Full text of "Historical encyclopedia of Illinois"

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OF THE 

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cop. 6 



The person charging this material is re- 
sponsible for its return to the library from 
which it was withdrawn on or before the 
Latest Date stamped below. 

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HISTORICAL * 



ENCYCLOPEDIA 



OF 



ILLINOIS 



EDITED BY 

NEWTON BATEMAN, LL.D. PAUL SELBY, A.M. 




AND HISTORY OF 



CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



EDITED BY 

JOSEPH O. CUNNINGHAM 



VOLUME II 



ILLUSTRATED. 



CHICAGO : 

MUNSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

PUBLISHER S. 

1905. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, 
in the years 1894, 1899, 1900 and 1905 by 

WILLIAM W. MUNSELL, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress 

at 
WASHINGTON 






B 3-1 
v.fc 



503 



Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois. 



STATE BANK OF ILLINOIS. The first legis- 
lation, having for its object the establishment of 
a bank within the territory which now consti- 
tutes the State of Illinois, was the passage, by the 
Territorial Legislature of 1816, of an act incor- 
porating the "Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown, 
with branches at Ed wards ville and Kaskaskia." 
In the Second General Assembly of the State 
(1820) an act was passed, over the Governor's 
veto and in defiance of the adverse judgment of 
the Council of Revision, establishing a State 
Bank at Vandalia with branches at Shawneetown, 
Edwardsville, and Brownsville in Jackson County. 
This was, in effect, a rechartering of the banks at 
Shawneetown and Edwardsville. So far as the 
former is concerned, it seems to have been well 
managed ; but the official conduct of the officers 
of the latter, on the basis of charges made by 
Governor Edwards in 1826, was made the subject 
of a legislative investigation, which (although it 
resulted in nothing) seems to have had some 
basis of fact, in view of the losses finally sus- 
tained in winding up its affairs that of the Gen- 
eral Government amounting to $54,000. Grave 
charges were made in this connection against 
men who were then, or afterwards became, 
prominent in State affairs, including one Justice 
of the Supreme Court and one (still later) a 
United States Senator. The experiment was dis- 
astrous, as, ten years later (1831), it was found 
necessary for the State to incur a debt of $100,000 
to redeem the outstanding circulation. Influ- 
enced, however, by the popular demand for an 
increase in the "circulating medium," the State 
continued its experiment of becoming a stock- 
holder in banks, managed by its citizens, and 
accordingly we find it, in 1835, legislating in the 
same direction for the establishing of a central 
"Bank of Illinois" at Springfield, with branches 
at other points as might be required, not to ex- 
ceed six in number. One of these branches was 
established at Vandalia and another at Chicago, 



furnishing the first banking institution of the 
latter city. Two years later, when the State was 
entering upon its scheme of internal improve- 
ment, laws were enacted increasing the capital 
stock of these banks to $4,000,000 in the aggre- 
gate. Following the example of similar institu- 
tions elsewhere, they suspended specie payments 
a few months later, but were protected by "stay 
laws" and other devices until 1842, when, the 
internal improvement scheme having been finally 
abandoned, they fell in general collapse. The 
State ceased to be a stock-holder in 1843, and the 
banks were put in course of liquidation, though 
it required several years, to complete the work. 

STATE CAPITALS. The first State capital of 
Illinois was Kaskaskia, where the first Territorial 
Legislature convened, Nov. 25, 1812. At that 
time there were but five counties in the State 
St. Clair and Randolph being the most important, 
and Kaskaskia being the county-seat of the 
latter. Illinois was admitted into the Union as a 
State in 1818, and the first Constitution provided 
that the seat of government should remain at 
Kaskaskia until removed by legislative enact- 
ment. That instrument, however, made it obli- 
gatory upon the Legislature, at its first session, 
to petition Congress for a grant of not more than 
four sections of land, on which should be erected 
a town, which should remain the seat of govern- 
ment for twenty years. The petition was duly 
presented and granted ; and, in accordance with 
the power granted by the Constitution, a Board 
of five Commissioners selected the site of the 
present city of Vandalia, then a point in the 
wilderness, twenty miles north of any settle 
ment. But so great was the faith of speculators 
in the future of the proposed city, that town lots 
were soon selling at $100 to $780 each. The Com- 
missioners, in obedience to law, erected a plain 
two-story frame building scarcely more than a 
commodious shanty to which the State offices 
were removed in December, 1820. This building 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



was burned, Dec. 9, 1823, and a brick structure 
erected in its place. Later, when the question of 
a second removal of the capital began to be agi- 
tated, the citizens of Vandalia assumed the risk 
of erecting a new, brick State House, costing 
$16,000. Of this amount $6,000 was reimbursed 
by the Governor from the contingent fund, and 
the balance ($10,000) was appropriated in 1837, 
when the seat of government was removed to 
Springfield, by vote of the Tenth General Assem- 
bly on the fourth ballot. The other places receiv- 
ing the principal vote at the time of the removal 
to Springfield, were Jacksonville, Vandalia, 
Peoria, Alton and Illiopolis Springfield receiv- 
ing the largest vote at each ballot. The law 
removing the capital appropriated $50,000 from 
the State Treasury, provided that a like amount 
should be raised by private subscription and 
guaranteed by bond, and that at least two acres 
of land should be donated as a site. Two State 
Houses have been erected at Springfield, the first 
cost of the present one (including furnishing) 
having been a little in excess of $4,000,000. 
Abraham Lincoln, who was a member of the 
Legislature from Sangamon County at the time, 
was an influential factor in securing the removal 
of the capital to Springfield. 

STATE DEBT. The State debt, which proved 
so formidable a burden upon the State of Illinois 
for a generation, and, for a part of that period, 
seriously checked its prosperity, was the direct 
outgrowth of the internal improvement scheme 
entered upon in 1837. (See Internal Improvement 
Policy. ) At the time this enterprise was under- 
taken the aggregate debt of the State was less 
than $400,000 accumulated within the preceding 
six years. Two years later (1838) it had increased 
to over $6,500,000, while the total valuation of 
real and personal property, for the purposes of 
taxation, was less than $60,000,000, and the aggre- 
gate receipts of the State treasury, for the same 
year, amounted to less than $150,000. At the 
same time, the disbursements, for the support of 
the State Government alone, had grown to more 
than twice the receipts. This disparity continued 
until the declining credit of the State forced upon 
the managers of public affairs an involuntary 
economy, when the means could no longer be 
secured for more lavish expenditures. The first 
bonds issued at the inception of the internal 
improvement scheme sold at a premium of 5 per 
cent, but rapidly declined until they were hawked 
in the markets of New York and London at a dis- 
count, in some cases falling into the hands of 
brokers who failed before completing their con- 



tracts, thus causing a direct loss to the State. If 
the internal improvement scheme was ill-advised, 
the time chosen to carry it into effect was most 
unfortunate, as it came simultaneously with the 
panic of 183.7, rendering the disaster all the more 
complete. Of the various works undertaken by 
the State, only the Illinois & Michigan Canal 
brought a return, all the others resulting in more 
or less complete loss. The internal improvement 
scheme was abandoned in 1839-40, but not until 
State bonds exceeding $13,000,000 had been 
issued. For two years longer the State struggled 
with its embarrassments, increased by the failure 
of the State Bank in February, 1842, and, by that 
of the Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown, a few 
months later, with the proceeds of more than two 
and a half millions of the State's bonds in their 
possession. Thus left without credit, or means 
even of paying the accruing interest, there were 
those who regarded the State as hopelessly bank- 
rupt, and advocated repudiation as the only 
means of escape. Better counsels prevailed, how- 
ever; the Constitution of 1848 put the State on a 
basis of strict economy in the matter of salaries 
and general expenditures, with restrictions upon 
the Legislature in reference to incurring in- 
debtedness, while the beneficent "two-mill tax" 
gave assurance to its creditors that its debts 
would be paid. While the growth of the State, 
in wealth and population, had previously been 
checked by the fear of excessive taxation, it now 
entered upon a new career of prosperity, in spite 
of its burdens its increase in population, be- 
tween 1850 and 1860, amounting to over 100 per 
cent. The movement of the State debt after 1840 
when the internal improvement scheme was 
abandoned chiefly by accretions of unpaid inter- 
est, has been estimated as follows: 1842, $15,- 
637,950; 1844, $14,633,969; 1846, $16,389,817; 1848, 
$16,661,795. It reached its maximum in 1853 
the first year of Governor Matteson's administra- 
tion when it was officially reported at $16,724,- 
177. At this time the work of extinguishment 
began, and was prosecuted under successive 
administrations, except during the war, when 
the vast expense incurred in sending troops to 
the field caused an increase. During Governor 
Bissell's administration, the reduction amounted 
to over $3,000,000; during Oglesby's, to over five 
and a quarter million, besides two and a quarter 
million paid on interest. In 1880 the debt had 
been reduced to $281,059.11, and, before the close 
of 1882, it had been entirely extinguished, except 
a balance of $18,500 in bonds, which, having been 
called in years previously and never presented for 




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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



505 



payment, are supposed to liave been lost. (See 
Macalister and Stebbins Bonds. ) 

STATE GUARDIANS FOR GIRLS, a bureau 
organized for the care of female juvenile delin- 
quents, by act of June 2, 1893. The Board consists 
of seven members, nominated by the Executive 
and confirmed by the Senate, and who consti- 
tute a body politic and corporate. Not more than 
two of the members may reside in the same Con- 
gressional District and, of the seven members, 
four must be women. (See also Home for Female 
Juvenile Offenders.) The term of office is six 
years. 

STATE HOUSE, located at Springfield. Its 
construction was begun under an act passed by 
the Legislature in February, 1867, and completed 
in 1887. It stands in a park of about eight acres, 
donated to the State by the citizens of Spring- 
field. A provision of the State Constitution of 
1870 prohibited the expenditure of any sum in 
excess of $3,500,000 in the erection and furnishing 
of the building, without previous approval of such 
additional expenditure by the people. This 
amount proving insufficient, the Legislature, at 
its session of 1885, passed an act making an addi- 
tional appropriation of $531,712, which having 
been approved by popular vote at the general 
election of 1886, the expenditure was made and 
the capitol completed during the following year, 
thus raising the total cost of construction and fur- 
nishing to a little in excess of $4,000,000. The 
building is cruciform as to its ground plan, and 
classic in its style of architecture ; its extreme 
dimensions (including porticoes), from north [to 
south, being 379 feet, and, from east to west, 286 
feet. The walls are of dressed Joliet limestone, 
while the jx>rticoes, which are spacious and 
lofty, are of sandstone, supported by polished 
columns of gray granite. The three stories of 
the building are surmounted by a Mansard roof, 
with two turrets and a central dome of stately 
dimensions. Its extreme height, to the top of 
the iron flag-staff, which rises from a lantern 
springing from the dome, is 364 feet. 

STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY, an institu- 
tion for the education of teachers, organized 
under an act of the General Assembly, passed 
Feb. 18, 1857. This act placed the work of 
organization in the hands of a board of fifteen 
persons, which was styled "The Board of Educa- 
tion of the State of Illinois," and was constituted 
as follows: C. B. Denio of Jo Daviess County; 
Simeon Wright of Lee ; Daniel Wilkins of Mc- 
Lean ; Charles E. Hovey of Peoria ; George P. Rex 
of Pike; Samuel W. Moulton of Shelby; John 



Gillespie of Jasper ; George Bunsen of St. Clair; 
Wesley Sloan of Pope; Ninian W. Edwards of 
Sangamon; John R. Eden of Moultrie; Flavel 
Moseley and William Wells of Cook ; Albert R. 
Shannon of White; and the Superintendent ot 
Public Instruction, ex-officio. The object of the 
University, as defined in the organizing law, is 
to qualify teachers for the public schools of the 
State, and the course of instruction to be given 
embraces "the art of teaching, and all branches 
which pertain to a common-school education ; in 
the elements of the natural sciences, including 
agricultural chemistry, animal and vegetable 
physiology; in the fundamental laws of the 
United States and of the State of Illinois in 
regard to the rights and duties of citizens, and 
such other studies as the Board of Education may, 
from time to time, prescribe." Various cities 
competed for the location of the institution, 
Bloomington being finally selected, its bid, in- 
cluding 160 acres of land, being estimated as 
equivalent to $141,725. The corner-stone was 
laid on September 29, 1857, and the first building 
was ready for permanent occupancy in Septem- 
ber, 1860. Previously, however, it had been 
sufficiently advanced to permit of its being used, 
and the first commencement exercises were held 
on June 29 of the latter year. Three years 
earlier, the academic department had been organ- 
ized under the charge of Charles E. Hovey. The 
first cost, including furniture, etc., was not far 
from $200,000. Gratuitous instruction is given to 
two pupils from each county, and to three from 
each Senatorial District. The departments are : 
Grammar school, high school, normal department 
and model school, all of which are overcrowded. 
The whole number of students in attendance on 
the institution during the school year, 1897-98, 
was 1,197, of whom 891 were in the normal 
department and 306 in the practice school depart- 
ment, including representatives from 86 coun- 
ties of the State, with a few pupils from other 
States on the payment of tuition. The teaching 
faculty (including the President and Librarian) 
for the same year, was made up of twenty-six 
members twelve ladies and fourteen gentlemen. 
The expenditures for the year 1897-98 aggregated 
$47,626.92, against $66,528.69 for 1896-97. Nearly 
$22,000 of the amount expended during the latter 
year was on account of the construction of a 
gymnasium building. 

STATE PROPERTY. The United States Cen- 
sus of 1890 gave the value of real and personal 
property belonging to the State as follows: Pub 
lie lands, $328,000; buildings, $22,164,000; mis- 



506 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



cellaneous property, $2,650,000 total, $25,142,000. 
The land may be subdivided thus : Camp-grounds 
of the Illinois National Guard near Springfield 
(donated), $40,000; Illinois and Michigan Canal, 
$168,000; Illinois University lands, in Illinois 
(donated by the General Government), $41,000, in 
Minnesota (similarly donated), $79,000. The 
buildings comprise those connected with the 
charitable, penal and educational institutions of 
the State, besides the State Arsenal, two build- 
ings for the use of the Appellate Courts (at 
Ottawa and Mount Vernon), the State House, 
the Executive Mansion, and locks and dams 
erected at Henry and Copperas Creek. Of the 
miscellaneous property, $120,000 represents the 
equipment of the Illinois National Guard; $1,959,- 
000 the value of the movable property of public 
buildings; $550,000 the endowment fund of the 
University of Illinois; and $21,000 the movable 
property of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. The 
figures given relative to the value of the public 
buildings include only the first appropriations 
for their erection. Considerable sums have 
since been expended upon some of them in repairs, 
enlargements and improvements. 

STATE TREASURERS. The only Treasurer 
of Illinois during the Territorial period was John. 
Thomas, who served from 1812 to 1818, and 
became the first incumbent under the State 
Government. Under the Constitution of 1818 
the Treasurer was elected, biennially, by joint vote 
of the two Houses of the General Assembly ; by 
the Constitution of 1848, this officer was made 
elective by the people for the same period, with- 
out limitations as to number of terms ; under the 
Constitution of 1870, the manner of election and 
duration of term are unchanged, but the incum- 
bent is ineligible to re-election, for two years 
from expiration of the term for which he may 
have been chosen. The following is a list of the 
State Treasurers, from the date of the admission 
of the State into the Union down to the present 
time (1899), with the date and duration of the 
term of each: John Thomas, 1818-19; Robert K. 
McLaughlin, 1819-23; Abner Field, 1823-27; 
James Hall, 1827-31; John Dement, 1831-36; 
Charles Gregory, 1836-37; John D. Whiteside, 
1837-41; Milton Carpenter, 1841-48; John Moore, 
1848-57; James Miller, 1857-59; William Butler, 
1859-63; Alexander Starne, 1863-65; James H. 
Beveridge, 1865-67; George W. Smith, 1867-69; 
Erastus N. Bates, 1869-73; Edward Rutz, 1873-75; 
Thomas S. Ridgway, 1875-77; Edward Rutz, 
1877-79; John C. Smith, 1879-81 ; Edward Rutz, 
1881-83; John C. Smith, 1883-85; Jacob Gross, 



1885-87; John R. Tanner, 1887-89; Charles 
Becker, 1889-91; Edward S. Wilson, 1891-93; 
Rufus N. Ramsay, 1893-95; Henry Wulff, 1895-97; 
Henry L. Hertz, 1897-99; Floyd K. Whittemore, 
1899- . 

STAUNTON, a village in the southeast corner 
of Macoupin County, on the Chicago, Peoria & 
St. Louis and the Wabash Railways ; is 36 miles 
northeast of St. Louis, and 14 miles southwest of 
Litchfield. Agriculture and coal-mining are the 
industries of the surrounding region. Staunton 
has two banks, eight churches and a weekly 
newspaper. Population (1880), 1,358 ; (1890), 2,209 ; 
(1900), 2,786. 

STEEL PRODUCTION. In the manufacture 
of steel, Illinois has long ranked as the second 
State in the Union in the amount of its output, 
and, during the period between 1880 and 1890, 
the increase in production was 241 per cent. In 
1880 there were but six steel works in the State ; 
in 1890 these had increased to fourteen ; and the 
production of steel of all kinds (in tons of 2,000 
pounds) had risen from 254,569 tons to 868,250. 
Of the 3,837,039 tons of Bessemer steel ingots, or 
direct castings, produced in the United States in 
1890, 22 per cent were turned out in Illinois, 
nearly all the steel produced in the State being 
made by that process. From the tonnage of 
ingots, as given above, Illinois produced 622,260 
pounds of steel rails, more than 30 per cent of 
the aggregate for the entire country. This fact 
is noteworthy, inasmuch as the competition in 
the manufacture of Bessemer steel rails, since 
1880, has been so great that many rail mills have 
converted their steel into forms other than rails, 
experience having proved their production to 
any considerable extent, during the past few 
years, unprofitable except in works favorably 
located for obtaining cheap raw material, or 
operated under the latest and most approved 
methods of manufacture. Open-hearth steel is 
no longer made in Illinois, but the manufacture 
of crucible steel is slightly increasing, the out- 
put in 1890 being 445 tons, as against 130 in 1880. 
For purposes requiring special grades of steel the 
product of the crucible process will be always 
in demand, but the high cost of manufacture 
prevents it, in a majority of instances, from 
successfully competing in price with the other 
processes mentioned. 

STEPHEN SON, Benjamin, pioneer and early 
politician, came to Illinois from Kentucky in 
1809, and was appointed the first Sheriff of 
Randolph County by Governor Edwards under 
the Territorial Government; afterwards served 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



507 



as a Colonel of Illinois militia during the War of 
1812; represented Illinois Territory as Delegate 
in Congress, 1814-16, and, on his retirement from 
Congress, became Register of the Land Office at 
Edwardsville, finally dying at Edwardsville Col. 
James W. (Stephenson), a son of the preceding, 
was a soldier during the Black Hawk War, after- 
wards became a prominent politician in the north- 
western part of the State, served as Register of 
the Land Office at Galena and, in 1838, received 
the Democratic nomination for Governor, but 
withdrew before the election. 

STEPHENSON, (Dr.) Benjamin Franklin, 
physician and soldier, was born in Wayne 
County, [111., Oct. 30, 1522, and accompanied his 
parents, in 1825, to Sangamon County, where the 
family settled. His early educational advantages 
were meager, and he did not study his profession 
(medicine) until after reaching his majority, 
graduating from Rush Medical College, Chicago, 
in 1850. He began practice at Petersburg, but, 
in April, 1862, was mustered into the volunteer 
army as Surgeon of the Fourteenth Illinois 
Infantry. After a little over two years service he 
was mustered out in June, 1864, when he took up 
his residence in Springfield, and, for a year, was 
engaged in the drug business there. In 1865 he 
resumed professional practice. He lacked tenac- 
ity of purpose, however, was indifferent to money, 
and always willing to give his own services and 
orders for medicine to the poor. Hence, his prac- 
tice was not lucrative. He was one of the leaders 
in the organization of the Grand Army of the 
Republic (which see), in connection with which 
he is most widely known ; but his services in its 
cause failed to receive, during his lifetime, the 
recognition which they deserved, nor did the 
organization promptly flourish, as he had hoped. 
He finally returned with his family to Peters- 
burg. Died, at Rock Creek, Menard, County, 111., 
August 30, 1871. 

STEPHENSON COUNTY, a northwestern 
county, with an area of 560 square miles. The 
soil is rich, productive and well timbered. Fruit- 
culture and stock-raising are among the chief 
industries. Not until 1827 did the aborigines quit 
the locality, and the county was organized, ten 
years later, and named for Gen. Benjamin 
Stephenson. A man named Kirker, who had 
been in the employment of Colonel Gratiot as a 
lead-miner, near Galena, is said to have built the 
first cabin within the present limits of what was 
' called Burr Oak Grove, and set himself up as an 
Indian-trader in 1826, but only remained a short 
time. He was followed, the next year, by Oliver 



W. Kellogg, who took Kirker's place, built a 
more pretentious dwelling and became the first 
permanent settler. Later came "William Wad- 
dams, the Montagues, Baker, Kilpatrick, Preston, 
the Goddards, and others whose names are linked 
with the county's early history. The first house 
in Freeport was built by William Baker. Organi- 
zation was effected in 1837, the total poll being 
eighty-four votes. The earliest teacher was Nel- 
son Martin, who is said to have taught a school 
of some twelve pupils, in a house which stood on 
the site of the present city of Freeport. Popula- 
tion (1880), 31,963; (1890), 31,338; (1900), 34,933. 

STERLING, a flourishing city on the north 
bank of Rock River, in Whiteside County, 109 
miles west of Chicago, 29 miles east of Clinton, 
Iowa, and 52 miles east-northeast of Rock Island. 
It has ample railway facilities, furnished by the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Sterling & 
Peoria, and the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- 
roads. It contains fourteen churched, an opera 
house, high and grade schools, Carnegie library, 
Government postoffice building, three banks, 
electric street and interurban car lines, electric 
and gas lighting, water-works, paved streets and 
sidewalks, fire department and four newspaper 
offices, two issuing daily editions. It has fine 
water-power, and is an important manufacturing 
center, its works turning out agricultural imple- 
ments, carriages, paper, bar bed- wire, school furni- 
ture, burial caskets, pumps, sash, doors, etc. It 
also has the Sterling Iron Works, besides foundries 
and machine shops. The river here flows through 
charming scenery. Pop. (1890), 5,824; (1900), 6,309. 

STEVENS, Bradford M.., ex-Congressman, was 
born at Boscawen (afterwards Webster), N. H., 
Jan. 3, 1813. After attending schools in New 
Hampshire and at Montreal, he entered Dart- 
mouth College, graduating therefrom in 1835. 
During the six years following, he devoted him- 
self to teaching, at Hopkinsville, Ky., and New 
York City. In 1843 he removed to Bureau 
County, 111., where he became a merchant and 
farmer. In 1868 he was chairman of the Board 
of Supervisors, and, in 1870, was elected to Con- 
gress, as an Independent Democrat, for the Fifth 
District. 

STEVENSON, Adlai E., ex- Vice-President of 
the United States, was born in Christian County, 
Ky., Oct. 23, 1835. In 1852 he removed with his 
parents to Bloomington, McLean County, 111., 
where the family settled; was educated at the 
Illinois Wesleyan University and at Centre Col- 
lege, Ky., was admitted to the bar in 1858 and 
began practice at Metamora, Wood ford County, 



508 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



where he was Master in Chancery, 1861-65, and 
State's Attorney, 1865-69. In 1864 he was candi- 
date for Presidential Elector on the Democratic 
ticket. In 1869 he returned to Bloomington, 
where he has since resided. In 1874, and again 
in 1876, he was an unsuccessful candidate of his 
party for Congress, but was elected as a Green- 
back Democrat in 1878, though defeated in 1880 
and 1882. In 1877 he was appointed by President 
Hayes a member of the Board of Visitors to 
West Point. During the first administration of 
President Cleveland (1885-89) he was First Assist- 
ant Postmaster General; was a member of the 
National Democratic Conventions of 1884 and 
1892, being Chairman of the Illinois delegation 
the latter year. In 1892 he received his party's 
nomination for the Vice-Presidency, and was 
elected to that office, serving until 1897. Since 
retiring from office he has resumed his residence 
at Bloomington. 

STEWARD, Lewis, manufacturer and former 
Congressman, was born in Wayne County, Pa., 
Nov. 20, 1824, and received a common school 
education. At the age of 14 he accompanied his 
parents to Kendall County, 111. , where he after- 
wards resided, being engaged in farming and the 
manufacture of agricultural implements at 
Piano. He studied law but never practiced. In 
1876 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Gov- 
ernor on the Democratic ticket, being defeated 
by Shelby M. Cullom. In 1890 the Democrats of 
the Eighth Illinois District elected him to Con- 
gress. In 1892 he was again a candidate, but was 
defeated by his Republican opponent, Robert A. 
Childs, by the narrow margin of 27 votes, and, 
In 1894, was again defeated, this time being pitted 
against Albert J. Hopkins. Mr. Steward died at 
his home at Piano, August 26, 1896. 

STEWARDSON, a town of Shelby County, at 
the intersection of the Toledo, St. Louis & Kan- 
sas City Railway with the Altamont branch of 
the Wabash, 12 miles southeast of Shelby ville; 
is in a grain and lumber region ; has a bank and 
a weekly paper. Population, (1900), 677. 

STICKNET, William H., pioneer lawyer, was 
born in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 9, 1809, studied law 
and was admitted to the bar at Cincinnati in 
1831, and, in Illinois in 1834, being at that time a 
resident of Shawneetown; was elected State's 
Attorney by the Legislature, in 1839, for the cir- 
cuit embracing some fourteen counties in the 
southern and southeastern part of the State ; for 
a time also, about 1835-36, officiated as editor of 
"The Gallatin Democrat," and "The Illinois 
Advertiser, " published at Shawneetown. In 1846 



Mr. Stickney was elected to the lower branch of 
the General Assembly from Gallatin County, and, 
twenty-eight years later having come to Chi- 
cago in 1848 to the same body from Cook 
County, serving in the somewhat famous Twenty- 
ninth Assembly. He also held the office of 
Police Justice for some thirteen years, from 1860 
onward. He lived to an advanced age, dying in 
Chicago, Feb. 14, 1898, being at the time the 
oldest surviving member of the Chicago bar. 

STILES, Isaac Newton, lawyer and soldier, 
born at Suffield, Conn., July 16, 1833; was ad- 
mitted to the bar at Lafayette, Ind., in 1855, 
became Prosecuting Attorney, a member of the 
Legislature and an effective speaker in the Fre- 
mont campaign of 1856 ; enlisted as a private sol- 
dier at the beginning of the war, went to the 
field as Adjutant, was captured at Malvern Hill, 
and, after six weeks' confinement in Libby 
prison, exchanged and returned to duty; was 
promoted Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel, 
and brevetted Brigadier-General for meritorious 
service. After the war he practiced his profes- 
sion in Chicago, though almost totally blind. 
Died, Jan. 18, 1895. 

STILLMAN, Stephen, first State Senator from 
Sangamon County, 111., was a native of Massachu- 
setts who came, with his widowed mother, to 
Sangamon County in 1820, and settled near 
Williamsville, where he became the first Post- 
master in the first postoffice in the State north of 
the Sangamon River. In 1822, Mr. Stillman was 
elected as the first State Senator from Sangamon 
County, serving four years, and, at his first session, 
being one of the opponents of the pro-slavery 
Convention resolution. He died, in Peoria, some- 
where between 1835 and 1840. 

STILLMAN TALLEY, village in Ogle County, 
on Chicago Great Western and the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee & St. Paul Railways; site of first battle 
Black Hawk War; has graded schools, four 
churches, a bank and a newspaper. Pop. , 475. 

STITES, Samuel, pioneer, was born near 
Mount Bethel, Somerset County, N. J., Oct. 31, 
1776; died, August 16, 1839, on his farm, which 
subsequently became the site of the city of Tren- 
ton, in Clinton County, 111. He was descended 
from John Stites, M.D., who was born in Eng- 
land in 1595, emigrated to America, and died at 
Hempstead, L. I., in 1717, at the age of 122 years. 
The family removed to New Jersey in the latter 
part of the seventeenth century. Samuel was a 
cousin of Benjamin Stites, the first white man to 
settle within the present limits of Cincinnati, and 
various members of the family were prominent in 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



509 



the settlement of the upper Ohio Valley as early 
as 1788. Samuel Stites married, Sept. 14, 1794, 
Martha Martin, daughter of Ephraim Martin, 
and grand- daughter of Col. Ephraim Martin, both 
soldiers of the New Jersey line during the Revo- 
lutionary War with the last named of whom 
he had (in connection with John Cleves Symmes) 
been intimately associated in the purchase and 
settlement of the Miami Valley. In 1800 he 
removed to Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1803 to 
Greene County, and, in 1818, in company with his 
son-in-law. Anthony Wayne Casad, to St. Clair 
County, 111., settling near Union Grove. Later, he 
removed to O'Fallon, and, still later, to Clinton 
County. He left a large family, several members 
of which became prominent pioneers in the 
movements toward Minnesota and Kansas. 

STOLBRAND, Carlos John Mueller, soldier, 
was born in Sweden, May 11, 1821 ; at the age of 
18, enlisted in the Royal Artillery of his native 
land, serving through the campaign of Schleswig- 
Holstein (1848) ; came to the United States soon 
after, and, in 1861, enlisted in the first battalion 
of Illinois Light Artillery, finally becoming Chief 
of Artillery under Gen. John A. Logan. When 
the latter became commander of the Fifteenth 
Army Corps, Col. Stolbrand was placed at the 
head of the artillery brigade ; in February, 1865, 
was made Brigadier-General, and mustered out 
in January, 1866. After the war he went South, 
and was Secretary of the South Carolina Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1868. The same year he 
was a delegate to the Republican National Con- 
vention at Chicago, and a Presidential Elector. 
He was an inventor and patented various im- 
provements in steam engines and boilers ; was 
also Superintendent of Public Buildings at 
Charleston, S. C., under President Harrison. 
Died, at Charleston, Feb. 3, 1894. 

STONE, Daniel, early lawyer and legislator, 
was a native of Vermont and graduate of Middle- 
bury College ; became a member of the Spring- 
field (111.) bar in 1833, and, in 1836, was elected 
to the General Assembly being one of the cele- 
brated "Long Nine" from Sangamon County, and 
joining Abraham Lincoln in his protest against 
a series of pro-slavery resolutions which had been 
adopted by the House. In 1837 he was a Circuit 
Court Judge and, being assigned to the north- 
western part of the State, removed to Galena, 
but was legislated out of office, when he left the 
State, dying a few years later, in Essex County, 
N. J. 

STONE, Horatio 0., pioneer, was born in 
Ontario (now Monroe) County, N. Y., Jan. 2, 



1811 ; in boyhood learned the trade of shoemaker, 
and later acted as overseer of laborers on the 
Lackawanna Canal. In 1831, having located in 
Wayne County, Mich., he was drafted for the 
Black Hawk War, serving twenty-two days under 
Gen. Jacob Brown. In January, 1835, he came 
to Chicago and, having made a fortunate specu- 
lation in real estate in that early day, a few 
months later entered upon the grocery and pro- 
vision trade, which he afterwards extended to 
grain ; finally giving his chief attention to real 
estate, in which he was remarkably successful, 
leaving a large fortune at his death, which 
occurred in Chicago, June 20, 1877. 

STONE, (Rev.) Lnther, Baptist clergyman, 
was born in the town of Oxford, Worcester 
County, Mass., Sept. 26, 1815, and spent his boy- 
hood on a farm. After acquiring a common 
school education, he prepared for college at Lei- 
cester Academy, and, in 1835, entered Brown 
University, graduating in the class of 1839. He 
then spent three years at the Theological Insti- 
tute at Newton, Mass. ; was ordained to the 
ministry at Oxford, in 1843, but, coming west the 
next year, entered upon evangelical work in 
Rock Island, Davenport, Burlington and neigh- 
boring towns. Later, he was pastor of the First 
Baptist Church at Rockford, 111. In 1847 Mr. 
Stone came to Chicago and established "The 
Watchman of the Prairies," which survives to- 
day under the name of "The Standard," and has 
become the leading Baptist organ in the West. 
After six years of editorial work, he took up 
evangelistic work in Chicago, among the poor 
and criminal classes. During the Civil War he 
conducted religious services at Camp Douglas, 
Soldiers' Rest and the Marine Hospital. He was 
associated in the conduct and promotion of many 
educational and charitable institutions. He did 
much for the First Baptist Church of Chicago, 
and, during the latter years of his life, was 
attached to the Immanuel Baptist Church, 
which he labored to establish. Died, in July, 
1890. 

STONE, Melville E., journalist, banker, Man- 
ager ot Associated Press, born at Hudson, 111., 
August 18, 1848. Coming to Chicago in 1860, he 
graduated from the local high school in 1867, 
and, in 1870, acquired the sole proprietorship of 
a foundry and machine shop. Finding himself 
without resources after the great fire of 1871, he 
embarked in journalism, rising, through the suc- 
cessive grades of reporter, city editor, assistant 
editor and Washington correspondent, to the 
position of editor-in-chief of his own journal. 



510 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



He was connected with various Chicago dailies 
between 1871 and 1875, and, on Christmas Day 
of the latter year, issued the first number of "The 
Chicago Daily News." He gradually disposed of 
his interest in this journal, entirely severing 
his connection therewith in 1888. Since that 
date he has been engaged in banking in the city 
of Chicago, and is also General Manager of the 
Associated Press. 

STONE, Samuel, philanthropist, was born at 
Chesterfield, Mass., Dec. 6, 1798; left an orphan 
at seven years of age, after a short term in Lei- 
cester Academy, and several years in a wholesale 
store in Boston, at the age of 19 removed to 
Rochester, N. Y., to take charge of interests in 
the "Holland Purchase, " belonging to his father's 
estate ; in 1843-49, was a resident of ^Detroit and 
interested in some of the early railroad enter- 
prises centering there, but the latter year re- 
moved to Milwaukee, being there associated with 
Ezra Cornell in telegraph construction. In 1859 
he became a citizen of Chicago, where he was 
one of the founders of the Chicago Historical 
Society, and a liberal patron of many enterprises 
of a public and benevolent character. Died, May 
4, 1876. 

STONE FORT, a village in the counties of 
Saline and Williamson. It is situated on the Cairo 
Division of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & 
St. Louis Railway, 57 miles northeast of Cairo. 
Population (1900), 479. 

STOREY, Wilbur F., journalist and news- 
paper publisher, was born at Salisbury, Vt., Dec. 
19, 1819. He began to learn the printer's trade 
at 12, and, before he was 19, was part owner of a 
Democratic paper called "The Herald," published 
at La Porte, Ind. Later, he either edited or con- 
trolled journals published at Mishawaka, Ind., 
and Jackson and Detroit, Mich. In January, 
1861, he became the principal owner of "The 
Chicago Times," then the leading Democratic 
organ of Chicago. His paper soon came to be 
regarded as the organ of the anti-war party 
throughout the Northwest, and, in June, 1863, 
was suppressed by a military order issued by 
General Burnside, which was subsequently 
revoked by President Lincoln. The net result 
was an increase in "The Times' " notoriety and 
circulation. Other charges, of an equally grave 
nature, relating to its sources of income, its char- 
acter as a family newspaper, etc. , were repeatedly 
made, but to all these Mr. Storey turned a deaf 
ear. He lost heavily in the fire of 1871, but, in 
1872, appeared as the editor of "The Times," 
then destitute of political ties. About 1876 his 



health began to decline. Medical aid failed to 
afford relief, and, in August, 1884, he was ad- 
judged to be of unsound mind, and his estate was 
placed in the hands of a conservator. On the 
27th of the following October (1884), he died at 
his home in Chicago. 

STORRS, Emery Alexander, lawyer, was born 
at Hinsdale, Cattaraugus County, N. Y., August 
12, 1835; began the study of law with his father, 
later pursued a legal course at Buffalo, and, in 
1853, was admitted to the bar ; spent two years 
(1857-59) in New York City, the latter year 're- 
moving to Chicago, where he attained great 
prominence as an advocate at the bar, as well as 
an orator on other occasions. Politically a 
Republican, he took an active part in Presidential 
campaigns, being a delegate-at-large from Illinois 
to the National Republican Conventions of 1868, 
'72, and '80, and serving as one of the Vice-Presi- 
dents in 1872. Erratic in habits and a master of 
epigram and repartee, many of his speeches are 
quoted with relish and appreciation by those who 
were his contemporaries at the Chicago bar. 
Died suddenly, while in attendance on the Su- 
preme Court at Ottawa, Sept. 12, 1885. 

STRAWN, Jacob, agriculturist and stock- 
dealer, born in Somerset County, Pa., May 30, 
1800 ; removed to Licking County, Ohio, in 1817, 
and to Illinois, in 1831, settling four miles south- 
west of Jacksonville. He was one of the first to 
demonstrate the possibilities of Illinois as a live- 
stock state. Unpretentious and despising mere 
show, he illustrated the virtues of industry, fru- 
gality and honesty. At his death which occurred 
August 23, 1865 he left an estate estimated in 
value at about 1,000,000, acquired by industry 
and business enterprise. He was a zealous 
Unionist during the war, at one time contributing 
$10,000 to the Christian Commission. 

STREATOR, a city (laid out in 1868 and incor- 
porated in 1882) in the southern part of La Salle 
County, 93 miles southwest of Chicago ; situated 
on the Vermilion River and a central point for 
five railroads. It is surrounded by a rich agri- 
cultural country, and is underlaid by coal seams 
(two of which are worked) and by shale and 
various clay products of value, adapted to the 
manufacture of fire and building-brick, drain- 
pipe, etc. The city is thoroughly modern, having 
gas, electric lighting, street railways, water- 
works, a good fire-department, and a large, im- 
proved public park. Churches and schools are 
numerous, as are also fine public and private 
buildings. One of the chief industries is the 
manufacture of glass, including rolled-plate, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



511 



window-glass, flint and Bohemian ware and glass 
bottles. Other successful industries are foundries 
and machine shops, flour mills, and clay working 
establishments. There are several banks, and 
three daily and weekly papers are published here. 
The estimated property valuation, in 1884, was 
112,000,000. Streator boasts some handsome 
public buildings, especially the Government post- 
office and the Carnegie public library building, 
both of which have been erected within the past 
few years. Pop. (1890), 11,414; (1900), 14,079. 

STREET, Joseph M., pioneer and early politi- 
cian, settled at Shawneetown about 1812, coming 
from Kentucky, though believed to have been a 
native of Eastern Virginia. In 1827 he was a 
Brigadier-General of militia, and appears to have 
been prominent in the affairs of that section of 
the State. His correspondence with Governor 
Edwards, about this time, shows him to have been 
a man of far more than ordinary education, with 
a good opinion of his merits and capabilities. He 
was a most persistent applicant for office, making 
urgent appeals to Governor Edwards, Henry Clay 
and other politicians in Kentucky, Virginia and 
Washington, on the ground of his poverty and 
large family. In 1827 he received the offer of 
the clerkship of the new county of Peoria, but, 
on visiting that region, was disgusted with the 
prospect; returning to Shawneetown, bought a 
farm in Sangamon County, but, before the close 
of the year, was appointed Indian Agent at 
Prairie du Chien. This was during the difficul- 
ties with the Winnebago Indians, upon which he 
made voluminous reports to the Secretary of 
War. Mr. Street was a son-in-law of Gen. 
Thomas Posey, a Revolutionary soldier, who was 
prominent in the early history of Indiana and its 
last Territorial Governor. (See Posey, (Gen.) 
Thomas.) 

STREETER, Alson J., farmer and politician, 
was born in Rensselaer County, N. Y., in 1823; 
at the age of two years accompanied his father to 
Illinois, the family settling at Dixon, Lee County, 
He attended Knox College for three years, and, 
in 1849, went to California, where he spent two 
years in gold mining. Returning to Illinois, he 
purchased a farm of 240 acres near New Windsor, 
Mercer County, to which he has since added sev- 
eral thousand acres. In 1872 he was elected to 
the lower house of the Twenty-eighth General 
Assembly as a Democrat, but, in 1873, allied him- 
self with the Greenback party, whose candidate 
for Congress he was in 1878, and for Governor in 
1880, when he received nearly 3,000 votes more 
than his party's Presidential nominee, in Illinois. 



In 1884 he was elected State Senator by a coali- 
tion of Greenbackers and Democrats in the 
Twenty-fourth Senatorial District, but acted as 
an independent throughout his entire term. 

STRONG, William Emerson, soldier, was born 
at Granville, N. Y., in 1840; from 13 years of age, 
spent his early life in Wisconsin, studied law and 
was admitted to the bar at Racine in 1861. The 
same year he enlisted under the first call for 
troops, took part, as Captain of a Wisconsin Com- 
pany, in the first battle of Bull Run; was 
afterwards promoted and assigned to duty as 
Inspector-General in the West, participated in 
the Vicksburg and Atlanta campaigns, being 
finally advanced to the rank of Brigadier-Gen- 
eral. After some fifteen months spent in the 
position of Inspector-General of the Freedmen's 
Bureau (1865-66), he located in Chicago, and 
became connected with several important busi- 
ness enterprises, besides assisting, as an officer on 
the staff of Governor Cullom, in the organization 
of the Illinois National Guard. He was elected 
on the first Board of Directors of the World's 
Columbian Exposition, and, while making a tour 
of Europe in the interest of that enterprise, died, 
at Florence, Italy, April 10, 1891. 

STUART, John Todd, lawyer and Congress- 
man, born near Lexington, Ky., Nov. 10, 1807 
the son of Robert Stuart, a Presbyterian minister 
and Professor of Languages in Transylvania 
University, and related, on the maternal side, to 
the Todd family, of whom Mrs. Abraham Lincoln 
was a member. He graduated at Centre College, 
Danville, in 1826, and, after studying law, re- 
moved to Springfield, 111., in 1828, and began 
practice. In 1832 he was elected Representative 
in the General Assembly, re-elected in 1834, and, 
in 1836, defeated, as the Whig candidate for Con- 
gress, by Wm. L. May, though elected, two years 
later, over Stephen A. Douglas, and again in 1840. 
In 1837, Abraham Lincoln, who had been 
studying law under Mr. Stuart's advice and 
instruction, became his partner, the relation- 
ship continuing until 1841. He served in the 
State Senate, 1849-53, was the Bell-Everett 
candidate for Governor in 1860, and was 
elected to Congress, as a Democrat, for a third 
time, in 1862, but, in 1864, was defeated by 
Shelby M. Cullom, his former pupil. During the 
latter years of his life, Mr. Stuart was head of the 
law firm of Stuart, Edwards & Brown. Died, at 
Springfield, Nov. 28, 1885. 

STURGES, Solomon, merchant and banker, 
was born at Fairfield, Conn., April 21, 1796, early 
manifested a passion for the sea and, in 1810, 



512 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



made a voyage, on a vessel of which his brother 
was captain, from New York to Georgetown, 
D. C., intending to continue it to Lisbon. At 
Georgetown he was induced to accept a position 
as clerk with a Mr. Williams, where he was 
associated with two other youths, as fellow-em- 
ployes, who became eminent bankers and 
capitalists W. W. Corcoran, afterwards the 
well-known banker of Washington, and George 
W. Peabody, who had a successful banking career 
in England, and won a name as one of the most 
liberal and public-spirited of philanthropists. 
During the War of 1812 young Sturges joined a 
volunteer infantry company, where he had, for 
comrades, George W. Peabody and Francis S. Key, 
the latter author of the popular national song, 
"The Star Spangled Banner." In 1814 Mr. 
Sturges accepted a clerkship in the store of his 
brother-in-law, Ebenezer Buckingham, at Put- 
nam, Muskingum County, Ohio, two years later 
becoming a partner in the concern, where he 
developed that business capacity which laid the 
foundation for his future wealth. Before steam- 
ers navigated the waters of the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi Rivers, he piloted flat-boats, loaded with 
produce and merchandise, to New Orleans, return- 
ing overland. During one of his visits to that 
city, he witnessed the arrival of the "Washing- 
ton," the first steamer to descend the Mississippi, 
as, in 1817, he saw the arrival of the "Walk-in- 
the- Water" at Detroit, the first steamer to arrive 
from Buffalo the occasion of his visit to Detroit 
being to carry funds to General Cass to pay off 
the United States troops. About 1849 he was 
associated with the construction of the Wabash 
& Erie Canal, from the Ohio River to Terre Haute, 
Ind. , advancing money for the prosecution of the 
work, for which was reimbursed by the State. In 
1854 he came to Chicago, and, in partnership 
Avith his brothers-in-law, C. P. and Alvah Buck- 
ingham, erected the first large grain-elevator in 
that city, on land leased from the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company, following it, two years later, 
by another of equal capacity. For a time, sub- 
stantially all the grain coming into Chicago, by 
railroad, passed into these elevators. In 1857 he 
established the private banking house of Solomon 
Sturges & Sons, which, shortly after his death, 
under the management of his son, George Stur- 
ges, became the Northwestern National Bank of 
Chicago. He was intensely patriotic and, on the 
breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, used 
of his means freely in support of the Govern- 
ment, equipping the Sturges Rifles, an independ- 
ent company, at a cost of $20,000. He was also a 



subscriber to the first loan made by the Govern- 
ment, during this period, taking $100,000 in 
Government bonds. While devoted to his busi- 
ness, he was a hater of shams and corruption, and 
contributed freely to Christian and benevolent 
enterprises. Died, at the home of a daughter, at 
Zanesville, Ohio, Oct. 14, 1864, leaving a large 
fortune acquired by legitimate trade. 

STURTEVANT, Julian Munson, D.D., LL.D., 
clergyman and educator, was born at Warren, 
Litchfield County, Conn., July 26, 1805; spent his 
youth in Summit County, Ohio, meanwhile pre- 
paring for college; in 1822, entered Yale College 
as the classmate of the celebrated Elizur Wright, 
graduating in 1826. After two years as Princi- 
pal of an academy at Canaan, Conn., he entered 
Yale Divinity School, graduating there in 1829; 
then came west, and, after spending a year in 
superintending the erection of buildings, in De- 
cember, 1830, as sole tutor, began instruction to u 
class of nine pupils in what is now Illinois Col- 
lege, at Jacksonville. Having been joined, the 
following year, by Dr. Edward Beecher as Presi- 
dent, Mr. Sturtevant assumed the chair of Mathe- 
matics, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, 
which he retained until 1844, when, by the 
retirement of Dr. Beecher, he succeeded to the 
offices of President and Professor of Intellectual 
and Moral Philosophy. Here he labored, inces- 
santly and unselfishly, as a teacher during term 
time, and, as financial agent during vacations, 
in the interest of the institution of which he had 
been one of the chief founders, serving until 1876, 
when he resigned the Presidency, giving his 
attention, for the next ten years, to the duties of 
Professor of Mental Science and Science of Gov- 
ernment, which he had discharged from 1870. 
In 1886 he retired from the institution entirely, 
having given to its service fifty-six years of his 
life. In 1863, Dr. Sturtevant visited Europe in 
the interest of the Union cause, delivering effec- 
tive addresses at a number of points in England. 
He was a frequent contributor to the weekly 
religious and periodical press, and was the author 
of "Economics, or the Science of Wealth" (1876) 
a text-book on political economy, and "Keys 
of Sect, or the Church of the New Testament" 
(1879), besides frequently occupying the pulpits 
of local and distant churches having been early 
ordained a Congregational minister. He received 
the degree of D.D. from the University of Mis- 
souri and that of LL.D. from Iowa University. 
Died, in Jacksonville, Feb. 11, 1886. Julian M. 
(Sturtevant), Jr., son of the preceding, was born 
at Jacksonville, 111.. Feb. 2, 1834; fitted for col- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



513 



lege in the preparatory department of Illinois 
College and graduated from the college (proper) 
in 1854. After leaving college he served as 
teacher in the Jacksonville public schools one 
year, then spent a year as tutor in Illinois Col- 
lege, when he began the study of theology at 
Andover Theological Seminary, graduating there 
iu. 1859, meanwhile having discharged the duties 
of Chaplain of the Connecticut State's prison in 
1858. He was ordained a minister of the Con- 
gregational Church at Hannibal, Mo., in I860, 
remaining as pastor in that city nine years. He 
has since been engaged in pastoral work in New 
York City (1869-70), Ottawa, 111., (1870-73); Den- 
ver, Colo., (1873-77); Grinnell, Iowa, (1877-84); 
Cleveland, Ohio, (1884-90); Galesburg, IU., 
(1890-93), and Aurora, (1893-97). Since leaving 
the Congregational church at Aurora, Dr. Sturte- 
vant has been engaged in pastoral work in Chi- 
cago. He was also editor of "The Congrega- 
tionalist" of Iowa (1881-84), and, at different 
periods, has served as Trustee of Colorado, 
Marietta and Knox Colleges; being still an 
honored member of the Knox College Board. 
He received the degree of D.D. from Illinois 
College, in 1879. 

SUBLETTE, a station and village on the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, in Lee County, 8 miles 
northwest of Mendota. Population, (1900), 306. 

SUFFRAGE, in general, the right or privilege 
Of voting. The qualifications of electors (or 
voters), in the choice of public officers in Illinois, 
are fixed by the State Constitution (Art. VII.), 
except as to school officers, which are prescribed 
by law. Under the State Constitution the exer- 
cise of the right to vote is limited to persons who 
were electors at the time of the adoption of the 
Constitution of 1848, or who are native or natu- 
ralized male citizens of the United States, of the 
age of 21 years or over, who have been residents 
of the State one year, of the county ninety days, 
and of the district (or precinct) in which they 
offer to vote, 30 days. Under an act passed in 
1891, women, of 21 years of age and upwards, are 
entitled to vote for school officers, and are also 
eligible to such offices under the same conditions, 
as to age and residence, as male citizens. (See 
Elections; Australian Ballot. ) 

SULLIVAN, a city and county-seat of Moultrie 
County, 25 miles southeast of Decatur and 14 
miles northwest of Mattoon ; is on three lines of 
railway. It is in an agricultural and stock-rais- 
ing region; contains two State banks and four 
weekly newspapers. Population (1880), 1,305; 
(1890), 1,468; (1900), 2,399; (1900, est.), 3,100. 



SULLIVAN, William K., journalist, was born 
at Waterford, Ireland, Nov. 10, 1843; educated at 
the Waterford Model School and in Dublin; came 
to the United States in 1863, and, after teaching 
for a time in Kane County, in 1864 enlisted in the 
One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers. Then, after a brief season spent in 
teaching and on a visit to his native land, he 
began work as a reporter on New York papers, 
later being employed on "The Chicago Tribune" 
and "The Evening Journal," on the latter, at 
different times, holding the position of city edi- 
tor, managing editor and correspondent. He 
was also a Representative from Cook County in 
the Twenty-seventh General Assembly, for three 
years a member of the Chicago Board of Edu- 
cation, and appointed United States Consul to the 
Bermudas by President Harrison, resigning in 
1892. Died, in Chicago, January 17, 1899. 

SULLIVANT, Michael Lucas, agriculturist, 
was born at Franklinton (a suburb of Columbus, 
Ohio), August 6, 1807; was educated at Ohio 
University and Centre College, Ky., and after 
being engaged in the improvement of an immense 
tract of land inherited from his father near his 
birth-place, devoting much attention, meanwhile, 
to the raising of improved, stock in 1854 sold his 
Ohio lands and bought 80,000 acres, chiefly in 
Champaign and Piatt Counties, 111., where he 
began farming on a larger scale than before. The 
enterprise proved a financial failure, and he was 
finally compelled to sell a considerable portion of 
his estate in Champaign County, known as Broad 
Lands, to John T. Alexander (see Alexander, 
John T.), retiring to a farm of 40,000 acres at 
Burr Oaks, 111. He died, at Henderson, Ky. ; Jan. 
29, 1879. 

SUMMERFIELD, a village of St. Clair County, 
on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway, 
27 miles east of St. Louis ; was the home of Gen. 
Fred. Hecker. Population (1900), 360. 

SUMNER, a city of Lawrence County, on the 
Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, 19 miles 
west of Vincennes, Ind. ; has a fine school house, 
four churches, two banks, two flour mills, tele- 
phones, and one weekly newspaper. Pop. (1890), 
1,037; (1900), 1,268. 

SUPERINTENDENTS OF PUBLIC INSTRUC- " 
TION. The office of State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction was created by act of the 
Legislature, at a special session held in 1854, its 
duties previous to that time, from 1845, having 
been discharged by the Secretary of State as 
Superintendent, ex-officio. The following is a list 
of the incumbents from the date of the formal 



514 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



creation of the office down to the present time 
(1899), with the date and duration of the term of 
each. Ninian W. Edwards (by appointment of 
the Governor), 1854-57; William H. Powell (by 
election), 1857-59; Newton Bateman, 1859-63; 
John P. Brooks, 1863-65; Newton Bateman, 
1865-75; Samuel W. Etter, 1875-79; James P. 
Slade, 1879-83; Henry Raab, 1883-87; Richard 
Edwards, 1887-91; Henry Raab, 1891-95; Samuel 
M. Inglis, 1895-98; James H. Freeman, June, 
1898, to January, 1899 (by appointment of, the 
Governor, to fill the unexpired term of Prof. 
Inglis, who died in office, June 1, 1898) ; Alfred 
Baylis, 1899. 

Previous to 1870 the tenure of the office was 
two years, but, by the Constitution adopted that 
year, it was extended to four years, the elections 
occurring on the even years between those for 
Governor and other State officers except State 
Treasurer. 

SUPREME COURT, JUDGES OF THE. The 
following is a list of Justices of the Supreme 
Court of Illinois who have held office since the 
organization of the State Government, with the 
period of their respective incumbencies : Joseph 
Phillips, 1818-22 (resigned); Thomas C. Browne, 
1818 48 (term expired on adoption of new Con- 
stitution); William P. Foster, Oct. 9, 1818, to 
July 7, 1819 (resigned), John Reynolds, 1818-25; 
Thomas Reynolds (vice Phillips), 1822-25; Wil- 
liam Wilson (vice Foster) 1819-48 (term expired 
on adoption of new Constitution) ; Samuel D 
Lockwood, 1825-48 (term expired on adoption of 
new Constitution) ; Theophilus W. Smith, 1825-42 
(resigned); Thomas Ford, Feb. 15, 1841, to Au- 
gust 1, 1842 (resigned) ; Sidney Breese, Feb. 15, 
1841, to Dec. 19, 1842 (resigned) also (by re-elec- 
tions), 1857-78 (died in office) ; Walter B. Scates, 
1841-47 (resigned) also (vice Trumbull), 1854-57 
(resigned); Samuel H. Treat, 1841-55 (resigned); 
Stephen A. Douglas, 1841-42 (resigned) ; John D. 
Caton (vice Ford) August, 1842, to March, 1843 
also (vice Robinson and by successive re-elec- 
tions), May, 1843 to January, 1864 (resigned) ; 
James Semple (vice Breese), Jan. 14, 1843, to 
April 16, 1843 (resigned) ; Richard M. Young (vice 
Smith), 1843-47 (resigned) ; John M. Robinson 
(vice Ford), Jan. 14, 1843, to April 27, 1843 (died 
in office); Jesse B. Thomas, Jr., (vice Douglas), 
1843-45 (resigned) also (vice Young), 1847-48; 
James Shields (vice Semple), 1843-45 (resigned) ; 
Norman H. Purple (vice Thomas), 1843-48 (retired 
under Constitution of 1848) ; Gustavus Koerner 
(vice Shields), 1845-48 (retired by Constitution) ; 
William A. Denning (vice Scates), 1847-48 (re- 



tired by Constitution) ; Lyman Trumbull, 1848-53 
(resigned) ; Ozias C. Skinner (vice Treat), 1855-58 
(resigned); Pinkney H. Walker (vice Skinner), 
1858-85 (deceased); Corydon Beckwith (by ap- 
pointment, vice Caton), Jan. 7, 1864, to June 6, 
1864; Charles B. Lawrence (one term), 1864-73; 
Anthony Thornton, 1870-73 (resigned); John M. 
Scott (two terms), 1870-88; Benjamin R. Sheldon 
(two terms), 1870-88; William K. McAllister, 
1870-75 (resigned) ; John Scholfield (vice Thorn- 
ton), 187393 (died); T. Lyle Dickey (vice 
McAllister), 1875-85 (died) ; David J. Baker (ap- 
pointed, vice Breese), July 9, 1878, to June 2, 
1879 also, 1888-97; John H. Mulkey, 1879-88; 
Damon G. Tunnicliffe (appointed, vice Walker), 
Feb. 15, 1885, to June 1, 1885; Simeon P. Shope, 
1885-94; Joseph M. Bailey, 1888-95 (died in office). 
The Supreme Court, as at present constituted 
(1899), is as follows: Carroll C. Boggs, elected, 
1897; Jesse J. Phillips (vice Scholfield, deceased) 
elected, 1893, and re-elected, 1897; Jacob W. Wil- 
kin, elected, 1888, and re-elected, 1897; Joseph 
N. Carter, elected, 1894; Alfred M. Craig, elec- 
ted, 1873, and re-elected, 1882 and '91 ; James H. 
Cartwright (vice Bailey), elected, 1895, and re- 
elected, 1897; Benjamin D. Magruder (vice 
Dickey), elected, 1885, '88 and '97. The terms of 
Justices Boggs, Phillips, Wilkin, Cartwright and 
Magruder expire in 1906 ; that of Justice Carter 
on 1903; and Justice Craig's, in 1900. Under the 
Constitution of 1818, the Justices of the Supreme 
Court were chosen by joint ballot of the Legisla- 
ture, but, under the Constitutions of 1848 and 
1870, by popular vote for terms of nine years 
each. (See Judicial System; also sketches of 
individual members of the Supreme Court under 
their proper names.) 

SURVEYS, EARLY GOVERNMENT. The first 
United States law passed on the subject of Gov- 
ernment surveys was dated, May 20, 1785. After 
reserving certain lands to be allotted by way of 
pensions and to be donated for school purposes, 
it provided for the division of the remaining pub- 
lic lands among the original thirteen States. 
This, however, was, in effect, repealed by the Ordi- 
nance of 1788. The latter provided for a rectan- 
gular system of surveys which, with but little 
modification, has remained in force ever since. 
Briefly outlined, the system is as f ollows : Town- 
ships, six miles square, are laid out from principal 
bases, each township containing thirty-six sec- 
tions of one square mile, numbered consecutively, 
the numeration to commence at the upper right 
hand corner of the township. The first principal 
meridian (84 51' west of Greenwich), coincided 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



515 



with the line dividing Indiana and Ohio. The 
second (1 37' farther west) had direct relation 
to surveys in Eastern Illinois. The third (89 10' 
80" west of Greenwich) and the fourth (90 29' 
66" west) governed the remainder of Illinois sur- 
veys. The first Public Surveyor was Thomas 
Hutchins, who was called "the geographer." 
(See Hutchins, Thomas.) 

SWEET, (Gen.) Benjamin J., soldier, was 
born at Kirkland, Oneida County, N. Y., April 
24, 1832; came with his father, in 1848, to Sheboy- 
gan, Wis., studied law, was elected to the State 
Senate in 1859, and, in 1861, enlisted in the Sixth 
Wisconsin Volunteers, being commissioned Major 
in 1862. Later, he resigned and, returning home, 
assisted in the organization of the Twenty -first 
and Twenty-second regiments, being elected 
Colonel of the former; and with it taking part in 
the campaign in "Western Kentucky and Tennes- 
see. In 1863 he was assigned to command at 
Camp Douglas, and was there on the exposure, 
in November, 1864, of the conspiracy to release 
the rebel prisoners. (See Camp Douglas Conspir- 
acy.) The service which he rendered in the 
defeat of this bold and dangerous conspiracy 
evinced his courage and sagacity, and was of 
inestimable value to the country. After the 
war, General Sweet located at Lombard, near 
Chicago, was appointed Pension Agent at Chi- 
cago, afterwards served as Supervisor of Internal 
Revenue, and, in 1872, became Deputy Commis- 
sioner of Internal Revenue at Washington. Died, 
in Washington, Jan. 1, 1874 Miss Ada C. 
(Sweet), for eight years (1874-82) the efficient 
Pension Agent at Chicago, is General Sweet's 
daughter. 

SWEETSER, A. C., soldier and Department 
Commander G. A. R., was born in Oxford County, 
Maine, in 1839; came to Bloomington, 111., in 
1857 ; enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War 
in the Eighth Illinois Volunteers and, later, in the 
Thirty-ninth; at the battle of Wierbottom 
Church, Va., in June, 1864, was shot through 
both legs, necessitating the amputation of one of 
them. After the war he held several offices of 
trust, including those of City Collector of Bloom- 
ington and Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue 
for the Springfield District; in 1887 was elected 
Department Commander of the Grand Army of 
the Republic for Illinois. Died, at Bloomington, 
March 23, 1896. 

SWETT, Leonard, lawyer, was born near 
Turner, Maine, August 11, 1825 ; was educated at 
Waterville College (now Colby University), but 
left before graduation ; read law in Portland, and, 



while seeking a location in the West, enlisted in 
an Indiana regiment for the Mexican War, being 
attacked by climatic fever, was discharged before 
completing his term of enlistment. He soon 
after came to Bloomington, 111., where he became 
the intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln and 
David Davis, traveling the circuit with them for 
a number of years. He early became active in 
State politics, was a member of the Republican 
State Convention of 1856, was elected to the 
lower house of the General Assembly in 1858, 
and, in I860; was a zealous supporter of Mr. Lin- 
coln as a Presidential Elector for the State-at- 
large. In 1862 he received the Republican 
nomination for Congress in his District, but was 
defeated. Removing to Chicago in 1865, he 
gained increased distinction as a lawyer, espe- 
cially in the management of criminal cases. In 
1872 he was a supporter of Horace Greeley for 
President, but later returned to the Republican 
party, and, in the National Republican Conven- 
tion of 1888, presented the name of Judge 
Gresham for nomination for the Presidency. 
Died, June 8, 1889. 

SWIGERT, Charles Philip, ex- Auditor of Pub- 
lic Accounts, was. born in the Province of Baden, 
Germany, Nov. 27, 1843, brought by his parents 
to Chicago, 111., in childhood, and, in his boy- 
hood, attended the Scammon School in that city. 
In 1854 his family removed to a farm in Kanka- 
kee County, where, between the ages of 12 and 
18, he assisted his father in "breaking" between 
400 and 500 acres of prairie land. On the break- 
ing out of the war, in 1861, although scarcely 18 
years of age, he enlisted as a private in the Forty- 
second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and, in April, 
1862, was one of twenty heroic volunteers who 
ran the blockade, on the gunboat Carondelet, at 
Island No. 10, assisting materially in the reduc- 
tion of that rebel stronghold, which resulted in 
the capture of 7,000 prisoners. At the battle of 
Farmington, Miss., during the siege of Corinth, 
in May, 1862, he had his right arm torn from its 
socket by a six-pound cannon-ball, compelling his 
retirement from the army. Returning home, 
after many weeks spent in hospital at Jefferson 
Barracks and Quincy, 111., he received his final 
discharge, Dec. 21, 1862, spent a year in school, 
also took a course in Bryant & Stratton's Com- 
mercial College in Chicago, and having learned 
to write with his left hand, taught for a time in 
Kankakee County ; served as letter-carrier in Chi- 
cago, and for a year as Deputy County Clerk of 
Kankakee County, followed by two terms (1867- 
69) as a student in the Soldiers' College at Fulton, 



616 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



111. The latter year he entered upon the duties 
of Treasurer of Kankakee County, serving, by 
successive re-elections, until 1880, when he re- 
signed to take the position of State Auditor, to 
which he was elected a second time in 1884. In 
all these positions Mr. Swigert has proved him- 
self an upright, capable and high-minded public 
official. Of late years his residence has been in 
Chicago. 

SWING, (Rer.) David, clergyman and pulpit 
orator, was born of German ancestry, at Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, August 23, 1836. After 1837 (his 
father dying about this time), the family resided 
for a time at Reedsburgh, and, later, on a farm 
near Williamsburgh, in Clermont County, in the 
same State. In 1852, having graduated from the 
Miami (Ohio) University, he commenced the 
study of theology, but, in 1854, accepted the 
position of Professor of Languages in his Alma 
Mater, which he continued to fill for thirteen 
years. His first pastorate was in connection with 
the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Chi- 
cago, which he assumed in 1866. His church 
edifice was destroyed in the great Chicago fire, 
but was later rebuilt. As a preacher he was 
popular ; but, in April, 1874, lie was placed on trial, 
before an ecclesiastical court of his own denomi- 
nation, on charges of heresy. He was acquitted 
by the trial court, but, before the appeal taken by 
the prosecution could be heard, he personally 
withdrew from affiliation with the denomination. 
Shortly afterward he became pastor of an inde- 
pendent religious organization known as the 
''Central Church," preaching, first at McVickers 
Theatre and, afterward, at Central Music Hall, 
Chicago. He was a fluent and popular speaker 
on all themes, a frequent and valued contributor 
to numerous magazines, as well as the author of 
several volumes. Among his best known books 
are "Motives of Life," "Truths for To-day," and 
"Club Essays." Died, in Chicago, Oct. 3, 1894. 

SYCAMORE, the county-seat of De Kalb 
County (founded in 1836), 56 miles west of Chi- 
cago, at the intersection of the Chicago & North- 
western and the Chicago Great Western Rail- 
roads; lies in a region devoted to agriculture, 
dairying and stock-raising. The city itself con- 
tains several factories, the principal products 
being agricultural implements, flour, insulated 
wire, brick, tile, varnish, furniture, soap and 
carriages and wagons. There are also works for 
canning vegetables and fruit, besides two creamer- 
ies. The town is lighted by electricity, and has 
high-pressure water-works. There are eleven 
churches, three graded public schools and a 



young ladies' seminary. Population (1880), 
3,028; (1890), 2,987; (1900), 3,653. 

TAFT, Lo ratio, sculptor, was born at Elm wood, 
Peoria County, 111., April 29, 1860; at an early 
age evinced a predilection for sculpture and 
began modeling; graduated at the University of 
Illinois in 1880, then went to Paris and studied 
sculpture in the famous Ecole des Beaux Arts 
until 1885. The following year he settled in Chi 
cago, finally becoming associated with the Chi- 
cago Art Institute. He has been a lecturer on 
art in the Chicago University. Mr. Taft fur- 
nished the decorations of the Horticultural Build- 
ing on the World's Fair Grounds, in 1893. 

TALCOTT, Mancel, business man, was born 
in Rome, N. Y., Oct. 12, 1817; attended the com- 
mon schools until 17 years of age, when he set 
out for the West, traveling on foot from Detroit 
to Chicago, and thence to Park Ridge, where he 
worked at farming until 1850. Then, having 
followed the occupation of a miner for some time, 
in California, with some success, he united with 
Horace M. Singer in establishing the firm of 
Singer & Talcott, stone-dealers, which lasted dur- 
ing most of his life. He served as a member of 
the Chicago City Council, on the Beard of County 
Commissioners, as a member of the Police Board, 
and was one of the founders of the First National 
Bank, and President, for several years, of the 
Stock Yards National Bank. Liberal and public- 
spirited, he contributed freely to works of 
charity. Died, June 5, 1878. 

TALCOTT, (Capt.) William, soldier of the 
War of 1812 and pioneer, was born in Gilead, 
Conn., March 6, 1774; emigrated to Rome, Oneida 
County, N. Y., in 1810, and engaged in farming; 
served as a Lieutenant in the Oneida County 
militia during the War of 1812-14, being stationed 
at Sackett's Harbor under the command of Gen. 
Winfield Scott. In 1835, in company with his 
eldest son, Thomas B. Talcott, he made an ex- 
tended tour through the West, finally selecting a 
location in Illinois at the junction of Rock River 
and the Pecatonica, where the town of Rockton 
now stands there being only two white families, 
at that time, within the present limits of Winne- 
bago County. Two years later (1837), he brought 
his family to this point, with his sons took up a 
considerable body of Government land and 
erected two mills, to which customers came 
from a long distance. In 1838 Captain Talcott 
took part in the organization of the first Congre- 
gational Church in that section of the State. A 
zealous anti-slavery man, he supported James G. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



517 



Birney (the Liberty candidate for President) in 
1844, continuing to act with that party until the 
organization of the Kepublican party in 1856; 
was deeply interested in the War for the Union, 
but died before its conclusion, Sept. 2, 1864. 
Maj. Thomas B. (Talcott), oldest son of the pre- 
ceding, was born at Hebron, Conn , April 17, 
1806; was taken to Rome, N. Y., by his father in 
iifancy, and, after reaching maturity, engaged 
in mercantile business with his brother in Che- 
mung County ; in 1835 accompanied his father in 
a tour through the West, finally locating at 
Rockton, where he engaged in agriculture. On 
the organization of Winnebago County, in 1836, 
he was elected one of the first County Commis- 
sioners, and, in 1850, to the State Senate, serving 
four years. He also held various local offices. 
Died, Sept. 30, 1894. Hon. Wait (Talcott), second 
son of Capt. William Talcott, was born at He- 
bron, Conn., Oct. 17, 1807, and taken to Rome, 
N. Y., where he remained until his 19th year, 
when he engaged in business at Booneville and, 
still later, in Utica; in 1838, removed to Illinois 
and joined his father at Rockton, finally 
becoming a citizen of Rockford, where, in his 
later years, he was extensively engaged in manu- 
facturing, having become, in 1854, with his 
brother Sylvester, a partner of the firm of J. H. 
Manny & Co., in the manufacture of the Manny 
reaper and mower. He was an original anti- 
slavery man and, at one time.a Free-Soil candidate 
for Congress, but became a zealous Republican 
and ardent friend of Abraham Lincoln, whom he 
employed as an attorney in the famous suit of 
McCormick vs. the Manny Reaper Company for 
infringement of patent. In 1854 he was elected 
to the State Senate, succeeding his brother, 
Thomas B. , and was the first Collector of Internal 
Revenue in the Second District, appointed by Mr. 
Lincoln in 1862, and continuing in office some 
five years. Though too old for active service in 
the field, during the Civil War, he voluntarily 
hired a substitute to take his place. Mr. Talcott 
was one of the original incorporators and Trus- 
tees of Beloit College, and a founder of Rockford 
Female Seminary, remaining a trustee of each 
for many years. Died, June 7, 1890. SylYester 
(Talcott), third son of William Talcott, born at 
Rome, N. Y., Oct. 14, 1810; when of age, engaged 
in mercantile business in Chemung County; in 
1837 removed, with other members of the family, 
to Winnebago County, 111. , where he joined his 
father in the entry of Government lands and the 
erection of mills, as already detailed. He became 
one of the first Justices of the Peace in Winne- 



bago County, also served as Supervisor for a 
number of years and, although a farmer, became 
interested, in 1854, with his brother Wait, 
in the Manny Reaper Company at Rockford. 
He also followed the example of his brother, 
just named, in furnishing a substitute for the 
War of the Rebellion, though too old for service 
himself. Died, June 19, 1885. Henry Walter 
(Talcott), fourth son of William Talcott, was 
born at Rome, N. Y., Feb. 13, 1814; came with 
his father to Winnebago County, 111., in 1835, and 
was connected with his father and brothers in busi- 
ness. Died, Dec. 9, 1870. D wight Lewis (Tal- 
cott), oldest son of Henry Walter Talcott, born 
in Winnebago County; at the age of 17 years 
enlisted at'Belvidere, in January, 1864, as a soldier 
in the Ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry ; served 
as provost guard some two months at Fort Picker- 
ing, near Memphis, and later took part in many 
of the important battles of that year in Missis- 
sippi and Tennessee. Having been captured at 
Campbellsville, Tenn., he was taken to Anderson- 
ville, Ga., where he suffered all the horrors of 
that famous prison-pen, until March, 1865, when 
he was released, arriving at home a helpless 
skeleton, the day after Abraham Lincoln's assas- 
sination. Mr. Talcott subsequently settled in 
Muscatine County, Iowa. 

TALLTJLA, a prosperous village of Menard 
County, on the Jacksonville branch of the Chi- 
cago & Alton Railway, 24 miles northeast of 
Jacksonville; is in the midst of a grain, coal- 
mining, and stock-growing region; has a local 
bank and newspaper. Pop. (1890), 445 ; (1900), 639. 

TAMAROA,a village in Perry County, situated 
at the junction of the Illinois Central with the 
Wabash, Chester & Western Railroad, 8 miles 
north of Duquoin, and 57 miles east-southeast of 
Belleville. It has a bank, a newspaper office, a 
large public school, five churches and two flour- 
ing mills. Coal is mined here and exported in 
large quantities. Pop. (1900), 853. 

TAMAROA & MOUNT VERNON RAILROAD. 
(See Wabash, Chester & Western Railroad.) 

TANNER, Edward Allen, clergyman and edu- 
cator, was born of New England ancestry, at 
Waverly, 111., Nov. 29, 1837 being the first child 
who could claim nativity there; was educated 
in the local schools and at Illinois College, 
graduating from the latter in 1857; spent four 
years teaching in his native place and at Jack- 
sonville; then accepted the Professorship of 
Latin in Pacific University at Portland, Oregon, 
remaining four years, when he returned to his 
Alma Mater (1865), assuming there the chair of 



518 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Latin and Rhetoric. In 1881 he was appointed 
financial agent of the latter institution, and, in 
1882, its President. While in Oregon he had 
been ordained a minister of the Congregational 
Church, and, for a considerable period during 
his connection with Illinois College, officiated as 
Chaplain of the Central Hospital for the Insane 
at Jacksonville, besides supplying local and 
other pulpits. He labored earnestly for the 
benefit of the institution under his charge, and, 
during his incumbency, added materially to its 
endowment and resources. Died, at Jackson- 
ville, Feb. 8, 1892. 

TANNER, John E., Governor, was born in 
Wai-rick County, Ind., April 4, 1844, and brought 
to Southern Illinois in boyhood, where he grew 
up on a farm in the vicinity of Carbondale, 
enjoying only such educational advantages as 
were afforded by the common school; in 1863, at 
the age of 19, enlisted in the Ninety-eighth Illi- 
nois Volunteers, serving until June, 1865, when 
he was transferred to the Sixty-first, and finally 
mustered out in September following. All the 
male members of Governor Tanner's family were 
soldiers of the late war, his father dying in a 
rebel prison at Columbus, Miss., one of his bro- 
thers suffering the. same fate from wounds at Nash- 
ville, Tenn., and another brother dying in hospital 
at Pine Bluff, Ark. Only one of this patriotic 
family, besides Governor Tanner, still survives 
Mr. J. M. Tanner of Clay County, who left the 
service with the rank of Lieutenant of the Thir- 
teenth Illinois Cavalry. Returning from the 
war, Mr. Tanner established himself in business 
as a farmer in Clay County, later engaging suc- 
cessfully in the milling and lumber business as 
the partner of his brother. The public positions 
held by him, since the war, include those of 
Sheriff of Clay County (1870-72), Clerk of the Cir- 
cuit Court (1872-76), and State Senator (1880-83). 
During the latter year he received the appoint- 
ment of United States Marshal for the Southern 
District of Illinois, serving until after the acces- 
sion of President Cleveland in 1885. In 1886, he 
was the Republican nominee for State Treasurer 
and was elected by an unusually large majority ; 
in 1891 was appointed, by Governor Fifer, a 
member of the Railroad and Warehouse Commis- 
sion, but, in 1892, received the appointment of 
Assistant United States Treasurer at Chicago, 
continuing in the latter office until December, 
1893. For ten years (1874-84) he was a member 
of the "Republican State Central Committee, re- 
turning to that body in 1894, when he was chosen 
Chairman and conducted the campaign which 



resulted in the unprecedented Republican suc- 
cesses of that year. In 1896 he received the 
nomination of his party for Governor, and was 
elected over Gov. John P. Altgeld, his Demo- 
cratic opponent, by a plurality of over 113,000, 
and a majority, over all, of nearly 90,000 votes. 

TANNER, Tazewell B., jurist, was born in 
Henry County, Va., and came to Jefferson 
County, 111., about 1846 or '47, at first taking a 
position as teacher and Superintendent of Public 
Schools. Later, he was connected with "The 
Jeffersonian," a Democratic paper at Mount Ver- 
non, and, in 1849, went to the gold regions of 
California, meeting with reasonable success as a 
miner. Returning in a year or two, he was 
elected Clerk of the Circuit Court, and, while in 
the discharge of his duties, prosecuted the study 
of law, finally, on admission to the bar, entering 
into partnership with the late Col. Thomas S. 
Casey. In 1854 he was elected Representative in 
the Nineteenth General Assembly, and was in- 
strumental in securing the appropriation for the 
erection of a Supreme Court building at Mount 
Vernon. In 1862 he served as a Delegate to the 
State Constitutional Convention of that year; was 
elected Circuit Judge in 1873, and, in 1877, was 
assigned to duty on. the Appellate bench, but, at 
the expiration of his term, declined a re-election 
and resumed the practice of his profession at 
Mount Vernon. Died, March 25, 1880. 

TAXATION, in its legal sense, the mode of 
raising revenue. In its general sense its purposes 
are the support of the State and local govern- 
ments, the promotion of the public good by 
fostering education and works of public improve- 
ment, the protection of society by the preser- 
vation of order and the punishment of crime, and 
the support of the helpless and destitute. In 
practice, and as prescribed by the Constitution, 
the raising of revenue is required to be done "by 
levying a tax by valuation, so that every person 
and corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to 
the value of his, her or its property such value 
to be ascertained by some person or persons, to be 
elected or appointed in such manner as the Gen- 
eral Assembly shall direct, and not otherwise." 
(State Constitution, 1870 Art. Revenue, Sec. 1.) 
The person selected under the law to make this 
valuation is the Assessor of the county or the 
township (in counties under township organiza- 
tion), and he is required to make a return to the 
County Board at its July meeting each year the 
latter having authority to hear complaints of tax- 
payers and adjust inequalities when found to 
exist. It is made the duty of the Assessor to 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



519 



include in his return, as real-estate, all lands and 
the buildings or other improvements erected 
thereon; and, under the head of personal prop- 
erty, all tangible effects, besides moneys, credits, 
bonds or stocks, shares of stock of companies or 
corporations, investments, annuities, franchises, 
royalties, etc. Property used for school, church 
or cemetery purposes, as well as public buildings 
and other property belonging to the State and 
General Government, municipalities, public 
charities, public libraries, agricultural and scien- 
tific societies, are declared exempt. Nominally, 
all property subject to taxation is required to be 
assessed at its cash valuation ; but, in reality, the 
valuation, of late years, has been on a basis of 
twenty-five to thirty-three per cent of its esti- 
mated cash value. In the larger cities, however, 
the valuation is often much lower than this, 
while very large amounts escape assessment 
altogether. The Revenue Act, passed at the 
special session of the Fortieth General Assembly 
(1898), requires the Assessor to make a return of 
all property subject to taxation in his district, at 
its cash valuation, upon which a Board of Review 
fixes a tax on the basis of twenty per cent of 
such cash valuation. An abstract of the property 
assessment of each county goes before the State 
Board of Equalization, at its annual meeting in 
August, for the purpose of comparison and equal- 
izing valuations between counties, but the Board 
has no power to modify the assessments of indi- 
vidual tax-payers. (See State Board of Equali- 
zation. ) This Board has exclusive power to fix 
the valuation for purposes of taxation of the 
capital stock or franchises of companies (except 
certain specified manufacturing corporations) , in- 
corporated under the State laws, together with the 
"railroad track" and "rolling stock" of railroads, 
and the capital stock of railroads and telegraph 
lines, and to fix the distribution of the latter 
between counties in which they lie. The Consti- 
tution of 1848 empowered the Legislature to 
impose a capitation tax, of not less than fifty 
cents nor more than one dollar, upon each free 
white male citizen entitled to the right of suf- 
frage, between the ages of 21 and 60 years, but the 
Constitution of 1870 grants no such power, 
though it authorizes the extension of the "objects 
and subjects of taxation" in accordance with the 
principle contained in the first section of the 
Revenue Article. Special assessments in cities, 
for the construction of sewers, pavements, etc., 
being local and in the form of benefits, cannot 
be said to come under the head of general tax- 
ation. The same is to be said of revenue derived 



from fines and penalties, which are forms of 
punishment for specific offenses, and go to the 
benefit of certain specified funds. 

TAYLOR, Abner, ex-Congressman, is a native 
of Maine, and a resident of Chicago. He has been 
in active business all his life as contractor, builder 
and merchant, and, for some time, a member of 
the wholesale dry-goods firm of J. V. Farwell & 
Co., of Chicago. He was a member of the Thirty- 
fourth General Assembly, a delegate to the 
National Republican Convention of 1884, and 
represented the First Illinois District in the Fifty- 
first and Fifty -second Congresses, 1889 to 1893. 
Mr. Taylor was one of the contractors for the 
erection of the new State Capitol of Texas. 

TAYLOR, Benjamin Franklin, journalist, poet 
and lecturer, was born at Lowville, N. Y., July 
19, 1819; graduated at Madison University in 
1839, the next year becoming literary and dra- 
matic critic of "The Chicago Evening Journal. " 
Here, in a few years, he acquired a wide reputa- 
tion as a journalist and poet, and was much in 
demand as a lecturer on literary topics. His 
letters from the field during the Rebellion, as 
war correspondent of "The Evening Journal," 
won for him even a greater popularity, and were 
complimented by translation into more than one 
European language. After the war, he gave his 
attention more unreservedly to literature, his 
principal works appearing after that date. His 
publications in book form, including both prose 
and poetry, comprise the following; "Attractions 
of Language" (1845); "January and June" 
(1853); "Pictures in Camp, and Field" (1871); 
"The World on Wheels" (1873); "Old Time Pic- 
tures and Sheaves of Rhyme" (1874); "Songs of 
Yesterday" (1877) ; "Summer Savory Gleaned 
from Rural Nooks" (1879) ; "Between the Gates" 
pictures of California life (1881); "Dulce 
Domum, the Burden of Song" (1884), and "Theo- 
philus Trent, or Old Times in the Oak Openings," 
a novel (1887). The last was in the hands of the 
publishers at his death, Feb. 27, 1887. Among 
his most popular poems are "The Isle of the Long 
Ago," "The Old Village Choir," and "Rhymes of 
the River. ' ' ' 'The London Times' ' complimented 
Mr. Taylor with the title of "The Oliver Gold- 
smith of America." 

TAYLOR, Edmund Dick, Dearly Indian-trader 
and legislator, was born at Fairfield C. H., Va., 
Oct. 18, 1802 the son of a commissary in the 
army of the Revolution, under General Greene, 
and a cousin of General (later, President) Zachary 
Taylor; left his native State in his youth and, at 
an early day, came to Springfield, 111., where he 



520 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



opened an Indian-trading post and general store ; 
was elected from Sangamon County to the lower 
branch of the Seventh General Assembly (1830) 
and re-elected in 1832 the latter year being a 
competitor of Abraham Lincoln, whom he 
defeated. In 1834 he was elected to the State 
Senate and, at the next session of the Legislature, 
was one of the celebrated "Long Nine" who 
secured the removal of the State Capital to 
Springfield. He resigned before the close of his 
term to accept, from President Jackson, the ap- 
pointment of Receiver of Public Moneys at Chi- 
cago. Here he became one. of the promoters of 
the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad (1837), 
serving as one of the Commissioners to secure 
subscriptions of stock, and was also active in 
advocating the construction of the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal. The title of "Colonel," by 
which he was known during most of his life, was 
acquired by service, with that rank, on the staff 
of Gov. John Reynolds, during the Black Hawk 
War of 1832. After coming to Chicago, Colonel 
Taylor became one of the Trustees of the Chicago 
branch of the State Bank, and was later identified 
with various banking enterprises, as also a some- 
what extensive operator in real estate. An active 
Democrat in the early part of his career in Illi- 
nois, Colonel Taylor was one of the members of 
his party to take ground against the Kansas-Neb- 
raska bill in 1854, and advocated the election of 
General Bissell to the governorship in 1856. In 
1860 he was again m line with his party in sup- 
port of Senator Douglas for the Presidency, and 
was an opponent of the war policy of the Govern- 
ment still later, as shown by his participation in 
the celebrated "Peace Convention" at Spring- 
field, of June 17, 1863. In the latter years of his 
life he became extensively interested in coal 
lands in La Salle and adjoining counties, and, 
for a considerable time, served as President of the 
Northern Illinois Coal & Mining Company, his 
home, during a part of this period, being at 
Mendota. Died, in Chicago, Dec. 4, 1891. 

TAYLORVILLE, a city and county-seat of 
Christian County, on the South Fork of the Sanga- 
mon River and on the Wabash Railway at its 
point of intersection with the Springfield Division 
of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern. It is 
about 27 miles southeast of Springfield, and 
28 miles southwest of Decatur. It has several 
banks, flour mills, paper mill, electric light and 
gas plants, water-works, two coal mines, carriage 
and wagon shops, a manufactory of farming 
implements, two daily and weekly papers, nine 
churches and five graded and township high 



schools. Much coal is mined in this vicinity. 
Pop. (1890), 2,839; (1900), 4,248. 

TAZEWELL COUNTY, a central county on 
the Illinois River ; was first settled in 1823 and 
organized in 1827 ; has an area of 650 square miles 
was named for Governor Tazewell of Virginia. 
It is drained by the Illinois and Mackinaw Rivers 
and traversed by several lines of railway. The 
surface is generally level, the soil alluvial and 
rich, but, requiring drainage, especially on the 
river bottoms. Gravel, coal and sandstone are 
found, but, generally speaking, Tazewell is an 
agricultural county. The cereals are extensively 
cultivated; wool is also, clipped, and there are 
dairy interests of some importance. Distilling is 
extensively conducted at Pekin, the county -seat, 
which is also the seat of other mechanical indus- 
tries. (See also Pekin.) Population of the 
county (1880), 29,666; (1890), 29, 556; (1900), 33,221. 

TEMPLE, John Taylor, M.D., early Chicago 
physician, born in Virginia in 1804, graduated in 
medicine at Middlebury College, Vt., in 1830, and, 
in 1833, arrived in Chicago. At this time he had 
a contract for carrying the United States mail 
from Chicago to Fort Howard, near Green Bay, 
and the following year undertook a similar con- 
tract between Chicago and Ottawa. Having sold 
these out three years later, he devoted Jiis atten- 
tion to the practice of his profession, though 
interested, for a time, in contracts for the con- 
struction of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Dr. 
Temple was instrumental in erecting the first 
house (after Rev. Jesse Walker's missionary 
station at Wolf Point), for public religious 
worship in Chicago, and, although himself a 
Baptist, it was used in common by Protestant 
denominations. He was a member of the first 
Board of Trustees of Rush Medical College, 
though he later became a convert to homeopathy, 
and finally, removing to St. Louis, assisted in 
founding the St. Louis School of Homeopathy, 
dying there, Feb. 24, 1877. 

TENURE OF OFFICE. (See Elections.) 

TERRE HAUTE, ALTON & ST. LOUIS 
RAILROAD. (See St. Louis, Alton & Terre 
Haute Railroad. ) 

TERRE HAUTE & ALTON RAILROAD (See 
St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad. ) 

TERRE HAUTE & INDIANAPOLIS RAIL- 
ROAD, a corporation operating no line of its own 
within the State, but the lessee and operator of 
the following lines (which see): St. Louis, 
Vandalia & Terre Haute, 158.3 miles; Terre 
Haute & Peoria, 145.12 miles; East St. Louis 
& Carondelet, 12.74 miles total length of leased 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



521 



lines in Illinois, 316.16 miles. The Terre Haute 
& Indianapolis Kailroad was incorporated in 
Indiana in 1847, as the Terre Haute & Rich- 
mond, completed a line between the points 
named in the title, in 1852, and took its present 
name in 1866. The Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany purchased a controlling interest in its stock 
in 1893. 

TERRE HAUTE & PEORIA RAILROAD, 
(Vandalia Line), a line of road extending from 
Terre Haute, Ind., to Peoria, 111., 145.12 miles, 
with 28. 78 miles of trackage, making in all 173.9 
miles in operation, all being in Illinois operated 
by the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad Com- 
pany. The gauge is standard, and the rails are 
steel. (HISTORY. ) It was organized Feb. 7, 1887, 
successor to the Illinois Midland Railroad. The 
latter was made up by the consolidation (Nov. 4, 
1874) of three lines: (1) The Peoria, Atlanta & 
Decatur Railroad, chartered in 1869 and opened in 
1874; (2) the Paris & Decatur Railroad, chartered 
in 1861 and opened in December, 1872 ; and (3) the 
Paris & Terre Haute Railroad, chartered in 1873 
and opened in 1874 the consolidated lines 
assuming the name of the Illinois Midland Rail- 
road. In 1886 the Illinois Midland was sold under 
foreclosure and, in February, 1887, reorganized 
as the Terre Haute & Peoria Railroad. In 1892 
it was leased for ninety-nine years to the Terre 
Haute & Indianapolis Railroad Company, and is 
operated as a part of the "Vandalia System." 
The capital stock (1898) was $3,764,200; funded 
debt, $2,230,000, total capital invested, $6,227,- 
481. 

TEUTOPOLIS, a village of Effingham County, 
on the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, 4 
miles east of Effingham; was originally settled 
by a colony of Germans from Cincinnati. Popu- 
lation (1900), 498. 

THOMAS, Horace H., lawyer and legislator, 
was born in Vermont, Dec. 18, 1831, graduated at 
Middlebury College, and, after admission to the 
bar, removed to Chicago, where he commenced 
practice. At the outbreak of the rebellion he 
enlisted and was commissioned Assistant Adju- 
tant-General of the Army of the Ohio. At the 
close of the war he took up his residence in Ten- 
nessee, serving as Quartermaster upon the staff 
of Governor Brownlow. In 1867 he returned to 
Chicago and resumed practice. He was elected 
a Representative in the Legislature in 1878 and 
re-elected in 1880, being chosen Speaker of the 
House during his latter term. In 1888 he was 
elected State Senator from the Sixth District, 
serving during the sessions of the Thirty-sixth 



and Thirty-seventh General Assemblies. In 
1897, General Thomas was appointed United 
States Appraiser in connection with the Custom 
House in Chicago. 

THOMAS, Jesse Burgess, jurist and United 
States Senator, was born at Hagerstown, Md., 
claiming direct descent from Lord Baltimore. 
Taken west in childhood, he grew to manhood 
and settled at Lawrenceburg, Indiana Territory, 
in 1803 ; in 1805 was Speaker of the Territorial 
Legislature and, later, represented the Territory 
as Delegate in Congress. On the organization of 
Illinois Territory (which he had favored), he 
removed to Kaskaskia, was appointed one of the 
first Judges for the new Territory, and, in 1818, 
as Delegate from St. Clair County, presided over 
the first State Constitutional Convention, and, on 
the admission of the State, became one of the 
first United States Senators Governor Edwards 
being his colleague. Though an avowed advo- 
cate of slavery, he gained no little prominence 
as the author of the celebrated "Missouri Com- 
promise," adopted in 1820. He was re-elected to 
the Senate in 1823, serving until 1829. He sub- 
sequently removed to Mount Vernon, Ohio, where 
he died by suicide, May 4, 1853. Jesse Burgess 
(Thomas), Jr., nephew of the United States Sena- 
tor of the same name, was born at Lebanon, Ohio, 
July 31, 1806, was educated at Transylvania 
University, and, being admitted to the bar, 
located at Edwardsville, 111. He first appeared 
in connection with public affairs as Secretary of 
the State Senate in 1830, being re-elected in 1832 ; 
in 1834 was elected Representative in the General 
Assembly from Madison County, but, in Febru- 
ary following, was appointed Attorney-General, 
serving only one year. He afterwards held the 
position of Circuit Judge (1837-39), his home being 
then in Springfield; in 1843 he became Associ- 
ate Justice of the Supreme Court, by appointment 
of the Governor, as successor to Stephen A. Doug- 
las, and was afterwards elected to the same 
office by the Legislature, remaining until 1848. 
During a part of his professional career he was 
the partner of David Prickett and William L. 
May, at Springfield, and afterwards a member of 
the Galena bar, finally removing to Chicago, 
where he died, Feb. 21, 1850. Jesse B. (Thomas) 
third, clergyman and son of the last named ; born 
at Edwardsville, 111., July 29, 1832; educated at 
Kenyon College, Ohio, and Rochester (N. Y.) 
Theological Seminary ; practiced law for a time 
in Chicago, but finally entered the Baptist minis- 
try, serving churches at Waukegan, 111. , Brook- 
lyn, N. Y., and San Francisco (1862-69). He 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



then became pastor of the Michigan Avenue Bap- 
tist Church, in Chicago, remaining until 1874, 
when he returned to Brooklyn. In 1887 he 
became Professor of Biblical History in the 
Theological Seminary at Newton, Mass., where he 
has since resided. He is the author of several 
volumes, and, in 1866, received the degree of D.D. 
from the old University of Chicago. 

THOMAS^ .John, pioneer and soldier of the 
Black Hawk War, was born in Wythe County, 
Va., Jan. 11, 1800. At the age of 18 he accom- 
panied his parents to St. Clair County, 111., where 
the family located in what was then called the 
Alexander settlement, near the present site of 
Shiloh. When he was 22 he rented a farm 
(although he had not enough money to buy a 
horse) and married. Six years later he bought 
and stocked a farm, and, from that time forward, 
rapidly accumulated real property, until he 
became one of the most extensive owners of farm- 
ing land in St. Clair County. In early life he 
was fond of military exercise, holding various 
offices in local organizations and serving as a 
Colonel in the Black Hawk War. In 1824 he was 
one of the leaders of the party opposed to the 
amendment of the State Constitution to sanction 
slavery, was a zealous opponent of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill in 1854, and a firm supporter of the 
Republican party from the date of its formation. 
He was elected to the lower house of the General 
Assembly in 1838, '62, '64, '72 and '74; and to the 
State Senate in 1878, serving four years in the 
latter body. Died, at Belleville, Dec. 16, 1894, in 
the 95th year of his age. 

THOMAS, John R., ex-Congressman, was born 
at Mount Vernon, 111., Oct. 11, 1846. He served 
in the Union Army during the War of the Rebel- 
lion, rising from the ranks to a captaincy. After 
his return home he studied law, and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1869. From 1872 to 1876 he was 
State's Attorney, and, from 1879 to 1889, repre- 
sented his District in Congress. In 1897, Mr. 
Thomas was appointed by President McKinley 
an additional United States District Judge for 
Indian Territory. His home is now at Vanita, 
in that Territory. 

THOMAS, William, pioneer lawyer and legis- 
lator, was born in what is now Allen County, 
Ky., Nov. 22, 1802; received a rudimentary edu- 
cation, and served as deputy of his father (who 
was Sheriff), and afterwards of the County Clerk ; 
.studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1823 ; 
in 1826 removed to Jacksonville, 111., where he 
taught school, served as a private in the Winne- 
bago War (1827), and at the session of 1828-29, 



reported the proceedings of the General Assem- 
bly for "The Vandalia Intelligencer"; was State's 
Attorney and School Commissioner of Morgan 
County; served as Quartermaster and Commis- 
sary in the Black Hawk War (1831-32), first under 
Gen. Joseph Duncan and, a year later, under 
. General Whiteside ; in 1839 was appointed Circuit 
Judge, but legislated out of office two years later. 
It was as a member of the Legislature, however, 
that he gained the greatest prominence, first as 
State Senator in 1834-40, and Representative in 
1846-48 and 1850-52, when he was especially influ- 
ential in the legislation which resulted in estab- 
lishing the institutions for the Deaf and Dumb 
and the Blind, and the Hospital for the Insane 
(the first in the State) at Jacksonville serving, 
for a time, as a member of the Board of Trustees 
of the latter. He was also prominent in connec- 
tion with many enterprises of a local character, 
including the establishment of the Illinois Female 
College, to which, although without children of 
his own, he was a liberal contributor. During 
the first year of the war he was a member of the 
Board of Army Auditors by appointment of Gov- 
ernor Yates. Died, at Jacksonville, August 22, 
1889. 

THORNTON, Anthony, jurist, was born in 
Bourbon County, Ky., Nov. 9, 1814 being 
descended from a Virginia family. After the 
usual primary instruction in the common schools, 
he spent two years in a high school at Gallatin, 
Tenn., when he entered Centre College at Dan- 
ville, Ky., afterwards continuing his studies at 
Miami University, Ohio, where he graduated in 
1834. Having studied law with an uncle at 
Paris, Ky., he was licensed to practice in 1836, 
when he left his native State with a view to set- 
tling in Missouri, but, visiting his uncle, Gen. 
William F. Thornton, at Shelby ville, 111., was 
induced to establish himself in practice there. 
He served as a member of the State Constitutional 
Conventions of 1847 and 1862, and as Represent- 
ative in the Seventeenth General Assembly 
(1850-52) for Shelby County. In 1864 he was 
elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and, in 
1870, to the Illinois Supreme Court, but served 
only until 1873, when he resigned. In 1879 
Judge Thornton removed to Decatur, 111., but 
subsequently returned to Shelbyville, where 
(1898) he now resides. 

THORNTON, William Fitzhiigh, Commissioner 
of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, was born in 
Hanover County, Va., Oct. 4, 1789; in 1806, went 
to Alexandria, Va., where he conducted a drug 
business for a time, also acting as associate 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



523 



editor of "The Alexandria Gazette." Subse- 
quently removing to Washington City, he con- 
ducted a paper there in the interest of John 
Quincy Adams for the Presidency. During the 
War of 1812-14 he served as a Captain of cavalry, 
and, for a time, as staff -officer of General Winder. 
On occasion of the visit of Marquis La Fayette to 
America (1824-25) he accompanied the distin- 
guished Frenchman from Baltimore to Rich- 
mond. In 1829 he removed to Kentucky, and, 
in 1833, to Shelby ville, 111., where he soon after 
engaged in mercantile business, to which he 
added a banking and brokerage business in 1859, 
with which he was actively associated until his 
death. In 1836, he was appointed, by Governor 
Duncan, one of the Commissioners of the Illinois 
& Michigan Canal, serving as President of the 
Board until 1842. In 1840, he made a visit to 
London, as financial agent of the State, in the 
interest of the Canal, and succeeded in making a 
sale of bonds to the amount of $1,000,000 on what 
were then considered favorable terms. General 
Thornton was an ardent Whig until the organi- 
zation of the Republican party, when he became 
a Democrat. Died, at Shelbyville, Oct. 21, 
1873. 

TILLSON, John, pioneer, was born at Halifax, 
Mass., March 13, 1796; came to Illinois in 1819, 
locating at Hillsboro, Montgomery County, where 
he became a prominent and enterprising operator 
in real estate, doing a large business for eastern 
parties; was one of the founders of Hillsboro 
Academy and an influential and liberal friend of 
Illinois College, being a Trustee of the latter 
from its establishment until his death ; was sup- 
ported in the Legislature of 1827 for State Treas- 
urer, but defeated by James Hall. Died, at 
Peoria, May 11, 1853. Christiana Holmes (Till- 
son), wife of the preceding, was born at Kingston, 
Mass., Oct. 10, 1798; married to John Tillson in 
1822, and immediately came to Illinois to reside ; 
was a woman of rare culture and refinement, and 
deeply interested in benevolent enterprises. 
Died, in New York City, May 29, 1872. Charles 
Holmes (Tillson), son of John and Christiana 
Holmes Tillson, was born at Hillsboro, 111. , Sept. 
15, 1823; educated at Hillsboro Academy and 
Illinois College, graduating from the latter in 
1844; studied law in St. Louis and at Transyl- 
vania University, was admitted to the bar in St. 
Louis and practiced there some years also served 
several terms in the City Council, and was a 
member of the National Guard of Missouri in the 
War of the Rebellion. Died, Nov. 25, 1865. 
John (Tillson), Jr., another son, was born at 



Hillsboro, 111., Oct. 12, 1825; educated at Hills- 
boro Academy and Illinois College, but did not 
graduate from the latter ; graduated from Tran- 
sylvania Law School, Ky., in 1847, and was 
admitted to the bar at Quincy, 111., the same 
year; practiced two years at Galena, when he 
returned to Quincy. In 1861 he enlisted in the 
Tenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, became its 
Lieutenant-Colonel, on the promotion of Col. J. D. 
Morgan to Brigadier-General, was advanced to 
the colonelcy, and, in July, 1865, was mustered 
out with the rank of brevet Brigadier-General ; 
for two years later held a commission as Captain 
in the regular army. During a portion of 1869-70 
he was editor of "The Quincy Whig"; in 1873 
was elected Representative in the Twenty-eighth 
General Assembly to succeed Nehemiah Bushnell, 
who had died in office, and, during the same year, 
was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for 
the Quincy District, serving until 1881. Died, 
August 6, 1892. 

TILLSON, Robert, pioneer, was born in Hali- 
fax County, Mass., August 12, 1800; came to Illi- 
nois in 1822, and was employed, for several years, 
as a clerk in the land agency of his brother, John 
Tillson, at Hillsboro. In 1826 he engaged in the 
mercantile business with Chartes Holmes, Jr., in 
St. Louis, but, in 1828, removed to Quincy, 111., 
where he opened the first general store in that 
city; also served as Postmaster for some ten 
years. During this period he built the first two- 
story frame building erected in Quincy, up to 
that date. Retiring from the mercantile business 
in 1840 he engaged in real estate, ultimately 
becoming the proprietor of considerable property 
of this character ; was also a contractdr for fur- 
nishing cavalry accouterments to the Government 
during the war. Soon after the war he erected 
one of the handsomest business blocks existing 
in the city at that time. Died, in Quincy, Dec. 
27, 1892. 

TINCHEB, John L., banker, was born in Ken- 
tucky in 1821 ; brought by his parents to Vermil- 
ion County, Ind., in 1829, and left an orphan at 
17; attended school in Coles County, 111., and 
was employed as clerk in a store at Danville, 
1843-53. He then became a member of the firm 
of Tincher & English, merchants, later establish- 
ing a bank, which became the First National 
Bank of Danville. In 1864 Mr. Tincher was 
elected Representative in the Twenty-fourth 
General Assembly and, two years later, to the 
Senate, being re-elected in 1870. He was also a 
member of the State Constitutional Convention 
of 1869-70. Died, in Springfield, Dec. 17, 1871, 



524 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



while in attendance on the adjourned session of 
that year. 

TIPTON, Thomas F., lawyer and jurist, was 
born in Franklin County, Ohio, August 29, 1833 ; 
has been a resident of McLean County, 111., from 
the age of 10 years, his present home being at 
Bloomington. He was admitted to the bar in 
1857, and, from January, 1867, to December, 1868, 
was State's Attorney for the Eighth Judicial 
Circuit. In 1870 he was elected Judge of the 
same circuit, and under the new Constitution, 
was chosen Judge of the new Fourteenth Circuit. 
From 1877 to 1879 he represented the (then) 
Thirteenth Illinois District in Congress, but, in 
1878, was defeated by Adlai E. Stevenson, the 
Democratic nominee. In 1891 he was re-elected 
to a seat on the Circuit bench for the Bloomington 
Circuit, but resumed practice at the expiration 
of his term in 1897. 

T1SKILWA, a village of Bureau County, on the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, 7 miles 
southwest of Princeton; has creameries and 
cheese factories, churches, school, library, water- 
works, bank and a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 965. 

TODD, (Col.) John, soldier, was born in Mont- 
gomery County, Pa., in 1750; took part in the 
battle of Point Pleasant, Va., in 1774, as Adju- 
tant-General of General Lewis; settled as a 
lawyer at Fincastle, Va., and, in 1775, removed 
to Fayette County, Ky., the next year locating 
near Lexington. He was one of the first two 
Delegates from Kentucky County to the Virginia 
House of Burgesses, and, in 1778, accompanied 
Col. George Rogers Clark on his expedition 
against Kaskaskia and Vincennes. In Decem- 
ber, 1778, he was appointed by Gov. Patrick 
Henry, Lieutenant -Commandant of Illinois 
County, embracing the region northwest of the 
Ohio River, serving two years ; in 1780, was again 
a member of the Virginia Legislature, where he 
procured grants of land for public schools and 
introduced a bill for negro-emancipation. He 
was killed by Indians, at the battle of Blue 
Licks, Ky., August 19, 1782. 

TODD, (Dr.) John, physician, born near Lex- 
ington, Ky., April 27, 1787, was one of the earli- 
est graduates of Transylvania University, also 
graduating at the Medical University of Phila- 
delphia ; was appointed Surgeon-General of Ken- 
tucky troops in the War of 1812, and caj>tured at 
the battle of River Raisin. Returning to Lex- 
ington after his release, he practiced there and 
at Bardstown, removed to Edwardsville, 111., in 
1817, and, in 1827, to Springfield, where he had 
been appointed ' Register of the Laud Office by 



President John Quincy Adams, but was removed 
by Jackson in 1829. Dr. Todd continued to reside 
at Springfield until his death, which occurred, 
Jan. 9, 1865. He was a grandson of John Todd, 
who was appointed Commandant of Illinois 
County by Gov. Patrick Henry in 1778, and an 
uncle of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. John Blair 
Smith (Todd), son of the preceding, was born at 
Lexington, Ky., April 4, 1814; came with his 
father to Illinois in 1817 ; graduated at the United 
States Military Academy in 1837, serving after- 
wards in the Florida and Mexican wars and on 
the frontier; resigned, and was an Indian -trader 
in Dakota, 1856-61; the latter year, took his 
seat as a Delegate in Congress from Dakota, 
then served as Brigadier-General of Volun- 
teers, 1861-62; was again Delegate in Congress 
in 1863-65, Speaker of the Dakota Legislature 
in 1867, and Governor of the Territory, 1869-71. 
Died, at Yankton City, Jan. 5, 1872. 

TOLEDO, a village and the county-seat of 
Cumberland County, on tfce Illinois Central Rail- 
road ; founded in 1854 ; has five churches, a graded 
school, two banks, creamery, flour mill, elevator, 
and two weekly newspapers. There are no manu- 
factories, the leading industry in the surrounding 
country being agriculture. Pop/ (1890), 676; 
(1900), 818. 

TOLEDO, CINCINNATI & ST. LOUIS RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Toledo, St. Lords & Kansas City 
Railroad. ) 

TOLEDO, PEORIA & WARSAW RAILROAD. 
(See Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway.) 

TOLEDO, PEORIA & WESTERN RAILROAD. 
(See Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway.) 

TOLEDO, PEORIA & WESTERN RAILWAY, 
a line of railroad wholly within the State of Illi- 
nois, extending from Effner, at the Indiana State 
line, west to the Mississippi River at Warsaw. 
The length of the whole line is 230. 7 miles, owned 
entirely by the company. It is made up of a 
division from Effner to Peoria (110.9 miles) 
which is practically an air-line throughout nearly 
its entire length and the Peoria and Warsaw 
Division (108.8 miles) with branches from La 
Harpe to Iowa Junction (10.4 miles) and 0.6 of a 
mile connecting with the Keokuk bridge at 
Hamilton. (HISTORY.) The original charter for 
this line was granted, in 1863, under the name of 
the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad ; the main 
line was completed in 1868, and the La Harpe & 
Iowa Junction branch in 1873. Default was 
made in 1873, the road sold under foreclosure, in 
1880, and reorganized as the Toledo, Peoria & 
Western Railroad, and the line leased for 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



525 



years to the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway 
Company. The latter defaulted in July, 1884, 
and, a year later, the Toledo, Peoria & Western 
was transferred to trustees for the first mortgage 
bond-holders, was sold under foreclosure in 
October, 1886, and, in March, 1887, the present 
company, under the name of the Toledo, Peoria 
& Western Railway Company, was organized for 
the purpose of taking over the property. In 1893 
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company obtained a 
controlling interest in the stock, and, in 1894, an 
agreement, for joint ownership and management, 
was entered into between that corporation and 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com- 
pany. The total capitalization, in 1898, was 
$9,712,433, of which $4,076,900 was in stock and 
$4,895,000 in bonds. 

TOLEDO, ST. LOUIS & KANSAS CITY RAIL- 
ROAD. This line crosses the State in a northeast 
direction from East St. Louis to Humrick, near 
the Indiana State line, with Toledo as its eastern 
terminus. The length of the entire line is 450.72 
miles, of which 179V miles are operated in Illi- 
nois. (HISTORY.) The Illinois portion of the 
line grew out of the union of charters granted to 
the Tuscola, Charleston & Vincennes and the 
Charleston, Neoga & St. Louis Railroad Com- 
panies, which were consolidated in 1881 with 
certain Indiana lines under the name of the 
Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad. During 
1882 a narrow-gauge road was constructed from 
Ridge Farm, in Vermilion County, to East St. 
Louis (172 miles). In 1885 this was sold under 
foreclosure and, in June, 1886, consolidated with 
the main line under the name of the Toledo, St. 
Louis & Kansas City Railroad. The whole line 
was changed to standard gauge in 1887-89, and 
otherwise materially improved, but, in 1893, 
went into the hands of receivers. Plans of re- 
organization have been under consideration, but 
the receivers were still in control in 1898. 

TOLEDO, WABASH & WESTERN RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Wabash Railroad.) 

TOLONO, a city in Champaign County, situ- 
ated at the intersection of the Wabash and the 
Illinois Central Railroads, 9 miles south of Cham- 
paign and 37 miles east-northeast of Decatur. It 
is the business center of a prosperous agricultural 
region. The town has five churches, a graded 
school, a bank, a button factory, and a weeklv 
newspaper. Population (1880), 905; (1890), 902; 
(1900), 845. 

TONICA, a village of La Salle County, on the 
Illinois Central Railway, 9 miles south of La Salle; 
the district is agricultural, but the place has some 



manufactures and a newspaper. Population 
(1890), 473; (1900), 497. 

TONTY, Chevalier Henry de, explorer and sol- 
dier, born at Gaeta, Italy, about 1650 What is 
now known as the Tontine system of insurance 
undoubtedly originated with his father. The 
younger Tonty was adventurous, and, even as a 
youth, took part in numerous land and naval 
encounters. In the course of his experience he 
lost a hand, which was replaced by an iron or 
copper substitute. He embarked with La Salle 
in 1678, and aided in the construction of a fort at 
Niagara. He advanced into the country of the 
Illinois and established friendly relations with 
them, only to witness the defeat of his putative 
savage allies by the Iroquois. After various 
encounters (chiefly under the direction of La 
Salle) with the Indians in Illinois, he returned 
to Green Bay in 1681. The same year under La 
Salle's orders he began the erection of Fort St. 
Louis, on what is now called "Starved Rock" in 
La Salle County. In 1682 he descended the Mis- 
sissippi to its mouth, with La Salle, but was 
ordered back to Mackinaw for assistance. In 
1684 he returned to Illinois and successfully 
repulsed the Iroquois from Fort St. Louis. In 
1686 he again descended the Mississippi in search 
of La Salle. Disheartened by the death of his 
commander and the loss of his early comrades, 
he took up his residence with the Illinois Indians. 
Among them he was found by Iberville in 1700, 
as a hunter and fur-trader. He died, in Mobile, 
in September, 1704. He was La Salle's most effi- 
cient coadjutor, and next to his ill-fated leader, 
did more than any other of the early French 
explorers to make Illinois known to the civilized 
world. 

TOPOGRAPHY. Illinois is, generally speak- 
ing, an elevated table-land. If low water at 
Cairo be adopted as the maximum depression, and 
the summits of the two ridges hereinafter men- 
tioned as the highest points of elevation, the alti- 
tude of this table land above the sea-level varies 
from 300 to 850 feet, the mean elevation being 
about 600 feet. The State has no mountain 
chains, and its few hills are probably the result 
of unequal denudation during the drift epoch. 
In some localities, particularly in the valley of 
the upper Mississippi, the streams have cut 
channels from 200 to 300 feet deep through the 
nearly horizontal strata, and here are found pre- 
cipitous scarps, but, for the most part, the 
fundamental rocks are covered by a thick layer 
of detrital material. In the northwest there is a 
broken tract of uneven ground ; the central por- 



526 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



tion of the State is almost wholly flat prairie, 
and, in the alluvial lands in the State, there are 
many deep valleys, eroded by the action of 
streams. The surface generally slopes toward 
the south and southwest, but the uniformity is 
broken by two ridges, which cross the State, one 
in either extremity. The northern ridge crosses 
the Rock River at Grand Detour and the Illinois 
at Split Rock, with an extreme altitude of 800 to 
850 feet above sea-level, though the altitude of 
Mount Morris, in Ogle County, exceeds 900 feet. 
That in the south consists of a range of hills in 
the latitude of Jonesboro, and extending from 
Shawneetown to Grand Tower. These hills are 
also about 800 feet above the level of the ocean. 
The highest point in the State is in Jo Daviess 
County, just south of the Wisconsin State line 
(near Scale's Mound) reaching an elevation of 
1,257 feet above sea-level, while the highest in 
the south is in the northeast corner of Pope 
County 1,046 feet a spur of the Ozark moun- 
tains. The following statistics regarding eleva- 
tions are taken from a report of Prof. C. W. 
Rolfe, of the University of Illinois, based on 
observations made under the auspices of the Illi- 
nois Board of World's Fair Commissioners: The 
lowest gauge of the Ohio river, at its mouth 
(above sea-level), is 268.58 feet, and the mean 
level of Lake Michigan at Chicago 581.28 feet. 
The altitudes of a few prominent points are as 
follows: Highest point in Jackson County, 695 
feet; "Bald Knob" in Union County, 985; high- 
est point in Cook County (Barrington), 818 ; in La 
Salle County (Mendota), 747; in Livingston 
(Strawn), 770; in Will (Monee), 804; in Pike 
(Arden), 790; in Lake (Lake Zurich), 880; in 
Bureau, 910; in Boone, 1,010; in Lee (Carnahan), 
1,017; in Stephenson (Waddam's Grove), 1,018; 
in Kane (Briar Hill), 974; in Winnebago, 985. 
The elevations of important towns are : Peoria, 
465; Jacksonville, 602; Springfield, 596; Gales- 
burg, 755; Joliet, 537; Rockford, 728; Blooming- 
ton, 821. Outside of the immediate valleys of 
the streams, and a few isolated groves or copses, 
little timber is found in the northern and central 
portions of the State, and such growth as there 
is, lacks the thriftiness characteristic of the for- 
ests in the Ohio valley. These forests cover a 
belt extending some sixty miles north of Cairo, 
and, while they generally include few coniferous 
trees, they abound in various species of oak, 
black and white walnut, white and yellow pop- 
lar, ash, elm, sugar-maple, linden, honey locust, 
eottonwood, mulberry, sycamore, pecan, persim- 
mon, and (in the immediate valley of the Ohio) 



the cypress. From a commercial point of view, 
Illinois loses nothing through the lack of timber 
over three-fourths of the State's area. Chicago 
is an accessible market for the product of the 
forests of the upper lakes, so that the supply of 
lumber is ample, while extensive coal-fields sup- 
ply abundant fuel. The rich soil of the prairies, 
with its abundance of organic matter (see Geo- 
logical Formations) , more than compensates for 
the want of pine forests, whose soil is ill adapted 
to agriculture. About two-thirds of the entire 
boundary of the State consists of navigable 
waters. These, with their tributary streams, 
ensure sufficient drainage. 

TORRENS LAND TITLE SYSTEM. A system 
for the registration of titles to, and incumbrances 
upon, land, as well as transfers thereof, intended 
to remove all unnecessary obstructions to the 
cheap, simple and safe sale, acquisition and 
transfer of realty. The system has been in suc- 
cessful operation in Canada, Australia, New Zea- 
land and British Columbia for many years, and 
it is also in force in some States in the American 
Union. An act providing for its introduction 
into Illinois was first passed by the Twenty- 
ninth General Assembly, and approved, June 13, 
1895. The final legislation in reference thereto 
was enacted by the succeeding Legislature, and 
was approved, May 1, 1897. It is far more elabo- 
rate in its consideration of details, and is believed 
to be, in many respects, much better adapted to 
accomplish the ends in view, than was the origi- 
nal act of 1895. The law is applicable only to 
counties of the first and second class, and can be 
adopted in no county except by a vote of a 
majority of the qualified voters of the same the 
vote "for" or "against" to be taken at either the 
November or April elections, or at an election 
for the choice of Judges. Thus far the only 
county to adopt the system has been Cook, and 
there it encountered strong opposition on the 
part of certain parties of influence and wealth. 
After its adoption, a test case was brought, rais- 
ing the question of the constitutionality of the 
act. The issue was taken to the Supreme Court, 
which tribunal finally upheld the law. The 
Torrens system substitutes a certificate of regis- 
tration and of transfer for the more elaborate 
deeds and mortgages in use for centuries. Under 
it there can be no actual transfer of a title until 
the same is entered upon the public land regis- 
ter, kept in the office of the Registrar, in which 
case the deed or mortgage becomes a mere power 
of attorney to authorize the transfer to be made, 
upon the principle of an ordinary stock transfer, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



527 



or of the registration of a United States bond, 
the actual transfer and public notice thereof 
being simultaneous. A brief synopsis of the pro- 
visions of the Illinois statute is given below: 
Recorders of deeds are made Registrars, and 
required to give bonds of either $50,000 or $200,- 
000, according to the population of the county. 
Any person or corporation, having an interest in 
land, may make application to any court having 
chancery jurisdiction, to have his title thereto 
registered. Such application must be in writ- 
ing, signed and verified by oath, and must con- 
form, in matters of specification and detail, with 
the requirements of the act. The court may refer 
the application to one of the standing examiners 
appointed by the Registrar, who are required to 
be competent attorneys and to give bond to ex- 
amine into the title, as well as the truth of the 
applicant's statements. Immediately upon the 
filing of the application, notice thereof is given 
by the clerk, through publication and the issuance 
of a summons to be served, as in other proceed- 
ings in chancery, against all persons mentioned 
in the petition as having or claiming any inter- 
est in the property described. Any person inter- 
ested, whether named as a defendant or not, may 
enter an appearance within the time allowed. A 
failure to enter an appearance is regarded as a 
confession by default. The court, in passing 
upon the application, is in no case bound by the 
examiner's report, but may require other and 
f urther proof ; and, in its final adjudication, passes 
upon all questions of title and incumbrance, 
directing the Registrar to register the title in the 
party in whom it is to be vested, and making 
provision as to the manner and order in which 
incumbrances thereon shall appear upon the 
certificate to be issued. An appeal may be 
allowed to the Supreme Court, if prayed at the 
time of entering the decree, upon like terms as 
in other cases in chancery ; and a writ of error 
may be sued out from that tribunal within two 
years after the entry of the order or decree. 
The period last mentioned may be said to be the 
statutory period of limitation/ after which the 
decree of the. court must be regarded as final, 
although safeguards are provided for those who 
may have been defrauded, and for a few other 
classes of persons. Upon the filing of the order 
or decree of the court, it becomes the duty of the 
Registrar to issue a certificate of title, the form 
of which is prescribed by the act, making such 
notations at the end as shall show and preserve 
the priorities of all estates, mortgages, incum- 
brances and changes to which the owner's title is 



subject. For the purpose of preserving evidence 
of the owner's handwriting, a receipt for the 
certificate, duly witnessed or acknowledged, is 
required of him, which is preserved in the Regis- 
trar's office. In case any registered owner 
should desire to transfer the whole or any part of 
his estate, or any interest therein, he is required 
to execute a conveyance to the transferee, which, 
together with the certificate of title last issued, 
must be surrendered to the Registrar. That, 
official thereupon issues a new certificate, stamp- 
ing the word "cancelled" across the surrendered 
certificate, as well as upon the corresponding 
entry in his books of record. When land is first 
brought within the operation of the act, the 
receiver of the certificate of title is required to 
pay to the Registrar one-tenth of one per cent of 
the value of the land, the aggregate so received 
to be deposited with and invested by the County 
Treasurer, and reserved as an indemnity fund 
for the reimbursement of persons sustaining any 
loss through any omission, mistake or malfea- 
sance of the Registrar or his subordinates. The 
advantage claimed for the Torrens system is, 
chiefly, that titles registered thereunder can be 
dealt with more safely, quickly and inexpensively 
than under the old system ; it being possible to 
close the entire transaction within an hour or 
two, without the need of an abstract of title, 
while (as the law is administered in Cook County) 
the cost of transfer is only $3. It is asserted that 
a title, once registered, can be dealt with almost 
as quickly and cheaply, and quite as safely, as 
shares of stock or registered bonds. 

TOULON V the county-seat of Stark County, on 
the Peoria & Rock Island Railroad, 37 miles north - 
northwest of Peoria, and 11 miles southeast of 
Galva. Besides the county court-house, the town 
has five churches and a high school, an academy, 
steam granite works, two banks, and two weekly 
papers. Population (1880), 967; (1890), 945; (1900), 
1,057. 

TOWER HILL, a village of Shelby County, on 
the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Rail- 
roads, 7 miles east of Pana ; has bank, grain ele- 
vators, and coal mine. Pop. (1900), 615. 

TOWNSHEND, Richard W., lawyer and Con- 
gressman, was born in Prince George's County, 
Md., April 30, 1840. Between the ages of 10 
and 18 he attended public and private schools 
at Washington, D. C. In 1858 he came to 
Illinois, where he began teaching, at the same 
time reading law with S. S. Marshall, at -Mc- 
Leansboro, where he was admitted to the bar 



528 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



in 1862, and where he began practice. From 1863 
to 1868 he was Circuit Clerk of Hamilton County, 
and, from 1868 to 1872, Prosecuting Attorney for 
the Twelfth Judicial Circuit. In 1873 he removed 
to Shawneetown, where he became an officer of 
the Gallatin National Bank. From 1C64 to 1875 
he was a member of the Democratic State Cen- 
tral Committee, and a delegate to the National 
Democratic Convention at Baltimore, in 1872. 
For twelve years (1877 to 1889) he represented 
his District in Congress; was re-elected in 1888, 
but died, March 9, 1889, a few days after the 
beginning of his seventh term. 

TRACY, John M., artist, was born in Illinois 
about 1842 ; served in an Illinois regiment during 
the Civil War; studied painting in Paris in 
1866-76 ; established himself as a portrait painter 
in St. Louis and, later, won a high reputation as 
a painter of animals, being regarded as an author- 
ity on the anatomy of the horse and the dog. 
Died, at Ocean Springs, Miss., March 20, 1893. 

TREASURERS. (See State Treasurers.) 

TREAT, Samuel Huboel, lawyer and jurist, 
was born at Plainfield, Otsego County, N. Y., 
June 21, 1811, worked on his father's farm and 
studied law at Richfield, where he was admitted 
to practice. In 1834 he came to Springfield, 111., 
traveling most of the way on foot. Here he 
formed a partnership with George Forquer, who 
had held the offices of Secretary of State and 
Attorney-General. In 1839 he was appointed a 
Circuit Judge, and, on the reorganization of the 
Supreme Court in 1841, was elevated to the 
Supreme bench, being acting Chief Justice at the 
time of the adoption of the Constitution of 1848. 
Having been elected to the Supreme bench under 
the new Constitution, he remained in office until 
March, 1855, when he resigned to take the posi- 
tion of Judge of the United States District Court 
for the Southern District of Illinois, to which he 
had been appointed by President Pierce. This 
position he continued to occupy until his death, 
which occurred at Springfield, Marcli 27, 1887. 
Judge Treat's judicial career was one of the long- 
est in the history of the State, covering a period 
of forty-eight years, of which fourteen were 
spent upon the Supreme bench, and thirty-two 
in the position of Judge of the United States Dis- 
trict Court. / 

TREATIES. (See Greenville, Treaty of; Indian 
Treaties. ) 

TREE, Lambert, jurist, diplomat and ex-Con- 
gressman, was born in Washington, D. C., Nov. 
29, 1832, of an ancestry distinguished in the War 
of the Ee volution. He received a superior clas- 



sical and professional education, and was admit- 
ted to the bar, at Washington, in October, 1855. 
Removing to Chicago soon afterward, his profes- 
sional career has been chiefly connected with 
that city. In 1864 he was chosen President of 
the Law Institute, and served as Judge of the 
Circuit Court of Cook County, from 1870 to 1875, 
when he resigned. The three following years he 
spent in foreign travel, returning to Chicago in 
1878. In that year, and again in 1880, Jie was 
the Democratic candidate for Congress from the 
Fourth Illinois District, but was defeated by his 
Republican opponent. In 1885 he was the candi- 
date of his party for United States Senator, but 
was defeated by John A. Logan, by one vote. In 
1884 he was a member of the National Democratic 
Convention which first nominated Grover Cleve- 
land, and, in July, 1885, President Cleveland 
appointed him Minister to Belgium, conferring 
the Russian mission upon him in September, 1888. 
On March 3, 1889, he resigned this post and 
returned home. In 1890 he was appointed by 
President Harrison a Commissioner to the Inter- 
national Monetary Conference at Washington. 
The year before he had attended (although not as 
a delegate) the International Conference, at Brus- 
sels, looking to the suppression of the slave-trade, 
where he exerted all his influence on the side of 
humanity. In 1892 Belgium conferred upon him 
the distinction of "Councillor of Honor'' upon its 
commission to the World's Columbian Exposi- 
tion. In 1896 Judge Tree was one of the most 
earnest opponents of the free-silver policy, and, 
after the Spanish-American War, a zealous advo- 
cate of the policy of retaining the territory 
acquired from Spain. 

TREMONT, a town of Tazewell County, on the 
Peoria Division of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railway, 9 miles southeast 
of Pekin; has two banks, two telephone 
exchanges, and one newspaper. Pop. (1900), 768. 

TRENTON, a town of Clinton County, on the 
Baltimore & Ohio South western Railway, 31 miles 
east of St. Louis; in agricultural district; has 
creamery, milk condensery, two coal mines, six 
churches, a public school and one newspaper. 
Pop. (1890), 1,384; (1900), 1,706; (1904), about 2,000. 

TROY, a village of Madison County, on the 
Terre Haute & Indianapolis railroad, 21 miles 
northeast of St. Louis; has churches, a bank and 
a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 1,080. 

TRUITT, James Madison, lawyer and soldier, 
a native of Trimble County, Ky . , was born Feb. 
12, 1842, but lived in Illinois since 1843, his father 
having settled near Carrollton that year; was 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



529 



educated at Hillsboro and at McKendree College ; 
enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventeenth 
Illinois Volunteers in 1862, and was promoted 
from the ranks to Lieutenant. After the war he 
studied law with Jesse J. Phillips, now of the 
Supreme Court, and, in 1872, was elected to the 
Twenty -eighth General Assembly, and, in 1888, a 
Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket. 
Mr. Truitt has been twice a prominent but unsuc- 
cessful candidate for the Republican nomination 
for Attorney-General. His home is at Hillsboro, 
where he is engaged in the practice of his profes- 
sion. Died July 26, 1900. 

TRTJMBULL, L) man, statesman, was born at 
Colchester, Conn., Oct. 12, 1813, descended from 
a historical family, being a grand-nephew of 
Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, of Connecticut, from 
whom the name "Brother Jonathan" was derived 
as an appellation for Americans. Having received 
an academic education in his native town, at the 
age of 16 he began teaching a district school near 
his home, went South four years later, and en- 
gaged in teaching at Greenville, Ga. Here he 
studied law with Judge Hiram Warner, after- 
wards of the Supreme Court, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1837. Leaving Georgia the same year, he 
came to Illinois on horseback, visiting Vandalia, 
Belleville, Jacksonville, Springfield, Tremont and 
La Salle, and finally reaching Chicago, then a 
village of four or five thousand inhabitants. At 
Jacksonville he obtained a license to practice 
from Judge Lockwood, and, after visiting Michi- 
gan and his native State, he settled at Belleville, 
which continued to be his home for twenty years. 
His entrance into public life began with his elec- 
tion as Representative in the General Assembly 
in 1840. This was followed, in February, 1841, 
by his appointment by Governor Carlin, Secre- 
tary of State, as the successor of Stephen A. 
Douglas, who, after holding the position only two 
months, had resigned to accept a seat on the 
Supreme bench. Here he remained two years, 
when he was removed by Governor Ford, March 
4, 1843, but, five years later (1848),' was elected a 
Justice of the Supreme Court, was re-elected in 
1852, but resigned in 1853 on account of impaired 
health. A year later (1854) he was elected to 
Congress from the Belleville District as an anti- 
Nebraska Democrat, but, before taking his seat, 
was promoted to the United States Senate, as the 
successor of General Shields in the memorable con- 
test of 1855, which resulted in the defeat of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. Senator Trumbull's career of 
eighteen years in the United States Senate (being 
re-elected in 1861 and 1867) is one of the most 



memorable in the history of that body, covering, 
as it does, the whole history of the war for the 
Union, and the period of reconstruction which 
followed it. During this period, as Chairman of 
the Senate Committee on Judiciary, he had more 
to do in shaping legislation on war and recon- 
struction measures than any other single member 
of that body. While he disagreed with a large 
majority of his Republican associates on the ques- 
tion of Andrew Johnson's impeachment, he was 
always found in sympathy with them on the vital 
questions affecting the war and restoration of the 
Union. The Civil Rights Bill and Freedmen's 
Bureau Bills were shaped by his hand. In 1872 
he joined in the " Liberal Republican" movement 
and afterwards co-operated with the Democratic 
party, being their candidate for Governor in 
1880. From 1863 his home was in Chicago, 
where, after retiring from the Senate, he con- 
tinued in the practice of his profession until his 
death, which occurred in that city, June 25, 1896. 
TUG MILLS. These were a sort of primitive 
machine used in grinding corn in Territorial and 
early State days. The mechanism consisted of an 
upright shaft, into the upper end of which were 
fastened bars, resembling those in the capstan of 
a ship. Into the outer end of each of these bars 
was driven a pin. A belt, made of a broad strip 
of ox-hide, twisted into a sort of rope, was 
stretched around these pins and wrapped twice 
around a. circular piece of wood called a trundle 
head, through which passed a perpendicular flat 
bar of iron, which turned the mill- stone, usually 
about eighteen inches in diameter. From the 
upright shaft projected a beam, to which were 
hitched one or two horses, which furnished the 
motive power. Oxen were sometimes employed 
as motive power in lieu of horses. These rudi- 
mentary contrivances were capable of grinding 
about twelve bushels of corn, each, per day. 

TULEY, Murray Floyd, lawyer and jurist, was 
born at Louisville, Ky. , March 4, 1827, of English 
extraction and descended from the early settlers 
of Virginia. His father died in 1832, and, eleven 
years later, his mother, having married Col. 
Richard J. Hamilton, for many years a prominent 
lawyer of Chicago, removed with her family to 
that city. Young Tuley began reading law with 
his step-father and completed his studies at the 
Louisville Law Institute in 1847, the same year 
being admitted to the bar in Chicago. About the 
same time he enlisted in the Fifth Illinois Volun- 
teers for service in the Mexican War, and was 
commissioned First Lieutenant. The war having 
ended, he settled at Santa Fe, N. M., where he 



530 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



practiced law, also served as Attorney-General 
and in the Territorial Legislature. Returning to 
Chicago in 1854, he was associated in practice, 
successively, with Andrew Harvie, Judge Gary 
and J. N. Barker, and finally as head of the firm 
of Tuley, Stiles & Lewis. From 1869 to 1873 he 
was Corporation Counsel, and during this time 
framed the General Incorporation Act for Cities, 
under which the City of Chicago was reincor- 
porated. In 1879 he was elevated to the bench 
of the Circuit Court of Cook County, and re- 
elected every six years thereafter, his last election 
being in 1897. He is now serving his fourth 
term, some ten years of his incumbency having 
been spent in the capacity of Chief Justice. 

TUNNICLIFFE, Damon G., lawyer and jurist, 
was born in Herkimer County, N. Y., August 20, 
1829 ; at the age of 20, emigrated to Illinois, set- 
tling in Vermont, Fulton County, where, for a 
time, he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. He 
subsequently studied law, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1853. In 1854 he established himself 
at Macomb, McDonough County, where he built 
up a large and lucrative practice. In 1868 he 
was chosen Presidential Elector on the Repub- 
lican ticket, and, from February to June, 1885, 
by appointment of Governor Oglesby, occupied a 
seat on the bench of the Supreme Court, vice 
Pinkney H. Walker, deceased, who had been one 
of his first professional preceptors. 

TURCHIN, John Basil (Ivan Vasilevitch Tur- 
chinoff), soldier, engineer and author, was born 
in Russia, Jan. 30, 1822. He graduated from the 
artillery school at St. Petersburg, in 1841, and 
was commissioned ensign; participated in the 
Hungarian campaign of 1849, and, in 1852, was 
assigned to the staff of the Imperial Guards; 
served through the Crimean War, rising to the 
rank of Colonel, and being made senior staff 
officer of the active corps. In 1856 he came to 
this country,, settling in Chicago, and, for five 
years, was in the service of the Illinois Central 
Railway Company as topographical engineer. In 
1861 he was commissioned Colonel of the Nine- 
teenth Illinois Volunteers, and, after leading his 
regiment in Missouri, Kentucky and Alabama, 
was, on July 7, 1862, promoted to a Brigadier- 
Generalship, being attached to the Army of the 
Cumberland until 1864, when he resigned. After 
the war he was, for six years, solicitor of patents 
at Chicago, but, in 1873, returned to engineering. 
In 1879 he established a Polish colony at Radom, 
in Washington County, in this State, and settled 
as a farmer. He is an occasional contributor to 
the press, writing usually on military or scientific 



subjects, and is the author of the "Campaign and 
Battle of Chickamauga" (Chicago, 1888). 

TURNER (now WEST CHICAGO), a town and 
manufacturing center in Win field Township, Du 
Page County, 30 miles west of Chicago, at the 
junction of two divisions of the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy, the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railroads. The town 
has a rolling-mill, manufactories of wagons and 
pumps, and railroad repair shops. It also has five 
churches, a graded school, and two newspapers. 
Pop. (1900), 1,877; with suburb, 2,270. 

TURNER, (Col.) Henry L., soldier and real- 
estate operator, was born at Oberlin, Ohio, 
August 26, 1845, and received a part of his edu- 
cation in the college there. During the Civil 
War he served as First Lieutenant in the One 
Hundred and Fiftieth Ohio Volunteers, and 
later, with the same rank in a colored regiment, 
taking part in the operations about Richmond, 
the capture of Fort Fisher, of Wilmington and of 
Gen. Joe Johnston's army. Coming to Chi- 
cago after the close of the war, he became con- 
nected with the business office of "The Advance," 
but later was employed in the banking house of 
Jay Cooke & Co., in Philadelphia. On the failure 
of that concern, in 1872, he returned to Chicago 
and bought "The Advance," which he conducted 
some two years, when he sold out and engaged in 
the real estate business, with which he has since 
been identified. being President of the Chicago 
Real Estate Board in 1888. He has also been 
President of the Western Publishing Company 
and a Trustee of Oberlin College. Colonel Turner 
is an enthusiastic member of the Illinois National 
Guard and, on the declaration of war between the 
United States and Spain, in April, 1898, promptly 
resumed his connection with the First Regiment 
of the Guard, and finally led it to Santiago de 
Cuba during the fighting there his regiment 
being the only one from Illinois to see actual serv- 
ice in the field during the progress of the war. 
Colonel Turner won the admiration of his com- 
mand and the entire nation by the manner in 
which he discharged his duty. The regiment 
was mustered out at Chicago, Nov. 17, 1898, when 
he retired to private life. 

TURNER, John Bice, Railway President, was 
born at Colchester, Delaware County, N. Y. , Jan. 
14, 1799; after a brief business career in his 
native State, he became identified with the con- 
struction and operation of railroads. Among the 
works with which he was thus connected, were 
the Delaware Division of the New York & Erie 
and the Troy & Schenectady Roads. In 1843 he 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



531 



came to Chicago, having previously purchased a 
large body of land at Blue Island. In 1847 he 
joined with W. B. Ogden and others, in resusci- 
tating the Galena & Chicago Union Railway, 
which had been incorporated in 1836. He became 
President of the Company in 1850, and assisted in 
constructing various sections of road in Northern 
Illinois and Wisconsin, which have since become 
portions of the Chicago & Northwestern system. 
He was also one of the original Directors of the 
North Side Street Railway Company, organized 
in 1859. Died, Feb. 26, 1871. 

TURNER, Jonathan Baldwin, educator and 
agriculturist, was born in Templeton, Mass., Dec. 
7, 1805 ; grew up on a farm and, before reaching 
his majority, began teaching in a country school. 
After spending a short time in an academy at 
Salem, in 1827 he entered the preparatory depart- 
ment of Yale College, supporting himself, in part, 
by manual labor and teaching in a gymnasium. 
In 1829 he matriculated in the classical depart- 
ment at Yale, graduated in 1833, and the same 
year accepted a position as tutor in Illinois Col- 
lege at Jacksonville, 111., which had been opened, 
three years previous, by the late Dr. J. M. Sturte- 
vant. In the next fourteen years he gave in- 
struction in nearly every branch embraced in the 
college curriculum, though holding, during most 
of this period, the chair of Rhetoric and English 
Literature. In 1847 he retired from college 
duties to give attention to scientific agriculture, 
in which he had always manifested a deep inter- 
est. The cultivation and sale of the Osage orange 
as a hedge-plant now occupied his attention for 
many years, and its successful introduction in 
Illinois and other Western States where the 
absence of timber rendered some substitute a 
necessity for fencing purposes was largely due 
to his efforts. At the same time he took a deep 
interest in the cause of practical scientific edu- 
cation for the industrial classes, and, about 1850, 
began formulating that system of industrial edu- 
cation which, after twelve years of labor and 
agitation, he had the satisfaction of seeing 
recognized in the act adopted by Congress, and 
approved by President Lincoln, in July, 1862, 
making liberal donations of public lands for the 
establishment of "Industrial Colleges" in the 
several States, out of which grew the University 
of Illinois at Champaign. While Professor Tur- 
ner had zealous colaborers in this field, in Illinois 
and elsewhere, to him, more than to any other 
single man in the Nation, belongs the credit for 
this magnificent achievement. (See Education, 
and University of Illinois.) He was also one of 



the chief factors in founding and building up 
the Illinois State Teachers' Association, and the 
State Agricultural and Horticultural Societies. 
His address on "The Millennium of Labor, '' 
delivered at the first State Agricultural Fair at 
Springfield, in 1853, is still remembered as mark- 
ing an era in industrial progress in Illinois. A 
zealous champion of free thought, in both political 
and religious affairs, he long bore the reproach 
which attached to the radical Abolitionist, only 
to enjoy, in later years, the respect universally 
accorded to those who had the courage and 
independence to avow their honest convictions. 
Prof. Turner was twice an unsuccessful candidate 
for Congress once as a Republican and once as 
an "Independent" and wrote much on political, 
religious and educational topics. The evening of 
an honored and useful life was spent among 
friends in Jacksonville, which was his home for 
more than sixty years, his death taking place in 
that city, Jan. 10, 1899, at the advanced age of 
93 years. Mrs. Mary Turner Carriel, at the pres- 
ent time (1899) one of the Trustees of the Univer- 
sity of Illinois, is Prof. Turner's only daughter. 

TURNER, Thomas J., lawyer and Congress- 
man, born in Trumbull County, Ohio, April 5, 
1815. Leaving home at the age of 18, he spent 
three years in Indiana and in the mining dis- 
tricts about Galena and in Southern Wisconsin, 
locating in Stephenson County, in 1836, where he 
was admitted to the bar in 1840, and elected 
Probate Judge in 1841. Soon afterwards Gov- 
ernor Ford appointed him Prosecuting Attorney, 
in which capacity he secured the conviction and 
punishment of the murderers of Colonel Daven- 
port. In 1846 he was elected to Congress as a 
Democrat, and, the following year, founded "The 
Prairie Democrat" (afterward "The Freeport 
Bulletin"), the first newspaper published in the 
county. Elected to the Legislature in 1854, he 
was chosen Speaker of the House, the next year 
becoming the first Mayor of Freeport. He was a 
member of the Peace Conference of 1861, and,' in 
May of that year, was commissioned, by Governor 
Yates, Colonel of the Fifteenth Illinois Volun- 
teers, but resigned in 1862. He served as a mem- 
ber of the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, 
and, in 1871, was again elected to the Legisla- 
ture, where he received the Democratic caucus 
nomination for United States Senator against 
General Logan. In 1871 he removed to Chicago, 
and was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the 
office of State's Attorney. In February, 1874, he 
went to Hot Springs, Ark., for medical treatment, 
and died there, April 3 following. 



532 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



TTJSCOLA, a city and the county-seat of 
Douglas County, located at the intersection of the 
Illinois Central and two other trunk lines of rail- 
way, 22 miles south of Champaign, and 36 miles 
east of Decatur. Besides a brick court-house it 
has five churches, a graded school, a national 
bank, two weekly newspapers and two establish- 
ments for the manufacture of carriages and 
wagons. Population (1880), 1,457; (1890), 1,897; 
(1900), 2,569. 

TUSCOLA, CHARLESTON & VINCENNES 
RAILROAD. (See Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas 
City Railroad. ) 

TUTHILL, Richard Stanley, jurist, was born 
at Vergennes, Jackson County, 111., Nov. 10, 1841. 
After passing through the common schools of his 
native county, he took a preparatory course in a 
high school at St. Louis and in Illinois College, 
Jacksonville, when he entered Middlebury Col- 
lege, Vt., graduating there in 1863. Immediately 
thereafter he joined the Federal army at Vicks- 
burg, and, after serving for some time in a com- 
pany of scouts attached to General Logan's 
command, was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 
First Michigan Light Artillery, with which he 
served until the close of the war, meanwhile 
being twice promoted. During this time he was 
with General Sherman in the march to Meridian, 
and in the Atlanta campaign, also took part with 
General Thomas in the operations against the 
rebel General Hood in Tennessee, and in the 
battle of Nashville. Having resigned his com- 
mission in May, 1865, he took up the study of 
law, which he had prosecuted as he had opportu- 
nity while in the army, and was admitted to the 
bar at Nashville in 1866, afterwards serving for 
a time as Prosecuting Attorney on the Nashville 
circuit. In 1873 he removed to Chicago, two 
years later was elected City Attorney and re- 
elected in 1877 ; was a delegate to the Republican 
National Convention of 1880 and, in 1884, was 
appointed United States District Attorney for 
the Northern District, serving until 1886. In 
1887 he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court of 
Cook County to fill the vacancy caused by the 
death of Judge Rogers, was re-elected for a full 
term in 1891, and again in 1897. 

TYNDALE, Sharon, Secretary of State, born in 
Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 19, 1816; at the age of 17 
came to Belleville, 111., and was engaged for a 
time in mercantile business, later being employed 
in a surveyor's corps under the internal improve- 
ment system of 1837. Having married in 1839, 
he returned soon after to Philadelphia, where he 
engaged in mercantile business with his father ; 



then came to Illinois, a second time, in 1845, spend- 
ing a year or two in business at Peoria. About 
1847 he returned to Belleville and entered upon a 
course of mathematical study, with a view to 
fitting himself more thoroughly for the profession 
of a civil engineer. In 1851 he graduated in 
engineering at Cambridge, Mass., after which he 
was employed for a time on the Sunbury & Erie 
Railroad, and later on certain Illinois railroads. 
In 1857 he was elected County Surveyor of St. 
Clair County, and, in 1861, by appointment of 
President Lincoln, became Postmaster of the city 
of Belleville. He held this position until 1864, 
when he received the Republican nomination for 
Secretary of State and was elected, remaining in 
office four years. He was an earnest advocate, 
and virtually author, of the first act for the regis- 
tration of voters in Illinois, passed at the session 
of 1865. After retiring from office in 1869, he 
continued to reside in Springfield, and was em- 
ployed for a time in the survey of the Gilman, 
Clinton & Springfield Railway now the Spring- 
field Division of the Illinois Central. At an early 
hour on the morning of April 29, 1871, while 
going from his home to the railroad station at 
Springfield, to take the train for St. Louis, he was 
assassinated upon the street by shooting, as sup- 
posed for the purpose of robbery his dead body 
being found a few hours later at the scene of th 
tragedy. Mr. Tyndale was a brother of Gen. 
Hector Tyndale of Pennsylvania, who won a 
high reputation by his services during the war. 
His second wife, who survived him, was a 
daughter of Shadrach Penn, an editor of con- 
siderable reputation who was the contemporary 
and rival of George D. Prentice at Louisville, for 
some years. 

"UNDERGROUND RAILROAD," THE. A 
history of Illinois would be incomplete without 
reference to the unique system which existed 
there, as in other Northern States, from forty to 
seventy years ago, known by the somewhat mys- 
terious title of "The Underground Railroad." 
The origin of the term has been traced (probably 
in a spirit of facetiousness) to the expression of 
a Kentucky planter who, having pursued a fugi- 
tive slave across the Ohio River, was so surprised 
by his sudden disappearance, as soon as he had 
reached the opposite shore, that he was led to 
remark, "The nigger must have gone off on an 
underground road." From "underground road" 
to "underground railroad," the transition would 
appear to have been easy, especially in view of 
the increased facility with which the work was 
performed when railroads came into use. For 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



533 



readers of the present generation, it may be well 
to explain what "The Underground Railroad" 
really was. It may be defined as the figurative 
appellation for a spontaneous movement in the 
free States extending, sometimes, into the 
slave States themselves to assist slaves in their 
efforts to escape from bondage to freedom. The 
movement dates back to a period close to the 
Revolutionary War, long before it received a 
definite name. Assistance given to fugitives 
from one State by citizens of another, became a 
cause of complaint almost as soon as the Govern- 
ment was organized. In fact, the first President 
himself lost a slave who took refuge at Ports- 
mouth, N. H., where the public sentiment was 
so strong against his return, that the patriotic 
and philosophic "Father of his Country" chose 
to let him remain unmolested, rather than "excite 
a mob or riot, or even uneasy sensations, in the 
minds of well-disposed citizens." That the mat- 
ter was already one of concern in the minds of 
slaveholders, is shown by the fact that a provision 
was inserted in the Constitution for their concili- 
ation, guaranteeing the return of fugitives from 
labor, as well as from justice, from one State to 
another. 

In 1793 Congress passed the first Fugitive Slave 
Law, which was signed by President Washing- 
ton. This law provided that the owner, his 
agent or attorney, might follow the slave into 
any State or Territory, and, upon oath or affi- 
davit before a court or magistrate, be entitled 
to a warrant for his return. Any person who 
should hinder the arrest of the fugitive, or who 
should harbor, aid or assist him, knowing him 
to be such, was subject to a fine of $500 for each 
offense. In 1850, fifty-seven years later, the first 
act having proved inefficacious, or conditions 
having changed, a second and more stringent 
law was enacted. This is the one usually referred 
to in discussions of the subject. It provided for 
an increased fine, not to exceed $1,000, and im- 
prisonment not exceeding six months, with 
liability for civil damages to the party injured. 
No proof of ownership was required beyond the 
statement of a claimant, and the accused was not 
permitted to testify for himself. The fee of the 
United States Commissioner, before whom the 
case was tried, was ten dollars if he found for 
the claimant; if not, five dollars. This seemed 
to many an indirect form of bribery ; clearly, it 
made it to the Judge's pecuniary advantage to 
decide in favor of the claimant. The law made 
it possible and easy for a white man to arrest, 
and carry into slavery, any free negro who could 



not immediately prove, by other witnesses, that 
he was born free, or had purchased his freedom. 

Instead of discouraging the disposition, on 
the part of the opponents of slavery, to aid fugi- 
tives in their efforts to reach a region where 
they would be secure in their freedom, the effect 
of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 (as that of 1793 
had been in a smaller degree) was the very oppo- 
site of that intended by its authors unless, 
indeed, they meant to make matters worse. The 
provisions of the act seemed, to many people, so 
unfair, so one-sided, that they rebelled in spirit 
and refused to be made parties to its enforce- 
ment. The law aroused the anti-slavery senti- 
ment of the North, and stimulated the active 
friends of the fugitives to take greater risks in 
their behalf. New efforts on the part of the 
slaveholders were met by a determination to 
evade, hinder and nullify the law. 

And here a strange anomaly is presented. The 
slaveholder, in attempting to recover his slave, 
was acting within his constitutional and legal 
rights. The slave was his property in law. He 
had purchased or inherited his bondman on the 
same plane with his horse or his land, and, apart 
from the right to hold a human being in bond- 
age, regarded his legal rights to the one as good 
as the other. From a legal standpoint his posi- 
tion was impregnable. The slave was his, repre- 
senting so much of money value, and whoever 
was instrumental in the loss of that slave was, 
both theoretically and technically, a partner in 
robbery. Therefore he looked on "The Under- 
ground Railway" as the work of thieves, and en- 
tertained bitter hatred toward all concerned in its 
operation. On the other hand, men who were, 
in all other respects, good citizens often relig- 
iously devout and pillars of the church became 
bold and flagrant violators of the law in relation 
to this sort of property. They set at nought a 
plain provision of the Constitution and the act of 
Congress for its enforcement. Without hope of 
personal gain or reward, at the risk of fine and 
imprisonment, with the certainty of social ostra- 
cism and bitter opposition, they harbored the 
fugitive and helped him forward on every 
occasion. And why? Because they saw in him 
a man, with the same inherent right to "life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness" that they 
themselves possessed. To them this was a higher 
law than any Legislature, State or National, could 
enact. They denied that there could be truly 
such a thing as property in man. Believing that 
the law violated human rights, they justified 
themselves in rendering it null and void. 



534 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



For the most part, the "Underground Rail- 
road" operators and promoters were plain, 
obscure men, without hope of fame or desire for 
notoriety. Yet there were some whose names 
are conspicuous in history, such as Wendell 
Phillips, Thomas Wentworth Higginson and 
Theodore Parker of Massachusetts; Gerrit Smith 
and Thurlow Weed of New York; Joshua R. 
Giddings of Ohio, and Owen Lovejoy of Illinois. 
These had their followers and sympathizers in 
all the Northern States, and even in some por- 
tions of the South. It is a curious fact, that 
some of the most active spirits connected with 
the "Underground Railroad" were natives of the 
South, or had resided there long enough to 
become thoroughly acquainted with the "insti- 
tution." Levi Coffin, who had the reputation of 
being the "President of the Underground Rail* 
road" at least so far as the region west of the 
Ohio was concerned was an active operator on 
the line in North Carolina before his removal 
from that State to Indiana in 1826. Indeed, as a 
system, it is claimed to have had its origin at 
Guilford College, in the "Old North State" in 
1819, though the evidence of this may not be 
conclusive. 

Owing to the peculiar nature of their business, 
no official reports were made, no lists of officers, 
conductors, station agents or operators preserved, 
and few records kept which are now accessible. 
Consequently, we are dependent chiefly upon the 
personal recollection of individual operators for 
a history of their transactions. Each station on 
the road was the house of a "friend" and it is 
significant, in this connection, that in every 
settlement of Friends, or Quakers, there was 
sure to be a house of refuge for the slave. For 
this reason it was, perhaps, that one of the most 
frequently traveled lines extended from Vir- 
ginia and Maryland through Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania, and then on towards New York or directly 
to Canada. From the proximity of Ohio to 
Virginia and Kentucky, and the fact that it 
offered the shortest route through free soil to 
Canada, it was traversed by more lines than any 
other State, although Indiana was pretty 
thoroughly "grid-ironed" by roads to freedom. 
In all, however, the routes were irregular, often 
zigzag, for purposes of security, and the "con- 
ductor" was any one who conveyed fugitives from 
one station to another The "train" was some- 
times a farm-wagon, loaded with produce for 
market at some town (or depot) on the line, fre- 
quently a closed carriage, and it is related that 
once, in Ohio, a number of carriages conveying 



a large party, were made to represent a funeral 
procession. Occasionally the train ran on foot, 
for convenience of side-tracking into the woods 
or a cornfield, in case of pursuit by a wild loco- 
motive. 

Then, again, there were not wanting lawyers 
who, in case the operator, conductor or station 
agent got into trouble, were ready, without fee or 
reward, to defend either him or his human 
freight in the courts. These included such 
names of national repute as Salmon P. Chase, 
Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, William H. 
Seward, Rutherford B. Hayes, Richard H. Dana, 
and Isaac N. Arnold, while, taking the whole 
country over, their "name was legion." And 
there were a few men of wealth, like Thomas 
Garrett of Delaware, willing to contribute money 
by thousands to their assistance. Although 
technically acting in violation of law or, as 
claimed by themselves, in obedience to a "higher 
law" the time has already come when there is a 
disposition to look upon the actors as, in a certain 
sense, heroes, and their deeds as fitly belonging 
to the field of romance. 

The most comprehensive collection of material 
relating to the history of this movement has 
been furnished in a recent volume entitled, "The 
Underground Railroad from Slavery to Free- 
dom," by Prof. Wilbur H. Siebert, of Ohio State 
University ; and, while it is not wholly free from 
errors, both as to individual names and facts, it 
will probably remain as the best compilation of 
history bearing on this subject especially as the 
principal actors are fast passing away. One of 
the interesting features of Prof. Siebert's book is 
a map purporting to give the principal routes 
and stations in the States northwest of the Ohio, 
yet the accuracy of this, as well as the correct- 
ness of personal names given, has been questioned 
by some best informed on the subject. As 
might be expected from its geographical position 
between two slave States Kentucky and Mis- 
souri on the one hand, and the lakes offering a 
highway to Canada on the other, it is naturally 
to be assumed that Illinois would be an attract- 
ive field, both for the fugitive and his sympa- 
thizer. 

The period of greatest activity of the system in 
this State was between 1840 and 1861 the latter 
being the year when the pro-slavery party in the 
South, by their attempt forcibly to dissolve the 
Union, took the business out of the hands of the 
secret agents of the "Underground Railroad," 
and in a certain sense placed it in the hands 
of the Union armies. It was in 1841 that Abra- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



535 



ham Lincoln then a conservative opponent of 
the extension of slavery on an appeal from a 
judgment, rendered by the Circuit Court in Taze- 
well County, in favor of the holder of a note 
given for the service of the indentured slave- 
girl "Nance," obtained a decision from the 
Supreme Court of Illinois upholding the doctrine 
that the girl was free under the Ordinance of 
1787 and the State Constitution, and that the 
note, given to the person who claimed to be her 
owner, was void. And it is a somewhat curious 
coincidence that the same Abraham Lincoln, as 
President of the United States, in the second 
year of the War of the Rebellion, issued the 
Proclamation of Emancipation which finally 
resulted in striking the shackles from the limbs 
of every slave in the Union. 

In the practical operation of aiding fugitives 
in Illinois, it was natural that the towns along 
the border upon the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, 
should have served as a sort of entrepots, or 
initial stations, for the reception of this class of 
freight especially if adjacent to some anti- 
slavery community. This was the case at Ches- 
ter, from which access was easy to Sparta, where 
a colony of Covenanters, or Seceders, was 
located, and whence a route extended, by way of 
Oakdale, Nashville and Centralia, in the direction 
of Chicago. Alton offered convenient access to 
Bond County, where there was a community of 
anti-slavery people at an early day, or the fugi- 
tives could be forwarded northward by way of 
Jerseyville, Waverly and Jacksonville, about 
each of which there was a strong anti-slavery 
sentiment. Quincy, in spite of an intense hos- 
tility among the mass of the community to any- 
thing savoring of abolitionism, became the 
theater of great activity on the part of the 
opponents of the institution, especially after the 
advent there of Dr. David Nelson and Dr. Rich- 
ard Eel Is, both of whom had rendered themselves 
obnoxious to the people of Missouri by extending 
aid to fugitives. The former was a practical 
abolitionist who, having freed his slaves in his 
native State of Virginia, removed to Missouri and 
attempted to establish Marion College, a few miles 
from Palmyra, but was soon driven to Illinois. 
Locating near Quincy, he founded the "Mission 
Institute" there, at which he continued to dis- 
seminate his anti-slavery views, while educating 
young men for missionary work. The "Insti- 
tute" was finally burned by emissaries from Mis- 
souri, while three young men who had been 
connected with it, having been caught in Mis- 
souri, were condemned to twelve years' confine- 



ment in the penitentiary of that State partly on 
the testimony of a negro, although a negro was 
not then a legal witness in the courts against a 
white man. Dr. Eells was prosecuted before 
Stephen A. Douglas (then a Judge of the Circuit 
Court), and fined for aiding a fugitive to escape, 
and the judgment against him was finally con- 
firmed by the Supreme Court after his death, in 
1852, ten years after the original indictment. 

A map in Professor Siebert's book, showing the 
routes and principal stations of the "Undergound 
Railroad," makes mention of the following places 
in Illinois, in addition to those already referred 
to: Carlinville, in Macoupin County; Payson 
and Mendon, in Adams; Washington, in Taze- 
well; Metamora, in Woodford; Magnolia, in Put- 
nam; Galesburg, in Knox; Princeton (the home 
of Owen Love joy and the Bryants), in Bureau; 
and many more. Ottawa appears to have been 
the meeting point of a number of lines, as well 
as the home of a strong colony of practical abo- 
litionists. Cairo also became an important 
transfer station for fugitives arriving by river, 
after the completion of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road, especially as it offered the speediest way of 
reaching Chicago, towards which nearly all the 
lines converged. It was here that the fugitives 
could be most safely disposed of by placing them 
upon vessels, which, without stopping at inter- 
mediate ports, could soon land them on Canadian 
soil. 

As to methods, these differed according to cir- 
cumstances, the emergencies of the occasion, or 
the taste, convenience or resources of the oper- 
ator. Deacon Levi Morse, of Woodford County, 
near Metamora, had a route towards Magnolia, 
Putnam County; and his favorite "car" was a 
farm wagon in which there was a double bottom. 
The passengers were snugly placed below, and 
grain sacks, filled with bran or other light material, 
were laid over, so that the whole presented the 
appearance of an ordinary load of grain on its 
way to market. The same was true as to stations 
and routes. One, who was an operator, says: 
"Wherever an abolitionist happened on a fugi- 
tive, or the converse, there was a station, for the 
time, and the route was to the next anti-slavery 
man to the east or the north. As a general rule, 
the agent preferred not to know anything beyond 
the operation of his own immediate section of the 
road. If he knew nothing about the operations 
of another, and the other knew nothing of his, 
they could not be witnesses in court. 

We have it on the authority of Judge Harvey B. 
Kurd, of Chicago, that runaways were usually 



536 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



forwarded from that city to Canada by way of the 
Lakes, there being several steamers available for 
that purpose. On one occasion thirteen were 
put aboard a vessel under the eyes of a United 
States Marshal and his deputies. The fugitives, 
secreted in a woodshed, one by one took the 
places of colored stevedores carrying wood 
aboard the ship. Possibly the term, "There's a 
nigger in the woodpile," may have originated in 
this incident. Thirteen was an "unlucky num- 
ber" in this instance for the masters. 

Among the notable trials for assisting runaways 
in violation of the Fugitive Slave Law, in addi- 
tion to the case of Dr. Eells, already mentioned, 
were those of Owen Lovejoy of Princeton, and 
Deacon Gushing of Will County, both of whom 
were defended by Judge James Collins of Chi- 
cago. John Hossack and Dr. Joseph Stout of 
Ottawa, with some half-dozen of their neighbors 
and friends, were tried at Ottawa, in 1859, for 
assisting a fugitive and acquitted on a techni- 
cality. A strong array of attorneys, afterwards 
widely known through the northern part of the 
State, appeared for the defense, including Isaac 
N. Arnold, Joseph Knox, B. C. Cook, J. V. Eus- 
tace, Edward S. Leland and E. C. Larned. Joseph 
T. Morse, of Woodford County, was also arrested, 
taken to Peoria and committed to jail, but 
acquitted on trial. 

Another noteworthy case was that of Dr. 
Samuel Willard (now of Chicago) and his father, 
Julius A. Willard, charged with assisting in the 
escape of a fugitive at Jacksonville, in 1843, when 
the Doctor was a student in Illinois College. 
"The National Corporation Reporter," a few 
years ago, gave an account of this affair, together 
with a letter from Dr. Willard, in which he states 
that, after protracted litigation, during which 
the case was carried to the Supreme Court, it was 
ended by his pleading guilty before Judge Samuel 
D. Lockwood, when he was fined one dollar and 
costs the latter amounting to twenty dollars. 
The Doctor frankly adds: "My father, as well 
as myself, helped many fugitives afterwards." 
It did not always happen, however, that offenders 
escaped so easily. 

Judge Harvey B. Hurd, already referred to, 
and an active anti-slavery man in the days of the 
Fugitive Slave Law, relates the following : Once, 
when the trial of a fugitive was going on before 
Justice Kercheval, in a room on the second floor 
of a two-story frame building on Clark Street in 
the city of Chicago, the crowd in attendance 
filled the room, the stairway and the adjoining 
sidewalk. In some way the prisoner got mixed 



in with the audience, and passed down over the 
heads of those on the stairs, where the officers 
were unable to follow. 

In another case, tried before United States 
Commissioner Geo. W. Meeker, the result was 
made to hinge upon a point in the indictment to 
the effect that the fugitive was "copper-colored." 
The Commissioner, as the story goes, being in- 
clined to favor public sentiment, called for a large 
copper cent, that he might make comparison. 
The decision was, that the prisoner was "off 
color," so to speak, and he was hustled out of the 
room before the officers could re-arrest him, as 
they had been instructed to do. 

Dr. Samuel Willard, in a review of Professor 
Siebert's book, published in "The Dial" of Chi 
cago, makes mention of Henry Irving and Will- 
iam Chauncey Carter as among his active allies 
at Jacksonville, with Rev. Bilious Pond and 
Deacon Lyman of Farmington (near the present 
village of Farmingdale in Sangamon County), 
Luther Ransom of Springfield, Andrew Borders 
of Randolph County, Joseph Gerrish of Jersey 
and William T. Allan of Henry, as their coadju- 
tors in other parts of .the State. Other active 
agents or promoters, in the same field, included 
such names as Dr. Charles V. Dyer, Philo Carpen- 
ter, Calvin De Wolf, L. C. P. Freer, Zebina East- 
man, James H. Collins, Harvey B. Hurd, J. Young 
Scammon, Col. J. F. Farnsworth and others of 
Chicago, whose names have already been men- 
tioned; Rev. Asa Turner, Deacon Ballard, J. K. 
Van Dorn and Erastus Benton, of Quincy and 
Adams County; President Rufus Blanchard of 
Knox College, Galesburg ; John Leeper of Bond ; 
the late Prof. J. B. Turner and Elihu Wolcott of 
Jacksonville; Capt. Parker Morse and his four 
sons Joseph T., Levi P., Parker, Jr., and Mark 
of Woodford County ; Rev. William Sloane of 
Randolph ; William Strawn of La Salle, besides a 
host who were willing to aid their fellow men in 
their aspirations to freedom, without advertising 
their own exploits. 

Among the incidents of "Underground Rail- 
road" in Illinois is one which had some importance 
politically, having for its climax a dramatic scene 
in Congress, but of which, so far as known, no 
full account has ever been written. About 1855, 
Ephraim Lombard, a Mississippi planter, but a 
New Englander by birth, purchased a large body 
of prairie land in the northeastern part of Stark 
County, and, taking up his residence temporarily 
in the village of Bradford, began its improve- 
ment. He had brought with him from Mississippi 
a negro, gray-haired and bent with age, a slave 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



537 



of probably no great value. "Old Mose," as he 
was called, soon came to be well known and a 
favorite in the neighborhood. Lombard boldly 
stated that he had brought him there as a slave ; 
that, by virtue of the Dred Scott decision (then 
of recent date), he had a constitutional right to 
take his slaves wherever he pleased, and that 
"Old Mose" was just as much his property in 
Illinois as in Mississippi. It soon became evident 
to some, that his bringing of the negro to Illinois 
was an experiment to test the law and the feel- 
ings of the Northern people. This being the case, 
a shrewd play would have been to let him have 
his way till other slaves should have been 
brought to stock the new plantation. But this 
was too slow a process for the abolitionists, to 
whom the holding of a slave in the free State of 
Illinois appeared an unbearable outrage. It was 
feared that he might take the old negro back to 
Mississippi and fail to bring any others. It was 
reported, also, that "Old Mose" was ill-treated; 
that he was given only the coarsest food in a 
back shed, as if he were a horse or a dog, instead 
of being permitted to eat at table with the family. 
The prairie citizen of that time was very par- 
ticular upon this point of etiquette. The hired 
man or woman, debarred from the table of his or 
her employer, would not have remained a day. 
A quiet consultation with "Old Mose" revealed 
the fact that he would hail the gift of freedom 
joyously. Accordingly, one Peter -Risedorf, and 
another equally daring, met him by the light of 
the stars and, before morning, he was placed in 
the care of Owen Lovejoy, at Princeton, twenty 
miles away. From there he was speedily 
"franked" by the member of Congress to friends 
in Canada. 

There was a great commotion in Bradford over 
the "stealing" of "Old Mose." Lombard and his 
friends denounced the act in terms bitter and 
profane, and threatened vengeance upon the per- 
petrators. The conductors were known only to a 
few, and they kept their secret well. Lovejoy's 
part in the affair, however, soon leaked out. 
Lombard returned to Mississippi, where he 
related his experiences to Mr. Singleton, the 
Representative in Congress from his district. 
During the next session of Congress, Singleton 
took occasion, in a speech, to sneer at Lovejoy as a 
"nigger-stealer, " citing the case of "Old Mose." 
Mr. Lovejoy replied in his usual fervid and 
dramatic style, making a speech which ensured 
his election to Congress for life "Is it desired to 
call attention to this fact of my assisting fugitive 
slaves?" he said. "Owen Lovejoy lives at Prince- 



ton, 111., three-quarters of a mile east of the 
village, and he aids every slave that comes to his 
door and asks it. Thou invisible Demon of 
Slavery, dost thou think to cross my humble 
threshold and forbid me to give bread to the 
hungry and shelter to the homeless? I bid you 
defiance, in the name of my Godl" 

With another incident of an amusing charac- 
ter this article may be closed: Hon. J. Young 
Scammon, of Chicago, being accused of conniving 
at the escape of a slave from officers of the law, 
was asked by the court what he would do if sum- 
moned as one of a posse to pursue and capture a 
fugitive. "I would certainly obey the summons," 
he replied, "but I should probably stub my toe 
and fall down before I reached him." 

NOTE. Those who wish to pursue the subject of the 
" Underground Railroad " in Illinois further, are referred 
to the work of Dr. Siebert, already mentioned, and to the 
various County Histories which have been issued and may 
be found in the public libraries; also for interesting inci- 
dents, to " Reminiscences of Levi Coffin," Johnson's 
" From Dixie to Canada," Petit's Sketches, " Still, Under- 
ground Railroad," and a pamphlet of the same title by 
James H. Fairchild, ex-President of Oberlin College. 

UNDERWOOD, William H., lawyer, legislator 
and jurist, was born at Schoharie Court House, 
N. Y., Feb. 21, 1818, and, after admission to the 
bar, removed to Belleville, 111., where he began 
practice in 1840. The following year he was 
elected State's Attorney, and re-elected in 1843. 
In 1846 he was chosen a member of the lower 
house of the General Assembly, and, in 1848-54, 
sat as Judge of the Second Circuit. During this 
period he declined a nomination to Congress, 
although equivalent to an election. In 1856 he 
was elected State Senator, and re-elected in 1860. 
He was a member of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1869-70, and, in 1870, was again elected to 
the Senate, retiring to private life in 1872. Died, 
Sept. 23, 1875. 

UNION COUNTY, one of the fifteen counties 
into which Illinois was divided at the time of its 
admission as a State having been organized, 
under the Territorial Government, in January, 
1818. It is situated in the southern division of 
the State, bounded on the west by the Mississippi 
River, and has an area of 400 square miles. The 
eastern and interior portions are drained by the 
Cache River and Clear Creek. The western part 
of the county comprises the broad, rich bottom 
lands lying along the Mississippi, but is subject 
to frequent overflow, while the eastern portion is 
hilly, and most of its area originally heavily tim- 
bered. The county is especially rich in minerals. 
Iron-ore, lead, bituminous coal, chalk, alum and 



538 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



potter's clay are found in considerable abun- 
dance. Several lines of railway (the most impor- 
tant being the Illinois Central) either cross or 
tap the county. The chief occupation is agri- 
culture, although manufacturing is carried on to 
a limited extent. Fruit is extensively cultivated. 
Jonesboro is the county-seat, and Cobden and 
Anna important shipping stations. The latter is 
the location of the Southern Hospital for the 
Insane. The population of the county, in 1890, 
was 21,529. Being next to St. Clair, Randolph 
and Gallatin, one of the earliest settled counties 
in the State, many prominent men found their 
first home, on coming into the State, at Jones- 
boro, and this region, for a time, exerted a strong 
influence in public affairs. Pop. (1900), 22,610. 

UNION LEAGUE OF AMERICA, a secret polit- 
ical and patriotic order which had its origin 
early in the late Civil War, for the avowed pur- 
pose of sustaining the cause of the Union and 
counteracting the machinations of the secret 
organizations designed to promote the success of 
the Rebellion. The first regular Council of the 
order was organized at Pekin, Tazewell County, 
June 25, 1862, consisting of eleven members, as 
follows: John W. Glasgow, Dr. D. A. Cheever, 
Hart Montgomery, Maj. Richard N. Cullom 
(father of Senator Cullom), Alexander Small, 
Rev. J. W. M. Vernon, George H. Harlow (after- 
ward Secretary of State), Charles Turner, Col. 
Jonathan Merriam, Henry Pratt and L. F. Gar- 
rett. One of the number was a Union refugee 
from Tennessee, who dictated the first oath from 
memory, as administered to members of a some- 
what similar order which had been organized 
among the Unionists of his own State. It sol- 
emnly pledged the taker, (1) to preserve invio- 
late the secrets and business of the order; (2) to 
"support, maintain, protect and defend the civil 
liberties of the Union of these United States 
against all enemies, either domestic or foreign, 
at all times and under all circumstances," even 
"if necessary, to the sacrifice of life"; (3) to aid 
in electing only true Union men to offices of 
trust in the town, county, State and General 
Government; (4) to assist, protect and defend 
any member of the order who might be in peril 
from his connection with the order, and (5) to 
obey all laws, rules or regulations of any Council 
to which the taker of the oath might be attached. 
The oath was taken upon the Bible, the Decla- 
ration of Independence and Constitution of the 
United States, the taker pledging his sacred 
honor to its fulfillment. A special reason for the 
organization existed in the activity, about this 



time, of the "Knights of the Golden Circle," a 
disloyal organization which had been introduced 
from the South, and which afterwards took the 
name, in the North, of "American Knights" and 
' 'Sons of Liberty. ' ' (See Secret Treasonable Soci- 
eties.) Three months later, the organization had 
extended to a number of other counties of the 
State and, on the 25th of September following, 
the first State Council met at Bloomington 
twelve counties being represented and a State 
organization was effected. At this meeting the 
following general officers were chosen: Grand 
President Judge Mark Bangs, of Marshall 
County (now of Chicago) ; Grand Vice-President 
Prof. Daniel Wilkin, of McLean ; Grand Secre- 
tary George H. Harlow, of Tazewell; Grand 
Treasurer H. S. Austin, of Peoria, Grand Mar- 
shal J. R. Gorin, of Macon; Grand Herald 
A. Gould, of Henry; Grand Sentinel John E. 
Rosette, of Sangamon. An Executive Committee 
was also appointed, consisting of Joseph Medill 
of "The Chicago Tribune"; Dr. A. J. McFar- 
land, of Morgan County ; J. K. Warren, of Macon ; 
Rev. J. C. Rybolt, of La Salle; the President, 
Judge Bangs; Enoch Emery, of Peoria; and 
John E. Rosette. Under the direction of this 
Committee, with Mr. Medill as its Chairman, 
the constitution and by-laws were thoroughly 
revised and a new ritual adopted, which materi- 
ally changed the phraseology and removed some 
of the crudities of the original obligation, as well 
as increased the beauty and impressiveness of 
the initiatory ceremonies. New signs, grips and 
pass- words were also adopted, which were finally 
accepted by the various organizations of the 
order throughout the Union, which, by this time, 
included many soldiers in the army, as well as 
civilians. The second Grand (or State) Council 
was held at Springfield, January 14, 1863, with 
only seven counties represented. The limited 
representation was discouraging, but the mem- 
bers took heart from the inspiring words of Gov- 
ernor Yates, addressed to a committee of the 
order who waited upon him. At a special ses- 
sion of the Executive Committee, held at Peoria, 
six days later, a vigorous campaign was 
mapped out, under which agents were sent 
into nearly every county in the State. In Oc- 
tober, 1862, the strength of the order in Illi- 
nois was estimated at three to five thousand; 
a few months later, the number of enrolled 
members had increased to 50,000 so rapid 
had been the growth of the order. On March 
25, 1863, a Grand Council met in Chicago 
404 Councils in Illinois being represented, with 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



539 



a number from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin, Iowa and Minnesota. At this meeting a 
Committee was appointed to prepare a plan of 
organization for a National Grand Council, which 
was carried out at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 20th 
of May following the constitution, ritual and 
signs of the Illinois organization being adopted 
with slight modifications. The i e vised obligation 
taken upon the Bible, the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence and the Constitution of the United 
States bound members of the League to "sup- 
port, protect and defend the Government of the 
United States and the flag thereof, against all 
enemies, foreign and domestic," and to" bear true 
faith and allegiance to the same"; to "defend 
the State against invasion or insurrection"; to 
support only "true and reliable men" for offices 
of trust and profit; to protect and defend 
worthy members, and to preserve inviolate the 
secrets of the order. The address to new mem- 
bers was a model of impressiveness and a powerful 
appeal to their patriotism. The organization 
extended rapidly, not only throughout the North- 
west, but in the South also, especially in the 
army. In 1864 the number of Councils in Illinois 
was estimated at 1,300, with a membership of 
175, 000; and it is estimated that the total mem- 
bership, throughout the Union, was 2,000,000. 
The influence of the silent, but zealous and effect- 
ive, operations of the organization, was shown, 
not only in the stimulus given to enlistments and 
support of the war policy of the Government, 
but in the raising of supplies for the sick and 
wounded soldiers in the field. Within a few 
weeks before the fall of Vicksburg, over $25,000 in 
cash, besides large quantities of stores, were sent 
to Col. John Williams (then in charge of the 
Sanitary Bureau at Springfield), as the direct 
result of appeals made through circulars sent out 
by the officers of the "League." Large contri- 
butions of money and supplies also reached the 
sick and wounded in hospital through the medium 
of the Sanitary Commission in Chicago. Zealous 
efforts were made by the opposition to get at the 
secrets of the order, and, in one case, a complete 
copy of the ritual was published by one of their 
organs ; but the effect was so far the reverse of 
what was anticipated, that this line of attack was 
not continued. During the stormy session of the 
Legislature in 1868, the League is said to have 
rendered effective service in protecting Gov- 
ernor Yates from threatened assassination. It 
continued its silent but effective operations until 
the complete overthrow of the rebellion, when it 
ceased to exist as a political organization. 



UNITED STATES SENATORS. The follow- 
ing is a list of United States senators from Illinois, 
from the date of the admission of the State into 
the Union until 1899, with the date and duration 
of the term of each : Ninian Edwards, 1818-24 ; 
Jesse B. Thomas, Sr., 1818-29; John McLean, 
1824-25 and 1829-30; Elias Kent Kane, 1825-35; 
David Jewett Baker, Nov. 12 to Dec. 11, 1830; 
John M. Robinson, 1830-41 ; William L. D. Ewing, 
1835-37; Richard M. Young, 1837-43; Samuel Mc- 
Roberts, 1841-43; Sidney Breese, 1843-49; James 
Semple, 1843-47; Stephen A. Douglas, 1847-61; 
James Shields, 1849-55; Lyman Trumbull, 1855-73; 
Orville H. Browning, 1861-63; William A. Rich- 
ardson, 1863-65; Richard Yates, 1865-71; John A. 
Logan, 1871-77 and 1879-86; Richard J. Oglesby, 
1873-79; David Davis, 1877-83; Shelby M. Cullom, 
first elected in 1883, and re-elected in '89 and '95, 
his third term expiring in 1901 ; Charles B. Far- 
well, 1887-91; John McAuley Palmer, 1891-97; 
William E. Mason, elected in 1897, for the term 
expiring, March 4, 1903. 

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (The New). One 
of the leading educational institutions of the 
country, located at Chicago. It is the outgrowth 
of an attempt, put forth by the American Educa- 
tional Society (organized at Washington in 1888), 
to supply the place which the original institution 
of the same name had been designed to fill. (See 
University of Chicago The Old.) The following 
year, Mr. John D. Rockefeller of New York ten- 
dered a contribution of $600,000 toward the endow- 
ment of the enterprise, conditioned upon securing 
additional pledges to the amount of $400,000 by 
June 1, 1890. The offer was accepted, and the 
sum promptly raised. In addition, a site, covering 
four blocks of land in the city of Chicago, was 
secured two and one-half blocks being acquired 
by purchase for $282,500, and one and one-half 
(valued at $125,000) donated by Mr. Marshall 
Field. A charter was secured and an organiza- 
tion effected, Sept. 10, 1890. The Presidency of 
the institution was tendered to, and accepted by, 
Dr. William R. Harper. Since that time the 
University has been the recipient of other gener- 
ous benefactions by Mr. Rockefeller and others, 
until the aggregate donations (1898) exceed $10,- 
000,000. Of this amount over one-half has been 
contributed by Mr. Rockefeller, while he has 
pledged himself to make additional contributions 
of $2,000,000, conditioned upon the raising of a 
like sum, from other donors, by Jan. 1, 1900. The 
buildings erected on the campus, prior to 1896, 
include a chemical laboratory costing $182,000; a 
lecture hall, $150,000; a physical laboratory 



540 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



$150,000; a museum, $100,000; an academy dor- 
mitory, $30,000; three dormitories for women, 
$150,000; two dormitories for men, $100,000, to 
which several important additions were made 
during 1896 and '97. The faculty embraces over 
150 instructors, selected with reference to their 
fitness for their respective departments from 
among the most eminent scholars in America and 
Europe. Women are admitted as students and 
graduated upon an equality with men. The work 
of practical instruction began in October, 1892, 
with 589 registered students, coming from nearly 
every Northern State, and including 250 gradu- 
ates from other institutions, to which accessions 
were made, during the year, raising the aggregate 
to over 900. The second year the number ex- 
ceeded 1,100; the third, it rose to 1,750, and the 
fourth (1895-96), to some 2,000, including repre- 
sentatives from every State of the Union, besides 
many from foreign countries. Special features 
of the institution include the admission of gradu- 
ates from other institutions to a post-graduate 
course, and the University Extension Division, 
which is conducted largely by means of lecture 
courses, in other cities, or through lecture centers 
in the vicinity of the University, non-resident 
students having the privilege of written exami- 
nations. The various libraries embrace over 
300,000 volumes, of which nearly 60,000 belong 
to what are called the "Departmental Libraries," 
besides a large and valuable collection of maps 
and pamphlets. 

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (The Old), an 
educational institution at Chicago, under the 
care of the Baptist denomination, for some years 
known as the Douglas University. Senator 
Stephen A. Douglas offered, in 1854, to donate ten 
acres of land, in wliat was then near the southern 
border of the city of Chicago, as a site for an 
institution of learning, provided buildings cost- 
ing $100,000, be erected thereon within a stipu- 
lated time. The corner-stone of the main building 
was laid, July 4, 1857, but the financial panic of 
that year prevented its completion, and Mr. Doug- 
las extended the time, and finally deeded the 
land to the trustees without reserve. For eighteen 
years the institution led a precarious existence, 
struggling under a heavy debt. By 1885, mort- 
gages to the amount of $320,000 having accumu- 
lated, the trustees abandoned further effort, and 
acquiesced in the sale of the property under fore- 
closure proceedings. The original plan of the 
institution contemplated preparatory and col- 
legiate departments, together with a college of 
law and a theological school. 



UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, the leading edu- 
cational institution under control of the State, 
located at Urbana and adjoining the city of 
Champaign. The Legislature at the session of 1863 
accepted a grant of 480, 000 acres of land under 
Act of Congress, approved July 2, 1862, making an 
appropriation of public lands to States 30,000 
acres for each Senator and each Representative in 
Congress establishing colleges for teaching agri- 
culture and the mechanic arts, though not to the 
exclusion of classical and scientific studies. Land- 
scrip under this grant was issued and placed in 
the hands of Governor Yates, and a Board of 
Trustees appointed under the State law was organ- 
ized in March, 1867, the institution being located 
the same year. Departments and courses of study 
were established, and .Dr. John M. Gregory, of 
Michigan, was chosen Regent (President). The 
landscrip issued to Illinois was sold at an early 
day for what it would bring in open market, 
except 25,000 acres, which was located in Ne- 
braska and Minnesota. This has recently been 
sold, realizing a larger sum than was received 
for all the scrip otherwise disposed of. The entire 
sum thus secured for permanent endowment ag- 
gregates $613,026. The University revenues were 
further increased by donations from Congress to 
each institution organized under the Act of 1862, 
of $15,000 per annum for the maintenance of an 
Agricultural Experiment Station, and, in 1890, of 
a similar amount for instruction the latter to be 
increased $1,000 annually until it should reach 
$25,000. A mechanical building was erected in 
1871, and this is claimed to have been the first of 
its kind in America intended for strictly educa- 
tional purposes. What was called "the main 
building" was formally opened in December, 
1873. Other buildings embrace a "Science Hall," 
opened in 1892; a new "Engineering Hall," 1894; 
a fine Library Building, 1897. Eleven other prin- 
cipal structures and a number of smaller ones 
have been erected as conditions required. The 
value of property aggregates nearly $2,500,000, and 
appropriations from the State, for all purposes, 
previous to 1904, foot up $5,123,517.90. Since 
1871 the institution has been open to women. 
The courses of study embrace agriculture, chem- 
istry, polytechnics, military tactics, natural and 
general sciences, languages and literature, eco- 
nomics, household science, trade and commerce. 
The Graduate School dates from 1891. In 1896 
the Chicago College of Pharmacy was connected 
with the University: a College of Law and a 
Library School were opened in 1897, and the same 
year the Chicago College of Physicians and [Sur- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



541 



geons was affiliated as the College of Medicine a 
School of Dentistry being added to the latter in 
1901. In 1885 the State Laboratory of Natural 
History was transferred from Normal, 111., and an 
Agricultural Experiment Station entablished in 
1888, from which bulletins are sent to farmers 
throughout the State who may desire them. The 
first name of the Institution was "Illinois Indus- 
trial University," but, in 1885, this was changed 
to "University of Illinois." In 1887 the Trustees 
(of whom there are nine) were made elective by 
popular vote three being elected every two 
years, each holding office six years. Dr. Gregory, 
having resigned the office of Regent in 1880, was 
succeeded by Dr. Selim H. Peabody, who had 
been Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineer- 
ing. Dr. Peabody resigned in 1891. The duties 
of Regent were then discharged by Prof. Thomas 
J. Burrill until August, 1894, when Dr. Andrew 
Sloan Draper, former State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction of the State of New York, was 
installed as President, serving until 1904. The 
corps of instruction (1904) includes over 100 Pro- 
fessors, 60 Associate and Assistant Professors and 
200 Instructors and Assistants, besides special 
lecturers, demonstrators and clerks. The num- 
ber of students has increased rapidly in recent 
years, as shown by the following totals for suc- 
cessive years from 1890-91 to 1903-04, inclusive: 
519; 583; 714; 743; 810; 852; 1,075; 1,582; 1,824; 
2,234 ; 2,505 ; 2,932; 3,289 ; 3,589. Of the last num- 
ber, 2,271 were men and 718 women. During 
1903-04 there were in all departments at Urbana, 
2,547 students (256 being in the Preparatory Aca- 
demy) ; and in the three Professional Departments 
in Chicago, 1,042, of whom 694 were in the Col- 
lege of Medicine, 185 in the School of Pharmacy, 
and 163 in the School of Dentistry. The Univer- 
sity Library contains 63,700 volumes and 14,500 
pamphlets, not including 5,350 volumes and 
15,850 pamphlets in the State Laboratory of Nat- 
ural History. The University occupies a con- 
spicuous and attractive site, embracing 220 acres 
adjacent to the line between Urbana and Cham- 
paign, and near the residence portion of the two 
cities. The athletic field of 11 acres, on which 
stand the gymnasium and armory, is enclosed 
with an ornamental iron fence. The campus, 
otherwise, is an open and beautiful park with 
fine landscape effects. 

UNORGANIZED COUNTIES. In addition to 
the 102 counties into which Illinois is divided, 
acts were passed by the General Assembly, 
at different times, providing for the organiza- 
tion of a number of others, a few of which 



were subsequently organized under different 
names, but the majority of which were never 
organized at all the proposition for such or- 
ganization being rejected by vote of the people 
within the proposed boundaries, or allowed to 
lapse by non-action. These unorganized coun- 
ties, with the date of the several acts authorizing 
them, and the territory which they were in- 
tended to include, were as follows: Allen 
County (1841) comprising portions of Sanga- 
mon, Morgan and Macoupin Counties ; Audobon 
(Audubon) County (1843) from portions of Mont- 
gomery, Fayette and Shelby; Benton County 
(1843) from Morgan, Greene and Macoupin; 
Coffee County (1837) with substantially the 
same territory now comprised within the bound- 
aries of Stark County, authorized two years 
later; Dane County (1839) name changed to 
Christian in 1840; Harrison County (1855) 
from McLean, Champaign and Vermilion, com- 
prising territory since partially incorporated 
in Ford County; Holmes County (1857) from 
Champaign and Vermilion; Marquette County 
(1843), changed (1847) to Highland compris- 
ing the northern portion of Adams, (this act 
was accepted, with Columbus as the county- 
seat, but organization finally vacated) ; Michi- 
gan County (1837) from a part of Cook; Milton 
County (1843) from the south part of Vermil- 
ion; Okaw County (1841) comprising substan- 
tially the same territory as Moultrie, organized 
under act of 1843; Oregon County (1851) from 
parts of Sangamon, Morgan and Macoupin Coun- 
ties, and covering substantially the same terri- 
tory as proposed to be incorporated in Allen 
County ten years earlier. The last act of this 
character was passed in 1867, when an attempt 
was made to organize Lincoln County out of 
parts of Champaign and Vermilion, but which 
failed for want of an affirmative vote. 

UPPER ALTON, a city of Madison County, 
situated on the Chicago & Alton Railroad, about 
1 miles northeast of Alton laid out in 1816. It 
has several churches, and is the seat of Shurtleff 
College and the Western Military Academy, the 
former founded about 1831, and controlled by the 
Baptist denomination. Beds of excellent clay are 
found in the vicinity and utilized in pottery 
manufacture. Pop. (1890), 1,803; (1900), 2,373. 

UPTON, George Putnam, journalist, was born 
at Roxbury, Mass., Oct. 25, 1834; graduated from 
Brown University in 1854, removed to Chicago 
in 1855, and began newspaper work on "The 
Native American," the following year taking 
the place of city editor of "The Evening Jour- 



542 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



nal." In 1862, Mr. Upton became musical critic 
on "The Chicago Tribune," serving for a time 
also as its war correspondent in the field, later 
(about 1881) taking a place on the general edi- 
torial staff, which he still retains. He is regarded 
as an authority on musical and dramatic topics. 
Mr. Upton is also a stockholder in, and, for sev- 
eral years, has been Vice-President of the "Trib- 
une" Company. Besides numerous contributions 
to magazines, his works include: "Letters of 
Peregrine Pickle" (1869) ; "Memories, a Story of 
German Love," translated from the German of 
Max Muller (1879) ; "Woman in Music" (1880) ; 
"Lives of German Composers" (3 vols. 1883-84); 
besides four volumes of standard operas, oratorios, 
cantatas, and symphonies (1885-88). 

TJRBANA, a nourishing city, the county-seat 
of Champaign County, on the "Big Four," the 
Illinois Central and the Wabash Railways: 130 
miles south of Chicago and 31 miles west of Dan- 
ville; in agricultural and coal-mining region. 
The mechanical industries include extensive rail- 
road shops, manufacture of brick, suspenders and 
lawn-mowers. The Cunningham Deaconesses' 
Home and Orphanage is located here. The city 
lias water-works, gas and electric light plants, 
electric car-lines (local and interurban), superior 
schools, nine churches, three banks and three 
newspapers. Urbana is the seat of the University 
of Illinois. Pop. (1890), 3,511; (1900), 5,728. 

CSREY, William J., editor and soldier, was 
born at Washington (near Natchez), Miss., May 
16, 1827 ; was educated at Natchez, and, before 
reaching manhood, came to Macon County, 111., 
where he engaged in teaching until 1846, when 
he enlisted as a private in Company C, Fourth 
Illinois Volunteers, for the Mexican War. In 
1855, he joined with a Mr. Wingate in the estab- 
lishment, at Decatur, of "The Illinois State Chron- 
icle," of which he soon after took sole charge, 
conducting the paper until 1861, when he enlisted 
in the Thirty-fifth Illinois Volunteers and was 
appointed Adjutant. Although born and edu- 
cated in a slave State, Mr. Usrey was an earnest 
opponent of slavery, as proved by the attitude of 
his paper in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill. He was one of the most zealous endorsers 
of the proposition for a conference of the Anti- 
Nebraska editors of the State of Illinois, to agree 
upon a line of policy in opposition to the further 
extension of slavery, and, when that body met at 
Decatur, on Feb. 22, 1856, he served as its Secre- 
tary, thus taking a prominent part in the initial 
steps which resulted in the organization of the 
Republican party in Illinois. (See Anti-Nebraska 



Editorial Convention.) After returning from 
the war he resumed his place as editor of "The 
Chronicle," but finally retired from newspaper 
work in 1871. He was twice Postmaster of the 
city of Decatur, first previous to 1850, and again 
under the administration of President Grant; 
served also as a member of the City Council and 
was a member of the local Post of the G. A. R., 
and Secretary of the Macon County Association 
of Mexican War Veterans. Died, at Decatur, 
Jan. 20, 1894. 

UTICA, (also called North Utica), a village of 
La Salle County, on the Illinois & Michigan 
Canal and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
Railway, 10 miles west of Ottawa, situated on the 
Illinois River opposite "Starved Rock," also 
believed to stand on the site of the Kaskaskia 
village found by the French Explorer, La Salle, 
when he first visited Illinois. "Utica cement" is 
produced here; it also has several factories or 
mills, besides banks and a weekly paper. Popu- 
lation (1880), 767; (1890), 1,094; (1900), 1,150. 

VAN ARNAM, John, lawyer and soldier, was 
born at Plattsburg, N. Y., March 3, 1820. Hav- 
ing lost his father at five years of age, he went to 
live with a farmer, but ran away in his boyhood ; 
later, began teaching, studied law, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in New York City, beginning 
practice at Marshall, Mich. In 1858 he removed 
to Chicago, and, as a member of the firm of 
Walker, Van Arnam & Dexter, became promi- 
nent as a criminal lawyer and railroad attorney, 
being for a time Solicitor of the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy Railroad. In 1862 he assisted in 
organizing the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry and was commissioned 
its Colonel, but was compelled to resign on 
account of illness. After spending some time in 
California, he resumed practice in Chicago in 
1865. His later years were spent in California, 
dying at San Diego, in that State, April 6, 1890. 

VANDALIA, the principal city and county-seat 
of Fayette County. It is situated on the Kas- 
kaskia River, 30 miles north of Centralia, 62 
miles south by west of Decatur, and 68 miles 
east-northeast of St. Louis. It is an intersecting 
point for the Illinois Central and the St. Louis, 
Vandalia and Terre Haute Railroads. It was the 
capital of the State from 1820 to 1839, the seat of 
government being removed to Springfield, the 
latter year, in accordance with act of the General 
Assembly passed at the session of 1837. It con- 
tains a court house (old State Capitol building), 
six churches, two banks, three weekly papers, a 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



543 



graded school, flour, saw and paper mills, foundry, 
stave and heading mill, carriage and wagon 
and brick works. Pop. (1890), 2,144; (1900), 2,665. 
VANDEVEER, Horatio M., pioneer lawyer, 
was born in Washington County, Ind., March 1, 
1816 ; came with his family to Illinois at an early 
age, settling on Clear Creek, now in Christian 
County; taught school and studied law, using 
books borrowed from the late Hon. John T. Stuart 
of Springfield ; was elected first County Recorder 
of Christian County and, soon after, appointed 
Circuit Clerk, filling both offices three years. 
He also held the office of County Judge from 1848 
to 1857 ; was twice chosen Representative in the 
General Assembly (1842 and 1850) and once to the 
State Senate (1862); in 1846, enlisted and was 
chosen Captain of a company for the Mexican 
War, but, having been rejected on account of the 
quota being full, was appointed Assistant-Quarter- 
master, in this capacity serving on the staff of 
General Taylor at the battle of Buena Vista. 
Among other offices held by Mr. Vandeveer, were 
those of Postmaster of Taylorville, Master in 
Chancery, Presidential Elector (1848), Delegate 
to the Constitutional Convention of 1862, and 
Judge of the Circuit Court (1870-79). In 1868 
Judge Vandeveer established the private banking 
firm of H. M. Vandeveer & Co., at Taylorville, 
which, in conjunction with his sons, he continued 
successfully during the remainder of his life. 
Died, March 12, 1894. 

VAN HORNE, William C., Railway Manager 
and President, was born in Will County, 111., 
February, 1843 ; began his career as a telegraph 
operator on the Illinois Central Railroad in 1856, 
was attached to the Michigan Central and Chi- 
cago & Alton Railroads (1858-72), later being 
General Manager or General Superintendent of 
various other lines (1872-79). He next served as 
General Superintendent of the Chicago, Milwau- 
kee & St. Paul, but soon after became General 
Manager of the Canadian Pacific, which he 
assisted to construct to the Pacific Coast; was 
elected Vice-President of the line in 1884, and its 
President in 1888. His services have been recog- 
nized by conferring upon him the order of 
knighthood by the British Government. 

YASSEUR, Noel C., pioneer Indian-trader, was 
born of French parentage in Canada, Dec. 25, 
1799 ; at the age of 17 made a trip with a trading 
party to the West, crossing Wisconsin by way of 
the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, the route pursued 
by Joliet and Marquette in 1673 ; later, was associ- 
ated with Gurdon S. Hubbard in the service of 
the American Fur Company, in 1820 visiting the 



region now embraced in Iroquois County, where 
he and Hubbard subsequently established a trad- 
ing post among the Pottawatomie Indians, 
believed to have been the site of the present town 
of Iroquois. The way of reaching their station 
from Chicago was by the Chicago and Des 
Plaines Rivers to the Kankakee, and ascending 
the latter and the Iroquois. Here Vasseur re- 
mained in trade until the removal of the Indians 
west of the Mississippi, in which he served as 
agent of the Government. While in the Iroquois 
region he married Watseka, a somewhat famous 
Pottawatomie woman, for whom the town of 
Watseka was named, and who had previously 
been the Indian wife of a fellow-trader. His 
later years were spent at Bourbonnais Grove, in 
Kankakee County, where he died, Dec. 12, 1879. 

YENICE, a city of Madison County, on the 
Mississippi River opposite St. Louis and 2 miles 
north of East St. Louis ; is touched by six trunk 
lines of railroad, and at the eastern approach to 
the new "Merchants' Bridge," with its round- 
house, has two ferries to St. Louis, street car line, 
electric lights, water-works, some manufactures 
and a newspaper. Pop. (1890), 932; (1900) 2,450. 

YENICE & CARONDELET RAILROAD. (See 
Louisville, EvcMsville & St. Louis (Consolidated) 
Railroad. ) 

VERMILION COUNTY, an eastern county, 
bordering on the Indiana State line, and drained 
by the Vermilion and Little Vermilion Rivers, 
from which it takes its name. It was originally 
organized in 1826, when it extended north to 
Lake Michigan. Its present area is 926 square 
miles. The discovery of salt springs, in 1819, 
aided in attracting immigration to this region, 
but the manufacture of salt was abandoned 
many years ago. Early settlers were Seymour 
Treat, James Butler, Henry Johnston, Harvey 
Lidington, Gurdon S. Hubbard and Daniel W. 
Beckwith. James Butler and Achilles Morgan 
were the first County Commissioners. Many 
interesting fossil remains have been found, 
among them the skeleton of a mastodon (1868). 
Fire clay is found in large quantities, and two 
coal seams cross the county. The surface is level 
and the soil fertile. Corn is the chief agricultural 
product, although oats, wheat, rye, and potatoes 
are extensively cultivated. Stock-raising and 
wool-growing are important industries. There 
are also several manufactories, chiefly at Dan- 
ville, which is the county-seat. Coal mining 
is carried on extensively, especially in the vicin- 
ity of Danville. Population (1880), 41,588; (1890), 
49,905; (1900), 65,635. 



544 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



VERMILION RIVER, a tributary of the Illi- 
nois; rises in Ford and the northern part of 
McLean County, and, running northwestward 
through Livingston and the southern part of 
La Salle Counties, enters the Illinois River 
nearly opposite the city of La Salle ; has a length 
of about 80 miles. 

VERMILION RIVER, an affluent of the Wa- 
bash, formed by the union of the North, Middle 
and South Forks, which rise in Illinois, and 
come together near Danv'-lle in this State. It 
flows southeastward, and enters the Wabash in 
Vermilion County, Ind. The main stream is 
about 28 miles long. The South Fork, however, 
which rises in Champaign County and runs east- 
ward, has a length of nearly 75 miles. The 
Little Vermilion River enters the Wabash about 
7 or 8 miles below the Vermilion, which is some- 
times called the Big Vermilion, by way of 
distinction. 

VERMONT, a village in Fulton County, at 
junction of Galesburg and St. Louis Division of 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 24 
miles north of Beardstown ; has a carriage manu- 
factory, flour and saw-mills, brick and tile works, 
electric light plant, besides two banks, four 
churches, two graded schools, and one weekly 
newspaper. An artesian well has been sunk here 
to the depth of 2,600 feet. Pop. (1900), 1,195. 

VERSAILLES, a town of Brown County, on 
the Wabash Railway, 48 miles east of Quincy ; is 
in a timber and agricultural district ; has a bank 
and weekly newspaper. Population (1900), 524. 

VIENNA, the county-seat of Johnson County, 
situated on the Cairo and Vincennes branch of 
the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
Railroad, 36 miles north-northwest of Cairo. It 
has a court house, several churches, a graded 
school, banks and two weekly newspapers. 
Population (1880), 494; (1890), 828; (1900), 1,217. 

VIGO, Francois, pioneer and early Indian- 
trader, was born at Mondovi, Sardinia (Western 
Italy), in 1747, served as a private soldier, first at 
Havana and afterwards at New Orleans. When 
he left the Spanish army he came to St. Louis, 
then the military headquarters of Spain for Upper 
Louisiana, where he became a partner of Com- 
mandant de Leba, and was extensively engaged 
in the fur-trade among the Indians on the Ohio 
and Mississippi Rivers. On the occupation of 
Kaskaskia by Col. George Rogers Clark in 1778, 
he rendered valuable aid to the Americans, turn- 
ing out supplies to feed Clark's destitute soldiers, 
and accepting Virginia Continental money, at 
par, in payment, incurring liabilities in excess of 



$20,000. This, followed by the confiscation policy 
of the British Colonel Hamilton, at Vincennes, 
where Vigo had considerable property, reduced 
him to extreme penury. H. W. Beckwith says 
that, towards the close of his life, he lived on his 
little homestead near Vincennes, in great poverty 
but cheerful to the last He was never recom- 
pensed during his life for his sacrifices in behalf 
of the American cause, though a tardy restitution 
was attempted, after his death, by the United 
States Government, for the benefit of his heirs. 
He died, at a ripe old age, at Vincennes, Ind., 
March 22, 1835. 

VILLA RIDGE, a village of Pulaski County, 
on the Illinois Central Railway, 10 miles north of 
Cairo. Population, 500. 

VINCENNES, Jean Baptiste Bissot, a Canadian 
explorer, born at Quebec, January, 1688, of aris- 
tocratic and wealthy ancestry. He was closely 
connected with Louis Joliet probably his 
brother-in-law, although some historians say that 
he was the latter's nephew. He entered the 
Canadian army as ensign in 1701, and had a long 
and varied experience as , an Indian fighter. 
About 1725 he took up his residence on what is 
now the site of the present city of Vincennes, 
Ind., which is named in his honor. Here he 
erected an earth fort and established a trading- 
post. In 1726, under orders, he co-operated with 
D'Artaguiette (then the French Governor of Illi- 
nois) in an expedition against the Chickasaws.. 
The expedition resulted disastrously. Vincennes 
and D'Artaguiette were captured and burned 
at the stake, together with Father Senat (a 
Jesuit priest) and others of the command. 
(See also D'Artaguiette; French Governors of 
Illinois.) 

VIRDEN, a city of Macoupin County, on the 
Chicago & Alton and the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroads, 21 miles south by west from 
Springfield, and 31 miles east-southeast of Jack- 
sonville. It has five churches, two banks, two 
newspapers, telephone service, electric lights, 
grain elevators, machine shop, and extensive coal 
mines. Pop.(1900), 2,280; (school census!903),3,651. 

VIRGINIA, an incorporated city, the county- 
seat of Cass County, situated at the intersection of 
the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis, with the Spring- 
field Division of the Baltimore & Ohio South- 
western Railroad, 15 miles north of Jacksonville, 
and 33 miles west-northwest of Springfield. It 
lies in the heart of a rich agricultural region. 
There is a flouring mill here, besides manu- 
factories of wagons and cigars. The city has two 
National and one State bank, five churches, a 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



545 



high school, and two weekly papers. Pop. (1890), 
1,602; (1900), 1,600. 

YOCKE, William, lawyer, was born at Min- 
den, Westphalia (Germany), in 1839, the son of a 
Government Secretary in the Prussian service. 
Having lost his father at an early age, he emi- 
grated to America in 1856, and, after a short 
stay in New York, came to Chicago, where he 
found employment as a paper-carrier for "The 
Staats-Zeitung, " meanwhile giving his attention 
to the study of law. Later, he became associated 
with a real-estate firm; on the commencement 
of the Civil War, enlisted as a private in a 
three -months' regiment, and, finally, in the 
Twenty-fourth Illinois (the first Hecker regi- 
ment), in which he rose to the rank of Captain. 
Returning from the army, he was employed as 
city editor of "The Staats-Zeitung," but, in 
1865, became Clerk of the Chicago Police Court, 
serving until 1869. Meanwhile he had been 
admitted to the bar, and, on retirement from 
office, began practice, but, in 1870, was elected 
Representative in the Twenty-seventh General 
Assembly, in which he bore a leading part in 
framing "the burnt record act" made necessary 
by the fire of 1871. He has since been engaged 
in the practice of his profession, having been, 
for a number of years, attorney for the German 
Consulate at Chicago, also serving, for several 
years, on the Chicago Board of Education. Mr. 
Vocke is a man of high literary tastes, as shown 
by his publication, in 1869, of a volume of poems 
translated from the German, which has been 
highly commended, besides a legal work on 
"The Administration of Justice in the United 
States, and a Synopsis of the Mode of Procedure 
in our Federal and State Courts and All Federal 
and State Laws relating to Subjects of Interest 
to Aliens," which has been published in the Ger- 
man Language, and is highly valued by German 
lawyers and business men. Mr. Vocke was a 
member of the Republican National Convention 
of 1872 at Philadelphia, which nominated General 
Grant for the Presidency a second time. 

YOLK, Leonard Wells, a distinguished Illinois 
sculptor, born at Wellstown (afterwards Wells), 
N. Y., Nov. 7, 1828. Later, his father, who was 
a marble cutter , removed to Pittsfield, Mass. , 
and, at the age of 16, Leonard began work in his 
shop. In 1848 he came west and began model- 
ing in clay and drawing at St. Louis, being only 
self-taught. He married a cousin of Stephen A. 
Douglas, and the latter, in 1855, aided him in 
the prosecution of his art studies in Italy. Two 
years afterward he settled in Chicago, where he 



modeled the first portrait bust ever made in the 
city, having for his subject his first patron the 
"Little Giant." The next year (1858) he made a 
life-size marble statue of Douglas. In 1860 he 
made a portrait bust of Abraham Lincoln, which 
passed into the possession of the Chicago His- 
torical Society and was destroyed in the great fire 
of 1871. In 1868-69, and again in 1871-72, he 
revisited Italy for purposes of study. In 1867 he 
was elected academician of the Chicago Academy, 
and was its President . for eight years. He was 
genial, companionable and charitable, and always 
ready to assist his younger and less fortunate pro- 
fessional brethren. His best known works are the 
Douglas Monument, in Chicago, several soldiers' 
monuments in different parts of the country, 
the statuary for the Henry Keep mausoleum at 
Watertown, N. Y., life-size statues of Lincoln 
and Douglas, in the State House at Springfield, 
and numerous portrait busts of men eminent 
in political, ecclesiastical and commercial life. 
Died, at Osceola, Wis., August 18, 1895. 

YOSS, Arno, journalist, lawyer and soldier, 
born in Prussia, April 16, 1821 ; emigrated to the 
United States and was admitted to the bar in 
Chicago, in 1848, the same year becoming editor 
of "The Staats-Zeitung"; was elected City 
Attorney in 1852, and again in 1853; in 1861 
became Major of the Sixth Illinois Cavalry, but 
afterwards assisted in organizing the Twelfth 
Cavalry, of which he was commissioned Colonel, 
still later serving with his command in Vir- 
ginia. He was at Harper's Ferry at the time of 
the capture of that place in September, 1862, but 
succeeded in cutting his way, with his command, 
through the rebel lines, escaping into Pennsyl- 
vania. Compelled by ill-health to leave the serv- 
ice in 1863, he retired to a farm in Will County, 
but, in 1869, returned to Chicago, where he served 
as Master in Chancery and was elected to the 
lower branch of the General Assembly in 1876, 
but declined a re-election in 1878. Died, in Chi- 
cago, March 23, 1888. 

WABASH, CHESTER & WESTERN RAIL- 
ROAD, a railway running from Chester to Mount 
Vernon, 111., 63.33 miles, with a branch extend- 
ing from Chester to Menard, 1.5 miles; total 
mileage, 64.83. It is of standard gauge, and 
almost entirely laid with 60-pound steel rails. 
(HISTORY.) It was organized, Feb. 20, 1878, as 
successor to the Iron Mountain, Chester & East- 
ern Railroad. During the fiscal year 1893-94 the 
Company purchased the Tamaroa & Mount Ver- 
non Railroad, extending from Mount Vernon to 



546 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Tamaroa, 22.5 miles. Capital stock (1898), $1,- 
250,000; bonded indebtedness, $690,000; total 
capitalization, $2,028,573. 

WABASH COUNTY, situated in the southeast 
corner of the State ; area 220 square miles. The 
county was carved out from Edwards in 1824, 
and the first court house built at Centerville, in 
May, 1826. Later, Mount Carmel was made the 
county-seat. (See Mount Carmel.) The Wabash 
River drains the county on the east; other 
streams are the Bon Pas, Coffee and Crawfish 
Creeks. The surface is undulating with a fair 
growth of timber. The chief industries are the 
raising of live-stock and the cultivation of cere- 
als. The wool-crop is likewise valuable. The 
county is crossed by the Louisville, Evansville & 
St. Louis and the Cairo and Vincennes Division 
of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis Railroads. Population (1880), 4,945; (1890), 
11,866; (1900), 12,583. 

WABASH RAILROAD, an extensive railroad 
system connecting the cities of Detroit and 
Toledo, on the east, with Kansas City and Council 
Bluffs, on the west, with branches to Chicago, St. 
Louis, Quincy and Altamont, 111., and to Keokuk 
and Des Moines, Iowa. The total mileage (1898) 
is 1,874.96 miles, of which 677.4 miles are in Illi- 
nois all of the latter being the property of the 
company, besides 176.7 miles of yard-tracks, sid- 
ings and spurs. The company has trackage 
privileges over the Toledo, Peoria & Western (6. 5 
miles) between Elvaston and Keokuk bridge, and 
over the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (21.8 
miles) between Camp Point and Quincy. (His- 
TORY.) A considerable portion of this road in 
Illinois is constructed on the line upon which the 
Northern Cross Railroad was projected, in the 
"internal improvement" scheme adopted in 1837, 
and embraces the only section of road completed 
under that scheme that between the Illinois 
River and Springfield. (1) The construction of 
this section was begun by the State, May 11, 
1837, the first rail laid, May 9, 1838, the road 
completed to Jacksonville, Jan. 1, 1840, and to 
Springfield, May 13, 1842. It was operated for a 
time by "mule power," but the income was in- 
sufficient to keep the line in repair and it was 
finally abandoned. In 1847 the line was sold for 
$21,100 to N. H. Ridgely and Thomas Mather of 
Springfield, and by them transferred to New 
York capitalists, who organized the Sangamon & 
Morgan Railroad Company, reconstructed the 
road from Springfield to Naples and opened it for 
business in 1849. (2) In 1853 two corporations 
were organized in Ohio and Indiana, respectively, 



under the name of the Toledo & Illinois Railroad 
and the Lake Erie, Wabash & St. Louis Railroad, 
which were consolidated as the Toledo, Wabash 
& Western Railroad, June 25, 1856. In 1858 
these lines were sold separately under foreclo- 
sure, and finally reorganized, under a special char- 
ter granted by the Illinois Legislature, under the 
name of the Great Western Railroad Company. 
(3) The Quincy & Toledo Railroad, extending 
from Camp Point to the Illinois River opposite 
Meredosia, was constructed in 1858-59, and that, 
with the Illinois & Southern Iowa (from Clay- 
ton to Keokuk), was united, July 1, 1865, with 
the eastern divisions extending to Toledo, the 
new organization taking the name of the main 
line, (Toledo, Wabash & Western). (4) The 
Hannibal & Naples Division (49.6 miles), from 
Bluffs to Hannibal, Mo., was chartered in 1863, 
opened for business in 1870 and leased to the 
Toledo, Wabash & Western. The latter defaulted 
on its interest in 1875, was placed in the hands 
of a receiver and, in 1877, was turned over to a 
new company under the name of the Wabash 
Railway Company. (5) In 1868 the company, 
as it then existed, promoted and secured the con- 
struction, and afterwards acquired the owner- 
ship, of a line extending from Decatur to East St. 
Louis (110.5 miles) under the name of the Deca- 
tur & East St. Louis Railroad. (6) The Eel River 
Railroad, from Butler to Logansport, Ind., was 
acquired in 1877, and afterwards extended to 
Detroit under the name of the Detroit, Butler & 
St. Louis Railroad, completing the connection 
from Logansport to Detroit. In November, 1879, 
the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Com- 
pany was organized, took the property and con- 
solidated it with certain lines west of the 
Mississippi, of which the chief was the St. Louis, 
Kansas City & Northern. A line had been pro- 
jected from Decatur to Chicago as early as 1870, 
but, not having been constructed in 1881, the 
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific purchased what was 
known as the Chicago & Paducah Railroad, 
uniting with the main line at Bement, and (by 
way of the Decatur and St. Louis Division) giv- 
ing a direct line between Chicago and St. Louis. 
At this time the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific was 
operating the following additional leased lines: 
Pekin, Lincoln & Decatur (67.2 miles); Hannibal 
& Central Missouri (70.2 miles); Lafayette, Mun- 
cie & Bloomington (36.7 miles), and the Lafayette 
Bloomington & Muncie (80 miles). A connection 
between Chicago on the west and Toledo and 
Detroit on the east was established over the 
Grand Trunk road in 1882, but, in 1890, the com- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



547 



pany constructed a line from Montpelier, Ohio, to 
Clark, Ind. (149.7 miles), thence by track lease 
to Chicago (17.5 miles), giving an independent 
line between Chicago and Detroit by what is 
known to investors as the Detroit & Chicago 
Division. 

The total mileage of the Wabash, St. Louis & 
Pacific system, in 1884, amounted to over 3,600 
miles ; but, in May of that year, default having 
been made in the payment of interest, the work 
of disintegration began. The main line east of 
the Mississippi and that on the west were sepa- 
rated, the latter taking the name of the "Wabash 
Western." The Eastern Division was placed in 
the hands of a receiver, so remaining until May, 
1889, when the two divisions, having been 
bought in by a purchasing committee, were 
consolidated under the present name. The total 
earnings and income of the road in Illinois, for 
the fiscal year 1898, were $4,402,621, and the 
expenses $4,836,110. The total capital invested 
(1898) was $139,889,643, including capital stock 
of 52,000,000 and bonds to the amount of $81,- 
534,000. 

WABASH RIYER, rises in northwestern Ohio, 
passes into Indiana, and runs northwest to Hun- 
tington. It then flows nearly due west to Logans- 
port, thence southwest to Covington, finally 
turning southward to Terre Haute, a few miles 
below which it strikes the western boundary of 
Indiana. It forms the boundary between Illinois 
and Indiana (taking into account its numerous 
windings) for some 200 miles. Below Vincennes 
it runs in a south-southwesterly direction, and 
enters the Ohio at the south-west extremity of 
Indiana, near latitude 37 49' north. Its length 
is estimated at 557 miles. 

WABASH & MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD. 
(See Illinois Central Railroad.) 

WABASH, ST. LOUIS & PACIFIC RAIL- 
-" ROAD. (See Wabash Railroad.) 

WABASH & WESTERN RAILROAD. (See 
Wabash Railroad.) 

WAIT, William Smith, pioneer, and original 
suggestor of the Illinois Central Railroad, was 
born in Portland, Maine, March 5, 1789, and edu- 
cated in the public schools of his native place. 
In his youth he entered a book-publishing house 
in which his father was a partner, and was for a 
time associated with the publication of a weekly 
paper. Later the business was conducted at 
Boston, and extended over the Eastern, Middle, 
and Southern States, the subject of this sketch 
making extensive tours in the interest of the 
firm. In 1817 he made a tour to the West, 



reaching St. Louis, and, early in the following 
year, visited Bond County, 111., where he made 
his first entry of land from the Government. 
Returning to Boston a few months later, he con- 
tinued in the service of the publishing firm until 

1820, when he again came to Illinois, and, in 

1821, began farming in Ripley Township, Bond 
County. Returning East in 1824, he spent the 
next ten years in the employment of the publish- 
ing firm, with occasional visits to Illinois. In 
1835 he located permanently near Greenville, 
Bond County, and engaged extensively in farm- 
ing and fruit-raising, planting one of the largest 
apple orchards in the State at that early day. In 
1845 he presided as chairman over the National 
Industrial Convention in New York, and, in 
1848, was nominated as the candidate of the 
National Reform Association for Vice-President 
on the ticket with Gerrit Smith of New York, 
but declined. He was also prominent in County 
and State Agricultural Societies. Mr Wait has 
been credited with being one of the first (if not 
the very first) to suggest the construction of the 
Illinois Central Railroad, which he did as early 
as 1835 ; was also one of the prime movers in the 
construction of the Mississippi & Atlantic Rail- 
road now the "Vandalia Line" giving much 
time to the latter enterprise from 1846 for many 
years, and was one of the original incorporators 
of the St. Louis & Illinois Bridge Company. 
Died, July 17, 1865. 

WALKER, Cyrus, pioneer, lawyer, born in 
Rockbridge County, Va., May 14, 1791; was taken 
while an infant to Adair County, Ky., and came 
to Macomb, 111. , in 1833, being the second lawyer 
to locate in McDonough County. He had a wide 
reputation as a successful advocate, especially in 
criminal cases, and practiced extensively in the 
courts of Western Illinois and also in Iowa. Died, 
Dec. 1, 1875. Mr. Walker was uncle of the late 
Pinkney H. Walker of the Supreme Court, who 
studied law with him. He was Whig candidate 
for Presidential Elector for the State-at-large in 
1840. 

WALKER, James Barr, clergyman, was born 
in Philadelphia, July 29, 1805; in his youth 
served as errand-boy in a country store near 
Pittsburg and spent four years in a printing 
office ; then became clerk in the office of Mordecai 
M. Noah, in New York, studied law and gradu- 
ated from Western Reserve College, Ohio ; edited 
various religious papers, including "The Watch- 
man of the Prairies" (now "The Advance") of 
Chicago, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery 
of Chicago, and for some time was lecturer on 



548 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



"Harmony between Science and Revealed Reli- 
gion" at Oberlin College and Chicago Theological 
Seminary. He was author of several volumes, 
one of which "The Philosophy of the Plan of 
Salvation," published anonymously under the 
editorship of Prof. Calvin E. Stowe (1855) ran 
through several editions and was translated into 
five different languages, including Hindustanee. 
Died, at Wheaton, 111., March 6, 1887. 

WALKER, James Monroe, corporation lawyer 
and Railway President, was born at Claremont, 
N. H., Feb. 14, 1820. At fifteen he removed with 
his parents to a farm in Michigan ; was educated 
at Oberlin, Ohio, and at the University of Michi- 
gan, Ann Arbor, graduating from the latter in 
1849. He then entered a law office as clerk and 
student, was admitted to the bar the next year, 
and soon after elected Prosecuting Attorney of 
Washtenaw County ; was also local attorney for 
the Michigan Central Railway, for which, after 
his removal to Chicago in 1853, he became Gen- 
eral Solicitor. Two years later the firm of Sedg- 
wick & Walker, which had been organized in 
Michigan, became attorneys for the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and, until his 
death, Mr. Walker was associated with this com- 
pany, either as General Solicitor, General Counsel 
or President, filling the latter position from 1870 
to 1875. Mr. Walker organized both the Chicago 
and Kansas City stock-yards, and was President 
of these corporations, as also of the Wilmington 
Coal Company, down to the time of his death, 
which occurred on Jan. 22, 1881, as a result of 
heart disease. 

WALKER, (Rev.) Jesse, Methodist Episcopal 
missionary, was born in Rockingham County, 
Va., June 9, 1766; in 1800 removed to Tennessee, 
became a traveling preacher in 1802, and, in 
1806, came to Illinois under the presiding-elder- 
ship of Rev. William McKendree (afterwards 
Bishop), locating first at Turkey Hill, St. Clair 
County. In 1807 he held a camp meeting near 
Edwardsville the first on Illinois soil. Later, 
he transferred his labors to Northern Illinois; 
was at Peoria in 1824; at Ottawa in 1825, and 
devoted much time to missionary work among 
the Pottawatomies, maintaining a school among 
them for a time. He visited Chicago in 1826, and 
there is evidence that he was a prominent resident 
there for several years, occupying a log house, 
which he used as a church and living-room, on 
"Wolf Point" at the junction of the North and 
South Branches of the Chicago River. While 
acting as superintendent of the Fox River mis- 
sion, his residence appears to have been at Plain- 



field, in the northern part of Will County. Died, 
Oct. 5, 1835. 

WALKER, Pinkney H., lawyer and jurist, 
was born in Adair County, Ky., June 18, 1815. 
His boyhood was chiefly passed in farm work and 
as clerk in a general .store ; in 1834 he came to Illi- 
nois, settling at Rushville, where he worked in a 
store for four years. In 1838 he removed to 
Macomb, where he began attendance at an acad- 
emy and the study of law with his uncle, Cyrus 
Walker, a leading lawyer of his time. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1839, practicing at Macomb 
until 1848, when he returned to Rushville.. In 
1853 he was elected Judge of the Fifth Judicial 
Circuit, to fill a vacancy, and re-elected in 1855. 
This position he resigned in 1858, having been 
appointed, by Governor Bissell, to fill the vacancy 
on the bench of the Supreme Court occasioned by 
the resignation of Judge Skinner. Two months 
later he was elected to the same position, and 
re-elected in 1867 and '76. He presided as Chief 
Justice from January, 1864, to June, '67, and 
again from June, 1874, to June, '75. Before the 
expiration of his last term he died, Feb. 7, 1885. 

WALL, George Willard, lawyer, politician and 
Judge, was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, April 22, 
1839; brought to Perry County, 111., in infancy, 
and received his preparatory education at McKen- 
dree College, finally graduating from the Uni- 
versity of Michigan in 1858, and from the 
Cincinnati Law School in 1859, when he began 
practice at Duquoin, 111. He was a member of 
the Constitutional Convention of 1862, and, from 
1864 to '68, served as State's Attorney for the 
Third Judicial District ; was also a Delegate to the 
State Constitutional Convention of 1869-70. In 
1872 he was an unsuccessful Democratic candi- 
date for Congress, although running ahead of his 
ticket. In 1877 he was elected to the bench of 
the Third Circuit, and re-elected in '79, '85 and 
'91, much of the time since 1877 being on duty 
upon the Appellate bench. His home is at 
Duquoin. 

WALLACE, (Rev.) Peter, D.D., clergyman 
and soldier; was born in Mason County, Ky., 
April 11, 1813; taken in infancy to Brown 
County, Ohio, where he grew up on a farm until 
15 years of age, when he was apprenticed to a 
carpenter; at the age of 20 came to Illinois, 
where he became a contractor and builder, fol- 
lowing this occupation for a number of years. He 
was converted in 1835 at Springfield, 111., and, 
some years later, having decided to enter the 
ministry, was admitted to the Illinois Conference 
as a deacon by Bishop E. S. Janes in 1855, and 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



549 



placed in charge of the Danville Circuit. Two 
years later he was ordained by Bishop Scott, and, 
in the next few years, held pastorates at various 
places in the central and eastern parts of the 
State. From 1867 to 1874 he was Presiding Elder 
of the Mattoon and Quincy Districts, and, for six 
years, held the position of President of the Board 
of Trustees of Chaddock College at Quincy, from 
which he received the degree of D.D. in 1881. 
In the second year of the Civil War he raised a 
company in Sangamon County, was chosen 
its Captain and assigned to the Seventy-third 
Illinois Volunteers, known as the "preachers' 
regiment" all of its officers being ministers. In 
1864 he was compelled by ill-health to resign his 
commission. While pastor of the church at Say- 
brook, 111., he was offered the position of Post- 
master of that place, which he decided to accept, 
and was allowed to retire from the active minis- 
try. On retirement from office, in 1884, he 
removed to Chicago. In 1889 he was appointed 
by Governor Fifer the first Chaplain of the Sol- 
diers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy, but retired 
some four years afterward, when he returned to 
Chicago. Dr. Wallace was an eloquent and 
effective preacher and continued to preach, at 
intervals, until within a short time of his decease, 
which occurred in Chicago, Feb. 21, 1897, in his 
84th year. A zealous patriot, he frequently 
spoke very effectively upon the political rostrum. 
Originally a Whig, he became a Republican on 
the organization of that party, and took pride in 
the fact that the first vote he ever cast was for 
Abraham Lincoln, for Representative in the Legis- 
lature, in 1834. He was a Knight Templar, Vice- 
President of the Tippecanoe Club of Chicago, 
and, at his death, Chaplain of America Post, No. 
708, G. A. R. 

WALLACE, William Henry Lamb, lawyer and 
soldier, was born at Urbana, Ohio, July 8, 1821 ; 
brought to Illinois in 1833, his father settling 
near La Salle and, afterwards, at Mount Morris, 
Ogle County, where young Wallace attended the 
Rock River Seminary ; was admitted to the bar in 
1845 ; in 1846 enlisted as a private in the First Illi- 
nois Volunteers (Col. John J. Hardin's regiment), 
for the Mexican War, rising to the rank of Adju- 
tant and participting in the battle of Buena Vista 
(where his commander was killed), and in other 
engagements. Returning to his profession at 
Ottawa, he served as District Attorney (1852-56), 
then became partner of his father-in-law, Col. 
T. Lyle Dickey, afterwards of the Supreme Court. 
In April, 1861, he was one of the first to answer 
the call for troops by enlisting, and became Colo- 



nel of the Eleventh Illinois (three-months' 
men), afterwards re-enlisting for three years. 
As commander of a brigade he participated in 
the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, in Feb- 
ruary, 1862, receiving promotion as Brigadier- 
General for gallantry. At Pittsburg Landing 
(Shiloh), as commander of Gen. C. F. Smith's 
Division, devolving on him on account of the 
illness of his superior officer, he showed great 
courage, but fell mortally wounded, dying at 
Charleston, Tenn., April 10, 1862. His career 
promised great brilliancy and his loss was greatly 
deplored. Martin R. M. ( Wallace), brother of 
the preceding, was born at Urbana, Ohio, Sept. 
29, 1829, came to La Salle County, 111., with his 
father's family and was educated in the local 
schools and at Rock River Seminary ; studied law 
at Ottawa, and was admitted to the bar in 1856, 
soon after locating in Chicago. In 1861 he 
assisted in organizing the Fourth Regiment Illi- 
nois Cavalry, of which he became Lieutenant- 
Colonel, and was complimented, in 1865, with the 
rank of brevet Brigadier-General. After the 
war he served as Assessor of Internal Revenue 
(1866-69) ; County Judge (1869-77) ; Prosecuting 
Attorney (1884); and, for many years past, has 
been one of the Justices of the Peace of the city 
of Chicago. 

WALNUT, a town of Bureau County, on the 
Mendota and Fulton branch of the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railroad, 26 miles west of 
Mendota ; is in a farming and stock-raising dis- 
trict; has two banks and two newspapers. Popu- 
lation (1890), 605; (1900), 791. 

WAR OF 1812. Upon the declaration of war 
by Congress, in June, 1812, the Pottawatomies, 
and most of the other tribes of Indians in the 
Territory of Illinois, strongly sympathized with 
the British. The savages had been hostile and 
restless for some time previous, and blockhouses 
and family forts had been erected at a number 
of points, especially in the settlements most 
exposed to the incursions of the savages. Gov- 
ernor Edwards, becoming apprehensive of an 
outbreak, constructed Fort Russell, a few miles 
from Edwardsville. Taking the field in person, 
he made this his headquarters, and collected a 
force of 250 mounted volunteers, who were later 
reinforced by two companies of rangers, under 
Col. William Russell, numbering about 100 men. 
An independent company of twenty -one spies, of 
which John Reynolds afterwards Governor 
was a member, was also formed and led by Capt. 
Samuel Judy. The Governor organized his little 
army into two regiments under Colonels Rector 



550 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



and Stephenson, Colonel Russell serving as 
second to the commander-in-chief, other mem- 
bers of his staff being Secretary Nathaniel Pope 
and Robert K. McLaughlin. On Oct. 18, 1812, 
Governor Edwards, with his men, set out for 
Peoria, where it was expected that their force 
would meet that of General Hopkins, who had 
been sent from Kentucky with a force of 2,000 
men. En route, two Kickapoo villages were 
burned, and a number of Indians unnecessarily 
slain by Edwards' party. Hopkins had orders to 
disperse the Indians on the Illinois and Wabash 
Rivers, and destroy their villages. He deter- 
mined, however, on reaching the headwaters of 
the Vermilion to proceed no farther. Governor 
Edwards reached the head of Peoria Lake, but, 
failing to meet Hopkins, returned to Fort Russell. 
About the same time Capt. Thomas E. Craig led 
a party, in two boats, up the Illinois River to 
Peoria. His boats, as he alleged, having been 
fired upon in the night by Indians, who were har- 
bored and protected by the French citizens of 
Peoria, he burned the greater part of the village, 
and capturing the population, carried them down 
the river, putting them on shore, in the early part 
of the winter, just below Alton. Other desultory 
expeditions marked the campaigns of 1813 and 
1814. The Indians meanwhile gaining courage, 
remote settlements were continually harassed 
by marauding bands. Later in 1814, an expedi- 
tion, led by Major (afterwards President) Zachary 
Taylor, ascended the Mississippi as far as Rock 
Island, where he found a large force of Indians, 
supported by British regulars with artillery. 
Finding himself unable to cope with so formida- 
ble a foe, Major Taylor retreated down the river. 
On the site of the present town of Warsaw he 
threw up fortifications, which he named Fort 
Edwards, from which point he was subsequently 
compelled to retreat. The same year the British, 
with their Indian allies, descended from Macki- 
nac, captured Prairie du Chien, and burned Forts 
Madison and Johnston, after which they retired 
to Cap au Gris. The treaty of Ghent, signed 
Dec. 24, 1814, closed the war, although no formal 
treaties were made with the tribes until the year 
following. 

WAR OF THE REBELLION. At the outbreak 
of the Civil War, the executive chair, in Illinois, 
was occupied by Gov. Richard Yates. Immedi- 
ately upon the issuance of President Lincoln's 
first call for troops (April 15, 1861), the Governor 
issued his proclamation summoning the Legisla- 
ture together in special session and, the same 
day, issued a call for "six regiments of militia," 



the quota assigned to the State under call of the 
President. Public excitement was at fever heat, 
and dormant patriotism in both sexes was 
aroused as never before. Party lines were 
broken down and, with comparatively few excep 
tions, the mass of the people were actuated by a 
common sentiment of patriotism. On April 19, 
Governor Yates was instructed, by the Secretary 
of War, to take possession of Cairo as an important 
strategic point. At that time, the State militia 
organizations were few in number and poorly 
equipped, consisting chiefly of independent com- 
panies in the larger cities. The Governor acted 
with great promptitude, and, on April 21, seven 
companies, numbering 595 men, commanded by 
Gen. Richard K. Swift of Chicago, were en route 
to Cairo. The first volunteer company to tender 
its services, in response to Governor Yates' proc- 
lamation, on April 16, was the Zouave Grays of 
Springfield. Eleven other companies were ten- 
dered the same day, and, by the evening of the 
18th, the number had been increased to fifty. 
Simultaneously with these proceedings, Chicago 
bankers tendered to the Governor a war loan of 
$500,000, and those of Springfield, $100,000. The 
Legislature, at its special session, passed acts in- 
creasing the efficiency of the militia law, and 
provided for the creation of a war -fund of 2, - 
000,000. Besides the six regiments already called 
for, the raising of ten additional volunteer regi- 
ments and one battery of light artillery was 
authorized. The last of the six regiments, 
apportioned to Illinois under the first presidential 
call, was dispatched to Cairo early in May. The 
six regiments were numbered the Seventh to 
Twelfth, inclusive the earlier numbers, First to 
Sixth, being conceded to the six regiments which 
had served in the war with Mexico. The regi- 
ments were commanded, respectively, by Colonels 
John Cook, Richard J. Oglesby , Eleazer A. Paine, 
James D. Morgan, William H. L. Wallace, and 
John Me Arthur, constituting the "First Brigade 
of Illinois Volunteers." Benjamin M. Prentiss, 
having been chosen Brigadier-General on arrival 
at Cairo, assumed command, relieving General 
Swift. The quota under the second call, consist- 
ing of ten regiments, was mustered into service 
within sixty days, 200 companies being tendered 
immediately. Many more volunteered than could 
be accepted, and large numbers crossed to Mis- 
souri and enlisted in regiments forming in that 
State. During June and July the Secretary of 
War authorized Governor Yates to recruit twenty- 
two additional regiments (seventeen infantry and 
five cavalry), which were promptly raised. On 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



551 



July 22, the day following the defeat of the Union 
army at Bull Run, President Lincoln called for 
500,000 more volunteers. Governor Yates im- 
mediately responded with an offer to the War 
Department of sixteen more regiments (thirteen 
of infantry and three of cavalry), and a battalion 
of artillery, adding, that the State claimed it as 
her right, to do her full share toward the preser- 
vation of the Union. Under supplemental author- 
ity, received from the Secretary of War in 
August, 1861, twelve additional regiments of in- 
fantry and five of cavalry were raised, and, by De- 
cember, 1861, the State had 43,000 volunteers in 
the field and 17,000 in camps of instruction. 
Other calls were made in July and August, 1802, 
each for 300,000 men. Illinois' quota, under both 
calls, was over 52,000 men, .no regard being paid 
to the fact that the State had already furnished 
16,000 troops in excess of its quotas under previ- 
ous calls. Unless this number of volunteers was 
raised by September 1, a draft would be ordered. 
The tax was a severe one, inasmuch as it would 
fall chiefly upon the prosperous citizens, the float- 
ing population, the idle and the extremely poor 
having already followed the army's march, either 
as soldiers or as camp-followers. But recruiting 
was actively carried on, and, aided by liberal 
bounties in many of the counties, in less than a 
fortnight the 52,000 new troops were secured, the 
volunteers coming largely from the substantial 
classes agricultural, mercantile, artisan and 
professional. By the end of December, fifty-nine 
regiments and four batteries had been dispatched 
to the front, besides a considerable number to fill 
up regiments already in the field, which had suf- 
fered severely from battle, exposure and disease. 
At this time, Illinois had an aggregate of over 
135,000 enlisted men in the field. The issue of 
President Lincoln's preliminary proclamation of 
emancipation, in September, 1862, was met by a 
storm of hostile criticism from his political 
opponents, who aided by the absence of so 
large a proportion of the loyal population of the 
State in the field were able to carry the elec- 
tions of that year. Consequently, when the 
Twenty-third General Assembly convened in 
regular session at Springfield, on Jan. 5, 1863, a 
large majority of that body was not only opposed 
to both the National and State administrations, 
but avowedly opposed to the further prosecution 
of the war under the existing policy. The Leg- 
islature reconvened in June, but was prorogued 
by Governor Yates Between Oct. 1, 1863, and 
July 1, 1864, 16,000 veterans re-enlisted and 
87.000 new volunteers were enrolled; and, by the 



date last mentioned, Illinois had furnished to the 
Union army 244,496 men, being 14,596 in ex- 
cess of the allotted quotas, constituting fifteen 
per cent of the entire population. These were 
comprised in 151 regiments of infantry, 17 of 
cavalry and two complete regiments of artillery, 
besides twelve independent batteries. The total 
losses of Illinois organizations, during the war, 
has been reported at 34,834, of which 5,874 were 
killed in battle, 4,020 died from wounds, 22,786 
from disease and 2, 154 from other causes being 
a total of thirteen per cent of the entire force of 
the State in the service. The part which Illinois 
played in the contest was conspicuous for patriot- 
ism, promptness in response to every call, and 
the bravery and efficiency of its troops in the 
field reflecting honor upon the State and its his- 
tory. Nor were its loyal citizens who, while 
staying at home, furnished moral and material 
support to the men at the front less worthy of 
praise than those who volunteered. By uphold- 
ing the Government National and State and 
by their zeal and energy in collecting and sending 
forward immense quantities of supplies surgical, 
medical and other often at no little sacrifice, 
they contributed much to the success of the 
Union arms. (See also Camp Douglas; Camp 
Douglas Conspiracy; Secret Treasonable Soci- 
eties. ) 

WAR OF THE REBELLION (HISTORY OF ILLI- 
NOIS REGIMENTS). The following is a list of the 
various military organizations mustered into the 
service during the Civil War (1861-65), with the 
terms of service and a summary of the more 
important events in the history of each, while 
in the field: 

SEVENTH INFANTRY. Illinois having sent six 
regiments to the Mexican War, by courtesy the 
numbering of the regiments which took part in 
the war for the Union began with number 
Seven. A number of regiments which responded 
to the first call of the President, claimed the right 
to be recognized as the first regiment in the 
field, but the honor was finally accorded to that 
organized at Springfield by Col. John Cook, and 
hence his regiment was numbered Seventh. It 
was mustered into the service, April 25, 1861, and 
remained at Mound City during the three months' 
service, the period of its first enlistment. It was 
subsequently reorganized and mustered for the 
three years' service, July 25, 1861, and was 
engaged in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, 
Corinth, Cherokee, Allatoona Pass, Salkahatchie 
Swamp, Bentonville and Columbia. The regi- 
ment re-enlisted as veterans at Pulaski, Tenn., 



552 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Dec. 22, 1863; was mustered out at Louisville, 
July 9, 1865, and paid off and discharged at 
Springfield, July 11. 

EIGHTH INFANTRY. Organized at Springfield, 
and mustered in for three months' service, April 
26, 1861, Richard J. Oglesby of Decatur, being 
appointed Colonel. It remained at Cairo during 
its term of service, when it was mustered out. 
July 25, 1861, it was reorganized and mustered in 
for three years' service. It participated in the 
battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Port Gibson, 
Thompson Hill, Raymond, Champion Hill, Vicks- 
burg, Brownsville, and Spanish Fort ; re-enlisted 
as veterans, March 24, 1864; was mustered out at 
Baton Rouge, May 4, 1866, paid off and dis- 
charged, May 13, having served five years. 

NINTH INFANTRY. Mustered into the service 
at Springfield, April 26, 1861. for the term of 
three months, under Col. Eleazer A. Paine. It 
was reorganized at Cairo, in August, for three 
years, being composed of companies from St. 
Clair, Madison, Montgomery, Pulaski, Alexander 
and Mercer Counties ; was engaged at Fort Donel- 
son, Shiloh, Jackson (Tenn.), Meed Creek 
Swamps, Salem, Wyatt, Florence, Montezuma, 
Athens and Grenada. The regiment was mounted, 
March 15, 1863, and so continued during the 
remainder of its service.- Mustered out at Louis- 
ville, July 9, 1865. 

TENTH INFANTRY. Organized and mustered 
into the service for three months, on April 29, 
1861, at Cairo, and on July 29, 1861, was mustered 
into the service for three years, with Col. James 
D. Morgan in command. It was engaged at 
Sykeston, New Madrid, Corinth, Missionary 
Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Rome, Kenesaw, 
Chattahoochie, Savannah and Bentonville. Re- 
enlisted as veterans, Jan. 1, 1864, and mustered 
out of service, July 4, 1865, at Louisville, and 
received final discharge and pay, July 11, 1865, 
at Chicago. 

ELEVENTH INFANTRY. Organized at Spring- 
field and mustered into service, April 30, 1861, 
for three months. July 30, the regiment was 
mustered out, and re-enlisted for three years' 
service. It was engaged at Fort Donelson, 
Shiloh, Corinth, Tallahatchie, Vicksburg, Liver- 
pool Heights, Yazoo City, Spanish Fort and 
Fort Blakely. W. H. L. Wallace, afterwards 
Brigadier-General and killed at Shiloh, was its 
first Colonel. Mustered out of service, at Baton 
Rouge, July 14, 1865 ; paid off and discharged at 
Springfield. 

TWELFTH INFANTRY. Mustered into service 
for three years, August 1, 1861 ; was engaged at 



Columbus, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Lay's 
Ferry, Rome Cross Roads, Dallas, Kenesaw, 
Nickajack Creek, Bald Knob, Decatur, Ezra 
Church, Atlanta, Allatoona and Goldsboro. On 
Jan. 16, 1864, the regiment re-enlisted as veter- 
ans. John McArthur was its first Colonel, suc- 
ceeded by Augustus L. Chetlain, both being 
promoted to Brigadier-Generalships. Mustered 
out of service at Louisville, Ky., July 10, 1865, 
and received final pay and discharge, at Spring- 
field, July 18. 

THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. One of the regiments 
organized under the act known as the "Ten Regi- 
ment Bill" ; was mustered into service on May 24, 
1861, for three years, at Dixon, with John B. 
Wyman as Colonel; was engaged at Chickasaw 
Bayou, Arkansas Post, Vicksburg, Jackson, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Rossville and Ringgold Gap. 
Mustered out at Springfield, June 18, 1864, hav- 
ing served three years and two months. 

FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. One of the regiments 
raised under the "Ten Regiment Bill," which 
anticipated the requirements, of the General 
Government by organizing, equipping and dril- 
ling a regiment in each Congressional District in 
the State for thirty days, unless sooner required 
for service by the United States. It was mustered 
in at Jacksonville for three years, May 25, 1861, 
under command of John M. Palmer as its first 
Colonel; was engaged at Shiloh, Corinth, Meta- 
mora, Vicksburg, Jackson, Fort Beauregard and 
Meridian ; consolidated with the Fifteenth Infan- 
try, as a veteran battalion (both regiments hav- 
ing enlisted as veterans), on July 1, 1864. In 
October, 1864, the major part of the battalion 
was captured by General Hood and sent to 
Andersonville. The remainder participated in 
the "March to the Sea," and through the cam- 
paign in the Carolinas. In the spring of 1865 the 
battalion organization was discontinued, both 
regiments having been filled up by recruits. The 
regiment was mustered out at Fort Leaven- 
worth, Kan., Sept. 16, 1865; and arrived at 
Springfield, 111., Sept. 22, 2865, where it received 
final payment and discharge. The aggregate 
number of men who belonged to this organization 
was 1,980, and the aggregate mustered out at 
Fort Leavenworth, 480. During its four years 
and four months of service, the regiment 
marched 4,490 miles, traveled by rail, 2,330 miles, 
and, by river, 4,490 miles making an aggregate 
of 11,670 miles. 

FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. Raised under the "Ten 
Regiment Act," in the (then) First Congressional 
District; was organized at Freeport, and mus- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



553 



tered into service, May 24, 1861. It was engaged 
at Sedalia, Shiloh, Corinth, Metamora Hill, 
Vicksburg, Fort Beauregard, Champion Hill, 
Allatoona and Bentonville. In March, 1864, the 
regiment re-enlisted as veterans, and, in July, 

1864, was consolidated with the Fourteenth Infan- 
try as a Veteran Battalion. At Big Shanty and 
Ackworth a large portion of the battalion was 
captured by General Hood. At Raleigh the 
Veteran Battalion was discontinued and the 
Fifteenth reorganized. From July 1, to Sept. 1, 

1865, the regiment was stationed at Forts Leaven- 
worth and Kearney. Having been mustered out 
at Fort Leavenworth, it was sent to Springfield 
for final payment and discharge having served 
four years and four months. Miles marched, 
4,299; miles by rail, 2,403, miles by steamer, 
4,310; men enlisted from date of organization, 
1,963; strength at date of muster-out, 640. 

SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. Organized and mus- 
tered into service at Quincy under the "Ten-Regi- 
ment Act," May 24, 1861. The regiment was 
engaged at New Madrid, Tiptonville, Corinth, 
Buzzards' Roost, Resaca, Rome, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Chattahoochie River, Peach Tree Creek, 
Atlanta, Savannah, Columbia, Fayetteville, 
Averysboro and Bentonville. In December, 
1864, the regiment re-enlisted as veterans; was 
mustered out at Louisville, Ky., July 8, 1865, 
after a term of service of four years and three 
months, and, a week later, arrived at Spring- 
field, where it received its final pay and discharge 
papers. 

SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. Mustered into the 
service at Peoria, 111., on May 24, 1861; was 
engaged at Fredericktown (Mo.), Greenfield 
(Ark.), Shiloh, Corinth, Hatchie and Vicksburg. 
In May, 1864, the term of enlistment having 
expired, the regiment was ordered to Springfield 
for pay and discharge. Those men and officers 
who re-enlisted, and those whose term had not 
expired, were consolidated with the Eighth Infan- 
try, which was mustered out in the spring of 1866. 

EIGHTEENTH INFANTRY. Organized under the 
provisions of the "Ten Regiment Bill," at Anna, 
and mustered into the service on May 28, 1861, 
the term of enlistment being for three years. 
The regiment participated in the capture of Fort 
McHenry, and was actively engaged at Fort 
Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth. It was mustered 
out at Little Rock, Dec. 16, 1865, and Dec. 31, 
thereafter, arrived at Springfield, 111., for pay- 
ment and discharge. The aggregate enlistments 
in the regiment, from its organization to date of 
discharge (rank and file), numbered 2,043. 



NINETEENTH INFANTRY. Mustered into the 
United States service for three years, June 17, 
1861, at Chicago, embracing four companies 
which had been accepted under the call for three 
months' men; participated in the battle of 
Stone River and in the Tullahoma and Chatta- 
nooga campaigns; was also engaged at Davis' 
Cross Roads, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and 
Resaca. It was mustered out of service on July 
9, 1864, at Chicago. Originally consisting of 
nearly 1,000 men, besides a large number of 
recruits received during the war, its strength at 
the final muster-out was less than 350. 

TWENTIETH INFANTRY. Organized, May 14, 
1861, at Joliet, and June 13, 1861, and mustered 
into the service for a term of three years. It 
participated in the following engagements, bat- 
tles, sieges, etc.: Fredericktown (Mo.), Fort 
Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Thompson's Planta- 
tion, Champion Hills, Big Black River, Vicks- 
burg, Kenesaw Mountain and Atlanta. After 
marching through the Carolinas, the regiment 
was finally ordered to Louisville, where it was 
mustered out, July 16, 1865, receiving its final 
discharge at Chicago, on July 24. 

TWENTY- FIRST INFANTRY. Organized under 
the "Ten Regiment Bill," from the (then) Sev- 
enth Congressional District, at Mattoon, and 
mustered into service for three years, June 28, 
1861. Its first Colonel was U. S. Grant, who was 
in command until August 7, when he was com- 
missioned Brigadier-General. It was engaged 
at Fredericktown (Mo.), Corinth, Perry ville, Mur- 
freesboro, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, Jonesboro, 
Franklin and Nashville. The regiment re-enlisted 
as veterans, at Chattanooga, in February, 1864. 
From June, 1864, to December, 1865, it was on 
duty in Texas. Mustered out at San Antonio, 
Dec. 16, 1865, and paid off and discharged at 
Springfield, Jan. 18, 1866. 

TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. Organized at 
Belleville, and mustered into service, for three 
years, at Casey ville, 111., June 25, 1861; was 
engaged at Belmont, Charleston (Mo.), Sikestown, 
Tiptonville, Farmington, Corinth, Stone River, 
Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, New 
Hope Church, and all the battles of the Atlanta 
campaign, except Rocky Face Ridge. It was 
mustered out at Springfield, July 7, 1864, the vet- 
erans and recruits, whose term of service had not 
expired, being consolidated with the Forty-second 
Regiment Illinois Infantry Volunteers. 

TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. The organization 
of the Twenty-third Infantry Volunteers com- 
menced, at Chicago, under the popular name of 



554 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the "Irish Brigade," immediately upon the 
opening of hostilities at Sumter. The formal 
muster of the regiment, under the command of 
Col. James A. Mulligan, was made, June 15, 1861, 
at Chicago, when it was occupying barracks 
known as Kane's brewery near the river on 
West Polk Street. It was early ordered to North- 
ern Missouri, and was doing garrison duty at 
Lexington, when, in September, 1861, it surren- 
dered with the rest of the garrison, to the forces 
under the rebel General Price, and was paroled. 
From Oct. 8, 1861, to June 14, 1862, it was detailed 
to guard prisoners at Camp Douglas. Thereafter 
it participated in engagements in the Virginias, 
as follows: at South Fork, Greenland Gap, Phi- 
lippi, Hedgeville, Leetown, Maryland Heights, 
Snicker's Gap, Kernstown, Cedar Creek, Win- 
chester, Charlestown, Berryville, Opequan Creek, 
Fisher's Hill, Harrisonburg, Hatcher's Run and 
Petersburg. It also took part in the siege of 
Richmond and the pursuit of Lee, being present 
at the surrender at Appomattox. In January 
and February, 1864, the regiment re-enlisted as 
veterans, at Greenland Gap, W. Va. In August, 
1864, the ten companies of the Regiment, then 
numbering 440, were consolidated into five com- 
panies and designated, "Battalion, Twenty-third 
Regiment, Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry." 
The regiment was thanked by Congress for its 
part at Lexington, and was authorized to inscribe 
Lexington upon its colors. (See also Mulligan, 
James A.) 

TWENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY, (known as the 
First Hecker Regiment). Organized at Chicago, 
with two companies to- wit: the Union Cadets 
and the Lincoln Rifles from the three months' 
service, in June, 1861, and mustered in, July 8, 
1861. It participated in the battles of Perryville, 
Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Resaca, Kenesaw 
Mountain and other engagements in the Atlanta 
campaign. It was mustered out of service at 
Chicago, August 6, 1864. A fraction of the regi- 
ment, which had been recruited in the field, and 
whose term of service had not expired at the date 
of muster-out, was organized into one company 
and attached to the Third Brigade, First Divi- 
sion, Fourteenth Army Corps, and mustered out 
at Camp Butler, August 1, 1865. 

TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. Organized from 
the counties of Kankakee, Iroquois, Ford, Vermil- 
ion, Douglas, Coles, Champaign and Edgar, and 
mustered into service at St. Louis, August 4, 1861. 
It participated in the battles of Pea Ridge, Stone 
River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, in the 
siege of Corinth, the battle of Kenesaw Moun- 



tain, the siege of Atlanta, and innumerable skir- 
mishes ; was mustered out at Springfield, Sept. 5, 
1864. During its three years' service the regi- 
ment traveled 4,962 miles, of which 3,252 were on 
foot, the remainder by steamboat and railroad. 

TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. Mustered into serv- 
ice, consisting of seven companies, at Springfield, 
August 31, 1861. On Jan. 1, 1864, the regiment 
re-enlisted as veterans. It was authorized by the 
commanding General to inscribe upon its ban- 
ners "New Madrid" ; "Island No. 10;" "Farming- 
ton;" "Siege of Corinth;" "luka;" "Corinth 
3d and 4th, 1862;" "Resaca;" "Kenesaw;" "Ezra 
Church;" "Atlanta;" "Jonesboro;" "Griswold- 
ville;" "McAllister;" "Savannah;" "Columbia," 
and "Bentonville." It was mustered out at 
Louisville, July 20, 1865, and paid off and 
discharged, at Springfield, July 28 the regiment 
having marched, during its four years of service, 
6,931 miles, and fought twenty-eight hard battles, 
besides innumerable skirmishes. 

TWENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. First organized, 
with only seven companies, at Springfield, 
August 10, 1861, and organization completed by 
the addition of three more companies, at Cairo, 
on September 1. It took part in the battle of Bel- 
mont, the siege of Island No. 10, and the battles 
of Farmington, Nashville, Murfreesboro, Chicka- 
mauga, Missionary Ridge, Rocky Face Ridge, 
Resaca, Calhoun, Adairsville, Dallas, Pine Top 
Mountain and Kenesaw Mountain, as well as in 
the investment of Atlanta; was relieved from 
duty, August 25, 1864, while at the front, and 
mustered out at Springfield, September 20. Its 
veterans, with the recruits whose term of serv- 
ice had not expired, were consolidated with the 
Ninth Infantry. 

TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. Composed of 
companies from Pike, Fulton, Schuyler, Mason, 
Scott and Menard Counties; was organized at 
Springfield, August 15, 1861, and mustered into 
service for three years. It participated in the 
battles of Shiloh and Metamora, the siege of 
Vicksburg and the battles of Jackson, Mississippi, 
and Fort Beauregard, and in the capture of 
Spanish Fort, Fort Blakely and Mobile. From 
June, 1864, to March, 1866, it was stationed in 
Texas, and was mustered out at Brownsville, in 
that State, March 15, 1866, having served four 
years and seven months. It was discharged, at 
Springfield, May 13, 1866. 

TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY. Mustered into serv- 
ice at Springfield, August 19, 1861, and was 
engaged at Fort Donelson and Shiloh, and in the 
sieges of Corinth, Vicksburg and Mobila Eight 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



555 



companies were detailed for duty at Holly Springs, 
and were there captured by General Van Dorn, 
in December, 1862, but were exchanged, six 
months later. In January, 1864, the regiment 
re-enlisted as veterans, and, from June, 1864, to 
November, 1865, was on duty in Texas. It was 
mustered out of service in that State, Nov. 6, 
1865, and received final discharge on November 28. 

THIRTIETH INFANTRY. Organized at Spring- 
field, August 28, 1861 ; was engaged at Belmont, 
Fort Donelson, the siege of Corinth, Medan 
Station, Raymond, Champion Hills, the sieges of 
Vicksburg and Jackson, Big Shanty, Atlanta, 
Savannah, Pocotaligo, Orangeburg, Columbia, 
Cheraw, and Fayetteville ; mustered out, July 
17, 1865, and received final payment and discharge 
at Springfield, July 27, 1865. 

THIRTY-FIRST INFANTRY. Organized at Cairo, 
and there mustered into service on Sept. 18, 
1861; was engaged at Belmont, Fort Donelson, 
Shiloh, in the two expeditions against Vicks- 
burg, at Thompson's Hill, Ingram Heights, Ray- 
mond, Jackson, Champion Hill, Big Shanty, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Lovejoy Station and 
Jonesboro; also participated in the "March to 
the Sea" and took part in the battles and skir- 
mishes at Columbia, Cheraw, Fayetteville and 
Bentonville. A majority of the regiment re- 
enlisted as veterans in March, 1864. It was 
mustered out at Louisville, July 19, 1865, and 
finally discharged at Springfield, July 23. 

THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY. Organized at 
Springfield and mustered into service, Dec. 31, 
1861. By special authority from the War Depart- 
ment, it originally consisted of ten companies of 
infantry, one of cavalry, and a battery. It was 
engaged at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, in the sieges 
of Corinth and Vicksburg, and in the battles of 
La Grange, Grand Junction, Metamora, Harrison- 
burg, Kenesaw Mountain, Nickajack Creek, 
Allatoona, Savannah, Columbia, Cheraw and 
Bentonville. In January, 1864, the regiment 
re-enlisted as veterans, and, in June, 1865, was 
ordered to Fort Leavenworth. Mustered out 
there, Sept. 16, 1865, and finally discharged at 
Springfield. 

THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY. Organized and mus- 
tered into service at Springfield in September, 
1861; was engaged at Fredericktown (Mo.), Port 
Gibson, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, the 
assault and siege of Vicksburg, siege of Jackson, 
Fort Esperanza, and in the expedition against 
Mobile. The regiment veteranized at Vicksburg, 
Jan. 1, 1864; was mustered out, at the same point, 
Nov. 24, 1865, and finally discharged at Spring- 



field, Dec. 6 and 7, 1865. The aggregate enroll- 
ment of the regiment was between 1,900 and 
2,000. 

THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. Organized at 
Springfield, Sept. 7, 1861 ; was engaged at Shiloh, 
Corinth, Murfreesboro, Rocky Face Ridge, Re- 
saca, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, 
Jonesboro, and, after participating in the "March 
to the Sea" and through the Carolinas, took part 
in the battle of Bentonville. After the surrender 
of Johnston, the regiment went with Sherman's 
Army to Washington, D. C., and took part in the 
grand review, May 24, 1865; left Washington, 
June 12, and arrived at Louisville, Ky., June 18, 
where it was mustered out, on July 12; was dis- 
charged and paid at Chicago, July 17, 1865. 

THIRTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. Organized at De- 
catur on July 3, 1861, and its services tendered to 
the President, being accepted by the Secretary of 
War as "Col. G. A. Smith's Independent Regi- 
ment of Illinois Volunteers," on July 23. and 
mustered into service at St. Louis, August 12. It 
was engaged at Pea Ridge and in the siege of 
Corinth, also participated in the battles of Perry- 
ville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary 
Ridge, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Dallas and 
Kenesaw. Its final muster-out took place at 
Springfield, Sept. 27. 1864, the regiment having 
marched (exclusive of railroad and steamboat 
transportation) 3,056 miles. 

THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. Organized at Camp 
Hammond, near Aurora, 111., and mustered into 
service, Sept. 23, 1861, for a term of three years. 
The regiment, at its organization, numbered 965 
officers and enlisted men, and had two companies 
of Cavalry ("A" and "B"), 186 officers and 
men. It was engaged at Leetown, Pea Ridge, 
Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, the siege 
of Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Rocky Face 
Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, New Hope Church, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jones- 
boro, Franklin and Nashville. Mustered out, 
Oct. 8, 1865, and disbanded, at Springfield, Oct. 
27, having marched and been transported, during 
its term of service, more than 10,000 miles. 

THIRTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. Familiarly known 
as "Fremont Rifles"; organized in August, 1861, 
and mustered into service, Sept. 18. The regi- 
ment was presented with battle-flags by the Chi- 
cago Board of Trade. It participated in the 
battles of Pea Ridge, Neosho, Prairie Grove and 
Chalk Bluffs, the siege of Vicksburg, and in the 
battles of Yazoo City and Morgan's Bend. In 
October, 1863, it was ordered to the defense of the 
frontier along the Rio Grande; re-enlisted as 



556 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



veterans in February, 1864; took part in the 
siege and storming of Fort Blakely and the cap- 
ture of Mobile; from July, 1865, to May, 1866, 
was again on duty in Texas ; was mustered out 
at Houston, May 15, 1866, and finally discharged 
at Springfield, May 31, having traveled some 
17,000 miles, of which nearly 3,300 were by 
marching. 

THIRTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. Organized at 
Springfield, in September, 1861. The regiment 
was engaged in the battles of Fredericktown, 
Perryville, Knob Gap, Stone River, Liberty Gap, 
Chickamauga, Pine Top, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin and Nashville; 
re-enlisted as veterans in February, 1864; from 
June to December, 1865, was on duty in Louisi- 
ana and Texas; was mustered out at Victoria, 
Texas, Dec. 31, 1865, and received final discharge 
at Springfield. 

THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY. The organization of 
this Regiment was commenced as soon as the 
news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached Chi- 
cago. General Thomas O. Osborne was one of its 
contemplated field officers, and labored zealously 
to get it accepted under the first call for troops, 
but did not accomplish his object. The regiment 
had already assumed the name of the "Yates 
Phalanx" in honor of Governor Yates. It was 
accepted by the War Department on the day 
succeeding the first Bull Run disaster (July 22, 
1861), and Austin Light,of Chicago, was appointed 
Colonel. Under his direction the organization was 
completed, and the regiment left Camp Mather, 
Chicago, on the morning of Oct. 13, 1861. It par- 
ticipated in the battles of Winchester, Malvern 
Hill (the second), Morris Island, Fort Wagner, 
Drury's Bluff, and in numerous engagements 
before Petersburg and Richmond, including the 
capture of Fort Gregg, and was present at Lee's 
surrender at Appomattox. In the meantime the 
regiment re-enlisted as veterans, at Hilton Head, 
S. C v in September, 1863. It was mustered out 
at Norfolk, Dec. 6, 1865, and received final dis- 
charge at Chicago, December 16. 

FORTIETH INFANTRY. Enlisted from the coun- 
ties of Franklin, Hamilton, Wayne, White, 
Wabash, Marion, Clay and Fayette, and mustered 
into service for three years at Springfield, 
August 10, 1861. It was engaged at Shiloh, in 
the siege of Corinth, at Jackson (Miss.), in the 
siege of Vicksburg, at Missionary Ridge, New 
Hope Church, Black Jack Knob, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Ezra Chapel, Gris- 
woldville, siege of Savannah, Columbia (S. C.), 
and Bentonville. It re-enlisted, as veterans, at 



Scottsboro, Ala., Jan. 1, 1864, and was mustered 
out at Louisville, July 24, 1865, receiving final 
discharge at Springfield. 

FORTY-FIRST INFANTRY. Organized at Decatur 
during July and August, 1861, and was mustered 
into service, August 5. It was engaged at Fort 
Donelson, Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, the second 
battle of Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg and 
Jackson, in the Red River campaign, at Guntown, 
Kenesaw Mountain and Allatoona, and partici- 
pated in the "March to the Sea." It re-enlisted, 
as veterans, March 17, 1864, at Vicksburg, and 
was consolidated with the Fifty-third Infantry, 
Jan. 4, 1865, forming Companies G and H. 

FORTY-SECOND INFANTRY. Organized at Chi- 
cago, July 22, 1861 ; was engaged at Island No. 10, 
the siege of Corinth, battles of Farmington, 
Columbia (Tenn.), was besieged at Nashville, 
engaged at Stone River, in the Tullahoma cam- 
paign, at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Rocky 
Face Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, New Hope 
Church, Pine and Kenesaw Mountains, Peach 
Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station, 
Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville. It re- 
enlisted, as veterans, Jan. 1, 1864; was stationed 
in Texas from July to December, 1865 ; was mus- 
tered out at Indianola, in that State, Dec. 16, 
1865, and finally discharged, at Springfield, Jan. 
12, 1866. 

FORTY-THIRD INFANTRY. Organized at Spring- 
field in September, 1861, and mustered into 
service on Oct. 12. The regiment took part in 
the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh and in the 
campaigns in West Tennessee, Mississippi and 
Arkansas; was mustered out at Little Rock, 
Nov. 30, 1865, and returned to Springfield for 
final pay and discharge, Dec. 14, 1865. 

FORTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. Organized in Au- 
gust, 1861, at Chicago, and mustered into service, 
Sept. 13, 1861; was engaged at Pea Ridge, 
Perryville, Stone River, Hoover's Gap, Shelby- 
ville, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Missionary 
Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Rocky Face Ridge, 
Adairsville, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kene- 
saw Mountain, Gulp's Farm, Chattahoochie 
River, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, 
Franklin and Nashville. The regiment re-enlisted 
as veterans in Tennessee, in January, 1864. 
From June to September, 1865, it was stationed 
in Louisiana and Texas, was mustered out at 
Port Lavaca, Sept. 25, 1865, and received final 
discharge, at Springfield, three weeks later. 

FORTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. Originally called 
the "Washburne Lead Mine Regiment"; was 
organized at Galena, July 23, 1861, and mustered 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



557 



into service at Chicago, Dec. 25, 1861. It was 
engaged at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, the siege of 
Corinth, battle of Medan, the campaign against 
Vicksburg, the Meridian raid, the Atlanta cam- 
paign, the "March to the Sea," and the advance 
through the Carolinas. The regiment veterai\- 
ized in January, 1864; was mustered out of serv- 
ice at Louisville, Ky., July 12, 1865, and arrived 
in Chicago, July 15, 1865, for final pay and dis- 
charge. Distance marched in four years, 1,750 
miles. 

FORTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. Organized at Spring- 
field, Dec. 28, 1861 ; was engaged at Fort Donel- 
son, Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, battle of 
Metamora, siege of Vicksburg (where five com- 
panies of the regiment were captured), in the 
reduction of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley, 
and the capture of Mobile. It was mustered in 
as a veteran regiment, Jan. 4, 1864. From May, 

1865, to January, 1866, it was on duty in Louisi- 
ana ; was mustered out at Baton Rouge, Jan. 20, 

1866, and, on Feb. 1, 1866, finally paid and dis- 
charged at Springfield. 

FORTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. Organized and 
mustered into service at Peoria, 111., on August 
16, 1861. The regiment took part in the expe- 
dition against New Madrid and Island No. 10; 
also participated in the battles of Farmington, 
luka, the second battle of Corinth, the capture 
of Jackson, the siege of Vicksburg, the Red 
River expedition and the battle of Pleasant Hill, 
and in the struggle at Lake Chicot. It was 
ordered to Chicago to assist in quelling an antici- 
pated riot, in 1864, but, returning to the front, 
took part in the reduction of Spanish Fort and 
the capture of Mobile; was mustered out, Jan. 
21, 1866, at Selma, Ala., and ordered to Spring- 
field, where it received final pay and discharge. 
Those members of the regiment who did not re-en- 
list as veterans were mustered out, Oct. 11, 1864. 

FORTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. Organized at Spring- 
field, September, 1861, and participated in battles 
and sieges as follows: Fort Henry and Fort 
Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth (siege of), Vicksburg 
(first expedition against), Missionary Ridge, as 
well as in the Atlanta campaign and the "March 
to the Sea." The regiment re-enlisted as veter- 
ans, at Scottsboro, Ala., Jan. 1, 1864; was mus- 
tered out, August 15, 1865, at Little Rock, Ark., 
and ordered to Springfield for final discharge, 
arriving, August 21, 1865. The distance marched 
was 3,000 miles; moved by water, 5,000; by rail- 
road, 3,450 total, 11,450. 

FORTY-NINTH INFANTRY. Organized at Spring- 
field, 111., Dec. 31, 1861; was engaged at Fort 



Donelson, Shiloh and Little Rock; took part in 
the campaign against Meridian and in the Red 
River expedition, being in the battle of Pleasant 
Hill, Jan. 15, 1864 ; three-fourths of the regiment 
re-enlisted and were mustered in as veterans, 
returning to Illinois on furlough. The non- 
veterans took part in the battle of Tupelo. The 
regiment participated in the battle of Nashville, 
and was mustered out, Sept. 9, 1865, at Paducah, 
Ky., and arrived at Springfield, Sept, 15, 1865, 
for final payment and discharge. 

FIFTIETH INFANTRY. Organized at Quincy, in 
August, 1861, and mustered into service, Sept. 12, 
1861 ; was engaged at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, the 
siege of Corinth, the second battle of Corinth, 
Allatoona and Bentonville, besides many minor 
engagements. The regiment was mounted, Nov. 
17, 1863 ; re-enlisted as veterans, Jan. 1, 1864, was 
mustered out at Louisville, July 13, 1865, and 
reached Springfield, the following day, for final 
pay and discharge. 

FIFTY-FIRST INFANTRY. Organized at Chi- 
cago, Dec. 24, 1861 ; was engaged at New Madrid, 
Island No. 10, Farmington, the siege of Corinth, 
Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, 
Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jones- 
boro, Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville. The 
regiment was mustered in as veterans, Feb. 16, 
1864; from July to September, 1865, was on duty 
in Texas, and mustered out, Sept. 25. 1865, at 
Camp Irwin, Texas, arriving at Springfield, 111., 
Oct. 15, 1865, for final payment and discharge. 

FIFTY-SECOND INFANTRY. Organized at Ge- 
neva in November, 1861, and mustered into serv- 
ice, Nov. 19. The regiment participated in the 
following battles, sieges and expeditions : Shiloh, 
Corinth (siege and second battle of), luka, Town 
Creek, Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, Lay's Ferry, 
Rome Cross Roads, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Nickajack Creek, Decatur, Atlanta, Jonesboro 
and Bentonville. It veteranized, Jan. 9, 1864; 
was mustered out at Louisville, July 4, 1865, 
and received final payment and discharge at 
Springfield, July 12. 

FIFTY-THIRD INFANTRY. Organized at Ottawa 
in the winter of 1861-62, and ordered to Chicago, 
Feb. 27, 1862, to complete its organization. It 
took part in the siege of Corinth, and was enga'ged 
at Davis' Bridge, the siege of Vicksburg, in the 
Meridian campaign, at Jackson, the siege of 
Atlanta, the "March to the Sea," the capture of 
Savannah and the campaign in the Carolinas, 
including the battle of Bentonville. The regi- 
ment was mustered out of service at Louisville, 



558 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



July 22, 1865, and received final discharge, at 
Chicago, July 28. It marched 2,855 miles, and 
was transported by boat and cars, 4,168 miles. 
Over 1,800 officers and men belonged to the regi- 
ment during its term of service. 

FIFTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. Organized at Anna, 
in November, 1861, as a part of the "Kentucky 
Brigade," and was mustered into service, Feb. 
18, 1862. No complete history of the regiment 
can be given, owing to the loss of its official 
records. It served mainly in Kentucky, Tennes- 
see, Mississippi and Arkansas, and always effect- 
ively. Three-fourths of the men re-enlisted as 
veterans, in January, 1864. Six companies were 
captured by the rebel General Shelby, in August, 
1864, and were exchanged, the following De- 
cember. The regiment was mustered out at 
Little Rock, Oct. 15, 1865 ; arrived at Springfield, 
Oct. 26, and was discharged. During its organi- 
zation, the regiment had 1,342 enlisted men and 
71 commissioned officers. 

FIFTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. Organized at Chi- 
cago, and mustered into service, Oct. 31, 1861. 
The regiment originally formed a part of the 
"Douglas Brigade," being chiefly recruited from 
the young farmers of Fulton, McDonough, 
Grundy, La Salle, De Kalb, Kane and Winnebago 
Counties. It participated in the battles of Shiloh 
and Corinth, and in the Tallahatchie campaign; 
in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas 
Post, around Vicksburg, and at Missionary Ridge ; 
was in the Atlanta campaign, notably in the 
battles of Kenesaw Mountain and Jonesboro. In 
all, it was engaged in thirty -one battles, and was 
128 days under fire. The total mileage traveled 
amounted to 11,965, of which 3,240 miles were 
actually marched. Re-enlisted as veterans, while 
at Larkinsville, Tenn.,was mustered out at Little 
Rock, August 14, 1865, receiving final discharge 
at Chicago, the same month. 

FIFTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. Organized with com- 
panies principally enlisted from the counties of 
Massac, Pope, Gallatin, Saline, White, Hamilton, 
Franklin and Wayne, and mustered in at Camp 
Mather, near Shawneetown. The regiment par- 
ticipated in the siege, and second battle, of 
Corinth, the Yazoo expedition, the siege of 
Vicksburg being engaged at Champion Hills, 
and in numerous assaults ; also took part in the 
battles of Missionary Ridge and Resaca, and in 
the campaign in the Carolinas, including the 
battle of Bentonville. Some 200 members of the 
regiment perished in a wreck off Cape Hatteras, 
March 31, 1865. It was mustered out in Arkan- 
sas, August 12, 1865. 



FIFTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. Mustered into serv- 
ice, Dec. 26t 1861, at Chicago; took part in the 
battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, the siege of 
Corinth, and the second battle at that point ; was 
also engaged at Resaca, Rome Cross Roads and 
Allatoona; participated in the investment and 
capture of Savannah, and the campaign through 
the Carolinas, including the battle of Benton- 
ville. It was mustered out at Louisville, July 7, 
1865, and received final discharge at Chicago, 
July 14. 

FIFTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. Recruited at Chi- 
cago, Feb. 11, 1862; participated in the battles of 
Fort Donelson and Shiloh, a large number of the 
regiment being captured during the latter engage- 
ment, but subsequently exchanged. It took part 
in the siege of Corinth and the battle of luka, 
after which detachments were sent to Springfield 
for recruiting and for guarding prisoners. 
Returning to the front, the regiment 'was engaged 
in the capture of Meridian, the Red River cam- 
paign, the taking of Fort de Russey, and in many 
minor battles in Louisiana. It was mustered out 
at Montgomery, Ala., April 1, 1866, and ordered 
to Springfield for final payment and discharge. 

FIFTY-NINTH INFANTRY. Originally known as 
the Ninth Missouri Infantry, although wholly 
recruited in Illinois. It was organized at St. 
Louis, Sept. 18, 1861, the name being changed to 
the Fifty-ninth Illinois, Feb. 12, 1862, by order of 
the War Department. It was engaged at Pea 
Ridge, formed part of the reserve at Farmington, 
took part at Perryville, Nolansville, Knob Gap 
and Murfreesboro, in the Tullahorna campaign 
and the siege of Chattanooga, in the battles of 
Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, Kingston, 
Dallas, Ackworth, Pine Top, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Smyrna, Atlanta, Spring Hill, Franklin and 
Nashville. Having re-enlisted as veterans, the 
regiment was ordered to Texas, in June, 1865, 
where it was mustered out, December, 1865, 
receiving its final discharge at Springfield. 

SIXTIETH INFANTRY. Organized at Anna, 111., 
Feb. 17, 1862; took part in the siege of Corinth 
and was besieged at Nashville. The regiment 
re-enlisted as veterans while at the front, in 
January, 1864; participated in the battles of 
Buzzard's Roost, Ringgold, Dalton, Resaca, 
Rome, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Nickajack, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, 
Jonesboro, Averysboro and Bentonville; was 
mustered out at Louisville, July 31, 1865, and 
received final discharge at Springfield. 

SIXTY-FIRST INFANTRY. Organized at Carroll- 
ton, 111., three full companies being mustered 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



559 



in, Feb. 5, 1862. On February 21, the regiment, 
being still incomplete, moved to Benton Bar- 
racks, Mo. , where a sufficient number of recruits 
joined to make nine full companies. The regiment 
was engaged at Shiloh and Bolivar, took part 
in the Yazoo expedition, and re-enlisted as veter- 
ans early in 1864. Later, it took part in the battle 
of Wilkinson's Pike (near Murfreesboro), and 
other engagements near that point ; was mustered 
out at Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 8, 1865, and paid 
off and discharged at Springfield, Septem- 
ber 27. 

SIXTY-SECOND INFANTRY. Organized at Anna, 
111., April 10, 1862; after being engaged in several 
skirmishes, the regiment sustained a loss of 170 
men, who were captured and paroled at Holly 
Springs, Miss., by the rebel General Van Dorn, 
where the regimental records were destroyed. 
The regiment took part in forcing the evacuation 
of Little Rock; re-enlisted, as veterans, Jan. 9, 
1864 ; was mustered out at Little Rock, March 6, 
1866, and ordered to Springfield for final payment 
and discharge. 

SIXTY-THIRD INFANTRY. Organized at Anna, 
in December, 1861, and mustered into service, 
April 10, 1862. It participated in the first invest- 
ment of Vicksburg, the capture of Richmond 
Hill, La. , and in the battle of Missionary Ridge. 
On Jan. 1, 1864, 272 men re-enlisted as veterans. 
It took part in the capture of Savannah and in 
Sherman's march through the Carolinas, partici- 
pating in its important battles and skirmishes; 
was mustered out at Louisville, July 13, 1865, 
reaching Springfield, July 16. The total distance 
traveled was 6,453 miles, of which 2,250 was on 
the march. 

SIXTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. Organized at Spring- 
field, December, 1861, as the "First Battalion of 
Yates Sharp Shooters." The last company was 
mustered in, Dec. 31, 1861. The regiment was 
engaged at New Madrid, the siege of Corinth, 
Chambers' Creek, the second battle of Corinth, 
Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Decatur, the 
siege of Atlanta, the investment of Savannah and 
the battle of Bentonville ; re-enlisted as veterans, 
in January, 1864 ; was mustered out at Louisville, 
July 11, 1865, and finally discharged, at Chicago, 
July 18. 

SIXTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. Originally known as 
the "Scotch Regiment"; was organized at Chi- 
cago, and mustered in, May 1, 1862. It was cap- 
tured and paroled at Harper's Ferry, and ordered 
to Chicago; was exchanged in April, 1863; took 
part in Burnside's defense of Knoxville; re-en- 
listed as veterans in March, 1864, and participated 



in the Atlanta campaign and the "March to the 
Sea." It was engaged in battles at Columbia 
(Tenn. ), Franklin and Nashville, and later, near 
Federal Point and Smithtown, N. C., being mus- 
tered out, July 13, 1865, and receiving final pay- 
ment and discharge at Chicago, July 26, 1865. 

SIXTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. Organized at Benton 
Barracks, near St. Louis, Mo., during September 
and October, 1861 being designed as a regiment 
of "Western Sharp Shooters" from Illinois, Mis- 
souri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana and 
Ohio. It was mustered in, Nov. 23, 1861, was 
engaged at Mount Zion (Mo.), Fort Donelson, 
Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, luka, the second 
battle of Corinth, in the Atlanta campaign, the 
"March to the Sea" and the campaign through 
the Carolinas. The regiment was variously 
known as the Fourteenth Missouri Volunteers, 
Birge's Western Sharpshooters, and the Sixty- 
sixth Illinois Infantry. The latter (and final) 
name was conferred by the Secretary of War, 
Nov. 20, 1862. It re-enlisted (for the veteran 
service), in December, 1863, was mustered out at 
Camp Logan, Ky., July 7, 1865, and paid off and 
discharged at Springfield, July 15. 

SIXTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. Organized at Chi- 
cago, June 13, 1862, for three months' service, in 
response to an urgent call for the defense of 
Washington. The Sixty -seventh, by doing guard 
duty at the camps at Chicago and Springfield, 
relieved the veterans, who were sent to the front. 

SIXTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. Enlisted in response 
to a call made by the Governor, early in the sum- 
mer of 1862, for State troops to serve for three 
months as State Militia, and was mustered in 
early in June, 1862. It was afterwards mustered 
into the United States service as Illinois Volun- 
teers, by petition of the men, and received 
marching orders, July 5, 1862 ; mustered out, at 
Springfield, Sept. 26, 1862 many of the men re- 
enlisting in other regiments. 

SIXTY-NINTH INFANTRY. Organized at Camp 
Douglas, Chicago, and mustered into service for 
three months, June 14, 1862. It remained on 
duty at Camp Douglas, guarding the camp and 
rebel prisoners. 

SEVENTIETH INFANTRY. Organized at Camp 
Butler, near Springfield, and mustered in, July 4, 
1862. It remained at Camp Butler doing guard 
duty. Its term of service was three months. 

SEVENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. Mustered into serv- 
ice, July 26, 1862, at Chicago, for three months. 
Its service was confined to garrison duty in Illi- 
nois and Kentucky, being mustered out at Chi- 
cago, Oct. 29, 1862. 



560 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



SEVENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. Organized at Chi- 
cago, as the First Regiment of the Chicago Board 
of Trade, and mustered into service for three 
years, August 23, 1862. It was engaged at Cham- 
pion Hill, Vicksburg, Natchez, Franklin, Nash- 
ville, Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely; mustered 
out of service, at Vicksburg, August 6, 1865, and 
discharged at Chicago. 

SEVENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. Recruited from 
the counties of Adams, Champaign, Christian, 
Hancock, Jackson, Logan, Piatt, Pike, Sanga- 
mon, Tazewell and Vermilion, and mustered into 
service at Springfield, August 21, 1862, 900 strong. 
It participated in the battles of Stone River, 
Perryville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, 
Resaca, Adairsville, Burnt Hickory, Pine and 
Lost Mountains, New Hope Church, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Spring Hill, Frank- 
lin and Nashville; was mustered out at Nashville, 
June 12, 1865, and, a few days later, went to 
Springfield to receive pay and final discharge. 

SEVENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. Organized at 
Rockford, in August, 1862, and mustered into 
service September 4. It was recruited from Win- 
nebago, Ogle and Stephenson Counties. This regi- 
ment was engaged at Perryville, Murfreesboro 
and Nolansville, took part in the Tullahoma 
campaign, and the battles of Missionary Ridge, 
Resaca, Adairsville, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Tunnel Hill, and Rocky Face Ridge, the siege of 
Atlanta, and the battles of Spring Hill, Franklin 
and Nashville. It was mustered out at Nashville, 
June 10, 1865, with 343 officers and men, the 
aggregate number enrolled having been 1,001. 

SEVENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. Organized at 
Dixon, and mustered into service, Sept. 2, 1862. 
The regiment participated in the battles of Perry- 
ville, Nolansville, Stone River, Lookout Mountain, 
Dalton, Resaca, Marietta, Kenesaw, Franklin and 
Nashville; was mustered out at Nashville, June 
12, 1865, and finally discharged at Chicago, July 
1, following. 

SEVENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. Organized at Kan- 
kakee, 111., in August, 1862, and mustered into the 
service, August 22, 1862 ; took part in the siege of 
Vicksburg, the engagement at Jackson, the cam- 
paign against Meridian, the expedition to Yazoo 
City, and the capture of Mobile, was ordered to 
Texas in June, 1865, and mustered out at Galves- 
ton, July 22, 1865, being paid off and disbanded 
at Chicago, August 4, 1865 having traveled 
10,000 miles. 

SEVENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. Organized and 
mustered into service, Sept. 3, 1862, at Peoria; 
was engaged in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, 



Arkansas Post, the siege of Vicksburg (including 
the battle of Champion Hills), the capture of 
Jackson, the Red River expedition, and the bat- 
tles of Sabine Cross Roads and Pleasant Hill; the 
reduction of Forts Gaines and Morgan, and the 
capture of Spanish Fort, Fort Blakely and Mobile. 
It was mustered out of service at Mobile, July 
10, 1865, and ordered to Springfield for final pay- 
ment and discharge, where it arrived, July 22, 1865, 
having participated in sixteen battles and sieges. 

SEVENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. Organized at 
Quincy, and mustered into service, Sept. 1, 1862; 
participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Rome, 
New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach 
Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Averysboro and 
Bentonville ; was mustered out, June 7, 1865, and 
sent to Chicago, where it was paid off and dis- 
charged, June 12, 1865. 

SEVENTY-NINTH INFANTRY. Organized at Mat- 
toon, in August, 1862, and mustered into service, 
August 28, 1862; participated in the battles of 
Stone River, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Kene- 
saw Mountain, Dallas, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, 
Jonesboro, Love joy, Franklin and Nashville ; was 
mustered out, June 12, 1865; arrived at Camp 
Butler. June 15, and, on June 23, received final 
pay and discharge. 

EIGHTIETH INFANTRY. Organized at Centralia, 
111., in August, 1862, and mustered into service, 
August 25, 1862. It was engaged at Perryville, 
Dug's Gap, Sand Mountain and Blunt's Farm, 
surrendering to Forrest at the latter point. After 
being exchanged, it participated in the battles of 
Wauhatchie, Missionary Ridge, Dalton, Resaca, 
Adairsville, Cassville, Dallas, Pine Mountain, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta, Peach Tree Creek, 
Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station and Nash- 
ville. The regiment traveled 6,000 miles and 
participated in more than twenty engagements. 
It was mustered out of service, June 10, 1865, and 
proceeded to Camp Butler for final pay and 
discharge. 

EIGHTY-FIRST INFANTRY. Recruited from the 
counties of Perry, Franklin, Williamson, Jack- 
son, Union, Pulaski and Alexander, and mustered 
into service at Anna, August 26, 1862. It partici- 
pated in the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, 
Jackson, Champion Hill, Black River Bridge, and 
in the siege and capture of Vicksburg. Later, 
the regiment was engaged at Fort de Russey, 
Alexandria, Guntown and Nashville, besides 
assisting in the investment of Mobile. It was 
mustered out at Chicago, August 5, 1864. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



EIGHTY-SECOND INFANTRY. Sometimes called 
the "Second Hecker Regiment," in honor of Col- 
onel Frederick Hecker, it* first Colonel, and for 
merly Colonel of the Twenty-fourth Illinois 
Infantry being chiefly composed of German 
members of Chicago. It was organized at Spring- 
field, Sept. 26, 1862, and mustered into service, 
Oct. 23, 1862; participated in the battles of 
Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wauhatchie, Or- 
chard Knob, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, New 
Hope Church, Dallas, Marietta, Pine Mountain, 
Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta and Bentonville ; was 
mustered out of service, June 9, 1865, and 
returned to Chicago, June 16 having marched, 
during its time of service, 2,503 miles. 

EIGHTY-THIRD INFANTRY. Organized at Mon- 
mouth in August, 1862, and mustered into serv- 
ice, August 21. It participated in repelling the 
rebel attack on Fort Donelson, and in numerous 
hard -fought skirmishes in Tennessee, but was 
chiefly engaged in the performance of heavy 
guard duty and in protecting lines of communi- 
cation. The regiment was mustered out at Nash- 
ville, June 26, 1865, and finally paid off and 
discharged at Chicago, July 4, following. 

EIGHTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. Organized at 
Quincy, in August, 1862, and mustered into serv- 
ice, Sept. 1, 1862, with 939 men and officers. The 
regiment was authorized to inscribe upon its 
battle-flag the names of Perryville, Stone River, 
Woodbury, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, 
Missionary Ridge, Ringgold, Dalton, Buzzard's 
Roost, Resaca, Burnt Hickory, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Smyrna, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Sta- 
tion, Franklin, and Nashville. It was mustered 
out, June 8, 1865. 

EIGHTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. Organized at Peoria, 
about Sept. 1, 1862, and ordered to Louisville. It 
took part in the battles of Perryville, Stone River, 
Chickamauga, Knoxville, Dalton, Rocky-Face 
Ridge, Resaca, Rome, Dallas, Kenesaw, Peach 
Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Savannah, Ben- 
tonville, Goldsboro and Raleigh; was mustered 
out at Washington, D. C., June 5, 1865, and 
sent to Springfield, where the regiment was 
paid off and discharged on the 20th of the same 
month. 

EIGHTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. Mustered into serv- 
ice, August 27, 1862, at Peoria, at which time it 
numbered 923 men, rank and file. It took part 
in the battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Rome, 
Dallas, Koesaw, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesboro, 
Averysboro and Bentonville; was mustered out 
on June 6, 1865, at Washington, D. C., arriving 



on June 11, at Chicago, where, ten days later, the 
men received their pay and final discharge. 

EIGHTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. Enlisted in Au- 
gust, '1862; was composed of companies from 
Hamilton, Edwards, Wayne and White Counties; 
was organized in the latter part of August, 1862, 
at Shawneetown; mustered in, Oct. 3, 1862, the 
muster to take effect from August 2. It took 
part in the siege and capture of Warrenton and 
Jackson, and in the entire campaign through 
Louisiana and Southern Mississippi, participating 
in the battle of Sabine Cross Roads and in numer- 
ous skirmishes among the bayous, being mustered 
out, June 16, 1865, and ordered to Springfield, 
where it arrived, June 24, 1865, and was paid off 
and disbanded at Camp Butler, on July 2. 

EIGHTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. Organized at Chi- 
cago, in September, 1862, and known as the 
"Second Board of Trade Regiment." It was 
mustered in, Sept. 4, 1862 ; was engaged at Perry- 
ville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary 
Ridge, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, 
New Hope Church, Pine Mountain, Mud Creek, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Smyrna Camp Ground, 
Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station, Franklin 
and Nashville; was mustered out, June 9, 1865, 
at Nashville, Tenn., and arrived at .Chicago, 
June 13, 1865, where it received final pay and 
discharge, June 22, 1865. 

EIGHTY-NINTH INFANTRY. Called the "Rail- 
road Regiment" ; was organized by the railroad 
companies of Illinois, at Chicago, in August, 
1862, and mustered into service on the 27th of 
that month. It fought at Stone River, Chicka- 
mauga, Missionary Ridge, Knoxville, Resaca, 
Rocky Face Ridge, Pickett's Mills, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, 
Lovejoy's Station, Spring Hill, Columbia, Frank- 
lin and Nashville; was mustered out, June 10, 
1865, in the field near Nashville, Tenn. ; arrived 
at Chicago two days later, and was finally dis- 
charged, June 24, after a service of two years, 
nine months and twenty -seven days. 

NINETIETH INFANTRY. Mustered into service 
at Chicago, Sept. 7, 1862 ; participated in the siege 
of Vicksburg and the campaign against Jackson, 
and was engaged at Missionary Ridge, Resaca, 
Dallas, New Hope Church, Big Shanty, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Marietta, Nickajack Creek, Rosswell, 
Atlanta, Jonesboro and Fort McAllister. After 
the review at Washington, the regiment was 
mustered out, June 6, and returned to Chicago, 
June 9, 1865, where it was finally discharged. 

NINETY-FIRST INFANTRY. Organized at Camp 
Butler, near Springfield, in August, 1862, and 



562 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



mustered in on Sept. 8, 1862 ; participated in the 
campaigns against Vicksburg and New Orleans, 
and all along the southwestern frontier in 
Louisiana and Texas, as well as in the investiture 
and capture of Mobile. It was mustered out at 
Mobile, July 12, 1865, starting for home the same 
day, and being finally paid off and discharged on 
July 28, following. 

NINETY-SECOND INFANTRY (Mounted). Organ- 
ized and mustered into service, Sept. 4, 1862, 
being recruited from Ogle, Stephenson and Car- 
roll Counties. During its term of service, the 
Ninety-second was in more than sixty battles and 
skirmishes, including Ringgold, Chickamauga, 
and the numerous engagements on the "March 
to the Sea," and during the pursuit of Johnston 
through the Carolinas. It was mustered out at 
Concord, N. C. , and paid and discharged from the 
service at Chicago, July 10, 1865. 

NINETY-THIRD INFANTRY. Organized at Chi- 
cago, in September, 1862, and mustered in, Oct. 
13, 998 strong. It participated in the movements 
against Jackson and Vicksburg, and was engaged 
at Champion Hills and at Fort Fisher ; also was 
engaged in the battles of Missionary Ridge, 
Dallas, Resaca, and many minor engagements, 
following Sherman in his campaign though the 
Carolinas. Mustered out of service, June 23, 
1865, and, on the 25th, arrived at Chicago, receiv- 
ing final payment and discharge, July 7, 1865, the 
regiment having marched 2,554 miles, traveled 
by water, 2,296 miles, and, by railroad, 1,237 
miles total, 6,087 miles. 

NINETY-FOURTH INFANTRY. Organized at 
Bloornington in August, 1862, and enlisted wholly 
in McLean County. After some warm experi 
ence in Southwest Missouri, the regiment took 
part in the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and 
was, later, actively engaged in the campaigns in 
Louisiana and Texas. It participated in the cap- 
ture of Mobile, leading the final assault. After 
several months of garrison duty, the regiment was 
mustered out at Galveston, Texas, on July 17, 
1865, reaching Bloomington on August 9, follow- 
ing, having served just three years, marched 1,200 
miles, traveled by railroad 610 miles, and, by 
steamer, 6,000 miles, and taken part in nine bat- 
tles, sieges and skirmishes. 

NINETY-FIFTH INFANTRY. Organized at Rock- 
ford and mustered into service, Sept. 4, 1862. It 
was recruited from the counties of McHenry and 
Boone three companies from the latter and 
seven from the former. It took part in the cam- 
paigns in Northern Mississippi and against Vicks- 
burg, in the Red River expedition, the campaigns 



against Price in Missouri and Arkansas, against 
Mobile and around Atlanta. Among the battles 
in which the regiment was engaged were those 
of the Tallahatchie River, Grand Gulf, Raymond, 
Champion Hills, Fort de Russey, Old River, 
Cloutierville, Mansura, Yellow Bayou, Guntown, 
Nashville, Spanish Fort, Fort Blakely, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Chattahoochie River, Atlanta, Ezra 
Church, Jonesborp, Lovejoy Station and Nash- 
ville. The distance traveled by the regiment, 
while in the service, was 9,960 miles. It was 
transferred to the Forty-seventh Illinois Infan- 
try, August 25, 1865. 

NINETY-SIXTH INFANTRY. Recruited during 
the months of July and August, 1862, and mus- 
tered into service, as a regiment, Sept. 6, 1862. 
The battles engaged in included Fort Donelson, 
Spring Hill, Franklin, Triune, Liberty Gap, 
Shelbyville, Chickamauga, Wauhatchie, Lookout 
Mountain, Buzzard's Roost, Rocky Face Ridge, 
Resaca, Kingston, New Hope Church, Dallas, 
Pine Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Smyrna 
Camp Ground, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Rough 
and Ready, Jonesboro, Lovejo^'s Station, Frank- 
lin and Nashville. Its date of final pay and dis- 
charge was June 30, 1865. 

NINETY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. Organized in 
August and September, 1862, and mustered in on 
Sept. 16 ; participated in the battles of Chickasaw 
Bluffs, Arkansas Post, Port Gibson, Champion 
Hills, Black River, Vicksburg, Jackson and 
Mobile. On July 29, 1865, it was mustered out 
and proceeded homeward, reaching Springfield, 
August 10, after an absence of three years, less a 
few days. 

NINETY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. Organized at Cen- 
tralia, September, 1862, and mustered in, Sept. 3 ; 
took part in engagements at Chickamauga, Mc- 
Minnville, Farmington and Selma, besides many 
others of less note. It was mustered out, June 
27, 1865, the recruits being transferred to the 
Sixty-first Illinois Volunteers. The regiment 
arrived at Springfield, June 30, and received final 
payment and discharge, July 7, 1865. 

NINETY-NINTH INFANTRY. Organized in Pike 
County and mustered in at Florence, August 23, 
1862; participated in the following battles and 
skirmishes: Beaver Creek, Hartsville, Magnolia 
Hills, Raymond, Champion Hills, Black River, 
Vicksburg, Jackson, Fort Esperanza, Grand 
Coteau, Fish River, Spanish Fort and Blakely: 
days under fire, 62; miles traveled, 5,900; men 
killed in battle, 38; men died of wounds and 
disease, 149; men discharged for disability, 127; 
men deserted, 35; officers killed in battle, 3; 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



563 



officers died, 2; officers resigned, 26. The regi- 
ment was mustered out at Baton Rouge, July 81, 
1865, and paid off and discharged, August 9, 
following, i 

ONE HUNDREDTH INFANTRY. Organized at 
Joliet, in August, 1862, and mustered in, August 
30. The entire regiment was recruited in Will 
County. It was engaged at Bardstown, Stone 
River, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and 
Nashville; was mustered out of service, June 12, 
1865, at Nashville, Tenn., and arrived at Chicago, 
June 15, where it received final payment and 
discharge. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIRST INFANTRY. Organ- 
ized at Jacksonville during the latter part of the 
month of August, 1862, and, on Sept. 2, 1862, 
was mustered in. It participated in the battles 
of Wauhatchie, Chattanooga, Resaca, New Hope 
Church, Kenesaw and Pine Mountains, Peach 
Tree Creek, Atlanta, Averysboro and Bentonville. 
On Dec. 20, 1862, five companies were captured 
at Holly Springs, Miss., paroled and sent to 
Jefferson Barracks, Mo. , and formally exchanged 
in June, 1863. On the 7th of June, 1865, it was 
mustered out, and started for Springfield, where, 
on the 21st of June, it was paid off and disbanded. 

ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND INFANTRY. Organ- 
ized at Knoxville, in August, 1862, and mustered 
in, September 1 and 2. It was engaged at Resaca, 
Camp Creek, Burnt Hickory, Big Shanty, Peach 
Tree Creek and Averysboro ; mustered out of 
service June 6, 1865, and started home, arriving 
at Chicago on the 9th, and, June 14, received 
final payment and discharge. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRD INFANTRY. Re- 
cruited wholly in Fulton County, and mustered 
into the service, Oct. 2, 1862. It took part in 
the Grierson raid, the sieges of Vicksburg, Jack- 
son, Atlanta and Savannah, and the battles of 
Missionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Dal- 
las, Kenesaw Mountain and Griswoldsville ; was 
also in the campaign through the Carolinas. 
The regiment was mustered out at Louisville, 
June 21, and received final discharge at Chi- 
cago, July 9, 1865. The original strength of 
the regiment was 808, and 84 recruits were 
enlisted. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTH INFANTRY. Organ- 
ized at Ottawa, in August, 1862, and composed 
almost entirely of La Salle County men. The 
regiment was engaged in the battles of Harts- 
ville, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Mission- 
ary Ridge, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Utoy 
Creek, Jonesboro and Bentonville, besides many 
severe skirmishes ; was mustered out at Washing- 



ton, D. C., June 6, 1865, and, a few days later, 
received final discharge at Chicago. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH INFANTRY. Mus- 
tered into service, Sept. 2, 1862, at Dixon, and 
participated in the Atlanta campaign, being 
engaged at Resaca, Peach Tree Creek and 
Atlanta, and almost constantly skirmishing; 
also took part in the "March to the Sea" and the 
campaign in the Carolinas, including the siege of 
Savannah and the battles of Averysboro and 
Bentonville. It was mustered out at Washing- 
ton, D. C., June 7, 1865, and paid off and dis- 
charged at Chicago, June 17. 

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH INFANTRY. Mus- 
tered into service at Lincoln, Sept. 18, 1862, 
eight of the ten companies having been recruited 
in Logan County, the other two being from San- 
gamon and Menard Counties. It aided in the 
defense of Jackson, Tenn., where Company "C" 
was captured and paroled, being exchanged in 
the summer of 1863; took part in the siege of 
Vicksburg, the Yazoo expedition, the capture of 
Little Rock, the battle of Clarendon, and per- 
formed service at various points in Arkansas. It 
was mustered out, July 12, 1865, at Pine Bluff, 
Ark., and arrived at Springfield, July 24, 1865, 
where it received final payment and discharge 

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH INFANTRY. Mus- 
tered into service at Springfield, Sept. 4, 1862; 
was composed of six companies from DeWitt and 
four companies from Piatt County. It was 
engaged at Campbell's Station, Dandridge, 
Rocky-Face Ridge, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Atlanta, Spring Hill, Franklin, Nashville and 
Fort Anderson, and mustered out, June 21, 1865, 
at Salisbury, N. C., reaching Springfield, for 
final payment and discharge, July 2, 1865. 

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH INFANTRY. Organ- 
ized at Peoria, and mustered into service, August 
28, 1862 ; took part in the first expedition against 
Vicksburg and in the battles of Arkansas Post 
(Fort Hindman), Port Gibson and Champion 
Hills ; in the capture of Vicksburg, the battle of 
Guntown, the reduction of Spanish Fort, and the 
capture of Mobile. It was mustered out at Vicks- 
burg, August 5, 1865, and received final discharge 
at Chicago, August 1 1. 

ONE HUNDRED AND NINTH INFANTRY. Re- 
cruited from Union and Pulaski Counties and 
mustered into the service, Sept. 11, 1862. Owing 
to its number being greatly reduced, it was con- 
solidated with the Eleventh Infantry in April, 
1863. (See Eleventh Infantry.) 

ONE HUNDRED AND TENTH INFANTRY. Organ- 
ized at Anna and mustered in, Sept. 11, 1862 ; was 



564 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



engaged at Stone River, Woodbury, and in 
numerous skirmishes in Kentucky and Tennessee. 
In May, 1863, the regiment was consolidated, its 
numbers having been greatly reduced. Subse- 
quently it participated in the battles of Chicka- 
mauga and Missionary Ridge, the battles around 
Atlanta and the campaign through the Carolinas, 
being present at Johnston's surrender. The regi- 
ment was mustered out at Washington, D. C., 
June 5, 1865, and received final discharge at 
Chicago, June 15. The enlisted men whose term 
of service had not expired at date of muster-out, 
were consolidated into four companies and trans- 
ferred to the Sixtieth Illinois Veteran Volunteer 
Infantry. 

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH INFANTRY. Re- 
cruited from Marion, Clay, Washington, Clinton 
and Wayne Counties, and mustered into the serv- 
ice at Salem, Sept. 18, 1862. The regiment aided 
in the capture of Decatur, Ala. ; took part in the 
Atlanta campaign, being engaged at Resaca, 
Dallas, Kenesaw, Atlanta and Jonesboro ; partici- 
pated in the "March to the Sea" and the cam- 
paign in the Carolinas, taking part in the battles 
of Fort McAllister and Bentonville. It was mus- 
tered out at Washington, D. C., June 7, 1865, 
receiving final discharge at Springfield, June 27, 
having traveled 3,736 miles, of which 1,836 was 
on the march. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWELFTH INFANTRY. Mus- 
tered into service at Peoria, Sept. 20 and 22, 
1862 ; participated in the campaign in East Ten- 
nessee, under Burnside, and in that against 
Atlanta, under Sherman; was also engaged in 
the battles of Columbia, Franklin and Nashville, 
and the capture of Fort Anderson and Wilming- 
ton. It was mustered out at Goldsboro, N. C., 
June 20, 1865, and finally discharged at Chicago, 
July 7, 1865. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 
Left Camp Hancock (near Chicago) for the front, 
Nov. 6, 1862; was engaged in the Tallahatchie 
expedition, participated in the battle of Chicka- 
saw Bayou, and was sent North to guard prison- 
ers and recruit. The regiment also took part in 
the siege and capture of Vicksburg, was mustered 
out, June 20, 1865, and finally discharged at Chi- 
cago, five days later. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. 
Organized in July and August, 1862, and mustered 
in at Springfield, Sept. 18, being recruited from 
Cass, Menard and Sangamon Counties. The regi- 
ment participated in the battle of Jackson (Miss. ), 
the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and in the 
battles of Guntown and Harrisville, the pursuit 



of Price through Missouri, the battle of Nash- 
ville, and the capture of Mobile. It was mustered 
out at Vicksburg, August 3, 1865, receiving final 
payment and discharge at Springfield. August 15, 
1865. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 
Ordered to the front from Springfield, Oct. 4, 
1862 ; was engaged at Chickamauga, Chattanooga, 
Missionary Ridge, Tunnel Hill, Resaca and in all 
the principal battles of the Atlanta campaign, 
and in the defense of Nashville and pursuit of 
Hood; was mustered out of service, June 11, 
1865, and received final pay and discharge, June 
23, 1865, at Springfield. 

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. 
Recruited almost wholly from Macon County, 
numbering 980 officers and men when it started 
from Decatur for the front on Nov. 8, 1862. It 
participated in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, 
Arkansas Post, Champion Hills, Black River 
Bridge, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, Big 
Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Stone Mountain, 
Atlanta, Fort McAllister and Bentonville, and 
was mustered out, June 7, 1865, near Washington, 
D. C. 

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 
Organized at Springfield, and mustered in, Sept. 
19, 1862; participated in the Meridian campaign, 
the Red River expedition (assisting in the cap- 
ture of Fort de Russey), and in the battles of 
Pleasant Hill, Yellow Bayou, Tupelo, Franklin, 
Nashville, Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. It 
was mustered out at Springfield, August 5, 1865, 
having traveled 9,276 miles, 2,307 of which were 
marched. 

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEENTH INFANTRY. 
Organized and mustered into the service at 
Springfield, Nov. 7, 1862 ; was engaged at Chicka- 
saw Bluffs, Arkansas Post, Port Gibson, Cham- 
pion Hills, Black River Bridge, Jackson (Miss.), 
Grand Coteau, Jackson (La.), and Amite River. 
The regiment was mounted, Oct. 11, 1863, and 
dismounted, May 22, 1865. Oct. 1, 1865, it was 
mustered out, and finally discharged, Oct. 13. 
At the date of the muster-in, the regiment num- 
bered 820 men and officers, received 283 recruits, 
making a total of 1,103; at muster-out it num- 
bered 523. Distance marched, 2,000 miles; total 
distance traveled, 5,700 miles. 

ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 
Organized at Quincy, in September, 1862, and 
was mustered into the United States service, 
October 10 ; was engaged in the Red River cam- 
paign and in the battles of Shreveport, Yellow 
Bayou, Tupelo, Nashville, Spanish Fort and Fort 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



565 



Blakely. Its final muster-out took place at 
Mobile, August 26, 1865, and its discharge at 
Springfield. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTIETY INFANTRY. 
Mustered into the service, Oct. 28, 1862, at Spring- 
field ; was mustered out, Sept. 7, 1865, and received 
final payment and discharge, September 10, at 
Springfield. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIRST INFAN- 
TRY. (The organization of this regiment was not 
completed.) 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SECOND INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Carlinville, in August, 1862, 
and mustered into the service, Sept. 4, with 960 
enlisted men. It participated in the battles of 
Tupelo and Nashville, and in the capture of 
Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, and was mustered 
out, July 15, 1865, at Mobile, and finally dis- 
charged at Springfield, August 4. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THIRD INFAN- 
TRY. Mustered into service at Mattoon, Sept. 6, 
1862; participated in the battles of Perry ville, 
Milton, Hoover's Gap, and Farmington ; also took 
part in the entire Atlanta campaign, marching 
as cavalry and fighting as infantry. Later, it 
served as mounted infantry in Kentucky, Tennes- 
see and Alabama, taking a prominent part in the 
capture of Selma. The regiment was discharged 
at Springfield, July 11, 1865 the recruits, whose 
terms had not expired, being transferred to the 
Sixty-first Volunteer Infantry. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOURTH INFAN- 
TRY. Mustered into the service, Sept. 10, 1862, at 
Springfield ; took part in the Vicksburg campaign 
and in the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond and 
Champion Hills, the siege of Vicksburg, the 
Meridian raid, the Yazoo expedition, and the 
capture of Mobile. On the 16th of August, 1865, 
eleven days less than three years after the first 
company went into camp at Springfield, the regi- 
ment was mustered out at Chicago. Colonel 
Howe's history of the battle-flag of the regiment, 
stated that it had been borne 4, 100 miles, in four- 
teen skirimishes, ten battles and two sieges of 
forty -seven days and nights, and thirteen days 
and nights, respectively. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH INFAN- 
TRY. Mustered into service, Sept. 3, 1862; par- 
ticipated in the battles of Perryville, Chicka- 
mauga, Missionary Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta and Jonesboro, and in 
the " March to the Sea" and the Carolina cam- 
paign, being engaged at Averysboro and Benton- 
ville. It was mustered out at Washington, D. C., 
June 9, 1865, and finally discharged at Chicago. 



ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIXTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Alton and mustered in, Sept. 4, 
1862, and participated in the siege of Vicksburg. 
Six companies were engaged in skirmish line, near 
Humboldt, Tenn., and the regiment took part in 
the capture of Little Rock and in the fight at 
Clarendon, Ark. It was mustered out July 12, 1865. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVENTH INFAN- 
TRY. Mustered into service at Chicago, Sept. 6, 
1862; took part in the first campaign against 
Vicksburg, and in the battle of Arkansas Post, 
the siege of Vicksburg under Grant, the capture 
of Jackson (Miss.), the battles of Missionary 
Ridge and Lookout Mountain, the Meridian raid, 
and in the fighting at Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Atlanta and Jonesboro; also accom- 
panied Sherman in his march through Georgia 
and the Carolinas, taking part in the battle of 
Bentonville ; was mustered out at Chicago. June 
17, 1865. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHTH INFAN- 
TRY. Mustered in, Dec. 18, 1862, but remained 
in service less than five months, when, its num- 
ber of officers and men having been reduced from 
860 to 161 (largely by desertions), a number of 
officers were dismissed, and the few remaining 
officers and men were formed into a detachment, 
and transferred to another Illinois regiment. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Pontiac, in August, 1862, and 
mustered into the service Sept. 8. Prior to May, 
1864, the regiment was chiefly engaged in garri- 
son duty. It marched with Sherman in the 
Atlanta campaign and through Georgia and the 
Carolinas, and took part in the battles of Resaca, 
Buzzard's Roost, Lost Mountain, Dallas, Peach 
Tree Creek, Atlanta, Averysboro and Benton- 
ville. It received final pay and discharge at Chi- 
ca<-o, June 10, 1865. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 
Organized at Springfield and mustered into 
service, Oct. 25, 1862; was engaged at Port Gib- 
son, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, Vicks- 
burg, Jackson (Miss.), and in the Red River 
expedition. While on this expedition almost the 
entire regiment was captured at the battle of 
Mansfield, and not paroled until near the close of 
the war. The remaining officers and men were 
consolidated with the Seventy-seventh Infantry 
in January, 1865, and participated in the capture 
of Mobile. Six months later its regimental re- 
organization, as the One Hundred and Thirtieth, 
was ordered. It was mustered out at New 
Orleans, August 15, 1865, and discharged at 
Springfield, August 31. 



566 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIRST INFAN- 
TRY. Organized in September, 1862, and mus- 
tered into the service, Nov. 13, with 815 men, 
exclusive of officers. In October, 1863, it was 
consolidated with the Twenty-ninth Infantry, 
and ceased to exist as a separate organization. 
Up to that time the regiment had been in but a 
few conflicts and in no pitched battle. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SECOND INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Chicago and mustered in for 
100 days from June 1, 1864. The regiment re- 
mained on duty at Paducah until the expiration 
of its service, when it moved to Chicago, and 
was mustered out, Oct. 17, 1864. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THIRD INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Springfield, and mustered in 
for one hundred days, May 31, 1864; was engaged 
during its term of service in guarding prisoners 
of war at Rock Island ; was mustered out, Sept. 
4, 1864, at Camp Butler. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOURTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Chicago and mustered in, 
May 31, 1864, for 100 days; was assigned to 
garrison duty at Columbus, Ky., and mustered 
out of service, Oct. 25, 1864, at Chicago. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIFTH INFAN- 
TRY. Mustered in for 100-days' service at Mat- 
toon, June 6, 1864, having a strength of 852 men. 
It was chiefly engaged, during its term of service, 
in doing garrison duty and guarding railroads. 
It was mustered out at Springfield, Sept. 28, 1864. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIXTH INFAN- 
TRY. Enlisted about the first of May, 1864, for 
100 days, and went into camp at Centralia, 111., 
but was not mustered into service until June 1, 
following. Its principal service was garrison 
duty, with occasional scouts and raids amongst 
guerrillas. At the end of its term of service the 
regiment re-enlisted for fifteen days; was mus- 
tered out at Springfield, Oct. 22, 1864, and dis- 
charged eight days later 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVENTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Quincy, with ex-Gov. John 
Wood as its Colonel, and mustered in, June 5, 
1864, for 100 days. Was on duty at Memphis, 
Tenn , and mustered out of service at Spring- 
field. 111.. Sept. 4, 1864. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-EIGHTH INFAN- 
TRY Organized at Quincy, and mustered in, 
June 21, 1864, for 100 days; was assigned to garri- 
son duty at Fort Leaven worth, Kan., and in 
Western Missouri. It was mustered out of serv- 
ice at Springfield, 111., Oct. 14, 1864. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINTH INFAN- 
TRY. Mustered into service as a 100-day's regi- 



ment, at Peoria, June 1, 1864; was engaged in 
garrison duty at Columbus and Cairo, in making 
reprisals for guerrilla raids, and in the pursuit of 
the Confederate General Price in Missouri. The 
latter service was rendered, at the President's 
request, after the term of enlistment had expired. 
It was mustered out at Peoria, Oct. 25, 1864, hav- 
ing been in the service nearly five months. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTIETH INFANTRY. 
Organized as a 100-days' regiment, at Springfield, 
June 18, 1864, and mustered into service on that 
date. The regiment was engaged in guarding 
railroads between Memphis and Holly Springs, and 
. in garrison duty at Memphis. After the term of 
enlistment had expired and the regiment had 
been mustered out, it aided in the pursuit of 
General Price through Missouri; was finally dis- 
charged at Chicago, after serving about five 
months 

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIRST INFAN- 
TRY. Mustered into service as a 100-days' regi- 
ment, at Elgin, June 16, 1864 strength, 842 men; 
departed for the field, June 27, 1864; was mus- 
tered out at Chicago, Oct. 10, 1864. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SECOND INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Freeport as a battalion of 
eight companies, and sent to Camp Butler, where 
two companies were added and the regiment 
mustered into service for 100 days, June 18, 1864. 
It was ordered to Memphis, Tenn., five days later, 
and assigned to duty at White's Station, eleven 
miles from that city, where it was employed in 
guarding the Memphis & Charleston railroad. 
It was mustered out at Chicago, on Oct, 27, 1864, 
the men having voluntarily served one month 
beyond their term of enlistment. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-THIRD INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Mattoon, and mustered in, 
June 11, 1864, for 100 days. It was assigned to 
garrison duty, and mustered out at Mattoon, 
Sept. 26, 1864. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOURTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Alton, in 1864, as a one-year 
regiment; was mustered into the service, Oct. 21, 
its strength being 1,159 men. It was mustered 
out, July 14, 1865. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIFTH INFAN- 
TRY. Mustered into service at Springfield, June 
9, 1864 ; strength, 880 men. It departed for the 
field, June 12, 1864; was mustered out, Sept. 23, 
1864. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIXTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Springfield, Sept. 18, 1864, for 
one year. Was assigned to the duty of guarding 
drafted men at Brighton, Quincy, Jacksonville 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



567 



and Springfield, and mustered out at Springfield, 
July 5, 1865. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVENTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Chicago, and mustered into 
service for one year, Feb. 18 and 19, 1865; was 
engaged chiefly on guard or garrison duty, in 
scouting and in skirmishing with guerrillas. 
Mustered out at Nashville, Jan. 22, 1866, and 
received final discharge at Springfield, Feb. 4. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Springfield, Feb. 21, 1865, for 
the term of one year ; was assigned to garrison 
and guard duty and mustered out, Sept. 5, 1865, 
at Nashville, Tenn ; arrived at Springfield, Sept. 
9, 1865, where it was paid off and discharged. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Springfield, Feb. 11, 1865, 
and mustered in for one year; was engaged in 
garrison and guard duty ; mustered out, Jan. 27, 
1866, at Dalton, Ga. , and ordered to Springfield, 
where it received final payment and discharge. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH INFANTRY. 
Organized at Springfield, and mustered in, Feb. 14, 
1865, for one year ; was on duty in Tennessee and 
Georgia, guarding railroads and garrisoning 
towns. It was mustered out, Jan. 16, 1866, at 
Atlanta, Ga. , and ordered to Springfield, where it 
received final payment and discharge. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 
This regiment was organized at Quincy, 111., 
and mustered into the United States service, 
Feb. 23, 1865, and was composed of companies 
from various parts of the State, recruited, under 
the call of Dec. 19, 1864. It was engaged in 
guard duty, with a few guerrilla skirmishes, and 
was present at the surrender of General War- 
ford's army, at Kingston, Ga. ; was mustered out 
at Columbus, Ga., Jan. 24, 1866, and ordered to 
Springfield, where it received final payment and 
discharge, Feb. 8, 1866. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SECOND INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Springfield and mustered in, 
Feb. 18, 1865, for one year; was mustered out of 
service, to date Sept. 11, at Memphis, Tenn., and 
arrived at Camp Butler, Sept. 9, 1865, where it 
received final payment and discharge. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THIRD INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Chicago, and mustered in. 
Feb. 27, 1865, for one year; was not engaged in 
any battles. It was mustered out, Sept. 15, 1865, 
and moved to Springfield, 111., and, Sept. 24, 
received final pay and discharge. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOURTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Springfield, Feb. 21, 1865, 
for one year. Sept. 18, 1865, the regiment was 



mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., and ordered to 
Springfield for final payment and discharge, 
where it arrived, Sept. 22 ; was paid off and dis- 
charged at Camp Butler, Sept. 29. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIFTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized at Springfield and mustered in 
Feb. 28, 1865, for one year, 904 strong. On Sept. 
4, 1865, it was mustered out of service, and moved 
to Camp Butler, where it received final pay and 
discharge. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIXTH INFAN- 
TRY. Organized and mustered in during the 
months of February and March, 1865, from the 
northern counties of the State, for the term of 
one year. The officers of the regiment have left 
no written record of its history, but its service 
seems to have been rendered chiefly in Tennessee 
in the neighborhood of Memphis, Nashville and 
Chattanooga. Judging by the muster-rolls of 
the Adjutant-General, the regiment would appear 
to have been greatly depleted by desertions and 
otherwise, the remnant being finally mustered 
out, Sept. 20, 1865. 

FIRST CAVALRY. Organized consisting of 
seven companies, A, B, C, D, E, F and G at 
Alton, in 1861, and mustered into the United 
States service, July 3. After some service in 
Missouri, the regiment participated in the battle 
of Lexington, in that State, and was surrendered, 
with the remainder of the garrison, Sept. 20, 1861. 
The officers were paroled, and the men sworn not 
to take up arms again until discharged. No ex- 
change having been effected in November, the 
non-commissioned officers and privates were 
ordered to Springfield and discharged. In June, 
1862, the regiment was reorganized at Benton 
Barracks, Mo., being afterwards employed in 
guarding supply trains and supply depots at 
various points. Mustered out, at Benton Bar- 
racks, July 14, 1862. 

SECOND CAVALRY. Organized at Springfield 
and mustered into service, August 12, 1861, with 
Company M (which joined the regiment some 
months later), numbering 47 commissioned offi- 
cers and 1,040 enlisted men. This number was in- 
creased by recruits and re-enlistments, during its 
four and a half year's term of service, to 2,236 
enlisted men and 145 commissioned officers. It 
was engaged at Belmont ; a portion of the regi- 
ment took part in the battles at Fort Henry, 
Fort Donelson and Shiloh, another portion at 
Merriweather's Ferry, Bolivar and Holly Springs, 
and participated in the investment of Vicksburg. 
In January, 1864, the major part of the regiment 
re-enlisted as veterans, later, participating in the 



568 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Bed River expedition and the investment of Fort 
Blakely. It was mustered out at San Antonio, 
Tex., Nov. 22, 1865, and finally paid and dis- 
charged at Springfield, Jan. 3, 1866. 

THIRD CAVALRY. Composed of twelve com- 
panies, from various localities in the State, the 
grand total of company officers and enlisted men, 
under the first organization, being 1,433. It was 
organized at Springfield, in August, 1861 ; partici- 
pated in the battles of Pea Ridge, Haines' Bluff, 
Arkansas Post, Port Gibson, Champion Hills, 
Black River Bridge, and the siege of Vicksburg. 
In July, 1864, a large portion of the regiment re- 
enlisted as veterans. The remainder were mus- 
tered out, Sept. 5, 1864. The veterans participated 
in the repulse of Forrest, at Memphis, and in the 
battles of Lawrenceburg, Spring Hill, Campbells- 
ville and Franklin. From May to October, 1865, " 
engaged in service against the Indians in the 
Northwest The regiment was mustered out at 
Springfield, Oct. 18, 1865. 

FOURTH CAVALRY. Mustered into service, 
Sept. 26, 1861, and participated in the battles of 
Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh: in the 
siege of Corinth, and in many engagements of 
less historic note ; was mustered out at Springfield 
in November, 1864. By order of the War Depart- 
ment, of June 18, 1865, the members of the 
regiment whose terms had not expired, were con- 
solidated with the Twelfth Illinois Cavalry. 

FIFTH CAVALRY. Organized at Camp Butler, 
in November, 1861; took part in the Meridian 
raid and the expedition against Jackson, Miss., 
and in numerous minor expeditions, doing effect- 
ive work at Canton, Grenada, Woodville, and 
other points. On Jan. 1, 1864, a large portion of 
the regiment re-enlisted as veterans. Its final 
muster-out took place, Oct. 27, 1865, and it re- 
ceived final payment and discharge, October 30. 
SIXTH CAVALRY. Organized at Springfield, 
Nov. 19, 1861 ; participated in Sherman's advance 
upon Grenada ; in the Grierson raid through Mis- 
sissippi and Louisiana, the siege of Port Hudson, 
the battles of Moscow (Tenn), West Point (Miss.), 
Franklin and Nashville; re-enlisted as veterans, 
March 30, 1864; was mustered out at Selma, Ala., 
Nov. 5, 1865, and received discharge, November 
20, at Springfield. 

SEVENTH CAVALRY. Organized at Springfield, 
and was mustered into service, Oct. 13, 1861. It 
participated in the battles of Farmington, luka, 
Corinth (second battle) ; in Grierson's raid 
through Mississippi and Louisiana; in the en- 
gagement at Plain's Store (La.), and the invest- 
ment of Port Hudson. In March, 1864, 288 



officers and men re-enlisted as veterans. The 
non- veterans were engaged at Guntown, and the 
entire regiment took part in the battle of Frank- 
lin. After the close of hostilities, it was stationed 
in Alabama and Mississippi, until the latter part 
of October, 1865 ; was mustered out at Nashville, 
and finally discharged at Springfield, Nov. 17, 
1865. 

EIGHTH CAVALRY. Organized at St. Charles, 
111., and mustered in, Sept. 18, 1861. The ragi- 
ment was ordered to Virginia, and participated 
in the general advance on Manassas in March, 
1862; was engaged at Mechanicsville; Gaines' 
Hill, Malvern Hill, Sugar Loaf Mountain, Middle- 
town, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericks- 
burg, Sulphur Springs, Warrenton, Rapidan 
Station, Northern Neck, Gettysburg, Williams- 
burg, Funkstown, Falling Water, Chester Gap. 
Sandy Hook, Culpepper, Brandy Station, and in 
many raids and skirmishes. It was mustered 
out of service at Benton Barracks, Mo., July 17, 
1865, and ordered to Chicago, where it received 
final payment and discharge. 

NINTH CAVALRY Organized at Chicago, in 
the autumn of 1861, and mustered in, November 
30 ; was engaged at Cold water, Grenada, Wyatt, 
Saulsbury, Moscow, Guntown, Pontotoc, Tupelo, 
Old Town Creek, Hurricane Creek, -Lawrence- 
burg, Campellsville, Franklin and Nashville. 
The regiment re-enlisted as veterans, March 16, 
1864; was mustered out of service, at Selma, Ala., 
Oct. 31, 1865, and ordered to Springfield, where 
the men received final payment and discharge. 

TENTH CAVALRY. Organized at Springfield in 
the latter part of September, 1861, and mustered 
into service, Nov. 25, 1861 ; was engaged at Prairie 
Grove, Cotton Plant, Arkansas Post, in the 
Yazoo Pass expedition, at Richmond (La.), 
Brownsville, Bayou Metoe, Bayou La Fourche 
and Little Rock. In February, 1864, a large 
portion of the regiment re-enlisted as veter- 
ans, the non- veterans accompanying General 
Banks in his Red River expedition. On Jan. 27, 
1865, the veterans, and recruits were consolidated 
with the Fifteenth Cavalry, and all reorganized 
under the name of the Tenth Illinois Veteran 
Volunteer Cavalry. Mustered out of service at 
San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 22, 1865, and received 
final discharge at Springfield, Jan. 6, 1866. 

ELEVENTH CAVALRY. Robert G. Ingersoll of 
Peoria, and Basil D. Meeks, of Woodford County,' 
obtained permission to raise a regiment of 
cavalry, and recruiting commenced in October, 
1861. The regiment was recruited from the 
counties of Peoria, Fulton, Tazewell, Woodford, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



569 






Marshall, Stark, Knox, Henderson and Warren; 
was mustered into the service at Peoria, Dec. 20, 
1861, and was first under fire at Shiloh. It also 
took part in the raid in the rear of Corinth, and 
in the battles of Bolivar, Corinth (second battle), 
luka, Lexington and Jackson (Tenn.); in Mc- 
Pherson's expedition to Canton and Sherman's 
Meridian raid, in the relief of Yazoo City, and in 
numerous less important raids and skirmishes. 
Most of the regiment re-enlisted as veterans in 
December, 1863; the non-veterans being mus- 
tered out at Memphis, in the autumn of 1864. The 
veterans were mustered out at the same place, 
Sept. 30, 1865, and discharged at Springfield, 
October 20. 

TWELFTH CAVALRY. Organized at Springfield, 
in February, 1862, and remained there guarding 
rebel prisoners until June 25, when it was 
mounted and sent to Martinsburg, Va. It was 
engaged at Fredericksburg, Williamsport, Falling 
Waters, the Rapidan and Stevensburg. On Nov. 
26, 1863, the regiment was relieved from service 
and ordered home to reorganize as veterans. 
Subsequently it joined Banks in the Red River 
expedition and in Davidson's expedition against 
Mobile. While at Memphis the Twelfth Cavalry 
was consolidated into an eight-company organi- 
zation, and the Fourth Cavalry , having previously 
been consolidated into a battalion of five com- 
panies, was consolidated with the Twelfth. The 
consolidated regiment was mustered out at 
Houston, Texas, May 29, 1866, and, on June 18, 
received final pay and discharge at Springfield. 

THIRTEENTH CAVALRY. Organized at Chicago, 
in December, 1861 ; moved to the front from 
Benton Barracks, Mo., in February, 1862, and 
was engaged in the following battles and skir- 
mishes (all in Missouri and Arkansas) : Putnam's 
Ferry, Cotton Plant, Union City (twice), Camp 
Pillow, Bloomfield (first and second battles), Van 
Buren, Allen, Eleven Point River, Jackson, 
White River, Chalk Bluff, Bushy Creek, near 
Helena. Grand Prairie, White River, Deadman's 
Lake, Brownsville, Bayou Metoe, Austin, Little 
Rock, Benton, Batesville, Pine Bluff, Arkadel- 
phia, Okolona, Little Missouri River, Prairie du 
Anne, Camden, Jenkiijs' Ferry, Cross Roads, 
Mount Elba, Douglas Landing and Monticello. 
The regiment was mustered out, August 31, 1865, 
and received final pay and discharge at Spring- 
field, Sept. 13, 1865. 

FOURTEENTH CAVALRY. Mustered into service 
at Peoria, in January and February, 1863; par- 
ticipated in the battle of Cumberland Gap, in the 
defense of Knoxville and the pursuit of Long- 



street, in the engagements at Bean Station and 
Dandridge, in the Macon raid, and in the cavalry 
battle at Sunshine Church. In the latter Gen- 
eral Stoneman surrendered, but the Fourteenth 
cut its way out. On their retreat the men were 
betrayed by a guide and the regiment badly cut 
up and scattered, those escaping being hunted by 
soldiers with bloodhounds. Later, it was engaged 
at Way nesboro and in the battles of Franklin and 
Nashville, and was mustered out at Nashville, 
July 31, 1865, having marched over 10,000 miles, 
exclusive of duty done by detachments. 

FIFTEENTH CAVALRY. Composed of companies 
originally independent, attached to infantry regi- 
ments and acting as such; participated in the 
battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, and in the 
siege and capture of Corinth. Regimental or- 
ganization was effected in the spring of 1863, and 
thereafter it was engaged chiefly in scouting and 
post duty. It was mustered out at Springfield, 
August 25, 1864, the recruits (whose term of 
service had not expired) being consolidated with 
the Tenth Cavalry. 

SIXTEENTH CAVALRY. Composed principally 
of Chicago men Thieleman's and Schambeck's 
Cavalry Companies, raised at the outset of the 
war, forming the nucleus of the regiment. The 
former served as General Sherman's body-guard 
for some time. Captain Thieleman was made a 
Major and authorized to raise a battalion, the 
two companies named thenceforth being known 
as Thieleman's Battalion. In September, 1862, 
the War Department authorized the extension of 
the battalion to a regiment, and, on the llth of 
June, 1863, the regimental organization was com- 
pleted. It took part in the East Tennessee cam- 
paign, a portion of the regiment aiding in the 
defense of Knoxville, a part garrisoning Cumber- 
and Gap, and one battalion being captured by 
Longstreet. The regiment also participated in 
the battles of Rocky Face Ridge, Buzzard's 
Roost, Resaca, Kingston, Cassville, Carterville, 
Allatoona, Kenesaw, Lost Mountain, Mines 
Ridge, Powder Springs, Chattahoochie, Atlanta, 
Jonesboro, Franklin and Nashville. It arrived 
in Chicago, August 23, 1865, for final payment 
and discharge, having marched about 5,000 miles 
and engaged in thirty -one battles, besides numer- 
ous skirmishes. 

SEVENTEENTH CAVALRY. Mustered into serv- 
ice in January and February, 1864; aided in the 
repulse of Price at Jefferson City, Mo., and was 
engaged at Booneville, Independence, Mine 
Creek, and Fort Scott, besides doing garrison 
duty, scouting and raiding. It was mustered 



570 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



out in November and December, 1865, at Leaven- 
worth, Kan. Gov. John L. Beveridge, who had 
previously been a Captain and Major of the 
Eighth Cavalry, was the Colonel of this regi- 
ment. 

FIRST LIGHT ARTILLERY. Consisted of ten 
batteries. Battery A was organized under the 
first call for State troops, April 21, 1861, but not 
mustered into the three years' service until July 
16; was engaged at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, 
Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, the sieges of 
Vicksburg and Jackson, and in the Atlanta cam- 
paign; was in reserve at Champion Hills and 
Nashville, and mustered out July 3, 1865, at 
Chicago. 

Battery B was organized in April, 1861, en- 
gaged at Belmont, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, in the 
siege of Corinth and at La Grange, Holly Springs, 
Memphis, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, the 
siege of Vicksburg, Mechanicsburg, Richmond 
(La.), the Atlanta campaign and the battle of 
Nashville. The Battery was reorganized by con- 
solidation with Battery A, and mustered out at 
Chicago, July 2, 1865. 

Battery D was organized at Cairo, Sept. 2, 1861 ; 
was engaged at Fort Donelson and at Shiloh, 
and mustered out, July 28, 1865, at Chicago. 

Battery E was organized at Camp Douglas and 
mustered into service, Dec. 19, 1861 ; was engaged 
at Shiloh, Corinth, Jackson, Vicksburg, Gun- 
town, Pontotoc, Tupelo and Nashville, and mus- 
tered out at Louisville, Dec. 24, 1864. 

Battery F was recruited at Dixon and mus- 
tered in at Springfield, Feb. 25, 1862. It took 
part in the siege of Corinth and the Yocona 
expedition, and was consolidated with the other 
batteries in the regiment, March 7, 1865. 

Battery G was organized at Cairo and mus- 
tered in Sept. 28, 1861 ; was engaged in the siege 
and the second battle of Corinth, and mustered 
out at Springfield, July 24, 1865. 

Battery H was recruited in and about Chicago, 
during January and February, 1862 ; participated 
in the battle of Shiloh, siege of Vicksburg, and 
in the Atlanta campaign, the "March to the 
Sea," and through the Carolinas with Sherman. 

Battery I was organized at Camp Douglas and 
mustered in, Feb. 10, 1862; was engaged at 
Shiloh, in the Tallahatchie raid, the sieges of 
Vicksburg and Jackson, and in the battles of 
Chattanooga and Vicksburg It veteranized, 
March 17, 1864, and was mustered out, July 26, 
1865. 

Battery K was organized at Shawneetown and 
mustered in, Jan. 9, 1862, participated in Burn- 



side's campaign in Tennessee, and in the capture 
of Knoxville. Part of the men were mustered 
out at Springfield in June, 1865, and the re- 
manider at Chicago in July. 

Battery M was organized at Camp Douglas and 
mustered into the service, August 12, 1862, for 
three years. It served through the Chickamauga 
campaign, being engaged at Chickamauga; also 
was engaged at Missionary Ridge, was besieged 
at Chattanooga, and took part in all the impor- 
tant battles of the Atlanta campaign. It was 
mustered out at Chicago, July 24, 1864, having 
traveled 3,102 miles and been under fire 178 days. 

SECOND LIGHT ARTILLERY. Consisted of nine 
batteries. Battery A was organized at Peoria, 
and mustered into service, May 23, 1861 ; served 
in Missouri and Arkansas, doing brilliant work 
at Pea Ridge. It was mustered out of service at 
Springfield, July 27, 1865. 

Battery D was organized at Cairo, and mustered 
into service in December, 1861'; was engaged at 
Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Jackson, 
Meridian and Decatur, and mustered out at 
Louisville, Nov. 21, 1864. 

Battery E was organized at St. Louis, Mo., in 
August, 1861, and mustered into service, August 
20, at that point. It was engaged at Fort Donel- 
son and Shiloh, and in the siege of Corinth and 
the Yocona expedition was consolidated with 
Battery A. 

Battery F was organized at Cape Girardeau, 
Mo., and mustered in, Dec. 11, 1861; was engaged 
at Shiloh, in the siege and second battle of 
Corinth, and the Meridian campaign; also 
at Kenesaw, Atlanta and Jonesboro. It was 
mustered out, July 27, 1865, at Springfield. 

Battery H was organized at Springfield, De- 
cember, 1861, and mustered in, Dec. 31, 1861; was 
engaged at Fort Donelson and in the siege of 
Fort Pillow; veteranized, Jan. 1, 1864, was 
mounted as cavalry the following summer, and 
mustered out at Springfield, July 29, 1865. 

Battery I was recruited in Will County, and 
mustered into service at Camp Butler, Dec. 31, 
1861. It participated in the siege of Island No. 
10, in the advance upon Cornith, and in the 
battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Lookout 
Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Chattanooga. 
It veteranized, Jan. 1, 1864, marched with Sher- 
man to Atlanta, and thence to Savannah and 
through the Carolinas, and was mustered out at 
Springfield. 

Battery K was organized at Springfield and 
mustered in Dec. 31, 1863; was engaged at Fort 
Pillow, the capture of Clarkston, Mo., and the 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



571 



siege of Vicksburg. It was mustered out, July 
14, 1865, at Chicago. 

Battery L was organized at Chicago and mus- 
tered in, Feb. 28, 1862; participated in the ad- 
vance on Corinth, the battle of Hatchie and the 
advance on the Tallahatchie, and was mustered 
out at Chicago, August 0, 1865. 

Battery M was organized at Chicago, and mus- 
tered in at Springfield, June, 1862 ; was engaged 
at Jonesboro, Blue Spring, Blountsville and 
Rogersville, being finally consolidated with 
other batteries of the regiment. 

CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE BATTERY. Organ- 
ized through the efforts of the Chicago Board of 
Trade, which raised $15,000 for its equipment, 
within forty-eight hours. It was mustered into 
service, August 1, 1862, was engaged at Law- 
renceburg, Murfreesboro, Stone Eiver, Chicka- 
mauga, Farmington, Decatur (Ga.), Atlanta, 
Lovejoy Station, Nashville, Selma and Columbus 
(Ga. ) It was mustered out at Chicago, June 30, 
1865, and paid in full, July 3, having marched 
5,268 miles and traveled by rail 1,231 miles. The 
battery was in eleven of the hardest battles 
fought in the West, and in twenty-six minor 
battles, being in action forty-two times while on 
scouts, reconnoissances or outpost duty. 

CHICAGO MERCANTILE BATTERY. Recruited 
and organized under the auspices of the Mercan- 
tile Association, an association of prominent and 
patriotic merchants of the City of Chicago. It 
was mustered into service, August 29, 1862, at 
Camp Douglas, participated in the Tallahatchie 
and Yazoo expeditions, the first attack upon 
Vicksburg, the battle of Arkansas Post, the siege 
of Vicksburg, the battles of Magnolia Hills, 
Champion Hills, Black River Bridge and Jackson 
(Miss. ) ; also took part in Banks' Red River ex- 
pedition; was mustered out at Chicago, and 
received final payment, July 10, 1865, having 
traveled, by river, sea and land, over 11,000 
miles. 

SPRINGFIELD LIGHT ARTILLERY. Recruited 
principally from the cities of Springfield, Belle- 
ville and Wenona, and mustered into service at 
Springfield, for the term of three years, August 
21, 1862, numbering 199 men and officers. It 
participated in the capture of Little Rock and in 
the Red River expedition, and was mustered out 
at Springfield, 114 strong, June 30, 1865. 

COGSWELL'S BATTERY, LIGHT ARTILLERY. 
Organized at Ottawa, 111., and mustered in, Nov. 
11, 1861, as Company A (Artillery) Fifty -third 
Illinois Volunteers, Colonel Cushman command- 
ing the regiment. It participated in the 



advance on Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, the 
battle of Missionary Ridge, and the capture of 
Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, near Mobile. The 
regiment was mustered out at Springfield, August 
14, 1865, having served three years and nine 
months, marched over 7,500 miles, and partici- 
pated in seven sieges and battles. 

STURGES RIFLES. An independent company, 
organized at Chicago, armed, equipped and sub- 
sisted for nearly two months, by the patriotic 
generosity of Mr. Solomon Sturges; was mustered 
into service, May 6, 1861 ; in June following, was 
ordered to West Virginia, serving as body- 
guard of General McClellan; was engaged at 
Rich Mountain, in the siege of Yorktown, and in 
the seven days' battle of the Chiokahominy. A 
portion of the company was at Antietam, the 
remainder having been detached as foragers, 
scouts, etc. It was mustered out at Washington, 
Nov. 25, 1862. 

WAR, THE SPANISH - AMERICAN. The 
oppressions and misrule which had character- 
ized the administration of affairs by the Spanish 
Government and its agents for generations, in the 
Island of Cuba, culminated, in April, 1898, in 
mutual declarations of war between Spain and 
the United States. The causes leading up to this 
result were the injurious effects upon American 
commerce and the interests of American citizens 
owning property in Cuba, as well as the constant 
expense imposed upon the Government of the 
United States in the maintenance of a large navy 
along the South Atlantic coast to suppress fili- 
bustering, superadded to the friction and unrest 
produced among the people of this country by the 
long continuance of disorders and abuses so near 
to our own shores, which aroused the sympathy 
and indignation of the entire civilized world. 
For three years a large proportion of the Cuban 
population had been in open rebellion against the 
Spanish Government, and, while the latter had 
imported a large army to the island and sub- 
jected the insurgents and their families and 
sympathizers to the grossest cruelties, not even 
excepting torture and starvation itself, their 
policy had failed to bring the insurgents into 
subjection or to restore order. In this condition 
of affairs the United States Government had 
endeavored, through negotiation, to secure a miti- 
gation of the evils complained of, by a modifica- 
tion of the Spanish policy of government in the 
island ; but all suggestions in this direction had 
either been resented by Spain as unwarrantable 
interference in her affairs, or promises of reform, 
when made, had been as invariably broken. 



572 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



In the meantime an increasing sentiment had 
been growing up in the United States in favor of 
conceding belligerent rights to the Cuban insur- 
gents, or the recognition of their independence, 
which found expression in measures proposed in 
Congress all offers of friendly intervention by 
the United States having been rejected by Spain 
with evidences of indignation. Compelled, at 
last, to recognize its inability to subdue the insur- 
rection, the Spanish Government, in November, 
1897, made a pretense of tendering autonomy to 
the Cuban people, with the privilege of amnesty 
to the insurgents on laying down their arms. 
The long duration of the war and the outrages 
perpetrated upon the helpless "reconcentrados," 
coupled with the increased confidence of the 
insurgents in the final triumph of their cause, 
rendered this movement even if intended to be 
carried out to the letter of no avail. The 
proffer came too late, and was promptly rejected. 

In this condition of affairs and with a view to 
greater security for American interests, the 
American battleship Maine was ordered to 
Havana, on Jan. 24, 1898. It arrived in Havana 
Harbor the following day, and was anchored at a 
point designated by the Spanish commander. On 
the night of February 15, following, it was blown 
up and destroyed by some force, as shown by after 
investigation, applied from without. Of a crew 
of 354 men belonging to the vessel at the time, 
266 were either killed outright by the explosion, 
or died from their wounds. Not only the Ameri- 
can people, but the entire civilized world, was 
shocked by the catastrophe. An act of horrible 
treachery had been perpetrated against an 
American vessel and its crew on a peaceful mis- 
sion in the harbor of a professedly friendly na- 
tion. 

The successive steps leading to actual hostili- 
ties were rapid and eventful. One of the earliest 
and most significant of these was the passage, by 
a unanimous vote of both houses of Congress, on 
March 9, of an appropriation placing $50,000,000 
in the hands of the President as an emergency 
fund for purposes of national defense. This was 
followed, two days later, by an order for the 
mobilization of the army. The more important 
events following this step were: An order, under 
date of April 5, withdrawing American consuls 
from Spanish stations ; the departure, on April 9, 
of Consul-General Fitzhugh Lee from Havana; 
April 19, the adoption by Congress of concurrent 
resolutions declaring Cuba independent and 
directing the President to use the land and naval 
forces of the United States to put an end to 



Spanish authority in the island; April 20, the 
sending to the Spanish Government, by the Presi- 
dent, of an ultimatum in accordance with this 
act; April 21, the delivery to Minister Woodford, 
at Madrid, of his passports without waiting for 
the presentation of the ultimatum, with the 
departure of the Spanish Minister from Washing- 
ton ; April 23, the issue of a call by the President 
for 125,000 volunters; April 24, the final declara- 
tion of war by Spain ; April 25, the adoption by 
Congress of a resolution declaring that war had 
existed from April 21; on the same date an order 
to Admiral Dewey, in command of the Asiatic 
Squadron at Hongkong, to sail for Manila with a 
view to investing that city and blockading 
Philippine ports. 

The chief events subsequent to the declaration 
of war embraced the following: May 1, the 
destruction by Admiral Dewey's squadron of the 
Spanish fleet in the harbor of Manila; May 19, 
the arrival of the Spanish Admiral Cervera's fleet 
at Santiago de Cuba; May 25, a second call by 
the President for 75,000 volunteers; July 3, the 
attempt of Cervera's fleet to escape, and its 
destruction off Santiago; July 17, the surrender 
of Santiago to the forces under General Shafter; 
July 30, the statement by the President, through 
the French Ambassador at Washington, of the 
terms on which the United States would consent 
to make peace ; August 9, acceptance of the peace 
terms by Spain, followed, three days later, by the 
signing of the peace protocol; September 9, the 
appointment by the President of Peace Commis- 
sioners on the part of the United States ; Sept. 18, 
the announcement of the Peace Commissioners 
selected by Spain; October 1, the beginning of the 
Peace Conference by the representatives of the 
two powers, at Paris, and the formal signing, on 
December 10, of the peace treaty, including the 
recognition by Spain of the freedom of Cuba, 
with the transfer to the United States of Porto 
Rico and her other West India islands, together 
with the surrender of the Philippines for a con- 
sideration of $20,000,000. 

Seldom, if ever, in the history of nations have 
such vast and far-reaching results been accom- 
plished within so short a period. The war, 
which practically began with the destruction of 
the Spanish fleet in Manila Harbor an event 
which aroused the enthusiasm of the whole 
American people, and won the respect and 
admiration of other nations was practically 
ended by the surrender of Santiago and the 
declaration by the President of the conditions of 
peace just three months later. Succeeding 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



573 



events, up to the formal signing of the peace 
treaty, were merely the recognition of results 
previously determined. 

HISTORY OP ILLINOIS REGIMENTS. The part 
played by Illinois in connection with these events 
may be briefly summarized in the history of Illi- 
nois regiments and other organizations. Under 
the first call of the President for 125,000 volun- 
teers, eight regiments seven of infantry and one 
of cavalry were assigned to Illinois, to which 
was subsequently added, on application through 
Governor Tanner, one battery of light artil- 
lery. The infantry regiments were made up 
of the Illinois National Guard, numbered 
consecutively from one to seven, and were 
practically mobilized at their home stations 
within forty-eight hours from the receipt of the 
call, and began to arrive at Camp Tanner, near 
Springfield, the place of rendezvous, on April 26, 
the day after the issue of the Governor's call. 
The record of Illinois troops is conspicuous for 
the promptness of their response and the com- 
pleteness of their organization in this respect 
being unsurpassed by those of any other State. 
Under the call of May 25 for an additional force 
of 75,000 men, the quota assigned to Illinois was 
two regiments, which were promptly furnished, 
taking the names of the Eighth and Ninth. The 
first of these belonged to the Illinois National 
Guard, as the regiments mustered in under the 
first call had done, while the Ninth was one of a 
number of "Provisional Regiments" which had 
tendered their services to the Government. Some 
twenty-five other regiments of this class, more or 
less complete, stood ready to perfect their organi- 
zations should there be occasion for their serv- 
ices. The aggregate strength of Illinois organi- 
zations at date of muster out from the United 
States service was 12,28011,789 men and 491 
officers. 

FIRST REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS (orig- 
inally Illinois National Guard) was organized at 
Chicago, and mustered into the United States 
service at Camp Tanner (Springfield), under the 
command of Col. Henry L. Turner, May 13, 1898; 
left Springfield for Camp Thomas (Chickamauga) 
May 17; assigned to First Brigade, Third 
Division, of the First Army Corps; started for 
Tampa, Fla., June 2, but soon after arrival there 
was transferred to Picnic Island, and assigned to 
provost duty in place of the First United States 
Infantry. On June 30 the bulk of the regiment 
embarked for Cuba, but was detained in the har- 
bor at Key West until July 5, when the vessel 
sailed for Santiago, arriving in Guantanamo Bay 



on the evening of the 8th. Disembarking on 
the 10th, the whole regiment arrived on the 
firing line on the llth, spent several days and 
nights in the trenches before Santiago, and 
were present at the surrender of that city 
on the 17th. Two companies had previously 
been detached for the scarcely less perilous duty 
of service in the fever hospitals and in caring 
for their wounded comrades. The next month 
was spent on guard duty in the captured city, 
until August 25, when, depleted in numbers and 
weakened by fever, the bulk of the regiment was 
transferred by hospital boats to Camp Wikoff, on 
Montauk Point, L. I. The members of the regi- 
ment able to travel left Camp Wikoff, September 
8, for Chicago, arriving two days later, where they 
met an enthusiastic reception and were mustered 
out, November 17, 1,235 strong (rank and file) a 
considerable number of recruits having joined the 
regiment just before leaving Tampa. The record 
of the First was conspicuous by the fact that it 
was the only Illinois regiment to see service in 
Cuba during the progress of actual hostilities. 
Before leaving Tampa some eighty members of the 
regiment were detailed for engineering duty in 
Porto Rico, sailed for that island on July 12, and 
were among the first to perform service there. 
The First suffered severely from yellow fever 
while in Cuba, but, as a regiment, while in the 
service, made a brilliant record, which was highly 
complimented in the official reports of its com- 
manding officers. 

SECOND REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER IN- 
FANTRY (originally Second I. N. G.). This regi- 
ment, also from Chicago, began to arrive at 
Springfield, April 27, 1898 at that time number- 
ing 1,202 men and 47 officers, under command of 
CoL George M. Moulton; was mustered in 
between May 4 and May 15; on May 17 started 
for Tampa, Fla., but en route its destination was 
changed to Jacksonville, where, as a part of the 
Seventh Army Corps, under command of Gen. 
Fitzhugh Lee, it assisted in the dedication of 
Camp Cuba Libre. October 25 it was transferred 
to Savannah, Ga., remaining at "Camp Lee" until 
December 8, when two battalions embarked for 
Havana, landing on the 15th, being followed, a 
few days later, by the Third Battalion, and sta- 
tioned at Camp Columbia. From Dec. 17 to Jan. 
11, 1899, Colonel Moulton served as Chief of 
Police for the city of Havana. On March 28 to 30 
the regiment left Camp Columbia in detach- 
ments for Augusta, Ga., where it arrived April 
5, and was mustered out, April 26, 1,051 strong 
(rank and file), and returned to Chicago. Dur- 



574 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ing its stay in Cuba the regiment did not lose a 
man. A history of this regiment has been 
written by Rev. H. W. Bolton, its late Chaplain. 

THIRD REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER IN- 
FANTRY, composed of companies of the Illinois 
National Guard from the counties of La Salle. 
Livingston, Kane, Kankakee, McHenry, Ogle, 
"Will, and Winnebago, under command of Col. 
Fred Bennitt, reported at Springfield, with 1,170 
men and 50 officers, on April 27 ; was mustered 
in May 7, 1898; transferred from Springfield to 
Camp Thomas (Chickamauga), May 14; on July 
22 left Chickamauga for Porto Rico ; on the 28th 
sailed from Newport News, on the liner St. Louis, 
arriving at Ponce, Porto Rico, on July 31 ; soon 
after disembarking captured Arroyo, and assisted 
in the capture of Guayama, which was the 
beginning of General Brooke's advance across 
the island to San Juan, when intelligence was 
received of the signing of the peace protocol by 
Spain. From August 13 to October 1 the Third 
continued in the performance of guard duty in 
Porto Rico; on October 22, 986 men and 39 offi- 
cers took transport for home by way of New York, 
arriving in Chicago, November 11, the several 
companies being mustered out at their respective 
home stations. Its strength at final muster-out 
was 1,273 men and officers. This regiment had 
the distinction of being one of the first to see 
service in Porto Rico, but suffered severely from 
fever and other diseases during the three months 
of its stay in the island. 

FOURTH ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, com- 
posed of companies from Champaign, Coles, 
Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Jackson, 
Jefferson, Montgomery, Richland, and St. Clair 
counties; mustered into the service at Spring- 
field, May 20, under command of Col. Casimer 
Andel; started immediately for Tampa, Fla., but 
en route its destination was changed to Jackson- 
ville, where it was stationed at Camp Cuba Libre 
as a part of the Seventh Corps under command of 
Gen. Fitzhugh Lee; in October was transferred 
to Savannah, Ga., remaining at Camp Onward 
until about the first of January, when the regi- 
ment took ship for Havana. Here the regiment 
was stationed at Camp Columbia until April 4, 
1899, when it returned to Augusta, Ga., and was 
mustered out at Camp Mackenzie (Augusta), May 
2, the companies returning to their respective 
home stations. During a part of its stay at 
Jacksonville, and again at Savannah, the regi- 
ment was employed on guard duty. While at 
Jacksonville Colonel Andel was suspended by 
court-martial, and finally tendered his resigna- 



tion, his place being supplied by Lieut. -Col. Eben 
Swift, of the Ninth. 

FIFTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER IN- 
FANTRY was the first regiment to report, and was 
mustered in at Springfield, May 7, 1898, under 
command of Col. James S. Culver, being finally 
composed of twelve companies from Pike, Chris- 
tian, Sangamon, McLean, Montgomery, Adams, 
Tazewell, Macon, Morgan, Peoria, and Fulton 
counties; on May 14 left Springfield for Camp 
Thomas (Chickamauga, Ga.), being assigned to 
the command of General Brooke ; August 3 left 
Chickamauga for Newport News, Va., with the 
expectation of embarking for Porto Rico a 
previous order of July 26 to the same purport 
having been countermanded; at Newport News 
embarked on the transport Obdam, but again the 
order was rescinded, and, after remaining on 
board thirty -six hours, the regiment was disem- 
barked. The next move was "made to Lexington ; 
Ky., where the regiment having lost hope of 
reaching "the front" remained until Sept. 5, 
when it returned to Springfield for final muster- 
out. This regiment was composed of some of the 
best material in the State, and anxious for active 
service, but after a succession of disappoint- 
ments, was compelled to return to. its home sta- 
tion without meeting the enemy. After its arrival 
at Springfield the regiment was furloughed for 
thirty days and finally mustered out, October 16, 
numbering 1,213 men and 47 officers. 

SIXTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER IN- 
FANTRY, consisting of twelve companies from the 
counties of Rock Island, Knox, Whiteside, Lee, 
Carroll, Stephenson, Henry, Warren, Bureau, and 
Jo Daviess, was mustered in May 11, 1898, under 
command of Col. D. Jack Foster; on May 17 left 
Springfield for Camp Alger, Va. ; July 5 the 
regiment moved to Charleston, S. C., where a 
part embarked for Siboney, Cuba, but the whole 
regiment was soon after united in General 
Miles' expedition for the invasion of Porto Rico, 
landing at Guanico on July 25, and advancing 
into the interior as far as Adjunta and Utuado. 
After several weeks' service in the interior, the 
regiment returned to Ponce, and on September 7 
took transport for the return home, arrived at 
Springfield a week later, and was mustered out 
November 25, the regiment at that time consist- 
ing of 1,239 men and 49 officers. 

SEVENTH ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY 
(known as the "Hibernian Rifles"). Two 
battalions of this regiment reported at Spring, 
field, April 27, with 33 officers and 765 enlisted 
men, being afterwards increased to the maxi- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



575 



mum; was mustered into the United States serv- 
ice, under command of Col. Marcus Kavanagh, 
May 18, 1898; on May 28 started for Camp Alger, 
Va. ; was afterwards encamped at Thoroughfare 
Gap and Camp Meade; on September 9 returned 
to Springfield, was furloughed for thirty days, 
and mustered out, October 20, numbering 1,260 
men and 49 officers. Like the Fifth, the Seventh 
saw no actual service in the field. 

EIGHTH ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY (col- 
ored regiment), mustered into the service at 
Springfield under the second call of the Presi- 
dent, July 23, 1898, being composed wholly of 
Afro- Americans under officers of their own race, 
with Col. John R. Marshall in command, the 
muster-roll showing 1,195 men and 76 officers. 
The six companies, from A to F, were from Chi- 
cago, the other five being, respectively, from 
Bloomington, Springfield, Quincy, Litchfield, 
Mound City and Metropolis, and Cairo. The 
regiment having tendered their services to 
relieve the First Illinois on duty at Santiago de 
Cuba, it started for Cuba, August 8, by way of 
New York ; immediately on arrival at Santiago, 
a week later, was assigned to duty, but subse- 
quently transferred to San Luis, where Colone, 
Marshall was made military governor. The 
major part of the regiment remained here until 
ordered home early in March, 1899, arrived at 
Chicago, March 15, and was mustered out, April 
3, 1,226 strong, rank and file, having been in 
service nine months and six days. 

NINTH ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY was 
organized from the counties of Southern Illinois, 
and mustered in at Springfield under the second 
call of the President, July 4-11, 1898, under com- 
mand of Col. James R. Campbell; arrived at 
Camp Cuba Libre (Jacksonville, Fla.), August 9; 
two months later was transferred to Savannah, 
Ga. ; was moved to Havana in December, where 
it remained until May, 1899, when it returned to 
Augusta, Ga., and was mustered out there, May 
20, 1899, at that time consisting of 1,095 men and 
46 officers. From Augusta the several companies 
returned to their respective home stations. The 
Ninth was the only "Provisional Regiment" from 
Illinois mustered into the service during the 
war, the other regiments all belonging to the 
National Guard. 

FIRST ILLINOIS CAVALRY was organized at Chi- 
cago immediately after the President's first call, 
seven companies being recruited from Chicago, 
two from Bloomington, and one each from 
Springfield, Elkhart, and Lacon ; was mustered in 
at Springfield, May 21, 1898, under command of 



Col. Edward C. Young; left Springfield for Camp 
Thomas, Ga., May 30, remaining there until 
August 24, when it returned to Fort Sheridan, 
near Chicago, where it was stationed until October 
11, when it was mustered out, at that time con- 
sisting of 1,158 men and 50 officers. Although 
the regiment saw no active service in the field, it 
established an excellent record for itself in respect 
to discipline. 

FIRST ENGINEERING CORPS, consisting of 80 
men detailed from the First Illinois Volunteers, 
were among the first Illinois soldiers to see serv- 
ice in Porto Rico, accompanying General Miles' 
expedition in the latter part of July, and being 
engaged for a time in the construction of bridges 
in aid of the intended advance across the island. 
On September 8 they embarked for the return 
home, arrived at Chicago, September 17, and 
were mustered out November 20. 

BATTERY A (I. N. G.), from Danville, 111., was 
mustered in under a special order of the War 
Department, May 12, 1898, under command of 
Capt. Oscar P. Yaeger, consisting of 118 men; 
left Springfield for Camp Thomas, Ga., May 19, 
and, two months later, joined in General Miles' 
Porto Rico expedition, landing at Guanico on 
August 3, and taking part in the affair at Qua- 
yama on the 12th. News of peace having been 
received, the Battery returned to Ponce, where 
it remained until September 7, when it started 
on the return home by way of New York, arrived 
at Danville, September 17, was furloughed for 
sixty days, and mustered out November 25. The 
Battery was equipped with modern breech-load- 
ing rapid-firing guns, operated by practical artil- 
lerists and prepared for effective service. 

NAVAL RESERVES. One of the earliest steps 
taken by the Government after it became ap- 
parent that hostilities could not be averted, was 
to begin preparation for strengthening the naval 
arm of the service. The existence of the "Naval 
Militia," first organized in 1893, placed Illinois in 
an exceptionally favorable position for making a 
prompt response to the call of the Government, as 
well as furnishing a superior class of men for 
service a fact evidenced during the operations 
in the West Indies. Gen. John McNulta, as head 
of the local committee, was active in calling the 
attention of the Navy Department to the value of 
the service to be rendered by this organization, 
which resulted in its being enlisted practically as 
a body, taking the name of "Naval Reserves" 
all but eighty-eight of the number passing the 
physical examination, the places of these being 
promptly filled by new recruits. The first de- 



576 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



tachment of over 200 left Chicago May 2, under 
the command of Lieut. -Com. John M. Hawley, 
followed soon after by the remainder of the First 
Battalion, making the whole number from Chi- 
cago 400, with 267, constituting the Second Bat- 
talion, from other towns of the State. The latter 
was made up of 147 men from Moline, 58 from 
Quincy, and 62 from Alton making a total from 
the State of 667. This does not include others, 
not belonging to this organization, who enlisted 
for service in the navy during the war, which 
raised the whole number for the State over 1,000. 
The Reserves enlisted from Illinois occupied a 
different relation to the Government from that 
of the "naval militia" of other States, which 
retained their State organizations, while those 
from Illinois were regularly mustered into the 
United States service. The recruits from Illinois 
were embarked at Key West, Norfolk and New 
York, and distributed among fifty -two different 
vessels, including nearly every vessel belonging 
to the North Atlantic Squadron. They saw serv- 
ice in nearly every department from the position 
of stokers in the hold to that of gunners in the 
turrets of the big battleships, the largest number 
(60) being assigned to the famous battleship Ore- 
gon, while the cruiser Yale followed with 47 ; the 
Harvard with 35; Cincinnati, 27; Yankton, 19; 
Franklin, 18 ; Montgomery and Indiana, each, 17 ; 
Hector, 14; Marietta, 11; Wilmington and Lan- 
caster, 10 each, and others down to one each. 
Illinois sailors thus had the privilege of partici- 
pating in the brilliant affair of July 3, which 
resulted in the destruction of Cervera's fleet off 
Santiago, as also in nearly every other event in 
the West Indies of less importance, without the 
loss of a man while in the service, although 
among the most exposed. They were mustered 
out at different times, as they could be spared 
from the service, or the vessels to which they 
were attached went out of commission, a portion 
serving out their full term of one year. The 
Reserves from Chicago retain their organization 
under the name of "Naval Reserve Veterans," 
with headquarters in the Masonic Temple Build- 
ing, Chicago. 

WARD, James H., ex-Congressman, was born 
in Chicago, Nov. 30, 1853, and educated in the 
Chicago public schools and at the University of 
Notre Dame, graduating from the latter in 1873. 
Three years later he graduated from the Union 
College of Law, Chicago, and was admitted to 
the bar. Since then he has continued to practice 
his profession in his native city. In 1879 he was 
elected Supervisor of the town of West Chicago, 



and, in 1884, was a candidate for Presidential 
Elector on the Democratic ticket, and the same 
year, was the successful candidate of his party 
for Congress in the Third Illinois District, serv- 
ing one term. 

WINNEBAGO INDIANS, a tribe of the Da- 
cota, or Sioux, stock, which at one time occupied 
a part of Northern Illinois. The word Winne- 
bago is a corruption of the French Ouinebe- 
goutz, Ouimbegouc, etc., the diphthong "ou" 
taking the place of the consonant "w," which is 
wanting in the French alphabet. These were, 
in turn, French misspellings of an Algonquin 
term meaning "fetid," which the latter tribe 
applied to the Winnebagoes because they had 
come from the western ocean the salt (or 
"fetid") water. In their advance towards the 
East the Winnebagoes early invaded the country 
of the Illinois, but were finally driven north- 
ward by the latter, who surpassed them in num- 
bers rather than in bravery. The invaders 
settled in Wisconsin, near the Fox River, and 
here they were first visited by the Jesuit Fathers 
in the seventeenth century. (See Jesuit Rela- 
tions.) The Winnebagoes are commonly re- 
garded as a Wisconsin tribe; yet, that they 
claimed territorial rights in Illinois is shown by 
the fact that the treaty of Prairia du Chien 
(August 1, 1829), alludes to a Winnebago village 
located in what is now Jo Daviess County, near 
the mouth of the Pecatonica River. While, as a 
rule, the tribe, if left to itself, was disposed to 
live in amity with the whites, it was carried 
away by the eloquence and diplomacy of 
Tecumseh and the cajoleries of "The Prophet." 
General Harrison especially alludes to the brav- 
ery of the Winnebago warriors at Tippecanoe' 
which he attributees in part, however, to a super- 
stitious faith in "The Prophet." In June or 
July, 1827, an unprovoked and brutal outrage by 
the whites upon an unoffending and practically 
defenseless party of Winnebagoes, near Prairie 
du Chien brought on what is known as the 
'Winnebago War." (See Winnebago War.) 
The tribe took no part in the Black Hawk War, 
largely because of the great influence and shrewd 
tactic of their chief, Naw-caw. By treaties 
executed in 1832 and 1837 the Winnebagoes ceded 
to the United States all their lands lying east of 
the Mississippi. They were finally removed west 
of that river, and, after many sh if tings of loca- 
tion, were placed upon the Omaha Reservation in 
Eastern Nebraska, where their industry, thrift 
and peaceable disposition elicited high praise 
from Government officials. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



577 



WARNER, Vespasian, lawyer and Member of 
Congress, was born in De Witt County, 111., April 
23, 1842, and has lived all his life in his native 
county his present residence being Clinton. 
After a short course in Lombard University, 
while studying law in the office of Hon. Law- 
rence Weldon, at Clinton, he enlisted as a private 
soldier of the Twentieth Illinois Volunteers, in 
June, 1861, serving until July, 1866, when he was 
mustered out with the rank of Captain and 
brevet Major. He received a gunshot wound at 
Shiloh, but continued to serve in the Army of 
the Tennessee until the evacuation of Atlanta, 
when he was ordered North on account of dis- 
ability. His last service was in fighting Indians 
on the plains. After the war he completed his 
law studies at Harvard University, graduating in 
1868, when he entered into a law partnership 
with Clifton H. Moore of Clinton. He served as 
Judge- Advocate General of the Illinois National 
Guard for several years, with the rank of Colonel, 
under the administrations of Governors Hamil- 
ton, Oglesby and Fifer, and, in 1894, was nomi- 
nated and elected, as a Republican, to the 
Fifty-fourth Congress for the Thirteenth District, 
being re-elected in 1896, and again in 1898. In 
the Fifty -fifth Congress, Mr. Warner was a mem- 
ber of the Committees on Agriculture and Invalid 
Pensions, and Chairman of the" Committee on 
Revision of the Laws. 

WARREN, a village in Jo Daviess County, at 
intersection of the Illinois Central and the Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railways, 26 miles 
west-northwest of Freeport and 27 miles east by 
north of Galena. The surrounding region is 
agricultural and stock-raising ; there are also lead 
mines in the vicinity. Tobacco is grown to some 
extent. Warren has a flouring mill, tin factory, 
creamery and stone quarries, a State bank, water 
supply from artesian wells, fire department, gas 
plant, two weekly newspapers, five churches, a 
high school, an academy and a public library. 
Pop. (1890), 1,172; (1900), 1,327. 

WARREN, Calvin A., lawyer, was born in 
Essex County, N. Y., June 3, 1807; in his youth, 
worked for a time, as a typographer, in the office 
of "The Northern Spectator," at Poultney, Vt., 
side by side with Horace Greeley, afterwards the 
founder of "The New York Tribune." Later, he 
became one of the publishers of "The Palladium" 
at Ballston, N. Y., but, in 1832, removed to 
Hamilton County, Ohio, where he began the 
study of law, completing his course at Transyl- 
vania University, Ky., in 1834, and beginning 
practice at. Batavia, Ohio, as the partner of 



Thomas Morris, then a United States Senator 
from Ohio, whose daughter he married, thereby 
becoming the brother-in-law of the late Isaac N. 
Morris, of Quincy, 111. In 1836, Mr. Warren 
came to Quincy, Adams County, 111., but soon 
after removed to Warsaw in Hancock County, 
where he resided until 1839, when he returned to 
Quincy. Here he continued in practice, either 
alone or as a partner, at different times, of sev- 
eral of the leading attorneys of that city. 
Although he held no office except that of Master 
in Chancery, which he occupied for some sixteen 
years, the possession of an inexhaustible fund of 
humor, with strong practical sense and decided 
ability as a speaker, gave him great popularity 
at the bar and upon the stump, and made him a 
recognized leader in the ranks of the Democratic 
party, of which he was a life-long member. He 
served as Presidential Elector on the Pierce 
ticket in 1852, and was the nominee of his party 
for the same position on one or two other occa- 
sions. Died, at Quincy, Feb. 22, 1881. 

WARREN, Hooper, pioneer journalist, was 
born at Walpole, N. H., in 1790 ; learned the print- 
er's trade on the Rutland (Vt.) "Herald"; in 
1814 went to Delaware, whence, three years later, 
he emigrated to Kentucky, working for a time 
on a paper at Frankfort. In 1818 he came to St. 
Louis and worked in the office of the old "Mis- 
souri Gazette" (the predecessor of "The Repub- 
lican"), and also acted as the agent of a lumber 
company at Cairo, 111., when the whole popula- 
tion of that place consisted of one family domi- 
ciled on a grounded flat-boat. In March, 1819, 
he established, at Edwardsville, the third paper 
in Illinois, its predecessors being "The Illinois 
Intelligencer," at Kaskaskia, and "The Illinois 
Emigrant," at Shawneetown. The name given 
to the new paper was "The Spectator," and the 
contest over the effort to introduce a pro-slavery 
clause in the State Constitution soon brought it 
into prominence. Backed by Governor Coles, 
Congressman Daniel P. Cook, Judge S. D. Lock- 
wood, Rev. Thomas Lippincott, Judge Wm. H. 
Brown (afterwards of Chicago), George Churchill 
and other opponents of slavery, "The Spectator" 
made a sturdy fight in opposition to the scheme, 
which ended in defeat of the measure by the 
rejection at the polls, in 1824, of the proposition 
for a Constitutional Convention. Warren left 
the Edwardsville paper in 1825, and was, for a 
time, associated with "The National Crisis," an 
anti-slavery paper at Cincinnati, but soon re- 
turned to Illinois and established "The Sangamon 
Spectator" the first paper ever published at the 



578 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



present State capital. This he sold out in 1829, 
and, for the next three years, was connected 
with "The Advertiser and Upper Mississippi Her- 
ald," at Galena. Abandoning this field in 1832, 
he removed to Hennepin, where, within the next 
five years, he held the offices of Clerk of the Cir- 
cuit and County Commissioners' Courts and ex- 
officio Recorder of Deeds. In 1836 he began the 
publication of the third paper in Chicago "The 
Commercial Advertiser" (a weekly) which was 
continued a little more than a year, when it was 
abandoned, and he settled on a farm at Henry, 
Marshall County. His further newspaper ven- 
tures were, as the associate of Zebina Eastman, in 
the publication of "The Genius of Liberty," at 
Lowell, La Salle County, and "The Western 
Citizen" afterwards "The Free West" in Chi- 
cago. (See Eastman, Zebina, and Lundy, Ben- 
jamin.) On the discontinuance of "The Free 
West" in 1856, he again retired to his farm at 
Henry, where he spent the remainder of his days. 
While returning home from a visit to Chicago, 
in August, 1864, he was taken ill at Mendota, 
dying there on the 22d of the month. 

WARREN, John Esaias, diplomatist and real- 
estate operator, was born in Troy, N. Y., in 1826, 
graduated at Union College and was connected 
with the American Legation to Spain during the 
administration of President Pierce; in 1859-60 
was a member of the Minnesota Legislature and, 
in 1861-62, Mayor of St. Paul; in 1867, came to 
Chicago, where, while engaged in real-estate 
business, he became known to the press as the 
author of a series of articles entitled "Topics of 
the Time." In 1886 he took up his residence in 
Brussels, Belgium, where he died, July 6, 1896. 
Mr. Warren was author of several volumes of 
travel, of which "An Attache in Spain" and 
"Para" are most important. 

WARREN COUNTY. A western county, 
created by act of the Legislature, in 1825, but 
not fully organized until 1830, having at that time 
about 350 inhabitants ; has an area of 540 square 
miles, and was named for Gen. Joseph Warren. 
It is drained by the Henderson River and its 
affluents, and is traversed by the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy (two divisions), the Iowa 
Central and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 
Railroads. Bituminous coal is mined and lime- 
stone is quarried in large quantities. The county's 
early development was retarded in consequence 
of having become the "seat of war," during the 
Black Hawk War. The principal products are 
grain and live-stock, although manufacturing is 
carried on to some extent. The county -seat and 



chief city is Monmouth (which see). Roseville 
is a shipping point. Population (1880), 22,933. 
(1890), 21,281; (1900), 23,163. 

WARRENSBURG, a town of Macon County, 
on Peoria Division 111. Cent. Railway, 9 miles 
northwest of Decatur; has elevators, canning 
factory, a bank and newspaper. Pop. (1900), 503. 

WARSAW, the largest town in Hancock 
County, and admirably situated for trade. It 
stands on a bluff on the Mississippi River, some 
three miles below Keokuk, and about 40 miles 
above Quincy. It is the western terminus of the 
Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway, and lies 116 
miles west-southwest of Peoria. Old Fort 
Edwards, established by Gen. Zachary Taylor, 
during the War of 1812, was located within the 
limits of the present city of Warsaw, opposite the 
mouth of the Des Moines River. An iron 
foundry, a large woolen mill, a plow factory 
and cooperage works are its principal manufac- 
turing establishments. The channel of the Missis- 
sippi admits of the passage of the largest steamers 
up to this point. Warsaw has eight churches, a 
system of common schools comprising one high 
and three grammar schools, a National bank and 
two weekly newspapers. Population (1880), 3,105; 
(1890), 2,721; (1900), 2,335. 

WASHBURN, a village of Woodford County, on 
a branch of the Chicago & Alton Railway 25 
miles northeast of Peoria; has banks and a 
weekly paper ; the district is agricultural. Popu- 
lation (1890), 598; (1900), 703. 

WASHBURNE, Elihu Benjamin, Congressman 
and diplomatist, was born at Livermore, Maine, 
Sept. 23, 1816 ; in early life learned the trade of a 
printer, but graduated from Harvard Law School 
and was admitted to the bar in 1840. Coming 
west, he settled at Galena, forming a partnership 
with Charles S. Hempstead, for the practice of 
law, in 1841. He was a stalwart Whig, and, as 
such, was elected to Congress in 1852. He con- 
tinued to represent his District until 1869, taking 
a prominent position, as a Republican, on the 
organization of that party. On account of his 
long service he was known as the "Father of the 
House," administering the Speaker's oath three 
times to Schuyler Colfax and once to James G. 
Blaine. He was appointed Secretary of State by 
General Grant in 1869, but surrendered his port- 
folio to become Envoy to France, in which ca- 
pacity he achieved great distinction. He was the 
only official representative of a foreign govern- 
ment who remained in Paris, during the siege of 
that city by the Germans (1870-71) and the reign 
of the "Commune." For his conduct he was 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



579 



honored by the Governments of France and Ger- 
many alike. On his return to the United States, 
he made his home in Chicago, where he devoted 
his latter years chiefly to literary labor, and 
where he died, Oct. 22, 1887. He was strongly 
favored as a candidate for the Presidency in 1880. 
WASHINGTON, a city in Tazewell County, 
situated at the intersection of the Chicago & 
Alton, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the 
Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroads. It is 21 
miles west of El Paso, and 12 miles east of Peoria. 
Carriages, plows and farming implements con- 
stitute the manufactured output. It is also an 
important shipping-point for farm products. It 
has electric light and water- works plants, eight 
churches, a graded school, two banks and two 
newspapers. Pop. (1890), 1,301 ; (1900), 1,451. 

WASHINGTON COUNTY, an interior county of 
Southern Illinois, east of St. Louis ; is drained by 
the Kaskaskia River and the Elkhorn, Beaucoup 
and Muddy Creeks; was organized in 1818, and 
has an area of 540 square miles. The surface is 
diversified, well watered and timbered. The 
soil is of variable fertility. Corn, wheat and 
oats are the chief agricultural products. Manu- 
facturing is carried onto some extent, among 
the products being agricultural implements, 
flour, carriages and wagons. The most impor- 
tant town is Nashville, which is also the county- 
seat. Population (1890), 19,262; (1900), 19,526. 
"Washington was one of the fifteen counties into 
which Illinois was divided at the organization of 
the State Government, being one of the last 
three created during the Territorial period the 
other two being Franklin and Union. 

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, a village of Cook 
County, on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
and the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis Railways, 12 miles southwest of Chicago ; 
has a graded school, female seminary, military 
school, a car factory, several churches and a 
newspaper. Annexed to City of Chicago, 1890. 

WATAGA, a village of Knox County, on the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 8 miles 
northeast of Galesburg. Population (1900), 545. 
WATERLOO, the county-seat and chief town 
of Monroe County, on the Illinois Division of the 
Mobile & Ohio Railroad, 24 miles east of south 
from St. Louis. The region is chiefly agricultural, 
but underlaid with coal. Its industries embrace 
two flour mills, a plow factory, distillery, cream- 
ery, two ice plants, and some minor concerns. 
The city has municipal water and electric light 
plants, four churches, a graded school and two 
newspapers. Pop. (1890), 1,860; (1900), 2,114. 



WATERMAN, Arba Nelson, lawyer and jurist, 
was born at Greensboro, Orleans County, Vt., 
Feb. 3, 1836. After receiving an academic edu- 
cation and teaching for a time, he read law at 
Montpelier and, later, passed through the Albany 
Law School. In 1861 he was admitted to the 
bar, removed to Joliet, 111., and opened an office. 
In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the One Hun- 
dredth Illinois Volunteers, serving with the 
Army of the Cumberland for two years, and 
being mustered out in August, 1864, with the 
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. On leaving the 
army, Colonel Waterman commenced practice in 
Chicago. In 1873-74 he represented the Eleventh 
Ward in the City Council. In 1887 he was elected 
to the bench of the Cook County Circuit Court, 
and was re-elected in 1891 and, again, in 1897. In 
1890 he was assigned as one of the Judges of the 
Appellate Court. 

WATSEKA, the county-seat of Iroquois County, 
situated on the Iroquois River, at the mouth of 
Sugar Creek, and at the intersection of the Chi- 
cago & Eastern Illinois and the Toledo, Peoria & 
Western Railroads, 77 miles soutli of Chicago, 46 
miles north of Danville and 14 miles east of 
Oilman. It has flour-mills, brick and tile works 
and foundries, besides several churches, banks, a 
graded school and three weekly newspapers. 
Artesian well water is obtained by boring to the 
depth of 100 to 160 feet, and some forty flowing 
streams from these shafts are in the place. Popu- 
lation (1890), 2,017; (1900), 2,505. 

WATTS, Amos, jurist, was born in St. Clair 
County, 111., Oct. 25, 1821, but removed to Wash- 
ington County in boyhood, and was elected County 
Clerk in 1847, '49 and '53, and State's Attorney 
for the Second Judicial District in 1856 and '60 ; 
then became editor and proprietor of a news- 
paper, later resuming the practice of law, and, in 
1873, was elected Circuit Judge, remaining in 
office until his death, at Nashville, 111 Dec. 0, 



WAUKEGAN, the county-seat and principal 
city of Lake County, situated on the shore of 
Lake Michigan and on the Chicago & North- 
western Railroad, about 36 miles north by west 
from Chicago, and 50 miles south of Milwaukee: 
is also the northern terminus of the Elgin, Joliet 
& Eastern Railroad and connected by electric 
lines with Chicago and Fox Lake. Lake Michigan 
is about 80 miles wide opposite this point. 
Waukegan was first known as "Little Fort," 
from the remains of an old fort that stood on its 
site. The principal part of the city is built on a 
bluff, which rises abruptly to the height of about 



580 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



fifty feet. Between the bluff and the shore is a 
flat tract about 400 yards wide which is occupied 
by gardens, dwellings, warehouses and manu- 
factories. The manufactures include steel-wire, 
refined sugar, scales, agricultural implements, 
brass and iron products, sash, doors and blinds, 
leather, beer, etc. ; the city has paved streets, gas 
and electric light plants, three banks, eight or 
ten churches, graded and high schools and two 
newspapers. A large trade in grain, lumber, coal 
and dairy products is carried on. Pop. (1890), 
4,915; (1900), 9,426. 

WAUKEGAN & SOUTHWESTERN RAIL- 
WAY. (See Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway. ) 

WAVERLY, a city in Morgan County, 18 miles 
southeast of Jacksonville, on the Jacksonville & 
St. Louis and the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis 
Railroads. It was originally settled by enter- 
prising emigrants from New England, whose 
descendants constitute a large proportion of the 
population. It is the center of a rich agricultural 
region, has a fine graded school, six or seven 
churches, two banks, two newspapers and tile 
works. Population (1880), 1,124; (1890), 1,337; 
(1900), 1,573. 

WAYNE, (Gen.) Anthony, soldier, was born in 
Chester County, Pa., Jan. 1, 1745, of Anglo-Irish 
descent, graduated as a Surveyor, and first prac- 
ticed his profession in Nova Scotia. During the 
years immediately antecedent to the Revolution 
he was prominent in the colonial councils of his 
native State, to which he had returned in 1767, 
where he became a member of the "Committee of 
Safety." On June 3, 1776, he was commissioned 
Colonel of the Fourth Regiment of Pennsylvania 
troops in the Continental army, and, during the 
War of the Revolution, was conspicuous for his 
courage and ability as a leader. One of his most 
daring and successful achievements was the cap- 
ture of .Stony Point, in 1779, when the works 
having been carried and Wayne having received, 
what was supposed to be, his death- wound he 
entered the fort, supported by his aids. For this 
service he was awarded a gold medal by Con- 
gress. He also took a conspicuous part in the 
investiture and capture of Yorktown. In October, 
1783, he was brevetted Major-General. In 1784 
he was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature. 
A few years later he settled in Georgia, which 
State he represented in Congress for seven 
months, when his seat was declared vacant after 
contest. In April, 1792, he was confirmed as 
General-in-Chief of the United States Army, on 
nomination of President Washington. His con- 
nection with Illinois history began shortly after 



St. Clair's defeat, when he led a force into Ohio 
(1783) and erected a stockade at Greenville, 
which he named Fort Recovery ; his object bein^g 
to subdue the hostile savage tribes. In this he 
was eminently successful and, on August 3, 
1793, after a victorious campaign, negotiated the 
Treaty of Greenville, as broad in its provisions as 
it was far-reaching in its influence. He was a 
daring fighter, and although Washington called 
him "prudent," his dauntlessness earned for him 
the sobriquet of "Mad Anthony." In matters of 
dress he was punctilious, and, on this account, 
he was sometimes dubbed "Dandy Wayne." He 
was one of the few white officers whom all the 
Western Indian tribes at once feared and re- 
spected. They named him "Black Snake" and 
"Tornado." He died at Presque Isle near Erie, 
Dec. 15, 1796. 'Thirteen years afterward his 
remains were removed by one of his sons, and 
interred in Badnor churchyard, in his native 
county. The Pennsylvania Historical Society 
erected a marble monument over his grave, and 
appropriately dedicated it on July 4 of the same 
year. 

WAYNE COUNTY, in the southeast quarter of 
the State ; has an area of 720 square miles ; was 
organized in 1819, and named for Gen. Anthony 
Wayne. The county is watered arid drained by 
the Little Wabash and its branches, notably the 
Skillet Fork. At the first election held in the 
county, only fifteen votes were cast. Early life 
was exceedingly primitive, the first settlers 
pounding corn into meal with a wooden pestle, 
a hollowed stump being used as a mortar. The 
first mill erected (of the antique South Carolina 
pattern) charged 25 cents per bushel for grinding. 
Prairie and woodland make up the surface, and 
the soil is fertile. Railroad facilities are furnished 
by the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis and the 
Baltimore & Ohio (Southwestern) Railroads. 
Corn, oats, tobacco, wheat, hay and wool are the 
chief agricultural products. Saw mills are numer- 
ous and there are also carriage and wagon facto- 
ries. Fairneld is the county-seat. Population 
(1880), 21,291; (1890), 23,806; (1900), 27,626. 

WEAS, THE, a branch of the Miami tribe of 
Indians. They called themselves "We-wee- 
hahs," and were spoken of by the French as "Oui- 
at-a-nons" and "Oui-as." Other corruptions of 
the name were common among the British and 
American colonists. In 1718 they had a village 
at Chicago, but abandoned it through fear of 
their hostile neighbors, the Chippewas and Potta- 
watomies. The Weas were, at one time, brave 
and warlike ; but their numbers were reduced by 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



581 



constant warfare and disease, and, in the end, 
debauchery enervated and demoralized them. 
They were removed west of the Mississippi and 
given a reservation in Miami County, Kan. This 
they ultimately sold, and, under the leadership 
of Baptists Peoria, united with their few remain- 
ing brethren of the Miamis and with the remnant 
of the Ill-i-ni under the title of the "confederated 
tribes," and settled in Indian Territory. (See also 
Miamis; Piankeshaws.) 

WEBB, Edwin B., early lawyer and politician, 
was born about 1802, came to the vicinity of 
Carmi, White County, 111., about 1828 to 1830, 
and, still later, studied law at Transylvania Uni- 
versity. He held the office of Prosecuting 
Attorney of White County, and, in 1834, was 
elected to the lower branch of the General 
Assembly, serving, by successive re-elections, 
until 1842, and, in the Senate, from 1842 to '46. 
During his service in the House he was a col- 
league and political and personal friend of 
Abraham Lincoln. He opposed the internal 
improvement scheme of 1837, predicting many 
of the disasters which were actually realized a 
few years later. He was a candidate for Presi- 
dential Elector on the Whig ticket, in 1844 and 
'48, and, in 1852, received the nomination for 
Governor as the opponent of Joel A. Matteson, 
two years later, being an unsuccessful candidate 
for Justice of the Supreme Court in opposition to 
Judge W. B. Scates. While practicing law at 
Cnrmi, he was also a partner of his brother in 
the mercantile business. Died, Oct. 14, 1858, in 
the 56th year of his age. 

WEBB, Henry Livingston, soldier and pioneer 
(an elder brother of James Watson Webb, a noted 
New York journalist), was born at Claverack, 
N. Y., Feb. 6, 1795; served as a soldier in the 
War of 1812, came to Southern Illinois in 1817, 
and became one of the founders of the town of 
America near the mouth of the Ohio ; was Repre- 
sentative in the Fourth and Eleventh General 
Assemblies, a Major in the Black Hawk War and 
Captain of volunteers and, afterwards, Colonel of 
regulars, in the Mexican War. In 1860 he went 
to Texas and served, for a time, in a semi -mili- 
tary capacity under the Confederate Govern- 
ment; returned to Illinois in 1869, and died, at 
Makanda. Oct. 5, 1876. 

WEBSTER, Fletcher, lawyer and soldier, was 
born at Portsmouth, N. H., July 23, 1813; gradu- 
ated at Harvard in 1833, and studied law with 
his father (Daniel Webster) ; in 1837, located at 
Peru, 111., where he practiced three years. His 
father having been appointed Secretary of State 



in 1841, the son became his private secretary, 
was also Secretary of Legation to Caleb Cushing 
(Minister to China) in 1843, a member of the 
Massachusetts Legislature in 1847, and Surveyor 
of the Port of Boston, 1850-61; the latter year 
became Colonel of the Twelfth Massachusetts 
Volunteers, and was killed in the second battle 
of Bull Run, August 30, 1862. 

WEBSTER, Joseph Dana, civil engineer and 
soldier, was born at Old Hampton, N. H., 
August 25, 1811. He graduated from Dart- 
mouth College in 1832, and afterwards read 
law at Newburyport, Mass. His natural incli- 
nation was for engineering, and, after serv- 
ing for a time in the Engineer and War offices, 
at Washington, was made a United States civil 
engineer (1835) and, on July 7, 1838, entered the 
army as Second Lieutenant of Topographical 
Engineers. He served through the Mexican 
War, was made First Lieutenant in 1849, and 
promoted to a captaincy, in March, 1853. Thir- 
teen months later he resigned, removing to Chi- 
cago, where he made his permanent home, and 
soon after was identified, for a time, with the 
proprietorship of "The Chicago Tribune." He 
was President of the commission that perfected 
the Chicago sewerage system, and designed and 
executed the raising of the grade of a large por- 
tion of the city from two to eight feet, whole 
blocks of buildings being raised by jack screws, 
while new foundations were inserted. At the 
outbreak of the Civil War he tendered his serv- 
ices to the Government and superintended the 
erection of the fortifications at Cairo, 111., and 
Paducah, Ky. On April 7, 1861, he was com- 
missioned Paymaster of Volunteers, with the 
rank of Major, and, in February, 1862, Colonel of 
the First Illinois Artillery. For several months 
he was chief of General Grant's staff, participat- 
ing in the capture of Forts Donelson and Henry, 
and in the battle of Shiloh, in the latter as Chief 
of Artillery. In October, 1862, the War Depart- 
ment detailed him to make a survey of the Illi- 
nois & Michigan Canal, and, the following month, 
he was commissioned Brigadier-General of 
Volunteers, serving as Military Governor of Mem- 
phis and Superintendent of military railroads. 
He was again chief of staff to General Grant 
during the Vicksburg campaign, and, from 1864 
until the close of the war, occupied the same 
relation to General Sherman. He was brevetted 
Major-General of Volunteers, March 13, 1865, but, 
resigning Nov. 6, following, returned to Chicago, 
where he spent the remainder of his life. From 
1869 to 1872 he was Assessor of Internal Revenue 



C82 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



there, and, later, Assistant United States Treas- 
urer, and, in July, 1872, was appointed Collector 
of Internal Revenue. Died, at Chicago, March 
12, 1876. 

WELCH, William JR., lawyer and jurist, was 
born in Jessamine County, Ky., Jan. 22, 1828, 
educated at Transylvania University, Lexington, 
graduating from the academic department in 
1847, and, from the law school, in 1851. In 1864 he 
removed to Carlinville, Macoupin County, 111., 
which place he made his permanent home. In 
1877 he was elected to the bench of the Fifth 
Circuit, and re-elected in 1879 and '85. In 1884 
he was assigned to the bench of the Appellate 
Court for the Second District. Died, Sept. 1, 
1888. 

WELDON, Lawrence, one of the Judges of the 
United States Court of Claims, Washington, 
D. C., was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, in 
1829 ; while a child, removed with his parents to 
Madison County, and was educated in the com- 
mon schools, the local academy and at Wittenberg 
College, Springfield, in the same State; read law 
with Hon. R. A. Harrison, a prominent member 
of the Ohio bar, and was admitted to practice in 
1854, meanwhile, in 1852-53, having served as a 
clerk in the office of the Secretary of State at 
Columbus. In 1854 he removed to Illinois, locat- 
ing at Clinton, DeWitt County, where he engaged 
in practice ; in 1860 was elected a Representative 
in the Twenty-second General Assembly, was 
also chosen a Presidential Elector the same year, 
and assisted in the first election of Abraham 
Lincoln to the Presidency. Early in 1861 he 
resigned his seat in the Legislature to accept the 
position of United States District Attorney for 
the Southern District of Illinois, tendered him by 
President Lincoln, but resigned the latter office 
in 1866 and, the following year, removed to 
Bloomington, where he continued the practice of 
his profession until 1883, when he was appointed, 
by President Arthur, an Associate Justice of the 
United States Court of Claims at Washington 
a position which he still (1899) continues to fill. 
Judge Weldon is among the remaining few who 
rode the circuit and practiced law with Mr. Lin- 
coln. From the time of coming to the State in 
1854 to 1860, he was one of Mr. Lincoln's most 
intimate traveling companions in the old 
Eighth Circuit, which extended from Sangamon 
County on the west to Vermilion on the east, and 
of which Judge David Davis, afterwards of the 
Supreme Court of the United States and United 
States Senator, was the presiding Justice. The 
Judge holds in his memory many pleasant remi- 



niscences of that day, especially of the eastern, 
portion of the District, where he was accustomed 
to meet the late Senator Voorhees, Senator Mc- 
Donald and other leading lawyers of Indiana, as 
well as the historic men whom he met at the 
State capital. 

WELLS, Albert W., lawyer and legislator, was 
born at Woodstock, Conn., May 9, 1839, and 
enjoyed only such educational and other advan- 
tages as belonged to the average New England 
boy of that period. During his boyhood his 
family removed to New Jersey, where he attended 
an academy, later, graduating from Columbia 
College and Law School in New York City, and 
began practice with State Senator Robert Allen 
at Red Bank, N. J. During the Civil War he 
enlisted in a New Jersey regiment and took part 
in the battle of Gettysburg, resuming his profes- 
sion at the close of the war. Coming west in 
1870, he settled in Quincy, 111., where he con- 
tinued practice. In 1886 he was elected to the 
House of Representatives from Adams County, 
as a Democrat, and re-elected two years later. 
In 1890 he was advanced to the Senate, where, 
by re-election in 1894, he served continuously 
until his death in office, March 5, 1897. His 
abilities and long service covering the sessions 
of the Thirty-fifth to the Fortieth General Assem- 
blies placed him at the head of the Democratic 
side of the Senate during the latter part of his 
legislative career. 

WELLS, William, soldier and victim of the 
Fort Dearborn massacre, was born in Kentucky, 
about 1770. When a boy of 12, he was captured 
by the Miami Indians, whose chief, Little Turtle, 
adopted him, giving him his daughter in mar- 
riage when he grew to manhood. He was highly 
esteemed by the tribe as a warrior, and, in 1790, 
was present at the battle where Gen. Arthur St. 
Clair was defeated. He then realized that he 
was fighting against his own race, and informed 
his father-in-law that he intended to ally himself 
with the whites. Leaving the Miamis, he made 
his way to General Wayne, who made him Cap- 
tain of a company of scouts. After the treaty of 
Greenville (1795) he settled on a farm near Fort 
Wayne, where he was joined by his Indian wife. 
Here he acted as Indian Agent and Justice of the 
Peace. In 1812 he learned of the contemplated 
evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and, at the head of 
thirty Miamis, he set out for the post, his inten- 
tion being to furnish a body-guard to the non- 
combatants on their proposed march to Fort 
Wayne. On August 13, he marched out of the 
fort with fifteen of his dusky warriors behind 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



583 



him, the remainder bringing up the rear. Before 
a mile and a half had been traveled, the party fell 
into an Indian ambuscade, and an indiscrimi- 
nate massacre followed. (See Fort Dearborn.) 
The Miamis fled, and Captain Wells' body was 
riddled with bullets, his head cut off and his 
heart taken out. He was an uncle of Mrs. Heald, 
wife of the commander of Fort Dearborn. 

WELLS, William Harvey, educator, was born 
in Tolland, Conn., Feb. 27, 1812; lived on a farm 
until 17 years old, attending school irregularly, 
but made such progress that he became succes- 
sively a teacher in the Teachers' Seminary at 
Andover and Newburyport, and, finally, Principal 
of the State Normal School at "Westfield, Mass. 
In 1856 he accepted the position of Superintend- 
ent of Public Schools for the city of Chicago, 
serving till 1864, when he resigned. He was an 
organizer of the Massachusetts State Teachers' 
Association, one of the first editors of "The 
Massachusetts Teacher" and prominently con- 
nected with various benevolent, educational and 
learned societies ; was also author of several text- 
books, and assisted in the revision of "Webster's 
Unabridged Dictionary." Died, Jan. 21, 1885. 

WENONA, city on the eastern border of Mar- 
shall County, 20 miles south of La Salle, has 
zinc works, public and parochial schools, a 
weekly paper, two banks, and five churches. A 
good quality of soft coal is mined here. Popu- 
lation (1880), 911; (1890), 1,053; (1900), 1,486. 

WENTWORTH, John, early journalist and 
Congressman, was born at Sandwich, N. H., 
March 5, 1815, graduated from Dartmouth Col- 
lege in 1836, and came to Chicago the same year, 
where he became editor of "The Chicago Demo- 
crat," which had been established by John Cal- 
houn three years previous. He soon after became 
proprietor of "The Democrat," of which he con- 
tinued to be the publisher until it was merged 
into "The Chicago Tribune," July 24, 1864. He 
also studied law, and was admitted to the Illinois 
bar in 1841. He served in Congress as a Demo- 
crat from 1843 to 1851, and again from 1853 to 
1855, but left the Democratic party on the repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise. He was elected 
Mayor of Chicago in 1857, and again in 1860, 
during his incumbency introducing a number of 
important municipal reforms ; was a member of 
the Constitutional Convention of 1862, and twice 
served on the Board of Education. He again 
represented Illinois in Congress as a Republican 
from 1865 to 1867 making fourteen years of 
service in that body. In 1872 he joined in the 
Greeley movement, but later renewed his alle- 



giance to the Republican party. In 1871 tfr. Went- 
worth published an elaborate genealogical work 
in three volumes, entitled "History of the Went- 
worth Family." A volume of "Congressional 
Reminiscences" and two by him on "Early Chi- 
cago," published in connection with the Fergus 
Historical Series, contain some valuable informa- 
tion on early local and national history. On 
account of his extraordinary height he received 
the sobriquet of "Long John," by which he was 
familiarly known throughout the State. Died, 
in Chicago, Oct. 16, 1888. 

WEST, Edward M., merchant and banker, was 
born in Virginia, May 2, 1814; came with his 
father to Illinois in 1818 ; in 1829 became a clerk 
in the Recorder's office at Edwardsville, also 
served as deputy postmaster, and, in 1833, took a 
position in the United States Land Office there. 
Two years later he engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness, which he prosecuted over thirty years 
meanwhile filling the office of County Treasurer, 
ex-officio Superintendent of Schools, and Delegate 
to the Constitutional Convention of 1847. In 1867, 
in conjunction with W. R. Prickett, he established 
a bank at Edwardsville, with which he was con- 
nected until his death, Oct. 31, 1887. Mr. West 
officiated frequently as a "local preacher" of the 
Methodist Church, in which capacity he showed 
much ability as a public speaker. 

WEST, Mary Allen, educator and philanthro- 
pist, was born at Galesburg, 111., July 31, 1837; 
graduated at Knox Seminary in 1854 and taught 
until 1873, when she was elected County Super- 
intendent of Schools, serving nine years. She 
took an active and influential interest in educa- 
tional and reformatory movements, wa& for two 
years editor of "Our Home Monthly," in Phila- 
delphia, and also a contributor to other journals, 
besides being editor-in-chief of "The Union Sig- 
nal," Chicago, the organ of the Woman's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union in which she held the 
position of President ; was also President, in the 
latter days of her life, of the Illinois Woman's 
Press Association of Chicago, that city having 
become her home in 1885. In 1892, Miss West 
started on a tour of the world for the benefit of 
her health, but died at Tokio, Japan, Dec. 1, 1892. 
WESTERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, 
an institution for the treatment of the insane, 
located at Watertown, Rock Island County, in 
accordance with an act of the General Assembly, 
approved, May 22, 1895. The Thirty-ninth Gen- 
eral Assembly made an appropriation of $100,000 
for the erection of fire-proof buildings, while 
Rock Island County donated a tract of 400 acres 



684 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



of land valued at $40, 000. The site selected by the 
Commissioners, is a commanding one overlooking 
the Mississippi River, eight miles above Rock 
Island, and five and a half miles from Moline, and 
the buildings are of the most modern style of con- 
struction. Watertown is reached by two lines of 
railroad the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy besides the 
Mississippi River. The erection of buildings was 
begun in 1896, and they were opened for the 
reception of patients in 1898. They have a ca- 
pacity for 800 patients. 

WESTERN MILITARY ACADEMY, an insti- 
tution located at Upper Alton, Madison County, 
incorporated in 1892; has a faculty of eight mem- 
bers and reports eighty pupils for 1897-98, with 
property valued at $70,000. The institution gives 
instruction in literary and scientific branches, 
besides preparatory and business courses. 

WESTERN NORMAL COLLEGE, located at 
Bushnell, McDonough County; incorporated in 
1888. It is co-educational, has a corps of twelve 
instructors and reported 500 pupils for 1897-98, 
300 males and 200 females. 

WESTERN SPRINGS, a village of Cook 
County, and residence suburb of the city of Chi- 
cago, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
road, 15 miles west of the initial station. 
Population (1890), 451; (UOO), 662. 

WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 
located in Chicago and controlled by the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church. It was founded in 1883 
through the munificence of Dr. Tolman Wheeler, 
and was opened for students two years later. It 
has two buildings, of a superior order of archi- 
tecture one including the school and lecture 
rooms and the other a dormitory. A hospital 
and gymnasium are attached to the latter, and a 
school for boys is conducted on the first floor of 
the main building, which is known as Wheeler 
Hall. The institution is under the general super- 
vision of Rt. Rev. William E. McLaren, Protes- 
tant Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Illinois. 

WESTFIELD, village of Clark County, on Gin., 
Ham. & Dayton R. R. , 10 m. s -e. of Charleston ; 
seat of Westfield College; has a bank, five 
churches and two newspapers. Pop. (1900), 820. 

WEST SALEM, a town of Edwards County, on 
the Peoria-Evansville Div. 111. Cent. R. R., 12 
miles northeast of Albion; has a bank and a 
weekly paper. Pop. (1890), 476; (1900), 700. 

WETHERELL, Emma Abbott, vocalist, was 
born in Chicago, Dv?. 9, 1849; in her childhood 
attracted attention while singing with her father 
(a poor musician) in hotels and on the streets in 



Chicago, Peoria and elsewhere; at 18 years of 
age, went to New York to study, earning her way 
by giving concerts en route, and receiving aid 
and encouragement from Clara Louisa Kellogg ; 
in New York was patronized by Henry Ward 
Beecher and others, and aided in securing the 
training of European masters. Compelled to sur- 
mount many obstacles from poverty and other 
causes, her after success in her profession was 
phenomenal. Died, during a professional tour, 
at Salt Lake City, Jan. 5, 1891. Miss Abbott 
married her manager, Eugene Wetherell, who 
died before her. 

WH EATON, a city and the county-seat of Du 
Page County, situated on the Chicago & North- 
western Railway, 25 miles west of Chicago. Agri- 
culture and stock-raising are the chief industries 
in the surrounding region. The city owns a new 
water-works plant (costing $60,000) and has a 
public library valued at $75,000, the gift of a 
resident, Mr. John Quincy Adams; has a court 
house, electric light plant, sewerage and drainage 
system, seven churches, three graded schools, 
four weekly newspapers and a State bank. 
Wheaton is the seat of Wheaton College (which 
see). Population (1880), 1,160; (1890), 1,622; 
(1900), 2.345. 

WHEATON COLLEGE, an educational insti- 
tution located at Wheaton, Du Page County, and 
under Congregational control. It was founded 
in 1853, as the Illinois Institute, and was char- 
tered under its present name in 1860. Its early 
existence was one of struggle, but of late years it 
has been established on a better foundation, in 
1898 having $54, 000 invested in productive funds, 
and property aggregating $136,000. The faculty 
comprises fifteen professors, and, in 1898, there 
were 321 students in attendance. It is co-edu- 
cational and instruction is given in business and 
preparatory studies, as well as the fine arts, 
music and classical literature. 

WHEELER, David Hilton, D.D., LL.D., clergy- 
man, was born at Ithaca, N. Y., Nov. 19, 1829; 
graduated at Rock River Seminary, Mount 
Morris, in 1851; edited "The Carroll County 
Republican" and held a professorship in Cornell 
College, Iowa, (1857-61) ; was United States Con- 
sul at Geneva, Switzerland, (1861-66) ; Professor of 
English Literature in Northwestern University 
(1867-75); edited "The Methodist" in New York, 
seven years, and was President of Allegheny 
College (1883-87); received the degree of D.D. 
from Cornell College in 1867, and that of LL.D. 
from the Northwestern University in 1881. He 
is the author of "Brigandage in South Italy" 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



585 



(two volumes, 1864) and "By -Ways of Literature" 
(1883), besides some translations. 

WHEELER, Hamilton K., ex-Congressman, 
was born at Ballston, N. Y., August 5, 1848, but 
emigrated with his parents to Illinois in 1852; 
remained on a farm until 19 years of age, his 
educational advantages being limited to three 
months' attendance upon a district school each 
year. In 1871, he was admitted to the bar at 
Kankakee, where he has since continued to prac- 
tice. In 1884 he was elected to represent the Six- 
teenth District in the State Senate, where he 
served on many important committees, being 
Chairman of that on the Judicial Department. 
In 1892 he was elected Representative in Con- 
gress from the Ninth Illinois District, on the 
Republican ticket. 

WHEELING, a town on the northern border of 
Cook County, on the Wisconsin Central Railway. 
Population (1890), 811; (1900), 331. 

WHISTLER, (Maj.) John, soldier and builder 
of the first Fort Dearborn, was born in Ulster, Ire- 
land, about 1756 ; served under Burgoyne in the 
Revolution, and was with the force surrendered 
by that officer at Saratoga, in 1777. After the 
peace he returned to the United States, settled at 
Hagerstown, Md., and entered the United States 
Army, serving at first in the ranks and being 
severely wounded in the disastrous Indian cam- 
paigns of 1791. Later, he was promoted to a 
captaincy and, in the summer of 1803, sent with 
his company, to the head of Lake Michigan, 
where he constructed the first Fort Dearborn 
within the limits of the present city of Chicago, 
remaining in command until 1811, when he was 
succeeded by Captain Heald. He received the 
brevet rank of Major, in 1815 was appointed 
military store- keeper at Newport, Ky., and after- 
wards at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, 
where he died, .Sept. 3, 1829. Lieut. William 
Whistler, his son, who was with his father, for a 
time, in old Fort Dearborn but transferred, in 
1809, to Fort Wayne was of the force included 
in Hull's surrender at Detroit in 1812. After 
his exchange he was promoted to a captaincy, to 
the rank of Major in 1826 and to a Lieutenant-Colo- 
nelcy in 1845, dying at Newport, Ky., in 1863. 
James Abbott McNiel Whistler, the celebrated, 
but eccentric artist of that name, is a grandson 
of the first Major Whistler. 

WHITE, George E., ex-Congressman, was born 
in Massachusetts in 1848 ; after graduating, at the 
age of 16, he enlisted as a private in the Fifty- 
seventh Massachusetts Veteran Volunteers, serv- 
ing under General Grant in the campaign 



against Richmond from the battle of the Wilder- 
ness until the surrender of Lee. Having taken a 
course in a commercial college at Worcester, 
Mass., in 1867 he came to Chicago, securing em- 
ployment in a lumber yard, but a year later 
began business on his own account, which he has 
successfully conducted. In 1878 he was elected 
to the State Senate, as a Republican, from one of 
the Chicago Districts, and re-elected four years 
later, serving in that body eight years. He 
declined a nomination for Congress in 1884, but 
accepted in 1894, and was elected for the Fifth 
District, as he was again in 1896, but was 
defeated, in 1898, by Edward T. Noonan, Demo- 
crat. 

WHITE, Horace, journalist, was born at Cole- 
brook, N. H., August 10, 1834; in 1853 graduated 
at Beloit College, Wis., whither his father had 
removed in 1837 ; engaged in journalism as city 
editor of "The Chicago Evening Journal," later 
becoming agent of the Associated Press, and, in 
1857, an editorial writer on "The Chicago Trib- 
une," during a part of the war acting as its 
Washington correspondent. He also served, in 
1856, as Assistant Secretary of the Kansas 
National Committee, and, later, as Secretary of 
the Republican State Central Committee. In 
1864 he purchased an interest in "The Tribune," 
a year or so later becoming editor-in-chief, but 
retired in October, 1874. After a protracted 
European tour, he united with Carl Schurz and 
E. L. Godkin of "The Nation," in the purchase 
and reorganization of "The New York Evening 
Post," of which he is now editor-in-chief. 

WHITE, Julius, soldier, was born in Cazen- 
ovia, N. Y., Sept. 29, 1816; removed to Illinois 
in 1836, residing there and in Wisconsin, where 
he was a member of the Legislature of 1849; in 
1861 was made Collector of Customs at Chicago, 
but resigned to assume the colonelcy of the 
Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, which he 
commanded on the Fremont expedition to South- 
west Missouri. He afterwards served with Gen- 
eral Curtiss in Arkansas, participated in the 
battle of Pea Ridge and was promoted to the 
rank of Brigadier-General. He was subsequently 
assigned to the Department of the Shenandoah, 
but finding his position at Martinsburg, W. Va. , 
untenable, retired to Harper's Ferry, voluntarily 
serving under Colonel Miles, his inferior in com- 
mand. When this post was surrendered (Sept. 
15, 1862), he was made a prisoner, but released 
under parole ; was tried by a court of inquiry at 
his own request, and acquitted, the court finding 
that he had acted with courage and capability. 



536 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



He resigned in 1864, and, in March, 1865, was 
brevetted Major-General of Volunteers. Died, 
at Evanston, May 12, 1890. 

WHITE COUNTY, situated in the southeastern 
quarter of the State, and bounded on the east by 
the Wabash River ; was organized in 1816, being 
the tenth county organized during the Territorial 
period: area, 500 square miles. The county is 
crossed by three railroads and drained by the 
Wabash and Little Wabash Rivers. The surface 
consists of prairie and woodland, and the soil is, 
for the most part, highly productive. The princi- 
pal agricultural products are corn, wheat, oats, 
potatoes, tobacco, fruit, butter, sorghum and 
wool. The principal industrial establishments 
are carriage factories, saw mills and flour mills. 
Carmi is the county -seat. Other towns are En- 
field, Grayville and Norris City. Population 
(1880), 33,087; (1890), 25,005; (1900), 25,386. 

WHITEHALL, a city in Greene County, at the 
intersection of the Chicago & Alton and the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroads, 65 miles 
north of St. Louis and 24 miles south-southwest 
of Jacksonville; in rich farming region; has 
stoneware and sewer-pipe factories, foundry and 
machine shop, flour mill, elevators, wagon shops, 
creamery, water system, sanitarium, heating, 
electric light and power system, nurseries and 
fruit-supply houses, and two poultry packing 
houses; also has five churches, a graded school, 
two banks and three newspapers one daily. Pop- 
ulation (1890), 1,961; (1900), 2,030. 

WHITEHOUSE, Henry John, Protestant Epis- 
copal Bishop, was born in New York City, August 
19, 1803; graduated from Columbia College in 
1821, and from the (New York) General Theolog- 
ical Seminary in 1824. After ordination he was 
rector of various parishes in Pennsylvania and 
New York until 1851, when he was chosen Assist- 
ant Bishop of Illinois, succeeding Bishop Chase 
in 1852. In 1867, by invitation of the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, he delivered the opening sermon 
before the Pan-Anglican Conference held in 
England. During this visit he received the 
degree of D.D. from Oxford University, and that 
of LL.D. from Cambridge. His rigid views as a 
churchman and a disciplinarian, were illustrated 
in his prosecution of Rev. Charles Edward 
Cheney, which resulted in the formation of the 
Reformed Episcopal Church. He was a brilliant 
orator and a trenchant and unyielding controver- 
sialist. Died, in Chicago, August 10, 1874. 

WHITESIDE COUNTY, in the northwestern 
portion of the State bordering on the Mississippi 
River ; created by act of the Legislature passed in 



1836, and named for Capt. Samuel Whiteside, a 
noted Indian fighter; area, 700 square miles. The 
surface is level, diversified by prairies and wood- 
land, and the soil is extremely fertile. The 
county-seat was first fixed at Lyndon, then at 
Sterling, and finally at Morrison, its present 
location. The Rock River -crosses the county 
and furnishes abundant water power for numer- 
ous factories, turning out agricultural imple- 
ments, carriages and wagons, furniture, woolen 
goods, flour and wrapping paper. There are also 
distilling and brewing interests, besides saw and 
planing mills. Corn is the staple agricultural 
product, although all the leading cereals are 
extensively grown. The principal towns are 
Morrison, Sterling, Fulton and Rock Falls. Popu- 
lation (1880), 30,885; (1800), 30.854; (1900), 34.710. 

WHITESIDE, William, pioneer and soldier of 
the Revolution, emigrated from the frontier of 
North Carolina to Kentucky, and thence, in 1793, 
to the present limits of Monroe County, 111., 
erecting a fort between Cahokia and Kaskaskia, 
which became widely known as "Whiteside 
Station." He served as a Justice of the Peace, 
and was active in organizing the militia during 
the War of 1812-14, dying at the old Station in 
1815. John (Whiteside), a brother of the preced- 
ing, and also a Revolutionary soldier, came to 
Illinois at the same time, as also did William B. 
and Samuel, sons of the two brothers, respec- 
tively. All of them became famous as Indian 
fighters. The two latter served as Captains of 
companies of "Rangers" in the War of 1812, 
Samuel taking part in the battle of Rock Island 
in 1814, and contributing greatly to the success 
of the day. During the Black Hawk War (1832) 
he attained the rank of Brigadier-General. 
Whiteside County was named in his honor. He 
made one of the earliest improvements in Ridge 
Prairie, a rich section of Madison County, and 
represented that county in the First General 
Assembly. William B. served as Sheriff of Madi- 
son County for a number of years. John D. 
(Whiteside), another member of this historic 
family, became very prominent, serving in the 
lower House of the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and 
Fourteenth General Assemblies, and in the Sen- 
ate of the Tenth, from Monroe County; was a 
Presidential Elector in 1836, State Treasurer 
(1837-41) and a member of the State Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1847. General Whiteside, as 
he was known, was the second of James Shields 
in the famous Shields and Lincoln duel (so-called) 
in 1842, and, as such, carried the challenge of the 
former to Mr. Lincoln. (See Duels.) 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



587 



WHITING, Lorenzo D., legislator, was born 
in Wayne County, N. Y., Nov. 17, 1819; came to 
Illinois in 1838, but did not settle there perma- 
nently until 1849, when he located in Bureau 
County. He was a Representative from that 
county in the Twenty-sixth General Assembly 
(1869), and a member of the Senate continuously 
from 1871 to 1887, serving in the latter through 
eight General Assemblies. Died at his home 
near Tiskilwa, Bureau County, 111., Oct. 10, 
1889. 

WHITING, Richard H., Congressman, was 
born at West Hartford, Conn., June 17, 1826, and 
received a common school education. In 1862 he 
was commissioned Paymaster in the Volunteer 
Army of the Union, and resigned in 1866. Hav- 
ing removed to Illinois, he was appointed Assist- 
ant Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Fifth 
Illinois District, in February, 1870, and so contin- 
ued until the abolition of the office in 1873. On 
retiring from the Assessorship he was appointed 
Collector of Internal Revenue, and served until 
March 4, 1875, when he resigned to take his seat 
as Republican Representative in Congress from 
the Peoria District, to which he had been elected 
in November, 1874. After the expiration of his 
term he held no public office, but was a member 
of the Republican National Convention of 1884. 
Died, at the Continental Hotel, in New York 
City, May 24, 1888. 

WHITNEY, James W., pioneer lawyer and 
early teacher, known by the nickname of "Lord 
Coke"; came to Illinois in Territorial days (be- 
lieved to have been about 1800) ; resided for some 
time at or near Edwardsville, then became a 
teacher at Atlas, Pike County, and, still later, the 
first Circuit and County Clerk of that county. 
Though nominally a lawyer, he had little if any 
practice. He acquired the title, by which he was 
popularly known for a quarter of a century, by 
his custom of visiting the State Capital, during 
the sessions of the General Assembly, when 
he would organize the lobbyists and visit- 
ors about the capital of which there were an 
unusual number in those days into what was 
called the "Third House." Having been regu- 
larly chosen to preside under the name of 
"Speaker of the Lobby," he would deliver a mes- 
sage full of practical hits and jokes, aimed at 
members of the two houses and others, which 
would be received with cheers and laughter. 
The meetings of the "Third House," being held 
in the evening, were attended by many members 
and visitors in lieu of other forms of entertain- 
ment. Mr. Whitney's home, in his latter years, 



was at Pittsfield. He resided for a time at 
Quincy. Died, Dec. 13, 1860, aged over 80 years. 

WHITTEMORE, Floyd K., State Treasurer, is 
a native of New York, came at an early age, with 
his parents, to Sycamore, 111., where he was edu- 
cated in the high school there. He purposed 
becoming a lawyer, but, on the election of the 
late James H. Beveridge State Treasurer, in 1864, 
accepted the position of clerk in the office. 
Later, he was employed as a clerk in the banking 
house of Jacob Bunn in Springfield, and, on the 
organization of the State National Bank, was 
chosen cashier of that Institution, retaining the 
position some twenty years. After the appoint- 
ment of Hon. John R. Tanner to the position of 
Assistant Treasurer of the United States, at Chi- 
cago, in 1892, Mr. Whittemore became cashier in 
that office, and, in 1865, Assistant State Treas- 
rure under the administration of State Treasurer 
Henry Wulff. In 1898 he was elected State 
Treasurer, receiving a plurality of 43,450 over 
his Democratic opponent. 

WICKERSHAM, (Col.) Dudley, soldier and 
merchant, was born in Woodford County, Ky., 
Nov. 22, 1819; came to Springfield, 111., in 1843, 
and served as a member of the Fourth Regiment 
Illinois Volunteers (Col. E. D. Baker's) through 
the Mexican War. On the return of peace he 
engaged in the dry-goods trade in Springfield, 
until 1861, when he enlisted in the Tenth Regi- 
ment Illinois Cavalry, serving, first as Lieutenant- 
Colonel and then as Colonel, until May, 1864, 
when, his regiment having been consolidated 
with the Fifteenth Cavalry, he resigned. After 
the war, he held the office of Assessor of Internal 
Revenue for several years, after which he en- 
gaged in the grocery trade. Died, in Springfield, 
August 8, 1898. 

W IDEN, Raphael, pioneer and early legislator, 
was a native of Sweden, who, having been taken 
to France at eight years of age, was educated for 
a Catholic priest. Coming to the United States 
in 1815, he was at Cahokia, 111., in 1818, where, 
during the same year, he married into a French 
family of that place. He served in the House of 
Representatives from Randolph County, in the 
Second and Third General Assemblies (1820 24), 
and as Senator in the Fourth and Fifth (1824-28). 
During his last term in the House, he was one of 
those who voted against the pro-slavery Con- 
vention resolution. He died of cholera, at Kas- 
kaskia, in 1833. 

WIKE, Scott, lawyer and ex-Congressman, was 
born at Meadville, Pa., April 6, 1834; at 4 years 
of age removed with his parents to Quincy, 111., 



688 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



and, in 1844, to Pike County. Having graduated 
from Lombard University, Galesburg, in 1857, he 
began reading law with Judge O. C. Skinner of 
Quincy. He was admitted to the bar in 1858, 
but, before commencing practice, spent a year at 
Harvard Law School, graduating there in 1859. 
Immediately thereafter he opened an office at 
Pittsfield, 111., and has resided there ever since. 
In politics he has always been a strong Democrat. 
He served two terms in the Legislature (1863-67) 
and, in 1874, was chosen Representative from his 
District in Congress, being re-elected in 1888 and, 
again, in 1890. In 1893 he was appointed by 
President Cleveland Third Assistant Secretary 
of the Treasury, which position he continued 
to fill until March, 1897, when he resumed the 
practice of law at Pittsfield. Died Jan. 15, 1901. 
WILEY, (Col.) Benjamin Ladd, soldier, was 
born in Smithfield, Jefferson County, Ohio, 
March 25, 1821, came to Illinois in 1845 and began 
life at Vienna, Johnson County, as a teacher. 
In 1846 he enlisted for the Mexican War, as a 
member of the Fifth (Colonel Newby's) Regiment 
Illinois Volunteers, serving chiefly in New 
Mexico until mustered out in 1848. A year later 
he removed to Jonesboro, where he spent some 
time at the carpenter's trade, after which he 
became clerk in a store, meanwhile assisting to 
edit "The Jonesboro Gazette" until 1853; then 
became traveling salesman for a St. Louis firm, 
but later engaged in the hardware trade at 
Jonesboro, in which he continued for several 
years. In 1856 he was the Republican candidate 
for Congress for the Ninth District, receiving 
4,000 votes, while Fremont, the Republican can- 
didate for President, received only 825 in the 
same district. In 1857 he opened a real estate 
office in Jonesboro in conjunction with David L. 
Phillips and Col. J. W. Ashley, with which he 
was connected until 1860, when he removed to 
Makanda, Jackson County. In September, 1861, 
he was mustered in as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 
Fifth Illinois Cavalry, later serving in Missouri 
and Arkansas under Generals Steele and Curtiss, 
being, a part of the time, in command of the First 
Brigade of Cavalry, and, in the advance on Vicks- 
burg, having command of the right wing of 
General Grant's cavalry. Being disabled by 
rheumatism at the end of the siege, he tendered 
his resignation, and was immediately appointed 
Enrolling Officer at Cairo, serving in this capac- 
ity until May, 1865, when he was mustered out. 
In 1869 he was appointed by Governor Palmer 
one of the Commissioners to locate the Southern 
Illinois Hospital for the Insane, and served as 



Secretary of the Board until the institution was 
opened at Anna, in May, 1871. In 1869 he was 
defeated as a candidate for County Judge of 
Jackson County, and, in 1872, for the State Sen- 
ate, by a small majority in a strongly Democratic 
District; in 1876 was the Republican candidate 
for Congress, in the Eighteenth District, against 
William Hartzell, but was defeated by only 
twenty votes, while carrying six out of the ten 
counties comprising the District. In the latter 
years of his life, Colonel Wiley was engaged quite 
extensively in fruit-growing at Makanda, Jack- 
son County, where he died, March 22, 1890. 

WILKIE, Franc Bangs, journalist, was born 
in Saratoga County, N. Y., July 2, 1830; took a 
partial* course at Union College, after which he 
edited papers at Schenectady, N. Y., Elgin, 111., 
and Davenport and Dubuque, Iowa ; also serving, 
during a part of the Civil War, as the western 
war correspondent of "The New York Times." 
In 1863 he became an editorial writer on "The 
Chicago Times," remaining with that paper, 
with the exception of a brief interval, until 1888 
a part of the time as its European correspond- 
ent. He was the author of a series of sketches 
over the nom de plume of "Poliuto," and of a 
volume of reminiscences under the title, 
"Thirty-five Years of Journalism," published 
shortly before his death, which took place, April 
12, 1892. 

WILKIN, Jacob W., Justice of the Supreme 
Court, was born in Licking County, Ohio, June 
7, 1837 ; removed with his parents to Illinois, at 
12 years of age, and was educated at McKendree 
College ; served three years in the War for the 
Union; studied law with Judge Scholfield and 
was admitted to the bar in 1866. In 1872, he was 
chosen Presidential Elector on the Republican 
ticket, and, in 1879, elected Judge of the Circuit 
Court and re-elected in 1885 the latter year 
being assigned to the Appellate bench for the 
Fourth District, where he remained until his 
election to the Supreme bench in 1888, being 
re-elected to the latter office in 1897. His home 
is at Danville. 

WILKINSON, Ira 0., lawyer and Judge, was 
born in Virginia in 1822, and accompanied his 
father to Jacksonville (1835), where he was edu- 
cated. During a short service as Deputy Clerk of 
Morgan County, he conceived a fondness for the 
profession of the law, and, after a course of study 
under Judge William Thomas, was admitted to 
practice in 1847. Richard Yates (afterwards Gov- 
ernor and Senator) was his first partner. In 1845 
he removed to Rock Island, and, six years later, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



589 



was elected a Circuit Judge, being again closen 
to the same position in 1861. At the expiration 
of his second term he removed to Chicago. 
Died, at Jacksonville, August 24, 1894. 

WILKINSON, John P., early merchant, was 
born, Dec. 14, 1790, in New Kent County, Va., 
emigrated first to Kentucky, and, in 1828, settled 
in Jacksonville, 111., where he engaged in mer- 
cantile business. Mr. Wilkinson was a liberal 
friend of Illinois College and Jacksonville Female 
Academy, of each of which he was a Trustee 
from their origin until his death, which occurred, 
during a business visit to St. Louis, in December, 
1841. 

WILL, Conrad, pioneer physician and early 
legislator, was born in Philadelphia, June 4, 1778 ; 
about 1804 removed to Somerset County Pa., and, 
in 1813, to Kaskaskia, 111. He was a physician 
by profession, but having leased the saline lands 
on the Big Muddy, in the vicinity of what after- 
wards became the town of Brownsville, he 
engaged in the manufacture of salt, removing 
thither in 1815, and becoming one of the founders 
of Brownsville, afterwards the first county-seat 
of Jackson County. On the organization of 
Jackson County, in 1816, he became a member of 
the first Board of County Commissioners, and, in 
1818, served as Delegate from that county in the 
Convention which framed the first State Consti- 
tution. Thereafter he served continuously as a 
member of the Legislature from 1818 to '34 first 
as Senator in the First General Assembly, then 
as Representative in the Second, Third, Fourth 
and Fifth, and again as Senator in the Sixth, 
Seventh, Eighth and Ninth his career being 
conspicuous for long service. He died in office, 
June 11, 1834. Dr. Will was short of stature, 
fleshy, of jovial disposition and fond of playing 
practical jokes upon his associates, but very 
popular, as shown by his successive elections to 
the Legislature. He has been called "The Father 
of Jackson County." Will County, organized by 
act of the Legislature two years after his death, 
was named in his honor. 

WILL COUNTY, a northeastern county, em- 
bracing 850 square miles, named in honor of Dr. 
Conrad Will, an early politician and legislator. 
Early explorations of the territory were made 
in 1829, when white settlers were few. The bluff 
west of Joliet is said to have been first occupied 
by David and Benjamin Maggard. Joseph 
Smith, the Mormon "apostle," expounded his 
peculiar doctrines at "the Point" in 1831. Sev- 
eral of the early settlers fled from the country 
during (or after) a raid by the Sao Indians. 



There is a legend, seemingly well supported, to 
the effect that the first lumber, sawed to build 
the first frame house in Chicago (that of P. F. W. 
Peck), was sawed at Plaintield. Will County, 
originally a part of Cook, was separately erected 
in 1836, Joliet being made the county-seat. 
Agriculture, quarrying and manufacturing are 
the chief industries. Joliet, Lockport and Wil- 
mington are the principal towns. Population 
(1880), 53,422; (1890), 62,007; (1900), 74,764. 

WILLARD, Frances Elizabeth, teacher and 
reformer, was born at Churchville, N. Y., Sept. 
28, 1839, graduated from the Northwestern 
Female College at Evanston, 111., in 1859, and, in 
1862, accepted the Professorship of Natural 
Sciences in that institution. During 1866-67 she 
was the Principal of the Genessee Wesleyan 
Seminary. The next two years she devoted to 
travel and study abroad, meanwhile contribut- 
ing to various periodicals. From 1871 to 1874 she 
was Professor of Esthetics in the Northwester* 
University and dean of the Woman's College. 
She was always an enthusiastic champion of 
temperance, and, in 1874, abandoned her profes- 
sion to identify herself with the Woman's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union. For five years she was 
Corresponding Secretary of the national body, 
and, from 1879, its President. While Secretary 
she organized the Home Protective Association, 
and prepared a petition to the Illinois Legislature, 
to which nearly 200,000 names were attached, 
asking for the granting to women of the right to 
vote on the license question. In 1878 she suc- 
ceeded her brother, Oliver A. Willard (who had 
died), as editor of "The Chicago Evening Post," 
but, a few months later, withdrew, and, in 1882, 
was elected as a member of the executive com- 
mittee of the National Prohibition party. In 
1886 she became leader of the White Cross Move- 
ment for the protection of women, and succeeded 
in securing favorable legislation, in this direc- 
tion, in twelve States. In 1883 she founded the 
World's Christian Temperance Union, and, in 
1888, was chosen its President, as also President 
of the International Council of Women. The 
latter years of her life were spent chiefly abroad, 
much of the time as the guest and co-worker of 
Lady Henry Somerset, of England, during which 
she devoted much attention to investigating the 
condition of women in the Orient. Miss Willard 
was a prolific and highly valued contributor to 
the magazines, and (besides numerous pamphlets) 
published several volumes, including "Nineteen 
Beautiful Years" (a tribute to her sister); 
"Woman in Temperance"; "How to Win," and 



590 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



"Woman in the Pulpit." Died, in New York, 
Feb. 18, 1898. 

WILLABD, Samuel, A.M., M.D., LL.D., phy- 
sician and educator, was born in Lunenberg, 
Vt., Dec. 30, 1821 the lineal descendant of Maj. 
Simon Willard, one of the founders of Concord, 
Mass., and prominent in "King Philip's War," 
and of his son, Rev. Dr. Samuel Willard, of the 
Old South Church, Boston, and seventh President 
of Harvard College. The subject of this sketch 
was taken in his infancy to Boston, and, in 1831, 
to Carrollton, 111., where his father pursued the 
avocation of a druggist. After a preparatory 
course at Shurtleff College, Upper Alton, in 1836 
he entered the freshman class in Illinois College 
at Jacksonville, but withdrew the following year, 
re-entering college in 1840 and graduating in the 
class of 1843, as a classmate of Dr. Newton Bate- 
man, afterwards State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction and President of Knox College, and 
Rev. Thomas K. Beecher, now of Elmira, N. Y. 
The next year he spent as Tutor in Illinois Col- 
lege, when he began the study of medicine at 
Quincy, graduating from the Medical Department 
of Illinois College in 1848. During a part of the 
latter year he edited a Free-Soil campaign paper 
("The Tribune") at Quincy, and, later, "The 
Western Temperance Magazine" at the same 
place. In 1849 he began the practice of his pro- 
fession at St. Louis, but the next year removed 
to Collinsville, 111. , remaining until 1857, when he 
took charge of the Department of Languages in 
the newly organized State Normal University at 
Normal. The second year of the Civil War (1862) 
he enlisted as a private in the Ninety-seventh 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but was soon after 
commissioned as Surgeon with the rank of Major, 
participating in the campaigns in Tennessee and 
in the first attack upon Vicksburg. Being dis- 
abled by an attack of paralysis, in February, 1863, 
he was compelled to resign, when he had suffici- 
ently recovered accepting a position in the office 
of Provost Marshal General Oakes, at Spring- 
field, where he remained until the close of the 
war. He then became Grand Secretary of the 
Independent Order of Odd-Fellows for the State 
of Illinois a position which he had held from 
1856 to 1862 remaining under his second appoint- 
ment from 1865 to '69. The next year he served 
as Superintendent of Schools at Springfield, 
meanwhile assisting in founding the Springfield 
public library, and serving as its first librarian. 
In 1870 he accepted the professorship of History 
in the West Side High School of Chicago, 
which, with the exception of two years (1884-86), 



he continued to occupy for more than twenty- 
five years, retiring in 1898. In the meantime, 
Dr. Willard has been a laborious literary worker, 
having been, for a considerable period, editor, or 
assistant-editor, of "The Illinois Teacher," a con- 
tributor to "The Century Magazine" and "The 
Dial" of Chicago, besides having published a 
"Digest of the Laws of Odd Fellowship" in six- 
teen volumes, begun while he was Grand Secre- 
tary of the Order in 1864, and continued in 1872 
and '82; a "Synopsis of History and Historical 
Chart," covering the period from B. C. 800 
to A. D. 1876 of which he has had a second 
edition in course of preparation. Of late years 
he has been engaged upon a "Historical Diction- 
ary of Names and Places," which will include 
some 12,000 topics, and which promises to be the 
most important work of his life. Previous to the 
war he was an avowed Abolitionist and operator 
on the "Underground Railroad," who made no 
concealment of his opinions, and, on one or two 
occasions, was called to answer for them in 
prosecutions under the "Fugitive Slave Act." 
(See "Underground Railroad.") His friend 
and classmate, the late Dr. Bateman, says of 
him: "Dr. Willard is a sound thinker; a clear 
and forcible writer; of broad and accurate 
scholarship; conscientious, genial and kindly, 
and a most estimable gentleman." 

WILLIAMS, Archibald, lawyer and jurist, 
was born in Montgomery County, Ky., June 10, 
1801; with moderate advantages but natural 
fondness for study, he chose the profession of 
law, and was admitted to the bar in Tennessee 
in 1828, coming to Quincy, 111., the following 
year. He was elected to the General Assembly 
three times serving in the Senate in 1832-36, and 
in the House, 1836-40 ; was United States District 
Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, by 
appointment of President Taylor, 1849-53; was 
twice the candidate of his party (the Whig) for 
United States Senator, and appointed by Presi- 
dent Lincoln, in 1861, United States District 
Judge for the State of Kansas. His abilities and 
high character were widely recognized. Died, 
in Quincy, Sept. 21, 1863 His son, John H., an 
attorney at Quincy, served as Judge of the Cir- 
cuit Court 1879-85. Another son, Abraham Lin- 
coln, was twice elected Attorney -General of 
Kansas. 

WILLIAMS, Erastus Smith, lawyer and ju- 
rist, was born at Salem, N. Y., May 22, 1821. In 
1842 he removed to Chicago, where, after reading 
law, he was admitted to the bar in 1844. In 1854 
he was appointed Master in Chancery, which 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



591 



office he filled until 1863, when he was elected a 
Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. 
After re-election in 1870 he became Chief Justice, 
and, at the same time, heard most of the cases on 
the equity side of the court. In 1879 he was a 
candidate for re-election as a Republican, but 
was defeated with the party ticket. After his 
retirement from the bench he resumed private 
practice. Died, Feb. 24, 1884. 

WILLIAMS, James II., Congressman, was 
born in White County, 111., Dec. 27, 1850, at the 
age of 25 graduated from the Indiana State Uni- 
versity, at Bloomington, and, in 1876, from the 
Union College of Law, Chicago, since then being 
an active and successful practitioner at Carmi. 
In 1880 he was appointed Master in Chancery and 
served two years. From 1882 to 1886 he was 
County Judge. In 1892 he was a nominee on 
the Democratic ticket for Presidential Elector. 
He was elected to represent the Nineteenth Illi- 
nois District in the Fifty-first Congress at a 
special election held to fill the vacancy occasioned 
by the death of R. W. Townshend, was re-elected 
in 1890 and 1892, but defeated by Orlando Burrell 
(Republican) for re-election in the newly organ- 
ized Twentieth District in 1894. In 1898 he was 
again a candidate and elected to the Fifty -sixth 
Congress. 

WILLIAMS, John, pioneer merchant, was 
born in Bath County, Ky., Sept. 11, 1808; be- 
tween 14 and 16 years of age was clerk in a store 
in his native State; then, joining his parents, 
who had settled on a tract of land in a part of 
Sangamon (now Menard) County, 111., he found 
employment as clerk in the store of Major Elijah 
lies, at Springfield, whom he succeeded in busi- 
ness at the age of 22, continuing it without inter- 
ruption until 1880. In 1856 Mr. Williams was 
the Republican candidate for Congress in the 
Springfield District, and, in 1861, was appointed 
Commissary-General for the State, rendering 
valuable service in furnishing supplies for State 
troops, in camps of instruction and while proceed- 
ing to the field, in the first years of the war ; was 
also chief officer of the Illinois Sanitary Commis- 
sion for two years, and, as one of the intimate 
personal friends of Mr. Lincoln, was chosen to 
accompany the remains of the martyred President, 
from Washington to Springfield, for burial. 
Liberal, enterprising and public-spirited, his name 
was associated with nearly every public enter- 
prise of importance in Springfield during his 
business career being one of the founders, and, 
for eleven years President, of the First National 
Bank; a chief promoter in the construction of 



what is now the Springfield Division of the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, and the Springfield and 
Peoria line; a Director of the Springfield Iron 
Company; one of the Commissioners who con- 
structed the Springfield water-works, and an 
officer of the Lincoln Monument Association, 
from 1865 to his death, May 29, 1890. 

WILLIAMS, Norman, lawyer, was born at 
Woodstock, Vt., Feb. 1, 1833, being related, on 
both the paternal and maternal sides, to some of 
the most prominent families of New England. 
He fitted for college at Union Academy, Meriden, 
and graduated from the University of Vermont 
in the class of 1855. After taking a course in 
the Albany Law School and with a law firm in 
his native town, he was admitted to practice in 
both New York and Vermont, removed to Chi- 
cago in 1858, and, in 1860, became a member of 
the firm of King, Kales & Williams, still later 
forming a partnership with Gea. John L. Thomp- 
son, which ended with the death of the latter in 
1888. In a professional capacity he assisted in 
the organization of the Pullman Palace Car Com- 
pany, and was a member of its Board of Directors ; 
also assisted in organizing the Western Electric 
Company, and was prominently identified with 
the Chicago Telephone Company and the Western 
Union Telegraph Company. In 1881 he served as 
the United States Commissioner to the Electrical 
Exposition at Paris. In conjunction with his 
brother (Edward H. Williams) he assisted in 
founding the public library at Woodstock, Vt., 
which, in honor of his father, received the name 
of "The Norman Williams Public Library.'' 
With Col. Huntington W. Jackson and J. Mc- 
Gregor Adams, Mr. Williams was named, in the 
will of the late John Crerar, as an executor of the 
Crerar estate and one of the Trustees of the 
Crerar Public Library, and became its first Presi- 
dent; was also a Director of the Chicago Pub- 
lic Library, and trustee of a number of large 
estates. Mr. Williams was a son-in-law of the 
late Judge John D. Caton, and his oldest daughter 
became the wife of Major-General Wesley Mer- 
ritt, a few months before his death, which oc- 
curred at Hampton Beach, N. H., June 19, 1899 
his remains being interred in his native town 
of Woodstock, Vt. 

WILLIAMS, Robert Ebenezer, lawyer, born 
Dec. 3, 1825, at Clarksville, Pa., his grandfathers 
on both sides being soldiers of the Revolutionary 
War. In 1830 his parents removed to Washing- 
ton in the same State, where in boyhood hr 
worked as a mechanic in his father's shop, 
attending a common school in the winter until 



692 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



he reached the age of 17 years, when he entered 
Washington College, remaining for more than a 
year. He then began teaching, and, in 1845 
went to Kentucky, where he pursued the business 
of a teacher for four years. Then he entered 
Bethany College in West Virginia, at the same 
time prosecuting his law studies, but left at the 
close of his junior year, when, having been 
licensed to practice, he removed to Clinton, 
Texas. Here he accepted, from a retired lawyer, 
the loan of a law library, which he afterwards 
purchased; served for two years as State's Attor- 
ney, and, in 1856, came to Bloomington, 111., 
where he spent the remainder of his life in the 
practice of his profession. Much of his time was 
devoted to practice as a railroad attorney, espe- 
cially in connection with the Chicago & Alton and 
the Illinois Central Railroads, in which he 
acquired prominence and wealth. He was a life- 
long Democrat and, in 1868, was the unsuccessful 
candidate of his party for Attorney-General of 
the State. The last three years of his life he had 
been in bad health, dying at Bloomington, Feb. 
15, 1899. 

WILLIAMS, Samuel, Bank President, was born 
in Adams County, Ohio, July 11, 1820; came to 
Winnebago County, 111., in 1835, and, in 1842, 
removed to Iroquois County, where he held vari- 
ous local offices, including that of County Judge, 
to which he was elected in 1861. During his 
later years he had been President of the Watseka 
Citizens' Bank. Died, June 16, 1896. 

WILLIAMSON, Rollin Samuel, legislator and 
jurist, was born at Cornwall, Vt., May 23, 1839. 
At the age of 14 he went to Boston, where he 
began life as a telegraph messenger boy. In 
two years he had become a skillful operator, and, 
as such, was employed in various offices in New 
England and New York. In 1857 he came to 
Chicago seeking employment and, through the 
fortunate correction of an error on the part of 
the receiver of a message, secured the position of 
operator and station agent at Palatine, Cook 
County. Here he read law during his leisure 
time without a preceptor, and, in 1870, was 
admitted to the bar. The same year he was 
elected to the lower House of the General 
Assembly and, in 1872, to the Senate. In 1880 he 
was elected to the bench of the Superior Court of 
Cook County, and, in 1887, was chosen a Judge 
of the Cook County Circuit Court. Died, Au- 
gust 10, 1889. 

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, in the southern'part 
of the State, originally set off from Franklin and 
organized in 1839. The county is well watered, 



the principal streams being the Big Muddy and 
the South Fork of the Saline. The surface is 
undulating and the soil fertile. The region was 
originally well covered with forests. All the 
cereals (as well as potatoes) are cultivated, and 
rich meadows encourage stock-raising. Coal and 
sandstone underlie the entire county. Area, 440 
square miles; population (1880), 19,324: (1890) 
22,226; (1900), 27,796. 

WILLIAMSYILLE, village of Sangamon Coun- 
ty, on Chicago & Alton Railroad, 12 miles north 
of Springfield ; has a bank, elevator, 3 churches, 
a newspaper and coal-mines. Pop. (1900), 573. 

WILLIS, Jonathan Clay, soldier and former 
Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner, was born 
in Sumner County, Tenn. , June 27, 1826 ; brought 
to Gallatin County, 111., in 1834, and settled at 
Golconda in 1843; was elected Sheriff of Pope 
County in 1856, removed to Metropolis in 1859, 
and engaged in the wharf -boat and commission 
business. He entered the service as Quarter- 
master of the Forty -eighth Illinois Volunteers in 
1861, but was compelled to resign on account of 
injuries, in 1863 ; was elected Representative iv 
the Twenty-sixth General Assembly (1868), 
appointed Collector of Internal Revenue in 1869, 
and Railway and Warehouse Commissioner in 
1892, as the successor of John R. Tanner, serving 
until 1893. 

WILMETTE, a village in Cook County, 14 miles 
north of Chicago, on the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railroad , a handsome suburb of Chicago on the 
shore of Lake Michigan ; principal streets paved 
and shaded with fine forest trees; has public 
library and good schools. Pop. (1900), 2,300. 

WILMINGTON, a city of Will County, on the 
Kankakee River and the Chicago & Alton Rail- 
road, 53 miles from Chicago and 15 south-south- 
west of Joliet; has considerable manufactures, 
two National banks, a graded school, churches 
and one newspaper. Wilmington is the location 
of the Illinois Soldiers' Widows' Home. Popu- 
lation (1890), 1,576; (1900), 1,420. 

WILSON, Charles Lush, journalist, was born 
in Fairfield County, Conn., Oct. 10, 1818, edu- 
cated in the common schools and at an academy 
in his native State, and, in 1835, removed to Chi- 
cago, entering the employment of his older 
brothers, who were connected with the construc- 
tion of the Illinois & Michigan Canal at Joliet. 
His brother, Richard L., having assumed charge 
of "The Chicago Daily Journal" (the successor 
of "The Chicago American"), in]1844, Charles L. 
took a position in the office, ultimately securing 
a partnership, which continued until the death 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



593 



of his brother in 1856, when he succeeded to the 
ownership of the paper. Mr. Wilson was an 
ardent friend and supporter of Abraham Lincoln 
for the United States Senate in 1858, but, in 1860, 
favored the nomination of Mr. Seward for the 
Presidency, though earnestly supporting Mr. Lin- 
coln after his nomination. In 1861 he was 
appointed Secretary of the American Legation at 
London, serving with the late Minister Charles 
Francis Adams, until 1864, when he resigned and 
resumed his connection with "The Journal." In 
1875 his health began to fail, and three years 
later, having gone to San Antonio, Tex., in the 
hope of receiving benefit from a change of cli- 
mate, he died in that city, March 9, 1878. 
Richard Lash (Wilson), an older brother of the 
preceding, the first editor and publisher of "The 
Chicago Evening Journal," the oldest paper of 
consecutive publication in Chicago, was a native 
of New York. Coming to Chicago with his 
brother John L. , in 1834, they soon after estab- 
lished themselves in business on the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal, then in course of construction. 
In 1844 he took charge of "The Chicago Daily 
Journal" for a publishing committee which had 
purchased the material of "The Chicago Ameri- 
can," but soon after became principal proprietor. 
In April, 1847, while firing a salute in honor of 
the victory of Buena Vista, he lost an arm and 
was otherwise injured by the explosion of the can- 
non. Early in 1849, he was appointed, by Presi- 
dent Taylor, Postmaster of the city of Chicago, 
but, having failed of confirmation, was compelled 
to retire in favor of a successor appointed by 
Millard Fillmore, eleven months later. Mr. 
Wilson published a little volume in 1842 entitled 
"A Trip to Santa Fe," and, a few years later, 
a story of travel under the title, "Short Ravel- 
lings from a Long Yarn." Died, December, 1856. 
John Lush (Wilson), another brother, also a 
native of New York, came to Illinois in 1834, was 
afterwards associated with his brothers in busi- 
ness, being for a time business manager of "The 
Chicago Journal;" also served one term as Sher- 
iff of Cook County. Died, in Chicago, April 13, 
1888. 

WILSON, Isaac Grant, jurist, was born at 
Middlebury, N. Y., April 26, 1817, graduated 
from Brown University in 1838, and the same 
year came to Chicago, whither his father's 
family had preceded him in 1835. After reading 
law for two years, he entered the senior class at 
Cambridge (Mass.) Law School, graduating in 
1841. In August of that year he opened an 
office at Elgin, and, for ten years "rode the cir- 



cuit." In 1851 he was elected to the bench of 
the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit to fill a vacancy, 
and re-elected for a full term in 1855, and again 
in '61. In November of the latter year he was 
commissioned the first Colonel of the Fifty- 
second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but resigned, 
a few weeks later, and resumed his place upon 
the bench. From 1867 to 1879 he devoted him- 
self to private practice, which was largely in 
the Federal Courts. In 1879 he resumed his seat 
upon the bench (this time for the Twelfth Cir- 
cuit), and was at once designated as one of the 
Judges of the Appellate Court at Chicago, of 
which tribunal he became Chief Justice in 1881. 
In 1885 he was re-elected Circuit Judge, but died, 
about the close of his term, at Geneva, June 8, 
1891. 

WILSON, James Grant, soldier and author, 
was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, April 28, 1832, 
and, when only a year old, was brought by his 
father, William Wilson, to America. The family 
settled at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where James 
Grant was educated at College Hill and under 
private teachers. After finishing his studies he 
became his father's partner in business, but, in 
1855, went abroad, and, shortly after his return, 
removed to Chicago, where he founded the first 
literary paper established in the Northwest. At 
the outbreak of the Civil War, he disposed of his 
journal to enlist in the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry, 
of which he was commissioned Major and after- 
wards promoted to the colonelcy. In August, 
1863, while at New Orleans, by advice of General 
Grant, he accepted a commission as Colonel of 
the Fourth Regiment United States Colored 
Cavalry, and was assigned, as Aid-de-camp, to 
the staff of the Commander of the Department of 
the Gulf, filling this post until April, 1865. 
When General Banks was relieved, Colonel Wil- 
son was brevetted Brigadier-General and placed 
in command at Port Hudson, resigning in July, 
1865, since which time his home has been in New 
York. He is best known as an author, having 
published numerous addresses, and being a fre- 
quent contributor to American and European 
magazines. Among larger works which he has 
written or edited are "Biographical Sketches of 
Illinois Officers"; "Love in Letters"; "Life of 
General U. S. Grant"; "Life and Letters of 
Fitz Greene Halleck"; "Poets and Poetry of 
Scotland"; "Bryant and His Friends", and 
"Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography." 

WILSON, James Harrison, soldier and mili- 
tary engineer, was born near Shawneetown, 111., 
Sept. 2, 1837. His grandfather, Alexander Wil- 



594 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



son, was one of the pioneers of Illinois, and 
his father (Harrison Wilson) was an ensign dur- 
ing the War of 1812 and a Captain in the Black 
Hawk War. His brother (Bluford Wilson) 
served as Assistant Adjutant-General of Volun- 
teers during the Civil War, and as Solicitor of the 
United States Treasury during the "whisky ring" 
prosecutions. James H. was educated in the 
common schools, at McKendree College, and 
the United States Military Academy at West 
Point, graduating from the latter in 1860, and 
being assigned to the Topographical Engineer 
Corps. In September, 1861, he was promoted to 
a First Lieutenancy, then served as Chief Topo- 
graphical Engineer of the Port Royal expedition 
until March, 1862; was afterwards attached to 
the Department of the South, being present at 
the bombardment of Fort Pulaski; was Aid-de- 
camp to McClellan, and participated in the bat- 
tles of South Mountain and Antietam ; was made 
Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteers in November, 
1862; was Chief Topographical Engineer and 
Inspector-General of the Army of the Tennessee 
until October, 1863, being actively engaged in 
the operations around Vicksburg; was made 
Captain of Engineers in May, 1863, and Brigadier- 
General of Volunteers, Oct. 31, following. He 
also conducted operations preliminary to the 
battle of Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge, and 
for the relief of Knoxville. Later, he was placed 
in command of the Third Division of the cavalry 
corps of the Army of the Potomac, serving from 
May to August, 1864, under General Sheridan. 
Subsequently he was transferred to the Depart- 
ment of the Mississippi, where he so distinguished 
himself that, on April 20, 1865, he was made 
Major-General of Volunteers. In twenty-eight 
days he captured five fortified cities, twenty- 
three stands of colors, 288 guns and 6,820 prison- 
ers among the latter being Jefferson Davis. He 
was mustered out of the volunteer service in 
January, 1866, and, on July 28, following, was 
commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirty- 
fifth United States Infantry, being also brevetted 
Major-General in the regular army. On Dec. 31, 
1870, he returned to civil life, and was afterwards 
largely engaged in railroad and engineering oper- 
ations, especially in West Virginia. Promptly 
after the declaration of war with Spain (1898) 
General Wilson was appointed, by the President, 
Major-General of Volunteers, serving until its 
close. He is the author of "China: Travels and 
Investigations in the Middle Kingdom" ; "Life of 
Andrew J. Alexander"; and the "Life of Gen. 
U. S. Grant," in conjunction with Charles A. 



Dana. His home, in recent years, has been in 
New York. 

WILSON, John M., lawyer and jurist, was 
born in New Hampshire in 1802, graduated at 
Bowdoin College in 1824 the classmate of Frank- 
lin Pierce and Nathaniel Hawthorne ; studied law 
in New Hampshire and came to Illinois in 1835, 
locating at Joliet; removed to Chicago in 1841, 
where he was the partner of Norman B. Judd, 
serving, at different periods, as attorney of the 
Chicago & Rock Island, the Lake Shore & Michi- 
gan Southern and the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railways; was Judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas of Cook County, 1853-59, when he became 
Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of Chicago, 
serving until 1868. Died, Dec. 7, 1883. 

WILSON, John P., lawyer, was born in White- 
side County, 111., July 3, 1844; educated in the 
common schools and at Knox College, Galesburg, 
graduating from the latter in 1865; two years 
later was admitted to the bar in Chicago, and 
speedily attained prominence in his profession. 
During the World's Fair period he was retained 
as counsel by the Committee on Grounds and 
Buildings, and was prominently connected, as 
counsel for the city, with the Lake Front litiga- 
tion. 

WILSON, Robert L., early legislator, was born 
in Washington County, Pa., Sept. 11, 1805, taken 
to Zanesville, Ohio, in 1810, graduated at Frank- 
lin College in 1831, studied law and, in 1833, 
removed to Athens (now in Menard County), 111. ; 
was elected Representative in 1836, and was one 
of the members from Sangamon County, known 
as the "Long Nine," who assisted in securing the 
removal of the State Capital to Springfield. Mr. 
Wilson removed to Sterling, Whiteside County, 
in 1840, was elected five times Circuit Clerk and 
served eight years as Probate Judge. Immedi- 
ately after the fall of Fort Sumter, he enlisted as 
private in a battalion in Washington City under 
command of Cassius M. Clay, for guard duty 
until the arrival of the Seventh New York Regi- 
ment. He subsequently assisted in raising 
troops in Illinois, was appointed Paymaster by 
Lincoln, serving at Washington, St. Louis, and, 
after the fall of Vicksburg, at Springfield being 
mustered out in November, 1865. Died, in White- 
side County, 1880. 

WILSON, Robert S., lawyer and jurist, was 
born at Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pa., Nov. 
6, 1812; learned the printer's art, then studied 
law and was admitted to the bar in Allegheny 
County, about 1833; in 1836 removed to Ann 
Arbor, Mich. , where he served as Probate Judge 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



595 



and State Senator ; in 1850 came to Chicago, was 
elected Judge of the Recorder's Court in 1853, 
and re-elected in 1858, serving ten years, and 
proving "a terror to evil-doers." Died, at Law- 
rence, Mich., Dec. 23, 1882. 

WILSON, William, early jurist, was born in 
Loudoun County, Va., April 27, 1794; studied law 
with Hon. John Cook, a distinguished lawyer, 
and minister to France in the early part of the 
century ; in 1817 removed to Kentucky, soon after 
came to Illinois, two years later locating in White 
County, near Carmi, which continued to be his 
home during the remainder of his life. In 1819 
he was appointed Associate Justice of the 
Supreme Court as successor to William P. 
Foster, who is described by Governor Ford as 
"a great rascal and no lawyer," and who held 
office only about nine months. Judge Wilson 
was re-elected to the Supreme bench, as Chief- 
Justice, in 1825, being then only a little over 30 
years old, and held office until the reorganization 
of the Supreme Court under the Constitution of 
1848 a period of over twenty-nine years, and, 
with the exception of Judge Browne's, the long- 
est term of service in the history of the court. 
He died at his home in White County, April 29, 
1857. A Whig in early life, he allied himself 
with the Democratic party on the dissolution of 
the former. Hon. James C. Conkling, of Spring- 
field, says of him, "as a writer, his style was clear 
and distinct; as a lawyer, his judgment was 
sound and discriminating." 

WINCHESTER, a city and county-seat of Scott 
County, founded in 1839, situated on Big Sandy 
Creek and on the line of the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy Railroad, 29 miles south of Beardstown 
and 84 miles north by west of St. Louis. While 
the surrounding region is agricultural and largely 
devoted to wheat growing, there is some coal 
mining. Winchester is an important shipping- 
point, having three grain elevators, two flouring 
mills, and a coal mine employing fifty miners. 
There are four Protestant and one Catholic 
church, a court house, a high school, a graded 
school building, two banks and two weekly news- 
papers. Population (1880), 1,626; (1890), 1,542; 
(1900), 1,711. 

WINDSOR, a city of Shelby County at the cross- 
ing of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis and the Wabash Railways, 11 miles north- 
east of Shelby ville. Population (1880), 768; 
(1890), 888; (1900), 866. 

WINES, Frederick Howard, clergyman and 
sociologist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., April 
9, 1838, graduated at Washington (Pa. ) College 



in 1857, and, after serving as tutor there for a 
short time, entered Princeton Theological Semi- 
nary, but was compelled temporarily to discon- 
tinue his studies on account of a weakness of 
the eyes. The Presbytery of St. Louis licensed 
him to preach in I860, and, in 1862, he was com- 
missioned Hospital Chaplain in the Union army. 
During 1862-64 he was stationed at Springfield, 
Mo., participating in the battle of Springfield on 
Jan. 8, 1863, and being personally mentioned for 
bravery on the field in the official report. Re- 
entering the seminary at Princeton in 1864, he 
graduated in 1865, and at once accepted a call to 
the pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Springfield, 111., which he filled for four years. 
In 1869 he was appointed Secretary of the newly 
created Board of Commissioners of Public Chari- 
ties of Illinois, in which capacity he continued 
until 1893, when he resigned. For the next four 
years he was chiefly engaged in literary work, in 
lecturing before universities on topics connected 
with social science, in aiding in the organization 
of charitable work, and in the conduct of a 
thorough investigation into the relations between 
liquor legislation and crime. At an early period 
he took a prominent part in organizing the 
various Boards of Public Charities of the United 
States into an organization known as the National 
Conference of Charities and Corrections, and, at 
the Louisville meeting (1883), was elected its 
President. At the International Penitentiary 
Congress at Stockholm (1878) he was the official 
delegate from Illinois. On his return, as a result 
of his observations while abroad, he submitted 
to the Legislature a report strongly advocating 
the construction of the Kankakee Hospital for 
the Insane, then about to be built, upon the 
"detached ward" or "village" plan, a departure 
from then existing methods, which marks an era 
in the treatment of insane in the United States. 
Mr. Wines conducted the investigation into the 
condition and number of the defective, depend- 
ent and delinquent classes throughout the coun- 
try, his report constituting a separate volume 
under the "Tenth Census," and rendered a simi- 
lar service in connection with the eleventh 
census (1890). In 1887 he was elected Secretary 
of the National Prison Association, succeeding to 
the post formerly held by his father, Enoch Cobb 
Wines, D.D., LL.D. After the inauguration of 
Governor Tanner in 1897, he resumed his former 
position of Secretary of the Board of Public 
Charities, remaining until 1899, when he again 
tendered his resignation, having received the 
appointment to the position of Assistant Director 



596 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



of the Twelfth Census, which he now holds. He 
is the author of "Crime and Reformation" (1895) ; 
.of a voluminous series of reports; also of numer- 
ouo pamphlets and brochures, among which may 
be mentioned "The County Jail System; An 
Argument for its Abolition" (1878) ; "The Kanka- 
kee Hospital" (1882); "Provision for the Insane 
in the United States" (1885); "Conditional 
Liberation, or the Paroling of Prisoners" (1886), 
and "American Prisons in the Tenth Census" 
(1888). 

WINES, Walter B., lawyer (brother of Freder- 
ick H. Wines), was born in Boston, Mass., Oct. 
10, 1848, received his primary education at Willis- 
ton Academy, East Hampton, Mass., after which 
he entered Middlebury College, Vt., taking a 
classical course and graduating there. He after- 
wards became a student in the law department 
of Columbia College, N. Y., graduating in 1871, 
being admitted to the bar the same year and 
commencing practice in New York City. In 1879 
he came to Springfield, 111., and was, for a time, 
identified with the bar of that city. Later, he 
removed to phicago, where he has been engaged 
in literary and journalistic work. 

WINNEBAGO COUNTY, situated in the 
"northern tier," bordering on the Wisconsin 
State line ; was organized, under an act passed in 
1836, from La Salle and Jo Daviess Counties, and 
has an area of 552 square miles. The county is 
drained by the Rock and Pecatonica Rivers. 
The surface is rolling prairie and the soil fertile. 
The geology is simple, the quaternary deposits 
being underlaid by the Galena blue and buff 
limestone, adapted for building purposes. All 
the cereals are raised in abundance, the chief 
product being corn. The Winnebago Indians 
(who gave name to the county) formerly lived 
on the west side of the Rock River, and the Potta- 
watomies on the east, but both tribes removed 
westward in 1835. (As to manufacturing inter- 
ests see Rockford.) Population (1880), 30,505; 
(1890), 39,938; (1900), 47,845 

WINNEBAGO WAR. The name given to an 
Indian disturbance which had its origin in 1827, 
during the administration of Gov. Ninian 
Edwards. The Indians had been quiet since the 
conclusion of the War of 1812, but a few isolated 
outrages were sufficient to start terrified "run- 
ners" in all directions. In the northern portion 
of the State, from Galena to Chicago (then Fort 
Dearborn) the alarm was intense. The meagre 
militia force of the State was summoned and 
volunteers were called for. Meanwhile, 600 
United States Regular Infantry, under command 



of Gen. Henry Atkinson, put in an appearance. 
Besides the infantry, Atkinson had at his disposal 
some 130 mounted sharpshooters. The origin of 
the disturbance was as follows: The Winne- 
bagoes attacked a band of Chippewas, who were 
(by treaty) under Government potection, several 
of the latter being killed. For participation in 
this offense, four Wiunebago Indians were sum- 
marily apprehended, surrendered to the Chippe- 
was and shot. Meanwhile, some dispute had 
arisen as to the title of the lands, claimed by the 
Winnebagoes in the vicinity of Gale 1 ia, which 
had been occupied by white miners. Repeated 
acts of hostility and of reprisal, along the Upper 
Mississippi, intensified mutual distrust. A gather- 
ing of the Indians around two keel-boats, laden 
with supplies for Fort Snelling, which had 
anchored near Prairie du Chien and opposite a 
Winnebago camp, was regarded by the whites as 
a hostile act. Liquor was freely distributed, and 
there is historical evidence that a half-dozen 
drunken squaws were carried off and shamefully 
maltreated. Several hundred warriors assembled 
to avenge the deception which had been practiced 
upon them. They laid in ambush for the boats 
on their return trip. The first passed too rapidly 
to be successfully assailed, but the second 
grounded and was savagely, yet unsuccessfully, 
attacked. The presence of General Atkinson's 
forces prevented an actual outbreak, and, on his 
demand, the great Winnebago Chief, Red Bird, 
with six other leading men of the tribe, sur- 
rendered themselves as hostages to save their 
nation from extermination. A majority of these 
were, after trial, acquitted. Red Bird, however, 
unable to endure confinement, literally pined to 
death in prison, dying on Feb. 16, 1828. He is 
described as having been a savage of superior 
intelligence and noble character. A treaty of 
peace was concluded with the Winnebagoes in a 
council held at Prairie du Chien, a few months 
later, but the affair seems to have produced as 
much alarm among the Indians as it did among 
the whites. (For Winnebago Indians see page 576. ) 

WINNETKA, a village of Cook County, on the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railway, lQ l /2 miles 
north of Chicago. It stands eighty feet above 
the level of Lake Michigan, has good schools 
(being the seat of the Winnetka Institute), sev- 
eral churches, and is a popular residence town. 
Population (1880). 584; (1890), 1,079; (1900), 1,833. 

WINSTON, Frederick Hampton, lawyer, was 
born in Liberty County, Ga., Nov. 20, 1830, was 
brought to Woodford County, Ky., in 1835, left 
an orphan at 12, and attended the common 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



597 



schools until 18, when, returning to Georgia, he 
engaged in cotton manufacture. He finally 
began the study of law with United States Sena- 
tor W. C. Dawson, and graduated from Harvard 
Law School in 1852 ; spent some time in the office 
of W. M. Evarts in New York, was admitted to 
the bar and came to Chicago in 1853, where he 
formed a partnership with Norman B. Judd, 
afterwards being associated with Judge Henry 
W. Blodgett; served as general solicitor of the 
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, the Chicago, 
Rock Island & Pacific and the Pittsburgh, Fort 
Wayne & Chicago Railways remaining with the 
latter twenty years. In 1885 he was appointed, 
by President Cleveland, Minister to Persia, but 
resigned the following year, and traveled exten- 
sively in Russia, Scandinavia and other foreign 
countries. Mr. Winston was a delegate to the 
Democratic National Conventions of 1868, '76 and 
'84 ; first President of the Stock Yards at Jersey 
City, for twelve years President of the Lincoln 
Park Commission, and a Director of the Lincoln 
National Bank. 

WISCONSIN CENTRAL LINES. The Wiscon- 
sin Central Company was organized, June 17, 
1887, and subsequently acquired the Minnesota, 
St. Croix & Wisconsin, the Wisconsin & Minne- 
sota, the Chippewa Falls & Western, the St. 
Paul & St. Croix Falls, the Wisconsin Central, the 
Penokee, and the Packwaukee & Montebello Rail- 
roads, and assumed the leases of the Milwaukee 
& Lake Winnebago and the Wisconsin & Minne- 
sota Roads. On July 1, 1888, the company began 
to operate the entire Wisconsin Central system, 
with the exception of the Wisconsin Central 
Railroad and the leased Milwaukee & Lake Win- 
nebago. which remained in charge of the Wis- 
consin Central Railroad mortgage trustees until 
Nov. 1, 1889, when these, too, passed under the 
control of the Wisconsin Central Company. The 
Wisconsin Central Railroad Company is a re- 
organization (Oct. 1, 1879) of a company formed 
Jan. 1, 1871. The Wisconsin Central and the 
Wisconsin Central Railroad Companies, though 
differing in name, are a financial unit; the 
former holding most of the first mortgage bonds 
of the latter, and substantially all its notes, stocks 
and income bonds, but, for legal reasons (such as 
the protection of land titles), it is necessary that 
separate corporations be maintained. On April 
1, 1890, the Wisconsin Central Company executed 
a lease to the Northern Pacific Railroad, but this 
was set aside by .the courts, on Sept. 27, 1893, for 
non-payment of rent, and was finally canceled. 
On the same day receivers were appointed to 



insure the protection of all interests. The total 
mileage is 415.46 miles, of which the Company 
owns 258.90 only .10 of a mile in Illinois. A 
line, 58.10 miles in length, with 8.44 miles of 
side-track (total, 66.54 miles), lying wholly within 
the State of Illinois, is operated by the Chicago & 
Wisconsin and furnishes the allied line an en- 
trance into Chicago. 

WITHROW, Thomas P., lawyer, was born in 
Virginia in March, 1833, removed with his parents 
to Ohio in childhood, attended the Western 
Reserve College, and, after the death of his 
father, taught school and worked as a printer, 
later, editing a paper at Mount Vernon. In 1855 
he removed to Janesville, Wis. , where he again 
engaged in journalistic work, studied law, was 
admitted to the bar in Iowa in 1857, settled at 
Des Moines and served as private secretary of 
Governors Lowe and Kirkwood. In 1860 he 
became Supreme Court Reporter; served as 
Chairman of the Republican State Central Com- 
mittee in 1863 and, in 1866, became associated 
with the Rock Island Railroad in the capacity of 
local attorney, was made chief law officer of the 
Company in 1873, and removed to Chicago, and, 
in 1890, was promoted to the position of General 
Counsel. Died, in Chicago, Feb. 3, 1893. 

WOLCOTT, (Dr.) Alexander, early Indian 
Agent, was born at East Windsor, Conn., Feb. 
14, 1790; graduated from Yale College in 1809, 
and, after a course in medicine, was commis- 
sioned, in 1812, Surgeon's Mate in the United 
States Army. In 1820 he was appointed Indian 
Agent at Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), as suc- 
cessor to Charles Jouett the first Agent who 
had been appointed a United States Judge in 
Arkansas. The same year he accompanied Gen- 
eral Lewis Cass and Henry Schoolcraft on their 
tour among the Indians of the Northwest; was 
married in 1823 to Ellen Marion Kinzie, a 
daughter of Col. John Kinzie, the first perma- 
nent settler of Chicago; in 1825 was appointed a 
Justice of the Peace for Peoria County, which 
then included Cook County; was a Judge of 
Election in 1830, and one of the purchasers of a 
block of ground in the heart of the present city 
of Chicago, at the first sale of lots, held Sept. 27, 
1830, but died before the close of the year. Dr. 
Wolcott appears to have been a high-minded and 
honorable man, as well as far in advance of the 
mass of pioneers in point of education and intel- 
ligence. 

WOMAN'S MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CHI- 
CAGO. (See Northwestern University Woman's 
Medical School.) 



C98 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



WOMAN SUFFRAGE. (See Suffrage.) 

WOOD, Benson, lawyer and Congressman, was 
born in Susquehanna County, Pa., in 1839; re- 
ceived a common school and academic education ; 
at the age of 20 came to Illinois, and, for two 
years, taught school in Lee County. He then 
enlisted as a soldier in an Illinois regiment, 
attaining the rank of Captain of Infantry ; after 
the war, graduated from the Law Department of 
the old Chicago University, and has since been 
engaged in the practice of his profession. He 
was elected a member of the Twenty-eighth Gen- 
eral Assembly (1872) and was a delegate to the 
Republican National Conventions of 1876 and 
1888 ; also served as Mayor of the city of Effing- 
ham, where he now resides. In 1894 he was 
elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress by the 
Republicans of the Nineteenth District, which has 
uniformly returned a Democrat, and, in office, 
proved himself a most industrious and efficient 
member. Mr. Wood was defeated as a candidate 
for re-election in 1896. 

WOOD, John, pioneer, Lieutenant- Governor 
and Governor, was born at Moravia, N. Y., Dec. 
20, 1798 his father being a Revolutionary soldier 
who had served as Surgeon and Captain in the 
army. At the age of 21 years young Wood re- 
moved to Illinois, settling in what is now Adams 
County, and building the first log-cabin on the site 
of the present city of Quincy. He was a member 
of the upper house of the Seventeenth and Eight- 
eenth General Assemblies, and was elected Lieu- 
tenant-Governor in 1859 on the same ticket with 
Governor Bissell, and served out the unexpired 
term of the latter, who died in office. (See Bis- 
sell, William H.) He was succeeded by Richard 
Yates in 1861. In February of that year he was 
appointed one of the five Commissioners from 
Illinois to the "Peace Conference" at Wash- 
ington, to consider methods for averting 
civil war. The following May he was appointed 
Quartermaster-General for the State by Governor 
Yates, and assisted most efficiently in fitting out 
the troops for the field. In June, 1864, he was 
commissioned Colonel of the One Hundred and 
Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers (100-days' men) 
and mustered out of service the following Sep- 
tember. Died, at Quincy, June 11, 1880. He 
was liberal, patriotic and public-spirited. His 
fellow-citizens of Quincy erected a monument to 
his memory, which was appropriately dedicated, 
July 4, 1883. 

WOODFORD COUNTY, situated a little north 
of the center of the State, bounded on the west 
by the Illinois River ; organized in 1841 ; area, 



540 square miles. The surface is generally level, 
except along the Illinois River, the soil fertile 
and well watered. The county lies in the north- 
ern section of the great coal field of the State. 
Eureka is the county-seat. Other thriving cities 
and towns are Metamora, Minonk, El Paso and 
Roanoke. Corn, oats, wheat, potatoes and barley 
are the principal crops. The chief mechanical 
industries are flour manufacture, carriage and 
wagon-making, and saddlery and harness work. 
Population (1890), 21,429; (1900), 21,822. 

WOODHULL, a village of Henry County, on 
Keithsburg branch Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad, 15 miles west of Galva; has a bank, 
electric lights, water works, brick and tile works, 
six churches and weekly paper. Pop. (1900), 774. 

WOODMAN, Charles W., lawyer and Congress- 
man, was born in Aalborg, Denmark, March 11, 
1844; received his early education in the schools 
of his native country, but took to the sea in 1860, 
following the life of a sailor until 1863, when, 
coming to Philadelphia, he enlisted in the Gulf 
Squadron of the United States. After the war, 
he came to Chicago, and, after reading law for 
some time in the office of James L. High, gradu- 
ated from the Law Department of the Chicago 
University in 1871. Some years later he was 
appointed Prosecuting Attorney for some of the 
lower courts, and, in 1881, was nominated by the 
Judges of Cook County as one of .the Justices of 
the Peace for the city of Chicago. In 1894 he 
became the Republican candidate for Congress 
from the Fourth District and was elected, but 
failed to secure a renomination in 1896. Died, in 
Elgin Asylum for the Insane, March 18, 1898. 

WOODS, Robert Mann, was born at Greenville, 
Pa., April 17, 1840; came with his parents to Illi- 
nois in 1842, the family settling at Barry, Pike 
County, but subsequently residing at Pittsfield, 
Canton and Galesburg. He was educated at 
Knox College in the latter place, which was his 
home from 1849 to '58; later, taught school in 
Iowa and Missouri until 1861, when he went to 
Springfield and began the study of law with 
Milton Hay and Shelby M. Cullom. His law 
studies having been interrupted by the Civil 
War, after spending some time in the mustering 
and disbursing office, he was promoted by Gov- 
ernor Yates to a place in the executive office, 
from which he went to the field as Adjutant of 
the Sixty-fourth Illinois Infantry, known as the 
"Yates Sharp-Shooters." After participating, 
with the Army of the Tennessee, in the Atlanta 
campaign, he took part in the "March to the 
Sea," and the campaign in the Carolinas, includ- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



599 



ing the siege of Savannah and the forcing of the 
Salkahatchie, where he distinguished himself, as 
also in the taking of Columbia, Fayetteville, 
Cheraw, Raleigh and Bentonville. At the latter 
place he had a horse shot under him and won the 
brevet rank of Major for gallantry in the field, 
having previously been commissioned Captain of 
Company A of his regiment. He also served on 
the staffs of Gens. Giles A. Smith, Benjamin F. 
Potts, and William W. Belknap, and was the last 
mustering officer in General Sherman's army. 
In 1867 Major Woods removed to Chicago, where 
he was in business for a number of years, serving 
as chief clerk of Custom House construction 
from 1872 to 1877. In 1879 he purchased "The 
Daily Republican" at Joliet, which he conducted 
successfully for fifteen years. While connected 
with "The Republican, " he served as Secretary of 
the Illinois Republican Press Association and in 
various other positions. 

Major Woods was one of the founders of the 
Grand Army of the Republic, whose birth-place 
was in Illinois. (See Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic; also Stephenson, Dr. B. F.) When Dr. 
Stephenson (who had been Surgeon of the Four- 
teenth Illinois Infantry), conceived the idea of 
founding such an order, he called to his assist- 
ance Major Woods, who was then engaged in 
writing the histories of Illinois regiments for the 
Adjutant-General's Report. The Major wrote 
the Constitution and By-laws of the Order, the 
charter blanks for all the reports, etc. The first 
official order bears his name as the first Adjutant- 
General of the Order, as follows : 

IlEATKJUARTKRS DEPARTMENT OF ILLINOIS 
GRAND AHMV OF THK REPUBLIC. 

SPRINGFIELD, ILL., APRIL 1, 1866. 
GENERAL ORDERS (. 

No. 1. (The following named officers are hereby 

appointed and assigned to duty at these headquarters. They 
will be obeyed and respected accordingly: 

Colonel Jules C. Webber, A.D.C. and Chief of Staff. 

Colonel John M. Snyder, Quartermaster-General. 

Major Robert M. Woods, Adjutant-General. 

Captain John A. Lightfoot, Assistant Adjutant-General. 

Captain John S. Phelps, Aid-de-Camp. 

By order of B. F. Stephenson, Department Commander. 

ROBERT M. WOODS, 

Adjutant-General. 

Major Woods afterwards organized the various 
Departments in the West, and it has been con- 
ceded that he furnished the money necessary to 
carry on the work during the first six months of 
the existence of the Order. He has never 
accepted a nomination or run for any political 
office, but is now engaged in financial business in 
Joliet and Chicago, with his residence in the 
former place. 



WOODSON, David Meade, lawyer and jurist, 
was born in Jessamine County, Ky., May 18, 
1806; was educated in private schools and at 
Transylvania University, and read law with his 
father. He served a term in the Kentucky Legis- 
lature in 1832, and, in 1834, removed to Illinois, 
settling at Carrollton, Greene County. In 1839 
he was elected State's Attorney and, in 1840, a 
member of the lower house of the Legislature, 
being elected a second time in 1868. In 1843 he 
was the Whig candidate for Congress in the 
Fifth District, but was defeated by Stephen A. 
Douglas. He was a member of the Constitutional 
Conventions of 1847 and 1869-70. In 1848 he was 
elected a Judge of the First Judicial Circuit, 
remaining in office until 1867. Died, in 1877. 

WOODSTOCK, the county-seat of McHenry 
County, situated on the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railway, about 51 miles northwest of Chicago 
and 32 miles east of Rockford. It contains a 
court house, eight churches, four banks, three 
newspaper offices, foundry and machine shops, 
planing mills, canning works, pickle, cheese and 
butter factories. The Oliver Typewriter Factory 
is located here ; the town is also the seat of the 
Todd Seminary for boys. Population (1890), 
1,683; (1900), 2,502. 

WORCESTER, Linus E., State Senator, was 
born in Windsor, Vt., Dec. 5, 1811, was educated 
in the common schools of his native State and at 
Chester Academy, came to Illinois in 1836, and, 
after teaching three years, entered a dry- goods 
store at Whitehall as clerk, later becoming a 
partner. He was also engaged in various other 
branches of business at different times, including 
the drug, hardware, grocery, agricultural imple- 
ment and lumber business. In 1843 he was 
appointed Postmaster at Whitehall, serving 
twelve years ; was a member of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1847, served as County Judge for 
six years from 1853, and as Trustee of the Insti- 
tution for the Deaf and Dumb, at Jacksonville, 
from 1859, by successive reappointments, for 
twelve years. In 1856 he was elected, as a Demo- 
crat, to the State Senate, to succeed John M. 
Palmer, resigned ; was re-elected in 1860, and, at 
the session of 1865, was one of the five Demo- 
cratic members of that body who voted for the 
ratification of the Emancipation Amendment of 
the National Constitution. He was elected 
County Judge a second time, in 1863, and re- 
elected in 1867, served as delegate to the Demo- 
cratic National Convention of 1876, and, for more 
than thirty years, was one of the Directors of the 
Jacksonville brancli of the Chicago & Alton 



coo 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Railroad, serving from the organization of the 
corporation until his death, which occurred Oct. 
19, 1891. 

W OR DEN, a village of Madison County, on the 
Wabash and the Jacksonville, Louisville & St. 
Louis Railways, 32 miles northeast of St. Louis. 
Population (1890), 522; (1900), 544 

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. An 
exhibition of the scientific, liberal and mechan- 
ical arts of all nations, held at Chicago, between 
May 1 and Oct. 31, 1893. The project had its 
inception in November, 1885, in a resolution 
adopted by the directorate of the Chicago Inter- 
State Exposition Company. On July 6, 1888, the 
first well defined action was taken, the Iroquois 
Club, of Chicago, inviting the co-operation of six 
other leading clubs of that city in "securing the 
location of an international celebration at Chi- 
cago of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of 
America by Columbus." In July, 1889, a decisive 
step was taken in the appointment by Mayor 
Cregier, under resolution of the City Council, of 
a committee of 100 (afterwards increased to 256) 
citizens, who were charged with the duty of 
promoting the selection of Chicago as the site for 
the Exposition. New York, Washington and St. 
Louis were competing points, but the choice of 
Congress fell upon Chicago, and the act establish- 
ing the World's Fair at that city was signed by 
President Harrison on April 25, 1890. Under the 
requirements of the law, the President appointed 
eight Commissioners-at-large, with two Commis- 
sioners and two alternates from each State and 
Territory and the District of Columbia. Col. 
George R. Davis, of Chicago, was elected Direc- 
tor-General by the body thus constituted. Ex- 
Senator Thomas M. Palmer, of Michigan, was 
chosen President of the Commission and John T. 
Dickinson, of Texas, Secretary. This Commis- 
sion delegated much of its power to a Board of 
Reference and Control, who were instructed to 
act with a similar number appointed by the 
World's Columbian Exposition. The latter 
organization was an incorporation, with a direc- 
torate of forty-five members, elected annually by 
the stockholders. Lyman J. Gage, of Chicago, 
was the first President of the corporation, and 
was succeeded by W. T. Baker and Harlow N. 
Higinbotham. 

In addition to these bodies, certain powers were 
vested in a Board of Lady Managers, composed 
of two members, with alternates, from each 
State and Territory, besides nine from the city 
of Chicago. Mrs. Potter Palmer was chosen 
President of the latter. This Board was particu- 



larly charged with supervision of women's par- 
ticipation in the Exposition, and of the exhibits 
of women's work. 

The supreme executive power was vested in 
the Joint Board of Control. The site selected 
was Jackson Park, in the South Division of Chi- 
cago, with a strip connecting Jackson and 
Washington Parks, known as the "Midway 
Plaisance," which was surrendered to "conces- 
sionaires" who purchased the privilege of giving 
exhibitions, or conducting restaurants or selling- 
booths thereon. The total area of the site was 
633 acres, and that of the buildings not reckon- 
ing those erected by States other than Illinois, 
and by foreign governments was about 200 
acres. When to this is added the acreage of the 
foreign and State buildings, the total space 
under roof approximated 250 acres. These fig- 
ures do not include the buildings erected by 
private exhibitors, caterers and venders, which 
would add a small percentage to the grand total. 
Forty-seven foreign Governments made appropri- 
ations for the erection of their own buildings and 
other expenses connected with official represen- 
tation, and there were exhibitors from eighty-six 
nations. The United States Government erected 
its own building, and appropriated $500,000 to 
defray the expenses of a national exhibit, besides 
$2,500,000 toward the general cost of the Exposi- 
tion. The appropriations by foreign Governments 
aggregated about $6,500,000, and those by the 
States and Territories, $6,120,000 that of Illinois 
being $800,000. The entire outlay of the World's 
Columbian Exposition Company, up to March 31, 
1894, including the cost of preliminary organiza- 
tion, construction, operating and post -Exposition 
expenses, was $27,151,800. This is, of course, 
exclusive of foreign and State expenditures, 
which would swell the aggregate cost to nearly 
$45,000,000. Citizens of Chicago subscribed 
$5,608,206 toward the capital stock of the Exposi- 
tion Company, and the municipality, $5,000,000, 
which was raised by the sale of bonds. (See 
Thirty -sixth General Assembly.) 

The site, while admirably adapted to the pur- 
pose, was, when chosen, a marshy flat, crossed 
by low sand ridges, upon which stood occasional 
clumps of stunted scrub oaks. Before the gates 
of the great fair were opened to the public, the 
entire area had been transformed into a dream of 
beauty. Marshes had been drained, filled in and 
sodded; driveways and broad walks constructed; 
artificial ponds and lagoons dug and embanked, 
and all the highest skill of the landscape garden- 
er's art had been called into play to produce 



9outh P, 
Otatii 



MAP OP 

THE GROUNDS OF THE 



AT 

Jackson Park 

showing the General Arrangement 

of 

Buildings and Grounds 
1893. 





X 

o 



ITi 

o 

&H 

X 

w 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



601 



varied and striking effects. But the task had 
been a Herculean one. There were seventeen 
principal (or, as they may be called, depart- 
mental) buildings, all of beautiful and ornate 
design, and all of vast size. They were known 
as the Manufacturers' and Liberal Arts, the 
Machinery, Electrical, Transportation, Woman's, 
Horticultural, Mines and Mining, Anthropolog- 
ical, Administration, Art Galleries, Agricultural, 
Art Institute, Fisheries, Live Stock, Dairy and 
Forestry buildings, and the Music Hall and Ca- 
sino. Several of these had large annexes. The 
Manufacturers' Building was the largest. It was 
rectangular (1687x787 feet), having a ground 
area of 31 acres and a floor and gallery area of 
44 acres. Its central chamber was 1280x380 
feet, with a nave 107 feet wide, both hall and 
nave being surrounded by a gallery 50 feet wide. 
It was four times as large as the Roman Coliseum 
and three times as large as St. Peter's at Rome; 
17,000,000 feet of lumber, 13,000,000 pounds of 
steel, and 2,000,000 pounds of iron had been used 
in its construction, involving a cost of $1,800,000. 

It was originally intended to open the Exposi- 
tion, formally, on Oct. 21, 1892, the quadri-centen- 
nial of Columbus' discovery of land on the 
Western Hemisphere, but the magnitude of the 
undertaking rendered this impracticable. Con- 
sequently, while dedicatory ceremonies were held 
on that day, preceded by a monster procession and 
followed by elaborate pyrotechnic displays at 
night, May 1, 1893, was fixed as the opening day 
the machinery and fountains being put in oper- 
ation, at the touch of an electric button by Presi- 
dent Cleveland, at the close of a short address. 
The total number of admissions from that date 
to Oct. 31, was 27,530,460 the largest for any 
single day being on Oct. 9 (Chicago Day) amount- 
ing to 761,944. The total receipts from all sources 
(including National and State appropriations, 
subscriptions, etc.), amounted to $28,151,168.75, 
of which $10,626,330.76 was from the sale of tick- 
ets, and $3,699,581.43 from concessions. The 
aggregate attendance fell short of that at the 
Paris Exposition of 1889 by about 500,000, while 
the receipts from the sale of tickets and con- 
cessions exceeded the latter by nearly $5,800,000. 
Subscribers to the Exposition stock received a 
return of ten per cent on the same. 

The Illinois building was the first of the State 
buildings to be completed. It was also the 
largest and most costly, but was severely criti- 
cised from an architectural standpoint. The 
exhibits showed the internal resources of the 
State, as well as the development of its govern- 



mental system, and its progress in civilization 
from the days of the first pioneers. The entire 
Illinois exhibit in the State building was under 
charge of the State Board of Agriculture, who 
devoted one-tenth of the appropriation, and a like 
proportion of floor space, to the exhibition of the 
work of Illinois women as scientists, authors, 
artists, decorators, etc. Among special features 
of the Illinois exhibit were : State trophies and 
relics, kept in a fire-proof memorial hall ; the dis- 
play of grains and minerals, and an immense 
topographical map (prepared at a cost of $15,000), 
drafted on a scale of two miles to the inch, show- 
ing the character and resources of the State, and 
correcting many serious cartographical errors 
previously undiscovered. 

WORTHEN, Amos Henry, scientist and State 
Geologist, was born at Bradford, Vt., Oct. 31, 
1813, emigrated to Kentucky in 1834, and, in 1836, 
removed to Illinois, locating at Warsaw. Teach- 
ing, surveying and mercantile business were his 
pursuits until 1842, when he returned to the 
East, spending two years in Boston, but return- 
ing to Warsaw in 1844. His natural predilections 
were toward the natural sciences, and, after 
coming west, he devoted most of his leisure time 
to the collection and study of specimens of 
mineralogy, geology and conchology. On the 
organization of the geological survey of Illinois 
in 1851, he was appointed assistant; to Dr. J. G. 
Norwood, then State Geologist, and, in 1858, suc- 
ceeded to the office, having meanwhile spent 
three years as Assistant Geologist in the first Iowa 
survey. As State Geologist he published seven 
volumes of reports, and was engaged upon the 
eighth when overtaken by death, May 6, 1888. 
These reports, which are as comprehensive as 
they are voluminous, have been reviewed and 
warmly commended by the leading scientific 
periodicals of this country and Europe. In 1877 
field work was discontinued, and the State His- 
torical Library and Natural History Museum were 
established, Professor Worthen being placed in 
charge as curator. He was the author of various 
valuable scientific papers and member of numer- 
ous scientific societies in this country and in 
Europe. 

WORTHIWFOff, Nicholas Ellsworth, ex-Con- 
gressman, was born in Brooke County, W. Va., 
March 30, 1836, and completed his education at 
Allegheny College, Pa., studied Law at Morgan- 
town, Va. , and was admitted to the bar in 1860. 
He is a resident of Peoria, and, by profession, a 
lawyer; was County Superintendent of Schools 
of Peoria County from 1868 to 1872, and a mem- 



602 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ber of the State Board of Education from 1869 to 
1872. In 1882 he was elected to Congress, as a 
Democrat, from the Tenth Congressional District, 
and re-elected in 1884. In 1886 he was again a 
candidate, but was defeated by his Republican 
opponent, Philip Sidney Post. He was elected 
Circuit Judge of the Tenth Judicial District in 
1891, and re-elected in 1897. In 1894 he served 
upon a commission appointed by President Cleve- 
land, to investigate the labor strikes of that year 
at Chicago. 

WEIGHT, John Stephen, manufacturer, was 
born at Sheffield, Mass., July 16, 1815; came to 
Chicago in 1832, with his father, who opened a 
store in that city ; in 1837, at his own expense, 
built the first school building in Chicago; in 1840 
established "The Prairie Farmer," which he con- 
ducted for many years in the interest of popular 
education and progressive agriculture. In 1852 
he engaged in the manufacture of Atkins' self- 
raking reaper and mower, was one of the pro- 
moters of the Galena & Chicago Union and the 
Illinois Central Railways, and wrote a volume 
entitled, "Chicago: Past, Present and Future," 
published in 1870. Died, in Chicago, Sept. 26, 1874. 

WULFF, Henry, ex-State Treasurer, was born 
in Meldorf, Germany, August 24, 1854; came to 
Chicago in 1863, and began his political career as 
a Trustee of the town of Jefferson. In 1866 he 
was elected County Clerk of Cook County, and 
re-elected in 1890; in 1894 became the Republican 
nominee for State Treasurer, receiving, at the 
November election of that year, the unprece- 
dented plurality of 133,427 votes over his Demo- 
cratic opponent. 

WYANET, a town of Bureau County, at the 
intersection of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railways, 
7 miles southwest of Princeton. Population 
(1890), 670; (1900), 902. 

WYLIE, (Rev.) Samuel, domestic missionary, 
born in Ireland and came to America in boyhood ; 
was educated at the University of Pennsylvania 
and the Theological Seminary of the Reformed 
Presbyterian Church, and ordained in 1818. 
Soon after this he came west as a domestic mis- 
sionary and, in 1820, became pastor of a church 
at Sparta, 111., where he remained until his death, 
March 20, 1872, after a pastorate of 52 years. 
During his pastorate the church sent out a dozen 
colonies to form new church organizations else- 
where. He is described as able, eloquent and 
scholarly. 

WYMAN, (Col.) John B., soldier, was born in 
Massachusetts, July 12, 1817, and educated in the 



schools of that State until 14 years of age, when 
he became a clerk in a clothing store in his native 
town of Shrewsbury, later being associated with 
mercantile establishments in Cincinnati, and 
again in his native State. From 1846 to 1850 he 
was employed successively as a clerk in the car 
and machine shops at Springfield, Mass., then as 
Superintendent of Construction, and, later, as con- 
ductor on the New York & New Haven Railroad , 
finally, in 1850, becoming Superintendent of the 
Connecticut River Railroad. In 1852 he entered 
the service of the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
pany, assisting in the survey and construction of 
the line under Col. R. B. Mason, the Chief Engi- 
neer, and finally becoming Assistant Superin- 
tendent of the Northern Division. He was one 
of the original proprietors of the town of Amboy, 
in Lee County, and its first Mayor, also serving 
a second term. Having a fondness for military 
affairs, he was usually connected with some mili- 
tary organization while in Cincinnati being 
attached to a company, of which Prof. O. M. 
Mitchell, the celebrated astronomer (afterwards 
Major-General Mitchell), was Captain. After 
coming to Illinois he became Captain of the Chi- 
cago Light Guards. Having lef* the employ of 
the Railroad in 1858, he was in private business 
at Amboy at the beginning of the Civil War in 
1861. As Assistant- Adjutant General, by appoint- 
ment of Governor Yates, he rendered valuable 
service in the early weeks of the war in securing 
arms from Jefferson Barracks and in the organi- 
zation of the three-months' regiments. Then, 
having organized the Thirteenth Illinois Volun- 
teer Infantry the first organized in the State 
for the three years' service he was commis- 
sioned its Colonel, and, in July following, entered 
upon the duty of guarding the railroad lines in 
Southwest Missouri and Arkansas. The follow- 
ing year his regiment was attached to General 
Sherman's command in the first campaign 
against Vicksburg. On the second day of the 
Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, he fell mortally 
wounded, dying on the field, Dec. 28, 1862. Colo- 
nel Wyman was one of the most accomplished 
and promising of the volunteer soldiers sent to 
the field from Illinois, of whom so many were 
former employes of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road. 

WYOMING, a town of Stark County, 31 miles 
north-northwest from Peoria, at the junction of 
the Peoria branch Rock Island & Pacific and the 
Rushville branch of the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railway ; has two high schools, churches, 
two banks, flour mills, water-works, machine 



HISTORIC AX ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



603 



shop, and two weekly newspapers. Coal is mined 
here. Pop. (1890), 1,116; (1900), 1,277. 

X EM A, a village of Clay County, on the Balti- 
more & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, 87 miles 
east of St. Louis. Population (1900), 800. 

TATES CITY, a village of Knox County, at the 
junction of the Peoria Division of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with the Rush vi lie 
branch, 23 miles southeast of Galesburg. The 
town has banks, a coal mine, telephone exchange, 
school, churches and a newspaper. Pop. (1890), 
687; (1900), 650. 

YATES, Henry, pioneer, was born in Caroline 
County, Va., Oct. 29, 1786 being a grand-nephew 
of Chief Justice John Marshall ; removed to Fa- 
yette County, Ky., where he located and laid out 
the town of Warsaw, which afterwards became 
the county-seat of Gallatin County. In 1831 he 
removed to Sangamon County, 111., and, in 1832, 
settled at the site of the present town of Berlin, 
which he laid out the following year, also laying 
out the town of New Berlin, a few years later, on 
the line of the Wabash Railway. He was father 
of Gov. Richard Yates. Died, Sept. 13, 1865. 
Henry (Yates), Jr., son of the preceding, was born 
at Berlin, 111., March?, 1835; engaged in merchan- 
dising at New Berlin ; in 1862, raised a company 
of volunteers for the One Hundred and Sixth 
Regiment Illinois Infantry, was appointed Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel and brevetted Colonel and Briga- 
dier-General. He was accidentally shot in 1863, 
and suffered sun-stroke at Little Rock, from 
which he never fully recovered. Died, August 
3, 1871. 

YATES, Richard, former Governor and United 
States Senator, was born at Warsaw, Ky., Jan. 
18, 1815, of English descent. In 1831 he accom- 
panied his father to Illinois, the family settling 
first at Springfield and later at Berlin, Sangamon 
County. He soon after entered Illinois College, 
from which he graduated in 1835, and subse- 
quently read law with Col. John J. Hardin, at 
Jacksonville, which thereafter became his home. 
In 1842 he was elected Representative in the Gen- 
eral Assembly from Morgan County, and was 
re-elected in 1844, and again in 1848. In 1850 he 
was a candidate for Congress from the Seventh 
District and elected over Maj. Thomas L. Harris, 
the previous incumbent, being the only Whig 
Representative in the Thirty-second Congress 
from Illinois. Two years later he was re-elected 
over John Calhoun, but was defeated, in 1854, 
by his old opponent, Harris. He was one of the 



most vigorous opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill in the Thirty -third Congress, and an early 
participant in the movement for the organization 
of the Republican party to resist the further 
extension of slavery, being a prominent speaker, 
on the same platform with Lincoln, before the 
first Republican State Convention held at Bloom- 
ington, in May, 1856, and serving as one of the 
Vice-Presidents of that body. In 1860 he was 
elected to the executive chair on the ticket 
headed by Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency, 
and, by his energetic support of the National 
administration in its measures for the suppression 
of the Rebellion, won the sobriquet of "the Illi- 
nois War-Governor." In 1865 he was elected 
United States Senator, serving until 1871. He 
died suddenly, at St. Louis, Nov. 27, 1873, while 
returning from Arkansas, whither he had gone, 
as a United States Commissioner, by appointment 
of President Grant, to inspect a land-subsidy 
railroad. He was a man of rare ability, earnest- 
ness of purpose and extraordinary personal mag- 
netism, as well as of a lofty order of patriotism. 
His faults were those of a nature generous, 
impulsive and warm-hearted. 

YORKVILLE, the county-seat of Kendall 
County, on Fox River and Streator Division of 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 12 miles 
southwest of Aurora; on interurban electric line; 
has water-power, electric lights, a bank, churches 
and weekly newspaper. Pop. (1890) 375; (1900),413. 

YOUNG, Brigham, Mormon leader, was born 
at Whittingham, Vt., June 1, 1801, joined the 
Mormons in 1831 and, the next year, became asso- 
ciated with Joseph Smith, at Kirtland, Ohio, and, 
in 1835, an "apostle." He accompanied a con- 
siderable body of that sect to Independence, Mo. , 
but was driven out with them in 1837, settling 
for a short time at Quincy, 111., but later remov- 
ing to Nauvoo, of which he was one of the foun- 
ders. On the assassination of Smith, in 1844, he 
became the successor of the latter, as head of the 
Mormon Church, and, the following year, headed 
the exodus from Illinois, which finally resulted in 
the Mormon settlement in Utah. His subsequent 
career there, where he was appointed Governor 
by President Fillmore, and, for a time, success- 
fully defied national authority, is a matter of 
national rather than State history. He remained 
at the head of the Mormon Church until his 
death at Salt Lake City, August 29, 1877. 

YOUNG, Richard Montgomery, United States 
Senator, was born in Kentucky in 1796, studied 
law and removed to Jonesboro, 111., where he was 
admitted to the bar in 1817; served in the Second 



604 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



General Assembly (1820-22) as Representative 
from Union County ; was a Circuit Judge, 1825-27 ; 
Presidential Elector in 1828 ; Circuit Judge again, 
1829-37; elected United States Senator in 1837 as 
successor to W. L. D. Ewing, serving until 1843, 
when he was commissioned Justice of the Su- 
preme Court, but resigned in 1847 to become 
Commissioner of the General Land Office at 
Washington. During the session of 1850-51, he 
served as Clerk of the National House of Repre- 
sentatives. Died, in an insane asylum, in Wash- 
ington, in 1853. 

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 
first permanently organized at Chicago, in 1858, 
although desultory movements of a kindred char- 
acter had previously been started at Peoria, 
Quincy, Chicago and Springfield, some as early 
as 1854. From 1858 to 1872, various associations 
were formed at different points throughout the 
State, which were entirely independent of each 
other. The first effort looking to union and 
mutual aid, was made in 1872, when Robert 
Weidensall, on behalf of the International Com- 
mittee, called a convention, to meet at Blooming- 
ton, November 6-9. State conventions have been 
held annually since 1872. In that of 1875, steps 
were taken looking to the appointment of a 
State Secretary, and, in 1876, Charles M. Morton 
assumed the office. Much evangelistic work was 
done, and new associations formed, the total 
number reported at the Champaign Convention, 
in 1877, being sixty-two. After one year's work 
Mr. Morton resigned the secretaryship, the office 
remaining vacant for three years. The question 
of the appointment of a successor was discussed 
at the Decatur Convention in 1879, and, in April, 
1880, I. B. Brown was made State Secretary, and 
has occupied the position to the present time 
(1899). At the date of his appointment the 
official figures showed sixteen associations in Illi- 
nois, with a total membership of 2,443, and prop- 
erty valued at $126,500, including building funds, 
the associations at Chicago and Aurora owning 
buildings. Thirteen officers were employed, 
none of them being in Chicago. Since 1880 the 
work has steadily grown, so that five Assistant 
State Secretaries are now employed. In 1886, a 
plan for arranging the State work under depart- 
mental administration was devised, but not put 
in operation until 1890. The present six depart- 
ments of supervision are: General Supervision, 
in charge of the State Secretary and his Assist- 
ants; railroad and city work; counties and 
towns; work among students; corresponding 
membership department, and office work. The 



two last named are under one executive head, 
but ea'ch of the others in charge of an Assistant 
Secretary, who is responsible for its development. 
The entire work is under the supervision of a 
State Executive Committee of twenty -seven 
members, one-third of whom are elected annually. 
Willis H. Herrick of Chicago has been its chair- 
man for several years. This body is appointed 
by a State convention composed of delegates 
from the local Associations. Of these there were, 
in October, 1898, 116, with a membership of 
15,888. The value of the property owned was 
$2,500,000. Twenty-two occupy their own build- 
ings, of which five are for railroad men and one 
for students. Weekly gatherings for young men 
numbered 248, and there are now representatives 
or correspondents in 665 communities where no 
organization has been effected. Scientific phys- 
ical culture is made a feature by 40 associations, 
and educational work has been largely developed. 
The enrollment in evening classes, during 1898-99, 
was 978. The building of the Chicago branch 
(erected in 1893) is the finest of its class in the 
world. Recently a successful association has 
been formed among coal miners, and another 
among the first grade boys of the Illinois State 
Reformatory, while an extensive work has been 
conducted at the camps of the Illinois National 
Guard. 

ZANE, Charles S., lawyer and jurist, was born 
in Cumberland County, N. J., March 2, 1831, of 
English and New England stock. At the age of 
19 he emigrated to Sangamon County, 111., for a 
time working on a farm and at brick-making. 
From 1852 to '55 he attended McKendree College, 
but did not graduate, and, on leaving college, 
engaged in teaching, at the same time reading 
law. In 1857 he was admitted to the bar and 
commenced practice at Springfield. The follow- 
ing year he was elected City Attorney. He had 
for partners, at different times, William H. 
Herndon (once a partner of Abraham Lincoln) 
and Senator Shelby M. Cullom. In 1873 he was 
elected a Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth 
Judicial Circuit, and was re-elected in 1879. In 
1883 President Arthur appointed him Chief Jus- 
tice of Utah, where he has since resided, though 
superseded by the appointment of a successor by 
President Cleveland. At the first State elec- 
tion in Utah, held in November, 1895, he was 
chosen one of the Judges of the Supreme Court 
of the new Commonwealth, but was defeated 
for re-election, by his Democratic opponent, in 
1898. 




SCENES IN SOUTH PARK. 




WORLD'S FAIR BUILDINGS. 

The Peristyle. German Building, 

AdmiDistration Building. Tha Fisheries. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



The following matter, received too late for Insertion In the body of this work. Is added In the form of a supplement, 



COGHLAN, (Capt.) Joseph Bullock, naval 
officer, was born in Kentucky, and, at the age of 
15 years, came to Illinois, living on a farm for a 
time near Carlyle, in Clinton County. In 1860 he 
was appointed by his uncle, Hon. Philip B. 
Fouke then a Representative in Congress from 
the Belleville District to the Naval Academy at 
Annapolis, graduating in 1863, and being pro- 
moted through the successive grades of Ensign, 
Master, Lieutenant, Lieutenant-Commander, and 
Commander, and serving upon various vessels 
until Nov. 18, 1893, when he was commissioned 
Captain and, in 1897, assigned to the command 
of the battleship Raleigh, on the Asiatic Station. 
He was thus connected with Admiral Dewey's 
squadron at the beginning of the Spanish- Ameri- 
can War, and took a conspicuous and brilliant part 
in the affair in Manila Bay. on May 1, 1898, which 
resulted in the destruction of the Spanish fleet. 
Captain Coghlan's connection with subsequent 
events in the Philippines was in the highest 
degree creditable to himself and the country. 
His vessel (the Raleigh) was the first of Admiral 
Dewey's squadron to return home, coming by 
way of the Suez Canal, in the summer of 1899, he 
and his crew receiving an immense ovation on 
their arrival in New York harbor. 

CRANE,' (Rev.) James Lyons, clergyman, 
army chaplain, was born at Mt. Eaton, Wayne 
County. Ohio, August 30, 1823, united with the 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Cincinnati in 

1841, and, coming to Edgar County, Illinois, in 

1842, attended a seminary at Paris some three 
years. He joined the Illinois Conference in 1846, 
and was assigned to the Danville circuit, after- 
wards presiding over charges at Grandview, Hills- 
boro, Alton, Jacksonville, and Springfield at the 
last two points being stationed two or more 
times, besides serving as Presiding Elder of the 
Paris, Danville, and Springfield Districts. The 
importance of the stations which he filled during 
his itinerant career served as evidence of his 
recognized ability and popularity as a preacher. 



In July, 1861, he was appointed Chaplain of the 
Twenty-first Regiment Illinois Volunteers, at 
that time commanded by Ulysses S. Grant as 
Colonel, and, although he remained with the 
regiment only a few months, the friendship then 
established between him and the future com- 
mander of the armies of the Union lasted through 
their lives. This was shown by his appointment 
by President Grant : in 1869, to the position of 
Postmaster of the city of Springfield, which came 
to him as a personal compliment, being re- 
appointed four years afterwards and continuing 
in office eight years. After retiring from tho 
Springfield postoffice, he occupied charges at 
Island Grove and Shelbyville, his death occurring 
at the latter place, July 29, 1879, as the result of 
an attack of paralysis some two weeks previous. 
Mr Crane was married in 1847 to Miss Elizabeth 
Mayo, daughter of CoL J. Mayo a prominent 
citizen of Edgar County, at an early day his 
wife surviving him some twenty years. Rer. 
Charles A Crane and Rev. Frank Crane, pastors 
of prominent Methodist churches in Boston and 
Chicago, are sons of the subject of this sketch. 

DA WES, Charles Gates, Comptroller of the 
Treasury, was born at Marietta, Ohio, August 27, 
1865; graduated from Marietta College in 1884, 
and from the Cincinnati Law School in 1886; 
worked at civil engineering during his vacations, 
finally becoming Chief Engineer of the Toledo & 
Ohio Railroad. Between 1887 and 1894 he was 
engaged in the practice of law at Lincoln, Neb., 
but afterwards became interested in the gas busi- 
ness in various cities, including Evanston, I1L, 
which became his home. In 1896 he took a lead- 
ing part in securing instructions by the Republi- 
can State Convention at Springfield in favor of 
the nomination of Mr. McKinley for the Presi- 
dency, and during the succeeding campaign 
served as a member of the National Republican 
Committee for the State of Illinois. Soon after 
the accession of President McKinley, he was 
appointed Comptroller of the Treasury, a position 



605 



606 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



which he now holds. Mr. Dawes is the son of 
R. B. Dawes, a former Congressman from Ohio, 
and the great-grandson of Manasseh Cutler, who 
was an influential factor in the early history of 
the Northwest Territory, and has been credited 
with exerting a strong influence in shaping and 
securing the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787. 

JUSTIN, (Col.) William L., former Depart- 
ment Commander of Grand Army of the Repub- 
lio for the State of Illinois, was born at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 9, 1843, his father being of 
English descent, while his maternal grandfather 
was a Colonel of the Polish Lancers in the army 
of the first Napoleon, who, after the exile of his 
leader, came to America, settling in Indiana. 
The father of the subject of this sketch settled at 
Keokuk, Iowa, where the son grew to manhood 
and in February, 1863, enlisted as a private in the 
Seventeenth Iowa Infantry, having been twice 
rejected previously on account of physical ail- 
ment. Soon after enlistment he was detailed for 
provost-marshal duty, but later took part with 
his regiment in the campaign in Alabama. He 
served for a time in the Fifteenth Army Corps, 
under Gen. John A. Logan, was subsequently 
detailed for duty on the Staff of General Raum, 
and participated in the battles of Resaca and 
Tilton, Ga. Having been captured in the latter, 
he was imprisoned successively at Jacksonville 
(Ga.), Montgomery, Savannah, and finally at 
Andersonville. From the latter he succeeded in 
effecting his escape, but was recaptured and 
returned to that famous prison-pen. Having 
escaped a second time by assuming the name of 
a dead man and bribing the guard, he was again 
captured and imprisoned at various points in Mis- 
sissippi until exchanged about the time of the 
assassination of President Lincoln. He was then 
so weakened by his long confinement and scanty 
fare that he had to be carried on board the 
steamer on a stretcher. At this time he narrowly 
escaped being on board the steamer Sultana, 
which was blown up below Cairo, with 2,100 
soldiers on board, a large proportion of whom lost 
their lives. After being mustered out at Daven- 
port, Iowa, June 28, 1865, he was employed for a 
time on the Des Moines Valley Railroad, and as a 
messenger and route agent of the United States 
Express Company. In 1872 he established him- 
self in business in Quincy, 111., in which he 
proved very successful. Here he became prom- 
inent in local Grand Army circles, and, in 1890, 
was unanimously elected Commander of the 
Department of Illinois. Previous to this he had 
been an officer of the Illinois National Guard, and 



served as Aid-de-Camp, with the rank of 
Colonel, on the staff of Governors Hamilton, 
Oglesby and Fifer. In 1897 Colonel Distin was 
appointed by President McKinley Surveyor-Gen- 
eral for the Territory of Alaska, a position which 
(1899) he still holds. 

DUMMER, Henry E., lawyer, was born at 
Hallowell, Maine, April 9, 1808, was educated in 
Bowdoin College, graduating there in the class of 
1827, after which he took a course in law at Cam- 
bridge Law School, and was soon after admitted 
to the bar. Then, having spent some two years 
in his native State, in 1832 he removed to Illinois, 
settling first in Springfield, where he remained six 
years, being for a part of the time a partner of 
John T. Stuart, who afterwards became the first 
partner in law of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Dum- 
mer had a brother, Richard William Dummer, 
who had preceded him to Illinois, living for a 
time in Jacksonville. In 1838 he removed to 
Beardstown, Cass County, which continued to be 
his home for more than a quarter of a century. 
During his residence there he served as Alder- 
man, City Attorney and Judge of Probate for 
Cass County ; also represented Cass County in the 
Constitutional Convention of 1847, and, in 1860, 
was elected State Senator in the Twenty-second 
General Assembly, serving four years. Mr. 
Dummer was an earnest Republican, and served 
that party as a delegate for the State-at-large to 
the Convention of 1864, at Baltimore, which 
nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency a 
second time. In 1864 he removed to Jackson- 
ville, and for the next year was the law partner 
of David A. Smith, until the death of the latter 
in 1865. In the summer of 1878 Mr. Dummer 
went to Mackinac, Mich. , in search of health, but 
died there August 12 of that year. 

ECKELS, James H., ex-Comptroller of the 
Currency, was born of Scotch-Irish parentage at 
Princeton, 111.,. Nov. 22, 1858, was educated in 
the common schools and the high school of his 
native town, graduated from the Law School at 
Albany, N. Y., in 1881, and the following year 
began practice at Ottawa, 111. Here he con- 
tinued in active practice until 1893, when he was 
appointed by President Cleveland Comptroller of 
the Currency, serving until May 1, 1898, when he 
resigned to accept the presidency of the Com- 
mercial National Bank of Chicago. Mr. Eckels 
manifested such distinguished ability in the dis- 
charge of his duties as Comptroller that he 
received the notable compliment of being 
retained in office by a Republican administration 
more than a year after the retirement of Presi- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



607 



dent Cleveland, while his selection for a place at 
the head of one of the leading banking institu- 
tions of Chicago was a no less marked recognition 
of his abilities as a financier. He was a Delegate 
from the Eleventh District to the National 
Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1892, and 
represented the same district in the Gold Demo- 
cratic Convention at Indianapolis in 1896, and 
assisted in framing the platform there adopted 
which indicated his views on the financial ques- 
tions involved in the campaign of that year. 

FIELD, Daniel, early merchant, was born in 
Jefferson County, Kentucky, Nov. 30, 1790, and 
settled at Golconda, 111., in 1818, dying there in 
1855. He was a man of great enterprise, engaged 
in merchandising, and became a large land- 
holder, farmer and stock-grower, and an extensive 
shipper of stock and produce to lower Mississippi 
markets. He married Elizabeth Dailey of 
Charleston, Ind., and raised a large family of 
children, one of whom, Philip D., became Sheriffi 
while another, John, was County Judge of Pope 
County. His daughter, Maria, married Gen. 
Green B. Raum, who became prominent as a 
soldier during the Civil War and, later, as a mem- 
ber of Congress and Commissioner of Internal 
Revenue and Pension Commissioner in Wash- 
ington. 

FIELD, Green B., member of a pioneer family, 
was born within the present limits of the State of 
Indiana in 1787, served as a Lieutenant in the 
War of 1812, was married in Bourbon County, 
Kentucky, to Miss Mary E. Cogswell, the 
daughter of Dr. Joseph Cogswell, a soldier of the 
Revolutionary War, and, in 1817, removed to 
Pope County, Illinois, where he laid off the town 
of Golconda, which became the county -seat. He 
served as a Representative from Pope County in 
the First General Assembly (1818-20), and was 
the father of Juliet C. Field, who became the 
wife of John Raum ; of Edna Field, the wife of 
Dr. Tarlton Dunn, and of Green B. Field, who 
was a Lieutenant in Third Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers during the Mexican War. Mr. Field 
was the grandfather of Gen. Green B. Raum, 
mentioned in the preceding paragraph. He died 
of yellow fever in Louisiana in 1823. 

GALE, Stephen Francis, first Chicago book- 
Beiler and a railway promoter, was born at 
Exeter, N. H. , March 8, 1812 ; at 15 years of age 
became clerk in a leading book-store in Boston ; 
came to Chicago in 1835, and soon afterwards 
opened the first book and stationery establish- 
ment in that city, which, in after years, gained 
an extensive trade. In 1842 the firm of S. F. 



Gale & Co. was organized, but Mr. Gale, having 
become head of the Chicago Fire Department, 
retired from business in 1845. As early as 1846 
he was associated with W m. B. Ogden and John 
B. Turner in the steps then being taken to revive 
the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad (now a 
part of the Chicago & Northwestern), and, in 
conjunction with these gentlemen, became 
responsible for the means to purchase the charter 
and assets of the road from the Eastern bond- 
holders. Later, he engaged in the construction 
of the branch road from Turner Junction to 
Aurora, became President of the line and ex- 
tended it to Mendota to connect with the Illinois 
Central at that Point. These roads afterwards 
became a part of the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy line. A number of years ago Mr. Gale 
returned to his old home in New Hampshire, 
where he has since resided. 

HAY, John, early settler, came to the region of 
Kaskaskia between 1790 and 1800, and became a 
prominent citizen of St. Clair County. He was 
selected as a member of the First Legislative 
Council of Indiana Territory for St. Clair County 
in 1805. In 1809 he was appointed Clerk of the 
Common Pleas Court of St. Clair County, and 
was continued in office after the organization of 
the State Government, serving until his death at 
Belleville in 1845. 

HAYS, John, pioneer settler of Northwest Ter- 
ritory, was a native of New York, who came to 
Cahokia, in the "Illinois Country," in 1793, and 
lived there the remainder of his life. His early 
life had been spent in the fur-trade about Macki- 
nac, in the Lake of the Woods region and about 
the sources of the Mississippi. During the War 
of 1812 he was able to furnish Governor Edwards 
valuable information in reference to the Indians 
in the Northwest. He filled the office of Post- 
master at Cahokia for a number of years, and was 
Sheriff of St. Clair County from 1798 to 1818. 

MOULTON, (Col.) George M., soldier and 
building contractor, was born at Readsburg, Vt., 
March 15, 1851, came early in life to Chicago, and 
was educated in the schools of that city. By pro- 
fession he is a contractor and builder, the firm of 
which he is a member having been connected 
with the construction of a number of large build- 
ings, including some extensive grain elevators. 
Colonel Moulton became a member of the Second 
Regiment Illinois National Guard in June, 1884, 
being elected to the office of Major, which he 
retained until January, 1893, when he was 
appointed Inspector of Rifle Practice on the staff 
of General Wheeler. A year later he was com- 



608 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



missioned Colonel of the regiment, a position 
which he occupied at the time of the call by the 
President for troops to serve in the Spanish- 
American War in April, 1898. He promptly 
answered the call, and was sworn into the United 
States service at the head of his regiment early 
in May. The regiment was almost immediately 
ordered to Jacksonville, Fla., remaining there 
and at Savannah, Ga., until early in December, 
when it was transferred to Havana, Cuba. Here 
he was soon after appointed Chief of Police for 
the city of Havana, remaining in office until the 
middle of January, 1899, when he returned to his 
regiment, then stationed at Camp Columbia, near- 
the city of Havana. In the latter part of March 
he returned with his regiment to Augusta, Ga., 
where it was mustered out, April 26, 1899, one 
year from the date of its arrival at Springfield. 
After leaving the service Colonel Moulton 
resumed his business as a contractor. 

SHERMAN, Lawrence Y., legislator and 
Speaker of the Forty -first General Assembly, was 
born in Miami County, Ohio, Nov. 6, 1858; at 3 
years of age came to Illinois, his parents settling 
at Industry, McDonough Gpunty. When he had 
reached the age of 10 years he went to Jasper 
County, where he grew to manhood, received his 
education in the common schools and in the law 



department of McKendree College, graduating 
from the latter, and, in 1881, located at Macomb, 
McDonough County. Here he began his career 
by driving a team upon the street in order to 
accumulate means enabling him to devote his 
entire attention to his chosen profession of law. 
He soon took an active interest in politics, was 
elected County Judge in 1886, and, at the expira- 
tion of his term, formed a partnership with 
George D. Tunnicliffe and D. G. Tunnicliffe, 
ex-Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1894 he was 
a candidate for the Republican nomination for 
Representative in the General Assembly, but 
withdrew to prevent a split in the party; was 
nominated and elected in 1896, and re-elected in 
1898, and, at the succeeding session of the 
Forty-first General Assembly, was nominated 
by the Republican caucus and elected Speaker, 
as he was again of the Forty -second in 1901. 

YINYARD, Philip, early legislator, was bora 
in Pennsylvania in 1800, came to Illinois at an 
early day, and settled in Pope County, which he 
represented in the lower branch of the Thirteenth 
and Fourteenth General Assemblies. He married 
Miss Matilda McCoy, the daughter of a prominent 
Illinois pioneer, and served as Sheriff of Pope 
County for a number of years. Died, at Gol- 
conda, in 1862, 



SUPPLEMENT NO. IT. 



BLACK HAWK WAR, THE. The episode 
known in history under the name of "The Black 
Hawk War," was the most formidable conflict 
between the whites and Indians, as well as the 
most far-reaching in its results, that ever oc- 
curred upon the soil of Illinois. It takes its 
name from the Indian Chief, of the Sac tribe, 
Black Hawk (Indian name, Makatai Meshekia- 
kiak, meaning "Black Sparrow Hawk"), who 
was the leader of the hostile Indian band and a 
principal factor in the struggle. Black Hawk 
had been an ally of the British during the War 
of 1812-15, served with Tecumseh when the lat- 
ter fell at the battle of the Thames in 1813, and, 
after the war, continued to maintain friendly re- 
lations with his " British father." The outbreak 



in Illinois had its origin in the construction 
put upon the treaty negotiated by Gen. William 
Henry Harrison with the Sac and Fox Indians 
on behalf of the United States Government, No- 
vember 3, 1804, under which the Indians trans- 
ferred to the Government nearly 15,000,000 acres 
of land comprising the region lying between the 
Wisconsin River on the north, Fox River of Illi- 
nois on the east and southeast, and the Mississippi 
on the west, for which the Government agreed to 
pay to the confederated tribes less than $2, 500 in 
goods and the insignificant sum of $1,000 per an- 
num in perpetuity. While the validity of the 
treaty was denied on the part of the Indians on the 
ground that it had originally been entered into by 
their chiefs under duress, while held as prisoners 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



609 



under a charge of murder at Jefferson Barracks, 
during which they had been kept in a state of con- 
stant intoxication, it had been repeatedly reaf- 
firmed by parts or all of the tribe, especially in 
1815, in 1816, in 1822 and in 1823, and finally recog- 
nized by Black Hawk himself in i831. The part of 
the treaty of 1804 which was the immediate cause 
of the disagreement was that which stipulated 
that, so long as the lands ceded under it remained 
the property of the United States (that is, should 
not be transferred to private owners), ' 'the Indians 
belonging to the said tribes shall enjoy the priv- 
ilege of living or hunting upon them." Al- 
though these lands had not been put upon the 
market, or even surveyed, as "squatters" multi- 
plied in this region little respect was paid to the 
treaty rights of the Indians, particularly with 
reference to those localities where, by reason of 
fertility of the soil or some other natural advan- 
tage, the Indians had established something like 
permanent homes and introduced a sort of crude 
cultivation. This was especially the case with 
reference to the Sac village of "Saukenuk" on 
the north bank of Rock River near its mouth, 
where the Indians, when not absent on the chase, 
had lived for over a century, had cultivated 
fields of corn and vegetables and had buried their 
dead. In the early part of the last century, it is 
estimated that some five hundred families had 
been accustomed to congregate here, making it 
the largest Indian village in the West. As early 
as 1823 the encroachments of squatters on the 
rights claimed by the Indians under the treaty 
of 1804 began ; their fields were taken possession 
of by the intruders, their lodges ourned and their 
women and children whipped and driven away 
during the absence of the men on their annual 
hunts. The dangers resulting from these con- 
flicts led Governor Edwards, as early as 1828, to 
demand of the General Government the expul- 
sion of the Indians from Illinois, which resulted 
in an order from President Jackson in 1829 for 
their removal west of the Mississippi. On appli- 
cation of Col. George Davenport, a trader of 
much influence with the Indians, the time was 
extended to April 1, 1830. During the preceding 
year Colonel Davenport and the firm of Davenport 
and Farnham bought from the United States Gov- 
ernment most of the lands on Rock River occupied 
by Black Hawk's band, with the intention, as has 
been claimed, of permitting the Indians to remain. 
This was not so understood by Black Hawk, who 
was greatly incensed, although Davenport offered 
to take other lands from the Government in ex- 
change or cancel the sale an arrangement to 



which President Jackson would not consent. Om 
their return in the spring of 1830, the Indians 
found whites in possession of their village. Pre- 
vented from cultivating their fields, and their 
annual hunt proving unsuccessful, the following 
winter proved for them one of great hardship. 
Black Hawk, having made a visit to his " British 
father " (the British Agent) at Maiden, Canada, 
claimed to have received words of sympathy and 
encouragement, which induced him to determine 
to regain possession of their fields. In this he 
was encouraged by Neapope, his second in com- 
mand, and by assurance of support from White 
Cloud, a half Sac and half Winnebago known 
.also as "The Prophet " whose village (Prophet's 
Town) was some forty miles from the mouth 
of Rock River, and through whom Black Hawk 
claimed to have xeceived promises of aid in guns, 
ammunition and provisions from the British. 
The reappearance of Black Hawk's band in the 
vicinity of his old haunts, in the spring of 1831, 
produced a wild panic among the frontier settlers. 
Messages were hurried to Governor Reynolds, 
who had succeeded Governor Edwards in De- 
cember previous, appealing for protection against 
the savages. The Governor issued a call for 700 
volunteers " to remove the band of Sac Indians " 
at Rock Island beyond the Mississippi. Al- 
though Gen. E. P. Gaines of the regular army, 
commanding the military district, thought the 
regulars sufficiently strong to cope with the situa- 
tion, the Governor's proclamation was responded 
to by more than twice the number called for. 
The volunteers assembled early in June, 1831, at 
Beardstown, the place of rendezvous named in 
the call, and having been organized into two regi- 
ments under command of Col. James D. Henry and 
Col. Daniel Lieb, with a spy battalion under Gen. 
Joseph Duncan, marched across the country and, 
after effecting a junction with General Gaines' 
regulars, appeared before Black Hawk's village on 
the 25th of June. In the meantime General 
Gaines, having learnei that the Pottawatomies, 
Winnebagos and Kickapoos had promised to join 
the Sacs in their uprising, asked the assistance of 
the battalion of mounted men previously offered 
by Governor Reynolds. The combined armies 
amounted to 2,500 men, while the fighting force 
of the Indians was 300. Finding himself over- 
whelmingly outnumbered, Black Hawk withdrew 
under cover of night to the west side of the Missis- 
sippi After burning the village, General Gaines 
notified Black Hawk of his intention to pursue 
and attack his band, which had the effect to 
bring the fugitive chief to the General's head- 



610 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



quarters, where, on June 30, a new treaty was 
entered into by which he bound himself and his 
people to remain west of the Mississippi unless 
permitted to return by the United States. This 
ended the campaign, and the volunteers returned 
to their homes, although the affair had produced 
an intense excitement along the whole frontier, 
and involved a heavy expense. 

The next winter was spent by Black Hawk and 
his band on the site of old Fort Madison, in the 
present State of Iowa. Dissatisfied and humil- 
iated by his repulse of the previous year, in disre- 
gard of his pledge to General Games, on April 6, 
1832, at the head of 500 warriors and their fam- 
ilies, he again crossed the Mississippi at Yel- 
low Banks about the site of the present city of 
Oquawka, fifty miles below Rock Island, with the 
intention, as claimed, if not permitted to stop at 
his old village, to proceed to the Prophet's Town 
and raise a crop with the Winnebagoes. Here he 
was met by The Prophet with renewed assurances 
of aid from the Winnebagoes, which was still 
further strengthened by promises from the Brit- 
ish Agent received through a visit by Neapope to 
Maiden the previous autumn. An incident of this 
invasion was the effective warning given to the 
white settlers by Shabona, a friendly Ottawa 
chief, which probably had the effect to prevent 
a widespread massacre. Besides the towns of 
Galena and Chicago, the settlements in Illinois 
north of Fort Clark (Peoria) were limited to some 
thirty families on Bureau Creek with a few 
cabins at Hennepin, Peru, LaSalle, Ottawa, In- 
dian Creek, Dixon, Kellogg's Grove, Apple Creek, 
and a few other points. Gen. Henry Atkinson, 
commanding the regulars at Fort Armstrong 
(Rock Island), having learned of the arrival of 
Black Hawk a week after he crossed the Missis- 
sippi, at once took steps to notify Governor Rey- 
nolds of the situation with a requisition for an 
adequate force of militia to cooperate with the 
regulars. Under date of April 16, 1832, the Gov- 
ernor issued his call for ' 'a strong detachment of 
militia." to meet by April 22, Beardstown again 
being named as a place of rendezvous. The call 
resulted in the assembling of a force which was 
organized into four regiments under command of 
Cols. John DeWitt, Jacob Fry, John Thomas and 
Samuel M. Thompson, together with a spy bat- 
talion under Maj. James D. Henry, an odd bat- 
talion under Maj. Thomas James and a foot 
battalion under Maj. Thomas Long. To these were 
subsequently added two independent battalions 
of mounted men, under command of Majors 
Isaiah Stillman and David Bailey, which were 



finally consolidated as the Fifth Regiment under 
command of Col. James Johnson. The organiza- 
tion of the first four regiments at Beardstown 
was completed by April 27, and the force under 
command of Brigadier-General Whiteside (but 
accompanied by Governor Reynolds, who was 
allowed pay as Major General by the General 
Government) began its march to Fort Armstrong, 
arriving there May 7 and being mustered into the 
Uni ted States service. Among others accompany- 
ing the expedition who were then, or afterwards 
became, noted citizens of the State, were Vital 
Jarrot, Adjutant-General; Cyrus Edwards, Ord- 
nance Officer; Murray McConnel, Staff Officer, 
and Abraham Lincoln, Captain of a company of 
volunteers from Sangamon County in the Fourth 
Regiment. Col. Zachary Taylor, then commander 
of a regiment of regulars, arrived at Fort Arm- 
strong about the same time with reinforcements 
from Fort Leavenworth and Fort Crawford. The 
total force of militia amounted to 1,935 men, and 
of regulars about 1,000. An interesting story is 
told concerning a speech delivered to the volun- 
teers by Colonel Taylor about this time. After 
reminding them of their duty to obey an order 
promptly, the future hero of the Mexican War 
added: " The safety of all depends upon the obe- 
dience and courage of all. You are citizen sol- 
diers; some of you may fill high offices, or even be 
Presidents some day but not if you refuse to do 
your duty. Forward, march!" A curious com- 
mentary upon this speech is furnished in the fact 
that, while Taylor himself afterwards became 
President, at least one of his hearers a volunteer 
who probably then had no aspiration to that dis- 
tinction (Abraham Lincoln) reached the same 
position during the most dramatic period in the 
nation's history. 

Two days after the arrival at Fort Armstrong, 
the advance up Rock River began, the main force 
of the volunteers proceeding by land under Gen- 
eral Whiteside, while General Atkinson, with 
400 regular and 300 volunteer foot soldiers, pro- 
ceeded by boat, carrying with him the artillery, 
provisions and bulk of the baggage. Whiteside, 
advancing by the east bank of the river, was the 
first to arrive at the Prophet's Town, which, 
finding deserted, he pushed on to Dixon's Ferry 
(now Dixon), where he arrived May 12. Here he 
found the independent battalions of Stillman and 
Bailey with ammunition and supplies of which 
Whiteside stood in need. The mounted battalions 
under command of Major Stillman, having been 
sent forward by Whiteside as a scouting party, 
left Dixon on the 13th and, on the afternoon of 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



611 



the next day, went into camp in a strong position 
near the mouth of Sycamore Creek. As soon dis- 
covered, Black Hawk was in camp at the same 
time, as he afterwards claimed, with about forty 
of his braves, on Sycamore Creek, three miles 
distant, while the greater part of his band were en- 
camped with the more war-like faction of the Pot- 
tawatomies some seven miles farther north on the 
Kishwaukee River. As claimed by Black Hawk 
in his autobiography, having been disappointed in 
his expectation of forming an alliance with the 
Winnebagoes and the Pottawatomies, he had at 
this juncture determined to return to the west 
side of the Mississippi. Hearing of the arrival of 
Stillmau's command in the vicinity, and taking 
it for granted that this was the whole of Atkin- 
son's command, he sent out three of his young 
men with a white flag, to arrange a parley and 
convey to Atkinson his offer to meet the latter in 
council. These were captured by some of Still- 
man's band regardless of their flag of truce, while 
a party of five other braves who followed to ob- 
serve the treatment received by the flagbearers, 
were attacked and two of their number killed, the 
the other three escaping to their camp. Black 
Hawk learning the fate of his truce party was 
aroused to the fiercest indignation. Tearing the 
flag to pieces with which he had intended to go 
into council with the whites, and appealing to his 
followers to avenge the murder of their comrades, 
he prepared for the attack. The rangers num- 
bered 275 men, while Black Hawk's band has been 
estimated at less than forty. As the rangers 
caught sight of the Indians, they rushed forward 
in pell-mell fashion. Retiring behind a fringe 
of bushes, the Indians awaited the attack. As 
the rangers approached, Black Hawk and his 
party rose up with a war whoop, at the same time 
opening fire on their assailants. The further 
history of the affair was as much of a disgrace to 
Stillman's command as had been their desecra- 
tion of the flag of truce. Thrown into panic by 
their reception by Black Hawk's little band, the 
rangers turned and, without firing a shot, began 
the retreat, dashing through their own camp and 
abandoning everything, which fell into the hands 
of the Indians. An attempt was made by one or 
two officers and a few of their men to check the 
retreat, but without success, the bulk of the fu- 
gitives continuing their mad rush for safety 
through the night until they reached Dixon, 
twenty-five miles distant, while many never 
stopped until they reached their homes, forty 
or fifty miles distant. The casualties to the 
rangers amounted to eleven killed and two 



wounded, while the Indian loss consisted of two 
spies and one of the flag-bearers, treacherously 
killed near Stillman's camp, 'ibis ill-starred af- 
fair, which has passed into history as "Stillman's 
defeat," produced a general panic along the fron- 
tier by inducing an exaggerated estimate of the 
strength of the Indian force, while it led ilack 
Hawk to form a poor opinion of the courage cf 
the white troops at the same time that it led to 
an exalted estimate of the prowess of his own 
little band thus becoming an important factor 
in prolonging the war and in the bloody massacres 
which followed. Whiteside, with his force of 
1,400 men, advanced to the scene of the defeat 
the next day and buried the dead, while on the 
19th, Atkinson, with his force of regulars, pro- 
ceeded up Rock River, leaving the remnant of 
Stillman's force to guard the wounded and sup- 
plies at Dixon. No sooner had he left than the 
demoralized fugitives of a few days before de- 
serted their post for their homes, compelling At- 
kinson to return for the protection of his base of 
supplies, while Whiteside was ordered to follow 
the trail of Black Hawk who had started up the 
Kishwaukee for the swamps about Lake Kosh- 
konong, nearly west of Milwaukee within the 
present State of Wisconsin. 

At this point the really active stage of the 
campaign began. Black Hawk, leaving the 
women and children of his band in the fastnesses 
of the swamps, divided his followers into two 
bands, retaining about 200 under his own com- 
mand, while the notorious half-breed, Mike Girty, 
led a band of one hundred renegadePottawatomies. 
Returning to the vicinity of Rock Island, he 
gathered some recruits from the Pottawatomies 
and Winnebagoes, and the work of rapine and 
massacre among the frontier settlers began. One 
of the most notable of these was the Indian 
Creek Massacre in LaSalle County, about twelve 
miles north of Ottawa, on May 21, when sixteen 
persons were killed at the Home of William 
Davis, and two young girls Sylvia and Rachel 
Hall, aged, respectively, 17 and 15 years were 
carried away captives. The girls were subse- 
quently released, having been ransomed for $2,000 
in horses and trinkets through a Winnebago 
Chief and surrendered to sub-agent Henry 
Gratiot. Great as was the emergency at this 
juncture, the volunteers began to manifest evi- 
dence of dissatisfaction and, claiming that they 
had served out their term of enlistment, refused 
to follow the Indians into the swamps of Wis- 
consin. As the result of a council of war, the 
volunteers were ordered to Ottawa, where they 



012 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



were mustered out on May 28, by Lieut. Robt. 
Anderson, afterwards General Anderson of Fort 
Surater fame. Meanwhile Governor Reynolds had 
issued his call (with that of 1831 the third,) for 
2,000 men to serve during the war. Gen. 
Winfield Scott was also ordered from the East 
with 1,000 regulars although, owing to cholera 
breaking out among the troops, they did not 
arrive in time to take part in the campaign. The 
rank and file of volunteers responding under the 
new call was 3,148, with recruits and regulars 
then in Illinois making an army of 4,000. Pend- 
ing the arrival of the troops under the new call, 
and to meet an immediate emergency, 300 men 
were enlisted from the disbanded rangers for a 
period of twenty days, and organized into a 
regiment under command of Col. Jacob Fry, 
with James D. Henry as Lieutenant Colonel and 
John Thomas as Major. Among those who en- 
listed as privates in this regiment were Brig.- 
Gen. Whiteside and Capt. Abraham Lincoln. A 
regiment of five companies, numbering 195 men, 
from Putnam County under command of Col. 
John Strawn, and another of eight companies 
from Vermilion County under Col. Isaac R. 
Moore, were organized and assigned to guard 
duty for a period of twenty days. 

The new volunteers were rendezvoused at Fort 
Wilbourn, nearly opposite Peru, June 15, and 
organized into three brigades, each consisting of 
three regiments and a spy battalion. The First 
Brigade (915 strong) was placed under command 
of Brig. -Gen. Alexander Posey, the Second 
under Gen. Milton K. Alexander, and the third 
under Gen. James D. Henry. Others who served 
as officers in some of these several organizations, 
and afterwards became prominent in State his- 
tory, were Lieut. -Col. Gurdon S. Hubbard of the 
Vermilion County regiment ; John A. McClern- 
and, on the staff of General Posey; Maj. John 
Dement ; then State Treasurer ; Stinson H. Ander- 
son, afterwards Lieutenant-Governor; Lieut. - 
Gov. Zadoc Casey; Maj., William McHenry; 
Sidney Breese (afterwards Judge of the State 
Supreme Court and United States Senator) ; W. 
I* D. Ewing (as Major of a spy battalion, after- 
wards United States Senator and State Auditor) ; 
Alexander W. Jenkins (afterwards Lieutenant- 
Governor) ; James W. Semple (afterwards United 
States Senator) ; and William Weatherford (after- 
wards a Colonel in the Mexican War), and many 
more. Of the Illinois troops, Posey's brigade 
was assigned to the duty of dispersing the Indians 
between Galena and Rock River, Alexander's sent 
to intercept Black Hawk up the Rock River, 



while Henry's remained with Gen. Atkinson at 
Dixon. During the next two weeks engage- 
ments of a more or less serious character were 
had on the Pecatonica on the southern border of 
the present State of Wisconsin ; at Apple River 
Fort fourteen miles east of Galena, which was 
successfully defended against a force under Black 
Hawk himself, and at Kellogg's Grove the next 
day (June 25), when the same band ambushed 
Maj. Dement's spy battalion, and canvs near in- 
flicting a defeat, which was prevented by 
Dement's coolness and the timely arrival of re- 
inforcements. In the latter engagement the 
whites lost five killed besides 47 horses which had 
been tethered outside their lines, the loss of the 
Indians being sixteen killed. Skirmishes also 
occurred with varying results, at Plum River 
Fort, Burr Oak Grove, Sinsiniwa and Blue 
Mounds the last two within the present State of 
Wisconsin. 

Believing the bulk of the Indians to be camped 
in the vicinity of Lake Koshkonong, General 
Atkinson left Dixon June 27 with a combined 
force of regulars and volunteers numbering 2,600 
men the volunteers being under the command 
of General Henry. They reached the outlet of the 
Lake July 2, but found no Indians, being joined 
two days later by General Alexander's brigade, and 
on the 6th by Gen. Posey's. From here the com- 
mands of Generals Henry and Alexander were 
sent for supplies to Fort Winnebago, at the Port- 
age of the Wisconsin ; Colonel Ewing, with the 
Second Regiment of Posey's brigade descending 
Rock River to Dixon, Posey with the remainder, 
going to Fort Hamilton for the protection of 
settlers in the lead-mining region, while Atkin- 
son, advancing with the regulars up Lake Koshko- 
nong, began the erection of temporary fortifica- 
tions on Bark River near the site of the present 
village of Fort Atkinson. At Fort Winnebago 
Alexander and Henry obtained evidence of the 
actual location of Black Hawk's camp through 
Pierre Poquette, a half-breed scout and trader 
in the employ of the American Fur Company, 
whom they employed with a number of Winne 
bagos to act as guides. From this point Alex- 
ander's command returned to General Atkinson's 
headquarters, carrying with them twelve day's 
provisions for the main army, while General 
Henry's (600 strong), with Major Dodge's battalion 
numbering 150, with an equal quantity of supplies 
for themselves, started under the guidance of 
Poquette and his Winnebago aids to find Black 
Hawk's camp. Arriving on the 18th at the 
Winnebago village on Rock River where Black 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



613 



Hawk and his band had been located, their camp 
was found deserted, the Winnebagos insisting 
that they had gone to Cranberry ( now Horicon) 
Lake, a half-day's march up the river. Messen- 
gers were immediately dispatched to Atkinson's 
headquarters, thirty-five miles distant, to ap- 
prise him of this fact. When they had proceeded 
about half the distance, they struck a broad, 
fresh trail, which proved to be that of Black 
Hawk's band headed westward toward the Mis- 
sissippi. The guide having deserted them in 
order to warn his tribesmen that further dis- 
sembling to deceive the whites as to 
the whereabouts of the Sacs was use- 
less, the messengers were compelled to follow 
him to General Henry's camp. The discovery pro- 
duced the wildest enthusiasm among the volun- 
teers, and from this time-events followed in rapid 
succession. Leaving as far as possible all incum- 
brances behind, the pursuit of the fugitives was 
begun without delay, the troops wading through 
swamps sometimes in water to their armpits. 
Soon evidence of the character of the flight the 
Indians were making, in the shape of exhausted 
horses, blankets, and camp equipage cast aside 
along the trail, began to appear, and straggling 
bands of Winnebagos, who had now begun to 
desert Black Hawk, gave information that the 
Indians were only a few miles in advance. On 
the evening of the 20th of July Henry's forces 
encamped at "The Four Lakes," the present 
site of the city of Madison, Wis. , Black Hawk's 
force lying in ambush the same night seven or 
eight miles distant. During the next afternoon 
the rear-guard of the Indians under Neapope was 
overtaken and skirmishing continued until the 
bluffs of the Wisconsin were reached. Black 
Hawk's avowed object was to protect the passage 
of the main body of his people across the stream. 
The loss of the Indians in these skirmishes has 
been estimated at 40 to 68, while Black Hawk 
claimed that it was only six killed, the loss of 
the whites being one killed and eight wounded. 
During the night Black Hawk succeeded in 
placing a considerable number of the women and 
children and old men on a raft and in canoes 
obtained from the Winnebagos, and sent them 
down the river, believing that, as non-combat- 
ants, they would be permitted by the regulars 
to pass Fort Crawford, at the mouth of the Wis- 
consin, undisturbed. In this he was mistaken. 
A force sent from the fort under Colonel Ritner to 
intercept them, fired mercilessly upon the help- 
less fugitives, killing fifteen of their number, 
while about fifty were drowned and thirty-two 



women and children made prisoners. The re- 
mainder, escaping into the woods, with few ex- 
ceptions died from starvation and exposure, or 
were massacred by their enemies, the Menomi- 
nees, acting under white officers. During the 
night after the battle of Wisconsin Heights, a 
loud, shrill voice of some one speaking in an un- 
known tongue was heard in the direction where 
Black Hawk's band was supposed to be. This 
caused something of a panic in Henry's camp, as 
it was supposed to come from some one giving 
orders for an attack. It was afterwards learned 
that the speaker was Neapope speaking in the 
Winnebago language in the hope that he might 
be heard by Poquette and the Winnebago guides. 
He was describing the helpless condition of his 
people, claiming that the war had been forced 
upon them, that their women and children were 
starving, and that, if permitted peacefully to re- 
cross the Mississippi, they would give no further 
trouble. Unfortunately Poquette and the other 
guides had left for Fort Winnebago, so that no 
one was there to translate Neapope's appeal and 
it failed of its object. 

General Henry's force having discovered that the 
Indians had escaped Black Hawk heading with 
the bulk of his warriors towards the Mississippi 
spent the next and day night on the field, but on 
the following day (July 23) started to meet General 
Atkinson, who had, in the meantime, been noti- 
fied of the pursuit. The head of their columns 
met at Blue Mounds, the same evening, a com- 
plete junction between the regulars and the 
volunteers being effected at Helena, a deserted 
village on the Wisconsin. Here by using the 
logs of the deserted cabins for rafts, the army 
crossed the river on the 27th and the 28th and the 
pursuit of black Hawk's fugitive band was re- 
newed. Evidence of their famishing condition 
was found in the trees stripped of bark for food, 
the carcasses of dead ponies, with here and there 
the dead body of an Indian. 

On August 1, Black Hawk's depleted and famish- 
ing band reached the Mississippi two miles below 
the mouth of the Bad Ax, an insignificant 
stream, and immediately began trying to cross 
the river ; but having only two or three canoes, 
the work was slow. About the middle of the 
afternoon the steam transport, "Warrior," ap- 
peared on the scene, having on board a score of 
regulars and volunteers, returning from a visit 
to the village of the Sioux Chief, Wabasha, to 
notify him that his old enemies, the Sacs, were 
headed in that direction. Black Hawk raised the 
white flag in token of surrender but the officer 



614 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



in command claiming that he feared treachery or 
an ambush, demanded that Black Hawk should 
come on board. This he was unable to do, as he 
had no canoe. After waiting a few minutes a 
murderous fire of canister and musketry was 
opened from the steamer on the few Indians on 
shore, who made such feeble resistance as they 
were able. The result was the killing of one 
white man and twenty-three Indians. After this 
exploit the "Warrior" proceeded to Prairie du 
Chien, twelve or fifteen miles distant, for fuel. 
During the night a few more of the Indians 
crossed the river, but Black Hawk, seeing the 
hopelessness of further resistance, accompanied 
by the Prophet, and taking with him a party of 
ten warriors and thirty-five squaws and children, 
fled in the direction of "the dells" of the Wis- 
consin. On the morningof the 2d General Atkinson 
arrived within four or five miles of the Sac 
position. Disposing his forces with the regulars 
and Colonel Dodge's rangers in the center, the brig- 
ades of Posey and Alexander on the right and 
Henry's on the left, he began the pursuit, but 
was drawn by the Indian decoys up the river 
from the place where the main body of the 
Indians were trying to cross the stream. This 
had the effect of leaving General Henry in the rear 
practically without orders, but it became the 
means of making his command the prime factors 
in the climax which followed. Some of the spies 
attached to Henry's command having accidental- 
ly discovered the trail of the main body of the fu- 
gitives, he began the pursuit without waiting for 
orders and soon found himself engaged with some 
300 savages, a force nearly equal to his own. It 
was here that the only thing like a regular battle 
occurred. The savages fought with the fury of 
despair, while Henry's force was no doubt nerved 
to greater deeds of courage by the insult which 
they conceived had been put upon them by Gen- 
eral Atkinson. Atkinson, hearing the battle in 
progress and discovering that he was being led 
off on a false scent, soon joined Henry's force 
with his main army, and the steamer " Warrior," 
arriving from Prairie du Chien, opened a fire of 
canister upon the pent-up Indians. The battle 
soon degenerated into a massacre. In the course 
of the three hours through which it lasted, it is es- 
timated that 150 Indians were killed by fire from 
the troops, an equal number of both sexes and 
all ages drowned while attempting to cross the 
river or by being driven into it, while about 50 
(chiefly women and children) were made prison- 
ers. The loss of the whites was 20 killed and 13 
wounded. When the "battle" was nearing its 



close it is said that Black Hawk, having repented 
the abandonment of his people, returned within 
sight of the battle-ground, but seeing the slaugh- 
ter in progress which he was powerless to avert, he 
turned and, with a howl of rage and horror, fled 
into the forest. About 300 Indians (mostly non- 
combatants) succeeded in crossing the river in a 
condition of exhaustion from hunger and fatigue, 
but these were set upon by the Sioux under Chief 
Wabasha, through the suggestion and agency of 
General Atkinson, and nearly one-half their num- 
ber exterminated. Of the remainder many died 
from wounds and exhaustion, while still others 
perished while attempting to reach Keokuk's band 
who had refused to join in Black Hawk's desper- 
ate venture. Of one thousand who crossed to the 
east side of the river with Black Hawk in April, 
it is estimated that not more than 150 survived 
the tragic events of the next four months. 

General Scott, having arrived at Prairie du Chien 
early in August, assumed command and, on 
August 15, mustered out the volunteers at Dixon, 
111. After witnessing the bloody climax at the 
Bad Axe of his ill-starred invasion, Black Hawk 
fled to the dells of the Wisconsin, where he and 
the Prophet surrendered themselves to the Win. 
nebagos, by whom they were delivered to the 
Indian Agent at Prairie du Chien. Having been 
taken to Fort Armstrong on September 21, he 
there signed a treaty of peace. Later he was 
taken to Jefferson Barracks (near St. Louis) in 
the custody of Jefferson Davis, then a Lieutenant 
in the regular army, where he was held a captive 
during the following winter. The connection of 
Davis with the Black Hawk War, mentioned by 
many historians, seems to have been confined to 
this act. In April, 1833, with the Prophet and 
Neapope, he was taken to Washington and then 
to Fortress Monroe, where they were detained as 
prisoners of war until June 4, when they were 
released. Black Haw k, after being taken to many 
principal cities in order to impress him with the 
strength of the American nation, was brought to 
Fort Armstrong, and there committed to the 
guardianship of his rival, Keokuk, but survived 
this humiliation only a few years, dying on a 
small reservation set apart for him in Davis 
County, Iowa, October 3, 1838. 

Such is the story of the Black Hawk War, the 
most notable struggle with the aborigines in Illi- 
nois history. At its beginning both the State 
and national authorities were grossly misled by 
an exaggerated estimate of the strength of Black 
Hawk's force as to numbers and his plans for 
recovering the site of his old village, while 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



615 



Black Hawk had conceived a low estimate of the 
numbers and courage of his white enemies, es- 
pecially after the Stilhnan defeat. The cost of 
the war to the State and nation in money has been 
estimated at $2,000,000, and in sacrifice of life 
on both sides at not less than 1,200. The loss of 
life by the troops in irregular skirmishes, and in 
massacres of settlers by the Indians, aggregated 
about 250, while an equal number of regulars 
perished from a visitation of cholera at the 
various stations within the district affected by 
the war, especially at Detroit, Chicago, Fort 
Armstrong and Galena. Yet it is the judgment 
of later historians that nearly all this sacrifice of 
life and treasure might have been avoided, but 
for a series of blunders due to the blind or un- 
scrupulous policy of officials or interloping squat- 
ters upon lands which the Indians had occupied 
under the treaty of 1804. A conspicious blunder 
to call it by no harsher name was 
the violation by Stillman's command of the 
rules of civilized warfare in the attack made 
upon Black Hawk's messengers, sent under 
flag of truce to request a conference to settle 
terms under which he might return to the west 
side of the Mississippi an act which resulted in 
a humiliating and disgraceful defeat for its 
authors and proved the first step in actual war. 
Another misfortune was the failure to understand 
Neapope's appeal for peace and permission for his 
people to pass beyond the Mississippi the night 
after the battle of Wisconsin Heights; and the 
third and most inexcusable blunder of all, was 
the refusal of the officer in command of the 
" Warrior " to respect Black Hawk's flag of truce 
and request for a conference just before the 
bloody massacre which has gone into history 
under the name of the " battle of the Bad Axe." 
Either of these events, properly availed of, would 
have prevented much of the butchery of that 
bloody episode which has left a stain upon the 
page of history, although this statement implies 
no disposition to detract from the patriotism and 
courage of some of the leading actors upon whom 
the responsibility was placed of protecting the 
frontier settler from outrage and massacre. One 
of the features of the war was the bitter jealousy 
engendered by the unwise policy pursued by 
General Atkinson towards some of the volun- 
teers especially the treatment of General James 
D. Henry, who, although subjected to repeated 
slights and insults, is regarded by Governor Ford 
and others as the real hero of the war. Too 
brave a soldier to shirk any responsibility and 
too modest to exploit his own deeds, he felt 



deeply the studied purpose of his superior to 
ignore him in the conduct of the campaign a 
purpose which, as in the affair at the Bad Axe, 
was defeated by accident or by General Henry's 
soldierly sagacity and attention to duty, although 
he gave out to the public no utterance of com- 
plaint. Broken in health by the hardships and 
exposures of the campaign, he went South soon 
after the war and died of consumption, unknown 
and almost alone, in the city of New Orleans, less 
two years later. 

Aside from contemporaneous newspaper ac- 
counts, monographs, and manuscripts on file 
in public libraries relating to this epoch in State 
history, the most comprehensive records of the 
Black Hawk War are to be found in the " Life of 
Black Hawk," dictated by himself (1834) ; Wake- 
field's "History of the War between the United 
States and the Sac and Fox Nations" (1834); 
Drake's" Life of Black Hawk" (1854); Ford's 
"History of Illinois" (1854); Reynolds' "Pio- 
neer History of Illinois; and "My Own Times"; 
Davidson & Stuve's and Moses' Histories of Illi- 
nois; Blanchard's " The Northwest and Chicago" ; 
Armstrong's "The Sauks and the Black Hawk 
War," and Reuben G. Thwaite's "Story of the 
Black Hawk War" (1892.) 

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, a village in the southern 
part of Cook County, twenty -eight miles south of 
the central part of Chicago, on the Chicago & 
Eastern Illinois, the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and 
the Michigan Central Railroads ; is located in an 
agricultural region, but has some manufactures 
as well as good schools also has one newspaper. 
Population (1900). 5,100. 

GRANITE, a city of Madison Couuty, located 
five miles north of St. Louis on the lines of the 
Burlington; the Chicago & Alton; Cleveland, 
Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis; Chicago, Peoria 
& St. Louis (Illinois), and the Wabash Railways. 
It is adjacent to the Merchants' Terminal Bridge 
across the Mississippi and has considerable manu- 
facturing and grain-storage business; has two 
newspapers. Population (1900), 3,122. 

HARLEM, a village of Proviso Township, Cook 
County, and suburb of Chicago, on the line of the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, nine miles 
west of the terminal station at Chicago. Harlem 
originally embraced the village of Oak Park, now 
a part of the city of Chicago, but, in 1884, was set 
off and incorporated as a village. Considerable 
manufacturing is done here. Population (1900), 
4,085. 

HARVEY, a city of Cook County, and an im- 
portant manufacturing suburb of the city of Chi- 



616 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



cago, three miles southwest of the southern city 
limits. It is on the line of the Illinois Central 
and the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railways, and 
has extensive manufactures of harvesting, street 
and steam railway machinery, gasoline stoves, 
enameled ware, etc. ; also has one newspaper and 
ample school facilities. Population (1900), 5,395. 

IOWA CENTRAL RAILWAY, a railway line 
having its principal termini at Peoria, 111., and 
Manly Junction, nine miles north of Mason City, 
Iowa, with several lateral branches making con- 
nections with Centerville, Newton, State Center, 
Story City, Algona and Northwood in the latter 
State. The total length of line owned, leased 
and operated by the Company, officially reported 
in 1899, was 508.98 miles, of which 89.76 miles- 
including 3.5 miles trackage facilities on the 
Peoria & Pekin Union between Iowa Junction 
and Peoria were in Illinois. The Illinois divi- 
sion extends from Keithsburg where it enters 
the State at the crossing of the Mississippi to 
Peoria. ( HISTORY.) The Iowa Central Railway 
Company was originally chartered as the Central 
Railroad Company of Iowa and the road com- 
pleted in October, 1871. In 1873 it passed into 
the hands of a receiver and, on June 4, 1879, was 
reorganized under the name of the Central Iowa 
Railway Company. In May, 1883, this company 
purchased the Peoria & Farmington Railroad, 
which was incorporated into the main line, but 
defaulted and passed into the hands of a receiver 
December 1, 1886; the line was sold under fore- 
closure in 1887 and 1888, to the Iowa Central 
Railway Company, which had effected a new 
organization on the basis of $11, 000, 000 common 
stock, $6,000,000 preferred stock and $1,879,625 
temporary debt certificates convertible into pre- 
ferred stock, and $7,500,000 first mortgage bonds. 
The transaction was completed, the receiver dis- 
charged and the road turned over to the new 
company, May 15, 1889. (FINANCIAL). The total 
capitalization of the road in 1899 was $21,337,558, 
of which $14,159,180 was in stock, $6,650,095 in 
bonds and $528, 283 in other forms of indebtedness. 
The total earnings and income of the line in Illi- 
nois for the same year were $532,568, and the ex- 
penditures $566,333. 

SPARTA, a city of Randolph County, situated 
on the Centralia & Chester and the Mobile & 
Ohio Railroads, twenty miles northwest of Ches- 
ter and fifty miles southeast of St. Louis. It has 



a number of manufacturing establishments, in- 
cluding plow factories, a woolen mill, a cannery 
and creameries; also has natural gas. The first 
settler was James McClurken, from South Caro- 
lina, who settled here in 1818. He was joined by 
James Armour a few years later, who bought 
land of McClurken, and together they laid out 
a village, which first received the name of Co- 
lumbus. About the same time Robert G. Shan- 
non, who had been conducting a mercantile busi- 
ness in the vicinity, located in the town and 
became the first Postmaster. In 1839 the name 
of the town was changed to Sparta. Mr. McClur- 
ken, its earliest settler, appears to have been a 
man of considerable enterprise, as he is credited 
with having built the first cotton gin in this vi- 
cinity, besides still later, erecting saw and flour 
mills and a woolen mill. Sparta was incorporated 
as a village in 1837 and in 1859 as a city. A col- 
ony of members of the Reformed Presbyterian 
Church (Covenanters or "Seceders") established 
at Eden, a beautiful site about a mile from 
Sparta, about 1822, cut an important figure in 
the history of the latter place, as it became the 
means of attracting here an industrious and 
thriving population. At a later period it became 
one of the most important stations of the "Under- 
ground Railroad" (so called) in Illinois (which 
see). The population of Sparta (1890) was 1,979; 
(1900), 2,041. 

TOLUCA, a city of Marshall County situated 
on the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 
Railroad, 18 miles sonthwest of Streator. It is in 
the center of a rich agricultural district ; has the 
usual church and educational facilities of cities 
of its rank, and two newspapers. Population 
(1900), 2,629. 

WEST HAMMOND, a village situated in the 
northeast corner of Thornton Township, Cook 
County, adjacent to Hammond, Ind., from which 
it is separated by the Indiana State line. It is on 
the Michigan Central Railroad, one mile south of 
the Chicago City limits, and has convenient ac- 
cess to several other lines, including the Chicago 
& Erie; New York, Chicago & St. Louis, and 
Western Indiana Railroads. Like its Indiana 
neighbor, it is a manufacturing center of much 
importance, was incorporated as a village in 
1892, and has grown rapidly within the last few 
years, having a population, according to the cen- 
sus of 1900, of 2,935. 



\ 



CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



Rll.H. 



K.JO. E. RUJE. K. 14 




LIB- fiy 
OF THE 
Y fc, IM,!N<OIS 



DEDICATION 



To the sacred memory of the 
PIONEERS OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 
is this work most reverently dedicated. 



" Beneath the roots of tangled weeds, 

Afar in country grave-yards lie, 
The men whose unrecorded deeds 

Have stamped this Nation's destiny." 






PREFACE 



The writer has sought to include, in what has been written for this volume, that 
which others have not written; the little things most easily and most frequently 
forgotten, yet those things which may, in the future, fasten the attention of the skilled 
historian who, in the fullness of time, shall essay to write a history of the then 
mature Champaign County, which must now only be considered in a transitional con- 
dition. In extent the writing of this history has exceeded twice the maximum of 
space originally intended, and I can only hope that the pleasure of the reader will, 
in some measure, respond to and reflect the earnest efforts of the writer to furnish a 
realistic picture of Champaign County in time past, although the reader will not 
have progressed far until he will have learned that little pretense is made therein to 
literary excellence by the author. The writer hopes that the labor, time and money 
expended in the preparation and publication of this work may be accorded a fair meas- 
ure of appreciation by its patrons and those who soon may read it, and that future 
generations may find in these volumes many things of value in State, County, and 
Family history. 

Criticism, although neither challenged nor invited, will follow, doubtless, in a 
friendly spirit, andi in that spirit will be kindly welcomed, for perfection is not claimed 

Much is due the publishers for the pecuniary outlay which they have borne, also 
for the conscientious and pains-taking care manifested by them in connection with 
all departments of the work. 

As the excellence of a preface is most generally found in its brevity, and that 
this claim for merit may nat be forfeited, with these few prefatory suggestions, the 
author submits his work to the judgment of its readers. 

IJrbana, November, 1905. 






INDEX 



CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTION. 

Illinois History Goes Back to the Period of French Occupation Connection With 
Colonial History of the United States 'Its Early People Were Great in War A 
History Not Devoid of Romance Civilization at the Center of the Continent 
Fort Chartres Early Settlement of Illinois Ante-dates That of Some of the East- 
ern States Importance of Local History (Its Knowledge Urged Upon All 631-634 



CHAPTER II. 
A PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 

Governments Holding Dominion Over Illinois Territory Discovery and Explorations 
by Marquette and Joliet Indian Occupation Uncertain Land Claims of the Iro- 
quois Illinois Indians and Their Destruction Coming of the French Catholic 
Missionaries Illinois Successively a Part of Louisiana, Canada, Virginia and the 
Northwest Territory . . 634-636 



CHAPTER III. 
UNITED STATES LAND SURVEYS. 

Indian Treaty of 1819 Acquisition of Champaign County Lands Coming of the 
United States Surveyors in 1812 and 1822 Their Work Records of the County 
Showing Surveys 636-638 



CHAPTER IV. 


ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION. 

Written History Extends Only to 1634 Jean Nicolet Illinois, or "Illinl," Indians 
Conquest and Destruction by the Iroquois Champaign County Region Occupied 
by Kickapoos Illinois Indians Fight the Whites at St. Glair's Defeat, Fallen Tim- 
bers, Tippecanoe and Fort Harrison They Join in Wayne's Treaty The Treaty of 
Vincennes After Treaty, Indians Removed Their Visits to Big Grove Sadorus 
Grove Chief Shemauger Indians Told to Leave Indian Scare During Black Hawk 
War The Miamis Indian Burials in Champaign County Passing of the Tribes 

..638-645 



CHAPTER V. 
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS SOME NOTABLE EVENTS. 

Size and Location of Champaign County Streams and Topography Kaskaskia, Salt 
Fork, and Sangamon Rivers Grand Prairie Groves of Timber and Their Origin 
Glaciers Boulders 'Drainage iSwamp Lands -The Prairie as Seen in Summer 
and in Winter Coal Deposits Wanting Artesian Wells Delusions of French 
as to Precious Metals Beaver Dams Extremes of Heat and Cold 'The "Cold 
Monday" of 1836 The Deep Snow The Moraines of the County 645-654 



CHAPTER VI. 
EARLIEST MILITARY OCCUPATION. 

Champaign County has Little Martial History Passage of Spanish Force Fort Har- 
rison Nearest Historic Fortress Prehistoric .Earthworks The War of 1812 
Conditions about Fort Dearborn and the Illinois River The Expeditions of Col- 
onel Russell and General Hopkins Captain Zachary Taylor Some Relics of a 
War Period The Black Hawk War . . . 654-657 



CHAPTER VII. 
EARLY NAMES OF LOCALITIES. 

First Homes Set Up in the Groves Names of Localities, as Now Known, Unknown 
Prior to 1860 Some Notable Points Big Grove Salt Fork Sangamon Ambraw 
Middle Fork Sadorus Grove-Bowse's Grove Linn Grove 'Lost Grove Hickory 
Grove Burr Oak Grove Mink Grove Dead-Man's Grove Cherry Grove The Tow- 

Head Adkin's Point Nox's Point Butler's Point Pancake's Point Strong's 

Ford Prather's Ford Newcom's Ford Kentucky Settlement 'Yankee Ridge 

Dutch Flats . ..657-660 



CHAPTER VIII. 
EARLY ROADS. 

Early Trails in Champaign County How Made The Famous Fort Clark Road Its 
Great Service to the Early Settlers Change to the South Other Trails Shelby- 
ville and Chicago Road Brownfield and Heater Roads Other Early Lines of 
Communication and Points Connected.. . .60-664 



CHAPTER IX. 
FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 

Big Grove Coming of the Squatters (Runnell Fielder First Permanent Dweller The 
Site of his Home William Tompkins Elias Kirby John Light John Brownfield 
Thomas Rowland Robert and Joshua Trickle Lackland Howard Sarah Coe 
Jacob Heater Matthias Rhinehart James Clements John S. Beasley Matthew 
and Isaac Busey ol. M. W. Busey William T. WebberNicholas Smith Samuel 
Brumley John Truman Asahel Bruer S. G. Brickley Stephen Boyd Elias -Sta- 
nley Pathetic Story of the Isham Cook Family Town of Lancaster Town of 
Byron . . 664-673 



CHAPTER X. 

FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 
(Continued.) 

Primitive Conditions of Okaw Land Sadorus Grove Coming of the Sadorus Family 
Death of Henry Sadorus William Rock Entry of Lands John Cook Isaac, 
James, Benjamin and John Miller Ezra Fay John O'Bryan John Haines Na- 
thaniel Hixson Zephaniah Yeates H. J. Robinson Shelton Rice and Family 
The Black and Crow Families >Dr. J. G. Chambers . . 673-678 



CHAPTER XI. 

FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 
(Continued.) 

Salt Fork First Entry of Lands Roster of Early Settlers Thomas L. Butler Abra- 
ham Yeazel Moses Thomas James Freeman William Nox Jacob Thomas 
Thomas Deer George Akers The Coddingtons Hartley Swearingen John Sauls- 
bury The Hartley Family Cyrus Strong Nicholas Yount Joseph Stayton^Jef- 
ferson Huss William Peters The Argos Hiram Rankin The Shreeves Sam- 
uel Mapes Robert Prather Isaac Burris Dr. Stevens Lewis Jones Dr. Lyons 
M. D. Coffeen Origin of Homer Village 678-684 



CHAPTER XII. 

FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 
(Continued.) 

The Sangamon Timber Is Last to be Settled Isaac Busey Entered First Land Jona- 
than Maxwell John Bryan John Meade John G. Robertson Noah Bixler 
Isaac V. Williams *F. L. Scott J. Q. Thomas B. F. Harris -George Boyer 
William Stewart Joseph T. Everett Jesse B. Pugh Jefferson Trotter F. B. 
Sale W. W. Foos . . . 684-686 



CHAPTER XIII. 
SETTLEMENTS IN OTHER GROVES. 

Middle Fork: Samuel Kerr, Anthony T. Morgan, William Brian, Sanford and William 
Swinford, William Chenoweth, John Kuder, Solomon and Lewis Kuder, Solomon 
Wilson, Levi Wood, Daniel Allhands, Solomon Mercer Burr Oak Grove. Samuel 
McClughen, John Strong, Isaac Moore, Anthony T. Morgan. Linn Grove: Joseph 
Davis, Daniel Johnson, Frederick Bouse Ambraw Timber: Thomas, Samuel and 
Hugh Meharry, George W. Myers, James M. Helm, Alfred Bocock, Cornelius 
Thompson, Woodson Morgan, John Spencer Mink Grove: Archa Campbell, 
George W. Terry Lost Grove. John F. Thompson Pioneer West 686-688 



. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
EARLY CONDITIONS AND CUSTOMS. 

The Cabin Home Better Houses First Frame Dwellings Diseases Early Deaths 
Great Age of Some Pioneers A Cholera Visitation Some Early Physicians Dr. 
T. Fulkerson Dr. J. H. Lyon Dr. H. Stevens Dr. W. A. Conkey Dr. John 
Saddler Dr. "Winston Somers Dr. N. H. Adams Dr. C. C. Hawes <Dr. Crane 
Dr. J. T. Miller Dr. C. H. Mills Dr. H. C. Howard +Early Mills Develop- 
ment From the Hand Mill to the Steam Mill . . 688-697 



CHAPTER XV. 
SOCIAL LIFE AMUSEMENTS. 

Some Features of Pioneer Life Long Rides to Social Gatherings Corn-Shuckings, 
Dances, Etc. Early House Parties House-Raisings Gathering at Henry >Sadorus's 
A Barn Raising and Quilting Bee Old Settlers' Meeting 'Allen Sadorus's Rec- 
ollections Plentifulness of Wild Game and the Hunt iA "Circle" Hunt Wolves 
and Their Ferocity Wild Game as Food Shooting Match Horse Racing An 
Early Social Gathering at Champaign A. Reminiscent Poem Pic-Nics Promi- 
nent Families Among the Pioneers . . 697-704 



CHAPTER XVI. 
LIFE IN THE NEW COUNTRY. 

The Sadorus Family Their Coming in 1'824 Forty Miles from Neighbors .Their 
Cabin Hunting First Window Sash First Entry of Land Recollections of Wil- 
liam Sadorus 'Indian Visitors Game' Paris the Nearest Postofflce Going to Mill 
Trips to Chicago Early Schools Permanent Home Coming of the Railroad 
Deaths of Henry and William Sadorus ...... 704-711 



CHAPTER XVII. 

LIFE IN THE NEW COUNTRY. 
(Continued.) 

The Coming of the First Busey Family Selection of a Home View from the New 
Home Entry of Lands .Coming of Isaac Busey and Others Visits of Indians 
Recollections of Mrs. <Stamey Going to Mill >No Store Business Trips to Chicago 
Merry Makings Weddings Sickness Death of Matthew Busey 712-716 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
ORGANIZATION OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 

The Making of Counties Senator Vance Population Champaign Formerly a Part of 
Vermilion County Passage of Act Creating the New County Copy of Act 'Peo- 
ple Who Were Here First Marriages Hospitality Church History Schools 
No Newspapers Organization of the County Machinery Location of the County- 
Seat Controversy , . . 716-726 



CHAPTER XIX. 
COUNTY AFFAIRS PUBLIC BUILDINGS 

Inauguration of County BusinessFirst Officers Sessions of County Commissioners 
Circuit Courts First Cases First Attorneys Judges of Circuit Court Court 
Houses Contests over Buildings Jails Poor Farms Past and Present County 
Officers ..726-737 



CHAPTER XX. 
RELIGIOUS PROGRESS. 

Coming of the Ministers of Christ Early Preachers John Dunham, William I. Pet- 
ers, John G. Robertson, J. D. Newell Elders Taylor, Reese, Carter, Riley, Farr, 
Paseley, M'Pherson, Combs and Gleason Rev. Cyrus Strong Rev. James Holmes 
' First Methodist Class -Rev. Arthur Bradshaw and His Circuit Building of the 
First Church Theology and Discipline of Early Preachers -First Baptist Church 
Organized First Presbyterian Church First Church Bell in the County First 
Congregational Church Middletown Circuit Universalist Church 'St. Mary's 
Catholic Church First Sunday School . . 737-744 



CHAPTER XXI. 
A NEWCOMER'S FIRST VIEW. 

Champaign as First Seen by the Writer Arrival at Urbana First Impressions of a 
Prairie Country 'Urbana as it Then Appeared 'Stock and Poultry Ran at Large 
No Sidewalks But Wood Piles Only Two Bridges in the County Two Lawyers 
Somers and Coler 'Webber Clerk of the Courts Business Men One Newspaper 
Mail Facilities Homer and Middletown Country Wholly Open >Big Grove 
People Livjng Here Manner of Life Homespun Clothing Staple Products ' 
Manner of Cultivating the Soil and Harvesting the Crops 744-75& 



CHAPTER XXII. 
WHY TWO TOWNS? 

The Cities of Urbana and Champaign Existence of Two Towns in Center of the 
County Matter of Surprise Not Due to Design Surveys and Location of Illi- 
nois Central Railroad Economy in Construction Decides Location Col. M. W. 
Busey's Offers of Land Urbana Station Bill to Incorporate the City What Might 
Have Been Local Jealousies Urbana Without Shipping Facilities (Local Rail- 
road Enterprise 'Efforts of Urbana Citizens to Hold Their Own Favorable At- 
titude of New County Board in 1857 Court House Condemned by Grand Jury 
Ruse Which Resulted in New Court House Local Jealousies inflamed Ef- 
fect on Elections Attempt to Attach University to Champaign h. 760-766- 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE AWAKENMENT. 

Review of Conditions Coming of Railroads and Telegraph Lines Land Rapidly 
Taken Up Increase in Population Hindrances to Poor Men Talk of Drainage 
'Early Frost Breaking Out of the War of Secession Dealings of the Illinois 
Central Railroad With Land Purchasers Pre-Emption of Government Lands 
Graded Land Prices Swamp Lands Currency 'State Credit 765-772 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, 

Review of Educational Conditions in the County >Urbana Seminary Homer Semin- 
ary -Mrs. Fletcher's Schools Technical Education Discussed in the State Con- 
gressional Action 'Proposition to Build a- Seminary .Enterprise Undertaken 
Local Discussion and Effort iThe War Period Newspaper Comment on Seminary 
Enterprise Steps Leading to Location of the University at Urbana Proposition 
To Utilize Seminary Building Dr. C. A. Hunt Board of Supervisors Take Hold 
Effort of 1865 and Its Defeat Report of Legislative Committee Preparations 
for Future Work Service of Re presentative C. R. Griggs Proposition of Cham- 
paign County Opposition Success 773-786 

CHAPTER XXV. 
POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIES. 

Politics as a Part of History Representatives In the General Assembly .Early Con- 
gressmen Slavery Question Ignored up to 1854 Break With Senator Douglas 
Gathering of Forces Against Him 'Contest of 1858 W. N. Coler His Popularity 
Visits of Lincoln and Douglas Lincoln at a Barbecue Newspaper Comments 
Contest of 1860 ."Wide- Awakes" and "Hickory Boys" Contest of 1864 786-796 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR. 

The People Unacquainted With War First Election of Lincoln .Excited Condition of 
Public Sentiment First News of Hostilities Breaking Up of Families First 
Company Organized in Champaign County Twentieth Illinois Twenty-Fifth Reg- 
iment, Col. W. N. Coler Twenty-Sixth Regiment, Col. C. J. f Tinkham Seventy- 
Sixth Regiment, Col. S. T. Busey One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Regiment, Col. 
O. F. Harmon One Hundred and Thirty-Fifth Regiment, Col. J. S. Wolfe Second 
Illinois Cavalry Tenth Illinois Cavalry Other Regiments In Which Champaign 
County Citizens Enlisted The Story Often Ends in Death 796-802 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
TOWNSHIP HISTORY. 

Sketches of the Several Towns of Champaign County Ayers Brown Champaign 
Colfax Compromise Condit Crittenden 'East Bend Harwood Hensley Kerr 
Ludlow Mahomet Newcomb Ogden Pesotum Philo Rantoul Raymond 
Sadorus 'Saint Joseph Scott Sidney Somer South Homer Stanton Tolono 
Urbana The Twin Cities and the University 802-836 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY PRESS. 

No Newspaper Published in Champaign County Before 1852 First Papers Circulated 
Among the People Urbana Union Established Some Reminiscences Urbana 
Constitution 'Spirit of the Agricultural Press Central Illinois Gazette 'Urbana 
Clarion Champaign County Journal Illinois Democrat Champaign County Her- 
ald Champaign Times Urbana Messenger Urbana Courier Champaign County 
Tribune The Political Magazine Papers of Tolono, Homer, Rantoul, St. Joseph, 
Gifford, Sidney, Philo, Ivesdale, Fisher and Mahomet Contrast Between the Past 
and Present . . .836-846 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

WOMEN'S CLUBS. 

General Club History of the Twin Cities Aid Rendered to Club Organizations by Uni- 
versity Professors Champaign Art Club The Thirty Club Social Science Clubs 
Urbana Fortnightly Club Chautauqua Circles Juvenile Clubs and Other Or- 
ganizations 847-852 



CHAPTER XXX. 
BENEVOLENT ORGANIZATIONS. 

Benevolent Institutions of Champaign County The Cunningham Deaconess Home and 
Orphanage Its Origin and Purpose The Julia Burnham .Hospital Garwood 
Home for Old Ladies . . . S52-853 



CHAPTER XXXI. 
ABANDONED CEMETERIES. 

Borne Reminiscences of Early Burial Places The Resting Places of Many Pioneer 
Settlers Have Become Pasture Lands or Cultivated Fields The Old Cemetery at 
Urbana Transformed Into a Public Park.. ..853-855 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 

Spanish-American War Other War History Telegraph and Telephone Systems 

Conclusion of General History 855-858 



CHAPTER XXXII. 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Clti/ens of Champaign County The Part of Biography in General History Personal 
Sketches of Citizens of Champaign County (These Sketches being Arranged in Al- 
phabetic, or Encyclopedic, Order, No List of Individual Subjects is Deemed Nec- 
essary in this Connection) 859-1060 



PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page. 

Agronomy Building University of Illinois 750 

Bartley, James 866 

Beardsley, George Fitch -. 866 

Beef Cattle Building University of Illinois 750 

Beisser, Frederick August ^ 867 

Bliss, George P 869 

Boggs, Benjamin F 870 

Boggs, Franklin Howard 871 

Buch, Jacob 875 

Burnham, Albert C 878 

Burnhain Athenaeum, Champaign 790 

Burnham, Julia F 878 

Burrill, Thomas Jonathan, LL. D 879 

Busey, Mary E ' 884 

Busey, Matthew W., Sr 885 

Busey, Samuel T 886 

Busey, Simeon H 888 

Butler, John W 889 

Butterfield, Albert M 890 

Butterfield, Mary L 890 

Carley, Mark 893 

Carley, Mrs. Abigail S 893 

Carley Coat of Arms 894 

Carley, Graham 895 

Champaign County Court House, Urbana 631 

Chemical Laboratory University of Illinois 700 

Cherry, William 896 

Coggeshall, F. A 898 

Cole, Isaac 899 

Coler, William K 900 

College of Agriculture University of Illinois 690 

College of Law University of Illinois 664 

Collison, Fred 903 

Columbia, Curtis F 903 

Cunningham, Joseph 909 

Deaconess Home, Urbana 852 

Doney, Oliver K 917 

Edwards, James . 921 



Edwards, Hannah A 921 

Engineering Hall "[University of Illinois 720 

Falls, Jesse 924 

Fay, Andrew F 925 

Freeman, Edmund 927 

Freeman, Mrs. Edmund 927 

Garwood Home, Champaign 852 

Glascock, Mahlon 932 

Glascock, Ulysses G 932 

Green Street, Through the Campus University of Illinois. . ., 770 

Gymnasium University of Illinois 740 

Hayes, Richard P 943 

Horticultural Building University o" Illi nois 750 

Hotel Beardsley, Champaign 804. 

Howser, Leonidas H. 951 

Hubbard, Thomas S 952 

Hu'dson, Christopher 953 

Hummel, Philip 954 

James, Edmund Janes, LL. D 960 

Julia F. Burnham, Hospital, Champaign ... 852 

Ketchum, Ichabod E 964 

Kincaid, Samuel W 965 

Kincaid, Mary A. C 965 

Kirkpatrick, John C 968 

Lamb, Andrew J 971 

Leal, Thomas R 972 

Lemen, Mrs. Mary Catherine 974 

Library Building University of Illinois 680 

Lloyde, David H 976 

Lloyde, Frank H 976 

Lloyde, Clarence A 976 

Lloyde, Clifford L 976 

Love, Samuel W 978 

Mathews, Milton W 981 

Mclntyre, Daniel ? 988 

McKinley, James B 989 

Miller, Andrew J 993 

Natural History Hall University of Illinois 670 

Oldhani, James G 998 

Observatory University of Illinois 730 

Peters, Isaac S 1002 

Phares, Charles Alfred 1003 

Philbrick, Solon 1004 

Porterfield, L. C 1005 

Porterfield, Samuel A 1005 



Page, 

President's House University of Illinois ?50 

Rice, Arthur 1010 

Richards, Jacob Walker 1011 

Richards, Ann Eliza . . . 1011 

Richards, Patrick 1012 

Robinson, Hugh Jackson 1013 

Rugg, Daniel 101& 

Rugg, Frederick Daniel 1019 

Russell, Henry M 1020 

Savage, John H 1023 

Scenes on the Campus University of Illinois 780 

Silver, Wallace 1026 

Somers, James W. 102$ 

Staley, Calvin C 103? 

Swaim, George Harvey 1035 

Thompson, William H ' 1040 

Thompson, Mrs. William H 1040 

Tobias, Conrad 1041 

Topographic Map of Champaign County ( No. 1) f>52 

Topographic Map of Champaign County (No. 2) 654 

Township Map of Champaign County. Preceding Index 

University Hall University of Illinois 658- 

Vennum, Frank B , 1045 

Walker, Francis Theodore 1047 

Webber, George G 104 

Webber, Thomson R 1050 

Weir, Joseph C 1052 

Wolfe, Col. John S 1057 

Wbrnan'e Building University of Illinois 710 



! "'~V w ILLINOIS 



HISTORY 

OF 

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTION. 

ILLINOIS HAS A HISTORY GOING BACK TO 
FRENCH OCCUPATION AND CONNECTED WITH CO- 
LONIAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES ITS 
EARLY PEOPLE WERE GREAT IN WAR ITS HIS- 
TORY NOT DEVOID OF ROMANCE A CIVILIZATION 
AT THE CENTER OF THE CONTINENT FORT CHAR- 
TRES ITS EARLY SETTLEMENT ANTE'DATES THAT 
OF SOME OF THE EASTERN STATES A KNOWL- 
. EDGE OF LOCAL HISTORY URGED UPON ALL. 

"Woe to the people who forget their own his- 
tory." Hirsch. 

"Only a dead nation loses sight of its legends 
and early history." Illinois State Histori- 
cal Society. 

The story of Illinois has been so well and 
so fully told in the preceding pages of this 
work by its able editors, that nothing, perhaps, 
remains to be said to impress the reader with a 
true sense of the greatness of the Common- 
wealth in peace and in war; in the men it 
produces and inspires; in its territorial gran- 
deur; in its material wealth of soil and mines, 
nor in the great events of its history. 

Recalling its part in the wars which have 
engaged its forces, we see nothing in contests 
v.-ith Indian aborigines which exceeds the dar- 
ing of the men of the little French colony in 
grappling with and routing the powerful 
Chickasaw nation, under the leadership of the 
Illinois commandant, D'Artaguette, who after- 



wards fell a victim to savage ferocity by be- 
ing caught and burned at the stake. Or, 
later, who has excelled the valor of another 
Illinois soldier, Jumonville, whose life was 
laid down at Great Meadows in defense of 
French supremacy on this continent? Be it 
remembered that it was to Villiers, the Illi- 
nois commandant, and to his handful of fol- 
lowers from Fort Chartres, that Washington, 
in his great extremity, surrendered Fort Ne- 
cessity, on July 4, 1754, the- first and only 
surrender which marks the career of that 
great American as a soldier. C) 

Illinoisans fell before Quebec, in the strug- 
gle which ended French dominion in North 
America in 1759, as well as in contests with 
Spanish forces west of the Mississippi, for its 
maintenance. 

The capture of Kaskaskia, on July 4, 1778, 
by George Rogers Clark and his handful of 
adventurous Virginians, a thousand miles 
from their base of supplies, 'was as heroic an 
act as ever marked the arms of any country; 
and, in the history of this Republic, second 



( 1 )"In May, 1754, the young George Washiner- 
ton, with his Virginia riflemen, surprised the 
party of Jumonville at the Great Meadows, and 
slew the French leader. His brother, Neyon De 
Villiers, one of the captains at Fort Chartres, 
obtained leave from Makarty to avenge him, and 
with his company went by the Mississippi and 
the Ohio to Fort Du Quesne. where he joined the 
head of the family, Coulon De Villiers, who was 
marching on the same errand. Together, with 
'a force as numerous,' said the Indians, 'as the 
pigeons in the woods,' they brought to bay 
'Monsier Wachenston,' as the French dispatches 
call him, at Fort Necessity, which he surren- 
dered on the 4th of July." "Chapters from Illi- 
nois History," by Edward G. Mason, page 228. 



632 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



only in its effects upon the ultimate peace 
boundaries, to the capture of the British army 
at Yorktown. 

Coming farther down to the period of Amer- 
ican dominion, no pages of any history are 
more radiant with great deeds of men in 
wars than are those which tell the stories of 
Illinois regiments; or, over all, of the armies 
of Illinois which swept down the valley of the 
Mississippi, overcame insurrections along its 
borders, and marched thence with Sherman' 
to the sea. 

So, turning from war to times of peace, the 
same text furnishes the history of the great 
deeds in statesmanship of Pope and Cook; of 
Thomas and McLean and Kane; of Edwards 
and Coles, and Douglas and Lincoln; which 
deeds connect their names with the greatest 
events in State and National history. 

The natural wealth of Illinois early im- 
pressed explorers with estimates of its future 
greatness, which have been realized an hun- 
dred fold. From details of travel the patient 
explorers often, in their daily journals, paused 
to speak admiringly of the "great natural 
meadows," constantly encountered by them, 
which "meadows" are now the renowned corn- 
fields of Illinois. True, the mines of gold and 
silver which John Law saw in his visions, 
were not found, though diligently sought for 
along the valley of the Kaskaskia and other 
streams of the country; and the extravagant 
dreams of the authors of the celebrated "Mis- 
sissippi Scheme" were never realized in the 
smallest part, for the greatness of Illinois was 
to come from different sources and to a dif- 
ferent race. 

The history of our State from its earliest 
discovery and exploration, to many may seem 
devoid of that rolnance which attaches to the 
history of the seaboard States, where civili- 
zation was first planted by Europeans upon 
this continent, and where was fought out the 
question of American Independence; or to that 
of the Southern States, where, in like man- 
ner, the question of the continuance of na- 
tional life was settled during the last cen- 
tury; yet, to him whose love of State history 
has enticed him into following the footsteps 
of Nicolet, of Marquette, of Joliet, of Henne- 
pin, of La Salle, and of those of whom the 
editors of the "Encyclopedia of Illinois" have 
so fully spoken, the history of Illinois is not 



wanting in stories of the romance of adven- 
ture and discovery; in startling espisodes of 
war and conquest; in instances of border 
wars where the tomahawk and scalping knife, 
the rifle and the bludgeon have brought death 
and destruction to the frontiersmen. 

The student of Illinois history will not be 
long engaged in his pursuit, until he will con- 
clude that it lacks nothing of incident to com- 
mand the attention of the most adventurous. (*) 

The fact that the Illinois country was first 
peopled by French peasants, voyagers and 
trappers, who were governed by their priests 
and military commandants, and that out of this 
condition, which marks the first century of the 
occupation of Illinois by Europeans, grew a 
civilization little removed from that of the 
aborigines of the continent; that such as it 
was, it remained for a century the one iso- 
lated and almost unknown civilized commu- 
nity in the heart of the continent, and that 
upon this foundation, as one of the results 
of a great European war, another race built, 
within another century, a state exceeding in 
wealth, population and intelligence many 
European states from which have come much of 
the material which has entered into its com- 
position, bears in . it romance and history 
enough to tempt and well employ the pen of 
a Macaulay, a Bancroft, or a Roosevelt. 
Human history has few parallels and no chap- 
ters exceeding Illinois history in interest. We 
need not go eastward to realize history. 

The story of the erection, occupation and 
final destruction of Fort Chartres, in Ran- 
dolph County, forms a chapter in Illinois his- 
tory of the greatest interest to the antiqua- 
rian. First erected by John Law, for the 
Royal Company of the Indies, in 1718, of 



( J )Henry Brown, in the preface to his "History 
of Illinois" (1844>, says: "Many have supposed 
that a state so young can furnish nothing of 
interest deserving the historian. They seem, 
however, not to consider that Illinois was set- 
tled at an early day that the Spaniards once 
claimed that the French once occupied that 
the English once conquered and that the 
Americans afterwards held 'this proud domain' 
by right of conquest: that the Gaul, the Saxon 
and the savage the Protestant, the Jesuit and 
the Pagan for more than a century here strug- 
gled for the mastery. They have also forgot- 
ten, or never knew, that John Law and his as- 
sociates in the "Mississippi Scheme" once 
claimed the whole territory as theirs that Fort 
Chartres was built by them at an expense of 
several millions, and that a portion of its soil 
is now held under titles derived from that 
'eminent speculator'." 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



633 



wood, a rude stockade, as a defense against 
threatened attacks from the Spaniards of 
New Mexico, its service was thought to be 
of sufficient importance to justify its replace- 
ment in 1751 by a stone structure of great 
strength, j\s fortresses were then viewed. It 
is said th&<; the latter was built of stone, quar- 
ried from a bluff a few miles away, at a cost 
of 1,000,000 French crowns, the equivalent of 
$1,200,000. 

The fortress exceeded in strength any then 
upon the American continent, and compared 
favorably with any contemporaneous structure 
of a military character in the world. Within 
its walls there were assembled, during the 
period of its existence, many of the bravest 
soldiers of France, and from its gates there 
went forth organized armies against ene- 
mies to the north, to the south and to the 
east, while its guns were ever pointed to the 
west for the Spanish foes. It yielded the 
protection of France to the missionaries and 
the traders of that nation from the lakes to the 
gulf, and extended its invitation to the immi- 
grants in the remotest parts of the earth, and 
from its flag-staff, on the 10th day of October, 
1765, descended the last French flag that floated 
in American air, in token of the sovereignty of 
that nation. (*) It was near its walls that Pon- 
tiac, the renowned Indian chieftan, was treach- 
erously slain. 

The lowering of the colors of France from 
the walls of Fort Chartres, while it terminated 
the dominion of France upon the North Amer- 
ican continent, set on foot other changes 
which were of the most far-reaching character. 
It supplanted the dominion of one religion or 
church, which at once ruled in civil as well 
as in religious matters, by another faith; it ter- 



( 1 )"On the meadows of the Mississippi, in the 
Illinois country, stood Port Chartres, a much 
stronger work, and one of the chief links of 
the chain that connected Quebec with New Or- 
leans. Its four stone bastions were impregnable 
to musketry; and, here in the depths of the wild- 
erness, there was no fear that cannon would be 
brought against it, it was the center and cita- 
del of a curious little forest settlement, the 
only vestige of civilization through all this 
region." Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe," 
page 44. 

Captain Philip Pittman, who visited this for- 
tress at its best, said of it that it was the 
"most convenient and best built fort in North 
America." Moses' "History of Illinois," pages 
114, 116. 

See also, as to the character and strength 
of Fort Chartres, "Chapters from Illinois His- 
tory," by Edward G. Mason, page 215. 



minated the rule of the code of Justinian, and 
in its place set up the Common Law of Eng- 
land; it put an end to the coming of the men 
of the Latin race, and in their place intro- 
duced the Anglo-Saxon, with his religion and 
his laws and customs. 

Finally, after such a history, lasting fifty 
years, in the hands of the English conquerors, 
it was compelled to capitulate to the ele- 
ments, as personified by the Great River, too 
near whose treacherous banks the inexperi- 
enced engineer had planted its ramparts. It 
surrendered thus to the first and only enemy 
bold enough to lay its siege and execute its 
plans of approach by regular passages and 
mines. It fell into the Mississippi River. 

The facts connected with the earliest peo- 
pling of the State with men of the white race, 
are not exceeded in thrilling interest by those 
connected with the settlement of any other 
section of the Republic. In point of priority 
of time, its settlement antedates the settle- 
ment of some of the eastern or seaboard 
States, as well as of all its fellows of the 
valley of the Mississippi. Its early white 
settlers came, not to intrude upon the posses- 
sion or rights of the occupants then claiming 
ownership, or to expel them from their lands; 
for lands they did not want, but souls. It 
was not to establish an earthly kingdom of 
any prince that these people came, but to ex- 
tend the knowledge and dominion of the Re- 
deemer of mankind. It may be said to their 
credit, that before John Eliot and his Protes- 
tant co-workers had extended their sphere of 
influence ten miles from Boston into the In- 
dian country, these Catholic fathers had set 
up the altars of their faith around the upper 
great lakes and along the Illinois and Missis- 
sippi rivers. With a deathless desire for the 
salvation of the aborigines, they led the way 
of the voyager and the traders, and finally 
of the civilization of the present. (*) They 



( 1 )"There is no more romantic nage in Amer- 
ican history than that which records the efforts 
of the early French missionaries and explorers 
to plant the Lily and the Cross, emblems of 
France and of Christianity, in the west. They 
dotted the continent from Quebec along the 
banks of the River St. Lawrence to the great 
lakes, and by Detroit, Mackinac, Kaskaskia and 
St. Louis, to the Gulf of Mexico, with their mis- 
sionary stations and settlements. In these set- 
tlements prevailed an innocent gaiety, a purity 
of manners, and an almost Acadian simplicity, 
such as Longellow has scarcely exaggerated 
in Evangeline." Isaac N. Arnold's Address. 



634 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



sought out the places of vantage and there set 
up their altars. Towns and cities grew up 
upon the same or nearby ground, and the 
cities of Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis, in 
and near our own State, prove the keen fore- 
sight of these men in a business sense. C) 

To these facts in our own history and to 
others equally prominent in the history of 
the Republic, occurring in Illinois, attention 
is invited and urged upon all Illinoisans, as 
vindicating the assumptions here made. 

From this foundation or starting point we 
may well hope to launch the story of one -of 
the one hundred and two county units which 
now make up "The Illinois Country," ( 2 ) now 
the State of Illinois in such a manner as 
to invite and secure the interest of its peo- 
ple, and to put in a permanent and conven- 
ient form the fact here gathered. 

"Not without thy wondrous, story, Illinois, 
Illinois, 

Can be writ the Nation's glory, Illinois, Illi- 
nois." 



'CHAPTER II. 
A PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 

GOVERNMENTS HOLDING DOMINION OVER ILLINOIS 
TERRITORY DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATIONS BY 
MARQUETTE AND JOLIET INDIAN OCCUPATION 
UNCERTAIN LAND CLAIMS OF THE IROQUOIS 
ILLINOIS INDIANS AND THEIR DESTRUCTION 
COMING OF THE FRENCH CATHOLIC MISSIONA- 
RIES ILLINOIS AS A PART OF LOUISIANA, CAN- 
ADA, VIRGINIA AND THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

Of curious historical interest, if for no other 
and greater practical use, we give here a brief 
statement of the variety of governments 
which, during the three and a half centuries 



Wit is remarkable that the discoveries of 
the American Central West were either French 
or American. For the work of exploring this 
hinterland, England scarcely furnished a man; 
ehe can "write no names opposite those of Brule, 
Cartier, Champlain, Du Lmt, Hennepin, Joliet. 
Marquette and La Salle. Nearly all that Eng- 
land knew of the interior she learijed from the 
French." "Historic Highways of America," by 
The Arthur H. Clark Company, Vol. 6, page 44. 

( a )"Until long after the expulsion of the 
French, who, in official correspondence and 
otherwise, always spoke of this region as "The 
Illinois," or as "The Illinois Country." this 
expression was made use of when reference was 
had to the territory." Birkbeck's "Notes." 



elapsing since white men first saw and occu- 
pied, have held jurisdiction and authority over 
Illinois territory. 

When first discovered and in part explored 
by Marquette and Joliet, in 1673, it was under 
the dominion of those savage pagans, the 
American Indians, of various tribes, chiefly of 
those known as the Illini, in the central and 
southern parts, and by the Miamis, Pottawato- 
mies and Winnebagoes in the north and 
around the lake. The boundaries of Indian 
dominion over territory, where not settled and 
agreed upon and marked by some natural 
boundary, as a river or lake, were always un- 
certain and the subject of destructive wars 
among the aborigines. So here, where the 
rightful boundary between the northern and 
the southern native races was located, had 
for ages been a subject of dispute and war 
between them, while the Iroquois of the east 
denied the rights of all in any territory and 
made destructive war alike upon all. 

It is told in histories of the times that the 
tribes occupying the central and southern 
parts of the Illinois country, known as the 
Illinois, were the subjects of the annual at- 
tacks of the Iroquois Indians of Central New 
York and the lake regions, and that they were 
finally dispersed and almost destroyed by 
neighboring tribes, after a long siege at their 
last stand, at Starved Rock. The subject of 
this Indian war and the result as effecting 
the destruction of the Illinois tribes, has been 
the topic of many a pathetic story in prose and 
song, and forms an interesting chapter in Illi- 
nois history. 

One has written as follows: 

"Nine times the sun had risen and set 
Upon that little fading band; 
Nine weary days they sat and gazed 
Out on their own beloved land; 
And from the warrior's weary eyes, 
Slow faded forest, plain and skies; 
'Neath famine sank they one by one, 
Till there their chieftain stood alone. 

The valleys of the Illinois 
Must now by hostile feet be pressed; 
Their waters bear the light canoe 
Of strangers on their quiet breast; 
The wooded depths will not prolong 
In echo now their wonted song, 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



635 



For faded soon will be each trace 
Of Illinois' ill-fated race.'T) 

While these people held a quasi posses- 
sion, having few, if any, permanent abiding 
places, their possession was only that of wan- 
derers and wayfarers, always in dispute by 
tribes of superior strength, who, at their 
pleasure drove the claimants before them' 
from place to place, often beyond the Missis- 
sippi to the territory of other nations. 

So, all over the State, and in adjoining 
States, there exist undeniable evidences of a 
prior occupation of the same territory by an- 
other and, perhaps, a superior people. 

The tenure of these occupants and the use 
to which the great natural wealth of their 
country was put, must reconcile us and all 
future occupants to the imputed injustice of 
the displacement of the savage races by the 
stronger white race. 

About January, 1680, the French, under La 
Salle, formally took possession of the territory 
along the Illinois River and established Fort 
Creve Coeur at a point now in Tazewell Coun- 
ty, opposite the lower part of the city of Peo- 
ria, although as a nation the French claimed 
the whole territory to the South Sea, or Pa- 
cific Ocean, by virtue of the discovery and 
occupation of the country along the St. Law- 
rence River and the great^ lakes. This occu- 
pation lasted but one winter, and was followed 
by the establishment of a post upon what is 
known as Starved Rock below Ottawa, by 
Henry de Tonti, a follower of La Salle. 

In the wake of these semi-military enter- 
prises, and as a part of them, came a band of 
priests of the order of St. Francis, who are 
said to have established missions along the 
Illinois River for the conversion to Christianity 
of the pagan inhabitants. One of those mis- 
sions was called the Kaskaskias, located at the 
Rock and, in time, owing to the fortunes of 
the wars in which the local tribes engaged, 
which drove them south and away from their 
enemies, this mission was removed down the 
Mississippi to a point* near the mouth of a 
river which takes its rise in what is now 
Champaign County. The name of the mission 
is supposed to have given the geographical 
name to the river Kaskaskia, though it is bet- 



ter known along its course as the "Okaw."( l ) 

The coming of these foreigners among the 
Indians was peaceable and acceptable. Won by 
the devotion and eloquence of the Franciscan 
and Jesuit Fathers, the Indians had permitted 
France to erect forts on the lakes and rivers 
and in the interior without objection. Nay, 
more; they welcomed the strangers because 
they brought them arms, instructed them In 
the use of them in war and the chase, and in 
the useful arts of peace, receiving in barter 
their skins and furs. 

While the territory was in this course of 
occupation, its government was under French 
officers from Canada, and it was considered 
a part of that province. 

Following these events a few years came the 
organization of the principality of Louisiana, 
with its more accessible seaport of New Or- 
leans, by the French monarch, of which the 
Illinois country was made a part by imperial 
decree. The grants of lands made while thus 
governed, the customs in vogue among the 
people then, and some of the laws of that day 
are still recognized and enforced by our 
courts. 

In this manner came the territory of the 
Illinois, then quite undefined, to be part of 
the empire of France, though its possession 
and right was all the time menaced by the 
Spanish forces in possession of the contigu- 
ous territories of Mexico. ( 2 ) 



(^Comly Jessup. 



( l )"Okau (Au Kas, Fr.), a name frequently 
given to the Kaskaskia River. 

"It appeals to have been originally a contrac- 
tion, using the first syllable for the whole name, 
and prefixing, the article a practice common 
among the early settlers and explorers of Illi- 
nois." Peck's "Gazetter of Illinois" (1837) page 
263. 

"The Okaw. For the benefit of those who are 
not acquainted with the history of how the rag- 
ing Kaskaskia River derived the alias name of 
Okaw, we submit the following: The name Kas- 
kaskia was never pronounced in full by the ear- 
ly French inhabitants of the American Bottom. 
They only employed the first syllable to desig- 
nate it; and this, "Kas," by the French rule of 
orthography or phonetics, became "Kan." In 
conversation they invariably alluded to the old 
town as "aukas, pronounced "oukah;" which 
was anglicized bv the pioneers of English stock 
from Virginia and Kentucky to "Okaw;" and the 
Kaskaskia River Is now generally known locallv 
by this perversion of the French abbreviation." 
Old Newspaper. 

( 2 )"When France divided its domain in North 
America, Illinois fell partly in Canada, as well as 
in Louisiana, and later all of it was attached 
to the latter province. The boundary between 
Canada and Louisiana seems to have been either 
not well defined or changed several times. For 
we find that the Governors-General, the one res- 
ident at Quebec and the other on Biloxi Bay or 



636 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



The treaty of peace entered into at Paris 
in 1763, not only terminated the long war be- 
tween England and France, but transferred 
the sovereignty of Canada and so much of the 
Louisiana territory as lay east of the Missis- 
sippi River and north of the thirty-first par- 
allel of latitude north from the equator, to 
England. By an act of Parliament of the year 
1774, the Illinois country, with the Ohio River 
as its southern and the Mississippi as its west- 
ern boundary, was again attached to Canada, 
under the authority of which it remained 
until the conquest by Virginia under the ad- 
venturous George Rogers Clark and his hand- 
ful of Virginians, who had tramped over 
mountains and floated down rivers a thousand 
miles, to accomplish this result, as heretofore 
related. 

Virginia accepted this new trust and, by 
legislative enactment, organized the County 
of Illinois and sent its officers to set up and 
maintain the new government, in which con- 
dition it continued until, by deed of convey- 
ance of 1784, the State of Virginia surren- 
dered the sovereignty of all territory north- 
west of the Ohio River to the United States. 

The United States, in turn, organized the 
Northwest Territory, the Territory of Indiana 
and the Territory of Illinois, under its author- 
ity, where the sovereignty remained until in 
1818, the "Country of the Illinois," by Federal 
authority became a sovereign State, under the 



the later capital, at New Orleans, or their re- 
spective commandants and licensed traders for 
the border posts, were in frequent disputes as 
to where the line was to justify charges of tres- 
pass by the one on the rights of the other 

"It is known that, since 1724, Vincennes, In- 
diana, under this or more ancient names, was in 
Louisiana, while from like official manuscripts 
it is clear that Post Ouiatenon, higher up the 
Wabash on the west side, a few miles below 
Lafayette, was officered and its trade farmed 
cut from Canada. And it is a more specifically 
known fact that in 1755. when Peter Rigaud. 
Marquis of Vaudruil-Cavignal, became Governor 
of Canada, the line dividing it from Louisiana 
in the Illinois country began at the mouth of 
the Vermilion River, thence up it and down 
the Vermilion of the Illinois to the Post of Le 
Rocher (Starved Rock) on the river of the Peo- 
rias (Illinois), and thence to the peninsula 
formed at the confluence of Rock River and 
the Mississippi." (Rock Island) H. W. Beck- 
with, in the "Chicago Tribune." 

The line up the Vermilion and down the Ver- 
milion of the Illinois, must have been defined 
to have followed either the Middle Fork or 
the Salt Fork, as the most direct and natural 
line; and, in either case, the dividing line 
which separated the two provinces of the 
French Empire in America, divided the terri- 
tory of Champaign County, placing one part 
In Canada and the other in Louisiana. 



name given it by its early French explorers, 
derived, as is believed, from the name of the 
pagans who occupied it when white men fifst 
saw its fair landscapes. 

From this brief recital of facts in the pedi- 
gree of Illinois, it will be seen that since it 
emerged from the control of the red man, 
it has, in turn, formed a part of the empires 
of France and Great Britain, with Spain as a 
claimant, while again and now, under its 
motto, "State Sovereignty and National 
Union," it has, for a century and a quarter, 
as Territory and State, well and honorably ful- 
filled its destiny as a unit of the Great Re- 
public. P) Under Great Britain it was, by an 
act of Parliament, after the treaty of 1763, 
made a part of Canada. 



CHAPTER III. 
UNITED STATES LAND SURVEYS. 



TREATY OF l8lQ COMING OF THE UNITED STATES 
SURVEYORS IN l8l2 AND I&22 THEIR WORK 
RECORDS OF THE COUNTY SHOWING SURVEYS. 

The territory now forming the County of 
Champaign, with all the counties contiguous 
thereto for many miles each way, was, from 
the first accounts of it, held and occupied by 
the Kickapoo Indians, known as the "Kicka- 
poo Indian tribe of the Vermilion," when the 
country first came under the observation of 
the whites. It so continued until the year 
1819, when, by a treaty entered into at Ed- 
wardsville, 111., on the thirtieth day of July, 
between the United States and the Kickapoo 
Indian tribe, represented by its chiefs, the 
latter ceded all the territory bounded as fol- \ 
lows: Beginning at the northwest corner of 
the Vincennes tract (about twenty miles 
northwest of Vincennes, Ind.) ; thence north- 
easterly to the dividing line between the States 



( 1 )"We do not realize at the present time that 
the early inhabitants of what is now Illinois had 
the Spaniard for a neighbor; nor that the terri- 
tory of ten sovereign States of our Union, lying 
beyond the Mississippi, was once as hopelesslv 
doomed to civil and ecclesiastical tyranny as anv 
province of Old Spain. And His Most Catholic 
Majesty not only owned all the country west of 
what some early voyagers finally called "The 
Eternal River." but soon laid claim to the ex- 
clusive control of its waters, and would not 
suffer the Mississippi to go unvexed to the sea." 
"Chapters from Illinois History," by Edward 
G. Mason, page 293. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



637 



of Illinois and Indiana; thence along said line 
to the Kankakee River; thence with said river 
to the Illinois River; thence down the latter 
to the mouth; thence with a direct line to the 
northwest corner of the Vincennes tract, the 
place of beginning. C 1 ) The language of this 
treaty recites that, "said Kickapoo tribe claims 
a large portion by descent from their ances- 
tors, and the balance by conquest from the 
Illinois nation and undisputed possession for 
more than half a century." 

This treaty was confirmed and re-declared 
a month later between the same parties in a 
treaty held at Vincennes. Upon the making 
of these treaties the Kickapoos at once de- 
parted to their new home beyond the Missis- 
sippi, and this, according to the records of 
those times, ended the Indian occupation of 
this country, as well as ended the claims of 
any Indians to the soil, except the right 
claimed by certain Pottawatomies and others 
who, for many years, made their annual visits 
to this country during their hunting expedi- 
tions. 

The question has, no doubt, been mentally, 
if not audibly, asked by the dwellers in these 
groves and upon these prairies, "Who sur- 
veyed these lands into sections and townships, 
whose lines now divide our people as farm 
lines, neighborhoods and civil townships? 
Who piled up the mounds at the corners of 
the sections in the absence of better monu- 
ments? Whose eyes first minutely examined 
these landscapes, and who, in his day, first 
heard the tramp of our coming?" 

These questions have often been asked of 
himself by the writer, and he presumes that 
others have asked like questions. From of- 
ficial information from the General Land Of- 
fice, we are able to answer these questions. 

The Townships 17 to 20, in Ranges 7 and 8, 
including the towns of Sadorus, Colfax, Scott, 
Mahomet, Pesotum, Tolono, Champaign and 
Hensley, were surveyed into sections by Rich- 
ard P. Holliday, for Elias Rector, deputy sur- 
veyor, in the year 1822. 

Townships 21 and 22, in Ranges 7 and 8 
now being the towns of Newcomb, Brown, 
Condit and East Bend were likewise sur- 



veyed by David Anderson and Patrick Oscar 
Lee, deputy surveyors, in the year 1822. 

Townships 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, Range 9, 
including Crittenden, Philo, Urbana, Somer 
and a part of Rantoul, were surveyed by Ben- 
jamin Franklin Messenger, the deputy sur- 
veyor, in the year 1822. 

Townships 21 and 22, Ranges 9 and 10, in- 
cluding Ludlow and Harwood, were surveyed 
in 1822 by Enoch Moore, deputy surveyor. 

Towns 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, Range 10, being 
the Towns of Raymond, Sidney, St. Joseph, 
Stanton and parts of Rantoul and Compro- 
mise, were surveyed in 1821 by Jacob Judy, 
deputy surveyor. 

Townships 17, 18, 19 and 20, Range 14 west, 
including the towns of Ayres, South Homer 
and Ogden, were surveyed by James Thomp- 
son, deputy surveyor, in the year 1821. 

Township 21, in Range 14, being a part of 
Compromise, was surveyed in 1821 by James 
Messenger, deputy surveyor. 

Township 22, Range 14, being part of Kerr 
Township, was surveyed in 1822 by E. Starr, 
deputy surveyor. 

The facts in relation to the regular town- 
ships, atove given, will explain the existence 
of the narrow, irregular strip, running 
through the eastern part of the county, known 
as Range 11, for the fixing of the corners of 
the section in the regular townships above re- 
ferred to, at the same time operated to divide 
this strip into townships and sections. C 1 ) 



( 1 )The beginning point here referred to as 
"on the Wabash," w,as at the mouth of the Big 
Vermilion River. H. W. Beckwith's "Illinois 
and Indiana Indians," page 121. 



( 1 )"The extensive territories of the United 
States are surveyed upon a peculiar system, 
planned with reference to the division of the 
lands into squares of uniform size, so arranged 
that any tract of 160 acres, or a "quarter sec- 
tion," may have its distinct designation and 
be readily found upon the map or recognized 
upon the ground by the marks left by the sur- 
veyors. Each great survey is based upon a 
meridian line run due north and south by as- 
tronomical measurements, the whole extent of 
the survey in these directions; and upon a 
"standard parallel" or base line, running east 
and west, similarly established with great ac- 
curacy. Parallels to these lines are run every 
6 miles, usually with the solar compass cor- 
rected by frequent celestial observations; and 
thus, as nearly as the figure of the earth ad- 
mits, the surface is divided into squares of ( 
miles north and south and the same east and 
west each one containing 36 square miles or 
sections, into which the territory is further di- 
vided by meridians and parallels run at every 
mile; while the half-mile being marked on these 
lines by setting what is called a "quarter post, 
the points are established for the subdivisions 
into quarter sections. The squares of 36 square 
miles are termed townships, often contracted to 
"towns;" and each line of them east and west 
is numbered either N. or S. from the base line, 



638 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



It will thus be seen that, shortly following 
the treaty with the Indians which extinguished 
forever their claim upon the territory, came 
the United States surveyors, those pioneers 
of civilization whose work was to last through 
all time and be law to all future dwellers. 
The lines, as then fixed and marked by these 
surveyors, are the lines which now divide the 
townships, school districts and farms of the 
county, and which determine its boundaries 
and the locations of most of its public roads. 

When the treaty already referred to was 
made, and when the work of the United 
States surveyors was performed, the terri- 
tory later organized into the County of Cham- 
paign, was within the bounds of the County 
of Crawford. The section corners, then marked 
by the throwing up of mounds of earth around 
stakes charred in their camp fires, were easily 
found by other surveyors many years after 
they were established. 

In the office of the County Clerk may be 
found a book commonly called the "Original 
Survey Record," which contains transcripts of 
all these surveys, carefully copied from the 
reports and plats made to the General Land 
Office by these original surveyors. Upon the 
left hand pages of this very interesting and 
important record, may be found directions for 
locating every section corner, as marked and 
left by those men eighty years ago, while 
upon the opposite pages are found very care- 
fully prepared plats, in colors, showing every 
grove of timber and hazel brush; every 
stream or considerable branch, and every 
pond, as well as the courses and location with 
reference to section lines. The number of 



and each line of them N. and S. Is termed a 
range, and either numbered E. or W. from the 
meridian. The N. and S. lines bordering the 
townships are known as range lines, and the 
&. and W. as township lines. Each survey is des- 
ignated by the meridian upon which it is based 
and of these principal meridians there are six 
designated by numbers, and eighteen by special 
names. The first meridian adopted for these 
surveys was the boundary line between Ohio 
and Indiana; the second through Indiana on the 
n-.eridian of 86 degrees 28 minutes, west from 
Greenwich; the third through Illinois, beginning 
at the mouth of the river Ohio; the fourth north 
from the mouth of the river Illinois; the fifth 
north from the river Arkansas; the sixth on 
the 40th parallel of longtitude." "Appleton's 
American Cyclopedia," Vol. 15, page 491 

The sections in any given township are num- 
bered beginning with Section 1 at the northeast 
corner of the township, running thence across 
and back until the 36th is reached at the south- 
east corner. 



acres in each section is also marked thereon, 
and where the section is "fractional" that is, 
the section contained more or less than one 
square mile, or 640 acres the number of acres 
in each one-eighth of a section is also shown. 
This record, besides being important as a 
factor in determining the lines and titles to 
the lands within the county, is of interest to 
one enquiring into the early history of the 
county. These plats and notes were made by 
the men of the white race who first minutely 
examined these landscapes. They show the 
country, with reference to the space occupied 
by timber and open prairie, just as they ap- 
peared to Runnel Fielder, Henry Sadorus and 
William Tompkins, when they came here a 
few years thereafter. 



CHAPTER IV. 
ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION. 



WRITTEN HISTORY EXTENDS NO FARTHER BACK THAN 
1634 JEAN NICOLET ILLINOIS OR "iLLINl" IN- 
DIANS CONQUEST AND DESTRUCTION. BY THE IRO- 
QUOIS TERRITORY OF COUNTY OCCUPIED BY KICK- 
APOOS ILLINOIS INDIANS FOUGHT THE WHITES 
AT ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT, FALLEN TIMBERS, TIPPE- 
CANOE AND FORT HARRISON THEY JOINED IN 
WAYNE'S TREATY TREATY OF VINCENNES 
AFTER TREATY INDIANS REMOVED THEIR VISITS 
TO BIG GROVE SADORUS GROVE S HEM AUGER 
INDIANS TOLD TO LEAVE INDIAN SCARE DURING 
BLACKHAWK WAR THE MIAMIS INDIAN BU- 
RIALS HERE PASSING OF THE INDIANS. 

Written history of Illinois extends no 
farther back than the year 1634, when a Can- 
adian Frenchman, named Jean Nicolet, more 
adventurous than any of his countrymen to 
that date, having followed the great lakes to 
their western extremity, wandered southward 
a great distance and reached the immense prai- 
ries and the people which, from the descrip- 
tions in his written accounts of his adven- 
tures, are believed to have been the country 
since called Illinois and the people of that 
name but the name, being unknown to Euro- 
peans, was differently spelled by different 
writers. Nicolet, who is conceded to have 
been the first white visitor to Illinois, found 
a people then in occupancy of the country who 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



639 



have since been known as "The Illinois," or 
"Illini.'T) 

These people are conceded by all writers 
upon Illinois history their information being 
derived from accounts given by French mis- 
sionaries, traders and adventurers to have 
been in the occupancy of all of the territory 
of what is now Illinois when white people 
first knew of the country. No Indian possess- 
sion in all history can be said to have , been 
' peaceable possession; for those people culti- 
vated the art of war alone, and each tribe or 
people held their country only until a stronger 
people invaded and overcame them. 

In this case the invaders and conquerors 
were the Iroquois, or Five Nations of New 
York, who about the year 1680 consummated 
a long and cruel war with these people by a 
decisive battle fought near the Illinois River 
in what is now La Salle County, in which 
they were nearly destroyed. Their final de- 
struction was accomplished fifty years after at 
Starved Rock, as the story goes.( 2 ) 

The destruction of the Illinois made room 
for others, who, in this case, were friends of 
the conquerors, and who came in from the 
north, where, for generations, they had made 
their homes about the lakes. From the de- 
struction of the Illinois, the Kickapoos, the 
Pottawatomies and the Miamis were the rec- 
ognized possessors of the territory or of some 
part of it. And in this condition did the Eng- 
lish and Americans find it, with the excep- 
tion of a few remnants of the Illinois living 
about the Kaskaskia.( 3 ) 



( 1 )"The Illinois Indians were composed of five 
subdivisions: Kaskaskias, Cahokias Tamaroas. 
Peorias, Mitchigamies, the last being a foreign 
tribe residing west of the Mississippi River, who. 
being reduced to small numbers by wars with 
their neighbors, abandoned their former hunting- 
grounds and became incorporated with the Illi- 
nois. The first historical mention of this tribe 
is found in the Jesuit Relations for the year 
1670-1, prepared by Father Claude Dablon, from 
the letters of priests stationed at La Pointe on 
the southwest ' of Lake Superior." Beckwith's 
"Illinois and Indiana Indians," page 99. 

( 2 )Beckwith's "Illinois and Indiana Indians," 
page 104. 

( 3 )The character of the Illinois Indians is well 
described by an Illinoisan who has given their 
history much attention. 

"They enjoyed the wild, roving life of the prai- 
rie, and, in common with almost all other na- 
tive Americans, were vain of their prowess and 
manhood, both in war and in the chase. They 
did not settle down for any great length of 
time in a given place, but roamed across the 
broad prairies, from one grove or belt of tim- 
ber to another, either in single families or in 
small bands, packing their few effects, their 
children and infirm on their little Indian po- 



These few representatives of a vanquished 
race of an almost unknown and vanished age 
tarried for a while upon their native soil of 
Illinois; but were all the while the victims 
of oppression and slaughter from any and all 
tribes of Indians who chanced to come along, 
and finally yielded to a cruel fate by betaking 
themselves to the Far West. 

The territory now forming the County of 
Champaign, with all contiguous thereto for 
many miles in all directions, was, up to the 
year 1819, held and occupied after the fash- 
ion of Indian occupancy, by what was known 
as the Kickapoo tribe of Indians, and had been 
so held by them for more than fifty years, 
and their ownership was recognized by con- 
temporaneous tribes of Indians and military 
authorities, French, English and American. 

In all the Indian wars with the oncoming 
whites, this Illinois country, so peopled, con- 
tributed its share of red warriors to stay the 
irresistible wave; and the Miamis, Pottawat- 
omies and Kickapoos formed part of the red 
host which, under Little Turtle, overcame St. 
Clair at Fort Recovery, and were, in turn, 
vanquished by Wayne three years later on 
the Maumee. These same warriors, with the 
Miamis, met Harrison in 1811 at the mouth of 
the Vermilion and were, later, under the 
Prophet, vanquished by him at Tippecanoe. 
The Twightwees and Pottawatomies attacked 
Captain Zachary Taylor at Fort Harrison, above 
Terre Haute, and were driven back.(') It was 
to subdue these Indians that General Hopkins, 
in October, 1812, made his bootless campaign 
into this country, and that the Illinois Rang- 
ers, under Colonel Russell and Governor Ed- 
wards, in the same month, raided the Indian 
country as far as Peoria. 

These same Indians met Wayne at Fort 
Greenville in 1795 and entered into a treaty 
of amity, only to violate every provision of it 
before 1812. It was only after they re- 
inforced by British troops and under British 



nies." "The Last of the Illinois," by Judge Ca- 
ton, page 12. 

(i)'Fort Harrison was erected by the forces 
under Governor Harrison, while on their way 
from Vincennes to the Prophet's Town, during 
the memorable Tippecanoe campaign; and, by 
unanimous request of all the officers, was chris- 
tened after the name o their commander. It 
was enclosed with palisades, and officers and 
soldiers' barracks, and defended at two angles 
with two block houses." H. W. Beckwith's "Il- 
linois and Indiana Indians," page 134. 




640 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



officers had been repeatedly beaten around 
Lake Erie, that they became innocuous and 
tractable. C 1 ) 

General Harrison, as representative of the 
United States, December 30, 1805, held a 
treaty with the Piankeshaws, a branch of the 
Miamis, by which they ceded to the Govern- 
ment what is known as the "Vincennes Tract," 
embracing a large territory (2,600,000 acres), 
now mostly embraced within the counties of 
Edgar, Clark and Crowford.( 2 ) 

The boundaries of this tract, which were well 
known and respected by both parties to the 
treaty, were surveyed a few years thereafter, 
and may be seen upon many maps of Illinois 
to this date. Prior tq 1819 settlements were 
made by the whites within it as far north 
as the apex of the tract, which is still shown 
projecting itself like a wedge into the south 
part of Vermilion County. 

At that date, all the territory of Illinois and 
Wisconsin, north of a line crossing the State 
from Paris to Fort Edwards on the Mississippi 
River, except the military posts, was undis- 
puted Indian territory forbidden to all others. 

This swift and advancing white occupancy 
was suggestive to government agents of fur- 
ther purchases of Indian territory, and there 
followed the treaty already alluded to as the 
Edwardsville treaty, signed on July 30, 
1819; and one, a month later, entered into 
at Vincennes by a smaller division of the 
Kickapoos, known as the tribes of the Ver- 
milion River, who claimed some exclusive 



use of this immediate section embracing the 
County of Vermilion and the east part of 
Champaign. ( J ) 

By these treaties all claims to this part of 
Illinois, adverse to the claims of the aggres- 
sive and resolute Anglo-Saxon, represented in 



( 1 )"In the desperate plans of Tecumthe, the 
Kickapgps took an active part. The tribe 
caug-ht the infection at an early day of those 
troubles; and in 1806 Governor Harrison sent 
Captain William Prince to the Vermilion towns 
with a speech addressed to all the warriors and 
chiefs of the Kickapoo tribe, giving Captain 
Prince further instructions to proceed to the 
villages of the prairie bands, if, after having 
delivered the speech at the Vermilion towns, he 
discovered there would be no danger to himself 
in proceeding beyond. The speech, -which was 
full of good words and precautionary advice, 
had little effect; and shortly after the mission 
of Captain Prince, the Prophet foundy means to 
bring the whole of the Kickapoos entirely un- 
der his influence." H. W. Beckwith's "Illinois 
and Indiana Indians," page 131. 

( 2 )"The Kickanoos fought in great numbers 
and with frenzied courage at the battle of Tip- 
pecanoe. They early sided w}th the British in 
the war that was declared between that power 
and the United States, the following June, and 
sent out many war parties, that kept the settle- 
ments in Indiana and Illinois in constant peril- 
while other warriors of their tribe participated 
in almost every battle fought during this wnr 
along the western frontier." H. W. Beckwith's 
"Illinois and Indiana Indians," page 133. 



(^"Within the limits of the territory defined 
by the treaty at Edwardsville, in 1819, the Kick- 
apoos, for generations before that time, had 
many villages, The principal of these were Kicka- 
po-go-oui, on the west bank of the Wabash, near 
Hutsonville, Crawford County, Illinois, and 
known in the early days of the Northwest Ter- 
ritory, as Musquiton, (Mascoutine) ; another on 
both sides of the Vermilion River, at its conflu- 
ence with the Wabash. This last village was 
destroyed by Major Hamtramck, in October, 
1790, whose military forces moved up the river 
from Vincennes to create a diversion in favor 
of Gen. Harmer, then leading the main attack 
against the Miami town at Ft. Wayne, and other 
Indian villages in that vicinity. Higher up the 
Vermilion were other Kickapoo towns, particu- 
larly the one. some four miles west of Danville, 
and near the mouth of the Middle Fork. The 
remains of one of the most extensive burial 
grounds in the Wabash Valley, still attest the 
magnitude of this once populous city; and, al- 
though the village site has been in cultivation 
for over fifty years, every recurring year the 
plowshare turns up arrow-points, stone-axes, 
gun-flints, gun-locks, knives, silver brooches, 
or other mementoes of its former inhabitants. 
These people were greatly attached to the, coun- 
try watered by the Vermilion and its tributa- 
ries; Governor Harrison found a difficult task to 
reconcile them to ceding it away. In his letter 
to the Secretary of War, of December, 10, 1809, 
referring to his efforts to induce the Kickapoos 
to part with it, the Governor says he 'was ex- 
tremely anxious that the extinguishment of the 
title should extend as high up as the Vermilion 
River, but it was objected to because it would 
include a Kickapoo village. This small tract of 
about twenty miles square is one of the most 
beautiful that can be conceived, and is, more- 
over, believed to contain a very rich copper 
mine. I have, myself, frequently seen very rich 
specimens of the copper, one of which I sent to 
Mr. Jefferson in 1802. The Indians were so ex- 
tremely jealous of any search being made for 
this mine, that traders were always cautioned 
not to approach the hills which were supposed 
to contain the mine. 

"The Kickapoos had other villages on the Em- 
barras, some miles west of Charleston, and still 
other about the head-waters of the Kaskaskia. 
During the period when the territory west of 
the Mississippi belonged to Spain, her subjects 
residing at St. Louis carried on considerable 
trade among the Indians eastward of the Mis- 
sissippi, particularly the Kickapoos, near the 
head-waters of the Kaskaskia. Further north- 
ward they had still other villages, among them 
one toward the head-waters of Sugar Creek, a 
tributary of the Sangamon River, near the 
southwest corner of McLean County. The Kick- 
apoos had, besides, villages west of Logansport 
and Lafayette, in the groves upon the prai- 
ries, and finally, a great capital village near 
what is well known as 'Old Town,' timber in 
West Township, McLean County, Illinois. These 
last were particularly obnoxious to the pioneer 
settlers, of Kentucky, because the Indians, living 
or finding a refuge in them, made frequent 
and exasperating raids across the Ohio, where 
they would murder men and women, and carry 
off captive children, to say nothing of the les- 
ser crimes of burning houses and stealing hors- 
es." H. W. Beckwith's "Illinois and Indiana 
Indians," page 125. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



641 



this case by the sons of Pennsylvania, Ohio 
and Kentucky, whose fathers had fought out 
the claims of their race to any place upon the 
continent, with these same Indians at the 
Fallen Timbers, at Fort Meigs and at the 
Thames, were forever abandoned. So far as 
is known, these treaties were well observed 
on the part of the Indians, who soon there- 
after removed to the West, a small remnant 
remaining about the headwaters of the Sanga- 
mon and Mackinaw Rivers. 

The removal of the former rightful owners 
did not, however, put an end to Indian visits 
nor to a partial occupancy, though it did re- 
move from the adventurous pioneer the fear 
of hostile encounters. He knew that the suc- 
cess of American arms had established in the 
savage breast a wholesome fear of the white 
man's resources, and that there was some prob- 
ability of the observance of treaties of peace. 

Later the Pottawatomies of the Kankakee, in 
their annual hunts, regularly visited this 
country, as they had probably done for ages 
before. It was these latter Indians, with the 
addition of an occasional visitor from other 
tribes, who were known to the earlier settlers 
of this county, as hereinafter told. 

That this county was often visited by these 
people, and that the immediate site of Ur- 
bana and other favorite camping places on 
the Okaw, the Sangamon and the Salt Fork, 
were the scenes of many a camp and bivouac, 
there is abundant proof in the traditions of 
the early settlers of this county, some of 
whom yet remain to verify, from their own 
recollections, the truth of this claim. C 1 ) 

But a few years since and plainly to be 
seen until the white man's plow had turned 
up the sod and effaced the evidences of their 
occupancy were many Indian trails across 
the prairies; and it is within the memory of 
many now living, as well as attested by the 
well remembered statements heard from 



OV'They (the Pottawatomies) always trav- 
eled in Indian Hie, upon well beaten trails, con- 
necting- by the most direct routes, prominent 
points and trading- posts. These native high- 
ways served as guides to early settlers, who 
followed them with as much confidence as w_e 
now do the roads laid out and worked by civi- 
lized man. 

"I have the means of approximating 1 the time 
when they (the Pottawatomies) came into ex- 
clusive possession here. That occurred upon the 
total extinction of the Illinois, which must have 
been somewhere between 1766 and 1770." 
"Sketch of the Pottawatomies," by Judge Ca- 
ton, page 12. 



early settlers, that the corn-hills of the In- 
dian occupants were found not far from the 
site of the public square in Urbana, as late 
as 1832. 

Many yet remember a fine spring of water 
which came from the bluff, two or three rods 
south of the stone bridge on Mlain Street, 
which was obliterated by being covered with 
earth only a- few years since. This spring af- 
forded an abundance of water to the camp- 
ers in the edge of the timber, as it did to the 
families of William Tompkins and Isaac 
Busey, who afterwards took possession of the 
site for their home, though they frequently 
shared it with these returning Indian visitors. 
This was a point having great attractions for 
the latter. 

Indian trinkets and ornaments of bone and 
metal were often picked up in the neighbor- 
hood of this spring by the whites, after settle- 
ments were established here.and the bones of 
game animals, strewn over the ground, 
showed a long and extensive occupancy of 
the locality, for camping purposes, before the 
white occupancy. 

A favorite resort of the Indians upon the 
Okaw was a place near that stream about half 
a mile north of the village of Sadorus, and 
upon the east bank of the stream. There 
they often camped in the autumn and awaited 
the coming of deer and other game, when 
driven by the prairie fires from the open coun- 
try into the timber. To this day the plow 
upon that ground turns up stone-axes and ar- 
row-heads, left there by these long ago tenants: 
of the prairies. The cabinet of Captain G. W. 
B. Sadorus contains many of these and other 
relics. Even after the settlement of the coun- 
try, the Indians followed the practice of here 
awaiting the annual coming of their prey. 

Many were the incidents told by the earli- 
est settlers about the Big Grove few of whom 
yet remain in connection with the visits made 
here by the Pottawatomies, which continued 
for many years after the first occupancy by 
the whites. The prairies and groves of this 
county, as well as the neighboring counties 
of Illinois, were favorite hunting-grounds of 
the people of this tribe, whose own country 
was along the shores of Lake Michigan, as 
they had been of the former occupants and 
claimants, the Kickapoos, who had relin- 
quished their rights. 



642 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNT 



, 



Not only w v as this region esteemed by those 
people on account of the game with which it 
J abounded, but it yielded to their cultivation 
abundant returns in cereals and vegetables. 
.Its winters were not so long and much less 
rigorous than were those of the lake regions, 
so that the red visitors of the pioneers of 
Champaign and Vermilion counties were not 
rarities. No complaint has come down to the 
enquirers of later years of any hostile or un- 
friendly acts from these people; but, on the 
contrary, from all accounts they avoided do- 
ing any harm and were frequently helpful" to 
the newcomers. 

Our early settlers around and in these tim- 
ber belts and groves well remembered many of 
their Indian visitors by name, and the writer 
has listened with great interest to many en- 
thusiastically told stories from them of per- 
sonal contact with these people. Particular 
mention was made by many of a Potta- 
watomie chief named "Shemauger," as pro- 
nounced by them, who was also known by the 
name of "Old Soldier." 0) Shemauger often vis- 
ited the site of Urbana after the whites came, 
and for some years after 1824. He claimed 
it as his birth-place, and told the early settlers 
that the family home, at the time of his birth, 
was near a large hickory tree, then growing 
upon a spot north of Main Street and a few 
rods west of Market Street. He professed 
great love for this location as his birth-place 
and the camping-ground of his people for 
many years. At the time of the later visits 
of Shemauger there was not only the hickory 
tree, but a large wild cherry tree standing 
about where the hall of the Knights of Pyth- 
ias is now situated. Besides these trees, there 
were others in the neighborhood of the creek, 
which made this a favorite and most conven- 
ient and comfortable camping place for the 
Indians; and, from what is known of the 
habits of these people, it is not improbable 
that the chief was correct in the claim made 
upon Urbana as his birth-place. 

It is remembered of Shemauger that he 
would sometimes come in company with a large 
retinue of his tribe and sometimes with his 
family only, when he would remain for months 
in camp at points along the creek. The win- 



( 1 )This name is spelled "Shemagua" where 
signed to treaties made by this tribe, and in 
the language of the Pottawatomies, means "Old 
Soldier." by which name he was also known. 



ter of 1831-32, these Indians, to the number of 
fifteen or twenty, remained in their camp near 
the big spring on what, of late years, has been 
known as the Stewart farm, in the neighbor- 
hood of Henry Dyson's, about two miles north 
of Urbana. In another chapter is told the 
story of the death of Isham Cook, and of the 
kindness to his family of a band of Indians 
who were encamped on the creek not far from 
the encampment of the next winter, above al- 
luded to. 

Another favorite camping ground of She- 
mauger was at a point known as the "Clay 
Bank," on the northwest quarter of Section 
3 of Urbana Township sometimes, called "Cle- 
ment's Ford" towards the north end of the 
Big Grove. One early settler (Amos Johnson, 
who died twenty years since) related to the 
writer his observations of these people while 
there in camp. His father occupied a cabin 
not far away and the family paid frequent 
visits to the camp out of curiosity, fearing 
nothing. Some of the braves amused them- 
selves by cutting, with their tomahawks, mor- 
tices into two contiguous trees, into which 
mortices they inserted poles cut the proper 
length. These poles, so placed horizontally at 
convenient distances from each other, made a 
huge living ladder, reaching from the ground 
to a great height. Up this ladder the Indians 
would climb, when the weather was warm 
and sultry, to catch the breezes and to escape 
the annoyance of the mosquitoes. He saw the 
bucks thus comfortably situated upon a scaf- 
fold in the tops of the trees, while their squaws 
were engaged in the domestic duties of the 
camp on the ground below. Thirty-five years 
or more ago trees from near the Clay Bank 
were cut and sawed into lumber at the nearby 
mill of John Smith, when these mortices, over- 
grown by many years' growth of the trees, 
were uncovered, showing the work of these 
Indians forty years before, and corroborating 
the story as related to the writer. 

Shemauger told another early settler (James 
SV. Boyd, who died many years since), or in his 
hearing, that many years before there came in 
this country a heavy fall of snow, the depth 
of which he indicated by holding his ramrod 
horizontally above his head, and said that 
many wild beasts, elk, deer and buffalo, per- 
ished under the snow. To this fact within his 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



643 



knowledge, he attributed the presence of many 
bones of animals then seen on the prairies. 

Shemauger was remembered by those who 
knew him personally as a very large, bony 
man, always kind and helpful to the white 
settlers. It was also said that, upon being 
asked to do so, he would, with a company of 
followers, attend the cabin-raisings of the early 
settlers and assist them in the completion of 
their cabin homes. All accounts of Shemauger 
represent him as kind to the whites and am- 
bitious for the elevation of his people. One 
early settler (Jesse B. Webber), at the Big 
Grove, who came here in 1830 and remained 
all of that winter before making himself a 
home, spent much of his time in the company 
of the chief and formed for him a high esteem. 

Shemauger was, in 1830, about seventy-five 
years of age, and had, in his time, participated 
in many of the Indian wars with the whites, 
and, with this experience, would gladly remain 
at peace with them. The Kankakee Valley 
was the home of the chief during the last years 
of his stay in Illinois, and he was seen there 
by those who made trips to Chicago. Follow- 
ing the Black Hawk War his tribe or the 
remnant of them remaining east of the Missis- 
sippi River went west and were seen here 
no more. 

In the summer of 1832, before the organiza- 
tion of the county and the fixing of its county- 
seat, when the site of Urbana was, perhaps, 
only what it had been for generations before 
an Indian camping ground a large num- 
ber of Indians came and camped around the 
spring, above alluded to as situated near the 
stone bridge. It happened to be at the time of 
the excitement caused by the Black Hawk War, 
and caused not a little apprehension among 
the few inhabitants around the Big Grove, al- 
though the presence in the company of many 
women and children of the Indians should have 
been an assurance of no hostile errand. A 
meeting of the white settlers was had and 
the removal of the strange visitors determined 
upon as a measure of safety. A committee, 
consisting of Stephen Boyd, Jacob Smith, Gabe 
Rice and Elias Stamey, was appointed by the 
white settlers, charged with the duty of hav- 
ing a "talk" with the red men. The commit- 
tee went to the camp, and mustering their lit- 
tle knowledge of their language, announced to 
the Indians that they must "puck-a-chee," which 



they understood to be a command to them to 
leave the country. The order was at once 
obeyed. The Indians gathered up their po- 
nies, papooses and squaw's and left, greatly to 
the relief of the settlers. C) 

During the Black Hawk War, and before the 
passage through the country of the volunteers 
from Indiana and the Wabash country, many 
wild reports 'of Indian depredations nearby, 
and the reports that hostiles were encamped 
as near as on the Sangamon River and at 
the Mink Grove, spread from cabin to cabin 
through the country, and made a general stam- 
pede from- the country imminent. Like reports 
of threatened danger were rife among the San- 
gamon settlers; but in their case the supposed 
hostiles were camped lower down the river, 
near the Piatt settlement. So great was the 
alarm in the latter case that all gathered at 
the cabin of Jonathan Maxwell, where the men 
made defensive preparations against the ap- 
prehended attack. (*) 

It was soon ascertained in all the settlements 
that the reports were false, the supposed "hos- 
tiles" being, in fact, fugitive bands of friendly 
Indians who were running away from danger 
in the northern part of the State, as unwilling 
as the white inhabitants for the happening 
of hostilities, Men who were then children in 
the settlements have related to the writer how 
these wild reports, told from cabin to cabin, 
made their hair stand on end, and of the hasty 
preparations of the heads of families for flight 
to the eastern settlements, in view of the 
possible danger to their families. 

The Nox family settled near where the vil- 
lage of Sidney is situated, about 1828, and then 
and for some years thereafter, the Pottawato- 
mies in considerable numbers frequently 
camped near their house, and at other places 
along the Salt Fork. While thus encamped 
on one occasion, on the north side of the 
creek, near the residence of William Peters, 
one of their chief men died. The tribe was 



( l ) "During the spring and autumn, the Indi- 
ans (Delawares, Kickapoos and Pottawatomies), 
occupied themselves in hunting through the 
country, killing squirrels and wild turkeys in the 
groves, deer and grouse on the prairies and 
bear on the Little Wabash River. About the 
first of March they usually returned toward the 
Kankakee for the purpose of making maple su- 
gar." Urbana (111.), Democrat, December 21, 
1867. 

( 2 )The story of this affair was told the writ- 
er by James W. Boyd, then a child^ at his fath- 
er's house. 



644 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



about to emigrate to the west, and wishing 
to transport the body of their dead chief 
thither, they applied to William Nox and Mr. 
Hendricks, who were somewhat skilled in the 
use of tools, to manufacture for the deceased 
a white man's coffin. This they did by splitting 
from a log some thin puncheons and working 
them into suitable shape. The finished cof- 
fin so well pleased the braves that they gave 
to each workman a nicely tanned buckskin. 
Upon their removal soon after to the West, the 
coffined body was taken with them.C) 

It is safe to conjecture that many of -the 
visits of these people to this locality were the 
result of a sentimental love for the scenes 
of their early years, to which feeling the wild 
Indian is as greatly subject as his more im- 
pressible white brother. 

"It is the spot I came to seek 
My father's ancient burial-place, 

Ere from these vales, ashamed and weak, 
Withdrew our wasted race. 

It is the spot I knew it well 

Of which our old traditions tell." 

About 1832 a large body of Indians (be- 
lieved to have been Miamis), nine hundred 
in number, in removing from their reserva- 
tion in Indiana to the Western Territo- 
ries, passed through Champaign County, 
crossing the Salt Fork at Prather's Ford, a 
mile or so above the village of St. Joseph, 
thence by the north side of the Big Grove 
to Newcomb's Ford, and by Cheney's Grove. 
It is said the caravan extended from Prath- 
er's Ford to Adkins' Point as the northern 
extremity of Big Grove was then called. 
These Indians were entirely friendly to the 
whites and encamped two days at the Point 
for rest, where the settlers gathered around 
them for trade and to enjoy their sports. 

In the winter of 1852-53 came a company 
of braves from the West through Urbana, on 
their way to Washington to have a "talk" 
with the President. While stopping here one 
of their number sickened and died, and was 
buried in the old cemetery at Urbana. His 
comrades greatly mourned him, and planted 
at the head of his grave a board, upon which 
were divers cabalistic decorations. After 



committing his body to the grave his com- 
rades blazed a road with their tomahawks 
to the Bone Yard branch, to guide the dead 
man's thirsty spirit to the water. 

Early white settlers were attracted to ob- 
serve the mode of sepulture practiced by 
some of the Indian sojourners here. In the 
timber at what was called "Adkins' Point," 
at the north extremity of the Big Grove, was 
a place of deposit for the bodies of their 
dead. Instead of burying their dead in the 
ground, they first wrapped them in blankets, 
around which bark stripped from a tree was 
placed, tying the whole tightly together with 
thongs cut from rawhide. The bodies were 
then bound with withes to horizontal limbs 
of large trees. Fifteen or twenty might 
have been thus seen suspended at one 
time. As the encasing blankets and bark 
coffins rotted away, the corpses would drop 
to the ground. It was the custom to deposit 
the ornaments of the dead Indian with him, 
and rings, bells and brooches of silver were 
sometimes, found there. 0) 

After the close of the Black Hawk War, 
about 1833, the Government insisted upon the 
removal from Illinois of all Indians, of what- 
ever name or nationality, to prevent a recur- 
rence of Indian troubles east of the Mississippi, 
and they were seen here no more. 

Nothing remains on the face of this coun- 
try now to remind us of the fact that, less 
than one century since, it was in the hands 
of a powerful and aggressive people who suc- 
cessfully bade defiance to the most powerful 
nations of Europe for two hundred years. 
They built no temples nor monuments as re- 
minders of their presence. The few roads 
or trails over the prairies which marked their 
lines of travel, have either been obliterated 
by the plow of the white man or have been 
covered over by the grades of railroads or 
wagon roads, made for his convenience. Oc- 
casionally a stone arrow-head or axe is picked 
up in the haunts of the. red man hereabouts; 
but, with these exceptions, the memory of 
him has well nigh perished. In the usual and 
looked-for course of events, the time is not 
far off when the last of the race will have 
passed to the "Happy Hunting Ground" of In- 



(^Th.ese facts were told the writer by Mr. 
Solomon Nox, who died some years since. 



( 1 )For this statement the writer is indebted to 
information received from Amos Johnson many 
years since. 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



645 



dian tradition, and the memory of them will 
live only in the written story now almost 
closed. 

The Illinois Indians were all placed upon 
reservations in Eastern Kansas, where they 
remained until after the organization of the 
Territory and their lands were wanted for 
farms for white men, when all were remitted 
to the Indian Territory upon small allot- 
ments. (') 



CHAPTER V. 
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

SIZE OF COUNTY AND POSITION TOPOGRAPHY KAS- 
KASKIA RIVER SALT FORK SANGAMON GRAND 
PRAIRIE GROVES OF TIMBER AND THEIR ORIGIN 
GLACIERS BOULDERS DRAINAGE SWAMP LANDS 
THE PRAIRIE IN SUMMER AND IN WINTER 
COAL DEPOSITS WANTING ARTESIAN WELLS 
SINK-HOLES DELUSIONS OF FRENCH AS TO PRE- 
CIOUS METALS BEAVER DAMS EXTREMES OF HEAT 
AND COLD THE "COLD MONDAY" OF 1836 THE 
DEEP SNOW THE MORAINES OF THE COUNTY. 

By section lines Champaign County is 
thirty-six miles from north to south, and 
twenty-eight from east to west; although a 
close survey would show these distances to 
vary somewhat, owing to the excess or diminu- 
tion in size of some sections. 

The county lies almost wholly in the survey 
made from the Third Principal Meridian, and 
embraces Townships seventeen to twenty-two 
north of the Base Line, in Ranges seven, eight, 
nine, ten and eleven east of the meridian. It 
also embraces one-half of Range fourteen west 
of the Second Principal Meridian, for its en- 
tire length north and south. 

The co'unty is bisected by the fortieth par- 
allel of latitude north from the equator, which 
crosses the county about four miles south of 
the court house, and it lies wholly between 
the eleventh and twelfth degrees of longi- 
tude west from Washington. 

The point of the greatest altitude in the 



county, as ascertained by the surveys of the 
Illinois Central Railroad, is near the village 
of Ludlow, in the north part of the county, 
being 100 feet above the level of Lake Michi- 
gan, or 830 feet above the ocean level. A 
topographic survey, made under the direction 
of Prof. C. W. Rolfe, of the University of Illi- 
nois, in 1893, found the village of Gifford to 
occupy the highest point in the county of any 
railroad station, being 810 feet above sea level. 
The lowest point in the county, as ascertained 
by .this survey, is where the Salt Fork( l ) 
leaves the county about two miles northeast 
of the village of Homer, in Ogden Township, 
which is shown to be 600 feet above sea level, 
or 210 feet lower than at Gifford. ( 2 ) The aver- 
age altitude of the county above the ocean 
level is about 718 feet, as shown by the above 
mentioned surveys. 

Within its territory the Kaskaskia River, 
which empties into the Mississippi, the Em- 
barras, which empties into the Wabash, the 
Salt Fork of the Vermilion and the Little Ver- 



( 1 )"The Kickapoos of the Vermilion were the 
last to emigrate. They lingered in Illinois on 
the waters of the Embarras, the Vermilion and 
its northwest tributaries, until 1832 and 1833, 
when they joined a body of their people upon 
a reservation set apart for their use west of Fort 
Leayenworth." H. W. Beckwith's "Illinois and 
Indiana Indians," page 137. 



(^So called because of the salt springs found 
upon it near its junction with the Vermilion, 
which were largely used by Indians and early 
white settlers for their supply of salt. 

( 2 )The following table of altitudes of different 
points in this county is taken from a bulletin 
issued from Illinois State Laboratory of Natur- 
al History in 1895, and is the result of observa- 
tions made under the direction of Prof. C W 
Rolfe, of the University of Illinois. The fig- 
ures show the elevation of the point above 
the sea-level, as shown by observations taken, 
(if the point is a railroad station), from the 
level of the track; if not a railroad sta- 
tion, the location of the postofSce in the years 
1891 and 1892 was the point of observation 
For the sections named in the table, the eleva- 
tion of the highest point in the section is given: 

Town. Altitude. Town. Altitude. 

Bondville _. 718 Penfleld 728 

Broadlands 682 Pesotum 715 

Champaign 737 Philo ...727 

Deers 688 Rantoul 756 

Dillsburgh 744 Rising 731 

Dewey 731 Sadorus 691 

Dickerson 745 Savoy 737 

Fisher 721 Seymour 700 

Foosland 737 St. Joseph 671 

Gifford 810 Staley 745 

Homer 661 Sidney 649 

Howard 741 Thomasboro 734 

Ivesdale 679 Tolono 733 

Leverett 731 Tomlinson 727 

Ludlow 770 Urbana 713 

Long-view 678 Flatville 710 

Mayview 687 Parkville 660 

Mahomet 709 Royal 725 

Myra 684 Sellers 718 

Ogden 673 Shiloh Center 730 

Sec. 17, T. 22 N., R. 10 E. 820 

13, " R. 11 E. 750 

29, T. 21 N., R. 14 W. 820 

3, T. 18 N., R. 8 K. 755 

3, " R. 7 E. 690 

36, " R. 9 E. 770 

8, T. 17, N., R 14 W. 731 



646 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



milion River also confluents of the Wabash 
take their rise; while the Sangamon River, 
which discharges finally through the Illinois 
into the Mississippi, and the Middle Fork of 
the Vermilion, both take their rise upon con- 
tiguous lands in McLean and Ford Counties, 
and, passing through Champaign, drain con- 
siderable portions of it. It will thus be seen 
that the western third of the county drains 
into the Mississippi, while the remainder drains 
to the Wabash. 

It will be inferred from this rehearsal of 
facts that, while the lands of the county are 
mostly level, they are higher than those of 
neighboring counties east, south and west of 
it. Only one point between Ludlow and Chi- 
cago Loda is higher than the former, and 
that by only ten feet. 

The county is situated entirely within what 
is known as the "Grand Prairie of the West;" 
so" called by the early French explorers, on 
account of its great expanse, extending as they 
found from the forests along the western side 
of the Wabash, on the east, to the Rocky 
Mountains on the west, with but limited tim- 
ber belts and isolated groves between. (*) 

It has been estimated by early observers of 
the county that about one-fifth of the surface 
of Champaign County was originally covered 
with native forests, but this estimate was 



(*) "Grand Prairie. Under this general name 
Is embraced the prairie country lying- between 
the waters which fall into the Mississippi, and 
those which enter the Wabash River. It does 
not consist of one vast tract, boundless to the 
vision, and uninhabitable for want of timber, 
but is made up of continuous tracts, with 
points of timber projecting inward, and long 
arms of prairie extending between the creeks 
and smaller streams. The southern points of the 
Grand Prairie are found in the northeastern 
parts of Jackson County, and extend in a north- 
eastern course between the streams of various 
widths, from one to twelve miles, through Per- 
ry, Washington, Jefferson, Marion, the eastern 
part of Fayette, Efflngham, through the western 
parts of Coles, into Champaign and Iroquois 
counties, wliere it becomes connected with the 
prairies that project eastward from the Illinois 
River and its tributaries. A large arm lies in 
Marion County, between the waters" of Crooked 
Creek and the Bast fork of the Kaskaskia Riv- 
er, where the Vincennes road passes through in 
its longest direction. 

"Much the largest part of the Grand Prairie 
is gently undulating; but of the southern por- 
tion considerable tracts are flat, and of rather 
inferior soil. No insurmountable obstacle ex- 
ists to its future population. No portion of it 
is more than six or eight miles distant from 
timber, and coal in abundance, is found in vari- 
ous parts. Those who have witnessed the 
changes produced upon a prairie surface within 
twenty or thirty years, consider these extensive 
prairies as offering no serious impediment to the 
future growth of the state." Peck's "Gazetteer 
of Illinois" (1837), page 21. 



probably too large. The areas of native for- 
ests were usually confined to the courses of 
streams, although some isolated groves were 
found upon high points of land, as at Linn 
Grove, in Sidney Township, and Mink Grove, 
in Rantoul Township. The largest bodies of 
native timber were those found along the San- 
gamon River, in the west part of the county, 
and upon the Salt Fork, including the Big 
Grove at the geographical center of the county, 
and the timber along that stream in the east- 
ern part.O) 

The presence here and there all over the 
State of isolated groves and belts of timber 
land, with the well known tendency of all 
lands to revert to a forest condition, is not 
hard to understand and explain. It will be 
seen by observation that, wherever such a 
grove or belt of timber is found, there will 
also be found a protector or proximate cause 
in the presence of water, either in the form 
of ponds or of a running stream, generally 
situated upon the south or west side of 
such bodies of timber. The explanation is 
found in the well-known fact that the au- 
tumnal winds of the country, which, before 
its settlement and subjection, drove before 
them the prairie fires, came from the south 
and west, and if no obstruction was met In 
the way of a stream or wet marsh, drove the 
fires widespread and destructive, in advance 
of them. Thus, consult any of the groves or 
belts of timber in Champaign County, as the 
Mink Grove at Rantoul; the Linn Grove in 
Sidney Township; the Lost Grove in Ayers 
Township; the Big Grove at Urbana; the Bur 
Oak Grove or Hickory Grove in St. Joseph 
and Ogden Townships; or the belts of timber 
known as Salt Fork timber or the Sangamon 
timber, as they were found by the first com- 
ers, and it will be seen that all of thes,e bodies 
of timber are protected upon the south or 
west side or both, in the case of the iso- 
lated groves by ponds of water or wet prai- 
ries, or in case of the timber belts, by the 
running streams. In the case of the Salt 
Fork, both from the head waters of the west 
branch, in Somer Township, to the bend to 
the eastward at Urbana, and from the junc- 



(i) "Where a tough sward of the prairie is once 
formed, timber will not take root. Destroy this 
by the plough, or by any other method, and it 
is soon converted into forest land." Peck's "Ga- 
zetteer of Illinois" (1837), page 8. 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



647 



tion of the two principal branches near the 
village of St. Joseph, south to near Sidney, 
the timber line is close to the stream on the 
west, while upon the opposite side, in both 
instances, for a mile or more, the timber, in 
the greatest luxuriance, stretches out to the 
east. The Big Grove owes its existence as 
clearly to the protection given on its western 
border by a stream of living water, as it does 
its destruction to the coming of the white set- 
tler. So, the fine body of timber along the 
east and north sides of the Salt Fork, from 
St. Joseph to the junction of the creek with 
its fellows in the formation of the Vermilion 
River, owes its existence to the protection 
given against the attacks of the fire fiend 
driven from the south and west annually, since 
the growth of the prairie grass upon which it 
fed. These ponds and streams have said to 
the Fiend, for all these ages, "Thus far shalt 
thou come and no farther." So the county 
owes the presence of these groves, which did 
so much for it by the invitation to early set- 
tlement, to the streams and ponds near their 
margins, which ponds, in the fullness of time, 
yielded to the early settler their quota of 
fever and ague. 

Many locations in the county furnish abun- 
dant evidence of the work done by that great- 
est of transportation agencies, , the glacier of 
the unknown past. Boulders from many dif- 
ferent ledges in the far north, and of every 
size, from the pebble found in the gravel-pit 
to the large boulder of many tons, are found 
scattered over the surface of the prairie or 
are dug from the ground where excavations 
are made. It is not uncommon to find boul- 
ders of considerable size upon the prairie, but 
the pebble is rarely found except in layers 
of gravel and sand, underlying some land 
swell, in the prairie or timber land, generally 
the latter, and near some stream, the position 
and form of the deposits showing unmistak- 
ably the agency of the floods of the past in 
shaping the deposit, as well as in preparing 
the material for it. The largest of these 
strange visitors seen by the writer are two 
immense boulders, one in the north part of 
the county, lying upon the lawn in front of 
the home of John Roughton in Ludlow Town- 
ship, and the other in the sugar camp of the 
late William Sadorus, near the Okaw River in 
Sadorus Township. Either of these rocks 



would probably weigh not less than ten tons. 
Another stone, less in size but of immense 
proportions, was dug up and removed from 
the cellar of the Kerr residence, just beyond 
the northern limits of Urbana, in Section 8. 
Another stone, said to be larger than either of 
those above mentioned, is to be seen upon 
the northeast quarter of Section 28, in Philo 
Township, where Dr. Bartholow, who once 
owned the farm, dug deeply about the mon- 
ster, enough to learn that it was much larger 
below than above the surface, and altogether 
too large to be removed or sunk out of the 
way of the plow.P) 

Many ridges and knolls in the county are, 
by authorities upon geology, attributed to the 
agency of the glaciers, and are called "mo- 
raines," notably such elevations as the Blue 
Mound in Stanton Township. How the regu- 
lar layers of the sand and gravel found in 
these deposits are to be reconciled with the 
force and violence necessary to the creation, 
by glacial action, of moraines does not appear 
from this theory. 

The limestone boulders found on the sur- 
face well served the purpose of early settlers 
in the manufacture of lime, for they were 
gathered up in early times and burned in 
extemporized kilns, for building purposes. One 
of these kilns existed in the bluff a few feet 
north of the Wabash depot in Urbana, fifty 
years since. No ledge of rock of any kind 
has ever fallen under the eye of the writer 
in Champaign County, and it is almost cer- 



( x ) "Scattered over the surface of our prai- 
ries, are large masses of rock, of granite for- 
mation, roundish in form, usually called by the 
people "lost rocks." They will weigh from one 
thousand to ten or twelve thousand pounds, and 
are entirely detached, and frequently are found 
several miles distant from any quarry. Nor 
has there ever been a quarry of granite discov- 
ered in the state. These stones are denominated 
bowlders, in mineralogy. That they exist in va- 
rious parts of Illinois is an undoubted truth; 
and that they are of a species of granite is 
equally true, as I have specimens to show.. They 
usually lie on the surface, or are practically im- 
bedded in the soil of our prairies, which is un- 
questionably of diluvial formation. How they 
came here is a question of difficult solution." 
Peck's "Gazetteer," (1857), page 17. 

"The lost rocks," or bowlders scattered over 
the surface of an evident diluvial deposit, are 
a curiosity. They are in great numbers 
towards the heads of the Kaskaskia and San- 
gamon rivers, and become more numerous and 
are found at various depths in the soil, as the 
traveller passes northward along the great 
prairies. Indeed the geological formation of 
the whole state, presents a rich field for inves- 
tigation in fhis science." Id., page 34. 



648 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



tain that none exists except at great distances 
below the surface. 

The original forests, which have been greatly 
depleted, and in some cases nearly destroyed, 
by the demands made upon them for farm 
uses and railroad ties, consisted of the usual 
varieties of oak, walnut, hickory, sugar and 
soft maple, linden, elm (white and red), ash, 
hackberry, sycamore and ironwood, but neither 
poplar nor beach as found in the near-by for- 
ests of Indiana. 

The surface of the county is moderately 
rolling, enough in some places to give a very 
pleasant diversity to the landscape. A sys- 
tem of irregular ridges, running in a north- 
westerly and southeasterly direction, and pass- 
ing a little south of the chief towns, marks 
the shed line dividing the Vermilion water- 
shed from those of the Sangamon, Kaskaskia 
and Embarras Rivers; the western branch of 
the latter, which takes its rise near or within 
the corporate limits of the city of Champaign, 
however, making its debouch through this 
ridge a little south of the southern limits. 
This ridge and its spurs furnish the highest 
points of elevation in the county. 

Artificial groves and orchards upon the prai- 
rie, which were planted and have grown up 
mostly within the last half century, by break- 
ing up the monotonous views of an unbroken 
prairie, have greatly changed and improved 
the appearance of the country. Very little of 
this land is so low or so level as to forbid 
artificial drainage, and very little is so broken 
by bluffs or hills as to render it incapable of 
cultivation; so that the entire surface of the 
county may be considered as tillable land, or 
such as will eventually be brought into use 
as arable or pasture land. 

Since the adoption in 1878 of the amend- 
ment of the State Constitution of 1870 (Sec- 
tion 31 of Article IV, commonly known as the 
"drainage section"), great tracts of land in the 
county, before then incapable of being culti- 
vated, have been drained by artificial ditches 
and by tiling, and are now reckoned the best, 
and have proven to be the most valuable, 
lands in the county. (') 



( 1 )The matter of drainage was, for many years, 
a serious question with the owners of wet lands 
in this county. The extent of lands needing 
drainage was a serious draw-back to the set- 
tlement of the country, the wet lands being 
avoided by home-seekers and investors alike. 
Soon after the year 1880 attention was attracted 



In this connection it may be said in refer- 
ence to the wet lands of the county, that the 
county authorities about 1853, for the purpose 
of taking advantage of the Federal and State 
legislation giving to counties all of the swamp 
and overflowed lands within their borders, ap- 
pointed Benjamin Thrasher to examine all of 
the unsold lands in the county coming within 
the definition of the Federal act, as "swamp 
and overflowed lands," and to report a de- 
scription thereof to the County Court. This 
examination having been made, it was reported 
that 85,000 acres answered to this description. 
Subsequently the title to 35,957 acres was con- 
firmed to the county. These lands were sub- 
sequently sold and the funds used, in part, 
for the erection of a court house in 1860, the 
residue being appropriated to the school fund. 
It was upon these lands that the great work 
of drainage was mostly done. 

Much has been said and written of the beau- 



to the reclaiming of wet and overflowed 
lands, and. under wise and practical legislation, 
wonders have been accomplished The cost of 
these improvements have been "immense, em- 
bracing work done by private individuals, by 
local districts organized by township authori- 
ties, and by and under the direction and su- 
pervision of the County Court. The records of 
the latter class, being within reach and intelli- 
gently kept, afford information of the cost of 
such drainage. We give below an abstract of 
the districts so organized, and the amount, in 
each case, of the assessments. It is putting the 
expense of other drainage very low to estimate 
at a sum as great, from which it will be seen 
that more than $1,000,000 have been thus expend- 
ed within the last quarter of a century in this 
county. The result is, that great ditches are in 
existence many miles in length, affording in 
most cases complete immunity from overflow 
and from the destruction of crops. The lands 
thus reclaimed are the most valuable for agri- 
cultural purposes, and average in value an 
hundred fold of the estimated value before 
drainage. 



Name of District. 



No. of Acres. 



Assess- 
ments. 

Beaver Lake 13,822 $ 55,862.03 

Kankakee 13..B55 

Big Slough 6,520 

Wild Cat 6,135 

Dry Fork Mutual 2,140 

East Lake Fork 31,735 

Embarras River 37,199 

Hensley 1,723 

Hillsbury Slough 13,091 

Kaskaskia Mutual 7,688 

KaskasKia Spl 13,931 

Little Vermilion 30,825 

Long Point 6,975 

Okaw 19,075 

Two Mile Slough 23,732 

Pesotum Slough 6,331 

Willow Branch 1,029 

Spoon River 9,960 

Black Slough 

Union Drainage, Stanton and 

Ogden 1,239 



40,783.70 
55,794.98 
38,810.00 

3,029.54 

102,186.60 

39,352.97 

446.70 

32,324.21 

5,866.68 
39,466.13 
29,074,22 
17,331.65 
25,439.08 
63,242.07 
14,143.68 

3,180.00 
30,382.62 
12,000.00 



761.84 



Total 246,706 $596,298.70 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



649 



ties of our prairie landscapes in their natural 
condition, and much has also been said and 
written of their repulsive and dreary, un- 
changed sameness. Both descriptions have in 
them much of truth, depending upon the sea- 
son of the year in which the snap-shots of 
the scenes were taken. 

No one who has traversed the unbounded 
rolling prairie of Illinois in summer, and wit- 
nessed the dazzling beauty of its flora, the 
magnificent exuberance of its vegetation, the 
limitless expanse of clear sky and rich earth, 
could write or speak otherwise than extrav- 
agantly of the impression produced; on the 
other hand, few could survey the same land- 
scape in winter, whether covered with an un- 
bronen blanket of snow, with no diversification, 
save here and there the gentle swells of the 
drear surface swept by fierce, chilling winds, 
or Jbehold it bereft of its snowy covering, pre- 
senting, in its place, the whole wide expanse 
blackened by autumnal fires, or sere and rus- 
set from winter's frost oppressive in its 
barren monotony and yet describe the scene 
in poetic language especially if use had been 
made of the prairie roads as they were usually 
found in early times. The beauty and radi- 
ance of gentle and fruitful summer attract and 
stir the imagination in one view, while the 
desolation and grim bleakness of inhospitable 
winter repel and depress in the other. As 
one has in terms of contrast described these 
scenes "The mud, snow and dreariness of 
winter, and the balmy loveliness of summer" 
the two seasons in Illinois which showed, in 
vivid forms, the extremes of the climate, and, 
as seen or experienced by the beholder, so 
impressed him. 

Another season the autumnal with its in- 
variable and terrific accompaniment, the prai- 
rie fire, should not be forgotten for the reason 
that the accompaniment no longer exists, and 
its place has been taken by the autumn har- 
vest of abundant grain from the fields where 
fires swept all before it but a few years since. 
These prairie fires have been well described 
by authors, and possessed all of grandeur and 
beauty, or terror and devastation, claimed for 
them, according as the observer was only the 
witness of the fires or the victim. In Cham- 
paign County, and from the doors and win- 
dows of residents yet in life, the prairie fires 
of story have been seen, time and again, year 
after year, and presented the same scenes of 



beauty or terror to the beholder, according as 
he and his were safe from the devouring ele- 
ment, or being pursued by the hungry flames. ( J ) 

As the prairie sod gave way v year after 
year, to the breaking plow, these phenomena 
grew less and less, and are now seen no more. 

Although several attempts at the discovery 
of coal have been made within the county, 
none have been attended with success, and 
it is generally accepted as true that avail- 
able mines do not exist under the surface of 
Champaign County. Such is the theory of 
eminent geologists. Agriculture, so rich in 
its possibilities, seems to be the only natural 
resource of wealth open to its population. 

At many places in the northeastern part 
of the county within the valley of the Middle 
Fork of the Vermilion, artesian wells have 
been sunk, from which a constant and abun- 
dant supply of pure water flows. Springs, ex- 
cept in the beds of creeks and rivers, rarely 
occur. 

A feature of many landscapes of the county, 
quite noticeable before the prairies were 
broken and drained, were the many sink holes 
found, even upon the highest grounds. These 
holes varied in size from a square rod to an 
acre or more. They were sometimes several 
feet in depth below the level of the surround- 



( x )The following editorial extract from the 
"Urbana Union," of November 9, 1854, describes 
a scene enacted upon the ground where Cham- 
paign City now stands, as seen from the edi- 
tor^s door in Race Street, Urbana: 

"The other evening a sight presented itself 
to our citizens which was grand in the ex- 
treme. At dark, a mile to the southwest of 
town, on a high ridge of prairie, there ap- 
peared a small patch of fire which was by the 
south wind swept towards the north. As it 
ran along in a northerly direction on the ridge, 
it also spread slowly towards the summit, to 
the westward, the flames mounting upwards 
in beautiful forms. At the end of about half an 
hour, the northern wing had spread two miles 
in that direction, when for a few moments the 
whole line danced for our amusement in the 
most appropriate manner, sending high up 
towards heaven its illumination and lightening 
up the varied landscape for miles around. At 
last the figure was finished and the scene closed 
by the flames becoming exhausted, when all 
again assumed its accustomed quiet." 

The author, in the autumn of 1862, with a 
party of friends was passing from the county- 
seat to Sadorus across the prairie, when a line 
of smoke appeared over the ridge to the west, 
betokening the coming fire. The country was 
then all open and covered by the summer's 
growth of grass, well seared and dry from the 
early frosts. The fire soon appeared over the 
ridge bearing down upon the party like a de- 
vouring army. Fortunately the line of the Wa- 
bash railroad was not far away and, by a rapid 
application of the whip to the team, it was 
reached and passed to safety when the terrific 
flame was but a few rods away. 



650 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



ing prairie, and, in the early times, afforded 
water for the greater part of the year, thus 
becoming useful to the early stock raiser and 
traveller. Various causes for the existence 
of these holes have been advanced, but it is 
thought that none are more reasonable than, 
the claim put forth in favor of the wild buf- 
falo which, for ages, roamed over these plains 
bfore the coming of the white man. The 
same variety of ponds are, in the remote 
West, to this day called "buffalo wallows," 
which name, originating when the habits of 
the animal were well known in those regions 
and upon the grounds where the work of ex- 
cavation was going on, may well be received 
as authoritative. (*) 

Early discoverers and explorers upon the 
American continent always pursued their In- 
vestigations with reference to the mines of 
the precious metals which might be found to 
exist in the newly found country. The suc- 
cesses of the Spanish conquerors in Peru and 
Mexico seemed to have inflamed the imagina- 
tions of all who turned the prows of their 
vessels to the westward, and the money which 
fitted out many exploring expeditions was fur- 
nished solely with reference to the possible 
mineral wealth which might be developed 
thereby. 

The early French and Spanish explorers of 
the interior of North America were always on 
the lookout for mines of the precious metals. 
The Company of the Indies, to which the King 
of France gave great privileges in the Louisi- 
ana and Illinois countries, about 1700, and 
the South Sea Company, represented by John 
Law, who succeeded the failure of Com- 
pany of the Indies, and also failed in the great 
financial disaster known as the "Mississippi 



O) A peculiar custom of the buffalo was "wal- 
lowing. In the pools of water the old fathers 
of the herd lowered themselves on one knee, 
and with the aid of their horns, soon had an 
excavation into which the water trickled form- 
ing a cool, muddy bath. From his ablution each 
arose coated with mud, allowing the patient 
successor to take his turn. Each entered the 
wallow,' threw himself flat upon his back, and 
by means of his feet and horns, violently forced 
himself around until he was completely im- 
mersed. After many buffaloes had thus im- 
mersed themselves and by adhesion, had car- 
ried away each his share of the sticky mass 
a hole two feet deep and often twenty feet in 
diameter was left, and, even to this day, marks 
the spot of a buffalo wallow. The delectable 
layer of mud soon dried upon the buffalo and 
left him encased in an impenetrable armor se- 
cure from the attacks of insects." "Historic 
Highways of America," Vol. 1, page 105, (A H 
Clark & Co., Publishers.) 



Scheme," about 1718, were very largely moved 
by the hopes of finding, in the Mississippi 
valley somewhere, the mines whose fabled 
wealth had fired the hopes of all Europe in 
the seventeenth century. In the particular 
case of the companies above mentioned, our 
Okaw River was settled upon as the one which 
rolled over "golden sands," which suspicion, 
it is said, caused it to be carefully scrutinized 
from source to mouth by eager Frenchmen. C) 
Gold was not found by these men, for the 
reason that they did not look for it in the 
right place. While digging into the yellow 
clay of its bluffs, where they hoped to de- 
velop the wealth of the country, they over- 
looked the rich prairies which border this 
stream from end to end, and out of which 
the men of this day, and of another race, 
are now turning up golden crops of useful 
cereals. 

Another physical feature, not to be omitted 
in this meager description of Champaign 
County, is the presence, here and there upon 
the smaller water-courses, of what was known 
to the early comers as "beaver dams." By 
this term it will be understood reference is 
had to those obstructions to the flow of the 
water, in early times, which were created by 
the wild beavers, once very numerous through- 
out the temperate zone of North America, and 
a fruitful source of revenue to the early hunter 
and trapper on account of the value of their 
furs.( 2 ) 



Win 1715, a man by the name of Dutigne. 
who loved a/ joke, wishing to amuse himself at 
Cadillac's (Governor of Louisiana) inordinate 
passion for discovery of mines, exhibited to 
him some pieces of ore, which contained certain 
proportions of silver, and persuaded him that 
they had been found in the neighborhood of 
the Kaskaskias. This was enough to fire Cad- 
illac's overheated imagination. Anticipating 
the realization of all his dreams, he immediate- 
ly set off for the Illinois, where, much to his 
mortification, he learned that he had been im- 
posed upon by Dutigne, to whom the decep- 
tive pieces of ore had been given by a Mexican, 
who had brought them from his country Af- 
ter an absence of eight months, spent In 
fruitless researches along the Kaskaskia, he 
returned to Mobile, where he found himself the 
laughing-stock of the community." "Colonial 
History of Louisiana," by Charles Gayarre, 
page 164. 

"Silver is supposed to exist In St. Clair 
county, two miles from Rock Spring, from 
whence Silver creek derives its name. In the 
early times, by the French, a shaft was sunk 
here, and tradition tells of a large quantity of 
the precious metal being obtained." Peck's 
"Gazetteer of Illinois," (1837), page 14 

( 2 )"The favorite haunts of the beavers are 
rivers and lakes bordered by forests. When 
they find a stream not sufficiently deep for 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



651 



One of these dams was found by the earliest 
comers constructed across the western branch, 
of the Salt Fork, about four miles north of 
.Urbana. As described by those who saw the 
work for many years, it fully met the descrip- 
tions written and published by observers of 
these works elsewhere. At first the animals 
were killed and their possession and work in- 
terfered with. As fast as any damage was 
done by curious intruders, they repaired the 
same, until, their numbers being lessened by 
the hunters, the home was abandoned and 
finally the last of this interesting and intel- 
ligent animal, with his contemporary, the wild 
Indian, moved westward. This dam has been 
perpetuated in memory by giving its name to 
a drainage district organized upon the ground 
for the recovery of the adjacent lands. 

This section of the State of Illinois, espe- 
cially in the years before the planting of 
orchards and artificial groves, was subject to 
very great extremes of heat and cold. The 
open prairie, during a season of the former, 
was not a place of safety; the timber belts 
and groves, however, afforded a mitigating In- 
fluence that saved the lives of many pioneers. 
This must afford some explanation of the par- 
tiality with which they regarded those loca- 
tions when seeking their early homes. 

One occasion in the history of the country 
is well remembered by such of the pioneers 
as survive, as affording the most striking in- 
stance of the extreme cold to which the coun- 
try could be subjected. It happened upon the 
16th day of December, 1836. Many reminis- 
cences of this strange phenomenon have been 
related by the pioneers to the writer, from 
their memories, but the event is best de- 
scribed by Rev. E. Kingsbury, the pioneer 
Presbyterian pastor of Danville, in a com- 
munication written by him for a Danville 
paper in December, 1857, twenty-one years 
after the happening of the event, which will 
be availed of here to tell the story. 

"The weather on Monday was quite warm 



their purpose, they throw across it a dam con- 
structed with great ingenuity of wood, stones 
and mud, gnawing down small trees for the 
purpose, and compacting the mud by blows 
of their powerful tails. In winter they live in 
houses, which are from three to /.our feet high, 
are built on the water's edge wi ;h sub-aqueous 
entrances, and afford them rrotection from 
wolves and other animals. They formerly 
abounded throughout northern America, but 
are now found only In thinly or unsettled re- 
gions." Century Dictionary, page 496. 



and fast softening the heavy snow. On Tues- 
day it began to rain before day and continued 
until four in the afternoon, at which time 
the ground was covered with water and melt- 
jng snow. All the small streams were very 
full and the large ones rapidly rising. At this 
crisis there arose a large and tumultuous look- 
ing icloud in the west, with a rumbling noise. 
On its approach everything congealed. In less 
than five minutes it changed a warm atmos- 
phere to one of intense cold, and flowing 
water to ice. 

"One says he started his horse in a gallop 
in the mud and water and, on going a quar- 
ter of a mile, he was bounding over ice and 
frozen ground. Another, tnat in an hour after 
the change he passed over a stream of two 
feet deep on ice, which actually froze solid 
to the bottom and remained so until spring. 
The North Fork, where it was rapid and so 
full as to overflow its bottoms, froze over so 
solid that night that horses crossed next 
morning, and it was thus with all of the 
streams. 

"Mr. Alvin Gilbert, with his men, was cross- 
ing the prairie from Bicknell's to Sugar Creek, 
with a large drove of hogs. Before -the cloud 
came over them the hogs and horses showed 
the greatest alarm and apprehension of dan- 
ger. And when it actually came upon them, 
the hogs, refusing to go any farther, began 
to pile themselves in one vast heap as their 
best defense on the open prairie. During the 
night half a dozen of them perished, and those 
on the outside were so frozen down that they 
had to be cut loose. About twelve others died 
on the way to Chicago, in consequence of be- 
ing badly frozen, while many others lost large 
pieces of their flesh. Mr. Gilbert and his 
young men rode five or six miles distant, all 
of them having fingers, toes or ears frozen, 
and the harness so frozen that it could not 
be unhitched from the wagon, and scarcely 
from the horses. 

"Two men riding across the same prairie, a 
little farther west, came to a stream so wide 
and deep that they could not cross it. The 
dreary night came on, and after exercising in 
vain to keep from freezing, they killed one 
horse, rolled his back to the wind, took out 
his entrails and thrust in their hands and 
feet, while they lay upon them. And so they 
would have used the other horse, but for the 
loss of their knife. Mr. Frame, the younger 



652 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



and more thinly clad, gradually froze and died 
in great agony at day-break. The other, Mr. 
Hildreth, at sunrise, mounted the remaining 
horse and rode over the ice five miles to a 
house, but so badly frozen that about half of 
each hand and foot came off. 

"How general or extensive the change was 
is not known; but the Illinois River, as two 
men in a boat were crossing it, froze in, and 
they exercised to save their lives until the 
ice would bear them up. The dog that accom- 
panied them was frozen to death. 

"On the east side of Indiana one man had 
fifty head of hogs frozen to death. Many sim- 
ilar facts might be narrated, but the above are 
sufficient to show that the change was great, 
sudden and general." 

Another account of some of the incidents 
which happened in this vicinity in connec- 
tion with this event, found on page 140 of 
Emma C. Piatt's "History of Piatt County," 
as related to her by Mr. Ezra Marquiss, well 
known to many of our citizens, will be found 
interesting: 

"It was raining the forepart of the day and 
I had been gathering hogs. 1 reached home 
about ten o'clock, ate my dinner, and started 
out to see how the weather looked. As I 
went out of the south side of the house, which 
was 16x18 feet, it was still raining. I walked 
slowly to the west side of the house to find it 
snowing, and by the time I had reached the 
north side, the slush on the ground was 
frozen (5ver." 

The same work further on says: 

"William Piatt was pitching hay with a 
pitchfork when the storm struck him. Almost 
instantly it seemed to him, the handle of the 
fork, which had been wet svith rain, was cov- 
ered with ice. Nathan Hanline says he was. 
riding when the storm reached him, and be- 
fore he had gone a mile the frozen slush would 
bear up his horse. Mr. William Monroe, while 
going with Mr. James Utterback to East Fork, 
was so nearly frozen that, when he reached a 
neighbor's, he had to be helped off the horse. 
His clothes were actually frozen to the hair 
of the horse." 

The same author names several citizens of 
what is now Piatt County, who lost their lives 
upon the prairie by being frozen to death in 
that storm. 

Indian traditions, given the early settlers of 
this county, tell of a very deep snow which 



fell here, and which, on account of the length 
of time which it kept the wild animals from 
access to the ground, caused the death of 
many. Immense herds of the buffalo and elk, 
then rpaming over the prairies, were de- 
stroyed, and their bones were pointed out as 
evidence of the truth of the traditions thus 
told. When this occurred was, of course, un- 
certain, as the wild men made no records, but 
from accounts given it was thought to have 
been from fifty to seventy-five years before 
any white occupation. 

The "Deep Snow" of our pioneers' recollec- 
tion occurred during the winter of 1830-31, and 
was not the result of one snow storm alone, 
but of many storms of snow and sleet, with- 
out the intervention of a "thaw" during that 
winter. The accumulation was made up of 
many layers of snow, and, altogether, gave 
that winter the reputation of having been one 
of great severity, when many "snow bounds" 
were experienced. 



Geology of Champaign' County. 

The writer cheerfully utilizes the following 
essay upon the geology of Champaign County, 
prepared at his request by Miss DeEtte Rolfe: 

"The characteristic features of the surface 
of Champaign County are the direct result of 
the immense ice-sheet which once covered it. 
It is really a great plain, gently undulating 
and sloping to the south and east. Crossing 
it are ridges, or moraines, which were built 
up by the glacier to a height of from twenty 
to one hundred feet above the surrounding 
country. These are parts of two large sys- 
tems one crossing the extreme northeast 
corner, and the other running parallel to it 
through the central part of the county, and 
sending a branch north to unite the two and 
extend for a considerable distance over the 
State. 

"The first, and much the more conspicuous 
of the two, enters south of Penfield and leaves 
the county just west of Ludlow. It is the 
southern or outer belt of the great Blooming- 
ton System, which can be traced from the 
Wabash River, north of Danville on the east, 
through Bloo.nington to Peoria, and north 
into Dekalb Co.mty. It is bold in outline, from 
five to eight m-les wide and from sixty to 
ninety feet high. Its sides are steep and are 




Drawn by Deette Rolfe. 



TOPOGKAPHIC MAP OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY (No. 1.) 
Showing Location of Cities, Villages and Streams. (For Elevations See Footnote Page 645.) 



ILLINOIS 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



653 



deeply cut by streams, giving it a somewhat 
rugged appearance. In many places the 
streams have pushed upward until they have 
reached the crest, and in some cases cut 
through it, thus converting it into a series of 
more or less irregular knolls and ridges, 
which stand out prominently. The locations 
of a few of the more important knolls may 
be noted, with their elevations: West of 
Ludlow, 830 feet; southeast of Ludlow, 820 
feet; west of Dillsburg, 810 feet; east of Dills- 
burg, 820 feet; west of Royal, 810 feet; south- 
east of Gifford, 820 feet, and east of Flat- 
ville, 820 feet. The 830-foot knoll near Lud- 
low marks the highest point in the county. 
On its eastern side the moraine descends into 
a low prairie cut by streams. East of Pen- 
field these cut to 659 feet; Penfield, itself, 
stands just within the moraine at 728 feet. 

"The second moraine is a part of the Cham- 
paign System, and because of its many 
branches, it covers much territory and pre- 
sents a very irregular outline. It enters from 
Piatt County, with two branches which soon 
unite, and later it breaks up into three parts 
which remain distinct until they reach the 
southern border of Vermilion County. It pre- 
sents less relief than the Bloomington mo- 
raine, and, as a rule, the slopes are more 
gentle. 

"The main ridge enters near Mahomet at 
an elevation of 770 feet and passes southeast 
through Champaign and Philo. Except for 
two or three miles where it has been broken 
by the Sangamon, it gradually rises in height 
to a point north of Rising, where an altitude 
of 810 feet is attained. Later it sinks to 730 
feet and, excep^ in isolate^ knolls, does not 
again rise above this elevation. The high 
points are: 760 feet west of Mira; 750 feet 
west of Dcers; 750 feet northeast of Philo; 
the same south of Philo; 770 feet southeast 
of Philo, and 760 feet in the north end of 
Raymond Township. In the northern part 
of the county the lowland surface is about 710 
feet; farther south, however, it is not more 
thaa 670 feet. 

'The srialler ridge from Piatt joins this 
main one just east of Mahomet. It is nar- 
TDW, but has a sharply denned crest, varying 
in elevation from 760-780 feet. It sinks quite 
abruptly into the low Sangamon bottom (to 
690 feet) on the north, and into the low prai- 
rie (700 feet) on the south. 



"At Rising, the large branch which con- 
nects the two systems is given off to the 
northeast. North of Thomasboro, this sends 
a narrow spur to the southeast, which soon 
begins to widen, and ends in a bluff several 
miles long. The bluff tends to the northeast, 
and its western end almost unites with the 
main ridge northeast of Urbana. Its eastern 
end terminates near Sellars in an abrupt ele- 
vation known as Blue Mound, which rises 
forty feet in less than a quarter of a mile. 
An uneven and roughly circular strip of high- 
land is thus formed, surrounding the lowland 
which is now drained by Beaver Ditch. This 
is quite different from the other parts of the 
moraine in that the slopes are very gentle, 
especially on the inside of the circle. The 
crest, for the most part, stands at 750 feet, 
but in places it rises to 790 feet. 

"At Staley, a low spur, known as the 'Sta- 
ley Moraine,' runs southward, passing through 
Prairie View, Tolono and Pesotum into Doug- 
las County, where it turns east and, later, 
reunites with the main ridge near the south- 
ern border of Vermilion County. In the north- 
ern part of this spur, the elevation is some- 
thing over 750 feet; but it gradually sinks 
until, near the southern border of the county, 
its crest is not over 700 feet. Its outline is 
very irregular, as it sends off smaller spurs 
which merge insensibly into the prairie. 

"From the eastern side of the main ridge, 
many short and generally low spurs are given 
off to the northeast, as at Mira and Deers. 

"The main ridge divides again about eight 
miles southeast of Philo, beyond the 760-foot 
knoll. One branch passes out of the county 
north, and the other just south of Broadlands. 
Later they unite again. Both are very low 
and have but little relief. The southern one, 
in fact, seems to have been almost entirely 
cut away, and does not become a feature of 
the landscape until it reaches Broadlands. 
Near there it shows in the form of knolls 
700-730 feet. The northern one retains its 
identity throughout. 

"Champaign County, then, is far from being 
the low, flat area which it is usually consid- 
ered. The accompanying map shows very dis- 
tinctly the differences in relief which it af- 
fords. 

"The drainage system, though very incom- 
plete, is exceptionally well outlined. Upon 
the map the beds of most of the streams may 



654 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



be traced, and from it may be seen the very 
great extent to which their courses are de- 
pendent upon the moraines. In every case 
the moraines act as water-sheds for the sepa- 
ration of the river-basins. Their peculiar ar- 
rangement causes Champaign County to furn- 
ish water to the Wabash, the Illinois, the 
Embarras and the Kaskaskia. 

"All the territory east of the 'Staley Mo- 
raine' is tributary to the Wabash through 
.the two branches of the Vermilion (Salt Fork 
and Middle Fork) and the Embarras. Salt 
Fork has its headwaters south of Rantoul in 
the circular spur, and its branches extend 
north to the crest of the Bloomington Moraine, 
and south to the main ridge of the Champaign 
System. The Middle Fork drains the small 
area northeast of this moraine. The Embar- 
ras rises south of TJrbana on the University 
farm and receives its waters from the area 
lying between the Champaign and Staley 
moraines. 

"Just west of Champaign the Kaskaskia 
rises and drains the prairie lying west of the 
Staley Moraine. 

"The Sangamon is the largest stream in the 
county. It rises in Ford County, but for sev- 
eral miles its course is through a succession 
of sloughs and, consequently, it is very shal- 
low. As it nears the Champaign Moraine, 
however, its valley deepens, and at Mahomet 
it has bluffs 80 to 100 feet high. 

"By means of these streams all the low- 
land prairies have outlets which, in time, 
.would have completely drained them with- 
out the aid of the tile-drain. 

"Two glaciers have covered this county. 
These glaciers were separated by a long in- 
terval of time, during which a drainage sys- 
tem was established, and an irregular topog- 
raphy composed of hills and valleys was pro- 
duced. Here and there were small beds of 
gravel deposited in lakes in which there was 
but little current. The second glacier cov- 
ered all this with another layer of debris, first 
filling the valleys and low places and then 
spreading a uniform layer over the whole. 
Irregularly interspersed in this drift are long 
strips and beds of gravel which have their out- 
crops on the flanks of the moraines. These, 
being surrounded by the dense clay, form 
pockets which become reservoirs for the stor- 
age of water. 

"It is on these reservoirs that the county 



must rely for its water supply. The water 
obtained from them is of good quality, except 
in the somewhat rare instances where the 
outcrop of the gravel bed is so situated as 
to be exposed to contaminating influences, or 
in those cases, which should never occur, 
where the wells themselves are contaminated. 
As these gravel beds are distributed through 
the drift at different depths, the wells, even 
on adjoining lots, may vary in depth. The 
quantity of water furnished by a well is gov- 
erned by the size of the gravel bed from 
which it draws its supply. The deep wells of 
the county generally draw from the beds de- 
posited between the two sheets of drift; their 
difference in depth depends on the irregular- 
ities of the first drift surface. 

"The lowlands behind and between the mo- 
raines were originally lake beds, and these, 
by their partial drainage, developed into prai- 
ries whose black soil is due to the vegetable 
matter deposited in the beds of these lakes. 
On the lighter soil of the moraines, which 
were exposed above the water during the 
long lake period, trees took root and 
ultimately formed forest belts, which 
were prevented from spreading, first by the 
lakes themselves, and afterward, by the tall 
grasses and forest fires. The numerous 
sloughs of the early settlers were the rem- 
nants of these lakes for which Nature had 
not yet provided the necessary drainage.- 

"DEETTE ROLFE." 



CHAPTER VI. 
EARLIEST MILITARY OCCUPATION. 

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY HAS LITTLE MARTIAL HISTORY 
PASSAGE OF SPANISH FORCE FORT HARRISON 
NEAR BY GENERAL HOPKINS' EXPEDITION GEN. 
ZACHARY TAYLOR. 

Champaign County, from its locality remote 
from the theater of the great wars into which 
the nation has been drawn, since the passing 
of its territory from savage control, has little 
of martial history to its credit prior to 1361. 
What may have taken place before it became 
the dwelling place of a people who write 
down their history, can only be $, matter of 
conjecture. The presence along the Sanga- 
mon River of earthworks, apparently con- 
structed for purposes of military defense, but 




Drawn by Deette Rolfe. 



TOPOGRAPHIC MAP OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY (No. 2.) 
Showing Location of Moraines and Valleys. (Dark Tints Indicate Higher Klevations. See Pages 652-654.) 






y 

OF THE 
'.WVFR8S7Y 6r IMJNOIS 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



655 



now overgrown with timber of a large size, 
and the known presence here later of a peo- 
ple whose abhorrence of the labor necessary 
in their construction, strongly supports the 
conjecture favoring the presence here, before 
the later Indian occupants, of a people who 
had the genius and skill necessary in self-de- 
fense. Who these defensive builders were, 
their origin and final destiny, can never be- 
come otherwise, however, than mere conjec- 
ture. 

On January 2, 1781, a small army, consist- 
ing in part of Spanish soldiers and in part 
of Indians, under a Spanish officer named 
Pourre officers and all not exceeding one 
hundred and fifty men marched out of St. 
Louis, then the capital of the Spanish prov- 
ince of Northern Louisiana, and across the 
River Mississippi, under orders to capture, 
for His Most Christian Majesty, the King of 
Spain, the fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph 
River, near the south end of Lake Michigan, 
under the control of a garrison of the Eng- 
lish, then at war with Spain, in Europe. 

The expedition being undertaken at a sea- 
son when the waterways of the country were 
frozen, the route taken was wholly by land, 
across the prairies. The errand was success- 
fully performed, as a surprise was sprung 
upon the lethargic garrison within the fort, 
and all were made prisoners of war. As a 
result, the ' conquerors claimed the Illinois 
country as conquered territory. 

This bit of early Illinois history is intro- 
duced here, not as such, but in furtherance 
of the topic of the chapter; for, from the 
points made in marching and counter-march- 
ing between St. Louis and St. Joseph, the ter- 
ritory of Champaign County could hardly have 
been missed. Such seems to have been the 
conclusion of the author of "Chapters from 
Illinois History." (*) This work says: "Some 
years ago, in the valley where a large Indian 
village once stood, a few miles west of Dan- 
ville, in Illinois, three cannon balls of Euro- 
pean manufacture were found. The place was 
within the range of a small piece of artillery 



( 1 )Edward G. Mason, whose conclusion is 
found in his work, page 300. See also, Rey- 
nolds' "Pioneer History," page 126; "Dillon's His- 
tory of Indiana," page 173. The name of the 
commander of this expedition is given as above 
by Mason and as "Pierre" by Dillon The date 
is also given as in 1782 by Reynolds and as 
1783 by Dillon. It was while Virginia held 
control at Kaskaskia, 



planted on the hills nearby, and it has been 
conjectured that these balls are relics of this 
expedition. \t so, these afford the only clew 
to the line of march." 

The later war between the United States 
and Great Britain, waged between the years 
1812 and 1815, brought near to our borders, 
if not actually upon our soil, fierce conflicts 
between American soldiers and the red allies 
of the foreign foe. Fort Harrison, built at a 
point a few miles north of Terre Haute, Ind., 
east of the Wabash River, as a means of 
defense against the enemy inhabiting Illinois, 
was the object of a severe but unsuccessful 
attack from this foe on September 4, 1812, (*) 
while under the command of Capt. Zachary 
Taylor, afterwards President of the United 
States. 

War between the United States and Great 
Britain had been declared by Congress June 
19, 1812. Already our northern and western 
frontiers echoed the crack of the hostile rifle 
in the hands of the allies, and Illinois, in 
common with other frontier settlements, had 
suffered from cruel massacres by which the 
lives of many of her inhabitants had been 
sacrificed. The United States post at Mack- 
inac Island had surrendered to the British 
force and the garrison of Fort Dearborn, at 
the mouth of the Chicago River, had been 
cruelly and treacherously butchered. Hostile 
bands of Indians beset the settled portions 
of Illinois, carrying death to many homes, and 
the Indian tribes along the Illinois River dan- 
gerously menaced every white resident of the 
Territory. 

To check this dangerous condition of affairs, 
it was determined to strike a decisive blow 
against the hostile Indians residing along the 
west side of the Wabash, on the head waters 
of the Sangamon, and on the Illinois River, 
above Peoria Lake. A force of Illinois Ran- 
gers had been gathered and organized under 
Governor Edwards, at Camp Russell, near Ed- 
wardsville,( 2 ) organized into two regiments, and 
placed under command of Colonel Russell, of the 
regular army. Gen. Samuel Hopkins, a veteran 
revolutionary officer, in command of two thou- 
sand Kentucky mounted riflemen, was also 
in camp at Vincennes. The plan was sug- 
gested and agreed upon that the force gath- 



( 1 )"Dillon's History of Indiana," page 489. 
( 2 ) Moses' History of Illinois, page 252-253. 



656 



HISTOKY or CHAMPAIGN: COUNTY. 



ered by Governor Edwards should, under the 
direction of Colonel Russell, act in concert 
with that of General Hopkins, the latter mov- 
ing up the Wabash to Ft. Harrison, destroy- 
ing Indian towns on the way and driving the 
refugees before him; then, crossing the river 
into Illinois, march across the Grand Prairie 
by way of the head-waters of the Vermilion 
and Sangamon Rivers to the Illinois River at 
Peoria Lake, where a junction was to be ef- 
fected with the force under Governor Edwards 
and Colonel Russell, the united force to finish 
the work of destruction among the Indian in- 
habitants by destroying the villages along the 
Illinois. The plan of campaign was better 
than its execution proved to be. It met with 
failure and disgrace on the part of the Ken- 
tuckians, as detailed by General Hopkins, C) 
but undoubtedly gave to the territory which 
afterwards took the name of Champaign 
County its first and, perhaps, only experience 
in sustaining the tramp of civilized troops in 
pursuit of a hostile foe. 

The army of General Hopkins was made up 
of an aggregation of undisciplined men, en- 
listed, as they believed, only to defend their 
own borders; so, as will be seen, military dis- 
cipline and order were of the most flimsy and 
unreliable character. Discontent and murmurs 
from one cause and another arose among the 
troops before leaving Vincennes; and particu- 
larly they protested against proceeding far- 
ther, while at Fort Harrison a large number 
of the men broke off and returned home. 

On October 15, 1812, General Hopkins, at the 
head of his troops, crossed the Wabash River 
and turned his face to the northwest, confident 
of success from the great harmony which 
seemed then to prevail among his troops. ( 2 ) 
Hardly had the force reached the Grand Prai- 
rie until signs of a general discontent and in- 
subordination returned. Instead of maintain- 
ing that silence and discipline proper and 
necessary to be observed by an army in an 
enemy's country, the troops, enticed by the 
abundant game on all hands, began to straggle 
and kept up a continuous fire thereat, utterly 
defying the authority of the commanding Gen- 
eral, and making it impossible to check the 
discord. Added to this, the season was rainy, 
the army had no competent guides, the coun- 



C 1 ) Dillon's History of Indiana, page 497. 
( 2 ) Gen. Hopkins had a force of 2,000 men.- 
Dillon's History of Indiana, page 269. 



try was unknown, and, on the fourth day from 
Fort Harrison, from loss of the course on the 
prairies, and insubordination, confusion 
reigned. 

General Hopkins, in describing his ill- 
starred expedition, says that on the night of 
the 19th of October, they came to a grove of 
timber affording water, where they encamped 
for the night. (>) The Indians in their front 
set fire to the prairie grass, to the great an- 
noyance of the force, making it necessary to 
fire the grass around the camp for protection. 
At this point it was determined by the officers 
to return, the discomfited General only ask- 
ing that he might dictate the course of the 
return march. He put himself at the head of 
his disorganized men, intending partially to re- 
lieve himself of the enforced disgrace by at- 
tacking some of the Indian towns, but all to 
no purpose, for the men, now a mob, broke 
through all restraint and moved off in a con- 
trary way. 

Capt. Zachary Taylor since the hero of 
our war with Mexico, and a lamented Presi- 
dent of the United States was one of the 
party, and ably seconded the efforts of his 
commanding General to stay the retreat and 
prevent defeat and disgrace to American 
arms. 

The route taken by this force and the dis- 
tance and direction traveled renders it not 
merely probable but reasonably certain that 
General Hopkins passed over a part of the 
territory of Champaign County. It is, prob- 
ably, not too much to assume that the "grove 
with water," which fixed the camp on the 
19th of October, was the Big Grove or the 
Salt Fork timber, and that the prairie which 
then silently skirted it on the south and west, 
was the scene of the brave old General's dis- 
grace and discomfiture. 

While cutting down an abrupt bluff of the 
Middle Fork of the Vermilion, ten miles west 
of Danville, in 1869, for the passage of the 
Indiana, Bloomington & Western Railway, the 
workmen took from the loose shale compos- 
ing the bluff, two cannon balls of iron, each 
about three inches in diameter, which balls 
were in the possession of the late Hon. H. W. 
Beckwith, of Danville, " 111., previous to his 
death. The oldest citizen of that section being 
at a loss to account for their presence in that 



(^Dillon's History of Indiana, page 269. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



657 



bluff, I believe it is not assuming too much 
to say that these balls were probably thrown 
at hostile Indians from the light field pieces 
used by General Hopkins on that occasion. 
It is not known that any other armed force 
ever passed near this point, unless the Span- 
ish force referred to in a preceding paragraph 
of this chapter, also passed the same point. 
If it did pass near the Indian village on the 
Middle Fork, it is hardly probable that it car- 
ried guns of sufficient caliber to have depos- 
ited these balls where they were found. Gen- 
eral Hopkins made his campaign in the early 
autumn, when transportation across this coun- 
try was comparatively easy, the distance being 
no more than eighty miles from Fort Har- 
rison, his base of supplies. He had a force of 
2,000 men, while the Spanish force did not 
exceed 150 men and officers, were upon 
a long winter march and were provided, we 
must conclude, with no impediments not neces- 
sary for the work in hand the surprise and 
capture of a force much less than their own, 
protected only by a weak stockade. 

A former citizen of this county, long since 
deceased, (') once informed the writer that, 
when a very young man residing in Indiana, 
in the spring of 1832, he joined a regiment of 
Indiana volunteers called out to fight the In- 
dians under Black Hawk, commonly known 
as the Black Hawk War. The regiment, under 
orders for the seat of war in the northern part 
of Illinois, crossed the Wabash River at Terre 
Haute, and a northwesterly course led them 
through Champaign County. One night the 
ground near the creek on west Main Street, 
Urbana, about where the Christian church 
stands, was chosen as a camping ground, and 
was occupied until time to march next morn- 
ing. The regiment marched through the coun- 
ty under arms, from the south to the north 
line. 

It might here be added that quite a num- 



( 1 )Deacon James Myers, who died February. 
1883. Mr. Meyers remembered well the one 

cabin then on the site of Urbana, across 

the creek from the camping' ground, occupied 
by Isaac Busey. He also had ample reason for 
remembering the lone cabin of the Cook family, 
located about a mile and a half north of Ur- 
bana, on the east side of North Lincoln Ave- 
nue; for, from the line of girls, who, from the 
door-yard fence, watched the soldiers pass, he 
took one for his wife eight years thereafter, 
when he had returned from the -war and become 
a citizen of Champaign County. The union of 
this couple gave to the county, a large family 
of sons and daughters. 



ber of Vermilion County men from that por- 
tion of the county which, during the next 
year by act of the General Assembly became 
Champaign County, took part in the Black 
Hawk War, as members of a company made 
up mostly from about Danville. Among these 
may be named Thomas L. Butler, afterwards 
and for many years a well-known citizen of 
Homer, and who met his death only a few 
years since in a railroad accident; Martin 
Rhinehart, a citizen of Somer Township, who 
many years since removed to Wisconsin, 
where he died; also Rev. Mr. Mahurin, a Bap- 
tist minister, who lived and preached in the 
Big Grove, and Jacob Heater, afterwards a 
well-known citizen. 



CHAPTER VII. 
EARLY NAMES OF LOCALITIES. 

FIRST HOMES SET UP IN THE GROVES NAMES OF 
LOCATIONS, AS NOW KNOWN, UNKNOWN PRIOR TO 
i860 BIG GROVE SALT FORK SANGAMON AM- 
BRAW MIDDLE FORK SADORUS GROVE BOWSE'S 
GROVE LINN GROVE LOST GROVE HICKORY GROVE 
BUR-OAK GROVE MINK GROVE DEAD-MAN'S GROVE 
CHERRY GROVE THE TOW-HEAD ADKIN's POINT 
NOX'S POINT BUTLER'S POINT PANCAKE'S 
POINT STRONG'S FORD PRATHER'S FORD NEW 
COM'S FORD KENTUCKY SETTLEMENT YANKEE 
RIDGE DUTCH FLATS. 

As was the fact in most of the early settle- 
ments in Illinois, the first homes of white 
families in Champaign County were set up in 
the groves and timber belts, on account of the 
protection yielded in winter and the accessi- 
bility to water, fuel and building material. (*) 



( 1 )To illustrate the antipathy of the pioneer 
for a residence upon the prairie, the following:, 
told by Dr. W. A. Conkey, of Homer, is here 
inserted: 

Dr. Conkey, then ten years of age, came with 
his father's family from Massachusetts, to Ed- 
gar county, Illinois, in 1830, and at once the 
father built his home away out on the prairie, 
his neighbors, as. usual then, all having chosen 
their places of residence in or near the timber, 
he being the first to do so in that neighbor- 
hood. This act called forth comment and crit- 
icism from the pioneers who, as usual, shook 
their heads at so daring an adventure. At a 
public sale in the neighborhood, a few months 
thereafter, Mr. Conkey was a bidder for such 
articles of property as he needed, and seems to 
have attracted some attention by his presence 
and bidding; for one man asked of another who 
it was that was thus making purchases. The 

answer was. "O. it is that d d fool Yankee 

that has built away out on the prairie." 



658 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 






There being many such timber tracts, and 
each one having, in turn, served as a shelter 
to the newly arrived settlers, it will be most 
convenient, in detailing the facts in hand con- 
cerning the early settlement of the county, 
to treat each grove or timber belt and its set- 
tlements separately, designating them by 
the names in use fifty years since, and until 
township organization under the statute about 
1860, and the growth of villages along the 
various lines of railroads, gave us a new no- 
menclature for neighborhoods. 

It need hardly be related that, prior to 1860, 
the present names in use to designate organ- 
ized towns were unknown, except where the 
name was before then used to designate a vil- 
lage or railroad station. 

Until the autumn of 1860 the county existed 
under what is known as county organization, 
as distinguished from township organization, 
since then prevailing. A vote of the county 
determined the change. Before then county 
business, now done by the Board of Super- 
visors, was transacted, before 1848, by a board 
of three commissioners; and, from 1848 until 
the change in 1860, by the Judge of the Coun- 
ty Court and two associates. The names be- 
fore then universally used to designate local- 
ities other than t^p immediate neighborhood 
of the few villages, were such as "The Big 
Grove," C 1 ) meaning the large grove of nat- 
ural timber just north of the City of Urbana, 
lying partly in Town 19 and partly in Town 
20. "The Salt Fork" ( 2 ) was a general term 
used to designate not only the lands covered 
by the timber along that stream, but the 
neighboring farms, from its northern extrem- 
ity to the point where it leaves the county. 
Homer and Sidney were villages along the 



( 1 )"The Indian name for the Big Grove was 
'Mashaw Montuck,' meaning big woods." 
Henry Sadorus. 

"Big Grove, in Champaign county, Is on a 
branch of the Salt Fork of the Vermilion Riv- 
er, and is about the center of the county. It 
Is a body of heavily timbered, rich land, twelve 
miles long and an average of three miles in 
width. The country around is most delightful, 
the prairie is elevated, dry and of very rich 
soil, the water is good, and the country very 
healthy The population of Big Grove must 
now exceed 200 families " Peck's "Gazetteer of 
Illinois," (1837), page 159. 

( 2 ) Salt Fork rises In Champaign County, 
near the head of the Sangamon River, runs a 
south course until it enters Township eighteen 
North, in range ten east, when it makes a sud- 
den bend and runs north of east to Danville. 
The salt works are on "this stream, six miles 
above Danville. Peck's "Gazetteer" (1837), 
page 306 



stream and these names were used to special- 
ize neighborhoods. So, "On the Sangamon" C 1 ) 
was understood to refer to the neighborhoods 
on both sides of the river, from the head wa- 
ters to the Piatt County line. There were 
"The Okaw" and "The Ambraw"( 2 ) settle- 
ments, by which was understood the neigh- 
borhoods about and in the timber belts along 
these streams, so far as they lay in this coun- 
ty. "Middle Fork" ( 3 ) was understood to mean 
the timber sometimes called "Sugar Grove," 
in the northeast corner of the county. Besides 
these names, that of "Sadorus Grove" was 
used to designate the isolated grove of tim- 
ber at the head of the Kaskaskia River, In 
which Henry Sadorus and his family settled 
when they came to the county. "Bowse's 
Grove" referred to a small grove of natural 
timber on the east side of the Embarras 
River. "Linn Grove," ( 4 ) as a name, early be- 
came attached to the beautiful eminence 
crowned with trees of nature's planting in the 
southwest corner of Sidney Township, which 
name it yet retains. "Lost Grove," ( 5 ) at the 
northwest corner of Ayers Township, is sup- 
posed to have received its name from its re- 
moteness from everywhere else. "Hickory 
Grove," ( 8 ) in St. Joseph and Ogden Town- 



( x ) Sangamon River, a prominent branch of 
The Illinois. It rises in Champaign County, in 
the most elevated region of that portion of the 
State, and near the head-waters of the two Ver- 
milion and the Kaskaskia rivers. li waters 
Sangamon and Macon Counties and parts of 
Tazewell, McLean, Montgomery, Shelby, and 
Champaign counties. Its general course is 
northwesterly. Peck's "Gazetteer," page 287. 

( 2 ) Embarras river, (pronounced Embroy in 
Fr.) a considerable stream in the eastern part 
of the State. It rises in Champaign County, 
eighteen north, nine east, near the sources of 
the Kaskaskia, the two Vermilions, and the 
Sangamon rivers. It runs south through Coles 
county, receives several smaller streams, en- 
ters Jasper, turns southeast across a corner of 
Crawford, passes through Lawrence and enters 
the Big Wabash about six miles above Vin- 
cennes. Idem, page 198. 

The Embarras was voted $7,000 for the im- 
provement of its navigation by the internal im- 
provement act of the Legislature. 

( 8 ) Middle Fork rises in the prairie, forty 
miles northwest of Danville, and enters the 
Salt Fork. Idem, page 307. 

(*) Linn Grove, in Champaign county, is four 
miles south of Sidney, from seventy-five to 
one hundred acres of timber, mostly linden and 
honey locust. Idem, page 244. 

( B ) Lost Grove is seven miles east of Sidney, 
on the eastern border of Champaign County. 
Idem, page 244. 

() Hickory Grove, in Champaign County, on 
the north branch of Salt Fork, and twelve 
miles east of Urbana. The timber is from half 
a mile to one and a half miles wide, ai.'d the 
soil and prairie around is first rate Idem, page 
219. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



659 



ships; "Bur Oak Grove," in Ogden; "Mink 
-Grove," (') in Rantoul; and "Dead Man's 
Grove," in St. Joseph Township, like those 
above named, had then a definite meaning and 
referred to certain localities, though, like 
some of them now, these names now mean 
nothing, having passed from use. The last 
name has not been in use for many years, the 
grove referred to having long been called 
"Corray's Grove," taking its later name from 
a near-by dweller. It received its first name 
from the circumstance of the finding there of 
the dead body of a man who had died alone, 
and probably from exhaustion. ( 2 ) 

About one mile north of the village of Phllo, 
In the early times, was a tuft or small patch 
of timber and brush along the margin of a 
small pond, which protected it from the an- 
nual prairie fires of less than one acre, 
which, from the earliest settlement of the 
country, was a noted landmark for travelers, 
and which was known far and near as the 
"Tow-Head," from its supposed resemblance 
to something bearing that name. Its position 
upon a very high piece of prairie made it 
visible for many miles around. It has long 
since yielded to the march of farm improve- 
ment, and its foster guardian, the pond, has 
likewise given way to the same enemy of the 
picturesque, and now yields each, year fine 
crops of corn. 

A little distance north of the village of 
Ivesdale is a grove of small timber, formerly 
known as "Cherry Grove" by early settlers. 
Its name, perhaps now obsolete, was probably 
derived from the kind of timber growing in 
the grove, or most prevalent, as was the case 
with other groves heretofore named. These 
groves and belts of timber served the early 
comers here as landmarks, so conspicuous 
were they on the horizon, and, in the absence 



( l ) The Indian name for Mink Grove was "Nip- 
squah." Archa Campbell. 

(. 2 ) "tradition relates that, many years since 
and before the settlement of the prairies, a 
band of regulators from an Indiana settlement, 
having 1 found the trail of a horse-thief, who had 
successfully carried his stolen animal as far 
west as the "Tow-Head," overtook the thief 
there, finding him fast asleep under the shade 
of this little grove. Without the form of a 
trial the offender was promptly executed by 
being nung, by the neck, to one of the trees, 
until he was' dead, where his body was found 
bv the next passer-by. This grove of timber 
was near by the road which led from the 
Salt Pork timber westward to Sadorus Grove 
and the Okaw. 



of trails to guide the traveler, they served an 
excellent purpose as such. 

Then there were other names in common 
use among the people which, for the want of 
names more appropriate, did service in the 
local nomenclature in the early days. Lest 
those names be forgotten and that references 
thereto, if made herein in future pages, may 
be understood we here recall them with ex- 
planations. 

"Adkins 1 Point" referred to a point of tim- 
ber reaching to the north from the northwest 
corner of the Big Grove in Somer Township, 
and got its name from the residence there of 
the family of Lewis Adkins. 

"Nox's Point" meant the locality of the vil- 
lage of Sidney, before that name was given 
the place, and received its name from the 
first settler in the point made by the Salt Fork 
timber in its eastward trend. (') The settler 
was William Nox. 

"Butler's Point," which, though in Vermilion 
County, will be referred to hereafter, is a 
point of timber reaching southward from the 
Salt Fork timber, just west of Catlin also re- 
ceiving its name from an early dweller. 

"Pancake's Point" called to mind a point of 
timber reaching westward from the Sangamon 
timber, in Newcomb Township, and owes its 
name to Jesse W. Pancake, who lived there 
more than fifty years since. 

There was "Sodom," a neighborhood above 
the village of Fisher, which was afterward 
used as the name of a postoffice established 
there. Why the location got this name so 
suggestive of evil reputation, is not known. 
So "Wantwood" was applied to a treeless ex- 
panse of prairie reaching north from the head 
of the Sangamon timber, the early settler knew 
not how far. 

There were also fords across the streams 
where early roads, in default of bridges, led 
the traveler through deep waters. Of these 
there were "Strong's Ford" and "Prather's 



( 1 )Nox's Point was also sometimes called 
"Williams' Point." Whv the place received that 
name, and when, whether after or before the 
coming of the Nox family, does not appear. One 
Jesse Williams entered the first land taken in 
the county, about three miles east of the Point 
and it is possible that this fact suggested the 
name 

Sidney, a townsite in Champaign County, on 
Salt Fork of the Vermilion River, on the south 
side of Section nine. Township eighteen north, 
range ten west, on the Northern Cross Railroad, 
from Springfield by Decatur to Danville. 
Peck's "Gazetteer," (1837), page 292. 



660 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



Ford," both across the Salt Fork, one about 
a mile north and the other the same distance 
south of the village of St. Joseph. The for- 
mer was where the iron bridge on the State 
road now spans the stream, and was later 
called "Kelley's Ford." Both fords received 
their distinctive names from near-by dwell- 
ers. A ferry was maintained by Joseph T. 
Kelley at the former. The latter, or Prather's 
Ford, was at the crossing of the Salt Fork 
by the Danville and Fort Clark road, a pioneer 
road across the country, noticed hereafter. 

On the Sangamon were two well known 
fords with distinctive names. One at the vil- 
lage of Mahomet (or Middletown, as the vil- 
lage was known fifty years since), was called 
"Bryan's Ford," from John Bryan, a contiguous 
land-owner, who maintained a ferry there. 
The iron bridge a few rods away has, for many 
years, furnished a better means of crossing the 
stream. The other, of historic fame, was 
known as "Newcom's Ford," from the resi- 
dence there of Ethan Newcom, a pioneer who 
came to the county in the early 'thirties. It 
was at the crossing of the Sangamon River 
by the Danville and Fort Clark road; and, 
beside being a ford of the river, was a place 
where travelers camped in great numbers. 
It was near the line which divides Township 
21 and Township 22, Range 8, and in later 
years it gave the name of "Newcomb" to an- 
other Township, although the final "b" of the 
name, as thus used, is in addition to the spell- 
ing in use by the owner. Mr. Newcom spelled 
his name "Ethan Newcom," where signed to 
a deed. 

Then there were neighborhoods in the 
county which, from some peculiarity or other 
in their early settlement, took upon them- 
selves peculiar names, most of which have been 
forgotten or have fallen into disuse. Among 
these may be recalled the "Kentucky Settle- 
ment," now in Rantoul Township. This was 
on account of the coming there prior to 1860 
of B. C. Bradley and many other thrifty farm- 
ers from Kentucky. The settlement was a 
compact gathering of good families upon a 
hitherto unbroken prairie, so arranged that 
the social and school advantages enjoyed else- 
where were not suspended. In like manner 
the location, about the ridge in Philo Town- 
ship, which divides the waters of the Salt 
Fork from those flowing into the Ambraw 
(Embarras), about 1856 became the home of 



a colony from Massachusetts and other East- 
ern States, among whom may be named E. W. 
Parker and his brother G. W. Parker; Lucius, 
David and T. C. Eaton, and others of New 
England origin, which gave the neighborhood 
the name "Yankee Ridge," which it bears to 
this day. So, the gathering upon the flat lands 
bordering the head-waters of the Salt Fork in 
Compromise Township, of a large number of 
Germans, who distinguished themselves as 
good farmers and good citizens, has given 
their neighborhood the name of "Dutch Flats," 
which it is likely to retain. 

These names of localities are here intro- 
duced into the work to aid the reader in un- 
derstanding references to them upon future 
pages. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
EARLY ROADS OF THE COUNTY. 

TRAILS, HOW MADE FORT CLARK ROAD ITS GREAT 
SERVICE CHANGE TO THE SOUTH OTHER TRAILS 
SHELBYVILLE AND CHICAGO ROAD BROWNFIELD 
AND HEATER ROADS. 

In no one thing have been more noteworthy 
the changes which mark the transition from 
the condition of savagery which covered the 
whole county eighty years since, than in the 
roads of the county. Far from being ideal 
passages from place to place, the roads which 
mark nearly every section line, and afford the 
means of the easy transportation of persons 
and property, indicate the great advance. Hu- 
man agencies have produced all of this ad- 
vancement. Before the coming of the white 
man, and with him the ways of subduing and 
bringing to his use the elements which Na- 
ture had here planted, these useful avenues 
were not found, nor were they in demand. 

It must not be supposed, however, that no 
roads existed which directed the traveler to 
his place of destination. The earliest comers 
found paths and traces leading across the 
country which, in a measure, aided them in 
finding the shortest cuts from timber grove to 
timber grove, but such were not of human or- 
igin. Before even the Indian came to hunt 
the wild animals, these animals, in search of 
water or pasturage, made their traces or paths, 
always choosing the best lines of travel and, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



661 



so far as possible, the shortest lines of com- 
munication. C) 

While to these lines few, if any, of the ex- 

f isting roads owe their locations, this cannot 

j be said of the first roads made use of by the 

white man at his coming. He found traces 

leading across the country which he chose then 

to call Indian paths, but we must look farther 

back than to the coming of the Indian for 

their origin. 

The earliest comers to this country found 
already made a road, before them much trav- 
elled by wagons and teams, which led from 
the east, entering the county near where the 
eastern line crosses the main branch of the 
Salt Fork, about two miles northeast of the 
village of Homer, from which place it me- 
andered to the northwest through Hickory 
Grove, passing a little north of the location 
. of the village of St. Joseph, crossing the east 
branch of the Salt Fork a mile north of the 
village, at a place afterwards, and for many 



O)It was for the great game animals to mark 
out what became known as the first thorough- 
fares of America. The plunging- buffalo, keen of 
instinct, and nothing if not a utilitarian, broke 
great roads across the continent on the sum- 
mits of the watersheds, beside which the first 
Indian trails were but traces through the for- 
ests. Heavy, fleet of foot, capable of covering 
scores of miles a day, the buffalo tore his roads 
from one feeding ground to another, and from 
north to south, on the high grounds; here his 
roads were swept clear of debris in summer, 
and of snow in winter. They mounted the high- 
est and descended from them to the longest 
slopes, and crossed each stream on the bars at 
the mouth of its lesser tributaries Historic 
Highways of America (By A. H. Clark & Co.), 
Vol. 1, page 19. 

The first explorers that entered the Interior 
of the American continent were dependent up- 
on the buffalo and the Indian for ways of get- 
ting about. Few of the early white men who 
came westward journeyed on the rivers, and to 
the trails of the buffalo and Indian they owed 
their success in bringing to the seaboard the 
first accounts of the interior of the continent. 
Idem, Vol 1, page 110. 

"This animal (the buffalo) once roamed n* 
large over the prairies of Illinois; and so late 
as the commencement of the present century, 
was found in considerable numbers; and traces 
of them are still remaining in the buffalo paths, 
which are to be seen in several parts of the 
State. These are well beaten tracks, leading 
generally from the prairies in the interior of 
the State to the margins of the large rivers, 
showing the course of their migrations as they 
changed their pastures periodically, from the 
low marshy alluvion to the dry upland plains. 
Their paths are narrow, and remarkably direct 
showing that the animals traveled in single 
file through the woods, and pursued the most 
direct course to their places of destination " 
"Illinois in 1837," page 38. 

"The buffalo is not found this side of thf 
Mississippi, nor within several hundred miles 
of St. Louis. This animal once roamed at large 
over the prairies of Illinois, and was found in 
plenty thirty years since." Peck's "Gazetteer of 
Illinois," (1837), page 23. 



years, known as "Prather's Ford." From this 
crossing place it followed the western branch 
of the same creek along its northern border, 
passing what was afterwards known as 
"Hays' " or "Gobel's Grove," to the northern 
point of the "Big Grove," near where Philip 
Stanford afterwards made his home. Thence 
it crossed what was afterwards known as 
"Adkins' Point," the northern extremity of 
the Big Grove, crossing the creek at and 
upon what was known as the "Beaver Dam," 
from whence it bore to the northwest, cross- 
ing the Sangamon at the place which after- 
wards was known, as "Newcom's Ford"; 
then up the west side of the Sangamon River, 
near an early settler by the name of King, 
and on through Cheeney's Grove (now Say- 
brook), to Bloomington and Peoria, the lat- 
ter then called "Fort Clark." This road, al- 
though surveyed and laid out as a legal road 
about 1834, by authority of an act of the 
Legislature, did not owe its origin to this legal 
action, for it was traveled many years before 
that date. It was known as the "Fort Clark 
Road," and led from the eastern part of the 
State in the neighborhood of Danville, to the 
Illinois River. It was early recognized and 
cared for by the public authorities. 

The Board of County Commissioners of 
Vermilion County, at its September session 
in 1&28, entered an order appointing Runnel 
Fielder "Supervisor of the Fort Clark Road, 
from the Salt Fork (Prather's Ford) to the 
western line of Vermilion County." The 
same order allotted all of the road work due 
from residents in Townships 19 and 20, in 
Ranges 9 and 10, to this piece of road.O) 

What its real origin was will never be 
known, but it is fair to believe, from its loca- 
tion and the points connected, that it was 
first a buffalo path, leading from river and 
grove in the east to the 'like objects in the 
west; afterwards an Indian trail, where the 
buffalo was hunted and trapped, and finally 



(^This road as will be seen by a glance at 
the map of Illinois, was the shortest route be- 
tween the Indian villages along the lower Ver- 
milion River and the Kickanoo village at what 
is now known as the "Old Town Timber,' in 
West Township, McLean County. These villages, 
from their situation and the known intimacies 
and friendships of the inhabitants, must have 
had frequent communications with each other 
from the earliest times. The presence of this 
trail when white occupation commenced, at once 
suggests its origin as connected with the visits 
of these Indians, one with another, for ages 
before the white occupation. 



662 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN, COUNTY. 



adopted by the great tide of immigration 
which set in early in the last century from 
the States east of Ohio to what is now 
known as the "Military Tract"; that is, to 
the lands lying between the Illinois and the 
Mississippi Rivers, in the western part of the 
State, where many who had taken part in . 
the War of the Revolution and that of 1812, 
were at liberty to claim homes. 

It is certain that, at the earliest periods of 
the settlement of this county, a very large 
tide of travel passed over this route, for the 
west. It is also well attested that many of 
those who became early settlers at the north 
end of the Big Grove, and along the line of 
this road in the eastern and western parts of 
the county, came by this road. This may 
well explain the reason of the settlement of 
the lands north of the Big Grove before those 
on the south. But a few years since and 
perhaps to this day the route of this old 
road, long since abandoned, may be detected 
by the great gullies worn, first by the feet of 
the buffalo and afterward by the teams and 
wagons of the white man, across the ridges 
and high lands where it passed. 

From early residents along this road it has 
been learned that, as .early as the first per- 
manent settlements here, each autumn wit- 
nessed great tides of covered wagons passing 
over this road for the west, all destined to 
points beyond the Illinois River. The vari- 
ous settlements at Prather's Ford, Stanford's, 
Newcom's Ford and at King's, higher up the 
Sangamon River, were stopping and resting 
places for these immigrants. They either 
camped out in the contiguous groves, or 
shared the narrow accommodations of the 
cabins of these men. It was probably by this 
route that the early pioneers of the squatter 
variety, such as Fielder, Sample, Rice, Gab- 
bert and other transients, came to the coun- 
try from their eastern homes; and, after sell- 
ing out their improvements upon Government 
land, passed on over this road to regions to 
the westward, to repeat the process in other 
places. 

Subsequently that part of the travel des- 
tined for places south of the creek and grove, 
sought out a shorter trail and crossed the 
creek at Strong's Ford, where the State road 
now crosses the creek by the iron bridge, 
eight miles east of Urbana, from which cross- 
ing it reached the Big Grove at Fielder's 



later Roe's at which point the road divided, 
one line passing to the Brownfield neighbor- 
hood, on the north side, while the other line 
passed to the Busey neighborhood, on the 
south side of the Big Grove. t Years after- 
wards, and about the year 1834, when the 
county-seat had been established at the south 
side (now Urbana), the trail running from 
Bartley's Ford direct to Matthew Busey's, 
and on to Urbana, was adopted and legally 
laid out, as a necessity. From this locality 
it was naturally continued on to the Sanga- 
mon, at which crossing, lower down than that 
of Newcom's, the town of Middletown, or 
Mahomet, was subsequently laid out. 

Stories of the opposition to this diversion 
of the travel from the north side of the 
Grove to the new settlements on the south 
side, are still told by old residents. Local 
jealousies and prejudices were strong in those 
times, as well as in later periods. At the 
crossing of the Salt Fork on this road was 
erected, about 1836, the first bridge which 
spanned one of the streams of the county. 
It was afterwards carried away by the high 
water of the creek. 

This road was continued on to Blooming- 
ton upon a route afterwards chosen for a rail- 
road which parallels the wagon road the 
whole distance, being at no place between 
St. Joseph and Bloomington, many rods dis- 
tant from the railroad. Along this early road 
the villages of Mahomet, Mt. Pleasant (now 
Farmer City), and Le Roy sprang up to meet 
local demands, and over its easy grades for 
many years flowed the western fleets of prai- 
rie schooners, transferred from the Fort 
Clark road which was totally abandoned as a 
public roa'd. No portion of this latter road 
survives the change, while its younger rival 
in places changed from a diagonal road to 
contiguous section lines still exists as a 
highway across the eastern counties of the 
State. Portions of this road are still in ex- 
istence as diagonal streets in the towns 
through which it runs, notably West Main 
Street, Urbana, and Bloomington Avenue, 
Champaign. No stage makes tri-weekly trips 
over it now, and few of the white sails of 
western emigrants are seen upon it, but 
enough remains to remind the citizens of a 
half century ago of its greatness as a public 
road. 

This road, as traveled since about 1835, 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



663 



now forms not only the main traveled road 
between the eastern part of the State on the 
east, and Peoria on the west, but constitutes, 
in fact, the main streets in the cities of Dan- 
ville, Urbana, Mahomet, Farmer City, Le Roy 
and Bloomington. 

When the white man first came here, he 
also found other trails which served to guide 
the traveler from timber to timber. One led 
from the Big Grove southward to Linn Grove, 
and to the head of the Ambraw timber, while 
(another led from the same central location 
Bouthwestward to the head of the Okaw tlm- 
per. These were utilized by the Indian vis-' 
itors from the north in their annual hunting 
expeditions, and served to bring to the Sado- 
rus family their red visitors, as well as to 
guide hunting parties and white traders from 
the north, who are said to have extended 
their pursuit after the furs produced in the 
country as far into the interior as our groves 
and timber belts. The location of these trod- 
den paths over high ridges, connecting im- 
portant timber groves, suggests a like origin 
to that attributed above to other early trails 
namely, to the buffalo herd. Over them, 
doubtless, in remote ages these wild roamers 
of the prairie, in great masses thronged from 
water-course to timber belt, in search of wa- 
ter and food, leaving no other souvenirs of 
their presence than their bleaching bones be- 
side their worn paths, or near by their wa- 
tering and resting places. Man, either as a 
savage with his ponies, or as a civilized den- 
izen of the country with his wagon, gladly 
accepted and long made use of these trails, 
until the improvement and fencing into farms 
of the country forced the roads upon section 
lines, since which, except in the memory of 
the aged, neither has now an existence. The 
scarred and furrowed surface of many a 
knoll upon these routes, however, where 
from the erosion of travel, the soil was long 
since worn away, bear silent testimony of 
the use to which they were put generations 
ago. (The writer well remembers passing 
over these roads when no fenced-up farms 
marred the landscape, or interfered with the 
freedom of travel. The roads were then, In 
places, much worn and gullied.) 

Over the Ambraw and Linn Grove road, 
came the Kentucfty immigrant to Illinois, 
Matthew Busey; and his brothers, Isaac, 
Charles and Wilkinson, when they came to 



the Big Grove, followed this trail thither- 
ward, as did Isham Cook, the Webbers and 
many others from that State. As settlers 
gathered into the south part of the county, 
it was used also by them, until intervening 
settlers crowded them away from it: As late, 
as 1860 much of this road was still in use. 

The Okaw road had a similar history and 
termination. It was found to exist when 
Henry Sadorus came in 1824, and long served 
him and his neighbors when coming to the 
county-seat or to the early mills about t.fre 
Big Grove. 

More than sixty years ago the General As- 
sembly, by its act, authorized the laying out 
of the Shelbyville and Chicago road through 
this county, and empowered commissioners 
to determine its location. These gentlemen 
performed their duty by laying out the road 
along the east side of the Okaw -by the dwell- 
ings of William Rock and Henry Sadorus to 
the upper end of the Okaw timber, from 
which point it followed the ancient trail diag- 
onally across the country to the south end 
of Market street, Urbana, along it to the 
timber north of town, and, by the way of the 
diagonal road then and now known as the 
"Heater" road, to the cabin of Jacob Heater, 
north of the Big Grove, from which point it 
continued northeast to Sugar Grove on the 
Middle Fork, and out of the county to Its 
destination. This road, so laid out, was much 
traveled by people of the early times, who 
made journeys to. the thriving village by the 
lake, until the railroad age came apace, when 
it perished by its uselessness, being remitted 
to the section lines, like its early contem- 
poraries. 

Other early roads, leading from timber to , 
timber notably one from Sidney, or Nox's ] 
Point, to Sadorus' Grove and westward, as 
well as one from Sidney to Urbana have 
met the fate of those already mentioned, un- 
til now not twenty miles of diagonal roads 
survive. 

Among the earliest proceedings of the 
Board of County Commissioners are those 
which took place upon the report of the com- 
missioners appointed by an act of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, charged with the duty of lay- 
ing out a road from the Big Grove to Pekln 
in Tazewell County. The report was received 
and approved, but from' the plat as recorded, 
no idea can be gathered as to where it was 



664 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 

located, except at the two extremities. The\ tween Urbana and Mahomet, is still in use. 
same may be said of the report as to the \ ,So Henry Sadorus ran a furrow from his 
Chicago and Shelbyville road, above referred V cabin to the Ambraw, for his own use and 
to.C 1 ) | that of the traveling public. R. R. Busey 

The roads now, and for many years, run- tells of the work of his father, who, in like 



ning from Urbana northeasterly, known as 
the "Heater Road" and the "Brownfield 
Road," were not in use until after the loca- 
tion of the county-seat. A trail and, per- 
haps, wagon road affording communication 
from the settlements north of the Big Grove 
with those on the south, led from the Clem- 
ents farm south, crossing the creek at what 
was known as the "Clay-Bank Ford," run- 
ning to the neighborhood of Samuel Brum- 
ley and of Matthew Busey. Now a county 
road, and upon a section line, follows nearly 
the same route. The former road afforded 
pupils on the north side of the grove a road 
to the Brumtey school house, in later times. 

Until farms were occupied and enclosed, 
and travel confined to the legal roads, little 
work was done upon prairie roads. Here and 
there a culvert was put in at a slough cross- 
ing. No grades were thrown up and little 
pains were taken to close up the inevitable 
ruts made by passing vehicles. When a rut 
became too large for comfort, all the trav- 
eler had to do was to travel elsewhere in par- 
allel lines, where mud had not been made. 
By the repetition of this process roads often 
attained a great width. The liberty to go 
elsewhere always afforded comparatively 
good roads, at least in ordinary seasons, and 
it need hardly be said that the age of good 
roads in Illinois, for a time at least, passed 
with the fencing up of the roads so as to con- 
fine travel to one line. 

It was a common practice for the early set- 
tlers, for the purpose of marking the best 
line for travel between two places or between 
two timber points, to mark the route with a 
furrow, to be followed until the track be- 
came plain. It was in this manner that the 
road from Urbana to Middletown, now known 
as the State Road, was at the first marked 
and traveled, the furrow, in this case, being 
made by Fielding L. Scott. The road as thus 
laid out by Mr. Scott, as early as 1836, be- 



manner, ran a furrow from his house to Linn 
Grove, and again from the present site df 
Sidney to Sadorus Grove. These lines were, 
of course, run without regard to section lines. 



(*)At a meeting of the County Board, held 
in March, 1834, William Peters, Daniel T. Por- 
ter, John G. Robertson Mijamin Byers. Philip 
M. Stanford, William Nox and John Whiteaker 
were appointed Supervisors of the roads of the 
county 



CHAPTER IX. 
FIRST SETTLEMENT BIG GROVE. 

COMING OF THE SQUATTERS RUNNEL FIELDER FIRST 
PERMANENT DWELLER THE SITE OF HIS HOME 
WILLIAM TOMPKINS ELIAS KIRBY JOHN LIGHT 
JOHN BROWNFIELD THOMAS ROWLAND ROB- 
ERT AND JOSHUA TRICKLE LACKLAND HOWARD 
SARAH COE JACOB HEATER MATTHIAS RHINE- 
HART JAMES CLEMENTS JOHN S. BEASLEY 
MATTHEW AND ISAAC BUSEY COL. M. W. BUSEY 
WILLIAM T. WEBBER NICHOLAS SMITH SAM- 
UEL BRUMLEY JOHN TRUMAN ASAHEL BRUER 

S. G. BRICKLEY STEPHEN BOYD ELIAS STAMEY 

PATHETIC STORY OF THE ISHAM COOK FAMILY 
TOWN OF LANCASTER TOWN OF BYRON. 

As is usual in all American pioneer settle- 
ments, the first white men who made their 
homes upon these lands were what are com- 
monly known as "squatters;" that is, without 
personal rights in the soil they occupied, 
they set up their homes upon the unpur- 
chased lands of the United States. This was 
done to a considerable extent before any en- 
tries of lands were made within the bounds 
of what has since become Champaign County. 
This was the practice with all comers, for 
the land office, where the legal right to oc- 
cupy public lands could alone be obtained, 
if open at all, was many miles away, and the 
pioneer had not always the means in hand 
to purchase lands. 

As has been seen, the surveys of the lands 
were completed in the year 1822, and the 
traditions gathered from those who came 
here to stay and did stay and become per- 
manent dwellers and land owners, name this 
as the year in which the first white man's 
home was erected, and the same authority 
recognizes Runnel Fielder and his family as 
the first white dwellers within Champaign 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



665 



County. He might have belonged to a body of 
the surveyors, and have become entranced by 
the immense possibilities in waiting for the 
country. Or he might, perhaps, have been 
one of that army of restless men who have 
been the real pioneers in all the West, who 
first spy out a land, learn its qualities by ex- 
perience, and then move on to other untried 
fields. If the latter, it is probable that the 
Fort Clark road, which led the traveler by 
a way only a few hundred yards north of 
where he settled, was followed by him from 
some of the settlements east or southeast, in 
his quest after the unknown in the Great 
West. 

Runnel Fielder, some time ,in the year 
1822, planted! his family stake and set up his 
home upon a bluff near the creek on the 
south, or right hand side, about four miles 
from Urbana, in a northeasterly direction, 
very near the northwest corner of Section 12, 
and but a few rods from what is now known 
as the "Blackberry Schoolhouse." The site 
and the building were well known to all 
comers here as late as 1855, and the fact 
that it was the first white man's house in the 
county is well and authentically attested by 
the testimony of a cloud of witnesses. The 
writer well remembers seeing the Fielder 
house, which stood at the crossing of the 
creek by the old road, now discontinued. 

Fielder was a Flatter upon the land upon 
which he erecteu his home and upon which 
he lived, for the records show that another 
entered this l?.nd. He did enter the eighty- 
acre tract immediately east of his home place 
on June 27, 1828, which was the first entry 
of any public lands in or around the Big 
Grove, and lacked but little in point of time, 
of being che first entry of the public lands 
of Chamnaign County. (*) Fielder soon after 
this emigrated from the county and, it is 
probable, found another home in Tazewell 
County 111., about 1831, for the records show 
that, en March 30, 1832, he executed a deed 
which conveyed the land entered as shown 



above, to Isaac Busey, the deed being exe- 
cuted in that county. 

Only three years before Fielder came, the 
Indian treaty which abrogated the title of the 
red man to our land was entered into, and 
few of the original owners had then left the 
country. It is said that Fielder's only neigh- 
bors or visitors were the Indians who yet 
roamed and hunted here. The territory here 
was yet in the County of Clark, while the 
entire north part of the State, all north and 
west of the Illinois River, constituted the 
County of Pike, the residue of the State be- 
ing divided into twenty-two counties. At this 
time Illinois, as a State, was only four years 
old and yet under the administration of its 
first Governor, Shadrach Bond. The Federal 
Government was not yet thirty-five years old, 
and then under the administration of its fifth 
President, James Monroe. 

The only white residents in the north half 
of the State were the soldiers garrisoned at 
Chicago and a few miners about Galena. 
Fielder's nearest white neighbors were the 
settlers upon the Little Vermilion, near what 
is now Indianola, or possibly farther away in 
Indiana. His position here was very remote 
from civilization and its privileges. It was 
evident, however, from what he left behind 
him, that he and his family aspired to some- 
thing better, for he planted an orchard, the 
first in the county, upon the land entered by 
him, some of the trees of which, aged and 
decayed, were standing but a few years since. 
This land was subsequently owned and occu- 
pied by James T. Roe, a son-in-law of Isaac 
Busey, the purchaser from Fielder, but it has 
long since passed to other hands. 

Fielder cultivated lands near by his home 
and was probably the first to break the prai- 
rie sod of Champaign County. A son of this 
pioneer, Charles Fielder, taught a school near 
the north end of the Big Grove as early as 
the winter of 1827-28, and was, most likely, 
the first person to follow that calling in the 
county. (') 



C 1 )! efore the establishment of the Danville 
Land, District, about 1836, all of the lands in 
this rounty, west of the rang-e line which di- 
vides, Ranges 8 and 9, were subject to entry at 
the V.yidalia Land Office, and all east of that 
line we're subject to entry at the Palestine Land 
Office} after the office was established at Dan- 
ville, ill the unentered lands of the county were 
subject to entry at Danville. Peck's "Gazet- 
teer" tl837), page 78. 



( l )James Kirby, who came to the county In 
August, 1829, is the authority for the statement 
in regard to this school. 

Solomon Nox, a resident of the county for 
many years, and who came to the county as 
early as 1827, related his experience to the 
writer las a visitor at the Fielder home shortly 
after settling- at what is now the village of. Sid- 
ney. As a boy he was sent 10 the woods to 
hunt for the cows late in the autumn. He soon 
became bewildered, and wandered he knew not 




666 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



It is a well established fact that, about 
the same time or soon after, the second fam- 
ily of prospective citizens made its appear- 
ance in the persons of the family of our 
William Tompkins, whose home was made 
upon the west half of the southwest quarter 
of Section 8, in Urbana Township, and near 
the southwest corner of the tract the exact 
spot being what is now known as Lot No. 7, 
of Hooper & Park's Addition to Urbana, in 
the rear of the Courier building. Here, upon 
the bank of the creek, within a patch of hazel 
brush and small timber, this family, the near 
est neighbors of the Fielders, established its 
home and became what will always be known 
as the "First Settlers of Urbana." The house 
was of unhewn logs, not more than twenty 
feet square, chinked and daubed for winter, 
probably covered at first with elm bark and 
at best with split boards. 0) 

It is claimed by some that Tompkins was 
upon the ground before the coming of Fielder, 
but the evidence adduced seems to prepon- 
derate in favor of the conclusion above 
stated, that Fielder preceded Tompkins. In 
any event, there was little difference in the 
times of their arrival. 

The place chosen by Tompkins for his 
dwelling had long before then been a 
favorite camping ground of the Indians, 
wha continued to so use the vicinity for ten 
years thereafter. It was said that this was 
long a central point for . the gatherings of 
those parties who hunted on the Sangamon, 
the Okaw, the Ambraw and the Vermilion 
timbers, and the ground showed the uses to 
which it had been put when first occupied 



where. Following a trail which he struck for 
the want of knowing what better to do, he 
was led across the creek and out upon the 
prairie. This trail he continued to follow, he 
knew not how long nor in what direction. Late 
at night, after hours of weary travel, little Sol 
came to a stack of straw to which his path led 
him. Tired and almost famished he crawled 
into the friendly shelter afforded by the rick 
and went to sleep and was, after the coming of 
daylight, aroused by the arrival of some girls 
who came to the neighborhood for the purpose 
of milking the cows. He was discovered and 
taken to their home near by and cared for. He 
learned then that he had wandered eight miles 
from his home and had brought up at the 
Fielder home, at the Big Grove. 

(^This cabin was standing as late as 1855 
and was then used as a carpenter shop, and be- 
fore that time as a stable for William Park's 
cow. It was pointed out to the writer in 1853, 
by old residents, as the oldest house in Urbana. 



by the whites. (') In places in the vicinity 
the corn-hills, remaining from the recent 
crops of corn grown by the Indians, were 
plainly to be seen by those who first settled 
here. 

Tompkins, like other early settlers of the 
county, must have occupied this land as a 
squatter, for the records show no entry of 
lands by him until February 5, 1830, when he 
entered the eighty-acre tract where he lived, 
which embraced all the territory in Urbana 
bounded on the north by the city limits, east 
by Vine Street, south by the alley north of 
Main Street and west by a line running 
north from the stone bridge. He also, on 
November 1, 1830, entered the eighty-acre 
tract lying immediately south of this tract, 
bounded on the north by the first entry, east 
by Vine Street, south by the city limits and 
west by the alley next west of Race Street. 
Before this last entry Tompkins had im- 
proved and fenced about twenty acres, which 
lay mostly south of Main Street. 

Following our narrative by the dates in 
hand, we shall be led to consider the settle- 
ments on the north side of the. Big Grove, 
made later than those of Fielder and Tomp- 
kins, but where the residents were more nu- 
merous. 

In August, 1829, Elias Kirby came to that 
settlement, with his family, from Ohio. 
Among them were his sons James and Elias, 
the latter of whom still lives a citizen of the 
county since that time, and vpon land but a 
short distance from where th.> family home 
was made in that year. 

From a member of this family (James, long 
since deceased) it was learned that they 
found much of the land on the in,rth sid0 of 
the grove, which was soon thereafter legally 
entered by those who became permanent resi- 
dents, occupied by squatters, with, small im- 
provements. Of this number he nam^d John 
Light, who occupied land in Section. 2, Vr- 
bana Township, of late owned by William 
Archdeacon. Light soon after sold out his 



( J ) "The Indians used often to camp oil tin- 
creek near the west end of Main Stree- 
from which cause the bones of their garni ac- 
cumulated on that spot in sre.it quan.ities. 
The annual recurrence of prairie fires bleached 
the bones to whiteness, ana the place took the 
name from the early settlers, of 'Bone Tard'; 
hence the name of the creek running pas; that 
point." "Archa Campbell's Address to an Old 
Settler's meeting, May 16, 1870. 




HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



66? 



improvements to James Moss, who entered 
the land February 4, 1830. 

After selling to James Moss the land in 
Section 2, just mentioned, Light located upon 
another tract farther north, this time fixing 
himself upon the east half of the northwest 
quarter of Section 35, in Somer Township, 
a mile away and near to or upon the prairie. 
He had not been here long until he was 
bought out by a homeseeker from Kentucky, 
John Brownfield, who entered this land at 
the land office at Palestine, 111., where most 
of the lands hereabouts were bought from the 
Government, September 2, 1830. This land, 
with other tracts near by, upon the death of 
John Brownfield, July 6, 1863, passed by de- 
vise to his son Thomas Brownfield, who yet 
owns the property and removed from it only . 
a few months since. The family came from 
Kentucky, arriving September 25, 1831, and, 
first and last, this early squatter's home has 
been the home of the family for more than 
seventy years. 

Another squatter named Smith, before 1828, 
occupied some land in Section 6, in St. Jo- 
seph Township, until bought out by Thomas 
Rowland, who entered it and considerable 
other land in the years 1828 and 1829, and 
was living there when the Kirby family came. 
Rowland sold his land in Section 1 to Robert 
Trickle, who came to this county from near 
Butler's Point, in Vermilion County, and en- 
tered lands in Section 35, Somer Township, 
May 23, 1829. Mr. Trickle and his brother 
Joshua came to the settlement sometime be- 
fore this date. They sold out some years 
thereafter and Joshua removed to the Middle 
Fork timber, in that part of Vermilion Coun- 
ty which, in 1859, became Ford County, and 
where he lived until his death. Robert re- 
moved to Wisconsin, where he died. 

Lackland Howard, another of the squatter 
class, at an early date, before 1828, came to 
the settlement and occupied land in the 
southwest quarter of Section 35, Somer 
Township,' which he sold to James Clements, 
a brother-in-law of John Brownfield. Howard 
then left the settlement and went west. 

When the Kirbys came, as above stated, 
Sarah Coe, a widow, lived on the west half 
of the southeast quarter of Section 27, and 
the record shows that she entered this land 
January 21, 1829, while James R. Coe, her 
son, entered another forty-acre tract in the 



same section, September 20, 1833. About 1838 
the Coe holdings were sold to Isaac Busey, 
and the family removed to Missouri. 

The lands in the southeast quarter of Sec- 
tion 28 were first settled by John Whitaker, 
who lived thereon in 1828 and entered the 
east half of the southeast quarter, August 20, 
1831. Whitaker sold out to Jacob Heater, 
April 4, 1834, upon the return of the latter 
from his term of service in the Black Hawk 
War, his wages as a soldier furnishing the 
means of purchase. Heater lived on this 
land until about 1854, when he sold to W. N. 
Coler, and emigrated to Iowa, where he died. 
Coler soon after sold to Richard Marriott. 

The farm in Section 21, Somer Township, . 
known as the Adkins farm, which gave the 
name to the point of timber known as "Ad- 
kins' Point," was before 1830 settled by Levi 
Moore, who in 1831 entered 240 acres in that 
section, which, about February, 1835, he sold 
to Lewis Adkins, who settled there with a 
numerous family of sons and daughters, 
whose members, for many years thereafter 
figured quite conspicuously in the social and 
business affairs of the county. These lands, 
with others entered by Mr. Adkins, were sold 
about 1854 to J. B. Anderson, and are now 
mostly owned by John Thornburn and his 
son. The Adkins family, except the daugh- 
ters who married and settled here, went to 
Iowa and the name in this locality has well 
nigh disappeared from use. 

Before 1828 Matthias Rhinehart lived on 
the west half of the southwest quarter of 
Section 26, Somer Township, which he, to- 
gether with his son-in-law, Walter Rhoades, 
entered February 4, 1830. It was at the home 
of these parties, upon this tract, that a post- 
office the first in this part of Vermilion 
County called Van Buren, was established 
by order of the Postoffice Department. Wal- 
ter Rhoades lived upon this tract until about 
1857, when he sold to A. M. Fauley. 

Dating quite early in the history of the 
first settlement of the county, Philip Stanford 
settled upon the east part of Section 27, So- 
mer Township, and was about the first set- 
tler in that neighborhood. He was there in 
1829 when the Kirby family came, and made 
his first entry of land where he lived Octo- 
ber 9, 1829. His house was built upon or 
near the Fort Clark road, upon which, and 
past the Stanford home, flowed every year a 



668 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



great tide of immigrant wagons, carrying fam- 
ilies to the more thickly settled portions of 
the State. It is remembered, and often told, 
that Stanford's was a favorite camping 
ground, convenient water, shelter and feed 
favoring the resort, and that the adjacent 
prairie and grove were lighted up by these 
transients every night. Stanford sold to 
Isaac Busey in the 'thirties and became a resi- 
dent of Danville. 

James Clements, with a numerous family, 
came about 1834 and bought out Howard, as 
before stated. He subsequently entered 
other lands in the neighborhood and died 
many years since, leaving a considerable 
estate in lands and many descendants. 

Early in the 'thirties, James Brownfield 
came from Kentucky with his family of four 
young sons, Robert, Joseph, Samuel and John 
R. He became the owner, by purchase, of 
land in the west half of the northwest quar- 
ter of Section 35, upon which he made his 
home. He died about 1840, and his estate 
wa's divided among his sons, Robert becom- 
ing the owner of this tract, upon which, after 
marrying the daughter of his neighbor, James 
Clements, he made his life-long home. Rob- 
ert died in 1878, leaving a large family, con- 
sisting of one son (Henry M.) and several 
daughters. Samuel died some years earlier, 
leaving no descendants, while John R. re- 
moved to Missouri, with most of his family. 
One son of the latter (Henry) now lives in 
Sidney Township. 

John S. Beasley, who came here about 1854, 
as a permanent resident, and who died here, 
was upon the ground at an early day in the 
history of the county, and entered much land 
as early as 1830, mostly in Somer Township. 

Returning to the south side of the Big 
Grove, we again quote the statement of James 
Kirby to the effect that, when he came to the 
county in August, 1829, while many had al- 
ready fixed their homes around and in the 
edge of the north side of the grove, only Will- 
iam Tompkins had chosen the south side for 
his residence; and he upon the site of the 
present city of TJrbana. He is entitled to the 
distinction of being called its first permanent 
citizen. 

Matthew Busey came the same year and, 
following the example of other immigrants, 
bought the cabin and squatter's right upon 
a choice location. He found one Sample Cole, 



with only a squatter's right, occupying a frail 
cabin upon the north end of the west half 
of the northeast quarter of Section 15, Ur- 
bana Township, which he purchased and of 
which he at once took possession, remaining 
there until his death in 1863. He remained, 
like Cole, with only a squatter's right until 
December 5, 1829, when he entered this and 
an eighty-acre tract in Section 10, north of 
and adjoining the one first entered. The farm 
has long been known as the "Nox farm," for 
it fell into the hands of Solomon Nox, a son- 
in-law of Mr. Busey, and is now occupied by 
Mr. Brady and his family. Within a few feet 
of the site of the Cole cabin the cars of the 
Danville, Urbana & Champaign Electric Rail- 
road now pass hourly, and but a few rods 
north is the track of the Peoria & Eastern 
Illinois Road, over which thunder daily its 
trains. Quite a change from the days of 
1829! 

Sample Cole, upon selling out to Matthew 
Busey, at once fixed a new home upon the 
west half of the northwest quarter of Section 
5, TJrbana Township, which he entered on 
December 5, 1829. 

From the fact that Cole and Busey entered 
their lands the same day and were near 
neighbors, it may well be presumed that they 
bore each other company upon their long 
journey to Palestine, nearly a hundred miles 
away, where land entries were then made. 
Cole subsequently entered the east half of 
the northeast quarter of Section 6, Urbana, 
immediately adjoining the former tract. 

Again, being led by the dates of the com- 
ing of early settlers and by the dates of 
entries of land as indicative of settlement, 
we continue the narrative of the making oC 
settlements upon the south side of the Big 
Grove, in what is now known as Urbana City 
and Township. 

Mr. Kirby, before referred to, said that 
when his family came, in August, 1829, there 
were no settlers upon the south side of the 
Big Grove other than William Tompkins and 
Matthew Busey one on Section 8, the other 
on Section 15 about two miles apart; and 
that, soon after that date, Isaac * Busey, his 
brother Charles Busey, Isham Cook, John G. 
Robertson, Mijaman Byers and others came 
and settled upon the south side of the Big 
Grove. 

Soon after Tompkins had perfected his 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



669 



titles, and in the year 1830, Isaac Busey, a 
brother of Matthew, before named led, it 
must be presumed, by the reports sent back 
by the family of Matthew came with a large 
family of sons and daughters, and with him 
his sons-in-law, James T. Roe - and Mason 
Martin. Isaac Busey bought out the hold- 
ings of Tompkins and took possession of the 
cabin before spoken of, near the stone bridge 
now in Urbana. Within a few years he en- 
tered much land in the county and died a 
large landowner; and to him and his owner- 
ship the titles of more tracts of land and 
lots are traced, probably, than to any other 
person in Champaign County, unless it be 
Col. M. W. Busey, hereafter named. 

Mr. Busey was an influential citizen, wise 
in his selection of lands, and had great In- 
fluence in the location of the county-seat of 
the new county and in setting in motion its 
legal machinery, to which reference will be 
made at greater length hereafter. It was 
within the rude cabin occupied by him near 
the "Bone Yard" Creek, that the first term 
of the circuit court of the county was held, 
in default of any other place where it could 
be held, and where the sessions of the Board 
of County Commissioners were held. For 
some years he held the office of County Com- 
missioner. He died January 11, 1847. 

Mr. Roe became the owner of the holdings 
of Runnel Fielder, and, later, laid out several 
additions to Urbana upon the land entered 
by Tompkins, and by Tompkins conveyed to 
Isaac Busey. 

Mr. Martin entered lands in the Big Grove, 
and both families made permanent homes 
here. Isaac W. Roe, of Urbana, and LeGrand 
Martin, of Gifford, are grandsons of Isaac 
Busey, and many others of his descendants 
are residents of the county. 

William T. Webber came from Kentucky 
in 1830, selected some lands for his future 
home and, on October 9th of that year, en- 
tered the eighty-acre tract where the shops 
and yards of the Big Four Railroad are now 
located. Mr. Webber also entered other lands 
in Sections 8, 9 and 16. In 1833 Mr. Webber 
came with a large family of sons and daugh- 
ters, having been preceded, in point of time 
by one year, by his son, Thomson R. Web- 
ber, who became the foremost citizen of the 
new settlement, the first Clerk of the Courts 
of the new county, the first Postmaster of 



Urbana and the member from his county of 
two State Constitutional Conventions. Mr. 
William T. Webber died in 1838, owning large 
tracts of land in and about Urbana. Many 
dwellers here also trace the titles to their 
homes through this pioneer. Mr. Webber's 
descendants now and during all the life of 
Champaign County are numerous and justly 
influential in its affairs. 

The year 1830 also brought to the settle- 
ment Nicholas Smith and his son Jacob, who, 
the same year, entered considerable land in 
Sections 9 and 15, east of Urbana, the most 
of which is still held by the children of the 
latter. Jacob Smith died in 1854. 

A year later than the Smiths, came also, 
from Kentucky, William Boyd, his son, 
Stephen Boyd, and his grandson, James W. 
Boyd. This family made its home upon land 
in Sections 9 and 10, which was entered in 
May, 1831. Descendants of the Boyd family 
still occupy the lands so bought and others 
not far away. 

John G. Robertson came to the south side 
of the Big Grove in the year 1830, and pur- 
chased from Sample Cole, September 28, 
1831, his title to the west half of the north- 
west quarter of Section 5, which he held un- 
til April, 1834, when he sold it to Isaac Busey 
and, in turn, became one of the earliest set- 
tlers upon the Sangamon, where he spent the 
residue of his life. He will be referred to 
hereafter. 

Samuel Brumley also, with a numerous fam- 
ily of sons and daughters, came in 1830. He 
was a tenant upon the Fielder farm for some 
years, but in 1832-33 entered 160 acres in 
Section 11, where he lived until his death. 
His daughter, Mrs. T. L. Truman, still occu- 
pies part of the land. The sons of Mr. Brum- 
ley, Daniel and William, who were well-nigh 
grown when the family came here, were sub- 
sequently the owners of farms nearby. Mr. 
Brumley's descendants are still numerous in 
the county. 

The same year in which the Brumleys came 
also came John Truman, with another nu- 
merous family of sons and daughters, and on 
November 24, 1830, entered the northwest 
quarter of Section 10. Here he hewed out 
of the timber, and upon the bluffs of the 
creek, a farm upon which to rear the family, 
when less than a mile away lay the unbroken 
level prairie, without a stone or a bush, open 



G70 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



to entry and occupancy. Here the Truman 
family lived for about twenty years, and until 
the death of the pioneer about 1854. Both 
the Brumley and the Truman families made 
farms in the timber nearby the Boyd family, 
all seeming to prefer the shelter and protec- 
tion of the timber grove to the ease and 
adaptability which offered itself upon the open 
prairie. 

Asahel Bruer, also at the head of a numer- 
ous family, which by intermarriage has graced 
other family circles, came to the county in 
the autumn of 1832 as a school teacher, and 
taught a school during the succeeding win- 
ter in a log school-house near the Brumley 
home in Section 10. To this school children 
from the Trickle, Kirby, Boyd, Busey, Tru- 
man, Brumley, Rowland and other early set- 
tlers' families came, and neither pupils nor 
teacher ever tired of telling of the pranks 
played by both parties upon the other during 
this winter. The following year Mr. Bruer 
entered land not far away from his school 
in Section 3, where he also, nearby the Tru- 
man, Brumley and Boyd farms, cleared and 
cultivated a farm in the timber. 

Samuel G. Bickley came before 1832 and, 
in January of that year, entered land in Sec- 
tion 5, where, and nearby, he entered other 
lands and opened a farm on prairie land. 
Mr. Bickley married a daughter of Isaac Bu- 
sey. He emigrated to Missouri about 1850, 
having sold his holdings to James Dean. 
Col. S. T. Busey now owns the same land. 

Elias Stamey, from North Carolina, ap- 
peared before 1832 and soon thereafter en- 
tered and purchased lands in Sections 5 and 
6, upon which he opened a prairie farm, 
where he and his family resided until his 
death. His family remained there until a 
few years since, when the farm passed from 
their hands by deed. Mr. Stamey married a 
daughter of Matthew Busey. 

Isham Cook came early in the year 1830 
and, having bought out a squatter named Bui- 
lard, on July 1, of that year, entered the west 
half of the northwest quarter of Section 5, 
and, after erecting a cabin thereon, returned 
to Kentucky for his family. In the dead of 
winter, the family, on the way to this new 
home, arrived at Linn Grove, where Mr. Cook 
sickened and died. The bereaved family, 
with the body of their dead, was brought to 
the new home, where, nearby the dead was 



buried, the family making use of the cabin 
as their home. Here the widow reared her 
family and finally was laid beside her hus- 
band. 

Mr. James M. Myers, a son of the late 
James Myers and of his first wife, who was 
a daughter of Isham Cook, tells, with much 
particularity, the circumstances attending the 
death and burial of his grandfather, as many 
times related to him by his mother. The death 
of the father at Linn Grove left the widow 
with a family of four little children, in a 
strange country and alone so far as having 
anyone to look to for help was concerned. 
Joseph Davis, who afterwards entered that 
piece of land, it is related, after the death of 
Mr. Cook, took the uncoffined remains in his 
sled and, accompanied by the bereaved fam- 
ily, drove across to the Big Grove, in the 
western edge of which the dead father had 
partly prepared a cabin for his household the 
autumn before. The party was late and Da- 
vis was anxious to return home, and, without 
other ceremony, and against the pleadings of 
the widow, dumped the dead body of Cook 
upon the ground near the cabin and set out 
on his journey home. This heartless proceed- 
ing, together with the helpless and unpro- 
tected condition of the family, caused the 
mother and her little children to cry aloud, 
with, as they supposed, no one near enough 
to hear them. It was otherwise, however, for 
a company of wild Indians, who were 
encamped a short distance east of the cabin, 
across the creek, heard the cry of distress and 
at once came to learn who might be there to 
cause the outcry. They were able to speak 
the language of the family and were informed 
of the action of the heartless Davis. They 
pagans as they were were indignant and of- 
fered to pursue the hard-hearted Davis and 
take his scalp; but Mrs. Cook persuaded them 
otherwise, when they set about making the 
family comfortable in their cheerless camp. 
A fire was made, provisions furnished a"nd 
cooked and all cared for as best might be 
done. The next day these same wild men re- 
turned and ministered to the needs of the 
family as best they could. The remains of 
the dead father, coffined in a roll of bark 
found nearby, and which it must be supposed 
he himself had taken from some tree used 
ir. the building or roofing of his cabin, were 
placed in a grave made by them, and every- 



LIB* RY 
OF THE 

UNIVERSITY Of 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



671 



thing that the knowledge of the wild men 
could suggest was done to make the family 
comfortable. This place remained the home 
of the Cook family until broken up by the 
death of the mother and the marriage of the 
daughters, which took place ten years or 
more after they came here. James Madlsou 
Cook, the youngest of Isham Cook's family, 
and the only son, was drowned in Spring 
Creek, Iroquois County, about 1843, when on 
his way by wagon to Chicago. 

The land entered by Cook was subsequently 
owned by Samuel G. Bickley, and, as shown 
above, became the home of James Dean about 
1850, where he resided until his death in 
1870. Mr. Dean always respected the burial 
place of the Cooks, and though the graves 
remained unmarked, the ground was never 
broken or used in any manner. A small 
bunch of young timber and bushes covered 
the site for many years. 

Mijamin Byers was an early immigrant to 
the western part of Vermilion County, and on 
November, 1830, made entry of the east half 
of the southeast quarter of Section 10. By- 
ers was at an early date chosen as a Justice 
of the Peace for that county, which office he 
held until after the formation of Champaign 
County. O This land subsequently passed to 
John Shepherd, from whom it passed to J. W. 
Sim, Sr. It is now owned by Isaac W. Roe. 

Charles Woodward entered the east half 
of the southwest quarter of Section 11, No- 
vember 2, 1830. This land subsequently, and 
for many years, became the property, and was 
the home, of Paris Shepherd, and is now 
owned by Mr. Roe. 

Samuel G. Marsh, on February 4, 1830, en- 
tered the eighty-acre tract east of the above, 
which has now the same ownership. 

Alexander Holbrook entered the west half 
of the northwest quarter of Section 8, on No- 
vember 17, 1830. Upon this tract, near the 
north end in the neighborhood of the present 
location of the Smith Brothers' cold storage 
plant, Holbrook erected a cabin, which was 
his home before 1836. This land was subse- 
quently owned by Col. M. W. Busey, and the 
cabin, for a time, was the home of the Busey 
family. 

Colonel Busey, as early as May, 1831, en- 



(^Mijamin Bvers first s'-ttl^d at Linn Grove 
in tho vpnr 1829. He moved from Kentucky 
during that year. 



tered 160 acres of land in Section 8, whereon 
is now built a considerable portion of the 
City of Urbana, and upon which stands the 
home of his son, Col. S. T. Busey, as well 
as the home of the late Hon. S. H. Busey. 
This step was taken presumably with a view 
to making this land his home, though he did 
not remove his family here until the year 
1836. Before his death, which occurred on 
December 18, 1852, he became and was the 
owner, either by entry from the Government 
or by purchase, of most of the land whereon 
is built the western portion of Urbana and 
the eastern portion of Champaign, extending 
from the stone bridge in Urbana to Neil 
Street in Champaign. 

The foregoing embraces most of the early 
settlers who came to the Big Grove before 
the formation of the county in 1833, and the 
narrative, so far, is confined to the territory 
now embraced in Urbana, St. Joseph and 
Somer Townships. 

The first entries of land within the terri- 
tory embraced in Champaign Township were 
those of Lazarus W. Busey, in Section 1, and 
of Joseph Evans, in Section 13, both of which 
were made in the year 1837. No other en- 
tries were made within that territory until 
1845, eight years thereafter. 

The northeast quarter of Section 6, Urbana, 
about two miles north of the City of Urbana, 
on a country road which is an extension of 
Lincoln Avenue, was once the site of an em- 
bryo city; and so has a history different from 
its fellow farm lands nearby. The records of 
Vermilion County show that, on July 16, 1832, 
Noah Bixler, whose name is connected with 
the record of many land titles of the county 
especially with early land entries on the San- 
gamon filed a plat of the town of "Lancas- 
ter," in Vermilion County. The plat locates 
the town on the above-named tract, and shows 
it to be contiguous to the Salt Fork. The 
location will be identified as being on the 
southwest corner of the cross roads near 
which the above-named county road crosses 
the stream, and as being now a part of what 
has long been known as the Stamey farm. 
An ample public square was provided in the 
center of the town, with streets Main, Wal- 
nut and Union running north and south, and 
Water, Elm and Race running east and west. 
The site, adjoining the Big Grove and near 
one of the finest springs in the county, was 



672 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



well chosen, and only lacked inhabitants to 
make it a success. It is said by persons 
living here at that time, that Bixler, the 
promoter, lived upon the projected town-site, 
and that as many as seven or eight other 
houses of the cabin variety were also erected 
there. The records of Champaign County 
show that Sample Cole entered the land 
July 4, 1831, and it fails to show any trans- 
fer to Bixler. All was in Vermilion County 
then, and it may be that the records there 
will show Bixler's title, as well as - this plat. 

The year following, Champaign County was 
set off and, in the scramble for the location 
of the county-seat which followed, it can 
hardly be possible that Lancaster, with its 
handsome location and its nearness to the 
geographical center of the county, was not 
a candidate for the plum, though available 
tradition on that subject has not named it 
as such. 

"What might have been" suggests itself in 
this connection. The site of Lancaster is less 
than half a mile from the line of the Illinois 
Central Railroad. Had the engineers In 
charge of the construction of that great work, 
half a century since, found the court-house 
of Champaign County there, no doubt exists 
that its local depot would have teen located 
two miles north of its present site, and the 
"Two Town" wraith would never have been 
raised. 

It is said that Lancaster maintained its 
name and place until after Urbana had come 
into existence, and that it continued its strug- 
gle for a boom until "Byron" rose upon its 
eastern horizon, two miles away, when its 
several cabins were moved there and it faded 
into a beautiful farm, nearby which, in the 
fullness of time, came the track of the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad which it is to this day. 

Bixler, after the explosion of his scheme 
for building a town, became a resident of 
Urbana, owned much urban property here, 
and held the office of Justice of the Peace. (')' 

Upon Sections 33 and 34 of Town 20, and 
Section 4 of Town 19, an enterprise was 

( x )In a recent interview with Jephtha Tru- 
man, youngest son of John Truman, a pioneer 
E>T,7^ r fl lnforme d by Mr. Truman, who for 
twenty-five years has been a resident of the 
t 6 Kansas, that in the spring of 1881 he 
K*I M Blxler (whom he had well known 
while the latter resided in this county) at Ot- 
tawa, in Kansas, where Mr. Bixler died not 
long after that meeting. 



started in 1836, which has in it much to 
amuse the student of local history of to-day. 
The Myers farm in Urbana, and the Mans- 
field and Schiff farms, of Somer, in the above- 
named sections, have no appearance of the 
trade and commerce designed for them in 
1836 by their then owners. Indeed, all of 
them look like common farms, with no ambi- 
tion above the. raising of stock and the pro- 
duction of crops like the adjacent farms. Yet, 
in the year just named, their owners dreamed 
for them a far different history. On October 
1st of that year, J. W. S. Mitchell, then a 
large landholder of the western part of the 
county, and Jesse W. Fell and Allen Withers, 
of Bloomington, filed in the Recorder's office 
of this county, the properly certified plat of 
the town of "Byron," located upon the lands 
above indicated, with the township line 
now a common country road as its main 
avenue. (*) About one hundred acres of the 



( 1 )"Byron, a townsite in Champaign County 
in the Big Grove, three and a half miles north 
west (north east) from Urbana, with three or 
four families.' Peck's "Gazetteer" (1837). page 
168 

"Jesse W. Fell was a distinguished citizen 
and promoter, resident of Bloomington from 
1832 to his death in 1881. He was an intimate 
friend of Lincoln and of David Davis. Allen 
Withers was little less distinguished, and known 
for his usefulness through the same half cent- 
ury as Mr. Fell. The "Withers Library and num- 
erous other important ^public gifts made by his 
widow out of the property they both accumulat- 
ed, insure the perpetuation of his name for all 
time to come." McLean County History, Vol. 
1, page 416 

"Scarcely' had the matter of the county-seat 
been settled when a project was set on foot bv 
some speculators, among whom was Jesse "W. 
Fell, of Bloomington, for the building up of a 
town in a near by locality. A site was selected 
in the northeast part of the grove, a town was 
laid off which was called "Byron." The pro- 
prietors then issued a flaunting hand-bill an- 
nouncing that, on a certain day, they would sell 
lots therein, and setting forth the advantages of 
their point as surrounded by a fine country, and 
also stating that it would, without doubt, yet 
be made the county-seat; that the present lo- 
cation of it (the county-seat) was of no im- 
portance, and where nobody lived but the 
County Clerk and inn-keeper. 

"The prospect deluded many into the opinion 
that the soil was worth more in that vicinity 
than anywhere else On the day of the sale 
the town or rather' the woods where the town 
was to be was crowded with men from all the 
settlements anxious to become the owners of a 
spot of ground in the miniature city. The sale 
commenced not only of lots in the town, but of 
men. as you will see, when I say, that some 
of the lots in that town, which lay in a district 
of country which, for a hundred miles around, 
did not contain inhabitants enough to support 
a one-horse store, and with no prospect of ever 
being any better, sold for more than a hundred 
dollars. The proprietors informed the people 
that they should immediately remove their 
families there and commence improvements by 
building fine residences, stores and offices. In 
the course of the following year the people be- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



673 



lands in the above-named sections were plat- 
ted into twenty-six blocks of over two hun- 
dred lots. Streets and alleys ran at right 
angles to each other. Besides the poetical 
name of the town, the projected city was 
given streets bearing the classical names of 
"Montgomery," "Thompson," "Campbell," 
"Young," "Cowper," "Moore," "Scott," 
"Pope," "Shakespeare," "Milton," "Homer," 
"Dryden" and the like, with no name showing 
a less distinguished origin than these. The 
new enterprise was thus launched with some- 
thing of a show of trumpet-sounding, to the 
effect that it would supersede the then young 
town of Urbana, and eventually carry away 
the county-seat as a trophy. A public square 
was laid out as the place for the public build- 
ings. The records show the sale of about 
seven of the lots to different parties, and 
tradition says that a few houses were actu- 
ally erected, with one store in operation for 
a short time. William Hill, William Corray, 
Francis Clements, G. W. Withers and James 
R. Coe are named as the grantees of the lots 
sold. A few years later and all was over; 
the town deserted and the lots sold for taxes. 
The promoters were in line with many an- 
other scheme as a part of the wave of specu- 
lation of that day, and went down in the col- 
lapse of 1837. 

These farms are none the worse for the 
town that did not grow, and the adjacent 
country suffered no loss from the collapse. 

An interesting and important feature in the 
immigration above detailed is the fact that 
the Buseys, Brownfields, Boyds, Brumleys, 
Cooks, Smiths, Trumans, and perhaps others, 
forming the early immigrants here came from 
Shelby County, Ky., and other nearby locali- 
ties, and were more or less known to each 
other before coming. This will account for 
the coming of many, and caused a friendly 
feeling to exist among all throughout the set- 
tlement. Friendships formed back there or 
among their fathers who came over the "Wil- 
derness Road," with Boone and his comrades 



from North Carolina and Virginia were per- 
petuated here, and still exist among the de- 
scendants of our pioneers to this day. 



ramp satisfied that they had witnessed a sale. 
Tne prospect of Byron being the county-sear, 
vanished with its projectors, and instead of 
the fine brick buildings, there came nothing but 
two or three log cabins, in one of which was 
kept a small store and grocery. The cabins 
have rotted down and. on the site of the town 
stands only a large patch of hazel-brush, which 
Is only frequented by the timid rabbit or. soli- 
tary owl." Thomson R. "Webber, in an Inter- 
view in 1854. 



CHAPTER X. 
FIRST SETTLEMENT SADORUS GROVE. 

COMING OF THE SADORUS FAMILY DEATH OF HENRY 
SADORUS WILLIAM ROCK ENTRY OF LANDS 
JOHN COOK ISAAC, JAMES, BENJAMIN AND JOHN 

MILLER EZRA FAY JOHN o'BRYAN JOHN 
HAINES NATHANIEL HIXSON Z. YEATES H. J. 

ROBINSON SHELTON RICE. 

In point of time of first settlements, we 
next turn to the southwest corner of Cham- 
paign County, to the isolated grove which 
grew mostly along the east side of the upper 
waters of the Kaskaskia or Okaw River, 
known for many years, and now, as "Sadorus 
Grove," from the name of its first white In- 
habitant. 

Until the year 1824 two years after the 
work of the United States surveyors had been 
completed no white man had chosen the 
shelter of the Okaw for his home. This is 
hardly to be wondered at, for it was remote 
from the most traveled roads leading across 
the State. The Fort Clark road leading north 
of the Big Grove was much travelled by peo- 
ple from the more easterly States, generally 
with their land warrants, aiming for what was 
then and to this day known as the "Military 
Tract," west of the Illinois River. So, also, 
immigration crossing the Wabash River near 
Fort Harrison, took through trails and passing 
farther south than this northern route, met 
with none of the attractions here awaiting 
the coming of home-seekers. 

In this condition, as Nature left it, were the 
Okaw lands on April 9, 1824, when Henry 
Sadorus, an immigrant from Indiana, with his 
family of little children, the eldest of whom 
(his son William) was then tut twelve years 
old, pitched his tent for a night's rest within 
the friendly shades of the isolated grove 
which afterwards came to bear his name. His 
thought was to go farther west, he having in 
his mind, like many others, fixed upon a 
point beyond the Illinois River. A survey of 
his surroundings showed an inexhaustible 
soil, good water, a healthful climate, fine tim- 



G74 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



ber and all the accessories of the complete 
home. Doubtless he asked himself, "Why 
look any farther?" The answer not only de- 
termined his future, but the future of unborn 
generations. An Indiana neighbor, named 
Smith, and his family had accompanied the 
pioneer in his travels, and united with him 
in the resolve to stop there. 

As in the future pages of this historical nar- 
rative the life led by this family in their wil- 
derness home is told more at large, little more 
need be said of them here, exce"pt in connec- 
tion with the neighborhood to which their 
presence gave the name known far and near. 
The home thus set up far from other human 
habitations was the abode of contentment, 
hospitality and reasonable thrift, in the first 
rude cabin which sheltered the family, as 
well as in the more pretentious home to which 
the cabin gave place in due time. The grove 
was a landmark for many miles around, and 
the weary traveler well knew that welcome 
and rest always awaited him at the Sadorus 
home. Here Mr. Sadorus entertained his 
neighbors, the Buseys, Webbers and~ others 
from the Big Grove; the Piatts, Boyers and 
others from down on the Sangamon, where 
Monticello and Piatt County have since spe- 
cialized locations; Coffeen, the enterprising 
general merchant, from down on the Salt 
Fork; the Johnsons, from Linn Grove, and 
the dwellers upon the Ambraw and the Okaw. 
He was also the counsellor and adviser of all 
settlers along the Upper Okaw in matters 
pertaining to their welfare, and his judgment 
was implicitly relied upon. 

After more than fifty-four years of resi- 
dence in his home so chosen, Henry Sadorus, 
the patriarch of a numerous progeny, the 
mentor of a large clientage of neighbors, the 
good citizen and the unostentatious Christian, 
died July 18, 1878.C 1 ) 



(^As showing the estimation in which Mr. 
Sadorus was held, two out of many notices 
given him by the local press at the time of his 
death, are here copied: 

"Henry Sadorus The remarkable pioneer, 
and oldest citizen of Champaign County, is no 
more; his life having terminated by an easy 
and painless death on Thursday morning last, 
at his residence in Sadorus village, aged 
about ninety-five years. 

"Mr. Sadorus was born in Bedford County Pa.. 
July 26, 1783, and came to this county or what 
ten years afterwards became Champaign Coun- 
ty by being set off from Vermilion in 1824. H'e. 
with his family, settled upon the Kaskaskia 
or Okaw timber as a squatter, upon the farm 
which, in 1834, he patented from the United 



When Mr. Sadorus located upon the Okaw 
no entries of lands had been made within 
the territory of Champaign County, nor for 
some years thereafter. He remained a squat- 
ter until December 11, 1834, when he entered, 
at the Land Office at Vandalia, the southeast 
quarter of Section 1, where he had taken 
possession of the Smith cabin in the fall of 
1824, and for the first time became a -free- 
holder in Illinois. His son William, now a 
man of full age, upon the same day, entered 
the eighty-acre tract next north of this home- 
stead, and these were the first entries of land 
in Township 17, Range 7. 

Only a few days elapsed until, on January 
10, 1835, William Rock entered an eighty- 



States Government and resided upon until with- 
in a few years. His life, aside from its great 
length and his connection with this county as a 
pioneer, has no event of marked interest to at- 
tract attention from the general reader, and 
yet, to the citizens, of this county interested 
in the period when their homes passed from the 
domain of the red man of the forest to that of 
the civilized white man, there is much in its 
details of interest to them. 

"At the time of his birth the Revolutionary 
struggle had but just terminated in the surren- 
der of Cornwallis at Yorktown. No permanent 
treaty of peace had been made between Eng- 
land and the United Colonies. The States were 
united by a tie that served but poorly in time 
of war, and which, for the purposes of peace, 
was but a poor excuse for a government. The 
British armies held possession at pswego, Niag- 
ara, Sandusky, Detroit and Mackinaw, and the 
wild Indian held undisputed sway over all of 
the territory belonging to the States west of 
the Alleghany Mountains, except points of Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee, where a few hardy pio- 
neers feebly contended for their rights to the 
soil. All that part of the United States at pres- 
ent lying west of the Mississippi River be- 
longed to Spain. Washington and his revolu- 
tionary compeers were about seeking repose in 
private life, and the people of the colonies were 
puzzled what to do with their newly acquired 
freedom. New York, Boston, Philadelphia and 
Baltimore were small but promising cities; 
while Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Buffalo, 
Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Toledo and San Francis- 
co, with their ten thousand lesser sister west- 
ern towns and cities, had neither existence nor 
name, nor had the wildest enthusiast dreamed 
of their coming in the near future. The great 
Western States of the valley of the Mississippi 
and the Pacific slope now the seat of empire, 
the home of cultivated millions, and the scene 
of teeming industries were designated upon 
the best maps as 'unexplored regions.' and 
were actually less known to their European 
claimants than the wilds of Africa or the 
steppes of Asia of today. What a change does 
the life of Henry Sadorus span. 

"When Mr. Sadorus pitched his tent for the 
first time on the Okaw, in 1824. Runnel Field- 
er, who had two years prior thereto estab- 
lished himself on the creek two miles north- 
east of Urbana was his nearest neighbor and 
only contemporary citizen of what is now 
Champaign County, if we except, perhaps, a 
squatter or two of whose names or presence 
here tradition furnishes us no account. Mr. 
Sadorus was no doubt, the second man to set- 
tle permanently in the territory of this county, 
and, if we class Fielder, who remained here 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



675 



acre tract about two miles south of the Sa- 
dorus home, in Section 24, where he took up 
his residence, the second permanent settler 
in that township, and where he continued to 
reside until his death. 

Until the coming of the Rock family, the 
Sadorus family lived an almost isolated life, 
being the only settlers upon the Okaw timber 
for many miles from its head to the south- 
ward. The friendship formed by these pio- 
neers, thus thrown together, was rendered 
very strong by the mutual aid given each 
other in their isolation, and was life-long in 
its endurance. 

From these dates of entry of lands for 
actual settlement, the records show entries to 
have been rapid for some years. In most 
cases entries were made for actual occupa- 
tion and home-making; but some, from the 
facts connected therewith, were evidently for 
speculation. James McReynoIds. then an in- 
fluential citizen of Kaskaskia, during the 



only eight years but entered land, as a squatter, 
he was the first settler, and at the date of his 
death, the oldest inhabitant and the oldest per- 
son of the county. At the time of his coming 
not a foot of land in this county had been en- 
tered from the Government, and but a small 
portion of the land surveyed, the United States 
surveyors being then at work. The Indians, 
the Pottawatomies, Kickapoos, and Pianke- 
shaws, roamed at pleasure over these prairies 
and were being confederated together by BlacV 
Hawk for the extermination of the whites. All 
his coming there was not a cabin in the county, 
outside the Big Grove, not a road except the 
Indian trails, and the courses and distances of 
the streams were unmarked. Where now is the 
home of a mighty population numbering mor* 1 
than 40,000, where thousands of hospitable' and 
cheerful homes now protect families ami 
strangers, where hundreds of bright school 
houses invite the young, where many noble 
churches lift their spires heavenward, and where 
is now the seat of a mighty university, was 
then, in 1824, a trackless waste of prairie and 
timber which, in the estimation of most ob- 
servers, was uninhabitable. Mr. Sadorus has 
lived to see most of those who came here with- 
in the next ten years after he came, and were 
here at the organization of the county, precede 
him to the grave. But few of those who were 
here in 1833-4, taking- part in laying the foun- 
dations of future society, remain with us. and 
they are bending under the weight of years. 
John Brownfield, Robert Brownfield, Moses 
Thomas, John B. Thomas, Matthew Busey, Isaac 
Busey, John Bryan, Jacob Bartley, George Ak- 
ers, Stephen Boyd, with others, are gone long 
since, and only a few more years and not one 
of all those who, with Mr. Sadorus and those 
above named, aided in the organization of t.hi 
county, will remain to recount to us the story 
of pioneer life. 

"Mr. Sadorus will long be remembered be- 
cause of the prominent position he so long oc- 
cupied in the countv, as well as for the pure 
life led by him here for more than fifty years. 
He was twice married first, to Mary Titus, be- 
fore leaving Pennsylvania, and the second time 
his first wife having died to Mrs. Canter- 
bury, in 1853. 



years 1835 and 1836, entered over 1,000 acres 
in the township, upon which he never re- 
sided or made any improvements. Mr. Mc- 
Reynolds afterwards was appointed to an of- 
fice in the Danville Land Office and became 
a resident of that place. His valuable entries 
of land passed to the ownership of actual resi- 
dents, and are among the most productive 
lands in the township. 

Chauncey A. Goodrich, a name familiar in 
the literary annals of the country, also seems 
to have entered a considerable quantity of 
the land of the township and neighborhood, 
but, so far as known, was never upon the 
ground or had anything to do with the local 
affairs. 

The first additions to the population in the 
immediate neighborhood of Mr. Sadorus were 
Henry Ewing a"nd his family, who came 
from Connersville, Ind., two years after Mr. 
Sadorus came, and built a cabin in the grove 
north of where the village now is. He staid 



"Mr. Sadorus was all his life, in religious be- 
lief, a Universalist, in which faith he died." 
Champaign County Herald. 

"Henry Sadorug. There died, at his residence 
in Sadorus, this county, at 6:15\o'clock on Thurs- 
day morning, July 18th. Henry Sadorus, one of 
the earliest if not the first, white settler of 
Champaign County. H'e was born in Bedford 
County, Pennsylvania, July 26. 1783, and died 
at the ripe age of 94 years, 11 months and 23 
days. His funeral service was held in the Bap- 
tist church, in Sadorus. Friday afternoon. Thf> 
sermon was preached by Rev. D. P. Bunn, a 
Universalist clergyman of Decatur, by request 
of the deceased. A large number of friends 
were present, including many of his associates 
from a distance. 

"The last appearance of the old gentleman in 
public was at the 4th of July celebration, at 
Sadorus, upon which occasion he sang a. song 
to please his friends. On the evening of the 
5th inst. he was taken violently ill with flux, 
whicrt the physicians were unable to check, and 
which was the immediate cause of his death. He 
sank gradually and suffered greatly. He re- 
tained the use of his mind until within a few 
hours of his demise, when he sank into a com- 
atose state. During the last 'years of Ifis life 
he was able to read well, and at the time of his 
death was engaged in reading'Mitchell's Astron- 
omy of the Bible.' For several years he has 
been quite deaf, which made it difficult to car- 
ry on a conversation with him. 

"Mr. Sadorus was twice married. His first 
wife was Miss Mary Titus, whose ancestors 
lived near Titusville, Pa., and from -wftiom that 
town was named. 

"At the age of fifteen. Mr. Sadorus moved with 
his parents to Somerset County, Pa., and there 
spent several years in the peaceful pursuit of 
agriculture. Later he worked in Canada and fin- 
ally located in Cincinnati. While living in the 
latter place he became possessed of a de- 
sire to travel and see something of the world, 
and visited New Orleans, travelling by flat-boat. 
From !New Orleans he crossed the gulf of Mexi- 
co to Cuba, and thence to Baltimore, whence 
he returned overland to his native town. H'e 
soon after married. 

On the breaking out of the War of 1812 he 



676 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



a year and moved west. William Marquis 
soon after came, took possession of the Ewing 
cabin, staid two or three years and cleared a 
small plat of land, when he, too, went west. 
One Aikens Wright came about 1830 and set- 
tled west of the creek, a mile or more away. 
He was reputed to be a desperado, with a 
bad reputation among his neighbors. He 
finally removed from the country under com- 
pulsion. These, and perhaps others of the 
'squatter" kind, came and went, and the first 
to come and stay was William Rock, who 
came in 1835, entered land as before said, 
and died leaving a numerous progeny, 
esteemed among the first citizens in useful- 
ness of the county. 

WalterJBeavers entered land in Section 24, 
in Sadorus Township, March 24, 1837, and 
was upon the ground at an early date, prob- 
ably before the entry so made by him. He 
was a young unmarried man at his coming, 
and married a sister of William Rock. Mr. 
Beavers died about 1856, leaving a large 



enlisted as a private soldier and served as such 
for about a year. A few years ago he applied 
for a pension, and was, we believe, recently 
granted one. 

"Some time about 1818 Mr. Sadorus and his 
young family, emigrated to Flat Rock, Rush 
county, Ind., and while there made several 
profitable trades, which supplied him with, for 
those times quite a capital. In 1824, having dis- 
posed of his property in Indiana, he started 
west with his family, then consisting of his 
wife and six children, the oldest a lad of about 
fourteen, in a prairie schooner drawn by five 
yoke of steers. Whether he had any definite des- 
tination fixed at starting the writer does not 
know, probably not, but on arriving at what Is 
now known as Sadorus Grove, he concluded to 
stop. The nearest neighbor to the east was Jacob 
Vance, at Butler's point, in what is now Vermil- 
ion County, from which place most of the salt 
was procured that was used by the early set- 
tlers in this section. His nearest neighbor was 
James A. Piatt, fifteen miles northwest, where 
Monticello now stands. In 1834 Mr. William 
Rock settled two and a half miles further south, 
and neighbors began to crowd closely. 

I "The State road from Kaskaskia having been 
opened and passing near his residence, Mr. 
Sadorus decided to erect a building for a tavern. 
The nearest saw-mill was at Covington, Ind.. 
sixty miles away, but the lumber, some fifty 
thousand feet, wia hauled through unbridged 
sloughs and streams and the house was built. 
For many years Mr. Sadorus did a thrifty busi- 
ness. His corn was disposed of to drovers who 
passed his place with herds of cattle for the 
East, besides feeding great numbers of hogs on 
his farm. His first orchard, now mostly dead, 
consisted of fifty Milams. procured somewhere 
near Terra Haute, Ind. From them were taken 
innumerable sprouts, and the apple became 
very common in this section. 

"In common with all the pioneers, Mr. Sadorus 
grew his own cotton, at least enough for cloth- 
ing- and bedding. A half-acre sufficed for this, 
and the custom, was kept up until it became-', 
no longer profitable, the time of the mother 
and' three daughters being so much occupied in 



amount of valuable land and a numerous fam- 
ily of children to enjoy the same. 

Philo Hale, of Springfield; Abraham Mann, 
of Vermilion County, and Hiram Cawood, an- 
other non-resident, all entered valuable lands 
in and about the grove all, probably, with a 
view to investment rather than with the in- 
tention of cultivation. None of these men ever 
became residents of the township. 

John Cook and family came about 1839, and 
settled upon land in Section 30, in Tolono 
Township, where he died many years since. 

The Millers Isaac, James, Benjamin and 
John, brothers from Fountain County, Ind. 
also came at an early period in the settle- 
ment of the neighborhood. None of them 
remain to this day, though their descendants 
yet remind us of their presence here in timesi 
gone by. Andrew- J. Miller, a prominent at- 
torney of the county, is a son of the first 
named. 

In 1835 came Ezra Fay, said to have been 
the first minister of his denomination 
to become located in the county. He 
was a member of the sect known as Chris- 



waiting upon and cooking for travelers, that 
they could not weave; besides, goods began to 
get cheaper and nearly every immigrant had 
some kind of cloth to dispose of. About the 
year 1846 Mrs. Sadorus died, and seven years 
later he again married, this time a Mrs. Eliza 
Canterbury, of Charleston. 

"On the breaking out of the California gold- 
fever, three of Mr. Sadorus's sons and a married 
daughter started overland for the auriferous re- 
gions. Two of his sons, we believe, now live in 
Sadorus, and were present at his death-bed. 

"Some years ago, becoming tired of attending 
to so much business, Mr. Sadorus divided his 
property among his descendants, retaining, how- 
ever, an interest which enabled him to pass his 
declining years in ease. He died full of years, 
respected bv all who knew him, and beloved by 
a large circle of friends. H'e was kind and hos- 
pitable to strangers and never turned a needy 
man away empty-handed from his door. 

"Thus has passed away one of the old land- ' 
marks of the county, one whose life teaches 
valuable lessons and whose industry, frugality 
and good example should be emulated by all. 
What he has done others mav do. His life of 
late years has been one of peace and quiet; his 
early days were passed in what, in modern 
times, would be called poverty and privation; 
yet no one doubts that they were days fraught 
witji happiness and years rewarded by plenty. 
His own hands felled the trees from which his 
first cabin was made; his wife and daughters 
spun and wove the wool and cotton which sup- 
plied them with raiment. Carriages, carpets, 
fashionable furniture and the luxuries of today 
were unknown, yes, unheard of; yet contentedly 
the oioneers bore their burdens and grieved 
not for the things they knew not of. 

"There are many interesting reminiscences 
connected with the life of Mr. Sadorus, but we 
must leave them to the historian who. at some 
future time, may write the history of the lives 
of the early settlers of this county." Champaign 
County Gazette. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



677 



tians (New Light), and the presence in the 
county of many worthy people of his faith, 
may, perhaps, be traced to his early efforts. 
Mr. Fay entered and settled upon land in 
.Section 35, part of the farm known as the 
"Ellers" farm, where the well-known citizen, 
William Ellers, resided for many years, and 
where he died about 1894. 

John O'Bryan, with his sons, William, Jo- 
seph and Hiram, with John Haines and his 
son, E. C. Haines, Lawson Laughlin and his 
father-in-law, William Toler, came to the 
neighborhood in the 'thirties and were per- 
manent residents. The latter died there and 
was the first to receive the rites of burial 
in what is known as the Rock Cemetery. 
Many of the descendants of these early set- 
tlers are still to be found along the Okaw. 

The township of land north of Sadorus, 
which, for the purposes of this sketch, may 
be regarded as within the Sadorus settlement, 
was early the object of attention, both from 
the actual settler who was in search of a 
place to make a home, and by the speculator 
class, who sought a place to invest profitably 
his money. Early entries, here as elsewhere 
in the region, were made first from the tim- 
ber belts and groves, or as near to them as 
prior entries would permit. fjia.r_lftg^w. jtnd 
RobftctJVL Underbill, bachelor brothers ~from 
Eastern New ^YTJrfe, as early as 1837 made 
selections of locations in Section 35 of Coifax 
Township, as well as others in Tolono Town- 
ship, but not far away. These gentlemen 
continued to own these tracts of land to the 
end of their lives, which were only terminated 
a few years since. Their lands were broken, 
and rented for many years, and now form 
some of the best farms in the region. 

Elisha Chauncey, a non-resident also, as 
early as 1837 made valuable selections near 
the grove. 

Col. Oscar F. Harmon, of Danville, who fell 
at the head of his regiment (the One Hun- 
dred and Twenty-fifth Illinois) at the disas- 
trous battle of Kenesaw Mountain, as early 
as 1854 entered the whole of Section 19, Col- 
fax Township, and later one-half of Section 
21, nearby. He also made one valuable entry 
of a half-section in Scott Township, a few 
miles away. Robert H. Ives, of Springfield, 
was a large purchaser of the lands in Coifax 
and other nearby neighborhoods. 
It has already been said that John Cook 



came in 1839. Soon after this his brother- 
in-law, John Hamilton, also came and set- 
tled near him at the head of Sadorus Grove. 
Here both families lived in their pioneer cab- 
ins until the year 1852, when both built very 
respectable frame houses. The mechanic em- 
ployed in their construction was Calvin Hig- 
gins, of Urbana, a well-known carpenter and 
builder for many years, who was assisted by 
his son-in-law, Conrad Tobias, also for many 
years a well-known carpenter and contractor 
at Urbana. These men constructed many 
houses, both in the country and in town. 

Zephania Yeates settled in the 'thirties 
upon Section 12, in Sadorus Township, where 
he, for many years, with his numerous sons, 
cultivated a large tract of land. 

Nathaniel Hixson and his brother William 
came early, and settled near the Yeates fam- 
ily. Descendants of these brothers are still 
residents of that section. 

Johnson O'Bryan came early and married 
a daughter of the pioneer, William Rock, and 
made a farm on the west side of the Okaw 
River. 

Hugh- J. Robinson, one of the best known 
men of Sadorus Township, came to the county 
in 1852, before he was of full age, and for 
some years assisted in furnishing the Illinois 
Central Railroad with its first set of ties 
from the forests along the Okaw, in what is 
now known as Douglas County then Coles. 
In 1858 he set up for himself upon lands on 
the west side of the Okaw, where he lives 
to this day, now the owner of several hun- 
dred acres of its rich soil. 

In 1854 there came to the Sadorus settle- 
ment Shelton Rice and his family of four 
sons, David, Arthur, John and Henry. The 
first two are well remembered as thrifty and 
well-known citizens of very considerable suc- 
cess in gathering into their ownership much 
valuable land. Arthur died in 1902, while 
David still resides in the village. 

James Black, with his sons, William and 
Wallace, came early in the 'fifties and set- 
tled upon the west side of the river. So also 
did James Stevens and his son, James. The 
Blacks and the Stevenses were Scotchmen, 
and, with the well-known thrift of that peo- 
ple, prospered as farmers there. 

The large Craw family the brothers, Al- 
len and his sons, Samuel, George, Charles 
and Edward came to Sadorus Grove in 



678 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



1858, where from thrift and merit the family 
have earned a reputation for all that goes 
to make up good citizenship. A relative, Alva 
Craw, with numerous sons, came about the 
same time, and they have well maintained 
the good reputation of the family name. 

Dr. J. G. Chambers has resided in the town- 
ship for near forty years, both as a practicing 
physician and as a practical farmer. He mar- 
ried a daughter of William Rock, and has well 
prospered in all matters pertaining to his 
calling. 

David Rice, who came witn his father in 
1854, remembers that at that time there were 
upon the east side of the Grove Joseph 
O'Bryan, William O'Bryan, John O'Bryan, 
Elijah C. Haines, Walter Beaver, William 
Rock and his son Andrew J. Rock, Samuel 
Hixson, Zephaniah Yeates, Henry Sadorus, 
William Sadorus, John P. Tenbrook, Isaac J. 
Miller, John Cook, John Hamilton and John 
Matthews. 

On the west side of the Grove were William 
Harrison, William Ellers, E. Laughlin, John 
Miller and James Miller. 

Without exception, all of these lived in, or 
within a short distance from, the timber line. 

The most natural turn of the conversation 
of any of the pioneers, whether of this or of 
any other of the early settlements, will be 
found to be upon the subject of the hardships 
and privations which they, in common with 
all others of their class, were compelled to 
endure. And while upon this topic, the "green- 
heads," one of the greatest of insect torments, 
comes in for his share of denunciation. This 
fly was peculiar to the prairies of Illinois, 
where it thrived with the greatest luxuriance. 
In mid-summer and until the autumn frosts 
had terminated their existence, stock pf all 
kinds, and especially teams making trips 
across an unbroken prairie, were the victims 
of the attacks of this bloodthirsty little in- 
sect, which came in swarms and staid until 
surfeited with the blood of the animal. Such 
was the fierceness of their attacks that no 
animal could long endure them. Cases are 
cited where horses would go wild from their 
attacks, and give up their lives unless aided 
in some manner to resist the blood-letting 
process. Happily, as the country improved 
and as the prairie-grass gave way to cultiva- 
tion, this pest became scarcer until now a 
genuine "green-head" is hard to find, and 



their attacks upon animals have almost en- 
tirely ceased. 



CHAPTER XI. 
FIRST SETTLEMENT SALT FORK. 

FIRST ENTRY OF LANDS THOMAS L. BUTLER ABRA- 
HAM YEAZEL MOSES THOMAS JAMES FREEMAN 
WILLIAM NOX JACOB THOMAS THOMAS DEER 
GEORGE AKERS THE CODDINGTONS BARTLEY 
SWEARINGEN JOHN SAULSBURY GEORGE, BEN- 
JAMIN AND BARTLEY SWEARINGEN CYRUS STRONG 
N. YOUNT JOSEPH STAYTON JEFFERSON HUSS 
WILLIAM PETERS THE ARGOS HIRAM RANKIN 
THE SHREEVES SAMUEL MAPES ROBERT PRA- 
THER ISAAC BURRIS DR. STEVENS LEWIS JONES 
DR. LYONS M. D. COFFEEN ORIGIN OF HOMER. 

That part of Champaign County, known 
among the pioneers as the "Salt Fork Tim- 
ber," now mostly embraced in the Townships 
of St. Joseph, Sidney and South Homer, was 
early occupied by immigrants to the new 
country. Who first built his home in that 
timber, and when it was built, our informa- 
tion does not enable us to say. The Sadorus 
family knew of none at their coming in 1824. 
It is safe to allege that the first occupants 
were of the class known as "squatters," who 
may, or may not, have finally become the 
legal owners of lands and thus have changed 
their character from temporary to permanent 
dwellers, and, in the end, have left upon the 
records of the county their names. (*) 

The contiguity of this timber to the set- 
tlements made earlier at Butler's Point and 
Danville, makes it probable that, from those 
settlements, came some of the earlier set- 
tlers of the Salt Fork Timber, as is well 
known of some of the settlers of the Big 
Grove. The Trickles, the Kirbys, the Moss 
family and others of the Big Grove settlers, 
first stopped lower down in what is now 
Vermilion County. 

The records of the county make it certain 
that the earliest entries of the public lands 
were made in the Salt Fork Timber. Here 



( 1 )Hon. Randolph C. Wrig-ht, whose residence 
has been at Homer and vicinity since about 1833. 
names Abraham Teazel, James Freeman and 
John Umbenhower, among the earliest to estab- 
lish homes there. His uncle, David C. "Wright, 
came as early as 1830 and Moses Thomas not 
far from that time. 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



679 



on the east half of the northeast quarter of 
Section 12, in Sidney Township, was made 
the first entry of lands. The record shows it 
to have taken place on February 7, 1827, five 
years after Fielder had squatted at the Big 
Grove and three years after Henry Sadorus 
had likewise stuck his stakes on the Okaw. 
Jesse Williams made the entry and is enti- 
tled to the distinction of being the first "free- 
holder" of the county. } Whether he followed 
up his ownership by occupancy of his land 
or not, inquiry has failed to establish. The 
deed records of the county are silent as to 
any change of ownership, but it is a fact that 
Thomas L. Butler was, for many years, the 
owner and occupant of it. He also entered 
lands in the same Section in 1833. 

Within one year from this entry, on October 
16, 1827, the other half of this quarter section 
was entered by one John Hendricks, which 
seems to have been the second entry within 
the bounds of the county, as subsequently 
established. The third entry was made by 
Josiah Conger, on November 30, 1827, upon 
the northwest quarter of Section 5, about two 
miles east of the Williams entry. These 
entries were of timber land along the Salt 
Fork, and the only entries made before the 
year 1828. Following these entries, on Feb-r 
ruary 18, 1828, William Nox, Jacob Thomas, 
Henry Thomas, Robert Trickel and James 
Copeland entered lands in South Homer and 
Sidney Townships. The date of these sev- 
.eral entries suggests the idea that these men 
may have borne each other company in their 
journey to Palestine, down oh the Wabash 
River, where the Land Office was located. 

The ten years next succeeding these ear- 
liest entries saw many comers to this timber 
belt, as we may infer from the entries of 
lands shown upon the records of the county, 
and as is known to the writer from personal 
interviews with many now gone to the Be- 
yond. 

It will not be out of place, in part at least, 
to call the roll of these early "Salt Forkers," 
as they were long known by their contem- 
poraries ; for many of them achieved . success 
in life, left their names upon many pages of 
the records of the county, and many are yet 
represented by residents of the county. So, 
beginning with those who apparently came 
earliest, let the reader go with us over this 
list of pioneers: Moses Thomas came about 



1829 and entered land not far from the Vil- 
lage of Homer. He erected and operated 
the first mill with other than manual or horse 
power, near the southwest corner of Section 
33, Town 19, Range 14; was one of the pro- 
prietors of the Village of Homer laid out upon 
lands near by, and served, by appointment 
and election, as Probate Justice from 1833 to 
1837, when he was succeeded by his son, John 
B. Thomas. Jacob Thomas came in 1828, and 
he and his brother, Joseph Thomas, entered 
much land in Sidney Township. 

Thomas Deer entered land October 6, 1830, 
near the present Deer Station, which is still 
owned by his descendants. It is from this 
family the station received its name. 

George Akers in 1831 entered land in Sec- 
tion 2, near the land entered by Jesse Will- 
iams, and was elected one of the first County 
Commissioners of the county. C 1 ) 

In the adjoining section the Coddingtons 
William and John entered land in 1830 and 
1831, and to this land, and to other land 
near by, the name of Coddington has been at- 
tached ever since. 

In 1830 Joseph Montgomery and Reuben S. 
Ballard entered lands in the same neighbor- 
hood; but, as far as known, their entries were 
not followed by occupation. 

David C. Wright came in 1830, and settled 
on the Danville road east of James Free- 
man's. 

The first entry of land made by a member 
of the Swearingen family ever since that 
time and now so numerous in the county 
was made by Bartley Swearingen, who entered 
land in Section 36, St. Joseph Township, No- 
vember 16, 1829, which was followed a year 
thereafter by the entry by John Salisbury 
and John Swearingen of land in Section 24 
of the same township, which is still in the 
Swearingen family. This John Salisbury was 
the first Sheriff appointed for the county. 



OV'The first grist mill in the town (Sidney) 
was erected on the Salt Fork by George Akers, 
and I am unable to give the exact date, but, 
sometime prior to 1840 and afterwards there 
was attached to it a saw-mill, where most of 
the lumber used for building purposes for quite 
a distance around was obtained, Akers having, 
sold the same to William Towner, a practical 
millright. who operated it for several years." 
Dr. W: A. Conkey's Essay. 

"The first grist-mill was erected by George 
Akers, about 1834. It was afterwards changed 
to a grist and saw-mill, and from it was after- 
wards obtained most of the lumber for build- 
ing purposes in this locality." Brink's "History 
of Champaign County," page 137. 



680 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



David Swearingen came here in 1831 and, in 
1833, entered land in Section 35, upon which 
he lived to the day of his death, and which 
remained in his family until recently. The 
name of this family, so numerous in the east- 
ern part of the county, appears in the ab- 
stracts of titles to the real estate of that sec- 
tion more frequently than that of any other 
.family. Its holdings since 1829 have been 
and now are very large. 

The Hartley family, in the persons of 
George, Benjamin and Jacob, came before 
1831, and during that and the two succeeding 
years entered lands in Sections 22 and 23 of 
St. Joseph Township. Jacob Bartley was 
elected a member of the first Board of County 
Commissioners of this county in 1833. 

So of the Strong family, who came about 
1831, its members, Cyrus and his sons, 
Orange and Ambrose, entering lands in 
Sections 13, 15, 22 and 23 of the same town- 
ship. One of these, Cyrus, was elected a 
County Commissioner in 1836. 

Nicholas Yount came in 1830 and, in that 
year, entered land in Section 26, which he 
entailed upon his children. The name is 
still held by families here. 

Joseph Stayton came here from Kentucky, 
October 10, 1830, and in the following year 
also settled upon land in Section 26, where 
he raised a family of sons and daughters, 
who became prominent in the township. Da- 
vid B. Stayton, a son of Joseph Stayton, was 
long well known as a large landowner and 
honorable citizen. For many years he held 
various town offices. The wife of Isaac Bur- 
ris, hereafter named, was a sister of Joseph 
Stayton. 

Jefferson Huss and his brother, James, came 
to the Salt Fork Timber about 1830, and en- 
tered land a short distance above Sidney, 
which is still held by his sons, W. W. Huss 
and James R. Huss. 

William Peters and Elisha Peters (cousins) 
came in 1830 and entered land in Sections 25 
and 26, and Samuel, a brother of William, 
did likewise a few years thereafter. All en- 
tered lands and spent their lives here, leav- 
ing large families. Joseph, Robert and Will- 
iam, sons of the former, and Jonathan, a son 
of the latter, died but a few years since. 
Their descendants are still numerous in the 
neighborhood. William I. Peters, also a 



cousin, came in 1833 and entered land in 
Sections 22 and 23. 

Benjamin, Alexander, Moses and Isaac Argo 
came to this settlement about 1835 and en- 
tered lands in Sections 2, 3, 10, 22 and 24. 
All died here. 

Hiram Rankin and his friend, Thomas Rich- 
ards, came in 1832, and during that and the 
following year jointly entered lands in Sec- 
tion 18, Township 19, Range 11, and in Sec- 
tion 24, St. Joseph Township. Richards was 
unmarried and lived with the Rankin family 
until some years thereafter, when he was 
married to Miss Patterson, the daughter of 
Thomas Patterson, another early comer. The 
home of Mr. Rankin was first made at the 
Hickory Grove on Section 18, though subse- 
quently this place became the home of Mr. 
Richards, who spent his life there. His son, 
Alonzo, still owns and occupies this land. 
Mr. Rankin changed his domicile to lands in 
Section 24, St. Joseph, on the State road, 
where he lived and died. 

Caleb, John, Samuel and Orrison Shreeve, 
about 1834, appeared and became landown- 
ers. All spent their lives here. 

John Bailey was an early comer to this 
timber, and early in 1829 entered numerous 
tracts of land. Fifty years ago he lived about 
two miles east of the creek, on the State 
road, where he kept one of the numerous 
country taverns then necessary to meet pub- 
lic wants, and much patronized by the trav- 
eling public. 

James Cowden, in 1835, entered land in 
Section 33, of St. Joseph, where, or near 
which, on the west side of the creek, he lived 
until his death about 1860. He entailed upon 
his family much other land. 

James Rowland, in 1830, entered land In 
Section 23, his brother Thomas, about the 
same time, entering land in Section 1, Ur- 
bana Township. The latter died a few years 
thereafter at his place. Two of his daugh- 
ters, Mrs. William I. Moore and Mrs. Gunn, 
of Olney, often visited their childhood home, 
especially upon occasion of the pioneer meet- 
ings, which visits continued until their deaths. 

Samuel Mapes, in 1831, took up land in 
Section 13, St. Joseph, which is still held by 
his son, Daniel Mapes. 

Robert Prather, about 1835, came to the 
settlement and entered considerable land in 
Section 11, near the crossing of the creek by 




LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



RY 
OF THE 
UNIVERSITY Or ILLINOIS 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



681 



the Fort Clark road. From this circumstance, 
and from his residence there, the ford of the 
creek came to be known to the numerous 
travelers along that route as "Prather's 
Ford," and the point became a favorite camp- 
ing ground. The changes of the early roads 
of the country, to other routes and upon sec- 
tion lines, has obliterated all trace of the for- 
mer halting place, and it is now a piece of 
unnoticeable pasture land. 

Adam Yeazel and his two brothers, Abra- 
ham and James, about 1830 and later, took 
up much land, which they held during life. 

James Freeman, in 1832, entered land in 
Section 29, Town 19, Range 14, now in South 
Homer, upon which he resided to the time of 
his death. His sons, Thomas and Eleazer, 
were also large landowners, and the ances- 
tral home is still in the family. 

Isaac Burris, a "blacksmith, came as early 
as 1830, and, in that and succeeding years, 
entered lands in Sections 30 and 31, South 
Homer and Ogden Townships, which he occu- 
pied until his death. During many years he 
served the settlement as its only blacksmith. 
The cinders of his smithy still attest the lo- 
cation. 

William Parris as early as 1836 entered land 
in the south part of Ogden, but finally made 
his home near Bur Oak Grove, where he 
died and where his descendants still live. 

John B. Thomas, who was an early school 
teacher, later Probate Justice, County Judge 
and School Commissioner of the county, a 
son of Moses Thomas, entered land in Sec- 
tions 29 and 31, Ogden and South Homer, In 
1834. He died in 1861, at that time being a 
practicing lawyer at Homer. 

Michael Firebaugh, in 1831, entered land 
at Hickory Grove, a short distance north of 
the railroad, now in Ogden Township, where 
he continued to reside until his death. Be- 
fore 1840 Firebaugh and John Strong made 
brick on this land, which are claimed to have 
been the first brick made in the county. 

Dr. Harmon Stevens seems to have entered 
land near Homer, and was long an influential 
citizen and physician of that place. He 
changed his residence to one of the southern 
counties of the State some years since, where 
he died. 

Lewis Jones about 1848 became an owner 
of land in St. Joseph Township, where he 
died in 1859, having not long before then 



been elected one of the Associate Justices 
of the County Court. 

Dr. James H. Lyon, one of the earliest 
physicians of the county, came before 1836 
and located at what was then known as 
"Nox's Point," invested largely in lands near 
there and on November 9, 1836, placed upon 
record the plat of the town of "Sidney," lo- 
cated upon what was then understood to be 
a point upon the Northern Cross Railroad. 
The plat, as shown of record, shows twenty- 
eight blocks of twelve lots each, with a pub- 
lic square, streets and alleys in abundance. 
Great expectations were, without doubt, in- 
dulged in as to the new metropolis and what> 
it would one day come to be. Twenty years 
went away before the railroad promised by 
the Legislature was a factor in the life of 
the town; meanwhile no more than a dozen 
buildings appeared upon the plat of more 
than three hundred lots.C) 



OV'In 1837 Dr. James M. Lyon and Joseph 
Davis entered the land on which the village 
of Sidney now stands. They laid out the town 
of Sidney and named it after Sydney Davis, a 
daughter of Joseph Davis, one of the founders 
of the town. The original founders of the town 
borrowed money from the bank in Springfleld, 
111. and mortgaged the land for its payment. 
They failed to meet the claim when it was due. 
The mortgage was foreclosed and the land sold. 
. . . In re-arranging the plat of the town, 
the Clerk of the county spelled the name of 
Sidney with an '!,' instead of as it was origin- 
ally spelled with a 'y,' and since that time it 
has been so spelled. Lyon and Davis introduced 
the first fine stock into the township, and, be- 
ing natives of Kentucky and Southern gentle- 
men, also laid out a race-track. The first post 
office was established in the township in 1837, 
and soon after discontinued." Brink's "History 
of Champaign County." page 137. 

"The General Assembly, at its sesion of 1837- 
38 provided for the creation of a general sys- 
tem of internal improvements, throughout the 
entire State. As a part of this system it was 
provided that there should be built. 'A Northern 
Cross Railroad from Quincy on the Mississippi 
River, via Columbus. Clayton. Mount Sterling, 
to cross the Illinois River, at Meredosia, and to 
Jacksonville, Springfield, Decatur, Sydney, Dan- 
ville, and thence to the State line in the direc- 
tion of Lafayette, Ind., and thus form a com- 
munication with the great worke in Indiana and 
to the eastern States.'" Peck's "Gazetteer, 
(1837), page 60. 

"The prospect of the building of the Northern 
Cross Railroad through Sidney inspired the peo- 
ple thereabouts with confidence that their town, 
on that account and on account of its enable 
position, would merit a removal of the county- 
seat to that location; but with the road, died 
their hopes." Thomson R. Wfebber in an inter- 
view in 1854. 

"One day last week we managed to escape 
the thralldom of office duties and struck out 
across the prairie, in a southeasterly direction. 
Two hours' ride brouerht us to the village of 
Sidnev This place was laid out about 1 
Joseph Thomas, during the operations on the 
Northern Cross Railroad, with a fine prospect 
for future success. But, at the abandonment of 



682 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



Dr. Lyon was an influential citizen and was, 
in the year 1836, and again in 1838, elected 
a member of the General Assembly from 
Champaign County. His descendants are yet 
numerous in the county. 

James and Samuel Groenendyke, merchants 
at Eugene, Ind., were, from about 1836, large 
buyers of Champaign County lands, and were 
the owners of much land until the death of 
both, though neither ever occupied or im- 
proved any of them. Their selections were 
wisely made. 

Many other names appear upon the records 
as having entered the lands of the Salt Fork 
timber and the adjacent prairies before 1840, 
who are less conspicuous in the history of the 
county some because they never occupied 
their lands, and others because they, at an 
early day, moved on with the tide of western 



the system of internal improvements adopted 
by the State, its prospects lapsed. The pros- 
pect now of its being a point on the Great West- 
ern Railroad causes the people to feel encour- 
aged. Three lines have been run near the vil- 
lage two within one hundred yards and one 
about a quarter of a mile away. It will make no 
difference which of the lines is selected, either 
will be sufficiently near. Messrs. Thomas & 
Jones have laid off a new plat to supersede the 
old one, and lots are now in the market. 

"Sidney possesses many favorable qualities as 
a location. Its site is no doubt the best in the 
county, being high and rolling. It is situated 
in the edge of the southern extremity of the 
timber, on the Salt Pork of the Vermilion River, 
and surrounded by prairie that is unsurpassed 
by any in the county. About four miles to the 
southwest, at an elevation of ninety feet above 
the creek, is the Linn Grove, which is regarded 
by all who have seen it as the most beautiful 
location in Illinois. It is now the property of 
Enoch Johnson, and is frequently made the 
place of resort of the pleasure seekers from 
this place, although twelve miles distant. 

'"There are now two dry-goods stores in Sid- 
ney, one owned by J. S. Cunningham and the 
other by Messrs. Upp & Casey, both doing good 
business. 

"Leaving Sidney in the afternoon we went 
north along the edge of the timber for about 
three miles, .when we struck out ofi the prairie 
to the westward, and were soon coming over 
its trackless sod. 

"Before leaving the settlements we passed 
many fine farms, among which we took partic- 
ular notice of that of Lewis Jones. Esq.. which 
lies wholly on the prairie and embraces many 
acres of unsurpassed fertility. The corn is above 
the medium crop and will surprise its owners, 
we think." Urbana Union, September 14. 1854. 

"A tri-weekly mail route has been established 
between Urbana and Vincennes, Ind., passing 
through Sidney, Bloomfield and Paris. The stages 
will commence running on Monday next. A 
postoffice will soon be established at Sidney 
which will be served by this line, and will be 
a great convenience to the people there." Ur- 
bana Union. June 29, 1854. 

"A postoffice has been established at Sidney 
in this county, and J. S. Cunningham appointed 
postmaster. We congratulate our Sidney friends 
upon the consummation of their ardent desires, 
long delayed." Urbana Union, July 20, 1854. 



emigrants, or, perhaps, died early. It will 
be interesting to name some of these, which 
we do with the dates at which they seem to 
have become connected with our history: Da- 
vid Wright, 1836; William McDermott, 1836; 
Valentine Iliff, 1830; John and James Parker, 
1828; James Orr, 1835; P. S. Loughborough, 
1836; Marshall King, 1833; Benjamin Delancy, 
1831; John W. Laird, 1836; Zebulon Beard, 
1830; Henry Wilson, 1830; George Powell, 
1832; John Umbenhower, 1833; Jonathan Os- 
born, 1833; Allen Poage, 1833; David Moore, 
1830; Tobias Beard, 1833; Samuel Beaser, 
1833; Ezekiel Sterrett, 1831; Orpha Davidson, 
1831. 

About 1836 Dr. Arnold Naudain, then a 
United States Senator, from the State of Del- 
aware, entered more than two thousand acres 
of land here, mostly in Sidney and Urbana 
Townships. None were ever occupied or im- 
proved by him, but held for speculative pur- 
poses, and as the country became developed, 
sold to actual occupants. Some of the finest 
lands in these townships trace their titles 
through this eminent man to the Government. 

In the same neighborhood, and -the same 
year, Ramsey McHenry, from the same State, 
entered about as much more of our lands. 
Both these entries were well chosen as to 
location and as to quality, as lands were then 
looked upon, though the dredge-boat and till- 
ing spade have since shed new light upon land 
values. 

Philo Hale, of Springfield, in 1837, made 
large land entries on the Okaw and in the 
neighborhood of Philo, some of which are yet 
held by his descendants who live in Cleveland, 
Ohio. The dates of these entries and their 
location along the line of the proposed North- 
ern Cross Railroad, since built and now known 
as the Wabash, would lead one to the opinion 
that large expectations were indulged in by 
these gentlemen as to the future of the lands 
chosen. 

It was within tMs timber that the first town 
of Homer, now known as "Old Homer," was 
laid out in 1837. The demands of the settle- 
ment for a trading place nearer than Danville, 
was the occasion, and the prior location In 
1834 of the grist and saw mill of Moses 
Thomas, upon the creek near by, the induce- 
ment which determined the location at this 
particular point. 

At the intersection of four sections of land 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



683 



Sections 4 and 5 in Town 18, and Sections 32 
and 33 in Town 19 was platted into lots, a 
few acres from each, and received the name of 
"Homer." Why the name of the Greek poet 
was so applied in this wilderness has been 
asked often without answer. Recently, one 
professing to know has said that Michael D. 
Coffeen, the moving spirit of the enterprise, 
was a great student and admirer of the poet, 
and so honored his town with the favorite 
name.O) However this may be, Mr. Coffeen. 
then a young man, in company with an older 
merchant, Samuel Groenendyke, of Eugene, 
under the name of "M. D. Coffeen & Co.," at 
once opened a store there for the sale of all 
sorts of merchandise demanded by the settle- 
ment. The enterprise was a great success 
and commanded patronage from many miles 
around. No store in Urbana equaled it in the 
facilities afforded its patrons, and none in 
Danville excelled it. It drew its patronage 
from the Sangamon, Okaw and Ambraw set- 
tlements, and even beyond. ( 2 ) The partner- 
ship thus formed continued until the death, 
in 1860, of Mr. Groenendyke, the non-resident 
partner, always successful and always trusted 
by the pioneers. 

The little hamlet with the poetical name 
attracted to it other traders and shops of va- 
rious kinds, including the manufacturers of 
articles mostly in use by the people. It thus 
became the home of a population of several 
hundred, always the center of a large patron- 
age, until about the first days of the year 1855, 
when the Great Western Railroad (now the 
Wabash) having been located a mile away up- 
on land owned by Mr. Coffeen, he platted a 
town of the same name there and invited all 
of his neighbors to move with him to the new 
town. He offered lot for lot and allowed the 
householders to remove all buildings to their 
new holdings at the railroad depot. The offer 



( l )The application of this name was explained 
by M. D. Coffeen to Randolph C. Wright, in 
answer to a question, as coming about in this 
manner: One day about 1837, the store having 
already been located, Mr. Groenendyke and Mr. 
Coffeen were consulting about laying out the 
town and its name, and the desirability of 
having also a blacksmith shop and other shops 
there, when Mr. Groenendyke said, "Yes it 
would be more homer to me" (meaning more 
home-like), "to have it as it was then with no 
place to stop there." At this Mr. Coffeen replied, 
"Well, then, Homer it shall be," and so it was. 

( 2 )Green Atwood, at a meeting of the County 
Commissioners, held in April. 1837. was granted 
a license to keep a tavern in the town of Homer. 



was unanimously accepted, so a general house- 
moving, with Mr. Coffeen in the lead, was be- 
gun and continued until the former thrifty 
town became a waste of abandoned streets, 
alleys and lots covered with the debris of its 
former greatness. Everything went to the new 
town except the Salt Fork and the pioneer 
mill of Moses Thomas, which, from necessity, 
were left behind. (') The mill, long so useful 
to the people from far and near, did not, how- 
ever, cease to be useful, nor has it yet ceased 
its usefulness. 

The Homer & Ogden Electric Railroad now 
crosses the Salt Fork a few rods above the 
mill erected in the lone woods, seventy years 
ago, by Moses Thomas, and crossing the town 
plat of Old Homer, connects, by business and 
social ties, thriving towns which have grown 
up on the prairie in places unthought of by 
the men of that day as needing such facilities. 
Twice each hour of the day the cars move by 
the old mill by an unseen power, and we may 
say a power undreamed of by mortal man in 
the time of Moses Thomas. 

Since the days in the history of the Salt 
Fork treated of in the preceding pages, there 



0) "Emigration of Homer. The citizens of 
Homer have resolved to do no business in the 
present town after the first day of April next. 
It is the intention to haul all, or nearly all, of 
the building-s to a point on the Great Western 
Railroad, about one and one fourth miles from 
the old town, and there make their town. The 
move, we think, is a very good one, as a much 
better site for a town is selected being on the 
prairie and on the prospective railroad. We 
think the town bids fair to become one of con- 
siderable importance." Urbana Union. Jan. 11, 
1855. 

"On Tuesday of this week we visited this 
town for the first time since its location on the 
prairie. The present site, on a high and com- 
manding point on the Great Western Railroad, 
is considered much healthier than the old town. 
We were informed by the physicians that, amidst 
the great amount of sickness the present year, 
the town has been comparatively free from it. 

"It is expected that the cars will soon pay the 
town a visit, and that the whistle of the loco- 
motive will wake to new life the business of 
the town and surrounding country, which is 
already good. Several new houses are being 
built, and many more will be commenced when 
facilities for getting lumber are better. 

"Our friend, M. D. Coffeen. Esq.. has just fin- 
ished a new and commodious building for the 
accommodation of his extensive business, which 
we admired very much on account of the con- 
venience of its arrangement and the superior 
beauty of the workmanship. The carpenter work 
was done by Mr. Cyrus Hays, and the painting-, 
which is really elegant, by Mr. John Towner. 

"Besides Mr. Coffeen's dry-goods store, there 
are several others and a drug-store by Judge 
John B. Thomas, all doing a fine business. A 
steam saw-mill has, during the summer, been 
put in operation, which is turning^ out a vast 
amount of ties for the Great Western Railroad." 
Urbana Union, October 25. 1855. 



684 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



have come to its settlement and become, from 
time to time, a part of its communities, many 
men who have helped in the conquest of the 
country, but whose names are not recorded 
here as those of the real pioneers, but who are 
not to be overlooked in the inventory of forces 
which have transformed the wilderness into a 
garden. Among men of this kind may be 
named the Towners William, Benjamin, Rich- 
ard and George Fountain J. Busey, Joseph V. 
George, William D. Clark, Samuel Love, Dr. 
George W. Hartman, Dr. E. Bodman; the Cole 
brothers Billings B., George and Charles; 
Willard Samson; the Porterflelds, whose num- 
bers exceed that of any other family ever 
making its home there; Jonathan Howser, Jo- 
seph T. Kelley and others. 



CHAPTER XII. 
SETTLEMENT IN SANGAMON TIMBER. 

SANGAMON LAST TO BE SETTLED ISAAC BUSEY EN- 
TERED FIRST LAND JONATHAN MAXWELL JOHN 
BRYAN JOHN MEADE JOHN G. ROBERTSON 
NOAH BIXLER ISAAC V. WILLIAMS F. L. SCOTT 
J. Q. THOMAS B. F. HARRIS GEORGE BOYER 
WILLIAM STEWART JOSEPH T. EVERETT JESSE 
B. PUGH JEFFERSON TROTTER F. B. SALE W. W. 
FOOS. 

The settlements first made in the western 
part of Champaign County form no exception 
to the rule, in the selection of lands for farms 
and sites for homes, as to the preference for 
timber instead of prairie. The former, in the 
estimation of the pioneer, was of greatest 
value, and the latter was valuable or worth- 
less, as it lay near to the timber belt or remote 
from it. The wealth to be won from the prai- 
rie soil and the esteem in which it was to be 
held by the successors of pioneers, was not 
dreamed of by them. So, on inspection of 
dates of entries of lands lying along the San- 
gamon River, the records show a scramble for 
timber tracts, even though those tracts 
abounded in yellow clay, while the prairie 
tracts, covered with wealth producing mold, 
were ignored and despised and shunned, as 
elsewhere in the State, lip to 1850 not one- 
fourth of the prairie lands had been entered, 
while the timber lands had all, or nearly all, 
been taken. 



In point of time, the great Sangamon ter- 
ritory of the county was last to attract the 
attention of the immigrant and the last to 
have its solitudes and landscapes disturbed by 
the coming of the white settler; although its 
beautiful valleys and wide plains were visited 
by the retiring red race long after his visits 
. to other portions of the nearby country had 
ceased, and many earth-works along the river 
banks, and the presence in the soil of the 
stone axes and arrow-heads of a by-gone race 
fully attest the favor in which the region was 
held before the white man had elbowed out 
the aboriginal occupants. 

It was nearly six years after Jesse Williams, 
on February 7, 1827, made the first entry of 
lands of the county in Section 12 of Sidney 
Township, that Isaac Busey, the first citizen 
of Urbana, made an entry of lands in and near 
the timber belt of the Sangamon, on October 
22, 1832, at the Land Office at Vandalia. Mr. 
Busey entered 120 acres in Section 14, 80 acres 
in Section 15, and 160 acres in Section 23 all 
in Township 20 now Mahomet Township 
which were the first entries of lands upon the 
Sangamon within this county. Later in the 
same year he entered other lands in Sections 
22 and 23, and on October 27, Jonathan Max- 
well, who it is claimed was the first to make 
his home in the township, entered 40 acres in 
Section 22. Henry Osborn, on October 29th, 
entered land in Sections 11 and 12. These 
were the only lands in the Sangamon timber 
taken that year. They are all situated east 
of the river, within and adjacent to the tim- 
ber. 

On August 10, 1833, John Bryan, who had 
but recently, by his marriage to Malinda Busey 
the first marriage celebrated by authority 
of a Champaign County license become the 
son-in-law of Isaac Busey, entered a 40-acre 
tract in Section 14, adjoining the first entry 
of Mr. Busey, and these lands became the 
home of the Bryan family, in whose hands 
it remained for many years. John Meade also 
made his first entry of lands in 1833 in Sec- 
tion 15. 

The year 1834 saw more entries made of the 
Sangamon lands. John G. Robertson, William 
Phillips, Lackland Howard, Noah Bixler, 
Charles Parker, Henry and David Osborn, 
John Meade, Jeremiah Hollingsworth, Solomon 
and James Osborn, John Bryan and Samuel 
Hanna took up various tracts in Sections 9, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



685 



10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17, in Mahomet 
Township. Less in number were the entries 
there the next year. They were made by I. V. 
Williams in Section 6, Scott Township, and by 
Noah Bixler, Martha A. Robertson, Joseph 
Brian, Joel Hormel, Jacob Hammer, Daniel 
Henness, Fielding L. Scott, Joseph Henness, 
Joseph Lindsey, Joseph Hammer and John 
G. Robertson in Sections 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 
14, 15 and 17 in Mahomet Township. 

The year 1836 saw more entries of Sanga- 
mon lands than any previous year, the num- 
ber reaching over forty, mostly in Mahomet, 
in Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15 and 17. 
Among those who made these entries and 
afterwards became well known residents and 
useful citizens, may be named Jacob Hammer, 
Noah Bixler, James Bevans, William Justice, 
John J. Rea, John Webb, George Ritter, Mar- 
tha A. Robertson, James Parmes, Jonathan 
Maxwell, Jonathan Scott, Jeremiah Hollings- 
worth, Robert M. Patterson, John Lindsey and 
Daniel T. Porter. 

The last named on March 5th of that year, 
entered the southeast quarter of the north- 
west quarter of Section 15, and on the 10th 
of the same month followed this entry by put- 
ting on record the plat of the town of Mid- 
dletown a plat of thirty-eight lots located up- 
on his late entry. This plat was the original 
of the present village of Mahomet. The found- 
er chose one of the most picturesque locations 
in the county for his future city. The plat 
was laid to conform to the Bloomington road 
as now traveled, which must have been in use 
before that time. Additions since made to the 
plat extend it towards the north, west and 
south. 

The records of the county show that J. Q. 
Thomas, still a resident of Mahomet, in Sep- 
tember, 1855, laid out the town of "Bloom- 
ville," consisting of thirty-two lots on the 
northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of 
Section 8, about two miles northwest of Ma- 
homet. The object of this enterprise does not 
appear, as no town ever grew up there and 
no further attempt at urban expansion was 
ever made, so far as known. 

In 1836 P. S. Loughborough, of Kentucky, en- 
tered a large area of land in Sections 14, 15, 
22, 27, and 35, in Newcomb Township, out of 
which grew many law-suits for the settlement 
of titles, some of which finally reached the 



highest court of the State and caused much 
annoyance to the rightful owners. 

James S. Mitchel, during the years 1834 to 
1836, entered lands in Sections 22 and 23 in 
Newcomb, and soon thereafter improved the 
same. He is said to have been the first to 
bring to the county improved creeds of cattle. 
He was very prominent for some years in the 
affairs of the county. 

In addition to those already named as early 
investors in Sangamon real estate of the coun- 
ty, it will be proper to name many others 
who, before 1845 or soon thereafter, came to 
the county. These include B. F. Harris, 
George Boyer, William Stewart, Michael Bix- 
ler, Abner Leland, Adam Karr, Thomas Lind- 
sey, Joseph T. Everett, William H. Groves, 
Jesse B. Pugh, Robert Fisher, Augustus Black- 
er, Jefferson Trotter, William Peabody, Ben- 
jamin Huston, Robert Huston, Samuel Huston, 
Benjamin Dolph, Nicholas Devore, Thomas 
Stephens, Andrew Pancake, John Phillippe, 
John J. Gulick, F. B. Sale, Abel Harwood, 
John W. Parks, John H. Funston, Wiley Davis, 
Thomas A. Davidson, John R. Rayburn, Robert 
P. Carson, Elisha Harkness, William Foos and 
Samuel A. Harvey, William Dawley, Alexan- 
der G. Boyer, R. R. Seymour, Samuel Koogler, 
Matthew T. Scott, B. F. Cressap and William 
W. Foos. The entries of the latter named 
gentlemen were notable for their extent, and 
for the fact that these entries with, perhaps, 
large additions thereto are still held by per- 
sons of the same name as profitable invest- 
ments. P) 

These entries were made early in the his- 



OThe Foos farm, at Foosland, consists of 
3,800 acres. The owner, F. W- Fgps, resides in 
New York City, but often comes to Foosland 
and is well known there. His resid'ent manager 
Is R. G. Ball, a good farmer and most compe- 
tent man in every way. For the past fifteen 
years Mr. Ball has had the management of this 
big farm and seems to have given entire sat- 
isfaction, both to tenants and owner. The farm 
rents to tenants for $4 per acre, cash, for either 
grain or grass land, except that, when as much 
as 100 acres of grass are rented to one man. 
the price is but $3.75. This is much lower 
than neighboring land can be rented for and 
therefore it is much in demand. There are thir- 
teen tenants in all. Of the 3,800 acres there 
are 1,500 in grass, 700 in oats and 2,100 in corn 
at least that was the case last season, but the 
proportions differ yearly. An effort is made to 
keep changing from grain to grass, thus keeping 
the fertility of the soil. The farm is moderately 
well tiled, has fairly good fences around it, but 
the buildings are not very new or up to date. 
Last year there were raised on this farm not 
including the 1,500 acres of grass 105.000 bush- 
els of corn and 2,100 bushels of oats. Cham- 
paign Times. 



686 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



tory of the county and remote from timber. 
One rule of selection seems to have been ob- 
served by far-seeing men who chose land for 
future use or sale; this class, in most cases 
even while there was unpatented timber land 
open to entry choosing choice prairie tracts; 
while the early seeker after a home for him- 
self and family, when possible, kept within or 
close to the timber grove. Modern develop- 
ments have shown that Naudain, McHenry, 
Hale, Loughborough, Fooa and other specu- 
lators, who came early and made their choice 
of lands on the prairie and away from any 
natural protection from the wintry blasts, 
chose most wisely. It was common for the 
early settler, who had his snug home in the 
timber grove, to look with pity, or even with 
some degree of derision, upon the unfortunate 
late comer, who, perhaps under compulsion, 
made his home on the prairie. Many such 
have been informed that they Would certainly 
freeze in such a location. Until as late as 
1850 few farms had been opened a mile from 
timber in this county; and, even later than 
that, the pessimists among the settlers often 
prophesied that these prairies would never be 
settled. Transportation facilities for building 
material and fuel, together with the demon- 
stration of the capacities of the prairie soil, 
have changed the whole aspect and estimates 
of relative values. 

B. F. Harris, who made his home upon the 
Sangamon about 1836, remembers that, at that 
time, there were living along that timber, for 
a space of ten miles or more, something over 
fifteen families, of whom he names the fol- 
lowing: John Phillippe, Ethan Newcom, Mat- 
thew Johnson, Jonathan Maxwell, John Bryan; 
James, Robert and Solomon Osborn; Isaac V. 
Williams, Wesley Davis, Edward Nolan, Wil- 
liam Wright, Nat. Hanline, Bennett Warren, 
George Boyer, Elijah Myers, Amos Dickson, 
Moses N. Dale, John Meade, John Kilgore, 
Isaac and Joseph Hammer; also a family 
named Demorest and another named Hughes, 
whose given names were not remembered; 

Nelson Stearns, father of William Stearns, 
came to the country about 1844 and bought a 
part of the lands entered, as already stated, 
by James Bevans, which are now owned and 
occupied by the son, William. Mr. Stearns 
died in 1848 and his widow became the wife 
of George Boyer. 



Many of the cabins erected in the Sangamon 
settlement before 1833, were built with holes 
between the logs at convenient distances as 
port-holes for defense against Indian attack. 
Fortunately, so far as known, no occasion ever 
existed for their use for that purpose. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
SETTLEMENTS IN OTHER GROVES. 



MIDDLE FORK: SAMUEL KERR, ANTHONY T. MORGAN, 
WILLIAM BRIAN, SANFORD AND WILLIAM SWIN- 
FORD, WILLIAM CHENOWETH, JOHN KUDER, SOL- 
OMON AND LEWIS KUDER, SOLOMON WILSON, LEVI 
WOOD, DANIEL ALLHANDS, SOLOMON MERCER 
BUR OAK GROVE: SAMUEL MCCLUGHEN, JOHN 
STRONG. ISAAC MOORE, ANTHONY T; MORGAN. 
LINN GROVE: JOSEPH DAVIS, DANIEL JOHNSON. 

FREDERIC BOUSE AMBRAW TIMBER: THOMAS, 
SAMUEL AND HUGH MEHARRY, GEORGE W. 
MYERS, JAMES M. HELM, ALFRED BOCOCK, COR- 
NELIUS THOMPSON, WOODSON MORGAN, JOHN 
SPENCER MINK GROVE : ARCHA CAMPBELL, GEORGE 
W. TERRY LOST GROVE: JOHN F. THOMPSON 
PIONEER WEST. 

With personal knowledge derived from ob- 
servation, a glance at the records of land en- 
tries of the county will show that the earliest 
settlements of the county were made in or 
near the natural groves of timber found here. 
This law of growth found early settlers in the 
small groves, as well as in the larger groves 
and timber belts. With but few exceptions 
all entries made prior to 1845 were within 
the protection of the timber, or upon choice 
selections of prairie nearby. 

Samuel Kerr, reputed to have been the first 
person to become a permanent resident of the 
northeastern township of Champaign County 
and from whom the township received its 
name in the year 1833 entered land in Sec- 
tion 9, in what has since been known as 
"Sugar Grove," an aggregation of fine timber 
which grew up under the protection of the 
Middle Fork of the Vermilion River, which 
makes a cut across the northeast corner of 
this county. Here he lived and died with the 
exception of a very few others who also ven- 
tured so far away alone in the great waste 
of timber and prairie which lay unclaimed 
around him. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN. COUNTY. 



687 



One Anthony T. Morgan on November 10, 
1832, entered forty acres in Section 34, which, 
was the first entry to be made in that town- 
ship. Other entries there were few for some 
years and generally made for speculative pur- 
poses, and by people who are not known to 
have ever occupied their holdings. William 
Brian, James Kellar, Andrew Sprouls, George 
Grooms, William Hodges, B. Milliken, Jona- 
than Powell, Levi Asher, Young E. Winkler, 
Daniel Halbutt and Edward Pyle followed 
with entries within the next few years, but 
how many of them became residents the writer 
is unable to say. In all, not fifty entries and 
those mostly of forty-acre tracts were made 
before 1840. 

We notice the names of Sanford Swinford, 
William Swinford, William Chenoweth, John 
Kuder and Solomon Kuder all well known 
residents of that part of the county, in later 
years among these early comers. The neigh- 
borhood was remote from the county-seat, 
from markets and from mills, and its settle- 
ment was very slow, although the quality of 
the soil was unexcelled and the outlook for 
the future all that could be wished. 

Until about 1854 the settlement was united 
with Urbana precinct, and its voters, who 
chose to take part in elections, went there to 
vote. Not much before this date was its first 
postoffice Point Pleasant established, prior 
to which date Urbana, or Marysville in Ver- 
milion County, were its nearest postofftces. 

Later there came to the township Solomon 
Wilson, Lewis Kuder, Levi Wood, Daniel All- 
hands and Solomon Mercer. 

Samuel McClughen was first to choose a 
residence at Bur. Oak Grove, which he did in 
1836, during which year, and the years soon 
following, he and members of his family en- 
tered considerable land there. Mr. McClughen 
lived there the remainder of his life, and his 
descendants are still upon the ground. In 
this retired situation all that nature could do 
for the lone settler was done, for free air, 
free pasturage and free land for cultivation 
were all around in abundance. (*) Settlers as 



neighbors came but" slowly. John Strong, 
father of Ambrose, now of Urbana, lived at 
the Grove some years. 

Other entries of land there were made be- 
fore 1840 by William Abnett, Isaac Moore, 
Robert Wyatt and by Anthony T. Morgan. 

Joseph Davis entered the Linn Grove lands 
in 1835, though he had lived there long before 
that date, probably as a squatter upon the 
public domain. His house long before that 
date was a stopping place for travelers pass- 
ing there, either upon the east and west or 
upon the north and south trail, both of which 
were much traveled. The same lands were, 
about 1840, conveyed by Milton Davis to Dan- 
iel Johnson. The Johnson home was also a 
hospitable halting place for many years there- 
after. 

The Ambraw timber, like other groves of 
the county, was an early rallying point for 
settlers, though few seem to have chosen it 
before 1840. Frederic Bouse, so far as tra- 
dition informs us, was the first. He is said to 
have lived both at the Linn Grove and at the 
grove further south, which, after seventy-five 
years, still bears his name. No record shows 
that he entered land in the Ambraw valley. 

From 1836 to 1843 James Groenendyke and 
his brother Samuel, merchants and pork-pack- 
ers of Eugene, Ind., either as individuals or 
together, entered several tracts of land along 
the stream, carefully selecting those best cov- 
ered with timber as the most desirable, as 
they had done elsewhere in the county. As 
neither ever located upon the lands so pur- 
chased, it seems evident that the entries 
were made only as investments. Both the 
Groenendyke brothers died many years since, 
leaving to their numerous heirs these in- 
vestments. 

Thomas, Samuel and Hugh Meharry were 
also large buyers of lands in this township, 
Crittehden and Philo, to be held as > invest- 
ments for their children, as they are to this 



( 1 )Mrs. Margaret Truax, one of the daughters 
of Samuel McClughen, born soon after the set- 
tlement of her father's family at the Bur Oak 
Grove, well remembers their isolation there in 
the early years. She relates that, upon one 
occasion, late in the fall and after the weather 
became somewhat cool, by some means the fam- 
ily fire went out. It was before the day of fric- 
tion matches and no other facilities for the re- 



kindliner of the fire were at hand. The nearest 
neighbors were at the Hickory Grove, four or 
five miles distant. Mr. McClughen mounted a 
horse, and with a covered iron kettle in which 
to bring the needed fire, rode as fast as he 
could to Michael Pirebaugh's, a neighbor on the 
east side of Hickory Grove, for his supply be- 
fore a fire could be started. Mrs. Truax remem- 
bers that the younger members of the family 
were put to bed to save them from suffering 
from cold during the absence of the father. 



688 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



day. George W. Myers, James M. Helm, Al- 
fred Bocock, Cornelius Thompson, Woodson 
Morgan, John Spencer and others came in 
the 'fifties. 

Archa Campbell, as early as 1849, entered 
land, then and since known as "Mink Grove," 
at Rantoul. He and his brother John both 
then residents at Urbana in 1850 and 1852, 
by entries of adjoining lands, added to this 
holding. Archa built a cabin.: there before or 
soon after his purchase, and for some time, 
with his family, made his home there. His 
nearest neighbors were the dwellers at the 
north end of the Big Grove, eight miles away, 
or those at Sugar Grove, as far away to the 
east. He was succeeded in the occupancy of 
the cabin by George W. Terry, who lived there 
as late as 1853, when the writer, during a 
journey from Urbana to Chicago and return, 
was most hospitably received 'and fed, both 
going and coming. 

Lost Grove, situated near the line which 
divides the Township of South Homer from 
the Township of Ayers, was, from its isola- 
tion and the very wet conditions which sur- 
rounded it, shunned as a place for settlement 
until long after the other situations were well 
peopled. It was, however, well known and 
often visited by travelers. The road from 
Paris to Homer and Urbana made this a 
point; and so, from the earliest history of 
the county, travel from the south led to it. 
It was a land-mark for travelers in that direc- 
tion and often spoken of. Its locality now 
embraces some of the best and most highly 
prized lands of the county. (*) 



( l )"The first improvement was made by a man 
by the name of West at the Lost Grove it hav- 
ing been so named on account of a traveler at 
an early day, having lost his course in a vio- 
lent snow storm then prevailing, and who took 
refuge in the grove and perished, his remains 
having been discovered badly mutilated by 
wolves sometime thereafter. West, with his 
brother-in-law. John P. Thompson, pre-empted 
the land in 1851, and during that spring West 
settled there by building a shanty, and com- 
menced making an improvement. During that 
year he built a log house and remained there 
until 1853, when he sold out his interest in the 
lands to Thompson, who moved there in 1855 
and remained until his death, leaving quite 
a large family, the most of whom have settled 
in and around the village of Homer." Dr. W. 
A. Conkey's Essay. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
EARLY CONDITIONS AND CUSTOMS. 

THE CABIN HOME BETTER HOUSES FIRST FRAME 
DWELLINGS DISEASES EARLY DEATHS GREAT 
AGE OF SOME PIONEERS CHOLERA SOME EARLY 
PHYSICIANS DR. T. FULKERSON DR. J. H. LYOfl 
DR. H. STEVENS DR. W. A. CONKEY DR. JOHN 
SADDLER DR. WINSTON SOMERS DR. N. H. ADAMS 
DR. C. C. HAWES DR. CRANE DR. J. T. MILLER 
DR. C. H. MILLS DR. H. C. HOWARD EARLY 
MILLS FIRST STEAM MILL. 

As in all new countries, the first buildings 
erected in Champaign County were of the 
most simple and primitive character consist- 
ent with the protection of the family from 
the storm and cold. Anything for a shelter 
was the thing desired. 

A style of house very common in the set- 
tlements and one quickly constructed with- 
out other tools than an axe and, perhaps, an 
auger was a cabin wholly built with the tim- 
ber materials always to be had in the timber 
groves. Small logs, or poles, of suitable 
length to build a cabin suited in size to the 
wants or necessities of the family, were cut 
and hauled to the site chosen for the future 
home. Notching the ends of these logs, with 
the help of his neighbors or, in some in- 
stances, of the Indians, they were rolled one 
above the other on the four sides of the build- 
ing until a suitable height of walls was at- 
tained. Across the building, at intervals of 
three or four feet, other logs or poles were 
laid until a foundation for the floor of the 
chamber or loft had been prepared, having in 
view all the time symmetry and smoothness 
of the upper room. The ends of this building 
were then carried up a suitable height for the 
upper room, when they were, by shortening 
each successive log, gradually drawn to an 
apex. Again logs or poles were laid from 
gable to gable for the support of the roof, 
to be made of boards or shakes of suitable 
length, split from some near-by oak tree. In 
the absence or impossibility of getting nails 
with which to fasten the roof, boards, logs or 
poles were cut of suitable length and laid 
lengthwise of the building, upon each succes- 
sive course of the roofing material. The neces- 
sary doors and windows were formed by cut- 
ting spaces through the log walls, in suitable 



LIB' ><Y 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



689 



places and of suitable size. Doors and win- 
dow-shutters were made from split clapboards 
and hung on wooden hinges. As late as 1837 
glass windows were not known about the Big 
Grove. Floors were made of puncheons split 
from trees, one side of which was hewed 
to a plane surface for the upper side of the 
floor, while the other side was notched to the 
log sleepers upon which the floor rested, the 
edges of each puncheon being lined and 
straightened so as to fit its neighbor. In this 
way a very solid and durable floor could be 
made with only the woodman's axe, and an 
adz to level and smooth off after the floor 
had been laid. A floor could be made of 
white ash or oak, which, after the necessary 
wear from the feet of the dwellers in the 
cabin, presented no mean appearance when 
sanded and kept clean. For a ceiling above, 
a very ready and excellent expedient was al- 
ways at hand. In summer time the bark of 
the linden tree readily cleaves from the trunk 
in sheets as long as the ordinary cabin, and 
of a width equal to the circumference of the 
log from which it is taken. Enough of this to 
furnish the ceiling of an ordinary cabin could 
be peeled in an hour or so. Placed upon the 
beams, which had also been peeled before 
being placed in position, the inside of the 
bark turned down, with poles for weights on 
top to prevent curling, a ceiling at once tight 
and elegant enough for a fairy castle was had, 
which time and smoke from the fire-place 
would color most beautifully. 

A fire-place was made by building up a wall 
against one end of the cabin, of mud cement 
and boulders, six or eight feet wide and about 
the same height, from which the chimney was 
built, four walls, three or four feet square, of 
sticks split from the oak, the interstices be- 
ing plastered up with common clay. Often, 
however, for want of stones out of which to 
make the back of the fire-place, it was made 
of clay by first setting firmly in the ground, 
where the chimney was to stand, posts or 
puncheons in the shape the fire-place was to 
take, and filling the enclosed space with moist 
clay firmly pounded down. When thus built 
a sufficient height for a fire-place, the chim- 
ney was topped out with sticks and clay, high 
enough to secure a good draught for the 
smoke, when the wooden molds in which the 
fireplace had been set were burned away with 
a slow fire, and the chimney was complete. 



The opening upward, formed by the chimney, 
served the double purpose of letting out the 
smoke and letting in the light when the win- 
dow and door openings were closed to keep 
out the cold. 

Many yet living will remember having often 
seen, hung upon the crotches of trees set up 
so as to reach out over the opening in the 
chimney above the house, the family supply of 
meat hams and side meat placed there to 
be smoked and cured for the next summer's 
use. Having no smoke-house or other con- 
venience for smoking the meat, it was most 
convenient thus to prepare it. Those who 
have used it thus cured, remember with gusto 
the delicious flavor given by the smoke from 
the fire of hickory wood below. 

After the cabin had been completed, as 
above detailed, and as winter approached, the 
cracks between the logs were "chinked," by 
the insertion between the logs from the In- 
side, of triangular prisms split from the linn 
tree and fastened in their places with wedges 
driven behind them into the logs, the outside 
cracks then being tightly daubed with mud. 
This process was technically called "daubing." 

Into a cabin thus built did Isaac Busey move, 
when, in 1831, he came here and bought out 
the possession of William Tompkins on the 
site of Urbana, the cabin, eighteen feet square, 
having been built by Tompkins some years be- 
fore; and into such a cabin did Matthew 
Busey move, when, in 1828, he bought out 
Sample Cole, at what is now known as the 
Nox farm two miles east of Urbana. So, also, 
Walter Rhodes and Matthias Rinehart, who 
came about the same time, and Col. M. W. 
Busey, who came in 1836, in their haste and 
under the necessity of having shelter, resorted 
to a similar expedient. Colonel Busey lived in 
a cabin about a mile north of Urbana built 
by a former squatter one David Gabbert on 
ground now used by the Smith Brothers as 
the site of their cold-storage plant. 

As improvements progressed and time per- 
mitted, a better class of log houses were 
built. In the building of these better houses 
the logs were usually hewn upon two or four 
sides, well notched at the corners so as to 
fit each other closely, the cracks between 
the logs being well pointed with lime mortar. 
Glass and sash for the windows, lumber for 
the doors and floors, with an attic chamber, 
nails for the roofs and brick for the chimney 



690 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



made the houses of the possessors comfortable 
and even inviting. Such houses were occa- 
sionally, in later times, covered on the outside 
with sawed weatherboarding and painted, 
giving them the appearance of frame houses. 
The house of Isaac Busey begun in 1832 but 
not finished until 1834 since known as the 
Wilkinson property, near the stone bridge in 
Urbana, but recently removed to what is 
known as Crystal Lake Park is perhaps the 
oldest house in the city of Urbana; and this, 
and the farmhouse built by Charles Busey, 
which, until within recent years, stood upon 
the John Stewart farm, two miles north of 
Urbana, afford instances of these improved 
houses, still, or until recently, standing. It is 
related that Philip Stanford built a house of 
hewed logs cut from trees two and one-half 
feet in diameter, and hewed ten inches thick, 
as wide as the size of the tree would permit. 
This house is still standing upon what is 
known as the Roberts farm, six miles north 
of Urbana. Robert Trickle also built a house 
of this kind on Section 1 in Urbana Township, 
which was standing until within the last few 
years, being owned and occupied by Mr: Bow- 
ers. It was related to the writer by Amos 
Johnson and Robert Brownfield both of whom 
are now deceased that they assisted in the 
hewing of the logs which entered into the 
composition of these houses, and were also 
present at the "raisings." 

As the ability of the inhabitants increased 
and the facilities for getting material for 
building purposes multiplied, the character of 
the houses of the inhabitants changed for the 
better, and finally the presence of sawmills 
and brickyards made frame and brick dwell- 
ings possible. The first frame dwelling erect- 
ed in the county is believed to have been the 
small frame building, formerly situated upon 
the lot immediately east of the court-house 
square in Urbana, and in the rear of what was 
once known as the "Pennsylvania House." 
This was erected about 1834 by Asahel Bruer. 
long the host of this hotel, and was used by 
him first as a kitchen. Some person, for some 
reason unknown, marked upon the door of this 
building, with a paint brush, the letter "B," 
making a very conspicuous mark from which 
the building was long known as the "B House." 
This building did not exceed eighteen feet 
square in size, one story in height, and was 



used at times as a school-house, a court- 
house, and for holding religious services. 

The first brick building erected in the 
county was built by Rev. Arthur Bradshaw, 
about the year 1841, designed as a dwelling, 
and is still standing opposite the southwest 
corner of the public square in Urbana. The 
brick were made on a yard immediately to 
the right of the bridge which crosses the creek 
going north from Urbana, and are believed to 
have been the first manufactured in the 
county. (*) The names of the manufacturers 
of this commodity are given as Recompense 
Reward Cox and his brother, George Cox. 

Fortunately most of the pioneers who set- 
tled this county were possessed of some me- 
chanical skill; otherwise, living at so great 
distances from towns where help could be ob- 
tained, their lot would have been worse than 
it was. Of course, all could with ax, auger 
and adz, construct a cabin home. Some were 
blacksmiths, of which craft these have been 
named: Isaac Burris, John Brownfield and 
several of his sons, Runnel Fielder and James 
Clements. 

. As will be inferred, the absence of suitable 
houses for the protection of those who first 
came to the settlements of this county, and 
the lack of pure water and nourishing food, 
were potent factors in causing sickness which, 
to a great extent, prevailed among the people. 
Miasma has been the foe of the pioneer, all 
the way from the rocks washed by the At- 
lantic to those against which beat the waters 
of the Pacific. The Mississippi valley is 
acknowledged to have been the home of this 
element, and to have yielded the largest har- 
vest to Death on account of its presence. 
Champaign County, during the first fifty years 
of its existence as a county and until the in- 
auguration of its great system of drainage, by 
which the excess of moisture more quickly 
found its way out of the soil than by evapora- 
tion was no exception. The broad sloughs, 
which became saturated in winter and spring 
with water held back by the great growth of 
natural grass, generated the poisonous mias- 
ma which permeated every dwelling, and as 
expressed by T. R. Webber, who knew the 



( J )At an early day in the history of the 
county, Thomas Richards and Michael Firebaugh 
manufactured brick for one season at the H'ick- 
ory Grove, which J. W. Richards, son of the 
former, believes to have been the first made in 
the county. 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



691 



country "Pale men^ and women and ague- 
ridden, pot-bellied children were the rule and 
healthy constitutions the exceptions. "C 1 ) 

Of course, many especially the aged and 
the little children soon fell victims to the 
climate. James Brownfleld, father of Robert 
and Samuel, died within three years after his 
arrival as a permanent settler. Mrs. Isaac 
Busey did not live three years, while her hus- 
band, not a very old man, survived but fifteen 
years. John Busey, the son of Isaac, whose 
widow afterwards became the wife of Mar- 
shall Cloyd, survived his father but a short 
time. Neither Nicholas Smith, the father of 
Jacob; William Boyd, the father of Stephen; 
David Shepherd, the father of Paris; nor John 
Brownfield, the father John, who was one of 
the early Probate Justices of the county, sur- 
vived their residence here ten years; but, 
without reaching what is now recognized as 
a great age, succumbed to the noisome pestil- 
ence. So W. T. Webber, the ancestor of the 
large family of that name now and hereto- 
fore resident here, who came in 1833 as a 
permanent resident, died in 1838, at the noon- 
day of his life. These and many other names 
may be heard from, through their descend- 
ants, as victims who fell before the rigors of 
the climate or from the hardships of pioneer 
life. 

While a brief life here awaited many, yet 
there are many instances of those yet living 
of men who came here fifty, sixty or more 
years ago, who have lived robust lives to a 
great age, surviving the pestilential period and 
the privations and hardships of pioneer life, 
as well preserved specimens of manhood and 
womanhood as our most favored locations can 
boast. Conspicuous among the latter class 
were Henry Sadorus, who died at ninety-three; 
Asahel Bruer, who died at eighty-four; Wil- 



OUn the trite poetry of the day the ague of 
our fathers was of this description: 
"He took the ague badly, 
And it shook him. shook him sorely; 
Shook hjs boots off. and his toe-nails; 
Shook his teeth out. and his hair off; 
Shook his coat all into tatters. 
And his shirt all into ribbons; 
Shirtless, coatless. hairless, toothless, 
Minus boots and minus toe-nails. 
Still it shook him, shook him till it 
Made him yellow, gaunt and bony; 
Shook him till he reached his death-bed; 
Shook him till it shuffled for him 
Off his mortal coil, and then, it 
Having made him cold as could be. 
Shook the earth still down uoon him. 
And he lies beneath his grave-stone, 
Ever shaking, shaking, shaking-." 



liam Sadorus, who died at eighty-seven; 
Thomas L. Butler, who died by an accident at 
the age of eighty-six; Archibald M. Kerr, who 
died at eighty-four; Thomas R. Leal, who died 
at seventy-five; Thomson R. Webber, who died 
at seventy-five; Andrew Lewis, who died at 
eighty-six; Fielding L. Scott, who died at sev- 
enty. The list of pioneers who, after stem- 
ming the hardships of Illinois pioneer life for 
fifty or more years, reached an advanced age 
in life, might be extended greatly if neces- 
sary. Some yet linger as living witnesses of 
the facts sought to be told in these pages, 
whose period of residence in this county goes 
back nearly three quarters of a century, con- 
spicuous among whom are B. F. Harris, of 
Champaign, who came to the county seventy 
years since, and who still lives at the age of 
ninety-two, in excellent health for one so old; 
George Wilson, of Sidney, whose residence In 
Illinois began at about the same time, and 
who is now over one hundred years of age.C) 

In this connection it is of interest to con- 
sider the cases of others not of as great age, 
but whose coming here antedates those above 
named. Roderic R. Busey, son of Matthew 
Busey, came here with his family in 1828, a 
child of five years, and still lives at Sidney, 
after a continuous residence of seventy-seven 
years. Another, Elias Kirby, son of Ellas 
Kirby, Sr., came with his father's family to 
the Big Grove the same year, but a little later 
in the year; and, with the exception of a resi- 
dence in Iowa of about ten years, has lived 
here ever since. Allen Sadorus, who came 
as a child with his father in 1824, has lived 
here through all of the intervening period ex- 
cept during an absence in California of a few 
years. The brothers, Joseph and Thomas 
Brownfield, came as children with their 
father in 1832, and are here yet, in good 
health. 

These individual cases of great longevity, 



O) "Sidney's Centenarian. George Wilson, 
south of town, reached the unusual age of one 
hundred on September 14, and from present in- 
dications will live many years yet. H'e telli 
many interesting experiences of his younger 
days, which would make very interesting read- 
ing matter could it be compiled. He was con- 
sidered one of the strongest men in Sidney in 
his prime. He says that he can remember the 
time when he had to drive to Chicago with a 
load of wheat and bring back food and clothing, 
the trip taking about fourteen days. During 
the gold craze in the West, he went to Cali- 
fornia with some others, and was gone from 
this place about two years." Sidney By-Way. 
September 16, 1904. 



692 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



running through the miasmatic period of the 
county's history, are exceptions to the rule of 
short lives which followed early settlement 
here. Drainage and cultivation of the lands 
of the county, with better living and better 
houses, have driven away the miasma and In- 
stalled in its place a salubrious atmosphere, 
laden with life and health. 

As above indicated, to the miasma of the 
country may be attributed most of the sick- 
ness which afflicted the early settlers of the 
county; yet not alone to that cause can be 
referred the mortality of the first comers. 
The Asiatic cholera had its inning among 
them about the years when it first ravaged, 
with its death-dealing fatality, this country to 
such an extent that it became one of the facts 
of general history. This disease first visited 
the seaboard cities of the land in 1832, and 
spread to a considerable extent. Its ravages 
among the soldiers at Fort Dearborn (Chica- 
go) form an important item in the military 
history of the Northwest. Little less startling 
and terrible was its visit to the settlements 
of the Big Grove in the summer of 1834. The 
few dwellers, then living remote from the 
avenues of information, knew of this malady 
only by highly exaggerated and alarming re- 
ports, and it needed but the mention of the 
dreaded name to fill all with horror. It can 
easily be imagined, then, what alarm took 
possession of the minds of the pioneers when 
the cholera actually appeared in the family 
of James Moss, living near the north end of 
the Big Grove, and within a few days took 
the father and three of his children. Mary 
Heater, the mother of Jacob Heater, the wife 
of James Johnson and two of her children also 
fell victims. There were others whose names 
are not remembered by those who yet re- 
member the circumstances. 

It will be remembered by many yet living 
that the cholera again visued Illinois in the 
year 1854, when Chicago was the center and 
greatest sufferer. In that season it again 
made its appearance in Champaign County 
with marked fatality. It prevailed mostly 
among the track-layers engaged in laying down 
the iron for the Illinois Central Railroad, and 
those living near by, with whom the men came 
in contact, though some died in Urbana. More 
died then from this disease in the county 



than at its first visit, but the panic created 
was not so great. ( l ) 

( l )The incidents of the suffering and death of 
most of the members of a family of Prussian 
immigrants are given in a county paper of that 
day, of which the following is the substance: 

"A family of Prussians, consisting of the father, 
mother,, several children, and an aged woman, 
the mother of the wife, came down from Chi- 
cago on a passenger train as far as it then ran. 
and were set out on the open prairie, about 
where the village of Ludlow now stands. No 
shelter was afforded them. Their destination 
was Danville, where they hoped to find friends 
in the family of a brother of the husband. A 
hack from tiie termination of the run of the 
passenger trains was then running to Urbana, 
but did not afford facilities for the transporta- 
tion of the family and their belongings. Money 
was sent by the father to Urbana, by the driver 
to" employ a wagon to carry them forward. The 
next day it was returned with the information 
that no wagon could be had for that purpose. 
In the meantime several members of the family, 
including the aged mother, were attacked by 
the cholera, then prevailing along the line of 
the railroad, and among the men employed in 
i,ts construction. The father, in default of aid 
from Urbana ; from information received of the 
direction of Danville, with two of his little boys, 
set out for that place, hoping to reach Pilot 
Grove, the nearest settlement, in the direction of 
Danville, the first night. In this he was disap- 
pointed, and staid upon the prairie all night. 
The youngest boy with him was attacked dur- 
ing the night and died of cholera. The sur- 
viving boy was left in charge of the corpse, 
wniie the father proceeded to the settlement for 
assistance. All day he watched at the side of 
his dead brother and. for the return -of his fath- 
er. Near nightfall, getting no tidings from his 
absent father, the boy went in search of assist- 
ance, and found the house of a solitary farmer, 
to whom, by the aid of signs and the little of 
the English he had learned, he told of the mis- 
fortunes of the family. The good people into 
whose hands the lad had fallen, after having 
given sepulture as best they could to the body 
of the little brother who had died on the prai- 
rie, sent a messenger to Danville to inform the 
friends of the family of their misfortunes and 
need of assistance, set about finding the missing 
father. Not much time was spent in the search 
before his dead body was found, so much de- 
composed as to require immediate interment, 
which was then and there given the uncoffined 
remains. 

The brother at Danville, no sooner received 
the notice of the condition and sufferings of his 
brother's family at the railroad than he came 
with a team and food for their relief, but with- 
out knowledge of the fate of his brother., who, 
as above told, was found to be dead and buried. 
H'e reached Pera, as the station was then 
called, with the aid needed,, but to find the aged 
mother near death's door and the residue of the 
family in a sick and famishing condition, bear- 
ing the first news of the death of the little boy 
at Pilot and of the uncertain loss of the hus- 
band and father. Soon all. the sick and dying, 
were loaded into the wagon and started for Dan- 
ville, across the great stretch of prairie inter- 
vening. On the road the aged mother died and 
one child, a little girl, and were informally bur- 
ied out on the prairie, as had been the other 
members of the family. Upon reaching Dan- 
ville the mother also died, as did the brother 
who had rescued them." 

"A Case of Cholera. A case of Asiatic Cholera 
occurred in our place last week, which pioved 
fatal. Mr. James Collins, of Indiana, was here 
on a visit to his friends, when he was attacked 
by the dreadful scourge and, in fifteen hours, 
was a corpse. He had been staying: in Chicago on 
business for a few days before coming here." 
Urbana Union. October 5. 1854. 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



693 



The lack of intelligent physicians and of ef- 
fective remedies, no doubt, had much to do 
with the fatality attending all diseases during 
the first twenty years of the settlement of the 
county. The first of the medical profession 
who appeared among the pioneers was Dr. 
T. Fulkerson, an unmarried man who settled 
in the largest settlement in this part of Ver- 
milion County that about the north end of 
the Big Grove and made his home with the 
family of the Widow Coe, then living upon 
the southwest quarter of Section 27, Somer 
Township, and who is elsewhere named as an 
early settler. Dr. Fulkerson came in the 
spring of 1830, and must have had plenty to 
do in fighting the ordinary malarial diseases; 
for these maladies were entirely out of pro; 
portion to the number of people. Reports 
from those here at the time of Dr. Fulkerson's 
residence say that he remained in the settle- 
ment but a brief period, when he went west. 
A record of the Board of County Commission- 
ers in 1834 shows that, during that year, Dr. 
Fulkerson was prosecuted to a judgment for 
two dollars by the county authorities for his 
failure to work on the public road, so that he 
must have remained from 1830 to 1834. and 
may have been driven away by the legal pro- 
ceedings had against him. Although the res- 
ident population was small and the ability 
to pay quite limited, he could not have moved 
on for want of something to do in his line. 
He paid the judgment and it was accounted 
for as a part of the revenues of 1834. 

The next physician reported to have settled 
here for the practice of his profession was 
Dr. James H. Lyon, who came a little later 
and made his home with Mijamin. Byers, the 
Justice of the Peace, at his cabin two miles 
east of Urbana. Dr. Lyons remained at the 
Big Grove but a short time, but made his 
permanent home at what was then known 
as "Nox's Point," now the site of the village 
of Sidney, where, as elsewhere told, he after- 
wards platted that town. Dr. Lyons raised a 
family there and was elected a member of the 
General Assembly. One daughter became the 
second wife of M. D. Coffeen, of Homer, the 
leading merchant of the county. Dr. Lyons 
is represented to have been a stirring, public 
spirited man; and very useful to the new 
community. Many of his remote descendants 
reside in the county. 

Dr. Harman Stevens came to the vicinity of 



Homer in 1835 and, after the establishment 
of the village, removed to that place and there 
practiced his profession many years, and un- 
til he became an old man, when he removed 
to Saline County, 111., where he died. 

Dr. William A. Conkey, a native of Massa- 
chusetts and the son of an early immigrant 
to Edgar County, located at Homer about 1843, 
and continued to practice there for a consid- 
erable time, and later for a time at Eugene, 
Ind. He finally abandoned his profession for 
that of merchandising and subsequently en- 
gaged in farming near Homer. He now lives 
a retired life in the village of Homer, having 
reached the age of eighty-four. 

Dr. John G. Saddler was the first of his pro- 
fession to locate in Urbana, which he did in 
1839, but remained a few years only. 

The coming to this county in the autumn of 
1840 of Dr. William D. Somers, of Surrey 
County, N. C., supplied the vacancy made by 
the removal of Dr. Saddler. Dr. Somers was 
afterwards better known as the able and elo- 
quent attorney of that name, for about 1846 
he abandoned the profession of medicine for 
that of the law, which he followed with great 
success for nearly fifty years, abandoning It 
only when the weight of years bore heavily 
upon him.O) 

Dr. Winston Somers, brother of the .last- 
named, came to Urbana in the autumn of 1843 
and practiced medicine to the time of his 
death in 1871. The clientage of Dr. Winston 
Somers was large and scattered over a large 
territory. He was often called to the Sanga- 
mon, Okaw, Ambraw and Salt Fork timbers, 
and even as far as the Middle Fork. These 
journeys were made many times on horseback, 
armed with the traditional saddle-bags of the 
pioneer physician hung across the horse, con- 
taining the most commonly used medicines 



( 1 )Wllliam D. Somers, when better known in 
after years as the first lawyer in the county, 
often referred to the years of his practice as a 
physician for incidents illustrating 1 some point. 
In the writer's hearing he once told of a call 
he once had to visit a sick bed at the Sangamon 
timber. He left his home on Main street, Urbana, 
after nightfall, driving 1 a horse attached to a 
single buggy. The night was dark and he had 
no guide but the unfenced road, which was little 
more than trail over the prairie. He drove, as he 
believed, in the direction of Middletown for some 
hours, but no signs of the settlement appeared. 
Finally he found himself lost and could only 
proceed by giving free rein to his horse and trust 
to his sagacity, which he did. After some hours 
of this travel he found himself back at his own 
door, just as the day was breaking, having 
wandered, he knew not where, all night long. 



694 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



and surgical instruments, not forgetting the 
blood-letting lancet. It is told of Dr. Somers 
that he once performed successfully the am- 
putation of a limb when he was compelled to 
use a common hand-saw. The case was an 
urgent one and made this resort a necessity, 
but a life was saved. 

Dr. N. H. Adams came to Middletown at 
an early day, and was the first resident phy- 
sician in his township. He died fifty years 
ago. Dr. C. C. Hawes was 'also an early prac- 
titioner there and died many years ago, having 
led a useful life. Dr. Crane commenced prac- 
tice there about fifty years since, a young 
man, and gave great promise of a life of use- 
fulness, when, by an accident, his life was 
terminated in July, 1856. On the Fourth of 
July of that year, some persons were engaged 
in firing an anvil, when the thing was ex- 
ploded. A fragment injured Dr. Crane, who 
was sitting some distance away, and in no way 
engaged in the sport. From this injury he 
died a few days thereafter. 

The year 1853 witnessed the coming to Ur- 
bana of Dr. Joseph T. Miller, who is still in 
active practice after more than fifty-one years 
of continued service, the oldest member of the 
profession, in point of years of practice, in 
the county, outranking all others now or here- 
tofore engaged in that profession. The same 
year Dr. James Hollister also came, but re- 
mained only a few years. Dr. Hartwell C. 
Howard, of Champaign, came a year or two 
afterwards, and ranks next to Dr. Miller In 
seniority, in the profession. Dr. Shoemaker 
was the first to locate in Champaign, which 
was in the autumn of 1854. Dr. C. H. Mills 
came to Urbana early in 1854 and, after two 
years, removed to Champaign, where he Is 
still engaged in his profession. 
\/The want of mills in which to grind their 
/ grain into flour or meal was one of the great- 
est inconveniences which our pioneers had to 
meet and overcome. Of course, the inortar 
and pestle or, in their absence, some rough 
contrivance for bruising or grinding the grain 
so as to be kneaded into dough for the baking 
of bread were easily at hand and in use in 
families with which to meet emergencies; but 
this slow process which would fill the want 
of the aborigines or lake dweller, would not 
long be tolerated by the progressive American 
pioneer. The alternative was to carry the 
grist of grain to the mills then in operation 



in the western part of Indiana, from fifty to 
seventy-five miles from the Big Grove. A 
water-power mill was in use on the waters of 
the lower Vermilion at Eugene, before many 
settlements were made in the eastern coun- 
ties of Illinois, as also upon some of the 
smaller streams putting into the Wabash 
from the east. To these our pioneers had re- 
course before grinding facilities were estab- 
lished at home, and stories of the long jour- 
neys to these mills with ox-teams, and of the 
long waitings often necessary for the turn of 
the later comers, have often been told at the 
gatherings of the early settlers. This was 
many times done by Henry Sadorus between 
1824 the time of his coming and the period 
of the general use of neighborhood mills, told 
in the succeeding pages. (*) 



(!)The story of one of these journeys, told by 
Mr. Sadorus himself and first published in 
Lothrop's Champaign County Directory (1870- 
71), we append: 

"As late as the year 1833," says Mr. Sadorus, 
"there were no grist-mills within the county, 
save one, or perhaps two small ones driven 
by horse-power; and nearly all the work of this 
kind was taken a distance of fifty or sixty 
miles, to the Vermilion or Wabash River, in 
Indiana. On the twentieth day of December, 
1830, I started with a team of four yoke of 
oxen, a large Virginia wagon (covered), loaded 
with wheat and buckwheat, to go to mill, near 
the State line, a distance of about fifty-five 
miles. The weather had been mild and pleas- 
ant, thawing a little each day, until the night 
of the fourth day out, when it became intense- 
ly cold. The next day the fifth from home 
I arrived at the mill. Before reaching the 
mill, however, it was necessary to go down the 
bluff to the river. The road down the bluff had 
been cut through the steepest portion, leaving 
an embankment upon either side. The road 
through this cut had been paved with logs, 
placed crosswise the road; but when I arrived 
at the top, the whole length of the road through 
the hill was one mass of smooth ice. This was 
the only wa'y to the mill, which was now in 
sight. It was evident that the oxen could 
not stand upon that glassy surface, to say 
nothing of holding back the load. As it was 
the only way, I was compelled to make the 
venture. The result was as I had anticipated: 
the oxen slipped, the wagon swung around to 
one side, and in one minute, oxen, wagon and 
wheat, lay in complete confusion in the ditch 
near the bottom of the hill the quickest de- 
scent on record. Fortunately, there were no very 
serious breakages, and. with assistance from the 
mill, I was soon relieved from the unpleasant 
situation. That night the weather moderated, 
and the day after I commenced .the return. 

"Before night I was compelled to cross a 
small stream, which had been swollen by melt- 
ed snow, and was frozen over. The oxen, re- 
membering the experience of the hill, would not 
step upon the ice. Drawing the wagon as near 
the ice as I could, I detached the oxen and took 
them across at a point below, where there was 
an open place, but where it would not have 
been "safe to have driven the wagon. Then 
taking my chains. I managed, after much diffi- 
culty, to obtain length enough so that I could 
attach a lever, and, using a tree for a fulcrum, 
slowly worked the loaded wagon across to 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



695 



These local mills, run by hand or by horse- 
power, were early established in the different 
settlements of the county, and, though slow 
and unsatisfactory in their operations, re- 
lieved the people of the necessity of making 
the long journeys to the Indiana mills of 
which Mr. Sadorus tells. These rude mills 
were, in local parlance, called "corn-cracker 
mills," for the reason that they did no more 
than crush the grain, leaving the work of sep- 
arating the bran from the meal, or the process 
of "bolting" to be done with a hand sieve. 
The first of this class of mills used in the 
county or rather within its territory was 
brought here, and its story was told the writer 
in a letter to him of the date of July 3, 1878, 
by Hon. H. W. Beckwith, of Danville, late 
President of the Illinois State Historical So- 
ciety, in these words: 

"In reply to your postal of the 1st, the 
first corn-cracker mill used, either in Vermil- 
ion or Champaign county, was made by James 
D. Butler, about the year 1823. It consisted 
of a 'gum' or section of a hollow tree, some 
four feet long by two feet in diameter. In 
this was set a stationary stone with a flat 
surface. The revolving burr, like the other, 
was selected with reference to its fitness 



where the oxen could again be of service. The 
next morning I was joined by a man with his 
family, who were moving- to Macon County, and 
who had been waiting for me to come along, as 
he had been told I was at the mill. The last 
night had been passed at a house, but we now 
started upon a stretch of country where no 
houses could be seen, nor other signs of civili- 
zation, save the roads or trails across the prai- 
ries. 

"The weather now became intensely cold, and 
the day's journey was performed with great 
difficulty and suffering on the part of ourselves 
and the animals. At night we stopped at H'ick- 
ory Grove, and after drawing logs together, 
we built a rousing fire, and placing the wagons 
so as to protect us from the winds, we passed 
the night in comparative comfort. With ven- 
ison and pork, and a delicious cup of coffee 
prepared by the wife of the mover, with appe- 
tites to match, we partook of our supper with 
a relish seldom excelled. The next morning 
was bitter cold, and appeared to be increasing 
in severity. I feared to start out, and proposed 
staying where we were until the weather mod- 
erated. My traveling companion objected to 
this, saying that his wife and children would 
not be able to endure so much exposure, and 
desired to press on as fast as possible. The 
woman and children were put into the covered 
wagon, wrapped in the bedding, and start made. 
Our course lay across the prairie, where, the 
wind seemed to sweep with resistless force, 
driving through every protection that could be 
interposed against it. The wind increased in 
violence, and the cold in intensity; and to pre- 
vent freezing as we journeyed along was the 
only problem we attempted to solve. It was 
late at night when we drew into Lynn Grove. 
The woman and children had been in bed all 



from the granite boulders or, as the old set- 
tlers would designate them, 'Nigger-Heads' 
distributed freely over the ground everywhere. 
The two were broken and dressed into circu- 
lar form, and the grinding surfaces reduced 
and furrows sunk in them so as to make cut- 
ting edges, by such rude instruments as Mr. 
Butler could manufacture for the purpose. A 
hole was drilled near the rim on the upper 
side of the rotary burr. A pole was inserted 
in this, while the other end was placed in a 
hole in a beam some six or eight feet directly 
above the center of the hopper, and thus, by 
taking hold of the pole with the hand near the 
burr and exerting a push and pull movement, 
a rotary motion was given to the mill. The 
capacity was about one bushel of corn per 
hour, with a lively muscular man to run it. 
It served the wants of the settlement at But- 
ler's Point (now Catlin) until the water-mill 
at Denmark was made in 1826. Then it was 
taken to Big Grove by Robert Trickel. It 
sustained its reputation as a good, reliable 
mill for several years, among the five or six 
families at the Big Grove, and was their first 
mill." 

This hand-mill was used by the Trickels and 
their near neighbors after their removal to the 



day, jostling over the frozen ground; nothing 
had been eaten by man or beast. We soon had 
logs together for a fire; but the fire that was 
the question. There were no matches in those 
days, ,gnd our only hope was with the flint and 
steel. We had with us a small piece of dry, 
decayed wood, or "punk," as it is called; but 
so cold and benumbed were we that it was im- 
possible to throw a spark upon it, or even to 
strike the spark. Our efforts for the purpose 
were long and unavailing; it seemed that we 
must be freezing, for without a fire we could 
not hope to endure until morning, and to go 
farther that night would but hasten the calam- 
ity. In the desperation of the moment, after 
having stamped and beaten my hands and feet, 
I took the flint and made one more effort; this 
time, O, joy! the flint true to the purpose, sent 
a tiny spark upon the dry tinder. Gathering 
over and protecting the feeble life we fed it 
with dry blades of grass, carefully and tenderly, 
until strength gave evidence of speedy warmth 
and comfort. At this point, the man who was 
with me thinking he could induce it to burn 
faster, held his powder horn over the fire to 
drop a few grains upon it. The result was, 
that the powder-horn was blown to pieces, 
himself burned and singed, and the fire scat- 
tered. The parties, in the wagon, who, during 
the day had endured their sufferings with heroic 
fortitude, yielded to this new calamity, and wept 
in the hopelessness of their despair. Fortunate- 
ly we were able to gather enough of the frag- 
ments still on fire to start another, and with 
great care succeeded; and. although the cold 
was such that we suffered much through the 
night, still we were in no danger of freezing, 
for which we were deeply grateful. The next 
day I reached my home, and the stranger went 
his way." 



696 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



Big Grove, and was undoubtedly the first mill 
of any kind in that neighborhood. What the 
Fielders and their neighbor, William Tomp- 
kins, did to reduce their corn to meal from 
3822 to the time of the arrival of this mill, 
tradition does not inform us; but the long 
journeys by the Fort Clark road or other 
trails to the Indiana mills were always possi- 
ble, and it is probable were resorted to, or 
oftener, probably, resort was had to the mor- 
tar and pestle, in some of its forms. 

Sample Cole, whose name has been quoted 
in other chapters as an early occupier of land 
in the Big Grove a man evidently fruitful in 
expedients, as a true pioneer must be early 
copied after the Trickel mill, and set up his 
product at the Stanford home. This Cole mill 
did service at Stanford's until 1836, when 
John Brownfield, availing himself of the 
service of one James Holmes, a skilled artisan 
in the construction of mills, built a mill of a 
higher order than were the Trickel and Cole 
mills. This mill was run by ox-power and 
was capable of much greater results than the 
others. When in use it relieved the hand- 
mills and drew patronage from residents for 
many miles around. Oliver, the eccentric pio- 
neer from Oliver's Grove in Livingston 
County, is remembered as a patron of the 
Brownfield mill.H 

About 1830 or 1831, Henry Sadorus, wearied 
of long journeys to Indiana and of other ex- 
pedients for reducing his grain for he was 
also a patron of the Big Grove mills con- 
structed at his place in the Sadorus Grove a 
power-mill, which was operated either by 
horse or ox-power. This mill attracted pat- 
ronage from long distances and was evidently 
highly useful. So great was the demand upon 
its capabilities that it became the source of 
no little annoyance to its owner. To accom- 
modate his neighbors Mr. Sadorus was often 
taken from his farm-work when the latter was 
pressing. This mill, with its further use, was 



0) "Fountain J. Busey relates that one of 
their neighbors by the name of Smith, whether 
Nicholas or his son, Jacob, is not indicated, had 
a hand-mill which sometimes accommodated 
the family of his father; also that the pioneer, 
Runnel Fielder, had what was known as a 
"band mill," which he says was the first in the 
county, which Is quite probable. The descrip- 
tion of this mill would justify the conclusion 
that it had some kind of gearing which would 
operate it more rapidly than the usual family 
mill." Matthews & McLean's Early Pioneers 
of Champaign County, page 99. 



abandoned about the time water-mills first 
came into use in the county. 

Moses Thomas, who has often been referred 
to in these pages, built the first mill where 
water was the motive power, in this county. 
It was put in operation about 1834, and both 
ground the pioneer's grain and sawed his tim- 
ber into boards an office next in importance 
to the immigrant to that of having his grist 
reduced to flour or meal.O 

This mill came to the ownership of M. D. 
Coffeen & Co., before the year 1840, and under 
their management led a long and useful ca- 
reer, being rebuilt and refurnished. Water, 
as the motive power, is now nearly obsolete, 
a steam engine having done duty there for 
many years. 

This building was at first built of logs, 
upon some kind of a foundation which sup- 
ported it above the creek; but, in after years, 
when the property had passed to the owner- 
ship of M. D. Coffeen & Co., it was rebuilt 
as a substantial frame building. This mill 
is the oldest public institution in the county, 
having served the public on the same ground 
for a period of seventy years, and still an- 
swers the call of the miller. 

Not far from the same date but a little 
later as is now understood George Akers 
erected a mill which performed, for a time, 
the same offices as the Thomas mill, upon 
his land in Section 2 of Sidney Township, 
which was operated by the water of the Salt 
Fork, and performed valuable services. 

Charles Heptonstall, in the year 1836, 
dammed the waters of the creek about a mile 
below Urbana, and there built a mill at 
which the lumber was sawed for the first 
frame house erected in Urbana, and subse- 
quently erected a grist and saw-mill on the 
Sangamon River at Middletown. The former 
structure, from the difficulty attending the 



O)It was told the writer by the late W.illiam 
H. Webber, that his father "William T. "Webber, 
in default of saw-mills for the manufacture of 
lumber, caused sufficient lumber to be prepared 
by the whip-sawing process, to floor the loft 
of his cabin, the lower floor being constructed 
of split puncheons. This may have been the 
first sawed lumber manufactured in the county. 
The lumber in the cabin loft served that pur- 
pose until the death of some one in the set- 
tlement when a coffin became necessary. The 
request of bereaved friends for enough to make 
a coffin could not be refused and lumber went 
out for that purpose. In like manner, as one 
after another the neighbors of Mr. Webber died, 
requisitions were made unon his cabin loft for 
coffin lumber, until all was gone for that pur- 
pose. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



697 



maintenance of the dam, was of a short du- 
ration; but the latter both ground the grists 
and sawed the lumber of the settlers for 
many years. 

John Brownfield, before 1840, erected a mill 
upon the creek in the Big Grove, lower down 
than that of Heptonstall, and Jacob Mootz, 
about 1842, erected one above, upon the land 
of Col. M. W. Busey, now within the limits 
of Crystal Lake Park, where remains of the 
dyke made to confine the water may yet be 
seen. Both these mills sawed lumber and 
ground grists, and both ended, like the Hep- 
tonstall mill, for the want of a permanent 
foundation for their dams. 

The first steam mill erected in the county 
was by William Park, in Urbana, in 1850, it 
being the nucleus of what was, until lately, 
known as "Park's Mill." This mill was run 
by a steam engine, which was the first en- 
gine brought to the county for any purpose. 
As Mr. Park was the first to put a steam 
mill in operation, so he has, perhaps, the 
credit of doing more for the people in this 
line than any other man. He has since then 
erected mills at Parkville on the Kaskaskia, 
on the Sangamon and at Sidney. The erec- 
tion of this, the first mill in the county where 
grinding and bolting were both done (if we 
except the mill at Homer, which could only 
be run when the water was high), was an 
event in the progress of the county which 
caused great rejoicing, second only to that 
witnessed upon the advent of the first rail- 
way train of cars as it came over the prairie. 
Some time in July, 1902, this mill was burned 
at night. It was owned by its originator and 
builder, and by his brother, Joseph Park, 
from the time it was built until the death of 
the latter in 1893, when it passed to others. 

Many other mills for both purposes were 
built in later years; but, as it is not the pur- 
pose of the writer to make a complete his- 
tory of the county, no reference will here be 
made to them. 

The agriculture of the early settlers of this 
county, at its beginning, was not materially 
different, in the class of products, from those 
now produced, except that flax was more gen- 
erally cultivated for domestic use than now. 
So, also, tobacco was grown to a consider- 
able extent, professedly for home use, but 
many cultivated it as an article of commerce. 
Then no Federal laws interfered to vex the 



producer; and the article was not only raised, 
but in a manner manufactured by some rude 
form of pressing and sold in considerable 
quantities. It formed one of the variety of 
"country produce" with which wagons, 
freighted for the Chicago market, were 
loaded. 



I 



CHAPTER XV. 
SOCIAL LIFE AMUSEMENTS. 

SOME FEATURES OF PIONEER LIFE LONG RIDES FOR 
SOCIAL GATHERINGS CORN-SHUCKINGS, DANCES, 
ETC EARLY HOUSE PARTIES HOUSE RAISINGS 
GATHERING AT HENRY SADORUs's A BARN RAIS- 
ING AND QUILTING BEE OLD SETTLERS' MEETING 
ALLEN SADORUS PLENTIFULNESS OF WILD GAME 
AND THE HUNT CIRCULAR HUNT WOLVES AND 
THEIR FEROCITY WILD GEESE AND DUCKS WILD 
GAME AS FOOD SHOOTING MATCH HORSE RACING 
FIRST . SOCIAL GATHERING AT CHAMPAIGN 
PIC-NICS PROMINENT FAMILIES AMONG THE 
PIONEERS. 

Amid their many duties necessary to the 
sustenance of themselves and their families, 
our pioneers were not lost to the love of the 
social amenities of life nor to the love of 
amusements. No sooner were settlements 
established in the county, as told in former 
chapters, and acquaintances made or re- 
newed from old associations, than were so- 
cial gatherings and visits among families re- 
sorted to for the gratification of the gregari- 
ous instinct universally prevailing in the hu- 
man family. These visits were not confined 
to the immediate neighborhoods of the indi- 
vidual settlers, but long rides were taken 
across the prairies from timber grove to tim- 
ber grove, or wherever a cabin or settlement 
could be found, and social visits of families 
interchanged; or, in larger companies, for 
"raisings," "corn-shuckings" and "dances" 
anything to bring together the people young 
and old for a frolic. (The hyphenated word 
"pic-nic" had not then been invented.) 

Stories are yet told by the few who survive 
the earlier years of our county's history, of 
long rides from the Big Grove to Sadorus 
Grove, the Salt Fork, to the Sangamon and 
to Linn Grove to meet the youth of those 
neighborhoods for dances and amusements of 



698 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



various kinds. These jaunts were usually 
made upon horseback, both sexes being ex- 
pert riders. The trails across the prairie 
were followed and the shortest route was 
available, so far as fenced-up farms were con- 
cerned. "House parties," as now practiced, 
were not then known by that name; but it 
not infrequently happened that gatherings of 
this kind lasted a day or two, the lasses find- 
ing accommodations in the house upon emer- 
gency beds, while the boys were accommo- 
dated upon the hay and straw mows in the 
barn, if there was one, or out 01 doors, as 
the case might have been. Such gatherings/ 
brought together young people from a large 
territory and often established friendship of 
a life-long character, many matrimonial alli- 
ances of which the county records bear wit- 
ness, tracing their inception to such a gath- 
ering. 

When the "raising" had been accomplished, 
the corn shucked and the quilting done, when 
all were satisfied with the intervening danc- 
ing frolics, the gathering broke up and all 
dispersed to their distant homes. 

Only one of these gatherings, a typical 
party, need be described. It was held at the 
home of Henry Sadorus, at which the young 
people from all the groves of this county 
from Monticello, from down on the Okaw and 
Ambraw, and some from as far as Eugene, 
Ind. came on invitation to participate in the 
sports. Some of the Buseys were there from 
the Big Grove, one of the Richmonds from 
the Ambraw, two of the Lesters from the 
Okaw, the Piatts from Monticello, and many 
others more than thirty in all men and 
women, gathered in the fall of 1832, the par- 
ticular business on the part of the men being 
to raise a log barn, and, on the part of the 
women, to "quilt" two bed-quilts for Mrs. 
Sadorus. 

The barn to be raised was what was known 
as a "double" barn; that is, two separate 
apartments built far enough apart to leave 
room for a threshing floor between, but all 
under one roof. The logs of which it was 
constructed for it was a log barn are re- 
membered to have been straight ash logs of 
a rare quality, and the structure covered 
ground thirty by sixty feet in extent. The 
logs had all been cut of the proper length 
and hauled to the ground ready for use. In 
three days' time the men who were, by pre- 



vious practice, well schooled in the art of 
building after the frontiersman's fashion 
had erected the two separate structures, cov- 
ered them with split boards held in place by 
weight poles, and nicely finished the thresh- 
ing floor of split puncheons, so well lined 
at the edges and smoothed down with the 
adz as to make a tight floor. This barn 
stood as a noted landmark, near the old 
Sadorus homestead for many years, and will 
still be remembered by later comers who 
survive. 

Within the double log cabin which served 
the Sadorus family as a home from 1824 un- 
til 1838, the lady guests, most of whom, it 
is most likely, were clad in homespun, made 
busy work with their needles upon the quilts, 
or assisted in the preparation of the meals 
by day and joined in the merry dance at 
night, to the music of a fiddle in the hands 
of a backwoods artist named Knight, from 
Danville. 

This must have been a happy occasion, if 
one may judge from the merry twinkle of 
the eyes of those who participated whenever, 
in later years, it is alluded to in- their pres- 
tence. At an Old Settlers' meeting held at 
the Fair Grounds in 1882, fifty years after the 
event, Mrs. Malinda Bryan, William Sadorus, 
and perhaps others who participated in the 
fun, talked it over in public with shouts of 
laughter at the recalling of the happenings, 
as if they were yet the youngsters who en- 
joyed the fun of half a century before, and 
as if but a few weeks had intervened. 

Perhaps the last of that merry throng to 
yet remain in life and upon the ground is 
Mr. Allen Sadorus, a son of the host, who 
was then a lad of about twelve years, but 
an observer of all that went on, and can 
now, after more than seventy years and at 
the age of eighty-four, tell what took place 
and who were there with the accuracy of a 
very late observer. The mentioning "of the 
event to him now is met with th heartiest 
of ringing laughter on his part, as he re- 
calls each guest and tells of the fun all had. 

In this manner, and upon like occasions, 
did our pioneers cultivate acquaintances and 
perpetuate friendships in the olden times. 
Their hospitalities at their homes were un- 
bounded and free to all honest comers, espe- 
cially to those who sought to establish homes 
in their settlements. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



699 



Hunting the wild animals which bred and 
roamed over these prairies before their lairs 
were broken, up by cultivation, was engaged 
in by men and boys universally. Both as a 
means of diversion and pastime, and f^>r the 
contribution to the table and clothing of the 
settlers, did all follow the chase in the proper 
seasons. No law interfered with the natural 
right to take for their use these wild ani- 
mals, and their profusion and the ease with 
which they were taken, either by snare or 
gun, made the sport engaging and profitable 
if deer and fowl were taken, and if wolves 
and other destructive vermin were taken, 
protection was given to domestic animals. 

At an Old Settlers' meeting, in 1882, Will- 
iam Sadorus stated that he, on one occasion, 
shot and killed twenty wolves in five days, 
and upon another occasion he piled twenty- 
five of their carcasses in one fence corner. 

In the earlier years of the settlements, the 
incursions of wolves, foxes, wildcats and 
other predatory animals upon the sheep, pigs 
and domestic fowls of the settlers, was a 
serious menace, and made their protection at 
night necessary. So, as a matter of self- 
defense, the hunting and trapping of these 
destructive animals was followed with a pur- 
pose. 

The pelts and furs of these animals, taken 
in the course of a year, formed no small item 
in the incomes of the hunters, when trans- 
ported with surplus products to Chicago, or 
when sold to the local or itinerant fur 
dealer. 0) 

The buffalo disappeared from this country 
long before the same was occupied by the 
white race, driven therefrom, or perhaps 
wholly exterminated, by the aborigines whom 
our people found here. That the prairies 



( 1 )The operations of the American Fur Com- 
pany of the earlier part of the last century, 
while it conducted the larger part of Its trade 
around the Great Northern Lakes and upon the 
Mississippi and its confluents, drew largely 
from the wild interiors of Western States, and 
Champaign County, in the earlier years of its 
settlement and until it was well under culti- 
vation, contributed annually its share of this 
product. 

One H. C. Smith, a citizen of Chicago, for 
many years before 1860 made regular visits 
to Urbana and other places in the central part 
of the State, his mission being the buying of 
furs and wild peltries for that corporation. His 
visits are well remembered b^" many yet living. 
Charles G. Lamed, once a resident of Urbana, 
and later of Champaign of which place he was 
at one time the Mayor first came to this 
part of Illinois as an itinerant merchant and 
as a purchaser of these commodities. 



here, like those beyond the Mississippi, were 
once the home of vast herds of this now 
nearly extinct animal, is well shown by ac- 
counts left us by the early French explorers, 
as well as by the yet visible marks left by 
them; but the smaller game remained In 
great abundance. 

Deer were found here in almost incredible 
numbers until the middle of the last century, 
when, as population increased, they gradually 
decreased until about 1860, when they had 
become nearly or quite extinct. The writer 
has seen them in considerable flocks in pass- 
ing upon the stage from Urbana westward. 

Mr. H. M. Russell, who came to the county 
as late as 1847, relates having seen a drove 
of sixty or seventy of these animals in the 
winter of 1848, a short distance west of Sid- 
ney. The same drove had nearly cleaned -up 
a field of corn of a citizen there, and the 
neighbors, as a matter of protection to their 
crops, turned out en masse and destroyed 
them. 

The means resorted to for taking the game 
were very numerous and suited to the taste 
or necessities of the hunter. At first, and 
before contact with men had taught them cau- 
tion, the gentle deer would come near the 
cabin of the pioneer, but such curiosity on 
the part of the animal was pretty certain to 
cost him his life; for, if the man of the house 
were not at home, the woman could aim the 
rifle and gather the prize. Such instances 
were often told in early times. The sfalklng 
of these animals, with a rifle single-handed 
and alone, was the most common method, 
and counted as the keenest of amusement. 
This was done both on horseback and on 
foot, and often resulted in securing a supply 
of toothsome venison. 

As has already been stated, wolves were 
altogether too plentiful for the most abundant 
success in the farmyard, and so were ac- 
counted as an enemy to be destroyed, from 
whose death no benefit accrued to the cap- 
tor except the removal of an enemy. (') They 



( 1 )So ferocious were these animals that they 
would attack full grown hogs. H. M. Russell 
remembers in the fall of 1847, the circumstance 
of a drove of fat hogs being driven from 
Mt. Pleasant, now Farmer City, to the "Wabash. 
On the prairie between the Sangamon River 
nnd Urbana, a large pack of wolves scented the 
drove and dogged the steps of the hogs to 
Urbana, where the drove was yarded and fed 
for the night. The wolves invaded the streets 
of the town and it was necessary to guard the 



700 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



were trapped, poisoned and shot. They were 
run down by the aid of horses and dogs, and 
beat to death with clubs. These races were, 
at times) most exciting and often extended 
across miles of prairie. A wolf-hunt of this 
kind, where a number of farmers wished to 
try or exhibit the mettle of their horses and 
dogs, was counted to be the greatest of sport, 
and the wolf, when lured from his den, got 
the worst of it. 

One of the most popular and largely prac- 
ticed sports in the matter of hunting all sorts 
of wild animals, was what was known, far 
and near among the early settlers, as the 
"Circle Hunt," from the manner of prosecut- 
ing the same. This kind of sport could only 
be practiced in a considerably settled coun- 
try, because it needed men from a large area 
of country to organize and carry out the plan. 
As will be inferred from the name given it, 
the hunt was in a circular form; that Is, 
beginning at the outsides of a given and 
agreed territory. The men, having taken 
their places, proceeded to a central point In 
unison, meantime driving ahead of them and 
towards the central goal all animals tliey 
might scare up in their course. Usually, as 
the center was approached, a miscellaneous 
gathering of wolves, deer and smaller game 
would be driven together, all heading towards 
the center pole for it was usual to set up 
at the agreed center of the circle a long pole, 
upon which would be placed some kind of 
flag, to render the object more conspicuous 
and noticeable. The rules of this sport ex- 
cluded all firearms and all dogs, that acci- 
dental injuries might not occur, and that a 
stampede of the enclosed game might be 
avoided. The men, either on foot or on horse- 
back, as they chose, armed only with clubs, 
continuously approached the center of the 
circle, keeping as nearly in touch with their 
neighbors on the right and left as possible, 
meantime permitting no game to turn back. 
As they neared the goal the work of destruc- 
tion commenced and continued as they got 
within reach of the animals, until all game 
had been killed or had escaped by breaking 
through the circle. 

In well conducted hunts of this kind, where 
sufficient numbers were engaged and the 



weather favored the enterprise, the slaughter 
of game and of predatory animals was often 
quite considerable, and rarely ever did fail- 
ures occur. C) One hunt is said to have taken 
place where the little grove near the village 
of Ivesdale, known as Cherry Grove in later 
years, was the central goal. In anticipation 
of the arrival here of the game, a few of 
the best marksmen of the settlements were 
selected and stationed in the grove, early fn 
the day, to await the oncoming game. The 
drive was successful and the animals readily 
sought the shelter of the little patch of tim- 
ber from their pursuers upon the open prai- 
rie, only to be shot down by the cool hunters 
who there covertly awaited their coming. 
The catch of game was very great and no 
one was hurt. 

At the first all kinds of game were here 
found by the white settlers in the greatest 
abundance, the annual requisitions of the 
Indian hunters having been insufficient to 
keep down the natural increase. As late as 
1854 deer might be seen upon the prairies at 
almost any time, and wolves were in such 
numbers as to render the protection of pigs 
necessary at prairie homesteads. 

The writer remembers, about January, 1854, 
seeing a wild wolf, which had been hotly 
pressed by hunters on the prairie south of 
town, run the whole length of Market Street, 
in Urbana, from south to north, in his effort 
to reach safety in the Big Grove, then a 
dense thicket of brushwood a quarter of a 
mile north of Main Street. A wolf chase, at 
that time, was easily held by any party but 
a short distance from the settlements, and 



hogs all night to protect them from the marau- 
ders. 



( X )"A Circular Hunt. Those who love the 
sports of the chase will have an opportunity 
of enjoying a rare hunt on Saturday next. By 
a well matured plan the citizens of the county 
intend having a Circular Hunt. The perimeter 
of the circle touches at Urbana, Robert Dean's, 
the old Boyer farm, Sadorus Grove and Sid- 
ney. The center is about nine miles south of 
this place." Urbana Union. January 11, 1855. 

The same paper of a week later tells of the 
result of this particular hunt: "Instead of re- 
turning laden with the trophies of the chase, 
and for weeks fattening on good venison, our 
hunters came in early in the afteroon with 
horses jaded, empty stomachs and frozen fing- 
ers; in short, with anything but plenty of game. 
It appears that detachments from other settle- 
ments, not so adventurous as our hunters, did 
not venture to brave the cold winds of the 
prairies that day, and the circle was not com- 
pleted until they arrived upon the ground near 
the centre; therefore the game was compara- 
tively scarce. A few deer and wolves were 
headed, but from the few hunters on the 
ground, all escaped but one wolf." 



LIB RY 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



701 



was much indulged in by sportive men who 
owned good horses, often greatly to the In- 
jury of the horse. 

Equally attractive as a sport, and as a 
means of supplying the table, was the hunt- 
ing of wild turkeys, prairie chickens, and 
others of the grouse family. One whose 
knowledge of these fowls goes back to the 
beginning of settlements in this county, says 
that turkeys were as thick in the timber as 
domestic fowls about a farmhouse, and al- 
most as easily taken. So of the prairie 
chicken until about 1870, when their ranges 
and breeding places were being taken for 
farms; their abundance can hardly be de- 
scribed. The skillful huntsman, with a 
double-barrelled fowling piece, could, within 
a few hours in any of their haunts, load him- 
self with the finest of their flocks. 

In the autumn and spring of each year 
droves of wild geese and ducks, in great 
swarms, visited the country, generally en 
route from northern to southern fields, or for 
longer stays about the many sloughs and 
ponds which yielded food and harboring 
places for them, and they were an easy prey 
to the man with a gun whose knowledge of 
their habits, and whose skill with his weapon, 
fitted him for the sport. 

It goes without saying, that the products of 
all these sports were rich in their contribu- 
tions to the domestic tables of the pioneers. 
No other use could be made of them; for to 
have loaded traffic wagons for Chicago or 
other markets with game would have been 
like "carrying coals to Newcastle," since any- 
body at any place, even within a few miles 
of the mouth of the Chicago River, until less 
than fifty years ago, could do what the hunter 
of Champaign County could do, and the mar- 
ket would have been drugged by the product 
of a few game bags. 

It is equally certain that never did tables 
support richer or more palatable viands than 
were thus supplied. Venison, turkey, prairie 
chicken, wild goose and duck, when cooked 
and served as the pioneer mistress of the 
cabin larder only knew, how, would move to 
ecstasy the gourmand or moderate eater of 
any nation. 

The march of improvement across our prai- 
ries, while grateful to the statistician and 
land boomer, has driven out of existence these 
friends of humanity, without which these prai- 



ries would have been as Sahara to the red 
man, and much less welcome to the white 
pioneer who looked to this source to eke out 
the scanty supply of food for his family dur- 
ing his first years here. The hunter has got 
in his work of destruction; the draining of 
ponds and sloughs, the breaking plow and 
the cultivator, while changing everywhere the 
landscape, have destroyed the breeding places 
and food supply of these wild animals, until 
specimens of all of them exhibited in a 
menagerie command as much attention from 
our own young people as the caged animals 
from the jungles of Africa. 

Time and the events following in the wake 
of civilization have nearly closed this chap- 
ter of our history. The sportsman of to-day 
is hedged about by restrictive statutes passed 
for the protection of both the game and the 
farmer, until for one to appear with either 
rod or gun beyond municipal bounds, marks 
him as a suspicious character fit for the 
espionage of the police. It was not always so. 

The "shooting-match," once so popular as a 
means of amusement, has nearly passed from 
the list, if not from the memory of the old- 
est inhabitant. However, it had its time and 
place and deserves to be mentioned, if not 
for the good it did, for the evils it produced. 
At a given announcement of time and place 
generally at Thanksgiving or Christmas 
season the men appeared with guns to shoot 
at a mark for a prize. The mark was a tur- 
key, chicken or other fowl, and the prize the 
wounded bird. Of course, the restraining in- 
fluence of woman was not present, for the 
gathering was not for her. Another influ- 
ence was there, which always makes for evil 
wherever it has a place. It was here that 
"John Barleycorn" got in his work more ef- 
fectually with the pioneer than elsewhere. 

At this point it is well to drop the cur- 
tain upon the shooting-match, for full details 
would better not be told. 

Horse racing, which prevailed in this 
county largely in the early times, has found 
its antidote in the county fair, where the 
proud owner of supposed fast horses may go 
at a given week and earn or lose his reputa- 
tion, if not his money, under the protection 
of the law. 

In early days no fenced-in and graded 
course could be had; but the level prairie 
offered courses for the trial of speed of any 



702 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



length and of any degree of excellence de- 
sired. No rules excluded any class of stock 
from the course; so the "blooded" racer met 
upon equal terms the "scrub stock" pony, and 
must win or lose upon what he could do. 
Many will remember these contests for equine 
excellence and few who witnessed them will 
forget. 

Of course, there were the usual gatherings 
of the youth of both sexes for social purposes 
and, where the opportunity did not offer it- 
self, they generally made one. As population 
increased and people came in from eastern 
or northern homes, new customs and new 
names were introduced and the primitive 
forms and customs were supplanted. 

In 1855 John Campbell built at the new, 
town of West Urbana a large building located 
upon the ground now occupied by Dr. Haley's 
Sanitarium, at the corner of University Ave- 
nue and Fourth Street, intended, and long 
thereafter used, as a hotel. At that time it 
was the largest and finest in the county, and 
was completed near the end of the year. In 
the opinion of both Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, 
who were old residents, it was desirous to 
open the affair by a gathering of their friends, 
such as would now be known as a "function," 
but was then called only a "party." An in- 
vitation was issued by themC) for such a 
gathering to take place on January 1, 1856, 
at seven o'clock P. M., and largely circulated, 
which brought under their hospitable roof a 
large number of people, both of the old resi- 
dents and of the new, a few of whom had 
then settled about the railroad depot. This 
invitation brought together as many as one 
hundred persons, which was the largest social 
gathering up to that time ever assembled in 
the county, and the first of its kind in the 
City of Champaign. Many who have since 
figured conspicuously in the social and pro- 
fessional life of both towns were there, and, 
while most of those who were there have 
passed away, it will be well remembered by 
all survivors who were there as a notable 
event. 
Later there was another gathering, notable 



for having been perhaps the first of its name 
("Pic-Nic") to occur in the county. Nothing 
is remembered of what happened, or who was 
there, and it is chiefly cited for the many 
familiar names which appear upon the invi- 
tation as given below. For this reason it 
has become historical. (*) 

It was long the practice of the young peo- 
ple to make up parties for drives across the 
prairies in the summer, from Urbana to the 
Sangamon, to the Linn Grove, or to some 
other attractive place of resort, to spend a 
day in rural diversions. The only means of 
conveyance was by wagons or carriages 
driven by the most direct routes. These were 
popular and continued until long after the 
age of iron roads ;( 2 ) but are now quite 
passed out of the list of diversions. 

Sleigh-riding from the towns where a con- 
siderable crowd could be gathered, to some 
out-of-town house or "tavern," were common 
in winter, when but little snow was necessary 
upon the prairies to render the sport of the 
best character. Some yet living will remem- 
bpr one had from Urbana to "Kelley's Tav- 
ern," at the crossing of the Danville road 
over the Salt Fork, which took place late In 
the 'fifties, in which the young people of 
Urbana and West Urbana, in considerable 
numbers, took part.( 3 ) 



( 1 )The following is a copy of the Invitation 
issued, which was printed upon the only press 
of the county: 

"Urbana, Dec. 24,1855. 

Our compliments to Mr. J. O. Cunningham & 
Lady, respectfully solicit the pleasure of your 
company at our house on Tuesday, Jan. 1. at 
7 o'clock p. m. Mr. and Mrs. J. Campbell." 



( 1 )The following is a copy of one of the in- 
vitations issued. The names of many of the 
signers will be recognized as long prominent 
in local society and business: 

"Urbana, 111., June 18th. 1856, Mr. J. O. Cun- 
ningham & Lady: You are respectfully solicited 
to attend a pic-Nic party to be held Saturday, 
the 28th, in the Grove east of Urbana." Wta. 
H. Somers, Jas. D. Dunlap, Jos. W Sim, H. C. 
Howard, H. "W. Massey, F. W. "Walker, A. Camp- 
bell, S. B. Stewart, Benj. Burt. Miss Amanda 
Gere, Miss H'attie Mead, Miss Mattie Dake, Miss 
Hattie Herbert, Miss Celeste Young, Miss E. 
Burlingame, Mrs. Wm.. N. Coler, Mrs. John 
Campbell and Mrs. A. G. Carle. 

( 2 )"Thc beaus and belles of Urbana and West 
Urbana contemplate going on a picnic excur- 
sion to Linn Grove, on Saturday next, provid- 
ed always, the mercury is not below zero. 

"The location chosen is one of the finest in 
the universe, and we presume a good time, 
will be had." Urbana Union. May 14, 1857. 

( s )The building-, still known as the "Old Kel- 
ley Tavern," although disused as such for near- 
ly forty years, still stands and is a notable 
land mark of the county. Its history reaches 
back to near 1830, when the beginnings of the 
composite structure were built by Cyrus Strong. 
who has elsewhere been referred to. A fine 
painting of the building hangs in one of the 
corridors of the court house. It was often 
the stopping place for the noon meal, or for 
lodging, of Judge David Davis, Abraham Lin- 
coln and the lawyers upon their road from 
county-seat to county-seat, around the old 
Eighth Circuit, as well as of many other old cit- 
fzens of this and other counties. 



OF THE 
STY GF 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



703 



Hon. John S. Busey loved to attend the Old 
Settlers' meetings and recount the hardships 
as well as the pleasures enjoyed in the' early 
days. At one meeting he sang the following 
song, which is believed to have been original 
with him: 

"As thus with faltering steps we meet 

The oft-returning snow, 
We'll not forget the old log cabin, 

Where we lived so long ago. 

"Our fathers raised its walls with pride, 
When first he sought the wild frontier; 

And there he labored, lived and died, 
A hardy, honest pioneer. 

"The floor was made of puncheon boards, 
The cracks were stopped with clay, 

'Twas banked around with prairie ground, 
To keep the cold away. 

"Half hidden by a thicket maze, 
Its string was ever outward thrown; 

And there, beside the genial blaze, 
The hungry stranger shared our pone. 

"With hearts so light and hopes so high, 

We whistled at the plow; 
Those careless days have glided by, 

We seldom whistle now. 

"But when we tread our rooms to-night, 

With carpets rich and warm, 
We'll not forget the old log cabin, 

That sheltered us from the storm." 

The coming to the county before the days 
of the railroad of several prominent and cul- 
tured families, and the establishment in good 
houses of hospitable homes, where all were 
made welcome, had its effect upon the rural 
society before then existing, in extending hos- 
pitality and in the elevation of the tastes of 
the people. 

It is only just to the memory of some of 
these people whose coming to this back coun- 
try was, at the time, notable and proved in 
time to be of much influence, that brief men- 
tion of them be made. 

Not far from 1850 Morris Burt, a native of 
New York, with his numerous family of sons 
and daughters just coming to manhood and 
womanhood, by purchase from Simeon H. Bu- 



sey established their home a mile south of 
Urbana, where they were at once recognized 
as leaders in society, and as worthy and de- 
sirable associates. One of the daughters 
(Emma) in 1853 became the wife of N. M. 
Clark, then a civil engineer in charge of the 
work of constructing the Illinois Central 
Railroad, and another (Sarah) later became 
the wife of Thomas A. Cosgrove, who was 
long prominent as a business man in Cham- 
paign. Two of the sons, Benjamin and Jesse, 
were quite prominent in business, and a 
grandson, T. A. Burt, is the well-known and 
efficient County Clerk of the county. 

This home was one of the most generous 
hospitality, and many will yet remember the 
hilarious gatherings of the young people of 
the settlement there upon many occasions, 
and especially at the wedding of Miss Emma 
to Captain Clark. 

The Burt farm is now mostly occupied as 
Mt. Hope Cemetery, and the identical knoll, 
where stood the festive home surrounded by 
shrubbery and flowers, is now rapidly being 
filled with the graves of departed citizens. 
The past joy and hilarity of the happy homo 
mingles inharmoniously in the mind of the 
observer, when he is now called upon to take 
part in the funeral ceremonies witnessed 
there under its present use. 

Another family that of Robert Deane 
established their home in an ample house 
upon the ridge in the northwest part of Cham- 
paign Township, about six miles from Ur- 
bana, not far from the same time as that of 
Mr. Burt. The children were all young; but 
Mr. and Mrs. Deane, although past the merid- 
ian of life, were yet young in spirit, and 
many times attracted to their home from the 
settlements about Urbana and Mahomet the 
people, young and old, and their home was a 
hospitable resort for citizen and stranger. 
Mr. and Mrs. Deane were most influential in 
the organization of the few resident Presby- 
terians into a church of that denomination at 
Urbana, which, by removal, became the First 
Presbyterian Church of Champaign. They 
called about them the young people of the 
settlements and wielded an influence for 
good.O) 



following account of another entire 
family which came to Champaign County, made 
a home and ever since, has been and now 
through its remote descendants, which are num- 
erous is influential, has been furnished us by 



704 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
LIFE IN THE NEW COUNTRY. 

THE SADORUS FAMILY THEIR COMING IN 1824 
REACHED THE GROVE APRIL QTH FORTY MILES 
FROM NEIGHBORS THEIR CABIN HUNTING 
FIRST WINDOW SASH FIRST ENTRY OF LAND 
RECOLLECTIONS OF WILLIAM SADORUS INDIAN 
VISITORS GAME PARIS THE NEAREST POSTOFFICE 
GOING TO MILL TRIPS TO CHICAGO EARLY 
SCHOOLS PERMANENT HOME COMING OF THE 
RAILROAD DEATHS OF HENRY AND WILLIAM 
SADORUS. 

The manner of getting to this country in 
its early settlement, the building and prep- 
aration of new homes, the kind of life led by 
our pioneers, the hardships encountered and, 
in general, the laying of the foundations of 
the splendid civilization now enjoyed by the 
people here resident, at the beginning of the 
Twentieth Century, will be best understood 
by the reader, if we detail here the pioneer 



one of those descendants, (Robert A. Webber, 
lately deceased), and is here inserted as an in- 
stance of the coming to this then wild country 
of a family of refinement, whose home and 
presence was a benediction to the country. It 
will not be difficult, from the names given, to 
identify many who now, and for many years, 
have figured very conspicuously in public af- 
fairs: 

"Robert Carson and his wife, Catharine, came 
with their large family, consisting of three 
sons and five daughters, from Philadelphia. Pa., 
in 1836, by way of the Ohio River from Pitts- 
burgh to the Mississippi River, up that river 
to the Illinois River, thence up that river to 
Pekin. 111., and across the country in wagons 
to a farm about one mile west of where Mahom- 
et now is. They were compelled to live in tents 
until a suitable log house could be built, said 
house being a model of its kind, being two 
stories in height and having an inside stairway 
of planed walnut lumber, as well as other fin- 
ishings; the fine work beine- done by a son, 
Mathias N. Carson, who had learned the trade 
of carpenter and joiner in the East. The re- 
mains of this house mav yet be seen on what 
is known as the "Ware Farm," where it has 
been used for a number of years as a stable. 

"The sons of Robert and- Catharine Carson, 
who came with the family to Champaign 
County, were MatKias, Robert and Charles; also 
Thomas B. Carson, a married son, who remained 
in Phildelphia. 

"The daughters were Anna B., who married 
Thomson R. Webber; Catharine, who married 
William D. Somers; Mary J., who married David 
Cantner; Emma, who married John Wilson: 
Rebecca, who married Thomas Richards; and 
Sarah, who married Joseph Justice, and lived 
a short time in Urbana, afterwards returning 
to Pittsburgh. 

"Robert Carson, Sr., died on his farm near 
Middletown. now Mahomet, September 16, 1841, 
aged 51 years. Catharine Carson died at 
Urbana, 111., January 1, 1852, aged 62 years." 



life of representative individual families of 
the early date. To this end the experience 
of two of those families, as told the writer 
by members thereof while in life, are here 
introduced: 

First is that of Henry Sadorus. 

Henry Sadorus, lovingly known by the 
whole country to the day of his death as 
"Grandpap Sadorus," was born in Bedford 
County, Pa., July 26, 1783, four years before 
the adoption of the Federal Constitution. The 
spring of 1817 found him living, with his lit- 
tle family of whom William. Sadorus (until 
of late also a venerable resident of the 
county), then about five years old, having 
been born July 4, 1812, was the eldest on 
Oil Creek, Crawford County in the same 
State. O The "Western Fever," which has 
prevailed among Americans since the land- 
ing of the Pilgrims, attacked the elder Sa- 
dorus, and, from the native timbers of that 
region, he constructed a raft or flat-boat, 
upon which he loaded his worldly goods and 
his family, and, after the manner of that 
time, set out by water upon a long journey 
westward. 

The flat-boat was built upon the waters of 
Oil Creek, and down the adventurers set 
forth in pursuit of a home in the West, they 
knew not where. Following the creek to its 
junction with the Allegheny River, that 
stream soon bore them to Pittsburg and the 
Ohio River, by which means their frail bark 
in time landed them in Cincinnati, then the 
emporium of the Far West. One shipwreck 
alone, at the head of Blennerhasset Island, 
befell the travelers. 

The flat-boat having served its purpose, 
was sold in Cincinnati for $1,700, in James 
Piatt's shinplaster money, making the trav- 
eler rich for the time, but in six months it 
shared the fate of its kind and was worth- 
less, Mr. Sadorus again being a poor man. 

The family remained in Cincinnati two 
years, when Mr. Sadorus again drifted west- 
ward, stopping successively at Connersville, 
Flat Rock and Raccoon, in the State of Indi- 
ana, where they found themselves in the 
spring of 1824, still with a desire to go west. 
Early in that year, Mr. Sadorus and a neigh- 
bor one Joe Smith fitted themselves out, 



( x )The facts here detailed were obtained by 
the writer from William Sadorus, while in life. 
William Sadorus died' at his home near the vil- 
lage of Sadorus, June 18, 1899. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



705 



each with a team of two yoke of oxen and a 
covered wagon, suitable for moving their fam- 
ilies and goods. Thus accoutred they again 
set their faces westward, intending to go to 
the Illinois country, possibly as far as Fort 
Clark, since called Peoria. 

An almost trackless forest lay between them 
and their destination. They passed the site 
of the city of Indianapolis, then but recently 
selected as the State capital, where the foun- 
dations of the old capitol buildings had but 
just been laid. Crossing the Wabash River 
by a ferry at Clinton, Ind., the party soon en- 
countered the Grand Prairie. After entering 
Illinois, they met with only one house between 
the State line and the Okaw River, and that 
was the home of Hezekiah Cunningham, on 
or near the little Vermilion River, where he 
kept a small trading post for traffic with the 
Indians. On April 9, 1824, the party reached,*! 
the isolated grove at the head of the Okaw I 
River, since and now known as "Sadorus * 
Grove," and, as usual, encamped for the night, 
near the place which eventually became the 
permanent home of the Sadorus family. 

A brief survey of their surroundings sat- 
isfied the party that a point had been reached 
which fully met all their demands for a 
home. So far as they knew, they were 
thirty or forty miles from neighbors, but 
were surrounded by as fruitful a country as 
was to be found, in which wild game abound- 
ed and where every want might easily be 
supplied. Accordingly they determined here 
to remain and to set about making them- 
selves comfortable. They found that the 
grove whose shelter they had accepted was 
three or four miles long and nearly equally 
divided by a narrow place in -the timber, 
through which the Wabash Railroad now 
crosses the stream. So the two heads of fami- 
lies partitioned the tract covered by this 
grove between themselves, Smith taking the 
south end and Sadorus the north end "The 
Narrows," as the line was called, being the 
boundary. 

A brief survey of the surroundings of the 
situation will give a better idea of the actual 
condition of these pioneers: Illinois had then 
been a State in the Union six years, and 
Edward Coles, its second Governor, was still 
in office. Its population was then less than 
100,000, and was confined to the southern 
counties. Neither Champaign, Vermilion nor 



Piatt Counties had been established, and 
their territory or the territory of the two 
former, and all north of them to the line of 
the Iroquois River belonged to Clark 
County. There was then no Paris, Danville, 
Urbana, Charleston, Decatur nor Monticello, 
as county seats, not to speak of their younger 
and more brillliant rivals. Five years pre- 
viously, in 1819, by a treaty between the 
United States Government and the Indian 
tribes, the Indian title to this county, and 
to all south of the Kankakee River, had been 
relinquished, and only two years before the 
United States surveyors had performed their 
work, and the mounds by which the sec- 
tion corners were marked, were yet fresh. 
Not an acre of land which now forms the 
county had been entered, and so far as we 
are informed, only one white man's cabin, 
that of Runnel Fielder, two miles northeast 
of Urbana, was to be found in the same ter- 
ritory. Fielder had then been here two years 
and was a squatter on the public domain. 
The only residents of what is now Vermilion 
County were James D. Butler, at Butler's 
Point, near Catlin, and his neighbors, John 
Light, Robert Trickel, Asa Elliott and Dan 
Beckwith and Jesse Gilbert at what is now 
Danville, with Hezekiah Cunningham on the 
Little Vermilion. (') The whole State of Illi- 
nois north of us was uninhabited by white 
men, except the military station at Chicago 
and a few miners at Galena, while wild In- 
dians roamed and hunted at pleasure over 
these prairies and through these groves. 

Having so divided the beautiful grove of 
timber between them, the two pioneers pro- 
ceeded to make arrangements for a perma- 
nent stay in the place chosen for a home, by 
building for each a cabin. Smith, who had! 
chosen the southern part of the grove, erect- 
ed his cabin upon the site of the first en- 
campment, and near where the old Sadorus 
home now stands, in the southeast quarter 
of Section 1. It was built of split linn logs, 
sixteen by sixteen feet, covered with split 
oaken boards, with linn puncheons for a floor. 
The roof, after the manner of cabin building, 
was lajd upon,.logs or poles, laid lengthwise 
of the cabin, each succeeding pole being a 



( 1 )"The nearest white neighbor to Mr. Sador- 
us lived at Vance's old Salt Works, in Vermil- 
ion county." Urbana, (111.,) Democrat, Decem- 
ber 21. 1867. 



706 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



little higher than the last, and converging 
towards the apex. These boards, for the want 
of nails, which were not to be had, were held 
in place by weight poles laid lengthwise over 
the butts of each course. The door was 
made of split boards held in place by wooden 
pins. The window was only a hole cut in the 
log wall to let in the light, subsequently cov- 
ered with greased muslin to keep out the 
cold. 

The Sadorus home, which was built two 
miles north on Section 36, in what is now 
Colfax Township but within the grove, was 
less pretentious. It was built of the same 
material, ten by twenty feet, but entirely open 
upon one side what is called "a half-faced 
camp." In this cabin windows and doors 
were entirely dispensed with. 

Settled in these crude homes, the pioneers 
set about preparing for the future. The sum- 
mer was spent in the cultivation of little 
patches of corn and garden by means of a 
crude prairie plow and other tools which 
they had brought with them, and in hunting 
the wild game for their meat and peltries, 
the result being that, as the autumn approach- 
ed, the larders of the families were well sup- 
plied with the best the country afforded. The 
wolves, however, ate and destroyed much of 
their sod corn. 

In the fall the heads of the two families, 
having well laid in table supplies, concluded 
to know what lay to the west of them. Fill- 
ing their packs with small supplies of pro- 
visions, with their rifles upon their shoulders, 
they again set out on foot together for the 
west, leaving their families housed as we 
have seen. They traveled as far as Peoria, 
where Smith determined to remove his fam- 
ily. Their course led them by the way of 
Mackinaw and Kickapoo Creek, through In- 
dian country. Returning as they went, after 
an absence of two weeks they found at their 
homes everything quiet and in order. 

Smith at once sold his cabin and improve- 
ments to Sadorus, the consideration being 
the hauling by the latter of a load of goods 
from the Okaw timber to the Illinois River, 
which was paid according to agreement, and 
the south end of the grove, with all the im- 
provements, passed to Mr. Sadorus, who thus 
became the only inhabitant of the south end 
of the county. Thus came i and went the first 
representative of the numerous and very re- 



spectable family of Smiths, of this county. 
Mr. Sadorus and his little family were alone 
in the boundless prairie. 

The Sadorus family lost no time in taking 
possession of the Smith cabin, which became 
its home then and with the land upon which 
it was erected is still the home of a member 
of that household, Mr. Allen Sadorus. Its 
comforts were exchanged in place of the 
"half-faced camp," and all claim to the upper 
half of the grove was abandoned. The land, 
thus occupied for a few months by this fam- 
ily, many years afterwards became the home 
of James Miller. 

The Smith cabin was "daubed" that fall, 
which means that the interstices between the 
logs were filled with chinks and mud to pre- 
vent the cold from intruding, and its founda- 
tions were banked with earth with a like 
purpose. A mud chimney was built outside 
with a fireplace opening inside the cabin, 
and carried up above the cabin roof with 
sticks and mud. A companion cabin, built 
subsequently, a few feet away, in like man- 
ner supplied with a mud and stick chimney 
and "daubed" as was the first, added to the 
comforts and conveniences of the family. A 
single window sash was bought in Eugene, 
Ind., a few years thereafter, and that, glazed 
with glass gave the family one glass window 
the first in Champaign County and in 
time other openings, answering for windows, 
were likewise supplied. (*) 

These cabins did duty as the Sadorus domi- 
cile until 1838, about fourteen years, when 
the permanent home was erected. 

Until 1834 more than ten years after the 
occupancy of this home Mr. Sadorus was 
what is known as a "squatter" upon the pub- 
lic domain. On December llth of that year, 
having gotten together $200, he entered the 
southeast quarter of Section 1, Township 17, 
Range 7, where his double cabin stood. That 
tract with the eighty-acre tract lying imme- 
diately north of it, in the same section, en- 
tered on the same day by William Sadorus, a 
son of the family, then twenty-two years old 
were the first entries of land in the grove 
or in that part of the county. 



until about 1837 were glazed windows 
in general use in this county and even some 
years thereafter, it was no uncommon thing 
to find families living in cabins without a 
single window thus supplied. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



707 



The journey to Vandalia, then the capital 
of the State and the location of the Land 
Office, was made by Mr. Sadorus in company 
with James Piatt, who had bought out one 
James Hay worth, C) the first squatter on the 
present site of Monticello, and who was the 
nearest neighbor of the Sadorus household. 
Peace was maintained between them by 
agreeing that the eight-mile slough should be 
the dividing line between their ranges, all 
the grass on this side belonging to Sadorus, 
and his herds, and all on that side belonging 
to Piatt an Abraham and Lot arrangement 
that brought no disturbance from intruders 
for more than a quarter of a century. 

It will be inferred that the term "neigh- 
bor" had a somewhat different meaning from 
that given it now, and it is a fact that "dis- 
tance lent enchantment to the view" of the 
few they had. As already seen, residents at 
Danville, Monticello, Urbana and on the lower 
Little Vermilion, were the nearest neighbors 
of the Sadorus family but it must not be 
supposed that the intervening distance pre- 
vented neighborly acts or cut off social in- 
tercourse. 

Mr. William Sadorus, from whom the 
writer received most of the facts here group- 
ed together, was twelve years old when they 
took up their residence upon the Okaw, and, 
.when he related the occurrences, in 1891, 
was in his eightieth year. He spoke with en- 
thusiasm of their neighbors of sixty years 
before and of the warm hospitality encoun- 
tered in every cabin; of the "raisings," the 
"huskings" and the "hunting circles," which 
brought the scattered settlers together and 
kept alive sociability. He remembered the 
Cook family, who settled in the west side of 
the Big Grove in 1830, and who, before being 
domiciled, buried the husband and father 
one of the earliest deaths among the pioneers, 
and probably the first head of a family to fall. 
He also remembered the coming of Stephen 
Boyd, Jake Heater, the Buseys Charles, 
Matthew and Isaac. The latter, he said, kept 
the first first-class hotel in Urbana, in his 



(^Mr. George H'ayworth was the first man to 
settle within the limits of what is now Piatt 
County. H'e came to Illinois from Tennessee 
with a colony of Quakers. Some went to Taze- 
well County, and some to Vermilion County, 
while Mr. Hayworth came to this county in the 
spring of 1822. He built a small log cabin on 
what is now W. E. Lodge's place in Monticello. 
History of Piatt County, by Emma C. Piatt, 
page 214. 



cabin on the creek bank. He also remem- 
bered the coming of Mijamin Byers, the only 
Justice of the Peace in this part of Vermil- 
ion County when it was set off for the pur- 
pose of making the new county; of John G. 
Robertson and of the Webbers, of all of 
whom he had the kindest and most hearty 
remembrances. All were warmly spoken of 
by Mr. Sadorus for the friendships which 
grew up between them as pioneers, and 
ceased only at their death. 

Although the Indian title to these lands 
had been extinguished by the treaty of 1819, 
yet as late as the year 1833 these wild men 
of the plains wandered at will and hunted 
over the prairies. Before the Sadorus family 
had built their first camp on the Okaw; they 
were visited by strolling bands of these red 
men. Their chief errands were to procure 
something to eat, and, said William Sadorus, 
they always got what they came for. This 
hospitality was not thrown away, for the red 
men were always the fast friends of the Sa- 
dorus family. 

The Indians were of the Pottawatomie, 
Kickapoo and Delaware tribes. William Sa- 
dorus remembered Shemaugre, the Pottawat- 
omie chief, and said the chief never failed to 
call when passing through this country on 
his hunting expeditions, always dividing with 
the family his supply of game. Shemaugre 
then lived at the ford of the Kankakee River, 
near Bourbonnais Grove. He, however, 
claimed the Indian camping ground at the 
site of Urbana as his native place, and never 
failed in his visits to the vicinity to make 
it a stopping place. He was known by 
the early settlers better by the name 
of the "Old Soldier," a name for some 
reason assumed by him. His name is seen 
affixed to some of the treaties of the Indians 
with the United States (Government, where It 
is spelled "Shemaugre." For some reason he 
was, in his later days, disowned by his peo- 
ple and, therefore, lived by himself when 
best known by our early settlers. 

Walhoming, a Delaware chief, was also a 
frequent visitor at the Sadorus home. At 
one time, with several followers, he came 
over from the Ambraw River to the Okaw, 
bearing with them a keg of whisky which 
they had purchased from a trader, saying that 
they wanted to stay and have a big drunk, 
which they did; but all the time occupied 



708 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN- COUNTY. 



by them in this orgie they were perfectly 
peaceable. The supply lasted them several 
days, notwithstanding the leak in the other 
end of the keg made by Mrs. Sadorus to fa- 
cilitate consumption. At the close of the 
spree, when no more whisky could be had, 
Walhoming and his friends gave an all-night 
exhibition of Indian dances, which the Sa- 
dorus boys witnessed with interest. Big John 
Lewis, a Delaware Indian, was one of the 
party. About a year after the big drunk 
Walhoming came again, this time sober, 
bringing with him twenty-two coon-skins, 
which he gave Mr. Sadorus, saying that they 
were to pay for the "big drunk." 

At another time when Mr. Sadorus had 
gone beyond the Wabash to mill, and Mrs. 
Sadorus and her little children were left 
alone, a party of Indians came to the cabin, 
asked for Mr. Sadorus and were informed 
that he had gone to mill. They said that the 
white man's squaw would starve, but were 
assured that they had a plenty for the family. 
The Indians then left the neighborhood of 
the cabin for the chase and, in a few hours 
returned bearing the hams of several deer, 
which they had slain, and gave them to Mrs. 
Sadorus, who returned the favor by giving 
them a supply of corn and pumpkins for their 
own use. With mutual expressions of kindly 
feelings, the red visitors and the Sadorus 
family separated as they had often done 
before. 

Before the Sadorus family came here the 
buffalo and the larger game had disappeared 
from the country, leaving only the bones of 
the deceased members of the race and their 
wallowing holes, as evidences of their for- 
mer occupancy. The bones have disappeared 
and the sink-holes in the prairie where they 
took their recreations, we are now engaged 
in tiling out and reclaiming for agricultural 
purposes. 

Of deer, wolves, raccoons, minks and rab- 
bits, there was plenty at the time of the set- 
tlement of the country. Foxes and ground- 
hogs have come to the country since. (*) As 



late as 1839 a lynx was killed by John Cook 
on the creek. The Sadorus men were great 
hunters 'in early days and William said they 
had hunted north as far as Spring Creek, in 
Iroquois County. In such excursions they 
would be gone sometimes as long as three 
weeks, camping out and living by the chase. 
Within a few years this passion for hunting, 
finding no gratification in the fields so long 
ago hunted over by them, Mr. William Sa- 
dorus sought out hunting grounds in Arkan- 
sas and other Western States. 

When the Sadorus family first came to the 
grove their nearest post-office, and soon after 
their county seat, was Paris, Edgar County; 
but having no need of postal facilities they 
did not patronize the town, for either purpose. 
The road officials, at Paris, at one time 
warned Mr. Sadorus to appear on the streets 
of Paris on a given day to work out his poll 
tax; but it being fifty-two miles from home, 
the mandate was disobeyed without any ill 
consequences. 

Their first trading, and for fifteen years, 
was done at Eugene, Ind., with the Colletts, 
and afterward with Samuel Groenendyke. 
There each fall they drove their hogs. They 
raised from one hundred to three hundred 
hogs each year. Their herd had the run of 
the timber, and fattened on the mast until 
the corn hardened in the fall, when a "round- 
up" was had and the herd put in a field and 
fed until the packing season in Eugene, when 
a force sufficient was summoned and the 
drove taken to market. The pork brought 
from one dollar to two dollars and fifty 
cents per hundred-weight, and the trip con- 
sumed from ten days to two weeks of time.(*) 



C 1 ) "Wolves are numerous in most parts of 
the State. There are two kinds the common 
or black wolf, and the prairie wolf. The former 
is a large, fierce animal, and very destructive 
of sheep, pigs, calves, poultry, and even young 
colts. They hunt in packs and after using every 
strategem to circumvent their prey, attack it 
with remarkable ferocity." "Illinois in 1837," 
page 39. 



OV'For fifteen years Mr. Sa.dorus hauled wheat 
and corn to Eugene, Ind., sixty miles from his 
farm, the nearest grist-mill, returning with 
flour and corn meal for his family's use. He 
hauled lumber from a saw-mill which was in 
operation where H'illsborough, Montgomery 
County Ind., now stands, twenty miles east of 
Covington, and ninety miles from Sadorus 
Grove. Once Mr. S., with two wagons, each 
drawn by five yoke of oxen, crossed the Wabash 
River in a snow storm, early in the fall, and 
came near losing oxen, wagons and even his 
life. 

"Seasoned lumber then sold for one dollar 
per hundred for inch and a quarter stuff; siding 
seventy-five cents. Wheat hauled to Danville, 
(when it became Danville, in 1827) brought 40 
cents per bushel in "store goods." A fine three 
year old steer brought |10. Pork driven to 
Eugene, Ind., sold at four cents per pound. 
Once Mr. Sadorus sold one hundred and two 
head of hogs at five cents; Cper hundred 
weight): but the price dropped back to four 
cents. He has driven hogs to Eugene and sold 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



709 



In the course of a few years after this set- 
tlement on the Okaw, Danville had a post- 
office and became their trading point. The 
first letter received by the family came 
through that office. A mail route was early 
established between Paris and Springfield, 
and the mail carrier generally came by way 
of Sadorus Grove, always stopping at their 
house. The mail sack, however, was not un- 
locked between those two points. 

In time Chicago came to be quite a trading 
point, and was visited by people from this 
region. In the fall of 1834 Mr. Sadorus made 
a trip there, probably his first. His son, 
Henry, then eleven years old, gave to the 
writer the particulars of this journey which, 
are here given for the benefit of those who 
go there now on the vestibuled trains in 
three and one-quarter hours. 

The trip to Chicago of those days was most 
comfortably made in companies of two or more 
wagons, and so this trip was made. Four 
wagons, each drawn by five yoke of oxen, con- 
stituted the caravan. Mr. Sadorus and Henry 
manned their outfit, which, was freighted with 
oats. The other members of the party were 
Uncle Mathew Busey and his son, Fountain J. 
Busey; Captain Nox, of Sidney, father of Sol- 
omon Nox; Pete Bailey, of Salt Fork' and 
Hiram Jackson. The company met by appoint- 
ment at Poage's, north of Homer, and from 
there turned their faces northward, by way of 
Pilot Grove and Bourbonnais Grove, at which 
point they forded the Kankakee River. It 
rained every day on the way and they swam 
creeks and rivers eleven times. Each night 
they camped out and occupied twenty-one days 
in making the journey. Mr. Sadorus sold his 
oats, which had sprouted from one to two 
inches, to Captain Allen, in command of the 
United States garrison at Fort Dearborn, at 
fifty cents a bushel, and purchased for his re- 
turn trip salt, sugar, coffee and other family 
supplies. 

It may be interesting to know that these 
goods were bought from Gurdon S. Hubbard, 
then, and for many years before and since, 
an extensive trader with the frontiersman and 



them as low as two and one half cents. Supper, 
lodging and breakfast, with horse feed and 
stabling at a country inn, was held to be worth 
50 cents. 

"No tax collector harrassed the honest farmer 
up to 1831." Urbana Illinois Democrat, Decem- 
ber 21. 1867. 



Indian. He had stores at Chicago, on the Iro- 
quois River at a place called Buncomb, and at 
Danville, and was well known to the early set- 
tlers. The return trip was made by way of 
Spring Creek and Mink Grove to Urbana. 
Only one house was seen between the Kan- 
kakee River and Urbana that of Charles 
Busey, two miles north of Urbana, on what is 
known as the John Stewart farm. Mr. Henry 
Sadorus, Jr., said of Chicago then, that it was 
"very scattering and its streets were as full of 
dog fennel as are those of Sadorus village 
now." 

These trips to the northern metropolis were 
not uncommon, though attended with great 
labor and many hardships. Dr. W. A. Conkey, 
who, with his father's family, settled in Edgar 
County in 1830, but who as early as 1843 set- 
tled at Homer as a physician, as is told in an- 
other chapter, tells of his first visit to Chicago 
in 1832, he being then in his twelfth year. 
With an ox-team under the control of an older 
brother, the wagon freighted with flour, meat, 
butter, eggs and other articles of produce, the 
party made the trip by way of Danville and, 
probably upon the route known as "Beck- 
with's Trace." The road led through a little 
village known as Milford, by Bourbonnais 
Grove, which were the only settlements re- 
membered between Danville and Chicago. No 
trouble was had by the party in crossing 
streams until the deceptive Calumet River was 
encountered. It so much resembled a common 
slough that the team was driven into the water 
very unsuspectingly. The bottom was but the 
softest kind of mud. Soon the cargo and 
wagon was afloat, and it was with the great- 
est difficulty that the freight was rescued. Lit- 
tle damage was done to anything, and all was 
sold to Gurdon S. Hubbard, then the chief 
merchant of Chicago. The return freight was 
made up of salt and other family supplies. 
Other teams going to or returning from Chi- 
cago upon the same errands were everywhere 
seen. All camped out upon the trip. At that 
time Indians were very common in the coun- 
try and many were seen, especially about 
the Kankakee River. 

Roderic R. Busey remembers going to Chi- 
cago early in the 'thirties in company with 
his father. Mr. Busey drove a team of two 
yoke of oxen, his wagon being freighted with 
the produce of his farm, and returning with 
salt and other necessaries. At that time 






710 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



what was known as the "Kanawha salt," or 
that produced in the Virginia salt region, had 
about supplanted that produced in the Illi- 
nois Salines; and, instead of looking to the 
salt works upon the near by Salt Fork, the 
supply came from Chicago, to which point it 
found its way from Virginia. Mr. Busey says 
that, at the time of his visit, nearly all of the 
town of Chicago was upon the north side of 
the river. ' 

Hon. Randolph C. Wright, whose residence 
in Champaign County began before it had a 
separate existence as a county, remembers, 
and tells with much interest, of a trip made 
by him in 1837 when he was about eight 
years old, to Chicago. The journey was made 
in the company of John W. Swisher and 
Elijah Hale, each of whom drove a team of 
horses attached to wagons loaded with 
chickens. The party habitually and from 
necessity camped out on the prairie or in the 
edge of the -timber. All went well and satis- 
factorily until one night, just after dark, when, 
having turned out their horses to graze, with- 
out tethering or otherwise interfering with 
their freedom, and having eaten of a good sup- 
per cooked over a fire made from sticks gath- 
ered from the adjacent woods, a severe thun- 
der storm came up and gave an exhibition of 
its power in very severe detonations. So loud 
was one explosion that the horses became 
very much frightened and the whole herd 
stampeded in the direction of Danville, fifty 
miles away. In the midst of the storm the 
two teamsters or owners of the cargoes, set 
off for the capture of the fugitive horses, 
leaving little "Ran," sitting upon the wagon 
tongue as sole guardian of the wagons and 
chickens. The terrors of the night were en- 
hanced by the howling of wolves, at first a 
single yelp in the distance, and increasing 
in volume, numbers and nearness to the camp 
every moment. At last there were at least a 
thousand, as Mr. Wright now avers, under 
and around the wagons, howling for a taste 
of the chickens. They would climb upon the 
whiffletrees and, with their forepaws upon the 
front endgate, deliver the most hideous yells 
to the prisoner in the wagon, for Ran., in 
default of a better and safer resort, had cov- 
ered himself with the bed-clothes on the top 
of the load, where, with a resignation always 
cnaracteristic of him, he was repeating all the 
prayers he had ever learned at that date, for 



deliverance from the conscienceless foe. His 
prayers were at last answered, for about two 
hours after the stampede the horsemen re- 
turned, having captured the runaways. Their 
coming frightened away the pack of wolves 
and brought out little Ran. from his cover, 
badly scared, but little hurt. The ravenous 
creatures got no chickens, but the scare caused 
by the visit is vivid now, after sixty-five years. 

Chicago was reached in due time. Mr. 
Wright says it was then less in size than was 
Danville at that time. No streets were seen 
except that along the river, and sand-hills were 
everywhere in evidence. Their freight of 
poultry was traded for cash, salt, sugar and 
dry goods, and the party returned safely, after 
an absence of nearly a month. 

William Sadorus related the story of a sim- 
ilar trip to Chicago in 1840, in the big Penn- 
sylvania wagon, loaded with sixty bushels of 
wheat. This trip was made by way of Trick- 
el's Grove, on the Middle Fork, and Bourbon- 
nais. 

Before 1840 small stores had been opened 
at Urbana and Homer, and these, from that 
time, became their points of trade. When a 
postoffice was established at Urbana, it be- 
came their postoffice. Not until the opening 
of the Great Western Railroad now the Wa- \ > 
bash about 1855, was the postoffice bearing 
Mr. Sadorus' name established near him in 
the town laid off by his son, William. 

Urbana was their voting place until the es- 
tablishment of Sadorus precinct in 1854. Mr. 
Sadorus proudly said that, at their first elec- 
tion there, the voters were all Democratic but 
one, and might, perhaps have remained so, but 
that Dr. Somers converted Ike and John Miller 
to the Republican party in 1856, and thus the 
Republicans got a foothold in their timber. 

When the County of Champaign was estab- 
lished in 1833, courts were opened in due time, 
and Mr. Sadorus, as the record will show, took 
part in the early proceedings. He well re- 
membered the early Judges, Harlan, Treat 
and Davis, and the early Sheriffs, Saulsbury, 
Stevenson, Cox, Ater, Lewis and Stidham. 

No schools were opened in that settlement 
until 1839, when a man named Hooten taught 
a family school in Mrs. Sadorus' kitchen for a 
short time. Mr. Sadorus sent his son, William, 
to a school at Georgetown, Vermilion County, 
and, while he was there, the surveyor was en- 
gaged in platting and laying out that town. It 



LIBR RY 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY 6F IkUNGIS 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY. 



711 



afterwards became the seat of the Georgetown 
Seminary and quite an educational center. 
Henry Sadorus, Jr., was also sent to a school 
ten miles this side of Danville. 

The first public school in the settlement was 
taught by John Hamilton, in 1840, in a log 
school house built in the upper end of the 
grove about one mile north of the village. It 
is said this school was taught before a floor 
had been laid or a window put in the house, 
and before it had been "chinked and daubed." 

William Sadorus says that the first sermon 
preached and the first religious exercises held 
in Sadorus Grove were conducted by Peter 
Cartwright, but he could not give the date. 
Cartwright was followed by Arthur Bradshaw, 
who was appointed to the Urbana Mission in 
1839. His field embraced the territory for a 
long distance down the Okaw and Ambraw. 
The settlers prepared a set of puncheon 
benches, which were hauled from house to 
house where appointments were made for 
Mr. Bradshaw. The timber was of linn, and so 
was light and easily handled. These appoint- 
ments were not very frequent, but were well 
attended. 

In 1838 Mr. Henry Sadorus built for himself 
and family a very pretentious permanent 
home, after having lived in their cabin home 
fourteen years. It was a two-story frame 
building, about fifty feet front by twenty feet 
deep, attached to which was an "L" of con- 
siderable size. It had for its support big 
granite boulders gathered from the field. The 
siding was hauled from Coal Creek, Ind., while 
other portions of the sawed lumber was 
brought from Moses Thomas' mill near Hom- 
er, and some was brought from Heptonstall's 
mill, a short distance below Urbana. The 
house was roomy and afforded the host better 
facilities for extending that hospitality to 
strangers for which he was noted. This home, 
and that of William Rock, three miles farther 
south, were, in their time, the best on the 
Creek, and were often the scenes of social 
gatherings and always the seat of a generous 
hospitality. 

The first milling facilities enjoyed by the 
settlement were a choice between a mill in 



Morgan County, 111., and mills beyond the 
Wabash River in Indiana. These were, in 
part, supplied by a horse-mill made by Mr. 
Sadorus in 1830. It was made of dressed 
boulders and run by horse power. It would 
grind only a bushel of corn in two hours or 
four or five bushels in a day. It could grind, 
but oould not bolt the grain, but this was bet- 
ter than to go one hundred miles east or west 
to mill. They subsequently resorted to John 
Brownfield's mill, in the Big Grove, and to 
Thomas' mill at Homer. 

In the course of time here, as everywhere 
else in our country, the seclusion of the fron- 
tier gave way to the forces of civilization, and 
the iron-horse plowed its way through Sa- 
dorus' Grove, about on the line of the "Nar- 
rows" adopted by Sadorus and his fellow 
pioneer, Joe Smith, as the line between their 
possessions, and across the land entered by 
William Sadorus in 1834. In the period of the 
State Internal Improvement craze in 1837, a 
line was run through the grove for this road, 
about half a mile north of the present loca- 
tion of the line, but nothing more came of it 
until eighteen years afterwards, when in the 
fullness of time, the Wabash Road was built, 
and now its thirty trains a day thunder through 
the sylvan shades where the Sadorus family, 
almost eighty years ago, first broke the soli- 
tude which had prevailed since creation's 
morn. 

Mr. William Sadorus lived to be a patriarch 
of almost ninety years of age, passing his en- 
tire life in a home not far from where the 
family pitched its camp on April 9, 1824, while 
his brother, Henry, younger by twelve years, 
lived and died a mile away. A dense popula- 
tion has taken possession of the adjacent tim- 
ber and prairies and elbowed the hunters and 
their game therefrom. 

The old pioneer, Henry Sadorus, Sr., died! 
July 18 2 1878, aged almost ninety-five years, 
and now, with his faithful wife who died thir- 
ty years before him, sleeps in the little ceme- 
tery near his home, but immediately upon the 
banks of the stream he loved so well and so 
long. His name is borne by his township and 
the village and will never be forgotten. 



712 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

LIFE IN THE NEW COUNTRY. 
(Continued.) 

THE COMING OF THE FIRST BUSEY FAMILY SELEC- 
TION OF A HOME VIEW FROM THE NEW HOME 
ENTRY OF LANDS COMING OF ISAAC BUSEY AND 
OTHERS VISITS OF INDIANS RECOLLECTIONS OF 
MRS. STAMEY GOING TO MILL NO STORE BUSI- 
NESS TRIPS TO CHICAGO MERRY MAKINGS WED- 
DINGS SICKNESS DEATH OF MATTHEW BUSEY. 

In further exhibiting to the reader the 
phases of the life of the pioneer as lived and 
experienced upon the ground where we, Of 
today, live a different life and enjoy other 
and higher privileges, we may now look into 
the experiences of another family, which set- 
tled later and within a short distance of the 
center of the county. Few men in point of 
time were upon the ground before Matthew 
Busey, whose story is here told as given to 
the writer a few years since by his daughter, 
Mrs. Stanley, now deceased. 

Champaign County, in 1828, was almost in 
the condition in which Nature left it when It 
came from the hand of that Wonder-worker. The 
green grass and fragrant flowers of the prairie 
waved in the breezes as they had done for 
ages before, and the timber groves remained 
undisturbed, except for the occasional in- 
fringements of these pioneers of the pioneer 
the so-called "squatters" upon the public 
lands. Before that year but 160 acres of our 
lands had been entered from the Government. 
Not a dozen families lived within the bounds 
of what is now Sadorus, Sidney and Urbana 
Townships, while all other territories were 
unvexed except by Indian trails. 

We have taken this date for the reason 
that it marks the entry of one of the first 
families coming here one which, through all 
the intervening sixty-seven years, has re- 
mained attached to the soil that of Matthew 
Busey. 

In the early part of the year 1828, Matthew 
Busey, then a resident of Shelby County, Ky., 
having heard of the richness of Illinois, but 
having no particular part in view, loaded all 
his earthly goods into two wagons drawn by 
ox-teams, and turned his face towards the 
great expanse of prairie on the other side of 
the Ohio River. His family then consisted of 



eight children, the eldest being but fourteen 
years of age, and the mother who was laid to 
rest but a few years since. The party was 
ferried over the Ohio at Louisville into the 
State of Indiana, and from the east side of 
the Wabash to the west side at a point below 
Eugene, from which point they struck out for 
the land of promise the great verdant prai 
ries of Illinois. They first stopped with a set- 
tler whom they found at Linn Grove~T5y~Nhe 
name of Straley, a squatter there. Here Mr. 
Busey left his family while he prospected in 
the neighborhood. Mijamin Byers, a Ken- 
tucky neighbor who came with him, bought out 
Straley and settldd at Linn Grove. 

After an examination of the lands and loca- 
tions for the space of one week, he determined 
upon the point now known as the "Nox farm," 
two miles east of Urbana, on the Danville 
road. Here on the north end of the west half 
of the northeast quarter of Section 15, he 
found one Sample Cole, who, with his fam- 
ily, occupied a cabin there erected, with no 
other title than that of possession; for neither 
he nor any of his neighbors had then entered 
a foot of land around the Big Grove. At that 
time only five families lived in what was 
known as the "Big Grove Settlement," these 
being the families of Runnell Fielder, who 
has the credit of having been the first inhabi- 
tant; Sample Cole; William Tompkins, who 
lived on the lot where is now Halberstadt's 
mill; Philip Stanford, who lived on the 
Roberts farm north of the grove; and Thomas 
Rowland, who lived on Section 1, Urbana. No 
one had settled on the Sangamon. Henry 
Sadorus was already at Sadorus' Grove, the 
squatter Straley at Linn Grove and William 
Nox at Sidney. 

The many attractions of the Cole claim took 
the fancy of Mr. Busey, and he bought out the 
squatter and, the next day, removed his fam- 
ily to the humble home, where he lived to the 
day of his death in 1863. (R. R. Busey, one 
of the sons of Matthew Busey, remembers 
that his father paid Cole $100 for his claim. ) 

Four weeks on the road had given the pio- 
neers an appetite for a place to be called home, 
and they were not over captious as to what 
were the qualities of the house, else they could 
not have taken up with the Cole cabin, for 
it is unnecessary to say that it had none of 
the comforts of a modern home. It was built 
of logs or rather of poles such as could 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



713 



be handled by few hands; covered with 
boards split from the trees near by; its floor 
was of split "puncheons"; windows it had 
none; its fire-place was of sticks and dirt or 
clay; and its door was made of split-boards 
also. But what a landscape surrounded it! 
On the north was as fine a grove of oaks, 
hickory, sugar maple and other useful timber 
as any man ever looked upon, which stretched 
from the door six miles away; and, in every 
other direction stretched the finest prairie 
view that ever greeted the eye of man in any 
clime. This vast expanse of wealth was inhab- 
ited only by wild beasts useful to man. To 
all of this magnificent domain our pioneers 
had as good a title as any living man, and it 
was all within their reach at the small sum 
of $1.25 per acre. Go, today, and stand upon 
the prairie rise, a short distance east of the 
Cole homestead, and look over the landscape 
that greeted the eye of Mr. Busey at that time, 
and imagine it freed from all of the impedi- 
menta put upon it during the intervening 
time, for the convenience and profit of man; 
and you will not wonder that our pioneer 
was in love with the place at first sight. No 
more beautiful sight ever opened before 
human eyes. 

Although the owner of the precarious title 
of Sample Cole, Mr. Busey seemed in no 
hurry to secure the government patent; nor 
did he fear that his claim would be jumped, 
for not until December 5, 1829, did he apply 
to the Land Oflice for the perfection of his 
title, and became the owner, in fee simple, of 
his new home. The rush for government land 
had not then set in. His entry was preceded 
by few in the county. 

Following Mr. Busey came his relative, 
Isaac Busey, from the same county in Ken- 
tucky, who, with his son-in-law, Isaac G. Beck- 
ley, came the next year but one, and bought 
out William Tompkins, who, on February 4, 
1830, had entered the lands in Sections 8 and 
17, Urbana, where he had lived for a number 
of years as a squatter. Beckley settled on the 
southwest quarter of Section 5, Urbana. 

Within the next few years the settlers in- 
creased in numbers rapidly, and the names 
of the Brownfields, Webbers, Trumans, 
Robertsons, Isham Cook, James T. Roe also 
a son-in-law of Isaac Busey Alexander Hoi- 
brook, Nicholas Smith, Charles Busey, and 
many others from the State of Kentucky, with 



Martin Rinehart, Anderson Rice, Charles 
Woodward, John Moss, and Elias Stamey from 
other States, were added to the settlement. 
George Bartley also settled on the creek near 
where the Fielders lived. Moses Deere came 
soon after the Buseys, and he was followed 
by James Huss and Moses Argo, all of whom 
settled in the Salt Fork timber above where 
Sidney now is and all of whom (long since 
dead) left a numerous progeny to perpetuate 
their names and to bless society. Charles 
Woodward came about 1830, entered the west 
half of the northwest quarter of Section 8, 
Urbana, and built a cabin where the old fair 
ground was. 

In 1830, Isham Cook also came from Ken- 
tucky, stopped for a while at Linn Grove and 
meantime bought out a squatter named Bullard, 
who had stopped on the west half of the 
southwest quarter of Section 5, Urbana, now 
known as the Dean farm, and erected a cabin 
for the use of his family. He entered the land 
on July 1, of that year. When nearly ready 
to remove the family to his new home, word 
came to Matthew Busey that his old Kentucky 
neighbor, Cook, was lying dead at the Linn 
Grove. He at once