Full text of "History of Effingham county, Illinois"

LI E> R.ARY

OF THL

UNIVERSITY

or ILLINOIS

977. 379e

liUuli lis^ioi stnif

HI8T0EY

EFFINGHAM COUNTY,

IIaLINOIS.

^EDITED BY WILLIAM HENf^Y PBRRIIsI.-:^
&\ __ i^

ILaLaUSXRATB.D.

CHICAGO :

O. L. BASKIN & CO., HISTORICAL PUBLISHERS,

Lakeside Building.
1883.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVI.— Mason Town8liil>— Topographical and De-
scriptive— Settlement — Broom, the Stewarts and other
Pioneers — A Fourth of July Celebration^Schools and
Churches— An Incident— Villages— Growth and Develop-
ment of Mason— Its Business Importance- Kdgewood —
Laid out as a Town — Stores, Shops, Churches and Socie-
tiei 1^8

CHAPTEE XVII.— Watson Township— Surface and Physical
Features- Coming of the White Settlers— Their Loca-
tions and Claims— Sketches of Some of the Noted Ones —
Mills and Olher Pioneer Industries- Schools and School-
houses— Churches— Village of Watson— Its Growth and
Business 200

CHAPTER XVIII.— Jackson Township— Introduction and Gen-
eral Description — Topography, etc.— Settlement of White
People — Pioneer Improvements and Busiuess Industries
—Some Early Incidents— Births, Deaths and Marriages-
Mills, Roads, etc.-^Schools and Churches— Villages, etc,
etc 212

CHAPTER XIX.— Union Township— Introductory — Bound-
aries and Topography — White Settlement — Frederick
Btockett— Other Pioneers— Incidents of Early Life— The
First Roada—Educalional— Schooihouses— Churches, etc.
Flemshurg Village— A Tragedy and its Results 220

CHAPTER XX.— St. Francis Township — Description and Topog-
raphy— The First Settlers and Their Hardships— A Trag-
edy-Mills, Roads and Other Improvements— Early
Religions History — Churches and Preachers — Schools,
Schooihouses, etc. — The Village of Montrose— Its
Growth, Development, etc 229

CHAPTER XXI.— Liberty Township— Its Physical Features-
Timber Growth, etc.— Early Settlement— Pioneer Hard-
ships — Industries aud Improvements — The State of So-
ciety — Educational and Religious — Beecher City— A Vil-
lage of Large Pretensions — Its Business, Churches,
Schools, Benevolent Societies, etc 238

CHAPTER XXII.— Lucas Township— Introductory— Topogra-
phy and Boundaries — Pioneer Occupation — Where the
Settlers Came From— Their Early Life Here— Growth and
Improvement of the Counlry— Mills, etc.— Educational
Facilities— Churches and Preachers— Villages, etc., etc... 242

CHAPTER XXIII.— TeutopoliB Township— Its Description and
Formation — Topography— The Prairie and Timber Soils
— German Emigrants — Village of Teutopolis — The Ger-
man Colony— Growth of the Village— Schools—St. Jo-
seph's College— Sisters of Notre Dame— The Church-
Village Incorporation and Officers 250

CHAPTER XXIV.— West Township— Introductory aud De-
scriptive — Topography and Physical Features — The First
Settlements — Pioneer Industries and Internal Improve-
ments — An Incident— Schools, Churches, etc. — Village of
Gilmore — War Record and Experience, etc 257

CHAPTER XXV— Banner Townsbip— Topography, Timber
Growth, etc. — The Settlement— Bingeman, Rentfrow and
Other Pioneers — Wolf Hunts — Churches and Church In-
fluences — Schools — Village of Shumway — Its Growth and
Development — Religious aud Educational Facilities 2G'I

CHAPTER XXVI.— Moccasin Townsbip — Configuration and

Boundaries — Streams, Timber, etc— Pioneer Settlement
— Early Life of the People — An Incident — Churches and
Preachers — The First Schooihouse — Schools of the Pres-
ent — Moccasin Village — Platted — General Business of the
Place 27U

CHAPTER XXVII —Bishop Township— Topography and Sur-
face Features— Coming of the Pioneers — Their Hard
Times and Vicissitudes — The Early Improvements in Liv-
ing — Roads, Mills, etc. — Schools and Schooihouses —
Religious History — Churches and Preachers — The Village
of Elliottstown, etc., etc 274

PART II.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

PAGE.

Epfinqham City and Douglas Township 3

Mound Township *"5

Lucas Township 124

Teutopolis Township 140

Mason Township 148

Jackson Township 1*79

Liberty Township 196

West Township 208

Watson Township 217

Moccasin Township 228

Bishop Township 238

St. Francis Township 244

Union Township 261

Banner Township 257

Summit Township 261

Addendum— Weiler 4 Meyer. 286

PORTEAITS.

PAGE.

Beecher, H. L • 279

Bernhard, U 1*

Broom, John 1^9

Dawson, Robert 32

Field, L. J "1

Gillenwaters, T. J 27

Groves, John N l^^

Gwin, J.N *1

Hoeny, John ^^

Kepley, Henry B 1"

Le Crone, John 6*

Leitb, David *8

Mitchell, Calvin 135

Rice, S. S 207

Scolt, Owen '^

Stair, Jacob ^

Tennery, Thomas D •■• 1^1

Williamson, D 243

Wills, John 226

Woody, John I'^l

Wright, C. M 261

PREFACE.

AFTER several months of laborious research and persistent toil, the history of Bflins;-
ham County is complete, and it is our hope and belief that no subject of general
importance or interest has been overloolied or omitted, and even minor facts, when of sufficient
note to be worthy of record, have been faithfully chronicled. In short, where protracted
investigation promised results commensurate with the undertaking, matters not only of
undoubted record but legendary lore, have been brought into requisition. We are well aware of
the fact that it is next to impossible to furnish a perfect history from the meager resources at
the command of the historian under ordinary circumstances, but claim to have prepared a work
fully up to the standard of our engagements. Through the courtesy and assistance generously
afforded, we iiave been enabled to trace out and put into systematic shape the greater portions
of the events that ii;ive transpired in the county up to tlie present time, and we feel assured
that all thouglitful persons interested in the matter will recognize and appreciate the importance
of the work and its permanent value. A dry statement of facts has been avoided, so far as it
was possible to do so, and anecdote and incident have been interwoven with plain recital and
statistics, thereby forming a narrative at once instructive and entertaining.

We are indebted to H. C. Bradsby, Esq., for his very able general history of the county
comprised in the first nine chapters ; to B. F. Kagay, Esq., for the chapter on the " Bench and
Bar f to Charles Evcrsman, Esq., for chapter on Tcutopolis, and to G. M. Le Crone, Esq.. and
many other citizens of the county for material aid in making the proper compilation of facts
embodied in the work.

February, 1883. THE PUBLISHERS.

tLLIJMOliS.

ff.+.f

R.S.E

R.G.E.

PART I

STORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY,

CHAPTER I.*

INTRODUCTORY— THE FIRST PIONEER— GRIFFIN TIPSWORD— HIS SUPERSTITIOUS ECCENTRICITIES
—THE FIFTY-ONE FAMILIES— TIMBER AND PRAIRIES— OBSTACLES TO SETTLEMENT-
WILD BEASTS AND INSECTS— BEN CAMPBELL— MORALIZING ON PIONEER EXPERI-
ENCE—SOME ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS OF CAMPBELL— HIS LAST
MARRIAGE AND DEATH— REQUIESCAT IN PACE.

" I stand alone, like some dim shaft which throws
Its shadows on the desert waste, while they
Who placed it there are gone — or like the tree
Spared by the ax upon the mountain's cliff,
Whose sap is dull, while it still wears the hue
Of life upon its withered limbs."

— The Aged Pioneer.

TO rescue from fast-fading traditions the
simple annals of the pioneer people of our
county is a pleasing but a laborious task, not so
laborious as perplexing, the annoyances arising
from there being now no connected record of
their official acts and doings. Many of the
earliest and most important legal papers are
gone beyond recovery; many of them were
never put in a more permanent form than mere
slips or scraps of unbound sheets of papers,
stuck carelessly away, not even marked or
filed; some not dated, and others again ad-
dressed to no one. Then, in the burning the
court house in ISHS. many were consumed or
destro3-ed in being removed.

•The Chaptera following on the history of the county at large
are written by H. C. Bradsby, Eaq.

To supply this loss of important papers, with
their invaluable facts and statistics, is now
largel}- fore\'er impossible.

But to meet and converse with the few now
living of these earl}' settlers — those who came
here as children, or as veiy young men and
women, and are now fast approaching or have
passed the allotted threescore and ten,
stooped with age, venerable patriarchs mosth'.
and their white-haired " blessed mothers in
Israel," companions and helpmeets — has been
the most pleasing task of our life.

To gather up the raveled threads of the
strange but simple stories of their lives — now
mostly broken threads — to catch these fleeting
traditions and fireside histories, and hand them
on to posterity, might well be the ambitious
labor of any man's life.

The importance thj^t attaches to the lives,
character and work of these humble laborers in
the cause of humanity and civilization will some
daj' be better understood and appreciated than
it is now. Thej- will^some time, by the pen of

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

the wise historian, talie their proper place in the
list of those immortals who havq helped to make
this world wholesome with their toil and their
sweat and their blood. Of them all the pioneer
was the humblest, but uot the meanest nor the
most insignificant. They laid the foundations
on which rests the civilization of the Western
Hemisphere.«- If the work was done well, then
the edifice stands upon an enduring rock; if ill,
then upon the sands; and when the winds and
the rains beat upon it, it will tremble and fall.

If great and beneficent results — results that
endure and bless mankind — are the proper meas-
ure of the good men do, then who is there in
the world's history that may take their places
above these hardy, early pioneers?

To point out the waj', to make possible our
present advancing civilization, its cheap and
happ}- homes, its cheap food, its arts, sciences,
inventions and discoveries, its education, litera-
ture, culture, refinement and social life and joj',
is to be the trnlj- great bcuefactor of all man-
kind and for all time. This, indeed, was the
great work of these adventurous pioneers.

Grant it, captious friend, that the}' builded
wiser than thej' knew; that few, if any of them',
ever realized in the dimmest way the transcend-
ant possibilities that rested upon their should-
ers. Grant it that, as a rule, their lives were
aimless and ambitionless, with little more of
hope, or far-reaching purposes, than the savage
or the wild beasts that were their neighbors.
Yet there stands the supreme fact that they fol-
lowed their restless impulses, took their lives
in their hands, penetrated the desert wilderness,
and with a patient energy, resolution and self-
sacrifice that stands alone and unparalleled,
they worked out their allotted tasks, and to-day
we are here in the enjoyment of the fruitage of
their labors. •

Should we allow their names and their fame
to pass into oblivion and contempt, the act
would mark us as the degenerate sons of heroic
sires, unworthy the inheritance they gave us.

To say that in this work it is proposed to
write the historj', in the broad and large mean-
ing of that word, would be a careless use of
language — would be promising more than it is
possible for us to do; for history in its true
sense is philosophy in its highest type, teach-
ing by example. But to gather such facts, in-
cidents, statistics and circumstances, trifling or
important, as are left to us, and place tliem in
a durable form, and transmit them, ready to
hand, to the future and real historian, is all that
one can attempt or hope to do in a manner at
all satisfaetorj'. To tell their simple annals in
their chronological order, to secure something
of the substance ere the shadows wholly fade,
IS enough to attempt now.

In the year 1814 or 1815, Griffin Tipsword
came to this part of Illinois and took up his
abode with the Kickapoo Indians. These In-
dians then occupied what is now parts of Fay-
ette, Shelb}' and Effingham Counties. South of
the Kickapoos were the Winnebagoes and Del-
awares. At that time these Indians were peace-
ably disposed, and, it seems, were indifferent as
to the coming of the lone, straggling, white man.

We make no doubt that Tipsword was the
first white man that was ever here. He was a
strange compound of white man by birth and
Indian Ijy adoption. He was a self-exile from
civilization in his native Virginia, and by choice
a roving nomad, who sought the solitudes of
pathless woods, the dreariness of the desert
waste, in exchange for the trammels of civilized
society. Of the latter, he could not endure its
restraints, and he despised its comforts and
pleasures. His soul j-earned for freedom — free-
dom in its fullest sense, applied to all property,
life and everj'thing, here and hereafter. He
hunted in the Indian chase, talked in their dia-
lect, danced their dances, and to show how fully
he was for, them, with them and of thein, he
gave them his oldest sou, who remained with
them whoU}' for years, in order that he miglit
be fully educated in their ways.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Moses Dotj- was a nephew of Tipsword, and
from him and the gnindsous of the old pioneer
we learn that he left Virginia in the 3 ear 1812
and came to Southern Illinois, where he re-
mained for two or three years, and then came,
witli liis wife and two children, to this part of
the State; that he hrst lived in the northwest
corner of this county, and in Shelby, and lived
and hunted and migrated as far northwest as
Quincy, and then would return to this place.
The Indians did much the same in following
the game and in searching for new and better
hunting ground.

For years after he came here he saw no hu-
man face except the Indian. His people in Vir-
ginia had no word of him for sixteen years after
he left them.

In many respects he was a remarkable man.
He had gone West, cut loose from kith and kin,
and he didn't burn the bridges behind him, be-
cause there were none to burn. He was a pio-
neer, a doctor, a missionar\' preacher, his own
bishop, as well as his own committee on ways
and means. He hunted, fished, cut bee-trees,
and talked with the Indians in their way and
fashion. He was as illiterate as they, and he
told them In Indian the stor)' of Mount Calvary
and the lake of fire and brimstone, and those
who had no fears of an angry God had a healthy
dread of his unerring ritte. Beneath God's first
temples he pointed the way to heaven to these
simple savages. In the trackless woods he met
the bad Indian and slow him. He was notonlj'
a physician for the poor soul, but he was a
" medicine man," who could exorcise witches,
conjure ghosts, remove "spells," make "silver
tea " for cattle sick of the murrain or otherwise
bewitched. He regulated the storms, stayed
the angry lightning fiashes, and could appease
the deep-mouthed thunders as they rolled across
the darkened heavens in terrifying peals. He
had much to do in his Protean capacity of a
hunter, a half savage, a doctor, a preacher, and a
pioneer, with no visible means of support except

his rifle, and that he lived out u long life (it is
supposed over a hundred years) is evidence that
he was singularly well adapted to surrounding
circumstances.

His family name was Souards. He onlj- called
himself Tipsword after he came here. It was
only in the latter j-ears of his life that he told
any one that he had changed his name. When
asktd why he had done so, he would nod his
head toward the south, where he had first lived
among the Indians, and reply that he did not
want to run his " head into the halter." From
this and other hints that he gave out in his
last years the inference may be drawn that, in
his mind, it was much the same whether you
saved a savage by preaching or b\- the rifle.
He believed it was the Divine economy to save,
and in one way or the other he did a livelj'
business.

It is not known what particular church ho
belonged to — perhaps he did not himself know,
but the records leave no doubt it was that
broad, liberal Catholic faith and practice that
gathered up with as much alacrity the Indian
with a bullet hole through his head as the
saint with finger nails two or three feet long.
He was a well-armed drummer in the golden
slipper trade, a "rustler" for the golden stairs.

He could doctor the bod}' quite as well as
the souls. The prevalent diseases of his daj-, it
seems, were witches, spooks, spells and charms.
He was as superstitious as his neighbors and
quite as illiterate, and yet he must have played
man}' tricks upon his savage followers to retain
his power over them, and impress and awe
them with a dread of his occult powers. His
trade was not destroyed by the coming of the
first whites and the migration from here of the
Indians. lie continued to practice medicine,
preach and hunt. He kept sacred Jiis witch-
balls to the day of his death. These were
made of doer's and cow's hair, were large, and
held together by a long string. They consti-
tuted his materia medica.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUXTY.

Most people then believed implicity in
witches and charms; some do now. All dis-
eases were the work of witches, and so it was
with their cattle. Ghosts could be seen an}'
dark night in passing a grave or a graveyard.

Hunters would sometimes be almost be-
deviled out of their lives b}- witches that would
appear to them in the woods as a beautiful
deer, which would career and gallop around
them in eas}- range and j-et, no matter how
often he shot, he could not touch them. It
came to be well known that a leaden bullet
would not touch a witch, but a silver bullet car-
ried death on its wings. When this kind of a
ball was fired at a witch deer, if the aim was
fatal, the deer would run home, return to its
human form, go to bed and die. If the shot
was not fatal, the witch would go to bed, be
sick a long time, and no visitor would be al-
lowed to see the wound, nor would the attend-
ants tell them the particulars of the ailment.

If cattle were sick, it was the witches and
nothing would do them au}- good except " silver
tea." This tea was made b}- boiling a silver
coin in water for a long time and giving the
water to the sick brute.

When people were bewitched, thev would
send for Tipsword or take the patient to him.
He would doctor them bj' standing over them,
moving about in a m3'sterious way his witch-
balls and muttering a strange guttural jargon,
and this was repeated from da}' to day until
the witch would fly unseen away in sore agony
and distress and the cure was complete.

The good old John Knox, Presbyterian, of
Scotland, never had more trouble with witches,
or the devil, as he went prowling through
the country, in the shape of a snake, a wild
boar or some other unknown and unseen wild
beast, than did these pioneers and Indians.
Men who are now growing old, who were here
as children, in the days of unbounded super-
stition, can yet tell you how they have often sat
around the loij fireside and heard the gathered

neighbors tell over tiieir soul-harrowing stories
of ghosts and witches. Poor, innocent, credu-
lous children, listening, open mouthed, to
superstitious fathers and mothers telling fright-
ful stories — stories that would make these
youngsters' hair stand out " like quills upon
the fretted porcupine." If the story chanced
to be too monstrous for even ignorant cre-
dulity, then some crooning old granny, well
known to the whole neighborhood, was always
referred to as a living authority, who had been
there and had seen or knew it all.

These ignorant superstitious, sucked by the
babes with the milk from the mother's beast,
have done far more to beat back the cause of
civilization among the common people than
could all the swarms of greenhead flies, the
murderous Indians, the poisonous snakes and
wild beasts, the deadly malaria, disease and
poverty. Their tendency was to breed igno-
rance, to raise up a people that believed enor-
mously, that never questioned, never doubted,
but the more impossible the story the more
implicitly they believed.

Yet as widespread as were these beliefs in
goblins and spells, there are to-day men and
women in our county who grew up among such
pernicious influences that will tell you of the
terrifying beliefs of their childhood and laugh
at them. We _note this fact with the greatest
satisfaction. By their own strength of mind
they have grown away from the faith of their
fathers. A hard thing for any one to do — an
impossible thing for the weak and slothful-
minded to do. An ignorant man of large be-
liefs rears his child very difl'erently from a man
of large mind, or a man who often doubts aud
always in^'estigates. The ignorant man takes
charge of not only the body of his child which
he guides with a rod of iron, but he is equally
watchful for its mind aud soul and equally
severe with his gibbets, chains and slavery
upon the slighest signs of deviation from his
precepts. He believes in education, provided

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

the educator he employs is as ignorant and
credulous as himself. He believes what his
fathers believed, and, by the eternal, his chil-
dren shall believe as he does. When the world
was, or if it shall ever return to this condition
of aflairs generally, it will have reached ca-
lamities that will surpass all the afflictions of
the sword. Are, disease, famines and pesti-
lences.

To some this may be regarded as wandering
somewhat from our text, especially our sketch
of Griffin Tipsward. It is not. To write the
history of the pioneers, it is of the utmost im-
portance to bring prominentl}' forward every
circumstance, so tar as the}' can be discovered,
that had any marked influence upon the prog-
ress of the people. The reader will readilj'
perceive that among all the calamities that befel
the very earliest settlers and their children, a
widespread belief in witches, ghosts, spells
and goblins was the greatest of all. Tipsword
carried with him to the day of his death many
of the customs and characteristics of the In-
dian. He was always reticent of speech, and a
ringing, heart}- laugh — he had forgotton all
about it. In approaching a neighbor's house, he
would never be seen until standing in the door.

He lived here a long time after the sparse
settlements of whites had come and the Indian
had gone. When the Indians first went awa}',
it was not fleeing from the pale faces, but fol-
lowing the game. The}- would, for some years,
annually return, and often Tipsward would go
with them and not return for a year or more.

On one occasion, after the whites had settled
in Shelby and Fayette Counties, the Indians
warned them to leave in three days, or they
would massacre all in the country between
Shelbyville, by w.ay of Vandalia, to St. Louis.
The warning came like a death knell to the
poor defenseless whites — they were terror-
stricken. Three days was too short a time in
which to get away, yet it was too long a time
to await in dread horror the cruel torture and

death that they well knew that the red devils
had in store for them. In the calmness that
comes of despair, they talked over the situa-
tion. A few, but very few, gathered their lit-
tle families and fled, but the majority could
only make a feeble attempt to put themselves
upon the best defense of their household gods
that they could. They had hoped at first that
Tipsword could intercede for them, but when
appealed to he could give them no hope, as he,
too, was in the list of warned. On the after-
noon of the third and last day the Indians held
a general pow-wow in the woods, and Tipsword
attended it as a spectator. He had friends
among the chiefs and braves, and he had no
doubt talked as much as he dared to them, and
told them the certain consequences that would
follow a general massacre of the whites. The
first speakers urged that they adjourn the
meeting, paint themselves, and at early dark
commence the bloody work, and allow no pale
face to escape. These sentiments met the ap-
proving grunts of the braves. But late in the
evening better informed Indians talked. They
told their people that, while it was true they
had it in their power to murder the whites, but
suppose they did, would not the word go to
the people of the States, and would not an
army, numbering as the leaves of the forest,
come here and kill every Indian in the Terri-
tory. Such representations soon turned the
attention of the Indians to questions of their
own safety, and they determined to postpone
the massacre.

The settlers had been spared. How much
they owed of this good fortune to Tipsword
will never be known.

GritHn Tipsword died in the year 1S45, and
lies buried on the banks of Wolf Creek. He
left surviving children — John, Isaac and
Thomas.

John Tipsword married, and was the father
of Jackson, Griltin, Jerusha, James and Car-
lin. These all married and had large families.

Ifi

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Isaac Tipsword married Nancj' Stanberry,
and their children — Isaac, Ashby, Sallie, Ruth,
Thomas, Martha. Marion, John, William, Re-
becca and Mellissa — all married, and have
reared large families.

Thomas Tipsword was the father of Albert,
Jonathan, Isaac, Jackson, Millie, Lydia, Mary
and Bell, and from these there is another ex-
tensive branch of the family.

From the above it will be seen that the Tips-
words were pioneers and the sons and daugh-
ters of pioneers. They seemed to realize that
the great want of a new country is people, and
unflinchingly they responded to their country's
call.

No stone marks the spot where the old patri-
arch of this numerous family sleeps.

Of all the men now living we believe that
Dr. John O. Scott was the first to kindle a
camp fire within the confines of our county.
There were a few who had been here before
him, but none of them are now living.

Fifty-seven years ago, 1825, Mr, Scott, in
company with a man named Elliott, and his
wife, traveled through this county on their way,
moving from Wayne to Shelby County. They
camped near Blue Point. In passing the tim-
ber at the head of Brockett's Creek, a smoke
was seen curling, up from a camp fire, a clear-
ing, or a wooden chimney. Mr. Elliott, who
had made the trip through here before, told
him that it was smoke from the cabin or clear-
ing of a man's place named Fancher. This
was Isaac Fancher. That Fancher was here
then is strouglj- corroborated by the oft-re-
peated statements of Ben. Campbell to his
stepson, Thomas Andrews, that when he
(Campbell) came here in 182G he found the
Fancher family here ; that he stopped with
them for several weeks, and they put in their
time hunting bee-trees, of which they found a
great many. Campbell also stated that he
tliought the Fulfers were here when he came,
or that they came soon after.

This brings up the record of early settlers to
1826. It is brief and soon told.

Griffin Tipsword and family, 1815.

Isaac Fancher and family, 1825.

Ben Campbell, and Jesse and Jack Fulfer,
182G.

And John 0. Scott, and Elliott and wife
passing through here as movers in 1825.

Fancher and Fulfer in 1834-35 moved away
from here into Coles County, where they died
yeai'S ago. With the exception of Mr. Scott,
these, the earliest of the pioneers in our coun-
ty, are all gone — sleeping peacefully in their
unmarked graves.

In 1828, Thomas I. Brockett and family, and
Stephen Austin, Dick Robinson, John McCoy,
Bob Moore and Richard Cohea came.

In 1829 came John Broom, Jonathan Park-
hurst, Ben Allen, Mrs. Charlotte Kepley, Jacob
Nelson, Andrew Martin, Alexander Stewart,
John Ingraham, John Trapp, Samuel Bratton,
John Fairleigh, Alfred Warren, Amos Martin,
and old Aunty Bratton, Andrew Lilley, Henry
Tuckei-, William Stephens, Allec Stewart, Bill
Stewart, and Jacob Nelson.

In 1830, Jesse Surrells, T. J. Rentfro, James
Turner, John Allen, Micajah Davidson, Henry
P. Bailey, George Neavills, Alexander McWhor-
ter, Jesse White, Enoch Neavills.

In 1831, Jacob Slover, Isaac Slover, John
Gallant, William Gallant, Seymour Powell.
Thomas Loy, William J. Hankins, the Hutchi-
sons, and John Galloway, the fiddler.

Here were the fifty-one families that were here
prior to February 15, 1831 — the date of the act
of the Legislature organizing the county. Why
did they come? What was it that stopped
here this meager stream of emigration and
fixed them permanently in this place? What
i was there here to tempt and lure them to
brave all, endure all, and cause them to fix
here the nucleus around which all this present
people, and their wealth and enjoyment has
gathered? True, they could not see the toils

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

anrl danger that lurked unseen upon every
hand, j'et there was much to repel them that
the}' could see, enough, one would think, to
have settled the question, and forever have pre-
vented them from tlj-ing in the face of dangers
that they knew not of

We can imagine nothing more dreary, lone-
some or depressing than was the face of this
boundless waste of cheerless solitude, where
had sat through the ages silence and deso-
lation. These vast prairie seas, with their
long reaches of desert waste, their flat sur-
face covered with tall, dank grass, often as
high as a man's head on horseback. In the
autumn when this grass became sear, it was
burned, and the smoke from these fires filled
the atmosphere for hundreds of miles with
smoke that darkened the face of day and hung
like mourning drapery upon the horizon. The
prairies were wet, flat and marsh}'. Waters
standing a goodly portion of the year on, per-
haps, two-third's of the soil's surface. When the
grass was freshly burned the weary eye 'could
find no relief in tiie vast expanse save the
crawfish chimneys that thickly dotted the face
of nature. The water lay mostly where it fell,
and could escape only by evaporation, and
from this cause it is believed the rainfall then
was greater than now. Kecalling these daj'S
when monotonous solitude was all that was
here, is to modern people but ringing the
changes on the story of the " Lost Mariner,"
when the poet tells us he was

" Alone, alone, all, all alone.
Upon the wide, wide sea."

The forests consisted of tall trees with no un-
dergrowth of brush or vines. The annual fires
that swept through them had done the work of
the forester well It cleared awa}' the debris,
burned most of the fallen trees, and trimmed
smooth the sprouts and had trained the limbs
not to grow out near the ground. You could
ride anywhere through the woods, or, for that
matter, drive a wagon with nearly the same

ease that you could in an orchard. People
now express great surprise that the pio-
neers alwaj's settled in the timber, or close
upon the edge of it ; and as a rule the first
selections were the poorest land. There were
good reasons for their acts. The face of the
country was imraensel}' different then from
now. Thej- were compelled to hunt out, first,
for a spring where they could get water. The}-
could find these anddr}' land only in the woods.
They were, too, a people who knew little or
nothing about the prairie. It was not then
possible for man to live upon these treeless
marshes, pools and bogs, fit only for the home
of the " green heads," the poisonous insects,
amphibious snakes and the more deadl}' ma-
laria. The prairies were then mere lagoons
filled with rotting grass and death, that was
carried awaj' by the unobstructed winds to
poison the pure air of heaven. Tliere was
very little chance for the water to drain off the
land, the topography of the country then
being such as to hold it in its naturally formed
basins. Mr. Joshua Bradley suggested to the
writer the most plausible theory as to how these
prairie basins were formed. His idea was that
when the tall grass was burned, the fire that
ti-aveled with the wind, burned everything as
it went, but tiiat which burned against the
wind traveled slowly and burned the grass at
the roots always first, and when a strong wind
prevailed it would carry the long stalks of this
burned off grass into the burnt places and
leave it there. In the spring the heavy rains
would cause the water to float these off and
they would lodge at points until they were
piled there in great quantities, and in the long
course of time they thus received accretions
until the waters were held back, sod formed on
the embankment and complete natural dams
were made and a basin formed. It was the
cows of the pioneers that first made beaten
paths as they traveled to water or to the " late
burns" to graze the tender and nutritious

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

grasses, and these paths were the lead-way for
the water to follow, and as the cows killed the
sod the water could cut its own ditch, so
stream was added to stream until strength was
accumulated, and in the years the prairie
swamps became comparatively drj', rich
land.

As gi'eat and numerous as were these ob-
stacles that confronted the pioneer, they were
not all. The hostile and treacherous savage
was here. Jlilk-sick laj- in wait for man and
beast along nearlj' all the streams in the south-
ern part of the couutj". The horrible malaria
freighted the air, as it floated out from its
noisome lurking places, with its deadly poison.
Howling and always hungrj- wolves, both
prairie and timber wolves, made night hideous
with their howls, and the blood-curdling scream
of the soft-footed panther added a terrible

'^warning to that of the wolves, that there was
little hope of ever having any domestic animals
here. The "green-head flies," in countless
billions and as ravenous and voracious as the
migrating ants of Africa, held undisputed pos-
session of the prairies always during the hot
summer months. Their business hours were
between sunrise and sunset. And in a very
short time the}' could kill a horse or a cow.
The " green-head" alone made the prairies

(wholly uninhabitable. Here, too, were all
manner of beasts that devastate the poultry
j-ards and break the good housewoman's heart
in the destruction of chickens, geese and
turkeys. Such, indeed, were the surroundings
that poultry, sheep, hogs, calves, and, in fact,
most of domestic animals would have been
secure only in a fire and burglar proof safe,
with a time lock to do duty while the house-
hold slept.

The galinipers, the mosquitos, the wood
ticks, chiggers and lizzards, with "yaller
jackets," bumble-bees and hornets and poison-
ous insects were here and everjwhere and all
hungry or angry at the approaching pioneers.

The bald eagle, flanked by the hawks and egg
devouring crows, screamed his defiance at civil-
ization and swooped down upon the poultry,
the pigs and the lambs in the sheep-fold. Here,
too, was the snake — spotted with deadly
beauty — but for snake stories, go to any of the
old settlers, especialh- A. G. Hughes. For our
part we are like Washington's hatchet, '■ I'd
rather tell ten thousand lies than cut down a
cherry-tree."

When all these things are considered, and
when it is further remembered that these earli-
est pioneers were truly strangers in a strange
land, with no aids of machinery or mechanical
contrivances to help them, except their rifle,
and wife and little ones ; no doctors, no medi-
cine, no mills, no stores, no markets, no any-
thing but appalling difficulties, is it not indeed
a wonder that any one ever came here, or stayed
after he did come, or lived to perpetuate his
race and name.

We have named the people that were here
prior to 1831. They were in settlements, in
Blue Point, on Fulfer Creek, the Wabash Riv-
er, Brockett's Creek, and Union Township.
The earliest and largest of these settlements
were the neighbors of Thomas I- Brockett.
While this was 3-et a part of Fayette County, a
voting precinct was formed, the voting place
generally at Thomas I. Brockett's house, but
one year it was held at the house of James
Turner. The last election had there while it
was Faj-ette County, there were, we are told,
thirteen votes, solid for Andy Jackson ; we do
not doubt it.

In this effort at pen pictures of the early
settlers and the countj- when first the}' came,
whenever we have found a stronglj' marked
characteristic pioneer, we have told all we could
learn of his leading traits, and tried to give the
reader as perfect a drawing as we could as to
what manner of man he was. In this connec-
tion we deem it not inappropriate to close this
chapter with a short sketch of Ben Campbell,

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

a king among his liintl, a fine type of liis class,
witli every trait abnormally developed.

Since the memorable days of '49, when the
discovery of gold on the Pacific slope set
all the world agog, the pioneers, the men who
skirt the outer confines of civilization on this
continent, have entirely changed in their char-
acteristics. They are now perhaps the most
cosmopolitan people in the world, and we in-
cline to the belief that the old Californians are
the best practically educated people in the
world, for they were suddenly gathered togeth-
er in large numbers, representing every civil-
ized people of the globe — many of the half
civilized, and even ^ome of the totally barbar-
ous. This heterogeneous gathering of such
varieties of people resulted in the world's won-
der of a public school. It rapidly educated
men as they had never before been taught. It
was not perfect in its moral symmetry, but it
was wholly powerful in its rough strength,
vigor and swiftness. It taught not of books,
but of the mental and pliysical laws — the only
fountain of real knowledge — of commerce, of
cunning craft — it was iron to the nerves and a
sleepless energy to the resolution. This was
its field of labor — its free university. Here
every people, every national prejudice, all the
marked characteristics of men met its oppo-
site, where there was no law to restrain or
govern either, except that public judgment that
was crystallized into a resistless force in this
witches' caldron. This wonderful alembic,
where were fused normal and abnormal human-
ities, thoughts, false educations, prejudices,
and pagan follies into a molten stream that
glowed and scorched ignorance along its way
as the volcanic eruption does the debris in its
pathway. It was the uutrammeled school of
attrition of every variety of mind with mind —
the rough diamond that gleams and dazzles
with beauty only when rubbed with diamond
dust. The best school in the world for a thor-
ough, practical education. Universal educa-

tion — we mean real education and not " learned
ignorance '' as Locke has aptly called it — is a
leveler of the human mind. It's like the strug-
gle for life, where only "the fittest survive"
and the unfit perish. But its tendency is to
lift up the average, to better mankind, to
evolve the truth, and mercilessly gibbet in-
grained ignorance and superstitious follies.

Ben Campbell's pioneer school life was spent
in a wholly different one from that just named.
The surroundings of the Illinois pioneers dif-
fered radically from that of the California
" forty-niners." They did not come here in
great rushing crowds, but alone or in meager
squads, they had abandoned home and the
signs of civilization and plunged into the vast
solitudes. They settled ilown to live where
language was almost a superfluity, and a smile
or laugh were as lost arts. These sturdy, lone
mariners of the desert were men of action and
silence. Not very social in their nature, moody
often, almost void of the imaginative faculty,
with no longing for the Infinite, and seldom or
never looking through nature up to nature's
God. They simply whetted their instincts in
the struggle for existence, against the wild
o-ame, the ferocious beasts and the murderous
savage.

Such was Ben Campbell, and he was pre-
eminently one of his kind. A man of tremen-
dous physical organization, with coarse feat-
ures, a sun-burned skin, that was covered with
hair and unsightly " bumps " all over his face ;
great scars upon his face and body, especially
a frightful scar that ran down the whole left
side of his cheek, injuring the muscles of the
eye and giving it a strange expression. San-
dy, coarse, stubby hair and beard, blue eyes,
very large mouth, with thick lips, and teeth
double-rowed and so large that ihey looked
more like horse's than human teeth. Generally
dressed in skins of animals he had slain, ex-
cept a small, close-fitting red bonnet that was
always on his head. Altogether a figure \\iell

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

calculated to frighten children to death, and
might even appall timid grown people when
suddenly' beheld for the first time.

While hunting one daj', he met an Indian
who had a splendid fresh deer skin on his
shoulder. 63* a strange coincidence Campbell
had a bright silver half-dollar in his pocket.
Campbell much wanted the skin and ^ the other
coveted the money. Negotiations resulted, and
the hide and half-dollar were placed together
on a log, to be fought for by the two men.

Campbell alwaj-s wound up his story b}-
stating that for nearly an hour he could not,
for the life of him, tell whetiier he was going
to get the deer skin or loose tlie half-dollar.
But he eventually got it and walked off with
his trophy.

At one time he went to Vandalia when the
Legislature was in session. On his way he
killed a fine fat turke^'-gobbler. This lie nego-
tiated at the hotel for his dinner and horse
feed, stipulating that he was to have his dinner
earlier than the regular meal and to have some
of the turkej-. When he sat down to the table
he eat the entire turkey, as well as everything
else that was on the table. Mother Maddox,
the landlady, declared that she honored the
guest that honored the food she put before
them b3' eating heartily, and so she extended a
life-time invitation to Campbell to always
come, and, without money and without turke3's,
to eat at her table free.

This story is made the more plausible by an-
other one, that has been vouched for b3' at least
one-half of tiie old settlers. A part3' was out
camping and hunting. Campbell had with him
a favorite and worthless dog of the bench-leg
kind — very fat, clumsy and lazy. It was fit for
nothing in the chase, so it stayed at the camp-
fire with the cook while its master would be
hunting. On one occasion, Campbell had been
gone all da3', and when he returned, tired and
hungry, he anxiousl3' inquired what luck his
companions had had in killing something to

eat. To his joy he saw roasting over the fire
what he supposed to be an enormousl3- large
coon. Now, if there was one thing in the world
that Campbell liked best of all, it was a coon,
fat and cooked b3' a camp-fire. The coon was
soon cooked to a turn, and Campbell's J03',
when the otiiers announced that they had had
supper, was sincere, for he knew his capacit3',
and he wanted enough for himself Without
bread, potatoes, coffee* or anything else but
coon, he sat down to a repast fit for a king, par-
ticularly in quantity, which was much in Camp-
bell's eye. He picked a bone and called his dog,
but the dog did not respond. He would pick
another bone and whistle again and call his
dog; the dog never came, and this went on
until every bone was picked. The boys had
killed and cooked the dog for a coon.

Like Daniel Boone, he could boast of tasting
about ever3-thing he could get hold of in the
way of bird or beast in the country. When
hungr3', he was willing to tr3-, without prejudice,
anything he could get. In this world's wealth
he was never able to try a horse, but those who
knew him best would not have g.ambled a cent
that he would have made a failure here.

His capacit3' and love of eating wei-e only
equaled by his love for whisky- and fighting.
The prospect of a jolly big fight would take him
to any part of the world. He was in the Nau-
voo war, in the thickest of the fight, and here
he got numerous of the scars that he carried to
his grave. The ugly scar on his face was made
by a man he found chopping in the woods one
day. The man was a pioneer, too, who had
concluded to stop and build a cabin. Camp-
bell resented this, and leveled his gun at the
stranger and ordered him not to trespass on his
land. The wary stranger eventually got
Campbell to put his gun down and enter into
negotiations. He deceived the old hunter, and
when he got between him and his gun, he sud-
denl3' raised his ax and struck a wicked blow
at his head. Campbell barely saved his life by

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

dodging back, but he did not dodge enougli to
prevent the wound.

Campbell was a man who was moved in ever}*-
thing by his own promptings. He knew little
or nothing of the rules of societv, and he cared
less. He was an honest man, and as rough of
speech as rough could be. He was crabbed,
sullen and moody of temperament. A stranger
seemed to affect him as a red flag does a mad
bull. Such he would generally roughly insult
without cause, and while he was slow of speech
and his words were few, he could make his
taunts sting terriblv. If the stranger, in igno-
rance of the man, resented the insult, a fight was
improvised at once; and in the old style of
rough-aiid-tumble-knock-down-and-drag-out, he
seldom met his match. Yet, the fight once
over, he was ready to drink friends at his vic-
tim's expense — get roaring drunk and savagel3'
friendly.

He lost his pioneer wife, and after awhile he
made up his mind to marr^ again. He had
heard of Robert Moore's widow in the north-
west part of the county. He had never seen
her, but, nothing daunted, he mounted his horse
and rode to her house, called her to the door, and
as he sat upon his horse, looking closely at the
widow, he finallj- informed her that he had come
to see her on business — that he wanted to mar-
ry her — but thatsAe loouldn't do, and he turned
his horse and rode off. He proceeded to an-
other house, where there was also a widow,
called her to the door, told her his business,
and commanded her to mount behind him and
go to the magistrate's and be married. The
poor woman remonstrated and begged for time;
but with oaths that fairly snapped as he uttered
them, he told her to mount, and she mounted,
and the cooing doves rode off and were mar-
ried.

His death, on Christmas Bay, 185G, was much
after the manner of his life. He not onl}- died
with his boots on, but on horseback. He had
been to Freemanton all dav, and in the evening

started home -one of the Higgs boys riding be-
hind him. When the horse stopped in front of
his cabin door, Campbell made no motion to-
ward dismounting — he was dead.

Bon Campbell has now l)een dead many years,
with no lineal descendants surviving him. The
above would be an. extravagant drawing of the
pioneer generally; yet there is much in it that
recalls a type and character of that day. He
had been admirably trained, or had trained him-
self, for his place in life, and in security and con-
tent had lived out a long life and filled to full-
ness his measure of ambition. He knew noth-
ing of romance or sentiment, nothing of a gov-
ernment of rigid laws and stern police regula-
tions. Under these, he could neither have
thrived nor lived. He was coarse, rude, un-
gainlj- and wild, as were his worst surround-
ings. He was brave, generous and strictly hon-
est. He was illiterate, but not ignorant; but
shrewd, active, alert, and rich in animal life and
vigor, with the most of his natural faculties cul-
tivated almost to the perfection of the smell of
the Siberian bloodhound. Here was marvelous
adaptations to extraordinary surroundings.
Exactly such as he was he had to be, in order
that he might blaze the way into the heart of
the wilderness for the coming hosts of civiliza-
tion.

Rare old Ben Campbell ! Your times and
your kind have passed away forever. You
lived out j'our allotted term in your own proper
and best way. You filled j'our mission in life,
and died when it was best 3'ou should. Rest
fore%'er in peace! For should you now " revisit
the glimpses of the moon," and behold your de-
generate successors, with no hunting-grounds,
no moccasins, no leather breeches, no flint-lock
guns, nor roasted coons, your great heart would
wither and decay like a plucked flower. Aye,
would not your big heart itself burst asunder
upon seeing the men of this day, in plug hats
and store clothes, riding in carriages and sleep-
ing-cars, chasing no other game save the meta-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

phorical tiger, upstaire, behind closed blinds
and under bright gas-lights?

The graves of these earlj' pioneers are un-
marked and mostly unknown, and their fast re-
ceding memories are unhonored and unsung.
They deserve better than this. They deserve bet-
ter than this from us. They wrought for us the

richest and most enduring legacy in all the world.
Jlay this poor Uower tlung upon the unknown
graves arrest the attention and enlist some
mind and pen that can render justice and award
a meed of praise to those great lives whose
works will ripen into the noblest civilization the
world has ever known.

CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHY AND PIIV.SICAL FEATURES— NORTHWESTERN ELEVATION OR MOUNDS— THE LITTLE
WABASH BLUFFS— GEOLOGY— RELATIONS BETWEEN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEO-
LOGICAL STRUCTURE— FORMATION OF ROCKS-NATURAL FORCES— THE FLORIDA
REEFS— PETREF.iCTIONS— HUMAN RE.MAINS— COAL— IRON ORE AND BUILD-
ING ROCK— MINERAL WATERS— ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES, ETC.

miles across at its base, and a little over fifty
feet high, descending very gradually for more
than a mile to the flat level prairies, which are
soon merged into post oak flats.

"We are told by the State Geologist that the
elevations in Northwestern Illinois known as
the " mounds,' are no doubt the result of denud-
ing forces acting upon the surface, which have
swept away the surrounding strata, leaving
these isolated hills as the only remaining indi-
cations of the former level of the adjacent region.

From Freeport southward, along the line of
the Illinois Central Railroad, there is a gradual
descent to the valley of tlie Big Muddy River,
in Jackson County, where the level of the rail-
road grade is only fifty-five feet above the river
at Cairo. From this point there is a rapid rise
toward the south, and at Cobden the railroad
intersects a true mountain range that has an
elevation of 500 to 600 feet. The geologist
distinguishes this as a mountain ridge, because
the evidences show there was here an uplift by
forces acting from beneath, and not a washing
away from the general level by the waters, as
in the case of the northwestern mounds (no ref-
erence to the so-called Indian mounds that

EFFINGHAM COUNTY is bounded on the
north by Shelby and Cumberland, on the
east by Cumberland and Jasper, on the south by
Clay and Fayette, and on the west by Fayette. It
has an area of 486 square miles, of which more
than one-half is timber.

The Little Wabash River, passing southward-
ly, nearly equally divides the county. Its tribu-
taries are : On the east, Lucas, Big Bishop, with
its forks, Little Bishop and Ramsey Creeks,
Big and Little Salt Creeks. Brush Creek, Green
Creek and Sugar Fork; on the west are Fulfer
and Limestone, Big and Brockett's Creek, Sec-
ond Creek, Funkhouser, Blue Point and Shoal
Creek and Green Creek, and Moccasin Creek.
The higher surface land is mostly flat prairie,
or flat woodland, with some beautifully rolling
lands in the northwestern part of the county.
Above the flats are a few low mounds, not so
abundant nor so elevated as in the counties
west. One of these is in the eastern part of
the county, another is Blue Mound, and there
is a low ridge near Mason. The low woodlands
contain many fine oak flats, that change to
white and burr oaks, hickory and post oaks on
the breaks. The ridge at Mason is about two

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

cross the State from northeast to the south- j
west).

This Cobden ridge is the eastern extension
of an axis of elevation or uplift, which brings
the St. Peters sandstone of the Lower Silurian,
above the surface at Bailey's Landing, on the
west side of the Mississippi River, tilts up the
Devonian limestone at the " Bake Oven," and
" Bald Bluffs " in Jack-son County at an angle
of about 25°, and after elevating the upper por-
tion of the Lower Carboniferous limestone above
the surface entirely across the southern portion of
the State, finalli' crosses the Ohio in the vicinity
of Shawneetown, and is lost beneath the coal
measures of Kentuck}-.

If the strata forming the elevation lie in their
original horizontal position, the mountain owes
its existence to the removal of the surround-
ing strata b}- denuding forces, but if the strata
are dislocated, and tilted at a high angle from
their original horizontal position, then the ele-
vation may be attributed to upheaving forces,
or, as sometimes happens, to both causes.
These upheavals, when they have occurred
after the deposits of the coal measures, as at
La Salle, Utica, Carbondale, St. Johns, and at
other points, lift the St. Peters sandstone some-
times from hundreds of feet below to the sur-
face, and thus bringing the coal beds also up.

Near the count}- line, the Little Wabash
bluffs are sometimes eighty feet high; near the
railroad bridge they are thirtj' to forty feet,
near Ewington about the same, and fifty to
eighty feet high near the north county line.

The bottoms of the Wabash are an eighth to
a quarter of a mile wide.

The hills near Salt Creek are often quite
abrupt, sometimes seventy-five feet high; its
bottoms are low and generally narrow, with
quicksand in many places in the crock bed.
Near Sugar Creek, Shoal Creek and Green
Creek, the hills are somewhat steep, bottoms
very narrow, and beds of the streams very
sandy. On all the other streams in the county

the bottoms are much wider, and contain much
excellent agricultural lands that is now being
put in cultivation. The streams also possess
the great advantage of much lower hills, and
that are of a more gradual and easy ascent.

The prairie in the western part of the county
is not so flat as that in the eastern, yet it maj-
be all pronounced flat prairie, with occasional
ponds, on the margin of which may be found
Cephalanthus occideiitalis and Iris versicolor.
In the woods are post oak. pin oak, white oak,
black oak, hickory, sugar, elm, laurel oak, sassa-
fras, ash, hazel, sumach, iron wood, buckej'c,
sycamore, red-bud. linden, hornbeam, Spanish
oak, grape vines, plum, clematis, trumpet
creeper, red birch, etc., etc.
■ Geological Formations* — It is an anxiom of
general application in geological science, that
there is an intimate relationship existing be-
tween the physical geography and the geolog-
ical histor}- of every portion of the earth's sur-
face, and in all cases the topographical features
of a country are molded by, and therefore
must be, to some extent at least, a reflection of
its geological structure.

If this geological axiom could but find its
way to ever\' school-room, then would this
chapter, provided it is a lair presentation of
the geological and physical geography of the
county, become the most interesting and use-
ful book ever placed before either the children
of the schools or the community at large. To
the future farmer, and to all dependent upon

• Throughout this chapter we have made free draftjj upju^he
" Economical Geology of Illinois," by A. H. Worther, whoae inter-
eating report of the geology of th.-* Stiite of Illinois is just now from
the press, and na its title page says, " Puhlished by authority of the
Legislature of Illinois," 1S82, and the changes it has undergone from
the surface agencies of more modern times. The varied conditions
of mountain and valley, deep goigo and level plain, ai-e not the re-
sults of chance, but, ou the contrary, are just as much due to the
operations of natural laws, m the rotations of the earth, or the
growth and continued existence of the various species of animals
and plants whiidi inhabit its surface. Moreover, all the varietl con-
ditions of the soil and its productive capacities, which may be ob-
served in different portions of our own State, are traceable to the
causes existing in the geological history of that particu.ar region,
and to the surface agencies which have served to modify the whole,
and prepare the earth for the reception and sustenance of the exist-
1 iiig races of beings. Hence, we see the geological history of a coun-
' try determines its agricultural capacities, and also the amount of
population which it may sustain, and the general avocation of ita
1 inhabitants.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

him, an indispensable beginning of tlieir edu-
cation will commonue with the investigation of
these important subjects as they exist in their
own count^v, tiieir own township and upon their
individual farms.

Tiie whole earth was once a globe of liquid
fire. The radiation of heat from the surface
resulted in the gradual cooling of the mass,
and thus the first rocks were formed. Geology
teaches that the earth has been in process of
creation through countless ages, and has ar-
rived at its present condition by regular stages
of growth or development in some respects
analogous to those which characterize the life
of an animal; that these have been eflfeeted by
the same general law of progressive develop-
ment which characterizes every development
of nature, and apply with equal force to the
mineral, the vegetable and the animal king-
doms, that all, from the minutest globule, as
shown by the microscope, to the grandest world
that revolves around its controlling central
sun, is alike subject to the control of unchang-
ing laws; that through these laws, order has
been evolved and the earth finally fitted and
prepared for the habitation of man.

These changes have been going on forever;
so long that the human mind utterly fails to
grasp the immense duration of the earth's his-
tory, that have preceded the coming of the
now existing races of beings. You can no
more enumerate these j'ears, periods and aeons
than could you count the grains of sand re-
(juired to form a solid globe like this, or the
drops of water contained in all its waters, or
the number of cubic inches in infinite .space.
Geological time is measured onl}' by periods,
and each period is measured by an immeasur-
able number of years.

The eternity of the past is as incomprehensi-
ble as the eternit}- of the future; it is impos-
sible to conceive when the material that con-
stitutes this earth did not exist in some form,
and equally impossible to conceive a period in

the future when it will not exist ; nothing has
ever been or ever will be anihilated. Nature's
laws are eternal and unciiangeable, alwa3's pro-
ducing like effects from like causes ; the law
of change is the vast clock of God that ticks
off the feons, that had no beginning, no end-
ding. The organic being may die and the con-
stitutional elements of which it is composed
be returned to the earth and atmosphere from
whence they came, but no portion is lost or
destroyed in the process.

Natural forces are manifested by motion, and
various effects produced, such, for instance, as
the attraction between particles of matter in
solution, by which the}' are caused to assume
a definite form of crystallization. Perhaps the
thought may be a new and startling one to the
reader, that the forces that give form to the
cr3"stal are llcing forces, and that, in this sense,
life really pervades all matter. Hence every
mineral assumes its own peculiar form of crys-
tallization, and that, too, with unerring cer-
tainty. The formation of the crystal is the
unmistakable effort and force of nature toward
organic creation — the first results of a great
law that has culminated in the creation of all
tlie higher forms of organized beings.

The time that has elapsed since the present
race of beings were first here is much greater
than the popular mind has been prepared to
admit. Prof Agassiz, in a work on the coral
reefs of Florida, clearly establishes the fact
that this living species of coral have been at
work on that coast for more than 70,000 ^ears.
Capt. E. B. Hunt, of the United States Corps
of Engineers, for many jears at Kej' West, in
Florida, published in Silliman's Journal, the
evidences that the existing corals that built
the limestone formations of the Florida coast
had been at work there for at least 5,400,000
years. Sir Charles Ij3'ell admitted in his last
work "Antiquity- of 3Ian," that there are clear
evidences that the human race have inhabited
this continent more than 100,000 vears.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

The earliest formed rocks having resulted from
the cooling of mineral matter existing in a
state of fusion, are termed' primary igneous
rocks.

When the surface of the earth had become
sufHcientl3' cooled, the aqueous vapors of the
atmosphere were condensed into water, and
the oceans and streams were formed. The
waters, bj- their solvent and eroding influence,
aided bj- other atmospheric agencies, acted
upon the hardened j'ocks, wearing them away;
and the disintegrated material, being carried
by the streams to the bottom of the ocean,
were there deposited to form the _ stratified
rocks. These two causes — Are and water —
have given origin to all the rocky masses
known. Sometimes the sedimentary or strati-
lied rocks are subjected to heat or other agencies
l)y wliich their original formation is changed.
The}' then are called metamorphic rocks.
Thus sandstone is converted into quartz or
quartzite, and limestone into crystalline mar-
ble, etc. These constitute, in the simplest
form, the three classes of rock which enter
into the formation of the earth's crust.

The ancient oceans, like those of the present
day, were filled with organized beings, and the
shell of the mollusk, and the hard, calcareous
habitation secreted by the coral, become im-
bedded in the constantly accumulating sedi-
ment at the bottom of the ocean; and when
this sediment was hardened into rock, these
organic remains were preserved in a fossilized
condition, so perfect and entire that the general
character and habits of these ancient animals
may be studied and determined in a most sat-
isfactory manner. These fossils, though be-
longing to a species now extinct, and in many
cases, to a genera tliat are no longer rep-
resented among living species, are nevertheless
referable to the four great sub-kingdoms of
existing animals, and man^' of them to the
same families, and sometimes the same genera.

Some of the stratified rocks, especially the

limestone, are composed almost entirel}' of the
calcareous habitations and bony skeletons of
the marine animals that lived in the ocean
during the time these beds were in process of
formation, with barel}' enough mineral matter
to hold the organic materials together in a
cemented mass. Thus we find that these simple
types of life have pla^-ed an important part in
the formation of the solid framework of the
globe. The same process is now being re-
peated, and in this way nature preserves her
own records of succeeding creations, linking
them all together by the unerring characteris-
tics of a common origin and weaving them
into one complete chain of organic existence,
which beginning with the lowest and simplest
form — Protozoa — culminates in the final ap-
pearance of MAN, the highest and complete re-
sult of creative energy.

As before stated by these records of the
rocks, it is established that upon this continent
we find the traces of man ruinimg back 100,090
years. To us these would certainly be " old
settlers," but geology, paleontology and zoology
hold suspended their judgment and patiently
investigate, turning over the pages of stone and
prying out the marvelous secrets that have
been securely locked and guarded for us in the
protecting bosom of mother earth for millions,
perchance billions of years. The question of
how these beings came here is answered by
the beautiful and never-changing forces of
nature. That prepotency of the natural forces
that account for every " form and qualit}- of
life." IIow they then came we substantially
know. How they go is another and a more diffi-
cult question. That the earth at regular re-
curring periods is filled with vegetable and
animal life that come and grow and flourish
and pass away, leaving not a wrack behind.
That the earth, but now vocal with life, is to-
morrow a barren solitude locked in the noise-
less sleep of death to commence again at the
lowest beginnings of life — the yeast plant

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

probably in the vegetable, the rliizopods, the
humblest of the known in animal origin — and
continue the upward circle until the earth is
again re-habilitated, to be again desolated, are
fields for the investigator and for speculation
that are enough to appall the ordinary mind by
their magnitude.

The astronomer tells us of the astronomical
day and night, that are in duration about
twenty -one thousand 3-ears, and upon this the
speculative scientists (some of them only) have
constructed the plans of creation to be, that
these recurring periods of life and solitude
upon the earth correspond — the life with the
astronomical day, the dead and barren with
the astronomical night.

In this work of life and death they agree
that heat is, as well here as everj-where else,
the motive power that produces life, while cold
is the productive power of death.

Evidences are found nearlj' all over Illinois
of the presence here of glaciers, those rivers of
moving ice, that slowly travel from the north
and from one to five miles in thicliuess, and it
is easy to conceive that in their track no life
is left. In the rock beds of Lake Superior
they gathered up and dropped here and there
the bowlders that are so frequently found in
our county. Some of these are found on the
surface and others are deeply buried in the
soil, presenting evidences that these glaciers
came at different and repeated times, but how
long between them cannot be known.

One of these oval shaped bowlders was found
in digging a well, near the Van Machine Shops,
in this city, in 1870; it would weigh about
two hundred and fifty pounds. Nearl}- one-
third had been plained down, by the moving
ice that had carried it from the Lake Superior
regions, and presented a smooth and polished
appearance. It was twenty-two and a half feet
below the surface and the strata of earth
above it gave no evidences of disturbance, but
lav as they had lieen deposited in the long

course of time; where it laj' it probabl}- was
the surface when it was left there by the gla-
cier.

Petref actions. — Some very remarkable petre-
factions were found in 1854, in the work of
constructing the Illinois Central Railroad,
when digging the "cut" through the hills of
the Little Wabash, where the road crosses the
river, and on this side of the river.

In order to get dirt, to make a " fill " in the
river bottom, they dug into the side of the hill
from the cut, and down to about the general
level of the road-bed. After drifting back a
few feet, they found a strata of hard limestone
rock about sixteen inches thick running horizon-
tally into the hill, and this was six to eight
feet above the level or bottom of their drift.
The ascent of the hill was gradual from the
road-bed, and when they had removed the dirt
and stone until they were taking it some fifteen
or twent}' feet below the hill surface, they
found these petrefactions at the level of their
drift and beneath the strata of rock mentioned.
As the earth was cleared away, thej' found
many evidences that they were following what
had once been the earth's surface. They found
the stumps and partially preserved bodies of
trees that presented the appearance of having
grown or fallen where they were found.

They found specimens of petrified wood, that
were piled out of the waj- of the workmen,
making a pile as large as a cord of wood.
One stump that had every appearance of still
standing where it had grown, was perfecth"
petrified, except the bark, and it was plainly
marked by the ax that had been used in cutting
the tree. At the root of the stump were per-
fectl}' preserved chips — partiallj' petrified —
that told again unmistakably of the use of the
ax. In the claj' soil, on a level with the foot
of the stump, was found the imprint of the
fallen tree where it had lain and decayed.

The rock was above the petrefactions, fifteen
or twenty feet of earth above the rocks, and

^jS- . >^

/-|r

|~. 4^'-^''"*

S^vw:^^^ 6^^^^^

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

upon all this was the great forest trees that
had stood there for centuries.

AVe are indebted to Joshua Bradl}- and
H. B. Kepley for the facts just given.

Human Remains. — All over the country have
been found what are known as Indian relics,
the most common being heart shaped flint
rock, that were doubtlessh' used for pointing
arrows, and were the savage's ammunition with
which he warred and hunted; stone axes ai-e
also found, but no authenticated specimens of
pottery. We have in this count}- none of the
works of the Mound-Builders.

In the extreme southern part of the county
along the Wabash River, but more especially-
across in Clay County, in the heavily timbered
bluffs and brakes of that stream, are many
evidences of there once being an extensive
burial ground of some unknown people.

Beneath the big oak trees have been found the
curious graves of which some are still well pre-
served. Thej- were made by being dug down
probably thirty inches, and the rude sarcoph-
agus formed by placing a stone slab at each
side of the vault, and was completed by 'a
similar stone covering. In this stone bos,
which generally is not over three feet square,
was placed the body in a half sitting posture,
the feet and head as near together as thej-
could place them.

Tlie surface geology of our county is one of
the greatest importance to the farmer and to
all classes dependant upon him. The time
will come when the 3-oung chililrcn, and the
old, too, most probably, will be taught these
things until farming will be as much of a science
as anything else. To understand the beds of
superficial material that are spread unconform-
ably upon the rocks, all over the State — the ac-
cumulations of clay, sand and gravel, called
drift — is now of the greatest importance to the
farmer. By tliese can he know the wants and
proper capabilities of his land — how to care
for, protect and feed it and supply its impera-

tive wants the same as he can now his calf or
pig. The entire agricultural interests in the
count}-, as well as the common intelligence of
all our people, are interested here alike, because
the soil is predicated upon this superficial
detritus and owes its productive qualities, in
part at least, to its homogeneous character.

Our soils are mainly composed of mineral
matter in a finely comminuted condition, to
which is added, from year to year, the vege-
table and animal matters which are accumu-
lated upon the surface. If the superficial
deposits are absent, the soil is formed by the
decomposition of rocks, upon which it rests.
If the rock is a sandstone, it will form a light
sandy soil; if a clay shale or other argillaceous
rock, a heavy clay soil will be the result; and
if a limestone it will produce a calcareous soil,
so there will be a marked change in the soil
with every variation which occurs in the char-
acter of the underlying rock strata.

In the drift deposits will never be" found anv
valuable mineral deposits. And the fragments
of lead, copper, iron and lumps of coal that are
sometimes found in this drift are often believed
by the ignorant to be proofs of valuable mineral
deposits, where there are none. in rare
instances, minute particles of gold have been
thus found and charlatans, professing to be
geologists, have proclaimed these to be valuable
gold or silver mines.

These deposits, while so far they have been
often used to play upon ignorant credulity, are
by no means destitute of valuable materials
for industrial use. They furnish the clay, brick,
sand and tile that are so generally in use; they
are the great reservoir that hold so secureh-
the sweet, pure, cold water tliat supplies our
w-ells; they are tlie agriculturist's bank of de-
posit, where, when he learns to properly draw
his check upon it, is supplied with inexhausti-
ble wealth with which to honor all his drafts.

State Geologist Worthen reports of Effing-
ham Count}' as follows:

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

West of the Little Wabash there is exposed
in the National road four to six feet of brown
cla}- resting on blue clay, with bowlders.

On the bank of Green Creek, near the north
county line, is exposed —

Ft.

1 Brown soil 1

2 Brown sandy clay 6

3 Brown sandstone 4 inches to 1

4 Sand and pebbles 2

In the railroad cut south of Watson — •

Ft.

, Brown clay (loess) 8

Clay and sand with pebbles 20

On Bishop's Creek —

Ft.

Brown and buff clay 13

Blue clay and bowlders 15

On Salt Creek—

Ft. In.
Brown and buff clay (thin)

Sandy conglomerate 6

Blue clay and bowlders 8

In Sections 17 and 30, Township 8 north,
Range 5 east, there are regular beds of ferrugi-
nous drift conglomerate, two to three feet in
thickness.

A citizen of Efflngham (Wes. Stephenson), en-
gaged in well-digging, reports the following gen-
eral sections of wells:

Ft.

1 Soil and subsoil 1

2 White, buff and blue clay (loess). ..... 10

3 Red clay and j^cravel — hardpan.. 3 to 4

4 Hardpan, blue-gray cla}' and

gravel 12 to 24

5 Sometimes black clay 3 to 6

The sand and gravel that furnishes the abun-
dant and excellent water all over the county,
and especial!}' here in the city of Effingham, in
inexhaustible quantities, is found from thirteen
to twenty-four feet below the surface.

On the prairies in the southeast, water is ob-
tained from twelve to twenty feet; at Watson,
sixteen feet; in the southwest, twent}'; at Mason,
eighteen to thirtj-. The deepest wells known in
the county are G. W. Nelson's, fifty feet, through
clay and coal measure rocks to good limestone

water, and at Jesse Newman's place in Mason,
145 feet. This last had only a scant supply of
water.

Coal. — The State Geologist estimates that a
coal-shaft at the cit}- of Effingham would have
to go down 900 to 950 feet in order to reach
Vein No. 5. Tliis is a five-foot coal vein. It
lies below Coal No. 9, six inches; No. 8, three
feet; No. 7, five to seven feet; and No. 6. two
feet six inches.

The onlj- remarkable bed of coal yet found or
worked in the county is G. W. Nelson's, in Sec-
tion 20, Township 6 nortii. Range 4 east. A pit
was opened here and good coal procured. The
vein was reported three feet thick, but six miles
down the creek, at Mahon's, it was only ten
inches thick, and on Limestone Creek, in Sec-
tion 18, Township 6 north. Range 5 east, it is
sixteen inches thick. These designated out-
crops indicate a decided easterly dip. The
same coal is also found on Big Creek, in Section

25, Township 7 north. Range 4 east. The State
Geologist catalogued this vein as No. 16, count-
ing from the lowest upward.

On Salt and Brush Creeks there is a six-inch
seam of bituminous coal, which is catalogued
as No. 17. Its sure guide is two thin even la}--
ers of gra}- limestone, occurring about four feet
above, and abounding in Spirifer pJano-convexus.
This has been reported sixteen inches to two
feet thick, but it is probably an overestimate.
A thin seam of coal was also found in Section

26, Township 9 north, Range 5 east.

Can coal be found here? This is now a ques-
tion of deep interest to the people of the county.
In the total absence of any definite knowledge
upon the question, commendable but perhaps
foolish struggles have been made and monej-
and time expended to test the question. Men
and their drills have been brought here, and a
boring was made south of the depot a few years
ago, and all an}- one learned was that their
money went into a hole, where it will never
come out.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

The people of Vamlalia made a much more
expensive investigation a few 3ear3 ago than
our people made. At immense expense, they
carried a shaft (the water was here unusually
strong) to the depth of 474 feet, and there
stopped.

The shaft at Centralia was sunk to the depth
of .")7() feet, at which depth a seam of coal seven
feet in thickness was found. This coal is 370
feet l)elow the Carlinville limestone in that shaft,
and if the strata retains the same thickness at
Vandalia, thej- stopped eighty feet above the
Centralia coal seam. These borings indicate a
decided increase in thickness of the stone strata
toward this part of the State, and therefore the
coal will be deeper here than at Centralia in that
proportion.

Wiieu j'ou know what you have to do it is easy
to prepare and do it. We make no doubt coal
will be found here some day and worked to good
profit, even if wo do have to go 900 or 1,000 feet
to it.

Iron Ore. — The drift conglomerate occur-
ring in Section 17, Township 8 north, llange 5
east, is three feet thick and contains a good
deal of iron ore. It crops out on a point of
the hillside extending for thirtj- feet across. A
similar deposit occurs near the mouth of Big
Creek, in Section 30, Township 8 north. Range
5 east. Coal measure shales on Big Creek
abound in man}- concretions of oxide and car-
bonate of iron; there are also some in other
localities, but the quantity is insufficient.

The sandstone below Effingham, in the fos-
siliferoiis portion, is very ferruginous. Red ox-
ide of iron occurs on Beech Creek in sandstone
over Coal No. 15.

Buihling Rock. — On Sugar Fork, near its
mouth, there is a good quarrj' of hard sand-
stone, and one of silicious limestone on Green
Creek above the mouth of Sugar Fork.

Eversnian's quarry has furnished a firm, gra}-
sandstone. This is two miles south of Effing-
ham, on Salt Creek Bluff's. On M. V. Park's

farm, adjoining the city of Effingham, is a
quarrj- that has also furnished the most of the
rock for foundations in the citj-. Very good
sandstone, in thick beds, occurs in the bluff's of
Shoal Creek near its mouth; on Fulfer Creek,
iu Section 2, Township 6 north, Range 5 east,
near Ilamsej' Creek, half a mile from its month,
in Section 27, Township G nortii. Range G east,
and on Big Creek, in Section 29, Township 9
north. Range 5 east.

There are good limestone quarries on Lime-
stone Creek and on Fulfer Creek. A good deal
of rock used on the National road was ob-
tained here and at Mahon's on Fulfer Creek,
and also on Big Creek. The best rock for the
production of lime is found at Nelson's coal
bank.

Mineral Waters. — Few if an}' counties in
the State are better supplied with medicinal
waters than this. So far the}' are wholly un-
developed sources of wealth and industry.
Douglas, Watson, Mason and Jackson Town-
ships have each springs that possess good min-
eral qualities, some of them strong, and tliat
some of these many waters when analyzed and
once understood, will become widely popular
and beneficial to mankind we make no doubt.

In Jackson Township, on Sam Winter's land,
Section 32, Township 6, Range 5, are two fine
springs, and while they are not more than
a rod apart, are wholly difl'erent iu their
medical properties. These springs were once
the favorite rendezvous of the Indians. Mr.
Winters tells us that before these springs were
fenced, cattle woUld come there for miles to
drink of these waters, passing other drinking
places in order to quench their thirst in these
delicious waters. The neighbors have for a
long time understood the value of these springs.

In the same township, near James Larimer's
and David Mitchell's, on Section 16, Township
7, Range 5, southwest quarter of .southeast
quarter, is a fine flowing spring, that has iron
unquestionably, and probably sulpiuir.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

In Mason township, in Section 2, Township

6, Range 5, about three miles north of the town
of Mason, are three springs, known as Sulphur
Springs. These have been estensivel}' inves-
tigated by Dr. Slathcws, and the_y are already
resorted to by a great many people.

In Watson Township, Section 22, Township

7, Range 6, on land op the I. C. R. R., near the
farm of Andy Parks are still other and very
fine springs. In the recent sale of tlie lands of
the railroad, these springs were reserved, and it
is said the road intends to improve and de-
velop this health resort.

The Origin, mid Formation of Prairies. —
For many j-ears this subject has been under
discussion by some of our most eminent men.
Among the first to enter at any length upon
the subject was Hon. Walter B. Scates, former-
ly of the State Supreme Court, Prof Whitney,
of the Geological Survey of Iowa, and Prof
Winehell, the eminent geologist of Ann Arbor
University, continued it at great length, and
Prof Lesquereux joined also the investigation.
Mr. Worthen, the State geologist, realizing the
great importance of the people of Illinois of
this subject, requested Prof Lesquereux to
give his latest and best conclusions in refer-
ence to it, after his recent discussions with
other eminent geologists.

The Professor holds that prairies are, at our
time, in process of formation along the shores
of our lakes — Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, etc.,
as also along the Mississippi and some of its
affluents, especially the Minnesota River. The
formation of these recent prairies, whose ex-
tent is not comparable to that of the primitive
ones, is peculiar, and has the greatest analogy
with that of the peat bogs. Where the lake
waves or currents strike the shores or the low
grounds, and there heap materials —sand, peb-
bles, mud, etc. — they build up more or less ele-
vated dams or islands, which soon become cov-
ered with trees. These dams are not always
built along the shores; they do not even always

follow their outline, but often inclose wide
shallow basins, whose waters are thus shel-
tered against any movement. Here the aquatic
plants, sedges, rashes, grasses, etc., soon
appear, these basins become swamps, and, as
it can be seen near the borders of Lake Michi-
gan, though the waters may surround them,
the trees never invade them, never grow upon
them, even when the swamps become drained
by some natural or artificial cause. Along the
Mississippi and the Minnesota Rivers the same
phenomenon is observable, with a difference
only in the process of operation. In time of
flood, the heaviest particles of mud are depos-
ited on both sides of the current, along the line
of slack water, and b}- repeated deposits, dams
are slowly formed and -upraised above the gen-
eral surface of the bottom land. Thus, after a
time, of course, the water thrown on the bot-
toms b^' a flood is, at its subsidence, shut out
from the river, and both sides of it are con-
verted into swamps, sometimes of great extent.
Seen from the high bluff's bordering its bottom
land, the bed of the Minnesota River is, in the
spring, marked for miles hy two narrow strips
of timbered land, bordering the true channel
of the river, and emerging like fringes iu the
middle of a long, continuous narrow lake. In
the summer, and viewed from the 'same point,
the same bottoms are transformed into a green
plain, whose undulating surface looks like im-
mense fields of unripe wheat, but forms, in
truth, impassible swamps, covered with rushes,
sedges, etc. B^- successive inundations and
their deposits of mud, and bj' the heaping of
detritus of their luxuriant herbaceous vegeta-
tion, these become, by and by, raised up above
the level of the river. They then dry up in
the summer, mostly by infiltration and evapor-
ation, and when out of reach of flood, they be-
come first wet, and afterward diy prairies.
Prairie du Chein, Prairie la Fourche, Prairie la
Crosse, etc., as their names indicate, a,r& towns
located upon formations of this kind. These

HISTOKY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

splendid patches of prairie, though of a far
more recent orgin than the immense plains
above them, are, nevertheless, true prairies,
bordered on one side b}' the high, timbered
bimka of the bottoms, a fringe of trees separ-
ate them still from the actual bed of the river;
nevertheless, the trees do not invade them.

This peculiarity of formation explains, first
the peculiar nature of the soil of the prairies.
It is neither peat nor humus, but a black, soft
mold, impregnated with a large proportion of
ulmic acid, produced b}' the slow decomposition,
mostly under water, of aquatic plants, and thus
partaking as much of the nature of the peat as
(hat of the true humus. In all the depressions
of the prairies where water is permanent and
unmixed with particles of mineral matter, the
ground is true peat.

It is easy to understaml why trees cannot
grow on such kind of ground. The germina-
tion of seeds of arborescent plants needs the
free access of oxj'gen for their development,
and the trees especially in their youth absorb
b3' their roots a great amount of air, and de-
mand a solid point of attachment to fix them-
selves. Moreover, the acid of this kind of soil
by its particularly antiseptic property-, promotes
the vegetation of a peculiar group of plants,
mostlj' herbaceous. Of all our trees, the tam-
arack is the only species which, in our northern
climate, can grow on peaty ground; and this,
even, happens onl^' under rare and favorable
circumstances; that is, when stagnant water,
remaining at a constant level, has been invaded
b}' a kind of mosses, the Spliagnuin.

To this the objection is made* that if the
prairies are so formed they would be univer-
sally flat and horizontal. And Winchell has
replied to the objection that the assertion that
it is not the peat in the prairie soil that keeps
them prairies, because trees do grow and flour-
ish upon them when planted there.

* Atwater, in St/Ziman's Journdi, Volume I, page IIG, and Rouine
same jiturnal, Volume II, page 30, both hold thatvriiirica originated
from swamps. "While Winchell, Desce and others make the ohjec-
tioD considered above.

These apparently strong objections are an-
swered by Prof. Lesquereux and others, that it
is not proper to refute one assertion b}- another;
that it is a well- settled fact in botanical physi-
ology, that trees absorb by their roots a certain
amount of oxj-gen necessary to their life. It
is in accordance with this principle that trees,
to thrive well, ought not to be planted too deep,
that most of the species of trees perish when
their roots are buried in a stratum of claj' im-
permeable to the air, or underlaid bj* clay im-
permeable to the water; that whenever the
water is dammed to make a pond, all the trees
are killed on the whole Hooded space; that still
water always ^ills a tree, but there are .some
trees with roots so formed into many and tine
branches, that they maj' live in moving waters,
or running streams. Thus, the bald eyprus
and lupelo that, in the South, grow in the mid-
dle of creeks and bayous, are enabled to get air
from the waters that are moving and changing.
De Candole, in his book on Vegetable Phj-si-
ology, saj-s that a constant irrigation necessary
for the rice culture in Lombard}^, was a great
inconvenience, because the water penetrates
the ground of the neighboring properties and
kills the trees. That '• water left stagnant for
a time on the ground rots the trees at their
column, prevents the access of oxj'gen to the
roots and kills them." That " in the low
grounds of Holland the}' dig, for planting trees,
deep holes, and fill the bottom with bundles of
bushes, as a kind of drainage for surplus water,
as long as the tree is youug enough to be killed
by humidity." That " the true swamps and
marshes have no<trees, and cannot have any be-
cause stagnant water always kills them."

As to the assertion that trees will grow on
the prairies when once introduced, this, .all ad-
mit, is certainl}' true. But one should take
care to make a distinction between the results
of an artificial and those of a natural one.
When trees are planted on the prairie, the soil
is conveniently pre-prepared. The clayey'

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

subsoil mixed witli the black mold forms a
compound wliicli combines densitj' of certain
parts with the lightness of others, and contain
a great proportion of nutritive elements. If the
cla3' of the subsoil is not too thicli to be im-
permeable to water, and then to retain it around
the roots, this prepared or artificial ground is
indeed, very appropriate to the growth of trees,
But has anybod}' ever seen oaks or hickory, or
any other kind of trees, grow on the plains from
a handful or from a bushel of acorns or of nuts
thrown upon the surface ? Wh}^ then, if trees
will grow on the prairies, do we not see those
isolated and far-between cluster of trees, which
appear here and there on the borders of ancient
lakes, cover a wider area, and by-and-b3- invade
the whole prairies ? Some of these trees have
lived there forages; their trunks are strong and
thick, and their branches widely expanded, are
shaken, and their fruits swept awa}- bj' the au-
tumnal storms, and nevertheless their domain
is restricted by the nature of the ground to
limits which they have never surpassed.

The soil on the pi-airies of Illinois varies in
thickness from one to four feet, and even more
sometimes. How has been produced this
enormous coating of black mold which covers
the clay subsoil ? This subsoil could only be
produced by water. Complete oxidation of
vegetable remains has never resulted in the
heaping of such a peculiar thick compound as
the .soil of the prairies. Even in our oldest and
still virgin forests the humus is never so deep.
In some bottoms, the arable grounds ra.ay be
found as thick, but it is not the result of vege-
table decomposition, but of successive accumu-
lations of mud by floods. We must then con-
sider this prairie soil as formed under peculiar
chemical action, Ijy a slow oxidation or decom-
position of vegetable matter, retarded in its ac-
tion by water, in preventing the free access of
oxgen, as it lias happened in the formation of
peat. But in this last matter, the oxidation is
much slower and less complete, and water be-

ing permanent, not exposed to change of levels,
cannot bring into it the elements of fertility
which it gives to the soil of the prairies. This
soil, as before stated, is half peat and half
humus.

The great proportion of ulmic acid contained
in the prairie soil is perceivable in its slow de-
composition when exposed to atmospheric ac-
tion. The overturned sod of the prairies would
scarcely become decomposed and pulverized in
two or three years, if its disintegration was not
helped b}' repeated plowings. It is this acid
which, in too large proportions, renders the soil
sometimes hard and sour. But it has also the
propert}' of preserving for a long time the fer-
tilizing elements mixed with it. Hence, it is
one of the causes of the long-continued pro-
ductiveness of the prairies. Under the influ-
ence of stagnant water, and the remains of ani-
mals which have inhabited it while the soil was
in process of formation, silica especially, with
alumina, ammonia and other elements, have
been left in the soil, in such proportions as to
make its extraordinary fertility, and especiall3-
its inexhaustible productiveness for grasses;
for by the unpermeability of the under clay, the
fertilizing elements have been left in the soil.
As natural meadows, our prairies have fed for
centuries, innumerable herds of buffalo and deer,
etc., which roamed over them, and now they
will feed and fatten our herds of cattle for as
long a time as we may want or save them for
that purpose. But more important than this to
the agriculturist is the great fact taught hiui
who has the intelligence to investigate and un-
derstand the soil of our prairies, namely, that
by the peculiar compound of the prairie soil, it
will, under proper cultivation, produce, for an
indefinite length of time, crops of cereals, corn,
wheat, etc., as rich as may be obtained from the
richest bottom lands, and without anj* apparent
diminution of the productive capacity of the soil.
Even if, by successive crops of the same kind,
the upper soil should become somewhat de-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

prived of its fertilizing elements, especially of
its silica, lime and alumina, so necessaiy for
the growth of corn, we know by experience, as
well as the geologists know by its formation^
that the subsoil is a real mine of these fertiliz-
ing elements, and that deep plowing will re-
turn to an exhausted prairie land its primitive
fertility.

For the culture of trees also, the foregoing
explanation of the formation of the prairies give
directions in accord with what experience
teaches us to be right. To plant trees which
do not like humidity — fruit trees especially —
dig deep holes, pass through the clay to the
drift, and thus establish a natural drainage.
Fill, then, the bottom of the hole with loose
materials, pebbles, bushes, sod, mold, or any
debris, and thus you have the best ground that
can be prepared for the health and long life of
trees. When this cannot be done, and shade
trees are desirable, for example, plant, in any
hole deep enough to contain the roots, elms,
buttonwood, white locusts, sugar tree, maple,
etc., all species which live generally along the
rivers and support a ccrtahi degree of
humiditj^, and they will thrive, if only they
get some air through the ground which covers
them.

The prairies of the West, especially of Illi-
nois, are in harmony and agree with the destiny
of our people, even to a greater extent than our
rich and extensive coal fields. Like these pro-
digious sources of combustible mineral, they
clearly point out the future race of men which
is called to inhabit them, and profit by their

immeasurable and inexhaustible fertility. While
one of these formations is destined to furnish
an immense population the elements of indus-
trial greatness, the other is ready to provide it
with both the essential elements of life — bread
and meat. Hence, the prairies have their place
marked in the future history of mankind. They
do not indicate or prophecy luxury, laziness
and dissipation of life, but hard work, abun-
dance, and the enjoyment of freedom and true
manhood.

Etfingham Couuty is, and will be for years,
an agricultural county. Whilst the black loam
is not so deep here as in the corn counties north
of us, yet the peculiar formation of the surface
soil is such that there never will be waste for
the stored plant food that Will be here for ages,
and always ready to respond generously to the
farmer who knows enough to find it. For grass
and the cereals it' may be prepared to equal, if
not excel, any county in the State. Already in
wheat it stands the first, both in quantity to
the acre, and in the quality. Deep plowing is
the farmer's key to wealth here. Deep subsoil
plowing will make these ruinous droughts almost
whoU}' disappear, as well as prevent from harm
the heavy falls of water that alternate with the
droughts and sometimes one and sometimes the
other send dismay to our people. And when
this deep subsoil plowing is followed up with
tile drainage, it will bring the true wealth and
abundance to our people that will both surprise
and please. It may not in the end prove the
best of corn land in our State, but in all else,
she may indeed be ' Queen of the May."

HISTORY OF EFFOGHAM COUNTY.

CHAPTER III.

ORGANIZATIOX OF THE COUNTY— ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE CREATING IT— LOCATION OF FIRST

COUNTY SEAT— EXTRACTS FROM THE EARLY RECORDS- FIRST LAND ENTRIES— CENSUS

AND TAXES-MARRIAGES— SCHOOLS— THEIR ORIGIN AND IMPROVEMENTS— SOME

NEW FACTS AND .THEORIES ON EDUCATION— WILLIAM J. HANKINS���

EARLY ELECTIONS— EFFINGHAM IN THE BLACK HAWK WAR.

" Ye builded wiser than ye knew." — Pearre.

THE act of the Illinois Legislature creating
aud defining the boundary' lines of Effing-
ham and Jasper Counties bears date February
15, 1831. The two counties were organized in
the same act, in which there is not a word iu
reference to what other county or counties the
territorj' is taken from. The Legislature pro-
ceeded to designate bj' township lines the
boundaries of the two counties. The county
of Jasper is first defined, and then it proceeds
to describe Effingham County as " beginning
at the northwest corner of Jasper County."

The territorj- comprising Effingham Count}-
was taken from Fa3-ette County-. Faj-ette was
taken from Bond, and Bond from the good old
mother county of all the counties in Illinois —
St. Clair.) In the royal train of daughters of
St. Clair County this would, properly speak-
ing, be a great-grand- daughter.

This county is just thirty days the junior of
Cook County. Chicago was then a small, out-
lying precinct of Crawford Count}', that so
worried the Tax Collector when he had to go
there to collect the taxes, as it would cost him
always more than the entire tax to defray
expenses.

The act incorporating Effingham County
proceeds in the usual phraseology of such
enactments, and defines the boundary lines as
follows :

" Beginning at the northwest corner of Jas-
per County, running south with the line there-

of to the southeast corner of Township No. 6,
thence with the line dividing Townships 5 and
6 to the northwest corner of Township 5 north,
in Range 4 east, thence north with the town-
ship lines to the northwest corner of Section
19 of Township 9 north, Range 4 east, thence
east with the section line to the northeast cor-
ner of Section 24, Range 6 east, thence 'South
with the township line to the southeast corner
of Township 9 north, thence east to the north-
east corner of Township S north, iu Range 7
east, and thence south with the range line to
the place of beginning."

I The act appointed John Hale}', James Gal-
loway and John Hall Commissioners " to lo-
cate the seat of justice for Effingham County."

It then recites that '-the said Commissioners,
or a majority of them, are hereby required to
proceed to examine the said Commissioners
(sic?) respectively, at any time they may agree
upon previous to the 1st day of November
nextj'and, xcith an eye to the best interests of said
counties, shall select a suitable place for the
seat of justice."

" The Commissioners respectively are hereby
empowered to receive from the owner of such
land as they may select for the purpose afore-
said, a donation of not less than twenty acres.
Or they may receive donations In money,
which shall be applied to the purchase of lands
for such purpose, and. in either case, they shall
take good and sufficient deeds therefor, grant-
ing the land in fee simple for the use and ben-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

efit of said counties. The Commissioners, if
tliej' stiall select lauds belonging to the Gov-
ernment, shall purchase a half quarter-section
for the use and benefit of such county, pro-
vided they shall receive donations in money
sufficient to make such purchase or purchases."

The act proceeds to state that " when the
Commissioners shall have made the selections
of land for the countj' seats of the two coun-
ties, the}' shall report their proceedings to the
Recorder of Crawford Count}- for Jasper and
to the Recorder of Fa3'ette County for Effing-
ham." It then requires the Recorders of these
counties to keep the same in their respective
offices until the said counties shall be organ-
ized, when they shall transmit the same to the
Clerks of the County Commissioners' Court of
the aforesaid new counties respectivelj'."

If the Commissioners for this countj',
Messrs. Haley, Galloway and Hall, ever made
a report of their proceedings in selecting a
seat of justice for this count}' to the Recorder
of Fayette County, as the law required, it can-
not now be found in the records. There is no
doubt but they did. They selected Ewington,
and named it in honor of Gen. W. L. D. Ew-
ing, then a leading lawj-er and afterward a
prominent politician of the State, who resided
at Vandalia.

Why the county was named Effingham is
not known. The bill to incorporate the county
was the work of Gen. Ewing, William Linn
and Joseph Duncan, and it is said the name
was the suggestion of Gen. Ewing. James
and Joseph Duncan had donated the twenty
acres mentioned in the legislative act when
they instruct the Commissioners, all three of
them, to act " loith an eye to the best interests
of the count}'." How they expected three
men to go about the business with " an eye "
we cannot imagine.

After the Legislature incorporated the coun-
ty, matters seem to have remained quiescent
until the 20th day of December, 1832, when

the Legislature passed an act authorizing
p]ffingham County to hold an election " to elect
three County Commissioners, a Sheriff and a
Coroner." The designated places of election
were Ewington, and the house of Thomas I.
Brockett, and further designating Jacob Slo-
ver, John Loy aud Levi Gorden as the Judges
of the election at Ewington, and William
Tbomasson, M. Brockett and Jonathan Park-
hurst the Judges at Brockett's. This election
was held January 1, 1833. No record of it can
be found.- Theophilus W. Short, Isaac Fancher
and William J. Hankins were elected the first
County Commissioners, aud they proceeded to
organize the County Commissioners' Court in
Ewington on the 21st day of January, 1833,
by the appointment, first temporary and then
permanent County Clerk, of Joseph H. Gilles-
pie, who at once entered upon the discharge of
his duties.

Henry P. Bailey had been elected Sheriff at
the above-named election. John C. Sprigg had
been appointed February 15, 1833, Circuit Clerk
of the ci lunty by Judge Wilson. Sprigg's com-
mission bore date, Vandalia, February 15, 1833.

Here then, February 15, 1833, the whole
county legal machinery was put in motion, and
Effingham became in fact as well as in name
a live, active, absolute county. The County
Court at this term merely organized and ad-
journed, no county business being transacted.
The court met in session again February 4.
Its first official act was to divide the county
into two voting and election precincts. The
voting place of one being Ewington, and Levi
Jordan, John Loy and Jacob Slover were ap-
pointed Judges. The other precinct voted at
T. I. Brockett's, and John Martin, William
Brockett and William Thomasson were the
Judges. Court adjourned. It met again the
next month, March, and its first act at this ses-
sion was the first time in the life of the county
that it made an order on the Treasurer, as fol-
lows :

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

" Ordered, that thirty cents be paid the
County' Clerk for postage and one dollar for
services, and also one dollar to each of the
Commissioners, and one dollar to John Broom
for services as Constable at this term of court."

Prom this ver}- little fountain flows a peren-
nial stream that will always flow and never
stop.*

In May, 1833, the first Circuit Court con-
vened in Ewington. Theophilus W. Smith,
Presiding Judge, and John C. Sprigg, Clerk of
the Court. Henry P. Bailey, Sherifl". The
grand jurors were Seymour R. Powell, foreman,
Martin Davenport, John Trapp, John Gana-
way, Hickman Lankford, John P. Fairleigh,
Kinton Adams, James Levitt, Alfred Warren,
James Hudson, James Martin, Newton E. Tar-
rant, James Neal, Stephen Austin, Harrison
Higgs, John Martin, Charles Gilkie, Levi Jor-
dan, Levi Self, Thomas I. Brockett, James
White, Robert Moore, Samuel L. Reed.

The petit jurors were Uriah Moore, Thomas
Williams, Ben Campbell, John Mitchell, John
G-eorge, John Allen, Jacob Slover, Joseph Nes-
bitt, Andrew Martin, Jesse White, James
Howell, Amos Martin, Richard Cohea, Andrew
Lilly, John Maxwell, Dan Williams, Duke Rob-
inson, Henrj' Tucker, James Porter, William
Tibbs, Jesse Pulfer, Enoch Neaville, John K.
Howard, Michael Robinson.

There were four cases on the docket, name-
ly : John Beasley vs. Robert Moore, trespass
on the case ; Andrew Bratton vs. Simeon
Perkins, appeal ; John MaxQeld vs. John
W. Robinson, ditto ; William 31. McConnell
vs. Jacob Slover, set fa to foreclose. There
were three lawyers at this court, namely :
A. P. Field, Levi Davis, W. L. D. Ewing.
Of these Levi Davis, of Alton, is the only sur-
vivor. The grand jury returned three indict-
ments into court : T. W. Short, for selling liq-

*The flret Constables in the county, John 0. Scott and John
Broom, attended upon this court. A license to sell goods was
granted tii John Fuiikhouser, and at the next June term Eli Cook
was granted a similar license.

uor without license, William Crisap, adultery,
Martha Hinson, fornication, and adjourned
its labors.

At the June term, 1333, of the County Com-
missioners' Court, the only business was the
following order :

"That J. H. Gillespie be allowed for clerk-
ing on day of sale of lots, 1.50, ordering
bonds, .50. 2 quoirs of paper for to make rec-
ord books, 50 cts. Rent of house for holding
court in, 1.50."

These record books, for which •• 2 quoirs of
paper " were purchased, " for to make," are
lost. A fact much to be regretted. At this
term of the court, James Turner succeeds Fan-
cher as Commissioner, but there is no explana-
tion how this came about. The County Court
appointed John Loy Countj^ Treasurer, and
William J. Hankins County Surveyor. In 1833,
there was a public auction of lots in the do-
nated twenty-acre part of the town of Ewing-
ton, S. R. Powell, auctioneer, and J. H. Gilles-
pie, clerk. Twenty-two lots were sold. The
highest price paid was ^(34, by Hankins, and
the lowest wis $8.12^. The average price per
lot was $24.46. About ten times their value
now.

The county court made an order to T. W.
Short for $1.87 J, "for whiskey furnished on
the da\^ the lots were sold." The county was
divided into three road distriot-i, and Rnad Su-
pervisors appointed, Andrew Bratton for Dis-
trict No. 1, Jonathan Parkhurst, No. 2",- and John
Broom, No. 3. The subjects of count}' and
cart roads was of the first importance to the
people. Among the first acts of the Commis-
sioners was to order N. B. Tarranv and Joseph
Rentfro to la}' out a cart road from Ewington
to the county line, in the direction of Wither-
spoon's mill, in Shelby Count}'. Another road
was made, a count}' road, aud ordered worked,
namely, a road from Fairfield, via Ewington,
to Shelbyville.

The Government had commenced work on

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

tlie National road in 1820 in this county, and a
considerable force was stationed at the Little
Wabash, engaged in building a bridge across
this stream. Workiueu's shanties had been
constructed, and this fact, no doubt, caused
Ewington to be selected as the county town.
They were very rude, miserable pens and
sheds, and yet tlie first people there, as well as
the first Circuit Courts, utilized them as tempo-
rary resting places.

Tlic work on tlie National road in this coun-
ty stopped ill 1?.>3, a little west of Ewington.
The bridge across the Little Wabash, although
expensive, was a tumble-down affair. It was
soon washed awaj', and the stone abutments
were carried ofl' by the people to wall their
wells and for foundations for their buildings.

The new county was thus left much as na-
ture had made it in regai'd to roads. A pony
mail, at first weeldy, was carried from Terre
Haute to St. Louis. Anotlier mail route, of
the same kind, was from Fairfield to Shelby-
ville. When the streams raged the mails
stopped. But as there were few people here,
and still fewer that could read and write, and
as letter postage was 25 cents, and not
prepaid at that, it was probably a blessing that
tlie people were not smothered with our mod-
ern avalanche of mail matter. Nevertheless, a
crying want of the people — a want not yet
wholly satisfied, although many thousands of
dollars have been washed toward the Gulf in
the form of bridges^was roads, and passable
bridges across the streams. The Commission-
ers made commendable efforts to supply this
want. But the^' were not skilled civil engi-
neers, nor were their contractors, apparently,
that did the work. But they had this great
advantage of the present. They built cheap
structures, and when thej' floated away upon
the muddy torrent, they left at least the conso-
lation that they had not bankrupted tlie un-
born generations to come.

The court notified contractors to send in

their bids for a number of contemplated
bridges in the county. James Cartwright and
T. W. Short, John Funkhouser and Gillen-
waters, among others, seem to have been the
principal builders. There were neither pens,
paper nor circumlocution wasted in these im-
portant business papers. For instance : " I
will build the bridge across the Wabash at
Brockett's for S588. (Signed) John Trapp."
Or this : ■' I will dam the work agreeable to
the present contract for one hundred and fiff-
teeu dolls if high water dont prevent. T. J.
Gillenwaters."

Can tlie school-teacher improve on this :
"James Cartwright, bid for Brig $h")8.00."
Or,

•' I will do the work at Ewington bridge for
a dollar less than any responsible bidder.

" JouN Funkhouser."
These papers were not addressed to any
person or tiling. They were without date or
flourish of any kind. E plurihus unum.

The next pressing, public necessity after-
roads and bridges, seems to have been a county
jail, induced probably by the following : On
the 30lh July, 1833, John Cooper was ar-
raigned before Esquires Gillespie and Han-
kins for larceny. The preliminary examina-
tion resulted in the following commitment :
" it was adjudged by us that thar was proba-
ble ground for his guilt and hes failed to give
security for his appearance at the next cir
court he was committed to the jail of Shelby
county as there was no iail being provided in
this county." To this incentive was soon after
added the circumstance that one Charles Lewis
was arrested for a horse-thief. And during
1834-35, Sheriff Bailey certifies that nearly
every able-bodied man in the county was paid
in county orders for at one time or another
guarding Lewis. The fact is, the expense of
holding this man a prisoner for more than a
year cost the county double all other county
expenses except bridges. In 1833, a jail was

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUXTY.

built, made of logs, and was locked with a
very fair padlock. There was not money
enough, it seems, to bii}- the lock for some
time, but as the door swung outside the Sheriff
propped it good and fast with leaning poles
and rails. We will do the court the justice
to mention that this was intended onl}' as a
temporary structure. It answered very well to
hold men while they wore sleeping off their
drunks. In fact, it did in its time keep safe
sober criminals when it was constantly sur-
rounded by well-armed, vigilant guards. The
architect and superintendent of this public
structure was T. W. Short. The county paid
him $10 for his services. Levi Jordan and
James Krai were paid $496 for building the
jail.

At the March term, 1834, appears the follow-
ing order : " Ordered that the coart proceede
to a point a county treasurer for the present
Year. What a pon it a peared that John Loy
and T. J. Gilenwaters was aplicants it apears
that John Loj' is apointed."

The election of a Treasurer being so sue-
cessfally completed, the following county leg-
islation was had : •' Ordered, That no Taveru-
Keeper or Grocery Keeper in this County
shall charge more than twenty five cents for a
meals vituels and Twenty Five Cents for a
Horse feed Lodging 12^ Cents. Twent}- five
Cents for a quart of Whiskey and twelve and
a half Cents for a pint of Whiskey, not exceed- I
ing fifty cents a quart for Brand}-, Wine and j
Gin and not exceeding eighteen and three
fourths Cents per half pint for Brandy Wine
and Gin Rum at the same as Brandy Wine
and Gin."

Bless their good old souls ! They gave no
heed to those vile decoctions, lager beer, apple-
jack and black strap !

The jail being ofl' the hands of the court,
and a secure place provided for the surplus
part of the communit}-, the following proceed-
ings were had with a view to restraining the

running at large of other stock : " Ordered,
that the letting of the bilding of an Estraij
Pon be let to lowes and mos responcible bider
on the 13 day March in the town of Ewington
to be sitawated on the north west corner of the
Publick sqare of the following description to
Wit Sixty fete Sqare the ponnells ten fete
long the posts to be of Mulberry hewen eight
inches sqare two feet in the groun and seven
fete and ahalf above the two fete in the to
Scorched the Railing to be of White Oak tim-
ber such as will not spring either heweu Sawed
or Split to be not over six inches wide nor
under three thick oil of which shal be in com-
plyance with Law regulatin the building of
Bstray Pons and that the Clerk Advertise the
sam b}' pasting written notices."

At March term, 1835, contract made to build
court house. Contract price S580.37i^. Built
same year by Hankins & Cartwright.

December 11, 1829, Robert Moore purchased
at the Land Office in Vandalia the east half of
the southeast quarter of Section 7, Township 8
north, Range 5 east — the first land entr}- ever
made within our county limits.

July 9, 1830, Riley Howard entered the west
half of the southwest quarter of Section 11,
Township 7, Range 4. September 30 of the
year, Robert Moore entered the east half of
the northeast quarter of Section 18, Township
8, Range 5.

In 1831, there were four land entries — -R.
Peebles and W. H. Brown in Section 7,
Township 5 ; Alfred McDaniel the northeast
quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 2,
Township 6, Range 5, and some Polanders en-
tered a half quarter-section in the northwest
part of the county. There were no entries in
1835. Several small tracts in 1833, then there
were a verj* few scattering entries until 1838.
This year and 1839, the land market was act-
ive for this count}-, due to some extent that it
was these two 3-ears that marked the advent of
the Germans that have built up Teutopolis

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

and now own a large portion of the surround-
ing countr}-.

Tlie first deed recorded in the county bears
date February 27, 1833, Isaac Fancher and
Amy Fancher, his wife (her mark), to T. J.
Gilleuwaters; consideration $500, and conveys
by quit claim east half of northwest quarter
of Section 36, Townsliip 8 north, llangc 5 east.
The officer vouches that he " examined the
wife separtely," etc. Then follows a number
of deeds by ditferent men and their wives in
which there is nothing of special interest until
one is reached that is signed by T. W. and
Sally Short. Sally was the first woman that
ever in an instrument of record in the Circuit
Clerk's office who did not make " her mark."
The land market continued esceediuglj- dull,
and entries few and scattering over the county
until 1852-53. Then people began to realize
that a railroad was coming — coming like a raj-
of light and hope. To this stimulant of tlie
land market was added the enactment by Con-
gress of what was known as the "Swamp
Land Act," by which, upon proof by the coun-
ties that certain land were •' swamp and over-
flowed lands," the Government would give all
such lands to the respective counties (reallj'
first to the State and the State to the counties)
that were not entered, and if entered, then the
Government would refund the entry money in
kind.

In 1856, Congress had passed the " Bit
Act." In other words, it said that all lands
that had been a certain number of }-ears in the
market could be entered for 12^ cents per acre,
provided the applicant therefor made oath
tliat he was buying for his own use and for
actual settlement and cultivation. It is as-
tonishing what a spontaneous uprising of actual
and intended farmers this act made in a night,
in and around Vandalia, of all classes of men,
women and even school children. The act was
a wise one, and it closed the Vandalia and all
other land offices in Illinois, except Springfield,

where the others were taken to. Thus all the
lands became corporate and private property,
and in one way or another have been made to
contribute their share to the wealth of the
country.

In 1835, the Countj' Court removed Loy
from the Treasurer's office and elected Sam
Huston, and at the same time appointed Huston
a Commissioner to take the county census.
The enumeration of the people was carefully
made and, from the best data now to be found
(Huston's books being lost), the entire popula-
tion was about one thousand or one thousand
and eight in the year 1835. These settlements
still were Blue Point, Ewington, on the Lower
Wabash, on Fulfer and Second Creeks and in
Union Township.

Loy was County Treasurer in 1833 and 1834,
and his 2 per cent for the funds for two years
amounted to $8.S7A^. Or in other words, the
entire funds the county possessed for two years
was $443.75.

From the organization of the county until
some time in the " forties" the entire tax upon
all property was five mills on the dollar. The
whole revenue from taxes in the count}" the
first year was $50. The next year it rose to $58
The increase upon tliese figures was verj-
gradual. Indeed, so much so, that in 1837 tlie
total revenue collected in the county was
$122.27.

The heaviest taxpayer in 1837 in the county
was John Funkhouser, $5. The next heaviest,
Robert Moore, $3.25; John Martin, $3. Then
• followed Joim McCoy, Presley Funkhouser,
Riley Howard, W. J. Ilankins, Bartholomew
McCann, William Freeman, C. Duncan and John
Trapp, $2 each. T. J. Gillenwaters paid $1.75.
There were 142 names on the tax book, and
they averaged 86^ cents each.

If there were any tax-record books before
the year 1837 kept, which is very doubtful,
they are lost now. The tax record of 1837 is
a little book of ten pages, made for a school

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

copy book; has a paper back, on which is a
wood-cut intended, probably, to represent a
school room exhibition day. Tlie audience is
represented by four or five grown people, all
sitting straight as arrows and as flat against
the paper as if they had been just taken out
of a hydraulic tobacco press ; a like number of
similar looking children are perched in a row
on benches, and a putty-faced little Henry Clay
is on the rostrum. His left hand and arm is
pasted flat and tight to his leg, his right arm
is stiff and straight at an angle of forty-five,
and vou can almost hear his piping treble as
he exclaims;

" How large was Alexander's ^raio!"
The cost of this record book could not have
been less than five cents, because that was
the smallest money they had in those days,
and for the further reason that then it cost
money to indulge in the decorative arts. It is
said that the purchase of this book made a
profound sensation throughout the county and
became the ruling question in politics for some
time, some contending it was too pretty a
book to spoil by writing in it, others holding
that such extravagance would be ruinous to
all, and still others saying that they believed
in the county keeping in the lead in the fine
arts, even if it did cost money. This public
discussion evidently taught the offleial a lesson,
because the book for the next year was made
at home, and consisted of foolscap paper cut
and stitched.

In 1838, W. J. Hankins certifies to the
County Court the following as the total rev-
enue of the county :

Tax on personal property $162 57*

Real estate for 1836-37-38 29 45

Total $192 02i

Marrying and Giving in Marringe. — There
were weddings here when th^ parties had
to go to Vandalia to get the license,
among the earliest of which was the marriage

of Burgess Pugh to Pamelia Jenkins, 1829.
BIrs. John 0. Scott infosms us she attended
this wedding as a young girl. She remembers
the bride had on some kind of a white dress
and store shoes ; that there was chicken pie
and honey for dinner. John Trapp performed
the ceremonj-, and when it was over the groom
told him he would bring him his pay in a short
time in " real strained beeswax." About the
same time Mike Robinson and Delilah Pugh,
and Enoch Neavills and Laura Pugh, Jesse
White and Katie Neavills, Mary Parkhurst and
James Porter were all married.

The first marriage license issued from the
county was January 21, 18.3o, to James C.
Haden and Nancy Nesbitt. The next w\as
March 28 of the same year, to John 0. Scott
and Patsy B. Parkhur.st. The Countv Clerk
was very cautious about issuing marriage
licenses without first having the parents' or
guardians' consent, as the following will show:

" Mr. hankins pies ishue my son fielden
Mcoy licens for Marrieg for I lia\- noe objec-
tions to the sam, Nov. 1835."

Again;

" Mr. Hankins, pleas to let Joiin Chadwell hav
Liesns and you will oblige your friend I Kant
atend to git my self

" RlCIl.\RI> COHEA."

It is proper to explain the above by stating
that Chadwell married Elizabeth Cohea Novem-
ber 10. 1835.

Micheal Brockett married Mary Thomasson
August 18, 1834.

It is certified in the records that on 27th
April, 1835, was '• Laufley joined to gether a.s
husban and Wife Jackson finer, and Sin they
Land."

On 13th June, 1833, Pendleton Nelson mar-
ried Eliza Martins.

July 12, 1836, Alexander JlcWhorter mar-
ried Margaret Loy.

The following tells the story for Elizabeth
Sullivan;

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUXTY.

" I asserte that Eloizabetli Sullivan is over
eighteen years old, and is her own agent.

"Dec, 183-i. "P. A. T. Sullivan."

This document clears up all doubts as to
whether Pat was willing to act as the agent for
Lizzie in the matter of marrying or not. He
evidently was not. But when he was for the
last time appealed to to do something, his ruddy
face glowed a little more than usual, and he
stormed and raved and called for pen, ink and
paper, and fixed himself at the table to fire at
the County Clerk the above formidable State
paper. The imagination can almost see him as
examines carefullj- his pen, dipping it into the
ink, sucking it clean, and again closely examin-
ing it, before spreading himself all over the
table and biting his tongue; the old goose-quill
fivirly creaks and sputters as he puts upon the
virgin paper the truth about his daughter being
" her own agent." He boldl}' " asertes " that
she is, and holds himself ready to pummel all
who doubt it or say one woid to the contrary.

The different officials who performed the dif-
ferent marriages in those days seem to have all
dropped into the same style of writing their re-
turns upon the back of the licenses. They
each apparently thought it highly proper to sa}-
that they had " solemnized the rites of matri-
mony," etc. Thev must have met with great
difficulties iu spelling the word '' solemnized,"
as in the different returns it is spelled incor-
rectl}- as manv as fourteen or fifteen times.
For instance: Sollemise, solemize, solemise, sol-
oise, solemside, solemsided, solamis, solmnis,
sollomondise. solimsis, solimize, sollumise, sol
imnize, soUemis, etc.

Among the first of preachers to marrj- a
couple was one who made the following poet-
ical and rather neat return:
"According to law and injunction of Heaven,

On the 2 of June, 1837,
In wedlock I joined, during natural life,

The within Jessee Fuller and Rhoda, his wife.
" Geo. M. Hansen, L. D., M. E. C. '

In searching among these "quaint an curious
volumes of forgotten lore," the following docu-
ment was dug up in the rubl)ish. It is a bill
rendered by James B. Hamilton, and as near as
the types can give it, it is in the following facts
and figures:

" I dowe sertyfy to the Corns Cort of Ktlhig-
ham an State 111 That Mr Henry BouUs Fell
Sick at my hous on 16 July 1840 and was
beried the 25 of the same instant.

Funerl Ex Spences
" For nersin and uersment — maid out —

Mr T.Levitt an H Lankfort 15 00

for plank and nales from Brent Whit-
field 2 00

to Davis for Meckin the Coftn 3 00

to T. H. Gillinwatrs Srawdin 3 25

It is onl)- by inference that the world will
ever know whether Boulls died at all or
not. We are informed that he "Fell Sick"
on the 16th and was "Beried the 25 of the
same instant," and that Gillinwaters furnished
the " Srawdin " (shroud). Who was the damsel
that the bill tells us, at the end of the line
" Nersin an Nersment," was the " maid out " ?
Whj- did she go out? What was she doing
there, anj'how? The account saj-s distinctly
and unmistakably that " He fell " sick " at my
house," not ui my house. If the " maid " was
helping with the " nersin an nersment " she
could not have been in the house to have au-
thorized the announcement that there was a
" maid out."

Schools. — Mrs. John 0. Scott reports the first
school ever taught here was in 1831, by her
brother, Elisha Parkhurst, who at that time was
a mere lad, not over twelve years of age.
Thomas I. Brockett, realizing the pressing
necessities in this line, set about it and cleaned
up and fixed a stable on his premises, and hired
Elisha, whom he overlooked and superintended
and assisted in all emergencies. The neigh-
bors, John Allen, John McCo}-, Lilly, Stephen
Austin, Widow Dagner (two grandchildren),

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

sent their children and made a school of fifteen
or twenty pupils. Elisha apparently was a suc-
cessful teacher, although a boy, and for years
he taught in various parts of the countr}-. The
next school was taught by Dr. John GiUenwa-
ters (a cousin of the Jud^e), in Ewington, in
1833. A room was rented for this in some
private residence. The next in order was Samuel
White, who taught in the garret of Judge Gil-
lenwater's house.

These were pioneer schools, and, considering
all the circumstances, were very good indeed.
The onl}' Latin they ev^er taught was to make
their pupils pronounce the letter z " izzard."
The people of those days, compared with the
present generation, had some very healthy
ideas about schools. They believed a school
was a place of training in the " three R's,"
and that its usefulness stopped at the " rule of
three."

A picture of Elisha Parkhurst's school in
Brockett's stable, more than half a century
ago, would be an appropriate as well as sug-
gestive scene to hang upon the walls of every
school room in our' county.

It was a long time before the rudest log
schoolhouses were erected. The people were
sparsely scattered in the sparse neighborhoods.
They were poor in this world's goods as a rule.
Teachers were scarce, and so were books.
There were a large portion of the grown peo-
ple that could neither read nor write, and some
of these had lived where there was no use to
be made of these accomplishments, and thc^'
had no realizing sense of the importance of
teaching their children to read and write, in
order to prepare them for what was soon com-
ing, namely, mail facilities by the hour, cheap
postage, and abundant and cheap literature ;
a people transformed from trappers and hunters
into an eager commercial and trading commu-
nity, where a ceaseless activity is combined
with that rapid, broad comprehension, that
could every morning look over the movements

of the commercial world of the preceding
twenty-four iiours, and form his conclusions
and put into instant execution his plans and
purposes for the next twelve hours.

In 1838, John Funkhouser, the School Com-
missioner for the county, made a report to the
court of his official acts and doings for the
years 1837-38. The report is addressed to the
" Onorable Commrs. Cort, June, 1838."

He charges himself with $146.76 for the
year 1838. Then follows :

"Dec .5, 1837. Amount paid on last return.
Shoes not demanded, 38.21^."

Total, 184.67f

The inference is that there was $38.21 of the
money of 1837 that had not been called for by
orders, and this swelled the total fund to
$184.67.

He then credits himself as follows :

Paid Thomas Loy for teaching school

ill T. 8, R. 5 28.33i

Riielhi Griffith, do., T. 8, R. 6, . , 9.88

This he says was all he paid out for the year
1837.

For the ne.xt year, he paid Sam Huston,
teacher. $24.79. Thomas M. Loy, do., 41.67.
Charles Gilkie, do., 16.53. Ruella Griffith,
20.12.

This shows that for the year 1838 there was
paid to the four teachers that taught the
schools of the county, $103.10. The number
of school children in the county, from the best
obtainable estimates of that time, was four
hundred. Foiir schools were taught, and one
hundred and twenty-five pupils would be a fair
estimate of tlie number that were in attendance
upon the schools in the county, and 82^ cents
per capita was the total expense.

The assessment for the present year in the
city of Effingham school district is $6,000.
The school attendance is about five hundred.
The difference in then and now is as 82^
cents is to $12 per pupil. Those were in
part pay schools — these are free schools

^T^-e-i'^^,

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Those were managed by the people — these by
the State. There are no statistics, unfortu-
nately, b}- which the comparative illiteracy of
then and now of the rising generation can be
shown. This is much to be regretted.

The fundamental idea of all schools is to
talie care of the mind and morals of children
and train them up in the wa}' they should go
assisted in the moral work by religion and the
church. This i)eing admitted, we have this
light thrown upi.)n the subject of progress
made in intelligence and morals in the lifty
years just past. There has been as marked
improvement in tlie number and qualitj^ of our
present splendid and expensive church build-
ings as there has been in the schoolhouses in
that time. So has the improvement in num-
bers and superiority of ministers of the Gospel
kept equal pace with the race of school teach-
ers of thea and now. It has cost many thou-
sands of dollars to erect the numerous school
buildings in the county. Prom Elisha Park-
hurst's pioneer school room in Brockett's sta-
ble to the elegant and elaborately furnished
high school room of to-day is a long stride in
educating mankind. This was onlj' paralleled
by the places of worship then and now, and to
complete the picture in a ministerial line let
Boleyjack and Beecher stand forth. The ad-
vance all round has been marked and great,
especiall}- in the matter of expense and show.

Are these finger boards lining the highways
back fifty years, that point out an equall}- great
improvement in public manners, morals, or in-
telligence ? Illiteracy is a crime, but so is
pinehuig poverty'. Illiteracy and ignorance
are not. S3'non3'mous terms. But neither are
education and expense synonymous terms. Is
outward change in teacher or preacher, or
great extravagance in the schoolhouses, an}-
proof that morals or education is improved?

The people pour their mono}- into the school
treasury unsparingly. Not only without grudg-
ing, but freely and gladly. Why ? Because

they are told and believe that the S3'Stem is
about perfect, and the onlj- possible cause of
its failure to perfect mankind is the absence of
a sufficient quantity- of it, and its universal ap-
plication to all children. Docs this fifty years'
experience and practice in this count}- prove
this or the contrary ? We have plenty of men
near the age of fifty years who were reared
here, and some of them learned to read and
write after they were thirty years old. Tiie}-
had not the benefit of those primitive schools,
as there are many here now and suc'h there
always will be, who reap none of the benefits
of the modern school. Compare the average
man and woman, natives of this State, who
were reared under the poor, meager pay schools
of the olden time, with the average man and
woman from different States, reared under the
benign influences of the most liberal free
schools. Is illiteracy banished? Do crimes cease
and immorality flee to the mountains before
the mighty tread of this grand army of free
schools ? Is there a proportionate disappear-
ance of the one with the appearance of the
other ? The multitudinous mass of mankind
will say yes ! The figures of statistics will
alone tell the true story.

This is no place to discuss the question of
how to make better the common school, even
if it is one of supreme importance. We pass
to other parts of the subject, content with this
statement. The schools are based upon the
idea that all can and should become i)hilos-
ophers, with no difference among men, except
in degree of advancement. Whereas the truth
is that the best and most difficult thing for so-
cietj- to do is to produce gentlemen. True, it
is that the home influence and training is where
this precious commodit}- to societj- is mostlv
to come from, yet if the schools ever arrive at
the point where they can, even in the smallest
degree, supply this to the children of homes
that have it not, then will there be the com-
mencement of the real school. Then ma}- the

HISTORY OF EFFIKGHAM COUNTY.

school teacher, surrouncled bj' his school family,
like the proud mother of the Gracchi exclaim :
"Behold, these are mj- jewels! "

Men have interested themselves in education
since recorded, and even before recorded time.
The earliest traditions present only grown men,
seeking to educate themselves. Children then
were left to grow, with only the restraints or
training that society and home forced upon
them, their education being left to their own
exertions after they became men and women.
Remember that silch schooling advanced all
mankind — made civilization out of barbarism.

A little book entitled " Ten Days in Athens,"
gives us some account of a school, taught in
the porches and the gardens by Epicurus. This
little book tells the .secret of the intellectual
greatness and glory of Athens, that immortal
citj' — the mistress and nourishing mother of
civilization — ^whose grand work has for 3,000
years stood as a beacon light upon tiie troubled
waters. The school of Epicurus had no aid
from the State, it had little, if any more, ele-
gance or paraphernalia than did the boy teacher
— Elisha Parkhurst's school in Brockett's stable.
It was without books. Yet it was a fountain
of profound philosophy, from which his fol-
lowers might drink, and drink long and deeply.
The routine of his school-room were his con-
versations in which he gave them the ripened
wisdom of his mind. He gave them true knowl-
edge — that knowledge that lifts truth from error;
the great doctrine that the highest and most en-
during pleasure in life is the acquisition of new
truths that come of the better understanding
and comprehension of the mental and physical
laws; that this alone destroyed ignorance, and
that ignorance is the fruitful source of the evils
that afflict mankind. In discussing the gods,
he bluntly told his pagan school that their
dieties no more caused rain to come to make
the grain grow than did they send the rain to
rot in the field the gathered l)ut ungarnered
products of the farm; that to worship these

gods in the hope that the worship would be
pro-rated and paid in future great favors was
not the most ennobling religious idea of which
a great and pure soul could contemplate or
have.

What, think you, would this old pagan
scliool teacher say, could he now pay us a visit,
and be taken to Oxford Universit}', and in
solemn soberness shown the exact and priceless
facsimne, that is there so carefully preserved, of
the horn that blew down the walls of Jericho?

Epicurus had been reared in paganism; he
had been cradled in its lap, had taken it with
his food from his mother's breast, and, like all
men, had adopted the religion of his fathers.
Yet he grew to be intellectually almost a demi-
god. He did not grow to think in the old
groves of formulated ideas where " to dally was
to be a dastard — to doubt was to be damned.''
He was nominally a pagan, but he wor-
shiped truth alone, and with " an eastern de-
votion he knelt at the shiine of his idolatry."
He was illiterate, but who in the ages since he
was upon earth has been great enougli to take
his master's seat in the school-room ?

Another great man, but not his peer, was
the Swiss, Pestolozzi, the school teacher who
lived and taught school a hundred years
ago. He believed and taught that there was
much error in the fundamental idea and system
of the schools. He contended that mere mem-
orizing from books was not education, was not
the source of knowledge; that knowledge came
not by being told so and so, either by the books
or the teacher, but bj- experimental lessons
where not only the brain, but the heart the
eye, the touch, in fact, all the avenues to the
brain were not only partakers but become part
and parcel of the lesson.

Pestolozzi took issue with the schools as the
system and science of teaching had been the
accepted practice for sixteen hundred years
before his day. He established a school and
attempted to put in practice his theories. His

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

school was a failure, not because of the defects
of his discoveries in the system, but because
he tauglit in advance of his day — a cause of as
much loss to manlvind probablj- as all other
causes combined. It is true that, in the insti-
tutes and conventions of teachers we are told
and re-told, as often as these bodies meet, that
all schools arc now taught strictly upon the
" Pestilozzian plan," as they term it. Go study
what the great Swiss saj-s, and 3'ou will be
amazed at the wide misunderstanding that
exists between his ideas and the practices of
the school room.

The profound thinker, Locke, has slapped
the faces of the first schools of Europe, with
the "learned ignorance" thej' annually pour
upon the world, labeled " Education." He tells
them illiterate intelligence is infinitely prefer-
able to " learned ignorance." And yet a
United States Senator, in Congress two years
ago, in discussing some school subject, an-
nounced that " every illiterate person in our
country is a menace to our free institutions,"
and from the fact that he did not say that he
had any fears of ignorance, it is a fair presump-
tion tiiat the Senator, in common with most
men who think v^aguely and talk loosely, con-
founding words with a shocking recklessness,
used the word " illiterate " when he meant
ignorance.

Richard Grant White discussed very ably re-
cently, in the North American Review, the ques-
tion •' The Public Schools a Failure," in whicli
he arrays the statistics of lUiterac}' and crime
of a certain number of States north of the Po-
tomac with an equal number south of that river.
They were States of free public schools and
States without them, classified and compared.

In the United States Census of 1870, Dr.
Earle discussed at much length the question of
public schools and insanitj-, and basing his con-
clusions upon the Government statistics, he
draws some frightful conclusions.

A committee of gentlemen in Chicago, deeply

interested in the schools, who had Iicen ap-
pointed to investigate the subject in tiiat city,
reported unanimously that the}' could arrive at
no other conclusion but that the whole system
had been so pressed and pushed by the cr}- for
improvement that they were now almost value-
less as a means of education.

A prominent school man of California sums
up his investigations, and he has no hesitation
in putting down as his best judgment that the
whole system is so full of faults that it is of
doubtful value. These men may, and it is to
be hoped they are, in error upon this vital
question; yet they start a discussion that can-
not but prove wholesome. It is the waters that
are stirred that are pure and liealthy.

Educate! Educate! Teach all men, though
what is true education first; then you cannot
provide too much of this, nor is the necessary
cost a question for a moment's consideration.
Because it is the inestimable boon to man— the
basis of civilization and man's welfare.

The young State of Illinois manifested a deep
interest in this important subject. On the 13th
of April, 1818, it was admitted as a State in
the Union, and Congress in tiie act of admis-
sion offered for the State's " free acceptance or
rejection " the following among other proposi-
tions :

1. "That section numbered sixteen in every
township, and when such section has been sold
or otherwise disposed of, other lands equivalent
thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be
granted to the State for the use of schools.

3. " That five per cent of the net proceeds of
the lands lying within such State, and which
shall be sold b}' Congress from and after the
1st daj- of Januar}', 1819, after deducting all
expenses incident to the same, shall be re-
served for the purposes tbllowing, viz.: Two-
fifths to be disbursed under the direction of
Congress in making roads leading to the State,
the residue to be appropriated by the Legisla-
ture of the State for the encouragement of

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

learning, of which one-sixth part shall be ex-
clusively bestowed on a college or llniversitJ^"

These propositions were accepted b}- the
State Constitutional Convention at Kaskaskia
on the 26th day of August, 1818.

January 15, 1825, the Legislature passed an
act for the " establishment of free schools and
other purposes." An amendment to this act
was passed February 17, 1827, providing,
among other things, as follows:

" The legal voters of any school distuict, at
their regular meetings, shall have power in their
discretion to cause either the whole or one-half
of the sum required to support a school in such
district to be raised by taxation. And if only
one-half be raised by taxation, the remainder
may be required to be paid by parents, masters
and guardians, in proportion to the number of
pupils which each of them shall send to such
school.

"Sec. 4. No person shall hereafter be taxed
for the support of any free school in this State
unless by his or her own free will and consent,
first had and obtained in writing. Any person
so agreeing and consenthig shall be taxed in
the manner prescribed in the act to which this
is an amendment. Provided. That no person
shall be permitted to send any scholar or schol-
ars to such school unless such person shall have
consented as above to be taxed for the support
of such school, or by the permission of the
trustees of said school. And provided, That all
persons residing within the limits of a school
district shall at all times have the privilege of
subscribing for the support and establishment
■of any such schools."

In May, 1827, a general act relating to the
school lands was passed by the Legislature pro-
viding for the appointing by the County Com-
missioners' Court of three Trustees in " each
township where they may deem it expedient,
and where the population tiiereof will admit,
to be called the Trustees of the School Land,"
making the Trustees a body corporate, requir-

ing them within six months after their appoint-
ment to survej' section sixteen, or such other
land as ma3- be selected in lieu thereof, in tracts
not less than forty nor more than one hundred
and sixty acres, make a plat thereof for the
Commissioners' Court, authorizing it to reserve
from sale certain timber or stone or coal lands,
and to lease said lands, etc., etc." These Trustees
were required to la}' off school districts, so that
each district should not have less than '■' eighteen
scholars subscribed or going to school." The
State then levied an annual two-mill tax on the
property of the State for the maintenance of
schools, and thus step by step laid the founda-
tion for our free schools upon a broad and lib-
eral and wise financial plan. The State put the
means in the school men's hands. It did all it
could do in this way in the cause of education,
and if there is any failure in the system, it is
the fault, not of its financial provisions, but of
the organizers and the workmen in the school-
room.

From the little beginning in Brockett's stable
has grown the public free schools of the county,
of which there are seventy -seven school dis-
tricts, that have three log, sixty-three frame and
ten brick schoolhouses, with an enrollment of
pupils of 4,238, a daily attendance this school
year (1882) of 327,659, the average school term
of six and five-tenths months, with the schools
classed as graded, and an attendance upon
these graded schools of 1,449. There were
ninety-five teachers employed. The total
expenditure for 1882 was $30,685.79; the
amount paid teachers, $19,416.51; the highest
monthly salary paid was $75, and the lowest $15,
an average of $31.58. We have a school in-
debtedness of $13,650. There are other than
the free schools — ten schools with an enroll-
ment of 520. The number of children under
twentj'-one 3'ears of age in the county is 9,443,
and the number of school age — that is, between
six and twenty-one — is 6,218. The number of
illiterate persons in the county is placed at six-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

teen. This is palpably an error, but by how
much the number is understated cannot be
known.

The schools of Effingham Count}' rank well with
those of other counties in the State, and this
evidences a commendal)le spirit of enterprise
and liberality of the people. They are deeply
interested in this important work, and the money
they freely paj- in such large sums demands of
our school men a wise discharge of their duties.
It demands of them that thej- shall educate, to
the best, the rising generation; that they shall
neither waste the lives of their children nor
their monej- by false education. There is noth-
ing in this life of more importance than the
school-room. There is no class of people that
are surrounded with such important responsi-
bilities as the educator. A mistake here is a
crime. To teach the young a falsehood is to
poison the mind and pollute the soul. The evils
of such an act are well-nigh incurable. Here is
the" paved highwaj' to ignorance and meutal
sterility that is a menace indeed to civilization
itself.

Let it be remembered that these pioneers
had to begin at the foundation and from
there build. To create our possessions and
belongings. Did the}' build only upon the
eternal rocks !

William J. Hanlcins. — Of the early legal
and official life of this county, we know of no
man who stands out in the picture more promi-
nently than Judge William J. Hankins. He
came here just when he was most needed and
his finger marks are everj'where, telling the
story of his handiwork, and writing his epitaph
in the hearts, not only of his descendants, but
of the thousands who are reaping, and who
will in the future enjoy the fruits of his labors
and his foresight.

He came here in 1832, with a wife and sev-
eral j'oung children — impelled, doubtless, by
the Napoleonic impulse of destiny. A new
county had been incorporated by the Legisla-

ture, and its people were few, and there was a
demand for men competent to do the work
of placing the infant municipality upon its
feet. An unorganized communitj- of people
were placed by law to themselves, and society
and fellowship was to be created, their own
police and local laws to be made and executed,
the wheels and machinery of a little govern-
ment were to be constructed and adjusted, and
the whole to be so ad.apted that it would work
harmoniously and without friction.

It is the men of the strong intellects and
force of character that come to the front when
important work, especially work that is not
routine, is to be done. Judge Hankins, in his
small way — smaller because his field of opera-
tions was, in the nature of things, circum-
scrilied within the smallest limits — is as much
an expression of this truth as was the Little
Corporal, whose " frown terrifi(^d the glance its
magnificence attracted."

In the first elections ever held in the count}-,
Hankins was elected County Commissioner,
and he organized the County Commissioners'
Court and was the central figure in all the
official acts and doings of that body. He was,
at the same time, County Survej'or, Justice of
the Peace, Postmaster, and in nearl}' every im-
portant special commission, or supervision, or
agent for tiie people or county, he was invari-
ably the master, mover and leader. At one
time or another he held about every position
of public trust in the county, and in each and
all was he ever honest, faithful and com-
petent. His education in the school books
had been limited and meager. His chirography
was good; his spelling bad and his grammar
fault}', and yet he wrote many legal and other
documents and papers that are models of terse-
ness, completeness and perspicacity. He evi-
dently had been his own schoolmaster mostly,
and he had wrought out for himself a practical
education of great value to himself and the
people of the county. He probably, if alive

U. OF ILL Lia

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

and in his prime, could not pass a successful
examination for a fourtli grade teaclier's cer-
tificate, yet it is a question if tliere has ever
been a school teacher in the county but that
could have gone to Hankins to learn — and
there have learned much of incomparable
value. He helped the helpless, aided the
weak, fed the hungry and was a generous and
warm-hearted friend to all mankind, as were
all men who knew him, a friend to him.

Among the simple rustic pioneers he lived a
useful and busy life. If he had amliition, it
was not made of that "sterner stuff" that pro-
tects its friends by crushing to death all oppo-
nents. He must have felt lie was superior to
the majority of his surroundings, yet he was
never officious or offensively dictatorial.

When the county's record of social life, its
legal and official growth and existence, the
people's prosperity, happiness and joy, together
with their griefs and pains are rendered and
the accounts closed, the great book completed,
bound and ready to put away, let it be in-
scribed " The work of William J. Hankins and
others."

Among the earliest elections in the county
was a memorable race made l)y William Free-
man for Justice of the Peace. In those good
days, that official was most commonlj- called
" Squire," not Esquire, but Squire, and some
pronounced it Square. Freeman was ambitious
to serve his country, and to his ear the title
Squire was a long step in the line of honorable
promotion. There was another man who
coveted the prize, and so the two became can-
didates. The contest was spirited, and on the
day of election it was, to put it mildly, red
hot. The candidates and their friends, in
looking for the official worm, literalh" left no
stone unturned. As election day waned, the con-
test raged onlj- the fiercer. It was hurrah! for
one side, and hurray! for the other. Living
witnesses testifj' that before the middle of the
afternoon some of the ablest " blowers and strik-

ers " at the polls had grown so wearj- and ex-
hausted, at Freeman's expense, that they could
not walk straight. This and some other unfavor-
able sj'mptoms so discouraged Freeman that he
went home before the polls closed, convinced
that he was defeated. He had, in slang par-
lance, " thrown up the sponge." He lived two
or three miles out of Ewington.

To ihe surprise of every one, when the polls
were closed. Freeman was elected by two votes.
A few of his friends mounted their horses and
rode to his house to inform and surprise him
with this good fortune. He was in bed, sound
asleep. They roused him, called him out and
told him he was elected Justice of the Peace.
At this he raved and swore, as did the army in
Flanders, and bid his friends go back and tell
the election that he was not, and had not been,
a candidate for Justice of the Peace, and that
he would either have squire or nothing; that
was what he ran for, and he would not be fooled
with by anybody.

He changed his mind in time to qualifj- as
Justice of the Peace, and made an efficient
officer, discharging his duties not only honestl}'.
but with ability.

Of the earlj' comers here, the man first
licensed and authorized to vend goods in our
county was John Funkhouser. His line of
work lay in a different avenue from that of
Judge Hankins, but it was parallel and equally
important to the young commonwealth. He
was a merchant, miller, farmer, trader in stock,
and a buyer and seller in everything that the
people wanted to buy and sell. When there
was no trade or commerce, no stores nor money
before for the convenience of the people, he or-
ganized and made the way for these. He
opened the avenues for money to come and cir-
culate among tlie people, as well as for indus-
tries that furnished imployment to men that,
without him, would have, of necessity, been idle,
and perhaps dissolute. In this w.a}- his depend-
ants outnumbered those of anj- man who has

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

ever been iu the coimU', and his strong, clear
jiulginent, quick foresight and nerve iu those
broad fields of commerce that brought him
profits and the commuuit}' gains aud the means
of many comforts, are bright examples of how
ranch better it is to give in that which encour-
ages men to help themselves b}' their own ex-
ertions than that old and mistaken charity that
do'es out its stinted aids and fosters by it the
idleness and want of thrift that first produced
it. His executive abilities must have been of
no common order. He not only had to direct
and plan his multiform business, but he had to
create it where there was none before, as well
as think and provide for his little armj- of de-
pendants, and so wise and just did he manage
this that what made him a rich man, con-
tributed to the wealth and comfort of the entire
commuuit}'. His liberalitj- and generosity to-
ward his dependants and neighbors is well told
in a little anecdote. He advised one of his
men to plant a little piece of ground in corn,
and he would furnish seed, teams, etc., neces-
sary for him to work it. It was a little out-of-
the-way patch of ground of three or four acres.
This man did as advised, and the season proved
not tlie best for corn. In the fall, he got Funk-
houser's wagon and gathered it, and took it all.
When asked about the one-third for rent, he re-
plied : '■ Why, you see there was no third.
There was only two loads in the field. That
was ray two-thirds, and I reckon as how you
don't want your third, when it didn't grow."

Funkhouser enjoyed this joke the balance of
his life.

John Funkhouser was born in Green County,
Ky., in the year 1778. He died in this count}-,
in 1857. He came to Illinois in 1814, and
located in Gallatin Countj-. He moved to
Wayne County in 1819, and to Effingham in
1833, and improved the fiirm now the property'
and possession of C. F. Lill}^ in Jackson Town-
ship; here he opened a store and built a horse-
mill, and commenced those extensive business

operations that grew and multiplied until the
day of his death.

When his strong, generous and busy hands
fell nerveless at his side in death, his life-work
was taken up, where he had stopped, by his
son, Presley Funkhouser, who proved a worthy
sou of a worthy sire. He not only carried on
successfully the extended operations inaugu-
rated b}' his father, but increased and enlarged
them in every vfny. A willing tribute that is
paid to his memory b}- all who knew him in life,
was, that he was the most generous and liberal
of men. He helped all with a free and liberal
hand. A man of strong head, warm heart, aud
a plethoric purse made him a citizen that was
a boon to the people of the county, whose like
we may never look upon agairj.

The oldest living persons born in the county
are two — -a man and woman, born the same
night, in the same house, and not twins. These
two persons are Thomas Austin and Martha
Tucker, mie Brockett, born 1-tth of November,
1828. Stephen Austin and family arrived in
this count}-, and that night, in the house of
Thomas I. Brockett, with whom Austin stopped,
was born Thomas Austin aud Martha, the
daughter of Thomas I. Brockett. Martha mar-
ried Jonathan Tucker. So far as can be ascer-
tained, these were the first births in the county.
These two oldest children of the county were
born in what is now Jackson Township, where
they are both still residing.

For a new border settlement, where the press-
ing want was people, these two little squalling
pioneers were a most encouraging beginning,
and truly great must have been the sensation
of the day to the half-dozen or so of families
that then occupied all the territor} that now
constitutes Effingham County. Henry Turner
was born December 28, 1830.

Birtiis aud deaths follow each other in nat-
ure's order. The first death that we have any
account of was that of Isaac Fulfer, who was
killed in the year 1829 or 1830. He had found

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

a bee-tree, and the hive was in a limb of the
tree, to where he climbed, in order to cut off the
limb. As he stood by the body of the tree and
cut the large limb, it commenced to fall, and,
instead of breaking directly, split, and that part
uncut held it to the main tree, while the other
part caught the body of Fulfer against the main
body of the tree and pushed it up a consider-
able distance, with such force that he was
crushed to death almost instantly. When the
outer part of the limb had come to the roots of
the tree, the body of poor Fulfer was released,
aild life wholly extinct, it fell and lodged upon
the limb, and the friends of the dead man had .
some difficulty in getting his body down to the
ground.

In 1830, a negro who had been a laborer at
work on the National road, during the winter,
started to go to Vandalia on foot, and was
frozen to death on the way, a '• Dacotah bliz-
zard" meeting him in a short time after he left
the cabin on the Little Waliash. His name is
not mentioned. It is a curious accident that
the first two births should have happened as
they did, and as is related above, as well as it is
remarkable that the first two deaths known
were violent ones.

In September, 1835, the Commissioners'
Court was called upon to provide homes for
the two infant children of Phillip Backer, who
had suffered death from exposure, caused by
an attack of mental aberation. This sad
duty was the first of the kind the court was
called upon to perform, as well as was the
death that left these poor orphans the first of
the kind in the county.

In 1832, the Black Hawk war was in prog-
ress, and this young county sent out its first
warriors. The little battalion was not very
strong in numbers, yet it was a large propor-
tion of the able-bodied men to go to war. Four-
teen names are all that can now be recalled

of these Indian fighters, to wit: Alexander
McWhorter, John Griffy, Henry P. Bailey,
John Trapp, Mike Brockett, John Allen, James
Porter, Eli. Parkhurst, John Beasley, Isaac
Fancher, Alexander Fancher, James Patton,
Gideon Louder, and John Meeks.

Of this little army of our county's first he-
roes that started to the front, keeping step to
the spirited fife and drum, all are now sleeping
in their graves except Alexander McWhorter,
to whose green old age are we indebted for
the brief story that tells of all the county's
heroes in a very important war. Not a great
war, great in its many battles and innumeral)le
slain, but great in its fruits, and its good to all
the millions of people in the Mississippi Val-
ley and their descendants. It was not in a
war tainted with invasion or conquest, those
unholy purposes that stain mankind and make
their battles so shocking in brutalism and bar-
barism; it was to protect their homes, and their
wives, and little ones from the tomahawk, the
scalping knife, and the fire and faggot of the
monster red devils in their cruel and bloody
course, that the noble little band went forth.
The country has not very graciously remem-
bered these, its true heroes and benefactors.
The politicians have had no occasion to spill
over the living or the dead of these heroes
any of their ocean of crockadile tears in order
to catch votes. It has not been fashionable to
do so, and there are no fashion-followers that
can equal the politicians.

There are but few of the soldiers of the Black
Hawk war now left among us. In a very few
short years there will be none. May their
names and their fames be Intrusted to the gen-
tle and just hands of that future historian, who
will, with tears in his eyes and divine anger in
his heart, exterminate false gods and idols, and
resurrect from unmerited forgetfulness and
oblivion, the world's true and modest heroes.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COl'NTY.

CHAPTER IV.

rilAKACTER OF THE PIONEERS— GREAT MEN— CUMBERLAND ROAD— TOLL BRIDGE— THE FIRST
CENSUS— HARD LIFE — HOW BROCKETT PLAYED BULL CALF — PIONEER WOMEN-
WILD HONEY— COFFEE AS BEAN SOUP— DR. BISHOP'S MILLS— THK KILLING
OF HILL— ROD JENKINS AND WHISKY— BOLEYJACK, ETC., ETC.

cessity, not drawn by those who personall}- knew
the originals. It is best this should be so, for,
then, there is most apt to be no prejudices,
either for or against the subjects that constitute
the picture, and false colors are not so liable to
slip in. There is less incentive (there should
be none) to suppress here and overdraw there;
in short, less of prejudice, and consequenth*
more of truth. But men who write are affected
b}' much tlie same prejudices or color of vision
in viewing transactions of which they formed
a part as other men, and for this reason history
is written by strangers, or rather the sons and
daughters of strangers, who live in the long
years and ages after the actors and their imme-
diate descendants have passed awaj.

It requires a remarkable state of society to
produce a remarkable individual. The individ-
ual thus becomes the index to the surroundings
that created him. For, mark you, the great
man, the extraordinar}- — the marked man — is
not a special providence for a special providen-
tial purpose, any more than is an extraordinary
prize pumpkin. One is as much the result of
surroundings that preceded his or its coming
as the other. You look upon the huge pump-
kin in huge amazement, and while you may
not openly confess it, 3'ou in j-our heart believe
that the god of pumpkin-pie has here made a
strong, a long, and a pull altogether. And so
wlien you look upon that crowned monarch of
all mankind — Shakespeare. The one is no
more a miracle than the other. They are both
the results of those laws that never change —

"How sweet the memory of those early days."

IN the preceding chapters we have attempted
to give some account of the coming of the
earliest settlers here, who they were, and in
what order they came, with some sketches that
were intended to serve as illustrations that
would give the reader the best idea that we
possessed of what manner of men they were.
These pen sketches are all that can be given of
a people that have passed awaj', and of whom
the artist and painter had preserved no re-
corded signs. Of necessity, such sketches are
drawn by those who never saw the originals,
and wlio can know of them only by much
talking and communications with those who
did know them long and well, while the}- were
here and playing their part in life. To pick
out tlie representative people of all the differ-
ent classes of a communitj', and draw a true
representation of them — so true that any reader
can gather an actual, personal acquaintance
with those who were perhaps dead before he
was l)orn — is no easy task, yet one, if done well
and truly, will give him a just and correct idea
of those about whom he is studying history
for the purpose of learning. For a certain
quality of society will produce a certain kind
of men, or a certain kind of character — a lead-
ing character with strong marks and signs that
arrests attention, and fixes upon him the duty
of furnishing posteritj' the key to the whole
mass of his fellow-men, who were his neigh-
bors and contemporaries.

We have said that such sketches are, of ne-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

where like causes produce like results always.
If the statistics of a people, together with
the.se ciiaracter sketclies that are the statistics
of that inner life of men, that is a part, and
parcel of tlie first named, are both truly given,
they constitute the true history of that people.
Because a histor}- of a people is only a just
account of so much of the human mind, its in-
fluence upon itself — the influence upon it of the
-surroundings.

In the preceding chapters we have, as nearly
as we could, followed events, and even the in-
dividuals, in their chronological order. We
found that on the 15th of February, 1831, here
was formed a new county, with a pioneer pop-
ulation of about three hundred people, and
aearlj- as many more people here who consti-
tuted the forces at work upon the National
road, that was then in process of construction
through this county.

This road was originally called the Cumber-
land road, after the old stage road from Wash-
ington City to Cumberland, Md., where had
been the resting place for Clay, Jaclison,
Harrison, Randolph, and many other notables,
as they journeyed to and fro from the seat of
government. Tliis road was a national work.
It had been provided for in the reservation of
five per cent of the sale of public lands in Illi-
nois and other .-States, and biennial appropria-
tions were its dependence for a continuation to
completion. When Congress made any appro-
priations for this road, it required that " said
sums of monei|; shall be replaced out of any
funds reserved for laying out and making
roads, under the directions of Congress, by the
several acts passed for the admission of the
States of Ohio, tudiana, Illinois and Missouri
into the Union, on an equal footing with the
original States."

The heaviest force of these workmen was at
the crossing of the Little Wabash, and here
was erected shanties and a little supply store
in 1830.

The county lines now are identical with those
designated by the Legislature in the act of
Feliraarj', 1831, although in 18i5 the Legisla-
ture, in order probabl}- to better fit the county
seats of Shelby and Effingham Counties to
their geographical centers, passed an act to
take from Shelb}- Count}- the north half of
Towns 9, i, 5 and 6, and make them a part of
Effingham Counlj'; provided, the people of
those half townsliips mentioned should, by a
majority vote, so elect. This proposition was
voted down, and the act became null and void.
The bridge over the Little Wabash at
Ewington was a toll bridge. By act of the
Legislature of 1817, it was made a free bridge
after a specified time.

In 1835, Col. Sam Huston was designated
by the County Commissioners' Court to take a
census of the county. There then had gath-
ered here al)out one thousand people, two
stores, about two hundred improvements called
farms, but little clearings, that would not aver-
age over two or three acres each, and stump
mills, for pounding corn into meal, were about
as numerous as the cabins in the county.
Every family was theij own miller, practically,
until a man named Witherspoon started a mill
in Shelby ^Count}-, about twelve miles north of
Ewington. This was a horse mill, and here
the people would gather, await their turn to
put their horses in the mill, and grind out
tbeir grist. Like all new settlers, they labored
under not only the disadvantage of being poor
in all the comforts of life — the plainest neces-
sities even — as well as a complete absence of
those things, such as mechanics, blacksmiths,
wheelwrights, carpenters, etc., that are essen-
tial, in the procuring every aid they were com-
pelled to have. There was little or nothing to
be bought, and they had even less to purchase
with had it been there. In 1829, there were
\ only two or three farms in the couutj' where
j land enough was tilled to use an old " Carey
I plow," and one of these pioneer farmers tells

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

how lie footed it from the south Hue of this
county to Shelb^'ville, canning his plow to
have it sharpeued. Man}- started their " dead-
nin " in the tiinl)er, and dug holes here and
there, planted corn and potatoes and perhaps
a few beans, and thus raised their little trucl^-
patehes, that gave them food or broad at least;
their meat they could procure in great abun-
dance by their rifles. Frequently there would
be but one wagon to a whole neighborhood,
and then for ordinary uses the old '• lizzard "
sled was the universal substitute. This was
made by cutting the forks of a tree, the two
limbs making the runners, and the short end
above the forks with a hole in it to hitch to.
A yoke of scrawny bull calves, a big boy and
all the family of little ones and a dog or two
were the forces that " snaked up " water some-
times, and wood sometimes, and other things
were thus transported short distances. The
calves had to be put to work j'oung ; they were
naturally of a big horned, sharp rumped breed,
and not the best cared for in the world at that.
In fact, John I. Brockett vows and declares
that when he was a good sized lout of a boy,
their extremity in the line of bull calves was
so great that he conceived the happy expedi-
ent of yoking himself up with the onlj- one
his family possessed. The idea was no sooner
conceived than it was executed, with a j-ounger
brother to drive. But John made such a sor-
ry-looking calf that his mate refused to pull,
and wheeled his rump around and turned the
yoke, and thus the_y stood with their iieads in
opposite directions. This would not do. John
had heard of tying oxen's tails together to
keep them from turning tlie yoke. So he got
a cob and gathered it up in the seat of his
leather breeches, and tied the rope fast below
the knot formed by the cob, and this was se-
curely- tied to the calf's tail, and the difficulty
was overcome and the team re-hitched to the
" lizzard." The calf again tried to twist him-
self around and turn the yoke. He pulled till

John's suspenders " popped," and his leather
breeches stretched out until they were as long
and slim as the calf's tail, when John ordered
his brother to give them the gad. The bull
looked at John, its mate, and bellowed and
plunged and pulled its tail nearly off, and
finally, iu agony and fright, it ran off at full
speed, John doing his best to keep up, or check
the calf, or keep his neck from being broken.
Over the brush, the briers, logs and everything
pell-mell, the frightened calf bellowing, and
the now worse frightened John roaring at his
mother, as the runaways approached the house.
" Here we come, d — n our fool souls ! stop us I
stop us ! we're running away ! "

The single wagon to a neighborhood was
generally kept busy; when not employed by
the owner's work it was hired to the neighbors
the established price for wagon, team and
driver was five bushels of corn a day. This
corn was worth from 8 to 12 cents a bushel.

As a general thing, the evidences are that
the women of the pioneers were more industri-
ous than the men. The majority of them had
to raise the flax, or assist at it, and then when
it was " broke " and " scutched " and '•' hackled,'
it fell to their lot to spin and weave and make
it into wearing apparel and household goods.
They worked often in the truck patches; they
carried the water at a distance often from
springs, and here they would take their clothes
on wash-day, often they picked up the fire-
wood and carried it in their arms to the house.
They dressed the skins frequently, and these
were made into wearing apparel. They made
their own soap and year in and year out in
nearly every cabin stood the " dye-kettle " and
after "dyeing" pretty much all the time, it
was no surprise when they went to church to
be called " poor dying sisters." The " dye-
kettle " was always at the fire-side. A rough
cover made it a convenient seat and many
of our now old people can tell you about :

"How sweet the memory of those early days,"

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

when they sat upon the dear old kettle and
courted grandmother. Tliis reminds us of a
current stor}' of one of the very bashful young
fellows, who called to " spark " his girl, and
when he took his seat on the kettle to com-
mence the long, delightful evening's work, and
his girl, no other seat being handy, seated her-
self in his lap. His delirious first joy passed
away after some time, but the girl talked and
giggled and laughed and continued to talk. He
grew silent as she grew talkative; after awhile
he blubbered out crying at a terrible rate. The
poor girl inquired the matter — ^petted, and
soothed him and clung the closer to him.
Finallj-, the household was raised and when
compelled to tell what was the matter, he
whined and sobbed out" The — kittle — cuts me!"
The edge of the kettle had stopped blood cir-
culation in his limbs, and the dear girl on his
lap had increased its circulation in his heart;
the pain from the kettle was agony; holding
the girl was a delightful ecstasy. He could not
push her off, nor could he endure the suffering
any longer. In his helplessness he cried. Who
blames him?

The first school reports of the doings of the
County School Commissioners are preserved
from being dry, monotonous and sleep-produc-
ing by their brevity and wholesome originalit}',
as well as the regular Chinese puzzles that
some words make by the way thej- are spelled.
For instance the line :

'• Hieronomous Faithout Scagule SIO."
This would look to any ordinarj' stupid
reader as something amounting to $10 had
been paid to one " Scagule," but the eagle-
ej-ed historian had posted himself about everj'
man and woman in the county, all the children,
many of the dogs, stump mills, Indians, green-
heads, pioneer pills, and other luxuries of those
good old honest times — times when a counter-
feit half-dollar commanded a premium, because
it was not onlj' the best but the onl3- money
within reach — we say the historian knew in a

moment that Mr. " Scagule ' had neither taught
school nor done anything else to earn antl get
the enormous amount of $10. He rubl)ed
his sleepy eyes and took another look when
lo, and behold! tlie line was plain :

'' H. Faithout, schedule $10."

Honest Hieronomous Faithout had taught
school for $10 a month and had returned

his " Scagule " in first-class style.

******

In 1830, the first bushel of wheat ever planted
in the county was by Judge Broom. It made
a generous yield, and from here came the seed
that in the after years made much of the wheat
bread of our people. It was sown in what is
now Mason Township. The same man planted
the first orchard here in 1829. He had brought
the young trees with him from Tennessee; were
all grafted trees, and several have told us that,
in the year 1839, they remember getting off
this orchard some excellent fruit. When it is
remembered that up to this year there were
yet but eighteen families in JIason Township,
it evidences that these people were b}' Broom's
care and foresight, afforded a verj' early op-
portunity of sitting down and enjoying their
own vines and apple trees. Until this orchard
came on, the people tasted no other fruit, except
that which grew wild in the woods. These
were crab-apples, plums, grapes and wild
cherry and the variety of nuts found here.

The first really profitable industry here was
the gathering honey. The alternating of tim-
ber and prairie — prairies jeweled with garden
flowers — were favored places for the wild bees,
and, therefore, nearly every tree was the hive
where they lived and gathered their sweet
treasures from the blossoms of the prairie.
The honey was gathered and the wax strained
and both became the really money-producing
products of the country. Honey, beeswax,
ginseng, venison, turkeys, pelts and furs were
the only things possible to send to market to
exchange for such articles as the people wanted.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

And of all these, honey and coon-skins were
the leading ones. These early comers had to
have powder, tobacco and whiskj'. For every-
thing else thej' could kill game. The first sea-
son usuallj- they had to buj* corn for bread,
but the emergencies were frequent when this
could not be got, then they used the lean of
the meat for bread and tlie fat for meat.

In man}- families, coffee was unknown. One
instance is related where a man was quite sick.
In his .young days, he had used coffee, and
when he lay sick he imagined that would bring
him health. Judge Broom went on foot to
Shelby ville and got a pound. When he returned
to the sick man's house he gave it to the
daughters (grown girls) and told them to make
some for their father. They took it out and
examined it for some time, when they went to
the old people and inquired if you made it
" likeother bean soup."

All families did not live this way. There
was then, as now, great difference in the fore-
thought and thrift of the people. Many, even
when here before the county was organized,
lived in generous plenty of such as the land
afforded then anywhere in the gi'eat West.
Meat of a superior quality and in varieties
that we now cannot get were within the easy
reach of all, but in everything else to eat or
wear they were far behind us now, but so was
the whole country-. But what was possible for
men to do then is well illustrated in the sketch
that we give below tiiat comprises the facts of
what the subject did do. In this connection
we may say that we prefer to give the facts
than to try to give the results and let them tell
tlieir own stor^-.

" Dr. Jacob Bishop was born in Hard}-
County, Va., in 1812, and spent his years to
maturity on his father's farm. W^hen of age,
he emigrated to Licking Count}', Ohio, where
he was soon after married to Sarah Hooks.
His father died in 1836, when he was called to
his old home, where he remained until he ad-

ministered upon the estate, which duty he per-
formed to the utmost satisfaction of all inter-
ested. He then returned to his home in
Licking County, where he remained a little
more than a }'ear, and then moved to Etiing-
ham County, arriving October 11, 1841, and
fixed his home at Blue Point. This was
simply going into camp, as for some time his
wagon was his house. With his own hand and
alone he cut and carried, with the help of Met
Kelly, the logs and poles and built his cabin.
He commenced opening a farm. His ax and
auger were about all the mechanical aids he
possessed. Until his first crop matured, his
table, made by his own hands from the first
convenient tree, did not do any of that prover-
bial groaning under the other ijroverbial loads
of rich and delicate viands gathered from the
four quarters o£ the wide and beautiful earth ;
for even 6-cent corn, wliich had to be pur-
chased and direct from the cob, manufactured
at home from the old stump-mill, w.as earning
bread by the sweat of the brow. True, there
were then four old, rickety liorse-mills in the
couuty, but they were so little an improve-
ment on the home stump and pestle that they
were of doubtful advantage.

'•The moment a little leisure from his primi-
tive farming operations was found, he looked
about him and determined to make such im-
provements as his fertile brain suggested and
his hard necessities demanded. He procured
a couple of bowlders, ' nigger heads,' as they
are commonly called, that are found so fre-
quently all over the county, and from these he
manufactured a couple of mill-stones, the bed-
stone being fixed in a .sycamore gum. This
gum was a common article of utility in the
early day. It was made by sawing off a hol-
low tree any required length, and when set
upright was a fine substitute for barrel or
hogshead. This was firmly fixed in the
ground, the upright lever attachment was at-
tached to the upper stone, and the mill was

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

complete. The motive power to this was his
own strong arms, and in this way, a big im-
provement, remember, on the old way, he
secured for a long time the bread for his fam-
ily, consisting of a wife and six children. But
his active nature did not permit him to stop
content with this ; he sought out other schemes
and quickly put them into practice. He had
bj' this time become the happ\' possessor of a
yoke of oxen and an old, patched-up wagon,
and with these he inaugurated the business of
going among tlie people and gathering their
beeswax, pelts, venison or an^-thing else they
desired to send to market that was transporta-
ble, and with a load of these, going to St.
Louis. These products the neighbors thus
pooled and sent to market were sold to the
best advantage by this trusty commission
merchant, and with the proceeds he would
purchase and bring back the quantitj' and
kind of merchandise ordered 153- each, which
would be carefully delivered to the widespread
neighbors. To thus patiently gather up the load
to take awaj', then return to each the articles
ordered ; to be from three to five weeks on
the road to the city and return, and that, too,
when in wet weather the roads and bridges
were simph" horrible, and in dry weather it
was, if anything, even worse, as the cattle were
in danger of perishing, and in still thore dan-
ger of running away, overturning the wagon,
plunging down a bluff, or hopelessly bogging
wagon and all in the mud and water — a not
uncommon occurrence when the suffering
brutes would suddenly smell the water as they
would pass near it along the road ; to all this
add the exposure to wind, storms, snow and
freezingj and to heat and dust ; to these in-
clude the time and hard labor of this slow,
small kind of business ; to do all this, and tell
it to the people of this day and age, is to ex-
cite tlieir incredulity and tax them with a load
of doubts. But Bishop did all this, and, slow
and small as it looks, he soon so prospered

that he accumulated sufficient to commence a
regular business of buying what the people
had to sell and selling it on his own account.
He bought their pelts, beeswax and produce,
and purchased the goods which he sold to them
for their products.

In 1844 or 184."), he moved into Freemaiiton,
then but a mere hamlet on the National road,
\and commenced regularj' to merchandise, but
•continuing to make his regular trips to St.
Louis and exchanging products for goods and
returning again and exchanging goods for prod-
ucts. A part of his trade was to bring flour
to the people. This trade at that time com-
pared to the flour trade of to-da}- is a curious
instance of the changes that occur. Now we
ship out of the county flour by the car-load, and
that often in daily shipments; at that time, it
was brought here and retailed outonlj- in cases
of sickness, in three and five-pound packages
onh', the five pounds being the maximum that
a single family would purchase at a time. It
was a very poor, black article at that — one that
the well now would elevate their offended noses
at, but it was food and medicine to the poor
sick sufferers of that daj-.

Bishop's business in Freemanton was so
prosperous that he soon felt able to commence
the erection of a wool carding machine. For
those da3-s, this was a daring enterprise. The
motive power was a tread-wheel moved bj'
three oxen, and here was furnished the people
a new iudustr}', as well as a home market for
their wool. It must have been a great boon to
the poor women of the country, as it tended
much to lighten their work in preparing the
clothes for tlieir families. He soon found that
his machine was a complete success, and that
his motive power was capable of doing addi-
tional work, and so he added regular mill-
stones that would make corn-meal and even
grind wheat which could be and was bolted " by
hand." And thus Bishop's carding- machine
and grist-mill soon became the center of much
business and traffic.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

In 1850, the countrj- had outgrown the ca-
pacities and its tread-wheel power, and so he
responded tp the public wants and purchased an
engine and boiler. With this great improve-
ment and added power, he purchased a circular
saw, and made this an addition to his establish-
ment. He was then read}- and enabled to card
the wool, grind the meal and flour and saw the
lumber as the public need required. This was
the first saw and grist steam mill ever started
in the count}-. For many miles around the
people came in crowds to look upon and admire
this wonderful thing. On Saturdaj-s, particu-
larly, thej' would gather in numbers and spend
the day in athletic and other sports about the
mill, and in many wa3-s manifest their wonder
and jo}' over the grand improvement.

We could not give the history of the rise and
progress of the mill in our county without at
the same time giving much of the early history
of Dr. Bishop, so closely are the two identified.
It is but just to the memory of a good man, a
valuable citizen and a kind-hearted, true gen-
tleman, to brieflj- conclude this paragraph with
a few further words of the Doctor :

In early life he had secured a small but. select
medical librar}-; not with a view of ever prac-
ticing medicine, but to improve himself — to
educate himself — to secure knowledge; he mas-
tered these books, and to this information his
strong, closely observing mind had gathered
knowledge from every available opportunity or
experiment that presented itself Ho found
himself often and often surrounded by sick
, neighbors, when there was no physician to be
had ; in such emergencies he was the Good
Samaritan. And so valuable did he prove as
nurse and adviser that he soon was wanted
both far and near, and almost from compulsion
he was thus drifted into the practice of med-
icine. From the very first he had shown him-
self to be so skillful in the handling of that
dreadful disease, typhoid fever, that his repu-
tation and practice extended, not onlj- over his

own but all adjoining counties. To this large,
but not lucrative practice — not lucrative be-
cause the people were poor and his charity was
wide— he gave his time almost exclusively to
the time of his last sickness. For some j-ears
before his death he suffered from rheumatism,
of which he died on the 8th of Noveml)er,
1870, in the fifty-ninth year of his age.

His widow, Sarah Bishop, died March 11,
1872. Three sons and three daughters were
left surviving; of these, one son and one daugh-
ter have since died.

Dr. Bishop's life is a fair illustration of the
fact that a man who is a born gentleman will
always be one despite surroundings. It is a
common saying of some men that if so-and-so
had only had different training and surround-
ings in his youth, instead of being a mere vul-
gar lout, he would be a gentleman. There is
little truth in such moralizings. It is doubtful
if there is an}-. There is infinitely more truth
in the opposite aphorism that "blood will tell."
There is such a thing as pure and gentle blood,
and surroundings can no more change or hide
it in the possessor than they can the muley's
ears or the leopard's spots.

It is the testimony of all who knew Dr. Bish-
op, that his presence in the sick room was like
a genial, bright ray of sunshine. Under no
circumstances did he forget to he a true and
perfect gentleman. All testify to this, and the
memory of his strong integrity and strict hon-
esty, when added to what he has done for the
improvement of the people of the county, are
his imperishable and fit monument.

In conclusion, upon the sulijeet of mills, it
may be here stated that for a long time the
only mode of getting sawed lumber was by the
"whip-saw." This was run by two men, with
saw made for this purpose, one man standing
on the log and the other under it, and in this
hard and tedious way much lumber was got out
before the horse-mill of T. J. Gillenwater's was
put up, and a circular saw put to work. This

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

was propelled bj* sevea horses, and often cut
eight to nine hundred feet of lumber a day.

In the early day some ingenious pioneer put
lip a curious water-mill on the Wabash. It was
so contrived, being two largo troughs hung up-
on a pivoted cross-beam, with a heav}- stone at
one end of the beam and the trough at the
other, so rigged that when the trough filled
with water, it would raise the stone and the
water would then spill out of the trough and
let the stoue drop heavily in the other trough
where the grain was. It was automatic and
worked continuallj', needing only an attendent
to take out the meal and put in fresh grain.

The population of Effingham County in 1840
was 1,675. The census for the year reports
451 engaged in agriculture; in manufactures
and trade, 16; in commerce, 9; learned profes-
sions, 4. The county had two insane persons.
They were a private charge. There is no record
of the number of persons that could not read
and write. Under the head of universities, col-
leges, students, grammar schools and mining
all are blanks.

The Killing of Hill. — At high noon, on the
15th da3' of April, 1842, in the town of Free-
nianton, Dick Hill, as he sat upon his horse,
conversing with Jesse Newman, was shot dead.
Hill was in the road and the man he was con-
versing with stood inside the yard, and near a
blacksmith shop. The report of the gun was
probably heard b}- all in the little village, j'et
to this day it has never been proven who fired
the shot. His head, shoulder and body were
riddled with buck-shot, and his death must
have been instantaneous, as he rolled off his
horse and fell limp and dead in the road, where
he lay just as he had fallen. Some of the scat-
tering shot had slightl}' wounded the horse's
shoulder, and the frightened, riderless animal
running past the few village houses at full
speed, toward his home and along the road his
master had ridden a short time before. This
added to the report of the gun told the tragic

story unmistakably to all. When the horse
dashed up to his master's door, the empty sad-
dle and the yet warm blood told the frightful
story to 3Irs. Hill. It was a short half-mile
from the scene of the tragedy to Hill's house.
The screams of the woman could be plainly
heard, as she rushed out of her door, caught
the horse, bounded into the saddle and at full
speed started to the village. With mingled
screams, sobs and execrations upon the mur-
derers, and waving her hands and arms above
her head, she came to where her dead husband
lay. The horse stopped when she flung herself
to the ground, fell upon the corpse, pushed one
haud under the head, and in doing so covered
the hand and part of her arm in the dark mud
made by the blood, as it mingled with the dust
of the road; she raised the head until the face
of the living and tiie dead were nearly along
side each other, when the maniac wife and dead
husband presented a picture that will never
fade from the memory of the few who looked
upon it.

A brief half-hour before the tragedj^, Kichard
John Hill, in the prime of lusty life, splendid
physical .organization, and above the average
of much of his surroundings in intellect and
culture, had left his wife as she stood in the
door admiringlj' watching him as he rode away
upon his spirited and gaily caparisoned horse,
toward the village. He rode up to the village
post office, kept by Mrs. Flack, now >Irs. Joshua
Bradley, had called for his mail, which was car-
ried out to him \>y Mr. Brown, and after chat-
ting gaily a moment, he turned his horse and
rode toward the blacksmith shop and to his
terrible death.

The excitement over this daylight, yet mjs-
terious tragedj', was great, indeed, among all
people. The consequences flowing therefrom,
lasting as they did for nearly- a generation
were unparalleled in the history of the State.
Nearly all questions of social life and the poli-
tics of the count}' were pivoted upon this sub-

'1'

f C-y-v-z-^uu

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUlsTY.

ject. And to this da}-, if you talk to one yet
left of the few men of that time, who were
prominent in the affiiirs of the county, you may
easily detect that the subject might re-kiudle
the fires that raged within them more than
forty years ago.

Richard John Hill had lived for some years
in the county; had been County Superintendent
of Schools, and was Count}- Collector when he
was killed. But with many of the best people
he had earned a bad reputation. Apparently
he wished to be considered a reckless, desperate
and dangerous man. He openly defied public
moral sentiments. It was said that he was a
gambler. Many believed he was not only a
counterfeiter, but worse, and stories were told
of him, which, if true, made him amenable to
punishment for the violation of nearly every
crime in the decalogue. His delight was to be
regarded as a terror generally, and his practices
and followers, and henchmen were such that
he could and did over-ride and cow many, and
secure the dread or hate of nearly all.

Not long after Hill's death, the dead body of
a man was found at or near Deadman's Grove
(the place gets its name from the circumstance).
All indications were that the body had lain
for a long time in the water. No one at the
inquest recognized the unfortunate. The fiicts
were published and Mrs. Sweeney, of Spring-
field, came here, and from the clothes, the false
teeth and the peculiar blue color of one of his
partially decayed teeth, identified the body as
being that of W. S. Sweeney,' her husband.
Hill's enemies asserted and believed that he and
his brother Ed had killed and robbed Sweeney
and thrown his body into the creek. They
told all the circumstantial details — the fiict
that Hill was in debt to Sweeney and had
written to him to meet him in Shelby ville, that
they did meet there, gambled and carouued for
two or three days, and then Sweeney and Dick
and Ed Hill started for Freemanton, Sweeney
in a buggy and the other two on horseback.

In this way they were seen at points along the
road to near Deadman's Grove. One or two
parties in this county met them north of the
Grove and these were the last traces of Sweeney
alive. Dick and Ed Hill were seen continuing
their way south of the Grove, but without
Sweeney, and it was said that Ed was in a
buggy, leading a horse behind and Dick in
company on horseback. Near Freemanton, at
the north side of Mr.s. Flack's farm, they were
seen to separate, Dick going toward his home
and Ed going west on the National road. He
is reported to have been seen at Vandalia still
driving the buggy and leading a horse. This
was the last ever seen or heard of Ed Hill.

In the foregoing mention of the social and
political divisions among the people, it must
not be supposed that it was divided upon the
line of the friends of the man on one side and
his enemies on the other. This was not the
line of contention at all. Tiiere were probably
ver}' few who regretted the taking off of Hill.
It was the manner in which it was done and a
desire to ferret out the murderers, and at least
attempt to punish them aad vindicate the maj-
esty of the law that constituted the one side,
while the others were so rejoiced at his death
that they not only justified the manner of it,
but they were ready to go any length to shield
and protect the perpetrators.

It was due to this state of affairs that it was
impossible to ever produce in a court the truth
that some absolutely knew, and all iiad well
grounded suspicions. Every witness who saw
the most material parts of the tragedy, were
those who hated Hill and were warm friends of
the suspected, and they discreetly closed their
mouths upon the subject and kept them so until
long after the principal actors were all dead
and the county feud had passed away by the
election of Joiin Trapp as County Clerk in
1860.

The people of the county had ranged them-
selves on the two sides, and for twenty years

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

elections were won and lost, the question not
being are you a Democrat or Whig, but are you
a Trapp-man or an anti-Trapp. Or as one side
sometimes taunted the other as " horse thieves,"
and in return they were designated as " mur-
derers." These terrible epithets were not com-
mon, but during the long feud they could at
times be heard. It is much to say of the
people of those days, that during the twenty
j'ears of bickering and bitterness, other and
better lives than Dick Hill's were not yielded
up as sacrifices upon the alters of hot passion
and bitter prejudices.

The evils arising in this unfortunate turn
in the public and private affairs of the people
were great and manifold. Their effects are not
yet wholly obliterated. Important questions
in social life, education and finance were
dwarfed and forgotten, while detraction and
hate ruled the hour. This unfortunate state
of affairs would probably never have existed
had any other man than John Trapp been sus-
pected of being the chief actor in the bloody*
story. There were few people who doubted
very strongl}' at anv time as to who it was that
killed Hill. Trapp himself, it is said, never
denied it point blank.

Trapp and Mike Brockett were seen, just
after Hill was shot, to emerge from the empty
building that stood near the blacksmith shop
.in front of which the killing occurred. They
each carried a gun; they quietly walked up
and after looking a few minutes at the dead,
Trapp remarked to some one standing b}',
•' He is dead, isn't he?" and the two men turned
and walked off.

In some respects, John Trapp was an ex-
traordinary man. He was quiet, unobtrusive,
kind and gentle of disposition — big-souled and
warmly generous to all; of natural sound,
strong sense and liberal views; he sedulouslj'
avoided dirticulties and all troubles. He was
affectionate and warm-hearted, and he loved
his friends and never abused or threatened

even his worst enemies. He believed he had been
deeplj' wronged by Hill. Those who knew the
circumstances expected he would kill him.
Hence, when the sharp report of the gun rang out
in the quiet village of Freemauton, it is said the
same exclamation came from all who heard
the gun, " There, I expect Hill is shot!" But
if Trapp had deep griefs — wrongs that impelled
him to avenge them illl blood, he gave no sign
or outward token; tie confided them to no hu-
man being that ever betrayed his confidence
or gave up his secret. He was as the still
waters that are deep. Not hast}- to act, not
swift to revenge. He made no threats — no
warning, but he deliberately executed his de-
liberate purposes even to the death. His
friends never deserted him — his enemies had
ceased to persecute him, and there is no ques-
tion but that he died in the sincere and honest
conviction that he had only done his duty.

The following is the substance of an act of
the Illinois Legislature, and is the final chapter
in the official life of Richard John Hill, of date
February 3, 1845 :

" Whereas, Richard J. Hill was appointed
Collector of the Countj- of Effingham for the
taxes for the year 1841, and was charged with
the collection of the taxes of that j^ear, amount-
ing to the sum of $227.1(1, and died without
having completed the collection of the same
and it appearing by the books of said Hill, as.
returned to the County Commissioners' Court
of said county, by William J. Hankins, ad-
ministrator of said Hill, and that there re-
mains uncollected the sum of $182.47. There-
fore

Section 1. Be it enacted, eic. That Samuel
B. Parks, Charles Gilky and Presley Funk-
houser be released from a judgment obtained
in the Sangamon Circuit Court against them
as securities of said Richard J. Hill, as collec-
tor as aforesaid, on payment of the sum of
$44.G9 with interests, costs of suit, that being
the amount that appears to have been collected

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

by the said Hill as collector at the time of his
death.

A tj'pe of a class of men developed by the
times were the fighting, roj-stering, drinking,
devil-may-care fellows of whom "chief among
ten thousand and the one altogether lovely"
was Rod Jenkins. He had boon companions,
many imitators, but no equals. He stood
alone " like some grand ancient tower " except
when he had to steady himself by leaning on
some one not so tired as he was. There was
nothing small about Rod; he " longed" for the
spiritual in this life, and, like the old woman
when telling how she liked corn bread, he
" honed " for liquid joys. In the language of
the hard-shell funeral sermon, " he had bosses
and he run 'em — had dogs and he " fit " 'em —
had cocks and always bet his bottom dollar
on the high-combed cock.

To hunt a little, frolic much, go to town often
and never miss a general election daj', and get
" glorious " earl3- and fight all da}' for fun, was
the pleasure and delight of his life.

We mean no offense to the readers of the prize-
ring literature of to-day by informing them that
even in the early times there were men here
nearly as big fools as they aie. Their intelli-
gence, like these, had a strong admixture of the
bulldog and hyena. Their real worship was an
image of the bullet-head and thick-necked tribe
of bruisers. It is this base-born admiration of
the thug that makes such characters possible
among civilized men. The bull}' is the com-
panion piece of the religio- militant dogmatic
preacher. Thev are admirabl}' mated in igno- |
ranee, but in all else the blood-tub is the best of
the two. It has been said that of all disgust-
ing sights for gods or men, the worst is that of
a prize-ring with two human brutes turned
loose, like Spanish bulls, to batter and bruise i
each other to the point of death. But, in truth, i
a 3-et worse sight is an ignorant dogmatic ass
in the pulpit, sacrilegiousl}- proclaiming his
Godly authority to damn mankind, and rudely

invading the sacred confines of that border land
of the finite and infinite, where each one is unto
himself a secret and a covenant with his God
alone; where no carthh" power should ever at-
tempt or does attempt to go, but where the
long-eared dogmatist would forever " bray " j'ou
in the gnashing teeth, the sobs and wails of a
superheated hell and brimstone.

There were redeeming traits often about the
fighting bully in those olden times. He was the
foundation upon which the present thugs may
place their first start in the world, and from the
good that was in him his successors have wholly
departed, until they now present an instance
of perpetual degeneration and total depravity.

Rod had many redeeming qualities. At
home he was sober, industrious and honest.
His .fault was he wanted to go to town too often.
He only wanted to quarrel with those who had,
like himself, a passion for such discussions, and
here was a small class of men who found their
fun and enjoyment in thus expending the pent-
up vital forces that were in their large and
splendidl}' developed physical organizations.

Among barbarous people, to drink and get
drunk are not grievous crimes, and generally
from the highest to the lowest the rule is to in-
dulge to excess upon every opportunity. There
was a time when anywhere in Illinois whisky
was to be found in every house; it was a com-
mon- beverage for men, women and children,
and common hospitality commanded it to
be offered to every guest upon nearly all
occasions. It was cheap, in common use,
fresh from the still and fiery, but neither adul-
terated nor poisoned. It made men drunk and
foolish and beastly, but probably did not so
fearfully craze them then as now.

Rod was not whoU}' vile nor evil-looking,
morally or physically. In fact, a kindly-faced,
good old grandmother who knew Rod when she
was a fair-haired Lass, has often described him
to the writer as she saw him with her young
eyes in his early manhood. She insists he was

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

not her sweetheart, yet she pronounces him, at
one time, " the prettiest man in the county."
But he was never vain of his beautj', however
much he may have been of his prowess. Even
if he had been proud of his manly beauty of
face, he met with an accident that changed all
this just as effectually as did the mule cure the
boy that attempted to climb his tail. This ac-
cident gave him the name of '• Old Snip Nose,"
and came about as follows:

On one occasion, in a nice, friendl}' fight,
he bit off a portion of his friend's nose.
When he sobered up, he no doubt regretted
the accident so much that he would have
replaced the missing link if he could. But
seeing he could not do this, he gave him-
self no further concern. His victim did not
relish the very practical joke, but nursed his
wrath to keep it warm, and as patiently as he
could, bided his time. It was not a great while
before he saw Rod start home from Ewiugton
so ver^' drunk that before he had gone verj' far
beyond the city limits he fell off his wagon, the
fall not disturbing his sound sleep. His enemj'
improved the opportunity, rushed upon him,
and cut off his nose. Whisky had been the
Delilah that caressed Rod in her lap until he
■was shorn thus cruell3'. From that day he had
about the poorest excuse for a nose in the
whole county. At all events he missed it so
sadly that he eventuallj- took an old shoe-vamp,
soaked it well, and made a leather nose, which
was fastened to its place by a string around his
Lead above the ears.

One morning he rode into Ewington to spend
the day, as usual, and as he came into the
crowd, Dan Williams (Blue Dan) saluted him
cheerfully with, " How are j'ou, old Snip Nose? "

He paid little or no attention at the time to
this salutation, but during the day Rod and Dan
got into a fight, when Rod bit off Dan's nose,
and then pushed him awaj', sa3-ing with a leer,
"How are you, Brother Snip?" The whole
county enjoyed the joke finely', at least as well

nearly as did Blue Dan, and from this time
forth the two were better friends than ever.
They often met in the village and spent the day
in admirable harmonj- together, never after
meeting with more serious mishaps than some-
times loosing their leather noses, and then they
would go arm in arm roaring through the vil-
lage, sending the women and children, and some
of the men too, flying in terror to their homes
and hiding places.

Rod and Dan were admirable types of a class
that were here from the first, and that will be here
yet for maj'hap a long time. It is not insisted on
that their abnormall}' developed bumps for
fights and whisky were either essential to the
early pioneer or models to be hung up in the
schoolroom. But there is little doubt but that
they had other essential traits, such as reckless
bravery, strong resolution and endurance for
the sore trials of their times that made them
valuable factors in the struggles of the fathers.

Boleyjach. — Another and a different character
entirelj- from an}' we have attempted to por-
tray in the preceding chapters was Bole3Jack,
sometimes styled the parched corn, summer
preacher. He was a magnificent specimen of
the coou skin pioneer exhorter in many re-
spects. He lived hard, preached brimstone
sermons and was paid his ministerial salar}- in
old clothes, and at rare intervals, a full feed on
•' hog and hominy " at a brother's or neighbor's.
From his early days — the years intervening
between his childhood gambols and his back-
woods preaching — little or nothing is known.
He was here — as to how, whence or why he
came no one asked, perhaps no one cared. He
was naturally- pious and dirty, in fact, the
prince of dirt if not a paragon of piety. His
laziness was onl}' equaled by his tatters and
rags. He despised all manual labor, and dread-
ed soap and water with an intensity that kept
him preserved always in his ancient sweetness
and purity. He was the great unwashed sal-
vation shrieker, j-et there was within him the

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

smoldering fires of a rough eloquence that
when once in his pulpit and wanned to his
work, were soon fanned into fierce flames as
he drew frightful pictures of an angry God, or
the horrors of a hell of literal fire and brim-
stone. He preached the Gospel pure and sim-
ple, as he understood it; not for pelf, but sole-
ly for the good of mankind, and because he
was too lazy to do an^-thing else. Man}-, who
have seen him hundreds of times, have at-
tempted over and over again to describe him —
to draw in words a picture so strong and clear
that his true likeness would stand out upon
the canvas strong and distinct. It is feared
they failed to that extent that it will be im-
possible for us to place him in his deserved
niche of immortality. In appearance he is de-
scribed as a man of medium size, angular, un-
couth and very ungainl}- ; swarthj- complexion,
large mouth, heavy lips, long black, coarse un-
kempt hair, stooped shouldered, sluggish of
movement, and listless, careless air. His whole
features were heavy and stolid ; a large under
jaw and a thickness of neck that indicated the
preponderance of the animal, the eye being the
only feature that bespoke talent of any kind.
He was a summer preacher mostlj', and his
dress was not of royal ermine or purple silk
and fine linen. It was coarse, home-made tow
linen, and consisted of shirt and " breeches, "
the breeches foxed with buckskin in front and
rear, and a coon-skin cap, and as a rule bare-
foot, but on great occasions he wore a shock-
ing pair of shoes — no socks. His shoes never
fit, and he stuck his toes into the vamp while
his heels braved the wind and weather. The shoe
and foot were kept together by hickory bark
strings. There was a mile of shin between the
" breeches " and shoes exposed to the elements.
This exposure bad given them much the ap-
pearance of a young shell-bark hickory. To
make up for the shortness at the bottom of his
" breeches," they were drawn up nearly to the
neck by a single hickory bark " gallus ' which

was fastened by goodly sized wooden pegs in
lieu of buttons.

Such was Boleyjack, and, such as he was, he
never seemed to tire of proclaiming to the
world that he was not "ashamed to own his
Lord and Master." ^Yhether this compliment
was returned or not is not material to this in-
quiry. Boleyjack was no sunshine, band-box
dandy. He was not a Beecher, a Talmage, a
mountebank nor a monkey'. He was a humble,
sincere, great pioneer preacher, with fists like
a maul and a voice like the fabled bull of Ban-
she, and thus arrayed and equipped he went
meekly forth upon his mission, and waked the
echoes of the primeval forests, made reprobates
tremble, women to cry and shout aloud, and
many a tough old sinner to fall upon his kness
and plead with Heaven in agonizing groans
and sobs. In squalor and poverty in his floor-
less log cabin he dreamed out his indolent ex-
istence, tasting in a vague way, perhaps, .some
of the pangs of endless punishment. Yet there
is no doubt he found surcease of sorrows in
his vivid imaginings, which brought him sweet
foretaste of the eternal Sundays in that city
not built with hands, and whose streets are
paved with gold, and whose rivers flow peren-
nially with milk and honey. Bole^'jack's wife
and iielpmeet was an instance of remarkable
adaptation to a remarkable husband. She was
not too much civilized ; was coarse, rough, of
great phj-sical strength and endurance. Her
unadorned beauties had been materiallj- aggra-
vated by a savage hook in one ej-e, bj- a furious ;
cow, which, while it had not " put out " the eye,
had sadly " rucked " it up, and for the balance
of its life it dissolved partnership with its
mate and seemed to set up business on its own
hook. A circumstance or two will tell much
of her history. Not a great while before her
death, a railroad train killed her cow. The old
lady witnessed it all from her cabin door. She
rushed out, took her position on the track and
demanded pay for her cow before the train

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

could move. It was only after much trouble
and some force that she could be gotten out of
the wa}- and the train allowed to pursue its
voj-age. It is said that she regularh- soaped
the track until an agent was sent down, and a
good round price paid the old lady for her cow.
Not a great while after this, she was walking
along the track of the railroad when a train
came along. The engineer whistled and whis-
tled, and slowed up and whistled and barked
and coughed but all in vain. She gave it no
heed, never once turned her head. Finally,
when almost upon her, it was stopped, the con-
ductor and brakeman rushed forward, believing
they had barely saved the life of a poor deaf
mute, and seized her by the arms and forced
her to one side. '• Oli !" says she, " you may
hoot and toot, and keep a hooten and a tooten.

but you can't skeer me, if you did kill my
cow !" When the good woman died there were
strange whispers went abroad, some of them,
in short, charging absolutely that Boleyjack
had starved her to death. He was eventually
taken to task upon this charge, and asked to
explain it. He repelled the vile slander, and
confused his accusers by the crushing reply :
" It is false, for there was at least a half-pint
of parched corn at her bedside when she died."
Bolej-jack soon followed his companion to that
happy land, it is to be hoped, where soap and
water are an unknown necessity, and where
parched corn and hickory bark " galluses " are
not the essential stays of life. In their hum-
ble way and in their hard lives they found
their places and filled them to the best of their
abilitv. Let them sleep in peace.

CHAPTER y.

LEGAL LIFE OP THE COUNTY-LLST OF OFFICERS-BOARDS OF SUPERVISORS-THEIR OFFICIAL
DUTIES-FARMING AND STOCK RAISING-AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, THEIR MEET-
INGS AND OFFICERS— THE GOOD ACCOMPLISHED, ETC., ETC.

C10METHING of the historv of the legal life

C) of the county, that is, its officials in their
regular order, is the following :

1833— T. W. Short, Isaac Fancher and Will-
iam J. Hankins were the first elected County
Commissioners' Court ; Joseph H. Gillespie,
County Clerk ; John C. Sprigg, Circuit Clerk ;
Henry P. Bailey, Sherifl' ; John Ley, County
Treasurer ; William J. Hankins, County Sur-
veyor ; William J. Hankins, Probate Judge.
Isaac Fancher only served as Commissioner a
few months, and was succeeded in office by
James Turner.

183-t— Commissioners' Court was John Mar-
tin, William Freeman and Eli Cook.

1835— June term, William J. Hankins ap-
pointed County Clerk ; Sam Huston, Treas-
urer ; John Trapp, Sheriff.

1836— William S. Clark, Presley Funkhous-

er and Isaac Slover were the County Commis-
sioners' Court; Silas Barnes, pro tern., County
Clerk.

1837— John C. Gilleuwaters, Treasurer;
William Freeman, Sheriff; William J. Han-
kins, Circuit Clerk ; John Funkhauser, School
Superintendent.

1838- Tiiomas M. Loy, Probate Judge;
John Loy, Treasurer; T. J. Gilleuwaters,
Presley Funkhouser and Isaac Slover elected
County Judges. They drew lots, when Gilleu-
waters drew the three-year term, Funkhouser
two years, and Slover one year. December,
1838, a vacancy occurred in the County Clerk's
office. To fill the vacancy, W. H. Blakeley,
John C. Gilleuwaters, and Newton E. Tarrant
were applicants. The court by vote appointed
Newton E. Tarrant.

1839 — Law provided for Commissioners to

>HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

appoint two Assessors and a Collector for the
county. Joseph C. Wheeler and Harrison
Higgs were appointed Assessors, Joseph C
Wheeler, Collector.

1839 — Thomas M. Loy,' County Clerk;
Thomas J. Ronfro, Sheriff; Presley Funkhous-
er, T. J. Gilleavvaters -and Daniel Parkhurst,
Commissioners.

1840 — Martin, Parkliurst and G-illenwaters,
Commissioners.

1841— J. Martin, S. B. Parks, X. E. Tarrant,
Commissioners.

1842 — John 0. Scott, School Superintend-
ent, and James Devore succeeded Tarrant as
Commissioner. At August term of this year,
Thomas M. Loy resigned County Clerkship
and William J. Hankins appointed to his place.

1843— A. B. Kagay elected County Clerk;
James Cartwright, Treasurer ; John 0. Scott,
Count\- School Superintendent.

1844— Elisha W. Parkhurst, Probate Judge;
Daniel Rinebart, Count}- Treasurer; Jaines De-
vore, Isaac Slover and William Dunham, Coun-
ty Commissioners. Brick court house in Ew-
ingtpn built this j^ear.

1845— Charles F. Falley, County School
Superintendent ; Isaac Slovev, W. E. Tarrant
and Charles Kelliui; County Commissioners.

1846— S. B. Parks, Sheriff; A. B. Kagay
County Clerk ; W. E. Tarrant, Thomas Doute
and Isaac Slover, Commissioners.

1847 — Daniel Riuchart, County Clerk;
Charles Kellim, School Superintendent ; James
Levitt, Treasurer ; Thomas M. Loj', Surveyor.
1849 — Thomas Doute, Isaac Slover, Gideon
Lowder, Commissioners ; W. J. Hankins, Pro-
bate Judge ; John Broom and W. E. Tarrant,
Associate Judges ; Richard McCranor, Treas-
urer ; John 0. Scott, School Superintendent ;
John S. Kelly, Circuit Clerk; S. B. Parks,
Sheriff.

1851— T. J. Rentfro, Sheriff.
1846 — John M. Brown, Superintendent of
Schools.

1850 — John B. Carpenter, Superintendent of
Schools.

1852— S. B. Parks, Sheriff.

1853— John S. Kelly, Circuit Clerk ; W. E.
Tarrant, County Judge; Samuel H. PuUin.
James Devore, Associates ; T. M. L03', Coun-
ty Clerk ; R. A. Howard, County Surveyor.

1854— John G. Gamble, Sheriff; John M
Brown, School Superintendent.

1S56— Orville L. Kelly, Sheriff; John B.
Carpenter, School Superintendent ; A. B. Ka-
gay, Treasurer.

1858— W. E. Tarrant, County Judge ; T. J.
Gillenwaters and H. H. Huels, Associates ; D.
Rinehart, County Clerk.

1859— Samuel Winters, Sheriff.

1861— John Trapp, Circuit Clerk; 0. L.
Kelly, Sheriff".

1861 — Robinson McCann, School Superin-
tendent. Never served out his term. Went
to the war, and court declared bond insufficient
and appointed Calvin Kitchell to fill the vacancy.

1863— William Giilmore, Sheriff.

1865— S. B. Parks, County Judge ; D. Rine-
hart, County Clerk ; J. C. Brady, Circuit Clerk;
Jesse Surrells, Treasurer ; AV. I. N: Fisher,
School Superintendent ; A. S. Moflit, Surveyor;
William Giilmore, Sheriff; T. G. Vandever,
Coroner.

1869 — Jonathan Hooks, County Judge; J.
W. Filler, County Clerk; Jesse R. Surrells,
Treasurer; S. F. Gilmore, School Superintend-
ent; Calvin Mitchell, Surveyor; L. J. Willien,
Coroner.

1871— J. Surrells, Treasurer; C. Mitchell.
Surveyor.

1872— W. C. Lecrone, Circuit Clerk; W. C.
Baty, Sheriff; W. H. Giilmore, States Attorney;
J. H. Kroeger, Coronef.

1873 — J. B. Jones, County Judge ; J. W.
Filler, County Clerk; H. G. Habing, Treasurer;
Owen Scott, School Superintendent.

1874— W. C. Baty, Sheriff; Levi Rentfro,
Coroner.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

1876— W. C. Lecrone, Circuit Clerk; W. H.
Gillraore, County Attorney; Tliomas H. Dobbs,
Slieriflf; W. L. Goodell, Coroner.

1879 — Barney Werusing, Treasurer; C. A.
Van Allen, Couuty Surveyor.

1880— R. C. Harrah, County Attorney; W.
W.Simpson, Circuit Clerk; A. H. Kelly, Sheriff;
J. N. Groves, Coroner.

If to these names he added the various ones
of the numerous boards of Supervisors of the
county that have assembled from time to time
to guard the people's interests and carry on
the business of the county, then you will have
a complete list of the names which bear the
honors, whatever they may be, of the legal life
and doings of the county, as well as the names
of those on whose shoulders must perpetually
rest the foolish, unwise, and positively injurious
public acts, if there have been any, in the coun-
ty's history to date.

To the day of the adoption of township or-
ganization in the county, thei-e is but little, if
any, doubt that many errors slipped into the
administration of county affairs, but, at worst,
they were venial and the inflictions that fol-
lowed them were temporarj-, and the county's
financial affairs never verged upon the borders
of criminal extravagance. In manj- things they
would now be termed old fogyish probably, and
they would deserve the mild reproach, but they
were always rigidly conservative and econom-
ical in handling the people's money, and but
precious little of the public " blood money "
(not a bad name for all taxes) found its way,
under any pretext, into any official's pocket.

Let justice be rendered these plain, unpre-
tentious men in this respect. Their sterling
official honesty is now beautiful to behold, and
it is well to constantly revive its cherished
memory. True, temptations were not scat-
tered along their pathway, but it should be
borne in mind that those officials who handle
and manage the public funds, usually have the
making and creating of their own temptations,

and it is not, and should not be, an answer to
say, " he was sorely tempted."

A few hundred dollars was all the county
gathered from the people annually prior to
1860.

It is the misfortune of the Board of Super-
visors that it came intq existence in the county
when all the country was in the first throes of
the civil war. Communities had gone daft, and
madness and folly ruled everywhere, and pretty
much all the few remnants of sanity left in the
few individuals were either ostracized or hung
by mobs. The bloody carnival had commenced,
the end of the evils of which will not come in
our day or generation, or in the day and gen-
eration of our immediate children's children.
When a great people have been completely de-
moralized, it is not yet a fact demonstrated by
either ancient or modern history, that the
plague can ever be cleansed from the blood,
and real health restored. National demoraliza-
tion, when it honeycombs the body politic and
penetrates every hamlet and home in the land
is leprosj' — incurable and loathsome.

For the year 1882, the Board of Supervisors
calls for the sum of $17,000 for county revenue
only.

This is not so high as it has been in some
years, and it is higher than it has been in some
years.

In 1881, it was $14,623.74; in 1869, §14,758;
in 1878, $20,561.99; in 1877, $24,379.50.

To explain these extraordinary levys, it
should be borne in mind that they were caused
by the large defaults made by many tax payers.

The call for $17,000 this year will all be col-
lected, so that this may be put down as the
true expense for the year 1882 of the county.
This is the county's money, for couuty pur-
poses, county expenses.

Schools, roads and bridges, townships, rail-
roads. State and about every other of the in-
numerable taxes piled on our people, are ex-
cluded from this $17,000 the couuty wants and

HISTORY OF EFFIKGHAM COUNTY.

will get. The Poor Farm and the pay of the
county officers are, so far as the public may
see, the only places where this money is des-
tined to go. A part of this money may be
used necessarily in the matter of the county's
tax sale latelj', where the county bid off the
land, and holds the certificates of purchase.
Other portions, judging by the past, may be
appropriated b}' the board to aid in the build-
ing of certain much needed bridges in the
county, and thus all this sum of money may
be both justly and judiciouslj- expended, and
the people have, not only no cause to complain,
but much to commend most heartily.

In the way the county's book-keeping is done
it is very difficult, next to impossible, for a
tax payer to go there and tell how much of
the money has been used for county purposes,
and how much for count}' expenses in the dis-
charge of the county's business. In this the
board gives the people just ground for some of
the complaints against it.

The county has, at one time or another,
employed experts to in\'estigate nearly ever}'
officer in the county, except the Board of Su-
pervisors. There is a fine vein of irony run-
ning through all tliis employment of experts
(the qualification necessary being the ability to
keep a set of books) to come in on every emer-
gency and explain to the board its own busi-
ness. It is on a par with the appointment of
Postmasters that cannot read and write.

A generation ago the County Commissioners
built bridges that were very regularly washed
away, and this heroic work is patiently going
on in the same wa}- to-day. It was once said
that somebod}- never learned and never forgot
anything. That probable somebody has come
to Effingham to superintend the public works
across the streams of the count}-.

It is said that one direct, and, which ought
to be fatal, evil flowing out of this township law
as it has heretofore worked, has been this:
Whenever a man was elected Supervisor, he at

once became a candidate for some county office,
and commenced to form his ring in the board
to help him carr}' out his purpose. If this was
ever done, that instant the man and his asso-
ciates in the infamy were fullblown scoundrels;
and it is using mild terms. to call him a scoun-
drel.

If the Legislature would onlj- pass a law
that no Supervisor could for at least two years
after going out of office, be elected to a county
office, it would not harm the people; it would
not deprive them of the only chance they might
have of getting good, competent and honest men.

All democratic governments are menaced
by things that are equally dangerous, and
equally certain to be an indiginoas and spon-
taneous production, to wit, demagogues and
over-legislation.

The fool in his heart has said that much vot-
ing is much liberty and greatness. The cun-
ning demagogue has educated his long-eared
constituents into the knowledge that many
, laws make much freedom.

And when the school convention meets it
has never yet whispered a word of war upon
this wide-spread and criminal ignorance upon
which the public is fattening .and battening
from year to year.

Na}', naj', dear simple Simon, we are born to
war upon men's pockets, not their ignorance.

The legislative acts of the county and its
self government are no more the creation of the
public idea that prevails as to what is a good
Government, than are the schools the founders
and progenitors of the enlightment and civili-
zation we have.

The public officials, the good or bad we have
evolved from our self-government are the reflex
picture, as are the schools, public morals,
and about everything else we have, the result
of that pul)lie that breathes the breath of life
into them all. They are all the effects of
causes, of which they have had no lot or par-
cel in forming or directing.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Agricultural Societies. — Following naturally
upon the official life of the county, comes the
acts and official doings of the different and suc-
cessive agricultural societies, that had their rise
in Ewington May 5, 1865, in a public meeting of
the leading men of the county, called together
for the purpose of organizing a county agricult-
ural society. The book is thus formally dedi-
cated on the title page.

" This book is to contain the constitution
and hy-la;vvsof this society; the names of mem-
bers belonging thereto, also a true and faithful
record of all the official business and proceed-
ings of the same."

Then follows a constitution and by-laws
elaborate and ponderous enough for the ship
of State to ride upon in safety. This constitu-
tion and by-laws are better explained by the
very full minutes of a meeting that is given in
full on the next page, " held by the citizens of
Effingham County, at Ewington, on 5th day of
May, 1856." Meeting organized by electing
Dr. J. H. Robinson, Chairman, and Greenbury
Wright, Secretary. Constitution and by-laws
read and unanimously adopted on motion of P.
Funkhouser.

J. H. Robinson was elected President of the
Agricultural Society, Presley Funkhauser,
Vice President, Greenbury Wright, Secretary,
and J. M. Long, Treasurer.

On motion, P. Funkhauser, the Secretary,
was " ordered to furnish each officer of the
society with a certificate of his election, accom-
panied by a synopsis of his duty.'

I. L. Leith moved that the " Treasurer pur-
chase a book for each officer to record all the
business of the society."

George Wright, S. F. Hankins and J. J.
Funkhouser were elected Executive Committee
in Town 8, Range 5 ; Elijah Henry, I. L. Leith
and Morgan Wright, Town 6, Range 5 ; J. B.
Carpenter, J. W. Parkhurst and A. H. Wood,
Town 7, Range 5 ; John F. Waschfort, Town
8, Range 6 ; John Billingsly, Town 7, Range

4 ; A. W. Callard and C. B. Kitchel, Town 9,
Range 5 ; G. W. Merry, Town 6, Range 7 ; J.
S. Wilson, Town 6, Range 6 ; John Marble and
Robert Phillipps, Town 8, Range 7.

At the next meeting in July following, Joiiu

F. Kroeger and H. H. Huels, John Hipsher,
James Woodruff, Addison Webb, George W.
Barkley, L. J. Field, M. K. Robinson, A. JIc-

CuUough, Newbanks, Luke R. McMurry,

Thomas Patterson, E. Howard, T. D. Tennery,

G. W. Holmes, S. D. Lorton, Jackson Gillmore,
Isaac Mahon, G. AV. Nelson, H. Cronk, R. Mc-
Cann, M. B. Reed, J. F. Meyer, A. Johnston
and R. Dust were added to the Executive Com-
mittee.

On the 21st of October, 1857, the Effingham
County Agricultural Society met again at
Ewington, where Isaac L. Leith was elected
President, Daniel Rinehart, Vice President.
John S. Kelly, Secretary, Presley Funkhouser,
Treasurer.

A full list of awarding committees were
appointed at this meeting.

It was resolved that each member desiring
to continue his membership should pay 50
cents to the Treasurer. Fifty-seven names
were then enrolled as the membership of the
society.

At the county fair, October, 1857, premiums
were offered to the amount of $40. Including
best stallion, $3 ; best bulls, $2.50 ; best yoke
of oxen, $2 ; best span of mules, $1.50 ; best
brood mare, $2 ; best butter, 25 cents ; best
cheese, $1.

The next meeting was in June, 1859, when
it was resolved to hold the fair in October next.

The new Executive Committee elected was
David Leith, W. H. Blakely, Hamilton Boggs,
John W. Parkhurst, I. B. Humes, G. C. Van
Mien, J. B. Carpenter, John Frazey, Robert
McCann, D. Rinehart, A. B. Kagay and John
J. Funkhouser. This meeting, by motion,
ordered its proceedings published in the Effing-
ham Pioneer.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Dr. William Mathews then delivered an
address to the meeting (supposed to have been
on the subject of agriculture). On the 21st
and 22d of October, 1859, the second county
fair was held at Ewington. The societj' had
Bnlarged and fenced its grounds, and from the
long list of premiums awarded and paid it is
evident this meeting was a great success in
every respect. Ninety-three dollars and fifty
cents were paid in premiums, including S2 paid
IMiss Elizabeth Fleming, best lady equestrian,
and $1 paid Mary Fleming, 2d best ditto.

In October, 1860, "the Secretary records a
new list of the members, and this shows the
membership had increased to fifty -eight.

Another successful meeting of the county
fair occurred October 18 and 19, 18fi0.

In March, 18G1, new officers of the society
were elected as follows : R. H. McCann, Presi-
dent ; D. Rinehart, Vice President ; Sam Mof-
fitt, Secretary ; J.J. Funkhouser, Treasurer.

Nine persons were elected as Executive Com-
mittee as follows : William Gillmore, W. D.
Moore, A. Tipsword, Lorenza Turner, J. B.
Carpenter, W. H. Blakely, M. K. Robinson, A.
J. Parks, John H. Kroger, G. H. Scoles and
Dan Merry. A levy of 50 cents on each
member and a new list enrolled shows only
twenty-eight names now remained as members.

At the annual fair, 10th, 11th and 12th of
October, 1861, SS-t were distributed in pre-
miums. March, 1862, new officers were elected
as follows: W. H. Blakely, President; R. H.
McCann, Vice President ; Sam Moffitt, Secre-
tary, and D. Rinehart, Treasurer.

In 1862, a new list of members is recorded,
and it gives 115 names. This was the largest
list the society had ever obtained, and, one
would think it betokened prosperity and long
life. But, in fact, it was the vigor of dying
spasms. The energj- and judgment of the men
at the head of the movement had been com-
mendably seconded bj' the people, and some
most encouraging fairs had been held, but, in

1862, Ewington began the song of the dying
swan; and the roar of the battle throughout the
land, and the " smell of the draft " from afar
put other thoughts in the heads of the war-like
men of the county than that of the peaceful
pumpkin. The admirable Secretary, Sam Mof-
fitt, wrote out the new list of membership,
folded the records and put up his pen to rust,
when, with about everj' other able-bodied young
man on the list, he went to the front, where
bayonets, not pens, were writing in blood the
country's history. It was well for the mild-eyed,
fair-faced society of agriculture to hide awaj'
and sleep in peace, while war and his wrinkled
front held sway. In fact, the first Effingham
County Agricultural Society ceased to e.xist
after its annual fair in 1861.

After the lapse of eleven years, and on the
24th day of August, 1872, there was a meeting
in the city of Effingham for the purpose of
organizing the Effingham County Agricultural,
Horticultural and iNIechanical Society.

This starts out with regular articles of asso-
ciation, preamble and constitution and by-laws,
and is incorporated under the general incorpo-
ration laws of the State, and J. J. Worman,
Circuit Clerk, certifies the instrument was filed
and recorded in his office on the 28th day of
August, 1872.

These articles of association are signed by
102 names, including nearly every leading
farmer and business man in the county, each
subscriber taking shares of stock, and paying
In cash a certain proportion thereof at the time
of subscribing.

The organization was completed by the
election of William Gillmore, President ; T. L.
Sexton, Vice President ; E. H. Bishop, Secre-
tary, and the following Board of Directors : M.
V. Parks, Eli Kelly, William C. Wright, I. L.
Leith and W. H. Blakely.

The society purchased the northwest quarter
of the southwest quarter of Section 29j Town-
ship 8, Range 6 east. This corners with the

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

southeast corner of the citj' corporation of the
city of Effingham.

Lumber was purchased, the grounds elegant-
ly inclosed, an amphitheater and numerous
halls, sheds, and stock pens put up and the
preparations for a great county fair rapidly
pushed forward.

December 10, 1872, in order to comply with
the act of the General Assembly of the State of
Illinois, the name of the society was changed
to the " EtBngham County Agricultural Board."

A fair was ordered to be held commencing
September 30 and October 1, 2 and 3, 1873,
and Thomas H. Dobbs was put in charge of
the fair grounds.

June 18th, an assessment of an additional
twent}' per cent was ordered on all stock. John
H. Duffy was appointed Marshal.

The Secretary's books only incidentall3' men-
tion the fact that any fair was held at all. It
appears there was one in 1872 and in 1873,
and the following entries tell better what suc-
cess attended each than anything we can say :

Received for the fair 1872 |1,110 1.5.

For the horse fair 2o 00.

State appropriation 100 00.

Received for the fair 1S73 1,384 05.

The books show that the land cost $2,160.
Including this item, thesocietj' paid out for the
two years of 1872 and 1873, the sum of
$6,379.20, leaving a balance unpaid of $2,-
262.23.

For the year 1873, $1,000 were paid for
premiums and assistance on the grounds
for the Secretary.

In 1873, the officers were S. Hardin, Presi-
dent; Eli Kelly, Jake Khodes, E. Avery and
Samuel Campbell, Directors. A fair was
ordered to be held October 6, 7, 8 and 9, 1874.

The records now .show a determination to
draw or " bust," as there is a recorded resolu-
tion authorizing the President to close the
bargain for a walking exhibition by E. P.
Weston (he didn't walk), but the fair must have

been quite a fair success as the following ac-
counts indicate.

Stall rent $ 32 50.

Permits during fair 419 25.

Tickets, first day 23 05.

Tickets, second day 165 80.

Tickets, third day 551 25.

Tickets, fourth day 309 75.

Tickets, titth day 33 00.

Season ticliets 71 00.

Rent amphitheater 5 00.

Discount on orders 116 00.

Entree fees, speed rinj; 88 00.

Total .f 1,699 36.

The association paid out this year altogether
$4,916.28, leaving a balance unpaid of $2,875.76.

November 17, 1874, there was a meeting for
the purpose of electing officers, with following
result.

J. L. Gillmoro, President.

Samuel Campbell, Vice President.

Henry G. Habing, Treasurer.

James C. Bradj', Secretary.

Directors, M. O'Donnell, Frank Kreke, John
G-. James, Thomas H. Dobbs and I. B. Humes.

This was the heyday and acme of the glory
of our count}' fairs. It began to decline after
1874, and although most energetic efforts were
made by the officers — all good and competent
men, too, j'et there was and has been to date
a continuous diminution of interest in the
county fairs. The new board of 1874 ap-
pointed Albert Gravenhorst Superintendent of
Grounds.

In 1875, a fair was held on the 5th, 6th, 7th
and 8th of October. This board commenced the
struggle to pay off the debts of the society, and
by this time the whole countr)' was suffering
from the general stagnation and depression of
the panic of 1873-78.

Total receipts 1875, including $100 received
from State, $779.90, Paid out for this year
$577.60. Balance in treasury $202.30. This
was deposited in Habiug's bank, and when the
bank suspended this was all lost.

HISTORY OF EFJ'INGHAM COUNTY.

The association liad purchased the ground
and given a mortgage upon the same for the
balance due thereon. This mortgage was fore-
closed in 1874, and the ground sold to pay the
the debt, and this was the final act in the
second fiiiluro to have an agricultural societj'
in Effingham.

It slept the sleep of the just for another
term of years.

Finally in ISSO, another meeting of the citi-
zens resulted in a new County Agricultural
society. They leased the ground the society
had once owned, for five j'ears, at a rental of
860 per j-ear. And a fair was held that season,
E. H. Bishop, President; G. M. Lecrone, Secre-
tary, J. J. Funkhouser, Superintendent and A.
Gravenhorst, Treasurer; T. H. Dobbs, Marshal.
About $500 was the receipts for this year's ex-

hibition, including the $100 from the State.
There had been about $500 subscribed by citi-
zens, and this was expended in repairs upon
the grounds and new accommodations for stock.
In 1881, another fair, and a moderate success
attended it. This year (1882) much ellbrt and
elaborate preparations were made, and $1,000
were expended, and $916 receipts were taken
in at the gate and for other privileges. The
attendance was ver}' flattering — there being
over $500 received as gate money. This year
W. C. Wright was President.

The friends of this county institution now
feel assured that it is placed pormanentlj- upon
its feet and that it may continue with us for
many jears to benefit and improve the county
as it will do if properly carried on, is the prayer
and wish of all our people.

CHAPTER VI.

POPULATION, FARM PRODUCTS AND OTHER STATISTICS — FOREIGNERS — OUR OWN PEOPLE AND
THEIR POLITICS— HUSH MONEY— HOW KEPT AND HOW INVESTED— REMOVAL OF
COUNTY-SEAT— TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION— RICH MINES — "GOLD, YEA,
.MUCH FINE GOLD"— THE "WAY-BILL," AND WHERE IT LEU-
SALT CREEK SILVER— THE DESERTED CABIN, ETC.

"De omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis."

IN the order of States when Effingham County
was brought into existence, Illinois ranked
as the twentieth State in the Union, with a
population of 157,445. In 1840, the State was
number fourteen, with a population of 476,183.
In 1850, it numbered eleven, with a population
of 851,470. In 1860, it ranked as fourth, popu-
lation 1,711,951. In 1870, it was still the
fourth State, with 2,539,819 of people. In the
census of 1880, it was still the fourth State,but
pressed so closely upon Oiiio that it was not
until every precinct was counted that it could
be told whether Illinois or Ohio was going to
be the third State in the Union. Ohio won by

a few thousand only in the matter of popula.
tion. While in many things Illinois is the first
State in the Union. In farm products, cattle
and wheat she stands pre-eminent and alone ;
in producing regularl3- the largest wheat crops
of any State in the Union: in the matter of
miles of railroad she is without a rival, and the
past year more miles of new railroad, and more
roads have been projected and in the process of
building than any other State.

The population of Effingham County in 1840
had grown to be 1,675. In 1850,3,799. In
1860, to 7,816. In 1870, to 15,653. In 1840,
with only 1,675 people in the county, it was a
dreary desert waste yet, and but few who looked

HISTORY OF EFFIISrGHAM COUNTY.

over the wide prairies ever supposed the}'
would become inhabitalile for man or brought
under the control of the farmer and to the pres-
ent progressive state of improvement.

In 1850, the number here was 3,799, and in
1860 it had more than doubled, and was 7,816,
and, in 1870, 15,653, and in 1880 it was 18,-
858, an increase of onl^* 3,205 in the last ten
years to 1880. This census shows the curious
fact that there was a decrease in population in
three townships, to wit : Mason, 70; Watson,
54; Teutopolis, 91.

This decrease of the numbers in tliese town-
ships may and probabl}' is fullj- accounted for
bj- the fact that, in 1 870, the work was being
rapidly pushed to completion on the " Van "
Railroad.

In 1870, the chief productions of the county
were — wheat, 195,793 bushels ; rye, 19,759 ;
corn, 620,247 ; oats, 386,073 ; potatoes, 54,671;
hay, 11,361 tons; butter, 210,155 pounds;
wool, 35,650. There were 4,907 horses, 4,316
milch cows, and other cattle 5,833; sheep, 13,-
228; swine, 17,259; flour-mills, 8; saw-mills,
12, and five manufactories of saddler}', and two
of woolen goods.

In 1880, Joseph Rhodes, of Mound Township,
is reported one hundred j-ears old. Richard
and Elizabeth Geotke, of Bishop, are reported
the oldest married couple in the county — aged
eightj'-seven j'ears. Cyntha Rentfro is reported
ninety-three years old. David Davis and Aug.
Grobenheiser same age, and Dedrick Stumbach
and Adam Hany each eight3'-nine years old.

In 1882, b}- official reports, the county pos-
sessed horses, 5,039; cattle, 9,435; mules, 810;
sheep, 6,530; hogs, 10,325; steam engines, 38;
fire and burglar safes, 38; billiard and bagatelle
tables, 18; carriages and wagons, 2,625; watches
and clocks, 2,496; sewing-machines, 1,403;
pianos, 75; melodeons and organs, 147; patent
rights, 1; household and office furniture, $51,-
965; merchandise on hand, $66,913 ; manu-
factured articles, $2,140 ; agricultural imple-

ments, $32,747. A total personal property,
$499,638. Total property assessed, $2,401 ,395.
Total improved land, 191,710 acres; unim-
proved, 90,479. Acreage of wheat, 38,699 ; of
corn, 43,525 ; oats, 27,438 ; meadow, 24,785 ;
pastures, 33,686: orchards, 2,185; wood land,
53,482 acres.

The vote in 1880 was—

Hancock (Democrat.) 2,4.53

Garfield (Republican) 1,355

"Weaver (Greenback) 100

Total 3,907

In 1860, there were in the county 982 foreign
born inhabitants; in 1870, there were 2,795.
There were comparatively few foreigners in the
county except Germans, and the majority of
these came here between 1840 and 1860.

The nativit}' in the count}- in 1870 is re-
ported as follows: Born in the State, 7,323; in
Ohio, 1,783 ; New York, 455 ; Pennsylvania,
376; Indiana, 1,377; Kentucky, 391; British
America, 77; England and Wales, 117; Ire-
land,228; Scotland,21; Germany,2,121; France,
58; Sweden and Norway, 63; Switzerland, 46;
Bohemia, 1; Holland, 4; Denmark, 23. The
Tennesseans are not reported. This is to be
regretted, because all the first settlers here
were from that State, and for a long time there
were here comparatively none except Tennes-
seans and Ohioans. And, as singular as it
may now seem, at first the people of these two
States were much inclined to hold aloof from
each other. The truth was, the Ohioans
brought here about the first Whig votes that
were ever cast to disturb the peace and quiet of
the solid Hickory Democrats, and sometimes on
general election days there were mutterings,
and a few fist fights flowed out of this ripple in
the political afl'airs of the county. One or two
of the remaining remnauts of those early day
Whigs can yet tell you how they shouldered
their gun and marched up to tue polls and
voted their viva voce vote against Gen. Jack-
son, and how they had to march up between a

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

7«

row of " by the eteraah " that were struug out
on either side and loolcing black thunder at
them all the way up to the ballot box. But no
attack was ever made upon a voter as he ap-
proached the polls or returned. It was only
after tiie brave Whig had triumphantly voted
and returned to the convenient doggery to treat
his victory, that a row or a fight ever was
precipitated. But these Ohioans were young,
stout, fearless fellows, and their pluck and hard
fists soon conquered a truce, a peace and amity,
and so much was this so, indeed, that scarcelj'
any of them, that lived to survive the dissolu-
tion of the Whig party, but that in the end be-
came as strong Democrats as ever had been the
originals.

The two things that were marked eras in the
history of the county were the constructing of
the Cumberland Road and the Central Road.
The work on the Cumberland practically
brought the first settlers here, and it left here
some of the most marked characters that the
early county ever had.

The work was commenced in 1829 in this
county, and the cutting out of the timber on
the line of road was completed in the winter of
1830-31. The work was pushed to practical
completion a short distance west of Ewington,
and then with scattering work at the streams as
far west as Vandalia, such as a levee across the
Okaw Bottom, and three bridges at that place,
had exhausted the appropriations of Congress,
and the people of Illinois, becoming crazed over
the foolish State policy, were divided in senti-
ment to the extent (some wanted it to go to
Alton and others to St. Louis) that no further
approptiations were procured, and the great
work was stopped. To this count}' it was a
most important public work. It gave the people
access to the outside world, where before they
had been pent up by almost impossible obsta-
cles. People could go to Terre Haute and St.
Louis, and thus reach markets and sell the little
portable stuff they had, and buy such things as

their necessities demanded and haul thorn home.
But the growth of county improvements was
slow indeed. The county, like the people gen-
erally-, was poor, and while thc3' made com-
mendable efforts, yet often the money was
wasted through being expended by inexperi-
enced or ignorant men.

Hush Moneij. — February 17, 1837, the State
had gone daft on the subject of internal im-
provements, and it had passed a law that it
supposed vyould fill up the State with railroads
and canals, and in order to " inttoonce " the vote
of counties that were not provided for with any
such improvement, it voted a fund of $200,000
to be given pro rata to such counties as a bonus.
Thus, all were made happy. " Take a railroad,
a canal or the money," and go th}' way rejoic-
ing.

This county got neitlicr a road nor canal, and
hence 'at the November (1837) term of the
County Commissioners' Court tlie following pro-
ceedings were had:

Whereas, On Februaiy 17, 1837, the State of Il-
linois appropriated .1300,000 of the lirst money that
shall be obtained under this aot, to be drawn by the
several counties in a ratable proportion to the cen-
sus last made through which no railroad or "Can-
nell" is provided, to be made at the expense and
cost of the State of Illinois, which said money shall
be expended in the improvement of roads, construct-
ing bridges and other public works; and,

Whereas, The county of Effingham has none of
the aforementioned railroads or "Cannells," and
thereby is entitled to its proportionate share of the
aforesaid appropriation for the better securing of
the county in its equitable rights.

John Funkhouser was appointed a Special
County Commissioner to proceed at once and
secure, " by all lawful means," the money, and
deliver the same to the county.

Funkhouser did the best he could, but failed
to get the money. In about a year afterward,
Loy was appointed in Fuukhouser's place, and
got from the State $2,037.50 as Etfingham's
share of the public money.

The Commissioners' Court, consisting of Gil-

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

lenwaters, Funkhouser and Parkhiirst, together
with the Count}- Treasurer, were in the greatest
distress over having the money which they had
struggled so hard to get. Where could they
put it? Would it be stolen? The County
Treasurer declared he could not sit up all the
time to guard it, and to go to sleep threatened
a total loss. A council was called, when one
of the Judges, after an oath of secrecj^ from the
others, took it in charge, carried it home, and
while all the world slept, he took down his
wife's big reticule, made to hold bean seed, and
hung by a string from a cross-beam above the
bed, and took out the old lady's treasure and
put that of the county's in its place, and re-
turned it, and there it hung, looking as inno-
cent as anj' old woman's seed-bag in the county.
There was much talk and excitement among all
the people when this large amount of money
came to the countv. Some would havelikfed to
have seen it, but most were content to hear,
from morn till night, the story of its really be-
ing here, and spread their e3-es at the marvel-
ous rehearsal.

What will we do with it? was the prevailing
question. J udge Gillenwater's idea was to loan
it out to " squatters " to enter their improve-
ments with, and then take the land for security;
give a low interest, and thus create a perpetual
count}' improvement fund. Evidently this was
a good idea. The court overruled it, however,
and the money was devoted to building bridges
for the county. As soon as the bridges could
be located, they were built, and the nest spring
the freshets washed them all away.

This was the end of the great hush monej-
scheme, and while it is certainlj' ridiculous
enough, it is no more so than was the experi-
ence of many other counties which took rail-
roads in their share of the boot}-.

In 1859 the question of tlie removal of the
county seat from Ewingtoo to Effingham, which
had been agitated for a short time, came before
the people in the form of a general election.

the Legislature having passed an act authoriz-
ing the election and the removal, in case a ma-
jority so voted.

The campaign was short and warm. Effing-
ham was nothing but a hamlet, while Ewington
had about 200 people in it; but the former had
the advantage of being on the railroad, and
Ewington was over three miles away. The
friends of the latter contended that it would be
on a railroad as soon as the " Brough " road
was built; but the complete repl}- to tbis was
that when the " Brough " was built Effingham
would have two roads — be at a crossing, and,
better than all, at a crossing of two of tlie best
railroads in the State. By a small majority,
Effingham carried the day, and great was the
rejoicing here of the few people who were then
its inhabitants.

At the April term (1860) of the County Court,
the following proceedings were had:

Whereas, By act of the Legislature, April 18,
1859, " aa act to re-locate the county seat of Effing-
ham," an election was held in the county on the first
Monday of September, 18.59, and a majority voted to
remove the county seat from Ewington to Effing-
ham; and,

"Wliereas, Samuel W. Little and David B. Alex-
ander are the owners of tlie block known as the Old
Square in the town of Broughton (now Effingham),
and have offered to deed the same free of expense
to the county; and,

" Whereas, S. W. Little, John M. Mette, George
Wright, George H. Scoles. John J. Funkhouser and
W. B. Cooper have entered into a bond to erect
thereon a court-house, as specified in said bond, free
of expense to the county, in case said block shall be
selected by the County Court."

It was ordered by the court to accept said
block, and approve the bond offered, and to
permit said S. W. Little and others to proceed
at once to the erection of said court house.

Thus was officially sealed the fate of the
once ambitious and high-minded little town of
Ewington. As matters turned out it was truly
saying to it "over the hills to the poor-house."

At the general election of 1860 the question

:->^^^-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

of township organizatiou was submitted to the
people, and was carried in tavor of such ar-
rangement. Men voted for and against the
project, knowing very little about it, and it is
now onh" after twenty years of trial are they
able to impartially judge whether it is a good
or a bad thing. There is no certainty that it
will ever be voted down, yet there is no ques-
tion in the minds of many — many, too, of the
best informed men in the count}-, that it is a
public calamity. To this it is easy to reply.
If so, whj- is it not voted down ? This objec-
tion is not unanswcralile. Tbe American peo-
ple have a general itch for otHce, and as this
township organization creates innumerable
petty offices all over the count}' — so multiplies
and divides them up, as to open a promise to
nearlj- everj* voter, that the average voter
will not vote away from himself even the dim-
mest hope and prospect for a place, and, there-
fore, it is immaterial to him whether he is vot-
ing for the good or bad, he will vote for him-
self anyhow and at all hazards. The history
of the county, since under the care and man-
agement of a Board of Supervisors, in many
transactions would not invite a rigid scrutiny.
It is unnatural to expect sixteen men, each
representing a little imaginary subdivision of
the county, with eacli of these heated up with
a still more imaginarv interest, in direct oppo-
sition to all the remainder of the county, to
get together and exercise either much judg-
ment or discretion on any important question.
The foundation idea of such government is a
broad and radical mistake, and now that we
have this deeply disguised blessing, it is idle
and vain for the people to mutter and grumble.
In thoughtless ignorance they have made the
bed that they must lie upon.

On the 22d day of April, 1861, the first
County Board of Supervisors met and organ-
ized, by the election of David Leith as chair-
man for the year. The following are the town-
ships and their Supervisors :

West, William Gillmore ; Moccasin, Ashliy
Tipsword ; Liberty, Thomas D. Tennery ; Ma-
son, David Leith ; Jackson, Jethro Herald ;
Summit. U. C. Webb ; Union, Calvin Zimmer-
man ; Watson, John Mundy ; Mound. William
D. Doore ; Douglas, John P. Kroeger ; Lucas,
William D. Lake ; Bishop, James Beard ; St.
Francis, John J. Worman ; City of Effingham,
John J. Funkhouser.

Golcondas. — From the earliest- settlements
there has been a widespread belief in the ex-
istence in the county of all kinds of mines of
the precious ores, especially silver. Tbose
stories doubtless came from the idlest Indian
stories and traditions. To start with, it is
most probable that in fact the first men here
in their dreams of wealth and luxury would
meet the Indians, about whom thej- all held a
silly superstition that the red men were lucas
in hidden wealth— that they prowled around in
wind and storms, starved .all this week and
gorged one day next week — that they loved to
do this because the}' were Indians, and because
the}' loved to keep sacred the secret of their
immeasurable wealth in gold and silver mines,
that they kept hid and covered away from the
white man as the religion of their lives. Filled
to the hat band with those foolish traditions
and stories, the pioneer followed often the
promptings of this dream, when he plunged
into the deep woods, seeking the association
and companionship of the savage, in the hope
of winning his good graces, and at the same
time his secrets of hidden, precious mines.
Thus prepared beforehand, he was ready to lis-
ten most eagerl}' to any silly story he could
extort, and the cunning savage, perceiving here
was an opportunity to gull his white victim,
poured into his ear, in good Indian style, tbat
is, in very cunning and remarkable parables
that were so distinguishing of the race who
were

"Born in tlie wildwood — rocked on the wave,"
and the more incomprehensible they were, the

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

more extravagant the figures, the wilder and
more dimly the language in which the great
secret was couched, the more convincing was
the stor^- to the credulous hunter.

This singular and incurable faith in a quasi-
superhuman species of power and knowledge is
one of the most unaccountable phases of the white
man's ignorant credulity. In the quack adver-
tised " Indian doctors" and the yet baser stories
of some wonderful cure-all that a certain mission
ary who had spent his life among the savages,
and had wormed the great secret from them,
and then, feeling the fate and perennially re-
newed life of all mankind had fallen upon him
like a mantle, had stolen away from his red
children, with his purloined secret, and been i
followed, pursued and tracked by the relentless ,
barbarian, who would rather die than give up j'
his secret. But the Christian hero and thief j'
fled on and on and on, turning gray every time \j
he looked back at the pursuing villains, and
turning white every time he saw the sharp, |
gleaming scalping knife ; yet on he sped like
the wind. And how he jumped on the back of
the flying butfalo, and stood there like ada-
mant, shooting down millions of howling,, pur-
suing savages, and then from sheer hunger de-
vouring the frightened buffalo belore he had
time to stop and lie down and die like a com-
mon buffalo — how he scaled mountains, swam
rivers, fought wild cats, killed panthers and
fled on and on, bearing his great secret, and
finally how he ran exhausted into the arms of
a Samaritan, and gasped out his great secret
and died ; and hence. Dr. Pillgarlic advertises,
solely out of charity, for all to buy his great
Indian remedy, and live forever witliout ache
or pain. The hundreds that flock to the Indian
doctor, and the thousands who gulp down the
great Indian remedy are the evidences that
these ignorant superstitions still course in the
veins of the descendants of not only the pio-
neers, but of nearly all men. How pitifully
ignorant these poor dupes must be not to know

that a wild Indian not onlj' knew nothing
about medicine, but was so ignorant of all dis-
eases and their cures that some tribes were
almost annihilated by the small-pox from
jumping into the river to cool ofi" the hot fever
of that terrible disease.

These stories of wealth floated around among
the earlj- settlers, and they are floating yet.
Some of the most implicit believers deny now
that the}' ever believed, yet could you unwind
their secret confidence, 30U would there find a
faith, like an Eastern devotee — that if they only
had a ball made of all precious metals, it would
point out to them where the secrets are hidden.
The writer has talked to more than one of these
men, and kept his face duly sober while they
related to him the glories and virtues of this
precious '' ball " — the key that infallibly un-
locks the earth's treasures. When asked how
the ball was made, who made it and what was
its secret of knowledge, the}' could give no ex-
planation, except that it was composed in some
curious, occult way, by some man magician
unknown ; it possessed parts of all the precious
metals in the world, and, therefore, it had a
sympathy- and love for its kind, and upon the
presumption it was gregarious, like a cow, so
that when carried over the surface, where the
riches lay beneath, in some way, they could
not explain how, it told its secret to the bearer,
and then he dug down and found the precious
fellow metals. When one of these " ball '' faith
fellows was asked how many kinds of precious
metals there were in the World, he replied,
with much contempt for the ignorance that the
question implied : " Why, gold, silver, diamonds
and lead, of course ! "

In the south part of our count}', there are
yet many living who can tell you all about the
story of the " way-bill," which is so unique that
it should not be allowed to be forgotten.

A great many years ago, two Frenchmen,
impelled, perhaps, by inspiration, followed some
sign in the heavens and their noses, and

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

through flood and field, and begirt by dangers,
and kept alive b}- constant miracles, they pui'-
sued their journey', determined to find the rich-
est and greatest silver mines in the world, and
finally the}* landed on the classic bluffs of
Salt Creek, or on the Wabash, and commenced
the work of digging as directed. The belief
was that they only went down a few inches, or
feet, at most, when they began to uncover their
treasure. Thej' were as secret as death in all
their movements, 3-et tlie Indian found them
out, and warned them upon peril of their lives
to leave. Thej' set about hiding their tracks,
and when this was thoroughlj- done they stole
out in the darkness and started for New Or-
leans. On the way to the Mississippi River,
the}' cautiously blazed or marked their route
and kept a clear and correct record that would
enable them to find their way back some time
or other. They eventuallj- found their way to
New Orleans. The description of the route as
the}' traveled was the " way-bill."

All our people had heard of this way-bill,
and one of Effingham's most ambitious men
went to New Orleans on the hunt of these
Frenchmen, or at least to get the inestimable
wa^'-biU. Three long, toilsome, disappointing
years were spent in this hunt, and no traces
were found of either the men or the precious
document.

Finally, when hope had fled and despair had
come, and the baflled seeker was about to re-
trace his sad and disappointed steps back to
Effingham, chance, strange chance, the jade that
plays so man}- pranks in this world, found our
hero at a cheap Irish boarding-house in New
Orleans, preparatory to a start, as deck passen-
ger, on a cheap stern-wheel boat the next morn-
ing for St. Louis and home. With a -heav}-
heart and a light pocket- Ijook, he went to bed,
purchance to sleep, if the fleas and the other
regular boarders that never missed a meal nor
paid a cent, happened to be out. But there
was none of the chance above spoken of here,

and the " solitary might have been," but wasn't,
by a heavy plurality, sleeping, but he tossed
like a pup in high rye, and scratched like a
civil service reformer. He might have thus
perished alive, but a French groan from a lowly
cot about ten feet from his regal bunk aroused
his attention. The groan was repeated in
l)roken English, and our hero understood this
so well that he passed over, like a gazelle in
deshabille, or — or like a deshabille in a gazelle or,
or somehow, he found himself at the sickman's
disconsolate bedside, when he kicked up his
heels, and with an expiring ha ! ha ! iianded
our hero a brown crumpled paper that had a
Salt Creek- Wabash-Effingham look about it.

The Way-bill ! the Way-bill ! cried the
Efflnghammer, and the dead man said nothing.
Thus man proposes and Heaven disposes; our
hero was rich enough next morning to take his
breakfast at his boarding-house, and two
bracers for his appetite, and this enabled him
to work his passage to St. Louis.

He leisurel}' walked out home from St. Louis
after night, and early the next morning, with
three or four trusted friends, commenced to fol-
low the signs pointed out by the way-bill. They
were led by it down into the deepest woods, and
most rugged hills of the Wabash, where they
discovered a cabin. Attempting to approach
this, a man met them, and with cocked rifle to
his shoulder, warned them not to trespass on
his demesne or he would shoot. They heroic-
ally retreated, and the news spread like wild-
fire all over the count}' that the silver was
found, and it was in the possession of an armed
Gorgon. Never was a county so shaken with
excitement. A place of rendezvous was ap-
pointed a short distance below Ewington, and
the earliest dawn of the appointed day wit-
nessed the squad and the lone horseman, re-
pairing to the appointed place, each supplied
with the family meal-sack to carry home his
anticipated silver. The army of invasion was
duly organized, and commanders appointed,

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

and tramp, tramp, tramp the squadrons with
meal sack and grubbing-hoes and flint-locks
advanced.

The serried columns and serious cohorts
moved across the virgin prairie, rousing up the
sleeping " greenheads " and disturbing the
matins of the prairie frogs. Not a drum was
heard, not a funeral nor a bank note disturbed
their happy hearts until they had reached the
fated woods, when, bj' common consent, they
breathed softer and softer. When very near
the delicious spot a short halt was called, and
three of the best and bravest set forward to re-
connoiter and parley with the shooting possessor.
Forward went these brave fellows, when the3'
soon came within sight of the cabin. They
rode slower and slower, peering in everj- direc-
tion for the man they wanted and dreaded to
see; when suddenly, just as they had settled
in the glorious hope he had vanished and gone,
like a phantom he stood before them, looking
along his gun and ordering, " Halt ! The man
that crosses that line," pointing to a log, " is a
dead man." These three leaders were Samuel
Fortney, Sam Fleming and Brockett.

The horse of one of tlie three had just put
his fore feet over the log, and the now fright-
ened animal wanted to get over, and the worse
frightened rider wanted to get back, because,
as he afterward said, he was looking into the
mouth of the fellow's gun, and it " looked big

enough to crawl into," and he knew if the
horse's hind feet passed over the log, he would
be, in the words of man in front of him, '• a
dead man."

The three retreated, and reported with chat-
tering teeth to their reserve armj- what they
had met. A council was held, and a pell-mell
retreat was in full order instantlj-.

'* Pallida mors fquo pede puhat.^'

In after years, some boys who had grown up
in ignorance of this dangerous spot, wandering
tiirough the woods, came upon a deserted cabin,
and they rumaged the premises, finding many
curious things, furnace, melting pots, etc., etc.
The3' reported what they had found and
people repaired to the place, and it was finally
developed that here had been the home of a
man who followed the enterprising business of
making counterfeit mone}-. The little improve-
ments had been made, it is believed, b}- a man
named Wallace, and he did not intend his
1 privacy to be imposed upon by too many curi-
ous and prying ej'es. This visiting armj- had
probabl}' warned him to pack up and quietly
leave the country, which, it seems, he did.
How long he had been gone, before it was
known^ that the mines were open to the pub-
lic, is not known. But one thing all admit, no
member of the invading army has ever yet
ventured to the spot that he, years ago, left in
such precipitate disgust.

HISTOllY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

CHAPTER VII.

WAR HISTORY— OUR STRUGGLE WITH MEXICO—

EFFIXGHAMS PART IN IT— I'flE PRI«S— '

—OTHER NEWSPAPERS AND THEIR

" Is the Pen mighiier than the Sword?"
'T^HE spirit of war, the admiration for tlie
-1- "loud alarums," the martial music of fife
and drum, the love of battle's magnificent stern
tirraj- have marked all the history of the people
of this count}'. In another place we have no-
ticed the fact, that a full representation were in
the Black Hawk war, in 1832, even before the
young county had a completed organized exist-
ence.

On the 14th day of May, 18-17, under the
second call for Illinois volunteers to go to
Mexico, the following soldiers left Effingham
for the rendezvous at Alton, namely ;

W. J. Hankins, Samuel Hankins, Dennis
Kelly. George Zears, Jonathan Tucker, James
Tucker, James Porter, Andrew J. Parks, Will-
iam Parks, Samuel Parks, T. D. Reynolds, D.
C. Loy, Emanuel Cronk, David Perkins, Stephen
Coy, William Ashlej^, Samuel Fortney, James
Martin, James Green, Joseph Harris, Huram

Maxfield, Dr. Shindle, Mat. H. Gillespie,

Duncan, T. J. Gilleuwaters, James Gillenwaters,
Dennis Elder, Tillman Clark, William Bryant,
Reed Funk, Mathias Lecrone, John L. Baker,
Henry Phillipps, Browning. J. W. Lee.

These thirty-six men were added to Capt.
Harvey Lee's Company, of Fayette County, H.
W. Goode, First Lieutenant, and William J.
Hankins, Second Lieutenant. This company
formed a part of the Ninth Regiment, under
command of Col. Collins. On the 3d day of
April, 1848, they started for Mexico, and went
via New Orleans to Tampico, from there to

SOLDIERS FURNISHED— THE GREAT REBELLION—
'EFFINGHAM PIONEER"— THE "REGISTER"
SUCCESS AND INFLUENCE, ETC., ETC.

Vera Cruz, and from thence to the City of Mex-
ico. They were, unfortunately, attached to
that part of the army under Gen. Scott that
was restricted to camp duty almost entirely,
not being in a single battle, and were practically
deprived of partaking in any field operations.
To this, probably, was due the great amount of
sickness that atHicted the men during their en-
tire service. Andrew J. Parks and Samuel
Parks died of sickness at Puebla. When we
asked the old Sergeant of the company, Sam
Fortne_y, to again, as he had in the long 3'ears
ago, call the morning roll; out of the thirty-six,
except Samuel Hankins, Jonathan Tucker,
James Tucker, D. C. Loy. E. Kronk, David
Perkins, Stephen Coy, William Ashley, Samuel
Fortney, James Martin, M. H. Gillispie, T. J.
Gillenwaters, Reed Funk, Mathias Lecrone and
J. W. Lee, are all that are living. The others
have passed life's fitful fever, and gone to an-
swer roll-call at the high court of God.

The command returned to their homes, the
war being over in Julj', 1849.

The Civil War. — Twelve years after the close
of the Mexican, the clouds of battle again gath-
ered over the unhappy country; unhappy, in-
deed, in this war, because it was a civil war,
called civil, probably, because such wars are
always marked with unusual fierceness and
atrocit}-. A family quarrel is, as a rule, the
most unreasonable and vindictive, the feud
more difficult to forget, and the bone of conten-
tion more trifling than any other species of
diflftculties.

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

In 1861, the great rebellion had assumed its
portentous shape. Fort Sumter was fired
upon, and a flying trip from Mobile or New
Orleans, to St. Paul or any other Northern city,
was accompanied along the entire route night
and daj% with one continuous strain of marshal
music. In the South in every breeze, from
every house-top, flag pole or steeple, fluttered
the confederate flags. In the North, the same
shrill fife and beating drum was heard, but the
flag of the Union floated everywhere; the peo-
ple had, with apparenth- one impulse, left their
houses and wandered upon the streets and
highways. The children laughed and shouted
their pleasure in uncontrolled delight; strong
men buckled on their armor and cheered the
flag, and exultant shouts of patriotism rang out
upon the air. In a night the spirit of slaughter
had been turned loose. The country called
to arms, and there were hasty partings of dis-
tress, and tears, and sighs, and aching hearts,
and war, fatricidal war was upon us. Twenty-
one years have passed away since then; nearl3'
a life time, with healing wings, has come with
its ministerings to the scars of war — the great
red gaps of battle. A new generation has
arisen, and "rebel" and "yank" are, mostly
sleeping peacefully in their windowless tombs,
side b}- side often, and j"et the evils of that
hour of bad passions awakened are not all
gone, and who can tell when the happj' ending
will come. It is no purpose of this chapter to
write the history of that bloody and cruel war,
or of the why and wherefore of its horrid vis-
itation, but, upon tlie contrar3', to say a few
words of what the people of the count}' did do
in the trying ordeal that came without any vo-
lition from them.

During the war, Illinois furnished the army
225,300 men, of itself a great army. There are
102 counties in the State, and this would be an
average to the county of a fraction less than
2,000 men. Although Effingham was among
the smallest of the counties, jet there is no

doubt she furnished fully 2,000 soldiei-s, from
first to last, and j-et her people did- not escape
the draft. The county furnished twelve regu-
larly organized full companies, besides several
squads of men, and quite a large number that
were taken in small squads to diff'erent camps
in this State and Missouri, and there were scat-
tered among regiments from nearly all the
States. The largest of any one body of these,
which maj- be determined descriptively as
stragglers, were about 400, taken to Missouri
by Charley Kinsey and Sam Winters.

The news that actual war had commenced
and the Government published its call for 75,-
000 soldiers, had reached Effingham on a cer-
tain Friday in April, 1861. Col. J. W. Filler
and John L. Wilson talked the matter over,
and Filler closed his printing office, and he
and Wilson commenced to raise a company.
Saturday- morning thej- had two men and then
telegraphad Gov. Yates that their company was
ready and awaiting orders. On the following
Tuesday the company, 102 strong, started for
Springfield. Filler, Captain, J. H. Lacy, First
and George W. Parks, Second Lieutenants. In
the language of Col. Filler, " everj- one of them
a Democrat." The company was literally re-
cruited in a day, and was the finest looking lot
of soldiers that ever left the county. A meet-
ing of the citizens was held at the court house
on Monday before the company was to start,
the house was packed with people, speeches,
songs, drums and fifes added to the sudden
outburst of enthusiasm of all the people. Dur-
ing the meeting a suggestion was made to pass
the hat and raise money to subsist the coun-
try's defenders on their way to Springfield. It
was carried around and &H cents was the gross
proceeds thereof, whereupon Filler spoke just a
minute, the substance being that if there was
a man in his companj- that he knew would be
as bashful in facing the enemy as that crowd
was in facing the " saucer" he would then and
there shoot him dead. This brought out Lowry

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Leith with the response, " Filler, that is worth
$10!" and in five minutes SGO or $70 was raised,
and happily and with plenty to eat on the road,
the company went to Springfield and went into
camp in a briek-yard. These were ninety-day
men and among the first that were on the
ground. From Springfield they were sent to
Bird's Point, Mo., where they served out their
terra. Capt. Lucius M. Rose succeeded Filler
as Captain upon his promotion to Lieutenant
Colonel.

After this, in the next call for troops, three
companies were raised, as follows: Col. Funk-
houser, Capt. 0. L. Kelly and Capt. McCracken,
each a company that went in the Ninety -eighth
Illinois Regiment of Infantry. This might be
called the Etfiingham Regiment. The field
and staff were John J. Funkhouser, Colonel;
W. B. Cooper, Major; J. H. J. Lacy, Adjutant.
William McCracken, Company C, with Stephen
I. Williams, First, and John P. Powell, Second
Lieutenants. Williams resigned in 18G2; De-
cember 19, when Powell was promoted to First
and Henr}' S. Watson made Second Lieutenant.
In Company B, David D. Marquis was Captain,
AMVj-LecrQJiej Captain Company F. Capt,
O. L. Kelly was killed September 8, 1862, and
A. S. Moffitt became Captain, and William
Tarrant First Lieutenant. Capt. Dobbs raised
a full company- and joined the Thirtj'-fifth
Illinois Infautrj', Col. G. A. Smith. Ilis Lieu-
' tenants were Jesse D. Jennings and Nelson
Staats. Capt. Dobbs was severel}- wounded
and resigned October 14, 1862, when Jennings
became Captain and Joseph Moore First Lieu-
tenant. In 1862, Capt. Presley B. O'Dear,
Merritt Redden, First, and John F. Barkley.
Second, Lieutenants, I'ecruited a companj- and
joined the Fiftj'-fourth Regiment, Illinois In-
fantry. Capt. J, P. 31, Howard, D, P, Murphy.
First, and John Loj-, Second, and Capt, D. L.
Horn and Capt. David Young each entered the
service with a company of men for the 100
da}-s' service.

Col. Funkhouser's Company had S. A. New-
comb First LieuttMiant and D. P. IMurphy Sec-
ond. This companj- was apart of the Twenty-
sixth Illinois Infantrj-, Col. Loomis. The regi-
ment were at Camp Yates, and were sent to
Palmyra, Mo., which place they guarded two
weeks before they got guns, and in this time
they used cliibs as a substitute. From this
service Funkhouser returned and raised the
Ninety-eighth Regiment,

Capt. H, D. Caldwell raised the first and
only cavalry company in the county. It was
made a part of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry. This
company was mustered into the service in
September, 1861. The company went to Ben-
ton Barracks, Pilot Knob, Greenville, Reeves
Station, Pocahontas and Smithville, Ark. At
Davison they were in the field skirmish, and in
the next brush, at Strawborrj- River, Ark,,
JIarion Welker was killed and Sylvester Nye
wounded. Next at Greenville, and Cherokee
Bay, Mo., they were in two brisk little fights.
This company were at the siege of Vicksburg,
and then had a long and dangerous march,
with skirmishing all the way to Champion Hill
and return.

. When Capt. Dobbs had sufficiently recovered
from his wound, he raised a companj- of 100-
day men, and this company served in the One
Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, when the
Captain returned home and raised a companj-
for the One Hundred and Thirty -fifth Regiment.
Thus this one man put in the service over 300
soldiers, and although badly wounded at Pea
Ridge battle, he served in the ranks during
nearlj- the entire war.

Our county was almost depopulated of its
j'oung and able-bodied men, the people who
remained at home earnestlj- and literallj-
aided and encouraged those who were in the
field. The Board of Supervisors made liberal
and generous donations from the Countj- Treas-
ury for bounty money to be paid those who
volunteered. And the State laws show that,

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

while the board in several cases acted without
authority, yet tlie Legislature promptly ratified
and legalized everything that looked toward
promoting the war. The people and county
were true to those strong characteristics that
have marked them from the foundation of the
count}-, namely, to vote the Democratic ticket
straight, and fight upon the slightest pretext.

When the cruel war was over, this great
body of men that were left alive, returned to
their homes, and the better occupations of
peace, and resumed their places among the
leading and best citizens of the county. And
this may well be said to their great credit.
Our count}- suffered less, although it had fur-
nished so proprotionatel}- large a number of men
from the war, demoralization and dissipation,
and venality than probably any other county in
the State. It has been said that the invention
of gunpowder was one of the strong forces in
the march of the human mind toward
civilization. This is true; and it may be
said for the people of Effingham Count}- the
late unfortunate war was a great school for
many of our people. It taught them something
of the geogi'aphy and greatness of their own
country; it placed them in direct contact with
men from every section of the Union — from
nearly every State and county. To the time
of the breaking-out of the war the ignorant
Yankee looked upon the people of Southern
Illinois as but little above the brute, and the
people returned the compliment in full, not for
a moment dreaming that a stupid Yankee was
a human being in any respect. They very well
averaged in their mutual respect and ignorance
of each other.

It is now nearly eighteen years since the
war closed. We are told by those who have
revisited some of the terrible, bloody battle-
fields, that kind nature has there been busy cov-
ering over, and hiding away from sight the"
signs and marks of the fell strife and slaugh-
ter. Even the long, slim trenches, where were

buried the killed, as they were put away sim-
ply wrapped in their blankets, are now hard to
trace. Let the white robed angel of peace
drop a tear upon all memories of the unfortu-
nate civil war, and blot them out forever.

The Press. — The record of the newspaper
press of a count}-, if it has happened to fall
into the hands of men competent to make it
fully discharge its duty, ought to be the one
most important page in the county's history.
One of the first and greatest things that al-
ways could be said of our nation, was it has a
free press. No man has to be licensed or se-
lected by a paternal Government, either to
\ print a book or publish a paper. It has been
circumscribed by no law except natural selec-
tion. Any one who wishes could start a paper,
anywhere and at any time, and say anything
on earth he desired to say, barring only an occa-
sional heavy boot-toe and the law of libel. If
he chose not to be suppressed, there was no
power to suppress him. If he was persecuted
or thrashed by some outraged citizen, it is
not certain but that he always got the best of
the difficulty, especially when he would begin
to prate about the ■' palladium of American lib-
erties. " The wisest act of our Government in
all its history was the unbridling the press.
It was the seed planted in good soil for its own
perpetuity, and the happiness and welfare of its
people. To make the press absolutely free,
especially after the centuries of vile censorship
over it, was an act of wisdom transcending in
importance the original invention of movable
types. A free press makes, without so much
as the saying of it, free speech, free schools,
free intelligence and freedom, and when the
storms of State come, and the mad waves of
popular ignorance and passion beat the ship of
State, then, indeed, is a free press the beacon
light shining out upon the troubled waters.

The coming of the Bohemian — that sphynx
of the black letter, the - stick," the ink-pot,
" pi '■ and the •■ devil," in other words the prin-

HISTORV OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

ter, is an era alwa3-s. anywliere and among anj'
people; in young and fast-growing coinmuui-
ties, it is an event of great portent to its future,
for here, above any and all other institutions,
are incalculable possibilities for good, and some-
times well grounded fears for evil. A free press
in the hands of a man aware of the great re-
sponsibilities resting upon him. is a blessing,
like the discoveries and inventions of genius
that are immortal. In the dingy printing
office is the epitome of the world of action and
of thought — the best school in Christendom —
the best church. Here is where genius perches
and pauses before those loftj^ flights that awe
and attract mankind — here are kindled the fires
of genius that blaze aud dazzle like the central
sun, and that penetrate, and warm and ripen
the rich fruitage of benign civilization. The
press is the drudge and the pack-horse, as well
as crowned king of all mankind. The gentle
click of its tj-pe is heard around all the world;
they go sounding down the tide of time, bear-
ing upon their gentle waves the destinies of
civilization, and the immortal smiles of the pale
children of thought as the}- troop across the
fair face of the earth in their entrances, and ex-
ists from the unknown to the unknown, scat-
tering here and there, immortal blessings that
the dull, blind types patieutlv gather, and place
them where tliej- will ever live. It is the earth's
symphonj- which endures; which transcends that
of the " morning when the stars sang together."
And when its chords are swept by the fingers
of the immortals, it is the echoes of those an-
thems that float up forever to the throne of
God. Of all that man can have in this world
it is the one blessing, whose rose has no thorn,
whose sweet has no bitter. It is fraught with
man's good, his joy, his happiness, and the
blessings of civilization. By means of the press
the humblest cabin in the laud may bid enter
and become a part <jf the feniily circle, such as
the immortal and sweet singing bard of Scot-
land — Bobby Burns, the God like Shakespeare,

or Byron, " who touched his harp, and nation's
heard entranced." Here Lord Macauley will
lay aside his title aud dignity, and with the
timid children even hold sweetconverse in those
rich resounding sentences that flow on forever
like a great and rapid river. Here Gray will
sing his angelic pastoral as '' the lowing herd
winds slowly- o'er the lea, and leaves the world
to solitude and me," and Charles Lamb, whose
sweet, sad, witty life may mix the laugh with
the sigh of sympathy, may set the children in
a roar as he tells the stor}' of the " invention of
the roast pig." And that human bear, John-
son, his roughness and boorishness all gone
now as in trenchant sentences he pours out his
jeweled thoughts to eager ears; and the state-
ly JNIilton, blind but sweet and sublime, and
Pope telling the story of " man's inhumanity
to man " in stately measure, and poor, poor,
delightful, gifted Poe, with his bird of evil omen,
" perched upon the pallid bust of Pallas," and
Shelly and Keats, and Dickens, aud Thackaraj'
and Saxe, and Scott and Hood and Elliott, and
Demosthenes and Homer, aud Webster and Claj',
and all of earth's greatest, sweetest and best,
are at the beck and call of mankind, where they
will spread their bounties and beauties before
the humblest outcast as munificently us at the
feet of royal courts or kings.

But, begging the reader's pardon, and hop-
ing that he has skipped this mild and diffident
invocation, we will proceed with the story of
the press in Ellingiiam County — the Country
Press, whose editor, printer, compositor, job-
man, foreman and force, proof-reader,, poet
and sweep, are the alpha aud the omega
of tiie wondrous establishment. Where the
village editor vies with the lone schoolmas-
ter in carrying that "little head" that "con-
tained all he knew." There is nothing in cre-
ation the equal in modesty and diffidence to
the very first pioneer paper — the scream of the
first locomotive in the wilderness, stampeding
the buffiiloes, wild cats and Indians, is tame

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

and commonplace compared to the first paper
— the Vol. I, No. 1 ; Jefferson Brick, proprie-
tor ; the Hon. Jeflforson Brick, chief editor ;
J. Brick, local editor ; Mr. Brick, compositor ;
the great name set in fat faced ten-line caps on
everj- page. How grandlj' he talks about " AVE
oursclf;" about the Sanctum Sanctorum, where
is edited those brilliant Sheriff sales and lying
funeral notices, and those sonorous sentences
about the Hon. Timothy Tugmuttou, Esq.,
having with such public spirit erected a pala-
tial pig pen, and thus the march of empire
bo's westward like a stra}' cat in a strange
back-3'ard when the boj's and dog of the house
get up for the day's business.

In 1855, W. B. Cooper had been two j-ears
in Ewiugton practicing law, and conceiving
that he could add other things to his large law
practice, he went to Vandalia and purchased a
printing office of Tevis Greathouse, and at
once transferred it to Ewington and issued the
first paper in the count3- — the EJjingham Pion-
eer. The old hand-press of this office w,as
probably the first ever brought to Illinois. It
had been brought from Kentuckj- by Col. E.
C. Berr}', the first State Auditor of Illinois, and
it had followed the seat of government from
Kaskaskia to Vandalia. It had been in two
fires, but there was much iron and great soli-
ditj- about it, and, while a cumliersome con-
cern, it was alwaj-s read}- to do fair work in the
hands of a stout pressman. Mr. Cooper, not
being a printer, brought with his office a man
named Burton, who set up and worked off the
paper, and was Postmaster at the same time.
Burton left the office, and the paper floundered
as best it could upon chance printers, until
McManis and Orrin Hoddy were put to work,
and the publication went forward regularly
from that time. In October, 1857, Col. J. W.
Filler entered the office as printer, and in a
short time a joint-stock company was formed,
when Cooper retired and he became sole pro-
prietor. Filler's description of the office when

he first entered it and looked around, is graphic
and interesting. It was in a log cabin, and a
pile of "pi" lay in the center of the room.
The patient printers often had to go to this
pile and hunt out, by scratching, much after the
fashion of the industrious old hen and chickens,
to find a needed letter that could be found no-
where else. The general appearance of things
was in keeping with the " pi pile." The paper
was a six-column folio, sometimes a little
dingy and the worse-for-wear appearance about
it. It was running a serial story — a chapter a
week — entitled '■ The Sea Lion," and when the
outside had been worked off the printers would
take out letters here and there from the Sea
Lion, and chew paper wads to fill the holes.
This gave the Lion, as well as the forms, a sin-
gularly motle}' and spotted appearance. Filler
most unceremoniouslj' killed Off the Sea Lion,
and to this day the readers of the Pioneer have
never ceased to regret this untimely end of
their hero. /

Filler continued the publication of the paper
in Ewington until the fall of ISGO, when it was
transferred to the county seat, Effingham. It
now began to put on considerable newspaper
airs, and was paying the one man who, with the
help of a roller boy a half day each week, did
everything from chopping his own wood as well
as all other work or business about the office.
The paper moved along in quiet content until
April, 1861, when Col. Filler laid down his
stick and went soldiering, leaving the office in
the hands of Dr. T. G. Vandever, who pur-
chased the Gazette, a paper started by L. M.
Rose in the spring of 1860, as a Republican
organ, and was run by Rose until he, too, went
to the war in April, 1861. Vandever purchased
the Gazette, upon which there was a mortgage,
and moved it into the Pioneer office, and when
the two were consolidated the publication
ceased. In October, 1861, Filler & Vandever,
in the consolidated office, commenced the pub-
lication of the Unionist. They issued three

HISTORY OF EFFIXGHAM COUNTY.

numbers only when Filler again went to the
war and Vandever was again left alone. In
the earl}- part of 1862, tiie mortgagee of the old
defunct Gazette, by virtue of his lien, took
charge of the office, and sold the same to John
Hoen3', who at once revived the publication of
the Gazette, and, in a short time after this,
Hoen^' purchased the Pioneer office of Filler,
and moved the entire concern into a new two-
stor}- frame building, on the east side of the
public square, and this was burned to the
ground in July, 1862. Here was not only a
total loss of everything in the office, and no in-
surance, but there was a goodly part of it not paid
for. The County Treasurer, Barcus, advanced
Hoeny SI 00 on the future ta.x; list, and with this
he went to Chicago and purchased a lot of old
tj'pe of the Times and returned. He had the
old Pioneer press, which fortunately stood in
the yard at the time of the fire, and had it re-
paired, and moved into a building in the north-
east corner of the public square and com-
menced the publication of his paper. The office
continued here until a new one-storj- office was
erected on the old stand, and the office went
there .igain. In 1866, L. Hommes was asso-
ciated with Hoen}-, and thej* made the paper
one side German and the other p]nglish, and
this continued for six months, when Hommes
retired and went to Chicago. In 1865, Hoeny
sold to Hays & Bowen, and retired. These
men changed the name immediately to the
Effingham County Democrat. They soon let
the concern run down, and b}- this time, in the
latter part of 1865, Col. Filler had returned
from the war, and the securities of Bowen had
to take the paper; they placed Filler in control.
He continued the publication until September,
1868, when H. C. Bradsby purchased the office.
He eliminated the word " County " from the
name, and it became the Effingham Democrat,
as it lias remained ever since. In April, 1870,
Bradsby sold to J. C. Brady, who associated
with himself John Hoeny, and on the 7th of

June of the same year Brady sold his interest
to Hoenj-, and thus he again became the sole
proprietor. In August, 1878, Hoeny sold a
one-half interest to George M. Le Crone. Oc-
tober 1, 1880, Hoeny sold his remaining in-
terest to Owen Scott, and the firm then became
Le Crone & Scott. October 13, 1881, George
M. Le Crone sold his interest to Scott, and the
property became the possession of Owen Scott,
and is so published at this time.

Thus, full of changes beset with trials, per-
ishing sometimes from famine and sometimes
from flames, it has had always vigor and vital-
ity. A remarkable coincidence is that every
man, we believe, except Martin Hoeny. that
has been connected with it as part propricstor
is still living to watch the career of their hope-
ful prodigy. It has always been Democratic
in politics, and at times has lashed without
mercy its political opponents, and it has been
one of the secrets of the county always com-
ing to the front with its overwhelming Demo-
cratic majorities. We would be much pleased
to go over its list of writers and contril)utors
who have filled its columns for so many ^ears,
with a running review of each one. with an
opinion of their different merits. But, as they
are all alive, and modesty is our besetting sin,
we forbear, content with expressing the hope
that it may live long and prosper.

The Register. — Maj. William Haddock issued
the first number of the Effingham Register
November 14, 1864, and for eight years, with-
out interruption, continued its publication.
Maj. Haddock had just returned from the
army to his home in Butler Center, Iowa, when
he concluded to come South and open a fruit
farm. He came to Effingham, and, being a
strong Republican, he fell into the hands of
Wood & Avery, attorneys of this place, and
thej- persuaded him to start a Republican pa-
per here. He was a law^'er, printer and expe-
rienced journalist. In 1852, he commenced
and published the Anamosa News in Jones

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Count}-, Iowa, for three years. Here and at
this time he was elected State's Attornej',
which office he filled ably and well for two
3'ears. He published the loica State Register
in Waterloo, Iowa, a non-political paper, de-
voted to the interests of Iowa. In 1859, he
published the Jeffersonian, a vigorous Repub-
lican paper, in the same place. Haddock was a
man most admirabl}- adapted to come here,
and under the adverse and trying circum-
stances successfully establish a Republican
paper. He had ability, experience, untiring
energy, and was a skilled workman in the
printer's art. He published a paper that was
500 per cent better than its best patronage
ever justified. His economy was astounding,
his energ}- tireless, his ambition boundless.
He warmed with life the Republican party in
this county — made it much, if not all, that it
was, and in return received the usual pay that
prett}- much all parties award their patient and
humble organs. Tliey are generally expected
to do all the party work and take their pay in
sneers and kicks, while the hangers-on take
the fat ofBces and chuckle over their own
greatness, forgetting that the starving editor
was their architect and builder.

Maj. Haddock was a journalist who had
learned his lessons from Horace Grefele}'. In
1872, when his loved and venerated preceptor
became a candidate for President of the Unit-
ed States, he dared to support him. The pen-
alt}' he paid for this manly independence was
the suspension of his paper, which occurred
on the 1st of October, 1872. A few weeks
after the suspension of the Register, he moved
his office to Champaign. 111., where he com-
menced the publication of the Champaign
Times, an able and vigorous Democratic paper.
Here he struggled and toiled until the 27th of
February, 1879, in the fifty-seventh year of his
age, when the busy, restless, heroic life went to
sleep in death.

The Effingham Republican came in .\ugust,

1872, published by Martin Bros., of the Shel-
bj'ville Union. The firm was composed of M.
B. Martin and Elgin Martin. Some of the
leading Republicans of this city withdrew their
support from the Register in consequence of its
leaning ^toward Horace Greeley, and put up
their money in private subscriptions to the
amount of $400 or $500, and induced Martin
Bros, to purchase material and start a thor-
oughgoing Republican organ. The Martin
Bros, started a neat and lively little seven-
column paper, but they found it difficult, if
not impossible, to make the concern pay ex-
penses. They kept it alive until October 1,

1873, when thej' sold out to H. C. Painter, the
present proprietor, a practical printer, and a
man of first-class business and financial educa-
tion. Its prosperit}' and complete success
dates from the daj- Mr. Painter took the con-
trol of its aflfairs. The proof of this is the
fact that he has doubled the circulation and
more than doubled the job work of the office,
and it is now upon a secure and solid founda-
tion. It has been editorially mild and con-
servative, devoting much of its columns to
local and society news. When the new, re-
vised, enlarged and complete " History of
Effingham County," bearing date of 197G is
made, may the R-fpuhh'can be here to see, and
tell the stor}' from daj' to da}- of the progress
of the work by those future historians and
workers that are to be born after more than
fifty years from this day and date have elapsed.

As a closing paragraph upon this subject,
the writer of these lines, connected with no
paper and not being a politician nor never an
office-holder, may be permitted to lecture all
parties a little in their treatment of their pub-
lishers and writers — that is, the neglect of
these men when comfortable positions are to be
given out. It is too common a fault of all
parties to neglect them and bestow thejr smiles
and favors upon ward bummers or compara-
tive strangers to the party work.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

The Effingham Volkshlatt — a German paper
— by A. Gravenhorst — a ten-column folio — was
issued for the first time June 17, 187S. Until
now (October, 1882) it has been printed in Mil-
waukee, but type and material with which to
print one side of the paper here at home are
now secured, and office room is secured in the
Times Building, where the press-work will be
done. It will now be made a six-column
quarto.

The Times. — When Mr. John Hoeny had
sold his entire interest in the Democrat, he
temporarily moved to Chicago. On Friday,
January 27, 1882, be had returned, and issued
the first number of the Eflingham Times, pub-
lished b}- John Hoeny & Son ; John Hoeny,
Sr., editor, and John Hoeny, Jr., local editor, a
sprightly and able Democratic, eight-column
paper, that from the first issue took rank
among the best papers ever issued in the
count}'. It started with a large subscription
list, and week by week this has steadil}- grown.
Its job department, under the control of John
Hoeny, Jr., has built up an extensive business.

Mr. Hoeny's long residence in Effingham
County and his extensive experience in the
newspaper business here made the Times a
successful enterprise from its first issue. It
merits all the encouragement it has received,
and even more, because of its ability, integrity
and fearless advocacj^ of the right and bold
denunciation of the wrong wherever found.

This is the record of the press in the city of
Kffingham. While it has developed no very
brilliant writers of genius to spread and ex-
tend its name and fame, yet it has been gener-
ally in the care of men who have exercised
good sense and sound discretion. The large
majority of them have been practical printers,
wlio received their training as journalists and
writers after thej' had become proprietors.
Some of them were lawj-ers, some politicians,
some farmer boys and some school teachers,
who knew nothing of a printing office before

they took charge. Haddock and Bradsby were
the onh' professional journalists ever connected
with the press of our city.

We are indebted to C. F. Coleman, of the Al-
taniont ]^^eivs, for the following brief history of
the press in Altamont. " The first paper was
started in May, 1873, by G. W. Grove, of Kin-
mundy. It was the Altamont Courier. The
office was over Hillcman's store. It was pub-
lished in Altamont until the following November,
when it was moved to Virginia. The town was
then without a paper until March, 1876, when
the firm Loofbarrow & Humble — the former
from Alma and the latter from Fairfield — start-
ed the Altamont Telegram. Their office was
over C. M. Wright & Co.'s bank. This firm was
soon changed by the retirement of Humble,
and the accession of Hale Johnson. The new
firm employed Mit. A. Bates, as printer and
editor. This arrangement continued until
June, 1877, when the concern passed, by pur-
chase, to the sole control of C. M. King, of
Lexington, 111., who at once sold out all the
old material to A. M. Anderson, who took it to
Stewardson and commenced the publication of
a paper. King refurnished the Altamont office
with a new and elegant outfit, among other
things a Campbell power press, the first ever
in the count}', and he published the Telegram
until August, 1881, when he stopped the pub-
lication of his paper, and removed the entire
office to Gardner, 111.

On the 9th of December, 1881, C. F. Cole-
man and G. M. Le Crone purchased a new office
and commenced the publication of the Alta-
mont News. That l>ids fair to live long and
prosper.

None of the Altamont papers had an}' poli-
tics.

The Loi/alist. — This was the only paper ever
published in the town of Mason, in this count}'.
The interest that now attaches to this publica-
tion arises chiefly from the fact that it is a
relic of some of the wild craze that possessed

HISTORY 0¥ EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

man}- men during the late war. Those dark
and terrible daj-.s when a modioum of humanity
and a spark of common sense were apt to be
ranked as disloj^alt>', if not rank treason itself.

Dr. J. N. Mathews of Mason, who was an
office boy in the Loyalist during its entire pub-
lication, furnishes the following interesting ac-
count of its brief existence : " In the month
of April, 1863, the first number of the Loyalist,
edited and published by George Brewster,
made its appearance at Mason. It was a neat-
ly printed, seven-column folio, and a rank ex-
ponent of Abolitionism. Its motto was ' Union
and Liberty, now and forever, one and insepa-
rable.' The office was in Stephen Hardin's
building. It was the scene of many an excit-
ing caucus and political jamboree during the
few fierce months of its existence. The paper
was made up chiefly of war news, soldiers' let-
ters, and rampant editorials. Every man in
the neighborhood who could use a pen gave
vent to his views through its columns, with
unbridled boldness.

" The editor was a man of great learning

and talent, but of a phlegmatic temperament
which led liim from one extreme to another.
His leaders were pith}- and to the point. His
numerous tirades against deserters and others
frequently brought him face to face with dan-
gers from which a man of less courage would
have cowered. His office was threatened with
destruction, j-et he continued to pour forth his
sentiments with unflinching force. The office
force was supplied with arms and ordered to
use them in case of an attack. But fortunate-
l}- no such occasion presented itself. Those
immediatel3- connected with the office were his
four sons — Frank, Da Shiel. Willis and Rich-
mond — and J. N. Matthews.

" After a turljulent career of nine months,
the Loyidist failed financially and was moved
to Salem, 111., where it was shortly afterward
discontinued.

" Mr. Brewster was the author of a work en-
titled 'The Philosophy of Matter.' As an ed-
itor, he was too eccentric and impulsive. He
died shortly after the close of the war, in Ma-
son, at an advanced age."

CHAPTER VIII.

tNTERNAL IMTROVEMENTS— THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD— ITS GREAT IMPORTANCE AS A

HIGH WAV — HOLBROOK CHARTERS — THE PART TAKEN IN THE ROAD BY JUDGE

BREESE AND JUDGE DOUGLAS— COMPLETION OF THE ROAD— BROUGH'S

FAILURES— VANDALIA LINE— ITS CONSTRUCTION— OPENED FOR

BUSINESS— OTHER RAILROADS, ETC., ETC.

■' Harness me down with your iron bands,
Be sure of your curb and rein ;
I scorn the strength of your puny arm,
As the tempest scorns a chain." — Steam.

IN another part of this work we remarked
that there were two things in the history of
the county, that were eras. The first one of
these was the building of the Cumberland road
through the county, the other was the building
of the Illinois Central Railroad.

We know of nothing in the history of the

county that at all compares with the last named
in importance. All other things are merely
events; some of them of great importance, and
others of less importance, but all placed together
are insignificant to this.

In the history of the State of Illinois even,
this great and beneficent work stands most
prominenth', if not pre-eminently above all else.

One of the State historians was justified in
his remarks when he said its building " marks
an era in the progress of the whole State."

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

The grand scheme of connecting, b}- means
of iron bands of commerce, Lake Michigan
with the great water highway of the Missis-
sippi Valley at the confluence of the Ohio, had
long been a desideratum with our people. It
had constituted a part of the State internal im-
provement system of 1S37, and some work on
the line was actually done, but was abandoned
with the collapse of that system. The Central
Railroad, from the southern terminus of the
canal to Cairo, was subsequently revived by
legislation, procured by scheming brains with
an eye to the future, but the whole subject
lacked vitality until the passage of the act of
Congress of 1850, granting to the State a mu-
niflcentdonationofnearly 3.000,000 acres of land
through the heart of Illinois in aid of its com-
pletion. This noble tribute by the nation had
its birth simultaneously with and amidst the
throes of the great adjustment measures of
1850, which, during that long and extraordi-
nary session of Congress, shook the Union from
center to circumference. Twice before had a
similar bill passed the Senate, and twice had it
failed in the House, but now it was a law, and
the State possessed the means to complete the
great work. The final passage of the measure
was hailed with great demonstrations of joy by
the people and press of the State; Senators
Douglas and Shields, and Congressmen Mc-
Clernand, Harris, Wentworth, Young. Richard-
son, Bissell and Baker, the then delegation in
Washington from Illinois, were tendered a pub-
lic dinner and reception upon their return in
Chicago in honor of the event.

The entire amount of railroad in the State at
that time consisted of a section of the Northern
Cross Railroad, from Meredosia and Naples, on
the Illinois River, to Springfield; the Chicago
& Galena, from the former cjty as far as Elgin,
and a six mile track across the American bot-
tom from opposite St. Louis to the mines in
the blufls.

The act granted the right of way throusih

the' public lands of the width of 200 feet, from
the southern terminus of the Illinois & Mich-
igan Canal to a point at or near the junction of
the Ohio & Mississippi Rivers, and for a branch
to Chicago and Galena ; also the privilege to
take from them materials of earth, stone and
timber for its construction. But the main
grant to the State was the alternate sections of
land designated bj- even numbers for six sec-
tions deep on each side of its track and
branches ; for the lands sold or pre-empted
within this 12-mile belt or area, enough might
be selected from even numbered sections to the
distance of fifteen miles on either side of the
tracks equal in quantity to them. The con-
struction of the road was to be simultaneously
commenced at its northern and southern ter-
mini, and when completed the branches were
to be constructed. It was to be comj^leted
within ten years, in default of which the unsold
lands were to revert to the United States, and
for those sold the State was to pay the Govern-
ment price. The minimum price of the alter-
nate or odd sections of the Government land
was raised from $1.25 to $2.50 per acre. While
the public lands were thus by the prospect of
building this road rendered more salable at
double price, it followed that the General Gov-
ernment not only lost nothing in dollars and
cents, but in point of fivct was actually the
gainer b}- this splendid gift. The land was
taken out of the market for two years, and
when restored in the fall of 1852, it, in fact,
brought an average of .S5 per acre. The grant
was subject to the disposal of the Legislature,
for the purpose specified, and the road and
branches were to be and remain a public high-
way for the use of the Government of the
United States, free from all tolls either for the
transportation of anj- troops, munitions or other
property of the General Government. This
provision, had it applied to the rolling stock as
well as the use of the rads, would doubtless
have saved the General Government, during the

i)8

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

rebellion, manj' hundreds of thousands o9 dol-
lars ; but it has been construed adversely to
the rights of the Government in this particular.

Upon the passage of the bill, Mr. Douglas
immediately prepared a petition signed by the
Congressional delegation of all the States along
the route of the road from ^lobile north, de-
scribing the probable location of the road and
its branches through Illinois ; and requesting
of the President the suspension of land sales
along the lines designated, which was immedi-
ately done.

The act of Congress threw upon the Legislat-
ure of Illinois the entire dut3- of mailing a pru-
dent, wise and satisfactory disposition of the
magnificent grant. The point of departure of
the Chicago branch of the main track was not
iixed by the act, and this delicate duty the Leg-
islature, it was generall}' expected, would take
in hand. Before the meeting of that body, in
January, 1851, much contention pervaded the
press of the State regarding the location of the
main track, and particularlj' the routes of the
branches. Manj- worthy and ambitious towns
were arrayed against each other. The La Salle
interests wanted the Chicago branch taken off
at that point. Bloomington, looking to a con-
tinuation of the Alton & Sangamon road (now
the Chicago & Alton) to that place, wanted the
Chicago branch to connect her with the lake.
Shelbyville, which was a point on the old line
of the Illinois Central, not dreaming but that
she would have the main track, was grasping
for the departure thence of the Chicago branch
also, and lost both. Another route, which
ought to have commanded great strength, was
proposed on the most direct line from Cairo,
making the point of connection in Pulaski
Count}', taking otf the Galena branch at Mount
Vernon, thence through Carlyle, Greenville,
Hillsboro, Springfield. Peoria, Galena and on
to Dubuque. But, of course, it was to the in-
terests of tlie company to make tlie location
where there was the largest amount of vacant

land that could be brought within the belt of
fifteen miles on either side of the road. And
this proved the controlling influence ultimatel}-,
both in the location of the main track and its
branches.

Hnlhrook Charters. — One of the phantoms
which loomed into public recognition, casting
its shadow across the path of bright promise
for the State, was what was known as the
" Holbrook Charters," whose incorporators, it
was feared, would step in and swallow up the
Congressional grant of land under the broad
terms of their franchise.

The interest of the people of Illinois is now
deepl}' concerned in the history of these •■ Hol-
brook Charters," owing to the extraordinary
discussion that arose in the last 3'ears of the
lives of those two men, Sidney Breese and
Stephen A. Douglas, in regard to the paternitj'
of the Illinois Central Railroad. Letters ad-
dressed to the public through the press of the
country were written by each of these men on
the subject, and the people are 3-et undecided
as to where the paternity of this enterprise be-
longs. It is the widespread and profound
interest among all our readers in anything that
concerned these two eminent Illinoisans that is
our apology for giving the history of the " Hol-
brook Charters " at length.

" The Cairo City Canal Company was orig-
inally incorporated for the purpose of con-
structing dykes, levees or embankments, to
secure and preserve Cairo City and adjacent
lands against the freshets of the rivers. The
cutting of the canal to unite the Mississippi
with the Ohio through Cache Eiver was also
authorized. In the fall of 1835, the Hon.
Sidney Breese, through i well-constructed
published letter, had first en lied attention to
the plan of a central rf :, connecting

the southern terminus c ihe Illinois &
Michigan Canal at Peru with the con-
fluence of the Ohio and M'saissippi Rivers
at Cairo. An effort was mi .e, r*^ the special

•J

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

101

session of 1835-36, to iiuite this project
■with the canal, for which an approjiria-
tion of $500,000 was granted. This fail-
ing, a charter for the railroad was grant-
ed, supplementing this project with the
Cairo City Company, the corporators being
Darius B. Holbrook (who was ^also President
of the company) and others. Application
was then first made to Congress for aid by
pre-emption. One year later, the State en-
tered upon the great internal improvement sys-
tem, and, unwilling to brook a rival, applied
to the Cairo Company to surrender the charter
for the building of this railroad through the
center of the State, which was complied with
on condition that the State build the road on
a route leading from Cairo through Vandalia,
Sholbyville, Decatiu", Bloomington, Peru,
and via Dixon to Galena. The State ex-
pended more than a million dollars, it is
said, on this route, before the "grand system"
collapsed in 1840. Subsequently, by act of
March 6, 1843, the road, in the condition that
it was abandoned, was restored to the Cairo
Cornpany,^ under the title of the Great West-
ern Railway Company, with a power to con-
struct the road from Cairo by the places
named to a point at or near the southern ter-
minus of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, in
such manner as they might deem most expe-
dient. The Cairo Company was vested with
the title and effects of the old Central Rail-
road. All the usual fi'anchises were sfrant-
ed to the Great Western Company as part of
the Cairo Company, and in Section 18 it was
added that ' all lands that may come in pos-
session of said company, whether by dona-
tion or purchase,' were pledged and mort-
gaged in advance, as security for payments
of bonds and obligations of the company, au-
thorized to b" issued and contracted under
the provisions of the charter. By act of
March 3, 1845, the charter of this Great

Western Company was repealed; but, by act
of February 10, 1849, it was received for bene
fit of Cairo City & Canal Company, with the
addition of some thirty names as incorpora-
tors, taken from all parts of the State, many
of whom ivere well-known politicians. The
company thus revived was authorized in the
construction of the Central Railroad, to ex-
tend it on from the southern terminus of the
canal — La Salle — to Chicago, 'in strict con-
formity to all obligations, restrictions, powers
and privileges of the act of 1843.' The
Governor was empowered to hold in trust,
for the use and benefit of said company,
whatever lands might be donated to the State
by the General Government, to aid in the
completion of the Central or Great Western
Railway, subject to the conditions and pro-
visions of the bill (then pending before Con-
gress and expected to become a law) granting
the subsidies of 3,000,000 acres of land.
The company was further authorized to re-
ceive, hold and dispose of any and all lands
secured to it by donation, pre-emption or
otherwise. There were other details of mi-
nor importance, but these sufficiently indi-
cate the scheme. "

Here, substantially, is the outline of the
final legislation that led to the building of
the Central Railroad. And it was this idea
of 1835 whereon Judge Breese based his
claim to the paternity of the great work.

Judge Douglas had charge of the bill for
the road in the United States Senate. He
was radically opjjosed to the whole Holbrook
scheme, because, as he warmly contended, it
was a private scheme of speculation, if not
peculation, and he frankly informed the cor-
porators of the Great Western Railway that,
unless they wholly stepped down and out,
sm-rendered everything that had been granted
them by the State, he would not press his
bill to a final passage in the Senate, but

102

HISTORY OV EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

would not even vote for it. Here the whole
matter rested in uncertainty and doubt for
some time, and the public press poured out
charges and counter-charges, and negotia-
tions looking to an adjustment satisfactory
to all parties were frequently instituted, and
as often came to naught. Judge Douglas
would accept no terms except an absolute and
total suiTender of everything that had been
granted the Holbrook corporators, and he
broadly based his action on the grounds that
it was better for the country that the whole
scheme should perish rather than go into
the hands of irresponsible private schem-
ers. His great mind must have fully realized
that he was taking immeasurable responsi-
bilities — that he was called upon to act, in
the face, too, of the opposition of many and
powerful political friends, in the most im-
portant and vital matter to the country that
concerned his whole political life. He must
have realized that, while this was on its face
local legislation to some extent, yet it was a
part of the legislation unparalleled in its
great and far-reaching consequences. Had
Douglas been a mere demagogue, as has
been charged by his enemies, he could have
here, by a mere negative assent, had easy
sailing in smooth waters, and at the same
time given the country the great railroad,
with all its advantages. But here was exact-
ly where he rose to the emergency — where
his mind forecast the long future, and would
not be corrupted. He could easily have
dropped into this first attempt (if his judg-
ment was right about it) to put on its feet a
similar great scheme of national robbery and
disgrace to that of the Union Pacific Eail-
road. Had he been a dishonest man, he
would have done so. There is one thing cer-
tain — he had his own way in everything,
without compromising one jot or tittle of his
judgment or conviction, and he gave the

country one of the wisest and greatest leg-
islative enactments that can be found in the
law books of our continent. Millions of
people are to-day reaping the fruits of his
work that he gave them without robbing
them of a cent or a drop of blood. Peace hath
her victories as well as war. Indeed, war
has none. Revolutions that strike off the
heads of oppressors may have — often do. A
free people that go into battles to repel in-
vaders that come to enslave may be sacred
men, treading upon sacred ground, but if it
is an enslaved people, and the invaders prom-
ise even a modicum of relief fi-om their home
oppressors, then it is pretty much like all
war — a barbarous calamity, and a by-word of
reproach to any one above a mere cannibal
savage.

The Holbrook party had the ear "and confi-
dence of the Illinois Legislature, but Doug-
las was master of Illinois' interests in the
United States Senate. At the special session
of the Legislature of 1849, he delivered a
speech to that body, in which he attempted
to demonstrate to it that a fraud had been
practiced upon it, and frankly tcjld them that
the important bill had been delayed and post-
poned in Congress on account of the action
of the Illinois Legislature. He further told
them that Congress had an insuperable ob-
jection to making the grant for the benefit of
a private corporation.

To obviate the objection of Judge Doug-
las, Holbrook, on December 15, 1849, execut-
ed a promise of release to the Governor, a
duplicate of which was transmitted to Doug-
las at Washington. But he refused to ac-
cept this as a valid and binding document
upon the company, because, as he said, it
was without the sanction or authority of the
stockholders, or even the Board of Directors.
While he did not impute such cunning de-
signs to any one, yet he believed this release

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

103

left it in the condition which would enable
it to take all the lands granted, divide them
among its stockholders, and retain its char-
tered privileges without building the road.
He would not give his approval to any scheme
by which the State could possibly be deprived
of any of the benetite resulting from the ex-
pected grant. For the protection of the
State, and as an assurance to Congress, the
execution of a full and complete release of
all rights and privileges, and a surrender of
the charters, and all acts or parcels of acts
supplemental or amendatory thereof or relat-
ing in anywise to the Central Railroad,
so as to leave the State, through its Legis-
lature, free to make such dispositions of the
lands, and such arrangement for the con-
struction of the road, as might be deemed
best, was demanded.

This absolute release was executed, and
one copy furnished the Governor and the
other to Judge Douglas at Washington. Judge
Douglas was satisfied with this release, and
he pressed the bill to an immediate passage.

After the passage of the bill granting the
land by Congress, there arose many doubts
and misgiving in the minds of the people of
Illinois as to the sufficiency of the release,
and the matter was freely canvassed pending
the election of the Legislature, which was to
dispose of the splendid donation of the best
interests of the State, regardless of local con-
siderations or sectional desires. The claim
was set up that the Cairo Company could and
would repudiate the relinquishment of its
charters, or use some expedient to induce the
General Assembly to fail in accepting it ac-
cording to its second stipulation, which would
enable that concern to resume its former po-
sition, and grasp the large grant of land un-
der the provisions of its charter of 1S49. On
September 25, 1850, D. B. Holbrook, from
New York, wrote a curious and pu22zling let-

ter on the subject, which was published in
tin Illinois paper and floated through the
press for some time. This letter gave color
to the fears of the people, particularly the
0[>eniug sentence of it. " I can truly say
that I am under obligations to those who,
with Gov. Casey, prevented the repeal of the
charter of the Great Western Railway Com-
pany. It was granted in good faith, and

under no other that the State can now grant.
* * * * -^p gyg jjQ^y g^j.g (-jjj^j. ii^g road

from Cairo to Peru, Galena and Chicago will
be built. I am now organizing the company,
to commence the work this fall, and to put a
large part of the road under contract as early
as possible. We shall make the road on the
old line of the Central route, through Vanda-
lia, ShelbyvilJe, Decatur and Bloomington.
I rejoice with the people of Illinois that this
important road to the whole State will now be
made. "

This singular letter was as a fire- bell at
night to many a voter in the State. It was
construed as a pretension on the part of the
President of the old Holbrook charter that
the State could not grant any other charter
than that which this company already owned.
Many read the letter as an open repudiation
of the release, and believed it had been writ
ten and published for the sole piu-jiose of
warning the people of their intentions.
Here, too, was a claim to a share in the glory
of procuring the grant from Congi-ess, and
the assertion that his company was ready to
resume the work (mentioning the old route
of the road), bordered closely upon the as-
sertion that the Cairo Company deemed itself
master of the situation.

Another straw indicating the shiftins-
winds was a vile and coarse attack upon
Judge Douglas in a Chicago paper published
in the Holbrook interest, as follows:

" Judge Douglas has declared the first re-

104

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

lease of the Cairo Company illegal and de-
fective, but that he obtained a second one
that was legal before he would vote for the
grant of land. That will likely be found
equally so (that is, defective as the tirst).
For, although he is an ex-Judge, it is doubt-
ed if he knows enough law to either dictate
or draw a legal release in such a case, and his
whole concern in the matter may be looked
upon as much a piece of political trickery as
his braarging about it is bombastic, and that
he had no more influence in procuring the
grant than the barking of a poodle dog. * *
The Cairo Company has never asked any-
thing of the State but the privilege to ex-
pend their owoi money in it, which would
never injure, but do much good, to the State.
* * * If Breese and Casey and Holbrook
can be killed off by the politicians of Illi-
nois, look out for more pkinder. "

These pretensions plainly show that the
apprehensions of the people were not ground-
less, particularly when it is remembered that
there is to this day no positive evidence that
the release executed in New York had ever
been signed or duly authorized by tlie Illi-
nois corporators, and when the Legislature
did meet, it was soon manifest that the
Cairo Companies had secured friends in that
body. But, when baffled at every turn by
Douglas, a new and a yet bolder scheme was
inaugm-ated and presented to the Legislature.
When the Legislature met to jaass the Cen-
tral chai'ter, one of ;he iirst things that met
the members was a voluminoiis printed bill
for a charter, which was simply a proposition
to place this grand enterprise into the hands
of the State bondholders with a wild-cat
bank added to the scheme. It was known as
the bondholder's plan. The provisions of this
extraordinary bill contained about as hard a
bargain as "creditor ever offered bondsman,"
or as Credit Mobilier ever offered the Govern-

ment of the United States. It was coolly
proposed, among the provisions, that the
State appoint Commissioners to locate the
road, survey the route for the main stem and
branches, and select the lands granted by
Congress, all at the expense of the State;
agents were further to be appointed by the
Governor to apply to land-holders along the
routes who might be benefited by the road,
for subscriptions, also at the expense of the
State; any person subscribing money shall be
entitled to draw interest upon the amount at
— per cent per annum from the day of said
advance, and shall be entitled to designate
and register an amount of "New Internal Im-
provement Stock of this State" equal to four
times the amount subscribed, or of stock of
this State known as "Interest Bonds" equal to
three times the money so advanced; and stock
so subscribed may be registered at the agency
of the State of Illinois, in the city of New
York, by the party subscribfng, or by any
other person to whom they may assign the
right, at any time after paying the subscrip-
tion, in proportion to the amount paid; and
said stock shall be indorsed, registered and
signed by the agent appointed by the Gov-
ernor for the purpose, and a copy of said
register shall be filed in the office of Auditor
of Public Accounts, as evidence to show the
particular stock secured, or as herein pro-
vided for.

The lands were to be conveyed by the
State to the managers of the road; to be by
them offered for sale upon the completion of
sections of sixty miles, expenses to be paid
by the State; the money was to go to the
managers, but the State was to receive cer-
tificates of stock for the same. They ap-
pointed their own managers, and the State
was to pay two of them $2,500 a year each,
and all the others were to get SI. 500 a year
each. These were very big salaries for those

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

105

days of democratic simplicity. The company,
with the sanction of the Governor, was to
purchase iron, etc., pledging the road for
payment; and the road stock and property to
be exempt from all taxation. To this ad-
mirable scheme of plunder were added pro-
visions for a bank attachment to the concern,
to be organized under the general banking
law of the State, to be adop'ed at the session
of the Legislature granting the charter. It
wound up with the magnificent proviso,
if the constitution was changed or amended,
such as was pending (it failed, however, to
carry), changing the 2 per cent mill tax to a
sinking fund to be generally applied in re-
demption of the State debt, that then the
stock registered in this act should also par-
ticipate in the proceeds thereof.

Such were the salient points in the bond-
holders' magnificent scheme of robbery. For
boldness and unblushing impudence it has
never been excelled, and it has only been
equaled in this respect by its stupid frank-
ness in admitting and proclaiming its own
venality and rascality. It was a bold and
daring attempt to fasten upon the State a
horde of high-salaried officials to eat out the
sustenance of the people, empowering the
company to increase at pleasure its officials,
and fix their compensation; and to holders of
interest bonds — then worth but little in the
market — it offered the control of the road to
four times their actual outlay; to mortgage
it for iron, attach a wild-cat bank to the en-
terprise and strangle it. It bore the brands
of its own infamy upon its face, and to the
eternal good fortune of the people of the
West, so plainly was this seen by all that it
was unceremoniously scotched and killed.

Perhaps, from all these things combined,
and the further fact that, as the people dis-
cussed the measure, the magnitude of the
gift by the Government was so overpowering

to the minds of many that an opi^osition arose
to turning over to any private corporation
this golden fountain. There was that foolish
chimera of the State policy also ready to step
to the front upon the slightest pretext, al-
though its career had already nearly stran-
gled and maimed the young State of Illinois,
and spread only bankruptcy and desolation
along its entire path, and all over the State
it had its unconvincible followers and prose-
lytes. These, too, were besieging the Legis-
lature with their Utopian schemes. They
argued that the State should alone act, and,
keeping everything within itself, build the
700 miles of railroad, pay off the public debt
of many millions, and, by wise State man-
agement, make all its own people rich. Mr,
John S. Wright, of Chicago, published a
pamphlet, insisting that the State would be
everlastingly dishonored if the Legislature
did not devise laws to build the road, and
disenthrall the State of its enormous debt out
of the avails of the land grant.

It was soon a developed fact in the Legis-
lature that efforts on the part of the Holbrook
influence for delay were being strenuously
put forth, in the hope that this might revive
the Cairo charter. To this end, a resolution
was offered in the Senate instructing the
Committee on Internal Improvements to pre-
pare and bring in a bill providing for the ap.
pointment of agents to locate the road, with
the view to further construction, and to select
the lands Tinder the grant of Congress.

These were some of the obstacles and as-
saults that were made upon the enterprise
when it was in its budding state, and which
Judge Douglas was called upon to guard and
defend it against, and to all these were added
the jealousies and bickerings that were raised
at every stage of the work, by genuine and
by false claimants, to a part of the credit of
the idea. It is to be regretted that Judge

106

HISTORY or effijSgham county.

Breese and Judge Douglas were ever driven
into any controversy in reference thereto.
And it is only now that they have both gone,
when they are silent forever, and their works
alone may speak for them, that men may dis-
passionately look into the merits of that con-
troversy of paternity. It is highly probable,
from quotations and facts already given, that
Judge Breese had formulated in his own
mind — partly his own and probably partly
other ideas — what resulted and was event-
ually the Central Railroad. And when he was
in the United States Senate, he did all he
could to hasten the good work. There is
but little doubt but that he and other men
were not only di'eaming dreams that were to
become a real road some day, but they were
moving forward in the actual work. But it
is doubtful that, without Judge Douglas, we
would ever have had the Central road as we
row have it — the richest jewel, to be un-
tainted with corruption — that ever came from
a national or State legislation. The two
great and invaluable ideas that are unques-
tionably due to Judge Douglas are the idea
of giving each alternate section of land and
doubling the Government price of the re-
mainder, and the watchful and rigid exclu-
sion of all jobbery from the enterprise,
These are his. Let the others be awarded to
the memory of Judge Breese. Thus are di-
vided and abundant honors for both.

In the 2>erpetually increasing grandeur and
glory of this master-work of modern time,
there is so much, so rich a legacy of respect
and gratitude, flowing like the ever -gather-
ing river, bearing immeasm-able tributes of
wealth, hajjpiness and gratitude to the mill-
ions of people in the Mississippi Valley, that
Illinois may well say to her two noble and
ambitious sons, peace and amity, " for in thy
Father's house there is enough and to spare."

There was nothingr in the lives of the two

men — Douglas and Breese — that those who
have in keeping their memories should ever
permit to clash and jar the one against the
other. Breese was a great and pure jurist,
and it was here he toiled, and his genius
built his enduring monument. Douglas was
a statesman — the most difficult place in life
for genius to properly assert itself and rear
its tenement among the immortals. It has
been said by a great philosopher that state-
craft, in its whole nature and conditions, is
an inferior plane of life, from whence it is
nest to impossible for true greatness to spring
forth, that great measures of law are simply
compromises — temporary expedients — and it
is of necessity their nature to decay, and
soon they have passed away; that their
effects are short-lived, and at best they are
merely the developed one-half, or part, at
least, of the ideal of the statesman. The
great Burke realized this in his young and
better days, to the extent that it is said to
have cast a gloom over his life. But in the
face of the saying of the philosopher, it is a
truth, and will so remain forever, that men
are, after all, dispassionately judged at some
time by their posterity, according to the real
and true work of their lives. When this just
judgment comes — and if it is not here now,
it will come — Stephen A. Douglas will take
his j)lace, easily and naturally, as the pre-
eminently great man that Illinois has yet
produced. This is not prediction; it is the
assertion of a simple, palpable truth. The
mob, "with stinking breaths and gi-easy caps,"
may not have run after him shouting " Live
forever! " But of this a just posteritj' will
make no inquiry. They will inquire of him.
as they will of all: In life, what did you do
for the permanent good of men? And his-
tory will jjoint to the Central Eailroad, by
which the greatness and glory of Illinois —
more than could all the battle-fields in history

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

107

— is proudly tixed, and the comfort and hap-
piness of her millions of people secured be-
yond peradventure. One other act of Doug;-
las' life should and will be placed by this as
a companion piece, namely: When the Illi-
nois Legislature, of which Douglas was then
a member, had concluded to repudiate its
State debt. When Douglas heard of it, on
his sick bed, he had himself carried into the
hall upon a stretcher. The matter was iin-
dergoing a closing discussion. He was not
able to rise from his sick couch and speak, as
he only would or could have spoken, upon
such an occasion, so he wrote and sent to the
Clerk the following: " Resolved, That Illi-
nois will be honest if she never pays a cent."

And repudiation was instantly killed for-
ever in Illinois. Are not these two acts
properly denominated companionpieces? The
one saved the honor and credit of the State;
the other created her wealth, her greatness
and her glory.

When the General Assembly of 1851 met,
there were wealthy capitalists represented
there, who proffered, in the most equitable
and generous terms, to build the railroad and
its branches, as the following memorial will
fully explain:

To THE H()N0U.\BLE, THE SENATORS .\ND RepRE-
SENT.\TIVES OF THE St,\TB OP IlXlNOIS, IN THE

Gener.\l Assembly convened:

The mt'iiiorial of Robert Schuyler, George Gris-
wold, Gouverner Morris, Jonathan Sturgis, George
W. Ludlow and John F. A. Sandford, of the city
of New York, and David A. Neal, Franklin Haven
and Robert Rantoul, Jr., of Boston and vicinity,
respectfully represent ;

Having examined and eonsidered an act of Con-
gress of the United States, wliereby land is donated
for the purpose of insuring the construction of a
railrojwi from Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio, to
Galena and northwest angle of the State of Illinois,
with a branch extending to Chicago, on Lake Mich-
igan, ou certain conditions therein cxjiressed ; and
having also examined the resources of the tract of
country thi-ough which it is proposed that said rail-

road shall pass, and the amount of cost and space
of time necessary to construct the same, the sub-
scribers propose to form a company, with such
stockholders as they may associate with them, in-
cluding among their number persons of large expe-
rience in the construction of .several of the principal
railroads in the United States, and of means and
credit sutKeient to place beyond doubt their ability
to perform what they hereinafter propo.se, make the
following offer to the State of Illinois for their con-
sideration :

The company so formed by the subscribers will,
under the authority and direction of the State of
Illinois, fully and faithfully perform the several
conditions, and execute the trust in the said act of
Congress contained. And will build a railroad,
with branches between the termini set forth in said
act. with a single track, and complete the same,
ready for merchandise and passengers, on or before
the 4th day of Jul}', which will be in the year of our
Lord 1854.

And said railroad shall be. in all respects, as well
and thoroughlj' built as the railroad running from
Boston to Albany, with such improvements thereon
as experience has shown to be desirable and expe-
dient, and shall be equipped in a manner suitable
to the business to be accommodated thereby.

And the said company, from and after the com-
pletion of said road, will pay to the State of Illinois,
annually, — per cent of the gross earnings of said
ruad. without deduction or charge of expenses, or
for an}- other nmtter or cause: Provided, That the
State of Illinois will grant to the subscribers a eh.ar-
ter of incorporation, with terms mutually advantage-
ous, with powers and limitations as they, in their
wisdom, may think fit, as shall be accepted by said
company, and as will sufficiently remunerate the
subscribers for their care, labor and expenditure in
that behalf incurred, and will enable them to avail
themselves of lands donated by said act, to raise
the funds, or portion of the funds, necessary for the
construction and equipment of said road.

Mr. Eantoul, one of the memorialists, was
the accredited agent of the others, with full
power to act. He attended personally at
Springfield during the sitting of the Legisla-
ture, and the above projiosition, coming from
gentlemen of such high financial standing,
was very favorably received from his hands,
particularly as it offered a completion of the
road and its branches in a much shorter space

108

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

of time than was by any one anticipated.
He was willing to adjust the conditions of
the contract BO as to render the completion of
the road certain, and without a possibility of
the misapplication of the lands, or the be-
stowal of a monopoly upon the company,
which was ready to give any guarantee that
might reasonably be asked to guard the State
against loss from defalcation, both as respect-
ed the prosecution of the work and the ap-
plication of the proceeds of the sales of the
lands.

These terms were made the basis, ulti-
mately, of the Central Railroad charter.

This hill, wise and just as it was, lingered
in the Legislature. Many amendments were
offered and rejected, such as requiring pay-
ment for the right of way to pre-emptionisis
or settlers upon the Government land, the
same as to actual owners, though their bene-
fits and the enhanced value of the land would
be many hundred per cent. The point of di-
vergence for the Chicago Branch was stren-
uously attempted to be fixed, but was finally
left with the company anywhere " north of
the parallel of 39^ 30' of north latitude.
Much disciission was had upon the location
of the main line, what towns it should touch
between the termini designated in the Con-
gressional grant, hut all intermediate points
failed of being lixed in the act except a sin-
gle one — the northeast corner of Township
21 west. Range 2 east. Third Principal Mer-
idian, from which the road, in its course,
should not vary more than five miles, v^hich
was effected by Gen. Gridley, of the Senate,
and by which the towns of Decatiu-, Clinton
and Bloomington were assured the road.
It will be remembered that the memorialists,
in their proposition to the Legislature to ob-
tain the charter, offered, among other things,
to pay the State of Illinois annually a cer-
tain per centum of the gross earnings of the

road, without deduction for expense or other
cause. The amount was left blank, to fix
which, however, became subsequently a mat-
ter of no little trouble and scheming. In
the first gush of desire to obtain the splen-
did grant of land from the State, it is said
the corporators would have readily consented
to till this blank at 10 per centum of the
gross earnings. But unfortunately for the
people and the treasury, the railroad, it is
said, emj)loyed W. H. Bissell, then a mem-
ber of Congress, as their attorney, and that
he left his place in Washington and attended
at Springfield in the capacity of a lobbyist
for the company, and the result was the
State conceded a reduction of 3 per cent from
that figure, the amount being fixed at 7 per
centum, and that in lieu of all taxes. State or
local, this 7 per cent tax yields the State
about half a million dollars annually. From
time to time, efforts have been made by the
road to get rid of paying into the State
Treasury this 7 per cent tax, and against
which the people clamored so much that the
last State Constitixtional Convention fixed the
matter irrevocably in the organic law of the
State, ^vhich places the suliject beyond the
control or meddling of the Legislature.

In the Legislature, after procrastinating
action until the heel of the session, Mr. J. L.
D. Morrison, of the Senate, brought in a
substitute for the pending bill, which, after
being amended in several particulars, was
finally passed with but two dissenting votes,
and at once the House took up the Senate bill
and passed it without amendment, also by
two dissenting votes, and it became a law
February 10, 1851.

In the following spring, surveys were com-
menced, and the good people of Chicago were
at once alarmed, fearing that the branch road
would be carried to the Indiana line to form
a junction with the Michigan Central, and

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

10!)

thus practically become an extension of the
latter road to Cairo, leaving Chicago north-
ward of this thoroughfare about twenty or
thirty miles.

Mr. Douglas was appealed to; he replied
at length, denying the power of the company
to do so, citing the language of the charter
that the Chicago Branch should diverge
" from the main trunk at a point north of the
parallel 39' 30' and running by the most eli-
gible route into the city of Chicago." That
one object of the grant of land by Congress
was to render salable the public lands in Il-
linois, which had been twenty or thirty jears
in the market, etc.

There was some delay in the commence-
ment of the work, occasioned by the Com-
missioner of the General Land office at
Washington, Justin Butterfield. The com-
pany had negotiated a loan of $400,000, but
before it could be consummated it was neces-
sary that there should be a conveyance of
land from the Government. The Commis-
sioner, who was from Chicago, construed the
grant as entitling the company to lands for
the branch on a straight line to Chicago,
which would avoid the junction with the
Michigan Central. But this decision was
reversed by the President and Secretary of
the Interior.

In March, 1852, the necessary documents
of conveyance were finally secured, contracts
were let and the work commenced and carried
forward with little or no interruption to com-
pletion.

It will be remembered that the memorial-
ists offered to complete the road within three
years from the time of commencement. They
kept their word, not only in this, but in every
respect.

In the latter part of 1852, John F. Ber-
nard, who had a contract extending from near
Mattoon to Centralia, a distance of seventy-

five miles, commenced the work, and, as early
as 1854, a construction train roused up the
long sleeping silence of the wilderness with
its echoes, as it carried men and materials
from point to point, where the workmen were
engaged in large numbers. Barnard and his
immediate emjsloyoa made their temporary
home at Ewington, and their advent and
presence there was a marked change in ;he
face of affairs. His large force of workmen
were of course in tents, huts and cabins alonar
the line of the road. He opened a supply
store at Ewington, and here great crowds of
laborers assembled on pay day, and niunerous
extravagant frolics were sometimes indulged
in by the men. The police force and regu-
lations of the county were so meager that, in
the face of these sometimes boisterous gather-
ings, they could offer little or no obstacle to
any exti'avagancies the crowd saw proper to
engage in. But considering the large force
of Barnard's men — men who felt they were
only transient inhabitants, who realized that
there was little or nothing to restrain any
outbreak they might make, there was in fact
little or no serious lawlessness among them.
For nearly three years the force of men in this
county was from three to six hundred; these
were scattered in squads through the entire
county, the heaviest force being at what was
called the "Patch," at the Little Wabash
Crossing, in the southern part of the county.
When Effingham had grown to be sufficiently
large to furnish a doggery occasionally, a
squad from the " Patch " would come up and
a few miscellaneous street rows was the result,
but just here the early education of the young
pioneers was of signal use and value as it
made short and rough work of the gentlemen
from the " Patch," and this probably had the
happy effect of putting a check upon these
visitations, and those men would only after-
ward appear as mere sti-agglers, who, when

110

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

dnmk enough, would, without complaint, go
to the lock-up and sleep oflf tlieir debauch,
and then pay their fine and costs and quietly
go home. A goodly number boarded here,
and they were as peaceable, quiet and indus-
trious citizens as we had.

A man by the name of McNutt was a sub-
contractor from Green Creek, north, nearly
opposite this city. But a little south
for a distance of two miles, J. F. Schwer-
man was the sub-contractor. And the re-
markable fact of a man and his family lit-
erally building that length of road almost
alone and unaided, was an instance of toil
and labor, never excelled in the county, if
anywhere. It is said that they literally
worked day and night, and that the wife
would go home, cook the food and return
with it, and the husband did much oi his
sleeping by sticking his spade in the ground
and sitting, leaning against it, slept. South
of Schwerman's contract, a man named Whip-
ple was the contractor. Freeman and AVill-
iam Williamson, assisted by E. C. Van Horn,
had charge of the carpenter work pretty much
along Barnard's entire line.
' In the latter part of 1855 the road was fin-
ished and freierht trains commenced running.
' The first regular passenger train, on schedule
time, passed over the road from Chicago to
Cairo. January 1, 185(3.

After the great work had been crowned
with a successful completion of the road, and
all could begin to realize its importance and
vahie to the whole country, different parties
came forward eager to claim the paternity
of the original idea that had borne such a rich
fruition. Of all these there are none worthy
of notice here except Douglas and Breese. The
real facts are that, like the engine, the spin-
ning-jenny and nearly all the the great aud
benign inventions that have been given to the
world, it was an idea or discoverv that had

grown from gradual accretions received from
many different busy minds. In the inception,
too much credit cannot be awarded to Judge
Breese and his co-laborers, and yet the mas-
ter work of putting it in its present living
shape is due almost exclusively to Judge
Douglas. As already intimated in this chap-
ter, it was in some respects a misfortune that
any jealousies should have arisen between
those two eminent sons of Illinois. In their
young political lives, they had to some extent
crossed each other's paths, and this no doubt
helped to pave the way to some of the spirit
of gentle carping that marked the newspaper
squibs that passed between them on this sub-
ject, and we known of no more fitting conclu-
sion to this subject than the following sub-
joined synopsis of what passed between these
two men upon the question of the road's pa-
ternity.

Judge Breese had been a Senator in Con-
gress to March i, 1849, when he was suc-
ceeded by James Shields. In 1850, he was
a member of the Illinois Legislature. Under
date December 23, 1850, among other things
iu reply to the Illinois State Register, re-
garding his favoring the " Holbrook Char-
ters," he says:

" The Central Railroad has been a control-
ling object with me for more than fifteen
years, and I would sacrifice all my personal
advantages to see it made. These fellows
who are making such an ado about it now
have been whipped into its support. They
are not for it now, and do not desire to have
it made because I get the credit of it. This
is inevitable. I must have the credit of it,
for I originated it in 1835, and, when in the
Senate, passed three different bills through
that body to aid in its construction. My
successor had an easy task, as I had opened
the way for him. It was the argument con-
tained in my reports that silenced all oppo-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

sition and made its passage easy. I claim
the credit and no one can take it from
me."

This came to the notice of Senator Doug-
las, at Washington, who took occasion to re-
ply on January 5, 1851, at length, giving a
detailed history of all the efforts made in
Congress to procure pre-emption rights for
the benefit of a private company (the Hol-
brook) and " I was the advocate of alternate
sections to the State." This letter is long
and very interesting and may be found in
the Illinois State Register of that date.

Judge Breese rejoined under date of Janu-
ary 25, 1851, through the columns of the
same paper, at great length, claiming that
besides seeking to obtain pre-emption aid, he
also was first to introduce " a bill for an ab-
solute grant of the alternate sections for the
Central and Northern Cross Railroads," but
finding no favorable time to call it up, it
failed. " It was known from my first en-
trance into Congress that I would accomplish
the measure, in some shape, if possible,"
but the Illinois members of the House, he
asserts, took no interest in the passage of any
law for the benefit of the Central road, either
by grant or pre-emjjtion. He claims no
share in the passage of the law of 1850.

" Your (Douglas) claim shall not, with my
consent, be disparaged, nor those of your as-
sociates. I will myself weave your chaplet
and place it, with no envious hands, upon
your brow. At the same time you shall do me
justice. I claim to have first projected this
great road, in my letter of 1835, and in the
judgment of impartial and disinterested men,
my claim will be avowed. I have said and
v?ritten more in favor of it than any other.
It has been the highest object to accomplish
it, and when my last resting-place shall be
marked with the cold marble which gratitude
or affection may erect, I desire for it no other

inscription than this, that " He who sleeps
beneath it projected the Central Railroad."

In the same communication he cited his
letter of October 16, 1835, to John Y. Saw-
yer, in which the plan of the Central Rail-
raod was first ever shadowed, which letter
opens as follows: "Having some leisure from
the labor of my circuit, I am induced to de-
vote portion of it in giving to the public a
plan, the outline of which was suggested to
me by an intelligent friend in Bond County,
a few days since." It is supposed that this
was Hon. W. S. Wait.

To this Douglas, under date of Washing-
ton, February 22, 1851, surrejoins at con-
siderable length, and in reference to this
opening sentence in the Sawyer letter, he ex-
claims: "How is this! The father of the
Central Railroad, with a Christian meekness
worthy of all praise, kindly consents to be
the reputed parent of a hopeful son begotten
for him by an intelligent friend in a neigh-
boring county. I forbear pushing this in-
quiry further. It involves a question of mor-
als too nice, of domestic relations too delicate
for me to expose to the public gaze. Inas-
much, however, as you have furnished me
with becoming gravity, the epitaph you de-
sire engrossed upon your tomb, when called
upon to pay the last debt of nature, you will
allow me to suggest that as such an inscrip-
tion is a solemn and a sacred thing, and
truth its essential ingredient, would it not
be well to make a slight modification, so as
to correspond with the facts as stated in your
letter to Sawyer, which would make it read
thus, in your letter to me:

" ' It has been the highest object of my am-
bition to accomplish the Central Railroad,
and when my last resting-place shall be
marked by the cold marble which gratitude
or affection may erect, I desire for it no
other inscription than this: " He who sleeps

112

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

beneath this stone voluntarily consented to
become the putative father of a lovely child,
called the Central Railroad, and begotten for
him by an intelligent friend in the county of
Bond.""

Here all correspondence seems to have
stopped.

The Vandalia Line. — One of Bond Coun-
ty's oldest and most respected citizens, Hon.
W. S. Wait, in a letter to B. Gratz Brown,
June, 1863, makes the best introduction to
the history of the rise and progress of the
St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute Railroad.
He says: " The railroad projected so early as
1835, to run from St. Louis to Terre Haute,
was intended as a direct line of railway to
the Atlantic cities, and its first siu'vey was
taken over the exact line of the great Cum-
berland road. We applied to Illinois Legis-
lature for a charter in 1846, but were op-
posed by rival interests, that finally succeed-
ed in establishing two lines of railroad con-
, necting St. Louis with the Wabash — one by
a line running north, and the other by a line
running south of our survey, thus demon-
utrating by the unfailing test of physical ge-
ography that oar line is the central and true
one. The two rival lines alluded to, viz.,
Terre Haute & Alton and Ohio & Mississippi.
We organized our company with the name of
the Mississippi & Atlantic Company, in 1850,
by virtue of a general railroad law passed
the year previous, and immediately accom-
plished a survey. An adverse decision of
our Supreme Court led us to accept the offer
of Eastern capitalists to help us through,
who immediately took nine-tenths of our
stock, and gave us John Brough for Presi-
dent. Our right to contract was finally con-
firmed, in February, 1851, the road put tin-
der contract and the work commenced. The
shock given to all railroad enterprises by the
" Schuyler fraud " 8usj)ended operations, and

before confidence was restored, the controlling
power, which was enthroned in Wall street,
had arrived at the conclusion, as afterward
discovered, to proceed no farther in the con-
struction of the Mississippi & Atlantic Rail-
road. For purposes best understood by
themselves, the Eastern manager amused us
for several years with the hope that they
were still determined to prosectite the work.
When we were finally convinced of the in-
tentional deception, we abandoned the old
charter and instituted a new company, under
the name of the Highland & St. Louis Rail-
road Company, with power to build and
complete by sections the entire road from St.
Louis to Terre Haute. The charter was ob-
tained in February, 1859, with the determi-
nation on the part of the Highland corpora-
tors to make no delay in constructing the
section connecting them with St. Louis, but
were prevented at the outset by diificulties
since overcome, and afterward by the exist-
ing rebellion."

This public letter portrays some of the
chief difficulties with which the fi-iends of
this road had to contend. " State policy,"
the stupidest folly rational men ever engaged
in, was openly urged by many of the leading
men north and south of the " Brough road,"
as it was generally called. Hon. Sidney
Breese, a long resident of Carlisle, on the
line of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, pub-
licly declared for that doctrine " that it was
to the interest of the State to encourage that
policy that would build the most roads
through the State; that the north and south
roads (alluded to in Wait's letter) should
fii-st be allowed to get into successful opera-
tion, when the Central line should then be
chartered, as the merits of that line would
insure the building of the road, on that line
at once, giving to Middle Illinois three roads
instead of one, as the chartering of the Cen-

HISTOKY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

113

tral Hue first would be a death blow to the
other two, at least for many long years to
come." IVIr. Wait replied immediately, say-
ing it was the first instance he had ever
known where the merits of a railroad line had
been urged as a reason why it should not
meet with merited encouragement, and after
more than $100,000 had been expended on
the " Brough road." Further work was there-
fore suspended.

In February, 1865, the rebellion nearing its
close, the people along the " Central Line,"
or " Brough " survey, again renewed their
petition to the Illinois Legislature for nego-
tiation of their right to build their railroad
on their own long- cherished route.

Mr. William Plant, who has been Secretary
of the road from its inception, and is still in
this position, furnishes the following facts of
the history of the road:

On the 10th' of February, 1865, a liberal
charter was granted for building the present
St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute Railroad.
The line v.-as designated in the charter as
" commencing on the left bank of the Missis-
sippi, opposite St. Louis, running thence
eastward through Greenville, the county seat
of Bond County, and through Vandalia by
the most eligible route, to a point on the
Kiver Wabash." The persons named as in-
corporators were Henry Wing, S. W. Little,
John H. Dewey, Andrew Mills, Solomon
Kepfli, Garrett Crownover, Curtis Blakeman,
William S. Smith, Charles Hoile, William
S. Wait, John B. Hunter, Williamson Plant,
Andrew G. Henry, Jedediah F. Alexander,
Nathaniel M. McCurdy, August H. Deick-
man. Ebenezer Capps, Frederick Remann,
Matthias Fehren, Michael Lynch, Thomas L.
Vest. J. F. Waschefort, Samuel W. Quinn,
Chauucey Rose and Joseph H. Morgan.

Effingham County took a deep interest in
the road, and called upon her sister counties

along the line to aid in pushing forward the
work. Douglas Township (City of Effing-
ham) subscribed $50,000; Teutopolis, $15,-
000; Moccasin, $5,000; Summit, 110,000,
with 10 per cent interest annually. This in-
debtedness has been promptly met as it ma-
tured.

The first meeting of the Board of Corpora-
tors met at Vandalia, 111., on the 14th day of
November, 1865, for the pm-pose of organiz-
ing and electing a board of nine directors,
with the following result: John Schofield and
Charles Duncan, Clark County; Samuel
Quinn, Cumberland County; J. P. M. How-
ard and S. W. Little, Effingham; C. Floyd,
Jones and F. Reemaer, Fayette; William S.
Smith and Williamson Plant, Bond County.

At the first meeting of the Board of Di-
rectors, held at Effingham on the 22d day of
November, 1865, for the purpose of electing
the first officers of the company, J. P. M.
Howard was elected President, and William-
son Plant, Secretaiy.

Through the influence of E. C. Rice, who
was Chief Engineer of the "Brough" survey,
and had made estimates for the work under
the same, Gen. E. F. Winslow, a gentle-
man of great energy and considerable rail-
road experience, after various propositions
being made to build part of the line, or parts
of the road, contracted, August 22, 1866, to
build the entire line from the " west bank of
the Wabash to the east end of the dyke at Il-
linois town." The contract was finally rat-
ified at a meeting of the Board of Direct-
ors, held at Vandalia November 14, 1866.
An additional agreement was entered into
November 28, 1866, and made part of the
original contract.

The first shock received by the railroad
company in the outset, was the lamented
death of its earnest leader and judicious
friend, Hon, W. S. Wait, July 17, 1865,

114

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

thereby depriving it of his mature judg-
ment and wise counsel in carrying out and
making the conti-act about to be entered into
for the building of the road under the char-
ter so recently obtained from the Legisla-
ture.

In 1867, lirst mortgage bonds were put on
the " property, rights, franchises, leases and
estate, etc., of the company to the amount of
$1,900,000." AVhen the property was leased,
in February, 186S, a second mortgage was
put on the same to the amount of S2,600,-
000, each mortgage bearing 7 per cent inter-
est, payable semi-annually. For the purpose
of further equipment of the road, preferred
stock has been issued to the amount of $1,-
544,700, bearing 7 per cent interest.

The issue of §2,000,000 has been author-
ized. This stock will take precedence over
the common stock of the company in receiv-
ing dividends, and as the interest on the pre-
ferred stock may accumulate before any pay-
ment thereof, the prospect for dividends on
common stock is remote.

By mutual understanding between the con-
tractors and the company, E. C. Rice was
engaged as Chief Engineer of the company,
January 18, 1867, and he commenced the
first survey on the west end of the line in
March, and the grading was begun as soon
as the line was fixed at the west end, in April
following. At the same meeting, a code of
by-laws was adopted, and Greenville was
designated as the general office of the com-
pany.

At the annual election, held in January,
^ 1867, J. P. M. Howai'd was re-elected Presi-
dent, Williamson Plant, Secretary, and W.
S. Smith, Treasurer. April 3, 1867, Mr.
Howard gave up the position, by request,
and J. F. Alexander was chosen President of
the company in his place.

By the charter, the company was author-

ized to issue first mortgage bonds, not to ex-
ceed $12,000 per mile. The capital stock was
made §3,000,000 which could be increased at
an annual meeting by a majority of stock-
holders in interest, as they should direct.

The road was completed to Highland July
1, 1868. The first regular passenger train
did not run to that point until August 20 fol-
lowing.

By consent of the railroad company, Gen.
Winslow, as contractor, was paid $120,000 for
labor expended on the line, to the lOtb day
of February, 1868, and at his request was re-
leased from his contracts. The same was
ratified and accepted by the company at their
meeting March 13, 1868.

The company entered into a contract, Feb-
ruary 10, 1868, with Thomas L. Jewett and
B. F. Smith, of Ohio; George B. Boberts,
of Philadelphia, and W. R. McKeen, of Terre
Haute, in the firm name of McKeen, Smith
& Co., to complete the road at an early day.
At the same time and place, an agreement
was entered into, leasing the St. Louis, Van-
dalia & Terre Haute Railroad to the Terre
Haute & Indianapolis Railroad Company.
In the report of the President of the " Van "
Company, made to the stockholders at their
annual meeting, held at Greenville, 111., Jan-
uary 6, 1872, he says:

" "When on the 10th day of February,
1868, the contract was made iusiu-ing the
completion of your road, another contract
was also made, providing for its forming a
part of a continuous railroad line from St.
Louis (vialndianapolis)to Pittsbm-gh, and for
perfecting this object yom- line was leased
for a period of 999 years to the Terre Haute
& Indianapolis Railroad Company, for the
joint interests of the company and the several
railroad companies forming the said line.
Under this lease, the lessees were to work
vour road at their cost and expense, and to

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUKTY.

115

pay to your company 35 pev cpnt of the gross
earnings, first paying therefrom all the inter-
est due on the bonds of the company, and all
taxes assessed against the property of the
company, advancing any deficit in the
amount needed to meet these liabilities and
paying the surplus (if any remained) of the
35 per cent to your companj^ Yoiu- board,
in view of the light traffic usually done upon
a new line reduced the proportion due your
company of the gross earnings to 30 per cent,
provided, that after payment by the lessees
of the road out of the 70 per cent received
for that purpose, if any siu'plus remained, it
should go to your company."

From small earnings from the time the
road was opened, fu-st to Highland and
Greenville, in 1868, and finally through to
Terre Haute, July 1, 1870, it has developed
a marvelous increase of business, not only to
the road, but to the farming and all other in-
dustries along the line. The whole cost of
the road, and equipment of the same to July
1, 1868, when the contractors turned the road
over to the lessees, was §7,171,355.89, which
was increased steadily as the line was more
fully developed by " rolling stock " and "bet-
terments," etc., on the road, until the last
report of Treasurer W. H. Barnes made the
total costs of road and equipment to October
1, 1880, §8,330.410.75. The amount of busi-
ness done over the line for the year 1881,
aggregates 11,565,515.04, and the rental due
to the company from the lessee for the year
ending October 31, 1881, was $469,354.50,
and for the same time $424,827.04 was earned
in carrying passengers; $43,490.57 for ex-
press, and $90,835.98 for mail services.

The first train ran into Effingham April
26, 1870, and the fii'st regular passenger
train over the whole line, on schedule time,
was on the 12th day of June, 1870, and, as
mentioned before, the contractors turned over

the road, as per contract, to the Terre Haute
& Indianapolis Railroad Company July 1,
1870.

The St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute
Railroad is 158 miles from East St. Louis to
the eastern line of the State, and seven miles
from State line to Wabash River at Terre
Haute, and twenty-five miles and a half in
Effingham County.

The Wabash Railroad.- -On the 10th of
March, 1869, the General Assembly incorpo-
rated the Bloomington & Ohio River Railroad
Company, the incorporators being T. D.
Craddock, J. D. Bruce, C. K. Bull, Charles
Voris, J. B. Titus, Jonathan Patterson, Sr.,
H. Y. Kellar, William Piatt and Michael
Swan.

The charter specifies a road " commencintr
at or near Effingham, in Effingham County;
thence on the most practicable route (to be
determined by said directors or their succes-
sors in office) from said point to the T. , H.
& A. and St. Louis Raih-oad, at or near
Windsor, in Shelby County, 111.; thence
from said point, on the most practicable
route, to be determined as aforesaid, to Sul-
livan, in the county of Moultrie, and thence
from said town of Sullivan to the Great
Western Railroad, at or near the town of Be-
ment, in the county of Piatt; thence from
said point,'"on the most practicable route, to
the town of Monticello, in the county of Pi-
att, and thence, on the most practicable route,
to the city of Bloomington in the county of
McLean.

The above-named incorporators, by the
charter, constituted the first Boai'd of Direct-
ors. The charter was very liberal in allow-
ing the people, counties, towns and munici-
palities along the route to make donations
and issue bonds bearing 10 per cent interest
therefor.

The Board of Directors met at Windsor on

116

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUKTY.

the 19th day of May, 1869, for the purpose
of orgauizing and electing officers. There
was a fall attendance of the members in their
own proper person, except T. D. Craddock,
who was represented by his proxy, H. C.
Bradsby. We mention this fact for the very
important reason that to it is due the circum-
stance that the road was ever built at all.
The charter had been drafted by J. B. Titus,
of Sullivan, and some of his friends in Wind-
sor, and when they came to that part giving
the names of the nine directors, desiring to
scatter them along the contemplated line, it
80 happened that the only man they knew in
Effingham was T. D. Craddock, and without
his knowledge they inserted his name.
Charles Voris was in the State Senate and the
bill was placed in his hands, and, like all
other similar bills at that time, was passed
without comment or amendment. When the
incorporators met, they spent the early part
of the day in making each other's acquaint-
ance, as well as informally talked over who
they would elect for officers. The common
sentiment amonof them was that it was Voris'
charter, and, as a matter of course, he should
have the first place. Craddock's prox-y at
this point did what no one could well do for
himself, that is, to put his principal up for
President and urge and advocate his claims
until even Voris withdrew in his favor, and
T. D. Craddock was unanimously elected
President; J. B. Titus, Treasurer, and C. H.
Bull, Secretary.. No man was probably ever
more surprised than was Mr. Craddock, when
notified of his election.

On the 14th of the following month, the
board assembled at Windsor, and the organi-
zation was completed by the adoption of a
constitution and by-laws, and H. C. Bradsby
was appointed the general financial agent of
the company. Meetings were at. once called
all along the line, addresses made, a general

interest in the enterprise awakened, elections
held at various places, and the sum of $520,-
000 was voted as a donation, from the north
line of Piatt County to the city of Effing-
ham, Douglas Township voting $50,000.
Surveyors were set to work immediately, Mr.
Craddock advancing the money therefor, and
a survey of the whole line made. The towns
along the line, through their Councils or
Trustees, voted various sums and reimbursed
Craddock for the money advanced to do the
surveying.

The county of Moultrie voted $100,000 to
the road, and, as that county was without
any railroad, its people were deeply interest-
ed in the enterprise. At one of the railroad
meetings in Sullivan, Jonathan Patterson,
01-, as he is widely known, " Uncle Donty,"
who owned a mill there and had to haul his
fiour through the deep, black mud to Mattoon
for shipment, was called out at the meeting,
and when he came to describe the woes of the
deep, waxy mud, how it hemmed them about
like a wall and a deep, deep ditch, he abso-
lutely grew eloquent, so much so indeed,
that calls for him were made in every direc-
tion to speak at railroad meetings.

The survey was made, the ■ half-million
dollar donations voted, all the paper, work
and wind department of a grand railroad
speedily arranged, and here matters stopped,
complacently awaiting the coming of some
trillionaire contractor to built it. The
board would call meetings and adjoiu-n
and meet again, and then another efi"ort would
be made to secure a $20,000 donation from
Summit Township in this county. Stock
books were opened at every point along the
line, but a half-dozen public- spirited citizens
of Effingham were the only ones that sub-
cribed any stock, except a single share here
and there, enough to be eligible to an office
in the company. The enthusiasm of the peo-

'■f^-r-' *>

^-^y ^ J^d

HISTORY OF' EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

119

pie soon began to cool, when they perceived
the wheels really stopped, and soon it had
reached the point that Craddock was the only
man left that would risk a dollar on the fut-
ure prospects of the road; he never appar-
ently fagged, or hesitated, and his eiforts
necessitated constant trips to the different
cities in the hunt of parties to come forward
and build the road. Two or three contractors
were agreed upon, but when it came to the
point the parties had no money and feared to
attempt to work on a credit until the dona-
tions would pay the road's way to completion
and the contracts were abandoned. In the
meantime, H. C. Bradsbv had been elected a
director in the place of C. H. Bull, and he
was also elected Secretary and a member of
the Executive Committee. The number of the
board had been increased, and W. H. Barlow,
S. W. Little and D. B. Alexander, of Effing-
ham, were made members.

In proportion as the prospects of building
the road were prolonged, the enthusiasm of
friends cooled, and the board finally said to
Craddock and Bradsby, take the concern and
build it if you can. To better help carry
this idea out, an executive committee of three
(of which thoy were members), with all the
powers of the corporation full and complete
— a majority to control- — was created, and
they were thus made the full representatives,
with all powers of the organization. They
continued the hunt, and opened up negotia-
tions with any and all probable builders who
would stop and listen to their scheme. At
this time there was a warm rivalry existing
between T. B. Blackstone, of the Chicago &
Alton Railroad, and Boody, of the Wabash,
for the control of the Decatur & State
Line Railroad from Decatur to Chicago.
The Wabash had just completed a road from
Decatur to St. Louis and to make a terrible
rival for the Chicago & Alton, it only had

to secure the road from Decatur to Chi-
cago. Hence, negotiations were opened with
Blackstone, who lent a favorable ear. He
agreed to take a perpetual lease of the Bloom-
ington & Ohio road and indorse its bonds to
the amount of $17,500 a mile and furnish
the rolling stock, operate the same and pay
the interest, provided, that he could make a
similar arrangement with the Decatur & State
Line road, and thus form a junction of the
two railroads at a jioint a short distance
northeast of Decatur. This would not only
destroy the rivalry of the Wabash line, but
it would give the Chicago & Alton a strong
lever upon the Illinois Central. Th^re were
over $600,000 donations on the State Line
road, and, as above said, over $500,000 on the
Bloomington&Ohio. The $17,500 was enough
money secured to build the road and have at
least $1,000 a mile on each line of the road.
The engineer estimated that on every mile of
the Bloomington & Ohio road, there was a cer-
tain profit under this arrangement of $2,500
besides the donations. Probably no two men
ever left Chicago with brighter hopes in ref-
erence to a business transaction than did the
representatives of the Bloomington & Ohio,
when they left Mr. Blackstone's office to go
to Decatur to confer with E. O. Smith, the
President of the State Line road, and inform
him of the fortune they brought for him, and
in return only asked his concurrence for his
road in the scheme. But, to their amaze-
ment. Smith hesitated — the sum of money
named stunned him, and, in short, Boody got
hold of him, and convinced him that he had
better cast his fortunes with the Wabash,
and, while he would only make a small
amount of money, yet it would be certain,
and thus won him over. Boody and the Wa-
bash soon failed, and this scheme, as well as
the bright hopes of the Bloomington & Ohio,
were as the fabric of a vision, or anything

120

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

else gone up in smoke. This was one of sev-
eral prospects that worked np to the fairest
promise, and then came to naught.

In the early part of 1871, a contract to
construct the road from EfBngham to a junc-
tion of the Fairbui-y, Pontiac & Northwestern
at some point east of Bloomington, was en-
tered into with the firm of Ralph Plumb &
Co., the members of the firm being Ralph
Plumb, F. E. Hinckley and P. B. Shumway.
There was a secret arrangement agreed upon
with Craddock. The heaviest donations on
the road were from Bement to Windsor,
through Moultrie County, there being $50,-
000 at Bement, $100,000 in Moultrie and
$75,000 in Windsor — plenty to pay every
dollar of the cost of the road between these
two points. Work was, therefore, com-
menced at Bement and carried from there
south and soon completed to Windsor. A
train was put upon this much of the road,
and was a financial success from the day it
commenced to run.

The Bloomington & Ohio Kiver Railroad
was then consolidated with the Fairbury,
Pontiac & Northwestern, and the new road
was called the Chicago & Padueah Railroad,
and according to the terms of the contract,
the entire franchise and corporation passed
into the hands of the contractors. The work
south stopped at Windsor, and the north end
of the road was finished until it met its
northern companion, and was completed and
stocked and operated as one line from Wind-
sor, through Pontiac to Streator. After a
delay of three years, the work on the road
from Windsor south was commenced. The
two townships in Shelby County had given
$40,000 donations, and in a short time it was
built to Shumway, in this county. Here it
made another pause. It wanted to reach the
Springfield Branch of the Ohio & Mississip-
pi, and, in 1872, it had made all arrange-

ments for an extension from Effingham to
Louisville, in Clay County. Surveys had
been made, and the people had subscribed
$60,000 in private subscriptions, payable only
when the road was completed to Louisville.
Ralph Plumb & Co. had contracted with H.
C. Bradsby to secure the right of way from
Effingham to Louisville and get the dona-
tions. They had also contracted with him
for the ties along the entire line. The com-
pany apparently having failed to make ex-
pected money arrangements, abandoned all
this part of the road and organized under
the general law a company to construct a
railroad from Shumway to Altamont. This
was an easy line built and it would save a
rough crossing at the Wabash to get to Effing-
ham. A force of workmen were put upon
the line from Shumway to Altamont. The
news of what was being done soon came to
the city of Effingham, and a petition for an
injunction, preventing the building of the
road to Altamont, was presented to Judge
Allen of the Circuit Coirrt, and promptly
granted. This carried dismay to the con-
tractors, and they came to the people of
Effingham and sued for terms, asking to be
permitted to complete the work to Altamont,
and offering pledges that they would then
build to Effingham, the pledge being the do-
nations Effingham had voted the road. The
attorneys of Effingham and others, probably
a majority of the people, were in favor of ac-
cepting their offer. Others oj)posed it; they
said it could do no harm to let the injunction
stand — this would insure the road being
built at once to Effingham, and when this
was done they could build to Altamont or
where they pleased. The first-named carried
their point — the contractors keeping faith
with some to whom they made promises, and
unceremoniously breaking them with others.
The injunction was removed and the road

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

121

completed to Altamont. In 1874, the next
move was to apply to the township of Doug-
las for the $50,U00 of bonds voted by it, and
that had been signed in blank by Casper
Nolte, Supervisor, in 1872. Suits were com-
menced to restrain the tilling and completing
these bonds and their delivery to the company,
and praying the com't to not only prevent
their delivery, but to order them burned by
the Sheiiif of the county. But these siaits
were not popular. Indeed, so anxious were
the people that the bonds should be passed
over to the road nunc 2^''o tiDic, that stacks
of affidavits, including nearly all the business
and leading men of the city, may yet be
found in the Clerk's office in favor of passing
over the bonds " in order that the work of
completing the road to Effingham " might go
on. The bills for injunction to restrain the
issue and delivery of these bonds are on file
in the Circuit Clerk's office, and there is no
question that they show an extraordinary
state of facts. Nor is there a doubt but that
Judge Allen was anxious to stop the delivery
of the bonds and save the people $50,000
thereby. A. B. Jansen. the then Supervisor
of Douglas Township, had been warned not
to issue the bonds or deliver them. The
bonds had been placed in Judge Thornton's
hands, the attorney of the railroad in that,
as well as in other cases, and the Douglas
Township Supei-visor finally went to Shelby-
ville and from thence to Springfield, and
when he retiu'ned the cotopany had the bonds,
not only tilled up, but registered in the State
Auditor's office. When the road was com-
pleted to Effingham there occurred a curious
coincidence, the people pretty much en masse
became violently opposed to the issue of the
bonds, and a suit was commenced to annul
them and an injunction asked and obtained
restraining the tax collector from collecting
the tax for the purpose of paying the interest

on the bonds. As a matter of course the
people were defeated in this suit, and mulct-
ed in an additional bill of costs and attor-
neys' fees.

In all these unfortunate complications, the
writer hereof knows probably every man who
was " seen," as the slang phrase goes, as well
as those whose hopes from great promises,
turned to Dead Sea apples upon their lips,
and nearly broke, doubtless, their honest
hearts, but for our common humanity he
deems it best to take these little secrets with
him to the grave. The situation of our peo-
ple in reference to these bonds was simply,
when they could they wouldn't, and when
they would they couldn't, and that's an end
on't.

It is due Mr. Benson Wood, who was the
local attorney of the people in all this litiga-
tion, to say that in the first suits to protect
the people and enjoin the bonds, that he com-
plained bitterly that he had a good case, but
no proper client; he probably now will as
freely acknowledge that in the final siiits he
had an excellent rich fool for a client, but no
case.

The first train to run the entire length of
the road, from Streator to Altamont, on sched-
ule time, was on the 29th day of June, 1874.
It was two years after this, February, 1876,
before trains were run into Effingham.

On the 5th day of April, 1880, the Chi-
cago & taducah Railroad passed into the
hands of the present owners and became the
Wabash Railroad. This new company at
once set about completing a railroad from a
place known as Strawn to Chicago, and thus
was made a direct and valuable road from
Effingham and from Altamont to Chicago.
This also gives this great corporation a direct
and valuable line a direct road from St. Louis
to Chicago.

A mixed passenger train is daily run from

123

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

here to Bement, where it connects with the
Chicago & Toledo trains, and returns here in
the evening. A freight is daily dispatched
from Altamont, giving the road two daily
trains each way from Shumway north. Since
the building of the road, there has been but
two different station agents here, namely, C.
A. Van Allen, the first one, and H. G. Hab-
ing, the present one. Mr. Frank Green, the
present conductor between this point and Be-
ment, was the second conductor ever put
upon the road. He succeeded Andy Ricketts,
the first conductor for a few months, when
the road was first opened from Bement to
Windsor.

It is in contemplation by the Wabash to
build a road from this point through Jasper
and Crawford Counties, in a southeast direc-
tion to Cincinnati, and as an evidence of the
earnestness of this intention, a mortgage
bond on this line was recently filed for record
in oiir Clerk's office. The piu'pose of this is
to reach Cincinnati and the rich block coal
fields of Indiana.

The Narrow Gauge. — The Springfield,
Effingham & South-Eastern Railroad was
chartered in 1867, with J. P. M. Howard, S.
W Little, W. B. Cooper, L. E. McMurry,
John F. Barnard, Anderson Webster and
Thomas Martin, incorporators. J. P. M.
Howard was elected first President, and Van
Valkenbm-g, Secretary. A partial survey of
the line was made in 1868. At the June
meeting in 1878, Howard resigned and quit
the organization, and L. R McMurry, Presi-
dent, and H. C. Bradsby, Secretary, T. D.
Craddock, Treasurer; and another survey of
the line was made. There were $163,000 in
donations voted from Effingham to the Wa-
bash River. Effingham voted 150,000 of this.

In the same year, the Vincennes & Pana
Railroad was chartered, with William Rea-
vell, James H. Steeles, William C. Wilson,

Joseph Cooper, Isaac H Walker, William C
Jones, Daniel Rinehart, William B. Cooper,
E. A. Howard, Craig White, J C. Helmack
and D. D. Shumway were incorporators.
This provided for the building of a railroad
" commencing at a point at or near the O. &
M. R. R., west of Vincennes, as the company
may select, east of Lawrenceville, thence to
Robinson, thence to Newton, thence to Effing-
ham, thence to Pana."

By consolidating these two lines and mak-
ing the present S. E. & S. E. R. R., a line
was authorized as it is at present located,
and built from here to the Wabash River.
The consolidation was formally made and
entered into. The financial panic of 1873
apparently had forever killed the enterprise
that had promised so fair from its inception
to that time. In the latter part of 1878,
parties came, and the project was revived,
with John Funkhouser as President, and
George C. Mitchell, his son-in-law, for Sec-
retary. In 1876, a contract was made with
Adams, Soliday & Company to build the
road. This company was soon deeply in
debt to workmen, tiemen, boarding-houses,
and all other employes, and the company of
Buell, Lyon & Co. succeeded them. Lyon
seemed to have plenty of money, and all the
people along the line were soon revived in
hope, and the work started up with great ac-
tivity again. After a little while, Lyon re-
tired from the firm, and it became Buell,
Smith & Co., and another spirited revival of
the work took place. This last company or-
ganized the Cincinnati, Effingham & Quincy
Construction Company, and all was again
serene for a short time. Some misunder-
standing arising in this construction com-
pany, in March, 1879, a Receiver was ap-
pointed — John Charles Black — for the con-
struction company. In September, 1879, J.
P. M. Howard was appointed Receiver for the

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

133

railroad company. At this time, about ten
miles of the road had been graded, and half
a mile of the track was laid at Robinson. In
January, 1881, the road was completed, and
the trains cotumenced regularly running from
the city of EflSngham to the Wabash River.
The affairs of both the construction and rail-
road company were settled, and the books
closed and road turned over to Sturgis, Lyon
&Co., in July, 1882.

O. & M. Railroad. — In 1867, the Spring-
field & South-Eastern Railroad was chartered,
and the work commenced to build a line
from Shawneetown to Springfield. This was
Tom Ridgeway's and Charley Beecher's road.
These two men came to the City of EiBngham
and caused innch excitement among our peo-
ple by telling them their line of constructed
road from the south on its way to Springfield
was raj)idly approaching our south county
line; that they wanted to build to our city
on the route, but they wanted first to know
exactly how much we would give as an in-
ducement; that if this inducement was not
liberal enough, they would build the road
west of us, through Altamont or St. Elmo,
etc., etc. In the winter of 1879, the people
of EfiSngham had heard so much about rail-
roads coming — singly, in squads and in pla-
toons — that they were dazed with their own
prospective greatness. Railroad meetings
were frequent, and it was railroads for break-
fast, dinner and supper. The people had

appointed a Railroad Committee, a kind
of public safety committee, and, in de-
spair in understanding all the talk that was
going on about railroads, they turned the
whole matter over to this committee. But
the committee was less able, it seems, to
either agi-ee or understand what it all meant
than were the people. The final result was
that Effingham hesitated, and the little, act-
ive, wide-awake townships of West, Mason
and Liberty, and the village of Edgewood,
secured the road. Edgewood gave $10,000,
West Township $10,000, Mason Township
$10,000, and Liberty $5,000, and the Spring-
field & South-Eastern Railroad was built
upon the line it now runs upon, thi-ough
Edgewood and Altamont, twelve miles «ast '
of Effingham, on to Springfield. The road,
in 1875, passed into other hands, and be-
came the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad.

In the county are 104J miles of operated
railroad, as follows: Illinois Central, twenty-
five miles; Wabash, nineteen and three-
foui'tha miles; Vandalia line, twenty-five and
a half miles; S. E. & S. E., eleven miles; O.
& M., twenty-two and a half miles.

There is a comj)any organized to construct
a narrow-gauge railroad from Effingham to
Camden, on the O. & M. road, and the proba-
bilities are that this and the road leading
southeast will both be completed at an early
day, and this will add twenty-five miles to
the road-bed now in the county.

134

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

CHAPTER IX.

RETROSPECTION— MORALIZING ON THE FLIGHT OF TIME— POST OFFICE, TELEGRAPHS, ETC.— THE
SINGING AND WRITING MASTEUS—" FLING, DANG. DOODLE, DA"— LITERARY TASTES
OF THE COUNTY— EXAMINATION OF A SCHOOLMASTER— THE DUTCH-
TOWN WAR— A BIT OF CHURCH GOSSIP— VALEDICTORY, ETC.

*' Time was not yet.
When at his daughter's birth the sire grew pile
For fear the age and dowry should exceed
On each side just proportion.

Well content.
With unrobed jerkin, and their good dames handling
The spindle and the flax." — Uunte.

SIMILAR lamentations have been said or
sung of every place and nation under the
sun that has risen to wealth and refinement.
Simplicity of manners may be a good thing,
but, with the increase of wealth, industry
and population, it cannot continue as it w-as
in earlier times; and to regret when the times
and social state have changed is to regret an
impossibility. Every stage of society has its
good and evil side; and wisdom would seem
to consist in endeavoring to make the best of
that condition of it under which we live."

It is natural, when age begins to dim the
vision, and the twilight is seen in the dis-
tance, for man to turn back in memory, and
find his pleasures of life in the contempla-
tion of those sunshiny spots of youth, of
bounding young hopes and rippling laugh-
ter, of joy, and pure and passionate love,
when the world was new and life was new
and gleeful and gladsome. Time when it was

"Sweet to hear the honest watch-dog's bark
Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near
home;"

and to linger lovingly here, and to con-
trast then and now. This is inevitable to
all old age, as it is sure to draw the picture

always with the same result — the sweet
then, the bitter now. True, the times and
manners have changed, but age forgets that
it has changed, too. The change in man-
ners are generally a necessity and for the
better, while the changes in age are inevita-
ble; they should be, and generally are, for
the better, but not always. To shake the
head and say, " It was not so when I was a
child," is the blessed province and privilege
of age. This has passed along with every
period and generation for thousands of years,
and it will continue, no doubt, indefinitely.
It is harmless as any other fiction, except to
those who permit themselves to dwell too
long upon the dark side of the picture, until
they become almost convinced that mankind
is rapidly degenerating and civilization is
passing away. But in any light, or from
any point of view, the fleeting years, the
blessed long ago, " the good dames handling
the spindle and the flax," is the sweet picture
of life that deserves the richest setting, the
best light in the favorite family room, and the
flrst j)lace in the hearts of all mankind.
Yes, good dame, and venerable sire, all is
for the best. You are looking upon the same
struggle that was present to your grandfa-
thers of many hundreds of years ago — the
mighty struggle between truth and error. In
this contest there can be but one result, even
though, at long stretches of time, error and

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

135

■wrong seem to prevail and riot in their vic-
torious power, yet in the end it will perish,
and truth and right will be corhpletely vic-
torious. This is the order of nature — this is
destiny. The victories of error and \vi-ong
are temporary in their effects; they pass away
and are forgotten; while those of truth en-
dure forever. Governments and nations,
creeds and religions, imperial principalities,
with their armies like unto the leaves of the
forest, have come upon the world, ruled
mightily the globe, fretted their brief hour
and are gone — gone like the baseless fabric
of a vision that leaves not a wrack behind.
While truth, in her patient triumphs and dis-
coveries, is perpetual — she alone is immortal.
It is not, therefore, best to mourn too much
over customs, manners and times that have
been and are not, but to remember that in
their day they were good, perhaps the best,
and to send back the sweet recollections, like
radiant siinbeams of joy, when will come, like
music over the waters, the echo to the poet's
aspiration — " Backward, turn backward, oh,
time, in thy fliglit, and make me a child
again, just for to-night,"

Some idea of the changes that have been
wrought here the past fifty years may best be
had by comparisons of some of those things
most familiar to our readers. For instance,
the post ofdce is a matter of transcendant
concern to all. It would be difficult to think
of society at present as without it. It is one
of the most imp(;rtant and useful institutions
to civilization that is given to us by the Gov-
ernment, and the fact that it is a self-sus-
taining institution is evidence that, had
Government not supplied this want, private
enterprise would have done so, and possibly
have done it better than Government can, as
it has in the express and telegraph depart-
ments. At one time, the pony mails passed
through the county weekly, when they were

permitted by the streams to go through at
all. The first Postmaster, Hankins, at one
time had received two letters, and this news
passed around among the people. The office
was in the Postmaster's hat, weighted down
by a red bandana. The coming of this mail
matter was a sensation. , Fac similes of these
old letters, sealed with red wafers, and upon
yellowed foolscap paper, and somewhat awk-
wardly folded, without envelope, would now
be interesting to look upon, and the time is
not very distant when, framed and hung upon
the wall, they would surpass in interest a
painting, or the finest steel-plate engraving.
The news then traveled, if at all, among the
people, much as it had done among their im-
mediate predecessors, the Indians. Not a
newspaper, daily, weekly or monthly, at one
time came to the people. There are no rec-
ords by which we can tell how much mail
matter now comes daily into the county, but
a reference to such facts as can be gleaned
from the office in this city may give an ap-
proximation thereto. The number of pos-
tage stamps sold at this point for the quarter
just ended was $917.16. This would indi-
cate the quarterly receipt of about thirty
thousand letters — ten thousand per month, or
three hundred and thirty daily. In addition
to the five county papers with an average
circulation of over five hundred each per week,
there are distributed here 135 daily parsers
225 weeklies and 100 monthlies. This in-
crease in mail matter is not the proper measure
of the growth of population in the county,
nor is it a measure of the spread of intelli-
gence or education, it is a mark of the age,
an index in the change of the habits of the
people, that applies to the whole nation.
People now read more than did their forefa-
thers, and the rapid growth of the various is-
sues from the press is another ^remarkable
feature of the time. But he is silly who es-

126

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

timates the increase of value by the increase
of quantity. A look at the news depot coun-
ters, or in the book stores is enough to read-
ily convince even the skeptical that there is
but very little more of the best books and
publications read in the county to day than
there was fifty years* ago. The insufferable
trash comes from the press like snow-flakes,
and is no more healthy mental food than are
Cobble-stones and rusty nails food for the
physical organs. The preacher with his in-
terminable sermons, the lawyer with his gift
of gab, the political stump-speaker and the
country debating society were once the flow-
ing fountains free to all the world — the great
man of all being always the orator, that re-
markable production that could talk like an
angel even when he could only think as a
poll parrot. This phenomenon is now passed
or is rapidly passing away. His successor,
it appears, is what may well be termed the
yellow-back literatui-e of the day. There is
no healthier sign of the public sense than the
incredulity and humor that plays over the
faces of the audience nowadays when the
muggy chairman of a political meeting in-
troduces the Hon. Shiggum as " the silver-
tongued orator," when the said Honorable,
fragrant with the fumes of the pot-house,
rises and pours forth his incoherent scream
of bruised, battered and miu'dered King's
English to the gaping groundlings. The
phenomenal production of this age is the
demagogue — the Hon. Slumscullion, the"sil-
ver-tongiied " combination of horse-fiddle,
tomtom, huzzy-guzzy and wind-power hew-
gag — simplicity and soap-locks, wisdom and
wind-power, impudence and ignorance. His
cotemporary and compeer is the Police Ga-
zette; his fattening food is his fellow-rnor-
tal's ignorance and simplicity. The times
and the age call for this strange creatiu'e,
and he steps forth, regal in low cunning,

mastodonic in cheek. When t.he last of the
public teachers — Clay, Douglas and Web-
ster — had passed away and ceased to teach
their noble schools, from the rostrum, the
Senate, the bar and the stump, the dema-
gogue came to sit in their high chairs, and
caw and cackle at the people, and be great —
be real buzzards roosting in the dead eagles'
nests. Here is a change in the then and
now — biit where is the improvement?

There was the singing master then, armed
with his tuning-fork and Missouri Harmony,
" From Greenland's icy mountains, from In-
dia s coral strand. " A mighty man in his
day was he — the glass of fashion and the
mold of form — the toast of the belles oE the
neighborhood, the envy of the swains; and,
when he took his position before his class,
and struck his fork and gracefully inclined
his head to catch the sweet notes of inspira-
tion from it, and broke forth " Do-ra-me- fa-so-
la! Sing!" his graceful poise as he would
beat time for " Pisgah " after the fashion of
a battle with mosquitoes, won many stolen
glances from swelling young maidens' hearts,
as all mouths flew open in unison, and the
good old hymn came rasping, jerking along,
in every key, tune and time. "Again!" would
shout the autocrat master, when it was gone
over once, " and every one open his mouth
and sing loud," and away go the med-
ley in a noisy race for the grand floui'ish at
the end, and then all look meekly up for the
teacher s approving smile, which sometimes
they got, but much oftener he gave only
crushing frowns, as much as to say they hadn't
sung loud enough, until he came to the belle of
the neighborhood, when his great counte-
nance would relax, and he would smooth his
wrinkled brow, smile winsomely and majes-
tically spit at a crack ten feet away, which he
never missed. But this wonderful creature
has gone — gone like a school-boys tale, and

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

137

in his musical place did come the jangled,
out-of-tune piauo. and the strolling organ-
grinder, and the patent medicine street op-
eras — music and physic ! 1 et heaven be praised !

Do fond recollections falter in recalliag
that weird magician of the pen, the writing-
master? — the king of the clarified ffoose-
quill, the master of the pen and pot-hooks,
the gifted architect of those inspired flour-
ishes and amazing spread-eagles. He mar-
ried the belle of the county at the end of his
school, and, *' Othello's occupation gone," he
quit the trade, and, instead of eagles, has
been content to raise and look after barnyard
chickens, and play Jumbo for the grandchil-
dren. How are the mighty fallen!

Now, in those days came the great itiner-
ant lecturer on mesmerism and phrenology,
and singing geogi-aphy and similar wonders of
the age. The lecturer was so prized that
often he was prevailed upon to permanently
locate in the county and condescendingly ac-
cept the best oifice the infatuated people had
to bestow. Did the coming of the cook-stove,
think you, drive away these noble landmarks
(if the primitive days? — that first stove
brought to the county by Mr. Johnson, of
Freeman ton— such an event as that was!
Is it to be wondered at that even the singing-
master saw his glory pale before this new
sensation? This cook-stove, it is said,
wrecked more ambitions than those of the
lecturer, the singing and the writing school-
master. A son of the prominent man in the
county was courting Johnson's daughter, and
was there only a few days after it had been
put up. He was up early in the morning
and started a fire in it, and soon he smoked
every one in the house out of bed and out of
doors. He had kindled the fire in the oven,
and was wondering what " ailed the creeter!"

They had weddings in those days, and these
linger with us to some extent yet, but those

good old fashions, and the " infairs," where
are they? The wedding was at the bride's,
and the " infair" was a kind of wedding No.
2, at the house of the groom's parents. Both
were to eat, drink, dance and be merry. Two
days and two nights, with often a long horse-
back ride in the meantime, and the frolick-
ing and dancing went on. Terpsichore! what
dancing! Not your dreamy waltz of this day
and age; not the bounding polka, the de-
lightful schottische, or any of the other
modern, fashionable di'eam- walks; but the
one-eyed fiddler, keeping time with his foot,
and to the inspiriting tune of the "Arkansaw
Traveler," or the "Lightning Jig," the merry
dancers raced over the floor in that good old
walk- talk-ginger- blue style of hoe down that
filled with joy their innocent hearts, and their
legs with soreness and pain. But the Vir-
ginia reel, the hoe-down, the jig and the "in-
fair " are gone, and their places are taken by
the rather tamo wedding tour and the pub-
lished list of presents from friends and foes
— a singular combination of pleasure and
profit.*

They had the " young man of the period "
in those good old days. Behold him! the
happy j)ossessor of a pacing Ijorse, a new
saddle, with its stitched flowers, a red blank-

*An illustration of the ancient irrepreseible propetisity for frol-
icking and fnn. of whicli no circunistancea could deprive them, ia
well given liy an anecdote that the writer lias heard related and
acted out by one of the l>P8t mimics and story-tellers that ever set
the tables or the parlor in a roar over delicious wit and inimitable
story-telling. It is impossible to write it out and do justice to the
original; the types cannot act — iitimicking the intonations, the
song, the dancing, the expressions of face and movements of the
whole person, as he could, and hence in the telling hero the story
will lose much of its rich savor.

Upon one occasion the youngsters were gathered in goodly force
at a farmhouse, where the boys and girls had bad a "bee" of
some kind during the day, and when supper was over preparations
for the dance soon developed the fact that no violin could be had.
This shocking intelligence soon spread gloom where before was
only fun and joyous anticipations. The young lady of the house
determined to entertain her guests, bid them take jiarlners for the
dance, and she would sing and dance and "call" at tlie same
time. In a trice the lloor was tilled, and "on went the dance,
with no sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet" — fiddle
or no fiddle. It would be pomelhing as follows :

" Honors to all fling-dang-doodle-daddle,
Fling-dang-doodle-daddle da.

Swing on the left, fling-dang-doodle-daddle,
Fling-dang-doodle-daddle-da."

128

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

et, and ribbons on the head-stall of the bridle.
He would unhitch his pacer from the plow
by the middle of the Saturday afternoon, and
dress up, in his broad-brimmed, new, h ime-
made, oat-straw hat, and, with cinnamon-
scented bear's oil on his long, flowing locks,
which are carefvilly combed and tucked under
behind, much white shirt front, a rather short
vest, with only the lower button fastened, a
pair of ready-rtiade nankeen breeches, with
straps at the bottom, drawn tight at the waist,
and no suspenders, a bulging white roll be-
tween the vest and pantaloons, pumps and
yarn socks nn his feet, and a scissor-tailed
coat, too small in every way, completed the
gorgeous attire of this neighborhood phenom-
enon, as he swaggered in his walk, or rolled
lollingly about in his saddle — the — he — dar-
ling, the daisy! We sing his praise — hail and '
farewell! Drop a tear to his dear memory.

The literary life of the young county
was almost nil. At first there were no men
hereof either taste or cultivation in that line,
nor were there facilities for the cultivation
of this in the rising generation. The ' Life
of Gen. Francis Marion," a copy of Josephus,
the Bible, and a volume or two of dull ser-
mons, were pretty much the sum total of the
county's literature. Veiy few of the young
formed in their young days the habit of much
reading. They had been trained to work pa-
tiently upon their little truck-patch farms,
and they were eager hunters amid plenteous
game. They used long rifles, and they only
rarely wasted their ammunition upon any-
thing smaller than wild turkeys. They knew
nothing of the modern breech-loading shot
guns and pointer dogs, and shooting the prai-
rie chicken, quail and snipe on the wing, as
is now the hunter's method.

The first circus that came to Vandalia was
to that county, and this as well as other ad-
joining counties, an era equal in magnitude

to the crusades of the Old World. Time
was reckoned by an event like this. There
was a fascination in the saw-dust, as well as
the smell of the animals, and the playfiil
monkeys, and selah! there was the clown!
There is a tradition that his same old jokes
were new then, but this may well be doubted.
The story is not reasonable, for did not pre-
historic man, as well as we, want to know
before he went to a circus just where each
joke came in, in order that he could prepare
himself to laugh again at the right moment?
The tires of the memories of the first circus
never paled until that transcendant event of
the hanging of Ogle at Vandalia in 1842.
We will never forget how an old lady exult-
antly told how she had walked thirty miles,
carrying her six-months-old child every step
of the way. She concluded the story by
pointing out her son, and we confess the
great, beefy 220-pounder did not give evi-
dences that his early education had been
wholly ethereal and spirituelle. '

An itinerant preacher once saw here an
opening for his talents as school teacher. He
duly made application for the place, and the
learned pundits of the county were called
upon to examine him. He knew nothing of
grammar, geography or arithmetic, but opened
the eyes of the committee by informing
them, with great gusto, that he could count
a flock of flying geese faster, he reckoned,
than any man of his size in the county. A
book was handed him to read. Then, indeed,
did his countenance glow with pleasure.
" Oh, yes, I kin read! " was his unctuous ex-
clamation. And with a great parade and a
loud voice, he read: " Two great criin-pee-
ti-tors Han-i-bawl and Ski-pee-o wag-god-
war in Af-ry-key," etc. " Oh, I kin read!''
exulted the would-be teacher. Amid roars
of laughter, the examination concluded with
the reading of the sentence, " Darest thou.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

129

Cassius, swim with me to yonder point? ao-
coutered as I was," etc. The reader must
imagine for himself how the pedagogue pro-
nounced the word " acuoutered."

In 1855 occurred what has since been a
standing coanty joke, and has gone by the
name of the " Dutchtown War." It was the
outcrop of that Know-Nothing craze that ran
over the entire country, commencing in 1854,
and swept like a plague infection or a prairie
lire over State after State, and that culminated
in the Presidential election of 1856, when,
more suddenly than it had risen, it expired.
The Know-Nothing jjarty had for its cardi-
nal political idea opposition to foreigners, and
blazoned upon its banners were: "Put none
but Americans on guard." It is said the
woods of Effingham were full of these de-
luded statesmen. They met in secret by-
places and took oaths, and had secret grips,
and signs, and pass-words, and what stories
they must have stuffed each other with at
these meetings of the fell purposes and de-
signs of the foreigners. Certainly nothing
short of this could have so worked upon ig-
norant minds and made in our county a little
army of Quixotes, to go forth to battle, not
with the windmills, but with the wind organ
of the Teutopolis Church.

At the period mentioned, the Germans were
progressing with their church edifice, which,
at the time of building, was one of the cost-
liest in Southern Illinois, and had com-
menced the work of putting the organ in its
place. Everything that came by railroad for
Teutopolis was shipped to Effingham, and
transported hence by wagons. The organ
pipes were shipped iu boxes, together with
many . other church fixtures. In handling
them in Effingham, some excited Know- Noth-
ing must have seen them, and he heralded
the report that the " Dutch were importing
arms." The story traveled far and wide,

and, like the legend of the three black crows
was magnified with each repetition, imtil it
was positively asserted that these people were
about to secretly rise and massacre the na-
tives. The great mass of our people paid no
heed to these frightful stories, but there were
others that were seriously alarmed, or at all
events, acted as though they believed all and
more, too. The Know-Nothing army was se-
cretly called to arms. There was blood in
the moon. The gathering clouds of war
lowered upon Effingham, and many an old
political veteran of the county (he would de-
ny it all now) who has waxed great and fat
upon German votes, snuffed the battle afar
off, and in the secret lodges of his Know-
Nothing societies, clothed ,hi8 neck with the
thunderbolts of war, and hied himself and
friends to the army rendezvous, about two
miles west of Watson, on Spring Branch,
where it passes through James Turner's land.
They gathered here to organize an army, at-
tack Teutopolis, and carry away the arms and
ammunition of the place as trophies of war.
How many of these patriots were there as-
sembled cannot now be told; they are var-
iously estimated at thirty-five, seventy-five,
100 and 150, as it is impossible to find any
one who will admit that he was iu that cruel
war. Hunting for these old scarred (not
scared, please, Rlr. Printer) veterans is much
like hunting the home of milk-sickness; it is
always in the next township ahead. Wheth-
er it was thirty-five or 150, or more or less,
they went into camp and commenced the work
of organizing an army of invasion. Scouts
were sent out, and trusted spies stole into
Teutopdlis. In the meantime, that village
was quietly plodding along its usual way.
unconscious of the commotion the simple or-
gan pipes had created, as they were uncon-
scious of the flaming sword that impended.
The gathering hosts and mustering squadrons

130

HISTORY OF EPFIKGHAM COUNTY.

had moved in mysterious silence. The clank
of the wooden shoe of Dutchtown found echo
in the whisperings of distress from the army
rendezvous, where were cheeks all pale,
which, before the war, had blushed at the
sight of their ovra corn-fed loveliness. An
election was held, which resulted in placing
Gen. Morgan Wright in chief command, with
some other man, now unknown, as his sec-
ond. The General thanked the army for the
honor and awful dangers and responsibility
it had conferred on him; the "long roll" was
beaten upon the hastily trumped-up tin pan,
that furnished the only martial music these
bloody patriots had or needed. With quiv-
ering lips and chattering teeth, the army be-
gan to " fall in " preparatory to a double-
quick charge upon the Teutopolis Church or-
gan. The silence was painful; the strain
upon the heroes' nerves was intense, and
evidently something must have given way
soon, had not, at that moment, come dashing
into camp the scouts and spies, and reported
the war over — that Dutchtown was peace
that the arms imported were organ pipes,
and it was all a mistake that those people
intended to massacre the entire people of
the United States. And presto! camp was
broken, white-robed peace spread her wings
over the coimty, and "Johnny came march-
ing home." There was great rejoicing
at the safe return by the families and
friends of these heroes. A great peace rati-
fication meeting was, called, and a wooden
sword nearly six feet long was presented, in
an eloquent and stirring address by Dr. J.
M. Long, to the Commander-in-Chief. When
Sam MoflStt, " in thoughts that breathed and
words that burned," presented an elegant
pop-gun to the second in command. Gor-
geously decorated, home-made land warrants
were presented in each case where the com-
mander could report any extraordinary acts

of bravery. A soldiers' re-union of the no-
ble band of veterans, survivors of the Dutch-
town war, is now in order. The people
would make suitable provisions for the gath-
ering of these heroes, and what could be more
interesting than to again listen to the har-
rowing stories of camp and field, and see
these old veterans once more in life to " shoul-
der the crutch and show how battles are won?"
The Church. — The "voice in the wilder-
ness " was among the early pioneers, calling
sinners to repentance, and wi-estling with
the awful sins of vanity and the old three-
stringed cracked fiddle. Fifty years ago, the
" good shepherds " were tinged with much of
the rigid, dogmatic severity of the old, cruel
Kirk-Sessions of a hundred years ago. For
some years there were not near so many
preachers as counterfeiters in the county.
There paucity was, however, atoned for in
the stern severity of their precepts. The
value of a sermon was measured by its length,
and the brimstone oder of the awful thunder-
bolts that it let fly at the heads of the poor,
frightened, credulous congregations. They
were God-fearing, good men, who preached
without a choir, and a bugle solo in church
would have called upon the rocks and mount-
ains to fall upon them. The devil invented
the fiddle, and he and his grinning imps
were the original first dancers. But few, if
any, ministerial scandals marked their hum-
ble, sincere, pious lives. They may have
been very ignorant, but they were wholly
honest and sincerely humble. Generally
illiberal and full of severity, and warj^ed and
deformed with prejudices, they took up the
cross of their Master, seized the sword of Gid-
eon and smote His Satanic Majesty, hip and
thigh, wherever they could find him. They
would make sparse converts here and there,
and the awful fiddle nearly as often seduced
them away again iuto the paths of dancing and

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

131

damnation. How they did launch their fierce
and fiery thunderbolts against the vanities of
men, and the ribbons, furbelows and jewelry
of the women! when there probably was not
a bolt of the irreligious ribbon and not $10
worth of pinchbeck jewelry in the county.
The Hard-Shells and Methodists were cotem-
poraneous in their coming here — the Meth-
odists shouting and the Hard-Shells sincfingr
their sermons through the nose, and thus, in
their different fields of usefulness, they dwelt
together in true Christian love and friend-
ship. They vexed not their simple souls with
hair-splitting doctrinal points in theology.
The force and power of their nasal blast and
their sing-song delivery were as battering
rams upon the ramparts of the evil one, while
they were a sweet lullaby to the troubled soul
of the good Christian. This is well illus-
trated by the anecdote of the wag who had a
contention with an old lady in reference to
the might and power of a preacher that she
was heart-broken over, his going away. The
wag was a fine mimic, and had caught the
very tone, air and manner of the favorite
preacher, and insisted he could preach quite
as well as her favorite. He struck an atti-
tude, and, in splendid sing-song, nasal style,
told a story of his dog chasing a poor little
sickly coon, and grabbing the dear little
thing just as it was going into a hollow tree.
As the story finished, the good dame was
shouting with all her might. When the wasr
laughed at her, she excused herself by say-
ing, "Oh, it was that heavenly tone!" The
good old dame was right. It was the "heav
enly tone " that often did the good work.

The severity of this early religion had
probably this effect: A portion became wild
enthusiasts of the church militant, while the
others joined, and, after a short trial and
sincere endeavor, recklessly threw down all
efforts when they discovered they could not

live up to the religious enthusiasts' ideal.
This would exasperate the good shepherds,
while in turn they redoubled their efforts,
which only made the estraying lambs kick up
their heels the higher and stray farther away
where fancied pleasures tempted. There was
no control or direction possible for these un-
bridled theological colts until the church or-
ganization came along and they were incor-
porated into the management and control of
cooler and wiser heads.

The Methodist Chiu-ch organization was in
Ewington in 1834, and for a short time
preaching was at the house of T. J. Gillen-
waters, by the Rev. Chamberlain. After-
ward, services were held for some time at the
court house in Ewington. In 1838, Rev.
Hale was the preacher in charge. At the
same time in the early day, Bishop Eames,
the celebrated Bishop of the Methodist
Church, was for a short time stationed at Ew-
ington. Ho was then only a licensed exhort-
er. The church sometimes had a minister in
charge, and sometimes this was divided with
some other locality, and the preacher would
make visits to the county at stated times.
Among others that preached at Ewington are
recalled the Rev. William Blundell, of Clark
County.

We have now reached the end of the half-
century story of the people of Eflingham
County — especially of the pioneer fathers
and mothei's. To the wi'iter, the past sixty
days — the time allotted to this work — will
ever be among the best recollections of his
life. In this labor of love, there is no mixt-
ure of pain, conflict or contention, until the
moment comes to lay down the pen — to sever
an association where friendships have grown
sacred — friendships and communings with
the living and the dead; to voyage back the
little more than fifty years that mark the ex-
istence of our county, and make the acquaint-

133

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

ance of those men and women who were here
— simple, restless pioneers — to find here and
there, among the humblest of these people, a
true and genuine hero and heroine, and in-
troduce them to the world, and pass them on
to posterity, is as proud a task, to even the
most ambitious, as it has been pleasant to us.
Here we have found friendships without alloy
— without those clashing interests that so de-

face often the best of human kind. Such
friendships as will remain forever in pui'ity
and pleasantness. The brief retrospect will
ever come back again, like a genial, pure,
warm ray of sunshine, to the abodes of the
cheerless, laden with warmth, joy and new
life, to a soul fast growing lonely, desolate
and sterile.

"What is writ is writ; would it were worthier."

CHAPTER X.*

THE BENCH AND BAR— EARLY COURTS OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY— LAWYERS FROM ABROAD—
.lUDGES OF THIS JUDICIAL DISTRICT— SKETCHES OF EWING. FIELD AND DAVIS-
NATURALIZATION OF GEN. SHIELDS — GOVERNOR FORD AND SIDNEY
BREESE— OTHER LEGAL LUMINARIES, PASl' AND PRESENT-
THE PRESENT COUNTY BAR, ETC., ETC.

" There is a, history in all men's lives."
TN giving the early history of the bench
-*- and bar of Effingham County, the liistor-
ian must travel outside of the county for his
data and material, for the simple reason that
there were no resident lawyers in the county
until the year 1849. Litigants were sup-
plied with attorneys from neighboring coun-
ties, mainly from Fayette Coitnty, though
some came from Shelby, Coles, Clark, Bond,
St. Clair and others. Among them we may
mention Levi Davis, A. P. Field, Sawyer,
Brown, Foreman, Kirkman, Gallagher and
James Shields, from Fayette; Daniel Greg-
ory and A. Thornton, from Shelby; U. F.
Linder and O. B. Ficklin, from Coles, Will-
iam H. Underwood, Samuel McRoberts and
Mr. Fisk, from St. Clair. From 1840 to
1850, Bromwell, Davis and Gallagher, from
Fayette; Starkweather, from Cumberland;
and Moore and Elam Rush, from Bond.

The first term of court held in the county
was begun on the 20th day of May, 1833 and

*By B. F. Kagay.

continued parte of three days, at Ewington,
the then county seat. The following is a copy
of the first record made in the Circuit Court
of this county:

At a Circuit Court begun and held at Ewington
in and for the county of Effingham, on Monday,
the 20th day of May, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and thirt3'-three. Present:
the Hon. T. W. Smith, Associate Justice of the Su-
preme Court, and Presiding Judge of said court;
John C. Sprigg, Clerk, and Henrj' P. Bailey, Sher-
iff. A list of the Grand Jurors were returned into court
by the SherifE, and after being charged by the court,
retired to consider of presentments, etc.

The following cases appear on the record at this
term of court, to wit:

Andrew Bratton, J Appellant,
vs. ^

Simeon Perkins. ) Appellee.

John IMaxfield, ) Appellant,

vs. I

John W. Robinson. ) Appellee.

William McConuell, ) Plaintiff,
vs. J-

Jacob Slover. ) Defendant.

John Beasley, ) Plaintiff,
vs. [

Robert Moore. ) Defendant.

The Grand Jury returned the following indict-
ments, indorsed "true bills," to wit:

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

133

The People of the State of") Indictment for Sell-
Illinois, [ ing Spirituous Li-
vs. I quors without a
Theophilus W. Short. J License.

The People of the State of Illinois, ) Indictment

vs. > for

Martha Henson. ) Fornication.

The People of the State of Illinois, ) Indictment
vs. >■ for

William Cusip. ) Adultery.

The following appointment for Circuit Clerk ap-
pears upon the record of the Court;

V-A.ND.\i,i.\, February 15, 1833.
Mr. John C. Sprigg — I hereby appoint you
Clerk of the Circuit Court of Effingham County,
with full power and authority to do and perform all
duties appertaining to said office, and receive the
fees and emoluments thereof.
Your obedient servant,

William Wilson.
There being no further business before the Court,
ordered that it adjourn sine die.

Theo. W. Smith.

Thus it will be seen that Theophilus W.
Smith was the Judge who held the first term
of court iuthe county. The county was then
sparsely settled, and the settlements being
mostly in the timber, in the bottoms of the
river and on the verge of the prairies. The
lawyers who attended this first term of court
were three in number, viz. , A. P. Field, Levi
Davis and William L. D. Ewing, all resi-
dents of Vandalia, and all holding offices,
either for the State or for the county in which
they resided.

It will doubtless be of interest to our read-
ers to know something of Hon. Theophilus
W. Smith, the first Judge of this county, and
therefore we will give the following incident
in his life:

At the session of the Legislature of 1832-
33, articles of ) impeachment were voted
against him by the House of Representatives.
There were seven articles of specifications
transmitted to the Senate for trial against
him. The first three related to the corrupt
sales of Circuit Clerkships. He had author-
ized his son, a minor, to bargain oS the ofTice

in Madison County by hiring one George
Kelly at $25 per month, reserving the fees
and emoluments until his son became of age,
and to subject the said office to his will; he
had made appointments three several times
without requiring bonds from the appointees.
He was also charged with being a co-plaintiff
in several vexatious suits for an alleged tres-
pass, commenced by affidavit in a court where
he himself presided, holding the defendants
illegally to excessive bail upon trifling pre-
text, to oppress and injiu'e them, and contin-
ued the suits from term to term to harass and
persecute them. The fifth article charged
him with ai-bitrarily suspending John S.
Greathouse, a lawyer, from practice for ad-
vising his client to apply for a change of
venue. The sixth article charged him with
tyrannically committing to jail in Montgom-
ery County a Quaker, who entertained con-
scientious scruples against removing his hat
in open court; and the seventh article
charged him with deciding an agreed case
between the Sheriff and Treasm-er of Madi-
son County, without process or pleading, to
the prejudice of the county, rendering an ap-
peal to the Supreme Cotu't necessary.

The Senate resolved itself into a High
Court of Impeachment, and a solemn trial
was held, which lasted from January 9 to
February 7, 1833. The prosecution was
conducted by a committee of managers from
the House, consisting of Benjamin Mills,
Murray McConnell, John T. Stewart, James
Semple and John Dougherty; the defendant
was represented by Sidney Breese, R. M.
Young and Thomas Ford, the latter subse-
quently Governor of the State.

The array of talent on both sides, the ex-
alted position of the accused, and the excite-
ment and interest thereby created in politi-
cal circles, gave to the trial unusual public at-
traction throughout the State. The proceed-

134

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

ings were conducted by marked ability and
learning. A great number of witnesses were
examined, and much documentary evidence
introduced. The argument of counsel was of
the highest order, and in the final summing
up for the prosecution, the Chairman of the
House Committee, Mr. Mills, one of the most
brilliant orators of the time, spoke for three
days in a continued strain of iinsurpassed
eloquence.

Pending the trial, the defendant searched
for scraps of paper containing scribblings of
the members concerning their status upon the
respective charges. Being thus advised, his
counsel enjoyed peculiar advantages in the
management of the defense.

The constitution required that no person
thus tried should be convicted without the
concurrence of two thirds of all the Senators
present. When the vote was finally taken,
upon each article separately, twenty-two Sen-
ators were present, and four absent or ex-
cused. It required fifteen to convict. Twelve
voted giiilty on some of the chai'ges; ten
were in favor of acquittal; and as fifteen did
not vote him guilty of any of the articles, he
was acquitted. He retained his seat upon
the Supreme bench of the State until his
death, which oacurred'' about ten years after-
ward.

William Lee D. Ewing, one of the lawyers
mentioned as having attended the first term
of our court, was a Representative from Fay-
ette and other counties from lS30to 1832, and
introduced the Tbill which formed this county
in 1831 ; the county, however, as already noted,
was not fully organized until 1833. In 1832,
he was elected to the State Senate, which po-
sition he retained until 1834. He was Pres-
ident of the Senate, and for fifteen days Gov-
ernor of the State, which latter occurred tljus:
At the August election of 1834, Gov. Rey-
nolds was elected to Congress, more than a

year ahead of the time he would take his seat
(as was then the law), to succeed Mr. Slade.
But shortly after the election, Mr. Slade, the
incumbent, died, when Gov. Reynolds was
chosen to serve out his unexpired term. Ac-
cordingly, he set out for Washington in No-
vember of that year, to take his seat in Con-
gress, and Mr. Ewing, by virtue of his ofiice
as President of the Senate, became Govern-
or. Upon the meeting of the Legislature in
December, he sent in his message as Acting
Governor, when he was relieved from his ex-
alted duties by the Governor-elect, Joseph
Duncan, being sworn into ofiice. This is the
only time such a contingency has arisen in
the history of the State. Tsh: Ewing was a
native of Kentucky, and one of the first resi-
dent lawyers of Fayette County. He was a
man of liberal education and fine natural en-
dowments, fond of congenial company, and
enjoyed all the sports of the time. He was a
Colonel in the Black Hawk war; served as
Prosecuting Attorney, and, as before stated,
represented his district in the Legislature
and State Senate. He was for a time Indian
Agent, and, by order of the United States
Government, removed the Sac and Fox tribes
west of the Mississippi River. From 1843
to 1846, he was Auditor of Public Accounts;
represented his district in the National Con-
gress, and was appointed United States Sen-
ator to fill the vacancy occasioned by the
death of Richard M. Young.

As a public-spirited citizen, Gen. Ewi ng
was highly respected and honored among the
people he so long served. He was a Demo-
crat in politic.^;, and a statesman of unswerv-
ing integrity. Many of the old citizens of
Effingham County remember him, and in his
death recognize the loss of an upright, honor-
able man and patriotic citizen.

Col. A. P. Field, another of the lawyers
who attended the first term of our court, was

jJSEsf^ are

.'.^P

ft^l*

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

137

also a native of Kentucky, and an educated
and chivalrous gentleman. He first located
at Jonesboro, 111., in an early day, but sub-
sequently moved to Vandalia. He was State
Treasurer from 1823 to 1827, and Secretary
of State from 1829 to 1840. As a politician,
he had few equals and no superiors of that
day. He was eminent as a criminal lawyer,
and as a speaker was sparkling in wit and
eloquence. He removed to St. Louis and
subsequently to New Orleans, and soon be-
came prominently identified with Southern
politics, rising eventually to the exalted po-
sition of Attorney General of Louisiana. He
died in the year 1877, in the city of New
Orleans.

Levi Davis, the last of the three lawyers
attending the first term of court, resided at
that time at Vandalia, but now lives at Alton.
He was elected Auditor of State, and served
from 1836 to 1841, and was prominently
identified with the politics, not only of his
county, but of the State, for many years.

We have given a more minute history of
the first term of court than our time and
space will permit us to give to each subse-
quent term. A brief space will be devoted
to each of the Presiding Judges, as well as
to the resident lawyers and more prominent
visiting lawyers, who have presided over and
attended our courts.

Theophilus W. Smith, who has already re-
ceived some notice in these pages, only held
two terms of our Circuit Court, viz., the May
term of 1833, and the May term, 1834.
Judge Ford held the third term, being the
May term, 1835, and the most interesting
term yet held in the county.

Thomas Ford, our second Judge, was born
at UniontowD, Penn., in the year 1800. His
father, Robert Ford, was killed by Indians in
1802, in the mountains of Pennsylvania, and
his mother was left in indigent circumstan-

ces, with a large family, mostly girls. With
a view to better her condition she, in 1804,
moved to Missouri, where it had been the
custom of the Spanish Government to give
a certain amount of land to actual settlers.
But, upon her arrival in St. Louis, she found
the country ceded to the United States, and
that liberal policy no longer in vogue. She
finally removed to Illinois and settled near
Waterloo, but, the following year, moved a
little closer to the Mississippi Blufis. Here
the boys received their first schooling, for
which they walked three miles. The mother
was a woman of superior mental endowment,
joined to energy and determination of char-
acter. She inculcated in her children those
high-toned moral principles which distin-
guished her sons in public life. The mind
of Thomas gave early promise of superior
attainments, with an inclination for mathe-
matics. His proficiency attracted the atten-
tion of the Hon. D. B. Cook, in whom young
Ford found a patron and friend.

Through the advice of Mr. Cook, he turned
his attention to the law. He attended Tran-
sylvania University at Lexington, Ky., one
term, and, on his return, alternated his law
reading with teaching school. In 1829, Gov.
Reynolds appointed him Prosecuting Attor-
ney; in 1831, he was re-appointed by Gov.
Reynolds, and afterward was four times
elected Judge by the Legislature, without
opposition. He was twice Judge of Chicago,
and Associate Judge of the Supreme Com-t.
While acting in the latter capacity, he was
assigned to the Ninth Judicial District, and,
while holding court in Ogle County, was
notified of his nomination for Governor. He
immediately resigned his office, accepted the
nomination and entered upon the canvass,
and in August was elected to the exalted po-
sition.

The ofiices wtich Gov. Ford held were un-

138

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

solicited. As a lawyer, he stood deservedly
liigh, but his cast of intellect fitted him rath-
er for a writer upon law than a practicing
advocate in the courts. As a Judge, his
opinions were sound, lucid, and an able ex-
position of the law. As a man, he was plain
in his demeanor; he lacked the determined
boldness and decision of character requisite to
fit a man for a great political leader. As an
author, he deserves special consideration, in
having left a legacy in the form of a history
of his State — Illinois. He died November 2,
1850, at Peoria, having scarcely passed the
prime of life.

At the May term of our Circuit Court in
1834, Samuel McKoberts was present, and
took part in the proceedings. He was attor-
ney in the case of N. Edwards, Governor,
versus James M. Duncan, et al., on change of
venue from Marion County.

Samuel McRoberts was the first native
Illinoisan ever elevated to the position of
United States Senator from this State. He
was born April 12, 1799, in what is now Mon-
roe County, where his father resided on a
farm. He received a good education from a
private tutor. At the early age of twenty, he
was appointed Circuit Clerk of Monroe Coiin-
ty, a position which afforded him opportunity
to become familiar with forms of law, and
which he eagerly embraced, pursuing at the
same time a most assiduous course of reading.
Two years later, he entered the Law Depart-
ment of Transylvania University (at Lexing-
ton, Ky.), where, after three full courses of
lectures, he graduated with the degree of
Bachelor of Law. He commenced the prac-
tice of his profession in competition with
such men as Kane, Reynolds, Clark, Baker,
Eddy, McLean and others. In 1824, at the
age of twenty- five, he was elected by the
Legislature one of the five Circuit Judges.
As a Judge, he first exhibited strong partisan

bias. He had been a violent Convention ad-
vocate, and now, in defiance of a release by
the Legislature, he assessed a fine against
Gov. Coles, for settling his emancipated
slaves in Madison County without giving
bond that they should not become a public
charge.

In 1828, Mr. McRoberts was elected a State
Senator; in 1830, he was appointed United
States District Attorney for the State; in
1832, Receiver of the Public Money at the
Danville Land Office; and in 1839, Solicitor
for the General Land Office at Washington.
On the 16th of December, 1840, he was
elected United States Senator for the full
term, commencing March 4, 1841. He died
March 22, 1843, at Cincinnati, Ohio, on his
route home from Washington, in the vigor of
intellectual manhood, and at the age of forty-
four years.

The third Judge of our Circuit Court was
the Hon. Sidney Breese, who presided from
October, 1835, to October, 1842, a period of
seven years, and the longest held by one man
(except Charles Emerson) since the organiza-
tion of our county. Mr. Breese was born
about the close of the last century, in Oneida
County, N. Y. He received a thorough gen-
eral and classical education from the Union
College, from which he graduated with hon-
ors. He had been the school- fellow of Elias
Kent Kane, who was his senior. After the
appointment of the latter as Secretary of
State in 1818, he became associated with
him as a student of law. In 1820, he essayed
the practice of his profession in Jackson
County, but met with failure in the jDresenta-
tion of a case in court before a jury.
Overwhelmed with mortification, he resolved,
on the spur of the moment, to entirely aban-
don the practice of the law, and the following
year he became Postmaster at Kaskaskia. In
1822, however, he was appointed to the Cir-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

139

cuit Attorneyship bv Gov. Bond, a position
which he retained under Gov. Coles, and un-
til the accession of Gov. Edwards in 1831.
He prepared and published " Breese's Reports
of the Supreme Coiu't Decisions," it being
the first book ever published in the State.
He took part in the Black Hawk war, serving
as a Major of volunteers.

Upon the establishment of the Circuit
Court system in 1835, he was chosen Judge,
and in 184:1 he was elected one of the Judges
of the Supreme Coiu-t. In 1842, he was
elected, for a full term, from March 4, 1843,
to the United States Senate. At the exjiira-
tion of his term, in 1850, he was elected to
the Legislature and made Speaker of the
House. In 1855, he was re-elected Circuit
Judge, and, two years later, was again ele-
vated to the Supreme Bench, where he re-
mained until his death.

Judge Breese took an active part in the
Illinois Central Eaih-oad. a full account of
which will be found in the chapter on rail-
roads.

The following names appear on the docket
as attorneys attending court in the county:
At the October term, 1835, Thomas Brown,
Sawyer & Kirkman; at the April term, 1836,
Levi Davis, Kirkman, Sawyer and D. Greg-
ory, at the April term, 1837, Field, Ewing,
Fisk and Davis were the only attorneys in
attendance, and the same attended in 1838.
At the October term in 1839, A. Thornton
appeared as an attorney in the case of " The
People versus David Ridgway," for the de-
fendant, on a change of venue from Shelby-
County. The following entry appears on the
bar docket in the case: "Defendant found
guilty and sentenced to the penitentiary one
year, and one day to solitai-y confinement."
Mr. Thornton has been a regular attendant at
our courts from that time until he was elected
to Congress a few years ago.

At the October term of court in 1840, the
name of James Shields appears on the docket
as an atiorney in several cases, and in his
own case in particular. At this term he
made application to become a citizen of the
United States. The following is a copy of
the proceedings in the case:

At a Circuit Coui-t begun and htld at the court
house in Ewington, in and for the county of EfBng-
ham, on Monday, the 19th d.a}' of October, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
forty, it being the 3d Monday of said montli. Pres-
ent, Sidney Bree.se, Judge; Thomas J. Rcntfro,
Sheriff; and William H. Blakely, Clerk. This day
personally appeared in open court, James Shields
and made and filed the following declaration : James
Shields being duly sworn in open coui't, declares on
oath that he was born in the County Tyrone, in the
Kingdom of Ireland, on the 17th day of May, .^bout
the year 1810; that he migrated to the United States
of America while a minor, and continued to reside
within the United States three years next preceding
his arrival at the age of twenty-one years, and has
continued to reside therein to the present time; that
he is now upward of twenty-one years, and has
resided upward of five years in the State of Illinois
aforesaid, one of the United States; that it is his in-
tention to become a citizen of the United States,
and to renoimce forever all allegiance and fidelit}- to
any foreign prince, potentate. State or sovereignty,
and partictdarly to the sovereign of Great Britain
and Ireland. He further declares that for ihree
years preceding the present application, it has been
his bona fide intention to become a citizen of the
United States.

(Signed.) James Shields.

Subscribed and sworn to in open court, this 21st
day of October, 1840.

(Attest.) William H. Blakelet,

Clerk of said Court.
This day personally appeared in open court,
James Shields, a free white person of tw-enty-one
years, and being dulj' sworn, declares on oath in
open court, that he will support the Constitution of
the United States, and doth absolutely and entirely
renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to
every foreign prince, potentate. State or sovereignty
whatever, and particularly that of Great Britain
and Ireland, whereof he was born a subject; and
the court being satisfied that he has fully complied
with the rcciuirements of the laws of the United

140

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

States on the subject of naturalization, and that he
hasrpsided within the United States upward of five
years, and within the State of Illinois upward of
one year next preceding this application, and that
during the whole of the term of his residence in the
United States he has behaved as a man of good
moral character, attached to the principles of the
Constitution of the United States and is well dis-
posed to the good order and happiness of the same.
It is, therefore, ordered and adjudged that the
said James Shields be admitted a citizen of the
United States, and he is hereby admitted as such.

James Shields, as stated in his declaration,
was born in Ireland about the year 1810.
He emigrated to this country in 1827, set-
tling in Illinois three years later. He was
sent to the Legislature from Kandolph Coun-
ty some seven years after settling in the
State, and before he had become a natural-
ized citizen. He was appointed Auditor by
Gov. Carlin, and, in 1843, elected a Su-
preme Jtidge. He presided over the Circuit
Court of this county from the March term,
1844, to and including the March term, 1845,
being altogether three terms. Under Presi-
dent Polk, he was Commissioner of the Gen-
eral Land Office at Washington. He en-
tered the Mexican war, and was commis-
sioned a Brigadier General. At the battle
of Cerro Goido, he was 'severely wounded,
and was reported dead, but recovered in time
to take a conspicuous part in the capture of
the City of Mexico. Such was his gallantry
and soldierly conduct in this campaign that
the State of South Carolina voted him a
handsome and costly sword. In 1849, upon
his return home, he was elected to the United
States Senate, but, as he had not been nine
years a naturalized citizen (having been nat-
uralized in October, 1840), which was re-
quired by the constitution to render him eli-
gible to the position, his seat was declared
vacant. At a called session of the Leerislat-
ure, convened as soon as Shields became eli-
gible, he was again elected to the United

States Senate, and served until the expira-
tion of his term. Subsequently, he took up
his residence in Minnesota, and in 1857 was
elected from that State as United States Sen-
ator, serving two years. In the late war, be-
tween the States, he was a Major General in
the Union armies, and did good service for
the Government. At the close of the war he
removed to Missouri, and was elected by the
Legislature of that State to the United States
Senate to fill an unexpired term of a few
months. He died soon after the expiration
of this latter term, having been a United
States Senator from three diiferent States.

The Court Record in 1841 shows the name
of F. Foreman as an attorney, and from that
time until 1846 he seems to have attended
our courts regularly, and had a good practice.
In 1843, the name of W. H. Underwood ap-
pears upon the record as an attorney, and for
a number of terms thereafter. In 1846,
Bissell was present as State's Attorney; also
a Mr. Hite and Lee were present as attor-
neys. Wilcox likewise appeared as attorney
in several cases. In 1848, Mr. Pearson's
name appears, and Philip Fouke as State's
Attorney. At this term also appeared A. J.
Gallagher and Elam Rusk as attorneys.

Among the attorneys attending our courts
from 1835 to 1842 were several who after-
ward became Judges of the court, to wit:
Shields, Semple and Underwood. We have
already given a brief sketch of Shields, and
will now devote a brief space to the two oth-
ers mentioned.

Hon. James Semple was born in Kentucky,
but emigrated to Illinois in an early day.
In politics he was a Democrat, and was much
in public life. In 1833, he was elected At-
torney General of the State. He was in the
Logislatiu'e for six years, four of which he
was Speaker of the House, and in the mean-
time the internal improvement measure was

HISTORY OF EFFIN(JIIAM COUNTY.

141

passed, which well-nigh bankrupted the State.
In 1837, he was appointed Charge d' Affaires
to New Granada; in 1S42, was elected one of
the Judges of the Supreme Court; in 1843,
he was appointed, by Gov. Ford, United
States Senator, to fill the unexpired term of
Samuel McRoberts, deceased. The appoint-
ment was confirmed by the Legislature, and
he served until 1847. Judge Semple wrote
an elaborate history of Mexico, which, how-
ever, has never been published.

Judge William H. Underwood, who held
onr coiu-t from the May term, 1849, to the Oc-
tober term, 1850, was born February 1, 1818,
at Schoharie Court House, N. Y., and in his
boyhood laid the foundation to his future
greatness in a good common-school educa-
tion, finishing up his studies in the Schohar-
ie Academy and Hudson River Seminary,
spending three years in the two institutions,
and graduating with a good practical educa-
tion, {le read law in bis native place, and,
upon completing his studies, he at once re-
moved to Belleville, 111., where he resided
until hjs death, and where he was attended
with marked success. In 1841, he was elect-
ed State's Attorney, a position he filled so
acceptably that he was re-elected in January,
1843, and in 1844 he was elected to the Low-
er House of the Legislature. In 1848, he
was elected Circuit Judge for six and a half
years, which position he held to the end of
his term, and in 185G was elected to the State
Senate for four years. In 1869, he was elect-
ed a Delegate from St. Clair County to the
Constitutional Convention, and was elected
again to the State Senate in 1870. In 1873,
he completed a work upon which he had
long been engaged, viz., " Underwood's Con-
strued Annotated Statutes of Illinois." The
brief intervals between his ofiScial duties he
devoted to the practice of his profession.
His name appears often in our Supreme

Court records as counsel in important cases.
He died a few years ago, after a useful and
industrious life.

Gustavus Koerner was Judge of this dis-
trict from August, 1845, to June, 1848. He
was born in Frankfort, Germany, November
20, 1809. His father was a well-known
publisher and book-seller, and for many
years was a member of the Legislature of
Frankfort. His early education was received
at college in his native town, ind his studies
com[.leted at Munich and Heidelberg, where,
in 1832. he graduated, and obtained the de-
gree of LL. D. In the same year, he passed
examination, and was admitted to the bar of
Frankfort. In 1833, he emigrated to the
United States, and proceeded at once to the
West, and settled in Belleville, 111. He im-
mediately commenced the study of American
law, and, after attending one term of the
Law School at Lexington, Ky. , then the most
noted west of the Alleghenies, he was admit-
ted to the bar of Illinois in 1835. He at
once entered upon the active practice of his
profession, and in 1845 was elected by the
Legislature one of the Judges of the Su-
preme Court. In 1852, he was elected Lieu-
tenant Governor of Illinois on the Democrat-
ic ticket. On account of the slavery quos
tiou, he, in 1854, became what was then
known as an Anti-Nebraska Democrat, and in
1856 joined the Republican party. During
the war of the rebellion, he recruited and or-
ganized the Forty-third Illinois Volunteers,
but was prevented from taking command of
it by President Lincoln appointing him to
the stafl" of Gen. I'remont, with the rank of
Colonel. He served in that position until
Fremont's retirement, when he was attached
to the staff of Gen. Halleck. In March,
1862, owing to continued ill health, he re-
signed, and in the following June was ap-
pointed by the President Minister to Spain,

142

HISTORY OF EFFIKGHAM (OUXTY.

•which position he resigned in January, 1865.
He was made one of the Electors at Large in
1868, on the Grant ticket, and in 1871 was
appointed on the newly created Railroad
Commission, over which he presided until
his resignation^ in January, 1873. He was
nominated, in June, 1872, as a candidate for
Governor by the Democratic party, and also
by the Liljeral Republican party, but failed
of an election. When not engaged in offi-
cial duties, he has practiced his profession vig-
orously. He has also devoted much time to
literary pursuits, and contributed freely to
newspapers and periodicals. He is the au-
thor of a volume entitled " From Spain,"
composed of letters on various subjects, and
essays on art, etc. His productions testify
to his excellence as a writer, scholar and
thinker.

Justin Harlan, of Clark, was the eighth
Judge who presided over the courts of our
coonty. He came to Illinois in 18'25, and lo-
cated in Darwin and commenced the practice
of law. He was at once recognized as one of
the ablest lawyers in not only his own county,
but his reputation soon extended thi'oughout
the State. He filled the office of Circuit
Julge for over twenty years, and when his
old friend, Lincoln, was made President, he
appointed Judge Harlan Indian Agent to
the Cherokees in the Indian Territory, which
position he filled faithfully and well during
the remainder of Mr. Lincoln's life. He re-
siofned immediatelv after Mr. Lincoln's as-
sassination, and retiu'ned to his home in
Marshall County, and, although a Republic-
an, and living in a Democratic county, was
elected County Judge of Clark County, which
position he held during a regular term of
four years. He died in Kuttawa, Ky.,
March 12, 1879, at the residence of his
daughter, Mrs. W. A. Wright, where he had
been called by that daughter's sickness. He

was buried in Marshall, his home in Illinois,
March 16, 1879. Judge Harlan's was a
long, blameless and useful life, and no man
left more sincere friends to mourn 1 is death.
Charles Emerson was the ninth Judge, and
held our courts from the April term, 1853, to
the April term, 1862. Charles Constable
was the tenth Judge, and held from the May
term, 1863, to the October term, 1865. Next
came H. B. Decius, from special term Jan-
uary, 1866, to April term, 1873. James C.
Allen followed Decius from the fall term,
1873, to March term, 1878,- and after him
James H. Halley held several terms of our
courts. At present, William C. Jones,
Thomas Casey and Chauncy S. Conger are
the Judges in this district.

Of the early lawyers attending our courts
was Ferris Foreman, who located at Vanda-
lia in the sjjring of 1836. He was admitted
to the bar by the Supreme Court of New York
in 1835. He was elected to the Illinois State
Senate in 1845. In May, 1846, he recruited
a company in Fayette County for the Mexican
war, and, upon the organization of the troops,
was elected Colonel of the Third Regiment of
Illinois Volunteers. He participated in the
siege of Vera Crioz, and was in the battle of
Cerro Gordo, and at the end of one year, the
term of enlistment, he returned to Vandalia.
practicing law there until 1S49, when he re-
moved to California. While there, he held
various offices; was Postmaster of Sacramen-
to under the administration of Franklin
Pierce; also acted as Secretary of State un-
der John B. Wetter, Governor of California.
He was Colonel of the Fourth California Vol-
unteers for a period of twenty-two months.
In 1865, he returned to Vandalia, and was
elected State's Attorney of Fayette County.

Daniel Gregory, also an early practitioner
at our bai', was a native of New York, and
was born Januarv 12, 1809. He came to Illi-

HISTORY OF EFFIXGHAM COUNTY.

143

nois in 1833, and located in Shelbyville,
where he continued to reside until 1846,
when he was appointed Receiver of the Land
Office at Vandalia, and removed to that place.
He was elected County Judge of Fayette
County in 1849; in 1852, was again appoint-
ed Receiver of the Land Office, and in ISSfi
was elected to the Legislature. He was an
able lawyer, and. by strict attention to busi-
ness, he accumulated a handsome fortune,
and Mnally was forced to abandon his profes-
sion and devote his time and attention to the
management of his estate. Many of our old
citizens well remember Judge Gregory and
his genial accomplishments. He died a few
years ago, greatly regretted.

Orlando P. Ficklin, another early attend-
ant and practitioner at the Effingham bar,
was boi-n in Kentucky December 16, 1808.
His education was obtained in a number of
academic institutions in Kentucky and Mis-
souri. In 1828, he commenced the study of
law at Potosi, Mo., and in 1830 was admitted
to the bar. He located at Mt. Carmel, 111.,
and began the practice of his profession,
meeting with encom'agiug success. In 1834,
he was elected to the Legislature. In 1834-
35, he was chosen by the Legislature as
State's Attorney for the Wabash District,
which place he filled until in 1837, when he
removed to Charleston, in Coles County, and
has ever since resided there. In 1843, he
was elected to Congress, and re-elected in
1844, and again in 1846. He then returned
to the practice of his profession, but was
again elected to Congress in 1850. He was
a member of the Democratic Convention that
nominated James Buchanan for President in
1856, and a member of the Democratic Con-
vention in 1860, at Charleston. He belongs
to the old school of Democrats, and is an
able lawyer and statesman.

We come now to the resident lawyers of

our county. The first lawyer that located
here was Kendall H. Buford, who was born
in Tennessee about the year 1820, where he
received a common-school and academic edu-
cation. He had a smattering of Latin; had
taught school in Tennessee; had also read
law there, and was admitted to the bar. He
came to Illinois in 1848, and taught a term
or two of school, and in 1849 located in Ew-
ington and commenced the practice of his
profession. He was a man of considerable
pretensions naturally, somewhat superficial
in his knowledge of the law, and made many
mistakes. He continued in the practice of
his profession here until in 1853, when he
moved to Missouri and took up the practice of
medicine, as he had studied the healing art
before leaving Ewington. He could make a
pretty good speech if ho took sufiicient time
to prepare it and commit it to memory.

Eli Philbrook was the second lawyer who
located in our county. He was born in Lick-
ing County, Ohio, where he received a good
common- school education. At the age of
nineteen, he commenced the study of law,
and was admitted to practice by the SujDreme
Court of Ohio. He came to Illinois and lo-
cated in Ewington in 1850, where he at once
entered upon the practice of his chosen pro-
fession. He was a good lawyer; but not a
fiuent speaker. He built up a large practice,
and had the full confidence of the people.
He died in Ewington in 1854, at the early
age of twenty-eight years, of consumption.
He was a member of the Masonic and Odd
Fellow societies, and was followed to his
grave by a large procession of these orders,
as well as a large number of friends.

The third resident lawyer was James La-
dow, who located at Freomanton in 1851.
He continued there until 1854, engaged in
teaching and practicing law. and then re-
moved into Cumberland County, where all

144

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

trace of him is lost. H« was a mere petti-
fogger, and never entered fully into the prac-
tice of law.

John Anderson was the fourth addition to
the Effingham bar. Ho settled at Ewington,
but never did much in the practice of law,
and, about the year 185'2 or 1853, emigrated
to Kansas. He became County Judge there
but farther than that we know nothing of his
success.

The fifth and next lawyer locating in our
county was H. D. Caldwell, who came to
Ewington in 1852. He was followed soon
after by William J. Stevenson, and, in the
spring of 1853, William B. Cooper located in
Ewington. Mr. Caldwell was born in Vir-
ginia, and came to Illinois with his parents,
who located in Coles County. He com-
menced the study of law in 1 852, and attend-
ed the Law University at Bloomington, Ind.,
from which he graduated, and, in 1854, be-
gan practice at Ewington. He is at present
a citizen of Effingham, but not in active prac-
tice. Mr. Cooper is a native of Massachu-
setts, and a descendant of the Pilgrim Fa-
thers. He came to Illinois and taught school
and road law until 1853, when he was admit-
ted to the bar. He went to Salem, Iowa,
and from thence came to Ewington and com-
menced the practice of law as a partner of
W. J. Stevenson, who shortly after removed
to Clay County. There is but one lawyer
now living who was a member of the bar at
the time Mr. Cooper came to the county.

This brings the history of the legal profes-
sion down to the present members of the
county bar. As personal sketches of them
a|)pear in the biographical department of
this work, we omit an extended mention of
them in this chapter, merely giving a kind
of directory of the present practitioners in
the order in which they were admitted to the
bar. They are as follows:

B. F. Kagay read law with Eli Philbrook
and William Campbell, and was regularly
admitted to the bar in August, 1854.

S. F. Gilmore studied law at Greencastle,
Ind., and graduated from the Law Depart-
ment of Asbury University in 1860.

H. B. Kepley commenced reading law in
1859, and was admitted to the bar by the Su-
preme Court at March term, 1860.

J. N. Gwin studied law, and graduated
with honors, and has since practiced his pro-
fession in Effingham.

A. W. Le Crone studied law with W. B.
Cooper, of Effingham, and was admitted to
practice in the year 1860.

Benson Wood entered the Chicago Law
School in the summer of 1863, from which
he graduated in 1864.

W. H. Barlow entered the Law Department
of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor,
from which he graduated in March, 1868.

Virgil Wood studied law with his brother,
Benson Wood, and was admitted to the bar
in the fall of 1868.

William H. Gillmore read law with Bond
& West, of Chicago, and graduated from the
Law College there in the spring of 1868.

Ada H. Kepley read law with her husband,
H. B. Kepley, and graduated from the Chi-
cago Law School in 1870.

E. N. Rinehart studied law with Cooper
& Kagay, and was admitted to practice at the
bar in 1871.

John C. White read law with Judge Re-
ber, of St. Louis, and then with Cooper &
Gwin, and was admitted in 1872.

R. C. Harrah read law with J. N. Gwin,
of Effingham, and was admitted to practice
in the year 1874.

Owen Scott read law with S. F. Gilmore,
and was admitted to the bar by the Supreme
Court at Springfield in 1874.

W. S. Holmes, of Altamont, read law at

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

145

Chatsworth, and was admitted to the bar at
Ottawa, 111., in 1877.

William E. Buckner read law with H. B.
Kepler, and after with Cooper & Gilmore,
and was admitted to the bar in 1881.

F. M. Loy read law with E. N. Kinehart,
and graduated from the Northern Indiana

Normal School, at Valparaiso, in June, 1881.

W. B. Wright studied and graduated from
the Law Department of the Northern Indiana
Normal School in June, 1882.

P. K. Johnson, of Altamont, read law anl
was admitted to the bar by the Supreme
Court at Springfield in June, 1882.

CHAPTER XI.*

DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP — ITS BOUNDARIES AND TOPOGRAPHY— EARLY SETTLEMENT— AMERICAN
AND GERMAN PIONEERS— THE BULL FLATTERS— PROGRESS AND ADVANCEMENT-
PIONEER INCIDENTS- CHURCH AND SCHOOL HISTORY— THE RAILROAD
AND THE BIRTH OF EFFINGHAM, ETC., ETC.

" Wie win! das BiM der alten Tage

Durch eure Triiume gUinzend wehn !
Gleich einer stillen, froniraen Sage
Wird es eiicU vor der Seele stehu.

" Der Bootsmann winktl Zieht hin in Frieder

Gntt schiUz' euch, Mann und Weib and Greis 1
Sei Freude eurer Bnist beachieden,
Und euren Feldern Reis und Mais !"

/CHARLES DICKENS once said that the
^-^ typical American would hesitate about
entering heaven unless assured that he could
go West. Ever since, and even before the
advice to young men to " go West " was pro-
mulgated by the sagacious editor of the New
York Tribune, the phrase " going West " has
been a potent one to stir the blood of the en-
terprising and adventurous. The mania for
going West i-esulted in the discovery of
America by Columbus, and since that day we
have been told by spread-eagle orators that
" Westward the star of empire takes its way."
From the Atlantic coast, even from Plymouth
Rock, our ancestors moved Westward with
the star of empire. They crossed the Alle-
ghanies, and, descending their western slope,
burst into the rich valley of the Mississippi.
But they paused not here. They poured a
living flood across the continent, until the

*Bj W a. Perrin.

advance-guard — the frontier skirmish line of

American civilization rests upon the distant

shores of the Pacific. In vain the Indian

tried to stem the torrent, but wa-i awept away

i like chaff before the wind. The settler's ax

! echoed through the forests as groups of three

or four came, locating here and there, and

soon an endless line of pioneers moved into

j these valleys, and settled on the margin of

, these prairies. Emigrant wagons found their

way here with household goods. Then mills

were built; the merchant brought on his

goods; schools were established and churches

organized, thus proclaiming the wonderful

energies of our people.

But there is a page which should come be-
fore this history, and, like the prologue to a
drama, be recited first — a page which records
the Indian occupation of the land and his
resistence to the whites. All this, however,
may be found in preceding chapters of this
work, and hence is recited first. The Indian
— the burly warrior and the dusky maid — are
long since gone, but their footprints are left
in many portions of the county. Ruins,
burying-grounds and mounds tell the story of
another race — the red sons of the forest.

14G

HISTORY OF EFFIXGHAM COUNTY.

But we will leave them with the tribute al-
ready paid them, and take up the history of
this division of the county until its settlement
by the whites.

Originally, Douglas embraced all of Town-
ship 8, and a part of Township 9 north, in
Kange 6 east, of the Third Princiisal Meridi-
an. But at the December term of the Super-
visors' Court, held in 1863, the east half of
Township 8 was set off and created an inde-
pendent township, which is known and desig-
nated as Teutopolis. This change leaves
Douglas in much the shape of a carpenter's
" square, " It is bounded north by Shelby
County, east by Cumberland County and
Teutopolis Township, south by Watson Town-
ship and west by Summit and Banner Town-
shijjs. It is drained by the Little Wabash
and its tributaries, of which Salt and Green '
Creeks are the principal ones. Salt Creek
flows nearly north and south, just touching
its eastern line, while Green Creek passes
through the northwest corner, and the Little
Wabash curves into the west line a time or
two in its tortuous course southward. The
land is mostly rolling, and adjacent to the
Little Wabash breaks into steep and abrupt
bluffs. Indeed, some of the roughest land in
the county is along the margin of the river
in this township. There is but little prairie,
the timber land largely predominating.
Oak, ash, sycamore, hickory, white and black
walnut, sugar maj^le, buckeye, Cottonwood,
etc., comprise the timbei; growth, with nu-
merous hazel thickets and other common
shi'ubs. The township is well suj)plied with
railroads — these modern allies of civilization.

The history of Douglas Township centers
in the city of Effingham, the capital of the
county, which is located in the south end of
the township. Usually, the township con-
taining the county seat affords few facts of
interest to the historian beyond that of its

settlement. It is specially so in Douglas,
being principally an agricultural region,
without towns or villages (except Effingham),
manufactories, mills or anything else than
its honest and energetic German farmers,
which comprise by far the larger portion
of the population. As will be seen in the
following pages, the township was mostly
settled by Germans, who still retain a strong
foothold and are among the most highly re-
spected citizens of the county. There were
a few of our own people here, however, prior
to the coming in of the Germans, and the
settlement of these will be first noticed.

Of the early settlers we have the names of
Isaac Slover, James Cartwright, James Lea-
vitt, Jefferson Langford, John Gannaway,
James and Nathan Ramsey, Aaron Williams,
one Stewart, Richard Cohea, etc., etc. Slo-
ver and Cartwright lived on the National
road, near the present railroad depot. Cart-
wright was Slover" s son-in-law, and both
have long since gone the way of the earth.
Gannaway came from Kentucky and settled
east of Slover and just across Salt Creek.
He afterward moved to Coles County and
died there. Aaron Williams settled west of
the city, where Henry Havener now lives.
He moved West, perhaps to Missouri, and
lived to the age of nearly one hundred years.
Jeff' Langford lived about a mile west of
Williams, and was from Tennessee. He has
been dead several years. Leavitt, also a
Tennessean, settled a little south of Effing-
ham. He has two sons still living in the
county, but he himself is dead. The Ram-
seys and Coheas settled in the northwestern
part of the township, in the classic neighbor-
hood of " Bull Flat." The old ones— the patri-
archs of the tribes — are dead, but they have
quite a number of descendants still living in
the township and surrounding country.

From the "Faderland," on the fabled

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

147

banks of the Ehine, we may mention the fol-
lowing settlers, who came here as early as
1S40, and some of them several years earlier:
Joseph, Bernard, Hem-y and George Koester,
Ferdinand Braun, Joseph Feldhake, Matthias
Moenuiug, Joseph Buessing, Gerhard Osthoflf,
Fr. Hoffmann, Bernard Vogt, John Foch-
trop, Bernard Deters, Fred Grimmeg, Ar-
nold Kreke, Joseph Suer, Joseph Bloemer,
Ferdinand Messmann, Hermann H. Nieman,
Henry Best, Joseph Goldstein, Henry Gerdes,
A. B. Jansen, Rudolph Dust, Hem-y Loh-
mann, H. M. Mette, Ferdinand Kaufmann,
Gerhard Nuxoll, John B. Gruenloh, William
Kabbes, Dick Coers, Bernard Reiman, Henry
Schmer, Joseph Woermanu, William Aulen-
brook, Peter Throele, John Rickelmann, Fred
Cohorrtt, Henry Unla-aut, John Meyer, Casper
Krueppe, George Scoles, Henry Herboth,
Ferdinand Wintrup and perhaps others.

George Koester settled east of town; the
other Koesters north and northwest of town,
and all are living except Henry. Feldhake
is a respected citizen of Effingham; Braun
settled northwest of town, and is still living;
Buessing lives near Effingham. Nieman was
the father of Mi's. Kaufmann, who is still
living and who is the widow of Ferdinand
Kaufmann. Matthias Moenning died 1882;
Osthoff lives in the southwest part of the
township, and Fr. Hoffmann in the west
part: Vogt settled near him, but is now dead.
Feehti-op and Deters settled in the southern
part, and Best in the northern part of the
township, the latter living, but the other two
are dead. Goldstein, Gerdes, Bloemer, Jan-
sen, Messmann, Lohmanu, Joseph and Ber-
nard Suer, Mette and Gruenloh, settled in
th'? northern part and are all, we believe, still
living. Nuxoll and Aulenbrook settled in the
same neighhorhood, and are dead. Most of
the others mentioned settled also in the north
part, and are living or have descendants liv-

ing still in the township. Of these German
pioneers of Douglas Township, ^he Koesters,
Dust and Feldhake were the first settlers
from the old country. They were soon fol-
lowed by friends and relatives to the " land
of the free and the home of the brave," until
at the present day there are but few farmers
in the entire township except the thrifty
Germans. They are honest and upright in
their dealings, simple in their manners and
customs, and industrious, quiet citizens.
Their American neighbors and themselves
have always gotten along together upon the
best of terms — barring the " Dutchtown war, "
graphically described elsewhere, and without
any special clashing of personal interests.

At the time of settlement, the people de-
pended almost entirely for meat upon the
wild game, then so abundant in the country.
Deer and wild turkeys and other game were
plenty, and it was no great task for an expert
hunter to go out early in the morning and
kill a deer or two or three turkeys and return
in time for the matutinal meal. An old set-
tler says: " When I came here, game was
plenty, and white men were scarce; but I ^
have lived to see matters reversed — white men
are now plenty, and the game all gone."
Then all the clothing was manufactured at
home by the women. It was of the rudest
material and of the rudest construction.
Boots were seldom worn, except in the towns,
and to see a man with boots on was indisput-
able evidence that he was a preacher, doctor,
lawyer or some other " big-bug, " these fa-
vored individuals comprising by far the big-
gest ducks in the social puddle. The neces-
saries of life were scarce, and that they were
is no matter of wonder. When we consider
that St. Louis was the only market until
small stores were opened in the larger settle-
ments, everything had to be hauled in
wagons to and from that point, and with the

148

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

roads of the early period this was a rather
formidable and laborious undertaking.

The early history of this township cannot
bo fully given without a brief mention of a
community in the northwestern part of it.
The name " Bull Flat" is coincident almost
with the settlement of the country. How the
place received the classic name it bears is a
conundrum, and we give it up. It was set-
tled by Tennesseans, who have not advanced
a single degree in social progress since they
settled here fifty years ago. The customs of
their fathers they hang to with all the zeal
that a -John Chinaman clings to his diet of
rice and rats. They sing the old songs,
dream the old dreams and dance the old
dances their ancestors did before them. A
waltz, or polka, or schottische, is as incom-
prehensible to the genuine "Bull Flatter" as
would be Arabic or Sanscrit, but " Ole Dan
Tucker," "Chicken Pie" and "Possum up
the gum stump," is more familiar to him
than household words. Their mode of " call
ing " at their dances is peculiar to "Bull
Flat " alone, and is sung out by the prompter
to the " cow-bell " tune of a " hard-shell "
preacher, somewhat after this fashion:
"Bow to the gals;" "shake yer hoofs;"
" swing yer honey, " " all chaw hay," etc. ,
etc. , the last expression when tn-^nslated into
the United States language, means " all
promenade. "

In years agone, the "Bull Flatters," like
the denizens of the Wabash hills and " Fid-
dler's Ridge," were great enemies to whisky,
and hence, strove to hide as much of it as
they possibly could. Such was their reputa-
tion for this species of gaiete de camr, that a
popular saloon keeper of EfBngham constant-
ly kept a bottle labeled "Bull Flat Whisky,"
a tablespoonful of which was warranted to
kill any human being except the native Bull
Flatter, but a half pint of it only made him

feel jubilant and a full pint of it put him in
good lighting trim. On public days when
these fellows turned put in force and filled
themselves to the brim with Bull Flat whisky,
what grand times they had! Such circuses
could be gotten up by no other class of peo-
ple.

This Bull Flat settlement is a tribe or
community unto itself, and is a kind of city
organization, governed by its own peculiar
laws and ordinances. Of this noteworthy
menagerie. Dr. Godell is Mayor, Billy Buck-
ner. Lord High Constable, and Tobe Hennes-
sey, Assistant. The care which these official
dignitaries exercise over this frontier post
shows a genuine interest of rulers for the
mass of the people over whom they are called
to reign.

Roads and mills were among the first im-
provements to which the pioneers turned their
attention. The old Cumberland or National
road was the first thoroughfare that was made
through the township. It passed along with-
in a few feet of where the Vandalia Railroad
now runs, and was, for that day, a gigantic
enterprise. But we will not repeat here what
has already been said of this great work.
Other roads were laid out and improved as the
country settled up. The first mills w^re the
little horse-power mills, built by the pioneers
themselves, and were rude in the extreme.
The buhrs were made of bowlders, and some-
times not more than fifteen to eighteen inches
in diameter. It was not until the day of
steam that the poople had the benefit of first-
class mills.

Previous to township organization the
divisions of the county were known as pre-
cincts and the Congressional townships were
designated by numbers and ranges. But
when township organization was adopted, and
a new system of county government entered
into, it became necessary to give names to

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

149

the Congressional divisions. This change or
local organization took place when Stephen
A. Douglas was in the zenith of his glory
and popularity and the idol of the people,
and it seemed but meet to the good " county
fathers" that the " Little Giant " should be
honored by having his name bestowed on this
township. Hence, in the christening of
townships, this one was called Douglas, a
name with which the musses are well satisfied.

No better eulogium can be pronounced
upon a community, or upon its individual
members, than to point to the work they
have accomplished. Theories look fine on
paper, or sound well when proclaimed from
the platform, but it is the plain work which
tells on society. Thus, not only this town-
ship, but the entire county took an early in-
terest in education. All the main settlements
established schools as soon as they could sup-
port them. As the population increased, and
in the natiu-al coarse of human events, the
children also, schoolhouses were built, better
teachers engaged and other improvements
made in the facilities for education. Every
neighborhood now has a good comfortable
schoolhouse, and is supplied with from six to
eight months of school each year.

Religious training was not neglected in
the early days of the township. The few
American settlers attended church in the
other neighborhoods, while most of the Ger-
mans, being Catholics, were first visited by
clergymen from Teutopolis. The second
Catholic Church organized in the county was
"Maria Help," or the Green Creek Church,
as more familiarly known. It is situated on
Green Creek in the north part of the township,
and was organized in the fall of 1857 by Rev.
Father Frauenhof er, a native of the Kingdom
of Bavaria, and a regularly ordained priest. A
little log church had been built previously by
the settlers in this section, and various cler-

gymen came from Teutopolis to attend funer-
als and otherwise administer to the spirit-
ual wants of the people, but there was no
regular pastor until Father Frauenhofer
came in that capacity. He was desirous of
being the first to plant a congregation here,
and overlooked the poverty of the parishion-
ers. He remained two years, and then the
Franciscan Fathers took charge of the con-
gregation. Under their auspices, the pres-
ent handsome church was built and finished,
at a cost of about $4,500, without steeple,
which cost, with plastering and frescoing,
$900 more. It is a brick structure, 67x40
feet in dimensions, with twenty feet addition-
al in length for the sacristy. The original
members of this congregation were H. H.
Niemann, Jacob Dottmann, Bernard Tebbe,
Henry Fischer and their families, and three
bachelors, John Osterhause, Antony Doren-
kamp and one other whose name is forgotten.

The church has now a membership of
about fifty families, with over two hundred
communicants. The present Trustees are
Henry Osterhause and Francis Hoene, and
Clemens Albers and Bernard Tebbe, Direct-
ors. The schoolhouse belonging to the con-
gregation was built in 1870-71, and is a two-
story brick, containing four rooms. A free
school is maintained and well attended.

The building of the Illinois Central Rail-
road was an era in the history of this part of
the StaDe, and Douglas Township came in for
its share of the general prosperity, which
followed the completion of this great internal
improvement. It gave the people facilities
hitherto unknown to them and fm-nished
markets for their surplus stock and grain,
such as they had never dreamed of. Their
lands sprang up in value, their mode of cul-
tivating the soil was wonderfully improved
and their income thereby increased tenfold.
This gale of prosperity which swept over the

150

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

couutry, and this revolution in the agricult-
ural, mechanical and mercantile world, led
to the birth of numerous cities, towns and
villages — particularly along this great high-
way. To the building of the Central Rail-
road — an enterprise described elsewhere — we
may attribute the origin of the beaixtiful and
now floiu'ishing city situated in the southern
part of this township, and which might never

have come into existence but for this grand
culmination of railroad enterprise. With
this allusion to events, which " cast their
shadows before," we will close our sketch of
Douglas Township, and in another chapter
take up the history of Effingham, devoting a
brief space to its birth, growth and material
development.

CHAPTER Xn.^

CITY OF EFFINGHAM— THE OLD TOWN OF BROUGHTON— LAYING OUT OF THE NEW CITY— ITS
BOUNDARIES AND ADDITIONS— FIRST HOUSES, STORES AND POST OFFICE.S— HOTELS, MAN-
UFACTORIES, ETC.— THE FIRE DEPARTMENT-CITY ORGANIZATION AND OFFICIALS
—RAILROADS AND THE PRESS— LITERARY SOCIETIES, ETC., ETC.

tion 21, of Township 8 north, Range 6 east,
at a stone; thence north 7 degrees west 132
feet to the southwest corner of said plat;

What is the city but the people ?

True, the people are the city." — Shakespeare.

the

THE city of Effingham, the capital
Effingham County, and the metropolis
of a fine and flourishing region of country, is
beautifully situated on high rolling land at
the crossing of the Chicago Branch of the
Illinois Central Railroad and the Vandalia
line, and at the termini of the Wabash and
the Effingham & Southeastern Narrow Gauge
roads. The original town was called
"Broughton," and was named for Mr.
Brough, an " Ohio man," afterward Governor
of that commonwealth of statesmen, and who
figiu-ed in the first edition of the Vandalia
Railroad — a matter still familiar to many of
our readers.

Broughton was surveyed and laid out by
George Wright, County Surveyor, and the
plat recorded May 16, 1853, for David B.
Alexander and Samuel W. Little, proprietors.
The following was the original survey: "Be-
ginning at the southwest corner of the south-
west quarter of the southwest quarter of Sec-

*By W. H. Perrin,

thence north 7 degrees west 1.037 J feot to a
stone; thence east at one-eight angle 1,105J
feet to a stone; thence soubh 7 degrees east
l,037i feet to a stone; thence west 1,105 J feet
to the southwest corner of said plat." The
streets were sixty-six feet in width, except
around the square, which was laid oif ninety-
nine feet, and Railroad and Section streets
were fifty feet. The alleys were all sixteen
and one-half feet in width.

The Times, speaking recently of the early
history of Broughton, has the following : " In
connection with Mr. D. B. Alexander, Mr.
Little came to this place in 1853 and sup-
posing tUis would be the crossing of the Illi-
nois Central and the old Brough road, pur-
chased 260 acres of land, 180, at $10 pet-
acre, and 80 at $25, and laid the foundation
of our present city by laying out Broughton.
The Central was only in course of construc-
tion, and had not yet reached this far sou.th,
and when the Brough road collapsed, Messrs.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

151

Alexander and Little acknowledged the fail-
ure of their investment by abandoning
Broughton and going to Kentncky. Before
they left, however, they had contracted with
George Wright for three buildings, for $1,-
300, two residences and one storeroom, and
as a consequence of this contract the th'st
three buildings in our city were erected. One
occupied the lots now occupied by Funk-
hoaser's magnificent brick, the storeroom on
the northwest corner of the public square
which afterward perished in the conflagration
that swept the block away, the remaining
residence being the house now occupied by
Mr. Russell. The Central was completed to
this place in 1855-56, and, seeing that the
point was a good one, in 1856, Mi-. Little, in
company with Mr. Alexander, returned to
Broughton and took up his residence. With
the exception of a short residence in Virgin-
ia, in 1867-68, Mr. Little resided here con-
tinuously until 1871, when he removed to Lin-
coln, Neb., and during that long residence no
one was more identified than he with the
growth and prosperity of our city. And as a
I'ecompense for this public spirit he has, in
addition to the consciousness of having per-
formed a jjublic duty, a handsome fortune to
sustain him in his declining years."

An addition was made to the town of
Broughton by Alexander & Little July 1,
1858, of a part of the northwest quarter of
the southwest quarter of Section 21, and
platted by R. A. Howard, County Surveyor.
After this the identity of Broughton seems
to be lost, as we find no further reference
to it in the records. Effingham having been
laid out some years prior to this addition to
Broughton, the latter was finally merged
into Effingham, and the name of Broughton
dropped.

The original plat of Effingham was made
by James M. Healey, l)eputy County Survey-

or, for Andrew J. Galloway, proprietor, Sep-
tember 12, 1855, and comprised the northeast
qiiarter of the northeast quarter of Section
20, of Douglas Township. Of the com-
mencement of Effingham, or Broughton, Mr.
Hoeny fiu'nishes us the following, in addition
to the extract already made f r )m the Times:
In the spring of 1854, the first three hoiises
in the town of Broughton were built by Alex-
ander & Little, being two residences and one
store. In the summer of the same year,
George Scoles built the first residence that
was put up by an actual settler. Shortly
after this, Mr. Hoeny built a small dwelling
for himself, on the lot now occupied by his
present brick residence, which was the second
house built in the place by an actual settler.
Following the building of Hoeny' e house,
several rude frame structures were built in
rapid succession, on the north side of the
square, and one rather respectable and sub-
stantial two-story frame building was put up
by George Schmidt, on the lot now occupied
by Mr. Reget's store. All of these last-
named buildings, in the summer of 1863,
were biu'ued to the ground. This was the
starting point — the beginning from which
the city of Effingham has grown to its pres-
ent proportions.

Since the laying-out of Effingham, a num-
ber of additions have been made to the origi-
nal town, thus extending its corporate limits
and giving it a foundation upon which 10,-
000 people may stand, and havo^ plenty of
room without " scrouging" each other. Some
of the additions made to the town are as fol-
lows: "Central Effingham" Addition, made
July 22. 1858, by Alexander & Little, of the
southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of
Section 20 of this township; the " Western
Addition" to Effingham, by Alesander &
Little, made June 6, 1859, of a part of the
south half of the southeast quarter of the

152

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

southeast quarter of Section 20, by C. F.
Jones and James W. Berry, of the north half
of the northwest quarter of the northeast
quarter of Section 29, and by George H.
Scoles, proprietor of the east part of the
southeast quarter of the southwest quarter
of Section 20, of this township; the " Rail-
road Addition" to Effingham, by J. P. M.
Howard and William B. Cooper, August
29, 1859, surveyed by C. A. Van Allen,
Deputy County Surveyor; " Gillenwater's
Addition," made by Alexander & Little, Oc-
tober 24, 1859, of a part of the northwest
quarter of the northwest quarter of Section
28; Addition A to "Western Addition, by C.

F. Jones and J. W. Berry, of a part of the
west half of the northeast quarter of Section
29, made May 19, 1866; McCoy & Arnold's
Addition of four and three-fourths acres, in
the southwest corner of the southeast quar-
ter of the northeast quarter of Section 20,
platted March 17, 1868; Alexander & Little's
"New Addition" to Effingham, adjoining
Central Effingham, and platted by Van Allen
May 21, 1868; Addition B to Western Addi-
tion, made April 7, 1870, comprising a part
of the southeast of the northwest quarter of
Section 29; Addition C to Western Addition-
of a part of the northeast quarter of the
northwest quarter of Section 29, by Joseph
Buessing, proprietor, April 14, 1870; Addi-
tion C to the city of Effingham, by C. F.
Jones and J. W. Berry, proprietors of a part
of the west half of the west part of the
southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of
Section 29, and surveyed by Calvin Mitchell
June 10, 1870; M. V. Parks' Addition to
Effingham, of the southeast quarter of the
northwest quarter of Section 20 and a part
of the northeast quarter of the northeast
quarter of Section 20, platted November 9,
1871; Summit Addition to Effingham, Henry

G. Habing, proprietor, of the north half of

the southwest quarter of the northeast quar-
ter of Section 20, platted April 11, 1875;
Farr's Central Addition to the city of Effing-
ham, of the northeast quarter of the south-
east quarter of Section 21, and platted Au-
gust 9, 1875. On the 10th of June, 1879,
Blocks 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, of this
addition, were formerly vacated, by Benson
Wood, the owner of the same. If our read-
ers desire further information on the subject
of the origin, laying out and additions of
their town, they are respectively referred to
the records. We have given sufficient to sat-
isfy us, and for our purpose, and will now
switch off on other matters.

The first buildings in Effingham have al-
ready been noted — their location and by
whom erected. In the fall of 1854, William
Dorsey, from Princeton, Ind., opened the
first store. It comprised a general assort-
ment of dry goods an.l groceries, and was
kept in the storehouse built by Alexander &
Little, situated on the northwest corner of
the square, where Hodebeke's brick resi-
dence now stands. Prior to the opening of
the store by Dorsey, John Hoeny, then a
teacher at Teutopolis, moved to Broughton,
and was employed as a salesman and clerk in
the establishment, and until he built a resi-
dence of his own, he occupied one of the
residences- built by Alexander & Little, stand-
ing on the site of Funkhouser's " Trade Pal-
ace." As the town grew rapidly, other stores
were established to satisfy the increasing
wants of the people, and shops of different
kinds were opened.

The post office, before the appointment of
a regular Postmaster, was a kind of an " ac-
commodation " concern, called Wehunka. It
was on the petition of the first settlers —
Scoles, Dorsey and Hoeny — that the Indian
name Wehunka was chanofed to Effingham.
A petition, signed by twelve names, was for-

J^tr^4^cy^^

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

155

warded to Washington, recommending John
Hoeny for Postmaster, upon which he was
duly commissioned the first Postmaster of
Effingham. Mr. Hoeny's official duties were
not extremely heavy, and had postal cards
been fashionable then, he could have found
plenty of time for reading all passing through
his office. The mail was semi-weekly, and
Mr. Hoeny says he usually sent and received
some half dozen letters each mail. Friend
Scott, the present obliging Postmaster of
Effingham, and his gentlemanly First As-
sistant, can discount that a thousand (more
or less) to one. Our poet-laureate does it up
in verse, thus:

" The post office, too, is wonderful now,

With its lock-boxes and that;

Why, I can remember how Hoeny

Carried the thing in his hat."

Mr. Hoeny continued as Postmaster until
he removed to Waterloo, in Monroe County,
when he turned over the office and its " emol-
uments " to George Scoles, his successor.
The office has grown and increased wonder-
fully in these years, and from the one semi-
weekly mail of twenty-five years ago, there
are now some eight or ten mails received
daily, and the number ef letters, papers and
periodicals passing through it would astonish
some of our pioneer fathers. No better proof
is required than this of our growth and de-
velopment and our advancement in civiliza-
tion and refinement.

There are few cities of the size of Effing-
ham on the face of the globe probably as well
siipplied as she with hotels. A stranger
would almost conclude that the entire popu-
lation — men, women and children — take their
meals at the different hotels and eating-
houses. It is claimed by many, though by
way of burlesque, perhaps, that Effingham
has more fir.st-class hotels than Chicago. Be
this as it may. there are a great many —
" more than any man can number " —and

vary, doubtless, in quality as much as in out-
side appearances. The first tavern or public
house — or, more properly speaking, boarding-
house — was kept by John Hoeny. Scoles
also kept a similar establishment in a house
which stood where Ledrick now lives. John
Woods and Holdzcolm also kept boarding-
houses.

The fu-st regular hotel was the Central
House, which stood west of the Illinois Cen-
tral Railroad, and was kept by Dr. Bishop,
about 1855-56. He ran it about three
months and then sold it to John Woods.
Samuel Fleming afterward took possession,
and kept it for a number of year.s. His wid-
ow is the present owner of the Fleming
House, one of the best hotels in the city.
Other hotels now flourishing are the " Pa-
cific," "Western," "St. Louis," "Cincin-
nati," " California," " Buckeye " and a num-
ber more of lesser caliber, and too tedious to
mention.

The first practicing physician in Effingham
was Dr. George Scoles, a very talented man.
He commenced practice about 1856 to 1858,
and continued for many years. Dr. Farley
was also an early jshysician, perhaps the next
to Scoles. The medical brethren of the city
at this time are as follows: John Le Crone,
J. B. Walker (no relation to Dr. Mary), W.
L. and F. W. Goodell, W. H. Davis, J. N.
Groves, L. W. Smith, L. J. Schifferstein and
G. S. Sehuricht. In conclusion of this brief
notice of the medical fraternity, we give a
few lines regarding the shooting and some-
what remarkable recoveiy of George Holli-
day. Be was a barber in Effingham and well
known, and was shot early in the year 1882,
with a 32-calibre cartridge pistol. He was
attended by Dr. Frank Goodell, who worked
with him faithfully, notwithstanding other
physicians pronounced his case hopeless and
his wound mortal, and, after six months of

156

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

patient and faithful care and attendance,
dismissed him, on the 3d of July, 1882, as
ciU'eJ. No one believed it possible for Hol-
liday to recover, not even the physicians, and
for hours after the wound was inflicted, many
pronounced him dead, but amid all discour-
agements, Dr. Goodell persevered, and now
enjoys the satisfaction of knowing that his
efforts were crowned with success. The case
of Holliday was pronounced by competent
judges more dangerous than that of President
Garfield.

The banking business is represented in
Effingham by two good solid banks. The
first institution of this kind was started in
the city in 1866, by Craddock & Habing, in
the Little building. Two years later, it was
moved to the Eepley building. The business
Was continued by these gentlemen until 1873,
when the firm dissolved, Craddock retiring.
Habing continued until 1876, when he ceased
business. The Effingham Bank was estab-
lished in 1879 by F. A. Von Gassy, who is
sole owner of the institution, F. H. Euers,
Cashier. Eversman, Wood & Engbring or-
ganized a bank September 1, 1881, with a
capital of $25,000, H. Eversman, Cashier;
William Engbring, Assistant Cashier. Prep-
arations are now being made for the erec-
tion of a new bank building These two es-
tablishments afford ample banking facilities
to the city and surrounding country.

Effingham has never been an extensive
manufacturing town. The largest thing of
the kind ever in the place is the Division
shops of the Vandalia Railroad, which are
located here. They employ a great number
of men, whose wages are mostly spent in
town, thus affording quite a little item of in-
conae.

Among the few manufacturing enterprises
may be noted the two excellent flouring mills
in the western part of the city. Previous to

the building of these. Swingle & Little had a
saw-mill, which they started about 1857, and
ran for two years. A grist-mill was added
then by Mette & Little. In 1860, a mill
was built opposite of where the Pacific House
stands, and, after running for some nine
years, was moved from the city. ,

The City Mills were built in 1869 by
Christan Alt & Co., and cost about .$10,000,
now owned by John Alt & Co. The building
is two and a half stories high, containing
three run of buhrs, also rollers, and has a ca-
pacity of about three barrels per hour. It
has been recently improved and refitted, and
is now worth about §12,000. The Excelsior
Mills were also built in 1869, in a two and a
half story bnilding, and when the repairs
now being made are completed, they will be
worth near $18,000. Gammon, Riekelman
& Co. are the proprietors.

A woolen factory was built in 1863 by M.
V. & George Parks, which did quite an ex-
tensive business until 1880, when it was
burned. A brewery was erected in the north -
ern part of the city by Freepartner, and ran
some ten years, when it also was burned. A
brewery was built in the eastern part of the
city in lb60 by Valentine Jakle. It was a
large brick building, and cost about $6, 000,
and it was run some fifteen years, but is now
standing idle.

The city has at different times been visited
by rather destructive fires. The severest,
perhaps, occurred in 1863, and broke out in
the cabinet shop of H. A; Rebels, on the
north side of the square. From the shop the
fire spread to a saloon, which was quickly
consumed, the contents not having yet
been sufficiently watered to prevent being
combustible. Sjieck's dwelling and shoe
shop, two-story dwelling of Henry Dutton,
George H. Smith's dwelling and grocery
store, were among some of the buildings de-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

157

stroyed. Several other fires have occurred,
but none quite so destructive as this. The
city enjoys the reputation of having an excel-
lent fire department and of being well organ-
ized. It was established in 1865, some two
years after the tire above alluded to. An en-
gine, the " Old Vigo," was purchased at Terre
Haute in 1867, at a cost of §1,350, and has
since been refitted. An engine-house was
built in 1876, on land donated the city by
the Illinois Central Railroad. The first stej)
toward a fire department was ihe oganization
of a hook and ladder company of thirty-seven
members, of which J. J. Funkhouser was Cap-
tain; George Parks, First Lieutenant; H. J.
Lacy, Second Lieutenant, and Gilbert Bush-
or, Chief Engineer. The department now
consists of a hook and ladder company and
Deluge Fire Company, Albert Gravenhorst,
Chief Engineer; Jacob Schneider, Foreman
of Deluge Company, and Charles Schmidt,
Foreman of hook and ladder company.

The village of Effingham was incorporated
under the law governing such matters, but as
the record book of the proceedings has been
lost, nothing definite can be given in regard
to this period of its local government, It
was incorporated as a city in 1867, and the
first Mayor elected was B. F. Kagay; E. H.
Bishop, first Clerk; first Aldermen, "Wesley
Spitler, R. E. Moore, W. H. St. Clair and
Fred Mindrup. Henry Eversman was the
second Mayor, and served from 1867 to 1869;
Thomas A. Brown for 1870; C. F. Lilly for
1871; John LeCrone, 1872 to 1874; H. G.
Habing, 1874 to 1876; John LeCrone (again)
for 1877; J. N. Gwin, 1877 to 1879; John
Hoeny, 1879 to 1881, and Benson Wood, 1881
and 1882, the present incumbent. Addition-
al to the Mayor, the present city government
is composed of the following: John C. Evers-
man, City Clerk; John J. Loar, Treasurer;
Aldermen in First Ward, John Morhinners

and Conrad Boos; Aldermen in Second Wai-d,
J. H. I. Lacy and George M LeCrone; Al-
dermen in Third Ward, Charles Beulor and
Thomas Powell. B. F. Kagay, Police Magis-
trate, and J. C. White, City Attorney.

Effingham is quite a railroad center, as
well as a hotel town. It has the benefit of
foiu- railroads, with trains, almost hoiu'ly, to
all points of the compass. A man can go
from Effingham to any place — except the
moon — by rail. As the roads have been so
fully written in preceding chapters by Mr.
Bradsby, nothing more can be said, without
recapitulation.

The press also receives full justice in an-
other chapter, on the county at large, and,
like the railroads, nothing remains to be said
in this connection.

Effingham takes a literary fit semi-periodi-
cally, and indulges the most intense interest
and gets excited in the highest degree over
such matters. But as it becomes older, the
disciples of literature grow somewhat luke-
warm and finally dormant, until another fit
comes on. These fits and spells have been
represented by the " Lyceum, " the " Forum "
and the " N. L." societie.s, which have
sprung up at times in the history of the city,
swept over the scene like untamed meteors,
flashed, darted and fizzled — then went out in
darkness. The first of these literary feasts
was inaugurated in 1877, the prime movers
in the affair being John C. White and H. C.
Bradsby. They determined to make the
greatest efforts of their lives, and called a
meeting of a few of their friends, viz., S. F.
Gilmore, H. B. Kepley, Miss Emma Cooper,
Virgil W^ood, George M. LeCi'one and a few
others. White bossed the organization, with
Bradsby as a "looker on in Venice. " He
(White) wrote the constitution and the by-
laws, put the thing on its feet, named it the
" Lyceum," and if there had been anything

158

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

else to do, he would have done it. Bradsby
was elected the first President, and served
one year. White, Miss Emma Cooper and
G. M. LeCrone comprised the Programme
committee — the most important and respon-
sible place in the society, in fact; its success
or failure depended on this committee