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. Prom
the very first meeting it was a complete suc-
cess. They met in the Baptist Church every
two weeks, and on each night crowds were
turned away from the door for the want of
room. During the first winter, the winter of
its most successful existence — for, like all
other organizations, it had its time to die,
Mr^. A.nn Eliza Young, nineteenth wife of
Brigham Young, Gov. William Cumback, of
Indiana, and George R. Wendling, lectured
before the society. Brilliant success attend-
ed, and the society more than paid expenses
on each lecture.

The entertainments and performances of
the society were very popular, and the people
of the city — men, women and school children
contributed — and the variety of music, recita-
tions, readings, papers upon various subjects
and discussions were highly intei'esting.
For the first time, perhaps, in the history of
the city, the people were united, and little
jealousies and bickerings and such things as
80 often kill oif similar efforts in other cities,
and had often done so in this, were unheard.
The flattering success and prosperity of the
first year gave evidence of permanency and
of the good the society would accomplish.
Owen Scott was elected the second President,
afterward Prof. Page, then Prof. Mann, and
lastly, Mrs. H. C. Painter. Its first year was
its best, for, like all new things, it flourished
until the novelty wore off, when, to some ex-
tent, it waned in prosperity.

In the fall of 1880, another of the period-
ical outbursts occurred in the literary world
of Effingham, resulting in the organization of

the Forum. Chief among the pillars of this
new institution were White, Buckner, Bailey,
Dr. Thompson, Charles Kelly, John Webb,
Virgil Wood, Caldwell, the Drs. Goodell and
a few other kindred spirits. A short time
after it got under way, they roped in Brads-
by, and in his introduction to the society,
some of the members, especially Buckner,
Bailey and W^ebb, had oceans of fun at his
expense, and thus paid off old scores with
interest. The society developed into an old
fashioned debating club, but it was mostly a
kind of running fight on parliamentary ques-
tions. John C. White was the first Presi-
dent, then Bailey, Webb and Buckner in suc-
cession, and in this exalted position they
probably got angrier at Bradsby and White
than they ever will at their future unfortu-
nate mothers-in-law. Yet they somehow
managed to learn more about parliamentary
law than they had ever dreamed or imagined
there existed. Bradsby says the Forum was
a mighty success, even if it did make Buck-
ner and Bailey eat nails and fire coals all
winter.

Last winter (1881), the literary fever came
on again, and Bradsby, aided by G. M. Le
Crone, Caldwell, the Drs. Goodell, Virgil
Wood, in short, all the old Forumers, Organ-
ized the " N. L." society, the greatest, j^er-
haps, of all its predecessors. It was a purely
literary club. The President was autocrat
and Programme Committee in one. Brads-
by, Wood and Caldwell drew up the consti-
tution and by-laws. The performances at
each meeting consisted of a paper read by
some member designated by the President.
A discussion of the paper then followed, each
man to discuss that phase of it which suited
him best. At the first meeting, Bradsby had
been designated to read a paper on " Who is
the greatest living man ? " In answer to this
huge conundrum, he chose for his subject

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

159

" Seth Green," and in a paper twenty min-
utes long maintained his choice.

The pith of the joke was that half of the
people in town thought it was " Uncle
Billy" Green, the di-ayman, that Brad meant
But when he read his paper, and said all
that he could say in behalf of Seth Green,
the noted father of fish culture, all who heard
him were more astonished than was ever By-
ron when he awoke to his fame. They all
had to agree with Brabsby that to develop
this immense thing of filling all the waters
that are now the waste places of three- foui-ths
of the globe with good, cheap, nutritious food
was a project full of promise to cheapen food,
reduce the hours of labor, lift all mankind
up and do more for the cause of civilization
than all else since recorded time.

Bradsby, in the conclusion of his paper,
referred to the fact that each individual, if
asked the question as to who the greatest
man was, would naturally think of his kind
— the plug ugly, of the prize fighter; the son
of Mammon, of Vanderbilt, Rothschild or
Gould; the fledgling politician, of Jim Blaine
or Conkling, and the young Esculapius of
Dr. Gross, etc., etc. Soon after the read-
ing of the paper was finished. Dr. Frank
Goodell came in. He soon had a finger in
the pie, and, true to the prediction ventured
by the sage author of the ponderous paper.

he was oq his feet proclaiming the veritable
Dr. Gross, the truest, only, ownest, greatest
of all the great moguls of the land. Audible
grins were perceptible in all parts of the
room, and the re-reading of that portion of
the paper (which Goodell had not before
heard) produced great fun and efi"ectually
squelched the Doctor, for that time at
least.

The society flourished immensely under
the fostering care of Gwin, Caldwell and
others. One of the most interesting and
highly entertaining meetings perhaps held
while the society existed, was when the sub-
ject of female suffrage was the theme of the
evening. The speeches delivered upon the
occasion, particularly by Caldwell, who
" spake as never man spake, " on female
suffrage at least, are deserving of perpetual
record. Mr. Caldwell advanced arguments
upon that rather vexed problem, new, per-
haps, to most of his hearers. Our space,
however, will not allow us to follow the pro
ceedings of this society further, and the
reader is referred to the book of the records.

Several efforts have been made to establish
a library in Eflingham, but a few patent ofl5ce
reports and Legislative proceedings have
been about as far as the matter has ever gone,
and prove the extent of the collection of
literature for the public use of the city.

160

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY,

CHAPTER XIIL*

UPY OF EFFINGHAM-ITS RELIGIOUS HISTORY-EARLV CHURCHES AND PREACHERS-ORGANI
ZATION OF DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS-SECRET AND BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS
FREEMASONRY, ETC.-EARLY SCHOOLS OF THE TOWN-PRESENT EDUCA- "
TIONAL FACILITIES — MERCY HOSPITAL, ETC., ETC.

" Whilst poliHcians are disputing about monarchies
aristocracies and republics, Christianity is alike appli-
cable, useful, and friendly to them a.\l."—Paley.

O OCIETY, as it circles outward from a com-
^ moa center, has a tendency to degenerate
from its original and higher type to one of a
lower tone and standard. History reveals the
fact that every receding circle of civilization
has lessened the forces forming and complet-
ing a perfect state of society. On nearly every
wave of immigration some good seed is borne
to grow up in the opening soil of the new
country. The good seed is usually sufficient
to begin the work of raising society to a
higher level of civilization, and their trans-
forming power counteracts those demoralizing
influences which tend to social degeneration
and disruption, as the lawless and vicious
seek the frontiers, where there is less restraint
from civil power. This good seed becomes
the nucleus around which gather those loftier
feelings necessary to carry society onward to
a state of comparative perfection and happi -
ness. Christian truth is the great super-
structure on which every society that approxi-
mates perfection must rest. Said an old
minister of the Gospel once: "It used to
make my heart sick in the early years of my
ministry to dismiss members of my charge to
churches in distant regions, and have brothers
and sisters and neighbors leave us for settle-
ments in the opening Territories. But as I
have grown oldei; and followed these emi-
grants to their new homes, and have found

'By W. H. Perrin.

them far more useful in church and State
than they ever could have been in the regions
they left behind, where others held the places
of influence— as I have seen them givintr a
healthy and vigorous tone to society, while
the separation caused a pang of sorrow, the
good accomplished more than compensated
for the pleasure lost." It was to such emi-
grants as those mentioned in the above ex-
tract that Illinois is indebted for her Chris-
tian civilization of to-day. The good seed
brought hither by these humble pioneers,
have brought forth good fruit, and produced
blessings more than a hundred-fold.

Effingham is well supplied with chm-ches
and church edifices. The following sketch
of the Methodist Church is furnished us by
the pastor, Rev. E. H. Manier. The earliest
date of an organized Methodist Episcopal
Church in Ewington, of which the chui-ch in
Effingham is successor, was 1835. That there
was preaching in Effingham County at a
much earlier date is evident from the fact
that there was then an organized circuit with
regular preaching places; but no definite
information is at eommaad as to who were the
ministeis previous to this date. The follow-
ing ministers were appointed to the Ewington
Circuit. The dates are not given as abso-
lutely correct, but approximately so : In 1835,
Rev. Mr. Graham; 1837, Rev. Mr. Chambers;
1838, Rev. Leroy Lowery; 1839, Rev. Mr.
Tennison; 1840, Rev Benjamin Newman;
1841, Rev. Mr. Wasburn; 1842, Rev. Mr.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

161

Blackwell; 18-t3, Rev. Mr. Hale; 1845, Rev.
Isaac G. Barr; 18i6, Rev. Jlr. Pitner; 1847,
Rev. D. Williamson; 1848, Rev. J. Gilham;
1849, Rev. J. M. Massey; 1854, Rev. J.
Estep. About the year 1855, Effingham be-
came a preaching place, and the circuit was
thereafter known as Effingham Circuit. Af-
ter this date the ministers in charge were:
1855, Rev. Mr. Mapes; 1856-57, Rev. G. W.
Gullom, with Rev. Mr. Ayres. assistant;
1858, Rev. Mr. Whitsel; 1859, Rev. D.
Williamson; 1860, Rev. G. W. Gullom;
1861, Rev. Mr. Butts; 1862-63, Rev. R. H.
Massey; 1864-65, Rev. Mr. Brannon.

In 1867, the circuit was divided and the
city of Effingham made a station; that is,
was given the exclusive services of a pastor.
Since then the church of Effingham has had
for its pastors the following ministers: In
1867-68, Rev. J. H. Lockwood; 1869, Rev.
J. Leeper; 1870-71, Rev. M. N. Powers;
1872-73, Rev. N. Hawl*y; 1874, Rev. M. H.
Nichols; 1875, Rev. J. Harris; 1876-77,
Rev. William Wallis; 1878-79, Rev. J. Gib-
son; 1880-81-82, Rev. R. H. Manier, the
present pastor. The membership is now 164,
and eight probationers; total, 172 members;
In 1866, the present substantial brick church
was built and named "Centenary," that year
(1866) being the one hundredth anniversary
of the introduction of Methodism in America.
A good Sunday school is kept up throughout
the year.

The Baptist Church was organized in 1861
by Elder Uriah McKay and an ecclesiastical
counsel, composed of Rev. McKay, W. C. Mit-
chell, John W. Cleveland, J. W. Billingsley
and John Verplank. The original members
were Ij. R. McMurry, Elizabeth McMim-y, D.
W. Bouland, Catharine Bouland, W. P. Sur-
rells, S. V. Sm-rells, P. P. McCain, Grace Mc-
Cain, Giles Baldwin, Sarah Baldwin, Mrs.
D. D. Bouland and H. N. Leland, together

with Elder McKay. The pastors have been
Elders Uriah McKay Evans, E. S. Graham, I.
S. McHan, A.. Rhodes. Stephens and W. H.
Wilson. The church is without a pastor at
present. It was originally organized at the
house of W. P. Surrells, where services were
held for one month. A house on the west
side of the Illinois Central Railroad was used
— then the court house until 1866, when the
present church building was erected. It is
of brick, 20x60 feet, and stands on a lot do-
nated by Alexander & Little, and cost about
16,000. The first officers were Rev. McKay,
Moderator, and W. P. Surrells, Clerk; Giles
Baldwin, H. B. Wagner and Jesse Said, Dea-
cons; A. Wilson, L. R. McMurray and Mr.
Bradley, Trustees. The present officers are
B. B. Miner, Clerk; W. C. Wright, W. P.
Surrells, and Mr. Miner, Trustees The mem-
bership is about fifty; Owen Scott is Super-
intendent of the Sunday school.

St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church dates
back to 1858. Prior to that year, the few
Catholic families, and we learn from Father
Jungmann, the present rector, residing in this
vicinity, were visited from time to time by
clergymen of the Diocese of Alton. Services
were held in a small log house which is still
standing in the rear of Funkhouser's new
store. The last priest who said mass i n it
was the Rev. Father Fortmann. In 1858,
the Catholics, encouraged by Father Frauen-
hofer, who resided at that time in the Green
Creek settlement, and was rector of the con-
gregation there, decided to build a respect-
able church edifice. The plan was carried
out under Rev. Father Bartels, the zealous
rector of the congregation at Teutopolis, who,
in the spring of 1858, laid the corner-stone of
the old church of St. Anthony's congrega-
tion, at present the school bouse of the
church. In the fall of the same year, the
Rev. Father of the order of St. Francis took

163

HISTOllY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

charge of the congregation at Teutopolis,
where a convent had been built. From the
convent, the several Catholic congregations of
the neighborhood were attended as missions
by the Rev. Fathers. Among others, also
that of St. Anthony's congregation at Ef-
fingham was given to their charge. The
Kev. Father Capestran said the first holy
mass in the new church on Christmas
morning, 1S5S. In succession the fol-
lowing priests of the order of St. Francis
had charge of St. Anthony's Church: Rev.
Father Servatene, Heribert, Raynerius, Kill-
ian, Ferdinand, then Rev. Killian again. In
September, 1871, Rev. Michael Weis, sec-
ular priest of the diocese of Alton, was ap-
pointed rector of St. Anthony's congregation
at Effingham, and, on the 23d of March,
1877, Rev. Father Jimgmann, the present
rector, took charge.

When the first church was built, the follow-
ing Catholic families then lived around here:
C. and Joseph Bloemer, and their mother
(widow of Arnold Bloemer), Henry Herboth,
Hille, Wilenborg, Peter Thoele, Ferdinand
Messmanu, H. H. Dust, Bernard Dassen-
brook, Fred Braun, Joseph Feldhake, the
Koesters, Buessing, Husmann, Matthias Mo-
ening, J. F. Schwerman, Knage, Herman
Fechtrup, Gerhard Osthoff, Mindrup, Vogt,
Gebbon Vogt, Fredrick Hoffmann, William
Messmann, H. Harmann, B. Kemper, Gerhard
H. Ney, John Ney, Bernard Ney, Herman Ney,
John Fechtrup, Arnold Kreke, Bernard Bet-
ters, Dreymann, Alshop, Mette — about forty
families altogether. The congregation grew
rapidly and in the course of time the church
became too small to hold the faithful.
Hence, under the pastorate of Rev. Father
Weis, the erection of a large, beautiful church
was agitated. In February, 1873, the fij-st
contract for material was made. The mag-
nificent building as it now stands was finished

in 1875. Solemn blessing of the newcharch
took place on the 13th of June of the same
year, by the Right Rev. Joseph Baltes, Bishop
of Alton, to whose diocese St. Anthony's be-
longs. The church is an ornament to the city
and an honor to the Catholic inhabitants.
Its cost was about $40,000; its size, 06x165
feet— steeple, 181 feet without cross or vane.
The present number of families who worship
in it are 180, comprising about 1,000 persons.
The Trustees are John J. Rickelmann, with
the pastor. Bishop and Vicar General,

A parochial school was established in con-
nection with the congregation, and has been
in operation since about 1858. It was at
first in charge of men teachers, but for nine
years it has been under the supervision of the
pastor, assisted by the Sisters of Notre Dame.
The school at present consists of three de-
partments, numbering about 180 pupils.

"The Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
was organized by Rev.. Mr. Luther in the year
1865. The original members were Samuel
Fortney. Class-Leader, Mr. Bright and wife,
T. J. Gillenwaters. Mrs. Filler, Thomas
Thayer and wife. The society was organized
in the court house, and services held there
and at private residences until 1870, when
the present church building was erected, 26x
40 feet, at a cost of $1,700. Judge Gillen-
waters donated the ground on which it is
erected, and contributed the larger part of
the money needed for its completion. The
following pastors have been in charge of the
church: Revs. Luther, Divender, Bigel,
Deeds, Bigel, Bundel, etc. The society has
become extinct, and the house is now
owned by Judge Gillenwaters.

St. Mary's Mission Episcopal Church first
held services in Effingham about twelve years
ago, under the supervision of Rev. John W.
Osborne, who organized a parish and remained
with them about a year. The parish consist-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

163

ed of six families and met for religious wor-
ship in the Southern Methodist Church,
which they rented for that purpose. After
Rev. Osborne left, no services were held until
the fall'of 1879, when Eev. W. H- Steele, of
Centralia, took charge of the mission acd
conducted monthly services to June, 1880, at
which time he left and moved to Colorado.
The Rev. Jesse Higgins succeeded Kev.
Steele at Centralia, and continued the serv-
ices at EflSngham for a few months, when
Kev." Mr. Gray settled here ag resident mis-
sionary, but had served the mission only three
Sundays when he was taken sick and died in
the hospital at this place. In May, 1881,
Rev. Mr. Steele returned from Colorado and
settled here as resident missionary, and has
been with the charge ever since.

In the fall of 1879, Mrs. F. M. Bagg, Mrs.
S. N Scott and Mrs. Mary Thiolger, three
estimable ladies of the mission, organized a
Sunday school, into which they gathered the
poor childi'en of the city that had been unable
to attend any of the other schools on account
of clothing, want of shoes, etc. Their defi-
ciencies were supplied by those three good Sa-
maritans, who went out into the highways and
byways, and gathered in the waifs and fitted
them for school by a generous outlay of their
own private means. The school has been
conducted with the most remarkable success,
and now has an attendance of over thirty-five
children. Since the organization of the
school thirty-one of these children have been
baptized. Mrs. Bagg carried wood from her
own wood pile during the cold weather to
warm the house. Ah! reader, think you not
that when these noble women reach the other
shore, they will receive crowns bright with
many jewels? It is under the influence of
such as they that stern men of the world who
have squandered life and innocence without
a sigh, may see' the distant gates of Eden

gleam and catch a foretaste of heaven. The
mission owns no church edifice, but holds
services in the Southern Methodist building.
On the first visit of the Bishop, he consecrated
the grave of Rev. Mr. Gray in the public
cemetery, and two other private lots at the
same time, and confirmed three adults. The
mission is as yet weak in members, there be-
ing but seven families and eleven communi-
cants belonging to it. It is the deanery of
Mattoon and in the diocese of Springfield.
The first officers were Mr. E. R. Connolly,
Senior Warden; S. P. Simpson, Junior War-
den; F. M. Bagg, Treasurer, and S. N. Scott,
Secretary.

The first Presbyterian Cbm-ch of Effing-
ham^ was organized November 13, 1864, in
the court house, by Revs. A. T. Norton and
S. R. Bissel. The following were the origi-
nal members: Solomon Swingle, Mrs. M. E.
Swingle, Mrs. Sarah Bissel, Isaac Bates and
Mrs. Jane Bates. Previous to this, Mr. Bis-
sel had been preaching to the Presbyterian
congregation, and he still continued to sup-
ply the pulpit in connection with his labors
in conducting a private school. The services
were held for one year in the court house,
and afterward in Mr. Bissel' s schoolroom.
Ml'. Bissel served the church until 1869. He
was assisted in church and school work by
his excellent wife, whose memory is still pre-
served as a lady of superior education and
perfect consistency in her daily life. Under
their united labors the church membership
increased to twenty.

In 1869, Rev. Ernest A. Pollock accepted
a call to supply the pulpit, and entered upon
his labors in December. He came to this
place under the appointment of the Board of
Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church.
He gave one half of his time to Effingham,
and also served other points in the vicinity.
After he came to the church, services were

164

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

held in the Baptist Church every alternate
Sabbath. The m(-.mbers, however, soon be-
gan a church of their own, which was com-
pleted in October, 1870. It is a fine brick
building, and cost, furnished, §4,300. It
was dedicated to the worship of God on the
23d of October — Eev. Dr. Jewett, of Terre
Haute, preaching the sermon on that occasion
and the pastor oifering the prayer. Rev. S.
R. Bissel, former pastor, Rev. Mr. Powers, of
the Methodist Church, and Rev. Mr. Rhodes,
of the Baptist, assisting in the services.
This church was partly unroofed and suffered
other damages in a severe storm some years
ago, but was immediately repaired. Mr.
Pollocli continued pastor for eight years —
in the first four the church became self-sup-
porting. He resigned in December, 1S77,
and accepted a call to Mendota. During his
pastorate of eight years, 220 were added to
the membership), and in the same period some
$14,000 was raised and expended in the work
of the church. After the departure of Rev.
Mr. Pollock, ii call was extended to Rev. Mr.
Cort, then a student of theology of the North-
western University of Chicago. After his
graduation, he nettled in Effingham as stated
supply of the church, but the ill health of
his wife caused his resignation at the end of
one year. The church was then without
regular preaching for a short time, when a
call was extended to Rev. Moses Paisley, of
Hillsboro, in October, 1879, for one year.
He is now pastor of the Presbyterian Church
at Lomonauk, HI. Rev. Thomas E. Green
was the next pastor, and remained six mouths,
when he accepted a call to the First Presby-
terian Chui-ch at Sparta, 111. Next came
Rev. George D. McCulloch, who took charge
of the chm-ch July 1, 1881, and continued
until the fall of 1882, when he accejjted a
call to the Presbyterian Church at Hillsboro,
and there is at present no regular pastor.

The Sabbath school work began with the
church's first existence, being carried on first
in Mr Bissel's schoolroom, and afterward in
the church. At present the corps of teachers
numbers thirteen, and the average attendance
130 pupils. S. F. Gilmore is Superintend-
ent, and Alex Phelon, Secretary.

" A history of this church," says Rev. Mr.
McCulloch, who furnished us this sketch,
"would be incomplete which did not recog-
nize the efficient help the women have given
in every department of its labors. They
have been ready in every good word and work.
The Ladies' Aid Society has existed since
the beginning of the church. It has con-
tributed largely to meet the espenses^and
monthly " socials " have ministered to the
life and the enjoyment of the congregation.
A women's prayer meeting has met regularly
for several years. A women's missionary so-
ciety has been organized, and meets monthly
in the interest of missionary work. The re-
port given to Presbytery last year contained
these items: Given to benevolent boards of
the church, $5,500; expenses for all church
purposes, $1,230."

St. John's Lutheran Church was organized
in 1864, at the residence of Charles Hartman,
with a membership of six families, viz.,
Ch.arles Hartman, Jacob Bauer, Gottlieb Nol-
ler. Christian Alt, John Lunow and Henry
Shulte. The organization was effected
through the influence of Rev. Charles Meyer,
of Kankakee. For two years services were
held at private residences and at the court
house, and in the absence of ministers were
conducted by Charles Hartman. The pres-
ent church house was built in 1S6S, on ground
donated by Christian Alt. The building is
a frame, 30x50 feet, and cost §2,200. It
was dedicated in December, 1808, by Reva
Charles Meyer and Hemy Holterman. Eev.
Meyer was the first pastor and served at in-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

165

tervals from 1864 to 1S67. He was succsed-
ed by Rev. Henry Holterman, from 1867 to
1870; then came Rev. G. A. Feustel, who
tended the flock until 1876. The church was
without a pastor now for one year, but serv
ices were held every Sabbath by the members.
Rev. Lewis Frase came in 1877, and labored
here until 1881, and, in February, 1882, the
present pastor, Rev. W. Lewerens, took
charge. The church has a membership of
forty-two families. A Sunday school was or-
ganized in 1864, at Hartman's residence, and
has been aa important factor in the church
ever since. Mr. Hartman was elected Super-
intendent, and the first attendance was some
forty children

A parochial school was established in con-
nection with the church by Rev. Holterman,
who taught in Jacob Bauer's residence, with
an attendance of about thirty scholars. A
neat school building was erected in 1870 at
a cost of i?SOO. It stands on the church lot
and is an honor to the conrregation. The
present attendance will average about fifty
children.

Benevolent Institutions. — Secret societies
and institutions have existed so long that no
history tells of their beginning, and they
will, doubtless, continue " until time shall be
no more." The history of Freemasonry, the
most ancient of these societies, is veiled and
clouded by almost unwritten centiu-ies; yet,
amid the political fluctuations of the earth,
and the downfall of States and Empires, its
traditions have been borne to us on the cur-
rent of time, and been gathered together by
the Masonic student for the meditation and
instruction of the craft All who have con-
sidered the origin of Freemasonry have been
convinced that the germ from which it sprang
was coeval with that wonderful command of
Jehovah: " Let there be light," and from the
coincidences found to exist between it and

the ancient mysteries, they were very similar
in character. We know that the aims of
these institutions are good, because the re-
sults achieved are so grand and glorious.
We believe the world is better for their ex-
istence, secret though they are in their work-
ings, and agree not with those who believe
that everything is evil which is veiled in se-
crecy, and hidden from the eyes of the curi-
ous.

Freemasonry is represented iu Eflfingham
by a lodge and by a chapter of Royal Arch
Masons. The lodge was originally organized
at Ewington, when that city was in the hey-
day of its glory and prosperity. The first
record was as follows: " Ewington Lodge, U.
D., Free and Accepted Masons, met in regu-
lar communication February 10, 1854. At
that meeting James M. Long was Master;
Elisha D. Cunningham, Senior Warden;
John H. Crocker, Junior Warden, and Eli
Philbrook, Secretary. The lodge was char-
tered by the Grand Lodge in the following
October as Ewington Lodge, No. 149, and
the first ofiScers elected under the charter
were James M. Long, Master; E. D. Cun-
ningham, Senior Warden; James M. Healey,
Junior Warden; D. Rhinehart, Treasurer;
John S. Kelly, Secretary; Samuel Moffitt,
Senior Deacon; John LeCrone, Junior Dea-
con, and John G. Gamble, Tiler. After the
county seat was moved to Effingham, the
lodge was also moved, and at the session of
the Grand Lodge, held in October, 1869, the
name was changed to Effingham Lodge, and
the number (149) retained. The present
officers are: W. H. Barlow, Master; E. C.
Van Home, Senior Warden; W. W. Gibbons,
Junior Warden; H. B. Kepley, Treasurer; A.
W. LeCrone, Secretary; R. C. Harrah, Sen-
ior Deacon; J. N. Murphy, Junior Deacon,
and L. J. Harding, Tiler.

Effingham Chapter, No. 87, Royal Arch

160

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Masons, was organized under a dispensation
from W. M. Egan, M. E., Grand High Priest
of the State. Among the original members
were William B. Cooper, Joseph B. Jones,
Jacob Goddard, H. Buflfner, J. Claypool, J.
Niernan, N. C. Turner, H. B. Turner, J.
Barkley and N. C. Kitchell, of whom Will-
iam B. Coojaer was the first High Priest;
Joseph B. Jones, King, and W. H. Sinclair,
Scribe. There is at present twenty-eight
names upon the records, with the following
officers, viz.: Owen Scott, High Priest; B. F.
Kagay, King; J. H. I. Lacy, Scribe; Will-
iam Bear, Captain of the Host; H. B. Kep-
ley, Principal Sojom-ner; Gus Elbow, Royal
Arch Captain; Charles Busse, D. J. McCabe
and R. C. Harrah, Grand Masters of the
Veils; Samuel Allsop, Treasurer; John Jones,
Secretary, and L. J. Harding, Tiler.

A Council of Royal and Select Masters
was in existence here until, by the authority
of the Grand Bodies, the Council was merged
into the Royal Arch Chapter.

Dallas Lodge, No. 85, I. O. O. F., was in-
stituted at Ewingtou by H. D. Rucker, Grand
Master, October 17,1851. The chai-ter mem-
bers were John S. Kelly, K. H. Biu-ford,
James M. Fergus, S. B. Holcomb and Joel
Elam. Mystic Lodge, No. 420, instituted at
Edgewood in July, 1870, was consolidated
vith Dallas Lodge, No. 85, in 1876. Jupiter
Lodge, No. 455 (German), instituted in July,
1871, in Effingham, was consolidated with
Dallas Lodge in December, 1874. It is esti-
mated by accurate calculation (says Mr. Le
Crone, to whom we are indebted for this in-
formation), that Dallas Lodge has paid out,
since its institution, $1,500 in benefits to its
members: Present membership, sixty-one;
funds on hand, $900, and a flourishing lodge.
The names of the officers were not furnished.

The Encampment of this order was insti-
tuted May 12, 1882, by J. C. Smith, Grand

Scribe. The charter members were J. A.
Anderson, W. W. Simpson, D. B. Coleman,
C. E. Williamson, John Alt, S. N. Scott, Os-
car Johnson and B. Berman. It was insti-
tuted under the title of Royal Encampment,
No. 134, and has now a membership of
twenty five. The present officers are J. A.
Carson, C. P. ; D. B. Coleman, H. P. ; B.
Fortuey, S. W.; John Taut, Scribe, and
John Alt, Treasurer.

The Schools. — The educational history of
Effingham dates back to the very commence-
ment of the town. The first school was
taught by John Hoeny, beginning in the
spring of 1855. It was carried on in a house
built by Richard Dorsey, a brother to William
Dorsey, the merchant, and is now owned and
occupied by the widow of Charles Bourland.
Alexander S. Moffitt taught the next school in
a house now owned by Charles Troy. Both
of these schools were non-sectarian private
schools. In the spring of 1856, the Cath-
olics built a small log house (already alluded
to) on the lot in the rear of Funkhouser's
" Trade Palace," which for some time an-
swered the double purpose of both school -
house and church. The first teacher to oc-
cupy this house was Barney Wernsing, the
present County Treasurer. His school, as
well as those of all other teachers for some
ten or twelve years, was attended by children
of all denominations then residing in the
village.

The schools of the city now occupy two
brick buildings, one on the east and one on
the west side, of four rooms each. The two
buildings cost something like $22,000 origi-
nally, and have since been refitted at a cost
of about $2,000 a piece. Nine teachers are
employed, as follows: Prof. N. B. Hodsden,
Superintendent; Pi-of. F. L. West, Principal
of the High School; Hester Spencer, Mary
Hasbrouck, Ollie Buchanan, west side; Prof.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

167

S. F. Smith, Principal Grammar School;
Jennie Stewart, Emma LeCrone, Genevieve
Cook, eapt side building.

The cost of running the schools is annually
about §6.000; teachers' salaries, $3,960; en-
rollment of pupils, 604; average attendance,
450. The buildings are comfortable, but are
of an inferior quality, when compared to
many school buildings of other cities in the
State, of Effingham's size and importance.

Mercy Hospital is a city institution deserv-
ing of mention. It was built about the year
1866, by the St. Anthony's congregation of
Effingham, under the auspices of Bishop
Baltes, of this diocese. Six acres of ground
within the city limits were donated by Mat-
thias Moening. It is under the control of
the Franciscan Sisters of Mercy, and is open
to all classes and denominations. The build-
ing cost $15,000 and stands west of the Illi-
nois Central Railroad. It is one of the best
institutions of the kind in the State. Di-s.
J. N. Groves and L. J. Schefferstein are the
attending physicians.

This brings us to the end of our sketch of
Effingham. Thirty years, laden with sorrows
and joys, bright anticipations and vanished

hopes, have added both age and dignity to
the little city since it was laid out. Many of
the old citizens who were wont to indulge in
pleasant dreams over what the town would
some day be, are quietly sleeping their last
sleep. The boys and girls of those early
times are boys and girls no longer; they have
taken the places of men and women in the
ranks, and are earnestly endeavoring to do
the work laid out for them. The reflections,
however, of what they were in their youthful
days, can be seen in the many bright and
happy faces of the scholdrs who now attend
the public schools Dm'ing these years — al-
most a third or a centm-y — Effingham has
steadily gained in financial strength, and it is
to day one of the solid little cities of South-
ern Illinois. Nature has laid a golden offer-
ing at her feet, but only those found on the
siu'face have as yet been utilized. But some
day in the future she may muster sufficient
courage to investigate the mysteries beneath
her feet, and when once the light of day is
permitted to shine upon them, a trausfoi'ma-
tion of the town may take place, as amazing,
perhaps, as those accomplished by Aladdin
and his wonderful lamp.

CHAPTER XIV.*

SUMMIT TOWN\SHIP— INTROUCTORY AND DESCRIPTIVE— TIMBER, SURFACE FEATURES, ETC.-
SETTLEMENT OF WHITE PEOPLE— THEIR ROUGH LIFE AND HABITS— HUNTING AS A
PASTIME— FIRST SCHOOLS AND PRESENT EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES-
EARLY CHURCHES— PIONEER PREACHERS, ETC.— TOWNS AND
VILLAGES— THE OLD COUNTY SEAT, ETC., ETC.

/~\LD Times! It is a subject that wakes in
^-^ the mind of the aged pioneer a feeling of
enthusiasm for the free, wild life of the fron-
tier, when, like the old soldier, he will sit
down with you by the quiet fireside, or under
the friendly shade tree, and " fight his battles

*By W. H. Perrin.

o'er again," and tell you, of the days when
he went forty miles to mill, riding on a bag
of corn, and had to camp at the mill three or
four days, living on parched corn until his
"turn" came "to grind;" of the good old
days when you could go out in the morning
and kill a turkey or deer for breakfast, and

168

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

when a bushel of corn passed current any-
where for a gallon of whisky. Those were
the good old times that the pioneer will tell
you were better than the present; that all
men were not only " free and equal," but on
the most intimate terms of fi'iendship, and
the word neighbor had something of that
broad and liberal significance given to it by
the Man of Nazareth nineteen hundred years
ago. As he recalls the pioneer simplicity of
the early pei-iod, he will sadly shake his head,
and with a sigh, tell you that the world is
going to the devil as fast as the " unclogged
wheels of time can roll it on." Well, we all
have our hobbies, and " good old times " is
the pioneer's hobby.

Summit Township, the subject matter of
this chapter, lies west of the city of Effing-
ham, and is mostly a fine body of land. It
is pretty well divided between prairie and
woodland, the latter lying contiguous to the
"Wabash River, and the other small water
courses, principally in the eastern part of the
township, while the weateru part is a broad
rolling prairie, and is as fine land " as ever a
crow flew over." Along th-i water courses in
the bottoms were a heavy growth of walnuts,
sugar maple, burr oak, poplar, Cottonwood,
buckeye, hackberry, soft maple, etc., while on
the ridges were to be found in profusion
white oak, pin oak, post oak, red oak and hick-
ory. It is well drained by the Little Wabash
and its numerous tributaries. The W^ abash
flows nearly south through the eastern part,
receiving as a tributary Blue Point Creek.
This latter stream rises in the edge of Moc-
casin Creek Township, and flowing almost
southeast through Summit, mingles its wa-
ters with the Wabash about a mile north of-
the old town of Ewington, and receiving in
its tortuous course several small and name-
less streams. Funkhouser Creek, with its
tributary of Long Branch, are small streams

in the southwestern part of Summit Town-
ship. A number of other little branches and
brooks are laid down on the maps, but they
are too small and insignificant to have names.
They contribute their part, however, toward
the natui-al drainage of the land through
which they flow. Summit originally in-
cluded the present township of Banner
within its limits. It was not until the
June term, 1874, of the Supervisors' Court,
that Banner was set off from Summit.
At present. Summit Township is bounded
on the north by Banner, on the east by
Douglas, on the south by Jackson, on the
west by Moccasin, and, according to the Con-
gressional survey, is Township 8 north and
Range 5 east of the Third Principal Meridi-
an. It is. well adapted to agricultural pur-
poses, and its people are industrious and en-
terprising farmers, and have some of the
best and most productive farms in the coun-
ty. It is well supplied with railroads,
though there are not many shipping points
within its borders. The Vandalia lino and
two branches of the Wabash pass through it,
but only the Vandalia has a station and ship-
ping point.

This township is noted for having con-
tained the first county seat of Effingham —
the town of Ewington. At this place once
centered the business enterprise of all the
surrounding country, and congregated the
beauty, the wealth and intelligence of the
county. Like

"Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts
Anil eloquence, native to famous wits,"

it was the glory of Effingham, the common
center, around which revolved the business,
the intelligence and the moral and social in-
fluences. But, like everything human, it had
its time to die. The removal of the coi^nty
seat sealed its doom, and from that event we
may date its " decline and fall." Its mold-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

169

ering turrets and broken columns, its ruined
palaces and temples, are but another les-
son of the immutable certainty of the de-
cay of all earthly glory. We shall have more
to say of this old town further on in this
chapter, as well as in other portions of this
work.

The settlement of Summit Township dates
back more than half a century. So far as we
can definitely learn, the first whites who
straggled in here came about the year 1830
Those who, it is claimed, settled within the
present limits of Summit in that j'ear, were
Alexander McWhorter, Robert Moore, John
Trapp and the Rentfros. The latter were
from Tennessee, and consisted of T. J. Rent-
fro, Matt, Jesse, John, Joseph and Eli, all
brothers. T. J. and Matt Rentfi-o are still
living in the towasliip, but the others are
long since dead and gone. They brought
with them when they came here a four-horse
team and an ox team, which conveyed all their
worldly wealth to the land of jsromise. They
settled in the Little Wabash bottom, a short
distance north of Ewington, or rather, where
that town was afterward located. Until they
could provide shelter for their families by
the erection of cabins, they occupied a de-
serted Indian camp, which was on what is
since known as the old Reynolds place. This
camp was made of linn puncheons pinned to
the trees with woodea pins, and at the time
it was occupied by the Rentfros, although in
March a heavy snow covered the ground, which
rendered it rather an airy habitation. They
built cabins on the hill above the river bot-
tom at a spring, as the Tennesseans knew
nothing of wells, and would have expected to
die of thirst unless every cabin was supplied
with a never-failing spring. They tapped a
number of sugar trees as soon as locatincr,
and made considerable sugar. Joseph was
appointed the " bread finder." and if he did

not, like his namesake of old, go down into
Egypt for corn, he at least went as far
as Paris on horseback, and brought back
corn or meal in- sacks. During the first
summer the Rentfros lived in the town-
ship, they cleared a small piece of ground
and planted a " patch" of corn, and also of
cotton. The latter, however, did not ma-
ture, but the corn did well. They used to
pound corn in a mottar, and use the finest
for bread and the coarser for hominy.
Often, when pounding meal for breakfast,
they would be answered by wild turkeys, gob-
bling in the woods, so plenty were they in
those days. This was much the experience
of all the early settlers of the county, as well
as this particular section.

Robert Moore was from the South, but it
is not known whether from Kentucky or Ten-
nessee. He was careful and prudent in his
dealings, and accumulated considerable prop-
erty — mostly land. Judge Gillenwaters has
now in his possession a grindstone that was
brought to this county in 1830 by Mr.
Moore. He died many yeai's ago, and his
widow married a man who spent her money
as rapidly as Mr. Moore had made it. John
Trapp was from Tennessee, and belonged to
the first importation of settlers. He was the
second Sheriff of the county, and finally lo-
cated in Effingham, where he died. Alex-
ander McWhorter, who completes the list of
those settling in the township in 1830, was
from Tennessee, and came here a young man.
Soon after coming, however, he married a
Miss Loy.

The next year, 1831, added a few more
families to the little settlement. Amonc
these were the Loys, William J. Hankins,
John Galloway, William Clark, Gilbert, who
was a liquor dealer and tavern keeper, Sey-
mour Powell, the Reeds, Shorts, etc., etc.
The LovB were from Alabama, and afterward

170

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

moved into what now forms Watson Town-
ship, where many descendants still reside.
Hankins came from Tennessee and settled
first in Fayette County, but in that portion
which was cut off into Effingham at the time
of its formation. He had a large family,
many of whom still live in Summit Township,
but he himself is long since dead. Mr.
Hankins worked on the. old National road
and built the bridge where it crossed the
Little Wabash in this township. He is more
fully noticed, however, in a preceding chap-
ter of this work- John Galloway was a noted
fiddler, and we may add that, like the ma-
jority of this class of individuals, he was
good for but little else. He did not remain
long, but, with his fiddle under his arm, he
started, like Ole Bull, for a " farewell tour"
of the country, and was never more heard of.
"William Clark came fi'om the South and
lived in the township until his death, which
occurred long ago. Gilbert kept a saloon or
grocery, as they were then called, the first
shop of that kind perhaps in the township.
He was an Eastern man and quite a noted
character in his way. One day he borrowed
a horse from Judge Gilleawaters to ride to a
certain place, and on his return asked Mr.
Gillenwaters what he charged him for the
horse, to which he replied in true Southern
style and with pioneer liberality that he
loaned him the horse and did not charge him
anything. But true to his New England in-
stincts, he insisted upon paying for the use
of the hcrse, while Gillenwaters as steadily
refused to accept pay, and in the end he had
his way about it.

The Reeds and Shorts did not remain long
in the township, but, like little Joe, "moved
on. " Seymour Powell came from Tennessee.
A son. Wash Powell, still represents thiis old
pioneer in Summit Township.

The following additional settlers moved in

prior to 1835; Joe Gillespie, Samuel Parks,
John C. Spriggs, Thomas J. Gillenwaters,
Dr. John Gillenwaters, William H. Blakely,
Byron Whitfield, Michael Beem, Samuel
White and others. Gillespie Was from Ala-
bama, and was the first County Clerk of
Effingham County. Samuel Parks was from
Tennessee and settled here in 1834. He was
one of Effingham's first County Judges.
Spriggs was the first Circuit Clerk, but after-
ward moved to Springfield. Judge Gillen-
waters came from Tennessee in 1833, and is
now a resident of Effingham, and is well
known throughout the county. He settled
on the old Cumberland road near Ewington,
vyhere he kej^t tavern many years. Dr. Gil-
lenwaters was also from Tennessee, and was
a p)hysician, the first perhaps in Summit
Township, or in the county. He came here
before there were enou h people in the sur-
rounding country to support a doctor, and so
he had to turn his attention to other pursuits
to make a living, and became the first peda-
gogue in the neighborhood, as well as the
first physician. He has been dead many
years. Death is no respector of persons, but
takes the physician as well as his patient,
and " six feet of earth make us all one size. "
William H. Blakely came from New York, and
is said to have been a man of more than or-
dinary intelligence. He was the exact oppo-
site of much of the larger portion of the pio-
neers who had preceded him, and was very
precise and methodical in his habits and
business transactions. The county sent him
to the Legislature and also elected him to
the Constitutional Convention. He kept the
first store in Summit Townshiji, and has been
dead for a number of years, but his widow
still lives on the homestead just west of
Ewington. Judge Gillenwaters says the
first cooking stove he ever saw was brought
here by Mr. Blakely, and so great a cm'iosity

^'J . (9uuAl eyf((>JJ ^^f^-^O^ cJ;f^^

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

173

was it that people came for miles and miles
to see it. Whitfield was an early settler near
Ewiagt(5n, where he carried on a store, which
was owned, however, by a man named Lynn.
Samuel White was a pioneer school teacher,
and taught the second school in the town-
ship. Michael Beem came from Ohio. He
lived here some twenty-five years, then moved
to the north part of the county, and now lives
in the city of Effingham.

This brings the settlement down to 1835,
a period when people were pouring into the
county so rapidly that it is impossible to keep
up with them. The rich lands attracted the
farmer and agriculturist, the profusion of
game brought the hunter, while the law, or
rather the absence of pretty muah all law,
rendered it for a time a kind of safe resting
place for those fleeing from justice. The
latter class, however, did not remain long in
the community, but left it for its good. As the
better elements of society prevailed, the rough
class were forced ^o flee farther West. Thus
the hard characters are kept upon the verge
of civilization. Fifty years ago, when the
first settlers came to the countj' of Effingham,
it was not the civilized land that it is now.
There were no railroads, no productive farms,
no pleasant homes, no churches, no school -
houses, with their refining influences, bat on
every hand an almost impenetrable wilder-
ness, in which wild and savjige beasts roamed
at will and disputed the white man's right to
the country. The rod sons of the forest still
lingered in numbers loath to give up their
rich hunting-grounds, and, though compara-
tively friendly toward the whites, were scarce-
ly to be fully trusted. With all these obsta-
cles to be surmounted, and the numerous
difficulties suiTouuding them to be overcome,
it seems needless to say that the first years of
occupation by the whites were years of toil,
privation and self-denial. When they left

their homes beyond the Ohio, they left com-
fort and civilization behind them — bade fare-
well to ease aud luxury and entered upon a
life of hardship^ that must at the least last
for a number of years. Their first years here
was a struggle for existence — a fight with
beasts, reptiles and insects, and verily, the
latter were not the least dreaded foe. None,
whose recollection extends back forty or fifty
years, but i-emember the green-head flies,
those little monsters that rendered stock fran-
tic, and prevented the farmer from plowing
a large portion of the day because his horses
became unmanageable under the tormenting
power of the flies. Other troubles and an-
noyances beset their paths and met them at
every turn. To procure the necessaries of
life often taxed their utmost capacity. The
forest furnished an abundance of game, but
meat without bread or salt, while it may sat-
isfy hunger, is far from palatable. Bread-
stuff was scarce and not easily obtained.
Many went to the " Big Prairie, " as it was
termed, beyond Paris, for corn, which was
then pounded in a mortar, for there were no
mills near by. Clothing was another tax
upon the settler's ingenuity. Much of that
worn by the men were made of the skins of
wild animals, while that of women was man-
ufactured at home, from cotton and flax raised
by their own hands. Everything else was
in keeping and was as primitive in style as
the food and clothing. But with passing
years, improvement came in every degree of
life and in every line of industry. The
country has grown wealthy and productive,
the wilderness has " rejoiced and blossomed
as the rose," and the people are civilized, re-
fined, intelligent and happy.

The first birth, death and marriage are al-
ways matters of considerable importance in
a new settlement. They cannot, however,
always be given with certainty. The first

174

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

birth in Summit Township is lost in the
mists of obscurity, but that there was not
only a first one, but that it was followed by
many others, is indicated by the present
population. The first marriage is supposed
to have been Alexander McWhorter and a
Miss Loy. He came to the township, a
young man, in 1830, the year the first settle-
ments were made, and, in 1836, married Miss
Loy, as above noted, and no one remembers
an earlier marriage. The angel of death
came first to old " Grandaddy " Hankins, the
father of William Hankins. He was an old
man when he came to the settlement, totter-
ing on the brink of the grave, and survived
the rigors of the climate but a short time.
He was the first one buried in the graveyard
at Ewington, since the resting-place of many
of the pioneers. Most of the first settlers
have followed him to the land of dreams, and
the few that are left, stand among their fel-
lows " like the scattered stalks that remain in
the field when the tempest has passed over
it."

The old National road, or old " Cumber-
land " road, as better known, passed through
the southern part of this towns\iip, near
where the Vandalia Kailroad now runs.
Along this old National road the first busi-
ness enterprises were begun. On this road
the first taverns were kept, the first goods
nold and the first shops established. A man
named Reed, mentioned among the early uet-
tlers, kept the first tavern. At least it was
as near approach to a tavern as the keeping
of a few boarders could be. From keeping
boarders, he got to taking in the wayfaring
man and travelers generally, and finally his
place was called a tavern. Judge Gilleu-
waters kept a tavern on this old National
thoroughfare, a little west of Ewington, from
the time of his settlement there in 1833 until
his removal to Effingham. Charles Kinzie

kept a tavern later in the town of Ewington.
He was, as will be seen by a sketch on an-
other page, a man of eccentricities and pecu-
liarities. The first goods sold in the town-
ship were sold here by William H. Blakely,
who opened a store soon after his settlement.
A man named Fisher is believed to have been
the first blacksmith, or among the first. He
was not much of a workman, but sufficient
for that day. Henry Bailey " tinkered a
little at smithing," about the same time.
Other industries sprang up, and then Ewing-
ton was laid out and business was then con-
centrated in the town instead of being scat-
tered for miles along the National road.

Mills were a necessity that was not sup-
plied for several years after the first settle-
ments were made. Says Mr. Rentfro: " The
corn was pounded in wooden mortars, or in a
stump which had been scooped out for the
purpose. A pole was attached to this, wliich
worked something after the fashion of a well-
swoep." They would rise in the morning
and make meal by this " patent process " for
bi'eakfast. In a few years a horse-mill was
built on the Okaw, thirty -five miles distant.
To this mill Mr. Rentfro says the people
used to go from this neighborhood to get corn
ground, and sometimes had to remain four
or five days, sleeping in the mill at night and
living on jiarched corn. The journey to mill
was made by ox team across the prairies and
on horseback. It often looked like a camp-
meeting at the mill, with so many people en
camped about it. The first mill built in
Summit Township was a saw-mill, about
1832-33, and stood near Ewington. It is
not Icnown now who biiilt it, but it was being
run by a man named Mcintosh when Judge
Gillenwaters came. Reed built a horse-mill
in Ewington, the tirst grist mill, a few years
later. There were never any mills of much
note, except saw-mills, in the township, and

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

175

the people had to go elsewhere for their mill-
ing. A niimbor of good saw-mills and
several steam saw-mills have flourished at
different periods.

The first road laid out through Summit
Township was from Ewington to the county
line in the direction of Witherspoon's Mill,
in Shelby County. The next was a road run-
ning from Fairfield to Shelbyville, via
Ewington. The old Cumberland or National
road passed through the township, and was
a great thoroughfare in its time. A full his-
tory of it is given elsewhere in this volume.
The first bridge was built over the Little
Wabash when this road crossed it. It was a
poor affair, and was soon washed away.
Another bridge was built about 1838-40 and
was a toll-bridge. That is, all living outside
of the county had to pay toll for crossing on
it. In 1847, it was made free by act of the
Legislature, to take effect ten years later.
This bridge was washed away about the year
1872-73, and has never been rebuilt. • A
good bridge spans the Wabash some two
miles north of where this one was washed
away, and is used extensively during high
water. The first mail which came to the
citizens of Summit was a weekly mail over
the National road from Terro Haute to St.
Louis. Another mail was soon established
from Fairfield to Shelbyville. which passed
through Ewington.

The name of " Summit " was bestowed on
the township at the time of township organi-
zation, on account of the elevated nature of
the larger portion of the land within its
limits, and because in reruin natura, every-
thing must have a name, and " Summit " ap-
peared to the " Committee on Internal Rela-
tions " as well adapted to this township as
any name in their vocabulary.
GThe settlers of Summit Township gave their
attention early to education. The first school

was taught by Dr. John Gillenwaters. He
came to the country a full-fledged phy-
sician, for the purpose of practicing his pro-
fession, but there was nobody for him to ex-
periment on, owing to the sparsely settled
country, so he taught the few children within
reach. He was a good scholar, and Judge
Gillenwaters told him to go ahead and teach,
and he would see that he was paid for his
services. The schools were all supported by
subscription until 1838, when we find on the
township records the following edict:

The reaitlentsof this township shall each piiy the
Slim of two dollars per quarter for each scholar they
send to school, and non-residents shall pay the sum
of two dollars and fifty cents per quarter for eacli
scholar they may send.

T. J. Gillenwaters, President of the Board of
Trustees, August 17, 1838.

Thus education in the township in a small
way commenced, and has grown gradually to
its present excellent and high standard.

Dr. Gillenwaters taught until his medical
practice justified him in devoting his whole
time to it. Samuel White was the next teacher
after him. Mr. White taught two terms in a
part of Judge Gillenwater's house, before the
neighborhood had become sufficiently strong
and able to build a schoolhouse. As the set-
tlements increased in population and the
township in wealth and prosperity, educa-
tional facilities expanded to suit the wants
of the times, until at the present day we find
a numbHr of good comfortable schoolhouses
dotting the township at intervals, and of ca-
pacity to satisfy the wants of the youth of
the respective neighborhoods. The houses
and districts support excellent schools bj^ com-
petent teachers for the usual period each year.

Church history, like the educational his-
tory of the township, dates back prior to the
building of churches. The first preacher in
the settlement was an old wheel-horse of the
Methodist Church, whose name is forgotten

176

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

He was succeeded by a rather young man
named Chamberlain, who worked zealously
in his Master's cause and preached " in sea-
son and out of season " for the purpose of
building up the cause of religion in the wil-
derness. Hia appointment to this frontier
field came about in this wise: The old
preacher first mentioned left the circuit be-
fore his year was out, and some time after a
man stopped at Gillenwaters' tavern who
bore a kind of ministerial appearance, but,
like many of his kind, was somewhat reti-
cent in his manner. Gillenwaters finally
asked him if he was not a preacher on his
way to conference, and after a moment of
hesitation the man acknowledged that he was
the Presiding Elder of the district. Gillen-
waters then asked him to send them a preach-
er, for they needed one badly. He promised
to do all he could for them. The result was
that Chamberlain was sent. His circuit ex-
tended as far north as Paris and to Shelby-
ville, and east to Greenup, and equally as
far in other directions. The first society was
organized by Rev. Chamberlain at the resi-
dence of Judge Gillenwaters. His house
was used as a preaching place for four or five
years, when the society moved to the court
house in Ewington. Afterward a camp
ground was occupied for a number of years
norih of the present city of Effingham. After
Chamberlain, an old-time Methodist prerxher
named Blondell was on the circuit for a time,
but he has been dead for years.

The first church edifice built in the town-
ship, perhaps, was a log structure in the
north part, on Section 2, and was free to all
denominations; likewise was used for school
purposes. It was a log building and erected
in 1852. It was long used for school and
church pm-poses, then sold and moved away
and converted into a bai-n. In the mean-
time, Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church

had been organized, and after the old log
church had been sold and moved away, they
set about the erection of a new church. This
was accomplished in 18(59, at a cost of SG44
in money, and donations in material and la-
bor sufficient to increase the cost to about
$1,000. The membership is about sixty, and
the present pastor is Rev. H. K. Jones. An
interesting Sunday school is maintained.

Good Hope Methodist Episcopal Church
was built in the fall of 1868, and cost some
$600. The church grew out of a Sunday
school which was organized the previous
spring by Mrs. Capt. Hyden under an ajiple
tree at her home. The Sunday school was
held there for a few times, and then moved
to a sehoolhonse near by, where it thrived so
well that it was resolved to build a church.
This resolution led to the organization of a
church society and the building of Good
Hope Church. It was a frame building and
was burned about the year 1871. The next
year another house was built upon the same
spot, also a frame, and costing about $600.
It, too, was burned in 1875 or 1876. Both
it and its predecessor were supposed to have
been fired by an incendiary. When the last
one was bu.rned the society had about ceased
to exist. No regular preaching was had and
no Sunday school. A man was going to
move into it, and thus convert it into a resi-
dence. The night before this sacrilege was
to be committed, the church burned down
and to this time it has not been rebuilt.

Blue Point Bajstist Church was built in
1872. The land on which it stands was
deeded to the Trustees by P. C. and S. F.
Hankins for church purposes. The chiu'ch
was organized several years before the house
was built, in a schoolhouse which stood about
a quarter of a mile from the church. It is a
frame building, and cost, in money and work,
perhaps $1,200. Elder T. M. Griffith is the

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

177

present pastor of the church, and the mem-
bership is about seventy-five or eighty, many
having died and others moved away. The
Sunday school is kept up all the year.

Dowell Methodist Episcopal Church South
was built about 1874-75, and is a frame
structure. A. B. Dowell was instrumental in
its organization and erection, and hence it
has always been known as the " Dowell
Church." The land upon which it stands
was deeded to the church by William Blakely
for that purpose. The cost of the building
was about $000 in money, while nearly as
much more was contributed in work. There
are now no regular church services or Sunday
school. The Rev. Mr. Jones preaches occa-
sionally to the congregation.

Villages. — More than one village has been
laid out in Summit Township since its settle-
ment by white people, but all, except one,
have disappeared, leaving little trace to show
us where or when or how they went. Upon
their ruins the word " Ichabod " is written,
and tells to the passing traveler their story
in brief.

Ewington, the original county seat of
E£Bngham County, was situated on Section
35 of this township, and was laid out on the
land donated to the county by Joseph and
James Duncan for public buildings. It was
surveyed and platted September 5, 1835, by
William J. Uankins, County Surveyor, and
was named for Gen. W. L. D. Ewing, one of
the tii'st lawyers who practiced in this county.

The first house erected in Ewington was a
little like Bradsby's first birth in the county:
it was several — log cabins or shanties — which
had been put up by the hands engaged in
building the National road. This cluster of
cabins, perhajjs, led to the town being located
upon that particular spot. A store was
opened as soon as the town was laid out, by
William H. Blakely, and who, it is contended

by some, had the first store in the county.
He had opened a store a little farther west,
near the present village of Funkhouser, and
when Ewington was laid out and become the
seat of justice of the county, he moved his
store to the new town. He carried on busi-
ness here for a number of years. The next
stores were kept by Judge Parks and Judge
Gillenwaters. After them came Lynn, who
opened the largest stock of goods yet brought
to the town. He did not live in Ewington
himself, the store being operated by Mr.
Whitfield. Other stores followed as they
were needed, and Ewington became quite a
business town.

A tavern was opened by Eli Cook, the first
in the village, and was really kept as such
before the town was laid out. The next was
kept, perhaps, by Samuel Fleming, well
known as a pioneer tavern-keej)er of the
county, and whose widow now owns the
Fleming House of Effingham. One of the
popular hotels of Ewington was kept by
Charles Kinzoy, but he came upon the scene
at a later date.

Kinzey, who was a remarkable character,
deserves more than a casual mention in the
history of Ewington. He came to the county
some time before work was commenced on the
Hiinoig Central Eailroad, in 1852. He was
from the city, was city born and city bred,
and brought with him all the airs of city life.
He was arrayed in "purple and fine linen and
fared sumj^tuously every day," or, in other
words, wsre good clothes, a plug hat, patent
leather boots and had the appearance gener-
ally of having just dropped out of a band-
box. He was of medium heiglit, had a com-
manding form, drove fast horses and the
finest " rigs " hitherto seen in the county,
and prided himself iipon all these good
things and enjoying them as only one can do
who has been brought up with them. He

178

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

opened a hotel in Bwington when it was in
the zenith of its glory. It was marvelous in
its metropolitan character, and it was as ele-
gant and sumptuous as Kinzey was in his
dress and habits. His first wife was an ele-
gant and handsome English woman, and, ac-
cording to all reports and traditions, some-
what of a shrew. When Charley, as he wa^
familiarly called, took his lordly sprees, she
would follow him and beard the lion in his
den, and in the saloon, gambling room, or
wherever she happened to light upon him,
she collared him and trotted him home, as a
mother would do a truant child caught in
some petty mischief. Sometimes she stepped
in on him unceremoniously, with a long car
riage whip in her hand, an instrument she
could handle with groat dexterity, as he knew
to his cost, and with this she would larrup
him all the way home, or, after getting him
home, would lock him in a room, strip him to
his shirt, then give him what Paddy did the
drum, the devil, until he cried for quarter, or
buried himself in the bed clothes.

He was passionately fond of horse-racing,
and, indeed, of all kinds of gambling. Often
he would get a few sports and kindred spirits
in a room of his tavern, and play " draw " as
long as he was successful. But no sooner
did luck turn against him than by some in-
tuition his wife stepped in, and, with the
long carriage whip, sent him howling from
the room like a whipped cur. Such incidents
led to the insinuation that his wife had a
" peeping place," and as long as " Charley"
scooped in the ducats, she suffered the game
to go on; but no sooner did fortune frown
upon him than she summarily blocked the
game as above described, and sent him smart-
ing to bed.

Kinzey, as we have said, was smart, well-
bred, naturally a "city man," and nothing
was more incongruous than his appearance

here, in what was then the most intense back-
woods community to be found. The people
could not understand him, and he looked
down upon them with the most unbounded
contempt. He was extremely fond of prac-
tical joking, and in this it was a game of
"give and take." The following is an illus-
tration: A man with whom he was at bitter
enmity called him up once at midnight on a
very cold night, and made a long apology for
asking his enemy for a favor, but was com-
pelled to do BO, assuring him that he was a
man of too much sense uot to understand the
needs of the case. Kinzey eagerly inquired
what h6 wanted, and when the fellow could
no longer delay, he answered: "I'm a candi-
date for Constable; have to have it; it's a
ground-hog case, and now if you will only
aoree to vote against me it will elect mo cer-
tain siure." Kinzey enjoyed this joke im-
mensely, and good-naturedly asked the fel-
low who sent him and who made up the joke
for him. So cunningly and skillfully did he
work upon him that the fellow confessed the
boys of the village had concocted the joke,
and he had only carried out instructions.

The young folks of Ewington one daj' took
advantage of the first snow to have a sleigh
ride, and numberless sleighs of all kinds
were out enjoying the sport. Kinzey was
full as a tick, as the saying goes, and hitched
up his splendid trotters, putting every bell,
cow-bell, dinner-bell, etc., he could raise on
them, until he had a dozen or two of differ-
ent sizes and tones. He then hitched his team
to an old dry cow-skin, with the hairy side
down. On this he squatted, Indian fashion,
and dashed into the streets under whip. In
five minutes he had run off every horse and
sleigh that was out; some of the horses were
so frightened that they tore everything to
pieces tumbling the young folks out into the
snow drifts. Here and there and everywhere

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

179

went Kinzey, sometimes sitting flat on the
cow-skin, sometimes dragging on the ground,
then bouncing back on the skin and whoop-
ing and yelling, pell-mell through the town,
until the " storm was spent through the force
of its own fury."

His hotel was finally burned, and, having
a great many enemies, the fact of its de-
struction gave rise to stories rather detri-
mental to his honor and credit in the com-
munity, but what grounds there were for the
reports is not known.

In company with Sam Winters, Kinzey
took a company of about 400 men to the
army. He went to St. Louis with them,
where he made strong efforts to get them into
different Missouri regiments. After many
failures and disappointments, he left St.
Louis, and under promises of Illinois
Colonels, went to Springfield, whei'e he was ar-
rested and kept in prison for months. He
was finally released at St. Louis, where he
fell into the hands of Frank Blair, with
whom he went to W^ashington City. Blair
had him appointed Lieutenant in the regu-
lar army, secured his liack pay, amounting to
some $5,000, together with an order for him
to go and take his men wherever he might
find t' em, and fill up his regiment, if ho
could, for the regulai- service. Here we will
leave him, and retornous a nos moutons, or,
as we might say in English, return to other
mutton-heads of Ewintrton.

The first "grocery" — what we call in this en-
lightened day, "saloon," "gin-mill," "whisky
shop," "groggery," etc., was kept by one
Charles Gilkey. It is told of him that in order
to make a barrel of whisky last as long as pos
sible, he would keep filling it up with water
and putting in a little tobacco to color it.
This plan might be followed now, not only
with success, but with beneficial results, as
tobacco is said to be an antidote for some of
the strongest poison.

A post ofiSee was established about the
year 1835, and William J. Hankins was ap-
pointed Postmaster. Hankins at one time
held all the offices in the county, and, like
Alexander the Great, he wept that there were
no more offices for him to hold. He was a
Justice of tho Peace, Surveyor, Postmaster,
Clerk of the Court, and held a number of
other offices " too tedious to mention." Judge
Gillenwaters says he was a great hunter, and
when meat run short in the neighborhood,
Hankins would mount his old "sway-backed"
sorrel horse, take his old fliut-lock rifle on
his shoulder, and, starting out at daylight,
would usually return in a few hom-s with
two or throo deer, or as many turkeys as his
old horse could carry.

The first school in Ewington has already
been described under the schools of the town-
ship. It was taught in a room of a private
residence. Some years later, a schoolhouse
was built in connection with the Masonic
fraternity, the upper story being used by the
Masons as a lodge room, and the lower story
as a schoolhouse. The Masonic Lodge was
organized in l854, mainly through the in-
strumentality of Dr. James M. Long, who
was the first master. It was organized as
Ewington Lodge, U. D., but was chartered
as Ewington Lodge, No. 149. After the re-
moval of the county seat, together with most
of the town, the lodge was also moved to
Effingham, where it still flourishes and is
more fully mentioned.

The history of Ewington's manufaetm'ing
interests is brief and soon told. They con-
sisted of a horse-mill and acarding-machine,
the latter run by Anthony Rhodes. These,
with a few blacksmith, wagon and other
shops constituted, outside of its mercantile
trade, its entire business industries. As a
flourishing trade center, though, equal, per-
haps, to a majority of towns of its size at
that day, it amounted to but little.

180

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Ewington was incorporated as a village
under the law, and, on the 10th of April,
1855, the first Board of Trustees was elected
as follows: D. S. Mitchell, H. H. Wric^rht, A.
G. Hughes, W. T. N. Fisher and Josephus
Scoles. The following iron-clad oath was
administered to the Trustees by Thomas Loy,
Clerk of the Court, before they were allowed
to take upon themselves the dignity of the
"city fathers." " I " (here follows the names of
each) " do hereby solemnly swear that I will
support the constitution of the United States
and of this State, and that I will discharge
the duties of trustees of incorporation of the
town of Ewington tn the best of my ability,
and further swear, that I have not fought a
duel, nor sent a challenge to figb t a duel, the
probable result of which might have been the
death of either party, nor in any manner aid-
ed or assisted in such dael, nor have been
knowingly the beai'er of such challenge or
assistance since the adoption of the constitu-
tion, and that I will not so engage or concern
myself directly or indirectly in or about any
such duel dui'ing my continuance in office. So
help me God." This good wholesome docu-
ment was subscribed and sworn to by the
Trustees before Loy, the Clerk. The board
organized by electing D. S. Mitchell, Presi-
dent, and B. F. Kagay, Clerk. At the first
meeting of the board, W. T. Myers was
elected Assessor; Thomas M. Loy, Treasurer,
and J. H. T. Lacy, Constable.

The Trustees met quite regiilarly for most
of the first year, but after that appeared to
become rather lukewarm and met less punct-
ually, and finally met at rare intervals. On
the 7th of February, 1857. some three years
before the removal of the county seat, they
mot for the last time. The principal busi-
ness transacted at this last meeting was the
imposing of a fine of $1 on Mr. Coopei',
President, for non-attendance upon the meet-

ings of the board. The last Board of Trust-
ees were William B. Cooper, President; A.
G. Hughes, W. J. Sparks and Samuel Moffitt.
They still remain in ofiice. Cooper to this
day holds the office of President of the board,
an office which Brad says he discharges with
maiked ability.

Ewington, although the capital of the
county from the time of its organization up
to the removal of the county seat in 1859,
more than a quarter of a century, yet it at
no time had over two hundred inhabitants,
according to the United States census, dur-
ing its existence as a town, and, upon the
removal of the seat of justice to Effingham,
it be;:^an rapidly to decline, From this pe-
riod dates its waning prosperity. The popu-
lation followed the capital to its new location,
and the spot that knew the old town now
knows it no more. Like ancient Rome, the
" spider weaves its web in her palaces, the
owl sings his watch-song in her towers."
Troja fuit ! The old coiirt house was still re-
tain ed in the service of the county, and con-
verted into a poor-house, in which capacity it
served until the county purchased a poor-
farm a year or two ago. The establishment
was then moved to the new purchase, and the
old temple of justice, with a few dilapidated
buildings, marks the spot where once stood
the town. Its fate is described by Bryant:

"Foundations of old cities and long streets
Where never fall of hunaan foot is beard
Upon tlie desolate pavement."

The village of Granville is claimed by
some to have been in Summit Township,
while others locate it in Jackson. From re-
cent investigation the latter is probably more
correct, but as it has wholly disappeared, even
from the maps, it is no easy matter to point
out its site, and doubtless the precise spot is of
but little interest to our readers. In Jackson
Township we will allude further to its history.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

181

The villageof Funkhouser was surveyed and
laid out September 20, 1869, by C. A. Van
Allen for John J. and William L. Funkhous-
er, on a part of the southeast quarter of Sec-
tion 34 of Summit Township. Wilson Funk-
houser had a store here, and at one time
bought grain extensively. He kept the post
office, which had been established, or

moved from some other place. John
Funkhouser handled grain here for sev-
eral years, and built a grain warehouse.
But lately, the business has been moved
to other points along the railroad, and
at present there are but some halt a
dozen houses remaining to point out the
place.

CHAPTER XV.*

MOUND TOWNSHll' — INTRODUCTION, DESCRIPTION AND TOPOGRAPHY — SETTLEMENT OF THE

TOWNSHIP— PIONEER LIFE— CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS— BLUE MOUND— THE VILLAGE

OF ALTAAIONT— ITS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT — GRAIN BUSINESS

AND MANUFACTORIES— SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETC., ETC.

"From the weather-worn liouse on the brow of the
hill
We are dwelling afar, in our manhood to-day;
But we see the old gables and hollyhocks still.

As they looked when we left them to wander away.
But the dear ones we loved in the sweet long ago,
In the old village churehyard sleep under the snow."

— Etigene Hall.

THE past, with all,its momentous changes,
has ever been regarded as important and
richly deserving of record. Long before let-
ters were invented, legendary tales and tra-
ditions were employed to perpetuate impor-
tant events and transmit the same to succeed-
ing generations. Hieroglyphics were after-
ward used for the same purpose. But all
these forms of memorial have long since given
place to the pen and the type among civilized
nations. The introduction of modern alpha-
bets made writing less difficult, and the in-
vention of the art of printing aiforded facili-
ties for publishing books before unknown.
The thirst for knowledge produced by the
press and Reformation, and, the growing
taste for history created by the latter brought
out a host of historians, rendered their works
voluminous, and scattered them broadcast over

»By W. H. Perrin.

the world. Many of them, read in the light of
civilization, have all the fascinations of a ro-
mance, which increases in interest as time rolls
on. The papyrus roll of ancient Egypt, con-
taining mysterious records of the Dark Ages,
and the ponderous folios of Confucius, that
antedate tradition itself, were not more val-
uable to the sages and philosophers of old
than the printed page of the nineteenth cent-
ury is to the scholarly and enlightened in-
dividual of the present. And of all histor-
ical records there are none more interesting
and valuable than local annals. Ux^on the
pages of this volume we shall endeavor to
preserve some of the reminiscences of early
days in this section, and in this chapter re-
cord the history of this division of the county.
Mound Township lies in the western part of
Effingham County, and is perhaps one of the
richest and best in it. The surface is gen-
erally level, or rolling, with slight iuclina-
tion to hills along the water-courses. It is
mostly prairie and is a very line farming re-
gion. Big Creek flows through the town-
ship east and west, a little south of Alta-
mont, having its source in the west part,
passing into Jackson Township through Sec-

182

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

tion 25. Coon Creek rises a little north of
Altamont, and flows southeast, uniting with
Big Creek in Jackson ; Second Creek rises in
Section 4, near the north line of the township,
and flows southeast, passing out of the town-
ship and emptying into the Little Wabash.
There are a few other small and nameless
streams, which, witli those mentioned, aiford
ample means of drainage. The timber, which
lies mostly along the water -courses, is similar
to that described in other chapters. Mound is
bounded north by Moccasin Township, east
by Jackson, south by West and west by Fay-
ette County; it is Township 7 north, in Range
4 east. The Vandalia line, the Springfield
Division of the Ohio & Mississippi and the
Wabash Railroads intersect it, thus affording
transporation to all points of importance.

The settlement of Mound Township is com-
pratively modern, owing to the fact that most
of the land is prairie, which was uninhabitable
until the cultivation of adjacent portions of
the country led to its drainage. While the
settlements were not so far back as those
made on the Wabash, yet it is somewhat diffi-
cult to get the first settlers' names with cer-
tainty. They are mostly gone, and later im-
portations know little concerning them. One
of the first families probably was that of
Moore, who settled in the east part of the
township. The name of the elder Moore is
not remembered. He had two sons, viz.,
Delevan and Delancy, who were quite promi-
nent citizens, though of a rough character.
They were great politicians and took an ac-
tive interest in all questions requiring a settle-
ment by the ballot, their zeal sometimes ren-
dering them aggressive. At the commence-
ment of the war, they took ground against
its prosecution in their usual vigorous style,
which led them into ditfioulties. One of
them finally enlisted and went to the front,
and came back a stronger Republican, if pos-

sible, than he was a Democrat before. The
old man has been dead many years, and the
sons moved to Missouri some fifteen years
ago. This family of Moores, however, were
not related to the Moores that settled about
Blue Mound. Of the latter there were five
brothers, viz., Albert S., Levi R., Charles
S., W. H. and Samuel, three of whom, Al-
bert, W. H. and Samuel, are now among the
business men of Effingham.

Johu C. Deffenbaugh was also a very early
settler. He entered land in the east part of
the township, where he lived a few years,
and then removed to Freeman ton and engaged
in business. He was a prominent and high-
ly respected citizen, and at one time sold
more goods than any merchant in the county.
He is still living. William Ashton was here
among the first. He was an Englishman,
but came here from Ohio, settling in the
northeastern portion of the township. He
is still living, and is one of the wealthy men
of the county. James Grant came from
Ohio and settled in the western part of the
township, and is still one of the prosperous
farmers. Peter Coleman and Daniel Conner
were also from Ohio. Coleman settled in the
eastern part of the township, and is long
dead. Conner settled in the southeastern
part, and is still living on the place vrhere
he settled.

From Pennsylvania came John Armstrong.
He settled here about 1S37-3S, and is still
living on the place of his original settlement.
Alfred Newman settled in the southeast part
of the township, and is living. James Wood-
ruff settled in the east part — the place now
owned by the Smith family. He was a
public-spirited man, and now lives near
Shumway. Nelson Wallace settled in the
east part. He has a fine orchard, and is one
of the largest fi-uit-growers in the county.
Peter Poorman came from Ohio, where Buck-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

183

eye statesmen spring up spontaneously, and
settled north of Blue Mound, where he still
lives.

One of the most brilliant men ever in the
township was James Stevenson. He came
from Virginia, aud was a man of tine intel-
lect and a finished education. A good con-
versationalist, he was at home upon any sub-
ject, and was able to entertain the most high-
ly educated and select company. But he
was as shiftless as brilliant, moving about
from place to place, and accomplishing
nothing more than a mere living. He died
some five years ago. A character wholly op-
posite to Stevenson was George Ingraham.
He settled near Altamont, where he lived un-
til recently, when he moved into Jackson
Township. He was rather ignorant, but was
elected Justice of the Peace, an office he was
unable to fill on account of being unable to
read or vnrite. He enjoyed the honor, how-
ever, and was as highly elated at his success
and popularity as the modern statesman is
of his election to Congress. This completes
the list of the early settlement of Mound
Township so far as we could obtain facts.

The modern data of the settlement in this
township gave its pioneers a much better op-
portunity of starting in their now homes
than was enjoyed by those who came twenty
years earlier, when the entire country was an
unbroken wilderness. The fii-st settlers en-
countered all the dangers and hardships
known to the frontier. Those who settled in
Mound found many improvements that were
unknown to the first settlers of the county.
Civilization had advanced, the ease of living
had improved, and the facilities for cultivat-
ing the soil had kept pace with both. It
was no longer a struggle with hardship and
danger to eke out a precarious existence, but
the rich lands brought forth the most bounti-
ful forests. The trackless forests, the un-

bridged streams, the pangs of hunger, and
the days and nights of struggle and fear, were
rajndly becoming things of the past, and a
better day dawning. Their paths, however,
were not strewn with roses, nor their lives
made up of sunshine, but many trials and
troubles met them on every hand. These
they met with strong hearts and brave right
arms, and the land " where nothing dwelt
but boasts of prey" soon became, under their
might and perseverance, a region but little
surpassed by " the rose gardens of the gods. "

The township of Mound contains little his-
tory outside of its settlement, and outside of
the town of Altamont. Two Lutheran
Churches are situated in the township. The
Hilleman Church stands one mile southwest
of the town. The first church was a log
building, erected about 18G2, which served
until the present frame building was put up,
in 1875, at a cost of -$2,500. It is a large
church, and in a good, healthy condition.

Bethlehem Lutheran Church is located in
the southern part of the township, in a large
German settlement. The church was organ-
ized prior to 18G0. as soon as there were
enough families to support it. A building
was erected in 1860, which served the con-
gi-egation until 1868, when the present ele-
gant chm-ch was built. It is said to be the
finest and best country church in Effingham
County, and cost some $8,000. The numeri-
cal strength of the church is between 500 aud
600 communicants. A town plat was made
around the church in 1868, and the ground
sui'voyed into lots. A store was ojaened and
a post office established, but these have both
been discontinued, and there are at present
no buildings here except the chiu-ch.

The schools of the township are of as high
a character as those in any part of the coun-
ty. Every neighborhood has a comfortable
schoolhouse, and in every schoolhouse good

184

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

schoolB are taught each year, by competent
teach ers.

The uame of Mound Township was bestowed
upon it in consequence of what is known as
the neighborhood of Blue Mound, a slight
elevation of Section S, which is nearly all a
kind of mound, the apex being in the center
of the section, and having an altitude of sev-
enty-eight feet above the bed of the Vandalia
Railroad, which passes near it. Recently,
the Government has erected a signal observ-
atory upon it, some seventy-five to one bun
di-ed feet in height, from the top of which
one may look across the States of Missouri
and Arkansas and see the cow-boys watching
their herds on the prairies of Texas.

Altatnont. — The village of Altamont was
laid out by J. W. Conologue, the original
plat embracing the southeast part of the
southeast quarter of Section 9 of Mound
Township. Mr. Conologue was the first Su-
perintentent of the Vandalia Railroad, and,
owning a tract of land here, he conceived the
idea that this spot was an eligible and desir-
able location for a town, and thus had it sur-
veyed and platted bj' C. A. Van Allen, an
engineer of the road, and the plat recorded
July 19, 1870. The first lot sold was bought
by Abner Dutton, who erected a storehouse
and opened a store,, the first in the place.
R. S. Cutter bought the next lot, and built
a storehouse and opened a store the very next
day after Dutton. These two pioneer mer-
chants are gone from the town — Dutton is
dead, and Cutter moved West. The next
lots were bought by Daniel Boyer, Dr. J. N.
Groves, H. H. Brown, J. C. Russell, Broom
and others. The sale continued until some
four hundred were sold — lots, not the men
who bought them, for it jjroved a good in-
vestment to the buyers. The lots were all
sold at private sale, and not at public auc-
tion.

Altamont is beautifully situated on a roll-
ing prairie, at the crossing of the Vandalia
Ac Springfield Division of the Ohio & Missis-
sippi Railroads, and at the southern terminus
of a division of the Wabash system. Since
it was laid out, the following additions have
been made to the original plat: An addition
by William Buckholtz, April 11, 1871, of a
part of the west half of the soiith west quarter
of Section 10; an addition by J. W. Cono-
logue of a part of the southeast part of Sec-
tion 9, October 26, 1871; an addition by
Elizabeth Ellis of a part of the west half of
the southwest quarter of Section 10, January
8, 1872; an addition by Anna E. Hilleman
of a part of the northwest quarter of the
northwest quarter of Section 15, April 4,
1872; an addition by J. W. Conologue, May
22, 1874. of the west part of he southeast
quarter of Section 9; an addition by S. B.
Chittinden of a part of the northeast quarter
of the northeast quarter of Section 16, and
platted August 15, 1881. These additions
give the town a broad foundation and plenty
of room fo)' improvement.

The name Altamont is derived from the
same source the township received its name
— the peculiar mound on the adjacent section
of land already mentioned; the first part of
the word meaning altitude, the latter part
mount or mound, and was given by Mr. Con-
ologue. He was a widower at the time, and
supposed to have an eye and an ear for the
beautiful, and hence gave this romantic name
to his new town — a name that all must ac-
knowledge is tipprojariate.

The first residence in Altamont was the
upper part of Cutter's store, which he used
as a dwelling. Daniel Boyer put up the
first regular dwelling house; Russell fol-
lowed with the next. Brown built a store
and residence combined. Dutton also put
up a residence soon after erecting his store-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

185

house. Boyer, in 1871, built the first hotel,
which is still owned by him, and is known as
the Boyer House, but is operated as a hotel
by E. L. Brown. The Boyer House has been
greatly enlarged and improved sinco it was
built, and is now au excellent hostelry. It
and the Altamont House are the only two reg-
ular hotels in the town. Of the latter house,
Henry Davis is proprietor. Ben Brazil was
the first blacksmith, and had there been a
" spreading chestnut tree" in the village, the
" smithy " no doubt would have been built
under it. Brazil is gone from the place, but
has a number of successors iu his line of
business.

A post office had been established at a lit-
tle place called Montville, a mile or so south
of Altamont, on the National road, but never
amounted to anything as a town, and whou
Altamont was laid out (in 1870), the post
office was moved to the new place, and in
1871 the name was changed to Altamont. G.
H. Melville was Postmaster at the time of
removal, and his salary was $36 a year. Mr.
P. K. Johnson is now Postmaster, and re-
ceives $900 per annum for handling the mail
bags. This fact is indicative of the growth
of the town for the first dozen years of its ex-
istence.

Altamont is becoming quite a manufactur-
ing town, and, with its railroad facilities, is
admirably situated for manufacturing indus-
tries. Two excellent steam flouring-mills
rank among its best enterprises. The first
w;is built by Erdman Wurl in 1872. It is a
substantial frame building, with three run of
buhrs, and originally cost about $3,000. Mr.
Wurl is dead, and the mill is now owned by
George Goeting, who paid $8,000 for it, and
has greatly improved the property. The
second mill was built in 1873, by Weber &
Co., and is now owned by Louis Vauclair,
of St. Louis. It is a two-story frame build-

ing, and cost about $4,500. It was built on
a much more improved system than the other,
but smaller in all respects, except that it con-
tained the same number of buhrs — three run.
The present owner paid something over $5, -
000 for it. Both of these mills are A 1, and
do an excellent business.

In 1879, a furniture factory was started by
Jacob Stair & Son. A year or so afterward,
they associated Arthur M. Dawson with them,
whi/ still remains a member of the firm.
The factory building is 60x100 feet and two
stories high. It is operated by steam. All
kinds of furniture are manufactured, and
twenty hands are employed.

A baby wagon factory was established dur-
ing the past summer (1882), by Speuce Bro-
thers & Howor. Their building is a frame,
about 40x50 feet, two stories high, with shed
for boiler and engine. Eight hands are em-
ployed, and a full line of baby wagons, bug-
gies, and carriages are manufactured.

Ortman & Co. commenced the manufacture
of wagons in 1876 on a small scale. Their
business is rapidly increasing and they are
enlarging and improving their works all the
time, and are now putting up from forty to
fifty wagons each year.

The grain business is no small part of the
town's enterprise. There is probably more
grain shipped from Altamont than from any
other po.nt in the county C. A. Van Allen
CQmmenced buying grain here for Miner &
Jeniungs on Monday, August 1, 1870, and
Boyer commenced buying on Tuesday follow-
ing. Van Allen piled up a parcel of railroad
ties, covered them over with boards, and
this constituted his warehouse. He bought
from wagons, put it on the scales and weighed
it, and then loaded it into the cars from his
rude platform. Miner & Jennings are well-
known grain-buyers still, not only in the
county, but in all the siuTounding coimtry.

18C

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

There are now four firms handling grain here,
viz., Miner & Jennings, Snook & Shoemaker,
Cooper & Rhodes and Ensign & Co. They
all do a larce business and have good wf\re-
houses. The first year, the two firms then
in the business shipped 176 car-loads of
grain. Each of the four firms perhaps now
ship that much annually.

The Altamont Bank was established in
July, 1874, by George Mittendorf, and, in
March, 1876, C. M. Wright & Co. also es-
tablished a bank. Mittendorf sold out to
them, and since then the business has been
conducted by Wright & Co. It is one of the
substantial banks of the country.

The railroad station was opened Septem-
ber 4, 1870. C. A. Van Allen was the first
agent, and for a time served both roads.
The Springfield & Illinois South-Eastern
(now a division of the Ohio & Mississippi)
ran the first train to Altamont October 1,
1871; and the first train on the Wabash came
in on schedule time June 29, 1874. Van Al-
len was their agent for three years. The
roads have a kind of union depot, but differ-
ent agents. An immense amount of freight
is annually shipped from this place, mostly
grain and stock.

The Altamont News is a sprightly news-
paper, edited by C. F. Coleman. The Cou-
rier was the first newspaper started in Alta-
mont, and was run by Q. W. Grove. As the
press, however, receives an extended notice
in a preceding chapter, we omit further
mention here.

The first school was taught in Altamont
by George Poorman, and the first school-
house, a frame building, wan erected in 1870.
It soon became too small for the growing
town, and in 1874 the present school building
was erected. It is a two-story brick, with
two rooms, and furnished in the latest ap-
proved style. The school is large enough to

employ three teachers, viz.: Prof. J. G.

Wright, Principal, with Misses Portmess and
Zinn, assistant teachers.

Altamont is well supplied with church fa-
cilities. The first religious society organized
was by the Evangelical Alliance. But it has
become extinct, and the members have moved
away, died and joined other denominations.

The German Reformed Church was organ-
ized in 1872. It had been established some
time previously, in the country, about two
miles from the village. The first pastor was
Rev. L. M. Kischner, followed by Rev. S. P.
Myers, and he by Rev. Mr. Hassler. The
present pastor is Rev. J. H. Schuford. The
building is a frame, and was erected in 1872,
at a cost of $1,800. The original members
were fifteen. The membership now is about
thirty-two, with services every two weeks.
A Sunday school is kept up, with an attend-
ance of about forty children, under the su-
perintendence of G. W. Poorman.

Emanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church
was organized in 1873, by Rev. G. Waiigrin,
with nine members. The first services were
held in private residences, when Mr. William
Krull bought the old public school building
and fitted it up for a church. Rev. Waugrin
was the first pastor, and served from the or-
ganization of the church until 1879, when he
was succeeded by Rev. George Goeswein.
There are now some thirty odd members. A
school was established in 1879, which is
taught by the pastor in the church building.

The United Brethren Church was organized
in 1874, and the first preachers were Revs.
.J. A. Smith and Alex Helton. The original
members were Jacob Yates, Mary Yates, John
Cole, Sabie Cole, Samuel Kyner, Rebecca
Kyner, Delilah Kyner, Kate Kyner, Mollie
Kyner and Laura Ordner. The church was
erected in 1874, at a cost of about §3,300.
The present pastor is Rev. S. C. Stewart.

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

187

The membership is twenty five. The Sunday
school has an avera<^e atteadance of twenty-
eight, of which John Cole is Superintendent.

The Methodist Episcopal Church society
was organized m 1872, and the first preacher
was Rev. Mr. Crum. Altamont Circuit was
formed, and originally comprised Altamont,
Dexter and Gillmore, and at one time Moc-
casin and Crum's Chapel. The Altamont so-
ciety is now a station, organized as such in
1882. and Kev. G. W. Butler appointed pas-
tor. The church was built in 1879, costing
$3,000, and is a handsome frame building.
The membership is eighty. A Sunday school
is carried on, with a regular attendance of
125 children, superintended by G. W. Given.
The society is now engaged in building an
$800 parsonage.

St. Clare's Roman Catholic Church was or-
ganized in. 1874, and the church building
finished in 1875. The church was organized
by the Franciscan Fathers from Teutopolis.
The building is a frame, .33x68 feet, and cost
$3,000. The society has been administered
to by Rev. Fathers Francis. Michael, Her-
man, Clementine and Jerome. The last has
been with them three years. The present
membership is fifty families. A school was
established in 1882, in a frame building, two
stories high and two rooms each, with an at-
tendance of about fifty children.

Altamont has one of the most beautiful
little cemeteries in the country. Mr. Couo-
logue donated four acres for that purpose
when he laid out the town. It has been hand-
somely improved by the people, and is kept
in the most perfect order. The Board of
Town Trustees has the supervision. The
first interments in it were bodies taken up
and brought from other graveyards and re-
interred in this. Beautiful white stones and
monuments stand here and there in it, like
lonely sentinels, and symbolize the affection

of surviving friends for their loved and lost
ones.

Hale Johnson was the first man who pod-
died law in Altamont. He came here in
1873, and remained until 1875, and is now
Prosecuting Attorney in Jasper County.
Messrs. W. S. Holmes and P. K. Johnson
are young disciples of Blackstone, and attend
to " law business " for the citizens of Alta-
mont.

The Masonic Lodge now held here was
originally organized in Freemanton, October
1, 1807. After this town was laid out, the
lodge was moved here (in 1872), and is now
known as Altamont Lodge, No. 533, A., F. &
A. M. The charter members were Jacob Ba-
ker, James C. Walker, H. S. Hook, I. P.
Carpenter, B. W. Eakin, W. F. Ingraham,
J. F. Hipsher, J. H. Said, J. C. Russell, J.
Harrison, John Armstrong, W. A. Broom, J.
H. C. Smith, 8. Cochoran and A. Tipsword.
The first officers were: J. C. Russell, Mas-
ter; Jesse H. Said, Senior Warden; Jacob
Bakei', Junior Warden; H. S. Hook, Treas-
urer; and James C. Walker, Secretary. Ihe
lodge first met in a small hall for two years,
and since that time have been meeting in a
hall belonging to J. C. Russell. It is in a
flourishing condition; has fifty-seven mem-
bers, and is officered as follows: George W.
Gwinn, Master; J. H. Johnson, Senior War-
den; David Piper, Junior Warden; J. C.
Russell, Treasurer; and S. S. Rice, Secre-
tary.

Altamont Lodge, No. 500, I. O. O. F., was
instituted by J. F. Bross, Grand Master, Oc-
tober 14, 1873. The charter members were
Joel L. Cox, J. W. Hotz, Jr. , Henry Stevens,
H. P. Simonton and W. A. Jackson. The
first officers were: JoelL. Cox, N. G. ; Henry
Stevens, V. G. ; J.N. Groves, Secretary; and
J. W. Hotz, Jr., Treasurer. Eight more
members were initiated at the first meeting.

188

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

The lodge met in Cockenower's Hall until
1876, when they moved into Ensign's Hall,
which they still occupy. It has thirty-two
members, and $750 in the treasury. The
present officers are: Jacob Zimmerman, N.
G. ; H. N. Drewry, V. G. ; T. L. Elliott, Ee-
cording Secretary; P. K. Johnson, Perma-
nent Secretary; and S. N. Young, Treas-
urer.

Altamont was first organized as a town in
1871, and as a village in 1872, by a vote of
the people, at which time there were twenty-
two votes cast for village organization. The
first Board of Trustees were: Dan Boyer,
J. M. Huffman, J. Hotz, A. H. Dutton ana
"W. L. Snook. The board organized for work

by electing Boyer President, and J. M. Huff-
man, Clerk. The present board is as follows:
S. S. Rice, H. Munzell, M. Reis, S. M. Coo-
per, W L. Snook and H. Schlotterbeck, of
which S. S. Rice is President, and T. G.
Boyer, Clerk.

The foregoing pages comprise a pretty
correct and complete history of this growing
and flourishing little city of the plain. From
the center of a broad, rolling prairie, the
church steeples point to heaven, and point
out to the " wayfaring man, " while yet " afar
off," the way to shelter and repose. Alta-
mont has a prosperous future, if her citizens
so will it, and continue, as they always have,
to exert thefr wonted energy.

CHAPTER XYI.*

MASON TOWNSHIP— TOPOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE— SETTLEMENT— BROOM, THE STEWARTS
AND OTriER PIONEERS— A FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION— SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES
—AN INCIDENT— VILLAGES— GROWTH .AND DEVELOPMENT OF MASON-
ITS BUSINESS IMPORTANCE— EDGEWOOD — LAID OUT AS A
TOWN— STORES, SHOPS, CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES.

" he T\bo goes

In the full strength of years, matron and maid,
And the sweet babe, and the gra3r-headed man —
Shall, one by one. be gathered to thy side
By those who, in their turn, shall follow them."

— Bryant.

HISTORICALLY, Mason holds a front
place among the townships of EflSng-
ham County. More than fifty years have
dissolved in the mists of the past since the
echoes of the woodman's ax first rang through
the lofty forests of Mason as he felled the
treas for his lone cabin, or cleared -away the
timber for a garden, or for a " patch " of
corn. Its forests and prairies are now fer-
tile fields, dotted over with prosperous homes,
and the Indians, who once hunted the deer
in their midst, have disappeared in the dis-

* By W. n. Ponin.

tant "West. The young men have grown old,
and the old men are in their graves, who
first saw this country in its pristine beauty,
and joined hands to reduce it from a wilder-
ness to its present state of civilization and
prosperity.

Mason Township lies in the southern part
of the county, and, according to the Congres-
sional survey, is Township 6 north, and
Range 5 east. It is pretty well divided be-
tween woodland and prairie; the latter is
rolling sufficiently to drain naturally. The
woodland is somewhat hilly, with the excep-
tion of a few post-oak flats, and along the
river and other streams it rises in places to
abrupt bltiffs. The timber is white, black
and post oak and hickory on the high lands,
and in the bottoms, cottonwood, walutit, su-

aJ^-A^ J3y,

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

191

gar maple, sycamore, hackberry, soft maple,
elm, etc., with a thick g^rowth of hazel in
many parts of the township. The water-
courses are the Wabash and its numerous
tributaries. The Little Wabash just touches
the northeast corner as it trends southeast-
wardly. Fulfer Creek enters the township
through Section 7, from West Township, re-
ceiving on its way, in Mason, Limestone
Creek and several smaller streams, and finally
emptying into the Wabash in Section 1;
Willow Branch in the south part, the North
Fork of which heads near Mason Village,
and, flowing southward, unites with the main
stream in Section 34, when it passes out
through Section 35 into Clay County; Coon
Creek has its source in Section 14, and pass-
es into Union Township, whore it empties in-
to the Wabash. Jackson Township lies on
the north. Union Township on the east. Clay
County on the south and West Township on
the west. The Chicago Branch of the Illi-
nois Central Railroad passes diagonally
through Mason, and the Springfield Division
of the Ohio & Mississippi passes through the
southwest corner, crossing the Illinois Cen-
tral at Edgewood. These roads furnish the
township and its inhabitants communication
with all parts of the country, and bring the
best markets to their very doors.

The settlemeDt of Mason Township dates
back more than half a century. The first
white people who came here were from the
South — mostly fi-om Tennessee. The first
settlements of which we have any account
were made in 1829. Jonathan Parkhurst
was one of the first, and came originally
from New Jersey, but had lived some years
in Tennessee before emigrating to Illinois.
When he came to the State, he settled in
White County, then an almost unbroken wil-
derness, and, a few years later, came here and
located in Mason Township, afterward mov-

ing over into Jackson. John McCoy, Alex-
ander Stewart and some of the Lillys also
came in 1829. McCoy moved to Indiana,
remained awhile, and then came back here,
where he lived until his death. The Lillys
were either from Kentucky or Tennessee.
William settled on the Bailie place, and af-
terward moved to the southern part of the
State. Andi-ew, a son of William, married
McCoy's daughter, moved with him to In-
diana, came back with him, and afterward
moved down near Cairo, where he died.
Stewart moved back to Tennessee, remained
awhile, then came back to Illinois, and, some
years later, moved to Missouri.

John Broom came also in 1829. He is a
native of Tennessee, and he and his father-
in-law, Benjamin Allen, with their families,
came to Illinois, arriving iri this township in
the early part of November, 1829. He set-
tled on Limestone Creek, some three miles
west of Mason. He was penniless when he
arrived, and in debt, besides, to his father-in-
law; but, nothing daunted, he went to work
with a stout heart and willing hands. For
the first years of his wilderness life, he subsist-
ed on the products of his rifle, deer, bear,
turkeys and other game being quite abun-
dant. The first land he owned was an eighty-
acre tract, which he paid for with money
earned in blasting rock in the quarries, for
the National road, when it was in course of
construction, and for which he received the
liberal sum of 37| cents per day. By per-
severing industry, he has accumulated con-
siderable property, and now as he is pass-
ing down the shady side of life, he is enjoy-
ing the fruits of a well-spent life. For sev-
eral years he has been a resident of Mason
Village, his health preventing him from ac-
tive life on the farm. He has held many
ofiices — Constable, Justice of the Peace, As-
sociate County Judge, etc. la his youth.

192

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

poverty prevented him from receiving an ed-
ucation, and thus, realizing the need of it,
he has always been a zealous friend of
schools, and an earnest supporter of all meas-
ure^ for the benefit of learning. His father-
in-law, Benjamin Allen, was a good farmer
and a respected citizen. He died on the place
where he settled, and the bones of himself and
wife molder together in the dust upon the
old homestead, the place now owned by Mr.
Dovore. Mrs. Charlotte Kepley was a daugh-
ter of Allen, and a widow. Afterward, she
married John Allen, who, although of the
same name of her father, was not related to
him.

The first wheat sowed in Effingham Coun-
ty was by Judge Broom and Mr. Allen.
They went all the way to Shelby County,
and, with their horses, assisted Andrew
Wakefield to tramp out wheat in the old-
fashioned way, by laying the wheat on the
ground and driving horses over it — receiving
for themselves and their horses a bushel and
a half of wheat per day. They worked long
enough to obtain four bushels of wheat. This
they brought home with them on horseback,
and prepared a piece of ground, in which it
was sown.

Additional settlers in Mason Township
were John and Josiah Stewart, Andrew Mar-
tin, John Trapp, a man named Frost and an-
other named Winkler, Micajah Davidson,
Wesley Robinson, Vincent McGuire, Gideon
Loiider, etc., etc. John and Josiah Stewart
were brothers to Alexander Stewart, and both
finally moved back to Tennessee and re-
mained there. Martin was from Kentucky,
and, a few years after settling here, moved
into Jackson Township, where he died.
John Trapp lived on the Horton farm, and
is elsewhere mentioned. Frost was one of
the first settlers in the township, and moved
some years later to the Sangamon country.

Winkler moved into Jackson Township, and
died. Davidson first settled in Jackson, then
moved into Mason. He had a horse-mill in
Jackson, and, after moving here, built one
in this township. He was a great mechan
ical genius, and could make almost anything
he tried to make. Robinson came from In-
diana in 1830-31 and was unmarried. He
followed hauling salt from -the works and
selling it to the settlers. He married and
settled down to business on the place now
occuf)ied by his son Jonathan. McGuire
was an Irishman, and had a son named John,
who was killed while at work on the old Na
tional road, by a bank caving in on him.
The old man was a miser, and a great lover
of the " crayther." Both he and his wife, it
is said, used to get gloriously drunk. Judge
Broom and Uncle Jimmy Tm'ner often cra-
dled wheat for him. He finally left the town-
ship and moved to the south part of the
State, where he died many years ago. Lou-
der was from Tennessee, and came to Illi-
nois, first settling in Clay County, and after-
ward in this county in Jackson Township,
making his home at Ben Campbell's, whose
wife was Louder's aunt. He finally moved
over into Mason and settled in the southeast
corner of the {ownship, where he died, and
where his widow still lives. This brings the
settlement down to a period where emigrants
were coming ia rapidly and the country was
fast settling iip.

Among the later settlers we mention a few
whose names have become prominent in the
history of the township and the county. At
the head of the list stands the name of Hon.
Isaac L. Leith. He came fi-om Ohio and set-
tled here in 1840, and since that time has
been closely identified with the interests of
the county, holding a number of important
positions of honor and trust. He was one of
the Commissioners for laving out the county

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

193

into townships, and devised a plan of organ-
ization, which was accepted. He was a
member of the Constitutional Convention,
and on the Building and Finance Commit-
tees for building the present court house of
Effingham. Although the " frosts of many
winters " rest upon his head, he is still hale
and hearty, and good for many years of life.
James, David and Wilkinson Leith are his
brothers, and came to Illinois in the same
year (1840), and are all now dead.

Stephen Hardin, Dr. Matthews, Martin
Eobinson, Eobert Kankin, David Tm-ner, Eli-
jah Henry, IMorgan Wright, Jacob Goddard,
A. W. Henry, and a number of others, past
arid present, were early settlers, or at least
came in from 1840 to 1850. They have
borne a prominent part in the history of the
county, and in the development of that por-
tion in which their lots have been cast. In
the biographical part of this work they are
more fully noticed.

In the pioneer days, the people had their
sports, which were perhaps as enjoyable to
them as our more refined amusements are to
us in this fast age. Log-rollings, house-
raisings, corn-huskings, usually accompa-
nied with the old-fashioned quilting pai'ties,
were common occurrences. These gather-
ings were heartily enjoyed by all. The mus-
ter and election days, and Fourth of July
celebrations were important events. Dr.
Matthews, in his pioneer sketches of Mason,
thus describes a "Glorious Fourth," which
is worthy of reproduction in these pages:
" On the Fourth of July, 1832, a" grand bar-
becue was instituted by Judge Broom and a
few of the Vaudalia boys, at Ewington.
Bear meat and venison smoked upon the
spits, whisky toasts were drunk freely in tin
cups and gourds, red-hot speeches were made,
and the American Eagle flopped his wings
and crew with patriotic pride above the hills

of the Wabash. Judge Broom was selected
to read the Declaration of Independence, and
he did so, standing on aa old cottonwood
log just north of the bridge. He says he
couldn't spell half the words of the sacred
document, and to this day is in total igno-
rance as to how he blundered through it. But
nobody was competent to criticise him, and
nobody laughed. The Judge pronounces
that the happiest day of his life. Of that
jolly band of celebrators, he is the sole sui-viv-
or in Effingham County. They all have
dropped away, weary of the march, long ago. "
The above was no doubt the first Fourth of
July celebration ever held in the county.

Education was not neglected by the pio-
neers, and schools were established very early.
The first school taught in Mason Township,
and perhaps the first in the county, was
taught by Col. Sam Houston. Judge Broom
signed one scholar, for which he was to pay
the sum of $2.50. To obtain the money nec-
essary to liquidate this liability, Mr. Broom
" pulled fodder " for old Vincent McGuire,
at IGj cents a day. He received the money
in half-dollars (Hull's, perhaps), without
holes in them, and paid his tuition on the
day the school was out. As the country
prospered and the population — in the way of
children — increased, schoolhouses were built
and schools established. Every neighborhood
now has a good, comfortable schoolhouse, and
maintains a flourishing school.

Among the first preachers who proclaimed
the Word in this neighborhood were Revs.
Whitoly and Surrells. They were Regular
Baptists, and preached in j)eople's houses in
many parts of the county, long before any
churches were built. The Wabash Chiirch
(Missionary Baptists) was organized as early
as 1845. The first building was a log struct-
ure, put up for both church and school pur-
poses, and was used until the present frame

1U4

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

church was built, about the year 1860. It is
a comfortable church building with a large
membership, but no regular pastor at present.
The Sunday school is kept up. This church
has been the mother of churches, as a num-
ber of those in the surrounding country have
been started with members from this church.
An incident occurred in the township in
September, 1857, little to its credit as a com-
munity — the murder of Martin S. Hammond.
Although he was a desperado, whose taking-
off may have proved advantageous to the
country, yet the manner in which it was
done was cowardly beyond all question. He
was riding along one day with a Mrs. Lang-
ford, when a shot was fired from ambiish,
by whom has to this day remained a mystery.
But one shot was fired, and it was a load of
buckshot. Two shots took effect in Hammond
— one in his arm and one in his back — from
which he died some fourteen days after. Mrs.
Langford received a shot in the left shoul-
der, which was supposed at first to be fatal,
but from which she finally recovered. John
T. Martin and L. Mulinix were arrested as
suspected parties, tried and acquitted. Ham-
mond, at the time he was assassinated was
under arrest and bond for counterfeiting, and
it was believed that he was shot by those
interested in his eternal silence.

As an illustration of the hard times en-
dured by the pioneers. Judge Broom says
that, for the first two or three years after he
came here, he took his plows on horseback,
and sometimes on foot, four or five miles
north of Shelby ville, to a blacksmith, named
Thomas Jackson, who was a Methodist
preacher, and knew him (Broom) in Tennes-
see, before they moved to Illinois, and would
sharpen his plows on a credit. He could not,
in summer time, travel with horses during the
day, on account of the " green-head " flies,
which were such torments the horses became

almost unmanageable from their annoyance.
Judge Broom also relates, by way of illus-
trating the pioneer period, how, when he
came here, he had nothing, and was in debt
besides. He went to Vandalia and stated
his circumstances to a merchant there, who
sold him on credit a few plates, knives and
forks, and a pot or two for cooking. The
next spring, he took beeswax, deerskins and
venison hams enough to him to pay for the
things.

Villages. — The village of Mason is situat-
ed in the midst of a beautiful rolling prai-
rie, on the Illinois Central Railroad, about
twelve miles south of Effingham. The orig-
inal plat comprised the southeast quarter of
the northwest quarter, a part of the northeast
quarter of the southwest quarter, and a part
of the southwest quarter of the northeast
quarter of Section 22, of Mason Township.
It was surveyed and platted February 26,
1853, by George Wright, surveyor, for Aaron
W. Henry, Josiah W. Eobinson and Robert
M. Eankin, proprietors of the land.

A number of additions have been made to
the town since it was originally laid out,
some of which are as follows: An addition
was made by Stephen Hardin, embracing a
portion of the northwest quarter of the north-
east quarter of Section 22, and the plat re-
corded August 9, 1859. An addition was
made by H. E. Wolcott, of a part of north-
east quarter of southwest quarter of Section
22, and the plat dated September 22, 1859.
An addition was made by J. J. W. Billings-
ley of a part of the southwest quarter of the
northeast quarter of Section 22, and platted
January 10, 1860. An addition was made
by A. Kimbourt of a part of the southeast
quarter of the northwest quai'ter of Section
22, and submitted to record June 29, 1860.
An addition was made by S. H. Bailey, of
what was known as "Bailey's Addition," and

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

195

the plat recorded May 1, 1863. And on the
29th of Jane, 1868, an addition was made by
A. J. Starr, of a part of the north half of the
southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of
Section 22, all of Mason Township. These
numerous additions give Mason plenty of el-
bow room, and plenty of space for spreading
out her wings. There need be no more ad-
ditions made until it becomes a city of 5,000
inhabitants.

There is a prologue to the history of Ma-
son, in what was once known as the village
of Bristol, and in order to get back to the
commencement of Mason, it will be necessary
to say a few words of Bristol. It was laid out
by A. W. Henry and his father, Elijah Hen-
ry. It was situated about one mile south-
east of i\[ason, on the place now owned by
David Turner.

A. W. Henry opened a small store about
the time the place was laid out. A post
office was established, of which Henry was
Postmaster. Elijah Henry Lad a blacksmith
shop, and, although not much of a workman,
he used to hire a blacksmith to carry on his
shop. This comprised about the sum total
of Bristol.

When Mason was laid out, Bristol took it
into its head to move over and start the new
town. This little feat is thiis described by
Dr. Matthews in the Effingham Republican :
" On a lovely morning in the spring of 1852,
tradition informs us that the town of Bristol,
Effingham County, was ruthlessly torn from
its foundations, loaded upon an ox wagon
and quietly hauled away. Its departure from
the venerable forests that had so long pro-
tected it from the howling tempests was her-
alded only by the rumble of the vehicle that
bore it away. There was no weeping, no
sighing, no tender ties broken as the moving
town passed over the hills and was lost to
sight, for be it known that the citizens of

Bristol, one and all, trudged along in the
rear of their departing metropolis, like in-
fatuated school-boys after a brass band, re-
solved to share alike in its prosperity or
downfall. It was almost sunset when Bristol
reached its destination. The spot was an
enchanting one, on a beautiful elevation, just
over the border of a fertile and rolling prai-
rie. And there, as twilight darkened upon
the scene, our pioneer fathers, with little re-
gard to ceremony, unloaded their much-loved
town." Such was the existence of Bristol.
The building of the railroad gave birth to
Mason, and the laying-out of Mason was the
death of Bristol. It was, after all, but a
change of base. Mr. Henry was the proprie-
tor of Bristol, and, when the railroad went
through, leaving his town out in the cold,
he, together with Rankin and^Robinson, laid
out Mason on the railroad, and moved his
town over as a starter. His store was raised
and put on " skid-poles," six yoke of cattle
hitched to it, and hauled over to the new
town, as described in the extract above made.
The little storehouse thus moved across the
prairie is still standing, and is used by Dr.
P. G. Paugh as an office.

A. W. Henry was the first merchant of
Mason, as well as of Bristol. He opened his
store door in Mason as soon as his store ar-
rived and was unloaded. He continued in
business until 1857-58, when he retired, and
is still living, some three miles from the vil-
lage. He was the first Postmaster of Bristol
and of Mason, the post office having been
moved hither with his store, and its name
afterward changed to Mason, to correspond
with the name of the village. Henry Clay
Henry, a nephew of Aaron Henry, is the pres-
ent Postmaster. Mr. Henry was a man of en-
terprise and of considerable business energy.
He sold gocds to the people, and, in return,
bought their surplus products, thus keeping

196

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

trade going and business prospering. The
next store was kept by Stephen Hardin, still
a respected citizen of the village, and a man
who has served not only the people of his
town, but of the county. He has long since
retired from the mercantile business, and now
devotes his attention to other pursuits. He
moved his store from Georgetown, in Clay
County, to this place in 1856, and, in part-
nership with William McCracken, followed
merchandising for several years. Other
stores were opened as the increase of popu-
lation demanded. Shops were established and
all kinds of business inaugurated as the town
grew in importance.

The first residence was built by Afr. Ran-
kin, one of the proprietors of the town, and
opened by him as a hotel. He afterward
sold to Michael Sprinkle. It finally became
the property of Jacob Goddard, who kept it
as a hotel. It was owned by him and occu-
pied as a hotel until Goddard built the pres-
ent brick hotel, now kept by his widow.
The next house built after that by Rankin
was erected by Greenberry Wright. It was
long known as the Winteringer property, and
stood on the east side of the main street.
But after the completion of these buildings,
there was a cessation in improvements for a
few years, and not until 1855-56 did a new
spirit of industry in this line strike the peo-
ple. Then buildings sprang up on every
hand, and the town grew rapidly.

In this connection, another extract from
Dr. Matthews' correspondence comes appro-
priately in place: " To such an extent were
business enterprises advancing that a lack of
shipping facilities became apparent, and,
about the year 1856, Messrs. I. L. Leith and
Stephen Hardin opened negotiations with the
of&cers of the railroad company, and obtained
the privilege of laying a side-track. In sev-
en days from the time ground was first brok-

en, the grading was completed, the ties all
hewed and hauled, and everything was in
readiness for the laying of the iron, which
was done by the request and at the expense
of the people. " Immediately upon the lay-
ing of a side track, the shipping of stock
and grain, and particularly the latter, be-
came an extensive business. A grain ware-
house was put up by J. J. Billingsley, which
is still standing, and was the first erected for
that purpose in the town. There are now four
grain warehouses, which are operated by
Gibson, and Wade, and William Donnelson,
and Thistlewood. A large amount of grain
is annually shipped from this point — some-
times as much as six and eight carloads in a
single day.

Mason has never made any pretensions to
manufactories. A few shops, an occasional
kiln of brick, a few saw-mills and the pres-
ent flouriug-mill cover its manufacturing
industries. The flouring-mill was built in
1863 by Luther & Sisson. The latter gen-
tleman still owns it, and has considerably
improved it since it was first built. It is a
substantial frame building, with three run
of buhrs, worth some $6,000 or $8,000, and
has all the modern improvements.

The first school in Mason was taught in
1853, by Whiting Avery. It was on the sub-
scription plan, and, owing to the sparsely set-
tled community and the slimly populated
village, it was hard work to get enough pu-
pils to form a school. In 1860, the hand-
some two-story brick schoolhouse was built.
The building was put up by the School Board
and the Masonic fraternity together — the
lower story for the school and the uj^per
story for the Masons. The school, however,
grew so rapidly and increased in numbers
that the board finally bought out the Masons,
and since then the entire building has been
used for the school, of which the usual at-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

197

tendance is from eighty to one hundred pu-
pils. Three teachers are employed most of
the time, Mr. Duncan being the Principal of
the school.

There are two church buildings in Mason
— Methodist and Baptist. The Methodist
Church was built in the fall of 1853, and
Tided until the building of the present one, in
1868-70. The membership is nearly one hun-
dred, and the pastor (1882) Eev. Mi-. Harper.
The building is a frame, and cost perhaps
$1,000. A good Sunday school. is kept up
throughout the year. The old church, the
first one built by the Methodists, was taken,
when abandoned as a church, for a pork
house. It was occupied as such a year or
two, and then it "became a saw-mill, later a
stave factory, and is now standing idle, after
a long and useful life.

The Baptist Church grew out of the old
Wabash Baptist Church, one of the old
chm-ch organizations of the township. The
building was erected about 1858, and, a few
years ago, repaired and much improved in
appearance. It is now an excellent church
edifice, barring a little paint which is lack-
ing, and which would be of considerable
benefit to it. A goodly number of members
belong here, but they are without a regular
pastor. A Sunday school is maintained, un-
der the superintendence of Mi-. Holbrook.

A. Presbyterian Church was organized here
and kept up for several years. They occu-
pied the lower story of the Masonic Hall,
but, after a brief existence, it finally died a
natural death.

The Masons first met in Goddard's Tavern,
and afterward in the upper story of Hardin's
store. After they sold their interest in the
brick building to the School Board, they built
a new hall, which they now own. The lower
story is rented out for any purpose, such as
meetings, dances, etc., and the upper story

for a lodge room. The Presbyterians rented
the lower story and "seated" it, but, after the
church became extinct, the Masons bought
the seats and took charge of the room. There
is a lodge and chapter as follows;

Mason Lodge, No. 217, A., F. & A. M.,
was organized as a lodge with the following
charter members: John S. Wilson, J. H.
Robinson, Morgan Wright, Isham Mahon,
Owen Wright and Greenberry Wright. The
last-name"d was the first Master; John S.
Wilson, first Senior Warden; and J. H. Rob-
inson, first Junior Warden. There are now
fifty members, officered as follows: H. N
Ruffner, Worshipful Master; T. J. Bowling,
Senior Warden; J. C. Leith, Junior Warden;
L. Smith, Treasurer; Isaac S. Reed, Secre-
tary: C. R. Hanson, Senior Deacon; A. Bai-
lie, Junior Deacon; and S. H. Bailie, Tiler.

Mason Chapter, No. 76, R.-.A.-.M."., was or-
ganized March 21, 1865, and the charter
members were C. B. Kitchell, Isaac H. Elkin,
Jacob Goddard, J. D. Moody, B. H. Bod-
well, Thomas H. Heeley, William H. Wal-
lace, William McNeile and William B.
Cooper. The first officers elected were:
James Claypool, High Priest; I. L. Leith,
King; and Jacob Goddard, Scribe. There
are now thirty-five members, and the follow-
ing are the officers: H. N. Ruffner, High
Priest; H. B. Turner, King; Stephen Har-
din, Scribe; T. J. Bowling, Captain of the
Host; C. R. Hanson, Principal Sojourner;
J. C. Leith, Royal Ai-ch Captain; John Mc-
Cloy, W. F. Scott and J. L. Furneaux,
Grand Masters of the Veils; Laurence
Smith, Treasurer; J. L. Goddard, Secretary;
and Henry M. Drewry, Tiler.

The railroad accommodations of Mason are
not the best to be seen in the count}', by any
means, and scarcely up to what might natur-
ally be expected of a town from which so
much shipping is done. In support of this

198

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

assertion, we make one other extract from the
Mason correspondence of the Republican:
" There is probably no village on the Central
Railroad entitled to as much sympathy and
assistance as our own town, and there is cer-
tainly none that has received less. We shall
make no pitifnl month of the matter, nor
cherish ill feelings about it, but it is a fact
that scores of places far less deserving than
this have been the objects of repeated and
lavish expenditures by the company. Thus
far, however. Mason has paddled her own
canoe siiccessfully, and, thanks to the vim of
her citizens she can continue to do so, with
credit to herself and country. ' Never say
die ' is her motto. But there is one consol-
ing thought, the people of Mason are inde-
pendent. Whenever panics drive them to
'brown jeans ' and ' shoddy,' they lose none
of their native pride. They dance and have
festivals and church fairs, and get drunk,
with as much dignity and regularity as
though their purses were stuffed. The aver-
age Masonite is irrepressible. He can play
billiards and pray and shout and dance with
equal vivacity." Under this veil of humor
and sarcasm is concealed a palpable fact, and
that is, that the old, tumble-down, rickety
railroad buildings, depots, etc. , are a disgrace
to a great railroad such as the Illinois Cen-
tral, and the people are justified in grum-
bling. They certainly deserve a respectable
depot, if nothing more.

The history of Mason during the late war
belongs in part to a distinct chapter. But a
brief mention of the part taken in the great
struggle by the town cannot be well avoided.
In 1861, the village of Mason was a micro-
cosm. Not a movement of Scott, an order of
the President nor an editorial of Greeley "but
was discussed and thoroughly ventilated by
the people here, utterly regardless (jf what
others might say or think. A few days after

the fall of Fort Sumter, a flag, half as big as
a quarter- section of land, was raised in the
central part of the town, bearing the pat-
riotic inscription, "Death to Traitors!" Pol-
itics was a study for each one, and there was
much whistling to keep up a show of courage
and hopefulness. Mason was no more loyal
or disloyal than other portions of the coun-
try. There were those who opposed the war,
and those who favored the most vigorous
measures for prosecuting it until the rebell-
ion should "be crushed out; and this class
predominated. Excitement was high, and
the drum was heard daily as it beat for vol-
unteers.

In the spring of 1863, a paper called the
Loi/alist was established, the lietter to aid
the cause of the Union, and its loyal bolts
were hurled at the heads of traitors with a
boldness and a bitterness unequaled by Pren-
tice or Brownlow. But these subjects are
fully given in preceding chapters, and are
merely alluded to here as a part of the his-
tory of the village, which could not be wholly
omitted.

Toward the latter years of the war, and es-
pecially in 1863, the village of Mason im-
proved and prospered as it never had before.
Indeed, at such a rate did it travel on the
high road to wealth that it really had the
cheek to set itself up as a rival to Effingham.
A large number of buildings were erected,
and some of the best yet put up in the town,
among them Vey's brick store, and Karelin's
and Baker's dwellings. After the close of
the war, however, and the general stagnation
of business which followed, together witli the
contraction of the currency, a check — a very
material one — was put to the prosperity of the
place. Improvements were few and of an
vmimportant character, and for the last dec-
ade the increase in population and impor-
tance have been exceedingly small.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY,

19»

The village was incorporated in 1865, un-
der an act of the Legislature. Its charter was
amended by legislative enactment in 1S67.
Since then it has been governed by a Board
of Trustees who look faithfully to the inter-
ests of its citizens. The present board is as
follows, viz. : Stephen Hardin, Ross Bil-

lingsley, James Drewry, Goddard,

James Richmond and D. S. Turner. Of this
board, Stephen Hardin is President; Willis
Richmond, Clerk; George Mills, Treasurer;
and Joseph Donnelson, Marshal.

The business of Mason at the present time
may be thus summarized: Seven dry goods
and grocery stores, by R. G. Gibson, A. Con-
oway, Henry Hoggs, H. Tyner, Lawrence
Smith, Ross Billingsley and Wiley Burk;
one hardware store, by Hom-y Rankin; two
drug stores, by R. S. Miller and J. P. Hutch-
inson; and two millinery stores, three black-
smith shops, three wood shops, two butcher
shops, two shoe shops, one harness shop, one
copper shop, one hay-i:)ress, one saw -mi 11, one
grist mill, one liverj' stable, four grain ware-
houses, a post office, schoolhouse,two churches
and two lodges.

Edge wood is situated about three miles
south of Mason Village, at the crossing of
the Illinois Central and the Springfield Di-
vision of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroads.
It is located on the south half of the north-
east quarter, the north half of the southeast
quarter, the southeast quarter of the north-
west quarter, and the northeast quarter of
the southwest quarter, of Section 32, of Ma-
son Township. It was surveyed and plat-
ted December 24, 1857, for the Illinois Cen-
tral Railroad. The first house built was a
dwelling erected by James Buckner; the next
was put up by Byron Woodhull. The first
store was a general assortment of goods kept
by Ichabod Stedman in the station house,
and was o[>ened in 1859. A storehouse was

erected in the latter part of 1859 by Stephen
Balcom, and is now occupied by the hard-
ware store of T. A. Scheiflin. Mr. Balcom
was in business for two years, and was one
of the most enterprising business men ever
in the town. He built the " Balcom Corner"
in 1861, on Broad and Chestnut streets, con-
sisting of four large storerooms, offices. Ma-
sonic Hall, etc. His death, in 1863, was a
severe loss to the little town. Stedman &
Emery built the tine store now occupied by
Dr. Joseph Hall as a drug and jewelry store.
In 1864, J. N. Faulk put up a large building
in the east part of town. A. Goodnight was
the first blacksmith.

The post oiHce was e.stablishod in 1858,
and Byron Woodhull was appointed Postmas-
ter. Joseph Hall is the present Postmaster.
The first school-teacher was Malissa Sted-
man. The schoolhouse was erected in 1864,
and is a frame building. Miss Lilly Land-
enbergnow teaches the young idea to shoot —
paper wads.

Ichabod Stedman erected a flouring-mill,
saw mill and carding machine combined in
1 862, which was quite a mammoth establish-
ment. He operated it until 1862, doing a
large and profitable business, when it was
destroyed by fii-e. Charles Heilgenstein built
a steam flouring-mill in 1868, which was
also bui-ned. It was rebuilt by Kay & This-
tlewood some five years ago, and is a large—
three-story building, containing three run of
buhrs, and does a fine business.

The first religious organization was made
by the Methodists several years before any
church building was erected. They built a
house in 1870, at a cost of $1,800, but were
unable to pay for it, and had to give it up.
It is now used as a public hall, and the
church occupies the schoolhouse. Rev. Mr.
Mall is the present pastor.

St. Ann Roman Catholic Chm-ch was built

200

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

in 1866 by the Franciscans. There were
originally about thirty families, and Father
Kellin was the first rector. The church cost
about $3,000, and the membership comprises
forty-three families, under the pastorate of
Rev. Father Reisin, who has been with them
three years.

Edcrewood Lodge, No. 484, A., F. & A.
M., was organized October 3, 1866, and the
charter issued by Most Worshipful H. P. H.
Bromwell, Grand Master. The charter mem-
bers were B. W. Burk, Thomas Hamilton,
John McDonald, John S. Kelly, Jonathan
Hooks, Thomas A. Austin, Jay N. Faulk,
James L. Gillmore, F. C. Healey, David
Dyer, William McNeile, A. Stedman, John
Harrison, F. H. Belm, John Broom, M. A.
Broom, G. W. Gary, L. D. Coonly, E. Pesk,
J. A. Nevins, James McCaffrey and John
Scasefl. The first officers were: John S.
Kelly, Master ; Jonathan Hooks, Senior
Warden; and Thomas A. Austin, Junior

Warden. The present officers are: Joseph
Danks, Master; John McCloy, Senior War-
den; George Charlotte, Junior Warden;
John McDonald, Secretary ; and Henry
Tookey, Treasurer.

The village of Edgewood was incorporated
in 1869, and a Board of Trustees elected, as
follows: E. Barbee, James Johnson, J. F.
Erwin, Joseph Fiechs and Joseph Hall. E.
Barbee was President of the Board, and Jo-
seph Hall, Clerk. The present board is J.
C. P. Vandervort (President), Joseph Hall
(Clei-k), Charles Kay, H. Tookey, B. Peterson
and A. Goodnight.

At present, the town presents the following
business outlook: One dry goods store, two
grocery stores, two general stores, one hard-
ware store, one drug and jewelry store, one
furniture store, one restaurant, two mills, two
churches, one schoolhouse, two hotels, sev-
eral shops, three warehouses, two physicians,
two railroads and one depot.

CHAPTER XVIL*

WATSON TOWNSHIP— SURFACE AND PHYSICAL FEATURES— COMING OF THE WHITE SETTLERS—

THEIR LOCATIONS AND CLAIMS— SKETCHES OF SOME OF THE NOTED ONES— MILLS AND

OTHER PIONEER INDUSTRIES— SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLHOUSES— CHURCHES

—VILLAGE OF WATSON— ITS GROWTH AND BUSINESS.

RECURRENCES of the past, with the
recollections and associations which
make it pass in life-like review before our'
mental vision, will continue to be, as of yore,
a source of satisfaction, especially when they
connect themselves with incidents reflected
back from our own experiences. These re-
minders vanish with the life of the partici-
pants, when no landmarks remain to save us
the pictures faintly delineated in the tablets
of memory. To preserve these from forget-
fulness before they have lost their distin-

» By G. N. Berry.

guishing originality is the work devolved
upon the historian. History fails in its great
mission when it fails to preserve the life
featiu'es of the subjects committed to its
trust.

Local history, more than any other, com-
mands the most interested attention, for the
reason that it is a record of events in which
we have a peculiar interest, as many of the
participants traveled the rugged and thorny
pathway of life as our companions, acquaint-
ances and relatives. The township of Wat-
son, which forms the subject of the following

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

201

pages, is a somewhat diversified and broken
bod}- of land, lying a little east of the cen-
tral part of the county. The following town-
ships form its boundaries : Douglas and
Teutojiolis on the north; Bishop on the east;
Union on the south; Jackson on the west;
and comprising, under the Congressional
survey, Township 7 north. Range G east. It
was named in honor of a prominent official
of the Illinois Central Railroad, at whose
suggestion the village of Watson was laid
out and improved. The siu'face of the coun-
ty is considerably varied, being high and roll-
ing in the north and east, while the central
part and the land lying along the several wa-
ter-courses is much broken, and in some
places rugged, hilly, and almost wholly unfit
for cultivation. The southeastern portion
consists of a gently undulating prairie land,
interspersed with a number of small groves,
and contains some of the most valuable
farming lands in the township. Along the
eastern border from the northern boundary
south to the village of Watson, there is a
stretch of level prairie varying from a mile
and a half to two miles in width, the major-
ity of which is very fertile and in a high
state of cultivation. North of Bishop Creek,
in the eastern part of the township, is a
small tract of prairie also, but of more irreg-
ular surface, the greater poriion of it being
rather uneven, though very fertile.

Originally, about three- fourths of the
township's area consisted of timber land,
much of which has of late years been cleared
and brought into cultivation, while a great
deal of the most valuable timber was cut and
sawn into lumber at an early day, that busi-
ness at one time being carried on quite ex-
tensively. The largest and best growth now
standing is found in the central part of the
township, on the broken region alluded to,
and along Salt and Bishop Creeks, and con-

sists mostly of the following varieties: Wal-
nut, oak of several different kinds, elm and
sycamore in the low ground along the
streams, where they often grow to gigantic
sizes; hickory, ash, maple, locust, etc., with
a thick gi-owth of underbrush, chiefly hazel,
intervening on the high lands. The soil on
these high and broken lands is rather thin,
chiefly a white clayey nature, but, by proper
tillage, it has been made to yield some very
fair crops, especially wheat and oats, while
it seems well adapted to fruit. Salt Creek,
Little Salt Creek and Bishop Creek, with
their several tributaries are the water-courses
by which the township is watered and drained.
The Illinois Central Railroad passes thi-ough
the township, and has been the means of de-
veloping the country's resources in a very
marked degree by bringing its rich farming
lands into easy and direct communication
with the flourishing cities lying along that
line.

In 1830, a man by the name of Davenport,
from Tennessee, emigrated to the wilderness
of Illinois, with the hope of securing a home
for himself and children. He located a little
north of the present site of Watson Village,
and improved a small patch of ground, which
he afterward entered. Here for several
years this lone pioneer family lived, in their
little pole hut, imcheei-ed by the presence of
friends or neighbors, toiling in the meantime
for a scanty existence, which the wild condi-
tion of the country at that time could scarce
afford. The region surrounding the rude
domicile abounded in gray wolves, large,
gaunt and fierce, while an occasional black
one was to be seen, and was much more to be
dreaded. The right of Davenport to the few
pigs and sheep which he brought with him
was hotly contested by these denizens of the
woods, and, in order to maintain his claim,
a tight inclosure was made, in which the

202

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

stock was penned and carefully guarded
every night; yet, in spite of this precaution,
a number of unlucky porkers were nabbed up
and carried ofl" by the alert enemy.

Davenport lived here until the year 1840,
and made, diu-iug the period of his residence,
a number of improvements, chiefly in the way
of building, clearing and fencing. His death,
which occiu-red in the above-named yeai', was
the lu-st event of the kind in the township,
and his grave, marked by the simjjle epitaph
of his life and death, can still be seen in the
old cemetery which he set ajiart for the bur-
ial of the dead. The next settler was John
Hutson, who came from the far-off State of
Alabama, and located in the southwest cor-
ner of the tovmship about the year 1835.
He made but few improvements, aside from
a small cabin; sold his claim about two years
later, to a man by the name of Hart, and
went to the State of Missouri, where he after-
ward died. The place is now in possession
of Edmund Loy, an [pearly settler near the
to^vn of Ewington.

An early settlement was made on Salt
Creek, near the northeastern part of the town-
ship, by Benjamin Bryant, a short time after
Hutson came to the country. Bryant was
from Kentucky, and appears to have been a
man of rather reckless character, and not
particularly noted for piety. His residence
in the township will cover a period of per-
haps eight years, the greater part of which
was spent in hunting, trapping, etc., but lit-
tle attention being given to his improve-
ments. On account of some domestic troub-
les, he left the country rather abruptly, and
took up his residence in Missovu'i, near St.
Louis. His family remained here, where
numerous descendants still live, and are of
the substantial citizens of the county.
Among the early settlers of Watson was a
man of the name of Browning, a relative of

the Davenports, who came into the present
limits of the township as early as the year
1838, and opened a little farm on Section 29.
He sold his claim shortly afterward and left
the community, and the farm is now in pos-
session of J. V. Bail, of Watson Village. A
man named Hafhill was one of the early pio-
neers of this section, having located near the
northeastern part of the township some two
years after Hutson made his appearance in
that neighborhood, but he does not seem to
have made any permanent improvement.

One of the most noted characters in the
early settlement of this part of the county
was an old hunter known as " Ci " Blansett.
The date of his arrival was not ascertained,
but he probably hunted over every acre of the
township when there were but two or three
scattering settlements in it. He built a
rude log cabin near the Hafhill place, around
which he cleared a little garden spot, where
he raised a few vegetables. His chief sup-
port, however, was derived from his rifle,
and many stories are told of his encounters
with wild beasts and his wonderful success
in hunting. When he had killed a sufficient
number of deer to make a load, he would
pack the hams and skins in his wagon, and,
with an ox team, start for St. Louis, where
an exchange would be made for groceries,
ammunition and other commodities. As the
country settled up and game became scarce,
Blansett concluded that, like Daniel Boone,
it was high time for him to leave; so, load-
ing up his few household effects, and turn-
ing his face toward the sotting sun, took his
departure for the far West, where he could
find a home more to his tastes, away from
the fetters of civilization. John Funk came
from the South about the year 1840, and set-
tled near the central part of the township,
where he resided for five years. He earned
the reputation of being a good citizen, and

HISTORY OF EFFINGIIiVM COUNTY.

203

did much, in a quiet and unobtrusive way,
toward advancing the material interests of
the community in which he lived.

Prominent among the early settlers was
Michael Sprinkle, a man well known through-
ont the township, and universally respected,
and who came in the year ]841. He located
near where Watson now stands, and after-
ward sold out to his son and moved to Ew-
ington. Several years ago, he moved back
into this township, where he still resides, one
of the oldest settlers now living within its
limits. From the year 1841 to 1840, the
following settlers made their advent into the
township and settled in different portions of
it: Daniel Einehart, William Moody, Alex-
ander McDuester, Thomas Hillis, John Tay-
lor, Daniel Le Crone, William Le Crone, and
the Loy family. Rineharfc was prominently
known in the early settlement as a man of
more than ordinary intellectual abilities, and
to him the citizens were wont to look for their
instruDjenta of writing, legal advice, and
other items of knowledge generally belong-
ing to the legal profession. He settled on
the farm where Michael Sprinkle now lives,
to whom he sold the place after he had occu-
pied it about twelve years. From this town-
ship he went to Ewington in the year 1853,
but moved back again, and died in Watson
some nine years ago. For a number of years,
he served the people of the county as County
Clerk, and discharged the duties of thai
office in an acceptable manner. A son of
Erastus N. Einehart is the present State
Senator from this district, and a prominent
man of Effingham. Moody entered the land
where William Le Crone now lives, which he
occupied about live or six years, when he dis-
posed of the place and moved to Missouri.
McDuester improved a tract of land near the
northern boundary of the townshij), which is
still in possession of his family. Hillis and

Taylor both came from Ohio and purchased
claims in the northeastern part of the town-
ship. Daniel Le Crone came also from Ohio,
about the year 1842, and settled where his son,
William L., now lives. The family originally
came from Pennsylvania, but had been resi-
dents of Ohio a short time before moving
here. One son lives in the city, of Effing-
ham, where for a number of years he has
been a leading physician.

The Loys were an important family in pio-
neer times, and the name continues to hold a
respectable place in the county. They were
from Alabama, and made the long journey to
this part of the country with teams — an un-
dertaking at that time quite formidable, and
fraught with a great deal of peril. It would
compare well with the embarkation of the
Pilgrims, who left their native shore two
hundred years earlier to make their way
acro.ss the deep, to find a home in the New
World. Indeed, the hardships of the wilder-
ness road which lay before them were nearly
as great as those experienced by those on
board of the Mayflower, while the length of
time required to complete the journey was
almost as great. The roads in the South at
that time were but poor, and, after crossing
the Ohio, consisted of mere trails, through
sloughs, over hills, fording creeks and ferry-
ing rivers. There were but few bridges
across the streams then, especially on this
side of the Ohio, and during the journey
many of the water-courses were so swollen by
rains that the emigrants were compelled to
go into camp for several days to wait for the
flood to subside in order to cross over. Their
little stock of provisions soon gave out, but
they did not suffer for food, as the limber and
prairie were full of game, and the rifle sup-
plied them with plenty of meat. The cattle
easily subsisted on the grass that grew along
the ri>ad. In this manner, the long, weari-

204

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

some journey was at length completed, much
to the relief of all concerned. The original
place of settlement was in Shelby County,
wh(ae the family remained but a few year.s,
and afterward moved to this county and lo-
cated in Jackson Township. From the lat-
ter, John Henry Loy came into Watson about
the year 1845. He had several sons, all of
whom were prominently connected with the
early history and development of the county.
Joseph Loy, the oldest, came to this town-
ship from near Ewington, about the same
time his father settled here, and located a
farm a short distance east of the village of
Watson, where he still lives. John and De-
witt C, brothers of Joseph, selected their
homes in the northern part of the township,
where each has a very handsome property,
and are among the well-to-do citizens of the
county. Another brother, Thomas Loy, was
a jirominent settler also, and figured rather
conspicuously in the early polities of the
county, having been called to fill the offices
of County Treasurer, Surveyor and Repre-
sentative at different times dm'ing his life.
This comprises the early settlement of Wat-
son Township as far as we have been able to
learn, though there may be other names
equally entitled to a mention in these pages.
Their early struggles and hardships, and
trials incident to the pioneer's life, are but a
repetition of those experienced by all settlers
in a new and uninhabited region, and is il-
lustrated by the Loys' trip to the country.
Many daring deeds by these unknown heroes
have passed into oblivion, and many of the
foregoing list who labored hard to introduce
civilization into this part of the coixntry now
lie in obscm-e graves, unmarked by the sim-
plest epitaph. Those of the number who
still live little thought, as they first gazed
upon the broad waste of prairie, the unmo-
lested groves, dense and tangled with brush

and brier, that all this wilderness, in their
own day, would be made to blossom as a
garden. Little thought had they of seeing
beautiful homes, waving fields of golden
grain, green pastures and grazing herds,
where the bounding deer, crouching and
howling wolf, held unmolested sway.

"All houor then to these gray old men,

When at last they are bowed with toil ;
Their warfare then o'er, they battle no more,
For they've conquered the stubborn soil."

The majority of the early pioneers of South-
ern Illinois were men of moderate circum-
stances, and came here desirous of bettering
their fortunes. Like all pioneers, they were
kind to a fault, and ever ready to do a favor.
They came with but a meager outfit of this
world's goods, but, strong in faith and hope,
expected to increase their worldly store, and
provide a home where to pass their declining
years. The emigrant, upon his arrival, be-
gan at once preparations for a shelter. Diu"-
ing this period, the family lived in a wagon,
or occupied a temporary hut made of poles,
with no floor except that of mother earth,
and no windows except the interstices be-
tween the logs forming the walls. Should
the time of arrival be in the spring, this
simple structure sufficed for a house until the
crojis were sown, when a more comfortable
abode was prepared for winter. The crops
were principally corn and a few potatoes.
Wheat and the other cereals were not raised
for a number of years after the firs settle-
ments had been made, on account of the poor
condition of the soil, which, at that time,
was very wet and marshy, esisecially ou the
prairies. A serious difficulty was experienced
in raising corn, owing to the early frosts,
which were sometimes so severe as to com-
pletely I'uin the entire crop, thus bringing
upon the people a great many hardships.
Edmund Loy speaks of one of these frosts.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

203

which occurred about the year 1847, as hav-
ing entailed a great amount of suffering upon
the community. It happened so late in the
season that replanting was out of the ques-
tion, and the corn for family use had to be
purchased at the exorbitant price of $1.25 per
bushel, equivalent to about three times that
amount at the present day. The wheat used
was purchased from the older settlements
further south and east, and formed but an in-
significant part of their diet, white bread,
cakes, pies, etc. , being luxuries enjoyed only
at rare intervals. Wild game of all kinds
was numerous, deer being so plenty that they
would come into the stable j'ards, and feed
with the domestic stock; during the cold win-
ters, wild turkeys were more common than
chickens are now. An incident is related of
a family that kept a pile of corn in one room
of the house, and were compelled to keep the
door tightly closed in order to save it from a
drove of these birds that flocked on the porch.
Wolves were everywhere to be seen, and
proved such a trouble to the farmers' live
stock that systematic hunts had to bo planned
for the purpose of ridding the country of
them.

The fu-st improvement to which the pioneer
looks after having procm'ed a habitation for
himself and family, is a mill, a piece of ma-
chinei-y that always accompanies civilization.
Meal was fu-st obtained by crushing the corn
when di-y in a kind of rude mortar made by
chiseling out a hollow in the top of a round
oak stump. The pestle was an iron block
made fast to a sweep, and with this simple
contrivance a coarse article of meal could be
manufactured. A still simpler means was
often resorted to before the corn had become
hard enough to shell, namely, the common tin
grater. The first mill patronized by the early
residents of AVatson stood on the Little Wabash
in the northern part of what is now Union

Township, and was operated by Frederick
Brockett, one of the earliest pioneers of
Effingham County. It served as a source of
supplies for a number of years, until a small
horse-mill was erected in the southwest part
of the township, near the village of Watson.
The name of the persim who built and oper-
ated this mill is unknown, and the time it
was in operation could not be ascei'tained.
Each person who brought a grist was obliged
to furnish his own team, wait his turn and do
his own grinding. On one occasion, when
there was quite a crowd at the mill waiting
their respective turns, two men got into an
angry discussion with the proprietor about
their time, and several sharp epithets were
bandied back and forth. The crowd inter-
fered and prevented a fight, but the two bel-
ligerent farmers swore that they would be
even with the " d— d miller, and that right
early." On going to start the mill the fol-
lowing morning, the miller found no buhrs,
they having disappeared during the night.
A number of persons had by this time arrived
at the mill with their grists, and among others
the two parties that figured in the quarrel
with the miller the previous day. After
searching the place for some time and not
finding the buhrs, a strong two-fisted giant
of a farmer got upon a stump, and said he
knew who took them, and added with a sig-
nificant look in the direction of the two sus-
pected parties, that if " them air stones ain't
brung back before another day, I'll kick the
everlasting stuffin' out of the fellers that
caiTied 'em off." These words had the de-
sired effect, for on the following morning the
mill was in readiness for running. Thomas
Loy built a horse-mill in the northern part of
the township about 1851, and operated it for
several years, and did a very good business.
Aside from these two there were no mills
built in the township until the year 1867,

206

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

when a combination mill was put in operation
at tlie village of Watson.

The subject of education has from an early
date received a good deal of attention in this
township. Long before the law authorizing
a system of public schools was in force, the
pioneers of Watson took steps toward the
education of the youth in the primary branches
of learning. Comparatively few of the
first settlers were men of letters, most of them
having been children when the matter of
book learning in the States where they were
brought up was yet considered a matter of
minor importance. And yet these j^eople
seemed to fully realize the losses they had
sustained in the neglect of their own school-
ing, and were therefore anxious to do the
nest best thing, by making amends in the
case of their own children. The first school
was kept in a little pole building that stood
near the noithwestern part of the township
about the year 1846. The second school-
house was built a few years later, and stood
about one hundred yards west of the place
occupied by tl> e one alluded to. The teacher
who conducted the first school in this build-
ing was a man named James Leavitt, but we
are unable to state from whence he came or
whither he went. No certificates of qualifi-
cation were at that time granted, so we are
unable to enlighten our readers as to Prof.
Leavitt's scholastic attainments. One of the
early schoolhouses was built near where Hen-
ry Loy now lives, in the northern part of the
township. It was erected by the neighbors
for a young man who had come into the com-
munity a short time previous for the purpose
of securing a school. After he had canvassed
the neighborhood and gotten the names of
nearly all the settlers on his subscription
list, a very bad report concerning him was
circulated. It was stated that he was a gam-
bler, pickpocket, blackleg, and had run away

from his wife, who was at that time living in
Ohio. He denied the report and branded it
as a villainous lie, but many of the people
gave it credit, and swore he should not teach
the schools, while those who did not believe
it, were as determined that the school should
go on. The feeling of the neighborhood
waxed hot over the affair, but the opposition
carried the day, for a party of men met one
night, proceeded to the schoolhouse and tore
it to the ground. Among those who gloried
in the part they took in the transaction were
James Loy, Robert and William McCannon.
The teacher left, and it was afterward ascer-
tained that the rejaorts concerning him were
tinged considerably with the truth. The
fii'st frame schoolhouse was built in the sum-
mer of 1859, and is known as the Boggs
Schoolhouse. It was in this building that
the first public school of the township was
taught the winter following its erection.
Th9 present schoolhouses are in the main
good and well furnished. The schools are
ably conducted by competent teachers, and
the advantages of a liberal education are
within the easy reach of all.

Among the early pioneers of Watson were
many pious men and women, and its religious
history dates from the jjeriod of its settle-
ment. The first preachers were Methodist,
and came as one crying in the wilderness,
and wherever they could collect a few of the
pioneers together, they jjroclaimed the glad
tidings of salvation " without money and
without price." The first religious services
held within the present limits of the township
were conducted at the residence of John Loy
shortly after he came to the country. A
class was organized at the place which after-
ward grew into a flourishing chui'ch known
as " Loy Chapel," where services are still
held. John Loy was the first Class Leader,
and Revs. Allen and Williamson amontj the

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

209

earliest pastors. Among the original mem-
bers can be named Elizabeth Funk, Cathai'ine
Biyant, Mahala Loy, Thomas Loy and wife
and John Loy and wife. Loy's residence
served as a preaching place about two years,
when meetincrs were hold at a neighborintr
schoolhouse. Their present neat church edi-
fice was erected in the year 1874, and is a
veiy comfortable and substantial house of
worship; it is frame and cost the siuu of $1,-
100. The membership has fallen oflf consid-
erably of late years, there being only about
thirty- live members now belonging, under
the pastorate of Rev. J. Harpsr. Connected
with the church is a flourishing Sunday
school, under the superintendency of a very
worthy gentleman.

A Lutheran Church was established sev-
eral years ago, which is at this time a flour-
ishing organization. They have a neat tem-
ple of worship in the northern part of the
township, where services are regularly held.
Few facts or statistics, however, relative to
this church were obtained.

The Village of Watson. — This thriving
little town is situated near the southeast cor-
ner of the township, and dates its history
proper from the 26th day of October, 1857,
at which time it was surveyed into lots by the
Deputy County Surveyor for John L. Bar-
nard, proprietor of the land. The necessity
of the town was created by the Illinois Cen-
tral Railroad, which had been completed
through the country a short time previous,
and it is to the suggestion of one of the offi-
cials that the town was laid out. The first
building erected was a small storeroom, in
which a general stock was kept by David
Trexler, who, after one year, sold out to
Martin LeCrone. The latter increased the
stock, built up an extensive trade, and for
about one year did a very flourishing busi-
ness. The building was burned about the

year 1860, entailing quite a heavy loss on
the proprietor, as the greater amount of the
goods was destroyed. A second store was
started in the year 185 J, in a building erect-
ed for the purpose by C. T. BuiToughs, who
did a good business with a general assort-
ment of goods for about six years. Kire
Bradley started the third store some time
dm-ing the year 1800, and continued in l)usi-
ness four years, when he was succeeded by
Moore & Greenleaf, who in turn disjaosed of
the stock to J. F. Bartley. Some time later,
Barkley & Abraham opened a store and erect-
ed a substantial building, a short time after-
ward, and sold goods as partners for about
eight years, when the entiie stock was pur-
chased by the latter, who shill runs the busi- ^
ness. The large frame storehouse near the
central part of the village was built in the
year 18(34 by Hiunes & Howe, who stocked it
with a line of goods representing a capital of
$6,000 or 57,000, and for five years contin-
ued the business together, when the firm was
changed to Humes & Cooper. Cooper bought
Humes' interest one year later, and condiicted
a very flourishing trade for two years, when
he closed out the entire stock, and for some
time the building stood idle. Jt is at present
owned by "W. M. Anderson, and occupied by
the Schooley Bros, as a fiu'niture store. H.
A. Vance opened a hardware store in the year
1867, but closed out his business after run-
ning it for two years. The room in which he
kept his stock was aftei-ward occupied by F.
Lloyd & Co.'s general store. The last named
was succeeded by W. T. Jaycox, who pur-
chased their goods, although he occupies
another building at this time.

A steam saw-mill was built in the year
1867 by A. J. Vance, to which a set of buhrs
was afterward added. It has been in opei'a-
tion ever since, and is at present ran by W.
M. Anderson, the proprietor. Dr. G. S.

210

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM COUXTY.

Shindle was the first physician in Watson.
He was an old settler of the county and came
here whon there were but two or three houses
in the village. There have been the follow-
ing disciples of Esculapius located here at
intervals daring the last twenty-five years:
J. Boss, J. M. Wilhite, P. M. Martin, S. G.
Huff, who ojjened the first drug store in the
town; J. N. Groves, Scott, J. N. Mat-
thews, L. W. Hammer and H. C. Finch.

The first hotel was built by Robert Thomp-
son, and operated by him for about fifteen
years. William La Kew kept a good public
house for several years; also, J. V. Bail at-
tends to the wants of the traveling public at
the present time.

' J The citizens of the town have always taken
a just pride in their schools, which, in point
of eificiency, are as good as any in the entire
county. A frame house was erected in the
year 1864, and used until 1872, when the
present commodious brick structure was
erected. This is one of the best finished and
best furnished schoolhouses in the county.
It contains two large, comfortable rooms, and
was built at a cost of §1,600. The first
teachers were N. E. Clutter and Annie
McPherson; the present teachers are Prof.
W. H. Diets, Principal, and M. E. Hillis,
assistant.

Watson Lodge, No. 602, A., F. & A. M.,
was organized the 6th day of October, 1868;
the charter was granted by J.'R. Gorin, at
that time Grand Master, and contains the
following names: F. Cooper, A. L. Walker,
S. T. Hillis, W. F. Scott, T. B. Sehooley, R.
S. Wand, J. Barkley, J. M. Wilhite, James B.
Gillispie, J. V. Bail andH. S. Barkley. For
several months after organizing, meetings
were held in a vacant storeroom belonging to
Charles Burroughs. Later, a room was fitted
up in the residence of J. V. Bail, which
served as a meeting place until their present

hall was built, in the year 1871. The differ-
ent olfices are at present filled by the follow-
ing persons: C. Miller, W. M.; W. M. Abra-
ham, S. W. ; S. T. Hillis, J. W.; S. Fran- <
Icisco, Treasurer; J. D. D. Williamson, Sec- \
retary; A. L. Walker, S. D.; William Brady,
J. D.; B F. Hosier, Tiler. The present
membership is about twenty.

There are three church organizations in
the village, which ought to speak well for the
morality of the citizens. From facts gener-
ously furnished by J. D. D. Williamson, we
give the following history of the oldest
churches (the Methodist) in Watson. We
have no records further back than the year
1852. "UTien this place was an apjiointment
on the Ewington Circuit, and J. D. Gilham,
pastor, services were held at that time in the
old log schoolhouse that for a number of
years stood in the western part of the vil-
lage, but is now a thing of the past. In this
rude temple the plain backwoodsmen of the
ime , accompanied by their wives and familie.?, '
were wont to seek spii'itual comfort — that balm
that comes not from human hands, and if the
memories of many of the old people of the
town are trustworthy, precious sermons were
enjoyed here and many souls brought to
Christ. In the year 1853, Rev. David Will-
iamson, just transferred from the Indiana
Conference, was appointed to the Ewington
Circuit, of which Watson was still a part.
This was a year of much good to the chm*ch,
and many were gathered into the fold, through
the effective labors of this devoted servant of
God. Services were still held in the old log
scl;oolhouse, and for several succeeding years,
until the building of the frame schoolhouse
that is now used for a dwelling in the north
part of the town. At this place meetings were
conducted until the new brick chiu'ch school-
house was erected, when the organization was
moved to it. Among the earlier members of

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

211

the church can be named Mi. Jaycox, Mi-.
Kaufman, now deceased; Mrs. Kaufman.
Mrs. Mary Loy and Mrs. Polly LeCrone, now
living. The present building whore the con-
gregation worships was erected in 1870. It
is a neat frame sU'Uctxu'e, situated in the
southeastern part of the town, and cost about
$1,000. At different times AYatson has been
an appointment in the following circuits in
the order in which they are named: Ewing-
ton. Mason, Effingham and Watsou. The
following are the pastors (as many as we
could obtain) in the order of their ministry:
John D. Gilham, 1852; David Williamson,
1853; J. Vest, 1854; J. S. Estlep, 1855; R.
H. Massey, 1856; G. W. Cullom, 1857; R.
G. Ayres, 1858; then David Williamson
again, in 1859 and I860; William Butt, 1861
and 1862. The last-named was a strong Re-
publican in politics, whilst the majority of
the charge were as strongly Democratic. By
his outspoken political sentiments a strong
antagonism was unwisely aroused, which in-
jured his work as a religious teacher; he was
a man of brilliant attainments, a finished
orator and scholar. G. W. Cullom took
charge of the church again in 1863 ; Charles
Mapes, 1864; G. W. Branine, 1865; J. H.
Lockwood, 1867, 1868; T. N. Johnson, 1869;
J. H. Hill, 1870; David Williamson, 1871;
G. M. Whitesell, 1872; J. D. Crum, 1874;
Cullom again in 1875; Olin Rippeto, 1877;
G. W. Butler, 1878-78; D. W. Phillips,
1880; L. A. Harper, 1881 ; J. W. Noll and Rev.
Hoar, 1882. The church is now in a fairh- pros •
perous condition, with an active membershijD.
The Christian Chiu'ch was re-organized
from the remnants of an old chuixh that had
formerly met at a place about two miles east
vi Watson, in the year 1874. There-organi-
zation was effected at the Boggs Schoolhouse,
where services were held until the year 1874,
when their present building was erected in

the village. It is a frame house, 44x28 feet,
and represents a capital of about $1,600. It
was dedicated in ihe spring of 1875 by Elder
J. G. BuiToughs, who at the time was pastor.
The original membership was aboTit forty,
which is about the number now belonging.
Elder T. S. Wall was pastor two years. C.
B. Black, one year and six months. The
pastor now in charge is Elder W. T. Gordon.
Their Sunday school, which is one of the
largest and most flourishing in the country,
is under the able management of W. S.
Schooley, Superintendent, and hp.s an aver-
age attendance of about seventy scholars.

An old organization of the Presbyterians
had been in existence at this place for a num-
ber of years, but for some causes unknown
the society had been abandoned some time
prior to the year 1875. It was re-organized
in 1879, chiefly by the labors of Rev. A. H.
Parks, with a membership of thirty persons.
Services were held in the Christian Church,
which had been generously thrown open to
them, until they were able to fit up a house
of worship, which was done some time later.
An old chiu-ch building that had formerly
belonged to a society of the Baptists was
purchased and refitted at a cost of about
11,000; it stands in the west part of the vil-
lage and is the best church edifice in the
town. The first officers were C. M. Service,
W. M. Lockwood and William Wilson, El-
ders; Henry Leckman, James Russell, W.
W. Ashbaugh, W. T. Jaycox and D. C. Ash-
baugh. Trustees. Rev. Parks is the only
pastor the congregation has had, though they
have preaching at intervals by transient min-
isters. The membership does not seem to
have increased much since the re organiza-
tion, thei'e being about the same number now
on the records as were enrolled at the first
meeting. Of the Baptist Church referred to
nothing was learned.

313

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY. /

The following parties represent the present
business interests of Watson: W. T. Jaycox
and W. M. Abraham keep general stores;
Schooley Bros, handle all kinds of furniture;
J. A. Spinkle has a neat drug store; Flem-
ing & Selby, wagon and carriage makers; C.
C. Smith, boot and shoe maker; J. V. Bail, i Watson upon petition of the citizens. W.
blacksmith. The railroad business is man- M. Abraham is the present Postmaster.

aged by Mr. Claar, while Miss Lidy deftly
manipulates the telegraph keys. The first post
ofiSce was established about the year 185(3,
and John Irwin was appointed Postmaster.
It was known as Salt Creek Post Office until
the year 1808, when the name was changed to

CHAPTER XYIIL*

JACKSON TOWNSHIP— INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION— TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.— SETTLE-
MENT OF WHITE PEOPLE— PIONEER IMPROVEMENTS AND BUSINESS INDUSTRIES— SOME
EARLY INCIDENTS— BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES— MILLS, ROADS, ETC.
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES— VILLAGES, ETC., ETC.

■■ Build yet, the end is not; build on,

Build for the ages unafraid;
The past is but a base whereon

These ashlars, well hewn, may be laid,
Lo, I declare I deem him blest

Whose foot, here pausing, findeth rest."

THE world in its onward rush is now taking
time to look back, and the story of the
pioneer is becoming one of absorbing inter-
est. Illinois was for years considered " out
west," and its people, scarcely out of the
brush, took little interest in those traditions
relating to a condition of society but little
removed from their own. But the grand
march of civilization has pressed back the
Western frontier, until, instead of bordering
the Mississippi River, it rests iipon the shore
of the Pacific, and has made the once North-
western Territory the central link in the brill-
iant chain of States. This awakening to the
true value of the early history of this coun-
try comes, in many respects, too late. Most
of the pioneers have been gathered to their
fathers within the last decade, and one by
one the old landmarks have decayed and
passed away with those who reared them,
while that period is fast rolling on when

*By W. H. Pen-in.

none can truly say, "I remember them or
their works. " Thus while we may, we will
rescue fi'om oblivion the facts and reminis-
cences, so far as attainable, of this section.

Jackson Township is largely taken up
with the Wabash bottoms, and hence has
much broken and hilly timbered land, with
a very little level prairie in the western part.
It is southwest from Effingham, and is
bounded on the north by Summit Township,
on the east by Watson, on the south by Ma-
son, on the west bv Mound and the Congres-
sional survey lies in Township 7 north,
and Range 5 east, of the Third Principal
Meridian. Its principal drainage is through
the Little Wabash and its numerous tribu-
taries. The Wabash flows in a southerly di-
rection through the eastern part of the town-
ship, receiving the waters of Big Creek,
Second Creek and Funkhouser Creek ;
Brockett and Coon Creeks are tributaries of
Big Creek. These numerous streams form
an excellent system of natural drainage, af-
ford an ample supply of stock water, and if
properly utilized would furnish power to
numberless mills and other machinery. The

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

213

original timber was similar to that described
in Summit and other townships of the coun-
ty, and in the bottoms consisted of walnut,
papaw, Cottonwood, sycamore, sugar maple,
buckeye, soft maple, etc., etc., and upon the
plains and ridges, the different oaks, hickory,
and other hardy growths. The township
comprises considerable good land, and along
the river bluffs and hills there may be found
some that possesses little value, except for
the timber.

The early settlers, the men who first flocked
to the hills and plains of Jackson Township;
the men whose voices rantr first through its
heavy forests while yet the footprints of the
red man lingered in the sands; the men
whose bullets first pierced the bounding deer
that played and hid among the trees, are
those around whom linger the most thrilling
interest. The most of them are sone to that
country where there are no pioneer trials
and hardships. Some of the first settlers in
the county located in this township; here
dwelt and figured some of the most distin-
guished characters the county has known,
and here.was the familiar " stamping ground"
of Ben Campbell, to whom Mr. Bradsby
has paid a fine tribute in a preceding chap-
ter. To these pioneers and early settlers we
will now devote a few pages.

The first settlement in what now forms
Jackson Township was made by Isaac Fan-
cher in 1825, and is one of the earliest settle-
ments made in the county. His brother,
Byron Fancher, settled a year or two later.
They were from Tennessee, and Isaac settled
on the place where Judge Gillenwaters after-
terward lived. Byron was in the Black Hawk
war, and was a good and upright man. He
afterward sold out and moved to Texas.
Isaac died in the township many years ago.
Ben Oarapbell — the David Crockett, the
Daniel Boone of the back woods — was the next

settler in this towuship. He came about the
year 1826-27, and for many years took aa
active part in opening up the country and
paving the way for the tide of immigration
sweeping over the country from the East to
the West. He is so fully written up, how-
ever, elsewhere, that we can add nothing
without repetition. Jesse and Jack Fulfer
came also in 1826. They were from the
South, but it is not known from what State.
They were not very pushing or energetic,
but lived mostly by " days' works." They
are dead and have no descendants now living
in the county. Thomas I. Brockett came in
1828, and was the next addition to the set-
tlement. Two brothers, Fred and William,
were also early settlers in the county. They
were all from Tennessee. Fred lived on the
road to Blue Point, and William lived near
the line, but probably in Union Township.
Fred had a grist mill and saw mill on the
Little Wabash, in Union Township. Thom-
as was instrumental in having the tii-st school
taught in the township. They are all dead
and gone years ago.

Among the arrivals of 1829 were Samuel
Bratton, Andrew Lilly, Henry Tucker, Will-
iam Stephens, Jacob Nelson and his sons.
Bratton came from some one of the Southern
States. He settled in Jackson, but afterward
moved into Douglas. He has no descend-
ants in the county. Lilly was also from the
South, and is long since dead. He used to
"shove the queer," it is said, and was a
great "chum" of Hull, who was finally sent
to the penitentiary for making and passing
counterfeit money. Tucker was from Ten-
nessee, and settled down in the river bottom,
where he died. He has two sens, John and
James, still living in the township, both of
whom were in the Mexican war. Mr. Tucker
was an honest and honorable man, and high-
ly respected in the communitv. William

314

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUXTY.

Stephens settled in this township, then moved
into Watson, and later moved away from the
State. Nelson came from Tennessee and
settled in White County, 111., in 1828, and
the next year came here. He^iirst settled on
Limestone Creek, and then in this township,
on the place where Calvin Mitchell now lives.
He "cut the first stick'' on that place, im-
proved it and afterward entered it. He had
a son named Peter and another named Wash.
All of them are dead — Peter probably ex-
cepted. He moved up north, came back, and
finally moved away again, and was living the
last known of him.

The year 1830 brought a few more set-
tlers to the township, among whom were
Jesse White, Alfred AVarron, Hemy P.
Bailey, George and Enoch Neaville, Micajah
Davidson and James Tm-ner. White was
from Tennessee, and was a single man when
he came. He married soon after, however,
and settled down on the river, but afterwai-d
moved out on the prairie. Bailey was also
from Tennessee, and was the first Sheriff of
the county He still has quite a number of
descendants in this and the sm-rounding
townships. Neaville was a Frenchman, and
came from Alabama George, who was the
father of Enoch, moved to Missouri, and
finally died on the Gasconade River. Enoch
moved into Watson Township, and died there.
Davidson fii'st settled here and built a little
mill, then sold out and moved over into
Mason. Warren settled on the place where
Ben Campbell died. He then moved aci-osa
\ the Wabash onto the place where Tom Aus-
\ tin now lives, and there died. '

James Turner, one of the last members of
the old guard, and with Judge Broom, Judge
Gillenwaters, and Mr. John Scott, the oldest
settlers now living in the county, is a native
of Virginia. He emigi-ated to Tennessee in
1823, and in the fall of 1830, came to Illi-

nois, locating in Jackson Township. He still
lives on the place where he originally settled,
and can tell many stories, and relate many
interesting incidents of frontier life; of how
the pioneer left the civilization of the older
States behind him, located in this wild
region, far removed from the influence of the
schoolhouse and the chui'ch, drove back the
savages, and paved the way for the blessings
of to-day. "Uncle Jimmy," or "Grand-
pap," as his intimate friends call him, will
tell you how for years he tanned his own
leather m troughs, and made the shoes for
his own family and children. And a large
family he had — nine sons and two daughtera.
The sons all grew to manhood, and six of
them are still living; one of the daughters
lives in the township, and the other in Cali-
fornia. Mr. Turner is the only one of the
early settlers of this township, except Mr.
Scott, now living. His memory is excellent,
and his descriptions of pioneer life vivid
and interesting. To him we are indebted
for much valuable information, not only of
this township, but of other portions of the
county.

The Gallants settled in the township in
1831, but of them few facts were obtained.
John O. Scott came here in 1832. He was
a single man, but a few years later he mar-
ried, as all true men should, thus carrying
out the divine injunction to "multiply and
replenish the earth." He and his good wife,
who was Martha Parkhurst, are both living,
honored citizens of the city of Effingham.
Their recollection of early times and hard-
ships is clear, and has been the means of
preserving many historical facts fi-om obliv-
ion. Mrs. Scott's father, Jonathan Park-
hurst, was a native of New Jersey, but had
ived some years in Tennessee, some real's
before moving to this State. He first settled
in White County, 111., where he remained

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

215

some years, then came to this county, and
settled in Mason Township; a few years later,
he moved into Jackson. Thus, slowly the
settlers came in, until all the available land
was taken up and occupied.

While the pioneers had many soui'ces of
pleasure and pastime, their early years here
were years of toil. They had no mills near
by, no agricultural implements, except a few
of a very crude character, and, indeed none
of the luxuries and but few of the comforts
of life. Their clothing was made at home,
of cotton and flax, grown by themselves, and
of the skins of wild animals, moccasins in-
cased their feet, and their food, if not ' ' lo-
custs and wild honey," the latter at least was
included in the bill of fai-e as one of the
main staples of food, and was plenty in the
forest. Wild beasts were plenty, and some-
times dangerous to cope with, if ravenously
hungry; add to this the insects and 'reptiles,
which were as thick as the leaves upon the
trees, and the reader will conclude that
pioneer life was not all sunshine. But with
the increase of settlements, and the advance
of civilization, improvements were made in
the way of living from time to time, better
implements and tools wei'e brought in, and
life became more endui'able and enjoyable.

The incidents that gave zest to frontier
life were frontier weddings — these were
times of general rejoicings, and all with-
in a large circle was invited and attended
as -punctually as when the occasion was
a house-raising or a corn-huskinsr. Sev-
eral weddings occuiTsd in Jackson Town-
ship while it was yet in the pioneer
period of its existence. Of those were
Enoch Neayille and Lam3_Pagh, Mike
Robinson and Delilah Pugh, Jesse White
and Kate Neaville and John Scott and
Martha Parkhurst. We cannot, like the
modern Jenkins, give a full description of

these fair brides, their trousseaus and wed-
ding traps generally, but have no doubt it
corresponded with the happy events celebrat-
ed. Ever since that wonderful triumph of
millinei-y art long ago, of manufacturing an
entire feminine wai'drobe from fig leaves,
female ingenuity has been equal to any oc-
casion when a display of brilliant costumes
was required, and it would be superfluous
to say that her resources did not fail upon
these occasions.

An incident to the point, and illustrative
of the times, is related by Judge Gillonwa-
ters: Fred. Brockett's wife died, and some
years afterward he made up his mind to
marry again, and began to cast about him for
a suitable helpmeet. He went into the mat-
ter much as he would have embarked in any
other business enterprise. He mounted his
horse and traveled from neighborhood to
neighborhood, and everywhere his inquiries
were for some " good looking, middle- aged
widow 'oman, who wanted to marry," that he
was " out on the hunt of a wife, and would
like to find such a 'owan." Some distance
south of here he made his usual inquiries,
and was infortaed that about twenty miles
back was the very woman who would fill the
bill; that she was sensible, practical, and had
plenty of the world's goods. He turned and
retraced his steps, and went to see the wo-
man. Afterward, when asked why he did
not marry her, he said " she wouldn't do at
all," that he " didn't want any such a little,
crooked, chied-up 'oman as that." But we
are told that " time, patience and persever-
ance will accomplish all things," so he finally
succeeded in finding a woman to suit his
tastes in all respects.

In the regular com-so of human nature,
births follow marriages, and the drst birth
in the township was a pair of twins with
different fathers and mothers. They wore,

21(i

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

however, born in the same house, on the
same night, and was a son of Stephen Austin
and a daughter of Thomas I. Brockett. The
circumstances attending this " j)henomenon "
are detailed in a preceding chapter. They
were soon followed by others. With so many
pioneer weddings as we have accredited to
Jackson, an increase of population is but a
natural consequence. We were informed
that the crop of children in the community
was sare and large, honce it follows that
these new married couples essayed to follow.
or rather to carry out, the Biblical injunction
— to " multiply and replenish the earth."

The first death in the township was the
result of an accident. Isaac Fulfer, in cut-
ting a bee tree, was caught in some manner
by a falling limb and crushed to death. The
accident was a melancholy one, and the vio-
lent death it involved cast a gloom over the
entire settlement. The first person who died
a natural death was a young man named
Cummings, a nephew of Rod Jenkins. He
came to the neighborhood with the intention
of making it his home, and was taken sick
soon after his arrival and died. He was
buried at Jenkins', in a quiet spot where no
graveyard had been laid out then, nor has
been since. The first graveyard was near
Freemanton. and was laid out in a very early
day. A number of private , graveyards, or
family burying grounds, have been made and
peopled by the the "pale nations of the
dead."

Mills were one of the first improvements
in which the people took an interest, after
becoming settled down to work. Brockett
had a mill down on the river, but there is some
question as to whether it was in Jackson,
Mason or Union Township. Funkhouser
had a horse mill a little east of Freemanton.
It would be thought a poor excuse as a mill
at this day, but then it was considered a

grand improvement. Tucker had a mill
veiy early. It was on the Little Wabash,
and had what was called a tub wheel. A
man named Meeks built it for Tucker. He
was a sort of a millwright, and an early set-
tler of the township, but no one knows now
what became of him. Jonathan Parkhurst
had a little horse mill, with stones about fif-
teen inches in diameter. Some mischievous
fellows, without the fear of God before them,
stole them one night, and carried them off
by running their arms through the hole in
them, and they were not found for three
months. It happened that this mill was the
only " dry weather " mill then for a circuit
of many miles. Mr. Turner says that during
all that time they had to " grit" meal; and
when the corn got too dry for that process,
they would boil it in water until it got tight
enough on the cob to enable them to " grit "
it into meal.

Roads and highways were not laid out for
several years after settlements were made in
the townships. The first roads were trails
through the forests and prairies, made by
the Indians. These were improved upon by
the white people, and served as highways
until roads were laid out and made by county
authority. The old National road passes
through a corner of Jackson, and is fully wi'it-
teu up in preceding chapters of this work.

When the county was organized, one of
the fiist voting places was at the house of
Thomas I. Brockett, and even before the
county was formed, while it was yet a part
of Fayette County, it was a voting place.
The last election, before the organization of
EfiSugham County, there were but thirteen
votes polled at Brockett's — and they were
solid for Gen. Jackson. We may add, that
a majority of the voters in that neighbor-
hood are still voting (figuratively) for Old
Hickory.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

217

The first goods sold in the township was
by John Funkhouser, about the year 1833.
He opened a store on the place where he
settled, which is claimed by many to have
been the first one established in the county,
while others reject the authority. If Fuuk-
houser's was not first, it was among the first.
It certainly was the first in Jackson Town-
ship. He carried on an extensive business
in eai-ly times. Besides his store and mill,
he was a great trader, and bought all the
surplus products of the people. But so
much has already been said of this pioneer
business man that we can add nothing with-
out repetition.

By reference to the chapter on education it
will be seen that the first school in the county
was taught in this township by Elisha Park-
hurst, then a boy but twelve years old, and
that his schoolroom was a quarter section of
Thomas I. Brockett's stable. Brockett was
the sponsor or godfather of this school, and
what the boy Elisha could not do in man-
ageing it, Brockett did for him, and between
them they carried on a jiretty good school
for the time.

Another of the pioneer schools, and which
Judge Broom believes to have been the first
in the county, was taught by Col. Houston
in the south part of the township, neai- the
line between it and Mason Township. It was
tauglit in the fii'st regular schoolhouse
erected, perhaps, in the county, llr. Turner
says he helped to build it, and that it was
constructed of round logs and had a wooden
chimney, puncheon floor, etc. As pojiulation
increased, and children likewise, other
schools were established in the different
neighborhoods, and schoolhousos built to ac-
commodate them, until, at the present time,
the township enjoys the most liberal educa-
tional facilities.

Churches were established coeval with the

settlement of the township by white people.
The Baptists were the pioneers of religion in
this neighborhood, and mingled their hymns
with the screams of the j).".uther and the
howl of the wolf. The first preacher here,
and jjrobably the first, at least among the
first, in the county, were Elders Whitely and
Surrells, regular Baptists, or as they are
sometimes irreverently called "Hardshells,"
or "Ironjackets." Rev. Surrells was the
gi-andfather of Mr. \V. P. Surrells of Efiing-
ham. They preached at people's houses long
before there were any churches built in the
county. James Turner's house was for years,
a preaching place for these and other
pioneer ministers. Old Sulphur Springs
Baptist Chui'ch, and the old Methodist
Chiu'ch at Freemauton were the first churches
built in the township. Sulphur Springs
Baptist Church stood near the center of the
township, and was built very early. It was
burned in 1879. Its destruction resulted
from a defective flue ; there had been services,
and scarcely had the people reached their
homes, when the house was discovered to be
on fire; many rushed back but were too late
to save the building, or anything else, except
a few benches and other little things. A
young man, at the risk of his life, entered
the burning building, and saved the church
bible, which was a very fine one, and highly
prized by the congregation.

The Sulphur Springs Baptist Church was
rebuilt, and is now knovm as the First
Baptist Church. It stands on what is called
"Little Prairie," near the site of the old one,
and was built during the winter of 1881-82,
at a cost of about $1,000. It is a comfortable
and substantial frame building. The pre-
sent momborship is over one hundred and is
under the pastorate of Elder T. M. Grifiith.
A Sunday school is kept iip all the year
around.

218

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Salem Methodist Episcopal Church South
is located in the soiithwest corner of the
township, and was built some twenty years
ago. It has a strong membership and a good
but plain frame chm-ch building. Rev.
Herbert Reed is the present pastor. A
Sunday school is kept up regularly.

Union Baptist Church, a kind of offshoot
of the Sulphur Springs Baptist Church, is
located on Section 9, and the building was
put up in the spring of 1882. The organiza-
tion of this chui'ch resulted from some
dissensions which arose in the parent church,
and the dissatisfied members withdrew and
built this church. It is a iinion church, free
to all orthodox Christians; is a substantial
frame building and was put up at a cost of
about §700. There is no regular preaching
at present, but a good Sunday school is
maintained. These, with the chiu-ch at
Dexter, and the one that formerly stood in
the village of Freemanton, comprise the
religious history of the township. The
people have never wanted for church facil-
ities, and if they are not moral and religious,
it must be their own fault, and not for lack
of Christian influences; neither was it for lack
of these that the early years witnessed much
dissipation and wickedness in the country.

The village of Freemanton was laid out
June 21, 1834, on the east half of the north-
west quarter of Section 7, of this township.
It was surveyed and platted by William J.
Hankins, surveyor, for the proprietors of the
ground. William and John Freeman were
early residents and business men of the
place, and from them the town took its name.
It was originally called "The X Roads,"
and if all the reports rn circulation concern-
ing it are true, then Nasby's " Coufedrit X
Roads, wich is in the State of Kentucky,"
was a moral, dignified and circums2')ect place,
as compared to Freemanton in its palmy

days. It was a great place for drinking and
fighting, and its reputation abroad was any-
thing but enviable. Meii were killed in
Freemanton, but such incidents are better
forgotten than perpetuated on the page of
histor}'. It was on the old National road, a
few miles west of Ewington, and when that
great thoroughfare (the road) was in the
course of construction, the hands engaged
upon it would assemble regularly at Ewing-
ton and Freemanton, and filling themselves
with the "craythur," the lively "scrim-
mages" of Donnybrook would be re-enacted
with compound interest. Many of the deni-
zens, too, of the Little Wabash Blufifs and of
"Fiddler's Ridge" would come out semi-
periodioally, and then the fun between them
and the road hands would be lively, and
carried on in earnest. But as the country
grew older, society improved, the rough and
lawless characters that frequented Freeman-
ton, to the terror of the more quiet people,
left for other fields and for the country's
good.

As will be seen fr«m the date of its survey,
Freemanton is an old place, or was, for, like
several other towns of Effingham County, it
has passed away and is " numbered among
the things that wei'e." But it was once quite
a business point, as well as a noted place
morally, and — socially. The fii'st store is
believed to have been kept by Mr. Johnson.
A store was opened very early by Toothacre
and one by Bishop. A man named Jenks
had a blacksmith shop, and later there were
several other shoj)S opened of diflerent kinds.
"Dr." Bishop had a carding machine, which
was run by horsepower. He afterward put
in mill machinery and had a grist and saw
mill, carrying on quite an extensive busi-
ness. A post office was established at Free-
manton, and Milton Flack was Postmaster.
This was afterward discontinued, or removed

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

219

to Dexter. A tavern was kept by Toothacre;
he also kept the stage stand, when those ve-
hicles (the stage-coach) got to running over
the National road.

A church was built here very early, by the
Methodists. It was a log structure, and
stood down by the graveyard. It was never
used by any other denomination regularly
except the Methodists, who once had a strong
church here. "When the schoolhouse was
built, it was used for church purposes by all
sects who so desired. Rev. IVIr. Lowry was a
local Methodist preacher about Freemanton
in an early day.

The village of Freemanton flourished as all
such places do, until the building of the
railroads. The building of the National
road gave it birth; the building of the Van-
dalia Railroad sounded its death-knell. The
construction of these modern internal im-
provements has overwhelmed many a puny
village, as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
overwhelmed cities of old. When the Van-
dalia Railroad was built and opened for
business, Freemanton ' ' wi-apped the drapery
of its couch" about its "disgruntled" shops
and stores and "laid down to unisloasant
dreams." The site upon which it stood is
now a flourishing farm. Quantum sufficit.
The village of D(,'xter, if a collection of
half a dozen houses can be called a village,
is on the Vandalia Railroad, but a-few hun-
dred yards from the original site of Freeman-
ton, and is merely a railroad station. It has
never been laid out as a town, and probably
never will be. The tirst store was opened by
H. H. Brown, soon after the completion of

the railroad. Brown sold out to Joel Blake-
ly, and he to J. H. Said, and the latter sold
to McClure & Pope. There are now two
stores in the place; one kept by J. W. Mc-
Clure, and the other by Pantry. A hotel,
the ''Ohio House," and a few shops, com-
prise the business of the place. The post
office was moved from Freemanton.

A Methodist Episcopal Church was built at
Dexter in 1S75, and is a handsome frame
building, costing about $1,500. The present
pastor is Rev. Mr. Walker. The church is
strong and flourishing, with an interesting
Sunday school, which is kept up all the
year round. A district schoolhouse has
been built here, and is occupied for the us-
ual school term.

Granville, to which reference has been
made elsewhere, is one of those towns that
has disappeared from the very -face of the —
map. The exact place of its location is
somewhat doubtful, and it is claimed both
for Summit and Jackson Townships. From
the reoords, however, it appears to have been
situated on Sections 4 and 5, of Townshiji 7,
and in Range 5 east, which j)]aces it in Jack-
son, near the Summit line. It was surveyed
by Samuel Houston for John Funkhouser
and M'^illiam Clark, the proprietors. As to
whether the town covered the two sections
named, the records are indefinite, but we
venture to give it as an historical fact that
it did not, and that it never got beyond a
few shops and stores, and a half dozen or so
of dwellings. It was finally vacated by legis-
lative enactment, when "its glory departed
forever," and its sun went down in darkness.

230

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

CHAPTER XIX.

UNION TOWNSHIP— INTRODUCTORY — BOUNDARIES AND TOPOGRAPHY— WHITE SETTLEMENT-
FREDERICK BROCKETT — OTHER PIONEERS — INCIDENTS OF EARLY LIFE— THE FIRST
ROADS — EDUCATIONAL — SCHOOLHOUSES— CHURCHES, ETC.— FLEMSBURG
VILLAGE— A TRAGEDY AND ITS RESULTS.

" The wolf and deer are seen no more
Among the woods, along the shore ;
And where was heard the panther's scream,
The farmer drives his jocund team.
Where once the Indian wigwam stood.
Upon the border of some wood.
The stately mansion now is seen,
Amid broad fields and pastures green."

rr^HE history of this township dates back to
-*- the advent of the first pioneers in Effing-
ham County — not the very first solitary strag-
gler who wandered into the wilds, as aimless
in his movements as the Argonaut of old in
his quest for gold over the face of the eai'th
— but the first real pioneer, who came hunt-
ing game as well as the fabled mines of pre-
cious metal, game being the one supreme
thing of life. This section of country is
mostly heavily timbered, and its numerous
streams supply it with abundance of water,
as well as give it a most excellent drainage.
It was these that, ages ago, made this point
in the county the resort of many wild ani-
mals, and the rendezvous of Indian tribes.
The hoary trunks of tall, majestic trees, the
commingling of their variegated foliage,
their deep and dense shades, the wild fruits,
bubbling springs, with their cool and grate-
ful water, the natm-al beauties aud the pro-
tection from storms and the elements, all
combined to make 'this the home of birds,
beasts and men. All this was sufficient evi-
dence to the pioneer hunter that here he

»By G. N. Bsrry.

could find that which he sought — game; and
when he beheld these, he stopped, kindled
his camp-tires, sat down on his log seat, and,
in hapjjy content, cooked his frugal meals.
And as the blue smoke struggled up through
the branches and leaves of the trees, and the
fire threw its glaring light upon the weird,
surrounding objects, the story was first told
to the wild denizens of the woods that man,
civilized man, with his death-dealing weap-
ons, was come among them.

Union Township lies in the south central
part of the county. It is considerably un-
even and broken, and was originally about
three-fourths heavily timbered, though of
late years much of the timbered land has
been cleared and brought into cultivation.
There is a considerable tract of prairie in the
southern and southeastern parts, and a very
beautiful scope of level land extending into
the timber in the northeast corner; but, aside
from these portions, the township surface is
very rolling and hilly, with numerous ra
vines traversing it in various directions.
The banks of the Little Wabash, the princi-
pal water-course, are very high, rugged and
precipitous, and in places are composed al-
most wholly of large masses of shelving rock
and huge bowlders. Back from the stream a
short distance, the land stretches away into
a broad, flat bottom, especially in the north-
ern part, which are covered with a dense for-
est of the largest timber to be found any-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

221

where in the county, consisting mostly of
elm, sycamore, ash, walnut, and a vai'iety of
other growths, while the uplands are covered
principally by forests of large oaks, the best
timber in this section of the country. The
Little Wabash enters the township near the
northwest corner, in Section 7, and flows in an
easterly course about two miles, when it
makes an abrupt turn in a southward dii'ec-
tion, crossing the county line about two miles
from the western boundary in Section 32.
This is a running stream all the year, and,
during certain seasons, it becomes a raging
torrent, frequently overflowing its banks for
considerable distances on either side, doing
a great deal of damage to the country. The
chief tributary of the Little Wabash is Bish-
op Creek, the second stream in size in the
county. It flows through the township in a
westerly direction, an,d empties in the for-
mer. Ramsey Creek, a stream of consider-
able size and importance, traverse? the east-
ern part of the township and empties into
Bishop about one mile east of the place where
the latter unites with the Wabash. The
other water- courses worthy of mention are
Coon Creek, in the southwestern part of the
township, and Little Bishop, in the northern
part. As an agricultural district, this divis-
ion of the county is not so good as some of
the sister townships more recently settled, as
the soil is not so fertile as that of the prairie.
By proper tillage, however, it yields very
fair crops of corn, wheat and other cereals
commonly raised in this part of the country,
and produces the best varieties of fruits, to
which the soil seems well adapted. The bot-
tom lands that have been cleared and brought
into cultivation are much more fertile than
the higher wooded poi'tions, the soil in some
places being several feet in depth, and of a
rich vegetable mold. Union is bounded on
the north, east and west by the townships of

Watson, Lucas and Mason, in the order
named, while Clay County forms its southern
boundary.

The first white man who broke the solitude
of nature within the present limits of Union
was Frederick Brocket, one of the earliest
pioneers of Effingham County. He settled
in the northeastern part, on the Little Wa-
bash, about the year 1829, and cleared forty
acres of land in Section 18. A few years
later, he erected a small " tub " mill on the
river, the first piece of machinery of the kind
ever operated in the county, and for several
years the only flour and meal supply nearer
than Vandalia or Terre Haute. Brocket op-
erated it about eight years, when it was com-
pletely destroyed by fire. The life and char-
acter of this noted pioneer demand more than
a mere passing notice. He was born in Ten-
nessee, and his youth and early manhood
were passed amid the genial, bracing airs of
his mountain home, where he acquired, by
following a life of constant exercise, a stock
of that rugged vitality so necessary for a man
who locates in a new and wild country. He
came to this State when it was in the infancy
of its existence, when there were but one or
two sparse settlements within the present
bounds of this county, and passed the vigor
of his manhood in helping to build up and
develop the country, in which he always took
great pride. Unlike many of the first set-
tlers on the frontier, he was a man of charac-
ter, sterling integrity, a true Christian, and
was widely and favorably known throughout
the entire country during the eaHy days of its
history. He was first to take an interest in
the cause of education in the township, and,
as soon as there were children sufficient to
start a school, fitted up a part of his resi-
dence at his own expense, which he gener-
ously donated for that purpose. When the
school was in readiness, no one could be found

232

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

in the neighborhood sufficiently well quali-
fied to act the part of instructor, so he took
upon himself the labors of that position, also,
and taught the first school in the southern
part of the county.

At the first election held in the precinct of
which Union was formerly a part, ho was
elected Justice of the Peace, which office he
discharged very creditably for several consecu-
tive terms. He accumulated a very hand-
some property during the period of his resi-
dence here, and built one of the lu-st frame
houses in the county. His death occurred in
the year 1856, at a ripe old age. The old
place where his first little cabin stood is now
owned by Henry Bushue and the Robinson
heirs, aud the mill site is in possession of
William Bradley.

Martin K. Robinson, a son-in-law of Bi-ock-
et, was the next settler who came into this
township. He arrived about one year later
(1830), and the place where he settled is a
short distance east of the Brocket farm, on
the same section. He cleared forty acj-es of
ground, and, some six years later, purchased
the mill site of his father-in-law, rebuilt the
mill, which he operated for eight or ten
years, and made, while running it, consider-
able money. This he afterward invested in
lands in the vicinity. His mill was de-
stroyed by fire also, after having been in op-
eration for some eleven years. It wa^ after-
ward rebuilt by a Mr. Bradley. At the time
of Robinson's death, in 1857, he was in afflu-
ent circumstances, and one of the largest
land-owners in the county. Two of his
daughters are at this time living in the coun-
ty — Mi-s. Bradbury and Mrs. MeManaway —
the former in this township, and the latter in
the village of Mason. About this time, a
ninnber of transient settlers, or, as they are
generally called, squatters, located in the
timber along the Little Wabash and Bishop

Creeks, and built several cabins, around which
small garden patches were cleared. They ap-
pear to have been a very thriftless, do-nothing
set, and spent the greater part of their time
hunting and trapping, and, when the lands
were entered by the settlers who came in af-
terward, they left and moved on further
West, all the time keeping just in the ad-
vance' of civilization.

From this time until the year 1835, there
does not appear to have been any additional
settlements made in the township, as far as
we have been able to learn. The latter year was
signalized by the advent of a family of five
brothers by the name of Gordon, who settled
temporarily on the Little Wabash, a short dis-
tance south of whereWilliamWilsonnow lives.
Their names were William, Pleasant, Abra-
ham, Joseph and Nelson, the last-named be-
ing the only one that made any permanent
improvements. The others were rather care-
less, thriftless fellows, who spent most of
their time in hunting and watching their
large droves of wild hogs, which, at that
time, required no feeding, as the abundance
of mast found in the woods was their chief
subsistence. In the fall of the year, these
hogs would be hunted down and butchered,
and the meat hauled to the nearest market
place, or traded to the other settlers in the
neighborhood. Nelson Gordon sold his land,
in 1847, to William Wilson, ami, with his
family, moved to Texas, where he was soon
after joined by the rest of the brothers.

The fu-st legal entry of land in the town-
ship was made in the year 1836, by Isaac
Gordon, near Flemsburg Mill, in Section 30.
He was an uncle of those already named, but,
unlike them, was a man of considerable pub-
lic sj^irit and enterprise, and did as much,
perhaps, toward developing his township as
any other man in it. The farm was pur-
chased about ten years later, by a man

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

323

named Samilson, a Dane, who laid out the
■village of Flemsbm-g and built the second
mill in the township. Hastings Hughes, a
colored man, was an eai-ly settler, having
come to the county as early as the year 1836,
and settled in the northern part of the town-
ship, where he entered and improved about
eighty acres of land. He was the lirst black-
smith in the township, and worked at his
trade in connection with his farm labor for
several years. He afterward sold his land
and moved to Flemsburg, where he built a
shop which he operated for over twenty
years.

William and Redding Blunt, two brothers,
and Kitchie Robinson, located near the cen-
tral partof the township, on Salt Creek, in
the spring of 1838, and were followed a lit-
tle later by William and Joshua Moody, who
settled near the northeastern part of the
township, where they entered and improved
about forty acres apiece. They were young
unmarried men, and, after having erected a
couple of small cabins on their respective
claims, and cleared a few acres of ground,
seemed to realize the full force of that Script-
ural injunction that " it is not good for man
to be alone. " Their respect for this partic
ular portion of Holy Writ having been in-
duced by the presence in the neighborhood
of two daughters of William Blunt, who
found much favor in their eyes. A double
marriage, in which the above parties were
the chief actors, took place at the residence
of the brides' father in the f aU of 1840, and
was the first ceremony of the kind solem-
nized in Union Townshij). Squire Leith, of
Mason, was the dignitary who gave legal
sanction to the contract on that occasion, and
it is to be presumed that another command
of the Divine Word — to " multiply and fill
the earth " — was obeyed by the two happy
couples, as the younger editions of Moody's,

who became numerous in this locality in af-
ter years, testified.

A list of Union's early settlers would be
incomj)lete without the name of John TrapjJ.
He came into the township about the year
1838, and located a farm in the eastern part,
near the place where Marion settled. He
moved near Ewington a few years later, and
figured rather j)rominently in the early poli-
tics of the county, having been elected to the
position of Olerk in one of the most hotly
contested elections ever held in the county.

Josiah and Martin Hull settled in the
township, near Salt Creek, in the year 1842,
and found, in addition to those previously
mentioned, a man named Evans, who had
preceded them, but of him we could learn
nothing further than that he was accounted
a very worthy man and an exemplary citizen.
The Hulls were among the substantial pio-
neers of Union, and cleared good farms, and
were identified with every movement calcu-
lated to advance the township's prosperity.
Martin was elected Justice of the Peace about
ionr years after coming to the county, and
filled the office one year, when he sold the
farm to a Mr. Sperling ,and moved from the
township. Josiah disposed of his place in
1849 and moved to Marion County, whore he
is still living. In 1846, there were living in
the township, in addition to the families
enumerated, Warren Neal, William M. Wil-
son, Ahert Simmerman and Steishen A. Will-
iams. Neal settled in the southeastern part
of the township, where his widow, a very old
woman, still lives. Wilson came to Illinois
from Ohio in the fall of 1845, and located in
Section 18, where he still resides, the oldest
settler in the township. He served the peo-
ple as Justice of the Peace from 1849 until
1872. Simmerman settled in the southern
part of the township, whore Charles Wilson
now lives. He came from Virtrinia, and was

224

HISTOKY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

among the prominent citizens of the county.
Williams was. the first preacher in the town-
ship, and organized the first religious society,
at the residence of Simmerman, about the
year 1S48. He was a man of superior intel-
lectual attainments, a gifted orator and a
thorough business man. At the breakingf-out
of the late war, he entered the army as First
Lieutenant, and participated in many of the
hardest battles in the Southwestern cam
paigns. He came home in the winter of
1862. on fui'lough, and died.

The names of other early settlers could be
added to the list already given, but the dates
of their settlement, and facts concerning their
early life have been obscui'ed by the lapse of
time. Many of the pioneers have passed
away " as a tale that is told. " Others re-
moved to distant lands, but by far the great-
er number have passed into the " windowless
palace of the dead, whose doors open not out-
ward." For many years during the early
history of this section of the country, the
lives of the pioneers were not 'enviable.
Their trials were numerous, and the obsta-
cles they were called upon to encounter would
discourage the bravest-hearted of the present
day; yet, hard as was their life in the wil-
derness, it had its seasons of recreation, if
such could be called recreation. Kaisings,
log-rollings, etc., when the settlers from far
and near would meet, and, while working,
would recount various incidents, talk over
old times, and thus relieve the monotony of
their isolated situation. Light hearts, strong
constitutions and clear consciences made the
toilsome hours pass pleasantly, and old men
now living, whose youth was spent among the
stirring scenes of those times, look back with
pleasure to the old days as the most enjoya-
ble period of their lives. Their first duty
was to provide a shelter, and their rude cab-
ins were hastily built, daubed with mud; the

floors were often nothing but mother earth,
made smooth and compact by constant usage,
or of rough puncheon; and the bedsteads and
tables, with a chair or two, were almost the
sole furniture. Pewter plates and cups were
common, and the huge, open-mouthed tire-
place, suiTounded by pots, skillets, ovens,
pans, etc., were used for cooking, as stoves at
that time were not in vogue on the frontier.
Corn-dodgers, baked in an oven or skillet,
and johnny-cake, baked on a board before a
fire, with venison prepared in various ways,
were considered food fit for the gods.

The early roads through the woods and
over the hills of this township were mere
trails, that had originally been made by the
Indians, and afterward improved by the peo-
ple and made into highways. The first road
that was surveyed and regularly established
in the southern part of the county passed
through the western part of this township, in
a southerly direction, and known as the
Louisville & Ewington road, as it connected
those two places. The original route has been
greatly changed during the last twenty years,
and it is still one of the most extensively
traveled highways in the county. Another
early road was the one leading west from the
Brocket Mill to Mason, where it connected
with an important highway which ran to
Vandalia. The Clay County & Mason
road was established many years ago, and
passed through the central part of the town-
ship, from east to west. When first laid out,
there were no bridges where these roads
crossed the streams, and hence, in time of
high water, travel had to be suspended.
Now there are several good bridges over the
principal water-courses, so that overflows are
no impediment to travel.

In educational matters Union Township is
not behind her sister townships of the coun-
ty. Her citizens have always taken special

HISTOKY OF EFrmGHAM COUNTY.

327

interest and pride in the public schools,
which have been well sustained and patron-
ized. The first school, as already stated, was
taught by Frederick Brocket, at his resi-
dence, about the year 1846. The second term
was taught at the same place, the following
year, by William Ventis. Emeline Little
taught about the same time, in a little log
cabin that had formerly been occupied as a
dwelling by John Trapp, and that stood a
short distance east of the Brocket farm. A
small hut, that had been abandoned by a
squatter by the name of Johnson, was fitted
up for school purposes, and occupied by
Dempsey Hamilton, who taught a three -
months subscription school in the winter of
1847-48. The first regular schoolhouse was
built in the fall of 1848, and stood near Nel-
son Gordon's residence, in Section 18. It
was a good house, made of hewed logs, well
furnished, and was supplied with a stove —
probably the first building of the kind in the
country heated by such an appliance.

The first public school in the township was
taught by David Phelps, in this building,
about the year 1849. It was used for school
purposes for a little more than twenty years,
when it was purchased by Samuel Leith,
who moved it to his farm, and at present oc-
cupies it as a residence. A frame school -
house was erected near the same place in
1870, and is known as District No. 1. Among
the early pedagogues who wielded the birch
in Union were Minnie Anderson, John An-
derson, James Anderson, Thomas Vauderver
(now a prominent physician and druggist of
Effingham), Vincent Wyth and Dr. Allen.
The township is well supplied with good
frame schoolhouses at proper intervals, in
which schools are taught about eight months
of the year.

The New-Lights, or Chi'istians, as they
call themselves, organized the first church in

the township, at the residence of A hart
Simpson, as has already been stated, and
njet for worship there for a number of years.
A building was afterward erected near the
southern limit of the township, known as
Bethsaida Church, where a small congrega-
tion still meet. The building is frame, and
cost about $000. Among the early pastors
were Stephen A. Williams, to whose labors
the church owes its existence; Andrew Ho-
gaa, and a man by the name of Patterson.
There have been religious services held in
the schoolhouses throughout the township by
ministers of several denominations at difi'er-
ent times, but aside from the organization
alluded to, no other church ever had an ex-
istence in Union.

Dr. James Long was the first person to
practice the healing art among the pioneers
of Southern Effingham, and moved into the
township from Mason about the year 1846,
and located near Flemsburg. His profes-
sional life in this part of the county extend-
ed over a period of five or six years. The
second marriage in the township took place
in about the year 1846, at the residence of
John Trapp, when his daughter, Catharine,
and John Gordon, took upon themselves the
responsibilities of matrimony. Rev. Stephen
Williams officiated at the ceremony. It was
in the month of November when this impor-
tant event transpired, and the smiling groom
appeared before the guests gayly attired in
his shirt sleeves, linen pants and a pair of
cow-hide shoes. Another early marriage was
that of Calvin Brockett and Miss Rowena
Hall, this year. The ceremony was per-
formed by Squire Martin Hull, at the resi-
dence of Joseph Hull, where the couple went
for the purpose, the bride's father being kept
in blissful ignorance, in the meantime, on
account of his decided objection to the match.
The first birth taking place in Union was a

338

IIISTOKY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

child of Martin K. Robinson, which was born
shortly after the family moved to the town-
ship. The old Brocket Graveyard was the
tirst place consecrated to the burial of the
dead, and is at this time so overgrown with
brush and weeds that it could not be distin-
guished, save for a slight paling around one
little grave, where the child of some unknown
stranger lies buried.

The Flemsburg Mill was built by Hartwig
Samilson, in the year 1850, on the Little
Wabash, from which it received the power
that operated it. It stood in Section 30, and
was in operation about four years, when it
was torn down and rebuilt on a much more
improved plan, and has been doing a very
good business ever since. Mr. Samilson laid
out a small village at this point in the year
1851, and a store was opened soon after by
Messrs. Thole & Ruse, who conducted busi-
ness for about two years. A few residences
were erected and a blacksmith shop built, but
the village was destined to be of short dura-
tion, as there were no inducements for busi-
ness men or mechanics to locate here. The
store was closed out by Mr. Ruse in the year
1854, and the dwellings gradually disap-
peared, until now there is nothing of the
town except one blacksmith shop and the
mill.

A horrible murder was committed near the
place in the year 1800, under the following

circumstances: A man by name of Shep-
herd, living about one mile east of the river,
entered a piece of land adjoining his farm,
on which a couple of squatters by name of
"Shell" and "Dick" Russell had settled
some time previous. They refused to leave
the land, and the rights of property were
tried before Squire Wilson, who returned a
verdict in favor of Shepherd, whereupon
the Russell brothers took an appeal from the
decision to the court. Saturday before court
convened, Shepherd went to the village of
Mason to do some trading, where he remained
till dark, and started home after night. He
was met on the Flemsburg bridge by the
Russell boys and two associates, Scott How-
ell and Jacob Booher, knocked off his horse
with a heavy club, dragged down the stream
a short distance and thrown over the bank
into the water. The horse was found the
following Monday by some neighbors, who
went out to look for Shepherd. The saddle
was covered with blood, which at once aroused
suspicions of foul play. Upon further
search, the body of Shepherd was found on a
sand-bar, on which it had fallen when thrown
over the bank. The murderers were arrest-
ed, tried, their guilt established, and they
ware sentenced to be hanged. A short time
before the day set for their execution, they
broke jail and escaped, since which nothing
has been heard of them.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUKTY.

229

CHAPTER XX:

ST. FRANCIS TOWNSHIl'— UESCRU'TION AND TOPOGRAPHY— THE FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR
HARDSHIPS— A TRAGEDY— MILLS, ROADS AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS— EARLY RELIG-
IOUS HISTORY— CHURCHES AND PREACHERS— SCHOOLS, SCHOOLHOUSES, ETC.
—THE VILLAGE OF MONTROSE— ITS GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT, ETC.

by white men was covered with a dense
growth of tall grass, which attested the fertile
quality of the soil beneath. This soil is similar
to that of the prairies of the surrounding
townships, being a rich, dark loam resting on
a clay subsoil, and everywhere noted for its
great productiveness. The timbered districts
are confined chiefly to the southern and south-
western portions, though there is some very
fair timber in the northwest corner and
skirting Salt Creek, which traverses that part
of the tjwnship. In the forests are found
most of the varieties indigenous to this lati-
tude, principally hickory, oak, elm, sj^eamore,
maple and walnut in limited quantities; the
country is sufficiently well watered and
drained by Salt Creek and Little Salt Creek,
and several small tributaries that flow into
them from many points.

St. Francis lies in the great wheat belt of
Illinois, and this cereal is the principal staple,
though corn, rye, oats, barley, flax, etc., to-
gether with many of the root crops, are
raised in abundance. Nowhere is there better
encouragement afforded the fruit gi'ower than
here. A soil of peculiar adaptability and a
climate equallj^ favorable insure a large yield
almost every year — facts many of the citizens
have taken advantage of, as is evinced
by the numerous tine orchards to bo seen in
diflferent parts of the township.

The first settlers in the present confines of
St. Francis Township located in the year

A S we travel along the highways that
-i^^ traverse this beautiful prairie township,
it is difficult to realize that less than fifty
yeai'S ago these luxuriant plains and fertile
fields were the hiding places of the wolf and
formed part of a vast unbroken wild which
gave but little promise of the high state
civilization it has since attained. Instead of
the rude log cabin and diminutive board
shanty, we now see dotting the land in all
directions comfortable and well built farm-
houses, many of them of the latest style of
architecture — graceful, substantial and con-
venient. We see also neat church edifices
lifting their modest spires heavenward and
good schoolhouses at close intervals. The
fields are loaded with the choicest cereals,
pastures are alive with numerous herds of
fine cattle and other stock of improved
quality, while everything bespeaks the thrift
and prosperity with which the farmer in this
fertile region is blessed.

St. Francis lies in the extreme northeastern
part of the county and embraces within its
area thirty-six sections of land, which, for
agricultural and grazing purposes, are unex-
celled by any similar number of acres in this
part of the State. Topogi'aphically, the
township may be described as of an even sur-
face in the central and eastern portions with
occasional undulations of a somewhat
irregular character in the northwest corner.
It is principally prairie, and when first seen

230

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

1840 or 1845, but just where cannot now be
definitely determined, nor can we saj^ defin-
itely who the fii'st settler was, though it is
generally supposed to have been a German,
by the name of Taela. The place of his im-
provements was in the timber near the head
of Little Salt Creek, a spot around which
quite a number of the early pioneers located
their homes. Taela came with his family
from Cincinnati, traveling all the way with
an ox tearrJ, spending several weeks on the
road before reaching his destination. The
condition of the prairie at that early day al-
most precluded the possibility of traveling at
all, the country being covered with a soft,
oozy mud, into which the large, heavy wagon
wheels sank almpst to the hub, and, to add to
the discomfort, millions of the green-headed
flies, which in summer time were so numer-
ous, proved such a torment to the cattle that
traveling by day was all but impossible.
Much of the journey was therefore made by
night, the driver guiding his course through
the mud and dense prairie grass by the stars,
as there were but few roads at that time in
the country, and none in what is now St.
Francis Township.

After reaching his destination and select-
ing a site for his future home, this old
pioneer hastily improvised a temporary shel-
ter for his family out of brush and poles,
which answered very well the purposes of a
habitation until a more comfortable and con-
venient cabin of logs was erected. The
country at that time was in a very wild state,
neighbors few and far between, and many in-
conveniences were experienced by the family
before much headway could be made toward
raising anything, as the soil was very wet
and muddy, and much time was required to
bring it into a fit condition for cultivation.
Wolves were numerous, and jjroved a terror
to the live stock, which had to be guarded

carefully against their depredations, and not-
withstanding all precaution for safety much
damage was done by them to the hen-house
and pig-pen. Taela, by dint of hard work
and plenty of that spirit called perseverance,
succeeded in bringing order out of the chaos,
by which he was surrounded, and soon had
a nice little farm under successful tillage, to
which he added other acres until in time he
became the possessor of a considerable tract
of land, all of which was- well improved. He
died on his farm on which he passed his de-
clining years in peace and comfort, about
ten years ago. His son. Henry Taela, now
owns the old place.

Abraham Marble was probably the next to
locate in the township. He was from Ohio,
and came to Illinois about the year 1845, lo-
cating east of where the viLage of Montrose
now stands, on the old stage line or National
road, where for several years he kept a relay
house. He also kept a little hotel here for
the accommodation of the few travelers that
passed his place, which was one of the first
public houses in the country. Becoming
tired of his occupation, he quit the busine.ss,
and moved a little fui'ther west into what is
now St. Francis Township, and entered a
piece of land lying in the southeast quarter
of Section 3. He lived on this place until
the year 1858, when he sold his improve-
ments and with his family moved to the
State of Minnesota, where he died about a
dozen years ago. Marble had two sons,
young men, both of whom can be called early
settlers, as they married and located in the
township, making some improvements a short
distance south and west of where the old
man's house stood. William Marble did but
little toward improving the land by farming,
devoting the most of his attention to cattle-
raising, and in time became the possessor of
several larofc herds which returned him a

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

231

gi'eat deal of wealth. Owing to some
domestic difficulty, he left his family and
went to Minnesota, where he remained for
sooie time, afterward sending for his wife,
who refused to go to him. He still live^ in
Minnesota, or was living there when last
heard from. John Marble purchased land
in Section 13, the year after the familj' came
to the township, which he sold to a man by
the name of Greek, after having occupied it
until the year lSC-4. He appears to have
been a man of very decided character, inde-
pendent in his manners and a strong Repub-
lican in politics. He made no attempt to
conceal his political principles, but on the
contrary gloried in giving them full expres-
sion whenever ;iu occasion presented itself,
sometimes talking in such a manner as to
offend his neighbors, the great majority of
whom were radically Democratic. During
the war, he informed on a couple of deserters
who came into the neighborhood, which led
to their attempted arrest, and for this piece
of intelligence his hay-stacks, wheat-stacks,
and very neai'ly all of his fencing were
burned to the ground. The incendiaries
were pursued, but not captured, being, as was
generally supposed, hidden away in the
house of some neighbor who had no particu-
lar love for Marble. He left the country
shortly after the war, and like the rest of the
family went to Minnesota, his present home.
In an early day, a small settlement was
made on the National road, near the central
part, of the township, by " Kit" Radly, as he
was familiarly called, who kept, or pretended
to keep, a hotel, but in reality, as it was
afterward proved, kept a gambling den,
which was for years the r( ndezvous of a
gang of blacklegs and cut. throats as rough
and worthless as himself. The locality came
to be dreaded far and near, and it has been
stated that a number of travelers stopped

there at different times and were never seen
or heard of afterward — circumstances that
naturally gave rise to suspicions of foul play.
The general supposition seems to be that a
systematic ]ilan of robbery and murder was
pui'sued for years on the unsuspecting passers
by, but, as Radly was universally feared, no
efforts toward an investigation were, at that
time, made. The old man died at this place,
and the property came into possession of his
son Nick, who inherited all his father's " cus-
sedness " in a tenfold degree, without the
fairtest tinge of a redeeming quality. He
seems to have been connected with a large
number of quarrels, disturbances, and was
arrested upon several occasions for complicity
in some very bold thieving scrapes. At one
time a warrant for his apprehension was
■placed in the hands of a ' neighbor of his,
deputized for the purpose, as the regular
officer was afraid to attempt his arrest.
When called for, Radly was at work on the
top of a frame barn, that had just been
raised, and, when told that he was wanted,
answered with the ejaculation, " All right, by
G — d. just wait till I come down," at the
same time throwing the large, heavy hatchet
he had in his hand full at the officer's head,
which barely missed him, and bm-ied itself
in the hard oak sill at his feet. Seeing that
he had missed his aim, and having no other
weapon at his command, he descended from
the building, with many apologies for his
carelessness, as he called it. for letting the
hatchet dro^i, which apologies were made
after seeing the officer's large revolver held
ready for use. Radly accompanied the officer,
stood his trial, and was acquitted on account
of technical discrepancj' in the indictment.
Upon another occasion, while at a gathering
of some kind, in the western part of the
township, he got into an altercation with
several Germans, and being a man of fiery

232

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

temper, at ouce " peeled his diids," as the
saying went, and challenged the whole crowd,
which challenge met with a hearty response
on the part of two or three burly fellows,
any of whom was much more than his equal
physically, and the result was that Radly
received such a severe pummeling that he
was unable to get out of his bed for several
days, vowing vengeance in the meantime.
He met one of the parties a short time after-
ward, at a barn-raising, and at once became
very abusive, calling him all manner of bad
names, in such strong and bitter language,
that the man, who, by the way, was no cow-
ard, sprang at him, whereupon Radly turned
and made a feint toward trying to get away,
calling at the same time to the bystanders to
take the man off, who, by this time, was on
his (Radly's) back. Drawing a long, sharp
dirk: he struck backward several times, and
cut his antagonist in a shocking manner —
literally carving him to pieces. The man
was picked up, carried to his home, and for
several weeks his life was despaired of, but
he finally recovered. Radly escaped on the
ground of self-defense. He afterward left
the county and nothing has since been heard
of him.

The same year that brought the Radlys
here, H. B. Hobbings found his way to this
part of the county, and settled a short dis-
tance west of the former's place, on the
National road. He was originally from Penn-
sylvania, but had lived in Cincinnati several
years before removing to this place. He
sold his farm to a Mrs. Thoele, after having
occupied it for about eight years, and moved
to a distant State. In the fall of 1848, John
H. Wernsing, a German, came from Cincin-
nati, and settled near the head of Bishop
Creek in Section 30, where he made extensive
improvements, and where he lived a number
of yeai's, an upright citizen, highly respected

by all who knew him. Several members of
his family still live in the county, one of
whom, Henry Wernsing, is the present Treas-
urer of Effingham County. About the year
1848, B. H. Dryer came to the township and
located near the Wernsing settlement. He
came from Cincinnati also, as did many of
the original settlers of the eastern part of
the county, and was prominently identified
with the early history of this community.
The place where he originally settled is now
owned by Henry Hierman. Henry Rump
came here about the same time that Dryer
made his appearance, and, like the former,
sought a place in the timber near the creek.
He was a line, straightforward man, and by
industry and good management accumulated a
large tract of land, which is at present owned
by the Hutrip heirs. A man by the name of
Thare, a Presbyterian preacher, probably the
first minister in the township, bought and
improved a piece of land lying west of the
town of Montrose, on the National road,
where he built what was afterward known
as the " white house," a large two story build-
ing, and one of the first frame structures
erected in the township. He held religious
services at this place, and at other points in
the country, preaching wherever he could
obtain a room sufficiently large to accommo-
date an audience. In 1849, he moved to
Ewington, where, for a number of years, he
was considered one of the leading preachers
of his faith. A son-in-law of Thare, John
Lorkins, took possession of the place, to
which he added considerable improvements,
and resided there until the year 1860, at
which time he disposed of the property and
moved to the State of Iowa. The Hartlips
were an early family in St. Francis; the exact
date of their an-ival was not learned, al-
though it was several years prior to 1S50.
They located farms near Bishop Creek, in

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

233

the Wernsing neighborhood, where several
descendants are still living.

Among those who came in 1849, 1850 and
1851, and later, may be mentioned William
Wallace, James Kolfe, Thomas Gibbon and
Newton Gibbon. Wallace settled abont one
mile west of Montrose, where he made a few
slight improvements, the chief of which was
a small cabin he had moved from the old
Marble farm, having pm-chased it for a mere
trifle. He sold the place to Thomas Gibbon,
who came about one year later (1851), and
with his family moved out of the township.
Gibbon improved this farm quite extensively,
and still occupies it. He came from Greene
County, Ind., and for a number of years has
been one of the leading citizens of the com-
mimity in which be resides. Neiwton Gib-
bon, his brother, located a short distance
west of Montrose, where he still lives. He
was the first Justice of the Peace elected by
the people of St. Francis, and has filled sev-
eral other offices of trust at different times.
James Rolfe came to Illinois, from Indiana,
in the year 1848, and settled in Cumberland
County, fi-om which place he moved to St.
Francis Township two years later, and located
a home lying west of the Thomas Gibbon
farm. He is a native of Maryland, and
claims to be a regular descendant of the
John Rolfe who married the Indian princess
Pocahontas.

Through all the years of which we have
been writing, settlers had been steadily com-
ing into the township; numerous claims had
been made and improved, cabins built,
prairies broken and in many places more
comfortable and substantial farm buildings
erected. The National road, to which allu-
sion has already been made, was laid out
through the township, and other highways
were soon after established and improved.
The crop raised by the first settlers was

generally corn, to which they looked for their
chief supjiort; other cereals were but little
grown until the country began to settle more
thickly. The soil at that time was poorly
adapted to raising small grain, and it was not
until several years had elapsed from the first
settlement that any wheat was grown in the
township at all. For a niimber of years,
there were no mills in the eastern part of the
county, and to obtain meal a ad other bread-
stuffs the citizens of St. Francis had to go to
the little horse mills in and around Ewington,
an undertaking which sometimes required
two or three days, not that the distance was
so great, but the machine ground so slowly,
that delays were often experienced in waiting
for the respective turns.

Some of the first settlers went as far as
Terre Haute for groceries and dry goods, and,
as there were good mills there, they took
advantage of the occasion to lay in a supply
of floiu- and meal sufficient to last them
several months.

An important adjunct to the pioneer's exist-
ence, and one that often entered largely
therein, was the enjojTnent or necessity of
hunting, wild game of all kinds being very
plentiful. The settler was often obliged
to quit his work and join with his neighbors
in a kind of crusade against wolves, which
were very destructive to young pigs and to
domestic fowls which might stray far away
from the house.

In St. Francis, the solitary settler rejoiced
to hear the early messengers of God proclaim
the glad tidings of joy, or weep at the story
of the crown of thorns and the agonies of
Golgotlia and Calvary. It is a fact highly
commendable to the first residents of this
township, that, with all their trials incident to
a settlement in a new and undevelojied
country — naught but hardships and poorly
compensated labor to weary and burden both

234

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

mind and body — they never failed to discharge
those higher obligations due their Creator.
Religious services were often held at private
residences by itinerant ministers of the
Methodist Chm-ch, and were attended l)y all
the citizens far and near. Those who lived
in the northern part of St. Francis attended
divine worship with the congregations in the
adjoining county of Cumberland, and it was
not until recent years that any religious
society had an existence in this township.
The Lutherans are very strong here, and have
a flourishing church a few miles southeast of
the village of Montrose. This church was
organized in the year 18G8 by Rev. H. H.
Holtermein, at the schoolhouse in that
neighborhood, and had an original member-
ship of thirteen. For three years, the con-
gregation used the schoolhouse as a place of
worship, when steps were taken to erect a
more commodious edifice, as the congregation
had increased so in numbers that a larsfer
house was a necessity. In the fall of 1871,
their present structure was erected, which is a
credit to the church and an honor to the
community; it is a frame building, 25x40 feet,
and cost about .$1,100. The church owes
much of its prosperity to the untiring labors
of Rev. Holtermein, who for eleven years was
its faithful pastor; his chief aim seems to
have been its good and all his efforts for its
advancement were crowned with success.

He was succeeded in the year 1879 by the
present pastor, Rev. H. Kouerst under whose
charge the congregation hag been steadily
increasing in membership and influence.
There are at this time on the records the
names of forty five members in good standing.
Connected with the chm'ch is a denomina-
tional school, which was established by Rev.
Holtermein in 1872. A vacant room in the
pastor's dwelling was used for this until 1879,
when their present neat little house was

erected. This is a frame building and cost
about $600. The school has been well
attended since its organization, and, under the
chai'ge of the two pastors mentioned, has ac-
complished much good in the neighborhood.

The early school history of St. Francis is
limited. The first settlers in the northern
part of the township sent their children to
the schools of Cumberland County, which
had been established in a very early day,
while those who located along the Southern
border patronized the schools of Teutopolis.
It is thought that Miss Lizzie Rolfe taught
the fu-st school in St. Francis about the year
1854, using for the purpose what was then
known as the Fair building. It stood a
little west of the village of Montrose and
was in use as a schoolhouse about two years,
and was formerly a dwelling. Newton Gib-
bon built the first house espresslj' for school
purposes in the year 1856. It was a frame
building and stood a little north of Mont-
rose. It was moved to the village when the
place was first started, and is at present used
for a coojser shop Like other parts of the
county, this township is now well supplied
with good frame schoolhouses. all of which
are well fui'nished with modern appliances,
and the advantages of intellectual culture are
open and free to all. Schools last about
seven months of the year and generally begin
the first Monday in October.

The Vandalia Railroad passes through the
township in a southwesterly direction, and
has been the means of advancing the ma-
terial interests of the people in many ways.
Since its completion in the year 1868, the
real estate of the townshijj has steadily ad-
vanced in value. Much of the vacant land
that was formerly regarded as almost worth-
less, has been bought up and improved and
ffood grain and stock markets have been
brought near.

HISTORY OF EFFIJiTGHAM COUNTY.

235

The only mill of any kind in St. Francis
was erected about twenty years ago by John
F. Waschefort, and stands in the southern part
of the township, near Teiitopolis. It was
built as a combination mill, and for a number
of years sawed a great deal of lumber and
ground an immense amount of grain. It
was afterward rebuilt, the saws removed,
two buhrs added, and since then has been
run exclusively as a llouriug mill. It is op-
erated by steam, has a capacity of forty or
fifty barrels per day, and is owned by Ferdi-
nand Waschefort.

The following account of a bloody tragedy
that occurred in the northern part of the
township several years ago was related by
Mr. Rolf e: " Two brothers by name of
Hetcher owned a farm near where Montrose
now stands, and rented a part of their ground
one year to a young German to put in corn.
They were to have one third of the crop as
rent, that share to be left in the field when
the corn was gathered. About the time the
corn was ready for cribbing, the young man
sold it to two parties by name of Thomas
Duckworth and George Shindle. and made
no mention of the portion to be paid as rent.
When they came to gather the crop,the Hetcher
boys told them to let the one-third remain,
which the others very positively refused to
do, saying that they had bought the entire
crop, paid for it and were going to gather
the same. Hetcher then forbid them the
field until the difficulty could be adjusted.
Duckworth and Shindle carried the matter
to a lawyer by name of Dennet, who advised
them to go back and gather the corn, and
gather it all, as it jvistly belonged to them.
UlJon Duckworth asking him what to do in
case the Hetchers came out and objected, re-
ceived the reply, "'Why, kill them, to be
sure;" not thinking, as he afterwad said,
"that the d— d fools would do it." Shindle

and ■ Duckworth armed themselves with re-
volvers and went back to the field next morn-
ing, where they had been at work but a short
time before the Hetcher boys came out. A
few hot words were passed, when Duckworth
and Shindle drew their weapons and shot
their antagonists dead on the spot. The
boys were arrested and tried, but, owing to
some quibble, were acquitted. They left the
country, however, before gathering the crop.
Montrose, the only village in the town-
ship, a place of about 300 inhab'tants, is
situated in the southeast quarter of Section
3, on the Vandalia Railroad, and was laid
out by J. B. Johnson, proprietor of the land,
July 19. 1870, the jslat being made by Cal-
vin Mitchell, County Surveyor. The first
building in the town was a store house
built by Browning and Schooley, a short time
after the survey had been made. Tliej-
stocked it with a miscellaneous assortment of
merchandise and for two years conducted a
flourishing business, when they sold the stock
to other parties and left the village. The sec-
ond building was a storehouse also, moved
here from a little place known as Bowen,
about two miles east of the township
line in the adjoining county, by Dr. H. G.
Van Sandt. The house stands near the cen-
tral part of the town, and is at present occu-
pied by the store of Stephen Smith, to whom
the doctor sold it after he had been in the
place a couple of years. A third store was
started in the town, in the year 1871, by P.
H. Wiwi, who erected a very neat business
house, which, like the stores already alluded
to, was stocked with a genei'al assortment of
goods. In addition to his mercantile busi-
ness, Wiwi erected a gi'ain house, which he
operated very successfully, handling more
grain during the year than was shipped from
any other point on the road of the same size.
He opened a market for live stock also, and

236

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTS.

for the past ten years has been considered
one of the heaviest shippers of cattle and
hogs in the county. In the year 1872, a third
store was put in operation by James John-
son, who moved a building to the place from
the little village of " Jiia Town," as it was
called, in Cumberland County, where for sev-
eral years he had been a very successful mer-
chant. After locating here, his business in-
creased so rapidly that a larger and more
commodious building became a necessity, so
he erected another house a few years since, a
large two story, which he stocked with goods
valued at about S6,500, by far the most com-
plete store in the town. The old building
is at present used for a freight-room and
granary. Ross Twedey erected a business
house about the same time that Johnson
came, and for two years sold goods, when
he disposed of his stock to William McGin-
nis, who in turn sold to Stephen Sniith, the
present proprietor, after running the busi-
ness until the year 1874. Dr. Van Sandt
erected a very commodious storeroom and
dwelling house in the western part of the
town several years ago, where he still does
business in the general line, with a fine as-
sortment of drugs, also, the only store of the
kind in the place.

The Montrose Anchor Flouring Mill was
built in the year 1871, by William Weigel &
Son, and is one of the best n^ills in the east-
ern part of Effingham County; it is three
stories high, frame, and cost the proprietors
the sum of $0,000. It is operated by steam,
has three run of buhrs, and a grinding
capacity of about forty baiTels per day.
Weigel & Son operated it three years, doing
a floiu-ishing custom and merchant trade,
when they sold to Newhouse & Co., who
ran it for a short time. Weiss & Docken-
dorf were the next proprietors; they operated
the mill as partners a couple of years, when

Weiss bought the entire interest and is the
present owner. A blacksmith shop was
built in the town, about 1871, by James
Tubert, who worked at his trade here for two
years, since then there have been several
shops operated by different parties; at present
there are two shops in operation. The Brazil
House, first hotel of the place, was built
about 1872, by Nelson Shull, who still runs
it. Evan James built a second hotel about
six years ago, the James House. H. G. Van
Saudt was the first physician in the place,
and has practiced his profession here con-
tinuously since 1870, having at this time a
large and lucrative practice. Dr. John John-
son located in the town about one year after
the place had been started, and for two or
three years ministered to the ills of the vil-
lage and surrounding country. Drs. Hallen-
beok, Gladwell, Schefner, Minter and Park
have at different times practiced medicine.

After the village had made considerable
progress in its business, and the population
had increased, efforts were made to induce
the railway company to lay a side track
through the town and voluntary subscrij^tions
to the amount of $700 were raised toward
that end. This mark of public enterprise pre-
vailed and a switch was accordingly laid, and
afterward a neat substantial brick depot
erected. Since the switch was laid* the
business of the company has so increased that
there are no points on the entire line of the
size of Montrose where as much shi])ping
of grain and live stock takes place.

The citizens of the town early took an
interest in educational matters, and a school
was in progress, taught by Miss Eva Gilmore,
one year after the first bouse had been
erected in the village. The house in which
this first school was taught was moved to the
town from a point two miles in the country,
and served for educational purposes until

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

237

1876, at which time the fine briek house now
in use was erected. The present building is
22x54 feet, one story high, and cost $1,600 to
erect and complete it.

The religious history of the town dates
from its first settlement, a fact which ought to
speak well for the morals of the community.
There are at present two religious organiza-
tions in the town, with as many houses of
worship — the Southern Methodist and the
Roman Catholic — neither of which seems to
be doinsr that amount of good for the Master
which the great founder of Christianity mani-
festly designed that they should do. In
close proximity to these temples of the living
God stand two black plague spots in the
shape of gin shops, from which radiate bale-
ful influences counteracting the good which
the churches ought to exert, and spreading
over the place a moral malaria which we
must confess does not present a very agreeable
commentary on its character.

"Wherever God erects a house of prayer,

The devil's sure to build his chapel there;

And t'wlU be found upon examination

The latter always has the biggest congregation."

The Methodist Church was organized
about the year 1868 one mile north of the
town, by Rev. P. D. Vandeventer, with a
membership of twenty persons, the majority
of whom have since left the country. The
organization was efi"ected in a little log
schoolhouse which for six years afforded the
congregation a place of worship. The or-
ganization was moved to the town of Montrose
in the summer of 1870, and the present edifice
erected, which is a frame building aud cost
about $1,600. Since its organization, the
church has been ministered to by the follow-
ing pastors in the order named: P. D.
"Vandeventer was the first pastor; he remained
with the congregation one year; J. A.

Beagle succeeded Vandeventer and preached
one year also; J. F. Hensley came next and
remained two years; he was followed by W.

B. Lewellyn, who was pastor one year; J. A.
Greeing was the regular supply for one year;

C. T. McAnally succeeded the last named and
remained the same length of time; N. A.
Auld preached one year; W. A. Cross one
year; J. M. McGrew one year; J. C. Bird
had charge of the congregation two years;
then J. F. Hensley served a second time as
pastor for one year. The present pastor is
Rev. H. K. Jones, who is now on his second
year's labors. Connected with the church is a
flourishing union Sunday school, which is
well attended with an average of about fifty
scholars, of which the pastor is the superin-
tendent.

The St. Rosa Roman Catholic Church of
Montrose dates its organization from the year
1879. Prior to that year, the Catholics of
this village, of whom there were a goodly
number, met with the chiu-ch at Teutopolis,
to which they were attached. In November
of 1879, Father Francis, of the latter place,
upon request of the members at Montrose,
organized them into an independant congre-
gation and steps were taken to erect a house
of worship forthwith. The building was
completed in the spring of 1880, the
membership at that time numbering some
twenty-five families. Like all their church
edifices, this house displays a great deal of
taste, and money was not used sparingly in its
erection. It cost the sum of $3,000, and is
an ornament to the town. There are about
twenty-five families connected with the
chm-ch at present under the charge of the
same priest who brought about the organiza-
tion.

We will conclude this brief sketch of
Montrose with the following exhibit of its

238

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

business interests. There are now five general
stores, kept respectively by G. H. Van Sandt,
James Johnson. Stephen Smith, P. H. Wiwi
and George Sturtzen; two warehouses, two

hotels, two blacksmith shops and express
office. The present Postmaster is H. G.
Van Sandt, who was also the first Postmaster
of the place.

CHAPTER XXI.*

LIBERTY TOAVNSHIP-ITS PHYSICAL FE.\TURES— TIMBER GROWTH, ETC.-EARLY SETTLEMENT-
PIONEER HARDSHIPS— INDUSTRIES AND IMPROVEMENT.?- THE STATE OF SOCIETY— EDU-
CATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS— BEECHER CITY— A VILLAGE OF LARGE PRETENSIONS
—ITS BUSINESS, CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES, ETC.

But

" My country 'tis of thee.
Sweet land of Libert v,
Of thee I siug."

''F^HEKE is uo history more eagerly sought
-L after than that which truthfully delin-
eates the rise and progress of the State, coun-
ty or community in which we live. There is
pleasure as well as profit to every well-edu-
cated and inquiring mind in contemplating
the struggles of the early settlers in all por-
tions of the Great West; how they encoun-
tered and overcame every species of trial,
hardship and danger to which human beings
were ever subjected. But these things strike
us more forcibly, and fill our miijds with
more immediate interest, when confined to
our own county or township, where we can
yet occasionally meet with some of the now
gray-haired actors in those early scenes, with
whom life's rugged day is almost over, whose
bravery in encountering the perils of front-
ier life has borne an important part toward
making our country what it now is, and
whose acts, in connection with the hundreds
of others in the first settling of our vast do-
main have compelled the civilized world to
acknowledge that the Americans are an in-
vincible people.

To some of our readers it may appear rath-
er small and insignificant work to record the

* By W. H. Perrin.

history of a single county or tovmship.
it must be remembered that our vast Kepub-
lic is comprised of States, the States are di- ■
vided into counties, and the counties into
townships, each of which contributes its
share toward the general history of the coun-
try. And the little township of Liberty,
occupying so small an extent of territory —
only about eighteen square miles — has a
history fraught with interest to its own citi-
zens, at least, if to none others.

The township of Liberty lies south of
Shelby County, west of Banner Township,
north of Moccasin Township, east of Fayette
County, and comprises the south half of
Township 9 north, in Range 4 east. About
two-thirds of this township is prairie, alter-
nating between level and rolling. The tim-
ber is confined to the water-courses, and is
principally oak, hickory, walnut, elm, syca-
more, sugar tree, Cottonwood, etc., and the
land upon which it grows is mostly broken
and hilly. The principal stream is Wolf
Creek, which j^asses diagonally throitgh the
township from northeast to southwest, with
several small tributa,ries. Moore Creek flows
through the east part, and empties into Wolf
Creek. The Springfield Division of the Ohio
& Mississippi Railroad passes through the
southwest corner of the township, and has
one station and shipping point — Beecher

IIISTOKY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

239

City — which has proved of great advantage
to the people.

The first white man, perhaps, that ever
set foot upon the soil of Effingham County —
Griffin Tipsword — tigiu-ed conspicuously in
Liberty Township. He has descendants still
living here and when he died he was biu'ied
in the Tipsword Graveyard on Wolf Creek.
One or two of his sons spent their whole lives
in Liberty and are also buried in the quiet
graveyard that bears the family name. But
as Mr. Bradsby has devoted considerable
space to the Tipswords in a preceding chap-
ter, we will j)ass them here without fiu-ther
mention.

No township in the county or perhaps in
any of the surrounding counties can boast a
greater diversity of , nationality among its
early inhabitants than Liberty Township.
Many portions of our country, as well as
different countries, contributed to its early
settlement. In this little division we find
the grave New Euglander, the enterprising
Buckeye, the hot-blooded Southerner and the
awkward Hoosier, as well as the plodding
German, the phlegmatic Englishman and the
warm-hearted son of the " Ould Sod. " Like
the small streams that unite in forming the
great river, those difi'erent kinds and races
of people have blended into a population
without an equal, in point of intelligence,
enterprise and industry.

A family of very early settlers in Liberty
was the Coxes. There were three brothers
of them — William. John and Josiah Cos —
and they came from Tennessee. They had
emigrated to Illinois in an early day, and
settled in Shelby County, and, about 1838-
40, moved over into this township. William
died more than twenty years ago. John died
about a year ago. Josiah is still living in
the neighborhood where he settled.

From Ohio, the land of Buckeve states-

men, came Thomas Dutton and a man named
Starner. The latter was a German, and died
in the township. Dutton came with his
mother. Both are still living, the old lady
at a very advanced age. Tom had a brother
who went into the Mexican war, and died
while in the service.

George Eccles came in 1841, and John
AUsop in 1847. Thej' were both from Eng-
land. Eccles is still living in the township,
and, though he is now eighty-four years of
age, he is hale and hearty, and has recently,
according to the divine declaration that " it
is not well for man to be alone," married his
third wife. Allsop is dead, but has two sons
living iu the township, and one in Effingham
City.

Poland furnished to the settlement Alex-
ander Bylaski and George Superoski, who
came in 1840. Bylaski finally removed to
Washington City, went into the late war,
and fell at the battle of Belmont. Superoski
is still living, across the line in Shelby Coun-
ty. Another addition to the settlement in
1840 was Thomas Tennery, who is still living
in the township.

The old Granite State sent out Lansford
and Dennis Stebbins, who settled in the
township in 1840. Lansford went back to
Massachusetts in a few years. Dennis went
to sea, made a whaling voyage of three years'
length, returned to the township and got
married, as a good man should. He after-
ward moved down into the southern part of
the State, where he died. Another addition
was made this year by a man named Hedge,
who moved in with three stalwart sons —
John, A. J. and Jabez. A. J. (which stands
for Andrew Jackson) moved away; John is
still living where he first settled; and Jabez
and his father are dead. George dinger
also settled here in 1840. He was from
Ohio, and. like Hedge, broutjht three sons

240

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

with him — John, Peter and George. The
old man died about the commencement of the
war; George and Peter are also dead, and
John lives iu Cowdon, Shelby County

Samuel Lorton, the oracle of Liberty
Township, and a regular encyclopedia on
legs, is a native of Arkansas, and came to
Illinois with his father's family in 1824, set-
tling in Shelby County. This is one in-
stance, at least, in the history of oxu" country,
in which the star of empire reversed the eter-
nal fitness of things by moving east instead
of west. He moved into Liberty Township
in 1843, and has lived here ever since. He
knows the history of the surrounding country,
and can reel it oif as one reads from a jjrinted
book. We are indebted to him for many of
the facts pertaining to Liberty, and any im-
perfections in its history we lay to his
charge, while all the good things it contains
we claim as our own undisputed property.
Mr. Lorton has grown up and grown old iu the
county, and is familiar with its growth, prog-
ress and development. This brings the settle-
ment down to a period wheu the new-comers
could scarcely be termed old settlers, and
we here drop the record of their settle-
ment.

The present generation, as they behold the
" old settler," can scarcely realize or appre-
ciate the hardships through which he passed,
or the part he performed in reclaiming the
country from savage tribes that roamed at
will over all parts of it. "Young America,"
as he passes the old settler by, perhaps unno-
ticed, little dreams that he has spent the
morning and the noontide of his life in help-
ing to make the country what it now is, and
in preparing it for the reception of all those
modern improvements which surround us on
every side. The old settler shoiild be hon-
ored, and his deeds should be remembered
and revered by all.

" Their forest life was rough and rude,
And dangers clos'd them round,
But hei-e, amid the gi'een old trees,
Freedom was sought and found."

Education was not neglected by the peojile
of Liberty Township. Schools were early
established, and have always been supported
liberally. It is not known now who taught
the first school, nor the exact spot where it
was taught. There is at present a good,
comfortable schoolhouse in every neighbor-
hood of the township, which supports a first-
class school each year.

When the county adopted township organ-
ization, and it came to forming the Congres-
sional townships into civil townships, this
was called Liberty, in honor of that boon for
which our fathers " fought, bled and died "
in oTir Revolutionary war. The officers of
the civil township are a Supervisor, Treas-
urer, Clerk, Collector, etc. , etc. A.t the pres-
ent time, the princij)al officers of Liberty
Township are James Allsop, Supervisor; C.
Parkhurst, School Treasurer; William All-
sop, Collector; and A. Clark and George
Brown, Justices of the Peace.

Villages. — Beecher City, the only village
in Liberty Township, is a rather prettj^ little
town, pleasantly situated on the Springfield
Division of the Ohio & Mississippi Eailroad,
some ten miles north of Altamont. It was
laid out on the southwest quarter of the
southwest quarter of Section 29 ; the east half
of the southeast quarter of the southeast
quarier of Section 30; the north half of the
northeast quai-ter of the northeast quarter of
Section 31 ; and the north half of the north-
west quarter of the northwest quarter of Sec-
tion 32, of Liberty Township. The survey
and plat were made by the engineer of the
railroad, for Edward Woodrow, of St. Louis,
projn'ietor of the land, and the plat recorded
on the 8th of April, 1872. The place was

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

241

not named, as many might suppose, for the
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, the crankj- pastor
of PljTnouth, but for one of its principal
business men, who bears the same name.

The first store in Beecher was opened by
Miller & Nelson, who moved the house in
which it was kept here from an adjacent
place. H. L. Beecher then kept a small
stock of goods at the depot.

The Jennings Brothers had the next store.
William H. Jennings is still in business here,
but sold out and was away for awhile, then
retiu'ned and again engaged in merchandis-
ing. The business of the place now consists
of three stores — William H. Jennings, H L.
Beecher and William Swazy; one grocery
store, by A. Tally; one drug store, by John
Allsop; two blacksmith shops, one butcher
shop, wood shops, one shoe shop, hoop-pole
factory, etc., etc. A large grain business is
done. George Brown buys for Brumbach,
and ships large quantities of grain from here
every month.

A post office was established soon after the
town was laid out, and H. L. Beocher was
appointed Postmaster — a position which he
still retains.

The schoolhouse, which is one of the best
in this part of the county, was built a few
years ago. It is a two-story brick structure,
and cost about $3,000. The school is a large
and flom'ishing one, employing two and some-
times three teachers.

Chwches. — There are two churches in the
village, with neat and substantial edifices.
The United Brethren built a church about
1874-75. It is a good frame building, which
cost from S800 to $1,000. The church is
not numerically strong, but tm'ns out a good
congregation. There is regular monthly !
preaching and a floiu'ishing Sunday school. '

The Universalist Church was built in ISSO, 1
and is a neat and tasty frame building, put

up at a cost of about $1,200. It has some
twenty members, under the pastorate of the
Eev. David Williams. A good Sunday
school is kept up all the year. The church
has a comfortable hall over it, which is used
as a lodge room by the Masons and Odd Fel-
lows. The church erected the building, and
then sold the upper j)art of it to these socie-
ties for a meeting-place

The Masonic Lodge, which is known as
Greenland Lodge, No. 665, A., F. & A. M.,
was moved here from Greenland, in Fayette
County, under a dispensation from the Grand
Lodge, on account of this being a more fa-
vorable location. It has been held here since
the completion of the church building. It is
quite a flourishing young lodge, and at pres-
ent has the following officers: Ben F. Mark-
land, Master ; Orlando Campbell, Senior
Warden; William H. Anderson, Junior War-
den; Thomas D. Tennery, Treasiu-er; James
H. Allsop, Secretary; Isaac Tipsword, Sen-
ior Deacon; John F. Wood, Junior Deacon;
and Thomas R. Dutton, Tiler.

Beecher City Lodge, No. 690, L O. O. F.,
was instituted March 25, 1881, by the Grand
Lodge of Illinois. The first officers were:
J. W. Hotz, N. G. ; Azariah Larimore, V.
G. ; George C. Eads, Secretary; and Albert
Larimore, Treasurer. The lodge has at pres-
ent twenty-four members in good standing,
and is officered as follows : George C. Eads,
N. G. : George W. Brown, V. G. ; Will H.
Richards, Recording Secretary; John Cook,
Secretary; and Henry Hunt, Treasurer.

This comprises a history of the beautiful
and flourishing little village of Beecher. It
has an intelligent population, and, with a
continuation of the energy and industry
hitherto evinced, there is a brilliant future
in store for their lovely town. Time, pa-
tience and perseverance will waft it on to
wealth and prosperity.

242

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

CHAPTER XXIL*

LUCAS TOWNSHIP— INTRODUCTORY— TOPOGRAPHY AND BOUNDARIES— PIONEER OCCUPATION-
WHERE THE SETTLERS CAME FROM-THEIR EARLY LIFE HERE-GROWTH AND IM-
PROVEMENT OF THE COUNTRY^— MILLS, ETC.— EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES—
CHURCHES AND PREACHERS— VILLAGES, ETC., ETC.

" All the world "s a stage,
Aud all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances."

— Shakespeare.

FIFTY years ago the poi-tion of territory
now known as Lucas Township was a
wide, unsettled expanse, wild in every sense
of the word, inhabited by wild men and in.
fested with wild beasts. The lands now oc-
cupied by fertile, well-tilled farms, where the
cereals and luscious fruits of all varieties
grow in abundance, and where blooded stock
loll and graze, were less than thi'eescore years
ago a luxuriant wilderness, where the timid
deer fled from its crouching foe, the panther,
only to be pursued by that gaunt scoiu-ge of
the prairie, the wolf. Fields now jocund
with the merry song of the happy and con-
tented farmer were once in the long ago lurid
with the glare of the red man's camp fires or
made hideous by the discordant yells of the
savage war-dance. But these deep, fertile,
prairie soils held abundant food for civiliza-
tion, and needed but stout hearts, strong wills
and sinewy arms to develop and set it free.
The pioneers at length came, and stout-heart-
ed, strong-willed and heavy-armed they were,
both from nature and necessity.

Lucas is the southeastern township of the
county and possesses a pleasant diversity of
surface and soil. Large tracts of level and
undulating prairie occupy the central, west-
ern and southern portions, which form a strik-

-Ht r,. N, Tlcrry.

ing contrast to the wooded and more broken
surface that lies along the creeks in the north
and east. The only water- courses of any
note are Kamsey's Creek, which rises in Sec-
tion 15 and flows in a westerly direction
through the central part of the township, and
Little Bishop Creek, a small stream that has
its source in Section 3, from which it also
takes a westerly course . These streams afl'ord
an excellent system of drainage, and are ne-
cessities that Qpuld not easily be dispensed
with. The only timber in the township, save
a few scattering groves, is found skirting
these water-courses, and consists mostly of
walnut, ash, hickory, sycamore, elm, several
varieties of oak and a dense growth of hazel
and other undergrowths in the districts from
which the larger trees have been removed.

Fifty years have served to change the ap-
pearance of these wooded tracts, the greater
part of the timber having been cut and sawed
into lumber by the first settlers. The atten-
tion of the farmer has of late years been
called to the necessity of supplying himself
with timber, as the native growths have dis-
appeared, and artificial groves have been set
out in different parts of the township. The
soil of this section is a strong, deep loam,
with a slight mixture of sand in some places
and clay in the more elevated wooded por-
tions.

Lucas is noted chiefly for its agricultui-al
excellence, and hence was eagerly sought by
the earlv settlers. Taken as a whole, its

•Ai

^^-^n^

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

245

territory presents as fine a tract of farm land
as there is to be found in the county. As a
wheat district, it is probably unexcelled, the
peculiar nature of the soil being adapted to
that cereal, though corn and all other grain
crops are raised in abundance. The culture
of fruit, also, has, of late years, received a
great deal of attention from the farmers.
The boimdaries of Lucas are St. Francis
Township on the north, Union Township on
the west. Clay County on the south and Jas-
per County on the east.

William Morris is believed to have been
the first permanent settler within the present
limits of Lucas Township. The date of his
arrival is fixed at the year 1830, thotigh not
given as definite. It is not known from what
State he came, nor how long he remained a
resident of the township. He settled on Sec-
tion 18, and the place is known as Morris'
field, and is at present owned by N. T. Cat-
terlin Several transient settlers came into
the counfry about the time Morris made his
appearance, erected a few temporary shanties
along Lucas and Bishop Creeks, where they
lived for a year or so, when, becoming dis-
satisfied with the country on account of the
prevalence of ague and fever, they harvested
their little crops and departed for other lo-
calities. The next actual settler of whom we
have any knowledge was a man named Mar-
ion, who came from Kentucky, and entered a
piece of land lying in Section 17, near Lucas
Creek, in the year 1831, where he improved
about twenty acres in the timber. He was a
true type of the pioneer, rugged, strong as a
Here ales, and generous to a fault. The
greater portion of his time was spent in hunt
ing, in which he was a great expert and
which he loved as he loved his life. For
twenty years Marion lived where he first set-
tled, and accumulated during that time a fine
body of land, which was brought to a suc-

cessful state of cultivation, chiefly by the la-
bors of his two sons, " Wash " and Daniel.
He died in the year 1849 at a good old age.

In the year 1831. Presley Funkhoiiser i-ame
into this part of the county and made a tem-
porary settlement in the timber on Lucas
Creek, about one mile west of Waymack Mer-
ry's farm. Ho remained here but one or two
years, and made no permanent improvements,
nor does it appear that he made any entry of
land. From this place he went into Jackson
Township, and as the country grew older be-
came a very prominent citizen, and seems to
have been publicly identified with much of
the county's development. A son lives in
the city of Effingham and is one of the load-
ing merchants of that place.

No other settlements were made here until
about the year 1840, when James Holt and
Thomas Stroud made improvements near the
same place where the first-named parties lo-
cated. Holt came from Indiana and made
his first entry of land in the northern part of
the township, in Section 4; he improved the
place here and occupied it for about twenty
years, when he sold out and purchased land
in Union Township, where he still lives.
Stroud located his home in Section 4, also,
and occupied it about twelve years, when he
sold to Joseph Barkley. The place is owned
at present by Uriah.

The spring of 1845 saw the following per-
sons, in addition to those mentioned, located
in Lucas as permanent settlers: James Bon-
nifield, Elijah Poynter, Smith Elliott and
George Barkley. The first named located in
Section 17, where he improved about twenty
acres of laud, which he sold about one year
later to Edward Sanderson, and, with his
family, moved to Indiana. Sanderson re-
mained in the place about eight years, when
he disposed of it to a man by the name of
Russ, the present owner. Poynter came from

246

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Kentucky and settled in the timber near the
creek, but did not enter the hind. He sold
his improvements to a man named Marion,
and moved near the central part of the town-
ship, where he lived until his death, about
teo years ago. Mr. Poynter was a man of
unblemished character and a substantia] citi-
zen. A son, W. H. Poynter, is the present
Treasm'er of the township. Elliott settled
south of the villaoje of Elliottstown, about
one mile, and entered land in Section 5,
where he resided until the year 1854, when
his death occurred. Mr. Elliott was a man
of much more than ordinary intelligence and
a sincere Christian. Though dead, he still
lives in the influence which he formerly ex-
erted upon the community he was instru-
mental in founding. Daniel Merry, brother
of Waymack Merry, was a prominent settler
of Lucas, having come here when the pioneer
cabins were few and far between. Mr. Merry
came from Bond County, but was originally
from Kentucky. He entered land in Section
17, which is now owned by his sons, John
and George Merry. George Barkley was an
old settler also, and the first blacksmith to
work at his trade in the township. He set-
tled in Section 5, where he improved land,
and in addition to his farming carried on a
blacksmith shop for a number of years. At
the first election for Justice of the Peace, the
honors of the office fell to him, a position he
filled accej)tably for several consecutive terms.
Among other settlers who came here in an
early day may be mentioned W. C. Davis,
William and Henry Lake, John L. Baty,
Waymack Merry, Isaac McBroom, Til-
ton and a man named French. Davis came to
the township about 18^6, and settled on land
then owned by the Highland Companyj in
Section 18. The Lake brothers came here
from Clark County, about the same time, al-
though the land on which they settled had

been entered in their names several years
before. Baty located in Section 6, where he
lived until about sis years ago. Merry en-
tered the laud where Elijah Poynter first set-
tled, and is at present engaged in business at
Elliottstown. McBroom carce from Indiana
and settled where Joseph Lidy now lives, in
Section 4, about the year 1845 or 1846.
French made a temporary settlement in the
northern pari of the townshij) at a very early
day, and improved a few acres of ground,
which were afterward pm-chased by Tilton.
The last named was the first physician in this
part of the county and practiced his profes-
sion for several yeai's among the sparse set-
tlements of Lucas and adjoining townships.
The pioneers of Lucas found no royal
highway to affluence, but, like all settlers in
a new country, had to brave many formidable
obstacles, encounter many difficulties and ex-
perience many hardsuif>s, which would ajjpall
their descendants whose lives have fallen in
more pleasant places. The nearest markets
where groceries, dry goods and other com-
modities could be obtained were Greenville,
Terre Haute and St. Louis, and to reach any
of these places, a long journey of several days
was required, oftentimes a week or longer
were consumed in the trip, if the weather
proved wet, as the prairies at that time were
almost impassable, owing to their muddy
condition. The first plowing of the settlers
was done by night, on account of the flies,
which were so numerous on the prairies, and
which rendered the stock almost frantic. Dr.
Field says that in crossing the prairies a
man would have to keep his horse on a dead
run in order to leave tlie swarms of flies be-
hind; that if they once lighted upon the horse
he became unmanageable, and would in a
shol't time lie down in agony and roll over
and over to rid himself of his tormenters.
From this and other causes, but small crops

HISTORY OF EFFINOnA.M COUNTY.

247

were raised during the early years of the
country's settJement. Corn was the most
practical crop; the early families iu fact had
to subsist in the main upon this product va-
riously prepared, and to which they added
deer, turkey, prairie chickens and other game
that thronged the woods and prairies, lish
that filled the streams and honey that was
obtained in large quantities from hollow
trees in the forests.

The first mill patronized by the pioneers of
Lucas was the small horse-mill that stood in
Bishop Township, a little north of Elliotts-
town, and operated by a Mr. Armstrong.
White's Mill, at Bishop's Point, was also ex-
tensively patronized by farmers of this sec-
tion until better machinery was put in opera-
tion at Teutopolis. The nearest mill at pres-
ent is the one at Georgetown, in Clay County,
a distance of about fifteen miles.

It has been asserted, and wisely so, that
the avenues of communication are an un-
doubted evidence of the state of society.
Savages have no roads because they need
none. The Indian trails through Lucas were
the marks by which the fii-st highways were
run. As time passed, the old routes were
' changed, and the roads properly established.
The first thoroughfare through tliis township
was known as the Teutopolis road, and ran
almost parallel to the eastern boundary for
several miles, when it angled toward the
southeast. The original course has been
greatly changed, the road improved, until
now it is one of the most extensively traveled
and best highways in the soiithern part of the
county. Another early road run through the
northern part of the township, from east to
west, and is known as the Doutliard road.
A road leading from EUiottstown south
through Lucas was laid out and improved in
an early day, but was not legally established
until a few years ago. The greater number

of highways which traverse the township in
all directions have been established in recent
years, and the majority of them are well im-
proved and in good condition. Like the
thoroughfares in all parts of Central and
Southern Illinois these roads during certain
seasons of the year became well-nigh impass-
able on account of the mud, but the porous
nature of the soil is such as to cause this
mud to diy up rapidly, and within a com-
paratively short time after the frost leaves
the ground.

The first marriage that took place in Lucas
was solemnized in the fall of 1846, the con-
tracting parties being Jesse Marion, son of
Richard Marion, and a Miss Greenwood.
The first death occurred about the same tinje,
but the name of the person was not learned.

In the early settlement of the county one
of the greatest disadvantages under which
the pioneer labored was the almost entire ab-
sence of facilities for the education of his
children. When the question of keeping soul
and body together had once been solved, the
settler's attention was turned to the necessity
of schools and means of supplying the want
earnestly sought, and bitildings for the j)ur-
pose were erected. The first school iu the
tovmship was taught by Dr. Field in a little
rude cabin that formerly stood on Section 5,
and was for a term of three months. He
appeal's to have given universal satisfaction,
as he was at that time in the vigor of man-
hood, and could strike a blow that never
failed to bring the most reckless pupil to
speedy terms — main strength being in those
days a requisite qualification in a teacher.
The school generally commenced as early in
the morning as teacher and scholars could
get to their work, and closed when the sun
went down. The second school was taught
by James Gibs9n, about the year 1850, in
the same building. The second house erected

248

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

especially for school purposes was situated in
Section IS, and was a small improvement on
the one first mentioned, having been better
finished and furnished. It was first used by
John Hanly, who taught a three months'
term in the year 1853. The first public
school in the township was taught by Eliza-
beth Taylor about 1857. A frame house was
erected in 1858 by H«nry Kershner, and
stood in the northern part of the township.
The first teacher who occupied it was Henry
Russ. There are now five district schools
taught anniially in as many good frame
houses, and last from six to nine months of
the year. During the school year of 1881-82,
there was paid for tuition the sum of $800.
The township board is composed of the fol-
lowing gentlemen: Noah Merry, Matthew
McMurry and W. H. Poynter.

The old story of the Cross will ever be new
from its first annunciation to the shepherds
of Judea by the angelic choir that sung.
" peace on earth, good will to men, " down
through the ages to the present it has been a
consolation and solace to the millions who
have yielded to its gentle influences. It was
first told in this township by Rev. George
Monical, who conducted religious services at
the residence of Edward Sanderson as early
as the year 1846. He was a Methodist
preacher, and had charge of a chui'ch at that
time in Georgetown, Clay County. Alexan-
der Ortrey was an early minister of the town-
ship, also, and held public worship for sev-
eral years at the private residences of Daniel
Merry and Edward Sanderson, both of whom
were zealous Methodists and sincere Chris-
tians. These meetings were largely attended
by the early settlers, who often came to them
for several miles, and were the means of ac-
complishing a great amount of good in that
community. The first church was organized
at the residence of Edward Sanderson, about

the year 1850, and for several years his house
was the only preaching place. The organi-
zation was afterward moved to a neighboring
schoolhouse, where public worship was held
until the year 1866, at which time stops were
taken to erect a more convenient structure, in
keeping with the growth of the congregation.
A log bouse was accordingly erected that
year, and has served the purpose of a meet-
ing-house ever since. The chm-ch is not in
a very floiu-ishing condition at present, there
being but fifteen or twenty names on the rec-
ords, though at one time the congregation
was very strong, and numbered among its
members many of the best and most substan-
tial citizens of the township.

Tlie Lutherans have a strong organization
near the village of Winterrowd, and own in
connection with their house of worship about
twenty acres of land. Their building is a
substantial frame edifice, and the membership
will number probably sixty.

The Missionary Baptist Church at Elliotts-
town was organized in this township at the
residence of Smith Elliott and afterward
moved to that village; its history will be
found in the chapter devoted to Bishop
Township and Elliottstown. A small Pres-
byterian Church was in existence at one time
in the town of Winterrowd, but was short-
lived, having been disbanded after their pas-
tor's death occuiTed, several years ago. There
is, in addition to those already enumerated, a
church organization in the northeastern part
of the township, but of its history nothing
definite was ascertained. The little hamlet
of Winterrowd, scarcely aspiring to the dig-
nity of a village, is situated in the southeast
corner of the township, and consists merely
of a store, post office, blacksmith shop, an un-
finished church building and some ten or a
dozen residences. It was surveyed and laid
out in the year 1863 by Washington Winter-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

249

rowd, on ground that had formerly belonged
to Thomas Scott. The only store in the place
i8 carried on by James McCorkle, who keeps
a very fair stock of miscellaneous merchan-
dise and does quite an extensive business for
so small a place; he also keeps the post ofBce
in his establishment, where the citizens of
the surrounding country get their mail daily.
The physician of the village — Dr. Jayne —
has a large and lucrative practice. The
manufacturing interest of the place is repre-
sented by the blacksmith and wagon shop of
Joseph Goslawn. There is one church build-
ing partially completed, where the Methodists
hold services occasionally, though they have
no regularly organized society.

The Eberle Post Office was established in
the year 1867, and Dr. Allen appointed as
Postmaster; it is now kept by W. H. Poynter,
at his residence in the sonthwestern part of
the township.

Lucas is the only Republican township in
this strong Democratic county, and generally
gives that ticket majorities ranging from
forty to sixty at important elections. At an
election held in the year 1863, one Demo-
cratic vote was cast, a fact so seldom heard
of that we venture to give the lonesome voter's
name. Mr. Baty will pardon us for making
mention of him in this public manner.

Perhaps but few sections in the State mani-
fested their loyalty during the great rebellion
in a more substantial manner than did Lucas
Township. The alarm of war and the cry

that the country was in danger was but ut-
tered when brave and true men were seen fly-
ing to the nearest recruiting office to proffer
their services, and lives, if need be, in defense
of the Union they had been taught to love.
The idea that 75,000 could crush the rebell-
ion in three months was soon found to be a
very grave mistake, and no locality seemed
more fully to realize this fact. Almost every
man, whether able-bodied or otherwise, was
inspired with the idea that his services were
needed by the Government for this trying
occasion. Farmers left their plows, work-
men their shops and hurried to the front to
assist in the great struggle that was to decide
the nation's existence. The following list
comprises the brave boys who donned the blue
diu'ing the dark days of war:

Ner Stroud, S. J. Stroud, N. S. Stroud, E
J. Stroud, J. P. Barkly, Henry Barkly, A. L.
Elliott, G. S. Elliott, Waymack Merry, J. R.
Merry, Fred Merry, Mack D. Men-y, G. W.
Merry, J. T. Poynter, George Adamson, J.
A. Evans, Henry Lake, W. P. Halloway, D.
H. Halloway, Marshall Lown, Manassah
Jones, Benjamin Cox, Henry Evans, Andrew
Dunn, T. J. Dunn, W. C. Baty, Robert Baty.

Those of the above number who went but
never returned — who laid dovm their lives to
uphold the honor of an insulted flag will al-
ways be remembered. May the mold which
covers their inanimate forms never again be
disturbed by the tramp of soldier nor the
iron hoof of war-horse.

giff^

250

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

CHAPTEE XXIIL*

TEUTOPOLIS TOWNSHIP-ITS DESCRIPTION AND FORMATInN_ToPOGRAPHY-THE PRAIRIE -VND

TIMBER SOILS— GERMAN EMKiRANTS-VILLAGE OF TEUT0P(^LIS— THE GERMAN COLONY

-GROWTH OF THE VILLAGE-SCHOOLS - ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE-SISTERS OF

NOTRE DAME— THE CHURCH— VILLAGE INCORPORATION AND OFFICERS.

" O Spreclit! warum zogt ihr von dannen?

Das Ncckarthal hat Weiii und Koru;
Der Schwarzwald steht vol! finstrcr Tannen,
Im Spessart Klingt des Alplers Horn."

The Gekmam Emighant.
n^ETJTOPOLIS is not a full Congressional
-*- township, but a part of the Congressional
township of Douglas. In the year 1862, a
strip of the east half of Douglas was cut ofi,
being from east to west three miles, from
south to north six miles, and it is designated
as Town 8 north, Range 6 east, of the Third
Principal Meridian. The name was derived
from the village of Teutopolis, which is situ-
ated in the eastern part of the township.

The history of the formation of Teutopolis
into a township is as follows: During the
late war, this part of the old township had
furnished a large number of volunteers for
the army, and, as the Government was making
a draft for soldiers, a just credit could not be
given to this section, unless they were di-
vided from the old township. Proper steps
were taken for a change, and a new town-
ship was created. Another reason for the
separation was, that this part of the township
had a voting precinct, and when the county
adopted township organization the voting
precinct was set aside, all voters being re-
quired to go to Effingham, a distance of four
miles, to vote. This was put forth as strong
ground for a new township, which would give
the people a voting place nearer home. Af-
ter the township was set off, a proper dietri-

• By Charlea KreramanQ.

! bution of volunteers was made, and it was
j found that the new township had more volun-
j teers than its ratio of draft called for, and
hence no draft was made here.

Teutopolis Township is bounded on the
east by St. Francis, on the south by Watson,
on the west and north by Douglas, and has
eleven thousand five hundi-ed and twenty
acres; of this area about five thousand acres
is timber land, running in a belt through
the township, and is composed of white oak,
ash, walnut, hickory, elm, burr oak, black
oak, pin oak, Cottonwood, etc. The land,
when cleared, is unexcelled for farming pivr-
poses. The soil is of a more durable nature
than the prairie land, and many fine farms
have been made by some of the tii-st settlers.
Most of them settled in the timber under the
impression that prairie land could not be
cultivated, and that it would not produce
crops. Through this belt of timber, two
streams run — Salt Creek enters the township
about a half mile north of the National road
and flows west some three miles, thence south
for about one mile, where it passes into Doug-
las Township; Willow Creek enters the
township at the northeast part, and runs in a
southwestern direction to the center, where
it empties into Salt Creek. There are a
number of other small streams which serve
as a drainage to the low lands.

The i^rairie land is of a rolling nature, and
its soil is of a deep black. In the year 1847,
the settlers commenced to cultivate the

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

251

prairie land and adjacent to the timber.
Most of the prairie is now under cultivation,
and farms can be made at much less expense
than in the timber. The prairie laud is well
adapted to raising wheat, oats, corn, barley.
The average yield of corn is forty-five bush
els to the acre; of wheat, about fifteen bush-
els, and oats, thirty-five bushels. The average
price paid for this land hj the early settlers
was SI. 25 per acre. The price has steadily
increased to $35 'per acre. More or less of
the land is swamp, very low and wet, but of
later years it has been reclaimed by a system
of drains; when drained, which can easily
be done, it produces better crops than the
high land, and is equal to the timber soil.

The village of Teutopolis is situated in
the eastern part of the township upon
Sections 13 and 14. In tho year
1S37, it was laid out and incorporated,
February 27, 1845, a company was formed
by Germans at Cincinnati, consisting of the
following members: Bernard Arusen, Henry
Art, B. H. Brockmann, Joseph Bussmann,
John F. Boving, Joseph Bockmann, Frantz
Brinkmann, J. H. Buddeke, Joseph Beans,
J. H. Bergfeld, Franz Borgmann, G. H.
Berg f eld, J. H. Brummer, Joseph Brock-
mann, Franz Betentom, John Berus, Joseph
Brockamp, J. H. Baving, B. N. Deters, G.
N. Deters, H. Determann, John Frilling,

F. Frommeyer, Joseph Feldhake, Joseph
Frey, J. M. Goos, R. Grobmeyer. H. Grob-
meyer, J. H. Grunkemoyer, Anna Mary Hille,

G. H. Hahnhorst, B. H. Hille, Anton Hos-
mann, J. H. Hille, C. HuUe, D. Hahuhorst,
Henry Hursmann, H. H. Hardmann, H. A.
Hollfogt, Henry Hackmann, J. W. Humler,
Henry Imwaldo, J. H. Imbush, B. lukrot.
B. Jonning. Henry Kempker, Franz Kramer,
J. H. Kabbes, Arnold Kreke, Joseph Keyser,
Joseph Krieg, Henry Renter, John G. Korf-
hagen, Joseph Klein, Allert Kunen, J. H.

Klone, John Kark, Joseph Kemppe, B.
Sohub, B. Kriog, N^Lugers^ G. Lugers, H.
Losekamp, Franz Meyer, Joseph Mesch, F.
Nacke, Joseph Moritz, C. Moritz, G. Meyer,
Franz Meyer, J. H. Mindruj), Joseph Met-
ten, Joseph Meyer, C. Meyer, J. H. Newhans,
B. Nurre. Joseph Ostendorf, F. H. Pudhoff, J.
H. Plaspohl, Elizabeth Pudick, William
Pirbach, F. Rumpling. C. Rabe, William
Ruckener, J. II. Runobaum, C. Rnckoner,
William Rolfer, H. H. Rehkamp, G. Rocken,
J. H. Renscher, H. H. Rickelmann, B.
Riesenbeck, J. H. Rabe, Joseph Rabe, R.
Schutte, Joseph Stukenborg, G. Schutte,
Joseph Schwegmann, Christine Schonhoff,
J. H. Schurbesk, Henry Shmidt, David
Springmeyor, Anton Sudbeck, Casper Schwe-
deck, J. G. SchelmoUer, C. Sleper, Franz
S leper, Henry Stolteben, C. G. Sander, Franz
Schriver, Theodor Thies, John Wessel Tobe,
Peter Thole, B. Tangemann, Anton Thole, D.
Thole, Allert Volking. W. Uthell, J. H.
Uptmor, H. H. Uptmor, C. Uptmor, Mary
Ann Uptmor, B. Verweck, G. Venemann,
Anton Venemaun, Otto Voske, Joseph Vene-
mann, Theodore Venemann, J. H. Vormor,
Casper Waschefort, John F. Waschefort,
Joseph Weloge, Josej)h Westendorf, H H.
Wempe, G. Windhaus, H. H. Wernsing,
Anton Zumbrick, Herman Zerhusen, Bar-
nard Zerhusen, Hemy Zerhusen.

The members had to pay 1 10 each month
until the sum of $10,000 was accumulated.
A committee was appointed, consisting of
Clem Uptmor, John F. Waschefort and G.
H. Bergfeld, who were appointed to look out
for a suitable locality. And on the 17th day
of April, 1837, they started upon their
mission. After making a tramp through
Indiana, they came to Illinois, traveled over
a considerable portion of the State, and
finally selected this place. After they
returned and made their report, they were

252

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

instructed to buy the land. The committee
had to guard against sharpers, who ondeav
ored to find out where the land was to be
bought, thus desiring to get ahead of them,
buy the land and make them pay a profit on
it. But by the shrewd management of Mr.
C. Uptmor, who cautioned all those present
in the meeting not to say a word as to the
place of their selection, thereby completely
outwitting the sharpers. Sixteen thousand
dollars was the sum they had with them for
this entry, ten thousand acres, paying for it
$1.25 per acre, except eighty acres in the
town, for which they had to pay $400. Upon
their return, the land was laid off to each
shareholder — a share being $50. Each
member who had paid $50, and $10
for expenses, was entitled to forty acres and
fom* lots in the village. There were one
hundred and forty-two who onh' had one
share of $50. and fifty-two who had two
shares in addition to the one. The destribu-
tion was made by lottery. The total expense
of this committee was not quite $400.

All the deeds were made by J. F. Wasche-
fort to the members and the plot of the
village was made in Cincinnati. The main
street is on the old National road and is
eighty feet in width, all other streets running
with the main streets are sixty feet, as well
as the cross streets. Blocks were forty-eight
in number, and each block had nine lots of
fifty feet front and five hundred and thirty-
three feet in depth. Outside of these blocks
are lots called garden lots and are of two
acres each. This plat was recorded in the
year 18:^8. About one-third of the village
lie.s in the timber, and the land is of a rolling
nature.

In the year of 1838, J. H. Uptmor, Henry
Vormor, G. H. Bergfeld Niemann, Joseph
Bockmann located here and were the first set-
tlers. They came here in the fall, and in the

following spring Mr. C. Uptmor came out.
The first house sold was by J. H. Uptmor
to his brother Clemens, and the price paid
was $5. Mr. C. Uptmor settled in the town
but the others settled upon the land and
commenced farming.

The early settlers emigrated by wagon or
by water; the most practical route then was
by water from Cincinnati to St. Louis, Mo. ,
thence by wagon, it being only one hundred
miles from St. Louis here. C. Uptmor
made the trip twice on foot. Others came
by stage. Some of the early settlers came
directly from the old country by the way of
New Orleans. They found it very hard to
make a start. Teams were difficult to get.
Horses were not thought of. The first horse
was owned by J. Bockmann, and often he
might be seen with'one ox and horse hitched
to a roller wagon, going to mill. Plows
were'made of wood, all except a small strip
of iron put in front in place of share. Wag-
ons were made ' from ends of logs cut off
about six inches thick, as wheels, and with-
out iron. Poultry had to be got in Marshall,
some forty miles distant. Some of our early
settlers got chickens from a place called
Spring Point, east of here about fifteen
miles, and had to carry them on their back,
and when they came with them they pre-
sented a fine spectacle. All provisions and
groceries had to be hauled in wagons from
St. Louis. Mr. C. Uptmor, in the year 1839,
started a small store; $50 was his invoice,
and it is now often related that at that time
this small stock was looked upon as greater
than our first-class stores are at the present
time. The nearest mill was at Newton, 111.,
a distance of twenty- one miles. Often the
road was so bad that the jjeople could not
get to mill by wagon (such as they had) and
woiild go on foot and carry their grist on
their back. When out of meal, they would

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM OOUKTY.

253

crack corn with a hammer and make bread
of it. But in the year 1842 Mr. C. Uptmor
and his brother, H. Ujitmor, built a fom- arm
windmill. This mill had only one pair
buhrs. It had a bolt which had to be turned
by hand. This added much to the conven-
ience, and the settlers were happy when they
could get their grinding done at home. But
still sometimes there would be no wind to
make the mill go. Then it was like Smith's
mill in the poem:

•• Save ouly wlien the winJ was west,
Still as a post it stood at rest."

And often in such cases they would run
short of meal. To overcome this difficulty,
Frantz Weber built a horse-power mill, but it
was a slow way of grinding, five bushels of
corn being a big day's work. This difficulty
was removed, however, in the year 1857,
when John F. Waschefort built a steam mill
with a capacity of tift_y barrels a day. He
also attached a saw mill to this, which is still
in operation and doing a good business. In
the year 18S2, G. Uptmor & Son built a large
mill at a cost of over §40,000, and with a
capacity of one hundred and fifty bushels a
day. This mill is the best in the county;
all of its machinery is of the latest improve-
ment.

The first saw mill was built by Theodore
Penner in 1848, and was an old-fashioned
water mill, which would only run when Salt
Creek was very high. There were built a
number of other mills, but their dates cannot
be given.

The first schoolhouse was built in 1840,
and was of logs. Mi: C. Robe was the first
school-teacher, and sis pupils was the largest
number he had at one time. A new public
schoolhouse was built in 1855, at a cost of
$1,500. A fine schoolhouse and residence
for the Sisters of Notre Dame was built in
18(38, at a cost of $15,000; and in 1879 a

schoolhouse was built at a cost of $6,000.
This building has a large hall in the second
story, and at one end a tine stage. The hall
is used principall}- for holding public meet-
ings.

The St. Mary's Academy, under the super-
vision of the Sisters of Notre Dame, already
alluded to, is a flourishing institution. The
Sisters who came here in December, 1861,
were Sister Margueretta Mueller, Mother Su-
perior, and Sister Mauritia Ultzmann, and
the candidate Marguerite Rudolph. Their
number has increased from time to time, un-
til at present they number eight sisters and
one candidate, under the supervision of Sis-
ter Verena, Mother Superior. When they
first came here, they occupied a large two-
story log house, opposite the church, in
which they taught school for six years. In
1867, the congregation built a large two-story
brick, with basement and attic, oOxSO feet.
Two of the lower and one of the upper rooms
are used for the school; the others as a resi-
dence for the sisters, except one in the first
story used for a chapel. The institution ie
an academy for young ladies, taught by the
sisters, in all branches, including music and
fancy needle-work. Four deaths have occurred
in the institution since it commenced, viz.,
three Sisters and one candidate. The build-
ing is situated on a fine lot near the church.
The ground is highly ornamented with trees
and shrubbery.

The princij^al Mother House is at Milwau-
kee, Wis., and all institutions like this are
subject to it. The main support of the
academy is from teaching. A certain sum is
received from the School Directors; something
is received from tuition of the boarders in
the institution in young ladies' department,
and from needlework, etc.

*S^ Joseph's Diocesan College. — This insti-
tution of learning was founded in the year

354

HISTOllY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

1861. The congregation of St. Francis, at
Teutopolis, had been intrusted to Franciscan
Fathers, sent to this country in 1858 by the
Very Rev. Gregory Yanknecht, O. S. F.,
Provincial of the Westphalian Province of
Saxony of the Holy Cross, Prussia, at the
entreaties of Rt. Rev. Henry D. Junker,
D. D., Bishop of Alton. In their zeal for
the flock committed to their charge, the pious
Fathers soon were convinced of the useful-
ness and necessity of a high school for the
education of the growing young men of the
congregation. Accordingly, under the au-
spices of Very Rev. Damian Hennewig,
O. S. F., a committee was formed, consisting
of Messrs. Clement Uptmor, John Wernsing,
Diederich Eggermann and John Waschefort,
for choosing a convenient bui Iding ground and
for procuring the necessary funds for the erec-
tion of the college. An area of eighteen lots
in the southern part of the town— partly donat-
ed, partly bought — was selected as a suitable
site for the institution. A two-story brick
house with basement was erected, and fur-
nished with all the improvements belonging
to an edifice of this nature; a beautiful gar-
den and extensive play grounds were laid
out, and the whole inclosed with a fence.
The expenses were almost entirely covered
by subscriptions.

The work so rapidly progressed that in the
year 1862 the institution was opened by the
Franciscan Fathers, under the direction of
Rev. P. Heribert Hofmann, O. S. F., as
rector, and was deeded to Rt. Rev. H. D.
Junker, D. D., Bishop of Alton, for the
benefit of the diocese.

The Bishop raised the institution to an
Ecclesiastical Seminary, and sent his candi-
dates for the holy ministry to Teutoiwlis,
there to complete their course of philosophy
and theology. Bat the number of Fathers
was very small, and the few were besides

engaged in preaching missions and in other
pastoral duties, as the direction of congrega-
tions, etc. In consequence of these multifari-
ous labors, they could not possibly give the
necessary attention to the seminary, and they
thought it proper to close it and to devote
their energy to giving young men a thorough
classical education and a good moral train-
ing. This plan was carried out at the acces-
sion of Very Rev. P. Maurice Klostermann,
O. S. F., to the rectorship; a man renowned
not only as an excellent musician, but also as a
master in the art of instructinsr and trainiucr
the young. The course of studies was di-
vided into a preparatory one of two classes,
and a collegiate one of four classes. Subse-
quently, a commercial coiu'se was introduced.
The course of studies embraces the Greek,
Latin, French, German and English Ian-'
guages; rhetoric, poetry, history, geography,
book-keeping, arithmetic, mathematics, nat-
ural philosophy, natural history, drawing,
penmanship and instrumental and vocal
music. The college has also a good library,
to which students have access.

The number of scholars ever increasing,
the building could no longer accommodate
all those who applied for admission. For
this reason, in 1877, the college was enlarged
by an addition to the east side.

The fame of the institution spread more
and more, so that parents even from a dis-
tance intrusted their sons to St. Joseph's
College. Litei'ary institutions, also, to
which students of St. Joseph's repaired for
the completion of their studies, acknowledged
its merits, not to mention that bishops who
had their candidates for the ministry edu-
cated at Teutopolis, were highly pleased with
the result. The institution numbers among
its former scholars many priests, both secular
and regular; and others, distinguished as
physicians, teachers, merchants, and in other

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

255

avocations. In fact, the aim of the institu-
tion is not only to cram the mind with bare
facts and to develop the mental powers, but
also and principally to give a moral training
to its charges, to call forth and cultivate in
them a relish for virtue — in a word, to form
noble, honest, moral characters. To this
efifect the students are always under the
vigilant care of their professors and tutors,
and form but one family with them. They
are warned against the dangers peculiar -to
youth, and ai-e strengthened by advice tor
the time of temptation.

In the year 1881, Right Rev. P. J. Baltes,
D. D., Bishop of Alton, had the college iu-
corporated as a Diocesan institution. Hereby
it received the right to grant the academic
degrees, A. B. and M. A.
■ The following year, Very Rev. P. M.
Klostermann, O. S. F. , compelled by dimness
of sight, resigned the reetorate, and Rev. P.
Michael Richards, O. S. F., was elected to
succeed him.

In the current year, the number of students
is over 100. The following gentlemen belong
to the faculty: Rev. P. Michael Richards,
O. S. F., Rector; R&v. P. Nicholas Leonard,
O. S. F., sub-Rector; Rev. P. Francis Haase,
O. S. F., Professor; Rev. P. Hugolinus Storff,
O. S. F., Professor; Rev. P. Floribert Jaspers,
O. S. F., Professor; Mr. Gerard Schuette,
Professor; Mr. Henry Rolf, Professor; Mr.
Peter Rhode Professor.

<S'/. Francis Conve/it. — This house is inhab-
ited by the Franciscan Fathers or Friars
Minor who came to Teutopolis September
23, 1858. It was then a branch of the
"Province of the Holy Cross of Saxony,"
which province was erected 1221, during the
life of St. Francis of ^ssisi, the founder of
the different orders of Franciscans. The
first members that arrived in Teutopolis came
at the request of Right Rev. Dami an Junker,

First Bishop of the Diocese of Alton. Rev.
Damian Hennewig (deceased December 12,
1865), Rev. Servatius Altmicks, Rev.
Capistran Zwinge, and three lay brothers
were the first Franciscans that came to this
place. (They came from Warendorf, West-
phalia, Europe.) On their arrival, they oc-
cupied a farmhouse of two rooms belonging
to Mr. J. F. Washefort, till a small brick-
house, the pastor's residence, near the church,
was completed. A two-story frame house,
thirteen rooms, was built in 1859 in addi-
tion to it, which was moved south to give
place for the present two-story brick build-
ing. In 1807, the east wing was built; in
1868, the north wing, fifty-eight rooms in the
building, size, 24x84 and 24x70. November
26, 1859, the following members arrived in
Teutopolis: Rev. Her ibert Hoffmanns, Rev.
Ferdinand Bergmeier, Rev. Mauritius Klos-
termann, Rev. Raynerius Dickneite. At
various times, new members carae from Ger-
many, and the order obtained many members
from this country. The number grew con-
tinually till 1875, when an unusually great
niunber arrived from Europe, owing to the
infamous May-laws, passed May, 1873, at
the sviggestions of Bismarck. On the 3d of
July, 1875, eighty members, and July 16,
twenty-six arrived and sought shelter in
Teutopolis,

Up to this time, the following convents
sprung up from that of Teutopolis: Quincy,
111., 1859; St. Louis, Mo., 1863; college in
Teutopolis. 1861; Cleveland, Ohio, 1808;
Memphis, Tenn., 1809; Hermann, Mo.,
1875.

As so many new members were addwd, the
Franciscans built, in 1875, convents at In-
dianapolis, Ind. ; Chicago, 111. ; Radom, 111. ;
Rhineland, Wis.; Mt. St. Mary's, Mo.; Col-
umbus and St. Bernard, Neb. ; Jordan, Minn. ;
Joliet, 111.; Chillicothe, Mo.; and Indian

2r.6

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

missions at Keshena, Minn., and Bayfield,
Chaska, and Superior City, Wis.

The number had increased from the origi-
nal (5 to 400 membprs, therefore a new prov-
ince, under the title«of "The Sacred Heart,"
was erected April 26, 1879, a decree was is-
sued by the Pope, and on the 2d July of the
same year, the new provincial or superior
was installed in Teutopolis.

Teutopolis is the mother-house, as it is
called, of this branch of Franciscafl.s, con-
tains the novitiate, where the aspirants are
tried for one year to test their vocation for re-
ligious life. Also rhetoric is taught in the
house as a preparation for ministerial duties,
by Rev. Francis Albers and Rev. Richard
Van Heek. The com-se of philosophy is
taught in Quincy; theology in St. Louis.
At present there are forty members in Teu-
topolis.

Superiors of this cjnvent were Rev.
Damian Heunewig, Rev. Kilian Schloesser,
(first guardian), Rev. Mathias Hiltermann,
Rev. Francis Moenning, Rev. Gerard Becker,
Rev. Damasus Ruesing, Rev. Dominicus
Florian, Rev. Paulua Teroerde, the present
Superior since July 13, 1881.

Volumes in library, about 6,000. Num-
ber of deaths of this branch, forty, of which
twelve died in Teutopolis. The Franciscans
have charge of the congregation of Teutopo-
lis, Sigel, Pesotum, Neoga, Shumway, Alta-
mont, St. Elmo, Bishop's Creek, Montrose,
Island Grove, Lillyville, Big Spring, Green
Creek.

Church. — A chm-ch building (log) built be-
tween Effingham and Teutopolis on Masque-
lette's place, 1839; another log church build-
ing in town near railroad track; third and
present brick, 1850, consecrated by R. Rev.
H. D. Junker. Addition to sanctuary of
choir built 1872.

Many other congregations were taken from

Teutopolis. Effingham, at the time called
Broughton. 1859; Bishop, 1864; Sigel and
Neoga, 1866; Lillyville, 1877; Island Grove,
1874; Montrose, 1879. Pastors were secular
priests till 1858. At that time, the Francis- '
cans took charge, first pastor: Rev. Damian
Hennewig, who was succeeded by Mathias
Hiltermann, Gerard Becker, Damasus, Do-
minicus, and Paulus, the present pastor.

Pastors before 1858: Joseph Masquelette,
Rev. Charles Oppermann, 1845; Rev. Zoe-
gel, 1853-54; Rev. Joseph Weber, S. J.,
1854; Rev. Charles Raphael, 1854-56; Rev.
W. Liermann, 1856; Rev. T. Frauenhofer,
1857; Rev. J. H. Fortman, 1857; Rev.
Barth. Bartels, 1858. Others are known to
us by name.

From its earl 3' days of settlement, Teutop-
olis has improved, and so has the surround-
ing country. It can be truly said that it is
one of the most beautiful country villages in
the State. In schools, we are vmequaled,
having a good public school, a college and a
female academy, also a tine church and
convent, two first-class mills, four general
stores, two hardware stores, one drug store,
three shoe-makers, two eabinet-makers, two
hotels, one livery stable, four saloons, one
bakery, a brick yard, four blacksmith shops,
two wagon-makers, two doctors, two grain
merchants and one clothing store. The
village has a population of 456, and the
township 555 inhabitants. It has a St.
Peter's men's society, which was organized in
1850 ; a St. Mary women's society, organized in
1855; a young men's society, organized 1857;
a St. Rosa young ladies' society, organized in
1865; a reading society and a dramatic club.

The first village election was held under the
incorporation law. the first Thiu-sday in
April, 1846. There were then in the town
only eight voters and all voted. The result of
the election was Clemens Uptmor, President;

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

267

J. Rabe, Clerk; Theodore Pramer, Treasurer;
Andrew B. Klausing, Trustees; B. Klausing,
Justice of Peace, iind also Bernard Brock-
mann. There only remained one citizen who
had no office. It has often been said that
these Trustees had no trouble to keep order.
The first Postmaster was C. Uptmor, who
was in office for twenty-eight years, and
there has only been made the following
changes: J. Habing after Mi-. Uptmor, then
G. G. Habing: these only held the office for
a short time. Dr. F. F. Eversmann was the
next, and held the office for twelve years.
Frederick Thoele succeeded Eversman in the
spring of 18S8. All of these Postmasters were
strong Democrats, and up to this day there has
not been a Postmaster biit what was a Democrat.
This is owing to the fact that the town.ship is
solidly Democratic, and the administration
could not find any Republican timber in the
township out of which to make a Postmaster.
The township has a voting population of over
two hundred and thirty-five votes, and the

highest vote ever cast for a President was for
Gen. Hancock in 1880. The highest vote
ever p3led by the Republicans was two.

The village is now incorporated under the
general law; and the present officers are C.
Eversmann, President: H. Sander, Treasurer;
G. Kreke and E. Kolker, Street Commis-
sioners; A. Brumleve and J. M. FuUe, Trust-
ees; T. C. Thole, Clerk; and J. H. Wernsiag,
Police Magistrate.

The Vandalia Railroad runs through the
village, and has a fine depot in the town.
The Effingham & South Eastern Narrow
Guage runs through the township one mile
south of the village. The township aided the
Vandalia Railroad in building, by subscribing
to its capital stock §15,000. The town gave
its bonds payable in fifteen years at a rate of
ten per cent per annum. The bonds fall
due in the years 1884 and 1885, and the
township will pay them off when due. The
township has no other debts, and is in a
flourishing condition.

CHAPTER XXIV.

WEST TOWNSHIP— INTRODUCTORY AND DESCRIPTIVE— TOPOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES—

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS— PIONEER INDUSTRIES AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS—

AN INCIDENT— SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETC.— VILLAGE OF GILMORE—

WAR RECORD AND EXPERIENCE, ETC.

"All the world is full of people,

Hurrying, rushing, passing by,
Bearing burdens, carrjing crosses,

Passing onward with a sigh;
Some there are with smiling faces.

But with heavy hearts below;
Oh, the sad-eyed, burdened people,

How they come, and how they go."

TT^HIS is a beautiful section of the county.
-'- Fancy yourself standing upon yonder
swell of the ground fifty years ago. It is
June, say; your senses are regaled with the

•By W. H. Perrin.

beauty of the landscape, the singing of the
birds, the fragrance of the air, wafting grate-
ful odors from myriads of flowers of every
imaginable variety of size, shape and hue,
blushing in the sunbeam and opening their
petals to drink in ils vivifying rays, while
gazing, enraptured, you descry in the dis-
tance a something moving slowly over the
prairies, and through the forest and among
the gorgeous flowers. As the object nears
you, it proves to be a wagon, a " prairie
schooner," drawn by a team of oxen, contain-

258

HISTOllY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

ing a family and their earthly all. They are
moving to the " far West" (now almost the
center of civilization), in quest of a home.
At length they stop, and, on the margin of a
grove, rear their lone cabin, amid the chat-
tering of birds, the bounding of deer, the
hissing of serpents and the barking of wolves.
For all the natives of these wilds look upon
the intruders with a jealous eye, and each in
his own way forbids any encroachments upon
his fondly-cherished home and his long un-
disputed domain. From the same point look
again in midsummer, in autumn and in win-
ter. Audio! fields are inclosed, waving with
grain and ripening for the harvest. Look
yet again, and after the lapse of fifty years,
and what do you see ? The waste has become
a fruitful field, adorned with ornamental
trees, enveloping in beauty commodious and
even elegant dwellings. In short, you be-
hold a land, whose

"Rocks and hills and brooks and vales
With milk and honey flow."

And where abound spacious churches,
schools, etc., and other temples of learning;
a land of industry and wealth, checkered
with railroads and public thoroughfares. A
land teeming with life and annually sending
off Burijlus fruits, with hundreds, notUo say
thousands, of its sons to people newer regions
beyond. A land whose resources and im-
provements are so wonderful as to stagger
belief and surpass the power of description.
When the first whites came here it was the
great West, just as we now call the country
beyond the Mississippi the great West. To
the emigrant from Kentucky, Tennessee and
Ohio, with their wagons and ox teanls, it was
a tjreat imdertakincr to move out West — to
Illinois. Fifty years ago, to load up all one's
worldly goods in a wagon, hitch four horses
to it, or three yoke of oxen, and start on a
journey of two or three hundred miles over

bad roads, and often where there were no
roads at all,- was a trip that most of us would
shrink from now. It was a greater under-
taking than it is at the present day to cross
the continent, or even to go to Europe. Yet
that is the way the pioneers came to Illinois
half a century ago.

West Township is situated in the southwest
part of the county, and is an unexceptionally
fine farming country, being mostly prairie.
The western part of the township is very
level, but the eastern portion is more rolling
and drains well without artificial means.
There is considerable timber in places and
along Fulfer Creek, which runs through the
entire township, there was originally a great
deal of tine white oak timl er, most of which
has been cut away. The other growths are
walnut, hickory, cottonwood, several kinds of
oak, hackberry, buckeye, sugar maple, etc.
The principal water-course is Fulfer Creek,
which traverses the entire township from east
to west, or vice versa. A few other small
streams flow in different directions, but are
without names. West has Mound Township
on the north, Mason Township on the east,
Fayette County on the south and west, and
taken all in all is one of the finest agricult-
m-al regions in the county. According to
the Congressional survey of the State, it com-
prises Township 6 north, in Range 4 east, of
the Third Principal Meridian. It is inter-
sected by the Springfield Division of the Ohio
& Mississippi Railroad, to which it contrib-
uted liberally and aided materially in con-
structing. Gillmore Station, as a shipping
point, amply repays the people for the money
they invested iu building the road.

Settlements were not made in West Town-
ship as early as in many other portions of the
county, owing to the fact that the land was
principally prairie and the pioneers did not
believe in attemjiting a settlement on the

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

259

open prairies. They believed these vast plains
would never be fit for anything but pa^tui-es,
and hence shunned them as wholly unfit for
farming pui'poses. Thus it was that not un-
til nearly IS-tO that a settlement was made in
what now forms West Township. "When IVIr.
Gillmore came here, in 1845, there were then
living in the township the following families,
viz., Nelson Simons, Abraham Riddle, Jesse
Newman, Jacob Nelson, Jack Houchin, Jerry
and Abraham Hammonds and Morgan Kava-
naugh. These were mostly Tennesseans.
Simons settled near the present Gillmore Sta-
tion, about a mile from the east line of the
township. He was a live, energetic man, full
of fun and fond of his " toddy." His motto
was, " drink plenty of whisky and keep the
ager ofif." He finally sold out and moved
away, probably to Missom-i. Riddle settled
about a mile west of Simons. He was a
quiet, easy-going man, possessing but little
energy; ho died in the township several years
ago.

Newman settled on Fulfer Greek, and was
a fine business man and a useful man in the
community. He kept a store, the first in the
township, and bought the surplus produce of
the settlers. This he hauled in wagons to
St. Louis, and in retium brought back goods
which, he supplied to the neighborhood,
thereby creating a market at home. He
finally sold out and moved into Mason Town-
ship, where later he died, much respected.
The Hammonds set+lod near Newman. Abra-
ham still lives in the township, but Jerry died
a few years ago. Mr. Kavanaugh settled in
the same neighborhood, on the creek. He is
dead, but has a son living in the township
and other descendants in the county.

Jacob Nelson and Houchin have been ac-
credited by some as the first actual settlers
in the township, but this is not known of a
certainty at this time. They are said to

have moved in about 1829 or 1830. Nelson
afterward moved into Jackson and died there.
Houchin was from Kentucky and settled there
soon after Nelson. Later, he moved up into
Shelby County, where he built a mill, and
some years afterward moved into Coles Coun-
ty, near the village of Paradise, and died
there at a good old age.

These families above mentioned were the
eai'liest settlers in the township. If there
were others here as early their names are now
forgotten. A number of families, however,
came in shortly after, beginning about 184:4-
45. From this time a continual stream of
immigration was kept up until all the avail-
able lancl was occupied. Among the first of
those later emigrants were the Gillmores,
Isham Mahon, Judge Jonathan Hook and
Jeff Hankins. J. L. and William .Gillmore,
both of whom are still living in the township,
came originally from Kentucky with their
father, when quite small, and settled in Fay-
ette County. From thence the boys came
here, as above, in 1845. Mahon came a
year or two after the Gillmores. He is from
Virginia and is still a resident of the town-
ship.

Judge Hook was from Ohio, and settled
about the same time. He was a man highly
respected in the community in which he lived.
For many years he served as a Justice of the
Peace, and was elected County Judge, which
office ho filled acceptably for one term.
When he died, Jie was followed to the grave
by the largest funeral procession ever seen in
the township. He was buried in Edgewood
Cemetery. Hankins settled near Mahon.
He was a relative of the Hankinses, who set-
tled in the county at an early day, in Sum-
mit and Jackson Townships. He came here
from Fayette County, and after remaining a
few years returned whence he came.

About this time, quite a number of settlers

260

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

were moving in from Indiana and Ohio.
These did not assimilate readily with the
Southern people, who formed by far the larger
portion of the early settlers. The Kentuckians
and Tennesseans looked upon everybody born
and bred north of the Ohio River as Yankees,
and the very word Yankee to them implied
all that was bad and wicked. But a home
in the wilderness, a life on the frontier, is a
grand leveler of hviman prejudice; so, as they
were made better acquainted with each other
by constant intercourse, their old antipathies
were swept away, and they became the best
of fi'iends.

West Township possesses little of historical
interest beyond its settlement and occupation
by white people. There is not a town — ex-
cept Gillmore Station, which can scarcely be
called a town — in the township; there is not
a mill, and never has been, save a saw-mill
or two; nor is there a church building. This
leaves but little to say, beyond the fact that
the people are moral, industrious, energetic
and intelligent, attending strictly to their
own business and cultivating and improving
their lands.

That there is no church building in the
township, it does not follow that the people
are all Bob Ingersolls. They are not of that
class by any means. The schoolhouses are
used for church as well as for school pur-
poses, and with the towns of Altamont, Mason
and Edgewood in close proximity, the people
have no lack of spiritual consolation and
teaching. Many of them attend religious
services at these places, and are members of
the churches there located. One of the first
things our Pilcjrim Fathers did after crossins:
" the stormy seas," was to assemble upon the
barren rocks of Plymouth, in the great tem-
ple, whose majestic dome was the over-arching
skies, and offer prayers of thanksgiving for
their safe voyage and successful landing.

So it was with the first settlers of Illinois,
and the pioneers of West Township were no
exception. Whenever a few families were
near enough to each other to be called a
neighborhood, they often assembled, either
in the open air, or within the narrow confines
of some pioneer cabin, blending their hymns
of praise with the moan of the winds, and
amid the scream of the panther and the howl
of wolves, returning thanks to the Giver of
all good. In all their trials and sufferings,
their early privations and hardships, the pio-
neers never once forgot that God was the
great source of blessing and would not for-
sake them in their time of need. With all
the churches surrounding them that there
are, the good people of the township are well
supplied with the Gospel.

The first schoolhouse in the township was
built on Section 10, on Fulter Creek, near
where Jim Beck now lives. The uame of the
first teacher is not remembered, nor the date
of the school taught. At the present time
there are five good, substantial schoolhouses
in the township. They are all neat fi-ame
buildings, in which schools are taucrht each
year for the usual term by competent teach-
ers.

Jesse Newman, as we have said, kept the
first store in the township:). He was one of
the most useful men in the sparsely settled
community, and bought everything the farm-
er had to sell, giving him the necessaries of
life in return. He bought wheat and hauled
it to St. Louis at 60 cents a biishel, and our
farmers now grumble at having to sell for
$1 a bushel and haul it a few miles to the
railroad. But then some people would grum-
ble if thev were going to be hung. Mr.
Newman had a large peach orchard, and
manufactured peach brandy. He always
kept a large supply of this exhilarating bev-
erage in his cellar, and fiu'nished his custom-

^,h^A<^J^

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

263

ers liberally with it, particularly when he
wanted to make a good bargain with them.
Everything was then hauled to St. Louis in
wagons. Mr. Gillmore says he has hauled
many a load of wheat to St. Louis for 60
cents a bushel and was very glad to get even
that. The old National road was a great
thoroughfare in those daj's, and fully as many
wagon trains went over it as trains of cars
now go over the Vandalia Railroad.

By reference to the chapter on township
organization, it will be seen that the county
was previously divided into districts, or pre-
cincts, for election purposes, and that when
the county adopted township organization,
Township 6, in the foiu'th range, was called
West Township, being the first designated
on the west side of the county. Mr. J. L.
Gillmore was the first Supervisor, and has
served in that capacity for fourteen years,
which proves conclusively that he is the " right
man in the right place." Since him other
Supervisors have been N. T. Wharton, Au-
gustus Wolf, Willett, then Gillmore

again and William Velter. The present offi-
cers are William Velter, Supervisor; N. T.
Wharton, School Treasurer; Bobert Mahon,
Township Clerk, and William Donnelly and
Augustus Wolf, Justices of the Peace.

Like all of Effingham County — except Lu-
cas Township — West is largely Democratic
upon the political issues of the day. In the
late war, it was patriotic, and furnished more
than its full quota of men. A large number
of them, however, enlisted at Effingham and
other places, for whom the township did not
get credit. This resulted in one draft being
imposed, for two men only. The first time,
we are told, two Republicans were drafted.
They reported at Olney, then the military

headquai'ters for this section, and by some
sleight-of-hand work, got off and came home
as " unfit for service." A new draft was or-
dered, and this time the lightning struck two
Democrats — Nick T. Wharton and John W.
Wilson. They got off too — by paying the
moderate sum of $1,600 for substitutes. The
dealer in substitutes who furnished these two
to West Township made a little fortune in
this rather questionable business. But as a
proof that it was questionable, he eventually
lost it, and at the last accounts of him he was
peddling sewing-machines in the southern
part of the State. Verily, " the way of the
transgressor is hard."

There is bvtt one small village or hamlet in
the township, viz , Gillmore or Welton. The
place was established as a station on the rail-
I'oad when it was built and was called Gill-
more. The post office still goes by that
name. Recently, however, the place has
been sm-veyed and laid out as a town and
called Welton, after the proprietor of the land
— H. S. Welton. It was platted August 2,
1882, and is situated on the northeast quarter
of Section 11, of this township. The post
office was established in 1872, and John Fur-
neaux appointed Postmaster. The first store
was also kept by Furneaus, who is still in
the business and who still keeps the post
office. A. Carlston had a small store here
some time ago, but has quit the business.
Mr. Randall keeps a good store at the pres-
ent time. He also buys grain for Welton,
who lives in Springfield and does a large
business in that line. A blacksmith shop is
kept by Cole. There is no church, but a good
school building, which is used both for church
and school. These with some half dozen or
more residences comprise the little town.

264

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

CHAPTER XXV.*

RUNNER TOWNSHIP -TOPOGRAPHY-TIMBER GROWTH, ETC. -THE SETTLEMENT -BINGEMAN,
RENTFROW AND OTHER PIONEERS-WOLF HUNTS-CHURCHES AND CHURCH INFLU-
ENcls-SCHOOLS-YILLAGE OF SHUMWAY-ITS GROWTH AND DEVELOP-
- JIENT— RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES.

"We cross the prairies, as of old
The pilgrims crossed the sea.
To make the West, as they the East,
The homestead of the free."

BANNER is a fractional township, lying
in the north central part of the county,
and was formerly included in the territory
of Summit, from which it was separated in
the year 1874. It is bounded on the east,
south and west by the townships of Douglas.
Summit and Liberty, on the north by Shelby
County, and comprises the south half of
Township 9 north, Eange 5 east. The prin-
cipal streams by which it is watered and
drained are the Little Wabash, Shoal Creek,
and Moot's Creek. The first named flows
through the southeast corner, and is a stream
of considerable size and importance: Moot's
Creek flows nearly east, through the central
part of the township, uniting with Shoal
Creek in Section 33, and finally emptying
into the Little Wabash. Aside from those
mentioned, there are several smaller streams
that are nameless on the county map. The
land is diversified between woodland and
prairie, the latter predominating. The tim-
bered districts are confined principally to
the eastern and northeastern portions and
the creeks, while the prairie occupies the
central and southern parts, and comprise
about three-fourths of the townships. The
timber consists of hickory, ash, maple, elm,

*By G. N. Berry„

and sycamore, several varieties of oak and
walnut in limited quantities. The prairies,
when the first pioneers made their appear-
ance, were covered with a dense growth of
tall grass, so tall that a person riding through
it on horseback could hardly be seen, and so
dense that the sun's rays were wholly ex-
cluded from the ground, thus rendering the
surface of the country damp and wet the
entire year, and proving a prolific som-ce of
malaria during the hot months of July,
August and September. These facts caused
the early pioneers to give this part of the
country a roomy berth, and it was not until
many years after the first settlements were
made in the timber that any one was found
foolhardy enough to ventm-e even a suggestion
that the prairies could be cultivated. Years
after, as the country became more thickly
populated, and all the available timber land
had been bought up, a system of drainage was
adopted, and the land made comparatively
dry. The prairie farms are now the best and
most fertile in the township. This region is
exclusively agriculttural, there being no fac-
tories of any kind, and but one flouring mill
in the township.

The first settlement within the present
limits of Banner was made in the timber
along the little Wabash, about the year 1840,
by John Bingeman. He had been a resident
of the county several years before moving
here, having located in Jackson Town'^hip at

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

^65

an early day, though this seems to have been
his iirst permanent improvement. He moved
to Southwestern Missouri in 1865 and died
there ten years ago at an advanced age.
Jefferson Rentfrow was a prominent pioneer
of Banner and came into this psu't of the
county in the year 1843, and located the
farm uf)on which he still resides. About
the time of their arrival, or yierhaps a few
months later, a man by the name of Ramsey
made some improvements iu the timber near
Reutfrow's place and was prominently con-
nected with the early history of the town-
ship; his death occurred about the year 1855.
The place he improved is at present owned
by George Section. Robert Shumard was
an early settler also, and located near the
timber, where he lived for a number of years.
He disposed of his improvements about the
year 1800, and went to the city of Mattoon,
his present place of residence. Nathan
Ramsey settled on land lying about one mile
east of where Shumway now stands, about
the year 18-49, where he lived until 1877,
when becoming restive under the rapid ad-
vances of civilization, and thinking there
were more congenial quarters for him further
west, turned his face in that direction and is
now a resident of the State of Texas. A son,
William Ramsey, occupies the old place.
The same year and about the same time that
Ramsey settled here, Hugh Dennis came to
the township and located near the present
site of Shumway, on land now in possession
of Henry Bernard. He afterward purchased
a large tract of land, including the ground
which the village now occupies, and sold it
later to the Paducah Railroad Company
when that route was first surveyed through
the country. Dennis was a man of fine qual-
ities, and like the majority of early settlers
in a new country, came here poor, but by
industry and frugality soon acquired a com-

petency. His death occurred in this town-
ship about fourteen years ago. In the spring
of 1850, Thonuis Robinson made his advent
to this part of the county, and improved a
farm adjoining the place where Shumard
settled. He came from Ohio, as did manv
of the early pioneers of northern Effing-
ham, and by industry and energy soon
reclaimed a fine farm from the wild
prairie,-^- which is still in possession of his
family. During the last named and fol-
lowing year, quite a number of settlers took
up their residences in various parts of the
township, prominent among whom were
Samuel Crollard, John Draper. Brantley ( far-
rett and Frank Wetherell. The first named
located in the northwest part and improved
land lying in the prairie. Draper came

from Tennessee and bought land where

Bennius now lives. Garrett was a Tenues-
sean also, and selected for his home a tract
of land adjoining the Nathan Ramsey farm.
Wetherell made improvements about two
miles east of the town of Shumway, where he
resided until the year 1881. These were all
successful fai'mers and accumulated during
their residence in the townshij) a large
amount of land, which was brought to a high
state of cultivation and the majority of
which is still iu the possession of their re-
spective families.

WTien the first settlers came here the coun-
ti-y was full of game; the prairies abounded
in large flocks of wild chickens, plover,
geese, etc., while in timber were found tur-
keys, deer and some few bears. Wolves were
numerous and very troublesome, often doing
great damage to the settlers by carrying off
pigs and poultry, and, when the winters were
very cold, cattle and horses have been at-
tacked and severely injured. The black
wolf that infested the timber was larger,
and more ferocious than the small prairie

266

HISTORY or EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

wolf, though not so numfirous. During cer- |
tain seasons they became very savage, and
have been known to attack man himself. As i
the township settled up steps were taken to
rid the country of these scourges, and sys- [
tematic hunts were planned in which all the
neighbors for miles around would partici-
pate, and by this means many of the wolves
were killed and the balance driven from the
country. •

The nearest source of supplies to the early
residents of the township was Shelbyville, at
that time but a mere village, consisting of a
a few dwelling houses and a few stores.
Though at no great distance, the trip there
was beset with many difficulties, the chief of
which were the absence of roads, muddy con-
dition of the prairies, and the countless mill-
ions of green-headed flies that swarmed over
the country by day, so that traveling by
night became a necessity. The principal
crop to which the pioneer looked for support
for his family and stock was corn, which, for
a number of years, was about the only crop
that could be raised in the country. It was
ground a*^ the small horse mills of which
there were several in the adjoining town-
ships, though none appear to have been in
operation in Banner. Wheat was not raised
for several years after the first settlements
were made, the ground at that time being in
no condition for its culture. After the land
had been drained somewhat, attempts were
made toward raising wheat, which met with
but indifferent success. Some grew discour-
aged, while others, more sanguine, persevered
season after season, until finally they suc-
ceeded in harvesting good crops, after finding
out how to prepare and treat the soil. Ban-
ner is now one of the best wheat-producing
townships in Effingham County — a reputa-
tion it has sustained for years.

The best evidence of moral advancement

and Christian civilization, in a new country,
is the establishment of churches. The relig-
ious history of Banner is co-equal with its
settlement by white people. The first relig-
ious services, of which we learned anything
definite, were conducted at the residence of
Nathan Ramsey, by the Old- School Baptists.
The preacher on that occasion was Elder
Henry Shellenberger, a minister who came
to the county at a very early period of its
history, and, like all the pioneer soldiers of
the Cross who preceded or followed in the
wake of Western civilization, was a man of
of untiring energy in the cause of Him whom
he delighted to serve. The meetings at Ram-
sey's were held at intervals for several years,
and served, not only as a means of spiritual
refreshings, but as social events as well; for
all met there on a common level, talked
about matters in which all had a common
interest, and enjoyed many pleasant recrea-
tions from their common lot of labor. Shel-
lenberger established a church of his creed
just west of the timber, on "Wall Creek, where
a house was erected. A small congi-eeration
worshiped in this building for a number of
years, but does not appear to have gained
much in numbers. The organization was
afterward moved to a place about one mile
north of the village of Shumway, and a house
of worship erected, which is still standing,
though not used for church purposes, as the
society was abandoned manv years ago. The
German Methodists established a church,
north of Shumway, in the year 1869, which
was afterward moved to the village.

The schools next claim our attention, and
follow very appropriately the notice of the
religious history, as both possess refining
influences, and furnish the highest standard
of civilization. The first schoolhouse was a
small log structiu'e, that stood in the eastern
part of the township, and F. M. Griffith

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

267

taught the first term in it. The building was
used for school purposes about twelve years,
when, from some unknown cause, it took fire
and was burned to the ground. A new one
was erected in its place, a log bouse also, but
much better fiu-nished and far more con-
venient. The first frame schoolhouse in
the township was built prior to the year
1869, and stood a short distance north of the
town of Shumway. The first public school
was taught in this house by F. M. Griffith,
now a prominent minister of the Missionaiy
Baptist Church, and one of the oldest teachers
of the county. Among other early teachers
who wielded the birch at this place, can be
mentioned Hester Ann Crollard, Maggie
Means, Martha Means, Susan Small, Riley
Walker, and J. A. Arnold, present Superin-
tendent of County Schools. There are three
good frame schoolhouses in the township, in
which schools are taught about eight months
of the year. The present township board is
composed of the following gentlemen: Will-
iam Rechter, John Breitzueiser and George
Shumard, Trustees; Henry Bernard is Treas-
urer and Clerk of the board.

Like other divisions of the county, this
township is well supplied with roads, the
majority of which are regularly established
and in good condition. The Paducah &
Chicago Railroad, now a branch of the Wa-
bash, St. Louis & Pacific, passes thi-ough
Banner, and has been a great benefit to the
farmers of this section. Since its completion,
the township's growth and development have
been very marked.

The village of Shumway is situated in Sec-
tion 33, on the land formerly owned by Hugh
Dennis, one of the early pioneers of the
county, and by him sold to the Chicago &
Puducah Railroad Company, in the year
1863. The company surveyed the land into
town lots and put them on the market in the

year 1874. When the first sales were made,
Henry Bernhard, Ed Meyer, M. M. Hemp-
hill, Henry Metzler and Dr. J. N. Phifer
being the first purchasers. These parties at
once began improving their respective lots
by erecting dwellings and other buildings,
and by the close of the year quite a number
of houses were completed and occupied.
The first houses finished were the dwelling
and blacksmith shop belonging to Fred
Meyer, and quite an extensive building, sit-
uated ill the northern part of the village, and
still occupied by Mr. Meyer. A hotel was
built about the same time by M. M. Hemp-
hill, and the large storeroom belonging to
Henry Bernhard was completed in a short
time afterward and stocked with goods.
Metzler's dwelling and business house and
the residence of Dr. Phifer were erected
during the svimmer of 1874, and from that
time the growth of the place has been steady
and substantial.

Henry Bernhard opened a large stock of
goods, consisting of and including all articles
generally called for in a country store, from a
grindstone to a paper of pins. He continued
business with good success until the fall of
1878, when he disposed of the stock to James
McNair in order to engage in the milling
business. McNair replenished the stock and
sold goods imtil September, 1881, when he
sold to William Geiaeking & Son, who are
the present proprietors. The second store
in the place was started by Henry Metzler
in the fall of 1874, and also consisted of a
general stock, with groceries a specialty.
Metzler continued the business but a short
time, when he sold his goods at auction,
fitted up his room for a saloon, in which
business he is at present engaged. In 1875,
a third store building was erected by Fred
Hoese & Co. , who started a branch store here,
their main stock being at the town of Stew-

268

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

artson, Shelby County. These parties con-
tinued theii' business with varied success for
several years, but finally rented their room
and removed the stock to other points; their
building is at present occupied by the mil-
linery store of Mrs. Walterson.

The first physician to locate in the new
village and probably the first in the town-
ship was Dr. J. N. Phifer, who as already
stated erected one of the fii'st houses in the
'place, which he still occupies. The village
has always sustained a reputation as a
healthy place, yet, despite this discouraging
fact the following physicians have at differ-
ent intervals practiced the healing art hero,
viz. , J. H. Carper, J. B. Johnson, John Van-
dervort and George Haummesser, all of
whom were regularly graduated M. D.'s of
the different schools of medicine.

A schoolhouse was built during the sum-
mer of 1875, and occupied the following fall
and winter by Prof. J. A. Arnold, the present
County Superintendent. Prof. Arnold still
resides in the village, which fact may ac-
count for the fine reputation the schools here
have always sustained. The present school-
room is hardly sufficient to accommodate the
constantly increasing number of pupils, and
the propriety of erecting a building, more in
keeping with the growth of the town, is now
being discussed.

The Shumway Flouring Mill was erected in
1878 by Henry Bernhard, and is one of the
best mills in the countiy. The main build-
ing is four stories high, with basement, and is
40x50 feet. There are three run of stones,
which when run steadily will grind on an
average of from fifty-five to sixty barrels of
flour per day. The cost of the mills with
additional improvements will aggregate
about $13,000. Connected with the mill is
an extensive stave factory and cooper shop,
where all the material used in shipping flour

is manufactured, giving work to several
mechanics, besides affording a good market
for the oak timber of the surrounding
country^

A large warehouse was moved to the vil-
lage from the town of Dexter in the winter
of 1874, thus bringing a good grain market
to the very doors of the farmers of this part
of the county, who prior to this time hauled
all their grain long distances to the cities of
Altamont, Teutopolis and Effingham. This
warehouse was operated by H. A. Carter for
some months and by him sold to Benjamin
Walton, of Fairbury, who has a large and
remunerative business ever since. A second
grain house was built some time during the
year 1875 and is at present managed by M.
M. Hemphill, who handles many thousand
bushels of grain annually. Mr. Hemphill
is also the gentlemanly proprietor of the first
hotel erected in the place, a business in
which he has been engaged for a number of
years, and which has returned him a hand-
some income. The following exhibit shows
the present standing of the village from a
business stand-point: Geisking & Son, gen-
eral store, have a stock representing several
thousand dollars, and are doing a flourishing
business. S. F. Smith keeps a general stock
of goods which is managed by two clerks,
one of whom, Ignatz Helmerbacher, is the
present Postmaster. Mr. Smith does not
give the business his personal attention, be-
ing engaged in railroading and holding an
important position on the Vandalia line.
Rickets & Bowen keep a general assort-
ment of merchandise, and in addition deal
largely in lumber and timber, principally
railroad supplies, etc. The millinery estab-
lishment of the village is kept by Mrs. Wal-
terson. There are at present three black-
smiths in the town — Fred Meyer, already
named, Fred Fischer and H. Schmidt. P.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

269

Leismister keeps a wagon shop; G. Scliurz,
boot and shoe maker; Paris GriiSth keeps a
hotel — the Shumway House. The post office
at this point .was established in the year 1874,
with H. Bernard as Postmaster, and for several
years went by the name of Tolerance, which
afterward changed to Shumway while James
McNair had charge of the office. There are
in the village three religious organizations,
with as many neat temples of worship, which
ought to speak much for the morals of the
place. The Lutheran Chui-ch, known as the
Trinity Congregation, was organized in the
year 1804, mainly through the labors of Eev.
Mr. Ringer at the Buckeye Schoolhouse, and
numbered among its original members the
households of the following persons, viz.:
William Raetz, Henry Keller, Henry Bern-
hard, Robert Fulte, Edmund Redloffe, Got-
lieb Konrad, Fred Lane, Charles Dunteman,
Louis Fulte, F. Quast, Louis Engell, Charles
' Lacherhouse, Gottlieb Weiss and Charles
Heiden. The schoolhouse served as a meet-
ing place about seven months, when a small
house of worship was erected near by, where
the congregation met at intervals till the year
1880, when steps were taken to erect a more
commodious structure, and, as the village
was thought to be the proper place, it was
unanimously decided to build here. The
house was completed and dedicated in the
fall of 1880, and is the largest audience room
in the town. The cost of the building, in-
cluding furnishing and additional improve-
ments, was about $3,500. The first regular
pastor the congregation employed while they
met in the first building was Rev. Charles
Hartmann, who preached about four years.
Rev. Dykoman was pastor one year. Rev.
George H. Geickler succeeded Dykeman and
remained three years, doing much during his
pastorate toward establishing the church
upon the firm footing it has since sustained.

Rev. Henry Pence, present pastor, commenced
his labors in the year 1876, and has been
the regular supply ever since. There are at
the present time the names of about forty
members in good standing on the church
roll, among whom are some of the most sub-
stantial citizens of the township. The Sun-
day school is under the superintendency of
the pastor, and is well attended.

The German Methodist CKiurch of Shiun-
way dates its organization from the year
186U, at which time Rev. Jacob Tanner came
into the place, and being actuated by that
zeal in the cause of his Master, characteristic
of the true Christian, at once went to work
and gathered together a little band of
disciples, whom he organized into a class.
Their names are as follows: John Bramstadt,
Jacob Probst and wife, Joachim Futz and
wife, Michael Schwadt and wife, and Mat-
thias Beruyas and wife. For a little more
than one year, the congregation met for
worship at the schoolhouse, where the
organization took place, but as their numbers
increased, a larger place of meeting became
a necessity, and a building was erected in
the year 1871, about half mile north of the
village. This house was used for seven years,
when the church decided to move their
organization to the town, and a new building
was accordingly erected in the year 1879.
This house is frame, will seat about 250
persons, and cost the congregation some
$2,000. Since its organization this church
has had the following pastors in the order
named: Rev. Tanner served one year, and
was succeeded by Rev. Cha»les Ghelert, who
looked after the spiritual wants of the con-
gregation throe years, and was in turn
followed by Rev. F. H. Miller; Miller
remained one year, as also did his successor.
Rev. George Heiden; Henry Brinkmeier was
pastor three years; Rev. William Simon

270

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

preached three years; Rev. J. P. "Wilhelme
two years; Rev. Charles Ghelert again took
charge of the church in 1881, and has
preached for the congregation ever since.
There are at present about thirty-two
members. Edward Meyer is Superintendent
of the Sunday school, which is one of the
most flourishing in the place.

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church of
Shumway was organized in the year 1879
with a membership of about twenty-six
families, at a place called Blue Point, one
mile west of the village. A comraittee was
appointed by the organization to determine
on a place of building, and after much dis-
cussion, it was finally agreed to erect a house
at Shumway, which was accordingly done in
the fall of the same year. This building is a
tine frame structure, 30x60 feet, well

furnished and finished, and cost about $3,000
to complete it. Father Bonifacius was the
first pastor of the church, and remained but
one year, working hard dm-ing that time to
build up the congregation, and much of the
present prosperity of the church is due to his
labors. Rev. Francis Hasse succeeded, his
pastorate extending over a period of little
more than four years. The next pastor was
Father Fulgencius, who ministered to the
church one year and six months, and was
succeeded in 1881 by the present pastor Rev.
Norbert Wilhelme, a man universally es-
teemed by all irrespective of church or creed,
for his piety, learning and benevolence.
Under his care, the congregation has been
considerably strengthened, and became one
of the strong congregations in this diocese.

CHAPTER XXVI.*

MOCCASIN TOWNSHIP— CONFIGURATION AND BOUNDARIES— STREAMS, TIMBER, ETC.— PIONEER
SETTLEMENT — EARLY LIFE OF THE PEOPLE— AN INCIDENT — CHURCHES AND
PREACHERS- THE FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE — SCHOOLS OF THE PRESENT-
MOCCASIN VILLAGE— PL.\TTED— GENERAL BUSINESS OF THE PLACE.

"Once upon a time life lay before me,
Fresh as a story untold,
Now so many years have traveled o'er-me,
I and the story are old." — Bushnell.

~r ONG ago, one morning in May, a young
-L- ^ man rode across the Illinois prairies
with a friend. They passed on over the bound-
less expanse, far out of sight of any human
habitation. Thousands of flowers bloomed
around them everywhere, their beauty and
fragrance surpassing all that they had ever
dreamed of floral loveliness and perfume.
It seemed as if the whole world had been
converted into green grass, blue sky, bloom-
ing flowers and glorious sunshine. The

» By W. H. Perrin.

scene was one that might have inspired the
sweet "Southern" singer, when she sang —

" Like gladsome gales on Orient seas

With odors blown from isle and coast,
From fragrant shores we felt the breeze
That whispered of the Eden lost.
" We dranli the balm of hidden flowers,
Whose breath was nectar to the heart,
Nor thought we then the rosy hours
With life's May dawn would soon depart."

Many people, bubbling over with poetical
sentiment, have tried to describe the great
prairies of the West, and to portray their
feelings when first beholding them. No
doubt they were "grand and gorgeous " (the
prairies, not the people who tried to describe
them) in their pristine beauty before the set-

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

371

tier came to rocar and destroy their beauty
and loveliaess, by turning things (literally)
" upside down." Whether or not the little
scene noted at the begining of this chapter
occurred in Moccasin Township " long ago,"
when its territory was the undisputed posses-
sion of the gopher and prairie wolf, it mat-
ters not. We have the authority, however,
of a gushing wi-iter of the period, that it oc-
cun-ed somewhere in Illinois, and so we ap-
ply it to this section, on the strength of its
adaptability. Nearly all of the township is
prairie, and generally level, but sufficiently
undulating as to require no artificial drain-
age. The woodland is contiguous to the
water-courses, of which the principal are
Moccasin and Wolf Creeks. These streams
were named by the old pioneer, Grifidn Tip-
sword. When he first came to Moccasin
Creek, he discovered a great many moccasin
tracks, or human tracks, wearing moccasins,
in the sand along its banks, hence, he called
it Moccasin Creek. He named Wolf Creek
in consequence of the great number of wolves
that lived in the timber along the stream.
Moccasin Creek Hows east and west nearly
through the center of the township. Little
Moccasin flows in the same direction, but a
mile or two farther north, passing near the
village. Wolf Creek is in the northwest
corner, while Beech Creek, a mile or two
south of Moccasin, runs parallel with it.
There are several other small and nameless
streams laid down on the map. These water
courses afford an excellent system of irriga-
tion and drainage, together with an abund-
ance of stock water.

The timber of Moccasin, which is incon-
siderable in quantity, is that common in this
portion of the county, and consists princi
pally of white oak, hickory, walnut, cotton-
wood, sugar tree, elm, etc. , etc. Moccasin is
bounded north by Liberty Township, east by

Summit Township, south by Mound Town-
ship, west by Fayette County, and is desig-
nated as the Congressional Township 8
north, in Range 4 east, of the Third Princi-
pal Meridian.

The settlement of Moccasin Township is of
a more modern date than many other portions
of the county. Being mostly prairie, the
people did not venture out upon the vast
plains, until crowded out by the increase of
population. Even then, it was with many
misgivings as to what the final result would
be. But as the great army of pioneers con-
tinued to come in, and the timber land was
all taken up, they were forced to spread out
on the prairies for want of room. As soon
as their virtues were discovered, the prairies
were then settled as rapidly as the timber
had been before them.

Although not settled as early as some of
the other townships, yet it is not possible to
say who was the first actual settler in what
now forms Moccasin Township. The Tip-
swords figiu'ed in this section, and Griffin,
the pioneer and patriarch of the tribe, was,
doubtless, the first white man who ever saw
it, but from the best of our information he
lived over in the present township of Liberty.
When Moses Doty, still a respected citizen
of the township, came here, in IS-tO, he found
already here the following settlers and their
families, viz. : S. R. Powell, Thomas Perry,
John Scully, J. P. and Hiram Doty, Samuel
Cunningham, Edward and Samiiel Mahon,
Jesse and Daniel Troxell, Lyman Pratt and
Thomas Doty. All these came between 1830
and 1840, most of them toward the end of
the decade.

Powell came from Tennessee, and settled
on Moccasin Creek. He lived to be quite an
old man, and died near the village of Dexter.
He has two sons and thi-ee daughters still
living in the county. Perry came from Ken-

273

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUKTY.

tucky, and settled in the west part of the
township. He is dead, but has a daughter
living here. He had several sons, but all of
them, we believe, have moved further west.
Scully was an Irishman, born and reared in
Ohio — that is, he was a native of Ireland,
but brought iip principally in Ohio — from
which State he emigrated to Illinois, and
settled in this township. He was an en-
ergetic, money-making man, and was fast
growing rich when he died. He was buried
on Wolf Creek, in the Tipsword graveyard.
Cunningham also came from Ohio. After
living here some years, he moved to the
southern part of the State, where he died.
The Troxells were likewise from Ohio. Jesse
died on Wolf Greek many years ago. Daniel
came here in 1839, and settled on Wolf Creek
where he died about 1853-54. The Dotys,
Pratt and Mahons, were all from the Buck-
eye State — prolific land of " Ohio statesmen."
J. P. and Hiram Doty both entered land on
Moccasin Creek, and are both still living —
J. P. in Missouri, and Hiram in Texas.
They are brothers to Moses Doty. Thomas,
a cousin, came out in 1839, and after remain-
ing a few yeai's returned to Ohio, where he
died. Pratt settled on Moccasin, and after-
ward moved back to Ohio, with Tom Doty.
The Mahons came about 1838. Edward was
a single man, and married Powell's eldest
daughter after he came here. He moved to
Iowa, and died there, when the family came
back, and are now living in the township;
Samuel died here, and his family moved back
to Ohio.

Moses Doty, to whose intelligence and vivid
recollection of early times we are indebted for
much of the history of this neighborhood, came
to Illinois in 1840, and settled in the present
township of Moccasin. There were but few
people then in Effingham County, and, in-
deed, the county itself had not completed its

first decade as an organized and independent
community. Mr. Doty says he stopped and
fed his team where the city of Effingham
now stands, and all around it was apparently
a wilderness. An old man, of the name of
Slover, had a cabin there, a few rods east of
the railroad depot. His son-in-law, Jim
Cartwright, lived with him, and there was
not another habitation in sight. Mr. Doty
has been a resident of the county for over
forty years, and has seen -it grow up, as it
were, from a handful of struggling pioneers
to a rich and prosperous county. He knew
old Ewington in its palmy days; was well
acquainted with old Freemanton when it was
known, far and wide, as the hardest hole in
Southern Illinois, when it could get away
with more "rot-gut" whisky and scare up
more fights than any other place of its size
in the wide world. He knew Tipsword
well, has heard Boleyjack preach, and was
with Ben Campbell the day he died; and of
the early history of the county, few now
living know more of it, or can tell it better.

Among other early settlers who came in
1840, were Joshua and Jonathan Bodkins and
Joseph Doty, all from Ohio. The first two
mentioned were cousins, and after remaining
a few years, they, with Joseph Doty, moved
back to Ohio. Prom this time on, the settle-
ments grew rapidly, and settlers came in such
numbers as to render it impossible to keep
track of them. Their eiforts in reducing a
wilderness, and subjecting it to the uses and
benefits of man, are seen to-day in the elegant
homes and prodiictive farms of the township.

This state of wealth and prosperity was
not attained without labor and toil. The
forests bad to be felled (for the first settlers
all located in the timber), the gi-ound cleared,
fenced and planted, and crops raised upon
which to sustain life; clothing had to be
manufactured, and this was no small job, as

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

373

there were no stores in the country. And if
there had been, there was no money to buy
clothing or other hixuries of life. The
clothing was coarse, and was manufactured
by the good wife and her daughters at home.
The cloth from which it was made was also
manufactured at home, and the material from
which the cloth was made likewise of home
production, and was either flax or wool or
both. This seems to us, who can step into a
a store, and for a few dollars, buy an entire
wardrobe for either male or female, a hard
life, and had the majority of oxiv young ladies
of the present day to depend upon their own
exertions in the matter of dress, as did their
grandmothers, no doubt many of them would
have to fall back to mother Eve's system of
millinery. But the passing years have
brought ample remuneration for the dangers
and hardships borne in the early times.

Many incidents and anecdotes of the early
times might be related of every portion of
the county, but space will not permit. We
will give one, however, which occiu-red in
Moccasin, and shows how the people of the
township are disposed to deal out justice to
evil-doers. It is related of a couple of
citizens, who, after partaking rather freely
of rifle whisky, finally got into a drunken
row. In the melee one of them caught the
other, pushed him down in a chair, and
taking hold of his whiskers, pulled his head
over the back of the chair, and seizing a

"case-knife," swore he would cut his

throat. He drew the knife across the man's
neck, and the only reason that he did not cut
his throat from ear to ear was becai^se the
knife was too dull. His intention was good
to do a first-class job in that line. In the
meantime, the wife of one of the combatants
interfered and succeeded in preventing
perhaps a murder. AVhen the facts became
known, the would-be murderer was arrested

and taken before a magistrate for trial.
That dignitary was not thoroughly read up
in criminal law, and instead of making out a
case of "assault with intent to kill," he
impaneled a jury of tweWe men, and tried
the fellow for murder. After hearing the
evidence, the jury brought in a verdict of
guilfi/, but set no punishment. The question
then arose as to what to do with the prisoner,
when a happy thought entered the head of
some one, to take him to Efiiugham. This
was done, and the legal snarl was straight-
ened out.

The pioneers of Moccasin Township took
an early interest in education, and established
schools as soon as there were children enough
to sujiport them. It is not known now who
taught the fii-st school in the township. The
first schoolhouse was built in the edge of the
timber on Moccasin Creek, and was a, small
log cabin. Samuel Mahon was one of the first
teachers to occupy it, but it is not thought
that he was the first teacher in the settlement.
The township is well suj^plied with schools
and schoolhouses at the preseht day.

The first preacher remembered in this
section was Boleyjack. Mr. Doty says that
the first time he attended church after he
came here, as he approached the meeting he
saw Boleyjack sitting on an old log by the
roadside tieing on his shoes with hickory-
bark. He was bare-headed, and his hair,
which was unkempt and uncombed, was full
of feathers and down, and upon the whole,
the old fellow looked as little like a preacher
as possible. The first meetings were held at
the people's cabins, and in warm weather in
the groves.

The Methodist Episcopal Church standing
on Section 17 was tlie first church built in
the township. It was erected about the year
1854-55, at a cost of some $800, and is a
plain frame building. It is a rather strong

274

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

and vigorous church, and supports a flourish-
ing school.

The Methodist Episcopal Church South,
on Section 8, about a half mile west of the
village, was built in 1868-69. It is a neat
frame building, and its society is floimshing.
Rev. Ml'. Lee is the present pastor. A good
Sunday school is maintained.

The German Methodist Chui-ch is located
on Section 24, near the railroad. It is a
handsome and substantial frame building,
and was erected about 1871-72. It is strong
numerically, and keeps up a good Sunday
school.

There is a station or shipping point on the
Wabash Railroad at this church, but noth-
ing like a towQ or village; it is merely a
shipping point, and no other business is car-
ried on than the shipping of grain and stock.

The village of Moccasin, embracing thirty
acres of ground, is situated on the southwest
quarter of the southeast quarter, and the
southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of
Section 9; and the northeast quarter of the

northwest quarter of Section 16, of Moccasin
Township. It was surveyed by John Maguire,
April 26, 1S72, for Benjamin Jones, Joseph
Yarnall and J. H. Miller, proprietors of the
land. It was called Moccasin, which name
the township bears, and which was bestowed
on the latter in memory of Moccasin Creek,
the largest stream in this part of the
county.

Snook & Ross opened the tii-st store in the
village. Snook now lives in Altamont. J.
P. Condo succeeded them in the mercantile
business. Mr. Condo operates the only store
now in the place. He is also Postmaster.
A store was carried on awhile by J. W.
Hotz, but has been discontinued. Mr. Hotz
buys grain here for Minor & Jennings, of
Effingham, and does a large business in that
line.

The importance of the place may be thus
summarized: One general store, one grain es-
tablishment, two blacksmith shops, one post
office, one schoolhouse, and probably a pop-
ulation of twenty families.

CHAPTER XXVII.

BISHOP TOWNSHIP— TOPOGRAPHY AND SURFACE FEATURES— COMING OF THE PIONEERS— THEIR
HARD TIMES AND VICISSITUDES— THE EARLY I.MPROVEMENTS IN LIVING— ROADS, MILLS.
ETC.— SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLHOUSES — RELIGIOUS HISTORY— CHURCHES
AND PREACHERS— THE VILLAGE OF ELLIOTTSTOWN, ETC., ETC.

TDISHOP TOWNSHIP lies in the eastern
-•-^part of Effingham County, and is bounded
on the north, south and west, respectively, by
the townships of St. Francis, Lucas and Wat-
8on,while its eastern boundary is J asperCounty.
About three- fourths of the surface was origi-
nally prairie, the rest brush and timber land.
The timber was in little groves, often of con-
siderable length, and along the water-courses
the greater part of which has long since dis-

• By 0. N. Berry.

appeared before the settler's ax. The varie-
ties consisted principally of walnut, hickory,
sycamore, elm, ash, linden, a dense growth
of underbrush and hazel. The prairie is
mostly level, especially in the southern part,
while in the north it is more undulating. The
soil of the prairie is fertile, easily cultivated,
and produces abuudaut crops, while the tim-
ber-land is more of a clayey nature and thin in
some places, yet by proper cultivation it re-
tiu'ns fair crops for the labor bestowed upon it.

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

275

Wheat and corn are the staple products,
though all other cereals common to this j^art
of the co'intry are raised more or less. Per-
haps no better fruit-producing land can be
found in the county, and fruit culture is re-
ceiving consideraV)le attention, and is rapidly
coming to the front as an impoi"tant indus-
try. Large orchards are to be seen on almost
every farm of any note, and the varieties of
fruit are among the best produced in the
country. It is as an agricultural district,
and a great deal of attention has of late been
given to cattle-raising. There are a goodly
number of stock farms, where can be seen
blooded and imported stock. Farmers are
fast learning that the improvement of their
stock has become a safe investment, and con-
siderable capital is expended annually in
that direction.

There are two creeks, namely, Bishop and
Salt, that run through the township; thetirst
rises in Section 1, and flows southwesterly
about four miles, when it takes an abrupt
turn almost due west until it leaves the town
ship. A branch of this creek has its source
in Section 4, running south and uniting with
the main stream in Section 29. Salt Creek
flows through the northwest corner of the
township, and furnishes ample drainage and
sufficient stock-water to that locality. These
streams are small, and during the hot months
of very dry seasons dry up altogether, but
diuring the spring freshets they become
raging torrents, oftentimes overflowing their
banks and sweeping away fences, bridges,
and everything else of a movable nature.
Crops are sometimes severely injui'ed by
these overflows, whole fields of grain being
frequently inundated and almost completely
destroyed.

The settlement of Bishop dates from about
the year 1837, at which time the first pioneer
made his appearance and erected a little

cabin in the timber, near the eastern part of
of the township. This first settler was
Samuel Bishop, after whom the township
was named, but nothing definite concerning
him could be learned. About this time, sev-
eral squatters erected temporary habitations
along the water-courses, but made no further
improvements, spending all their time in
hunting and trapping — a business which re-
tiu'ned them a very fair profit, as the country
at that time was full of game and fur-bearing
animals. They remained but a short time,
and left for the country further west, as soon
as the permanent settlers began improving
the lands. The next pei'manent settlement
was made in the central part of the township,
near the spot where the Catholic Chiu'ch now
stands, by a German^ who came into the
country about the year 1838. This man's
name was Christian Reamen. He came from
Germany, find made this township his first
stopping place, where he continued to reside
until his death, in the year 1878. He was a
man of quiet, unassiuning "ways; attended
strictly to his own business, and, by dint of
hard labor, reclaimed a large tract of land
from its wild state. A man named Westen-
dorf settled in the same vicinity one year
later, and improved a small farm adjoining
Reamen's place. He was a German also,
and left the " fatherland " for the purpose of
bettering his condition and securing a home
for his children in the New World. His
hopes were realized beyond his expectations,
as he, in time, became very wealthy, and
owned much of the land that formerly sur-
rounded his little claim, and which is now
in possession of his two sons — George and
Henry — highly respected citizens of the town-
ship. These were the only settlements made
up to the year 1842. That year was marked
by the advent of Elias Layton, Theophilus
Wilson, William White, and Thomas White —

276

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

all of whom came from Ohio, and were promi-
nently identified with the early history of
their respective communities. The fii'st
named entered a piece of timber land near
Bishop Point, in the eastern part of the
township, where he still lives. . Wilson set-
tled in the timber also, north of Layton's
place, and made the first improvements on
the farm where William 'Field now lives, to
whom he sold it about twenty years ago and
moved to Missoui'i. He remained in Mis-
souri but a short time, returning again to
Effingham County and purchasing a farm in
the neighboring township of Watson, where
he died about ten years ago. Several repre-
sentatives of this family still reside in the
county.

William White located a farm in the west-
ern part of the township, in Section 30,
where he lived for fifteen years, when he sold
the place and purchased a tract of land near
Bi.shop Point, which was his home as long as
he remained in the county. White was a
noted character in the community, and was
well known all over this and the adjoining
county of Jasper. A very giant in statm'e,
and endowed with the strength of a Hercules,
he was universally feared by all, as he was
in the habit of drinking a great deal and,
when under the influence of the ardent, his
passions were easily aroused, and nothing
suited his fiery disposition better than a knock
down. His neighbors, knowing his peculiar
weakness (or strength), and having ample
cause to fear his gigantic strength, were care-
ful on such occasions to let him severely
alone. Woe to the luckless fellow who re-
plied to any of his insulting gibes, as he was
sure to resent it in a manner that the ofifense
was never repeated. Hosj)itality was a trait
which he cultivated; anybody applying to
him for food or shelter was never turned
away from his door. The little brown jug

was always trotted out, and a guest could
offer him no deeper insult than to refn.se to
drink, which he looked upon as a breach of
hospitality. The guest was told, verj' de-
cidedly, to choose which he preferred — a
drink or a sound thrashing; and the red-eye
was generally taken in preference to the
pummeling, which all knew meant nothing
less than a mashed head and broken bones.
During the last years of his life, he became
very dissipated, and when working on his
farm kept a jug of whisky at each end of the
field, and between the two, which he managed
to drain before night, became so gloriously
patriotic that his wife had to go on a regular
hunt for him every day and pilot his tottering
steps home. His death occurred a number
of years ago. Thomas White was a brother
of William, and, though not so rough a
character, his name cannot be placed in the
calendar of saints by any means. He was,
like his brother, a man of great physical pow-
ers, and prided himself upon his strength,
which was remai'kable. He settled near
Bishop Point, and for a number of years
engaged in the practice of medicine, belong-
ing, as he often said, to the school of com-
mon sense, and was one of the very few who
gi-aduated from their institutions. His medi-
cines were digged from the earth, scraped
from the bark of trees and boiled from their
leaves, and when old and stubborn cases of
malaria, then so prevalent in the country,
baffled the effects of his botanic remedies,
recourse was had to charms, signs, etc. , which
generally effected (?) the desired cure. He
left the township a number 'of years ago, and
moved to a place culled Island Grove, in
Jasper County.

Joseph Melson, John Tedrick, Isaiah Wall
and a man by the name of Ai'mstrong were
residents of the township as early as the year
1844. The first named came from Ohio and

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

377

settled near Bishop Point on a farm which is
present in possession of his widow. Tedi-ick
entered land in Section 27, where he still
lives at an advanced age. He originally
came from Maryland and emigrated to Indi-
ana when that part of the country was on the
oiitskirta of civilization. His farm in this
township is a model in the way of improve-
ments, and the family are in affluent circum-
stances. Wall came from Ohio and improved
a farm in Section 27, which he sold shortly
afterward and with his family moved to
Posey County, Ind. Armstrong located
in Section 27 also, and was the first preacher
in the township. He held religious services
at a number of places in this and the ad-
joining settlements, but never organized any
society. His neighbors are held responsible
for the saying that his preaching and practice
did not always harmonize, but his advice
to his congregations, if not exactly Script-
lu-al was, to say the least, plausible, and
savored very much of good sense, i. e. ' ' Don't
do as Armstrong does, but do as Armstrong
tells you." He ajripears to have been a great
himter, and nothing gave him more delight
than rambling thi-ough the woods in quest of
the game, and so great was his love for the
sport that he often carried his gun with him
to church, and after preaching a long dis-
coui'se on the ''sinfulness of sin," and the
necessity of keeping the Sabbath holy, would
go to the woods, spend the rest of the day at
his favorite pastime and return at night well
loaded with the fruits of his day's sport. At
one time, while hunting along Salt Creek,
night overtook him in the woods. The
wolves, which were then plenty, gave him
chase and soon overtook him, when he turned
and shot two of them. This served as a
check until he could load his gun, when an-
other one was killed. His dog, in the mean-
time, was not idle, Imt rushed into the p;iek

and was very soon ovei'powered and killed.
Seeing his dog eaten up alive before his
eyes, Armstrong clubbed his gun and made
an onslaught on the fierce beasts, which at
once tiu-ned upon him. Now ensued a
struggle for life, and many of the wolves bit
the dust before the vigorous blows of the
gun, but being almost tired out, his savage
enemies had the advantage, as others kept
coming up all the time and joined in the
fray. Armstrong's cries for help were heard
by some parties who lived not very far away,
and after fighting for almost an hoiu-, he
was rescued. The wolves, seeing the other
men coming, quit their intended victim and
scampered away. Armstrong received sev-
eral ugly gashes on the legs, arms and about
the face and had his clothing almost stripped
from his body. Roland Childs was a pio-
neer of Bishop, having come into the town-
ship about the year 1846. The place where
■ he located is in Section 28, and is at present
owned by Henry Smith.

The Fields were a prominent family of this
township, and have been identified with all
movements calculated to advance its material
prosperity. Ambrose Field, father of Will-
iam and Dr. Field, located in Section 31
about the year 1847. He came to this part
of the country from Edgar County, to which
place he moved from the State of Kentucky
when Illinois was in the infancy of its exist-
ence. Ho died in the year 1855, a victim to
the cholera, which raged through the country
at that time. The place where he settled is
owned and occupied by Andrew Bogart. Dr.
Field, one of the first physicians in the
southern part of the county, came with his
father from Edgar County and engaged in
the business of school teaching, prosecuting
his medical studies in the meantime. He
entered a piece of land in Section 30, on
which he moved and made some improve-

278

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

ments, but his practice increased so rapidly
that he was compelled to quit farming alto-
gether and devote his whole attention to his
profession. He resides in the village of El-
liottstown and has a large and remunerative
practice. Samuel Field located near Bishop
Point, where he still resides. John W. Field
purchased land near the village of Elliotts-
town, which is still in his possession. He is
at present -Justice of the Peace, an office
which he has acceptably filled for several
years. The foregoing list comprises the
most prominent settlers of the township down
to the year 1848, though there may be others
entitled to a mention whose names we were
unable to learn. Since 1848, the influx of
population has been steady and constant; the
land has all been taken up and improved;
good roads have been established through-
out the township. Comfortable, and in some
cases, elegant farm residences have taken the
places of the primitive pole cabin and board
shanty. Villages have been laid out, schools
established, neat schoolhouses erected at
proper intervals, commodious temples of
worship built, and everything bespeaks the
prosperity with which the citizens of this
part of the county are blessed.

Life in this country forty years ago was en-
tirely diiferent from what it is to-day. In
nothing are the manners and customs of the
people similar to those who first introduced
civilization into the Western wilds. The
dwellings, clothing, diet, social customs, in
fact, everything, has undergone a total revo-
lution, and it is a difficult task to give our
youth anything like a just idea of the manner
in which their fathers lived and prosjaered in
the days when the country was a wilderness.
Game of all kinds then infested the woods
and prairies, and furnished the table of ihe
early settler a plentiful supply of fresh meat.
Venison was no rarity, but was a staple ar-

ticle of food, deer being so numerous as to
cause great injury to the crops, and hence
were killed even when not needed for food.

The first mill in the township was a very
diminutive affair, operated by horse-power,
and erected by IVIr. Ai'mstrong, an early
settler, near his jilace of residence in the
southern part of the township. The grind-
ing af)paratus rested on a large oak stump
that had been smoothed off for the purpose,
and was covered by a rude shed, the frame
work of which consisted of foiu- forked poles,
stuck in the ground, on which rested the
roof. The mill ground very slow, but made
a fair article of meal, and was extensively
patronized by the citizens of this and neigh-
boring townships. It was in operation about
ten years, and did a great deal of business for
a mill of its capacity. Dr. White erected a
small horse mill shortly after he came to the
township at Bishop Point, which was in
operation about fifteen years. It was a
decided improvement on the first named,
having better machinery, ground faster, and
made a better article of flour and meal. It
was kept running day and night for some
time, people often coming many miles with
their grists, and remaining two days, and
sometimes longer before their turns came for
grinding. Both of those old mills disap-
peared long since, and not a vestige of either
remains to mark the spots where they stood.
No other flouring mills were built in Bishop
until the year 1871, when a man by name of
Lambert erected one in the western part of
the townshij). This was a combination mill,
operated by steam, and did a flourishing
business for several years. It was torn down
in the spring of 1882, and moved to the town
of Wheeler, where it is at present in opera-
tion.

The first electio. , in which the early
settlers of this township participated, took

-^.-d

O^^^^tJ'-r-^

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

281

place in the year 1848, and was held at the
residence of Levi Jacobs, aL early settler who
came into the county about ten years
previous. The number of votes cast was not
large, nor all confined to Bishop, as the
county was at that time made up of precincts.
The township has been strongly Democratic
ever since its organization, giving that ticket,
at the last Presidential election, over 100
majority.

The cause of education received the early
attention of the pioneers of Bishop, and
to-day its fruits may be seen in the intelli-
gence and culture of the descendants of the
early and honest settlers. Though in the first
settlement there were a great many influences
that worked against the development of a
general system of education — neighborhoods
were thinly settled, money scarce, and people
generally poor, no schoolhouses, no public
fur;d, no trained and qualified teachers, no
books, and nothing of the present system was
at the hands of the pioneers — yet they
organized schools, their children were taught,
and grew to manhood and to years, wiser
and more learned than their venerable sires.
The date of the first school in Bishop Town-
ship was not learned, nor the name of the
first teacher. A school was taught near
Bishop Point, at an early day, by Samuel
Field, a man who threw a great deal of
enthusiasm into his profession, and gave his
patrons universal satisfaction. A neat brick
house was built at the Point in 1853, ii,
which the first public school in the township
was taught by Mr. Field the same year; he
was afterward followed by James Gillen-
waters, who was among the successful
teachers of the township. He taught here
several years, and was untiring in his efforts
to bring the schools up to a high standard of
excellence. There are at {iresent five frame
schoolhouses in the township, well furnished.

The wages paid teachers in Bishop average
from $'20 to $40 per month, which all con-
cede to be much too low, as first class teachers
cannot be procured at such figures. The
people are fast realizing that a few dollars
per month in a good teacher's salary is not at
all to be considered or compared to a poor
school in the hands of a cheap, but incompe-
tent instructor. There are in addition to the
public schools of the township, two parochial
schools, under the control of the Lutherans
and Catholics respectively, both of which are
reputed in flourishing condition.

The first religious services in Bishop were
conducted by Elder Stephen A. Williams, a
pioneer preacher of Union Township, at
private residences and at schoolhouses. He
was a member of the Christian Church, or, as
they are more commonly known, "New
Lights," and organized the first society of
that denomination in the county. The Meth-
odists held services throughout the township
during its early history, but never had a
permanent organization. The southern and
western parts of the township were settled
principally by Germans, the majority of
whom are connected with the Catholic and
Lutheran Churches, each denomination hav-
ing a flourishing congregation near the
village of Dieterieh.

St. Aloysius Eoman Catholic Church dates
its history from the year 1859, at which time
a meeting was called for the purpose of tak-
ing steps toward the erection of a house of
worship. It was decided at this meeting to
erect a temporary frame structure, and a so-
liciting committee was appointed which soon
succeeded in raising several hundred dollars,
when an order arrived from Bishop Junker
to either build a substantial edifice, suitable
for a house of God, or none at all. This or-
der served as a check on the building, and

no further eiforts were made in that direction

282

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

nntil the year 1805, when the present house
was erected. i

It is H fine brick edifice, 40x60 feet, and
cost, when completed and furnished, the sum
of $7,000. In the fall of 1865, Rev. lii-oeger
held the first services in the new building
with great pomp and ceremony. The first
regular pastor was Father Nazarias, who had
charge of the church but a few weeks.
Father Mauritius, at that time rector of St.
Joseph's College, was next appointed pastor,
and succeeded during his pastorate in paying
off the greater amount of the church's in-
debtedness. Fathers Aloysius, Chrisosto-
mus, Eustachius, Clementinus and Marcus
have had charge of the congregation at dif-
ferent times.

Twenty families comprised the original
membership, which has since increased until
there are now 350 active members belonging
to the church, and it is considered one of the
most flourishing parishes in the diocese of
Alton.

The necessity of having a denominational
school south of Salt Creek had long been
felt by the Catholic families living here, as
the distance to the nearest school, Teutopolis,
was too great to be traveled by the children
of the neighborhood. Forty acres of gi'ound
were purchased for school purjsoses, in the
year 1852, and a suitable log house erected.
Mr. Hulls was the first teacher, in which
capacity he served until the year 1854.
From 1854 until 1863. the following teachers
successfully taught one term: Repking,
Nieuaher, Borgman, Klinkhammer, Wern-
sing (the present County Treasurer), Peters,
Ackersmann, Gottesleben and Baltenweck.
In 1803, Mr. Hei.nieier taught with great suc-
cess, and continued with the school until
1872. C. H. Guithues was then appointed
and followed his vocation until 1880, when
he resigned, and was succeeded by his son.

Theodore Guithues, who still holds the posi-
tion. A new building was erected in the
year 1877, a short distance from the log
structure. It it, built of brick, cost $1,000,
and is in every respect a model of neatness
and comfort. At present there are sixty
children attending the school.

St. John's Lutheran Church was organized
in the year 1800, by Rev. Mr. Dickman, with
a membership of about fifteen families. The
schoolhouse northeast of Elliottstown served
as a meeting place, until their first house of
worship was erected. Their present neat ed-
ifice was built in the year 1876, at a cost of
$1,600. There are now about forty commu-
nicants connected with the church. The
present Trustees are H. Helmbrecht, G.
Gerth and J. Woltmeiu. Rev. G. Wagner is
the pastor now in charge. A parochial school
was established the same time the church
was built, and has been in successful opera-
tion ever since. They have a good house,
and the average attendance is about sixty pu-
pils. The difierent pastors have had charge
of the school as instructors.

The Village of Elliottstown. — This town
dates its history from June 17, 1854, at
which time the ground was surveyed into
lots by County Siu-veyor R. A. Howard, for
Smith Elliott, proprietor of the land. An
addition was made to the original plat a few
years afterward of a number of lots lying
south of the main street in Lucas Township.
A short time after the survey was made, sev-
eral dwellings and business houses were in
process of erection. There were a couple of
buildings on the town site before the groimd
was platted, belonging to Dr. L. J. Field
and E. A. Elliott. The former stood on the
corner now occupied by George Dye's hotel,
and was used for the threefold pvu-pose of
dwelling, doctor "shop" and post office.
The last named is still standing and was

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

283

formerly U8ed as a dwelling and storeroom.
It is at present occupied by Mrs. Higgins as
a residence. The post office had been estab-
lished at this point several yeai-s before the
town was laid out, with Dr. Field as Post-
master, a position he held for over seventeen
years. It was not on any regular route, and
the proceeds of the office were supposed to
be sufficient to pay for cairying the mail.
Sometimes, however, pay from this source
fell short and the deficiency had to be made
up from private means of the Postmaster,
who in this way lost over $00 during his
term of office. About the time the town was
contemplated, a storehouse was built and
stoclied with a miscellaneous assortment of
merchandise by Robert Evans, who, for some
two years, did a very handsome little business,
which served as a good advertisement for the
place. A second store building was erected
about the year 1854 by John Marble, who
kept a general line of merchandise, with a
barrel of "Old Johnson County" to make
his variety complete. He continued his
business but one year, when he disposed of
his stock and moved into St. Francis Town-
ship. The building was afterward torn down
and removed to a place east of Teutopolis,
where it is still standing. About 1855, H.
L. Smith started a third store, which was
kept in the house where Mrs. Higgins now
lives, and for a while carried on a good
trade. Dr. Field kept a store in one room
of his residence for two years, which he op-
erated in connection with his medical prac-
tice. The latter having grown to so consid-
erable extent, and finding he could not do
his mercantile business justice without in-
terfering with his profession, he closed out
bis stock, after having sold goods for two
years. Since the town started, the following
firms have done business here at different in-
tervals : Sloan & BaiT, William Hunter,

Lloyd & Kennedy, Lloyd & Wilds, Sloan
& Floyd, George Dye, W. H. Hyden, F.
B. Schooley. The business of the town is
represented at present by Merry & Sons,
who keep a very fine store, with a stock of
goods representing a cash value of perhaps
$2,700. George Dye keeps a di'Ug store and
handles a line of groceries also. He is the
good-uatured proprietor of the only hotel in
place, a good one by the way, and we mean
no reflection on him when we call his place
the "Dye" House. Dr. Field was the first
physician in the town. Drs. Abbott, Hughes,
Sloan. Johnson, Lessem-, Shindle and Lara-
bee have at different times during the town's
history ministered to the afflicted of the vil-
lage and surrounding county. Dr. T. J.
Dunn, a son-in-law of Dr. Field and a regu-
larly gi-aduated M. D., is at present located
here and is gaining a large and lucrative
practice. The first blacksmith shop in the
village was built by John V. Bail, in the
year 1855. He worked at his trade here for
two years, when he sold his shop and moved to
the village of Watson, where he has been
ever since. A shop is run at present by
John Dye. G. W. Baty built a steam flour-
ing and saw mill combined, in the year 1854,
and operated it about five years, when he
sold it to a Mr. Patterson. The mill
blew up a short time after Patterson
purchased it, killing him instantly, and
tearing the mill to shreds. Nobody else
was hurt, though several had very narrow
escapes. A steam saw mill was operated in the
village several years, by Samuel Field, but
at present there are no mills or manufactur-
ing establishments of any kind in the place.
There were in the village during its days of
infancy several saloons — ginshops, sample
rooms, or, to be more explicit, "hell-holes,"
which had a demoralizing effect upon the
town and entire community, and gave the

28-4

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

place a bad reputation abroad. These can-
cers were removed a number of years ago,
and fortunately for the good sense, intelli-
gence and morality of the citizens, nothing of
the kind has been permitted since. A man
named Jim Green finally kept whisky by the
barrel, which he retailed from his residence,
causing the better disposed citizens a great
deal of annoyance, but all their eflbrta to
induce him to quit the business were fruit-
less. During the progress of a great temper-
ance revival which took the country by storm,
some parties thought they could further the
cause by destroying Green's whisky barrel,
and accordingly went to work with that object
in view. The barrel was kept in his smoke-
house, as they supposed, right over the well,
at least they had seen cer( ain parties go there
for the purpose of sampling the "creature."
Fired by the holiness of their mission, these
cold water disciples crept cautiously up to the
barrel one night, and after placing their sen-
tinels on the watch, in order to insure safety,
proceeded to bore a hole in the cask which
contained the hated poison. The hole was
bored, but fearing detection the templars did
not wait to see the result, but went to their i
respective homes, cheered no doubt by approv- |
ing consciences for the part they had taken
in the great work for humanity. The next
morning the entire contents of Mrs. Green's
brand new barrel of soft soap was found in
the well, and nobody knew who bored the ,
hole. I

The first school in EUiottstown was taught >
by .John Russ. He began in the fall of 1856
and continued three months. The house in
which this term was taught was a small frame
building erected for the purpose, and was
the only house of the kind in the town for
eighteen years. Among the different teach-
ers who taught in this building were the fol-
lowing : Samuel Field, who kept one of the

first schools in the township ; H. B. Keploy,
now ne of the leadi ng lawers of Effing-
ham, and W. B. Hannawalt. The old house
was replaced in 1874 by the present building,
which was erected at a cost of about $S00.
The first school in this house was taught by
Dr. T. J. Dunn. Present teacher is Mi-. J.
M. Britton who has an interesting school of
about fifty pupils.

The Baptist Church is the oldest religious
society in EUiottstown, and was organized
by an ecclesiastical council which convened
for that purpose at the residence of Smith
Elliott, March 27, 1852. The principal actors
in the organization were Elders J. H. Larkin,
G. W. Barcus and Stephen Blair. At this
meeting, articles of faith were adopted, rules
of order accejsted, and the following names
eni'olled as members: Smith Elliott, Emily
Elliott, L. J. Field, Frances Field, George
Baty. Mary E. Baty, John B. Strife, Elizabeth
Field, Margaret Arnold, Isaac McCroom and
William Gordon. Of this number but two
or three are now living in the village. The
little congregation held their first meetings
at Elliott's residence for one year, when the
schoolhouse was secured for that purpose,
and used as a place of worship until the year
1858. Their present handsome and conven-
ient edifice was erected in that year, at a cost
of iS2,000. The house is frame, dimensions
forty by sixty feet, and will comfortably seat
over three hundred people. Elder G. W.
Barcus was called to act as pastor at the first
meeting, and served in that capacity, at dif-
ferent intervals, iov twenty years. He was a
man universally respected for his piety, and
did as much if not more than any other
pastor toward building the congregation
and leading the members toward the higher
life. He is now a resident of Kansas, where
he moved in the spring of 1882. Of the
other pastors who ministered to the church

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

285

were Revs. Eeed, Patton and Chris, and
othors. In the early days of its history, the
church was a strong oraranization, and was
greatly strengthened by niimeroiis revivals,
during the progress of which many were
converted and their names enrolled on the
church records. There have been over one
hundred members at different times, but
many have died and others moved away until
now there are but about forty names on the
chm-eh books. There has been no preaching
for some time past, and a general decay seems
to have fastened itself upon the once flourish-
ing society.

The Christian Church of Elliottstown was
organized in 1866, by Elder Henry Vandooser,
with a membership of twelve or fifteen per-
sons. The organization was effected at the
schoolhouse, where for two years their serv-
ices were held, when the use of the Baptist
Chiu'ch was secured, where the congi'egation
met for worship two years longer. The
church grew prosperous, and its membership
increased very rapidlj'. The members are
united as one in their social and religious
relations, and six years had scarcely passed
from the date of their organization, when
they found themselves sufficiently strong to
build a house of worship of their own. Their
building is a convenient and comfortable
frame structure, and represents a capital of
about $1,500. Elder Thomas Wall was the
first pastor, and served one year. His suc-
cessor was Elder Barlow Higgins, who re-
mained with the congi'egation tbe same length
of time as his predecessor, and was followed
by the present pastor, William Gordon, of
Watson, who is now on his fifth year's work
with the church. The present membership
is about seventy. The elders of the church
are Barlow Higgins, Jesse Melson, F. B.
Schooley and Wilfred Fields. Deacons:
John Dye, George Dye and William Layton.

The Trustees are John and George Dye and
Frank Poe. A Sabbath school, numbering
some eighty or a hundred pupils, is among
the most interesting and progressive features
of the church. F. B. Schooley is the Super-
intendent, and also one of the earnest workers
of the congregation.

Delia Lodge, No. 525, A., F. & A. M.,
was organized at the village of Winterrowd. in
Lucas Township, in 1867, and the organiza-
tion moved to this place a couple of years
later. The charter was granted by Jerome

E. Gorin, at that time Grand Master of the
State, and the following names appear as
charter members: Phenis Palmer, K. G.
Scott, C. -M. Scott, Washington Winterrowd,
John C. Palmer, David Palmer, L. G.
Field, David C. Kershner, John A. Barr,
George W. Sloan, B. L. Palmer, Andrew
Wiles, J. W. Hourigan and Waymack Merry.
First officers were, Phenis Palmer; W. M.;
R. G. Scott, S. W. ; and W. Winterrowd, J. W.
The several offices are filled at present by F.
B. Schooley, W. M. ; J. F. Poynter, S. A\'. ;

F. J. Wood, J. W. ; George Dye, Treasurer;
T. J. Dunn, Secretary; J. W. Fields, S. D. ;
W. H Davis, J. D.; W. H. Poynter, Chaplain;
Waymack Merry and L. J. Field, Stewards,
and J. Treese, Tiler. The lodge is in good
working order, and has some twenty-one or
twenty-two members. Their meetings are held
in a very fair hall that is owned by the lodge.

The little village of Dieterich, or Dieterichs-
burg, is situated in the northwest corner of
the township, on Section 13, and was laid out
by M. Dieterich, who owned the land. It was
surveyed by C. A. Van Allen, County Sur-
veyor, January 8, 1881. This town is an
outgrowth of the Springfield, Effingham &
South-Eastern Railroad, which was recently
completed through this part of the county
and which has given new stimulus to the
agricultiu'al interest of this tovmship, by

a86

HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

bringing good grain markets to the people's
doors. There are at this station, three ware-
houses, operated by Jennings & Minor, M.
Dieterich and M. V. Parks. Their business
has largely increased during the past year,
and at no other small point in the cou^nty
were as many bushels of wheat handled in
1881 and 1882. The place boasts two stores,
which are kept by James Prather and Henry
Habing; two blacksmith shojis, where John
Sonnenberg and William Richards work at
their trades: two brick yards are in suc-

cessful operation, by Habing & Field, and
several new houses will soon be erected.
John Richards was the first Postmaster, hav
ing been appointed when the office was
established, in the year 1881. The office is
now kept by Dr. Chapman.

A village called Graceville was siirveyed
and platted February 5, 1881, by C. A. Van
Allen, County Surveyor, for John Grace,
owner of the land. It occupies a portion of
ground in Section 13, joining Dieterich, and
both places go by the latter name.

ADDENDUM.— Biography received too late for insertion in proper place.

WEILER & MKYER, dealers in clothing, weiler, Rhine Province. Prussia, June 13, 1855.
gents' furnishing goods, hats, shoes and trunks, Max Meyer was born in Hamburg, Germany,
one door north of Zimmerman & Snyder, November 10, 1859. The above firm commenced
Altamont. Herman Weiler was born in Ott- business iu Altamont February 15, 1883.

PART II

lOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,

PART II

Biographical Sketches.

EFFIITGHAM CITY AND

CHRISTIAN ALT, Sr., farmer, P. 0. Effing-
ham, was born, iu 1822, in German}', son of
Christian and Katharina (Bechtholdt) Alt, na-
tives also of German}-; he was a farmer, and
died in St. Clair County, this State, in 1853;
she died January 3, 1874, in this county; they
were the parents of two children, both boys.
Our subject received his education in Germany.
He was married, in St. Clair County, this State,
September 22, 1853, to Anna Maria Scharth,
born in Germany, daughter of Adam and Eliza
Scharth, natives also of Germany. Jlr. and
Mrs. Alt have eight children — John, Christian,
"Henry, Louisa, Fritz, Katharina, Caroline and
Wilhelra. Three of the boys are married. Our
subject came to this county in October, 1865,
and has since resided here. He was a miller
up to 1880, since which year his oldest son has
run the mill, although our subject still holds an
interest in it. He is a member of the Lutheran
Church, and in politics is a Democrat.

CHRISTIAN ALT, Jr., expressman, Effing-
ham, was born in St. Clair County, this State,
Jan. 25, 1857, sou of Christian and Anna Maria
(Scharth) Alt, natives of Germany, are farmers
and are living in this county; they are the par-
ents of eight children. Our subject received his
education in his native county, and also in
Effingham. He was married, in Effingham,
June 24, 1879, to Jlisa Mary Koester, born
February 19, 1860, in Germany, daughter of

DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

Conrad and Christina (Ritterborn) Koester. na
tives also of Germany, and are living, he in
Effingham and she in Germany. Our subject
worked in his father's mill, and in 1872 went
into the employ of A. Sewart, in a general
store. He afterward worked in several other
stores, and December 1, 1881, he entered the
employ of H. G. Habing, who is agent for the
Adams and Pacific Express Companies, and
also for the Wabash Railroad, the work per-
taining to the latter office of which our subject
has charge. Mr. Alt is a member of the Luther-
an Church, and is Independent in politics.

JOHN ALT, miller, Effingham, was born in
St. Clair County, 111., February 14, 1852, son of
John and Mary (Scharth) Alt. He was thirteen
years of age, when his parents removed to this
county and settled in Effingham, and our sub-
ject engaged in fiirmiug until he was eighteen.
His stepfather bought the Old City Mills about
1866. About 1870, our subject entered his
present mill, and remained five years, when he
took a general Western tour, stopping in Cali-
fornia for one and a half years. He returned
in November, 1876, and in the spring of
1877, bought an interest in the City Mills, and
has run them ever since, increasing its capacity
and improving its machinery. Its present ca-
pacity is .seventy barrels per day. Flour is man-
ufactured by the new process, and the mill turns
uot several brands — a "Patent," "Straight,"

BIOGRAPHICAL:

"Gold Dust" and "No. 1." They do a mer-
chant and exchange business, and the products
of the mill find sale in the local market. The
firm name is John Alt & Co., our subject being
in partnership with his step-father. Christian
Alt. The City Mills burned in 1868, and were
rebuilt in 1869 at a cost of $10,000. It is a
three-story frame, 35x50, with engine-room at-
tached; engine is thirty-five horse power, and
the mill require altogether five men. Subject
was married, in October, 1877, to Miss Letitia
Wade, of Btflngham. The}' have one son. Mr.
Alt's father died in St. Clair County, this State,
when he (subject) was eleven months old.

CHARLES 0. ANDERSON, merchant, Ef-
fingham, son of Enoch Anderson, was born in
Shelby County, III., January 3, 1862. He
served one yea.r as clerk in Chicago, 111., and
two years with Eversman & Speck. He came
to Effingham City wlien three years of age, and
has been raised aud educated in the public
schools. He bought the confectionery and res-
taurant of W. H. Duddleston in September,
1882, and has since conducted the business
under the firm name of C. 0. Anderson & Co.,
near the post olfice, carrying a full line of
confectioner}', fine fruits and oysters and ice
cream, in their respective seasons. His parents
were both natives of Sweden, and came to
the United States in 1861.

JONATHAN A. ARNOLD, teacher, Effing-
ham, was born in Jasper County, 111., Novem-
ber 8, 1845. He was educated in the public
schools of his native county, and attended one
year at St. Joseph's College, Teutopolis, this
county. He came to this county in 1863, and
clerked in a store in Teutopolis for Venemann
& Co. for four years, and afterward three years
in Effingham for Van Norman Bros. About
1871, he began teaching in Liberty Township,
this county, and lias been teaching about seven
months per year in the. county ever since. In
December, 1881, he was appointed Superin-
tendent of Schools of this county to serve an

interim between two terms of one year. He
received the nomination at the Democratic
primary, in April, 1882, for the same office for
a term of four years. He had served as Chair-
man of the Board of Supervisors for three
years when appointed, and had served as Super-
visor for several years in Banner Township.

E. AUSTIN, dairyman, P. 0. Effingham, was
born August 29, 1842, in Hancock County, III.,
son of Seneca and Julia (Burnett) Austin, he,
born in 1798, in Orwell, Vt, was a lawyer,
editor and farmer, and died in Effingham, in
May, 1880; she, born in Dayton, Ohio, August
29, 1812, and died May 8, 1873, in Delhi, Ohio.
They were the parents of four children. Our
subject received his education in Campbell
County, Ky. He was a farmer in early life,
also taught school, and learned the painter's
trade. He was married in Campbell County,
Ky., October 17, 1861, to Miss Susan L. Winter,
born in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 23, 1841;
daughter of William and Nancy J. Winter, he
a native of England, and she of Kentucky,
both born in 1798. Mr. and Mrs. Austin have
nine children -^Harry B., Charles, Cornelia,
Frank G., William, Gustavus, Calvin, Julia and
Gertrude. Our subject came to Illinois in 1 862f
and resided for three years in Jasper County.
He then came to this county and worked at
the painter's trade for two years. He then
purchased sixty-five acres of land near the
town, and now has 105 acres, on which he has
a dairy, market garden and a good orchard.
Mr. Austin is a member of the Presbyterian
Church, and in politics is a Republican.

HON. WILLIAM H. BARLOW, attorney
at law, Effingham City, was born in Munford-
ville. Hart Co., Ky., July 26, 1839. At the age
of twelve, he came with bis parents to Charles-
ton, 111., where he lived until 1868. He was
educated in the public schools, and spent about
two years in Kenyon College, before entering the
army. In July, 1861, he enlisted in Company
H, Fifty-ninth Illinois Infantry, and went out

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

as private. lu July, 1862, he was promoted to
Assistant Quartermaster, witti tlie rank of Cap-
tain of volunteers, and was in tlie Missouri
Department until tlie latter part of 1862, join-
ing Gen. Sherman, at Memphis, Tenn., in De-
cember, 1862, and served for some years on
Logan's staff, and was with that army in its
various changes, and was on Gen. Sherman's
staff during the last six months of the war.
After the war closed, in July, 1865, he was
ordered to the sea coast, where he remained
until October following, when he was ordered
to Florida, as Chief Quartermaster of the State,
with headquarters at Tallahassee; and January,
1866, was ordered to Fort Garland, Colorado,
and was mustered out of service by special
order from the War Department, No. 550,
November 13, 1866, being the last of the volun-
teer officers of Army of Tennessee mustered
out. On being discharged, Mr. Barlow went
immediately to the Law Department of the
University of Jlichigau at Ann Arbor, from
which he graduated March 25, 1868. and came
to Effingham on the 20th of May following,
and was admitted to the bar in April, 1868, at
Charleston, 111. He has been in active practice
of his profession here ever since. July 20,

1868, he formed a law partnership with Benson
and Virgil Wood, which lasted until November
1, 1875, and has since been alone. He was
Chairman of the Republican County Central
Committee in 1870, and in 1871 was appointed
United States Assessor for the Eleventh Dis-
trict of Illinois, and held that office until it was
abolished. He was a member of the Repub-
lican State Central Committee of Illinois from
1870 to 1878, and was a delegate from the
Fifteenth Congressional District of Illinois to
the National Republican Convention, at Chica-
go, in 1880, and was one of the famous '• 306."
He was the late Republican nominee for
Congress in the Seventeenth Congressional Dis-
trict of Illinois. He was married, March 11,

1869, at Green Castle, lud., to Miss Ella Allen.

They had one child, now deceased. His father,
John P. Barlow, was born in Virginia, removed
to Kentucky when a boy, and resided in Hart
County until 1853, engaged in merchandising.
He came to Charleston, 111., in 1853, and re-
sided there until 1869, when he came to Effing-
ham, and" is now living with subject in his
seventy -seventh year.

H. BECKMANN, furniture, Effingham, was
born in Germany January 6, 1838, son of Bern-
hard and Mary (Brinck) Beckmann, natives
also of Germany; he, born in 1780, and died in
his native country in 1840; she, born in 1783,
and is still living in Germany. They had four
children, two sons and two daughters. Our
subject received his schooling in his native land,
whei'e he also learned the carpenter's trade.
He came to the United States in the fall of
1868, coming to this county, where he has since
resided. He was married, November 5, 1868,
in Etfingliam, to Miss Caroline Bussemeyer,
born in Germaii3' in 1843, daughter of Henry
and Mary (Meckmau) Bussemej'cr, natives also
of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Beckmann have
had five children, four of whom are living —
Bernhard, Augusta. Mary and Clara. During
the years 1861, 1862 and 1863, our subject was
in the German Army, a member of the Thirty-
ninth Fusileers. In 1866, he was in the Aus-
trian war, and was engaged in the battles of
Schaffenburg and Hammelburg, and two other
minor engagements. Mr. Beckmann has been
in the furniture and undertaking business for
four years, and has a good stock of goods. He
is a member of the Catholic Church, and in
polities is a Democrat.

EZRA H. BISHOP, merchant, EfBngham
City, was born in Hardy County, now West
Virginia, February 10, 1837. He came with
his parents to this county when in his fifth
year. They first settled in Summit Township,
at Blue Point, where the father opened a farm
and resided there about three years, and then
removed to Freemanton, a village on the old

BIOGRAPHICAL:

National Road, where he kept a small store
and practiced medicine. Our subject grew up
in the village, and went to one of the delapi-
dated schools of that day about three mouths
in winter, and, at fifteen, began teaming and
hauling produce to St. Louis, and brought mer-
chaudise back. His father brought the first
steam-mill to the county, which he located at
Fremanton about 1851 or 1852. It was both
a grist and saw mill, aud a carding machine
being attached to it also. After the mill came,
our suliject hauled logs and cord wood until
about 1855 or 1856, when the mill was sold.
He remained on the farm until of age, and
continued farming for himself until the
war broke out. He came to PJtflngham in
1863, and, in 1865, he began clerking with A.
Stewart, and continued as salesman and book-
keeper with him for fourteen years, and, in
March, 1880, opened a dry goods store for him-
self on Jeflierson street, where he has since
done a successful business. His father, Jacob
Bishop, was born in Virginia, but spent his
earl^- life in Ohio, where he married Sarah
Hook, of Licking County, that State. He
came to Effingham County October 1, 1841,
where he passed the remainder of Ms dajs.
He died in 18G8, in his fifty-ninth year. He
was the father of eleven children — John W.
(a farmer in this couuty), Ezra H. (suliject),
Melissa 0. (wife of Joseph Young, of this
count}'), and Sophrouia E. (wife of John Kelker,
of Pueblo, Colo). Our subject's father studied
medicine in Ohio, with a view to self-improve-
ment, and, after coming here, without auj' in-
tention of practicing, was drawn into a large
practice. He had but little means when he
came, but was quite successful. He and his
family were Methodists, and he was for manj'
years a local preacher.

SAMUEL BLATTNER, Effingham City.
Prominently identified among the busiBess
men of this place is the gentleman whose
name heads this sketch. He is a native of

Knetingen, Canton Argau, Switzerland, and
was born November 13, 1831. He is a son
of John Blattner, who was born in 1797, in
Switzerland, his occupation that of a tailor;
came to the United States in 1834, and died
in Madison County, 111. Anna Blattner, the
mother of our subject, was born in 1804, in
Canton Argau, Switzerland, and died in
Highland, Madison Co., 111. There are thir-
teen children in the family, seven of whom
are now living. Mr. Blattner went to school
only a part of three months, in Highland,
111. He is mainly self-educated. He came
to the United States in 1834. He first land-
ed in New York, then went to St. Louis.
From there he went to Madison County, 111.
He worked on a farm there till he was nine-
teen years of age, when he learned the black-
smith's trade in Highland, 111., where he was
married, June 6, 1854, to Miss Anna Keaser.
who first beheld the light of the world in
Switzerland, in February, 1828. She is a
daughter of John and Barbara Keaser, both
of whom were born in Switzerland. Mr.
Blattner has one daughter, named Barbara,
born in 1855, in Highland, III. She was
married to Mr. Albert Gravenhorst, whose
father is the editor of the German paper
known as the Effingham Volksblat. Mr.
Blattner enlisted in the Second Missouri In-
fantry, Company K, May 19, 1861. He was
in the battles of Booneville, Mo. ; Wilson
Creek, Pea Ridge, Shiloh, Corinth, Perry-
ville and Stone River, where he was wound-
ed, and after that be served in the Invalid
Corps, doing provost duty in New York State
until he was discharged, September 10, 1864.
In religion, our subject is a Lutheran; also
an old Jeffersonian Democrat. After the
war, Mr. Blattner came to Edgewood, Effing-
ham County, in which place he went into the
liquor business, which he continued after
coming to Effingham. 111., in 1878. He

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

draws a pension, and was at one time a
Trustee in Edgewood.

JOSHUA BRADLEY, marble dealer, Effing-
ham, was born in Jackson County, 111., Octo-
ber 10, 1823 ; came to Efflingham County in
April, 1843; bought an improved tract of land
of John G. McCann in Section 29, in what is
now Summit Township, and still owned by
subject. He paid S150 for the improvement
and afterward entered it at different times until
he acquired 180 acres. Subject devoted his
attention to farming until 1858, when he re-
moved to Effingham and engaged in stone-
work. His father was a stone-cutter and mason
in Jackson Countj-, 111., and made tombstones
there, and suliject learned that business. In
1846, he began making and furnishing grave-
stones out of sandstone, and some are still
standing at Freemanton and Ewington which
are in good condition after thirtj-six j-ears of
exposure. He quarried the stone, some on
Coon Creek, Mound Township, and dressed
them himself; also, made grindstones when
they were desired; worked at this in the fall,
also worked on the stone-work of the Illinois
Central. In 1858 moved to Effingham and
remained until 1861, when he went back to his
farm until 1864, when he again came to Effing-
ham and engaged in the marble business, con-
tinuing here until 1868, when he moved his
stock to his farm and carried on marble busi-
ness and farming until 1875, when he removed
to Altamont and established a business in con-
nection with his son John H. Bradley, and
continued there until February 1877, when he
again went back to the farm and remained
there for two years. In the fall of 1879, he re- *
moved to Effingham where he had formed a
partnership with James A. Flack and Daniel
Safford, and has since continued the marble
works on Main and Railroad streets, under
the firm name of Bradley, Flack & Saf-
ford. Mr. Bradley attends to the outside
business of the firm and the remaining part-

ner's attend to the shop interests. The father
of our subject, James H. Bradley, was born in
North Carolina and raised in Middle Tennes-
see, and came to Illinois about 1818, settling
with his father in Jackson County. He mar-
ried Miss Martha Hughes, daughter of James
Hughes. She was born in Randolph County,
in the Territory of Illinois, in October 15, 1804.
She was raised three miles northeast of Kas-
kaskia, and was acquainted with all of the
principal Indians in that part of the State.
James Hughes came with some of his family
from Kentucky about the beginning of the
century. From Reynolds' History of Illinois,
we learn that James Hughes taught an evening
school, which brought ex-Gov. Reynolds and
other j'oung men from five miles around in
that vicinity to prepare for college. James
Hughes was a Major during the war of 1812
and the Indian troubles in ranger service. One
of his sons held all of the principal offices in
Randolph Countj-. Mother of subject died at
the age of forty-one in Jackson County, and
his father died in Jackson on his homestead
in Bradlej- Township in 1866. He served as
Justice of the Peace for about twelve years,
and had seven sons and seven daughters, five
of whom are now living. Subject was married
in March, 1843, to Mrs. Matilda S. Flack, widow
of Milton Flack, by whom she had one son,
James A. Flack, now a partner in present firm.
His father was born otx the Four Mill Prairie,
in Perry County, 111., where his father had
settled in pioneer times. Mrs. Bradley was
the daughter of Andrew Bourland, who died
at Vandalia, where he was Justice of the Peace
and Postmaster at Vandalia, 111., at the time of
his death in 1842. Subject has four sons and
two daughters bj' his marriage, one daughter
and one son dead. Those living are : Ben-
jamin F., of Effingham; Joshua F., of Bon-
ham, Texas; John H., of rfTerre Haute, and
Mary V., wife of A. J. Gloyd, of Williams-
ville. 111.

BIOGRAPHICAL:

WILLIAM S. BRADLEY, tie contractor,
Effingham, was born in Wilson County, Tenn.,
October 9, 1835. He was six years old when
he came with his uncle, Morris Bradlej-, in
1841, to this count}-. He rode behind his uncle
on horseback from Tennessee, being eight days
on the wa}-. His uncle bought land in Mason
Township, where he (uncle) resided until his
death about 1876. Our subject grew upon the
farm and lived with his uncle, going to school
three miles distant, across the creek in
Mason Township, near the side of the Wabash
Church. He woi-ked on a farm b}' the month
until they began the construction of the Illinois
Central Railroad, on which he worked three
years. He then bought new land and opened
up a farm near IMason, and still owns land
there. He farmed with good success until
1875, when he began working in timber, and
has been a tie contractor since, working from
fifteen to twenty-five men for the last five years.
His parents died when he was three years old,
and they died about six months apart, and he
was cared for by an aunt, until he came to
this count}'. He was married, ip 1857, to Miss
Rowena Brockett, daughter of James Brockett,
one of the first settlers of the county. They
had two sons, both living. Mrs. Bradley died
September, 1871. Our subject was married a
second time, Februarj- 7, 1876, to Miss Minerva
Martin, daughter of Moses Blartin. They have
one daughter.

THOMAS H. BRAND, proprietor California
House, Effingham, was born in Cambridge-
shire, England, April 20, 1825. He came
to United States, in his fourteenth j'ear with
his older brother, and settled at Flo3'd Hill,
Oneida Co., N. Y., and lived with his brother
there on a farm until 1849. In that 3'ear, he
was sent bj' Emmonal Potter, of Floyd Hill, N.
Y., to California — the contract was that Mr.
Brand was to give Mr. Potter one-half of all
he made in the mines for two years, and Mr.
Potter to pay his passage except $50. Subject

sailed around Cape Horn, and was 157 days
from New York City to San Francisco, Cal.,
ten days being spent in the port of Valparaiso,
Chili. On his arrival, Mr. Brand worked in
the mines for three years; and had acquired
considerable money, but lost $1,800, all
he had, as did many others, as the vent-
ure proved a failure. They had to paj- $2
per pound for flour, and high prices for other
things. At the end. of the two j-ears, Mr.
Brand had nothing, and the fourth year he
engaged in the gardening business with James
L. Halstead at Volcano, in Calaveras County,
Cal. The gardening was a great success, and
he sold potatoes at 50 cents per pound, and
some hills contained eighteen pounds. Mr.
Brand came home via the Nicaragua route in
1853, and returned to his native county, and,
although not legall}' or morally responsible to
his benefactor, he paid his heirs $500, and still
holds receipt for the same. In the spring of

1853, Mr. Brand went to Rock County, Wis.,
where he bought an improved farm of about
seventj--five acres, which he sold to his brother
in the fall of 1853, and having met James
Baldwin, of Utica, N. Y., while in the mines, he
was induced by a liberal offer by him to cross
the plains California, and proceeded as far as
Louis, when he gave up the project and settled
at Edwardsville, 111., where he stopped for a
short time, and then went to Clark County,
Mo., where he bought and opened up a farm in

1854, and remained there until the war broke
out and bj- hard work was in good circum-
stances. In 1861, he enlisted in the Seventh
Missouri Cavalry under Col. Bishop, and
-served until he was discharged on account of
disability. He sold his stock after his dis-
charge, and removed back to Edwardsville, 111.,
and in 18G4, he enlisted in the One Hundred
and Fiftieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry under
Col. Springer, and served until the close of the
war, and returned to Edwardsville, 111. Mr.
Brand bought a farm in Madison County, 111.,

EFFINGHAM CITY AKD DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

which he conducted for some time. In 1869,
he came to Effingham, a' d leased the building
now known as the '• California House," of Gil-
more & Watson, and afterward bought, and
conducted it as a restaurant for a time, and
has run it as a hotel for many j-ears. He has
enlarged it until it has at present twenty -two
rooms with dining-room, sample rooms and
office. It has been run under the name of
the California House for the past eiglit years.
Mr. Brand came here in September, 18G9, and,
in October of that year, while trying to blow
the soot out of the chimney with powder, it
exploded in his face, putting out both of his
ej'es. He was married in 1853 in Oneida, N.
Y., to Miss Harriet .S. Mason, of Floyd. N. Y.
They have six children living, and four de-
ceased.

WILLIAM EDWIN BUCKNER, the oldest
child of Josiah and Lorana (Henry) Buckner,
was horn in Larkinsburg Township, Chi}- Co.,
111., September 24, 185G. His birthplace was
known as the Joseph Henry farm, three-fourths
of a mile from the present town of Edgewood,
in Effingham Count}'. His parents lived on
this place for one year, and then moved to Edge-
wood, which was then just being built, in con-
sequence of the Illinois Central Railroad, which
was then, in' the year 1856, completed, when his
father built the first house of this thriving little
town. His parents, after remaining here two
years, moved to the town of Mason, where they
resided for two years more, when, in the fall of
1860, thej' again removed to their former home
in Clay Count}-. They stayed here during the
fall and winter of 1861, when, in the spring of
1862, the}- moved back to Mason. At this time
his father enlisted in the throe-months' service,
subject to Lincoln's first call. He joined Col.
W. H. L. Wallace's Eleventh Illinois Volunteer
Infantry, which afterward made itself famous on
many a hard-fought field. His position was
second drummer, he being the first assistant to
the famous James B. McQuillan; served out

his time, and in the fall of 18G2, went to White
County and joined the Eighty-seventh Regiment,
Col. John E. Whitney, uncle of our subject, as
Drum Major. This regiment was afterward
known as the Eighty-seventh Illinois. Now,
for three years young William had fun, his prin-
cipal amusement being to play the truant from
school. He went to school just when it pleased
him, uU the arguments to the contrary notwith-
standing. His time was spent while out of school
in going to the creek to bathe, riding on the
cars, feats at pugilism with his playmates, play-
ing soldiers, and joining many an innocent band
of young marauders on the various apple or-
chards throughout the neighliorhood. The or-
chard belonging to good old "Granny Ruflfner"
escaped, the secret being a huge mastiff which
she kept at her house, and whose bark and fierce
look at once struck terror to the heart of the
young Buckner. After the war was over, his
father returned home, and in the spring of 1866,
the family moved to a farm north of Mason,
where for most of the time the subject of this
sketch resided with his parents, until the spring
of 1880, when he came to Effingham and en-
tered the office of Cooper & Gillmore, to com-
plete his law studies, which had been commenced
some four years prior to this time. His study
of the law was begun in 1876 with the Hon. H.
B. Kepley, with whom he studied for four or
five mouths, when he went back to the farm.
Here for the next few years was a struggle for
him. Possessiuj; a great desire to complete his
law studies, he worked early and late, using all
his spare time of mornings, noons-nnd evenings
in study. It was during this time that he read
over Blackstone, Kent and Parsons on Contracts.
During the spring, summer, fall and winter of
1878, he in this way read Parsons on Contracts
three times. Parsons has always been his fav-
orite law-writer. The winter of 1870 and 1880
was spent in teaching the home district school
at $25 per month. This money was used in
helping to complete his law studies. He re-

BIOGRAPHICAL:

mained in the office of Cooper & Gillmore until
August, 1881, when, at Mount Vernon, 111., he
passed a successful examination before the Ap-
pellate Court, and was admitted to the bar, he
being one of the twent3'-six out a class of thirt}'-
four. After his admission, he settled in Van-
dalia, where he remained for four months, re-
turning to Effingham and opening an office in
the Register Building in March, 1882. His first
case in the circuit was the defense of three fel-
lows for highway rohberj', in which he was un-
successful, the proof against them being so strong
as to prevent an acquittal. His law reading
has been quite extensive, Blackstone, Kent,
Parsons on Contracts, Chitty. Goidd and Ste-
phen on Pleading, Greenleaf on Evidence,
Bishop on Criminal Law, Storj' and Adams on
Equity, Stor3- on Equity Pleading, Reeves on
Domestic Relation, Danille's Chancery Practice,
Washburn on Real Property, besides several
minor works, man}- of them having been read
and recited a number of times. He cannot
boast of a long line of royal ancestors. His
grandfather, Philip Buckner, was a sturdj' old
Kentucky farmer, who moved to this count}- in
1835, where our subject's fathei-, Josiah Buck-
ner, was born, August 1, 1835, and who has
since pursued the occupation of a farmer, till
1881, when he removed to the city of Effing-
ham, where he has since resided. His mother
was Lorana Henry, the oldest daughter of
Joseph Heur}-, who was a sou of Elijah Henry,
who also was a Kentuck}- farmer and black-
smith, and who moved from Kentucky to Law-
rence County, Ind., and thence to this State, in
the latter part of the decade of 1840, or the be-
ginning of 1850. Elijah Heni-y is known and
esteemed by mauj' of the oldest citizens of this
county for the many excellent varieties of
fruit trees which his nursery at Mason contained.
Manj- of the oldest and best orchards in this
county were grown from the "Henrj' Nursery."
Josiah Buckner and Lorana Henry were joined
in the bonds of holy matrimony, in the city of
\

St. Louis, May 4, 1855, for the simple and well-
known reason that the paternal of Lorana ob-
jected to Josiah paying his attentions to their
daughter, much less allowing them to be mar-
ried at home. But. like a gi-eat manj- marriages
whicli have been contracted under similar dif-
ficulties, the old folks relented, and clasped the
young and happy couple to their bosoms on
their return home. The old gentleman at once
decided having Josiah to live on the farm with
him, and started him in life as best he was able.
Mrs. Buckner is a grand-daughter of the man
who was Heur}' Cla5''s blacksmith. Their
union has been a happy one, being blessed by
seven children — William E., Jemima J., Levi
L., Henry C, Franklin F.. Philip 0., Aurora.
Of these, two — Jemima J. and Henry C. — passed
away to that better and happier land in their
infancy.

HENRY E. BURBACH, saloon, Effingham,
was born on the River Rhine, town of Cologne,
Prussia, December 2, 1835. His father's name
was Joseph Burbach. he was born in the same
place about the year 1806. He now resides in
Milwaukee. His mother's name, before mar-
riage, was Catharine Bodden; she was also
born in the same place in 1808; she died in
1841, and was buried there. There were three
children in the family, one boj- and two girls.
Subject was educated at a common school. In
1854, while at the age of nineteen, he came with
his parents to America, and settled with them
in Milwaukee, where he learned the cooper trade.
He worked at the business one year as a jour-
neyman, and, in 1851, removed to New Bruns-
wick; after a stay here from fall until spring,
he went to St. Joe, Mo.; from there to New
Orleans and St. Louis. He was married, in
1864, to Miss Catharine Seamon, of Chicago.
She was born in Prussia. Her father's name
was Michael Seamon, who was born in Prussia.
Subject enlisted in Ninth Illinois Cavalry De-
cember 27, 1861; was promoted Orderly Ser-
geant, and served during the war, and, with

EFFINGHAM CITY AKD DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

the exception of a brief period, was with his
regiment during all their marching and fight-
ing. He was discharged December 9, 1864.
His children are Lena, Kate, Margaret,
Henry and Joseph. After his discharge from
the service, he returned to Milwaukee, where,
after a short st.av. he went to Chicago, and en-
gaged in keeping a boarding-house. He came
to Effingham in 1870.

GEORGE BUSSE, farmer, P. 0. Teutopolis,
son of Gerhard and Maggie (Uphouse) Busse,
was born in this couutj- in 1851. He is the
fifth child of the family which consists of nine
children, all born in Illinois except Henry, who
was born in Ohio. His father has always
farmed, both in this and the old country (Ger-
many). On arriving in America, he settled
first in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained
some six j-ears; previous to his removal to Illi-
nois, he had purchased fortj' acres through the
colony agency, and, after his arrival, bought
sixt^- acres adjoining his first purchase. He
came to America in 183-1, and was married in
Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1840. Mr. Busse, the sub-
ject of this sketch, was married in Eftingham
County, in 1867, to Miss Mary Wesling, of the
same county, but who was born in Cincinnati,
Ohio. They have three children — Louie, Henry
and Bidy. Mr. Busse was educated in Teu-
topolis. He is a farmer bv occupation.

SAMUEL CAMPBP^LL, lumber dealer, Ef-
fingham, was born in Somerset, Perry Co., Ohio,
July 31, 1832. He was engaged in thegrocery
business before the war, beginning at sixteen
years of age, and continued until 1862, when
he joined the Armj' of the Cumberland, and
was sutler for the Ninetieth Ohio Regiment
until 1864, when he returned home and en-
gaged in the hardware business in Somerset
until 1871, when he removed to Effingham,
where he has been engaged in the lumber and
milling business ever since. In Jul}-, 1879,
he located his present lumber yards near the
track of the Vandalia line, near which he

owned and conducted a saw and planing mill.
He removed the saw-mill in Mav, 1882, to
Watson Township, where he bought a tract of
timber and is engaged in the manufacture of
lumber for this market. The milling interest
employs fourteen men. Our subject was mar-
ried in 1854 to Miss Sarah Kuhns, of Perry
County, Ohio. The}' have three sons and six
daughters living — Albert H., James V., Will-
iam, Mar}', Callie, Emma, Rosa, Laura and
Mabel.

WILLIAM BREWSTER COOPER, attor-
ney, Effingham, born in Plymouth, Mass.,
March 8, 1835, son of William R. and Eme-
line (De Pallies) Cooper. His ancestor, Jo-
seph Cooper, came over in the year 1640, from
England. He was a farmer and weaver, who
settled in Plymouth and married Elizabeth
Brewster, daughter of Elder William Bi'ew-
ster, who came over in the Mayflower, and
the original homestead of his is in posses-
sion of his descendants by the Cooper family.
Subject is the fourth generation from JosepTi
Cooper, and the fifth from Elder William
Brewster. His paternal grandmother was
Lucy Taylor, daughter of Lucy Standish, a
descendant from Miles Standish, of the May-
flower. For many generations the family
were Whigs and Unitarians, and his father
became an ardent Abolitionist, and a conduct-
or on the "Underground Railroad. " Subject
was the first Democrat in the family, and
lived in the East until fifteen years old. He
was prepared for the junior year in Harvard
College in the private academy of Charles
Burton, still teaching in Plymouth, Mass.
He entered the senior class, and graduated
in 1851. Of all the graduates from the
founding of Harvard to 1851, Mr. Cooper
was the youngest, except one other, and stood
No. 13 in a class of over one thousand
members. After leaving school, he came
West to Denmark, Iowa, then a small country

BIOGRAPHICAL:

hamlet of about three hundred people,
and site of a Congregational Church and
academy. Subject clerked in a store for
a short time, and came to Illinois in the
fall of 1852, and taught school that winter
near Rushville, Schuyler Co., 111., and stud-
ied law during that winter by personal effort,
and was admitted to the bar at Canton, Mo. ,
in May, 1853, and immediately afterward at
Rushville, 111. During the summer, he
taught the academy at Clayton, 111., a Pres-
byterian institution, and one of his pupils
was Rev. Leonard W. King, afterward Pro-
fessor of Tuanguages in University of Vir-
ginia. At the expiration of term of school, he
went to Salem, Iowa, where he located for
practice, and got some legal work to do in
surrounding country towns. He came from
Salem directly to Ewingtou, this county, in
May, 1854, and began the practice of law as
the partner of W. J. Stephenson, who shortly
after removed to Clay County, 111., the part-
nership still existing. Mr. Coop)er was but
nineteen years old when he caiue, and at once
took the lead, and gave to the Effingham bar
its distinctive character. He was married,
in December, 1855, to Miss Jane Iddings, of
Salem, Iowa. There are two children (sons)
living of that marriage, and three dead. The
first wife died in November, 1865, and Mi-.
Cooper married, December 2, 18G9, Miss Har-
riet' E. Leith, of Mason, this county, by
which union there are two daughters and a
son. Mr. Cooper brought the first printing
press to the county, and started the Effing-
ham Pioneer, printed at Ewington. He is
Strongly Republican.

SAMUEL CLARK, physician, Effingham
City, was born in Piketon, Pike Co. , Ohio,
October 22, 1831, son of John and Abigail
(Sumner) Clark, he, born in Cumberland
County, Ohio, in 1802, and died in Cincin-
nati, Ohio, in 1851; she, born in Peacham,

Caledonia Co., Vt., and died in Shelby Coun-
ty, this State, in December, 1876. They
were farmers, and the parents of nine chil-
dren — four sons and live daughters. Our
subject received his early schooling in Ports-
mouth, Ohio, and attended a course of study
at the Rush Medical College, Chicago, and
also at the St. Louis Medical College, where
he received his diploma. He was married,
in Shelbyville, this State, February 2, 1858,
to Miss Margia Harris, born in Shelbyville in
May, 1837, daughter of David L. and Eliza-
beth Harris. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have had
four children, two of whom are living — Dora,
now the wife of James T. Potter; and John
D., a lawyer by profession, being a graduate
of Eureka College, and the Bloomington (111.)
Law School. Our subject has always fol-
lowed his profession. He practiced about
twenty years in Ramsey, this State, about
five years in Altamont, this county, and, Oc-
tober 5, 1882, he came to Effingham, where
he intends to reside in the future. He is at
present editor of the Democrat, a weekly
journal published at Ramsey, this State. He
is also a partner in a general merchandise
store on the corner of Jefferson and Front
streets, in which a full stock of goods is con-
stantly kept. In politics, the Doctor is a
conservative Democrat, voting always for
whom he considers the best man.

AL ANSON CROOKER, landlord, Effing-
ham, was born in Delaware County, N. Y.,
in September, 1812. He came to Lawrenee-
bui'g, Ind., when a young man, and there
married Agnes Henrietta Craig, and, several
years before the war, went to Nashville,
Tenn., where he lived twenty years, and
while there his wife died, leaving four chil
dren — Jacob, Phillip, Mary and Alanson —
the youngest being eight years old when the
mother died. The youngest son and daugh-
ter came North, and were raised by Mrs. W.

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

H. Blakely, of this county, who was their
auut. Jacob and Phillip joined the Union
army. Oui" subject married a second time,
in 1862, to Miss Sarah Staats, daughter of
Hiram Staats, of Effingham County. Two
children were born of this marriage, of whom
one daughter is living. Mr. Crooker par-
chased of William H. Blakely his pioneer
homestead in old Ewington, which was said
to be the first frame house built in the coun-
ty. In this house, after financial reverses
in Nashville, Tenn., Mr. Crooker moved in
1868, and lived there until April, 1881, when
he moved to Effingham, and is now proprie-
tor of the Tea Garden House on Banker
street.

PHILIP CROOKER, salesman, Effing-
ham, was born in Lawi-enceburg, Ind., in
1844. When one year old, he was taken by
his parents to Nashville, Tenn., where he
lived until the breaking-out of the war, when
he went North and enlisted at Lawrenceburg,
Ind., in the Seventh Regiment Indiana Vol-
unteers, for three months, and re-enlisted for
three years in the same regiment, and served
until the expiration of his term of service,
with Gen. James Shields, whose forces were
consolidated with the Army of the Potomac,
in the First Corps, and, after the death of
Gen. Reynolds, at Gettysburg, became a pai-t
of the Fifth Corps. Subject was in battles
of Philippi, Winchester, Greenbrier and
Spottsylvania Coiirt House, and tv?o days'
fight in Wilderness, and Cold Harbor, Fred-
ericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysbm-g,
where subject was taken prisoner and held
four days, and recaptured, and the siege of
Petersburg, Va., and was discharged in Sep-
tember, 1864, at Indianapolis, and was em-
ployed as messenger for the Adams Express
Company from Nashville to Chattanooga for
one year. He went to SL Louis, Mo., and
entered the police department, and became

Clerk in the Fourth District, and promoted
to Clerk at police headquarters, and finally
became Sergeant, headquarters, at night.
In December, 1872, he went to work for Sam-
uel C. Davis & Co., and was salesman in their
dry goods house; also traveled in Southern
Illinois until 1881, wlien he entered the em-
ploy of A. T. Stewart & Co., of Chicago, re-
maining six months, and, July 1, 1881, he
went to work for William H. Kellogg & Co.,
of St. Louis, Mo., and, July 1, 1882, he left
the St. Louis house, since which time he has
traveled for the main house of Charles P.
Kellogg & Co., of Chicago, for sale of
clothing, in Illinois and has resided in
Effingham since May, 1881. He lived in St.
Louis from 1866 to 1881, where he was mar-
ried, in 1870, to Miss Emily Rudolph, of St.
Louis.

WILLIAM CURSON, lumber- dealer,
Effingham, was boi-n in Lincolnshire, Eng-
land, April 12, 1832. At the age of eight-
een, he came to the United States, and his
parents settled at Batavia, Clermont Oo. ,
Ohio, where our subject served a three -years'
apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, and
then moved to Shelbyville, Ind., in 1854,
and worked as a journeyman there for five
years, then moved to Delphi, Carroll Co.,
Ind , and began taking contracts there in
1859, and moved to Illinois in 1866. He
bought 160, acres of prairie land in Lucas
Township, which he improved for a short
time, when he came to Effingham, where he
formed a partnership with his father in 1866.
and, under the style of Curson & Son, con-
tractors and builders, continued until 1876,
a period of ten years; put up the Presbyterian
Chm'ch, two hotels at the railroad, and a
large number of business houses and resi-
dences. The father died May 10, 1 876, and
our subject formed a partnership with his
brother, J. A. Curson, under the firm name

BIOGRAPHICAL:

of W. Curson & Bro. , in May, 1876, and en-
gaged in contracting and building, and at
the same time established lumber-yards at the
corner of Washington and Banker streets,
where they keep all kinds of dressed lumber
and building materials. In April, 1882, he
discontinued building, to devote his entire
attention to the lumber trade, a ad, in May,
1882, established another lumber-yard on
Jefferson and Willow streets. Their yards
are supplied from the Chicago markets and
the pineries of Michigan and Alabama. His
father, Thomas Curson, was born in Lynn,
England, in 1810; married Miss Maria Den-
nis, of Lynn, and had three sons, of whom
subject is the eldest. The father came to the
United States in 1850, and settled at Bata-
via, Ohio. He followed carpentering all his
life. He was a Republican in politics, and
served as Alderman in Delphi, Ind. Our
subject served under the first call for three-
months' troops, in the Ninth Indiana Volun-
teer Infantry, and was also in the Forty-sec-
ond Indiana in the pursuit of Morgan when
on his famous raid. Mr. Curson is a Repub-
lican, artd served two terms— -1876-80 — as
Alderman of Effingham from the First Ward.
He was married, in 1861, to Miss Sarah E.
Wolfe, of Shelby County, Ind. They have
seven children living.

JOHN DAUB, produce merchant, Effing-
ham, was born on the River Rhine, Prussia,
Germany, January 19, 1829, son of Peter and
Margaret (Fronetz) Daub, natives of Ger-
many, he a farmer, born in 1789 and died in
his native country; she born in 1802, and
died near New York City in 1870. They
were the parents of three children. Our
subject received his education in his native
country, and came to the United States May
7, 1852, landing in New York. He traveled
and worked in several States, and, in 1856,
came to Waterloo, this State, and from there

to the Southern States, where he stayed till
the breaking-out of the rebellion, when he
returned to this State and settled in Prairie
du Rocher, where he resided till 1868, when
he came to Effingham, where he was married,
April 12, 1869, to Miss Agatha Bussemeyer,
born in Prussia, daughter of Henry and Mary
(Meekman) Bussemeyer, natives of Germany,
he born in 1797 and died in his native land
in 1861; she born in 1800, and is still living
with her son. Mr. and Mrs. Daub have two
children — Herman, born August 16, 1876;
and Maggie, born November 24, 1878. Our
subject has been engaged in the produce bus-
iness nearly twentj^ years, and now has a
large store. He is a member of the Catholic
Church, and in politics is a Republican.

CAPT. HENRY A. DENTON, saddler and
harness manufacturer, Effingham, was born
in Meade County, Ky. , December 9, 1837.
He learned the saddler's trade at Branden-
burg, Ky. , and worked with his brother there
and at Owensboro, Ky. He enlisted, August
12, 1862, in the Twelfth Kentucky Cavalry.
He was elected First Lieutenant of Company
C of that regiment, and promoted to the Cap-
taincy February 4, 1863, and served till the
close of the war, and was mustered out Au-
gust 20, 1865. The Twelfth Kentucky was
a part of Gen. Wolford's Independent Bri-
gade, and was in the pursuit of Morgan in
Ohio and Indiana, and was in the East Ten-
nessee campaign under Gen. Burnside, and
was attached to Stoneman"s cavalry during
the Georgia campaign, and were in a large
number of battles, and in the Saltville raid.
After the war, he came to Paris, 111., in 1865,
where he formed a partnership with his
brother in the harness business, and contin-
ued thereuntil 1881. He came to Effingham
in October, 1881, and took charge of the
present shop for Mr. Joe Partridge. The
shop employs three hands. He was married.

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

September 19, 1871, to Miss S. C. Partridge, l
of Paris, 111. They have one son living —
Guy P. — and two deceased — Kichard C. and
Joseph R.

THOMAS DOBBS, farmer, P. O. Effing-
ham, was born in Georgia, seven miles from
Milledgeville, October 15, 1829. When three
years of age, his jsarents removed to Tennes-
see, remaining a year, and then, about 1833,
moved to Shelbyville, 111., where his father
was engaged in blacksmithing until about
the breaking-out of the Mexican war. Our
subject aided his father in' the shop, at blow-
ing and striking, until he enlisted, in 1840, in
Col. Nabe's First Illinois Infantry, Company
D, Capt. Reed, and went across the plains to
Santa ¥6, N. M. They were sixty days from
Fort Leavenworth to Santa F6, marched in file
by the wagon trains, and suffered greatly from
fatigue. They were ordered to join Gen.
Scott, and I'eached Puebla, when peace was
made. He was in the battle of Tous, where
he was wounded in the breast. He then re-
turned by the old Santa F6 trail across the
plains. After his return from the Mexican
war, he drove a stage from Collinsville to an
Illinois town (now East St. Louis) for about
six years, on different routes. He next
worked on a farm near Jacksonville, for Ju-
lius Pratt, about four years. He was mar-
ried at the age of twenty-five, and settled
near where Beecher City now is, in this
county, where he engaged in farming, and
kept a grocery in Greenland till 1861. He
raised a company, which was mustered into
the Thirty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
July 3, 1861, and subject was elected Cap-
tain of this company, which was Company
K. In November, 1S62, he was wounded at
the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., by a cannon
shot, in the leg, notwithstanding which he
still remained with his company during the
siege of Corinth, and going into the battle

with a crutch and cane. He was also at
Stone River and Perry vi He, Ky., after which
his limb became so inflamed that he was com-
pelled to resign. Of the 101 men that en-
listed in Company K, there were but sixteen
mustered out at the close of the war. Nine-
teen were killed and wounded at Pea Ridge,
and all of the company received wounds but
three. Capt. Dobbs returned home in No-
vember, 1862, and, in the latter part of 1863,
he raised a company for the 100-days service,
and went out as its Captain. It was Com-
pany D, of the One Himdred and Thirty-fifth
Regiment, and he served with it until the
expiration of its term, when the men were
mustered out at Springfield. At the request
of many citizens, he agreed to take charge of
raising another company, to avoid the draft.
He began on Saturday, and in ten days went
out as Captain of this company, to Murfrees-
boro, Tenn., where his company became a
part of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and he was pro-
moted in a short time to the rank of Major,
and, soon after, commissioned Lieutenant
Colonel of the One Hundred andFifty-fom-th
Illinois, and remained in camp at Tullahoma,
Tenn., until the close of the war, and was
mustered out at Springfield, 111., in the fall
of 1865. After the war, he settled perma-
nently in Effingham, and was elected its City
Marshal in 1866, and served in that capacity
for eleven years until ho was elected Sheriff,
in 1876, and re-elected in 1878, serving four
years as Sheriff of Effingham County. He
retired from office in 1880, and has since been
engaged in farming. He was maiTied, first,
to Elizabeth Miller, who died leaving one
son. Peter, now a resident of Effingham. Our
subject's second marriage was with Maggie
Maxfield, who died leaving two daughters—
Tuscombia and Savannah, both of whom
are living. His third wife was a Miss

BIOGRAPHICAL:

Green. They have bnt one daughter — Man-
ilah.

JOHN H. DUFFY, deceased, was born in
County Dublin, Ireland, in 1829, son of Dan
and Alice Mary (Rigney) Duffy, both born
and died in Ireland. The father was a ba-
ker Our subject received his schooling in
his native country, and came to the United
States in 184:5, landing in New York, where
he worked in a wholesale house. He was
married, ia St. Louis, Mo., February 3, 1858,
to Miss Mary Marten, born January 7, 1835,
in Blount County, Tenn., daughter of O. D.
and Jane Marten, both born in the United
States. Our subject worked most of his life
on railroads. He was foreman on the Illinois
Central, and also worked for the narrow
gauge railroad, in whose employ he was at
the time of his death, which occurred Octo-
ber 11, 18S1, in Mason, this county. He
left a wife and seven children — Patrick Hen-
ry, Sarah E., John R., Mary C. Martha M.,
Margueretta M. and Nancy Ellen. In poli-
tics, our subject was a strong Democrat; was
a member of the Catholic Chn ''^h^ and also
of the Masonic_|raternity. Mrs. Duffy now
keeps the St. Louis Hotel, situated on the
southwest corner of the square, which offei's
first-class accommodations to all.

GEORGE H,. ENGBRING, merchant and
banker, Effingham, was born in village of
Epe, Prussia, April 27, 1825, where he was
raised on a small farm, and followed farming
there until 1847, when he came, via New Or-
leans, to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he engaged
in merchandising, and kept a grocery and no-
tion store for twelve years. In the fall of
1864, he came to Illinois and settled in
Effingham, where he bought property, and, in
1867, established a general store, and, for
the last ten years, has been located at the
comer of Third and Washington streets, the
old stand of John Mette, where one of the

first stores in Effingham was opened. Mr.
Engbring keeps a general stock of goods, and
conducts a good trade. September 1, 1881,
he became a partner in the firm of Eversman,
Wood & Engbring, which ojiened a private
bank in Effijigham, and his interest in the
institution is represented by his son William.
Mr. Engbring has been a member of the City
Council, and has served as Supervisor sever-
al years. He is one of the Trustees of St.
Anthony's Church and School. He was mar-
ried, in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 2, 1856,
to Catharine Bodker, of Cincinnati, born in
Prussia, and who was the school-mate of oui-
subject in Prussia. They have five children
— three sons and two daughters — Henry, a
Professor of Philosophy in the Catholic Col-
lege at Quincy, 111.; William, clerk in the
bank; John, Mary and Anna.

DR. HENRY EVERSMAN. of Eversman,
Wood & Engbring, bankers, Effingham, was
born in Iburg, Hanover, Germany, February
23, 1837, son of Francis F. and Charlotte
(Tieren) Eversman, he a physician, born in
Alf hausen, Hanover, Germany, in September,
1807; she, in Osnabruck, Hanover, Germany,
and is sixty-five years old — the father also
living. They are the parents of three chil-
dren. Our subject received his early educa-
tion in the parochial schools of his native
country and Cincinnati, Ohio, and afterward
attended St. Xavier's College, of Cincinnati,
for four years, and was also for three years a
student in the Ohio Medical College of the
same city. He also read medicine with his
father, and, on March 1, 1861, he was ap-
pointed House Physician to Commercial Hos-
pital, Cincinnati. In January, 1802, he was
appointed, by President Lincoln, as Assistant
Surgeon of Volunteers, becoming Surgeon
after a service of six months. He was as-
signed to staff and hospital duty at Lexington
and Louisville, Ky. , Cincinnati, Ohio, and

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^^^-T^-i^^^:!^ c:Z^

'«^

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

for the last nineteen months of his service he
was Chief Medical Officer at Johnson's Isl-
and. This was from February 1, 1864, to
September I, 1865, at which latter date he
returned home, and came to Effingham, en-
gaging in mercantile business, in which he
continued until September 1, 1881, at which
date he became a member of the firm of
Eversman, Wood & Engbring. They opened
a private bank on the latter date, which has
since been in successful operation, our sub-
ject remaining one of the managing partners.
Mr. Eversman was married, October 28,
1865, in Teutopolis, this county, to Miss
Caroline Waschefort, born in Cincinnati,
Ohio, and is thirty-sis years of age. She is
the daughter of John P. and Mary (Drees)
AVaschefort, natives of Germany. Mr. and
Mrs. Eversman have fom- childi-en — Louisa,
Mary, Elizabeth and Henry. Our subject
was Mayor of Effingham for two terms — 1870
-1871. He is a member of the Catholic
Knights of America, and also of the Catholic
Church. In politics, he is a Democrat.

JOHN C. EVERSMAN, merchant, Effing-
ham, was born in the city of Osnabruck, Han
over, Germany, September 11, 1840. He
was five years old when his parents came to
Cincinnati, Ohio, whore he lived until 1852.
He left Cincinnati, Ohio, May 5, 1852, and
arrived at Teutopolis, 111., May 15, coming in
wagons. The village of Teutopolis had then
about ten houses, and Effingham was not laid
out, having only two log cabins on the Na-
tional road. Our subject was educated in
the public schools at Teutopolis and Cincin-
nati, Ohio, and at St. Louis University, in
charge of the Jesuits, and left school in 1859
to teach in the village, and continued for two
six-month terms. He then entered the em-
ploy of Mr. Waschefort as a clerk in his
store. He enlisted at the second call for
troops, in July 1, 1861, for three years, in

Company B, Eighth Illinois Volunteer In-
fantry. He served with the regiment for
eighteen months; was at Fort Heniy, Fort
Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth, and other
battles. He went with his company to Holly
Springs, Miss., when he was transferred, by
order of Gen. Grant, to the Department of
Ohio, and reported to his brother, Dr. Henry
Eversman, and served in the medical depart-
ment as Steward, stationed at Lexington, Ky. ,
until his time expired. He was mustered out at
Springfield in 1865, and returned to Teutop-
olis, where he taught a term of school, then
entered the employ of Mr. John F. Wasche-
fort, as salesman in his store at Effingham,
where he has remained ever since. He was
elected City Clerk of Effingham in 1881, for
two years. He was also Chief of the Fire
Department here for five years. He was
married, in 1868, to Miss Frances Gibbons,
of Paris, 111. She was born in St. John, N.
B., the daughter of an English sea Captain.
Mr. and Mrs. Eversman have one sou and
one daughter living, and one son and a
daughter died when young.

GEORGE H. EWERS, merchant tailor,
Effinsham, was born in the town of Herz-
lake, Hanover, Germany, December 5, 1834.
At the age of fifteen, he came, in company
with his brother, to the United States, locat-
ing at Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was a
tailor in Germany, and our subject served a
two-years apprenticeship with him before
coming. He worked at tailoring in Cincin-
nati, Ohio, from June, 1850, to 1863, as a
journeyman. In the latter year, he removed
to Oldenburg, Ind., where he established a
tailor shop, vyhich he i-an two and a half
years, with good success, and he returned to
Cincinnati, Ohio, remaining there until 1867,
and then came to Effingham in June of that
year, and opened a mei'chant tailoring estab-
lishment on the north side of the public

BIOGRAPHICAL:

square, which he has conducted ever since,
with good success. He employs three assist-
ant journeymen, and carries a full line of
foreign and domestic cloths and cassimeres,
etc. He was married, in Cincinnati, Ohio,
in 1857, to Miss Agnes Moemke, of that city,
and has four sons and two daughters living —
Frank, Anna, Mary, Charles, John, Joseph-

FRANK H. EWERS, Cashier Effingham
Bank. Effingham, was born February 13,
1860, in Cincinnati, Ohio. (See sketch of
George H. Ewers.) He was educated in St.
Joseph's College, Teutopolis, 111., which he
left at the age of eighteen to assist his father
in tailoring, and. in October, 1880, was ap-
pointed Cashier of the Effingham Bank,
where he still remains.

JOHN J. FELDHAKE, merchant, Effing-
ham, was born in Douglas Township, Effing-
ham County, August 15, 1850. He was
raised on a farm until twelve years of age.
He began at the age of fifteen to learn the
tinner's trade, after which he entered a
hardware store in Effingham, and clerked for
one man seven years. He formed a partner-
ship with his brother, the late Joseph Feld-
hake, in May, 1873, and continued about two
years in the hardware trade, when he went to
Waco, McLennan Co., Texas, and opened a
hardware store, which ho conducted five years,
and then sold out to his brother Barney, and
returned in January, 1880, and established
himself in the present store, under the old
firm name, but our subject is the sole pro-
prietor. His business room is lUO feet deep
and twenty-five feet in width, and includes a
large stock of hardware, stoves and tinware,
employing two men in tin shop, located in
second story, and one as assistant in store.
His father, Josnph Feldhake. was a native of
Prussia, Germany.

COL. JOSEPH W. FILLER, County
Clerk, Effingham City, was born in Perry

County, Ohio, May 4, 1828. He entered the
office of the Western Post at Somerset, Ohio,
at the age of eleven, and at sixteen was a
journeyman, and traveled over eighteen States
as a " jour" printer, and has published thir-
teen papers. He came to Ewington, a
" tramping jour " printer, in 1857, and found
it the printer's El Dorado, finding employ-
ment on the Effingham Pioneer, then pub-
lished by W. B. Cooper and Mr. Burton.
Three months after his arrival, he gained
control of the Pioneer, Mr. Cooper selling it
out in shares, Mr. Filler buying the shares
in a little time. He moved the paper to
Effingham in the fall of 1860, and continued
it here until the breaking-out of the war.
Our subject had served in the Mexican war,
having enlisted June 9, 1846, in the Third
Ohio, and was made a Sergeant on the or-
ganization of the company served one year,
and became Second Lieutenant in September,
at Matamoras, Mexico. He returned in 1847
and raised a company in Perry County, Ohio,
and was its Captain. It became the Fifth
Ohio Regiment, under Col. Early, and saw
active service from Vera Cruz to City of
Mexico, retiu'ning to Cincinnati in 1848.
The news of the tiring on Star of the West
in Charleston Harbor was received here on
Thursday, and Capt. Filler telegrajihed on
Friday to Adjt. Gen. Mather that a company
was ready for service, having only one se-
cured, and. Tuesday morning, he left for
Springfield with 102 of the largest and finest
men in the company. This was in a strong
Democratic county, and opposed to the war.
His company went into camp at Springfield,
and were assigned to the Eleventh Illinois Vol-
unteer Infantry, and were on duty at Camp
Hardin and Bird's Point, Mo. Our subject
went in as a Captain and became Lieutenant
Colonel of the regiment Col. Filler returned
home a short time, and re-enlisted in the

EFFINGHAM CITY AXl) DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

Sixty-second Regiment, and was First Lieu-
tenant, serving until August, 1863, when he
resigned his command on account of contin-
ued illness, and located in St. Louis, where
he was connected with the Globe- Democrat
and other papers between two and three
years. He had the cholera in St. Louis in
1800, when he returned to Effingham and
engaged as a compositor for Haddock, of
the Republican, for a few months. In Feb-
ruary, 1867, ho went to Kinmundy, III., and
started the Telegram, and continued it five
months, and, in October, went to New Or-
leans, where he remained until spring, when
he retm-ned and edited the Effingham Demo-
crat, which was sold to Mr. Bradsby in 1868.
He continued to aid for awhiJe in its publi-
cation, and, in the fall of 1869, he was nomi-
nated for County Clerk of Effingham County,
where he has since served, being elected three
times, without any opposition from the other
party. He was married, in Ohio, in 1849, to
Lavina A. Dille, of Fairfield County, Ohio.
They have one daughter living.

W. I. N. FISHER, deceased, was a phy-
sician, born in Mifflin County, Penn. , August
31, 1814, son of George and Barbara (Shep-
ard) Fisher, parents of five children — two
sons and three daughters. Our subject re-
ceived his education in his native county,
and, at an early age, began teaching school,
at the same time pursuing his own studies
at every opportunity. He afterward traveled
quite extensively in New York, made excur-
sions on the lakes, and finally wont to Ohio
and attended college at Cuyahoga Falls, that
State. November 9, 1839, he removed to
Terre Haute, InJ., where he continued his
studies. He came to this State in 1841, and
was married to Miss Sarah A. Turney, born
in Coles County, this State, November 17,
1842. Our subject pursued his studies under
Dr. Miller, and shortly commenced to prac-

tice himself. In March, 1844, he moved to
Shelbyville, this State, where he followed
his profession till 1848, when he came to
this county, and, January 1, 1860, moved into
Effingham City, where, tho war breaking out
shortly afterward, he was active in foi'miug
companies, and was himself a member of the
Fifth Cavalry, Company L, and served nine
months, when his health failed, compelling
him to return home. He was County Super-
intendent of Schools, devoting his leisure
moments to the study of the sciences of all
branches, of which he was intelligibly con-
versant. He was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and m politics a Demo-
crat; was also an honored member of the Ma-
sonic fraternity, and died January '28, 1873.
Mrs. Fisher is still living in Effingham.
They had one son, John G., born August 30,

1843. and died August 10, 1845.

LEWIS FITCH, jeweler, Effingham, was
born in Leroy, Genesee Co., N. Y., June 22,

1844. He came to Michigan with his parents
when four years old, and residel in Almont,
that State, where he learned the trade of jew-
eler with his father, and started in business
for himself at the age of twenty-one, at Al-
mont, and continued there until 1869, and
then went to South Haven, Mich., where he
remained until 1871, when he removed to
Casey, 111. He was at the latter place until
1879, when he removed to Effingham, where
he has since conducted a good business, lo-
cated at {)resent in the post office lobby,
where he carries a full stock of clocks, watch-
es and jewelry. He has had twenty years
of active experience in the business, and em-
ploys an able assistant. Our subject enlist-
ed, in August, 1862, in the Fifth Michigan
Cavalry, and served until tho close of the
war, in the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the
Potomac, under Kilpatrick and Sheridan.
He was mustered out at Detroit, July 3, 1865.

BIOGRAPHICAL:

MRS. MARY A. FLEMING, Effingham,
is the daughter of Jonathan Wright, who
was born in Trenton, N. J., November 20,
1790. He was the son of an English Quaker,
who was the son of a distinguished noble-
man, who came from England and was an in-
timate friend of William Penn, coming with
one of the early colonies brought to New Jer-
sey by Penn. The grandfather of Mrs. Flem-
ing was David Wright, who married a Miss
Elizabeth Cleaver, a lady of German parent-
age, of great wealth. He (David) owned an
iron foundry in New Jersey, which burned
and left him in moderate circumstances. He
had six sons and three daughters. The old-
est son became a merchant, and the next four
learned trades, and the youngest son inherit-
ed the farm. Jonathan, the fourth son, fa-
ther of our subject, under the stress of these
reverses, and at the advice of his father,
learned the trade of brick-layer in Philadel-
phia, Penn. An aunt, Jlrs. Theodosia Craig,
was a sister of David Wright, and was very
wealthy, and bequeathed to each of her neph-
ews and nieces §1,000 each to those who
came West, to be invested in Western lands;
and Andrew Ridgeway, afterward a Quaker
minister, and a cousin of the Wright broth-
ers, was appointed agent to make these pur-
chases. He selected the first prairie land he
came to in this State, now known as Ship-
ley's Prairie, in Wayne County, three miles
south of Fairfield, 111. He bought these
lands while this State was yet a Territory,
and paid a miich higher price than it sold for
soon after. The lands were bought in Mrs.
Craig's name, and she deeded each one about
half a section. Jonathan Wright and An-
drew came in 1820, with their families, and
settled on their lands, David Wright and the
three Ridgeways having come in 1819. Jon-
athan brought subject, seven years old, and
her sister Susan, three years old, who after-

ward married Mr. Thomas Loy. The father
of Mrs. Fleming settled on his farm in Wayne
County in 1820, and lived on his farm and
worked at his trade about seven- years, when
he moved to St. Louis and lived a year.
There our subject and her sister Susan went
to a private school, taught by Prof. Lovejoy,
who was afterward mobbed for printing an
Abolition paper. They returned to the farm
in Wayne County after six months, and, in
December, 1834, came to this county with
their father, who settled in Ewington, where
he bought forty acres adjoining the towQ,
and which had a mill on it. He kept a hotel
in Ewington, and was employed on the brick
work of the State House at Vandalia, being
a splendid workman. He was on a scaffold,
when it fell from the second story, and he
broke both ankles and received intei'nal in-
juries which caused his death two days after-
ward, before any of his family could reach
him, and he was buried near Ewington. His
death occurred in 1835. He married Hattie
Hutchinson, of Trenton, N. J., November 7,
1812. She was born November 20, 1792,
and died September 27, 1855. They had
nine children — Mary A., subject; Hutch-
inson, died in New Jersey two years
old; Susan, was the wife of Thomas Loy;
George was for many years surveyor and
farmer in this county; Henry H., farmer in
this county (see sketch); Sarah E., wife of
Mr. Burke, at Georgetown, 111.; Emma A.,
died aged seven years; William (see sketch);
Helen A., now Mrs. Col. Funkhouser. The
father was raised a Quaker, and was an hon-
est, plain and unassuming man. Our sub-
ject, the eldest child of Jonathan Wright,
was born in Trenton, N. J., August 23, 1813.
She came to Wayne County, 111., when seven
years old. Her first teacher was A. C. Mackay
who afterward lived in Bond County. Sep-
tember 20, 1832, she married Isaiah Lacy, in

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

Wayne County, Hi. He was born in Louis-
ville, Ky., March 1, 1809, and, after mar-
riage, they settled in Maysville, Clay Co.,
111., where they kept a hotel until his death,
which occurred one year and ten months after
their marriage He died July 8, 1834.
They had one son, John H. I., born Septem-
ber 16, 1833, now of Effingham; and a
daughter, Hattie B. , who died when three
years old — December, 28, 1837. Our subject
removed with her father to this county, and
aided her mother in keeping a hotel at Ew-
ington until her mam age with Samuel Flem-
ing. He was born in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
He came with his parents to Shelbyville, 111.,
when he was a boy, and he carried the mail
for some years in this State, and went to
Nashville, Tenn., for some years, but returned
to this county, and was married December
4, 1842. After marriage, he kept a grocery
store for a few year.s at Ewington, and also
kept a hotel called the Fleming House, and
he conducted a livery stable at Ewington un-
til 1857, when he moved to Effingham, where
tbey rented a hotel of Presley Funkhouser
for a few years. He entered the army in
1861, as a Veterinary Surgeon. He built
the present Fleming House in 1861, which
has been enlarged by additions from year to
year, until it contains thirty rooms and all
the conveniences of a modern hotel. Of their
children, Mary E. was born December 4,
1843, wife of D. C. Hasseltine; Sarah E.,
born July 31, 1845, wife of Sidney Wade, of
Effingham; Samuel J., born February 13,
1848; Z. A., born June 16, 1851, was mar-
ried in St. Loiiis, September 18, 1871,
to Mr. George Farnsworth. Their first
and only daughter's name was Zohatta,
born June 7, 1872; HellenaH., born Sep-
tember 19. 1855, and died March 26, 1856;
St. Clair W. and Eugene U., born March 18,
1857.

SAMUEL J. FLEMING, livery man, Ef-
fingham, was born in Ewington, this county,
February 13, 1848. He came to Effingham
when about tea years of age, at which time
there was but one house on the west side of
the Central Railroad, and he assisted his father
in the stable. He was fireman on the Nashville
& Chattanooga Railroad during 1863-64. In
1865, he went into the livery business in
Effingham, and has continued in that busi-
ness ever since. In 1870. he began buying
horses for the Southern markets, shipping
from eight to ten carloads during the winter
season, to Natchez, Miss. , consisting of from
200 to 300 head. For the last ten or twelve
years, he has been interested in the develop-
ment of trotters. Has owned and trained
Bay Frank, 2:33; Dixie, 2:29, Rowdy Boy,
and at present owns Maud W., a promising
trotter, and Allie F., a pacer of jwomise also,
and a number of others which have made good
records. Oiu- subject is Superintendent of
the Effingham County Fair Association. He
was married, Februai-y 15, 1871, to Miss
Belle "Wagner, daughter of Isaac Wagner, of
Green Castle, lud. They have two children
— a son and a daughter.

FREDERICK FLOOD, Superintendent of
water supply Vandalia Railroad, Effingham,
was born on the high seas and has been told
that his birth occui-red on board an English
man-of-war or transport on Briti.sh waters
about 1829 or 1830. His father, Daniel, was
a Captain of the Forty-second British Regi-
ment on foot of Highlanders, all over six
feet tall. His father was six feet four inches.
His mother, who was a lady named Kate
Cole, died when subject was very small, on
the Plains of Abraham, whore she is buried.
Subject was left in the care of a French no-
bleman called Sir Biongeon, and was taken
to L'Islet, Quebec, Canada, where he was
kept until about the age of twelve years, when

BIOGRAPHICAL:

he ran off and went to the city of Quebec,
and there got aboard a vessel — steamer Alli-
ance — and, being too little for the work, was
put off near Three Rivers. He next stowed
himself on board the ship George H. Thomas,
and was not found until in mid ocean, and
was taken to Liverpool and got the position
of L'abin boy on another vessel and came
back to the coast of Maine, United States,
and stopped in the village of China, where he
went to school, working two days in the week,
and going to school four days in the week for
two years. He then yielded to his desire for
the ocean and went on a brig on an Arctic
expedition commanded by Capt. Allen; went
up Davis Strait to a point where, during part
of the year, the sun never sets for several
months. He returned to Liverpool and went
to Africa, touching at Capo of Good Hope,
Calcutta and Australia, and then he took a
French transport to Algeria and again visited
Sidney, Australia, and from there shipped to
Boston, Mass., on the bark Iowa. He then
left the sea and went to work on the repairs
and construction of the Boston & Maine
Railroad, and came West in 1853, where he
worked on the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad
for nineteen years, and was first located at
Lebanon, 111., for about two years, Olney five
years and Sandoval for twelve years, all this
time on the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad as
foreman of water supply. In 1872, he came
to Effingham, and has since been foreman of
water supply of the Vandalia Railroad, and
has chai-ge of this department for 167.5
miles, which have sixteen tanks. He aver-
ages 100 miles travel per day. He was
married in Maine — the first time to Har-
riet Ware, in about 1856. She died in about
two years after their marriage, and he mar-
ried a second time to Miss Zella H. Roy, of
Caseyville, 111., Januaiy 31, 1860; had ten
children by this marriage; six are living —

HaiTiet, wife of Frank Conway, of Topeka,
Kan. ; Katie, Julia, John, Letty, Bonnie; four
died in infancy; the three youngest were
born in this county.

BENTON FORTNEY, druggist, Effing-
ham, was born in Watson Township, Effing-
ham County, on a farm, June 16, 1854; his
parents moved to Effingham in the spring of
1855, where he has since resided. At the
age of ten, he entered the old Effingham Ga-
zette office, then published by Hays & Bo wen,
and worked about two years as " devil." He
then entered the employ of S. W. Little, and
worked one year in his orchard. He then
worked two years in McClellan & Nodine's
brick yard, and in the spring of 1869, he en-
tered the drug store of John Jones to learn
the business, and remained there one year,
and was afterward with Mr. Pape for five
years, and. in the fall of 1876, ho made a
tour west, visiting Texas, Colorado, Kansas,
Arkansas and Missouri, remaining four
months, when he returned and bought a stock
of drugs at Windsor, Shelby Co., 111., and
at once removed it to Shumway and conducted
the drug business there seven months, when
he sold out and came back to Effingham and
took charge of the present store, then owned
by W. W, Simpson, and run the store about
six months, when he formed a partnership
with J. W. Fuukhouser and opened a drug
store at Prairie City, 111., which he run for
seven months and sold out and returned to
Effingham, entering the employ of S. W. Os-
good as book-keeper for a short time. In
December, 1879, he took charge of the pres-
ent store for Hon. E. N. Rinehart, and has
since conducted it for him, having entire
charge of the business. Our subject was mar-
ried, in May, 1880, to Miss Ella Van Dyke, of
Majority Point, 111. ; they have one daughter.

COL. JOHN J. FUNKHOUSER, mer-
chant, Effingham Citv, was born in Summit

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

Township, this county, March 18, 1835; he
spent his youth on a farm, and lived on it until
1851, when he entered a store which his father
started in Ewington, and remained there un-
til 1857 as clerk. In 1857, he came to
Eflingham and opened a store of his own.
At that time the town had not over seventy-
five people, and his was the third store
started. He kept a general store until the
war broke out. He enlisted August 2, 1861,
in the Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantiy for
three years, and he went out as Captain of
Company A. His regiment was under Gen.
Pope in Northern Missouri and his company
and one other was in an engagement at Salt
River Bridge. Capt. Funkhouser was de-
tached from his regiment in January, 1862,
and came home and raised and organized the
Ninety-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry at
Camp Centralia, and went out as Colonel of
the regiment and joined the Department of
the Ohio at Louisville, Ky., and was assigned
to Gen. Dumont's forces. His regiment
marched 1,050 miles in Kentucky and was in
three engagements in that State — Perry ville,
Elizabethtown, MuldroseHill and Hartsville,
Tenn., and many other skirmishes. Subject
was at Stone River and in a heavy skirmish
at Hall's Hill, and McMinville, Deckard,
Hoover's Gap, Winchester, Tenn., Harri-
son's Lauding and at Chickamauga, where
he was wounded, September 20, 1863, by a
minie ball, which passed through both
thishs, fractui'ino' one femui*. He was taken
from the field in his own ambulance, and ta-
ken to Chattanooga, from thence to Steven-
son, Ala., and by rail to Nashville, where his
wound was dressed on the fourth day. He
remained in Nashville eight days, when he
came home, where he remained until Febru-
ary, 1S64, when he rejoined his regiment at
Chattanooga, Tenn., and was ordered from
there back to Nashville, where he took charge

of the cavalry depot, and in May following,
he was ordered to Columbia, Tenn., and took
command of the post and the line of defenses
on the line of Chattanooga & Nashville Rail-
road, having charge of 0,000 men. He made
application to take command of his old regi-
ment, in June, 1864, but the army Surgeon
declared him unfit for duty in the field or in-
valid corps, and, in July, 1864, he resigned
and came home and has been in the mercan-
tile business here ever since, except about
four years, which he spent as contractor on
the Springfield Branch of the Ohio & Mis-
sissippi Railroad. He helped to raise the
subsidies along the line of the narrow gauge
railroad in the county, and was President of
it for three years during its building, and is
still a Director. In 1882, he built and opened
his present store, at the corner of Jeffer-
son and Third streets,^ two-story brick, 45x60
feet on ground, double storeroom, occupied
with general stock. Col. Funkhouser was
married, in 1854, to Miss Helen A. Wright,
daughter of Jonathan Wright, of this county;
they have four children living. The Colonel
and his wife were born on the same day, on
the same section (34, of Summit Township).
The father of our subject was Presley Funk-
houser, born in Green County, Ky., Novem-
ber 30, 1811. moved to Saline County, ill.,
with his parents, in 1814, and from there to
White County, in 1820, and to this county
in 1829, where he farmed during his life.
He was for many years Justice of the Peace
and Associate Judge, and, in 1844, was elect-
ed to the Legislature and re-elected two
terms. He was elected to the State Senate
in 1860, and was a member on his fiftieth
birthday, November 30, 1861. He was mar-
ried, in Clay County, in 1829, to Nancy
Bishop, and had thirteen children, of whom
there are three sons and two daughters still
livint'. The mother died March 14, 1873;

BIOGRAPHICAL:

she was born in McMinnville, Tenn., in
1812.

WILSON L. FUNKHOUSER, farmer, P.
O. Effingham, was born on a farm in Summit
Township, this county, February 14, 1841;
he worked in a store and on a farm from boy-
hood; at fourteen, his father removed to
Ewington, handling stock, buying and ship-
ping to Chicago. At twenty-two years of
age, our subject began farming the old home-
stead, which he still owns), and operated it
himself until 1878, when he entered the em-
ploy of S. W. Osgood as general foreman of
his busifless, having charge of the men work-
ing m the timber, and is still in the employ
of Osgood & Kingman. He was married, in
1863, to Miss Carrie Sprinkle, daughter of
Michael Sprinkle, of Watson Township; she
was born in this county and her father is
one of the earliest settlers here; they have
six children living.

JUDGE T. J. GILLENWATERS, re-
tired, P. O. Effingham, whose portrait ap-
pears in this work, was the seveath son of a
family of ten children, three boys and three
girls older and three younger. Ho was born
on the 5th day of March, 1805, in Hawkins
County, Tenn. On the father's side of Eng-
lish descent, and on the mother's of Irish
parentage. His father, Thomas Gillenwa-
ters, was born on the 3d of February, 1771,
and he married P»lly Wilkins, of the Wil-
kins family of Sjiarta, S. C, on the 5th day
of August, 1794. The grandfathers, Gillen-
waters and Wilkins, were here, partakers in
the American Revolution, aud diu-ing that
war a fort was established on the Wilkins
farm in South Carolina. Judge Gillenwaters
grew up a f ai-mer boy on his father's farm, and
at ten years of age went to his iirst school, a
log schoolhouse with a dirt floor three miles
from hia father's residence. Here he learned
his alphabet, and between ten and nineteen

years of age, he got the sum total of his edu-
cation in school. The entire time thus
snatched from his young life of hard farm
work was aboixt six months. The only things
taught in the school was to read, write and
cii^her; no grammar, no geography, no any-
thing else. The diligence he here used is
well indicated by the fact that he progressed
in his arithmetic to the double rule of three,
and in this school that was the graduating
point. His mind thirsted for knowledge,
and when he had passed the limits of this
country cabin his eagerness to go on is made
manifest by his proposition to his father,
namely, that if he would thon send him to
school for three years, he would waive any and
all claims iipon him for all future time: not
only this, but that when he had the advantage
the three years of school, he would commence
life for himself and soon repay the outlay
thus incurred. His father's reply to this
told the story : " I wish I coxild, son, but you
are a good stout boy now, and I am not able
to. either spare you or the money to educate
you." This ended the ambitious boy's hopes
in that direction. When fifteen years old —
sixty-two years ago — he joined the Method-
ist Church, and commenced that Christian,
though just and liberal life, that has character-
ized him ever since. His father and mother
were members of that church, and to his
mother — that sweetest name that ever came
from human lips — he attributes all this, the
best blessing of his life. Although his father
was a man of broad and just judgment and lib-
real views — a man that loved his family and
was kind and gentle always — yet it was not
that mother's tender love and care that
twines in such eternal affection and love
around the child's heart. An incident of his
child life tells this better than we can: It
was the occasion of his first oath. He had
been talking to a schoolmate, and before

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

aware himself what he was saying, the mild
oath was out; it shocked his cousin, his lis-
tener, as well as himself. His cousin told
the boy's mother about it. His mother
looked at him as a pained expression passed
over her face. The boy cried and begged
his mother's pardon and beseeched her not to
tell his father. She took him tenderly in
her arms, forgave him and promised not to
" tell father," only asking that if she did all
this he would never swear again. He made
the promise, and to this day has kept it sa-
cred. His j'outhful days were given tu that
ceaseless round of toil that attends farm life,
having but few playmates or associates except
his brothers and sisters. He grew up to the
fullest requirement of that command that
man shall earn his bread by the sweat of his
brow. It was in this respect, perhaps, that
his education suffered the most — that is, the
absence of that variety of young associates
and the leisure to mix with and receive and
give that best part of youth's education, that
comes of contact of young mind with other
minds of near the same age. But he was
fortunate in the home influences that sur-
rounded him. The patient kindness and in-
dulgence of his father is told in the circum-
stance that the Judge can now recall but a
single time when his father punished him.
This was for disobedience in going to swim
in a pond near the house, after strict orders
had been given not to do so. The great
temptation was not resisted, and the old gen-
tleman happening to catch him in the act,
broke off the tii'st twigs within reach and ac-
celerated the lad's movements toward home.
The punishment was not severe, but, at the
moment, was well calculated to frighten a
child not accustomed to the lash. On the
27th day of November, 1827, he was married
to Dinah Farnsworth, in Green County, Tenn.
He formed her acquaintance in the summer

of that year as he was returning from a visit
to relatives in South Carolina. He had
stopped at the Farnsworth mansion for break-
fast. When he beheld the girl, he made
some excuse to stay until after dinner, and
by dinner time he concluded to stay till next
day, and before that time had expired he was
in doubts as to whether he would ever go
home again. He stayed a week and started
a " markin school," but says : " I didn't
charge her anything." He commenced house-
keeping at once after marriage, in a house on
his father's farm that he had built the year
before. There were two rooms in the house.
Here he lived one year and farmed, and here
the oldest child, Jane was born. On the
3d of March, 1829, he took the now little
family, moved to near Brennenberg, Meade
County, Ky. , where they stopped and raised
a crop, and in the fall sold it and moved to
Vermillion County, Ind. While here, the
second child, Mellissa, was born, March 29,
1830. In 1831, moved to Coles County, 111.,
and improved a small farm eight miles south
of Charleston, near the village of Farming-
ton. Here the third child, Malinda, was
born, March 1, 1832. He raised two crops
here and on the 9th of March, 1833, moved
to EiSngham County and purchased the Fan-
cher farm, just this side of Ewington and
here he lived and farmed and milled and
helped build churches and schoolhouses and
worked and prospered and gathered around
him family and friends for the next twenty
years. His restless desire for changes that so
marked the first few years of his married life
was over, and in his new home he had settled
down to a contented and an industrious life.
In this farm home, where he resided for
twenty years, except two years in Ewington,
his other children were born, namely, George
Thomas Gillenwaters, October 31, 1833 ;
Elizabeth, January 18, 183G; Dinah, April

BIOGUAPHICAL:

5, 1838; Livonia, March 25, 1841, and
Amanda, August 7, 1843. His wife died
November 1, 1844, leaving him a household
of young children, the youngest being only
a little past one year old. On the 80th day
of September, 1846, he married his present
wife, a Mrs. Ann Jackson, n^e Evans, of
Macoupin County, 111. He was elected Jus-
tice of the Peace in 1836, and afterward was
twice re-elected to the same office. Was
elected a member of the County Commission-
ers' Court in 1842, and was re-elected to the
same office in 1850. In 1858, he was elected
Associate Judge of the County Court, and
continued to hold this office until, by the
adoption of township organization, the office
ceased to exist. In 1862, he was elected
City Treasurer of the city of Effingham, and,
at the expiration of the term, was re-elected.
At the expiration of his term of office as City
Treasurer, there was $532 cash of the city
money in his hands, which was turned over
to his successor, Sam Moffitt and his receipt
in full given for the same. Was twice elect-
ed Supervisor for the city of Effingham, from
which office he retired in the spring of 1882.
He had been elected a Lieutenant of a militia
compan}' in Tennessee when a very young
man, and his commission bore the sign man-
ual of Gov. Carroll, of. Tennessee. Here was
a long life of honor and trust, and we need
attempt no higher eulogy of his official life
than to state the simple truth, that in all his
life there was never the shadow of a shade of
stain upon his official integrity and unflinch-
ing honesty. He held these trusts most sa-
cred, and turned them over to his successors
in better condition than when he took them.
He never was an office-seeker, and more than
once when his friends had made up a ticket
with his name for some leading county office,
he has ordered his name taken off and some
other name substituted. He would convince

his friends that this was for the best, and
they would acquiesce and follow his instruc-
tions. Judge Gillenwaters has been a con
sistent Democrat all his life. He was born
in the " State of Andrew Jackson," and his
nature partook largely of the east of the old
hero. Any one familiar with the portrait of
" Old Hickory " will be reminded of them the
moment he looks at the portrait of the Judge
in this work. There is a semblance in per-
son as marked as is the character of the two
men. In 1845, he built a saw-mill, water-
power, on Salt Creek. After operating this a
little more than a year, he wont soldiering to
Mexico, and during his absence John F.
Waschefort purchased it. In 1850, he built a
horse-power mill, and brought the first circu-
lar saw to the county. This also was near
Ewingrton. After running; this about three
years, it was sold to W. J. Hankins, and
then he erected a steam mill just west of
Ewington. In April, 1859, he moved to the
town of Effingham and opened a hotel in the
house now occupied by himself and family as
a residence. In this, as in most of his under-
takings, he prospered, and, in 1864, he built
the large brick hotel on the public square,
and the brick business house adjoining the
same. Here he kept a public house until
the spring of the year 1882, when he
leased the establishment to its present jiro-
prietors, and thus at one and the same time
he retired from business and public and
official life, and has rested at last in cheery
old asre from his loncf, laborious and active
labors. The history of Effingham County
and the biography of Judge Gillenwaters are
very much one and the same thing. His
coming hero and the existence of the county
were coeval events. To much of its growth
and prosperity it is indebted to him. He
has been one of its humblest laborers and
wisest counselors. He has been a Western

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

man ia the broad pense of that term; he has
realized the wants of the people and with
strong brain and hand he has supplied that
demand most generously and unsparingly.
And now, when the race is nearly run, and
the afternoon of life wanes, to see this ven-
erable, white-haired couple, as hand in hand
they pass along toward the twilight and the
journey's end, receiving the love, reverence
and respect of all, is a picture indeed that
many loving hearts will wish may never fade.
SYLVESTER F. GILMOEE, attorney
and County Judge, Effingham, was born in
Putman County, Ind., August 17, 1837; he
was educated at Hanover College, Indiana,
and began the study of law in 1858, at Green
, Castle, Ind., with Col. John A. Matson, and,
after reading with him about two years, en-
tered the Law Department of the Indiana As-
bury University, from which he graduated
in March, 1860, and began the practice of
law in Carmi, 111., continuing there until
1862, when he returned to his old home in
Indiana and enlisted, in 1863, in the Seventy-
eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and joined
a portion of the Army of the Tennessee, and
was stationed at Uniontown, Ky. , and took
part in engagements near Morgantield, Ky. ,
and at Uniontown, at which latter place the
whole command was captured, late in 1863,
and was paroled and sent home, subject re-
turning to Green Castle, Ind., remaining un-
til 1867. In September of that year he came
to Effingham and has been in active practice
here since. In 1873, he formed a partner-
ship with Mr. White Jind the firm has for
nine years been Gilmore & White. He was
elected, in 1869, County Superintendent of
Schools, and served four years. He was
nominated for County Judge by the Dem-
ocratic convention in April, 1882. Mr. Gil-
more was married, in April, 1860, at Green
Castle, to Miss Julia A. Matkin; they have

four children — Clarence, Mary, Willie and
Thomas. Mrs. Gilmore died June 12, 1881.
WILLIAM L. GOODELL, M. D., Effing-
ham, is the eldest sou of Dr. William S. and
Catharine (Rerrick) Goodell, and was born in
Richland County, Ohio, September 28, 1844;
he was taught by his parents at home with
the exception of two terms in the public
schools, and afterward entered college.
When about nine years old, he came with his
parents to Illinois and they located at Kan-
sas, Edgar Co., 111., where his father was a
merchant and a physician. Our subject en-
tered Marshall College in 1S5S, his pai'ents
having removed to Marshall, Clark Co., 111.,
in that year, to educate their children. Om-
subject remained in college until October,
1800. In September, 1861, he began the
study of medicine with his father, and stud-
ied and practiced with him until the latter's
death. He entered the Medical Department
of Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, in
October, 1861, and attended two full courses
there, and, in 1865, he entered Rush Medical
College, Chicago, from which he graduated
in 1866 and located and practiced over a
year in Coles County, 111. In 1868, he came
to Effingham and has practiced here ever
since. He was associated with his father al-
most to the time of his father's death. He
has been a member of the Illinois State Med-
ical Society since 1875, and is a member of
the Esculapian Society of the Wabash Valley.
He was a delegate to the International Med-
ical Congress, held in Philadelphia, Penn.,
in 1876. He was also a delegate to the'
American Medical Association, held in At-
lanta, Ga., in 1877. He joined the Centen-
nial Medical Society of Southern Illinois in
1880. His father, William Sherman Good-
ell, M. D., was born at Weathersfield, Wind-
sor Co., Vt., A. D. 1815. He studied medi-
cine with Dr. Stone, of Lyndon, Vt. , at-

BIOGRAPHICAL:

tended medical leetures at Cleveland, two
full courses at the University of Michigan,
and one course at Rush Medical College,
Chicago. Practiced his profession more than
forty years, and was master of it in all its
various departments. The Doctor stood very
high in his profession, having a large prac-
tice and was very successful. He was a mem-
ber of Esculapian Medical Society of the
Wabash Valley. The Doctor's scientific at-
tainments, literary lore and classical refine-
ment, coupled with his wondrous conversa-
tional power, rendered him a favorite among
original thinkers and investigators. The Doc-
tor was a perfect grammarian, and in the
olden time has had teachers come thirty miles
to have him analyze and parse complex sen-
tences and decide disputes amongst gram-
marians. Could solve any mathematical
problem and wrote an arithmetic, but it was
never published. He was known to his
friends and his enemies as an unshaken, hon-
est Democrat of the " Jackson " type, and,
although eminent as a politician, he could
never be induced to accept an office. During
the hot campaign of 1860, he discussed the
political issues of the day with Mr. Lincoln.
Was the personal friend of Hon. J. C. Rob-
inson, Judge John Scholfield, Hon. C. L.
Vallandigham, Judge Stephen A. Douglas
and was a correspondent of Gov. H. A. Wise.
The Doctor married Catharine Herrick
(daughter of Judge Herrick), of De Kalb
County, Ind., in A. D. 1840; they had three
children, viz., William L. Goodell, M. D.,
Catharine J. Goodell and F. Wise Goodell,
M. D. In April, 1867, the Doctor saw the
certain development of Elfingham City and
County, BO moved with his family (who are
yet residents of the city). He built two large
and substantial brick dwellings in the north-
em part of the city. He was a Master Ma-
son. After a long and useful life the Doctor

passed quietly to that undiscovered country
from " whose bourn no traveler returns," No-
vember 20, 1877, of pneumonia, caused by ex-
posure while engaged in his profession.

FRANK WISE GOODELL, M. D.,
EflSngham, was born in Marshall, Clark Co.,
111., March 1, 1858; at the age of sixteen, he
began the study of medicine with his father,
and studied in his office and practiced with
him, and afterward, with his older brother.
Dr. William L. Goodell, in Effingham, as
student, and afterward as partner. He was
a student in the Louisville Medical College
and the Indiana Medical College, at Indian-
apolis, and was considered the most popular
student in his respective classes, being per-
sonally acquainted with every student and
professor. He was the youngest student in
the Louisville school and Vice President of
thw Sydenham Medical Society. He was
nominated for the office of Coroner at the
Democratic Primary Convention, held April
4, 1882, by over 1,200 majority.

H. GORRELL, carpenter, Effingham, was
born in Knox County, Ohio, January 7, 1829,
son of Joseph and Mary (Van Cleaf) Gorrell,
he, a farmer, born in Maryland, and died in
1873, near Columbus, Ohio; she, born in New
Jersey and died in Knox County, Ohio, in
1852. They were the parents of eleven chil-
dren, three of whom are living. Our subject
received his education in his native State,
and was engaged in farming until he became
twenty-one years of age. He was married,
November 1, 1849, in Knox County, Ohio, to
Miss Sarah Kirkpatrick, born in Harrison
County, same State, February 22, 1829,
daughter of John M. and Nancy (Guthrie)
Kirkpatrick. Mr. and Mrs. Gorrell have had
six children, two of whom are living — Elca-
neh and Clementine. Those deceased are
Ransom, Arvilla, Clara and Alva. Our sub-
ject has worked at his trade of carpentering

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

■29

since coming to this county. He has been in
the employ of the Vandalia Railroad Com-
pany for nine years, where he has Superin-
tended a forc6 of workmen. Our subject's
son, Elcaneh, lives in Newton, Jasper Coun-
ty, this State, and is editor of the Jasper
County Times, a Republican paper. He is
also Lieutenant of the " Newton Guards,"
State Militia, Company B. He married El-
la Brown, the daughter of Attorney D. B.
Brown, of Newton. Our subject's daughter,
Clementine, is the wife of Mr. W. H. Bea-
ver, a salesman in J. V. Farwell & Co.'s
wholesale dry goods house, Chicago; they
have one boy — Frank Earl, born January 15,
1882. Our subject and wife are members of
the Methodist Church. He is an I. O. O. F.,
Dallas Lodge, No. 85. In politics, he is a
Democrat.

A. A. GRAVENHORST, editor of the
Effingham Volkshlatt, son of Theodore and
Sophia (Oehker) Gravenhorst, was born in
the village of Neuhaus, in the Kingdom of
Hanover, now Prussia, March 8, 1839. He
was educated at the Gymnasium, at Lunen-
burg, Hanover, and nearly completed a course
in modern languages, preparatory to enter-
ing the university. He left school at seven-
teen and spent two years at agricultural pur-
suits. In 1858, being nineteen years of age,
he came to the United States and located
near Chicago, 111. , and for two years worked
on a farm in Cook County. In 1860, he
came to Teutopolis, this county, with little
in the way of surplus capital. He entered the
employ of Mi". \\ aschefort, remaining about
six months. He enlisted, in 1864