles from
Cincinnati. Like many of the early settlers he was a farmer's
boy. His grandfather and his father, Joel Scogin, had been
farmers, and young Andrew was early taught to follow the plow.
His paternal grandfather was a Welchrnan, while his mother's
father was Irish. The family of which Andrew was a member
was large, there being fifteen children, eight sons and seven
daughters ; he was therefore not obliged in his youth to pine in
solitude like the good little boy of a Sunday school book. He
received a common school education up to his fourteenth year.
"We are not told whether or not Andrew was attentive to his
books ; probably he had the alphabet, the primer and the spell-
ing book cuffed into his head in the usual style, for Mark Twain,
who is good authority on this subject, intimates that the useful,
enterprising men are those who have been well threshed in early
youth. "When he was fourteen years of age he came with his
uncle, Joseph Wakefield, to McLean County, Illinois. Mr.
Wakefield bought one hundred and eighty acres of land at Ran-
dolph's Grove, built a log house on it and allowed young Andrew
to work to his heart's content. Young Andrew, being very
independent, soon became a farmer on his own account. Part
of his land he obtained by purchase, and part he obtained by
his wife, and has in all about six hundred acres. Farming in
those days was not very profitable business, as the price of wheat
varied from forty to seventy-five cents per bushel. The only
markets were Chicago, Peoria and Pekin. Chicago was the
usual market, and the settlers, while going, clubbed together and
352 OLD SETTLERS OF
made a caravan of ten or twenty teams. They did this for com-
mon protection and in order to help each other through the
sloughs. The round trip to Chicago and return was usually
made in about two weeks. During their journey they did not
enjoy the luxury of a public house on the road, for none was
kept, and if any had existed it would not have been patronized,
for the settlers had no money to pay hotel bills. They took their
pots and frying pans and camped out. At night they made fires
to keep off the wolves, that sometimes came smelling around
their camp, and in the day-time the settlers followed the trail,
careless, happy and free. There were then plenty of deer, and
the camp was usually supplied with venison steak. There were
plenty of prairie rattle-snakes too, which were killed by dozens.
The early settlers were free from a great many things which dis-
turb more settled and civilized life. The State of Illinois was
in early days undisturbed by discussion upon temperance laws
and Sunday liquor laws. People had no beer to drink and
whisky was a rare article. Mr. Scogin became possessed of the
title of Captain, which of course confers great honor upon the
lucky possessor. Shortly after the Mexican war the military
fever ran high, and it was thought best by some to revive the
militia. A company was organized in McLean County, and Mr.
Scogin was chosen captain ; but the experiment was a failure.
People do not like to "play soldier." The Captain has an in-
teresting family of six children, and lives at the west end of
Blooming Grove, where he has resided since 1847.
As the old settlers are all pleasant and social in their dispo-
sition, we should think they might have a reunion, an old settlers'
meeting. We are sure Captain Scogin would shine in such an
assembly, and perhaps he might give the company a speech and
tell the condition of things forty years ago. We can imagine
his genial countenance as he would rise and say :
" Gentleman — For nearly forty years have I sojourned in
this magnificent prairie State. Forty years ago the deer roamed
over these western wilds seldom disturbed by the crack of the
huntsman's rifle, and the mink and the otter reveled at their own
sweet will amid the primeval frog-ponds. Forty years ago was
heard the music of the goose and the sandhill crane. Forty
years ago the coon and the opossum curled their tails in peace
m'lban county. 353
and harmony amid these western wilds. Forty years ago the
bear and the panther reared their hopeful cubs where now the
seat of justice stands. Forty years ago the musical howl of the
prairie-wolf arose on the stilly night where now the chords of
the pianos trill sweeter than the harp of a thousand strings.
Forty years ago the rattlesnake and the copperhead, the blue-
racer and the massasauger wound their sinuous, tortuous coils
among the reeds and grass and rashes. Forty eventful years
have passed since then, and here we stand, my friends, amid the
crash of bottles and the wreck of breaking glass. I see you,
gentlemen, before me who have witnessed these changes. I see
you, my friends, all lit up with Rhine and Sherry wine, and
though the sun should be darkened and the moon refuse to give
her light, we should be enlivened by the beverage within."
Though planet worlds around us whirl
And solar systems crash,
We still will punish sherry wine
And drink the brandy smash!
The Captain might not feel like expressing all of these senti-
ments, but if he chose he would probably say something pretty
good. He has a poetic turn of mind and is particularly fond of
a piece of poetry which was written by a Yankee who visited
Illinois, while it was still a territory. The lines were written in
answer to a letter received from his eastern friends, who wished
to know about the Western World. As they are pretty good
we give them here.
" Great western waste of bottom land,
Flat as a pancake, rich as grease ;
Where mosquitoes are as big as toads
And toads are full as big as geese.
" Beautiful prairie, rich with grass,
Where buffaloes and snakes prevail ;
The first with dreadful looking face,
The last with dreadful sounding tail.
" I'd rather live on camel's rump
And be a Yankee Doodle beggar,
Than where they never see a stump
And shake to death with fever ager."
23
354 OLD SETTLERS OF
Captain Scogin is a man of medium size, well built and well
.proportioned, of a lively, active and wide-awake nature, with
eyes always on the alert, noticing everything and everybody
around him. His countenance shows his pleasant and jovial
disposition. His conversation is very entertaining, particularly
when he talks of the old pioneers. His hospitality is unbounded
and is extended alike to the poor and the rich. These pleasant
and engaging qualities have made him the most popular man in
the section of country where he resides.
Captain Scogin was married December 26, 1844, to Elizabeth
Karr, daughter of Dr. Thomas Karr of Randolph's Grove. She
died October 13, 1845, leaving no children. He married, Jan-
uary 19, 1847, Eliza Low, daughter of Nathan Low. She died
November 15, 1863. The children of this marriage are :
Lee Scogin, who was born April 22, 1849, is married and
lives on the old Nathan Low place.
Jay Scogin was born April 29, 1851, is unmarried.
John Scogin was born June 22, 1853, is married and lives
in Bloomington.
The following children live at home :
Frank, born December 20, 1855.
Hester, born April 9, 1858.
Joseph W., born August 14, 1860.
William Scogin, who was born July 13, 1863, is dead.
Doctor C. Wakefield.
Dr. Cyrenius Wakefield was born July 12, 1815, at Water-
town, New York. He is a direct descendant from Thomas
Wakefield, who emigrated from the town of Wakefield in York-
shire, England, to Reading, Massachusetts, about the year 1680.
Wakefield is the same town which gave the name to Goldsmith's
beautiful story, "The Vicar of Wakefield." Joseph Wakefield,
the father of Cyrenius, was one of the first party of emigrants
to Jefferson County, New York, in the year 1800, when that
part of the country was a densely timbered wilderness. He
came there from Vermont with his employer to cut away the
timber and open up a farm. He became so expert in chopping
that he cut regularly an acre a week of the heavy hard-wood
timber, and made it ready for logging. He thus cleared several
m'lean county. 855
hundred acres. A few years after emigrating to New York he
married Susan Sawyer, daughter of Deacon Thomas Sawyer,
who emigrated from New Hampshire the year previous. They
were afterwards blessed with a family of six children, one girl
and five boys ; of these, three were older than Cyrenius.
After Cyrenius had served out his minority faithfully and had
earned a little money by teaching school, he started for the West
to try his fortnne in a new country.
In May, 1837, he came over the lakes to Chicago, thence by
stage to LaSalle, and from there by boat to Pekin. As there
was no stage to Bloomington he had his trunk placed on an ox
team load of goods going to that place, and worked his passage
by footing it.
He lived in the vicinity of Bloomington for two years and
taught school in the Orendorfl" district fifteen months of the
time. From this time until June, 1843, he taught school and
worked his farm in DeWitt County. He built a house on his
farm, and
"One early day in leafy June,
When birds and bees were all in tune"
he went to Watertown, New York, and married Miss Harriet
Richardson, an old schoolmate. With her he again came over
the lakes to Chicago. Here he. had left a horse, and having
brought with him a buggy and harness, he hitched up, and the
happy young couple completed their bridal tour with afourdays
ride over the prairie. Probably Dr. Wakefield has never before
or since been happier than during this period of his life.
A short time before his marriage his father died, leaving him
a few hundred dollars, which greatly aided him in opening out
a large farm and furnishing it with young stock. His plan then
was to have a large stock farm, but other events changed his
course.
In 1845 an elder brother, Dr. T. Wakefield, came to visit
him from southwestern Arkansas. Dr. T. Wakefield had prac-
ticed medicine there for ten years, but was so well pleased with
Illinois and the people here that he determined to settle up his
business in Arkansas and make his home in Illinois. This he
did, and by July, 1846, he was ready for business in Illinois.
The two brothers now entered into partnership in a farmers'
356 OLD SETTLERS OF
store. They opened up a stock of goods and conducted their
business quite successfully. But circumstances changed their
plans entirely. Dr. T. Wakefield had gained great skill in the
South in treating malignant congestive fevers, and he began here
the same treatment which he found so successful. His first sea-
son was a famous one for fever and chills, and with his medi-
cines and cold water applications he succeeded in breaking up
the worst attacks in a few hours. His fame spread with amaz-
ing rapidity, and to satisfy the pressing demand for his services,
he kept a change of horses and a driver, and improved his time
to the best advantage. His practice soon extended over a por-
tion of country of fifty miles radius, and he was obliged to do
much of his sleeping while riding from one distant patient to
another. When the people could not get him they wanted his
medicine, and the brothers Wakefield were induced to prepare
them in advance of orders. The demand continued to increase
and they were obliged to change their store into a medicine fac-
tory. Their medicines were introduced into several counties ;
when Dr. T. Wakefield, after much exposure, took a violent
congestion of the lungs and died within thirty-six hours. This
left Dr. C. Wakefield in a very embarrassing position, but, hav-
ing had two years experience with his brother, and having done
all of the work of manufacturing the medicines, he wisely con-
cluded to go on and extend the business. He bought his brother's
iuterest from his young widow (as they had married but
two months previous to his death) and prepared to push the
business extensively. He sold his property in DeWitt County
and in February, 1850, removed to Bloomington, as this was a
good central point. He has ever since driven his business with
wonderful energy, and now his remedies are sold in nearly every
town in five entire states. The doctor has made quite a fortune
by the sale of his remedies, but aside from any pecuniary con-
sideration he is glad to know that he is doing a useful work.
When he came to Bloomington he built a factory, and in con-
nection with it a drug store, which he carried on with Robert
Thompson. They built the first three story brick builing in
town, But this and another brick building adjoining, which
was erected by the Doctor during the following year, were
burned to the ground in the great fire of October 16, 1855. In
m'lean county. 357
this fire the losses of Wakefield & Thompson were very heavy
as their insurance was light. But they rebuilt their drug store
and the doctor rebuilt his factory near his residence, on its pres-
ent location. Since then he has made additions to it as his
business required.
In February, 1854, his fine residence was burned, but these
losses and disappointments only caused him to double his exer-
tions. In 1857 he sold out his drug interest, and gave his whole
time and attention to his medicine business, and now he reaps
the reward of foresight, of care and hard labor. He gives em-
ployment to forty persons in his medicine business (one-half of
whom are females) and his annual sales amount to $100,000.
He converts twenty-five tons of paper into almanacs every year
for free distribution, for the purpose of advertising his reme-
dies. His largest sales are made where fevers are most danger-
ous and most common, particularly in new countries where he
is glad to know that his remedies are the means of doing great
good. It seems now well recognized among advertisers that ad-
vertising is of only temporary benefit unless the article pre-
sented to the public has intrinsic merit. The Doctor has made
himself quite independent by the judicious advertising of good
and reliable remedies.
The Doctor has four children to rejoice with him in his pros-
perity ; two of these are married and enjoying comfortable
homes. He has contributed a great deal to the growth and
prosperity of Bloomington, and takes pride in the fact that his
efforts in that direction have been successful. He is a man of
sterling integrity and substantial credit. He performs well and
carefully whatever belongs to him to do. He is a member of
the Board of Education in Bloomington, and active in the
discharge of his duties. Although he is a Republican, he is
not ultra in politics, and has never accepted an office of profit.
He is conscientious, and believes it to be the duty of every one
to work out practically his own spiritual elevation.
The Doctor is a lover of the beautiful as well as the useful.
His present residence is a very fine illustration of his ability to
combine good taste with great convenience and usefulness. It
was built in 1871, at a cost of about thirty thousand dollars.
The Doctor relates a funny incident in the early history of
Bloomington. He says that the first year he lived in the place,
358 OLD SETTLERS OF
1837, the county had a a hewed log or block house jail standing
near the site of the present fruit house grocery. It had no win-
dow in it, but on the north side was a peek-hole five or six feet
from the ground, large enough for a man to look through, but
supposed to be too small for any one to make an egress. This
was the only jail in the county, and owing to the good morals
of the citizens it was seldom occupied. But there was in Bloom-
ington a notorious character known as Len Marrow, who was
much addicted to drinking, and when he was under the influ-
ence of spirits he was very noisy. He was often put in this old
jail to sober off. "While in there he would stand at the peek-
hole and halloo and give a long exhortation to every one who
came in sight and tease them for a treat. Finally William Mc-
Cullough agreed to treat him if he would get out of the jail.
In less than half an hour he had squeezed himself through the
peek-hole and was hunting for McCul lough to get the treat !
Dr. Wakefield is about five feet and nine inches in height,
is well proportioned, and has a wiry, good constitution. His
features are regular, and his eyes are small but sharp and pene-
trating. His hair and beard are dark and full, but now are
turning gray. His whole appearance is that of a careful, calcu-
lating, straightforward, energetic business man.
William Osborne Viney.
William Osborne Viney was born May 15, 1806, in Fleming
County, Kentucky. His father's name was John Viney and the
name of his mother, before her marriage, was Elizabeth Martin.
His mother was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, and his
father in Greenbrier County, same State. His father was of
mixed Welch and German descent, and his mother was of
English.
John Viney came to Kentucky from Virginia in 1803 or '04,
and in about the year 1810 he moved to Champaign County,
Ohio, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1813.
William 0. Viney went to school in Ohio, but it grieves the author
to learn that young William was up to his pranks. He assisted
the boys once on Christmas day in barring out a school teacher,
named Lafferty ; but Lafferty came through the roof and made
the children scamper. Er. Viney also helped to bar out a man
named McLean, and tied him and made him give a holiday.
M LEAN COUNTY.
359
In those early days the Indians were plenty. Mr. Viney has
often seen Tecnmseh, and although the former was very 'young,
he remembers Tecumseh clearly. Mr. Viney remembers seeing
Simon Kenton, the great Indian fighter of Kentucky. The latter
wore a hunting shirt, and sometimes one of leather. He was
about six feet in height, and his features showed resolution and
determination.
Mr. Viney was not celebrated as a sportsman, but he fre-
quently hunted coons and foxes with hounds ancl had some very
exciting chases. At one time he went on a fox hunt with hounds,
but one of the dogs was crippled and could not run fast. The
fox ran in a circle and the crippled dog, being unable to run fast,
cut across and caught it.
Mr. A'iney loved his practical jokes and was up to a great
many of them. He had a friend, named Phillips, who was large
and awkward, and a fine "subject" to work upon. Phillips was
a bashful youth and much afraid of the girls. At one time, in
the dusk of the evening, while the two young men were^passiug
a place where some girls were milking, Viney gave Phillips a
push and sent him over on a steer that was lying down. Phillips
thought it was a log and awkwardly fell astride of it with his
face towards the tail. The "log" jumped up and began running
and kicking, and poor Phillips was lifted into the air so that
blue sky could be seen between him and the steer at every jump.
He finally took a seat on the 'ground, and from the expressions
used would not have been considered a pious young man.
At the age of twenty Mr. Viney set out with his friend
Phillips on foot for Indianapolis. There Viney worked in a
brickyard during the summer and in a shoeshop during winter.
At the age of twenty-one he was married to Miss Dorinda
Bay, the daughter of Squire "William Bay, of Indianapolis.
Squire Bay had come from Champaign County, Ohio. He had
served in the war of 1812 as a spy. At one time during the
war of 1812 Squire Bay was sent out with a squad of men under
the command of a certain Captain Wood to watch the move-
ments of the British and Indians near the Maumee Eiver.
During one night they saw what they thought was a body of
Indians, but it proved to be a drove of cattle. They were ob-
liged to travel during the night and remain hidden during the
360 OLD SETTLERS OF
day, but were passed by Indians who came uncomfortably close
to them. While they remained hid a snow fell about two inches
deep, so that they could be tracked. Then they knew that they
must return to the army with all speed, which they did, a dis-
tance of thirty-five miles. The Indians, who were following up
the spies, came up about the time the latter reached the army.
Bay said, that on one of his expeditions he became very sick,
so sick that he was crazy, and was left to die, but was found and
brought into camp on a sled.
Mr. Viney remained at Indianapolis nine years. Game was
plenty there. He remembers seeing forty wild turkeys on a four
acre block. He says that when turkeys are chased a long dis-
tance, they hide their heads as ostriches are said to do in the
desert.
In March, 1837, he made a visit to McIIenry County with
his brother-in-law, Simpson Bay, and in August following he
came to McLean County to make it his home. Deer were then
exceedingly plenty. At one time, while marking out a claim
with his brother-in-law, Simpson Bay, they started a drove of
thirty deer, which ran past Bay and he fired at the herd, not at
any particular deer, and succeeded in killing one.
Mr. Viney came to Bloomiugton, where he lived one year,
then went to Monmouth, in Warren County, where he lived five
years, then he returned to Bloomington, where he lived until
about five years ago, when he moved to the place where he
now resides, on the east side of Blooming Grove.
Mr. Viney tells of a change in the weather which took place
in 1840 or 1842, which reminded him of the celebrated sudden
change of December, 1836. One morning, when the snow was
on the ground and the weather was cloudy and warm for winter,
he went to mill six miles north of Monmouth. He stayed at the
mill over night, and in the morning he found that it had rained
and the snow was gone. He started home with the flour and
bran of six bushels of wheat. When he arrived at Monmouth
it snowed and turned very cold. There he caught sight of one
of his neighbors about a quarter of a mile distant, starting for
home, and tried to catch up with him. Viney kept within about
a quarter of a mile of his neighbor, all the time they were going
home, but could not gain on him. When the neighbor crossed
m'lean county. 361
the first creek and went through with his horse, he left a mark
which Yiney could watch, and Viney says that by the time he
could travel a quarter of a mile and reach the place, the ice
would almost bear his weight. The cold was most intense, and
though he was wrapped up in bed-clothes and had the wind to
his back, it sometimes seemed that he must freeze.
Mr. Viney's amiable wife died October 21, 1871, at the age of
sixty-three. He has had a family of twelve children, of whom
six are living. All the living are in Illinois, except one who
went to California. They are :
William M. Viney, who lives in California.
David Viney lives a mile and a half north of his father's.
Mrs. Lucinda M. Cox, wife of Rev. Amos Cox, lives in Vir-
ginia, Cass County, Illinois.
Mrs. Martha J. Clary, wife of James Clary, lives with her
father, or rather her father lives with her.
Alvin L. Viney lives in Bloomington.
Edwin Kay Viney lives at his father's house, and makes his
home there.
Mr. Viney is about five feet and ten inches in height, weighs
a hundred and thirty or forty pounds, is muscular and never was '
afraid of work. He made great exertions to support his family,
in the days when it seemed hard to do so. He is full of fun,
loves a joke, particularly a practical joke. His head is bald,
and his eyes have a pleasant, practical-joking smile. He is a
man of the best of sense, and what his hands find to do he does
with his might, industriously and perseveringly. He is a good
sharp judge of character and sees through men easily.
John T. Gunnell.
John T. Gunnell was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, ten
miles from Washington, on the first of May, 1796. His father,
Allen Gunnell, was descended from Welch and English stock
and was quite wealthy. He was blind from his birth, but his
blindness was not noticed until he attempted to walk. He had
a plantation and about forty slaves. Some of these he liberated
and would have done so with all, but was prevented by the pass-
age of a law by Virginia prohibiting the liberation of slaves.
This kind gentleman died in 1822 at the ripe age of seventy-two.
362 OLD SETTLERS OF
His death was occasioned by eating too many cherries, of which
fruit he was very fond. John received his early education at a
district school, and later, at the age of eighteen, he finished at
Alexandria, which was about ten miles from his father's home.
He was not specially educated for any profession or trade, but
was trained to attend to his father's affairs. His father was so
strongly opposed to slavery that in the year 1814 he sold out and
removed to Nashville, Tennessee. After remaining there two
years his father moved to Christian County, Kentucky, where he
bought one thousand acres of land and commenced raising pro-
duce, particularly tobacco. In May, 1820, John T. Gunnell
married Elizabeth Major, a double cousin of William T. Major?
of whose life we have made a sketch. She was an only daugh-
ter and was usually called Queen. This was near Frankfort,
Kentucky. By this marriage he had one son, Thomas Allen
Gunnell. Two years after the marriage of John T. Gunnell, his
wife died, and his son Thomas was brought up by his grand-
mother near Frankfort, and now lives in Saline County, Missouri.
Thomas was for some time a slaveholder, as he obtained a great
many by marriage, and was obliged to take care of them, and
when they were liberated by the war of the rebellion he was
glad to be relieved of the responsibilities of their charge. Mr.
John T. Gunnell was for a while clerk of the Circuit Court and
held his office at Hopkinsville, while his mother and sisters re-
mained to oversee the farm ; but when his sisters went the
way of the world and were married, his mother came to town
and kept house for him. On the first of November, 1827, he
married Catharine Athelia McKenzie, near Hopkinsville, and
moved to his farm. They have had a family of nine children,
seven of whom are living, four boys and three girls.
In 1833 Mr. Gunnell sold out with the intention of moving
to Texas ; but this country was then under the government of
Mexico, which had passed a law requiring all marriages to be
performed after the ritual of the Catholic Church, or they would
not be recognized as legal and binding. But Mr. Gunnell was
a Protestant, and as this little matter could not be arranged satis-
factorily the plan of going to Texas was given up, and the family
came to Tazewell County, Illinois, in the year 1834. During
the fall previous to his removal he entered a quarter section of
m'lean county. 863
land in Tazewell County, Illinois, had a house built on it and
made arrangements to have ten acres planted in corn. His
goods were sent by water and the family started in carriages
with two other families. The party consisted of Mr. Gunnell,
his wife and three children ; William Davenport, his wife and
two children, and Mordecai Bullock, his wife and two children.
The party was two weeks on the road, but at last arrived safely
on the twenty-fifth of April, 1834. No accidents or adventures
occurred on the journey except that at one time Mr. Bullock
came very near being drowned. Davenport and Bullock settled
in Walnut Grove, now called Eureka, Woodford County. Mr.
Davenport was intended for the profession of the law, but he
became a preacher and was the principal mover in building up
Eureka College.
After living in Tazewell County for three years (until 1837)
Mr. Gunnell sold his land there for ten dollars an acre and
moved to Stout's Grove, now called Danvers Township, where
he bought two hundred acres of land at seven dollars an acre.
Here he lived for thirty years until the day of his death, which
occurred April 28, 1867, after two weeks severe illness. The
farm still belongs to the farnity and is managed by the eldest
son.
Mr. Gunnell was not an active politician and held but one
office of profit, which was that of circuit clerk in Hopkinsville,
Kentucky. For twenty-one years preceding his death he was
treasurer of Danvers township, which shows very clearly the
confidence reposed in him by his neighbors. In politics he was
a Whig and afterwards a Republican. He was a member of the
Christian Church and for many years was a deacon in that or-
ganization.
Mr. Gunnell was commanding in stature, being nearly six
feet in height. His hair was dark and curly, his whiskers had a
reddish cast, but late in life were gray. His forehead was high
and full, and the expression of his countenance was intellectual.
His ej-es were large, the color of hazel, and had an intelligent,
penetrating expression, and when pleased had a very kind, pleas-
ant look. He was an excellent business man and very careful
with all of his accounts. He thought a great deal of his family
and was always anxious for their welfare. He was buried at
Stout's Grove.
364 OLD SETTLERS OF
The following are Mr. Gumiell's children born during his
marriage with his wife Catherine :
John T. Gunnel!, jr., lives at home; Dr. James Lincoln Gun-
nell lives in Mackinawtown ; Mrs. Lizzie Vaughan, wife of Mr.
Vaughan, General Manager of the Chicago & Alton Railroad;
Joseph Manson Gunnell is a farmer, and lives at Minier on the
Little Mackinaw; "Washington McKenzie, Margaret Ann and
Mary Belle, live at home. The latter is the pet, of course, keeps
the house lively and makes the mischief.
John Willard Billings.
John W. Billings was born August 25, 1810, in Charlton,
Worcester County, Massachusetts. His father's name was Wil-
liam Billings and his mother's name before her marriage was
Lucretia Parker. The Billings family is an old one, and its
origin is given by Mr. Billings, as follows : " I have learned
from the history of the Plymouth colony that the name of Bill-
ings in America is derived from two brothers who came over
from England, not in the Mayflower, but a few years after the
voyage of this celebrated vessel. One of the brothers settled iu
the New England colony and the other in the colony at James-
town, Virginia. I am a descendant of the Plymouth stock and
am branded a full-blooded Yankee, dyed in the wool, which I
never wish to deny." On the other hand, those members of the
Billings family who were descended from the brother who set-
tled in Virginia, no doubt prided themselves on being good
southerners and good rebels during the war. Their names ap-
peared very often in that connection, but their northern name-
sakes probably sent enough soldiers to the Union army to attend
to them.
William Billings, the father of John, was a shoe manufac-
turer. He manufactured shoes from what were called Calcutta
hides, though they probably came from cattle in Spanish South
America. These shoes were sold principally in the Southern
States to be worn by negroes. He took a great interest in his
trade. When one of his sons, Parker Billings, died, the old
gentleman said sadly: " I intended to make a fine workman of
Parker." William Billings died in the year 1817 when John
was only seven years of age. The family, owing to some mis-
m'lean county. 365
fortunes, was left in rather straightened circumstances. There
were five children in the family and the death of the father scat-
tered them. John was sent from one relative to another for a while,
but at last was taken by Major D. Williams, an old soldier of
the Revolution, and by him raised until the age of twenty-one.
Major Williams was in many battles. He was at Saratoga and
in all of the contests of that memorable campaign, which ended
in the surrender of General Burgoyne. Mr. Billings says of the
Major : " Many a time did he thrill my boyish heart with the
account of that campaign, how the bullets whizzed, the artillery
thundered and the red-coats ran ! He was present when Gene-
ral Burgoyne surrendered his sword to General Gates, saying,
with a low bow, ' The fortunes of war, General Gates, have
made me your prisoner.' The victorious General returned the
sword with a courtly salute, saying, 'I shall always be ready to
bear testimony that it was not through any fault of your Excel-
lency.' When the old gentleman would tell of this circumstance,
he would spring to his feet and march across the floor with his
military tread, and his cheeks all aglow with the thought that
Burgoyne had surrendered ! He was a good old man ; his latch-
string wa8 out ; his house and barn were open to man and beast,
and his purse-strings were loose, when benevolence or charity
required. Mrs. Williams, his wife, was a patriotic and Chris-
tian lady and not a whit behind her husband in everything good
and merciful. I am indebted to him for many moral lessons and
to her for many prayers. If there is auy good in me, they, under
the Most High, are the bestowers of it. The master has long
since said unto them : ' Come up higher.' "
Mr. Billings, in his younger days, heard a great deal of the
West ; he heard from a nephew of Major Williams that the
West was a place where fifty acres of wheat could grow in one
patch ! and when young John grew up, this had a great influ-
ence in deciding him to go West. He went to school in the
meantime and had good books to read, black birds to shoot and
fish to catch. What more could a young man wish ?
At the age of twenty-one Mr.|Billings was indentured to an
architect and builder, as an apprentice for three years. He
served his time faithfully, and then began work on his own
account. He worked one year for William Howe, the inventor
366 OLD SETTLERS OF
of the Howe Truss Bridge, one of which spans the Illinois River
at Peoria. He is a brother of the Howe who invented the sew-
ing machine of that name. The whole family of Howes were
remarkable for their mechanical genius.
In 1837 Mr. Billings decided to try his fortune in the West,
as the times were very hard. His friends attempted to dissuade
him from his course, but without avail. He says : "I took
counsel only of myself : my faith was fixed ; my face was set,
and my loins were girded for a race toward sundown." He and
a fellow-shopmate started August 20, 1837, from Norwich,
Connecticut, on the banks of the Thames River, on board of
the boat Aurora, for the great West. He says : "The reader will
not imagine a faint heart, when I say that my visage lengthened
and my eyes misted over as the Aurora bore me away from my
native soil, bound for Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois."
He went to New York and there took passage up the Hudson
River. He was shown the places on this great river which
have become famous in history. He saw the national school
at West Point ; he saw the place, where the great chain
was stretched across the river during the Revolutionary War;
he saw where the sloop Vulture, of Arnold and Andre notoriety,
was moored, while the traitor was negotiating his treason, and
upon which he finally fled. At Albany he went on board of a
canal-boat for Buffalo. Not a great while before they reached
the latter place, a stranger, who came on board, had an altercation
with the captain, who was a short, fat man and wore a ruffled
shirt, The captain intimated, that the stranger was a fool, and
the latter responded, that the captain was a "hog, wearing a
ruffled shirt." The result was a tussle, in which the rufHes be-
came ruffled still more and somewhat bloodied from the injured
nose above, while the stranger found himself crawling out of the
canal.
When he arrived at Buffalo, the houses for entertainment
were all full, but he managed to get quarters next to a good old
couple, who belonged to the Society of Friends. At Buffalo he
took a boat for Chicago. On board of the boat was a widow
and her children. They were Catholics, and every morning
they knelt in a group, with their crosses about their necks and
their beads in their hands, and remained motionless for half an
m'lean county. 367
hour or more. At Mackinaw Straits he saw many Indians. He
says : "Their wigwams circled around the water's edge for a
mile or two. The lake was in a measure covered with bark
canoes, the Indians showing much skill in their management.
Some were fishing, others lazily loitering upon the smooth
waters, entirely listless and careless of their appearance." Some
were anxious to trade. The squaws offered bright pebbles, curi-
ous shells and bead-work of many fanciful patterns, and the men
offered fish, venison and the furs of small animals. When the
boat was about to start, the captain gave warning, but one canoe,
containing an Indian, a squaw and two papooses, was late in
leaving, and when the wheel revolved, this canoe was turned
keel up. Mr. Billings says the little papooses floated as natur-
ally as balls of cotton or life-preservers. While between
Mackinaw Straits and Chicago, they saw a deer swimming in the
water and took it on board and brought it to Chicago. It was
a fine five-pronged buck. Mr. Billings says, this was the only
steamboat deer-hunt he ever heard of.
At Chicago, Mr. Billings and his companion made arrange-
ments to have their baggage taken to Tremont, in Tazewell
County, by a "brawny, long-legged, long-armed six-footer, who
had come to Chicago with four yoke of oxen and a load of
bacon." This was their only opportunity, as they could find no
teams going to Bloomington. They then set out for the latter
place on foot, and for the first time saw the broad prairie. Mr.
Billings says : "Never had we seen such an ocean-land ; for the
first time I realized the iclea of a fifty-acre wheat field ! The
wonders of the Great West were unfolding before us. I had
seen the mountains of New England, but their sublime heights
were eclipsed by the broad expanse of level land now before
us." They diverged from their course to look at some lands on
the Kankakee River, and there saw hunters killirfg chickens
with double-barreled shot guns. It was a novelty indeed. They
proceeded on to Bloomington through the prairie grass, which
grew from one to three feet high. At one time they thought
they saw their fifty-acre cornfield in the distance, but found it
to be grass growing seven or eight feet high on wet land. It was
a miniature cane-brake. They came on to Eppard's Point on
Rook Creek (Little Vermilion), and here Mr. Billings bought a
368 OLD SETTLERS OF
claim for one hundred dollars, giving the occupant a year to
remain. He proceeded to Bloomington after a few days delay.
Here be saw the militia out and training. General Covel and
Colonel Gridle3 r , afterwards General, were in high feathers.
Mr. Billings speaks of Bloomington curiously and beauti-
fully, and gives some reminiscences of the prominent men of
the place. "James Allin, merchant, was one of the main pro-
prietors of the town, and State Senator from this district. I
heard him speak of one of his trips to Vandalia, when that city
was the capital of the State. He and some others went part of
the way there and found the roads so nearly impassable that
horse teams could not travel, and they were compelled to take
an ox-team, and he whom the nation now honors and mourns
more than any other man, our martyred President, Abraham
Lincoln, with his long legs and longer ox-whip, drove them tri-
umphantly into the State capital." The Circuit Court was in
session in Bloomington when Mr. Billings arrived, but closed
about a week afterwards, and the judge and lawyers prepared to
go to Tremont, Tazewell County, to the session of court there.
Among them was His Honor, Judge David Davis, who rode a
spirited horse ; but as he wished to ride in a carriage with some
of his legal friends, and as Mr. Billings wished to go to Tremont
for his goods, the latter rode the Judge's horse. Mr. Billings
was not accustomed to horseback riding, though he did pretty
well with the fiery Bucephalus. After riding eight or ten miles
the company stopped for water and when they started on, Mr.
Billings fell behind. When he attempted to re-mount he became
rather eager and pitched clear over the horse, and in so doing
lost his hold of the rein. The animal bounded away and left
poor Billings meditating upon the expression of Solomon:
"Verily, a horse is a vain thing for safety." He went forward
and explained matters to Judge Davis, feeling much confused
and anxious about the animal. It was afterwards found at Funk's
Grove, where it had been bred. As Mr. Billings' baggage had
not arrived at Tremont when he came there, and as the landlady
of the tavern was sick, he assisted in the culinary department,
and for a week was chief cook and dishwasher for twenty or
thirty lawyers and clients. Mr. Billings' baggage had by this
time arrived, and he took it to Bloomington.
m'lean county. . 369
In the fall of 1830 Mr. Billings was taken sick with the bil-
lions fever, which was a disease very common in the West. He
was nursed for several weeks by Mr. and Mrs. William Wallace,
and wishes his obligations for their kindness to be expressed in
this sketch.
Mr. Billings is about live feet and six inches in height. His
eyes are, one of them gray and the' other a light brown. His
head is rather bald, owing to sickness in his youth. His nose
is aquiline and his features delicate. His age begins to appear,
as his hair is turning gray ; he uses spectacles to read and write,
and he has been somewhat deaf during the last fifteen years.
His countenance is expressive of kindness of heart, and his ap-
pearance is quiet and unassuming. He is a great worker and is
constantly on the move, but has retired from business. He pos-
sesses great mechanical skill. He is much interested in science
and art and is well informed with regard to matters that are
transpiring. From the quotations made in this sketch it has no
doubt appeared to the reader that Mr. Billings has many of the
qualifications of an interesting writer. It seems natural for him
to bring out his ideas clearly by contrasts, and he is helped by a
sense of humor and a lively imagination.
Mr. Billings married, March 26, 1840, Miss Rebecca Ann
Hatfield, who came from Hopkinsville, Christian County, Ken-
tucky, in October, 1836, with the family of her stepfather, James
C. Haden. They have one daughter, Eliza L. Billings, who
lives with her parents. Mrs. Haden, the mother of Mrs. Bill-
ings, resides with her daughter.
Henry Richardson.
Henry Richardson was born October 26, 1807, in Sudbury,
Massachusetts. He was of purely English descent. When he
was ten years of age his father died. Henry Richardson was
then thrown in a great measure on his own resources, and he
went into a factory for making cloth, in the city of Lowell. He
worked in it for eleven years, going through all of the depart-
ments and becoming at last superintendent. In 1835 he went to
Lexington, Kentucky, to take charge of a factory, which had
been superintended by his brother. But he could not endure
24
370 OLD SETTLERS OF
the system of slavery, and in September, 1837, he left Ken-
tucky and came to McLean County, Illinois. Here he entered
one hundred and sixty acres of land, which included the little
grove about half a mile west of Old Town timber. He was
active and industrious. He hauled goods from St. Louis, Peoria
and Pekin for Judge McClun and others. He camped out at
night making fires to keep off the wolves.
He sold his entered land for seven dollars per acre, and in
the spring of 1845 bought the Michael place near the south end
of Blooming Grove. Here he lived until the spring of 1851.
He raised stock, and during the celebrated " hard times" of
1837_46 he sold it cheap. But it cost him little, as he could buy
corn for five cents per bushel to feed to it. In the spring of
1851 he sold the Michael place for fifteen dollars per acre. Then
he took his family to visit his grandfather Fisher's people in
Francestown, jSTew Hampshire. This was indeed a visit, for it
lasted nearly a year. He returned to Bloomington and went
into the grocery business, in which he remained until the time
of his death, which occurred December 17, 1872. Mr. Richard-
son was for many years superintendent of a Sunday school and
deacon in the Congregational Church. During the latter part
of his life he was an elder in the Second Presbyterian Church.
During all of his life he was a zealous, working Christian and
died in full faith in his Saviour.
In September, 1827, at the age of twenty, Mr. Richardson
married Miss Lucy Fisher. By this marriage he had six chil-
dren, of whom four are living.
Henry W. Richardson died in 1853.
Justin W. Richardson lives at Millington, Kendall County,
Illinois. He was for a while editor of the Bloomington Panto-
graph, afterwards of the Qwncy Whig and Republican, and now
owns and edits the Millington Enterprise.
Lunsford P. Richardson was a soldier during the rebellion in
the Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers, Company A. He is now
connected with the house of Culver, Page, Hoyue & Co., Chi-
cago.
John C. Richardson died in 1857.
AVilliam F. Richardson was, during the rebellion, a soldier
in the Mercantile Battery from Chicago. He is now in the
grocery business on Main street, Bloomiugton.
m'lean county. 371
George II. Richardson was in the One Hundred and Forty-
fifth Illinois Volunteers. He is now with his brother William in
the grocery business.
Mrs. Richardson died March 30, 1859. In December, 1864,
Mr. Richardson married Miss Caroline Robinson. ISTo children
were born of this marriage. This lady is still living.
Henry Richardson was about five feet and eight inches in
height, had rather a light complexion and was rather bald-head-
ed. His son Lunsford very much resembles him. He was a
very good man and very kind to his family. He was very quiet
in his disposition and his health was usually good. He died of
heart-disease and was sick only a few minutes.
Joshua R. Fell.
Joshua R. Fell, eldest son of Jesse and Rebecca R. Fell, was
born January 21, 1804, in East Cain township, Chester County,
Pennsylvania. The Fell family lived in various places in that
vicinity. About the first of January, ,1821, Mr. Fell was ap-
prenticed to learn the blacksmith's trade in Downingtown, Ches-
ter County, Pa., where the family then lived. While Mr. Fell
lived in Downingtown, the first survey was made for the Pennsyl-
vania Centrail Railroad, running from Philadelphia to Pittsburg.
But it was not until the year 1834 that locomotives commenced
running, some ten years after its actual construction was com-
menced. It does not now require so much time to build a rail-
road. Joshua Fell lived in many places in Pennsylvania. In
the year 1831 he moved to Salisbury in Pequay Valley, where
he engaged in business on his own account. During this year
he married Sarah Harlin, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth
Harlin. The ceremony was performed after the manner of the
Friends, in Old Kennett Meeting House, on the 16th of June,
1831. Joshua Fell lived in Pequay Valley about six years after
his marriage.
In the middle of May, 1837, they commenced their move to
Bloomington, Illinois. Their journey lasted forty days and was
remarkable for a freak of the weather never heard of before nor
since. On the twenty-third of June they arrived at Hickory
Grove, between Paris and Urbana, Illinois. During that night
a rain began to fall, but it was afterwards changed to snow. The
372 OLD SETTLERS OF
snow storm was so heavy that it bent down bushes and trees, for
the snow lodged in the foliage which was full and perfect, as
would be expected in the month of June. Mr. Fell says :
" As this was my first experience with the State of Illinois, the
prospect was by no means encouraging ; but having lived for
thirty-six years in Bloomington and never having experienced
such peculiar phenomena since, I have become reconciled to the
climate of the West."
On Christmas day, 1837, Mr. Fell had the misfortune to lose
the sight of his left eye. He was killing pigs for his winter
supply of meat, and during a scuffle with a lively pig, which had
some objections to being turned into pork, Mr. Fell was drawn
against the end of a fence rail, which was pressed against his
eye. He was confined in a dark room until the following April,
and the sight of his left eye was destroyed.
Mr. Fell has, since 1837, lived a quiet life in Bloomington ;
has been one of the most honest and fair-minded of American
citizens. He has one fault, which the author takes liberty to
criticise. It is one which is far from common — it is his exceed-
ing modesty. He always underrates himself and his influence,
and seems always anxious that others shall receive the credit of
that which impartial observers would award to him. This old
gentleman is as worthy and fair-minded as he is modest. He
has the spirit of the Society of Friends, of which his father was
a member, and his feeling towards others is that of peace and
good will.
Mr. Fell had three children born to him in Pennsylvania.
They are Charles E., Mary E., and Thomas H. Fell. He had
three children born in Illinois : Lucretia M., Sarah Ellen and
Rebecca. Three of his children are dead. They are Thomas
H., Lucretia M., and Rebecca.
Mr. Fell is about five feet and ten inches in height. His
features are somewhat prominent, but while looking at him one
does not think of his features, but rather of the man's simplicity
and worth, of his modesty and kindness of heart. He thinks a
great deal of his brothers, Thomas, Kersey and Jesse, and seems
more anxious for them than for himself.
m'lean county. 373
Jonathan Glimpse.
Jonathan Glimpse was born August 4, 1811, in Preble Coun-
ty, Ohio, on a farm, nine miles from Eaton, the county seat. His
father's name was Emmanuel Glimpse, and his mother's, before
her marriage, was Lydia Sulgrave. Both were of English and
German descent. His father was a farmer, and Jonathan was
also brought up as a tiller of the soil. Jonathan belonged to a
family of nine children, having five brothers and three sisters.
Of these, seven are still living. Jonathan received only a limited
education, the opportunities for education being rare in those
days. The parents of Jonathan were religious people, who early
taught their children to fear God and keep his commandments.
They belonged to the Dunkard Church.
In order to improve their circumstances, and being opposed
to slavery, the Glimpse family moved from North Carolina in
1808 to Preble County, Ohio. Here they lived until 1818, when
they moved to Wayne County, Indiana. After a two-years' resi-
dence there, they moved in the year 1820 to Indianapolis. In-
dianapolis was then a very small place, containing only two
business houses. A man called John Givans kept a small stock
of groceries there, and another family named Walpools kept dry
goods and groceries together. But it was a lively place, and
even at that time gave signs of its future greatness. The first
court house in this little town was then in the course of erection.
Mr. Jonathan Glimpse's father settled with his family six miles
south of the city of Indianapolis, on the east side of the White
River, where they lived for about ten years. It was here that
Jonathan attended school for about six months, when his educa-
tion was finished. This was in the year 1830. In the month of
March of that year his mother and an elder sister died. In
consequence of this great loss he left home on the Fourth of
July following, and went to Indianapolis, where he worked for
some time in a brick-yard. In June, 1832, he enlisted in the
Black Hawk war. Their war commissary was General Hanna,
who was the father of the late William H. Hanna of our city.
Mr. Glimpse states that General Hanna was a very prominent
man in Indianapolis at that time, and adds that his son resembled
him in personal appearance. Mr. Glimpse served about sixty
days in the Black Hawk war, when it terminated in the capture
374 OLD SETTLEKS OF
of Black Hawk himself. Mr. Glimpse was in Chicago when
peace was proclaimed, and he says that " Chicago was likely to
become a lively place." He there discovered only two small
grocery stores, the joint capital of which did not amount to
more than §1,000, in his estimation. The lots on Lake street
were then sold at $35 each. From Chicago he returned again
to Indianapolis, where he worked for a short time on a farm west
of town, belonging to Nicholas McCarty.
On the first of January, 1835, he married Miss Elizabeth
Bay. Mr. Henry Brenton, who had been his captain in the
Black Hawk war, performed the marriage ceremony. In Feb-
ruary of the same year he moved to Laporte, in the northern
part of Indiana, where he lived until January, 1837, when he
emigrated to McIIenry County, Illinois, accompanied by his
mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and two brothers-in-law. On his
journey to Illinois, which lasted four days, he again saw
Chicago, and was quite astonished at the change the place
had undergone. He joined the Virginia settlement in Mc-
Henry County. After having selected a location, he com-
menced building a log cabin. Three of their party went to
work hauling logs for the palace, and by sunset of the second
day after their arrival they had all the logs for building a cabin,
16 by 18. In three days the mansion was finished and ready for
occupancy, when Jonathan felt rich. In May of that year he
was out of provisions, and went down the Fox River for a fresh
supply. He took his team and traveled about fifty miles, when
he arrived at a settlement, where he bought ten bushels of corn
and ten bushels of potatoes, for which he paid one dollar a
bushel. The corn was the little "eight-row" corn, which is now
quite out of use. On his return home he called at the mill,
about five miles from his house, which had been built the sum-
mer previous to his arrival. It was a horse-mill. The customers
had to find their own team, and pay twelve and a half cents a
bushel for grinding. Mr. Glimpse says, to grind three or four
bushels a day was as much as one man could do, and he had to
be very lively to get so much done, and then it was a meal that
now our cows wouldn't eat. He did not raise a crop in the Virginia
settlement, but loaded his things and went to Bloomington,
m'lean county. 375
where he arrived on the 20th of November, 1837. On the day
of his arrival he and his brother-in-law each lost a horse by the
colic.
The first acquaintance which Mr. Glimpse made in McLean
County was John Magoun, who was plastering at the house of
David Trimmer, in Hudson township. During the winter of
1837-8 he lived in Bloomington, and in the spring of 1838 he
moved into a house belonging to Dr. Henry, which was then
standing where Durley Hall now is. His barn was on the lot
now occupied by Evans Brothers, grocers. The north slough
was then about a hundred yards wide, and the people often had
to pull the cows out of it in the spring of the year. Mr. Glimpse
often heard the howl of wolves when he was at his barn. In
1839 he raised corn in Durley field, which extended from Mul-
berry to Walnut and then east to Evans street. It was during
this year that Mr. Glimpse was introduced to Abraham Lincoln,
as he attended court in company with John T. Stuart ; and he
states that he often heard the pleadings in the court house while
he was plowing corn.
In 1842 Mr. Glimpse built a house in the southern part of
the town, which cost him $600, but as nearly as he can remem-
ber it cost him only fifty cents in money in building it. He states
that such a thing as money was not in the country. Their prin-
cipal stock in trade in those days was lumber. If any one
desired to buy a horse, or cow, or wagon, he paid for it in lum-
ber or other merchandise. He says he took dry cows for lumber
at $5 and $6 a head, and wintered them and sold them to Dr.
Painter for $7 a head. In payment, Mr. Glimpse took from Dr.
Painter a horse, valued at $50, and a young dog at the same
price as a cow. After various other small and profitable specu-
lations, Mr. Glimpse engaged in 1845-6 in the butcher business,
in which he succeeded very well. In 1847 he was elected con-
stable, served two vears, and was afterwards re-elected for four
years. During his second term of office he served only one
year, when he was nominated by the Democratic party for
sheriff, and was elected. His majority was 138. In the fall of
1852, after his term in the sheriffalty had expired, he went to
the land sale with the intention of buying land, taking with him
about $1,000 in gold. The land was sold at from $1.25 to $2.50
376 OLD SETTLERS OF
an acre, but as he considered the price too high, he came home
without buying any. The same land is now worth from $30 to
$100 an acre.
In 1857 he entered into the grocery business, in which he
lost all he had saved. His good nature induced him to give too
much credit, and when hard times came on shortly afterwards
he could not collect any of his debts. He was obliged to discon-
tinue business on this account, and he says: "I had numerous
friends in the days of prosperity, but when adversity overtook
me I had no friend to help me." He, however, still possessed
two hundred and sixty acres of land on the Mackinaw, and to
this land he moved an old frame house, the upper part of which
was burnt off. This building, which still stands on the Mack-
inaw, was the first court house in McLean County, and Mr.
Glimpse thinks it would do Young America good to go down
and look at it.
In 1862 he was elected Supervisor of Hudson township,
which position he filled with entire satisfaction to the people who
elected him.
Mr. Glimpse is not a rich man, but he is happy and con-
tented. He does not ask for riches, but believes in the prayer,
"Give us this day our daily bread." He has had a family of
nine children, of whom three are living, namely:
Susanna, wife of C. R. Curtis, who lives in Farmer City.
Lydia, wife of Joseph M. Dalton, who lives in Bloomington.
Hattie E. Glimpse, who lives with her father.
In personal appearance, Mr. Glimpse is about six feet in
height; appears to be very muscular ; is broad shouldered ; has
hazel eyes. His hair is turning gray, but he still has plenty of
it. He is a man of cpuiet manners, and does not believe in much
talk.
Dr. Henry Conkling.
Doctor Henry Conkling was born in April, 1814, at Morris-
town, New Jersey. He lived in New York city with his parents
until he was seventeen years of age. A queer little incident
occurred when Henry was six or seven years old. He had heard
a great deal of Lafayette, and when the old Revolutionary sol-
dier made his last visit to America, it was one morning
m'lean county. 377
announced that he was in the City Hall receiving visitors. Little
Henry was wild with excitement, and ran at once to the City
Hall with his hat off, worked his way through the crowd and
grasped the hand of Lafayette. Of course the little fellow was
delighted, as it was quite an event in his young existence. Dr.
Conkling received a very fair common education. He attended
the high school in New York, and went to the academy at Mor-
ristown, New Jersey. At the latter place he studied French,
Latin and Greek.
In 1831 the Conkling family moved to Ohio. In the spring
of 1837 Dr. Conkling was married in Knox County, Ohio, and
in October, 1838, he came West.' He traveled on horseback, but
the journey was a hard one. The roads were in a very bad con-
dition, and the country seemed almost a wilderness. He came
to Leroy, where he had a brother living, who laid out the most
of that town. He remained there a few months and returned to
Ohio. In the following fall he came West with his wife and
child. They traveled in a two-horse wagon and camped out on the
road. Their goods were sent by water by way of Pekin. Some of
them came within six months and some not for a year after they
were shipped. At that time the deer and wolves were very
plenty, and almost every evening the wolves made music around
his dwelling. Dr. Conkling studied medicine with Dr. Edwards
at Leroy, and taught school there and at Old Town timber.
The political campaign of 1840 was the log-cabin, hard-cider
and coon-skin campaign. Such political excitement was proba-
bly never known before. General Harrison's name, his acts and
everything connected with his life created the greatest enthu-
siasm. The cry of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" raised the
wildest excitement. People built log-cabins and covered them
with coon-skins and dealt out hard-cider ; and in order to rep-
resent "Tippecanoe" they sometimes made a canoe ! During
this campaign a large meeting was held at Springfield. Dele-
gations came in from all over the country. Large parties went
to Springfield, camping out on the way, with their various de-
vices. A number of citizens from Bloomington and adjoining
towns built a canoe and took it with them to the ffreat meetine;.
Among them was Dr. Conkling. They camped out on the road
at Waynesville and Elkhart Grove. When they came to the
378
OLD SETTLERS OF
Sangamon River they found it very high, and were obliged to
swim their horses and wagons over. Those who could swim
did so, while those who could not, crossed in a flat-boat. They
stayed several days at Springfield and had an enthusiastic time.
The State capital was then a muddy little village, and the party
were obliged to camp out, for the little place could not furnish
any accommodation for so large a crowd. The party returned
home with enough campaign thunder to last them during the
summer and fall.
In 1843 Dr. Conkling moved to Sugar Creek, near Mount
Hope in the southwestern part of the county, and practiced
medicine there one year. He then moved to Washington, Taze-
well County, but here his health failed him and he returned to
Ohio. While there he read and practiced medicine five years
and received his diploma in the term of 1849-50 from the Ster-
ling Medical College, located at Columbus, Ohio. His wife died
in Ohio, and in the spring of 1850 he came back to McLean
County, Illinois, and settled at Hudson, nine miles north of
Bloomington. While there he practiced medicine fourteen or
fifteen years. On his return from Ohio, he married the widow
of Lucian A. Sampson, who had died of the cholera in 1848.
This very amiable lady died October 19, 1873. When Dr.
Conkling first practiced medicine in Hudson the country was
wild. He was accustomed to ride around Money Creek, Lex-
ington, Panther Creek, Mackinaw, and White Oak, and some-
times as far as Mount Pleasant. He had many rough adventures
while riding his rounds, and sometimes broke through the ice
while crossing the Mackinaw. Sometimes he was obliged to
swim the river as there were no bridges across it then. Often-
times, for amusement, he chased the deer and wolves while
riding to see his patients. He rode over that region of country
for a distance of twenty or thirty miles around.
In 1856 or 1858 Dr. Conkling had a very lively adventure
with a horse-thief, and as a description of it will show much of
the condition of the country at that time, it is given here.
The doctor had been on the north side of the Mackinaw
where he had been unexpectedly detained, and while coming
home late on Saturday night, he passed a man on horseback this
side of Kappa, bareheaded, going north on the highway. The
m'lean county. 379
night was pretty dark, and the doctor could not recognize man
or beast. When he arrived home, he found his stable door open
and his horse, saddle and bridle gone. The doctor aroused two
of his neighbors and obtained the assistance of two young men,
one of whom carried a rifle. The party of three then started,
the doctor in his buggy and the two young men on horseback.
They crossed the Mackinaw where Kappa now stands and crossed
the prairie north to Panola and up through it two miles to a
point of timber called Brewer's Point. There the party learned
by waking up a family that the dogs had barked loudly some
time before, and by this they knew they were on the track of
their man. The prairie was twelve or fifteen miles across and
when they were in the midst of it, they saw a man walking and
leading a horse, about three miles distant and about four miles
from the timber. When the stranger saw the party he mounted
his horse and started for the timber, and the two young men
started for him, while the doctor followed in his buggy. The
chase was intensely exciting, one of the young men had a racing
mare, and all parties seem to shoot across the prairie. Some-
times they were in sight, and sometimes they went down out of
view, and before long they all disappeared in the timber. Short-
ly afterwards the doctor came into the grove and found his
horse, for the thief had been hard pressed and let it go. But
the thief was considered bigger game than the horse, and some
of the citizens of the grove turned out to assist in the chase.
After hunting around for some time the doctor peeped into a
hazel thicket and there found a stalwart man lying on his back,
with his eyes shut, pretending to be asleep. They immediately
took charge of the gentleman and carried him to Bloomington,
thirty miles distant, where they arrived a little after dark. When
they came to the jail the doctor went in and brought out the
deputy sheriff, and the young men said that while he was gone
the thief had tried to get away ; but he protested "by shures,
shentlemens, I wouldn't try to get away from a child ten years
old." Suddenly, in a moment of inattention, the thief sprang
out into the street, and his quick movement scared the horses,
which were not tied, and they began to run. The thief and the
horses both went down Centre street, and the former sprang
into an alley by a blacksmith shop (near Kadgihn's). The doctor
380 OLD SETTLERS OF
went for the thief, the others attended to the team. But the
thief hid himself so successfully that all parties gave him up,
except the doctor, who would never give anything up. He
hunted the town over, and at last discovered his man starting
out of the alley he had first entered. The thief ran down
Washington street, at first keeping the sidewalk and afterwards
the road. When near the end of the street he fell, and the doc-
tor grabbed him before he could rise. The excitement of the
chase brought mam* citizens, who immediately secured the thief
(who wouldn't run away from a child!) and took him to jail.
He was put into a cell with four or five other candidates for the
penitentiary. Within about six weeks these industrious gentle-
men had cut a hole through the floor of their cell, and with a
case-knife had dug a hole under the foundation of the building
and up to the open air. They left without any formality. They
"stood not upon the order of their going but went at once," and
were never recaptured.
At that time people were all anxious to catch the thieves,
which infested the country, and the whole neighborhood was
willing to turn out, if need be, but Jhe insufficient jails allowed
prisoners to escape.
Durin°; the late war Doctor Conkling was sent to the South
by Governor Yates as an additional surgeon, to look after the
sanitary condition of the soldiers. He went to Fort Donelson,
to Shiloh and other places. While at home he looked after the
sick and wounded soldiers on furlough, and extended their period
of absence when they were unfit for duty. He was govern-
ment pension surgeon for about three years after the close of
the war.
In the spring of 1864 Dr. Conkling moved to Bloomington.
During this year he wrote a campaign document entitled, "The
Inside View of the Rebellion and the American Citizens' Text
Book." A great many thousand copies of this document were
circulated. Illinois took the first ten thousand, which were
printed by the Chicago Tribune. The document was also pub-
lished in Cincinnati, and many thousands of copies were
circulated in Ohio, Indiana and other States. It was a remark-
ably effective campaign document and greatly helped to roll up
the large majority which was given to re-elect Abraham Lin-
coln.
m'lean county. 381
We now come to that part of the life of Dr. Conkling which
is considered the most important by the people in this vicinity,
and that is his connection with the Indianapolis, Bloomington
and Western Railroad. This road was first called the Danville,
Urbana, Bloomington and Pekin Railroad. The first meeting
called for the purpose of taking steps to build it was held at
Urbana. After some consultation it adjourned to meet at Leroy,
McLean County, on the seventh of August, 1866. At the latter
meeting delegates were present from the points on the proposed
line and the best of feeling prevailed ; everyone was hope-
ful. Still another meeting was held on the twenty-seventh and
was still more largely attended and confidence in the enterprise
began to grow. But in the meantime some opposition was mani-
fested ; nevertheless the friends of the road effected an organi-
zation and elected C. R. Griggs as President, William T. Mc-
Cord as Vice President, and Dr. Henry Conkling as Secretary.
In the building of a railroad many interests are effected, favor-
ably and otherwise, and it so happened that this proposed rail-
road interfered with other railway projects and the opposition
to it in some places became so strong that its friends despaired
of success. Nevertheless, Dr. Conkling clung to the project and
worked for it through good and evil report. Many citizens
thought the enterprise chimerical, and when the question came
up as to whether Bloomington would lend assistance the matter
seemed hopeless enough. But the Doctor had " kept his powder
dry," and when the day of election came for the citizens to de-
cide by their ballots whether they would help the enterprise, the
Doctor worked night and day. He spared no exertions and was
a host in himself. He carried the day and saw the project at-
tended with the most complete success. He went to Springfield
and obtained the charter for the road and never rested until the
work was complete. The road was consolidated with the Indi-
anapolis, Crawfordsville and Danville road, and was called the
Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western, which is its title now.
Dr. Conkling held the position of secretary of the road for
eighteen months, and then, as the offices of the company were
removed from Bloomington, he resigned. He has ever since
been a director of the road or special agent. The Doctor has
made no money out of this road. This may well seem a matter
382 OLD SETTLERS OF
of astonishment. How is it possible for a man to work night
and clay for the success of his enterprise, without hesitating or
relaxing his efforts, and finally bring it to a glorious conclusion,
and not make any money ? But so it is. The Doctor was
anxious for the development of the country and for the public
welfare, and, having once undertaken the work, he never allowed
it to flag. On the first of May, 1870, he drove the last bolt
which tied it together from Pekin to Indianapolis. On the
second of May the citizens of Bloomington presented him with
a fine gold watch as some slight testimonial of their appreciation
of his efforts to build the road and develop the interests of the
city. The watch has in it a pretty design of a locomotive and
tender, with the letters I., B. and "W. Above this design is an
inscription, " Presented to Dr. H. Conkling by the citizens of
Bloomington, May 2, 1870."
Dr. Conkling has been connected with the Methodist Church
for the last thirtv-three or four vears. He has taken an interest
in the growth of the church as well as in the development of the
material interests of the country. From the nature of his busi-
ness he became well acquainted with the country and watched
its development. He saw the farms opening out, the houses
springing up, and later he saw the old buildings give place to
the new. Very few men are held in such high esteem, and it
would be well if all would act from motives as pure and honor-
able.
Dr. Conkling is a tall man and rather slim. His hair and
whiskers are becoming gray as age creeps on. His eyes are
gray, but they have a very clear expression. He would never
be taken for a railroad man ; he does not seem to possess a
material nature. He does not have the appearance and expres-
sion of a man who works for money; but seems one who would
rather have a clear conscience than any amount of wealth. But,
in looking over this sketch, we can see pretty clearly that his
will-power, his disposition to hold on and never relax his grip,
is very large. He hunted down the thief who stole his horse,
and he carried through, to final success, the project of building
the I., B. & W. Railroad, when it would most certainly have
failed had it not have been for his efforts.
m'lean county. 383
CHENEY'S GROVE.
Jonathan Cheney.
Jonathan Chenejr was born September 13, 1785, in Free-
man's Fort, on Booth's Creek, in Virginia, in what was then
called New Virginia. His parents were born in New York,
and were Americans as far as can be ascertained.
Jonathan Cheney married, March 22, 1805, Catherine Owen.
They were raised together. She was born October 16, 1787, in
Edward's Fort, (she thinks). She is of Welch descent. The
people in those days, (1787) were obliged to live in forts nearly
all the time, and go out to work protected by a company of men
as a guard. They were oftentimes short of provisions, and Mrs.
Chenev, who gives these items, remembers when thev were
obliged to live two weeks on boiled nettles, as no bread could
be obtained. The Indians were a constant source of annoyance
and trouble, and oftentimes lay in wait for the settlers, as they
left the forts in the morning and went to work. Mrs. Cheney's
great uncle was killed by Indians while on his way to work.
Mr. and Mrs. Cheney, after their marriage, moved about fif-
teen miles away to some land, which they owned, and remained
there eighteen months, when they moved (in the fall of 1806) on
horseback to Champaign County, about ten miles from where
Urbana now stands, and thirty miles from Columbus. Ohio.
Mary Cheney, afterwards Mrs. Stansberry, was born two days
after their arrival. They lived there until the fall of 1817, when
Mr. Cheney moved to Southern Illinois. He crossed the Wa-
bash and went out on the main road from Vincennes to St.
Louis. When they came out on the prairie, where nothing
could be seen but the level earth and the blue sky, Mary
Cheney remarked that she had " never been so far from land
before." The country was soft and quicksandy, and sometimes
the horses would sink in up to. their fetlocks. The Cheney fam-
ily was obliged to get provisions some miles away across a
swamp called Purgatory. This swamp was impassable except
by a bridge. But a high water came and washed the bridge
away, and they were left for three weeks with very little to eat,
as it was impossible during that time to get provisions. They
then started back to Ohio. There were at that time f»*"e chil-
384 OLD SETTLERS OF
dren in the family. They crossed the Wabash River when it
was very dangerous, and the water plashed in. The weather
was then very cold, so cold that the horses were whitened with
the frost of their own breath. Mr. Cheney walked and drove
the horses while the family rode in the wagon on a feather bed
with a feather tick over them as a cover. One child, Keturah,
was very troublesome, and had to be tied down. They made
good time in traveling, and returned to their old place in Ohio.
There Mr. Cheney bought seven hundred acres of land of Gen-
eral McArthur, and put up a saw mill and grist mill, and seemed
to be in a flourishing condition, so far as his worldly prospects
were concerned. But he was unsatisfied, and he determined to
come to Illinois. The family started September 21, 1825, and
arrived October 16, at Blooming Grove, at John W. Dawson's
place. The family had by this time grown to eight children.
They lived two weeks with Mr. Dawson. On the fourth of No-
vember they came to Cheney's Grove. Their cattle were grazed
for a while at the head of Old Town timber upon blue grass,
but soon a fire came and burned it off, and the cattle were
brought to Cheney's Grove.
During that winter Mr. Cheney went back to Ohio to settle
up his business and sell that part of his land which he had not
previously disposed of. While there he suddenly changed his
mind and determined to bring his family back to Ohio. He
wrote to them to come back; but fortunately his letter never
reached them. During that winter Mrs. Cheney remained alone
with her family, and saw, during the whole time, four white
people, two men and two women. This was from January 1
until April. The family lived in a cabin, which Mr. Cheney
had put up before he left, and their cattle lived on the twigs of
trees, principally Linn brush ; but the milch cows received a
little corn in addition. Tne stock went through the winter and
came out in good condition in the spring, without the loss of a
single animal. The family ground their wheat in a coffee-mill
and their corn at a horse-mill, twenty-five miles distant. AVhen
the boys made arrangements to go to mill, they calculated how
much provision would be necessary to support the family until
their return, and they usually started in time to prevent the sup-
ply from being exhausted. But at one time they met with delay
m'lean county. 385
and Mrs. Cheney had to bring down her coffee-mill and grind
wheat to support the family until the boys returned. . She first
ground the wheat with the coffee-mill set coarse, and then ground
it again with the mill set fine. The flour made the best of bread.
The family raised their first corn on the south side of the timber
without any fence, while the stock was kept with the family on
the north side. On the south side of the grove some Indians
were camped with a hundred head of horses, and they ran and
capered over the ground, which Mr. Cheney had plowed and
planted. He ordered them to leave, and at last told them that
if they did not make themselves scarce by a certain time, he
would bring the white men down on them. Then he pointed
a fire-brand at their wigwams in a significant manner, and they
left in haste.
During the winter of the deep snow the Cheney family num-
bered seventeen persons in all, and they were obliged to be lively
in pounding corn in order to have something to eat. Mr. Cheney
picked the corn from the crib and prepared it for pounding.
Ebenezer Cheney, Jonathan's nephew, who had been a black-
smith, pounded corn ; Thomas Cheney, (Jonathan's son,) Elijah
Britton and George Spore, cut and drew the wood and fed the
cattle shocked corn ; Henry Ball fed the horses and calves ;
Owen Cheney went to school at Blooming Grove, and Mrs.
Cheney, Mary, Keturah and Emilia did the housework and spun
the tow. Everyone had plenty of work. The snow came and
covered up the pigs, and they had to be spaded out. They could
be found by little holes in the snow, where their breath had
thawed up through. The family all had good health and were
not made sick by rich fare or over-eating.
Jonathan and Catharine Cheney's children and children's
children to the third generation have grown to be legion. They
are :
Mary Cheney, who was born September 13, 1806, in Ohio,
was married to Abraham Stansberry, and died in 1867. She
had five children (two of whom lived to be grown) and five grand
children.
Thomas Cheney, born October 6, 1808, in Ohio, married
Susan Maxwell, and lives in Sonoma County, California. He
25
386 OLD SETTLERS OP
has six children, all of whom are living, and all but one have
families. He has thirty-one grand-children.
Owen Cheney, born September 2, 1810, in Ohio, married
Maria Dawson, and had five children, three of whom lived to be
grown and have families. He has four grand-children. He died
at the age of thirty-eight.
Rebecca and Elizabeth Cheney were twins, were born in Ohio
January 6, 1813, and died in infancy.
Keturah Cheney was born February 16, 1815, and died Jan-
uary 14, 1834.
Emilia Cheney was born January 29, 1817, in Ohio, was mar-
ried to Ashley D. Horr and had five children, three of whom
are living. She has had seven grand-children. She died June
12, 1862.
George Cheney was born February 18, 1819, and died August
17, 1866. He married Cynthia Ann Hall, had eight children
and four grand-children.
One unnamed child died in infancy.
William Haines Cheney was born February 18, 1822, married
Marv Jane OrendorfF and had nine children and one grand-
child.
Catherine Cheney was born May 30, 1825, in Ohio, was mar-
ried to John Prothero. She has had five children.
Return Jonathan Cheney was born August 24, 1828, at Che-
ney's Grove. He married Margaret Green and had four chil-
dren. She died, and he afterwards married Maria Rice and had
three chilldren.
Rebecca Cheney was born December 7, 1831, was married to
Benjamin Prothero in May, 1848, and has had several children,
four of whom are living.
It will be seen then that Jonathan and Catharine Cheney
have had thirteen children, of whom four are living. Their
grand-children are fifty-nine, and great grand-children are fifty.
Jonathan Cheney died March 21, 1862. He was about five
feet and ten inches in height, was straight and muscular, had a
large forehead, was a very determined man, and his appearance
would show that when he undertook anything he tried very hard
to carry it through. He was a pleasant, cheerful man, and loved
practical jokes. He was the first settler at Cheney's Grove,
which took its name from him.
m'lean county. 387
The information necessary for this sketch of Jonathan Che-
ney has been furnished by his widow, Catherine Cheney, who
lives at the house of her daughter, Mrs. Benjamin Prothero.
The old lady is now in the eighty-seventh year of her age. She
complained that her faculties had failed her, but from the infor-
mation furnished, she will be seen to have remembered the inci-
dents of her husband's eventful life remarkably well. She was
quietly attending to her knitting as she talked, for her old habits
of industry clung to her. She is a very kind old lady and re-
ceives all the care and attention possible to make her life
pleasant.
Hon. William Haines Cheney.
William Haines Cheney was born February 18, 1822, in
Champaign Count}', Ohio. In 1825 the family came to Cheney's
Grove, in what is now McLean County, Illinois, as is seen by
the sketch of his father, Jonathan Cheney. Here Haines Cheney
received his limited education. He attended school for some
time under the instruction of his sister, afterwards Mrs. Stans-
berry. She kept her school at Cheney's Grove during the winter
of the deep snow. He attended school during the winter sea-
sons until the age of nineteen, and studied the old Dillingworth
spelling-book. It was the custom in the early schools to study
aloud, so that the master could be certain that the scholars were
really at their lessons. The result was a noisy, distracting hub-
bub of voices. But it is pretty clear that such scholars could
never be sick with the consumption. This noisy system was
broken up at Cheney's Grove by a certain Mr. Ilarberson, who
introduced the quiet system. He was a very fine teacher and
would be so considered even at the present time. He kept a
subscription school.
The little Indian boys often came to see young Haines and
taught him to use the bow and arrow, and he became quite
skillful and could bring down the little birds out of the trees.
Mr. Cheney acquired a taste for hunting and killed deer,
wolves and turkeys. The deer are by far the gamiest animals
to be hunted, particularly when hunted with dogs and horses.
When they are caught, they never give up and put their heads on
the ground, as the wolves do, but fight to the last. Mr. Cheney
388 OLD SETTLERS OF
speaks of a buck, which was wounded and brought down by the
dogs, but which would, nevertheless, have whipped the dogs and
escaped, had it not been shot again.
Mr. Cheney was obliged in early days to go a long distance
to mill ; was at first compelled to go to the Big Wabash and
afterwards to Green's mill near Ottawa, seventy-five miles dis-
tant. When Jonathan Cheney broke the first prairie he was
obliged to go to Eugene on horseback with his plough-irons to
get them sharpened. This was about eighty miles distant.
In early days the doctors were scarce, from which it might be
inferred, that the health of the people was good and the number
of deaths few ; but the hardships of the settlers, the turning up
of much raw prairie soil, and various other things, were the
causes of much sickness, even in the absence of doctors.
In the early days boys were obliged to work. Haines Cheney
plowed corn, when he was seven years old, and it did not hurt
his constitution at all. He wore the simplest clothing, for the
old settlers made all of their articles of wear. He never wore
anything but home-spun, until he was eighteen years of age. In
1840 he won a suit of clothes on a wager that General Harrison
would be elected president. The wager was paid and the suit
was cut by the tailor in the latest fashion of that day. The ma-
terial was mixed jeans, Mrs. Cheney's own make. After he had
this suit, Haines Cheney was for some time a popular man among
the ladies.
Haines Cheney was married November 10, 1842, to Miss Mary
Jane Orendorff, daughter of William and Lavina Orendorff, by
B. H. Coffey, the Clerk of the County Court and ex-ofiicio Jus-
tice of the Peace. Mrs. Cheney was a lady very much respected
and admired by a large circle of friends. Mr. ancl Mrs. Cheney
have had a family of nine children, seven of whom are living.
The children are :
Lavina, born March 19, 1844, wife of William Henry Beck-
with, lives at Saybrook.
Jay Cheney, born September 18, 1846, died January 11 r
1847.
Miss Kate Cheney lives at home.
Charlie Cheney, born May 2, 1851, is married and lives in
Jasper County, Indiana.
m'lean county. 389
Miss Emma Cheney lives at home.
Wiley Cheney, born August 8, 1857, died August 1, 1860.
Harry Chenej-, born December 13, 1858, Mary Belle Cheney,
born February 1, 1862, and Minnie Estelle Cheney, born De-
cember 30, 1865, all live at home.
Mrs. Cheney died August 7, 1868, and was buried in the old
cemetery, and afterwards removed to the new cemetery.
In 1867 Haines Cheney was elected to the State Senate to
succeed Hon. Isaac Funk. The session was noted for the pas-
sage of the State House appropriation, the location of the Indus-
trial College at Champaign, and for improving the Illinois canal
and the building of the southern prison.
Haines Cheney married, May 28, 1873, Miss Caroline Brown,
daughter of Demas and Mary Brown of Medina, Ohio. She is
a very amiable and pleasant lady and possesses much tact and
judgment.
Mr. Cheney is of medium height, is rather slim, though a
man of good development of muscle. He has dark hair and
gray eyes. He seems a gentleman of good taste and correct
judgment, and is very much respected, not only in the commu-
nity where he resides, but wherever he is known and his influ-
ence is felt.
George Cheney.
George Cheney, son of Jonathan and Catherine Cheney, was
born February 18, 1819, in Champaign County, Ohio. When
in the sixth year of his age his parents came to Illinois. He
received his common school education at Cheney's Grove. He
was very little of a hunter, but could chase wolves, as this was
really part of the business of the settlers. At the age of twenty-
two he married Miss Cynthia Ann Hall, daughter of Prior and
Mary Hall, of Old Town timber. Prior Hall was an old set-
tler, but in 1850 he went to Sacramento, California, where he
died in the fall. When George Cheney was married he settled
on a farm, now known as the Harpster farm and occupied at
present by Amos Bay. But George Cheney's family afterwards
went to live on the Cheney homestead, which was afterwards
divided, William Haines Cheney taking one-half and George
Cheney the other. In the spring of 1866, George Cheney's
390 OLD SETTLERS OF
house was burned, and he immediately began to build anew ;
but when he had only commenced the work, he died. His death
occurred August 17,1866, after a three weeks illness with typhoid
fever. He had eight children, of whom six are living. They
are :
Mary Eliza, born January 28, 1842, died July 19, 1845.
Almira, born September 21, 1844, wife of J. W. Lowry, lives
at Saybrook.
Owen Cheney, born November 2, 1848, is married and lives
at Saybrook.
Orval Cheney, born December 8, 1852, lives at home and
works the farm.
Thomas Cheney, born February 5, 1856, Hellen Cheney, born
May 31, 1858, and Lincoln Cheney, born December 24, 1860,
live at home.
William Cheney, born July 18, 1864, died July 28, 1866.
George Cheney was of medium stature and rather slim, but
was rather fleshy a few years previous to his death. His eyes
were dark brown and expressive. He was very quick in his
movements, but was quickly exhausted. His constitution was
never rugged, as he had the typhoid fever, when fourteen years
of age and never fully recovered from the effects of the disease.
He was a very kind husband and a very indulgent father. He
believed in universal salvation, but did not belong to any par-
ticular church. He was buried in the old cemetery, but re-
moved to the new cemetery, which forms a part of his farm.
James Vanscoyoc.
James Vanscoyoc was born February 20, 1798, in Mononge-
hela County, Pennsylvania. His father's name was Jonathan
Vanscoyoc and his mother's maiden name was Hannah "Wall ;
but at the time of her marriage to Mr. Vanscoyoc she was a
widow, and her name was Mrs. Ketchum. When James Van-
scoyoc was five or six years old, his parents moved to Colum-
biana County, Ohio, where they remained seven or eight years,
and there James received such education as could be had in those
early days. The family then went to the Mad River country,
but it was so sickly that after one year's time they returned to
Columbiana County. Shortly afterwards they went to Wayne
m'lean county. 391
County, where the family lived until they were grown up and
scattered. There James Vanscoyoc married in April, 1819,
Drusilla Lewis. During the following year he moved to Foun-
tain County, Indiana, where he experienced hard work and very
little else. In 1829 he moved to Old Town timber in McLean
County, Illinois. There he went to farming, which has been his
occupation ever since. He lived there about twenty years and
then moved to the old Means place at Cheney's Grove, where he
has resided ever since.
Mr. Vanscoyoc has been something of a traveler in the West.
He first made a trip to the Red Banks in Illinois on the Missis-
sippi River, six or seven years after he came to the country, but
had no particular adventure. His next trip was to Texas in
about the year 1853. He went with a party of men first to St.
Louis, and from there to the little town of Napoleon at the
mouth of the Arkansas River. This little place looked as if it
were always in danger of being overflowed. They went by water
up the Arkansas River about seven hundred miles to Fort Smith.
This was then an enterprising little town of whites, Indians and
half-breeds, the latter predominating. The Indians were the
Cherokees, a very smart tribe. In conversation he found many
Cherokees as smart as any white men he ever saw. He found a
white man named Geary, who had married a squaw. She was
pretty dark colored, but was dressed in silks that rattled and
shone. Many of the Cherokees were farmers and seemed half
like Indians and half like white men. The most of the Chero-
kees, w r ho were in business, owned slaves. They held court and
tried cases as white men do. Many of them were rich and owned
large herds of cattle. Mr. Vanscoyoc went from Fort Smith to
the Red River couutry, where he visited the Chickasaws on the
north bank. He thought them more civilized than the Chero-
kees. When they first went to the Indian Territory, they had
large cotton plantations, which had been cultivated by negroes.
He saw there the finest field of corn he ever beheld. It covered
about one hundred acres, was dark green in color and rank in
growth, and the blades were long and wide. He crossed the
Red River and went on to Texas, but saw nothing of much im-
portance except some very fine wheat. On the return of his
party they crossed the Arkansas River a little below Fort Gibson.
392 OLD SETTLERS OF
The White River empties into the Arkansas a few miles above,
and its waters, which are very pure, run for a long distance be-
fore they mingle with those of the larger stream. After cross-
ing the Arkansas River the party were obliged to send over to
the White River side for pure water. Nothing else of import-
ance occurred on the way home. In May, 1873, Mr. Vanscoyoc
took a trip to Colorado. He went to Kansas city and there saw
buffalo hides by acres hanging on poles, and large squares of
them were piled up ten feet high. He went up the Kansas
River and says the land there was the prettiest he ever beheld.
The bottom lands were from a half a mile to six or seven miles
wide, but very little timber grew on them. He says that Rus-
sell County was a particularly fine country. The buffaloes were
plenty there and the buffalo "wallows" were plentier. The
latter were places where the buffaloes rooted in the ground and
wallowed as the pigs do. He went to Denver, Colorado, and to
Cheyenne, and from there started home. On his return he stop-
ped on Grand Island, Nebraska, and was most favorably im-
pressed with the appearance of the land, as it was very level.
But after all his travels, Mr. Vanscoyoc still clings to old Mc-
Lean County.
Mr. Vanscoyoc has had seven children. They are :
Perry Vanscoyoc, who was born April 17, 1820, and now
lives in Arrowsmith township.
Isaac Vanscoyoc, the next son, died when quite young.
Rebecca Vanscoyoc was born February 7, 1825, was married
to Marks Banks, and lives in Padua township, next to the
timber.
Rachel Vanscoyoc was born August 29, 1828, was married
to John ISTewcom, and lives at Cheney's Grove, a little east of
her father's.
Walter Vanscoyoc was born September 10, 1831, and lives
in Arrowsmith township.
James Vanscoyoc was born December 28, 1834, and lives at
the homestead at Cheney's Grove.
Hannah Vanscoyoc died when very young.
Mr. Vanscoyoc is about five feet seven and one-half inches in
height, has a fair development of muscle and a sanguine temper-
ament. His hair is only partly gray, notwithstanding his ad-
m'lean county. 893
vanced age. He can work yet if he chooses. He seems to be
a decided and firm man, and must have been a man of good
abilities and very accurate perceptions. He is honest, kind and
pleasant, but firm and resolute.
Thomas Cunningham.
Thomas Cunningham was born November 18, 1818, in Clark
County, Indiana. (For ancestry of the family see sketch of
King S. Cunningham.) The parents of Thomas Cunningham
were good people and very kind to their children, but were
careful to enfore strict obedience and always set a good example.
They are both buried in Saybrook Cemetery.
The Cunningham family settled at Cheney's Grove in Octo-
ber, 1829. There Robert Cunningham entered four hundred
acres of land. The old gentleman lived to see his family of
fifteen children grow up to manhood and womanhood. All of
them were married and settled in life; twelve of these children
are yet living and six are in McLean County. Thomas Cun-
ningham, the subject of this sketch, was the sixth child. His
education was necessarily limited. He attended school in Che-
ney's Grove every winter after the family moved there, until he
was twenty-one years of age. During his last year's schooling
he went to Old Town timber. This school was conducted with
as much noise as possible. The teacher walked across the floor
and whistled and sang, and the scholars exercised their vocal
powers in a similar way. The books used were few. Mr. Cun-
ningham only remembers McArthur's History of the United
States. Thomas only obtained the rudiments of an education.
Mr. Cunningham was never much of a hunter, and only
killed one deer, and that was one which came up near his door.
But he often chased wolves, and when he came near one he
would jump from his horse, catch the vicious wolf by the hind-
quarters and thrash it on the ground, before it could curl up to
bite.
Thomas Cunningham married, February 21, 1841, Miss Mi-
nerva Ann Spencer, daughter of James and Susannah Spencer,
of Livingston County, Illinois. Mrs. Cunningham is an exceed-
ingly kind lady and her pleasant manner makes the stranger feel
easy in her presence. She wears spectacles now, as women
394 OLD SETTLERS OF
sometimes must as well as men. She is a lady of fine sense and
her husband always listens to her with respect.
They have had a family of six children, four of whom are
living. They are :
Phoebe Ann, born December 10, 1841, was married to Henry
"Warrick of Livingston County, and some time after his death to
Granville Michaels.
Lucinda Jane, born April 28, 1844, was married to John
Armstrong of Livingston County, and some time after his death
to William Vanhorn.
James "William Cunningham, born July 6, 1851, is married
and lives in Livingston County.
Ellen Catherine died when nine months old.
Harvey Johnson Cunningham, born November 26, 1854,
lives at home.
Lewis Harrison Ballard Cunningham, born June 14, 1859,
lives at home.
Mr. Cunningham is about five feet ten inches in height,
weighs one hundred and eighty pounds and is broad shouldered.
His beard is gray and his hair is turning, but is heavy, showing
ing great vitality. His eyes are hazel, and he seems to be a
quiet, good-natured gentleman, a man who never does things in
a hurrv, but always takes time to think.
King Solomon Cunningham.
King- Solomon Cunningham was born December 26, 1823, in
Clark County, Indiana. His father's name was Robert Cun-
ningham, and his mother's name was Aphia Cleveland. His
father, who was born about the year 1780, was of Irish descent,
and his mother was a Yankee. Robert Cunningham was a sol-
dier of the war of 1812, and fought under Harrison at Tippe-
canoe.
In 1829 the Cunningham family came to Cheney's Grove
from Clark County, Indiana, where Robert Cunningham had
lived for twenty years. At Cheney's Grove the family went to
farming, and a few years afterwards Robert Cunningham built a
water mill on Sangamon Creek. The stones for grinding were
the nigger-heads from the prairie, but they did very good work.
The water at that time was usually high enough to run the mill
m'lean county. 395
all summer. Mr. Cunningham was obliged to work, and his
boys were obliged to do the same, for the West was no place
for idlers.
Mr. King Solomon Cunningham is particularly eloquent con-
cerning the sudden change in the weather, which took place in
December, 1836, and says that as the cold wind rolled on, it
froze the air so rapidly that the frost seemed a moving cloud of
smoke. He speaks of the two rainy seasons, when the water in
the creeks and rivers rose to enormous heights. In 1844 the
Mackinaw was higher than it had ever been known before or since.
The Sangamon Creek was too high for Cunningham's mill to
run. The year 1858 was another rainy season, and Sangamon
Creek was higher than in 1844.
King Solomon Cunningham married February 29, 1849,
Cyrena J. Thompson, who lived on the Mackinaw, five miles
from Lexington. Her father, John B. Thompson, was one of
the oldest settlers of McLean County. They have had six chil-
dren, three of whom are living. They are :
Mrs. Eliza Jane McFarland, wife of J. B. McFarland, lives
six miles north of her father's, in Cropsey township.
Henry B. Cunningham lives in Sonoma County, California.
He is an active, industrious young man, and his father feels
justly proud of him.
John W. Cunningham, the youngest of the family, is the pet
and lives at home.
King Solomon Cunningham is five feet ten inches in height,
is rather slim in build, is bald-headed, has a bright, clear eye
and straight features. He is very kind in his manner, has been
obliged to work hard, but has been successful in life, and is a
settler who does credit to McLean County.
James Rumsey Means.
James Rumsey Means was born March 22, 1825, in Louis
County, Kentucky. His father's name was Robert Means, and
his mother's maiden name was Sarah Rumsey. His father and
mother were both born in Virginia, and were both of English
descent. The former was born in 1785 and the latter in 1795.
Robert Means was a soldier in the war of 1812, and after his
death his family obtained a forty-acre land warrant on his ac-
396 OLD SETTLERS OF
count. In the fall of 1829 the Means family moved to the head
waters of the Little Vermilion River in Illinois. In the follow-
ing spring they came to Cheney's Grove, where they arrived
March 9, 1830, and located on the north side within one mile of
the west end. They went to farming, and during the first
spring broke forty acres and fenced it, and put up a log-cabin.
During the winter of the deep snow the family pounded
their corn with a wedge. This was attached to the lower end of
a pole, which reached to the roof of the cabin and was fastened
to a spring and was easily managed. The children pounded the
corn and were kept at it for hours at a time.
In the spring of 1832 Robert Means went to the Black Hawk
war, but stayed only a few days. While he was gone Mrs.
Means made the children plant corn between the hills of the
preceding year without ploughing. Mr. Means came back be-
fore planting time was over, and put in his entire corn crop in
the same way and afterwards ploughed between the rows. He
raised an excellent crop.
Robert Means died August 1, 1835, and James Means, then
ten years of age, was the oldest bo}*, who could work, in a fam-
ily of ten children. One feeble brother, two years older, died
shortly afterwards. The following are the children of Robert
Means' family :
Mrs. America P. Ball, widow of Snowden Ball, lives in the
west end of Chenev's Grove.
mi
Mrs. Keturah McMackin, wife of James McMackin, lives one
mile north of the old homestead.
Mrs. Jemima Stansberry, wife of Andrew Stansberry, lives
in Allen County, Kansas.
John Means, twin brother of Jemima, died at the age of
twelve years.
James R. Means lives at Saybrook.
David Dixon Means lives about a mile north of the old home-
stead.
Joseph Iveever Means died at the siege of Vicksburg, two
days before the surrender.
Owen Amos Means lives three miles northeast of Saybrook.
Mrs. Elizabeth Green, wife of John M. Green, a soldier
under Sherman, lives on the east side of Arrowsmith township.
m'lean county. 397
Mrs. Margaret Vanscoyoc, wife of James Vanscoyoc, lives
on the old homestead.
James Means became the man of the family after his father's
death, and they worked the whole of the farm without assist-
ance. Mr. Means, sr., had been a skillful hand to stack wheat,
and James learned to do it when only fourteen years of age.
The Means family made all their own clothing, both linen and
woolen, and raised everything they wore.
James Means was raised a moral young man and remembers
with what horror he once saw one of his companions steal three
nails. He was taught not to swear or use bad language ; but on
one occasion he broke away from his early training. He was
bitten by a hound belonging to David Ball, and the latter beat
the hound and swore at it, and James got the idea that it was
the swearing which effectually controlled the dog. Some time
afterwards, while going to the house of Mr. Ball, the hounds
again came out, and James thought they meant to kill him, and
concluded that it was better to swear than to die ; so he cursed
them with all his might, in every shape and form. Two girls,
who belonged to the family, were not far distant and they heard
the fracas and called off the hounds.
Mr. Means was an expert swimmer and remembers one little
incident, which shows what men will do in case of necessity.
John M. Stansberry, who had never learned to swim, was car-
ried by the current of Sangamon Creek down into a deep hole.
He hallooed as he went under, and James Means went to his
assistance ; but Stansberry rose and swam out without help,
though Means followed behind ready to assist him if necessary.
James Means was obliged to do a man's work and attend to
a man's business while he was still quite young. He once went
to Eugene, near the Wabash, to mill, lost a horse, and was
obliged to travel a hundred miles to recover it.
Mr. Means has had his experience in going to market to
Chicago. He went at one time with three yoke of oxen to his
wagon, and those, who accompanied him with horse teams, were
careful not to get far ahead, as they might need his oxen to pull
them out of the sloughs. But on their return the unloaded
horse teams went more rapidly, and as they carried the pro-
visions; Mr. Means was left for twenty-five hours with nothing
398 OLD SETTLERS OF
to eat. He afterwards carried his own provisions and allowed
the rest to go ahead.
Mr. Means tells a good story of Ephraim Myers. He says
that on one Sunday Abraham Stansberry's house caught fire,
and the alarm was given at the church. All who had teams
brought them out, and the wagons were immediately filled with
persons who wished to assist in putting out the fire. Among
those who jumped into James Means' wagon were Ephraim
Myers and a Methodist preacher. Means drove so fast over the
stumps that the preacher was frightened and jumped out at the
first opportunity; but Myers was cool, and gave directions quiet-
ly, saying: " Go steady, Jimmy," "Put them through, Jimmy,"
and when they came to a smooth road, Myers remarked that
he would tell the preacher that he did not love his Jesus.
Mr. Means has done some hunting and enjoyed the excite-
ment of the chase, though it has sometimes been attended with
danger. He once killed a horse while chasing a wolf. The
horse stepped into a badger's hole and fell and broke its neck.
The last wolf chase in which Mr. Means took part was very ex-
citing. The wolf was a half-breed between the gray and the
prairie varieties. Mr. Means broke down two horses in chasing
it, but came up to it on the third horse and ran it into a den.
But the den was drifted partly full of snow, and the wolf was
pulled out by the tail and killed.
Mr. Means is a man of steady nerve and sees clearly when
matters appear exciting. The following incident shows his
steady nerve, and also the remarkable coolness of one of his
daughters. Once, while coming home from church, Mr. Means
and two of his children were riding one horse, and one of his
daughters was riding another. The latter horse became fright-
ened and ran for home, and Mr. Means feared that when it
would come to the bars it would stop suddenly and throw his
daughter off and perhaps kill her. He dropped the two children
who were with him, and rode up near his daughter's frightened
horse, but could not catch it or reach the child. The girl, un-
der his directions, slipped down on the side of the saddle, hold-
ing to the pommel, and when her father gave the word, loosened
her hold and dropped to the ground with very little injury.
m'lean county. 399
Mr. Means married, May 7, 1844, Nancy M. G. Stansberry.
He has had six children, of whom four are living and two are
dead :
Mary A. Means was married to John Pitts, and lives in
Saybrook.
Sarah M. Means was married to J. S. Barwick.
Owen Amos Means died in 1865 with small-pox.
Lee and John Henry Means live at home.
James Edward Means died in infancy.
Mr. Means is five feet and ten inches in height, weighs over
two hundred pounds, is strong and heavy set, and has done a
great deal of hard work. He has brown hair, sandy whiskers
and brown eyes. He is a strictly honest man, has the best of
judgment, seems to be prosperous, and is a first-class business
man. He thinks a great deal of children, and remembers clearly
the incidents of his own childhood. During the Black Hawk
war his father once went up to the Mackinaw to learn the condi-
tion of affairs, and Mrs. Means took her children to Robert
Cunningham's mill for protection. There the little Means chil-
dren began building a small fort, but soon gave up their child-
ish arrangement, and Mrs. Means went back to her home.
Ephraim Scodder Myers.
Ephraim S. Myers was born December 9, 1801, in Louis
County, Kentucky. His father's name was Jacob Myers, and
his mother's maiden name was Nancy Means. Jacob Myers was
of German descent and Nancy Means was of Dutch and
Irish stock. He lived in Kentucky, where he was born,
for twenty-five years and then came to Illinois. In the fall of
1826 he came to the Little Vermilion River, to that
part of Edgar County which now forms the county of
Vermilion. Pie and his cousin, James Dixon, came out to-
gether with a horse, which they took turns in riding. Mr.
Myers frst chopped wood for ten dollars per month for the Salt
Works at Danville, and afterwards went to breaking prairie and
farming on the Little Vermilion River. He married, Decem-
ber 21, 1828, Eliza Childers, and in April, 1830, he came to
Cheney's Grove.
Mr. Myers talks very eloquently sometimes about the deep
snow. He says that he left his wagon standing in his } r ard and
400 OLD SETTLERS OF
when the deep snow fell no wagon was to be seen ; it was com-
pletely covered. A day or two before the heavy fall of snow
Mr. Myers came from mill with enough corn meal to last his
family through the winter, but he divided with his neighbbors,
and before long was obliged to pound corn as the rest did. He
killed deer when the snow first fell, but they soon became poor
and not worth killing. A day or two after the heavy fall of
snow he went out hunting and followed a deer for some distance,
when it went to a place where a dozen or more deer had tramped
a space around them about twenty feet across with the snow
drifted on all sides in high walls. For once in his life he became
excited and fired three or four times while they were charging
around and jumping about, but missed them. At last they broke
from their pen and he shot two of them when they had run a
short distance away. During that terrible winter the deer
came up, after night-fall, and ate hay with his cattle.
Mr. Myers commenced hunting on the Vermilion River,
when he first came to Illinois, and was very successful. He has
had many adventures after game, and knows the country around
for many miles. He has killed a deer or a wolf in every hollow
and by every creek or spring. The largest deer he killed was
up on the Mackinaw, and it was indeed a most enormous buck.
It weighed two hundred and forty pounds dressed, and the skin
weighed twenty-one pounds without the ears or lower part of
the legs, and twelve pounds after it was dried. After Mr. My-
ers had killed his game, it sometimes required ingenuity to
bring it home. At one time, when he killed two deer, he put
one on his horse's back and tied the other to its tail and made
it bring them both in. Mr. Myers and Thomas Cheney were
once down to a grove near Gibson, about nine miles east of Che-
ney's Grove. They had with them a dog called Drummer.
They started a deer and Drummer drove it away, and Cheney
said that when the dog came back he would kill it. It soon re-
turned and Cheney shot it. Mr. Myers said immediately that
the grove should be called Drummer's Grove, and it has borne
that name ever since.
Mr. Myers has often hunted wolves. He used to set pens for
them, and once caught two wolves at one time. He has often
chased wolves with horses and dogs. He says that the wolves
m'lean county. 401
run a great deal faster than they formerly did, and that in early
days any little cur could catch one. When the settlers chased
them on horseback, it was very seldom that the wolves escaped ;
but now it is next to impossible to catch a wolf with dogs or
horses. Mr. Myers formerly kept seven hounds to hunt wolves
and gave them plenty of business. But, notwithstanding all of
the precautions of the settlers and all of their hunting with dogs
and horses, the wolves continued thick and every day some
farmer's pigs or sheep would suffer. But in the year 1850 the
people all turned out for a grand hunt, and went after the wolves
in their dens, before the little wolf puppies were large enough
to come out, and killed thirty in two days, and after that they
were never so troublesome.
Mr. Myers thinks that in all of his experience with wild ani-
mals the badger is the* worst to kill and hardest to tight. A
badger is a bluish colored animal with whitish stripes. It is
shaped much like a woodchuck, and is about the size of a rac-
coon. Its teeth and nails are very long and sharp, the latter
measuring nearly an inch. The animal is exceedingly strong,
and really loves to fight. Mr. Myers says that while his dogs
were once barking at a badger's hole it came out for fight, and
it required five dogs to whip it. A badger will usually run
when a strong force of dogs is after it, and when an attempt is
made to dig it out of its hole it will sometimes dig down nearly
as fast as it is dug after, and the dirt Hies in all directions. Mr.
Myers once dug out a hole in which he found two young badgers
and a bull snake. This was in the spring of the year. He
thinks they must have passed the winter together.
During the Black Hawk war Mr. Myers took his wife down to
the Little Vermilion River for safety and came back and lived for
nearly two months alone. The people were badly frightened, but
not badly enough to keep Abraham Stansberry and Mary Cheney
from getting married. The farther away the people lived, the
more they became frightened at the danger, which they could
not understand, or about which they could not obtain reliable
information. Some soldiers who came up from Paris, in Edgar
County, about seventy-five miles south of Cheney's Grove, said
that the people there were too much frightened to raise a wed-
ding.
26
402 0LD SETTLERS OF
The old settlers tell very few snake stories, but Mr. Myers
tells one which may be relied upon. In 1871, in harvest time,
his sons killed thirty-two rattlesnakes in a meadow within one
hour.
Mr. Myers' first wife died, and he married Mrs. Louisa Ann
Stansberry, a widow, August, 14, 1848. The following are the
children and members of Mr. Myers' family :
Nancy Myers was born September 1(3, 1820, and died August,
2 1810
Jacob Myers was born January 12, 1832. He enlisted during
the rebellion in the 116th Illinois Volunteers, and died of sick-
ness on his way home from Yicksburg in May, 1863.
Thomas Myers was born January 11, 1834. He was a soldier
in the army under Colonel McCullough. He was at the battle of
Shiloh. He afterwards became sick and was sent back to Quin-
cy, Illinois. He lives about five miles east of his father's.
' John Myers was born April 1,1836. He was a soldier in
the 116th Illinois Volunteers. He was at Vicksburg and Ar-
kansas Post, but was sick during a part of his term of service.
He lives at his father's home.
Robert Myers was born April 27, 1838. He was in the lltjrh
Illinois Volunteers, and died of sickness at Vicksburg.
Fielden Myers was born April 25, 1840. He volunteered to
o-o into the army, but was taken sick and never mustered in. He
lives at home with his father.
Elizabeth Myers was born September 17, 1842. She was
married to Henry Lowry, and lives at Gibson, Ford County,
Illinois.
One child, Henry Myers, died in infancy.
Andrew H. Stansberry, a son of Mrs. Louisa Ann Myers by
her first marriage, was born February 15, 1842, was a soldier in
the 70th Illinors Volunteers, under Colonel Reeves. He lives
iu Howard County Kansas.
Daniel Ham, a boy who lived with Mr. Myers, and was for a
while a member of his family, enlisted in the 4th Illinois Cav-
alry. Mr. Myers wishes the boy's name put in this record to
show how many went from his house into the army.
Margaret Myers was bom March 15, 1850, was married to
Oliver Roe, and lives a mile and a half south of her father's.
m'lean county. 403
The following live at home :
Sarah, born November 28, 1851.
Clay, born August 30, 1855.
James, born December 2G, 1858.
Mr. Myers has sixteen grandchildren and thirteen are boys.
Ephraim S. Myers is about five feet and eleven inches in
height and appears rugged and tough. He has a sanguine com-
plexion, blue eyes and perfectly white hair and whiskers. lie
is a man of very independent character and great courage. He
takes his own course, and, if people do not like it, they can go
their own way. His favorite expression is that he can " hoe his
own row," and lie has done so very successfully, although it
seemed a rough one sometimes. He does not ask unnecessary-
favors. He has a great deal of humor about him sometimes,
and loves a good joke as well as any old settler.
AVlLLIAM RlGGS.
William Riggs was born [September 7, 1808, in Washington
County, Maryland. His father's name was Samuel Kiggs, and
his mother's maiden name was Priseiila Marshall. Both were of
English descent. Samuel Riggs was a plain farmer and a worthy
man. When William was only one year old the Riggs family
came to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where they remained about
three years and then went to Bluebank Creek, Fleming County,
same State. There he bought land and was obliged to sacrifice
his stock to do so, but after live years he had the misfortune to
lose his land, as he was obliged to pay a security debt.
In 1824 William Riggs made a trip to South Carolina with a
drove of hogs, which he sold there. He was delayed there for
some time, as the weather continued warm in December, and he
could not sell his pork until the season grew cooler. While he
was delayed he saw something of slavery, and it was far from
pleasant. The cotton planters there had usually from one to
three hundred negroes on a farm. The planter with whom they
stayed, Mr. Hyder Davy, had on his plantation a square of ten
acres, in the center of which was his house, a little higher than
the remainder. Around this square and facing inwards were
the negro quarters. One evening Mr. Davy told Mr. Riggs and
the drovers, that he would show them a sight, and he blew a
404 OLD SETTLERS OF
little bone whistle, giving various signals, and immediately about
one hundred little colored children, between the ages of three
and six years, as naked as the day they were born, came out of
their quarters into the square and began dancing and capering
about. After they had danced and capered for half an hour,
Mr. Davy gave another signal, and they ran for their quarters
as fast as squirrels. The field-hands were treated by the over-
seers in the most brutal manner. The former were allowed one
peck of meal to eat per week and absolutely nothing else. Every
Saturday night the field-hands were obliged to deliver up their
shoes, which were locked up carefully until Monday morning.
At that time the negroes came and received their shoes and
their weekly ration of meal and were set at work. The shoes
were taken from them on Saturday to prevent them from run-
ning about, for, as the country was flinty, they would cut their
feet if they walked without shoes. The field-hands were re-
quired to pick a certain quantity of cotton per day, and in the
evening their pickings were separately weighed, and whoever
failed to produce the required amount was whipped. A woman
was whipped by being thrown on her face and having the lashes
applied to her bare back. When a man was whipped he was
made to grasp a post and put his wrists through an iron ring,
which was made to spring down on them and hold them fast.
His shirt was then drawn over his head and the lashes were ap-
plied to his bare back. While the hands were in the field, the
overseer was always on horseback with his cat-o'-nine-tails, and
some one was whipped every day. The cotton-field was picked
over three times. At the first two pickings the pods would split
open and the cotton hang out and be easily picked, but the third
time the pods would split only partially open and the cotton was
then difficult to gather. The negroes would often come in from
the field with their thumbs and fingers bleeding and torn by the
cotton-pods. The nursing infants belonging to the women, who
worked in the field, were placed in charge of a negress too old
to work. At nine o'clock every day she placed these infants in
a mule cart in which was a bed of straw and blankets, and took
them to their mothers in the field to be nursed. This was re-
peated at twelve o'clock and again at three o'clock in the after-
noon. The hands never left the field until they stopped work
at night. Such was slavery.
m'lean county. 405
When Mr. Riggs sold his pork he came back to Kentucky on-
foot. He walked in fair weather one hundred miles in three
days, but he was somewhat delayed by high water and required
fifteen days for his journey.
Mr. Riggs married, December 28, 1826, Nancy Pitts, and
rented a small place for four years. In the fall of 1830 he
moved to Illinois with his brother-in-law, Henry Pitts. In De-
cember of that year the heavy snow began falling. On the day
that the heavy snow fell, Henry Pitts was driving a lot of pigs
to Eugene, Indiana, on the Wabash, and was caught in the
storm. Mr. Riggs went with a horse to assist him, and they
took their pigs through. On their return they walked with their
horse through the snow, which was up to their thighs. First
one would lead the horse and break the way, while the other
would whip the animal from behind. A crust was beginning to
form on the snow and traveling was exceedingly hard. On the
last day of their journey, they came from Newcom's Ford to
Cheney's Grove, a distance of fifteen miles, and took turns in
leading the horse. They shaped their course by the wind, which
blew over the prairie very cold. When they came near Cheney's
Grove they found that they had missed the course by two miles,
and they changed their direction and tried again. After going
about two miles Pitts stopped and wanted to rest and said he
would feel better if he could sleep. Mr. Riggs then whipped
him with the hickory gad until he was ready to fight, and at last
they started ahead with the horse and arrived safe. Mr. Riggs
thinks that if Pitts had been left to sleep he would have frozen
to death in twenty minutes. Mr. Riggs' feet were badly frozen
and the toe-nails and thick skin on the heels came off. The toes
and heels were frozen so stiff that they thumped on the floor
like potatoes. Mr. Pitts was frozen in the same way. One of
Mr. Riggs' ears was also frozen. He was unable to do much
work for some time, but could pound meal, as all were obliged
to do during that desperate winter. He made for himself a pair
of moccasins of deer hides, and turned the hair inward and by
bundling up his feet he could get out and feed his stock. On
the tenth of the following March he went to Blooming Grove
on horseback, and on his return carried a spinning-wheel and
led his horse, which carried two and a half bushels of meal ; but
40G OLD SETTLERS OF
the animal was obliged to carry Mr. Riggs and the meal, spin-
ning-wheel and all across the Kickapoo. The slush from the
melting of the deep snow was then from ankle deep to three
feet.
During the winter of the deep snow some of the settlers
gathered the deer together in parks and fed them. Mr. Jona-
than Cheney collected about fifteen deer in a park and kept
them six or seven years, when a high wind blew down a part of
the fence and they escaped.
During the spring of 1832, while the Black Hawk war was
carried on, the women collected at the house of the widow Ball
while the men stood guard.
In the fall of 1837 the Riggs family made a visit to Ken-
tucky, traveling on horseback. They traveled four hundred
miles there and four hundred miles to return. Mrs. Riggs car-
ried her one-year old child in her arms during the whole jour-
ney. She was a fine horse-woman, having been raised on the
Kentucky hills where it required ingenuity to manage an animal
and stick to it. They traveled on an average thirty-five miles
per day.
Mr. and Mrs. Riggs have raised six children, four sons and
two daughters, and have seen them all grow up and become set-
tled in life. They have all been converted and made members
of the Methodist Church. They are :
George W. Riggs, who was born December 11, 1827. He
now lives one mile north of his father's homestead.
Henry M. Riggs was born September 6, 1829. He was a
soldier in the Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, and on becom-
ing a veteran was made a captain in the United States Colored
Infantry. He was at Pea Ridge, the siege of Vicksburg, and in
many other battles. He lives in Bloomington.
Priscilla M. Riggs was born August 10, 1831, was married to
J. D. Lewis, and lives about three-quarters of a mile from her
father's.
"William H. Riggs was born February 13, 1834. He has had
a wide-awake life, has been to California and seen something of
the world. He is now president of the Saybrook Bank, owned
by Riggs and Brother.
m'lean county. 407
Mary Jane Riggs was born September 28, 1835, was mar-
ried to Moses T. Hall and lives in Saybrook.
Samuel R. Riggs was born February 13, 1838, was a soldier
in the One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois Infantry, was at
Vicksburg and Atlanta, and in many other engagements. He
was severely wounded at the siege of Atlanta while relieving a
picket guard. He was then commanding a company. He
is now cashier of the Saybrook Bank owned b};- Riggs and
Brother.
Mr. William Riggs is five feet and eleven inches in height,
has gray hair and beard, has a Roman nose and bright, expres-
sive, humorous eyes. He is a man of large mind and sound
judgment, and is very conscientious. He is a man of clear ideas
and talks clearly and to the point with very little effort. He is
as modest as he is worthy. He seems to be in good health and
circumstances, and enjoys a happy old age. Mrs. Riggs still
lives, happy and contented, and it will not be long before she
and her husband can celebrate their golden wedding.
Snowden Ball.
Snowden Ball was born August 4, 1814, in Louis County,
Kentucky. His father's name was Richard C. Ball, and his
mother's maiden name was Catherine Cleary. Snowden Ball
lived in Louis County, Kentucky, where he was raised, for sev-
enteen years. There he went to school and received his limited
education. When he was seventeen years of age he came to
Cheney's Grove and went to farming, as all the early settlers
did. He was married October 29, 1835, to Miss America Pente-
grass Means, daughter of Robert and Sarah Means, of Cheney's
Grove. Their domestic life was remarkably happy. His con-
stitution was never very rugged, but he usually enjoyed good
health, with the exception of a sickness occasioned by an acci-
dent, which happened to his knee. He died of consumption
March 1, 1873. He left a family of eight children, all of whom
are living. They are :
Sarah S. Coile, wife of John Coile, born August 13, 1836,
lives in Howard County, Kansas.
Catherine H. Riggs, born August 23, 1838, wife of William
H. Riggs, lives at Saybrook.
408 OLD SETTLERS OF
Keturah E. MeKenney, born March 27, 1842, wife of William
H. McKenney, lives a quarter of a mile north of her mother's.
Richard C. Ball, born April 9, 1844, lives in Howard Coun-
ty, Kansas.
Mary Elizabeth Palmer, born April 2, 1846, wife of Charles
Palmer, lives one-half a mile south of her mother's.
John H. Ball, born August 7, 1851, Rhoda Ann Ball, born
June 8, 1853, and Frank Baker Ball, born November 19, 1860,
live at home.
Snowden Ball was about five feet and eleven inches in height
and slenderly built. His hair and whiskers at the time of his
death were nearly gray. His eyes were dark brown. He was
a very resolute man, but cautious in his dealings and temperate
in his habits. He thought much of his family, and worked
hard for them.
Hilleary Ball.
Hilleary Ball was born March 8,1817, in Louis County, Ken-
tucky. His father's name was Richard C. Ball, and his mother's
maiden name was Catherine Cleary. He does not know the de-
scent of his parents, but the name would indicate an English
ancestry. The father of Hilleary Ball died when the latter was
only eight months old. Hilleary Ball lived in Louis County,
Kentucky, where he was born, for thirteen or fourteen years.
There he went to school and received some little education to
prepare him for the work of life. In the fall of 1831, he came
with his uncle Joseph Cleary Ball to Cheney's Grove, where he
arrived November 10. The journey was very pleasant, requir-
ing one month, which, however, included some delay in visiting
friends on the way. Previous to their arrival Henry Ball had
made arrangements for building a cabin, but when they came
they found the work scarcely commenced. But all parties im-
mediately began work, and the log cabin went up speedily. The
puncheon floor was made of green wood, which froze every
night, and the old carpet or quilt which was laid on it, was
frozen fast. The family went to farming on their arrival, and
experienced the usual vicissitudes of a pioneer life. Hilleary
Ball went to school for a while at Cheney's Grove, and remem-
bers one curious incident of his school days. The settlers at
m'lean county. 409
Cheney's Grove turned out to hunt two wolves, one a black
wolf and the other a gray. After being chased all over the
timber, the black wolf was caught and killed near the school
house. Hilleary Ball saw it coming with the hunters in full
chase, and spoke out quickly, and came near getting punished
for his excitement. But the school was in such an uproar that
the master let out the scholars, and they saw the wolf killed and
the hide raffled oft' among the hunters.
Mr. Ball never became much of a sportsman, though he
often chased wolves and killed them with a stirrup. He some- '
times poisoned them with strichnine, and sometimes, when one
of his domestic animals happened to die he would set it out as
a bait for wolves and shoot them when they came near. Mr.
Ball has had the usual contests with the fires which came sweep-
ing over the prairie, and at one time had his farm burned up,
with the exception of the house and barn.
Mr. Ball married in November, 1838, Calista Hildreth, who
was born in New York and came to McLean County at an early
day. He has had six children, three boys and three girls, five
of whom are living. They are :
William Henry Ball, who lives in Cheney's Grove township,
about three miles northeast of his father's, in Section No. 10.
Elizabeth Theodosia Ball was married to William Evans,
and lives near her brother William Henry.
Julia Ann Ball was married to Samuel Gallagher, jr., and
lives in Saybrook.
Amos Ball lives in the northwest part of Champaign
County.
Alfred Ball died when very young.
Harriet Ball, usually called Hattie, is the baby, or pet, and
lives at home.
Mr. Ball is about five feet and ten inches in height, and is
what would be called a good-looking man. His hair and whiskers
are beginning to turn a little gray. He has a well shaped head
and eyes that are expressive of fun and good humor. He is
sometimes a little eccentric in his manner, but is a man of good
feeling. He takes care of his property, and is thrifty and pros-
perous. When he was asked to give some information of his
early life he was out attending to his property, but he sat down
410 OLD SETTLERS OF
under the shade of a tree and talked easily, cleverly and humor-
ously. He is a kind and accommodating neighbor and a pleas-
ant gentleman.
William Kendrick Stansberry.
William Kendrick Stansberry was born August 29, 1820, in
Washington County, East Tennessee. His father's name was
Edward Stansberry and his mother's was Polly Ann Graham.
Edward Stansberry and his wife were both almost entirely of
English descent. Mr. W. K. Stansberry once saw his great
grandmother Graham, who lived to reach the advanced age of
one hundred and ten years. Edward Stansberry was born near
the close of the eighteenth century. He had eleven brothers
and four sisters, enough to keep him company in his youth. He
moved to Tennessee and there was married, and in Washington
County his son William K. was born. In 1833 Edward Stans-
berry moved with his family to Cheney's Grove, where he re-
mained until the time of his death, which occurred in 1861.
The Stansberry family was the fifth to come to the grove.
The journey to Cheney's Grove was long and tedious, requir-
ing six weeks to accomplish it. They were one week on the
Cumberland Mountains, and while there, lived on corn-bread
and pumpkins. They arrived at Cheney's Grove on the last day
of October, and when they came, the neighbors all turned out
and helped them build a cabin, which they succeeded in finish-
ing within three days. It was made of logs, of course, with a
puncheon floor. They made their bedsteads by inserting poles
in auger holes bored in the wall. The bedstead had only one
leg out in the room. They made a table by splitting two broad
puncheons and putting legs to them. They had stools made of
little puncheons, and during the following year they indulged in
the luxury of a loft made of Linn bark.
During the fall after they came to Cheney's Grove, Edward
Stansberry went with a party of men after wild hogs, and they
killed twenty-five or thirty, and Mr. Stansberry 's share of the
pork amounted to five or six hundred pounds. They went to
Perrysville, Indiana, for their grinding. In 1834 the family
suffered severely ; they all had the ague except Kendrick, and
m'lean county. 411
were at one time obliged to go eight weeks without corn-meal,
except what they could grate for themselves.
When William Kendrick Stansberry became sixteen years
of age, he was a great hunter, and from that time until the age
of twenty-five he scarcely ever killed less than fifty deer per
annum, and great numbers of turkeys. He killed one turkey
which weighed twent}^-five pounds dressed. He once shot a doe
and knocked both eyes out, but when he took hold of her she
nearly kicked the clothes off of him. On the day that Polk was
elected president he went to see the voting, and on the way
killed two bucks at one shot. At one time he shot a buck sixty
or seventy yards distant through the heart, and it ran towards
him and fell about ten feet awa}?-. He also hunted wolves and
caught a great many in traps, on horseback and by running
them down.
Mr. Stansberry occasionally did a little trapping. In Feb-
ruary, 1842, he caught in the Sangamon River, in a steel-trap,
the largest otter he ever heard of. He discovered its track in
the snow on the ice and found its habitation. It had cut a hole
in the ice between the forks of a tree in the water. Mr. Stans-
berry watched the hole and tried to shoot the otter, but it was
too sharp for him. He at last went to Farmer City and bought
a steel-trap, which he set by its hole and caught the animal by
the fore-legs, and its tail was frozen fast in the ice. It measured
nine feet from the tip of its tail to its nose. The skin was sold
for ten dollars.
Mr. Stansberry has some lively recollections of Ephraim
Myers, one of the greatest hunters in the West. Mr. Myers is
a humorous man and has a great many queer traits of character.
At one time Ephraim Myers, Edward Stansberry and Fielding
Lloyd were taking up a bee tree and the little Stansberry boys
were looking on and eating honey. Old Ephraim thought the
little chaps should have something to do, so he pretended to be
afflicted with the colic and made them rub him down. If they
stopped rubbing for a moment he would groan and make them
work ae;ain.
W. K. Stansberry has many recollections of old times and
the fashions of early days. He particularly remembers the
Methodist preacher, who could be recognised as far as seen, by
412 OLD SETTLERS OF
his horse and saddle-bags. The preacher's salary was a hundred
dollars a year. The one, who had Cheney's Grove in his circuit,
traveled from Big Grove (Champaign) to Middletown, (now
called Mahomet,) then to Cheney's Grove, then to Indian Grove
(near Fairbury), then to Mackinaw timber (where Lexington
now is), then to Blooming Grove, Randolph's Grove and Hur-
ley's Grove (where Farmer City now is), in succession, and
finally back to Big Grove the starting point. It required four
weeks to make the round trip. He wore a white cravat and a
plain, round-breasted, jeans coat. But afterwards the fashion
changed, and he wore his coat straight-breasted. No person
was allowed in the meeting-house, who wore ornaments of any
kind. Mr. Stansberry was once careless enough to wear a shirt
which had the pleats on the bosom running crosswise instead of
up and down, and he was not allowed to enter the meeting-house
or attend divine service at all. The meeting at Old Town tim-
ber was held in an old barn, which is standing yet. In early
days people yoked up their oxen to go to church, and the smart
young men took their sweethearts on horseback behind them.
Mr. Stansberry sometimes went as far as Farmer City, a distance
of eighteen miles, to take his lady to church. After church he
would go back, stay all the night with the family and return
home the next day. He has frequently seen half a dozen young
men riding to church with their sweethearts on behind them and
has often seen a lady riding on horseback to church and her
husband walking before.
Mr. Stansberry has had the experience peculiar to the early
settlers; he has driven pigs to Chicago and sold them for $1.25
per hundred weight, has chopped wood for twenty-five cents per
day, has harvested for fifty cents and hauled wheat to Chicago
for thirty cents per bushel.
Mr. Stansberry's hunting days came to an end at the age of
twenty-five, when he was married. This important event oc-
curred January 8, 1846. His bride was Miss Sarah Jane Yazel.
He has had five children, all of whom are living. They are:
Mrs. Harriet Emeline Hyre, wife of Jonathan Hyre, who
lives in Saybrook.
Mrs. Olive Jane Simmons, wife of D. Haldeman Simmons,
lives in Saybrook.
m'lean county. 413
Edward Stansberry lives at home.
Mrs. Cora Bell Smith, wife of Clinton Smith, lives in Say-
brook.
Milton Stansberry lives at home.
After Mr. W. K. Stansberry was married he stopped his
hunting, except occasionally for bee-trees. Year before last he
found thirty bee-trees from which he took three hundred pounds
of honey. Last year he found twenty-one bee-trees. He has in
the house honey which is three years old. He is about five feet
and six inches in height, is heavy set, and weighs one hundred
and eighty pounds. He is a good-natured man and would seem
to be on good terms with all of his neighbors. He has dark
eyes and heavy black hair, which has hardly }^et begun to show
the effects of time. He is somewhat stout in appearance, has a
clear and rather heavy voice and a heavy, black moustache, and
would be called a good-looking man if he would dress himself
up. He is now the postmaster at Saybrook. He has been a
very temperate man and has never drank whisky. He says
that if he had his life to live over he would be a preacher !
Otha Owen.
Otha Owen was born October 5, 1823, in Mechanicsburg,
Champaign County, Ohio. His father's name was Uriah Owen,
and his mother's maiden name was Kesiah Jaco. His father
was partly of Welch descent and was born in Virginia. He was
a soldier in the war of 1812. He died in 1832 or '33, and his
wife followed him two years afterwards.
Otha Owen lived in Champaign County until he was ten
years of age, when he was sent to Green County to live with his
uncle Elias Owen. He came with his uncle Elias to Cheney's
Grove, where he arrived September 6, 1834. The journey was
pleasant and uneventful. They immediate!} 7 went to farming.
Otha Owen was obliged to work hard, but found some time for
school, though not as much as he would have liked. He was
often sent with the grist to mill in his younger days, and some-
times made the grand journey to Chicago, camping out at night.
He speaks very warmly of the manners and customs of early
days, when everybody was acquainted with everybody, and peo-
ple made it their duty to visit the sick and see that they all
received attention.
414 OLD SETTLERS OF
During the greater part of the years 1844 and '45, Mr. Owen
lived in Sangamon County, where he worked for eight and one-
third dollars per month.
Otha Owen married, November 20, 1845, in Sangamon
County, Susannah Cline, and came immediately to Cheney's
Grove. It was then bitterly cold weather, and their journey
was a hard one. Mr. Owen says it was the coldest weather he
ever experienced, and has since often wondered why he did not
freeze to death. The chickens fell from their roosts and died
of cold. It did not thaw for nearly three weeks. During that
winter Mr. Owen bought his meat for five dollars per hundred; but
during the following year he had pork for sale and received for
it only one dollar or a dollar and a quarter per hundred. The
pigs, which the farmers raised, were little long-nosed fellows
that could put their snouts through a fence and eat up a potato
hill.
Mr. Owen has had his experience with fires on the prairie,
and has had some fencing burned by them. He says the worst
prairie fire he ever saw was on the farm of a certain Mr. Went-
worth, who lived within eighteen miles of Chicago. Six teams,
including Mr. Owen's, were passing at the time, and the team-
sters took off their horses, put them in the barn and began
fighting fire. They succeeded in saving the house and barn, but
the remainder of the farm was simply a waste of cinders.
Mr. Owen never hunted much, but has chased wolves, which
were the farmer's greatest pest. lie chased them on horseback
and says that there was a great deal of difference in their speed,
so much so that he could tell at almost the first jump whether
or not he could catch the wolf he was after. If it was a fast
wolf it would run slowly at first and look over its shoulder in
an impudent, suspicious way, and when pressed more closely
would show speed, but would never take the trouble to do more
than keep out of the hunter's way. But if the wolf was a slow
one it seemed to know that it must do its best and get down to
its greatest speed immediately. When Mr. Owen saw a wolf of
this kind he always felt sure of catching it in a short race. He
says the slow wolves have all been caught off, and those which
are now left can scarcely be caught at all. The breed has been
improved and made a faster running breed by a process of
m'lean county. 415
" natural selection." A wolf was recently started in Belleflower
township and chased ten miles before being caught. Such a
chase never was formerly made after a prairie wolf. Occasion-
ally the early settlers chased the timber wolves more than ten
miles, but never the prairie wolves. The early settlers would
sometimes run their horses to death or break their wind, or run
into an ant-hill or a badger's hole in chasing the wolves, and
it was not always a safe business. Mr. Elias Owen had a severe
fall by his horse running into a hole, and Mr. James R. Means
killed a horse on one of these fast chases.
Mr. Owen has had eleven children, and of these eight are
living.
Otha Owen is five feet and five inches in height, has a san-
guine complexion, but is somewhat slim in build. He is like the
most of the old settlers, cordial and friendly, and his manner is
warm and pleasant and honest. His hair is nearly gray and his
whiskers likewise. He has a good, kind expression, and will be
remembered as one of the best of the old settlers.
Joseph Newcom.
Joseph Newcom was born August 25, 1814, in Clark County,
Ohio. His father, whose name was Ethan Newcom, was a Jer-
sey Yankee, and his grandfather, whose name was also Ethan
Newcom, was a Jersey Yankee and a Revolutionary soldier.
Ethan Newcom, jr., the father of Joseph, married a widow, Mrs.
Mary Woods, whose maiden name was Mary Marsh, and she
was a Jersey Yankee, too.
Joseph Newcom says that nothing of importance occurred
during the first fourteen years of his life, and thinks that chil-
dren did not know' as much and were not as smart as the chil-
dren are at present with all the advantages that schools can now
give.
In the fall of 1828 the Newcom family came to Sangamon
timber, Illinois, to what was afterwards called Newcom's Ford.
There they arrived one evening tired and hungry, and the next
morning: Ethan Newcom found a bee tree before breakfast. The
family went on to Blooming Grove, but after staying there for
two weeks, went back to Newcom's Ford, which took its name
from them. During their first winter at the ford they hauled
416 OLD SETTLERS OF
corn, from Blooming Grove, forty miles distant. Newcom's Ford
was a stopping place for travelers, and the Newcom's kept a
house of entertainment. Sometimes, in the fall of the year,
twenty-five or thirty teams would stop there at once. The price
of entertainment was eighteen and three-fourths cents per meal
and fifty cents for keeping a man and horse over night, They
went to Eugene, on the Big Vermilion River, near the Wabash,
for their flour and groceries. But, notwithstanding some little
inconveniences, the Newcoms lived well and happily. At one
time Joseph Newcom went with his sister on horseback to Big
Grove, fifteen miles east of the ford, to a wedding. While
there the weather turned cold and everything was frozen up.
On their return they found the sloughs all easy to cross, except
one, which the horses refused to touch. It had frozen over and
had fallen and the crust of ice on top was held up by the grass,
and the horses refused to cross it. Joseph Newcom was obliged
to go into the water up to the waist to break the ice while his
sister followed on horseback.
People often had great difficulty in crossing at Newcom's
Ford, and were frequently obliged to swim the creek with their
teams. A man named Henry Pitts had a horse drowned in
crossing the creek, as it did not swim well, but went to plunging
when it struck the deep water.
The hogs belonging to the settlers would run wild when
turned loose for any length of time, and were sometimes very
dangerous. On one Sunday Ethan ISTewcom went out to hunt
bees, when he saw a hog in the distance coming towards him.
He thought he would let it come up to within a short distance
of him and then frighten it, but when the hog approached it be-
gan to bristle up its hair and walk sideways,' and Mr. Newcom
saw that he must "get out of that" very quickly. The timber
was about fifty steps distant, and he broke for it on the keen
run with the hog after him. He reached the timber in quick
time and sprang up a tree, and the disappointed hog could do
nothing but walk around and raise its bristles. Such was Ethan
Newcom's attempt to frighten a wild hog !
While the Newcoms lived at Newcom's Ford the flies were
very bad on the horses and cattle. For about six weeks in the
year the large green-head flies prevented all travel by day.
m'lean county. 417
Everybody was obliged to travel by night, and even then they
were troubled with the flies at moonlight. The flies were so
thick and so bad that they would kill a young horse if it were
turned loose. The} T would drive it nearly crazy and suck its
blood ; but now they are comparatively rare even in the worst
part of fly time. The long prairie grass on which they used to
breed has been eaten off and has become almost a rarity. Jo-
seph ISTewcom says he has many times been obliged to travel by
night, and would bend forward and sleep with his arms around
his horse's neck.
During the winter of the deep snow Joseph ISTewcom was
sent to Cheney's Grove to school. lie boarded at the house of
Benjamin Thomas, and went to school to Mary Cheney. He
rode to school on a blind horse with two of Mr. Thomas' little
ffirls, one on behind and one on before. He was obliged to
break the road a great many times, but always succeeded in
keeping it clear. On the last day of February, when the snow
was about to melt, he walked home to IsTewcom's Ford on the
crust. Had he delayed another day he could not have gone
home for a month, as the melting of the deep snow kept every-
thing swimming. A year or two afterwards Mr. Newcom went
to school at Blooming Grove, to old Billy Hodge.
The Newcoms were great bee hunters and found many trees.
The bees were very different in their dispositions. Some would
allow their honey to be taken very easily, and would make no
trouble ; some would fight, but would be cowed by smoke, and
some would fight and pay no attention to smoke. At one time
Ethan ISTewcom and Joseph each found a bee tree, and as they
were in the vicinity of other bee hunters, decided to cut the
trees immediately, although the day was a warm one in Septem-
ber. They cut Ethan ISTewcom's tree first, and when it fell the
hollow burst open and the bees fought desperately all the time
the honey was being taken out. Joseph Newcom was stung
again and again. He was in his shirt sleeves, and wore shoes
without stockings. As the day was warm the perspiration made
the sleeves of his shirt cling to his arms, and the bees stung
through it again and again. They lit on his legs and crawled
up his trowsers and lit on his face and nearly stung him crazy.
At one time he ran off, whipping bees with his hat, and acci-
27
418 OLD SETTLERS OF
dentally threw it in some high grass, but kept on running and
whipping at the bees. "When he became free from them he
hunted for his hat, but never found it, and was obliged to go
bareheaded for two weeks. They took twelve gallons of honey
from the bees and a great deal more was wasted, as the gum had
split open in falling. The next tree they cut yielded about
eight gallons of honey, and the bees fought harder than the
first swarm. Joseph was obliged to cut it and take out the
honey alone, as the flies were very bad, and his father had to
attend to the oxen. He was sore for several weeks after this
bee hunt. Honey was the most abundant article raised. Mr.
Newcom once took a thousand pounds of honey and sixty
pounds of beeswax to Chicago in one load. He received six
cents per pound for the honey and twenty-five cents per pound
for the beeswax.
In October, 1835, the ISTewcoms came to Cheney's Grove, to
the north side, and settled where John Nevvcom now lives, and
went to farming. They bought their place of Henry Pitts.
Mr. Newcom was a great hunter after wolves and coons.
During one fall he and his father killed twenty-five wolves and
twenty-eight coons. Ethan Newcom killed the wolves, and Jo-
seph and his dog, Ring, killed the coons. During the spring of
the year, when Harrison was elected President, a snow came
two feet deep and stayed on for eight days, and during that
time everybody hunted for wolves. Every grove in the country
was alive with hunters, but Cheney's Grove beat them all, for
the hunters there killed sixty-eight wolves.
The Kewcoms were in the habit of making maple sugar, as
that was the only sugar used. During one spring they made
two thousand pounds of sugar and a barrel of syrup. They
made eleven hundred pounds in seven days and nights with
eight kettles, and could have made a third more if all the sap
had been saved. The Cheneys made about fifteen hundred
pounds. The sugar sold for ten cents per pound.
Ethan Newcom had eleven children in all, and of these five
lived to have families. They are :
Mrs. Mary Vanscoyoc, wife of Perry Vanscoyoc.
Joseph Newcom, whose sketch we are writing.
Mrs. Posanna Smith, wife of Jacob Smith, lives in Arrow-
smith township.
m'lean county. 419
John Newcom lives at the old homestead.
Mrs. Elizabeth Arbogast, wife of William Arbogast, is now
dead.
Joseph Newcom married, February 2, 1844, Eliza Jane De-
vor. He has had eleven children, nine of whom are living.
They are :
Nicholas, born January 26, 1845.
Mary Ann, born August 16, 1846.
Nancy Jane, born March 22, 1848.
Ethan Allen, born January 1, 1850.
Joseph Aaron, born May 28, 1851.
Isaac Luther, born May 8, 1853.
Owen, born February 24, 1855.
Mereposa, born August 14, 1856.
America Catherine, born September 23, 1858.
Jesse, born January 4, 1861.
Sarah Elizabeth, born June 29, 1862.
Isaac Luther and Owen are dead. The latter died in in-
fancy. All who are living reside at home, except Nancy Jane,
who is married to Richard Ball, and lives in Howard County,
Kansas.
Joseph Newcom is five feet and eleven inches in height, is
rather slender in form and has bright, humorous eyes. He be-
lieves in getting up early in the morning and going to work.
He is honest himself, and will not deal with any one who is not
also honest and truthful. At one time a person who was known
to be a good workman and an industrious man, and had for-
merly worked for Mr. Newcom, wished to come back again.
But although no fault could be found with the young man's
work, he was not permitted to come back, as Mr. Newcom
would not allow anyone around his premises who could not
be relied upon to tell the truth.
Isaac Stansberry.
Isaac Stansberry was born July 13, 1805, in Greene County,
East Tennessee, within twelve miles of Greenville. His father's
name was Ezekiel Stansberry, and his mother's name before her
marriage was Esther Neil. His ancestors were of German
and Welch descent. Ezekiel Stansberry died when Isaac
420 OLD SETTLERS OF
was about nine years of age. Isaac Stansberry remembers very
clearly the war of 1812, as several of his elder brothers served
in it and were at the battle of Horse Shoe, under Jackson. Be-
fore this the family had moved to Washington County, and there
Isaac lived until September 29, 1825, when he married Ruth
Lacy. He then moved to Greene County, where he went to
farming. In about the year 1832 Isaac Stansberry went on a
ilat-boat with a load of produce down the Noulachuckee River
into the Holston River and thence into the Tennessee and down
over the Muscle Shoals at Florence. They sold out their load
at Tuscumbia and returned home. He made several such trips
and saw something of slavery there. At one time he saw forty
mule teams abreast ploughing cotton. The teams were driven
by negroes who were followed up by an overseer with a whip,
which had a lash six feet in length. The whip was made for
business, too, and not for ornament. The overseers sometimes'
combined generosity with brutality. An overseer once brought
some negroes on board of a steamboat and gave them each a
drink of whisky. Then, at a nod of his head, they ran oft' to
work ; but one of them was a little slow about starting and the
overseer shoved him overboard into the water.
In 1836 Mr. Stansberry came to Cheney's Grove, McLean
County, Illinois. He came with a party of about thirty-six
persons. They had a pleasant journey, though rather a long one.
Mr. Stansberry immediately went to farming on his brother
Abraham's place. He found the times very hard and would
have gone back to Tennessee immediately, but could not get
away. He arrived late Saturday night, and on Sunday morning
went to mill bright and early. The people at Cheney's Grove
were very sociable and welcomed all new comers. Mrs. Stans-
berry says they were all "big bugs" together.
During the winter after his arrival Mr. Stansberry went to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Thomas Cheney. They took with
them a drove of pigs. They had no very dangerous adventure,
except that once while camping out they became very cold and
were afraid of freezing to death, and went six miles farther on
to a house where they found shelter and a warm fire. On their
return they had difficulty in crossing some of the streams, which
were about to break up in the spring. The water along the
m'lean county. 421
shores of the Mazon was rising above the ice. They threw
pieces of wood on the ice along the shore in order to make a
bridge for the wagons to cross. At that early day Milwaukee
was not half as large as Saybrook. The buildings were rough,
"ornery" looking things and gave little promise of the present
city.
Mr. Stansberry has had ten children. They are :
Sophia Jane Stansberry, who was born August 6, 1826. She
married James 11. Lewis, and lives less than half a mile from
her father's house.
Thomas A. Stansberry was born July 27, 1828, and lives in
Saybrook.
Ezekiel F. Stansberry was born May 22, 1830. He lives
about three-quarters of a mile from the south side of Cheney's
Grove with his aunt McMackin.
John F. Stansberry was born January 28, 1832, and lives in
Hancock County, Illinois.
Jesse W. Stansberry was born January 24, 1834, and lives
just east of his father's.
Julia E. Stansberry was born February 13, 1836, was mar-
ried to Simon Cavanaugh, and lives two miles east of her
father's.
Abram M. Stansberry, born June 15, 1838, died in infancy.
Isaac N. Stansberry was born December 2, 1839, enlisted in
the One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois Volunteers during the
late war, and died of sickness at Milliken's Bend near Vicks-
burg.
Melissa C. Stansberry was born March 27, 1843, was married
to I. J. Hardsock, and lives in Saybrook.
Henry M. Stansberrv was born June 7, 1846, and lives at the
homestead with his father.
Isaac Stansberry is about five feet and ten inches in height,
has gray hair and dark eyes, is a kind-hearted, pleasant man and
a gentleman. He seems to have succeeded pretty well in life,
and lives about a mile and a half southwest of Cheney's Grove.
422 OLD SETTLERS OP
DALE TOWNSHIP.
Robert Harrington Johnson.
Robert H. Johnson was born November 11, 1796, in Virginia.
His father was Francis Johnson, and his mother's name before
her marriage was Nancy Harrington. Francis Johnson was born
in Ireland, and brought to America when he was four years of
age. Nancy Harrington was partly of Pennsylvania Dutch de-
scent. When Robert Johnson was only four years of age he
was taken to Jackson County, Tennessee, where he lived until
he was twenty-six or seven years of age. There he followed
farming and tanning leather. He married in August, 1814,
Bathsheba Potter. In about the year 1822 or '23 he went to
Overton County, Tennessee, where he lived until the year 1828,
when he came to Illinois. He came on his journey by team and
arrived at Blooming Grove on the first of December. He had
no particular adventure except that his daughter Mathurza fell
from a horse which she was riding, and broke her thighbone,
and the party was delayed fifteen days in consequence. The
party arrived at Blooming Grove in the evening of December
1, when everyone for miles around was at church. As the party
passed the church, a bell on one of the colts was heard by the
congregation, and it was known that another family had arrived.
The addition of a single family to the neighborhood was then a
great event, and at the close of the meeting the entire congre-
gation, which was not large, though it included everyone in the
country for a great many miles around, came to see the Johnson
family and give them a welcome. No one waited for an intro-
duction, but each shook hands cordially and said : " How are
you, Brother Johnson ?" and, " How are you, Sister Johnson ?"
The family first moved to Three Mile Grove, now called
Harley's Grove, into a log house fourteen feet square, with a few
logs extending for a porch. This cabin was put up for the
Johnson family by George Hinshaw some months before their
arrival. It happened in the meantime that the Funks (Isaac
and Absalom) had driven a lot of pigs to this grove to eat the
mast, and the latter had taken possession of the unoccupied
cabin. Pigs which have been running in the • timber, become
m'lean county. 423
wild, and when excited or aroused are more dangerous than any
other wild animal. During the night after the Johnson family
moved into their cabin, they heard their dog barking and fight-
ing with the hogs. The cabin had no door to it. A hole had
been cut out for entrance, and also another for a fire-place. In
the latter a large fire was burning, and some green sticks were
near by. Mr. Johnson jumped up and grasped a long, green
stick and met the hogs, about seventy-five in number, in the
door-way as they were attempting to come in. He fought them
there for life, while Mrs. Johnson prevented them from coming
in at the fire-place by throwing fire at them. Mr. Johnson
fought until he was exhausted completely. He battered their
heads ; he struck powerful blows, and at last knocked off the
snout of one of the hogs, which ran squealing away to Funk's
Grove, followed by the whole drove. But Mr. Johnson, fearing
the return of the brutes, put his family into the wagon to pro-
tect them. The next day Isaac, Absalom and Robert Funk came
up to Harley's Grove to whip the. band of villains, who, they
thought, had been knocking out the eyes and breaking the
snouts of their hogs; but when they learned what a fight Mr.
Johnson had made to protect his family from being eaten up by
the brutes, they left in a different humor.
As the Johnson family was the first to settle in Harley's
Grove, the wild animals were taken by surprise. A day or two
after the hogs were driven off" a black wolf came up close to the
door. During that winter Mr. Johnson killed a great many
deer within half a mile of the house. At one time he severely
wounded a deer, which turned on him and knocked him down
several times; but it was so badly hurt that he broke away and
left it in a thicket within a few hundred feet of the house. He
went in for ammunition, and told the children to stay inside and
hold the door shut. But when he started for the thicket, the
children disobeyed orders and ran out and climbed the fence,
and jumped on the stumps to see the fun. The deer sprang up
and ran towards the children, but the dog grabbed it by the ear
and Mr. Johnson shot it through the neck and it fell within a
few feet of the door. During the spring following, Mr. Johnson
fenced forty-five acres of land and planted nearly all of it in
corn. But he was unable to enter it immediately and soon after-
424 OLD SETTLERS OF
wards a man named Jack Hougham entered it away from him
and gave him forty-five dollars for his improvement. It was a
custom amonsr the old settlers never to enter a man's claim awav
from him ; but Mr. Hougham had no such delicacy. He gave
Mr. Johnson notice of his intention and went to the land office
and took up the land. Mr. Johnson then settled on the south
side of Twin Grove, improved a claim and entered the land, and
lived there until 1837, when he was killed by an ox which he
was attempting to yoke up to a wagon. This was on the twenty-
first of February, 1837. He was a very industrious man, and
made shoes and looms in the winter, and worked his land during
the summer. He tanned leather for the whole country around.
Mr. Johnson had ten children, two of whom were born in
the West. They are :
Nancy Johnson, who married Moses "Wooden Brown, and
lives at White Oak Grove in Woodford County.
John S. W. Johnson lived at the head of the Mackinaw and
died in 1865.
Mathurza Johnson, now the wife of Jeremiah Rhodes, lives
three miles from Bloomington, on the Leroy road. She furnished
the items for this sketch, and seemed to have very clear ideas
and a good recollection.
Jacob H. Johnson lives between Brown's Grove and Twin
Grove.
Thomas P. Johnson lives near Osceola, Clark County, Iowa.
Benjamin M. Johnson lives about a mile and a half west of
Bloomington.
Francis, Lewis S., and James B. Johnson, are dead.
Mary Jane Elizabeth Johnson married John Fowler, and lives
in Osage Mission, Kansas.
Mr. Johnson was about six feet in height, was possessed of
immense strength, but was very good-natured, kind-hearted and
religious. He never wished to quarrel with anyone, was always
on good terms with his neighbors, and was very honorable in all
of his transactions.
William Beeler, Sr.
William Beeler was born September 26, 1796, in Fayette
County, Kentucky. His father's name was Samuel Beeler and
m'lean county. 425
his mother's name before her marriage was Mary Graves. His
father was descended from the Dutch of Virginia, but his
mother probably came from English stock. The father of Sam-
uel Beeler, who was the grandfather of William Beeler, was a
soldier in the Revolutionary war, and saw some very hard ser-
vice and severe campaigning. He sometimes laid on brush
heaps at night to keep out of the water. Samuel Beeler moved
to Kentucky at an early day, where he was often engaged in con-
tests with the Indians. He was a great hunter, and very skillful
in the use of the rifle. At one time, while the settlers were
troubled by the Indians, Mr. Beeler went with three other men
out hunting for buffalo and deer, which were both very plenty.
Mr. Beeler killed a buffalo and afterwards a deer. Two other
deer ran off, but came back unaccountably in fright, and were
both killed by the hunter. But as Mr. Beeler was skinning one
of the deer he learned what had frightened them back, for he
heard a cracking in the brush and looking up saw a man com-
ing; and a second glance showed him to be an Indian. Mr.
Beeler sprang instantly for his gun and ran, and was pursued
by six Indians who tired at him. He stubbed his toe and fell,
and they set up a whoop, but he sprang to his feet and ran for-
ward, and as he was remarkably fleet he distanced them all ex-
cept one, which he turned upon and shot. He then had some
difficulty in finding his camp, but arrived there at last, and
found only one of his companions. The camp was moved into
a sink-hole. The next morning the remainder of the party
came in, and all returned home. The Indians killed several
families, stole several horses and tried to get away with the
plunder, but were pursued and killed, and the horses recap-
tured.
When William Beeler was ten years of age he went with his
father's family to Butler County, Ohio, and there they lived
while the war of 1812 was fought. Samuel Beeler was in this
war, and was a colonel at the battle of Tippecanoe.
William Beeler says that while he lived in Ohio the Indians
were to the whites as a hundred to one. They were a kind of
people who were much influenced by the pleasures of sense.
They were always drunk, whenever they could find liquor. Mr.
Beeler has seen a hundred drunken Indians with only two or
426 OLD SETTLERS OF
three sober ones to keep them quiet. He remembers one time
particularly, when some friends came to see his father from
Kentucky, they all made a visit to a camp of about a hundred
Indians. The latter had with them a negro whom they had
raised, and he was the only sober man among them. They
were nearly all dead drunk, and the ground was covered with
their stupid, insensible bodies. One Indian was sober enough
to fight with his squaw, but the latter whipped the savage fine-
ly. The Indian's feelings were much injured at this, so he
poured a bucket of water on his head to make him a little sober,
and again went to fighting the squaw, and succeeded in whip-
ping her.
When William Beeler became of age he went to Keutucky,
and there married Mary Hall. He lived there a few years until
the death of his wife, and then moved back to Ohio, where he
lived until he came to Illinois. He married, October 14, 1824,
Elizabeth Sheeley. He came to Illinois, to what is now Mc-
Lean County, in the fall of 1830, and settled in the southern
edge of Twin Grove, where he has remained ever since.
Mr. Beeler suffered a great deal during the winter of the
deep snow. When the first heavy fall of snow came, he found
his pigs all huddled together in a pile to keep warm, but the
snow had melted down around them, and Mr. Beeler found
them wet and shivering. He made a lot of shavings from a
Linn rail, and cut hazel brush, and in this his pigs made a bed
and kept warm.
During the Black Hawk war the settlers were all liable to
take panics occasionally, and often collected together in houses
for fear, but no disturbance was ever made by the Indians in
this locality.
Mr. Beeler has had six children, three of whom are living.
They are:
William Beeler, who lives about a mile and a half south of
his father's, in Dale township.
Mrs. Mary Stiger, wife of William Stiger, lives in Covel.
Mrs. Harriet Rockwell, wife of Lorenzo Rockwell, lives on
the south side of Twin Grove, within a few rods of her father's
house.
Mrs. Cynthiana Elizabeth Hinshaw, wife of J. U. Hinshaw,
is now dead.
m'lean county. 427
Morgan Washington Beeler grew up to manhood, but is now
dead.
Mr. Beeler is rather less than the medium height, and
though too old to work, is tough and hardy. He is a pleasant
talking old gentleman, and is considered a patriarch at Twin
Grove; for, while obtaining items for this work, everybody
seemed anxious that a fine sketch should be written of " Uncle
Billy Beeler." He has been very successful and leads an easy,
comfortable life.
William Beeler, Jr.
William Beeler, jr. was born February 8, 1822, in Fayette
County, Kentucky (probably). When he was only a year or
two old his mother (whose maiden name was Mary Hall) died,
and his father moved to Ohio, as stated in the foregoing sketch.
His father married Elizabeth Sheeley, and in the fall of 1830
the family came to Twin Grove, where they arrived October 14.
During the winter of the deep snow Mr. Beeler, sr., fed three
yoke of cattle, which he brought with him from Ohio, on the
boughs of trees. The cattle became so accustomed to their fare
that they would run after the sound of an ax in the timber
while Mr. Beeler was cutting a tree for them, as eagerly as they
ever hastened to a feed of corn.
The Indians were not plenty when Mr. Beeler came to the
country. He remembers some who came to his father's house,
and were great traders. They were ready to swap at any time,
and quick to see when they obtained the best end of the bargain.
The settlers exercised their ingenuity in making clothing. The
best clothing was made of buckskin, and a good pair of pants
of this material lasted three years. The buckskin was tanned
by soaking it in weak ley or lime-water and scraping it with a
knife or sharp-cornered instrument. This took off the hair and
the grain. The grain is a kind of coating next to the hair, and
must be worked off or the skin can never be made soft. After
being scraped, the skin is soaked in the brain of a deer and
washed in soapsuds, and may be colored by smoke.
The early settlers were very humorous, and loved practical
jokes. One favorite joke was what was called "sniping." It
was played by persuading some one that snipes could be driven
428 OLD SETTLERS OF
into a sack, and the victim was induced to hold the sack by the
end of a log during a dark night, and would be left there to find
out the sell at his leisure. It would hardly seem possible that an}--
one could be hoaxed by such a simple and absurd performance,
but some of the smartest and sharpest of men have been "taken
in" by that very thing. Mr. Beeler tells of the manuer in which
a party of young men at a corn husking at Mr. Beeler, sr's,
"sniped" a young stranger who had been working for Osborn
Barnard. While the boys were husking corn they talked of
catching snipe, and had great disputes as to the number that
had been caught on various occasions. The stranger was in
the mean time growing eager. At supper time they discussed
the matter again and proposed to go sniping. They counted
those who were willing to go, leaving out the stranger, and said
they had not enough men. But one said : "Why, here's the
stranger ; he can go." "No," said another, "he doesn't under-
stand it." "Well," said the first speaker, "if he can't do any-
thing else, he can hold the sack !" "Boys," said old Mr. Beeler,
"I wish you would catch a few snipe, for I feel sick, and I would
like some first rate." The stranger was not only willing, but
eager, and said very modestly, that he would do whatever they
thought best, as he did not understand "sniping." After dark
they placed the stranger by a log with the caution that the
snipes made a low whistle, and when he heard it he must an-
swer promptly. They left him standing for an hour or more,
when William Beeler and a young man named Dudley Dore
went out near the log and gave a low whistle, which the stranger
promptly answered. Beeler and Dore laughed so heartily that
they could not pucker up their lips for another whistle. They
went back to the house and a young man named William Stiger
was sent out to bring the stranger in ; but the stranger declared
that he heard the snipes whistle, and he wanted to stay and
catch them. It required all of Stiger's ingenuity to bring him
to the house. When they arrived the party was gone. After
waiting some time, the boys came in one after another, telling
what a lot of snipes they had, and wanted to know why the
stranger had not remained at his post. The poor fellow laid the
blame on William Stiger as best he could. He told the Barnards
♦
m'lean county. 429
a few days afterwards of what a lot of snipe he might have
caught if "William Stiger had not interfered.
The settlers hunted and trapped a great deal. A trap set
for turkeys was the most absurd thing imaginable. It was sim-
ply a little pen with a hole at the bottom large enough for a
turkey to walk in. Corn was sprinkled in a line leading through
the hole, and a turkey picking up the corn walked through the
hole. They would starve to death before finding their way out.
One of the most cunning of animals is the wild cat. The
settlers around Twin Grove once hunted a wild cat, which had
stolen a piece of tallow. They had four inches of snow in which
to track it, and they followed it all day long. The cunning animal
would go back on its track and cross it in every way in order to
lead the hunters astray, and sometimes it would walk a log and
spring off a long distance. Towards nightfall the hunters came
upon two tracks. Old William Beeler and his dog followed one
and the remainder followed the other. Beeler and his dog soon
treed the cat, and the remainder of the party came to the scene
of action and commenced a general firing. The cat jumped
around in a tree top, snapping and breaking oft' limbs. At
last it was wounded and jumped down and the dogs killed it,
after a Ions: and savage fisrht. The cat threw itself on its back
and fought fearfully, and Mr. Beeler thinks the dogs would
never have killed it had it not been wounded.
William Beeler, jr., married, July 5, 1844, Catherine Layton.
He says he cradled oats in the forenoon and was married in the
afternoon. Some years before this, when young Beeler and a
friend wished to go out on a squirrel hunt, old Mr. Layton
wished William to help bind oats, and, when William refused,
the old gentleman told William that the latter could never
have one of Mr. Layton's daughters unless he gave up the squir-
rel hunt. But two or three years afterwards William Beeler
succeeded in capturing one of the daughters. His wife died
April 8, 1862.
On the 11th of January, 1868, he married Miss Mary A. H.
O'Neal, a daughter of Cary O'Neal, of Benjaminville, a member
of the Society of Friends. Mr. Beeler has had fourteen chil-
dren, five of whom are married. The names of those who are
married are :
430 OLD SETTLERS OF
Mrs. Harriet Ann Westmoreland, wife of James "Westmore-
land, lives a quarter of a mile from her father's house.
Mrs. Sarah Jane Fry, wife of Jepsy Fry, lives three miles
west of her father's, at Round's Grove.
Mrs. Mary Ellen Banner, wife of Joshua Banner, lives about
one mile north of Dry Grove.
John David Beeler lives in Arrowsmith township.
Mrs. Alferetta Fry, wife of Evander Fry, lives about a quar-
ter of a mile west of her father's.
Mr. Beeler is five feet and eleven and one-half inches in
height, and seems strongly made. He is full of fun and humor.
While telling a joke he appears very dry until the funny part
comes in, and then his eyes have an amusing and wicked ex-
pression. He enjoys a practical joke perhaps as well as any one
in McLean County. He is a kind father to his family, and
has succeeded well in life.
Jesse Hill.
Jesse Hill was born March 24, 1809, on Cherry Run, about
five miles from Lexington, Kentucky. His father's name was
James Hill, and his mother's maiden name was Polly Cope. His
father was of Irish descent and his mother of English. James
Hill, the father of Jesse, lived during his young days in Penn-
sylvania, where he was born. At the age of eighteen he ran
away from home and went to Kentucky, where Jesse was born.
James Hill often had trouble with the Indians. At one time
they captured a young woman and were taking her away, when
James Hill, Daniel Boone and others went after the savages and
re-captured the girl before the redskins could cross the Ohio
River near the mouth of the Kentucky River. James Hill was
a noted man for fighting Indians and building mills. He was a
great mechanical genius. He made a great many long-waisted
clock-cases, and carried on a cabinet shop. He built a mill on
Cherry Run and another on Eagle Creek ; he built a saw-mill,
a grist-mill, a still-house, and many other things. His ingenuity
never failed him. At one time he built what he called a chain-
mill. He found a little spring which poured its water over a
rock and down a fall of sixty feet, and he utilized this by mak-
ing a chain one hundred and twenty feet in length and attaching
m'lean county. 431
buckets to it, one to every other link. This chain ran over a
cylinder, and as the little stream from the spring flowed out it
filled the buckets with water and pulled down one side of the
chain which turned the cylinder, and the power was utilized in
driving the mill. It was a great curiosity, and people came from
all over the country to see it. By means of the little spring he
obtained power enough to cut three thousand feet of hard oak
lumber in a day.
Jesse Hill was a young child at the close of the war of 1812,
but he remembers the burning of tar barrels in the streets to
celebrate the victory at New Orleans. When he was nine years
of age the Hill family came to Madison, Indiana, and then moved
to the celebrated little spring, where his father put up the chain-
mill. When Jesse Hill was twenty-one years of age he moved
to Twin Grove, Illinois, where he arrived October 9, 1830. He
lived with Colonel Beeler for a year and a half after his arrival.
Colonel Beeler had known the father of Jesse in Kentucky, and
the two gentlemen had once traded horses. Mr. Hill, sr., gave
the Colonel three hundred dollars " boot" in exchanging horses,
and the horse which Hill received died a day or two afterwards.
When Jesse Hill came to Illinois he heard the Colonel bragging
about this horse trade, and the circumstance made them ac-
quainted, and Hill afterwards made matters still more agreeable
by marrying the old gentleman's daughter.
Mr. Hill's experience with the deep snow was in gathering
corn, when he was obliged to reach down into the snow for the ears.
He was obliged to go every other day for corn. During that
winter old Billy McCord had some pigs in the brush and they
came out every day for their feed, making a deep path which
had walls of snow on each side. The path was only wide enough
for one pig to travel at a time, and they would be frequently
frozen while standing in it. During this year, in the month of
March, Peter McCullough and Abram Hays went to Blooming-
ton, and on their return became lost. They were blinded, as
the melting snow made a thick fog, and they could see only a
short distance in any direction. McCullough and Hays were
utterly bewildered and shouted for help. Their cries were heard
and the neighbors started out to rescue them, but horns had to
be blown to prevent the rescuers themselves from becoming lost.
•132 OLD SETTLERS OF
During the spring after the deep snow the ground was so flooded
with water that immense logs were floated off from the edge of
Twin Grove to the prairie. These were the trunks of trees
which had been blown down by a. hurricane a few years before.
When the Black Hawk war broke out, Jesse Hill enlisted
for the purpose of going ; but the horse which he intended to
ride persisted in lying down in every creek he came to, and the
rider was wet so often that he took the fever and ague and gave
up his hopes of martial glory and missed the chance of immor-
tality at Stillman's Run.
Mr. Hill speaks particularly of the sudden change in the
weather, which took place in December, 1836, and says that
many chickens were frozen fast in the ice.
Mr. Hill has never been much of a hunter, but has occasion-
ally chased wolves. He was once with a party of hunters after
a wild-cat, when they unexpectedly started a wolf and all took
after it. Mr. Hill was mounted on a race-horse and frequently
ran around the wolf, but had nothing to strike it or hold it until
the dogs could come up. At last it ran into a slough with Mr.
Hill close behind. When the horse struck the slough it went
down, and Mr. Hill was thrown over its head on the wolf. He
grabbed the brute with both hands and pressed down its hind
quarters, but the mittens on his hands prevented him from get-
ting a good hold, and the wolf tore away. Mat Harbert hal-
looed, " hold him, Jess," but it was impossible to do it.
Mr. Hill has had some experience with fires on the prairie,
and says that the most exciting part to him is the sight of a
prairie fire and a back fire coming together, with frightened
wolves and deer between them trying to get away.
For three years of his life Mr. Hill followed the business of
well digging, and has had some interesting experience in this
line. Once, while digging a well in Bloomington, on a lot be-
longing to a certain Mr. Thompson, Mr. Hill struck, far below
the surface of the ground, a walnut log. He cut it in two with
an axe, and it seemed solid, but when brought to the surface it
crumbled away. .While digging a well down on Kickapoo for a
certain Mr. Marsh, Mr. Hill came upon a burnt brush-heap
which was thirteen feet deep in blue clay. The ashes, coals and
brands were plain to be seen. Mr. Hill has had some experi-
m'lean county. 483
ence with " the damps," and says that they may be found in all
wells, even those which are very shallow. He once went into a
well, only twelve feet deep, belonging to James Tolliver of
Bloomington, but had to be pulled out immediately, and was so
far gone that he did not recover from the effects of it until the
following day. " The damps" were cleared out by building a
large fire of straw. " The damps" are not occasioned by damp-
ness. Mr. Hill dug a well thirty feet deep for John Hay of
Dry Grove, and the ground was so dry that it was fairly dusty,
but the damps began to affect it and he stopped work. William
Brown went down to dig, but was so affected that he had to be
hauled up, and when near the top became so weak that he fell
and was drawn out with a hook.
Mr. Hill has been married three times. He married, August
17, 1831, Miss Nancy Beeler, daughter of old Colonel Beeler.
His second marriage was in 1840, to Miss Phebe Munsell. His
last marriage was in 1861, to Miss Matilda Hancock. His do-
mestic life has always been pleasant. He has had twelve chil-
dren, of whom ten are living, and has raised five children not
his own. He has five children who are married. They are :
John Wesley Hill, who lives a mile south of his father's
house.
Mrs. Jane Morgan, wife of Samuel Morgan, lives one-half
mile west of her father's.
Mrs. Martha Elizabeth Sackett, wife of Sabina Sackett, lives
a little north of Cheney's Grove.
Mrs. Nancy Ann Sogers, wife of James Rogers, lives at
Stringtown, in Dale township.
Mrs. Polly Margaret Philhower, wife of Jacob Philhower,
lives in the village of Noble, on the Illinois Central Railroad,
in Southern Illinois.
Mr. Hill has two sons, Zerah Munsell Hill and James Thomas
Hill, who are killing buffalo in Southwestern Colorado, and have
claims in Kansas, which they work during the spring and sum-
mer. One of his sons wished to send a carload of buffalo meat
to Bloomington to be sold, but it was considered too hazardous
a speculation. He killed a hundred and fifty buffalo in one
month.
Mr. Hill is about five feet and six inches in height. He is
28
434 OLD SETTLERS OF
lively, good-natured and talkative, and seems to know a good
deal and can tell what he knows. He is active and hearty, and
his appearance is youthful. Age makes little impression on
him, except to bring the use of spectacles. He is humorous,
and the joke he tells is usually a good one. He appreciates to
the utmost anything witty or funny. His imagination is lively,
which makes his conversation and his ideas noticeable. He has
acquired a fair competence by his industry and enjoys this world
immensely.
Abram Enlow.
Abram Enlow was born January 21, 1809, in Christian
County, Kentucky. His father's name was Abraham Enlow,
and his mother's before her marriage was Jemina Johnson. His
father was partly of Dutch descent, and his mother was partly
of Irish. Abraham Enlow died when Abram was quite young.
The latter received only two years schooling in his youth. Sick-
ness and hard work prevented him from attending more.
The clothing in those days was often a curiosity. Nothing
was considered more elegant than buckskin, and Abram Enlow
remembers how his brother John appeared on one occasion, as
he came out in a new suit of buckskin, dyed green.
In 1835 Abram Enlow came to McLean County with his
brother John. Abrarn's first experience was not pleasant, as the
winter of 1835 and '36 was very severe. He admired the fine
prairies, which did, indeed, gladden the eye of a farmer, who
had been used to grubbing stumps in Kentucky; but the severe
winter made him return to Kentucky, which he did in 1836.
But after two years more among the stumps of Kentucky, he
turned back once more to Illinois. He married, September 27,
1838, Louisa Harry. On the first of October, three days after
his marriage, he started for McLean County, Illinois. His jour-
ney was a very pleasant one, though the season was dry, and it
was sometimes difficult to obtain water. He camped out every
night. The streams had no bridges, but during that season
none were needed, as the creeks were nearly all dry.
Soon after Mr. Enlow's arrival he went to the land office at
Danville, and entered eighty acres of prairie, and bought five
acres of timber to fence his land. Pie lived at his brother John's
m'lean county. 435
house and rented land during the first year. During the follow-
ing year he began fencing and breaking ground, and in March
he moved on his own place. It was a remarkably early season,
for by the middle of March the cattle went out on the prairie
for feed. Game was plenty. The little prairie wolves could be
seen in the morning playing around after they had killed his
sheep the night before. The wolves frequently collected to-
gether in packs, and often came in the night up close to Mr.
Enlow's door. Mr. Enlow was on one of the "ring" hunts,
which were so popular among the settlers. The pole was put
up at Normal, and they hunted towards it, killed many deer and
wolves, had a social chat and went home. One deer, which was
killed, was tied to a pony's tail and dragged in to the pole.
Mr. Enlow settled in the West at an unfortunate time, when
business was prostrate and grain commanded a very low price.
He could sell his corn and oats in Bloomington for ten cents per
bushel and take his pay in store goods, and he could take his
wheat to Pekin and ^et for it only thirty-five cents per bushel.
When he came to Illinois he had only enough money to enter
his eighty acres of land, buy his five acres of timber, and pur-
chase a few housekeeping utensils and a stock of provisions.
When his stock of provisions was exhausted it seemed for a
while a desperate matter to live. He first obtained three dollars
a hundred for his pork, but afterwards a dollar and a half; and
prices reached such au extremely low figure that the neighbors
all clubbed together and sent their pork to Chicago ; but then
they obtained less than a dollar per hundred. Mr. Enlow sent
four hogs weighing each two hundred and fifty pounds with the
drove to Chicago, and received eight dollars, which was just
eighty cents per hundred weight. It was not until the Illinois
Central Railroad came that produce began to rise and farmers
commenced making money. Mr. Enlow sold his eighty acres
of entered land for seventy-five dollars an acre. The timber
land, which he first bought, is now covered with a second growth
of fine trees.
Mr. Enlow has had four children, but only one son and one
daughter grew up to manhood and womanhood. They are :
Samuel T. Enlow lives a few rods from his father's house.
436 OLD SETTLERS OF
Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Myers, wife of George Myers, lives
about two miles southwest of her father's.
Mr. Enlow is six feet and one inch in height, is very muscu-
lar and works hard. He has a sanguine complexion, rather a
bald head and large, honest eyes. He is a very pleasant man to
talk to, and takes an interest in the early settlement of the
country, Mrs. Enlow is a very pleasing and intelligent lady.
Shrewd observers say that the success of many men is due to
the influence of their wives, and it is very probable that the in-
fluence of Mrs. Enlow has contributed very materially to her
husband's success in life. Mr. Enlow lives in the southern edge
of Twin Grove in Dale township, is very comfortably situated,
and bids fair to enjoy a long and happy life.
Richard Rowell.
Richard Rowell was born May 20, 1814, in the town of Lit-
tleton, Grafton County, New Hampshire. His father's name
was Jonathan Rowell, and his mother's name before her marri-
age was Sarah Hoskin. Both were of Puritan stock. The
grandfather of Richard was Daniel Rowell, a soldier of the
Revolution. This gentleman was in the series of battles, which
terminated in the surrender of General Burgoyne. Richard
Rowell lived until the age of twenty-two among the rocks of
Grafton County, within sight of Mt. Washington. But not-
withstanding the sterility of the country the schools were excel-
lent, and Richard received a good common education. In
addition to this, he attended a grammar school at Concord,
Vermont. At the age of eighteen he taught school in Vermont.
In May, 1836, he started for the Vest, being anxious at first
to find a place for teaching school. He had no friends or ac-
quaintances in the "West, and was obliged to make his way
alone. He went by stage from Littleton to Saratoga. From
the latter place he rode to Schenectady on a railroad, in cars
drawn by horses, and thence to Buffalo by canal. Here he took
a steamer to Detroit. From that place he shipped his trunk to
Chicago by schooner, and traveled on foot through what was
then the territory of Michigan. His route was very nearly that
which the Michigan Central Railroad now takes. He passed
through Ann Arbor, which was then a respectable village,
m'lean county. 437
though the great University had not been thought of. He
crossed the lake in a steamboat from the mouth of the St. Joseph
River to Chicago. After spending two weeks in looking at the
country he commenced work in Chicago as a carpenter. The
Indians of Northern Illinois, principally Pottawatomies, were
then receiving their last annuity, and they were thick. About
two thousand were collected in the city, but they soon left and
never returned. During the latter part of October he went to
the present site of La Salle by stage. The stage was a wagon,
which the passengers were often obliged to lift out of the mud.
He stepped from the stage on the steamboat Frontier. He saw
no houses where La Salle now stands, though a few might have
been concealed by the bank of the river. His berth on the
steamboat was a bed of slats and nothing else. He came to
Peoria and there found the prospect for school-teaching poor.
So he left his trunk, picked up his valise, and crossed the Illi-
nois River. He stayed for one night with the widow of Jacob
Funk, and of her learned of Funk's Grove. He traveled on
with the intention of reaching that place. But when he arrived
at Stout's Grove, he found an opportunity to teach school. He
began about the first of November, and continued his first term
until the following April. The raising of the first store build-
ing jn Danvers (then Concord) was a great event, and Mr. Row-
ell dismissed his school for three days to assist in the proceed-
ings. The building still stands south of Ewins' mill. Mr.
Rowell taught school during that summer and the following
winter. In the spring of 1838, he and his brother, B. F. Rowell,
who had come during the fall previous, commenced farming on
the head branch of Rock Creek, out on the prairie, a mile and
a half from timber. It was thought that these daring men would
freeze to death out there, and they went by the name of " the
fool Yankees." The}^ lived until 1848 with unentered land on
both sides of them. On one side of them the land was not
entered until 1850. In the winter of 1853, Mr. Rowell sold out
his interest in the farm and took a trip to Iowa. He had a
pleasant journey, camped out and enjoyed himself very much;
but in his careful observations he saw no land equal to that in
McLean County. He returned and bought the premises of Mr.
438
OLD SETTLERS OF
Samuel Barker of Twin Grove, and has lived on this place until
the present time in the township of Dale.
Mr. Rowell married Nancy Barnard, December 15, 1853.
He has had three children, of whom two are living. They are,
Lois and Emma, and both live at home.
Mr. Rowell is full six feet in height and weighs about one
hundred and eighty pounds. His form indicates activity and
strength. His head is large and well shaped, and is a little bald.
His eyes are dark, bright and expressive. His mind seems to
have a practical turn, and he has what phrenologists call con-
tinuity, that is, he is disposed to finish what he has in hand, and
his mind is not easily driven from the work. His practical turn
of mind and his clear perceptions, make his judgment more than
usually correct concerning all of the material affairs of life. He
is polite and obliging in his manner. He has been supervisor
for about nine years, was one of the commissioners of the build-
ing of the present court-house, and possesses in a very great de-
gree the confidence of his neighbors.
DANVERS TOWNSHIP.
Ebenezer Briggs Mitchel.
Ebenezer B. Mitchel was born August 17, 1813, in Morgan-
field, Union County, Kentucky. His father was Rev. Peyton
Mitchel, and his mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Briggs.
They were both of purely Scotch descent, but of the third gene-
ration, since their ancestors came from Scotland. Rev. Peyton
Mitchel was a minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
He devoted his time to the ministrj' and was a very effective
preacher. During the war of 1812 he enlisted in the army and
was elected captain of a company, but was never called into
active service.
In December, 1818, the family of Rev. Mr. Mitchel moved
to Sangamon County, Illinois, on Fancy Creek, about eight miles
north of Springfield. They traveled in a wagon drawn by four
ziorses. At one time the horses started to run and seemed to be
unmanageable, when Mrs. Mitchel, who was a woman of remark-
able resolution, ran forward, grasped the bridle of one of the
m'lean county. 439
lead horses and assisted in stopping them. On the way they met
old Billy Hodge, who had come to the country and was return-
ing eastward. The Indians were then numerous and occasion-
ally troublesome. They were the Kickapoos, Pottawatomies,
Delawares and others. At one time a band of Indians went to
Springfield and became intoxicated, and on their return attempt-
ed to go into Mitchel's house, when he was absent ; but Mrs.
Mitchel barred the door, and the dogs outside fought them. Mrs.
Mitchel told the savages that her husband was sick, and insisted
that they should leave ; but they hung around until nearly
morning, banging against the door, yelling, whooping and
lighting.
The country there was very unhealthy and everyone suffered
from bilious complaints. On the third of March, 1825, the
family came to Stout's Grove, in what was then Fayette County,
but now is McLean. There they found only two families, those
of the two Ephraim Stout's, father and son. The Indians were
plenty and were always anxious to trade. They came sometimes
singly, sometimes in small parties, and sometimes in great num-
bers. They would trade anything they had, except their labor ;
no inducement was great enough to make them work. Mr.
Mitchel tried them again and again, and was particularly anxious
to have them husk corn ; but they would husk half a dozen ears
and stop. They had queer ideas of value, and would give more
for a rooster's feather than for anything else, and would put it
in their hair and be perfectly delighted. Their dress usually
consisted of leggins, moccasins and a blanket, while their ears
and noses were ornamented with rings. They had high cheek
bones, and their skin was the color of tanned leather, or per-
haps of copper, but not so red. Their feet were large and flat ;
their legs and arms were small, but wiry, showing the Indians
to be good for walking, but not worth much for work.
Rev. Peyton Mitchel was active in the ministry and did good
work. He preached the first sermon in Funk's Grove, and
wherever he could find an opportunity he engaged in the work
of the great Master. Churches were soon organized and school-
houses were built, and Ebenezer Mitchel thinks the society at
that time was much more reliable than it is at present. He
thinks the promise of an old settler was much better than most
people's bonds.
440 OLD SETTLERS OF
The deep snow fell in 1830 and '31. Mr. Mitchel took re-
peated measurements of its depth in the timber, where it had
not drifted, and it there averaged forty inches. A crust on it
was soon formed, and the wolves ran over it; but the sharp
footed deer broke through.
When the heavy fall of snow came, a certain Mr. Barnes, an
old sea-faring captain, was caught at Mr. Mitchel's house, and
in order to go to his home in Mosquito Grove, the former was
obliged to make some snow-shoes. They were made of bows
shaped like ox-bows, and were covered with light, strong splints
made of wood or bark. When they were worn they were fast-
ened to the toe of the foot by a kind ot slipper, but not fastened
at the heel. When the toe was inserted in the slipper, some
straps passed back, crossed the foot on the instep, and were tied
behind the heel. This prevented the toe from being withdrawn
and left the heel free. While walking, the feet were held wide
apart, and the shoes were dragged along over the surface. If
the snow was fresh, they were usually pressed down a little, but
bore a man's weight pretty well. During that winter the Mitchel
family were pretty well provided with corn, but soon ran out of
meal. Ebenezer chopped a hole in a log as deep as he could cut,
then with fire burnt it still deeper, then cut off the section con-
taining the hole and brought it in the house and used it as a
mortar. He then cut a thick stick about three feet long, worked
one end small for a handle, slipped over it an iron ring, which
was pressed clear to the other end, which was left large enough
to prevent the ring from being slipped off. Into the larger end
a heavy iron wedge was driven, and with this as a pestle, the
corn was pounded in the burnt mortar. After along pounding,
the corn was sifted and the fine was used for meal, while the
coarse was boiled for hominy.
When the land came in market, the settlers were usually
careful not to enter each other's claims, and used all means to
protect each other ; but sometimes they differed as to the own-
ership of a claim, and their differences were aggravated by the
uncertainty of the law, which allowed what was called " floating"
claims. A settler could enter a quarter section of land and
locate it anywhere within the section, that is, he could " float
down" on any quarter section not previously entered. Some-
m'lean county. 441
times he would accidentally or otherwise " float down" on some
one's claim, and then would follow a land contest. But these
contests resulted more from the uncertain law than from any
quarrelsome disposition on the part of the settlers. They were
fair-minded men, and these land contests afforded them no
pleasure.
Ebenezer Mitchel was no hunter, but he occasionally went
after deer and wolves, which he chased on horseback with dogs.
But on one occasion he found some wolves a little too strong for
him. He started a large timber or gray wolf and chased it for
some distance on horseback, when it was joined by four or five
others, and then they refused to run, but stood their ground and
drove back MitchePs dog. They showed their teeth and were
ready for fight, and Mr. Mitchel went back for his gun, but on
his return the wolves were not to be found. But as a usual
thing the danger of chasing wolves did not arise from the fero-
cious nature of the animal, for it belongs to one of the most
cowardly species, and is very easily killed. A skillful blow with
a club is usually sufficient to do the work. But riding over the
prairie at a breakneck pace has dangers sometimes not thought
of. While Ebenezer Mitchel and his brother were once chasing
a wolf, the horse, which the former rode, plunged into a slough
and fell, while its rider was thrown twenty feet ahead. He rose
and told his brother to go on, " he'd be up in a minute." But
Ebenezer was not up in a minute. His horse's head was jammed
under its body, and by the time it was loosened, his brother and
the wolf had vanished. The cowardice and fear displayed by a
wolf is sometimes most abject and mean. When it is run down
it crouches on the ground and quietly receives the blow, which
kills it. Mr. Mitchel remembers one wolf, which ran its nose
into a hole and was killed in that position. .
Mr. Mitchel has occasional^ hunted deer and had some lively
sport and some strange adventures. At one time he killed a
deer after a somewhat exciting chase, and went home for help
to bring it in. He and his brother, after some discussion, de-
cided to carry it on an ox. They went out for the deer and
placed it on the ox, and Mr. Mitchel rode the animal to steady
the load, while his brother led the way. When they had gone
about half-way home, the ox commenced bouncing, and raised
442 OLD SETTLERS OF
its load high in the air, and both man and deer came down
together. Mr. Mitchel's ankle was much hurt, and did not be-
come well for three months.
The fires on the prairie were a great annoyance to the early
settlers, but they were grand sights. They lit up the heavens
and made everything as light as day for many miles around.
The grass was long on low ground, and, as the fire passed over
it, the blaze rolled up magnificently. These fires often did great
damage, and Air. Mitchel sometimes lost his stacks and rail
fences by them.
The sudden change in the weather of December, 1836, so
often described in this volume, caught Mr. Mitchel about half a
mile from home, and when he returned everything was crack-
ing ; the water and slush were turned to ice. The intense cold
drove his stock nearly crazy; the chickens curled up and fell
from their roosts, and everything was in confusion ; but by care
and great exertions nearly all was put under shelter and saved.
The country in early days w r as sometimes troubled with
horse-thieves. They were thought to have a family in Mosquito
Grove, who sympathized with them. This was the Reddon
family, consisting of old man Reddon and his two sons, Jack
and Harrison. At one time, when some horses were missing,
Isaac Funk, Robert Stubblefield and some others came to Mr.
Mitchel's house and asked him to go with them to the Reddons.
He did so, and they all arrived there in the night while it was
raining. The Reddons were waked up and the old man Reddon
came .rushing to the door saying : "Who are you, horse-thieves ?"
They said they were after horse-thieves, and told the Reddons
that their house must be searched. After some parley it was
done, but nothing was found. But suspicion of the Reddons
became so near a certainty that it was decided to drive them off,
and the Fourth of July was appointed as the day for a grand
ring hunt, with the understanding among nearly all, that the
Reddons should be the game. They went with their rifles and
gave the Reddons notice that they must leave the country, and
they went. Before this time a horse had been stolen, and the
thieves were pressed very closely, and Robert Stubblefield with
a one-eyed horse succeeded in catching up with them, aud found
Jack Reddon riding the stolen animal. Mr. Stubblefield had
m'lean county. 443
neither pistol nor club to stop the thieves, and after riding a
short time with them, and making great exertions to stop them,
while all parties were going at rapid speed, he was obliged to
fall back, and Jack Reddon escaped. After the Reddon family
was broken up, the neighborhood had peace.
Ebenezer Mitchel married, May 26, 1836, at twelve o'clock,
M., Rachel Vance. The}- have had seven children, of whom
three are living. They are:
Mrs. Elizabeth Christian, wife of Matthew Christian, lives in
Springfield.
Mrs. Emma Price, wife of Edward L. Price, lives near her
father's.
Ebenezer Mitchel, jr., lives at home.
Mr. Mitchel is of rather less than the ordinary stature, but
he seems to be a very active, wide-awake man, with a great deal
of energy and good muscle. He is a man, who is straight-for-
ward himself, and admires honesty and fair dealing in others.
This is one cause of the great interest he takes in the doings of
the early settlers. He found that their word could be depended
on, and that they would make great exertions to fulfil their
agreements. He says that the associations of McLean County
and the many incidents which have happened while he has been
in it, make it very dear to him. His children are, some of them,
buried here, and the old settlers, with whom he was associated
in early days, are many of them living here. He feels that they
have worked together for so many years, and endured so many
hardships, that they should be considered members of a common
family. Mr. Mitchel has been very successful in life, and has
become very well to do in the world. He has been fortunate in
the enjoyment of the society of a good woman, his wife, a lady
remarkable for her goodness of heart and quietness of manner.
Hon. Matthew Robb.
Matthew Robb, usually known as Squire Robb, was born
July 15, 1801, in Washington County, Kentucky. His father,
Thomas Robb, was born in Ireland, August 10, 1769, and came
with his parents to America while an infant. Thomas Robb
married Lydia Waller, a lady of Welch descent, on the 23d of
April, 1795, and Matthew Robb, the fourth son, was born in
444 OLD SETTLERS OF
1801, as above stated. "When the latter was quite small the
family moved to Union County, Indiana. Thomas Eobb died
June 24, 1818, being thrown from a horse, and Mrs. Robb was
left in not very comfortable circumstances with a large family
of children to care for. But eleven of these children grew up
and raised families. One of them is Mrs. Eliza Cox, now living
in Southern Illinois. It was a heavily timbered country, and
not very pleasant work to plough among the trees and stumps,
and Matthew Eobb determined to live where he could turn a
long furrow without striking stumps. His education was limit-
ed, and was obtained with difficulty. He went to school only
six months, as he could hardly be spared from the farm. Nev-
ertheless he learned to write plainly and well and was a correct
and rapid accountant. He was a lively young man, full of fun
and the best of humor. He would carry a young lady behind
him on horseback to a party five or six miles distant, and he
often took young ladies to church in the same way. They had
no buggies or carriages then, but they had quite as much fun,
and perhaps a little more. In August, 1821, Matthew Eobb
married Mary McClure, daughter of Thomas McClure. In
the spring of 1824, he came to that part Of Sangamon
County, which now forms the county of Logan, about two
and a half miles from where Postville now stands. Here he
raised a crop and then brought out his wife and child
and household goods from Indiana. The child is the present
Mrs. Abraham Stansberry, of Bloomington. When he arrived
at his farm he had only twenty-five cents in silver in his pocket,
but he was happy because he could plough without the trouble
of avoiding stumps. In the spring of 1827 he moved to Stout's
Grove. Here he lived lonely enough, as his neighbors were
principally Indians. His cabin was of logs, and his door with-
out a lock and only a spinning wheel to place against it to hold
it fast.
Matthew Eobb was a noted man at Stout's Grove. He was
the first justice of the peace, was elected in 1827, and held the
office for twelve years. He issued the first summons in Sep-
tember, 1827. He married the young men and women of
Stout's Grove and the whole country around, but used very
little ceremony in the matter. At one time when he started for
m'lean county. 445
mill he was met near his house by James Snodgrass and Betsy
Smith, who had come to be joined in the holy bonds of matri-
mony. All three went back to the house, and the service was
performed before Mrs. Robb and her daughter (the present Mrs.
Stansberry) could come in to witness it. The latter had been
out milking, and hastened in just too late. At another time
John Pore and Miss Brown, of Brown's Grove, concluded to
live together for better or for worse. Mr. Pore came for Squire
Robb to perform the service. The former crossed Sugar Creek
to bring Mr. Robb ; but as the weather had been rainy, the creek
rose rapidly, and it was very inconvenient to cross. Mr. Pore
crossed it on a log or beam, while the Squire sat on horseback
on his own side of the stream. Mr. Pore brought his bride
down to the creek and, as it was now about eight o'clock at night,
torches were lit. It was raining at the time, but they paid no
attention to that. Squire Robb rode a little distance into the
water in order to distinguish the bridegroom and bride on the
opposite bank, and the interesting ceremony was performed.
Mr. Robb was most fortunate in his domestic affairs, for his
lady was one of the best of women. She was courageous, too,
and did many things from which women would naturally shrink.
Once, while returning home on horseback from a visit to her
father's, the dogs with her started a wolf, and after chasing it
for some time brought it to bay, and Mrs. Robb jumped from
her horse and killed the wolf with her stirrup. She was a wo-
man of great practical sense, and much of the credit for her
husband's success was no doubt due to her. She was a very
quiet woman in society, though she was fond of company and
was always pleased to see her friends. She was a very religious
woman and was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian
church. She died August 23, 1868, and Squire Robb died Feb-
ruary 24, 1870. Both were buried at Stout's Grove, where a
monument is erected to their memory. They had six children,
of whom three grew up to years of discretion. They are :
Eliza J., born May 30, 1823. She was married to Edward
Matthews, who died in July, 1863. She is now the wife of
Abraham Stansberry, of Bloomington.
Lydia E., born June 15, 1828, was married to J. B. Taylor,
446 OLD SETTLERS OF
of South Carolina. He died some years since. She is now the
wife of Hiram L. Phillips, of Stout's Grove.
Susan M. Robb, born July 15, 1831, died in May, 1850. She
was never married.
Matthew Robb was six feet in height, had dark hair, dark
complexion and heavy eyebrows, was rather slim, and weighed
one hundred and seventy-live pounds. He was very quick in
business matters, and went ahead with all his might. He loved
a joke and was full of sport. It is said that the test of a genu-
ine humorist is his enjoyment of a joke on himself. According
to this test, Mr. Robb was a humorist, for his good nature and
love of fun were aroused byjokeson himself as well as on others.
He had no enemies, but was friendly to all of his neighbors,
and tried to make them friendly toward each other. When
cases were brought before him, he tried always to act as a peace-
maker, rather than as a justice of the peace, and made an effort
to compromise matters and settle them amicably. In the winter
of 1846 and '47 he was a member of the Legislature ; but in
speaking his name the title " Honorable " was seldom used, for
he had been justice of the peace for so long a time that every-
one knew him as Squire Robb. Mr. Robb was one of the con-
tractors who built the jail at Mackinawtown, then the county
seat of Tazewell County. When it was finished he was afraid it
was not strong enough to hold the criminals to be confined in it.
In order to test its strength Squire Robb was himself locked up
in it, but succeeded in breaking out.
Thomas McCluiie.
Thomas McClure was born July 15, 1765, in Rockingham
County, Virginia. He was descended from tough, hardy, Scotch-
Irish stock. When he was sixteen years of age he came to
Kentucky, and there his occupation was farming and shooting
Indians. The latter were exceedingly troublesome, and kept
the settlers continually on the alert by their stratagems and am-
buscades. It was a favorite pastime with the Indians to lie in
ambush near a settler's cabin and shoot the first man who
stepped out, and great vigilance was always required.
The door of every cabin was guarded by a strong bar, which
could not be forced, and behind it an axe was kept always ready
m'lean county. 447
for use, as the most effective weapon. Robert McClure, the el-
der brother of Thomas, was celebrated as an Indian tighter,
and with his own rifle was known to have killed seven Indians ;
but he hunted them a little too long, and was himself killed by
them. Some comical stories are told of the encounters with the
Indians. At one time the McClures and a number of others,
anions; whom was a man named John Logan, had an encounter
with the Indians in a cane-brake and killed several of the sava-
ges and took one prisoner. The latter attemped to escape, but
was overtaken by John Logan, a fleet runner, and after a short,
sharp struggle was killed. John Logan was asked why he did
not bite the Indian in the struggle, and replied that the savage
did not smell very sweet !
Thomas McClure was, in his younger days, a man of great
activity and could out-run or out-jump all of his companions.
In those days athletic sports were in high repute, and a fortune
was promised to Mr. McClure if he would travel as an athlete,
but he refused, and would not run or jump if he knew that any
money was staked on the result.
Thomas McClure was not a soldier in the war of 1812, as he
was then somewhat disabled by the severe hardships and toils
of frontier life; but one of his sons went into the army and saw
some campaigning. He was very active and earnest in raising
troops. The following incident, related by Henry C. McClure,
of Danvers, explains the inability of Thomas McClure to engage
actively in the war of 1812:
" Thomas McClure was once on a forced march, during one
of the forays with the Indians, in which he was often engaged.
On this march he spied a coon in a tree top. The sight was too
tempting, so up went his carbine, and off tumbled the coon. It
caught among the branches, which were very thick. He threw
off his bullet pouch and other trappings and started up the tree,
while his companions went on. After securing the coon he has-
tened to his comrades and came up with them about three miles
away. Then he noticed that he had left his bullet pouch and
he returned the whole distance for it. He succeeded in rejoin-
ing his companions late at night. The coon cost him dearly,
for although he was a man of powerful frame, the severe march
caused a constriction of the tendons of one of his legs and he
448 OLD SETTLERS OF
was lamed for life. He had walked on that day more than fifty
miles."
Thomas McClure married Susan Hynes in the year 1790,
about two years before the birth of his son Robert. The family
came to Indiana in about the year 1816, and settled in Posey
County. In the year 1824 the family came to Illinois, and set-
tled on the east side of the Sangamon River in Sangamon
County. There their principal occupation was eating water-
melons and shaking with the ague. They ground their wheat
and corn at a horse mill belonging to Mr. Danley. They re-
mained one year on the Sangamon River and then moved to Lo-
gan County, near the present town of Postville, between the
forks of Salt Creek 'and the Kickapoo. There the McClures
enjoyed themselves by catching wolves. Thomas McClure lived
there until the spring of 1827, when he moved to Stout's Grove.
There he built the fifth house in that section of country. It
was a hewed log house nineteen feet square, and was used as a
church, aud people came there from many miles distant. The
women would walk to church in their bare feet, for a distance
of three miles, and when they came within a hundred yards of
the meeting house they would stop and put on their shoes,
which they had brought with them. Mr. McClure was a Cum-
berland Presbyterian from the year 1800, or about that time.
He was elected one of the first elders of the church which was
organized at Stout's Grove.
The settlers were not accustomed to the luxuries of civiliza-
tion, and some of them had never tasted coffee. Some of the
women could not even make it, and it is said that a peddler
once gave a certain Mrs. Carlock some coffee, and she boiled it
with beef, and had a fearful tasting mixture! Our informant
savs : " That's as true as the book of Genesis !"
Thomas McClure entered one hundred and twenty acres of
land at Stout's Grove, and lived there until his death, which oc-
curred January 3, 1847. He had ten children who grew up and
one child who died in infancy. They were Robert, James, Mary
John, Samuel, Nancy, Margaret, Eustatia Jane, Finis E. and
Benjamin II. McClure. Of these only Nancy and Benjamin are
living. Nancy lives near Eldora, in Hardin County, Iowa, and
Benjamin has lived in McLean County until within the last five
m'lean county. 449
years, during which he has lived near Gibson, in Ford County.
Thomas McClure was about six feet and two inches in height,
and, when in health, weighed two hundred and twenty-five
pounds. He was universally liked and respected. It is literally
true that he had scarcely a personal enemy in the world. He
was not only willing, but anxious to accommodate his neighbors
and friends.
Robert McClure.
The following interesting sketch of Robert McClure was
written for this work by Henry C. McClure of Danvers.
Robert McClure, son of Thomas McClure, was born near
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on the 24th of June, 1792. His pater-
nal grandfather was a native of Scotland, and came to Virginia
during the fore part of the eighteenth century.
When Robert McClure was in his nineteenth year he served
for three months in the Kentucky militia against the Indians.
Soon afterwards he went with the family to Posey County, In-
diana. On the 24th of December, 1818, Mr. McClure married
Nancy Devenna Warrick, daughter of that Captain Warrick
who fell bravely fighting at the head of his company at the
battle of Tippecanoe. He followed farming until the fall of
1821, when he moved to Illinois and settled on Salt Creek, about
two miles south of where the city of Lincoln now stands. His
father, Thomas McClure, and his brother James McClure and
family, made up the party. Their journey was marked by a
few adventures. When they arrived at the Little Wabash tim-
ber, James McClure went out one rainy day for a hunt. He
lost his way in the timber and remained over night. The next
day was cloudy and foggy, aud he could not see the sun to get
his bearing. He traveled that day in a circle, and camped at
night near his starting place in the morning. On the morning
of the second day the sun came out clear, and he soon'found his
way to camp. His young wife was nearly frantic with anxiety
and fear. A few days later, while the teams were resting on the
edge of a prairie, the men began picking hazelnuts, while the
women attended to the teams. Suddenly the lightning flashed
close to them, and it was followed immediately by a terrific clap
of thunder. One of the four-horse teams sprang forward and
29
450 OLD SETTLERS OF
upset the wagon. Another ran for two miles and did not stop
until it came against two trees. The third team was attached
to the wagon, where Mrs. James McClure and another woman,
Mrs. Vaughan, were sitting. The team sprang forward, and
Mrs. Vaughan set up a shriek, but Mrs. McGlure stopped her,
then climbed forward on the wagon-tongue, mounted the saddle-
horse, seized the single line by which the horses were guided
and stopped the team.
When the McClure family arrived at Salt Creek, Robert
McClure made a claim to a farm, on which he lived for about
five years. The Indians were then numerous and sometimes
troublesome. At one time, while Mr. McClure was at Stout's
Grove, a band of these savages, led by Toby Whiteyes and Jim
Buck, came to the cabin, where Mrs. McClure and her three
little children were, and asked where the " chemoka man" (white
man) was. She answered that he was somewhere not far off.
But the} 7 were better posted than she supposed, for they appeared
enraged and said : " You lie! you lie! chemoka man gone, che-
moka man gone ; to-night we make powder and lead fly like
damnation." Then they started oft* with hideous yells. Mrs.
McClure took the matter coolly and was not troubled with hys-
terics. She sent for her sister-in-law, not far off, whose husband
was also at Stout's Grove, and they held a council of war and
declared the cabin in a state of siege, and prepared for defense.
They shut the door and blockaded it with a table, some iron
kettles and large stones, and sat behind it with axes. But the
Indians did not return, which was a very agreeable disappoint-
ment to the women.
The settlers at a very early day did their trading at Spring-
field. At that time the seed obtained from blue-grass was of
considerable value, and the settlers often went to Blue Grass
Point, on Kickapoo Creek, to gather the seed. At the time of
the execution of Vannoy, the wife murderer, at Springfield,
Kobert and James McClure and their wives started for that place
in a wagon with their blue grass seed. They found the Sanga-
mon River swollen by rains, but resolved to cross at all events.
It was arranged that in case the water proved very deep, Robert
McClure should hold the wagon-bed to the fore wheels to pre-
vent them from uncoupling, and James should take care of the
m'lean county. 451
bind wheels, while the ladies held up the grass seed, which was
in sacks. They drove in, their horses surged and floundered,
and the water rushed into the wagon-box, but all attended to
their duties. They succeeded in reaching the opposite bank,
but were wet enough to satisfy a hardshell Baptist. The ladies
were in a sad plight, for their white dresses were wet and soiled.
But they washed them, dried them on the grass, and their grass
seed also, and went to Springfield in time to witness the first
execution of a murderer condemned under the laws of the State
of Illinois.
In March, 1827, Robert McClure moved from his place on
Salt Creek to Stout's Grove. Here he made a claim, and when
the land came into market, he entered four or five hundred
acres. The rattlesnakes were then numerous at Stout's Grove,
and Robert McClure celebrated the first year of his residence
there by killing three hundred and thirty of these reptiles. The
wolves were plenty, and often came into the door-yard and car-
ried of geese and chickens. Robert McClure took great pleas-
ure in hunting wolves and killing them with his stirrup.
During the celebrated winter of the deep snow Robert Mc-
Clure walked, and sometimes rode his horse on the snow drifts
over the staked and double-ridered fences. At one time, while
he was riding, the crust gave way, and both horse and rider dis-
appeared almost from sight. But he climbed out, obtained a
shovel and dug a path for his horse to a more shallow place,
where the animal could again mount the crust. He had a great
deal of stock to attend to during that winter.
When the Black Hawk war broke out, Robert McClure and
others raised a company of volunteers, and he was elected cap-
tain by a decided majority. His company did not participate
in the fight, which resulted in Stillman's defeat, as they did not
arrive on the ground until the day after the contest took place.
He assisted at the burial of the seventeen persons, who were
massacred by the savages on Indian Creek.
It may be interesting for the young ladies and gentlemen who
now enjoy such rare literary advantages, to know that Robert Mc-
Clure, with the assistance of his neighbors, built the first institu-
tion of learning in western McLean County. They cutandhewed
the logs and built the house ; they split the clapboards for the
452 OLD SETTLERS OF
roof with a froe and mallet; they built the chimney with coarse
slats lined with clay mixed with cut-straw, called in the parlance
of the early settlers, " cat and clay." They made the floor of
split logs hewed on the upper side with a broad axe. Colonel
McClure then made a road to the school-house from his own
dwelling by blazing his way with a broad-axe and afterwards
cutting down the trees and brush. The children's feet soon
wore a path.
Probably very few of the younger people have heard of a
whipsaw. It was a long thin saw for making lumber. It was
used in what would now be considered a novel way. Two logs
were laid four or five feet apart across a deep ravine. Cross-
timbers were then placed on these and the log to be sawed
was rolled on them. One man then stood below and another
above, and after marking the log with a chalk line the exercises
commenced. In this way the wild cherry lumber was sawed for
the first bureau in McLean County, made by Caleb Kimler, of
Blooming Grove. A six-legged table was made at the same
time. Things which are very insignificant now were great events
in the early days.
Robert McClure, Daniel Francis and Mr. Phillips viewed and
located the State road leading from Danville to Fort Clark
(Peoria). Mr. McClure was familiar with many trades, as the
early settlers were obliged to be. The old anvil block which
he used forty years ago, still stands in the garden of Henry C.
McClure, where it was placed.
Robert McClure kept his family always well supplied with
venison, wild turkey and honey, for these were all plenty. Ma-
ple sugar and syrup could also be obtained in large quantities,
and the settlers kept large iron kettles in which to boil the
sap.
For some time after the family came to Stout's Grove, they
manufactured their Indian meal from corn brayed in a mortar
made from a log about three feet long and two feet in diameter.
The log was placed on end, and a hole was burned into it six-
teen inches deep. This was cleaned out with an inshave. The
finest meal was obtained by sifting it through a sieve made
of deer skin stretched over a hoop. The holes iri the
skin were burned with the heated tines of a fork. The
m'lean county. 453
one meal was used for bread, and the coarse for hominy.
But after some years a Mr. McKuight built a mill about twenty
miles distant, and the hominy mortar was laid aside. Mr. Mc-
Clure was obliged to make lengthy trips for salt. He went sev-
eral times to the Saline lick, near Shawneetown, about three
hundred miles distant, and brought loads of salt in a wagon
drawn by three or four yoke of oxen. The Illinois Central
Railroad was not thought of then, but the I., B. & W. road
occupied the minds of many citizens of Tazewell County. They
thought particularly of that branch of the road which runs from
Tremont to Pekin. But perhaps the longest trip he was obliged
to make was his expedition to Natchez, Mississippi, after seed
corn. Amid all these difficulties he enjoyed life well, as he was
surrounded by his father, mother, sisters and their families and
all of his brothers except John. The latter remained in In-
diana.
Robert McClure was one of seven members, who organized
the first Cumberland Presbyterian Church in McLean County.
He lived a devoted member of this church and was always anx-
ious for its welfare. In the month of August, 1834, he was at-
tacked with cancer, from which he suffered severely for about
one year, but bore the pain with great fortitude. He died
August 8, 1835. His very kind wife outlived him some twenty-
eight years, being called to the better land on the 7th of Janu-
ary, 1863. They are buried side by side in the cemetery at
Stout's Grove, one mile west of where he spent the last nine
years of his life.
Robert McClure's children are six in number :
Permelia, the oldest, was born April 18, 1820, in Gibson
County, Indiana. She married Henry C. McClure, February 6,
1842. They now live on the farm settled by her father on the
east side of Stout's Grove.
Jacob W. McClure, the second child, was born December 18,
1821, in what is now Logan County, Illinois. He married Alice
W. Hall, and now lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
Charles J. McClure was born February 9, 1824, in Logan
County. In 1845 he married Serepta Vansickles. He is now
a farmer, and lives in Hardin County, Iowa.
Thomas B. McClure, the fourth child, was born September
454
OLD SETTLERS OF
15, 1827, in Stout's Grove. He married Emma H. Clark, in
1850. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
Susan J. McClure was born during- the winter of 1830 and
'31, the celebrated winter of the deep snow. She was married
November 29, 1855, to Robert McClure of St. Louis, Missouri,
and now lives in Franklin County, Kansas.
John W. McClure, the youngest child, died in early infancy,
in Stout's Grove, one year before h\a father.
Robert McClure was a finely-formed man. He stood six
feet and four inches in his boots. He was neither very slim nor
very corpulent, weighing something more than two hundred
pounds. His complexion was fair. He had dark auburn hair
and deep blue eyes. He was very active and possessed of great
powers of endurance. He was one of the most social and kind
hearted of men. At a house raising (of a log house, of course,
they had no other kind in the early days) he always carried up
his corner; and on all occasions of mirth, jollity, wit and humor,
he " carried up his corner," too. He had always a flow of soul,
and not only enjoyed himself, but made all feel happy around
him. He was remarkable for his generosity, which was mani-
fest in all the acts and relations of his life. He has often been
known to take his horses from his plow to accommodate a neigh-
bor. He was always glad to extend to everyone a generous hos-
pitality, and in this respect his wife was in no way behind him,
for it might be said of her that she obeyed the commandment
to love her neighbor as herself. She was a helpmeet to him in
the fullest sense of the word, for she never manufactured and
sold less than one hundred and fifty yards of jeans during each
year of her married life. In addition to this she made enough
cloth for use in the family, and a great quantity of bed clothing
besides. All of her acquaintances were fast friends for life.
Such is the well-written and entertaining account given by
Henry C. McClure, of Stout's Grove. The author of this work
is under many obligations to him as well as to his witty and ac-
complished lady, a daughter of Robert McClure.
Jonathan Hodge.
Jonathan Hodge was born in October, 1701, in North Caro-
lina, He was of Scotch and German descent. \Vhen he was
m'lean county. 455
fourteen years of age he came to Barron County, Kentucky. In
about the year 1812 he married Nancy Berry, a very amiable
lady, a Virginian by birth and Irish descent. She came to Ken-
tucky when she was very young.
In the fall of 1821, Mr. Hodge came to Sangamon County
and settled on Fancy Creek. The country was then wild and
full of ferocious animal
