LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
977.352
B21h
I .H.S.
;
THE
HISTORY OF PEORIA
ILLINOIS.
BY C. BALLANCE.
PEORIA, ILL. :
PRINTED BY N. C. NASON, 1 3 5 S. WASHINGTON STREET.
1870.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870,
BY CHARLES BALLAXCE,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Northern District of Illinois.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER L PAGE.
Geographical position of Peoria and its vicinity, . . 1
CHAPTER n.
Early history of Peoria, 5
CHAPTER ni.
The subject continued. La Salle, Hennepin, and Tonti, . 7
CHAPTER IV.
The subject continued — particularly with regard to the Abo-
rigines, .......... 11
CHAPTER V.
Ancient French population, 18
CHAPTER VI.
The subject continued. Coles's Eeport, .... 21
CHAPTER VII.
Ancient Fortifications, 25
CHAPTER VIII.
Indian War. Gov. Edwards and Capt. Craig, . ■ . . 28
CHAPTER IX.
The subject continued. Gov. Reynolds's account of it, . 33
CHAPTER X.
The subject continued. The erection and destruction of Fort
Clark, 40
IV
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
The first American settlements at Peoria,
CHAPTER XII.
PAGE.
44
State of Illinois and sundry Counties (including Peoria) organ-
ized, 49
CHAPTER XIII.
County Commissioners' Court and Board of Supervisors,
CHAPTER XIY.
First Circuit Court. Trial of Nomaque, .
CHAPTER XV.
The subject continued. Judge Young, Ford, etc.,
CHAPTER XVI.
Organization of the Town of Peoria,
CHAPTER XVII.
City Organization, Taxation, etc., ....
CHAPTER XVIII.
Public Buildings,
CHAPTER XIX.
Schools by Individuals and Companies,
CHAPTER XX.
The present School System, commonly called Free Schools, 92
CHAPTER XXI.
Churches and Eeligious Societies, ....
CHAPTER XXII.
Manufactures. Foundries and Machine-Shops,
CHAPTER XXIII.
The subject continued. Blacksmiths and Plowmakers,
53
59
62
66
69
80
84
100
119
123
CONTENTS. V
CHAPTER XXIV. PAGE.
The subject continued. Mills, 127
CHAPTER XXV.
The subject continued. Distilleries, 135
CHAPTER XXVI.
The subject continued. Miscellaneous Manufiictures, . 141
CHAPTER XXVII.
Railroads, 147
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Lights, 153
CHAPTER XXIX.
Boating, 155
CHAPTER XXX.
Shade-Trees, Fruit-Trees, and small Fruits, . . . 163
CHAPTER XXXI.
Water and Water-Works, 166
CHAPTER XXXII.
Coal, Stone, and Minerals, 172
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Ferries and Bridges, 179
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Newspapers. Job Offices. Book-binderies. Death of Pickett
and Kirkpatrick, etc., '^^'^
CHAPTER XXXV."*
French Claim Controversy, 1^3
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Population at different times, 1^^
. • • • •
VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXVII. PAGE.
Old Settlers' Society, 205
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Commerce of Peoria, 210
CHAPTER XXXIX.
The Fauna of Peoria and vicinity, 217
CHAPTER XL.
The Flora of Peoria and yicinit}-, 223
CHAPTER XLI.
Physicians, 227
CHAPTER XLII.
Lawyers, ^^^
CHAPTER XLIII.
The subject continued. John L. Bogardus, ... 239
CHAPTER XLIV.
The subject continued. Gov. Ford, , .... 249
CHAPTER XLV.
Banking Facilities, 256
PREFACE.
Every one admits the benefit of liistor}^ But of what advant-
age is history without truth ; and yet how common is the express-
ion that the time has not come for writing the history of such a
one, or of such a war; implying that during the life of persons im-
plicated in a wrong it will not do to detail that wrong. Then when
will it do? If those who live at the time of a transaction dare not
write a history of it, how will those who live afterward know of it ?
How can a man write a history of that which took place before he
was born, if no account of it has been handed down to his time.
The practice now is, and public opinion seems to sustain the
practice, to send every man who dies directly to the regions of
eternal bliss, leaving none but the living as fit subjects of his Sa-
tanic Majesty. When a man dies by the halter, he, with a priest
at his elbow to keep up his courage and his confidence, rejoices in
the certain prospect of going immediately to the arms of Jesus,
Avho stands ready to receive his guilty soul ; and every man who
dies a natural death, however great a rascal he may have been, is
represented as having been a paragon of virtue. All his virtues,
if he had any, are paraded in the newspapers, or, if he had none,
virtues in abundance are attributed to him ; and all his vices are
ignored. And should any man object to this course, he would be
told we "should never speak evil of the dead."
Had this been the doctrme of the authors of the Scriptures, ^xe
would to this day have remained ignorant of the important fact that
Mr. Samson was an old libertine, and that Miss Delilah was any
thing but a modest maiden. ISTor would we now be aware of the
more important feet that the man who, at one time, was 'a man
after God's own heart', was at another time peeping into the
garden at a beautiful woman, whose raiment, all told, was less than
that of the woman Maj. Powell saw on the Colorado, to wit, a
string of beads. Xorof the much more important feet that the old
rascal had the husband of that woman killed, 'that he might pos-
sess the ewe-lamb' without annoj^ance. Nor would the still greater
fact have come down to this generation that, even in that day,
there was one who had dared, with reference to the doer of this
great iniquity, to say unto David "Thou art the man."
All history should be true. But little good can be derived from
YIII PREFACE.
that wliicli is not. He who portrays a man's yirtues and sup-
presses his vices is morally guilty of falsehood ; for he who be-
lieves the narrative believes that the subject of it was a good man,
whereas his vices, if brought to view, would much modify his vir-
tues, or, perhaps, entirely obscure them. Yet something is due to
public opinion and a man s comfort. Public opinion would hard-
ly, at this age, bear with a man s telling the whole truth with re-
gard to the actors in earth's bus}^ scenes ; and I might essentially
impair my comfort, when business brings me in contact with the
descendants of our early settlers, should I remember to have said
something derogatorj^ of their ancestors.
I, therefore, have taken a medium course ; and, while I have
been careful to say nothing of any one that is not true, I have
refrained from saying many things that were true, lest I might
offend the descendants of those persons. It is exceeding difficult
to pursue a proper course in this matter ; and I think it likely that
my course will be censured, and probably justly censured. If a
little censure is all, I will submit to it as patiently as Hume sub-
mitted to a world of clamor raised against him for having exposed
a few of the villainies of two of the worst potentates that ever
ruled on this terrestrial ball — Henry the Eighth, and his daughter
Queen Elizabeth.
This little book has been written in the most inclement season
of the year, at a time when the state of my health made it hazard-
ous to be much exposed to the weather, and I found but few who
seemed inclined to aid me in my statistics ; and, although I have
taken pains to be correct, I have no doubt many errors may be
found in the work. To the candid inquirer after truth I would
say, note any errors you meet with, and send me a list, and if an-
other edition be called for, I will cheerfully correct them. If any
one shall think I have said any thing untrue about himself or an-
cestor, and will make it appear, I will correct it in the next edition,
or, should there not be another edition, I will correct it in a public
newspaper. But should any one, without resorting to this manly
course, abuse me for saying things that are true, I pledge myself
to show to the world that the half has not been told. There are
some characters referred to in these pages about whom I would
have said a good deal more, but for the regard I had for their
descendants. C. BALLAXCE.
Peoria, February 7th, 1870.
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
CHAPTER I.
THE GEOGRArillCAL POSITION OF PEORIA.
If you wish to see where Peoria is, phice yourself in
front of any large map of the United States; raise your
eyes as far north as Lake Michigan. Near its westerly
shore, in the State of Wisconsin, you perceive several
small streams, which, running a southerly course, unite
and form the little river JDesplaines. Turn your eyes to
the right, and you will see, near the south end of Lake
Michigan, in the State of Indiana, many small streams,
and a great swamp, Avhich form the Kankakee river.
This river, as you perceive, runs into the State of Illinois,
and mingles its waters Avith those of the Desj^laines, and
from their union to the confluence w^ith the Mississippi
river their united waters bear the name of the Illinois.
Follow this stream from its head to its mouth, and you
see a great many smaller streams which pour their waters
into it, so that it becomes a large river.
Now again raise your eyes to the lake, and you will
see a canal, extending from Chicago, on Lake Michigan,
1
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
to Lasalle, on the Illinois river. At the latter place a fine
basin has been formed for the reception of canal-boats
and steamboats. From this basin to St. Louis there are
no rocks, nor ' sawyers ', nor other impediments to navi-
gation, except in very cold weather from ice, and occa-
sionally in a very dry fall there fails to be water enough.
This river and canal give direct communication be-
tween St. Louis and Chicago (two of the most flourishing
cities in America), and through them with all the world.
About half way between these famous cities, you |>erceive
an expansion in the Illinois river, about twenty miles
long, called Lake Peoria. At the lower end of this ex-
pansion, on the southwest side, you perceive a number
of railroads concentrate. At this point drive a stake,
and append to it a line a hundred miles long, and strike
a circle two hundred miles in diameter, and you will in-
close more first-rate arable land, and less land unfit for
cultivation, than you would by striking a circle, of the
same diameter, any where else on the face of the globe.
At this spot, in 40 deg. 40 min. north latitude, and 12 deg.
40 min. west longitude from Washington, stands the
beautiful City of Peoria. And here might the poet well
exclaim,
*' Where Nature's God, in forming earth of naught,
Performed the last of all the works he wrought,
There stands Peoria, there in beauty shines
The fairest town-site on this earth's confines ;
Like some great architect, for skill renowned,
"Whose works of art do every where abound,
AU which are good, but that performed the last
Outvies the rest, and can not be surpassed."
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
The river is placid and, except during freshets, clear.
The whole town-plat is free from inundation. From the
river to the bluff (about three-fourths of a mile) the soil
is a sandy loam, and consequently generally dry and free
from mud. The front of the bluff is mostly composed of
pebble, but on and beyond the bluff the soil is rich loam,
based on yellow clay. The land rises gradually from the
water's edge until it attains an elevation of about seventy
feet; but it recedes again considerably before reaching
the bluff, so as to make the elevation appear considera-
bly greater than it really is. From the top of this bluff,
or rather from the top of a house on it, a scene of exceed-
ing beauty is presented. All the houses in the city,
residences, stores, churches, factories, etc., as well as the
river and lake and hills beyond, may be seen from one
spot.
In Mr. Parkman's 'Discovery of the Great West', page
156, in note, he says, in speaking of Utica, "This is the
only part of the river-bottom, from this point to the Mis-
sissippi, not liable to inundation in the floods." If by
' river-bottoms ' he means alluvial lands, this is a great
mistake. The town-sites of Hennepin, Henry, Lacon,
Chillicothe, Rome, Peoria, Pekin, Havana, Bath, Beards-
town and Meredosia are all alluvial lands, and free from
inundation.
From the description given of Lake Peoria, its width
is generally supposed to be greater than it is. It is gen-
erally described as being twenty miles long, and from
two to three miles wide. This will do pretty well for a
high-water description, but not for a low-water one. In
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
low water, o^^posite the foot of Main street, it is only
about a half-mile and twenty-one rods wide. It be-
comes a little wider two miles up ; but at about four miles
up are the Xarrows, a point of land subject, it is true, to
inundation, but for the most of the vear makins: of one
lake two lakes. Above the Xarrows the lake becomes
wider, — at some places, perhaps, a mile wide. 02)230site
Chillicothe there is a long island, immediately above
which the river becomes compressed into its usual width.
This lake formerly abounded in fish, ducks and geese,
beyond any j^lace I ever saw; but the fish have been
greatly diminished and the ducks and geese have nearly
disappeared. In early times swans, brants and cranes
were also tolerably plenty, but now I seldom see one;
especially, the beautiful white crane, which makes a
handsome pet, I think has entirely disappeared.
The hills in the vicinity contain an inexhaustible sup-
ply of coal, and wood for fuel is abundant. Food can be
concentrated here in greater quantities, and at lower
prices, than at most places : consequently here should be
a great manufacturing city. And this should be the
granary of all this region. Here should be concentrated,
through the winter, all the grain of this immensely fer-
tile region, to be transported in the sjDring, east, west,
north, or south, according to the exigency of trade.
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
CHAPTER II.
EARTA' HISTORY OF PEORIA.
So much, by way of introduction, for the geography of
Peoria. iSTow for its history. And here I find, as Mr.
Lincohi said of the rebellion, I have 'a big job on hand':
not big because of the difficulty of arranging materials so
extensive and voluminous, but big because of the diffi-
culty of composing a readable history out of materials
so very scant. Had I 'the organ of marvelousness
strongly developed', I might, like the Roman, Chinese
and Hindoo historians, groj^e into the dark ages of antiq-
uity, and gather up the absurd, and often impossible,
traditions of the ancestors of our Indians, concerning
their wars and their miracles, and the dealings of the
Great Spirit with them ; or gravely quote from the Book
of Mormon, concerning the wars and wanderings of the
ten lost tribes; or I might, in imitation of this fast age,
dig into some mound, or stroll into some of the many cel-
lars being dug, in Peoria, and gather up some fragments of
human bones, beads — perhaps a copper coin, or some
scraj^s of porcelain, or of a broken whisky-jug, as evi-
dence 'strong as proofs from Holy Writ' that, in untold
ages, a highly-civilized people had inhabited this beauti-
ful place. Or I might run mad searching for some
Rosetta Stone, that would reveal the wonders of those
6 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
times. But the trouble about this business is, I have not
the organ of marvelousness very well developed. I can
not believe without evidence ; and should some evidence
be produced in favor of a proposition, I would still not
believe it, as long as better evidence was at hand to
counteract it.
I therefore commence my history of Peoria only about
196 years ago, the date of the arrival of the first white
man at this place. But about this we know but little. It
is said that Father Marquette, on the 10th of June,
1673, accompanied by a gentleman from Canada by the
name of Joliet, five Frenchmen, and two Algonquin
Indians, as guides, passed from Green Bay across to the
Mississipj^i river, by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and,
after having descended the Mississippi as far down as
the mouth of the Arkansas, ascended by way of the Illi-
nois to Lake Michigan, and part of them to Canada; but
the object of Joliet being merely to ascertain whether
the Mississij)pi entered into the Pacific Ocean or the
Gulf of Mexico, he returned as soon as he ascertained
that fact, by the easiest route ; and it being the sole ob-
ject of Marquette to preach to the Indians, and neither of
them desiring to plant a colony, they i^robably kept a
very meagre journal resj^ecting this country, and what
they did keep was lost, so that the world was but little
benefited by their discoveries.
Marquette was a religious enthusiast, a devotee, per-
haps I might say a misanthrope. He would not go home,
but preached to the Indians about the head of Lake Michi-
gan, for two years. For some reason, after he had
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
})reaclied in that region for about that time, he went
about three hundred miles north, and entered a little
river, in the now State of Michigan, not far from Macki-
naw, which river has since been called by his name. On
its bank he erected a rude altar, and, prevailing on the
canoe-men who accompanied him to leave him alone, he
said mass according to the rites of the Catholic church,
of which he was a i^riest, and prayed and died. After
his fellow travelers had given him sufficient time for his
devotions, as they supposed, they returned and found
him dead, and buried him in the sand, where he had died.
The cause of his death is not known. lie had probably
lived as long as life was desirable.
Either of those men might have been of great service
to the world, by carefully describing this country and its
inhabitants, and then preserving their journal; but we
have nothing from them but the great truth that the
Mississippi does not run into the Pacific Ocean ! and that
Illinois is a rich country.
CHAPTER III.
THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. LASALLE, HENNEPIN, AND TONTI.
The next visit made to Peoria by civilized men was
seven years after Marquette and Joliet had passed, when
Mr. La Salle, accompanied by Hennepin, a Franciscan
8 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
monk, and Tonti, an Italian military character, visited the
place. Upon the veracity of Hennepin alone ^ve rely for
an account of that hazardous adventure, for I know of no
account of that voyage but that kept by Hennepin. He
says: "This day [Jan. 1, 1G80] we went through a lake,
formed by the river, about seven leagues long and one
broad. The savages call that place Pimiteoui; that is,
in their language, a place where there is abundance of
fat beasts. When the river of the Illinois freezes, which
is but seldom, it freezes only to this lake, and never from
thence to the Meschasipi, into which this river falls.
We found ourselves, on a sudden, in their camp, Avhich
took up the two sides of the river. M. de La Salle
ordered his men immediately to make their arms ready,
and brought his canoes on a line, placing himself to the
right, and M. Tonti to the left; so that we took almost
the whole breadth of the river. The Illinois, who had
not discovered our fleet [of eight canoes] were very
much surprised to see us commg so swiftly upon them ;
for the stream is A^ery rapid at that place. Some ran for
their arms, but the most of them took to flight, with
horrid cries and bowlings.
"The current brought us, in the mean time, to their
camp, and M. La Salle went the very first ashore, fol-
lowed by his men, which increased the consternation of
the savages, Avhom we might have easily defeated; but,
as it was not our design, Ave made a halt to give them
time to recover themselves, and see that we were no
enemies. M. La Salle might have prevented their con-
fusion by showing his calumet, or pipe of peace ; but he
was afraid the savages would inpute it to our weakness."
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
La Salle had much trouble, while at this place, both
with the savages and with his men. Both seem to have
been treacherous; and, to cap the climax of his woes, he
ascertained that a vessel called the Griffin, freighted with
furs, in which he had invested nearly every thing he was
worth and perhaps more, had been lost on its way down
the lakes to Montreal. Under these circumstances, he
built a fort to protect what he had with him, while he
would return to Canada for more men and supplies. As
a memento of his trouble, he called the fort Creve- Coeui\
which in French means broken heart.
La Salle went back to Canada for men and supplies to
carry out his enterprises. But, the Lidians becoming
hostile, Tonti left that part of the country, and fled to
Green Bay, and took shelter under the Indians in that
region; so that when La Salle returned, in the next
spring, he found Fort Creve-Coeur entirely abandoned.
Nor do I find that it was ever after occupied; and
Charlevoix, who traveled through the country about forty
years afterward, says it was then entirely abandoned.
It is true that when La Salle found that Tonti had aban-
doned that part of the country he went to Green Bay, and
brought him back to the Illinois, where he assisted to
build a vessel, in which they sailed down the Illinois and
Mississippi rivers. He seems to have done much hard
service for La Salle in his lifetime, and to have risked
much to recover his remains after his death. He also
seems to have held possession of the country for France
for several years after La Salle's death ; but I no where
find evidence that he occupied Creve- CcEur or Peoria.
2
10 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
The histories some times speak of his occni^ying Rock
Fort, and some times Fort St. Louis. In his recital to
the French crown of his arduous services, he makes no
mention of either but of Fort St. Louis. He says : " These
discoveries being finished, he remained in 1683 com-
mandant of Fort St. Louis, of the Illinois, and in 1684 he
was there attacked by 200 Iroquois, whom he repulsed
with great loss on their side." — J3roion''s History of
Illinois^ 2Jage 128.
Where Rock Fort or Fort St. Louis was situated will,
I presume, be for ever unknown. Some have located it
on the Starved Rock, and some on the Buffalo Rock.
As long ago as May, 1833, I was on the Starved Rock,
and examined it with some care, but saw no evidence of
any fortification ever having been there. And so eftect-
ually was every thing done by that set of Frenchmen
obliterated, before the country fell into the hands of the
Americans, that not a vestige could be found : nothing to
show they had ever been at that place.
Since the above was written, I have perused Mr. Park-
man's new work, The Discovery of the Great yi^est^ and
I think he has pretty well established the fact that Rock
Fort and Fort St. Louis were one and the same, and that
the locality was on what is now known as the Starved
Rock. See his book, pages 156, 177, 205, 287, 288, 221,
289, and 290. It is true, however, that thirty-six years
ago I saw no vestige of any buildings or fortifications at
that place. All had gone to decay, and trees had grown
over the site.
But where Mr. Parkman gets his description of Fort
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 11
Creve-Coeur I can not imagine. (See j^age 167.) His
descrii^tion is not justified by any thing Hennepin says
about it, nor is there any ground at that pU\ce that fits
his description. There is no ]iill or knoll there, but the
land is all under water occasionally, for more than a mile
back fj-om the river. Where does he get the authority
for saying this fort was defended by chevaux-de-frise and
palisades twenty-five feet high?
CHAPTER IV.
THE SUBJECT CONTINUED — PARTICULARLY WITH REGARD
TO THE ABORIGINES.
There were then only wandering savages in these parts,
whose business was to catch fish and hunt deer enouorh to
support life, while they, as a matter of much more import-
ance, spent much of their time in hunting one another,
and they killed, or were killed, as courage, skill or luck
would have it; and hence the garden-spot of the earth,
the country between the Alleghanies on the east and tlie
Rocky Mountains on the west, and the great Lakes on
the north and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, capable
of containing 100,000,000 of human beings, possessed only
a few despicable savages, who sought every opportunity
to make the number less.
Those who believe wliatever they are told, without in*
12 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
qiiii-y, believe that this country was long since densely
populated, by a highly-civilized people ; and our love-sick
novelists, in sj^eaking of the degraded remnant we found
here, speak of the gallantry and courage of the great war-
riors, and of the beautiful Indian maidens. My experi-
ence on the subject is decidedly unfavorable to Indian
courage, chivalry and beauty. I never saw an Indian
that would fight unless he had the advantage ; nor do I
think I ever saw one who had ever felt an imj^ulse of
true gallantry. They were males, and, like other animals,
knew and apj^reciated the other sex; but, further than
this, gallantry was unknown to them. A woman was by
the Indians more admired for carrying a large pack of
A^enison or fur skins than for possessing beauty. We
read about great Indian towns ; but they had no towns,
— not even a house for a residence, place of worship, nor
for any other j)urpose. The only houses they had were
wigwams, that could be speedily removed upon their
ponies, or in their canoes. The whole fabric consisted of
poles placed in the ground, in a circle, and the toj^s bent
together and tied with bark. Several other poles were
bent around horizontally, and tied to these, and then
mats, which they made of grass, were spread over these,
and the edifice was completed. For a chimney, a hole
was left in the top. For a door, one mat was left loose
below, so as to be raised, when necessary, whereas the
other mats were tied to pegs driven in the ground.
Our credulous ancestors were made to believe that
these people were converted to Christianity. Father
HennejDin and other Catholic priests baj^tized thousands of
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 13
them, uearly two hundred years ago, and Father Walker,
a pious Methodist, some forty years ago, devoted himself
to their service, and no doubt thought he made great
proficiency in leading them in the way of life ; but they
only listened to his sermons for the sake of the corn-bread
and pork his wife fed them on after the sermon was over.
Every body but father Walker knew this. He, however,
had the happiness to -pass through life with the sincere
belief that his glory in the next world would be greatly
enhanced by the presence of these savages as witnesses of
his great Christian zeal. George E. "Walker, a wealthy
old gentleman of Ottawa, is a nephew to this man.
The writer hereof has seen some of Rev. Mr. Walker's
disciples, besides many other Indians, such as infested
these plains previous to the Black-Hawk War, and gives
it as his firm belief that there was not an Indian, at that
time, in Illinois, that believed the Christian religion at
all. Xor had they any well-defined notions of religion
of any kind. The j^riests had taught them something
about their God, who is a spirit, and about miracles, and
the mysterious virtue of relics, and the sacred host. The
savages, not understanding these things, j^erverted them.
Each tribe soon had its medicine-man, who, with his
medicine-bag of numerous nothings, answered them well
enough for a priest, and j^erformed a goodly number of
miracles, — at least, made them believe so.
Our relic-hunters have found, all over this country, the
evidences of an ancient civilization, in fortifications,
tumuli, broken pottery, etc. This is all a delusion, but
the common delusion of little men, who have ' a little
14 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
learning', which Pope says is a dangerous thing. I was
born in the West, and have lived in it for the space of
sixty-eight years, but have never seen any evidence of
this kind, nothing that could not be explained upon some
other hypothesis. I have seen nothing that the most fa-
natical ought to construe into a fortification. I have seen
mounds in which there were human bones; but why not
say that Indians selected high places in which to bury
their dead, as civilized people do, especially as some
Indians, not being satisfied with the elevation of the
highest mounds, deposited their departed friends on large
trees ? It would be much easier to select a mound than
to huild one, especially as they had neither picks, shovels,
nor carts, nor Irishmen to use them; for every one
knows that if the Indians had tools they were too lazy
to use them.
There is a hillock not far from the City of Joliet, which
has been honored with the title of Mount Joliet, of which
Peck, in his Gazetteer, says "it is evidently the work of
art"; and the author of American Antiquities says,
"This mound consists of eighteen million two hundred
and fifty thousand solid feet of earth. How long it must
have been in being built is more than can be made out,
as the number of men employed, and the facilities to
carry on the work, are unknown." To those who have
never examined, nor even seen, Mount Joliet, this theory
is very pretty; but to those who have seen and examined
it, it apj)ears too absurd to merit a refutation, had not
sensible men fallen into the error. I have been on and
about Mount Joliet, and examined it with a view to this
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 15
question, and I assure the reader that there not only is
no appearance there to indicate tliat it was made by hands,
but the most conclusive evidence that it is the result ot
mighty currents of Avater floAvini^ there for ages long
gone by. It is simply a great pile of stones and pebbles,
which have been rounded by being rubbed and rolled
against each other. Tlie amomit of clay and earth
among these stones and pebbles is so small as hardly to
be jicrceived; yet grass and weeds have annually grown
on the top and decayed for ages, until a pretty good soil
is formed there. This great pile of pebbles does not ex-
tend into the earth, but it stands on it — on a bed of
clay, that is being manufactured, on a large scale, into
fire-brick and underground tiling, or more properly piping,
while the pebbles are being carried to Chicago to pave
gutters and streets.
In the month of February, 1832, I was temporarily
boarding at Robbins's Hotel, in Alton, and the subject of
the mounds in the American Bottom was under discuss-
ion ; and, to prove they were artificial, it was asserted
that they contained human bones. I pointed to a high
peak, a little to the northwest of where the penitentiary
was afterward built, and asked one of the company if, in
his opinion, that was artificial. He replied certainly not :
that that had manifestly been made by the rains wearing
away the earth about it. Well, said I, I will venture the
assertion that there are human bones in that. He thought
not; and, having time enough on our hands, we procured
tools, and dug into it, and found human bones.
I once found, with the bones of an Indian, a piece of
16 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
his gun, the blade of his butcher-knife, and portions of
an opaque glass bottle. I have also seen beads, hatchets,
and other things indicating a considerable degree of civ-
ilization, that had been taken from Indian graves. How
much more reasonable the hypothesis that these things
were procured from the French traders than that they
were made by civilized men, whose descendants had
become barbarous.
It is known to all who have read history that the daily
necessaries and conveniences of life are never lost by the
descendants of civilized men, however barbarous they
may become. Xo nation that ever had the benefit of
iron ever lost the use of it. The same is true as to
horses and cattle, and many other things. The Indians
had none of these things, when found by white men; yet
horses were so necessary to them, and so easily raised in
this grassy country, that they have never been without
them since. Men fond of the marvelous are averse to
scanning evidence. They seem afraid of discovering its
insufficiency.
I knew a blacksmith who, for some purpose, made a
wrought-iron cup ; but when he undertook to solder it
Avith brass, he made it too hot, and spoilt it, but the solder
spread and run into the pores of the hot iron. He threw
it away, and it lay behind his shop for years. In the
neighborhood lived a man who had a good spring, of
which he often boasted. A mischievous lad buried this
cup in that spring. In process of time, in'cleaning out
the spring, the cup was found, and attracted much atten-
tion. It was very rusty, of course; but upon being filed
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 17
it seemed to be a compound of brass and iron. Some
thought it a new metal, unknown to us, but known to the
ancients. Here Avas evidence, conchisive ' as proofs from
Holy Writ', of an ancient civilization. The excitement
became so intense as to draw the blacksmith from his
anvil. The astonished audience became more astonished,
when the blacksmith avowed that he had made that very-
cup. An investigation brought to light the person who
put it there.
I lay it down as a fact that a country once inhabited by
civilized men, the vestiges of their civilization can never
be destroyed. Witness the remains in Herculaneum,
Nineveh, and Egypt. If there had ever been a civilized
people here, the stones or metals would present some
evidence of their literature ; but every thing that I have
seen of that kind was manifestly of French origin. All
engravings and stamps that I have seen were of Latin
letters, which the French use, as well as ourselves.
Then with regard to the aboriginal inhabitants I have
no history to give. They were wild men, without any
literature or permanent habitations, and had never been
in a superior condition.
18 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
CHAPTER V.
THE ANCIENT FRENCH POPULATION.
Nor should we allow ourselves to be deceived as to the
amount of civilization that existed here before the French
village was broken up, in 1812. Attempts have been
made to convince men that there was a fine, flourishing
settlement here, of civilized, enterprising, intelligent peo-
ple. I apprehend that the men La Salle and others
brought here were of the lower class, and most ignorant
of the French population. If not, they had woefully de-
teriorated between the time they w^ere brought here and
the destruction of their village. I have not been able to
ascertain the population of Peoria when the village was
broken up, by Capt. Craig. Every man of them, I
believe, is dead, except Robert Forsyth, of St. Louis,
who was then a boy. I wrote to him for a list of them,
as near as his recollection w^ould serve him, and I sup-
pose he knows, for, besides being born among them, he
spent fifteen years in hunting them up, and bringing
and conducting suits, in which he derived his title
through them; but he has not answered my letter. Nor
do I find any record or history giving the number of the
population at that time. From any information I possess,
I can only find the names of sixteen men who were there
HISTOHY OF PEORIA. 19
at the time. As this statement will probably be disputed,
I here insert their names. Thomas Forsyth, Louis Pilette,
Jaques Mette, Pierre Lavoisseur dit Chamberlain, An-
toine LeClair, Michael LeCroix, Francis Racine, sen.,
Francis Racine, Jan., John Baptiste de Fond, Felix Fon-
taine, Louis Binet, Hypolite Maillet, Francis Buche,
Charles La Belle, Antoine La Pance and Antoine Bour-
bonne. Of these Michael Le Croix escaped to Canada
and accepted a commission from the enemy, and fought
against us. Others claimed lots by reason of their
residence at this place; but the proof on file at the land-
office, an abstract of which can be found in third volume
of American State Papers, page 422, shows that they had
previously abandoned the place — some of them more than
twenty years before. But I will suppose I liave over-
looked some (which is possible), and call the number
twenty-five. Then, if these men had, on an' average, five
in a family (which is the usual calculation), we have in
this villasre, that has made so much noise and caused so
much trouble, a population of one hundred and twenty-
five souls, all told; and except these, I know of no French
inhabitants on the Illinois river, in those days, nor between
the Mississippi and Wabash, excepting, always, a very
ancient Frenchman, by the name of Bisson (pronounced
Besaw) who always lived at Wesley (then called the
Trading House). I have seen many affidavits and other
papers signed by these men, but signed with a mark. I
remember as exceptions to this rule that Thomas Forsyth,
Michael Le Croix and Antoine La Pance wrote their
names. There were probably others that could write,
20 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
but I do not remember them. I remember no case where
a French woman could write her name. The depositions
in the Peoria French claims at Edwardsville, and in the
many suits brought on them, will show if I am right.
These were fishermen and hunters, not fiirmers. All the
fields they pretended ever to have in cultivation amounted
to less than three hundred acres, even, if none of the
fields had been deserted before they left. When the vil-
lage was burnt I think they had less than two hundred
acres in cultivation. They, however, some times acted
as voyageurs for the Indian traders, but of manufiictures
they had none. They had not a school-house or church,
nor a dwelUng-house that deserved the name. I saw and
examined the ground on which their houses had stood,
before the ground was disturbed, and I am able to state
that there was not a stone nor brick wall in the village,
for any purpose, nor was there a cellar. Some of the
houses had a small place excavated under the floor, in
front of the fire-place, for j^otatoes. Some of the houses
had jDOsts, in the ground, and some were framed with
sills ; but, in stead of being boarded np as with us, the
space between the posts was filled with pieces of timber
laid horizontally, with mud between them. The chim-
neys were made of mud and sticks. That they had no
gardens, in the common accej^tation of the term, is mani-
fest from this : many of the cultivated plants, when once
introduced in a place, if deserted by man, will never
cease to grow there. This is true of all the fruits that
grow in this climate, and it is true of many herbs, and of
some culinary vegetables. Es-ery one knows that, long
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 21
after a farm is deserted, the apple-trees and gooseberry
and currant bushes Avill continue to grow; and tansy,
flags, liUes and mustard, and many other plants, were
never known voluntarily to abandon the place where they
had once grown. Yet, when the present i')opulation com-
menced to settle here, about forty years ago, there was
not to be found, in this neighborhood, a vestige of a tree^
shrub or plant belonging to Europe. They would have
made wine of the sour grapes of the woods, if they had
had sugar to assuage its acidity and cellars to preserve it;
but the sugar could not then be aftbrded, and the cellars
they had not. And we know they had no French grapes,
for the reason above — no vines remain. I therefore pro-
nounce the wine story a humbug,
CIIAPTER VI.
THE SUBJFXT CONTINUED. COLES'S REPORT.
But a word more about the French jjopulation. The
first Frenclimen who ever saw Peoria, or rather the
ground on which it stands, were Father Marquette and
his party, in the summer of 10V3, but they formed no
colony, nor did they leave any one to hold possession of
the 2^1ace. The next party that visited the place was
that under La Salle, in January 1, 1680. They attempted
22 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
to establish a trading-post, and actually built a fort; but
the men behaved badly, and the Indians became hostile,
and, during La Salle's absence to Canada to obtain sup-
j^lies and men, they all abandoned the place. Ui^ward
of forty years afterward, when Charlevoix visited this
place, he found no Frenchmen here, nor have I been able,
from any source, to learn when the French first com-
menced their village at Peoria. According to Coles's
rej)ort, they were here before the oldest inhabitant could
remember.
Edward Coles, who was then recrister of the land-ofiice
at Edwardsville, but who was afterward governor of
Illinois, a man of an inquiring mind, and fond of antique
matters, and who took nearly all the jDroofs on which
Peoria French claims are based, reported as follows to
the Secretary of the Treasury :
" The old village of Peoria was situated on the north-
west shore of Lake Peoria, about one mile and a half
above the lower extremity or outlet of the lake. This
village had been inhabited by the French previous to the
recollection of any of the present generation. About the
year 1778 or 1779, the first house was built in what was
then called La Yille de Maillet, afterward the Xew Vill-
age of Peoria, and of late the place has been known by the
name of Fort Clark, situated about one mile and a half
below the old village, immediately at the lower point or
outlet of Lake Peoria. The situation being preferred on
account of the water being better, and its being thought
more healthy, the inhabitants gradually deserted the old
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 23
village, and by the year 1796 or 1797 had entirely aban-
doned it, and removed to the new village.
" The inhabitants of Peoria consisted generally of
Indian traders, hunters, and voyageurs, and had formed
a link of connection between the French residino; on the
waters of the great lakes and the Mississijipi river. From
that happy faculty of adapting themselves to their situa-
tion and associates, for which the French are so remarka-
ble, the inhabitants of Peoria lived generally in harmony
with their savage neighbors. It would seem, however,
that about the year 1781 they were induced to abandon
the village, from an apprehension of Indian hostilities; but
soon after the peace of 17S3 they again returned, and con-
tinued to reside there until the autumn of the year 1812,
wlien they were forcibly removed from it, and the place
destroyed by Capt. Craig, of the Illinois militia, on the
ground, as it was said, that he and his company of militia_
were fired on in the night, while at anchor, in their boats,
before the village, by Indians, with whom the inhabitants
were suspected by Craig to be too intimate and friendly.
" The inhabitants of Peoria, it would appear from all I
can learn, settled there without any grant or permission
from the authority of any government; that the only title
they had to their lands was derived from j^ossession, and
the only value attached to it grew out of the improve-
ments placed on it. That each person took to himself
such portion of unoccupied land as he wished to occu2")y
and cultivate, and made it his own by incorporating his
labor with it; but as soon as he abandoned it, his title
was understood to cease, with his possession and im-
24 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
provements, and it reverted to its natural state, and was
liable again to be improved and possessed by any one
who should think 2:)roper. This, together with the itiner-
ant character of the inhabitants, will account for the num-
ber of persons who will frequently be found from the
testimony, contained in the report, to have occupied the
same lot, many of whom, it will be seen, present conflict-
ing claims.
"As is usual in French villages, the possession in
Peoria consisted generally of village lots, on which they
erected their buildings and made their gardens, and of
outlots or fields, in which they cultivated grain, etc.
The village lots contained, in general, about one half of
an arpent of land ; the outlots or fields were of various
sizes, dej^ending on the industry or means of the owner
to cultivate more or less land.
"As neither the old nor new village of Peoria was ever
formally laid out or had defined limits assigned them, it
is impossible to have of them an accurate map. ... I
have not been able to ascertain, with 2:)recision, on what
particular quarter-sections of the military survey these
claims are situated." — Coles's JReport to the Secretary of
the Treasury^ dated Kov. 10, 1820. 3d vol. Amer. State
Papers.^ 1^21.
Mr. Coles was a gentleman who would aim to speak thp
truth, but he was surrounded by those claimants, and no
one else. He had no means of knowing any thing about
them and their claims but from themselves; and yet,
observe his statements : " The inhabitants of Peoria, it
HISTORY OF PEORIA. f>5
would appear from all I can learn, settled there without
any grant or permission from the authority of any govern-
ment; that the only title they had to their lands was
derived from possession, and the only value attached to
it grew out of the improvements placed on it," etc. ; and
the village had been inhahited only previous to the recol-
lection of any of the present generation. And this state-
ment was made in the fall of 1820. IIow long any of
these had been there it is no where further shown than
that it w^as beyond their recollection. For the space of
about eighty years after La Salle's men left, I have con-
sulted no book that shows that any white man was living
at Peoria.
CHAPTER yil.
ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS.
On page 135, Hennepin says, "M. La Salle, improving
this fair season, desired me to go down the river with him to
choose a place to build a fort. After having viewed the coun-
try, we pitched upon an eminence on the bank of the river,
defended on that side by the river, and on two other sides
by ditches the rains had made very deep, by succession of
time, so that it was accessible only by one way; there-
fore we cast a line to join those two natural ditches, and
4
26 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
made the eminence steej), on every side, supporting the
earth with great pieces of timber." This was done on
the 15th of January, 1680. This is the fort which, on ac-
count of La Salle's troubles and misfortunes, he called
Creve-Coeur; and this quotation settles, at once and for
ever, a question that has been disputed for the last thirty
years, to wit, the precise locality of this fort. The most
of those who have written on the subject have placed it
above Peoria — some two or three miles, and others six
or eight miles above. But the first difficulty that hy-
pothesis meets with is, there is no high land on that side
of the river Avithin the bounds proposed. All the land
above the city, on that side, for more than the greatest
distance proposed, is liable to to overflow to the extent of
ten or fifteen feet. Besides, Hennepin says, to locate it
they went from Peoria ''dovni tJie rive'r\ and that they
found a j^lace where there was an 'eminence', and the
'bank of the river' made one line, and two sides were
made ' by ditches the rains had made very deep'. There
is no place on the river that fits this description but the
village of "Wesley; and that fits it exactly.
Reynolds, whose means of correct information Avas su-
perior, or at least equal, to that of any one else, but who
was oftener in error, savs " there is some confusion with
authors in regard to the forts, and their j^recise location.
There were two forts : one called Creve-Coeur, and the
other Rock Fort, or Fort St. Louis. Creve-Coeur was located
some where, I presume, on the southeast side, eight miles
above Peoria, on the lake " ; etc.
There were, in fact, six works called forts.
1
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 27
1st, Creve-Coeur, situated at Wesley, on the east side
the river, built by La Salle, in 1680, as above described.
2d, Fort Clark, built, as hereafter described, in 181 3, by
U. S. troops.
3cl, Fort Clark, built by the citizens of Peoria in 1832,
on the site of old Fort Clark, but never occupied.
4th, A fort built (when I do not know) by the Frencli
population, about 150 feet above the pottery. This was
burnt by the Indians about the year 1788. The quarter-
section on which this fort stood has been in the possess-
ion of Mr. John Birket for about forty-three years. In
1826 he could trace the lines of said fort by the lower
end of the pickets still being there then, and by the
earth being higher along the lines of the pickets than else-
where. Back of this fort was the remains of a smith-
shop, and near it, in digging up a wild plum-tree, he
struck into a considerable quantity of metal, mostly iron,
among w^hich were some gun-barrels, the w^hole having
the aj^pearance of having been the stock in trade of a
gunsmith, that had long been buried there. Among the
rest w^as some silver j^late, which had probably been had
to inlay gun-stocks by way of ornament. As small
change w^as then very scarce, he cut this up into small
circular pieces, in imitation of small coin, and passed
them as such. If any question w^as made as to their
genuineness, he w^ould say he knew they were good, for
he made them himself.
5th, It would seem, from the testimony of Ilypolite
Maillet, given in French Claim Xo. 7 (American State
Papers, vol. 3, page 424), that he, who was forty-five
28 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
years old in 1820, was ' born in a stockaded fort' on block
50, a little above the upper bridge.
6th, Rock Fort, or Fort St. Louis, built by La Salle, in
1680, some where between the present towns of Lasalle
and Ottawa. I suppose this was the best-built and most
important of all these fortifications. For its locality see
Chapter IV.
CHAPTER Vin.
INDIAN WAR. GOV. EDWARDS AND CAPT. CRAIG.
By the treaty with Great Britain made in 1783, and
particularly by Jay's treaty, made in 1794, all French-
men in Illinois became citizens — at least subjects — of
the United States, and owed allegiance to them; and
Avhen the war between Great Britain and the United
States broke out in 1812, it was treason for them to aid
the British, or their allies, the Indians. The French at
Peoria were charged with obtaining ammunition from the
British in Canada, and furnishing it to the Indians at
Peoria; with murdering our people, in the southern part
of the state; and John Baptiste Maillet (Capt. Maillet),
the chief military man at Peoria (and who was afterward
rewarded by the United States for his supposed loyalty
to them), was charged with stealing cattle from the
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 29
Wood-River settlement, in Madison county, to feed the
Indians at Peoria. These stories may not have been
true ; but they were phiusible, and it was the duty of
Gov. Edwards to inquire into them. He tlierefore or-
dered Capt. Craig, of the Illinois militia, to ascend the
Illinois (there then being no roads in that part of the
state) for that purpose.
That Gov. Edwards believed those stories, and was
greatly alarmed, is manifest from a letter he wrote on the
4th of August, 1812, to Mr. Eustis, Secretary of War of
the United States. He says, in speaking of the Indians,
" Those near Peoria are now constantly killing and eat-
ing the cattle of the people of that village. . . . The
Indians on the Illinois are well supplied with English
powder, and have been selling some of it to the white
people. A few days ago they sent some of their party
with five horses to the Sac Village for lead." In a post-
script he adds, "!N'o troops of any kind have yet arrived
in this territory, and I think you may count upon hearing
of a bloody stroke upon us very soon. I have been ex-
tremely reluctant to send my family away; but, unless I
hear shortly of more assistance than a few rangers, I shall
bury my papers in the ground, send my ftimily off, and
stand my ground as long as j^ossible."
There were in those days no steamboats, and Craig
used small row-boats. But as Capt. Craig has been
greatly vilified for burning Peoria, I will let him speak
for himself. After it was over, and he had returned
home, he made the following report of his dohigs to the
governor.
30 HISTORY OF PEOHIA.
Shawneetown, Illinois Territory, )
DecemUr 10, 1S12. \
Governor Edwards, —
Sir: I landed at Peoria on the 5tli of No-
vember, 1812, and left that place on the 9th. * ** *
said the Indians were all gone. I believed none of
the citizens, from their actions. The sentinels on board
my boats could hear and see them i^assing through
town, with candles, and hear canoes crossing the river all
night, for several nights. We would land in the morn-
ing to look, and see Iresh horse-tracks in town. There is
no doubt but that they were Indians I am
convinced the French knew of your return. They were
in council every day, and did detain Governor Howard's
express, against his will About midnight of
the 6th of November, the wind blew so hard in the lake
that we were forced to draw the boats about one-quarter
of a mile below Peoria. AYe there cast anchor; the
wind still continuing to blow with such force that it broke
our cable, and drifted the armed boat on shore. It was
at that time very dark, and our anchor lost. I thought
myself secure, as it was impossible for the Indians to dis-
cover us before daylight, unless they were in town at
the time we passed. Between the break of day and day-
light, I opened my cabin-window, and was talking with
the sentinel on the stern deck. We had spoke but a few
words before we were fired on by, I think, ten or more
guns, not more than thirty yards from the boat. The
men were immediately fixed for battle, but were disap-
pointed, as they [the Indians] made their escape imme-
diately. We only heard them yelp after the fire. So
soon as it was clear daylight, I had the boats landed about
the centre of the village, and sent to know what had be-
come of the citizens. Thev saidthev had heard nor seen
nothing. I then sent to the place we were fired on.
There were tracks plenty leading from that place up to
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 31
the village. This was what I expected. I immediately
had tliem all taken prisoners except Howard's express.
They were all in a house Avith their guns. Their guns
appeared to have just been lired. The most of them
were* empty. I gave them time to collect their projierty,
which was done immediately.
Howard's express came on board my boat and told me
that seven of the citizens went out (they said to hunt
beef) the morning we were fired upon. They started
about the break of day, and returned about daylight.
He said perhaps there were more, for they Avould never
let him know what they were going to do, and would
talk together in his absence. We staid two days after
they were taken prisoners. I made them furnish their
own rations all the time I kept them. I burnt down
about half the town of Peoria, and I would have burnt
the Avhole and destroyed all the stock, but I still expected
Hopkins's army to pass the place. I found four Ameri-
can muskets in their possession, and one keg of musket-
balls, and one musket in the house, under the floor, and
some brass musket-moulds. On our way down the river,
they were all unarmed. I gave them permission to camp
on shore, whilst I anchored in the river. They always
preferred the Indian side for their camj^ing-ground.
I have been a ery unwell since my return home. I can
scarcely sit up to write you, but I am mending.
I have the honor to be, sir,
Your humble servant,
Tiios. E. Ceaic*
*I received this letter from lion. Ninian W. Edwards, the son
of Gov. Kinian Edwards, and by him I am restricted to publish
it as it is hero, without the blanks being filled up ; but I presume
the whole will soon appear in a forthcoming History of Illinois,
which he is about to publish. I know not his motive for with-
holding from me a full copy, unless it is an apprehension that it
might affect the sale of his book.
32 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
I have not been able to find the authority by which
said Craig took those troops to Peoria; but that he did
the business under Gov. Edwards''s order, and to his sat-
isfaction, is presumable, from the fact that the governor
afterward appointed him colonel of the militia, and also
judge of Gallatin county.
CHAPTER IX.
THE SUBJECT COXTLNUED. GOV. REYNOLDS'S ACCOUNT OF IT.
But this is a much less war than the government in-
tended to get up in this region. It was planned to send
an army of Kentucky volunteers across Indiana and Illi-
nois to Peoria Lake, and another of Illinois militia, under
Governor Edwards and Col. Russell, from the southern
portion of Illinois, to form a junction with them in that vi-
cinity, and, thus united, to be able to overcome any force
the Indians miHit be able to brins^ a2:ainst them. Gov.
Shelby, of Kentucky, called for volunteers for this pur-
pose, and got more men than he wanted, and had to turn
some back. The troops accepted were concentrated at
Vincennes into an army, and marched up the Wabash to
Fort Harrison (near where the city of Terre Haute has
since [^been built), and there crossed the Wabash, and
struck out into the Grand Prairie, for the Kickapoo vil-
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 33
lage and Peoria. They had been brought up in a land of
forests, where they could always have wood to cook with,
trees to shelter them against an enemy, and 2:>lenty of
pure, running Avater, and provisions to eat; but here they
Avere out of sight of timber, in the bleak, wide expanse,
with no good water, and not much of any kind, and pro-
visions scarce; and, to cap the climax, they had heard
the foolish stories, that all the travelers who have traveled
in the great prairies tell, about tlie horrible prairie-iires,
that can lick up whole regiments, and they saAv the prai-
ries on fire in the distance, and they got horribly scared :
they got sulky : they mutinied, and Avent home, Avithout
doing any thing, leaving the other and smaller army to
its fate; and, had the Indians known the situation, they
could IiaA^e easily cut it off.
Fortunately, howcA^'er, for us, the Indians did not know
the unsui^ported condition of EdAvards and Russell's little
army ; and as soon as the latter found they Avere unsup-
ported by Gen. Hopkins, they made their escape out of
that part of the country. But as a stripling of their
army, John Reynolds, Avho afterward became governor
of the state, besides filling several other high oflices, pub-
lished a history of his life and times, I prefer to let him
tell the story about the smaller army in his OAvn Avay.
He says: "AVe left Camp Russell — marched up tiie
nortliAvest side of Cahokia creek, nearly to its source,
thence across the j)rairie to Macoupin creek, not far aboA'e
the present Carlinville We had guides along
Avho conducted the army to the village of Potawatamie
Indians, known as the Black Partridge village, situated
5
34 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
at the Illinois bluffs, nearly ojjposite the upper end of
Peoria Lake. We camped within four or five miles of the
Adllage, and all was silent as a grave-yard — as we ex-
pected a night attack, as was the case with Harrison at
Tippecanoe. "When troops are silent, sulky and savage,
they will fight. Our horses were tied near the camp, sad-
dled and i^repared for action, if needed. We lay with
our clothes on, and guns in our arms.
"A soldier by the name of Bradshaw fixing his gun, it
fired. Every man in the army was sure of a battle ; but,
in a few minutes. Gov. Edwards cried out 'it was an acci-
dent.' One thing I recollect, I had a white blanket-coat
on, and I considered it too white at night. I hulled this
coat off in double-quick time. It was said every one with
a white coat on in the battle of Tippecanoe was killed.
. . . . The next morning, in a fog, our company,
the spies, met two Indians, as we supj)Osed, and our cap-
tain fired on them. Many of us, before he shot, begged
for mercy for the Indians, as they wanted to surrender.
But Judy said any body will surrender when they can
not helj) it, and that he did not leave home to take pris-
oners. I saw the dust rise off the Indian's leather shirt,
when Judy's bullet entered his body. Both Indians were
mounted on good horses. The Indian commenced sing-
ing: his death-sons:, the blood streamino: out of his mouth
and nose. He was reeling, and a man from the main
army, Mr. Wright, came up within a few yards of the
wounded Indian, but the Indian just previously had pre-
sented his gun at some of us near him, but we darted off
our horses as quick as thought, and presented the horses
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 35
between him and us, so he could not shoot us; but
Wright was either surj^rised or something else, and re-
mained on his horse. The Indian, as quick as a steel
trap, shot Wright, and in a few minutes the Indian ex-
pired Tlie other Indian sup2:)osed to be a
warrior was a squaw. But before the fact w^as known,
many guns were fired at her. It is singular that so many
guns fired at the squaw missed her; but when the whites
surrounded her and knew her sex, all was over. She
cried terribly, and was taken prisoner, and at last deliv-
ered over to her nation. Many of the French, in the
army, understood her language, and made her as haj^py
as possible. In this matter, I never fired my gun, as I
saw no occasion for it
"When the troops came near the village, no order nor
restraint could be observed. All pounced on the town,
pell-mell^ with shouts *loud and long'; but just w^hen we
came in sight, the Indians — men, women and children — re-
treated from the village, in the greatest hurry and speed.
Near the town were swamps, almost impassable, and a great
portion of the horsemen were mired before they knew it.
My horse fell down in the mud, and I went rolling over
his head, in the swamp. Near me, I saw Gov. Edwards
and horse flounder in a deep mud-hole, both dow^n and
covered with black mud. The village was built here on
account of the mud and imj)assable morasses, for defense.
The Indians saved themselves by the swamps. Horse-
men could not act, and the cat-tail and brush Avere so
thick in these morasses that the Indians hid in them, and
it was dangerous to approach them. Several parties, on
36 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
foot, trailed after the body of Indians two or three miles,
across the swampy bottom, to the river, and killed some
of the enemy on the route, and at the river. A few of the
army were womided, but none killed What
corn and other articles could not be removed were burnt.
A complete destruction of the village was effected.
Some Indian children were found in the ashes and saved.
A large Indian was wounded, and thereby was unable to
run off with the rest ; he was starving, and ate bread vo-
raciously when it was given him. He was protected while
the army remained in the village, but it was said that
some straggler behind killed him after the army left. . .
"When we reached this village, we heard nothing of
Hopkins; and I j^resume it was not prudent to remain
there any time. In this vicinity, in a day or two, one
thousand Indians could be assembled. Under these cir-
cumstances, the army started back the same day they de-
stroyed the village. I recollect all the booty I took was a
deer-skin, sewed fast all around, and it full of corn. It
rained in the evening, and my corn-sack got wet, which
caused it to become as slippery as a fish ; but I hung to
it, and got it into camp that night.
"Every one dreaded an attack from the Indians, as
they all knew that they were numerous in that vicinity.
We traveled on to dark, in torrents of rain, and camped
on the high bluff of the river, where we could obtain
neither water to drink nor wood to burn. We were all
exhausted, and many lay down in the rain and mud
without food, fire, or water to drink. I never experienced
such a bad night. I saw in the morning men sleeping
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 37
lialf-covered with mud, wliere the horses and men had
tramped the earth. No Indians appeared, and Ave were
glad of it. Tlie next morning, we started by time. Got
out into the open woods ; made fires ; dried ourselves ; fired
off our guns; loaded again; eat our breakfast, and com-
menced in earnest our march for home.
" While the army was in the neighborhood of tlie old
village of Peoria, Capt. Craig had his boat lying in the
lake, adjacent to Peoria. The boat was fortified, so that
the fire of the enemy could not penetrate it. Craig was
attacked on several occasions, by the Indians, but
received no damage.
"Our army reached Camp Russell in safety, after some
weeks' march, where we were received with the honors
of a salutation, booming from the Fort Chartres's cannon,
and the roar of small arms. The troops, for the most
part, were permitted to return to their homes ; and Judy's
company, wherein I was a private, was discharged en-
tirely.
" Thus closed this short, energetic campaign, which,
no doubt, did much service in preventing the Indians from
marauding around the frontiers. Not a man was killed,
and all were j^leased with the services they performed
for their country." — JReynolds's lAfe and I'imes, 1S7
to lJt.3.
What an extraordinary story is this ! A considerable
army marches about 200 miles north to form a junction
with another much larger, marching from the southeast,
at Peoria, and, properly to expedite the business, the
small army sends Captain Craig with his command up
38 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
the river, in boats, T\'ith provisions. The captain's com-
pany arrives at Peoria, in due time, and takes the village
and burns it, and is quietly resting on its oars. The small
army, in stead of going to Peoria, passes within a few
miles of it, without sending over to see if Capt. Craig
had arrived, or was in need of succor, or could tell where
Hopkins, the commander of the larger army, was, marches
up to the Indian village, about twenty miles above Peoria,
finds no body there but a man and his wife, who are not
combatants, but beg hard for their lives; but mercy
reigns not in that crowd: they kill the man at once, and
shoot many balls at the woman, but her sex, or her mani-
tou, or what-not, protects her. The trooj^s ascertain (but
how they ascertain it is not stated) that the charmed in-
dividual is a woman ; they cease to desire to do Avhat it
seems they were unable to do — to kill the woman. They
afterward found an old crij^ple, that was unable to get
out of the way, who was also killed. What few Indians
had been there, except these three and some small child-
ren, escaj^ed into the swamps, and across the river. Then,
without hearing from Hopkins or Craig, they turned tail,
the same day, and fled precij^itately through mud and
rain about 200 miles, to their starting-place, passing
Peoria again, without sending over to ascertain the fate
of Craig and his boats. And all this without their having
lost a man or having obtained any knowledge as to where
the Indian army was. For all that they knew, the
Indians were fighting Craig at Peoria, or Hopkins in the
Grand Prairie near by.
Again he says they camped on the 'blufis of the river,
1
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 39
where we could obtain neither Avater to drink nor wood
to burn'. This, I am positive is not correct. Every-
where alono- there the bkilfs abound with wood. I have
been over that ground, but, for fear of a mistake, I inquired
of Mr. Josiah Fulton, who is acquainted with every foot
of gi'ound in that neighborhood, and was for years
among those Indians, and he says there was then no place
along there where wood was not plenty. I suspect Rey-
nolds did not knoAV where he was. In stead of being on
the bluli', he was in the great prairie, near where Meta-
raora or Cruger noAV stands.
He further sajs, "AVlien we reached this village we
heard nothing of Hopkins." \Yhy should they, when
they shot the first man who met them and attempted to
speak to them ? And on that account he says, " I presume
it was not prudent to remain there any time." Then why
not turn and meet Hopkins, as they knew the direction
he was coming, in stead of fleeing pell-mell 200 miles, in
another direction?
But to what place did they flee ? He says to Camp
Russell, which was about a mile north of Edwardsville,
in Madison county. But he adds that they were saluted
by the guns of Fort Chartres, which, however, happens
to be an old dilapidated fort some forty or fifty miles from
Camp Russell.
He calls this a short and energetic campaign, and
claims great credit for their patriotic services. A more
extraordinary hallucination is not on record, unless it
was the case of the monomaniac who Avorked himself
into the belief that his legs were glass, and was afraid to
use them, lest they should break.
40 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Of himself Reynolds says, on page 139, "In this small
matter I never fired my gnn, as I saw no occasion for
it " ; and on page 141, "I recollect all the booty I took was
a deer-skin, sewed fast all aronnd, and it full of corn. It
rained in the evening, and my corn-sack got wet, which
caused it to become as slippery as a fish ; but I hung to
it, and got it into camp that night." Yet for these serv-
ices, and those in another campaign to Peoria, the next
fall, in which no one fired a gun, he assumed the title of
'The old Ranger'; and on account of this title, not his
services, he was enabled to obtain the best ofiices in the
state, as long as he lived.
CHAPTER X.
THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. ERECTION AND DESTRUCTION OF
FORT CLARK.
"In September, 1813, Gen. Howard marched with about
1400 men from Portag-e des Sioux for Peoria," — BecJc's
Gazetteer^ IJfJf. It required but little fighting to take
possession of and hold the place, and they built a work
which became of some notoriety in the vicinity, called
Fort Clark, in honor of Gen. George Rogers Clark, the
celebrated hero of Yincennes and Kaskaskia. This fort
was a simple stockade, constructed by planting two rows
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 41
of logs firmly in the grouiul, near each other, and filling
the space between with earth. This, of course, was not
intended as a defense against artillery, of which the
Indians had none. This fort was about a hundred feet
square, with a ditch along each side. It did uot stand
with a side to the lake, but with a corner toward it. The
corner farthest from the lake was on the upper side of
Water street, near the intersection of the upper line of
Water and Liberty streets. From there the west line ran
diagonally across the intersection of Water and Liberty
streets, nearly to the corner of the transportation ware-
house, at the loAver corner of Liberty and Water streets.
At this corner was what I suppose military men would
call a bastion; that is, there was a projecting corner made
in the same manner as the side walls, and so constructed,
as I imagine, as to accommodate a small cannon to com-
mand the ditches. And the same had no doubt been at
the opposite corner; but when I came to the country, in
November, 1831, there was no vestige of it remaining.
In fact, at that time there was but little to show that
there had ever been a fortification there, except some
burnt posts along the west side, and a square of some ten
or twelve feet at the south corner, and a ditch nearly filled
up, on two sides of this square and on the west side of
the fort. The fort had been burnt down to the embank-
ment of this square and of the w^est side. After which the
embankments had been mostly worn away by the rains
and other means, until that part of the logs that was
under ground had become charred posts. Some of them,
however, had become entirely decayed and were gone.
6
42 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
On the other sides there was but little to be seen of logs
or embankment. I lived where the transportation Avare-
house is for more than ten years, and when I leveled
down the southerly angle, for my own convenience, one
of those posts became high enough and was strong enough
for a hitching-post, and I employed a blacksmith (Isaac
Evans) to put hooks in it for that purpose. That post
was used for that purpose until I removed from there in
May, 18-44. It was then taken up by Mr. Drown, and
sawed up into walking-caues, and sold on speculation at
fifty cents each.
Here is a subject worthy of the philosopher. This log
remained in the ground, and in the weather, about thirty-
one years, and was then mostly sound. Why did it so
greatly outlast the others? This, it is true, was white
or burr oak — I believe the latter, — and thev are both
generally durable wood, but not to this extent. Farmers
are well satisfied to have either white or burr oak to last
half of this time.
I have heard that this old fort was burnt in 1819; but
the following letter from Col. Hubbard, in answer to one
I had written to him, for information, seems to fix it
in 1818.
Chicago Dec. oOth, 18G7.
C. Ballaxce, Esq.
Dear Sir : In reply to yours of the 2Gth, I have to
say that I was in Peoria the last days of 1818, for the
first time, on my way to St. Louis passing there, return-
ing about the 20th Xovember, and wintering about one
mile above Hennepin. It was my first year as an Indian
trader.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 43
As we rounded the point of the lake, above Peoria, on
our down trip, we noticed that old Fort Clark was on fire,
just blazing up. lieachingit, we found about 200 Indians
congregated, enjoying a war-dance, painted hideously,
with scalps on their spears and in their sashes, which
they had taken from the heads of Americans, in the
war with Great Britain, from 1812 to 1815. They were
dancing, rehearsing their deeds of bravery, etc. These
were the only people then there, or in that vicinity. I
never knew of a place called Creve-Cceur
I have a vivid recollection of my first arrival there. A
warrior, noticing me (then a boy of IG), asked Mr. Des
Champs, the chief of our expedition, who I was. He
replied that I was his adojited son, just from Montreal;
but this Avas not credited. The Indian said I was a young
American, and seemed disposed to cpiarrel with me.
Des Champs, wishing to mix with the Indians, left a man
on the boat with me, telling him not to leave, but take
care of me, not to go out. Through this man, I learned
what the purport of the conversation was. The Indian
remained at the bow of the boat talking to me through
this man, who interpreted, saying, among other things,
that I was a young American, and taking from his sash
scalp after scalp, saying they were my nations, he saw I
was frightened. I was never more so in my life, fiiirly
trembling with fear. His last efi:brt to insult me Avas
taking a long-haired scalp, . . . [Here the Colonel
describes the particular way in Avhich the Indian made it
very wet, and then proceeds] and then shaking it so that
it sprinkled me in tlie face. In a moment all fear left me,
and I seized Mr. Des Champs's double-barreled gun,
took good aim, and fired. The man guarding me Avas
standing about half Avay betAveen us, and, just as I pulled
trigger, he struck up the gun, and thereby saved the life
of the Indian, and perhaps mine also. It produced great
confusion, Des Champs and all our men running to their
44 niSTOEY OF PEOmA.
boats. After n short consultation among^ the old traders.
Des Champs ordered the boats to push out, and ^xe de-
scended the stream and went down three or four miles,
and camped on the opposite side of the river. That was
my first exj)erience of hostile array with my red brethren.
Yours, etc.,
G. S. Hubbard.
Since writing the above, I have talked witli Josiah
Fulton and William Blanchard, who first came here in
1819, and they are positive that they then found it on fire,
and put it out. Perhaj^s they are both right. Perhaps
when it was first set on fire it was only partly con-
sumed. Earth having been filled in between the pickets,
they would not burn fast, and the fire would be easily
extinguished.
CHAPTER XL
THE FIRST AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS AT PEORIA.
From the fall of 1813 until the sjning of 1819, nearly
six years, no white man attempted to reside at this place.
It was wholly abandoned by the French pojDulation who
had formerly lived here. K^o man who had lived here
previous to the destruction of their village in 1813 ever
attempted to reside here again, nor did any of their de-
niSTORT OF PEORIA. 45
scendants, except that one Fortier, whose wife was de-
scended from one of the old settlers, was here for a while,
as long as he pleased, and then went away. Not only
Peoria, during that time, but all the country as far south
as the distance of more than a hundred miles, as far east
as the AV abash river, as far north as the north pole (ex-
cept a garrison at Chicago and one at Green Bay), and
as ftir west as the Pacific Ocean, was one broad, howling
wilderness, inhabited only by savage beasts, and wild
men, 'more savage far than they'.
In the spring of 1819, seven men, then living in a set-
tlement called Shoal Creek, Clinton Co., Illinois, to wit, —
Abncr Eads, a Virginian by birth ; I. Hersey, a New-
Yorker; Seth Fulton and Josiah Fulton, Virginians; S.
Daugherty, J. Davis and T. Russell, Kentuckians, made
up a company to emigrate to Peoria, then called Fort
Clark. Eads and Hersey came through by land, with
two pack-horses. The others came uj) the Mississippi
and Illinois rivers, in what was then known, in the West,
as a keel-boat.
Eads and Hersey, in coming through the trackless
wilderness, struck the Illinois at or near the place where
]\Ieredosia now stands, in stead of Peoria; but, being
there, they crossed over to the west side, and made their
way some how, but how I know not, up the west side to
Peoria. Before roads were oj^ened and bridges built be-
tween Meredosia and Peoria, on the west side of the
river, the country was one of the worst to travel in I have
ever seen. On the west side there are broad, low lands,
full of lakes, swamps, and lagoons, and all except the
46 HISTORY OF PEOEIA.
lakes covered with dense forests and brushwood. And
beyond all this is a row of hills of from half a mile to
a mile wide, also covered with tall trees and nnder-
brush. Moreover, a half-dozen streams must be crossed
that are some times too deep to ford. Whereas, had thev
taken the east side of the river, they would have had
but two streams of any note to cross, and might have had
smooth, dry prairie the most of the way. But the
country was not then known. So Lewis and Clark
crossed the Rocky Mountains at so high and cold a place
that in June there was more snow on the mountains than
they could surmount, and they had to go back to a
valley, where they could find provender for their horses,
until the snow melted. But now people understand the
country better.
Eads and Hersey, however, succeeded in getting
through to Peoria, on the 17th day of April, 1819, and
pitched their tents against some of the remaining timbers
of Fort Clark, which had been burnt by the Indians. On
the 19th Eads, meeting with a deserter from Fort Dear-
born, at Chicago, coming down the river in a canoe, left
Hersey in charge of their horses and camp, and i^assed
down the river with the deserter, to see what had be-
come of his comrades and keel-boat. A few miles below,
however, in the neighborhood of Lamarsh creek, he met
them, in good health and spirits, and turned back with
them, and all arrived safely at Peoria the same day.
Their tents and boats served them for shelter and hab-
itation until they could fit up two cabins, that some one,
perhaps the United States soldiers, had put up, but had
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 47
not covered nor finished. These pioneers immediately
planted fifteen or twenty acres of corn and potatoes.
In the latter part of May Mr. Eads started to Shoal
Creek for his family. About the first of June he arrived
there, and by the eighth or tenth of June he had his little
affairs closed up, and his wife and three children, and as
much household and kitchen furniture as a pioneer deems
indispensable, in his wagon, and all on the way to Peoria.
He had now learned more of the country, and 'struck a
bee-line' north through the high prairie, and came to the
Illinois at the high land on which Pekin has since been
built. He followed the river uj) to the next high land,
where the village of Wesley stands, and there crossed
over, and soon got to Peoria. His object in crossing
there probably was to avail himself of the aid of any
Indians or Indian canoes there might be there to aid
him in crossing the river ; for that was in those days a
trading-jDOst, and there were generally both Indians and
canoes to be found there.
On or about the 10th of June, Capt. Jude Warner ar-
rived here from St. Louis, with a keel-boat loaded with
salt and provisions, and a seine for fishing in the lake.
His company consisted of Isaac De Boice, James Goff,
William Blanchard, David Barnes, Charles Sargent, and
Theodore Sargent. They spent the season catching and
salting fish, in bulk, as is some times done with pork
when barrels are scarce.
But little, in those days, was known of this part of the
country ; and, had ever so much been known about it, it
was almost inaccessible to other parts of the world.
48 HISTORY OF PEORL\.
There^were then neither roads, bridges, nor canals, and
it was a long and tedious way to come down the Ohio
and up the Mississippi and Illinois, or by the lakes, and
down a hundred miles overland to the navisrable waters
of the Mississippi or Illinois. Besides, for a large por-
tion of the United States it was several hundred miles to
the lakes or the Ohio. The consequence was that our
country filled up slowly : so slowly that, in 1825, when
Peoria county was organized, tlie whole country coming
within its jurisdiction, including the Avhole north half of
the state — Galena and Chicago, — contained only a pop-
ulation of 1236 souls.
In those days j^eople, in speaking of coming to this
place, called it going or coming to Fort Clark. And the
legislature, in the act creating Peoria county, called it "An
act to form a new county out of the country in the vicin-
ity of Fort Clark." But they called the county Peoria,
and located the county-seat on a particular quarter-sec-
tion ; and when the county commissioners had the town-
site surveyed, they called it Peoria, and in a short time
Fort Clark was dropped, and the place was universally
called Peoria. This name is said to have been derived
from a tribe of Indians, who took possession of the
country about Lake Peoria, and transmitted to it their
name; but travelers and historians have not agreed in
the spelling of the name. I have seen it spelt Piorias,
Proraria and Proneroa. Hennei^in wrote it Pimitouii;
but this, I suppose, is another name given to it (as Peoria
was) after a tribe of Indians, who were destroyed or
driven away by the Peorias. This word is also variously
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 49
spelt: I liave seen it terminate with one i, with two i's,
and with three. There were Indians here, when I came,
who caUed tlie phice Cock-meek; but what they meant
by it I never knew. The French some times called it
0-Pa, their mode of pronouncing Au Pied, the foot,
meaning the foot of the lake. However, in old times
they called their town, which was about a mile and a
half above the outlet, Peoria; and when they began to
build at the outlet, they called that place La ville de
Maillet (after John B. Maillet, who hrst built there), or
the New Village of Peoria ; but in process of time, when
the old village had become entirely abandoned, the name
Peoria became transferred to the new village, and so it
came to be generally called, until the building of Fort
Clark.
CHAPTER XII.
STATE OF ILI.INOIS AND SUNDRY COUNTIES, INCLUDING PEO-
KIA, ORGANIZED.
Ox the 18th of April, 1818, Congress passed "An act
to enable the people of the Illinois Territory to frame a
constitution and state government, and for the admission
of said state into the Union."
On the 26th of August, 1818, a convention met at Kas-
kaskia to form a constitution for the State of Illinois.
7
50
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Under a constitution made by this convention the state
government went into operation, and so continued until
the first day of April, 1848, when the present constitu-
tion, which had been adopted by a convention in the pre-
vious August, went into operation.
The first constitution was made by men living in the
southern part of the state — that portion that, for some
whimsical reason, is called Egypt. Not a man was in the
convention that formed it from any portion of the state
north of Madison and Crawford counties. The counties
represented were the following, and by the following
delegates :
St. Clair county, — John Messenger and Jas. Lemen, jr.
Randolph
Madison
Gallatin
Johnson
Edwards
White
Monroe
Poj^e
Jackson
Crawford
Bond
Union
Washington "
a
Eranklin
" — George Fisher and Elias Kent Kane.
— B. Stephenson, Josej^h Borong, and
Abraham Prickett.
— Michael Jones, Leonard White, and
Adolphus Frederick Hubbard.
— Hezekiah West and Wm. McFatridge.
— Seth Gard and Levi Compton.
— Willis Hargrave and Wm. McHenry.
— Caldwell Cams and Enoch Moore.
— Samuel Omelveny and Ferguson.
— Conrad Will and James Hall, jr.
— Josej^h Kitchell and Ed. X. Cullom.
— Thomas Kirkpatrick and Samuel G.
Morse.
— William Echols and John Whiteacre.
— Andrew Bankson.
— Isham Harrison and Thomas Roberts.
a
ii
u
a
u
u
a
a
u
u
u
William C. Greenup, Secretary of the Convention.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 51
"VVe have recently elected and have now in session a con-
vention to amend or remodel om- constitution, which con-
sists of eighty-four members : sixteen of them are from tlie
country which then composed the above-named counties,
and sixty-eight of them from the residue of the state, which
was then a ' desert wild' and had no voice in the convention
that formed our present constitution. What a mighty
change of jurisdiction is here. Although that portion in the
south which originally gave law to the state has greatly in-
creased in population, yet the North has increased in so
much greater ratio that the then wilderness gives now
about four-fifths of the delegates, against one-fifth given by
the then populated part of the state.
As proofs of all the French claims were made at Ed-
wardsville, and many of our first deeds were recorded
there, this is, perhaps, a proper place to explain Avhy that
was so. The first governor of the Illinois territory
was Gen. St. Clair. He, by proclamation, divided the
whole territory into three counties, and so it remained
until the 14th of September, 1812, when Governor
Edwards, by proclamation, established the county of
Madison, Avith the following boundaries, to wit: "Be-
ginning on the Mississippi, to run with the second town-
ship above Cahokiaeast, until it strikes the dividing line
between the Illinois and Indiana territories ; thence with
the said dividing line to the line of JJpper Canada;
thence with said line to the Mississippi ; thence down
the Mississippi to the jjlace of beginning." There may
be some doubt as to the meaning of this boundary;
but, by any construction that can be put upon it, it in-
62 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
eluded Peoria, and more than tbree-fonrths of the state,
and Edwardsville having been laid off and become the
county-seat of this great county is the reason of some of
our land documents being found at that place. But a
few of them were recorded in Pike county; that is
because, on the 31st of January, 1821, Pike county was
established by an act of the legislature, with the follow-
ing boundaries: "Beginning at the mouth of the Illinois
river, and running thence uj) the middle of said river to
the forks of the same ; thence up the south fork of said
river until it strikes the state line of Indiana; thence
north with said line to the north boundary-line of this
state ; thence west to the west boundary-line of the state ;
and thence wdth said line to the place of beginning."
On the 28th of January, 1823, by an act of the legisla-
ture, the County of Fulton was carved out of the above
territory, and for county i^urposes the territory since
composing Peoria county was attached, so that at the
following election the people (what few there were of
them) had to go down to Lewistown to vote, and by a
little management beat the Fultonites in electing a
sheriff: Abner Eads beating Ossian M. Ross, the Fulton
man.
On the 13th of January, 1825, the legislature passed
a law establishing the County of Peoria, with the fol-
lowing boundaries, to wit: "Beginning where the line
between townships eleven and twelve north intersects the
Illinois river; thence west with said line to the ransre-line
between ranges four and five east; thence south with said
line to the range-line between townships seven and eight;
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 5
Q
thence enst to the line between ranges five and six;
thence south to the niicldle of tlie main channel of the
Illinois river; thence up along the middle of the main
channel of said river to the place of beginning."
The second section of said bill, as a temporary arrange-
ment, added, for county purposes, all the land north of
township 20 of the third principal meridian, and between
the said third meridian and the Illinois, Avhich had been
a part of Sangamon county.
The third section locates the countv-seat on the north-
ft/
east quarter of section nine, of town eight north of the
base line, and range eight east of the fourth principal
meridian, which still contains the best-improved part of
the citv.
The ninth section attaches, in the same manner as is
provided by section two, all the land north of Peoria
county, the Illinois river, and the Kankakee river.
CHAPTER XIII.
COUNTY COMMISSIOXERS' COURT AND BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
The first county commissioners under that law were
William Holland, Joseph Smith, and Nathan Dillon.
They met at Peoria, on the eighth day of March, 1825.
They appointed Norman Hyde their clerk, and Aaron
54
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Hawley their treasurer. On the first day they made an
order that the county-seat be estahUshed at Peoria.
(This was nugatory, for the act of the legislature had
fixed that.) Also, that a court-house be erected, twenty
feet square, and nine feet between the floor and the joists;
and a clerk's office, fourteen feet square. But at the next
meeting of the board, which was held four days after, it
was ordered that those orders be rescinded, — j^robably
because some one suggested to them that they had no
money, for they immediately passed an order " that all
property subject to a county tax be taxed one-half of one
per cent, on the value of the same."
Xo such court-house or jail were ever built. The pres-
ent court-house, with rooms in it for clerks' offices, was
built in 1834. Previously to this the court was held in a
small log building, about 16 by 18 feet square, at or near
where the Fort Clark Mill stands.
On the 8th of June Hyde resigned the office of clerk,
and John Dixon was appointed in his stead. On this day
the order for a one-half per cent, tax was rescinded, and
a tax of one per cent. laid.
On the 7th of December, 1825, the county was di-
vided into three election 23recincts. One was called the
Chicago precinct, and Alexander Wolcott, John Kinzie,
and John Baptiste Beaubien, all inhabitants of Chicago,
were aj)pointed judges.
This was called the Countv Commissioners' Court, and
its powers were similar to those now exercised by the
Board of Supervisors.
On the 5th of September, 1826, Nathan Dillon, WiUiara
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 55
Holland and John Hamlin appeared and qualified as
county commissioners. John Dixon still clerk, and
Samuel Fulton sheriiF.
At the June term, 1827, John Hamlin, George Sharp
and Henry Thomas were county commissioners; bat
clerk and sheriff remained as before. Here it should be
observed that none of the first set of county commissioners
Avere elected from Peoria county proper, but from the
country attached to it for judicial purposes. Of the sec-
ond set, one (John Hamlin) was from Peoria county
proper, but of the last set all were from Peoria county
proper.
On the 4th of August, 1828, Orin Hamlin was sheriff,
and Isaac Egmon and Francis Thomas were elected
county commissioners, who Avith George Sharp now
composed the board.
On the 1st of May, 1830, Stephen Stillman was ap-
pointed clerk, in place of John Dixon, resigned.
On the lib. of June, 1830, Isaac Waters was appointed
to take the census of the county proper, and found the
increase in five years to be 556.
This record shows that at the September term George
Sharp, John Hamlin and Stephen French composed the
board of county commissioners; Stephen Stillman, clerk;
Henry B. Stillman, sheriff; and Resolved Cleveland,
coroner.
On the 4th of April, 1831, Resolved Cleveland was
elected county commissioner, in place of George Sharp,
deceased.
On the 6th of June, 1831, Isaac "Waters was ajipointed
clerk, in place of Stephen Stillman, resigned.
56 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
On the oth of Xoveraber, 1831, John Coyle was elect-
ed county commissioner, in place of John Hamlin,
resigned.
On the oth of March, 1832, Aquila Wren was elected
county commissioner, in place of Stephen French,
resigned.
At the Sej)tember term, John Coyle, Aquila Wren and
Edwin S. Jones sat as county commissioners, and John
W. Caldwell acted as sheriff.
At an election on the 4th of August, 1834, John Coyle,
Orin Hamlin and Andrew Tharp were elected county
commissioners, and William Compiler sheriff.
On the 30th of April, 1835, William Compher was ap-
pointed to take the census, and found the increase in five
years to be 1407.
On the 1st of June, 1835, William Mitchell was ap-
pointed clerk, in the place of Isaac AYaters, removed.
At an election held on the 6th of October, 1835,
Thomas Bryant was elected sheriff, in place of William
Compher, resigned.
At the Se2:)tember term, 1836, Aquila Wren, Samuel
T. McKean and William J. Phelps took their seats as
county commissioners, Mitchell as clerk, and Bryant as
sheriff.
At the September term, 1838, Clark D. Powell, Smith
Frye and Moses Harlan took their seats as county com-
missioners; same clerk and sheriff.
On the 10th of January, 1840, William Hale was elected
a county commissioner, in place of Moses Harlan, who
had been elected to the legislature. A. W. Harkness
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 57
was appointed to take the eensus, and found an increase
in five years of 3842.
To trace the proceedings of the county commissioners
any further down toward our own times would, I ]jrc-
sume, be uninteresting to one whose object is to read the
liistory of the City of Peoria.
The civil list for 1844 was as follows:
Jolin D. Caton, Judge of the Circuit Court.
Benjamin F. Fridley, State's Attorney.
Tliomas P. Smith, )
Clementius Ewalt, r County Commissioners.
AVilliam Dawson, )
William M. Dodge, County Treasurer and xVssessor.
Julius A. Johnson, Collector.
GeorGje C. JMcFadden, Survevor.
Charles Kettelle, Recorder.
Smith Frye, Sheriff.
Chester Hamlin, Coroner.
John C. Heyl, Public Administrator.
William Mitchell, Clerk of both courts.
AVilliam II. Fessenden, Probate Justice.
Dennis Blakeley, Thomas Bryant and Jonathan K.
Cooper, Justices of the Peace.
AVilliam Weis, Thomas ^NFercer, Daniel K. Oakley
aid Jacob Silzell, Constables.
The mode of governing counties by three county com-
missioners was continued in Peoria up to April 8th, 1850.
Previously to that date the legislature passed a law estab-
lisliing what is called 'Township Organization'; that is,
a law erecting each townshi]) into a sort of little munici-
8
58 HISTOEY OF PEOEIA.
pality, with the right to regulate its own iuternal affairs
to some extent, and with the right to be represented in
a Larger municipal body for the whole county, called
the Board of Supervisors. But this law was unpopular
among western people, and to get the legislature to
adoi^t it, it became necessary to add a clause to the law
that it should not take effect in any county until a ma-
jority of the legal voters of the county, at any general
election, should vote for it. The eastern people generally
voted for the law, and the western and southern people
generally voted against it ; but the foreigners, not being
acquainted with either mode, followed as their leaders
went. Some counties ado2:)ted it, but the larger j^ortion
did not. The door being open all the time, howcA^er, for
those objecting to come into the measure, and being
closed against any after having adoj^ted it returning to
the old plan, and the new plan furnishing more offices
than the other, which, to Americans, is an unanswerable
argument in favor of any measure, the thing has been so
managed that, in a little less than twenty years, sixty-
six counties have come into the measure; leaving only
thirty-six which still stand out, and refuse to adopt the
system. Peoria county was one of the first that adopted
the svstem: and hence the records show that on the 8th
of April, 1850, the first board of supervisors assembled
at Peoria, and the board was organized with the follow-
ing members, viz : Stephen C. Wheeler, John Combs,
Samuel Dimon, Josiah Fulton, Charles S. Strother, Jona-
than Brassfield, Benjamin Slane, Isaac Brown, L. B.
Cornwell, William W. Church, Clark W. Stanton and
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 59
David R. Gregory, Supervisors; and Charles Kettelle,
Clerk. Samuel Dimon was elected Chairman of the
board, for one year.
By such aboard, subject to have the members changed
at every election, we have been governed from that day
to this.
Atj^resentthe following 2:)ersons compose the board, viz :
John Waugh, Horace G. Anderson, D. M. Baty, Joseph
Burdett, Peter Cline, Samuel Caldwell, Seth W. Free-
man, John AY. Fuller, Louis Green, James H. Hart, Emil
Huber, L. F. Jones, George Jenkins, Albert F. Lincoln,
Engelbert Xader, Ralph Phillips, William Rowcliif, Sam-
uel S. Slane, Edgar Ayres, Cyrus Tucker, Otto Triebel,
U. B. Van Patten, E.' G. Webster, Patrick Ward, I).
C. Wheeler, and Lorin Wilder. Col. John D. McClure,
Clerk.
CPL\PTER XIV.
THE FIRST CIRCUIT COURT. TRIAL OF XOMAQUE, ETC.
The first circuit court ever held in Peoria was on the
14th of November, a.d. 1825. John York Sawyer acted
as judge, John Dixon as clerk, Samuel Fulton as sheriff,
and John Turney as attorney-general ^:>ro tern. The grand
jurors were John Hamlin, Stephen French, Abner Cooper,
George Love, Elias P. Avery, Thomas Dillon, Henry
60 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Thomas, George Harlan, Isaac Waters, Augustus Lang
worthy, George Sharp, Seth Wilson, John Cline, George
Cline, Isaac Perkins, John PhilijDS, and Major Donaho.
At this term of the court, Xoraaque, an Indian, was
tried for the murder of a Frenchman, and found guilty,
and sentenced to suffer death ; but the case was carried
to the Suj^reme Court, and the judgment reversed, and a
new trial granted, as any one may see by looking into
Breese's Reports, which may be found in most of the old
law-offices. The Peorians had no jail, and they got
tired of the expense of guarding Xomaque, and finally
let him go. The jurors who tried him were Austin
Crocker, Allen S. Daugherty, Alexander McXaughten,
Walter Dillon, Henry Xeely, William Woodrow, Peter
Dumont, Aaron Reed, Abram Galentine, Josiah Fulton,
Cornelius Dotv, and David Matthis.
That this Indian was guilty of murder there has never
been any doubt; but that his trial was conducted in a
disorderly and shameful manner is apparent from the re-
port of the case aboA^e referred to; but more irregularities
than are there named, I have no doubt, occurred, for all
the old settlers speak of it as a drunken j^roceeding.
The record of the circuit court does not show what irresr-
ularities occurred, but the judge entered several fines
against the lawyers for ' a contempt of court ', without
stating in what the contempt consisted.
Many stories have been told about this Indian by the
old settlers, and some of them have been contradicted
by others ; and because I do not know the truth, I omit
them all. The old settlers even disao-ree as to how he
o
HISTORY OF PEORIA. Gl
came to his death. He left the neighborhood of Peoria
before I came here, and was never in the place afterward,
to my knowledge. He probably was afraid of Peorians.
Wlien I came here the story had got to be aii old one,
and no body cared to punish him if he had come back ;
but every one that I heard speak of him spoke of him as
a very bad man. He had no friends here.
A remarkable feature in this case is that William S.
Hamilton, a son of the celebrated Alexander Hamilton,
appeared in defense of the Indian. At the time of this
trial I believe that he lived in Springfield, though at one
time he lived in Galena. He never resided at Peoria,
but was employed by the county commissioners of Peoria
county, in 1826, to survey the town, now city, of Peoria,
and did survey the first sixteen blocks; and he, or the
commissioners for Avhom he acted, gave names to the
following streets, which names they still bear: AYater,
Washington, Adams, Jeflferson, Madison, Monroe, Liberty,
Fulton, Main, Hamilton, and Fayette. He at the same time,
under authority of the surveyor-general at St. Louis, sur-
veyed the 'French claims' of Peoria; but as his survey
was not approved, it has cut no figure in the many suits
about those claims.
62 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
CHAPTER XV.
THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. JUDGE YOUNG, FORD, ETC.
John York Sawyer had ceased to be judge before I
came to Peoria, and Richard M. Young was occupying
that honorable position. It may be amusing to the pres-
ent freneration to be informed that in 1832 and 1833 the
Hon. R. M. Young's judicial circuit included Quincy,
Peoria, Rock Island, Galena, Ottawa, and Cliicago: in
fact, all the country which noAV constitutes the counties
of Pike, Adams, Brown, Schuyler, Fulton, McDonough,
Hancock, Henderson, Warren, Knox, Peoria, Marshall,
Stark, Henry, Mercer, Rock Island, Putnam, Bureau,
Lasalle, DeKalb, Lee, Whiteside, Carroll, Jo Daviess,
Stephenson, Winnebago, Ogle, Boone, McHenry, Lake,
Cook, DuPage, Kane, Grundy, and Will.
Here was a country large enough for a kingdom, and
as fertile as the Garden of Eden, but almost destitute of
population. The Indians were compelled, partly by the
force of arms, and partly by public opinion, to leave the
country in 1832, and there were but few white men in all
this tract of country at that time, and that few had not
been here long enough to have started much litigation.
In the spring of 1833, three days were ample time to clear
the docket in Peoria, Ottawa, or Chicago, although there
were then but two terms of court held in a year.
1
J
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 63
In those days there were but few roads or bridges any
where in the north half of the state. Xo road of any
kind had then been opened from Peoria to Chicago. In
fact, the most essential requisites of a good judge, for
this circuit, were to OAvn a good horse and be a good
rider. These two requisites Judge Young possessed in
a high degree. He was a fine-looking, complaisant Ken-
tuckian, who j^ossessed not much legal learning, but a
fine, high-blooded Kentucky horse, and knew well how
to ride him.
In May, 1833, he made his appearance in the Village
of Peoria, and announced that he was on his way to
Chicago to hold court. He had traveled about 130 miles,
from Quincy, where he lived, and had to travel, as the
trail then run, not less than 170 miles further, to hold the
first court on his circuit. Just think of a horseback
ride of at least 300 miles to hold a three davs' court !
On this occasion I attended court at Chicago, partly to
geek practice as a lawyer, and partly to see tbe
country. So poor was Peoria in the way of horses, that
I could not borrow nor hire a horse in Peoria to ride
to Chicago. I went to the country and a2">i3lied to a
farmer who had a drove of horses, but the only broken
ones he had he wished to use, and, as a matter of neces-
sity, I took one 'on Avhich man had never sat', and rode
him to Chicago and back. I asked him why he had not
broken his horses. He said he Avas too old, and his boys
were too young. He made me welcome to the horse,
but yet remonstrated against my taking him; for, said he,
I am afraid he will break your neck. I told him I was
64 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
born and raised where tliey made horses as a business,
and I would risk him, if I could get on. He and his old-
est son held him, until I had mounted him, and then let
him go. He Avent furiously, some times end foremost,
and some times side foremost, but generally in the direc-
tion of Chicago; and ultimately, in a little more than
three days, got there.
Times have greatly changed since then. We can now
go to Chicago by canal, or, what is much better, by
either of four different railroads, in from seven and a half
to ten hours ; and in stead of three days, twice a year, to
try what cases arise in court, it now requires a court to
be in session nearly all the time to transact the necessary
business. Our Peoria judge now, in stead of traveling
over a third of the state to do the business of his circuit,
has a circuit composed only of Peoria and Stark coun-
ties, and Stark is a small rural county, requiring but lit-
tle of his time.
The above-named Judge Young deserves a further
notice ; and yet it is doubtful whether his memory will be
much benefited by it, for his sun set in clouds. He was
a very j^opular man, and a man of sufficient ability to fill
any office resi^ectably. He was at one time Judge of the
Supreme Court, and for a term of six years he was in
the United States Senate. At another time he was
Clerk of the House of Pepresentatives of Congress. For
a number of years before his death he was a claim-agent,
in AYashington City. But for some time before his death
he was confined in an asylum for maniacs. Of his last
days I Avill not speak, because of them I know nothing,
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 65
only as I have been iiifonned by a brother of his, since
lie has passed away. If liis story is true, Judge Young,
wlio was once one of tlie most popular men in Illinois,
passed many a day and uight in a dungeon, under the
torturing hands of fiends in human shape, in the great
capital of the uation; and yet for a long time so secretly
that a brother, living in that city, had no suspicion of it.
He lived and died poor; but had he lived until now, and
held on to certain 2>i'operty which has been sold by liis
wife since his death, he would be rich. One piece of
property, which he obtained in Omaha as a fee, is said to
be worth many thousand dollars.
After Judcje Yount*: was elected to the United States
Senate, Thomas Ford Avas our judge until he was elected
Governor of the state. lie did not, as office-holders
now-a-days do, amass a fortune, but he lived and died a
poor man. After his gubernatorial term had expired,
he removed to Peorm, and attempted to support his wife
and children by the practice of the law; but his health
failed, and his wife, while rendering the kind attentions
usually rendered by a good A\'ife to a dying husband,
was suddenly taken ill and died. Soon afterward he died.
During this illness his family was furnislied with food,
and the expense of his funeral was borne, by a company
of gentlemen, all of whom but two had been liis political
opponents, without his knowing, while alive, whence
the aid came ; and all his children but one, who was then
about grown, were raised and educated by men avIio
were his political opj)onents while alive.
To show the chanuTS that have been made in our
9
66 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
county officers, and give a list of all who have held office
under authority of the county, would alone require a vol-
ume. I will simply add to what has been said above
that, at present,
Sabin D. Puterbaugh is Judge of the Circuit Court;
George Puterbaugh, State's Attorney ;
George A. Wilson, Clerk of the Circuit Court;
Samuel Gill, Sheriff of Peoria county ;
Edwin C. Silliman, County Treasurer.
John C. Yates, Judge of the County Court;
Col. John D. McClure, Clerk of the County Court;
Nicholas E, Worthington, Superintendent of Public
Schools.
CHAPTER XVI.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN OF FEORIA.
At first, so few people were in the bounds of what is
now the City of Peoria, that they were governed as a ru-
ral district, without municipal organization. On 1st of
March, 1831, the act of the legislature under which the
Town of Peoria finally became incorporated as a town
was passed ; but, for some reason, I do not remember what,
the people did not avail themselves of it at that time.
On the 18th of July, 1835, the citizens of Peoria, by a
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 67
vote tlien taken pursuant to such statute, became incorpo-
rated — not as a city, but as a town, — and elected as trus-
tees liudolphus Rouse, Cliester Hamlin, Rufus P. Burlin-
game, Charles W. ]\[cClallen, and Isaac Evans. It seems,
from the record, that they met the same day, and elected
said Rouse as President; and, as said Evans declined
serving, they elected Cyrus Leland in his place.
On the 23d of the same month, they met at the store of
Rufus P. Burlingame and elected Cyrus Leland as Clerk.
At the same time, they passed a resolution that the
boundary of the town should embrace an area of one
square mile ; also, at that meeting, they appointed said
BurlinGfame for their Treasurer.
On the 18th of July, 183G, there was an election lield,
and the judges of the election certified how many votes
each candidate had received, but did not say who were
elected ; but as the five highest on the list were Henry W.
Cleveland, Chester Hamlin, Thomas Philips, George B.
Parker, and J. I). Shewaltei-, they seem quietly to have
taken their seats, without any decision of the case, and
Henry W. Cleveland seelns to have taken his seat as
President, without an election (at least, the record fails to
show that he Avas elected) ; and some time after J. L.
Marsh takes place in the record as Clerk, without any
thino; to show whatricrht he had there.
On the 18th February, 1837, Hon. George C. Bestor
appears in the board, without any thing to show how he
came there.
On the 8th of March, Hon. E. N. Powell is made Clerk
by resolution.
C8 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
On the 31st of July, 1837, without any reason given in
the record to show whv, nine in stead of five trustees
were elected, to wit: James C. Armstrong, John C.
Caldwell, Thomas J. Hurd, Samuel H. McCrory, William
Frisby, Samuel S. Veacock, Rudolphus Kouse, and Cyrus
Leland. On the same day they met, and after several
ballotings without coming to any choice, they adjourned
to August 26th, when the strife was renewed, and resulted
in the election of Dr* Rouse. What princi^^le, political
or pecuniary, was iuAolved in tliis controversy is more
than I can divine.
To rei^eat more of this town record up to the time the
city charter was ado2)ted, and the city government went
into 02)eration, I suppose would be uninteresting to the
reader.
It is thehiixhtof the ambition of all northwestern villao;es
to become cities. It is a matter of vanity with the peo-
ple to have the A'illage called a city; and every little
third-rate politician looks forward with as ardent exj^ec-
tation to the dav when he can be called an alderman, or
mayor, as a male urchin does to the day when he can don
a pair of pantaloons, or an older stripling when he can
turn out a mustache. Hence all our villages, before there
is any occasion for it, and before they are well able to
bear the expense of a city organization, become incorpo-
rated as cities; and therefore, wherever we go in this re-
gion, we hear of cities.
At the time this town organization was abolished, we
had a j^oj^ulation of not more than 1600. We had but
little municipal business to do, and were too poor to en-
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 69
dure much taxation ; yet this system was abolisliecl, to
give way for a more exj^ensive one, for no other reason,
tliat I know of, but to have our village dignified with the
title of city, and ourselves (as many as could attain to
tluit honor) to be called alderman and mayor*
CHAPTER X\ II.
CITY ORGANIZATION; TAXATION, ETC.
Peoria was governed as a town, by a board of trus-
tees, as is above set forth, until the 5th of May, 1845,
Nvhen it assumed the style and forms of a city.
The legislature had passed "An act to incorporate the
City of Peoria"; but the Council of Revision, either be-
cause they did not approve it or because they forgot it,
did not sign it. Afterward, Thompson Campbell, as
Secretary of State, appended to it the following certifi-
cate : " This bill having been laid before the Council of
Revision, and ten days not having intervened before the
adjournment of the General Assembly, and said bill not
having been returned with the objections of the Council
on the first day of the present session of the General
Assembly, the same has become a law." This statute
and certificate are both without date. But there is a
statement prefixed to the copy before me, which says it
70 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
was "In force December 3d, 1844"; from which I infer
that that ought to be the date of the certificate.
By the first article of this charter, the people living
within the following boundaries, viz., "fractional section
nine, fractional section ten, the south half of section four,
and fractional section three, in township eight north, of
range eight east of the fourth princij^al meridian, and to
the middle of the Illinois i^ver and Lake Peoria," were
incorporated into a body corporate and politic, to liave
perpetual succession.
The second article provided for the election of eight
aldermen for two years, but they were to be divided into
two classes by lot, so that one-half should vacate their
seats at the end of the first year, and their successors to
be then elected ; and ever after, four to be elected every
year. All the qualifications they were required to have
were six months' residence in the city, and to be twenty-
one years of age.
The third article j^rovided for the election of a mayor
for one year at a time, and whose qualifications should be
one year's residence in the city, and to be twenty-one
years of age.
The fourth article provided that "All free Avhite male
inhabitants, over the age of twenty-one years, who are
entitled to vote for state officers, and who shall have been
actual residents of said city six months next preceding
said election, shall be entitled to vote for city officers." j
The fifth article enumerates and confers all the usual
powers that are conferred on cities, with these important
provisos: "provided that no sum or sums of money shall
I
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 71
be borrowed at a greater interest than six per cent, j^er
annum, nor shall the interest on the aggregate, on all the
sums borrowed and outstanding, ever exceed one-half of
the city revenue arising from taxes assessed on real prop-
erty, within the limits of the corporation."
The sixth article confers on the mayor the usual execu-
tive authority, and in addition provides that "He shall
be commissioned by the governor as a justice of the
peace for said city, and as such shall be a conservator of
the peace in said city, and shall have power and authority
to administer oaths," etc. "He shall have exclusive
jurisdiction in all cases arising under the ordinances of
the corporation, and concurrent jurisdiction with all other
justices of the peace in all civil and criminal cases within
the limits of the city, arising under the laws of the state."
The seventh article provides a mode of opening streets,
and assessing damages in favor of those injured. Also,
it authorizes them to assess a special tax on lots to pave
streets and sidewalks in front of them.
The eighth contains various ordinary provisions, and
winds up by a provision that this charter shall be sub-
mitted to a vote of the people, Avith a provision that if a
majority of the people should vote for it, it should imme-
diately take effect, as a law ; but if a majority of the votes
should be against it, it should be void.
On the 22d of April, 1845, I find the following entry
in the old Peoria town records: "Whereas, it appears by
the returns of the election, held at the court-house on the
21st of April, A.D. 1845, that one hundred and sixty-two
votes were received in favor of the adoption of the city
72" HISTORY OF PEORIA.
charter, entitled an act incorporating the City of Peoria,
and thirty-five votes against the adoption thereof, Avhich
election was held in pursuance of the 16th section of
article 8th of said act, said charter is therefore adopted
by the citizens of said town :
'•''Ilesolced, That an election be held at the court-house,
on Monday, the 2Sth instant, being the 4th Monday of
April instant, for one Mayor and eight Aldermen, for the
City of Peoria, agreeably to the provisions of the city
charter."
And afterward, without date, on page 379, I find this
entry :
"At an election held at the court-house, on the 28th
day of April, a.d. 1845, for the purpose of electing one
Mayor and eight Aldermen for the City of Peoria, to
serve until their successors are chosen, the following per-
sons, having received the greatest number of votes, were
declared duly elected, to wit :
" For Mayor, William Hale.
"For Aldermen, Jesse L. Knowlton, Peter Sweat,
Charles Kettelle, Clark Cleveland, Chester Hamlin, John'
Hamlin, Hervev Lio'htner. Jacob Gale and A. P. Bartlett
each received 168 votes, they being the next highest can-
didates : consequently there was no choice."
On the 5th day of May, 1845, Hale was sworn in as
Mayor, and all the others, excluding Gale and including
Bartlett, as Aldermen. This was done, as the record after-
ward explains,, because the Mayor drew lots between
Messrs. Gale and Bartlett, and Bartlett drew the oftice.
At the same term, Jesse L. Knowlton was appointed
City Clerk.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 73
On the 13th of February, 1847, the cliarter was
amended, and, among other thuigs, the boundary was
changed, and in future the boundary was to be as follows :
"All that district of country in fractional section sixteen,
fractional section nine, fractional section ten, and the south
half of sections three and four, in township eight north of
the base line, and of range eight east of the fourth prin-
cipal meridian, and to the middle of the Illinois river
and Lake Peoria, are hereby declared be within the
bounds of the City of Peoria."
When the city government, under the said charter,
went into operation, in May, 1845, they went to passing
ordinances for every imaginable thing, until, in five or
six years, those ordinances had become so numerous and
complicated that a revision and compilation was deemed
necessary.
Accordingly, on the loth of April, 1851, an ordinance
was passed entitled "An ordinance establishing the
Revised Ordinances of the City of Peoria." This ordi-
nance is divided into twenty-nine chnpters, called ordi-
nances, and it occupies 96 octavo pages; but as it con-
tains only the usual provisions concerning the internal
police of the city, such as grades, markets, licenses, taxes,
etc., it is perhaps unnecessary to detail those provisions
here. The whole, when examined carefully, forces upon
the reader the idea that the mania for taxation, that has
greatly afflicted our country, particularly the Northwest,
had most violently seized our aldermen. They seem to
look upon taxation as the great business of life, and the
ability to squeeze the greatest amount of taxes out of a
10
74 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
given amount of property as the highest evidence of
political ability.
When our city was first organized, the taxes were laid
on lightly; but, as it Avas found that people would stand
it, they were increased, until now, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, Ave
have actually paid taxes to considerably over a quarter
of a million dollars. We have paid
Taxes assessed for general city purposes |60,129.46
To pay interest on raih-oad bonds 26,724.21
One-mill school tax, to pay interest on school
bonds 7,002.94
School tax assessed for school purposes 33,889.71
Bounty tax to redeem and pay interest on
bounty bonds 21,008.83
Taxes assessed to pay interest on water bonds 20,724.21
Taxes to pay coupons on bonds taken by Wm.
Smith 700.00
Tax levied on city for state purposes 59,405.60
Road and bridge tax 6,150.79
Tax levied on the city for county purj30ses.. 56,403.78
Dog tax, 133.00
Total, 298,272.53
But this falls far short of being our Avhole tax. We
pay many thousand dollars annually to build churches,
support preachers, Sunday schools, foreign missions, etc.
We also pay taxes to a considerable amount that do not
appear in the above table, because they are not collected
in the usual way. For instance, the sidcAvalks are all re-
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 75
quired to be graded and planked by the owner of ad-
joining property, and some times brick pavements are re-
quired to be made in the same way. If the owner fails
or refuses to do it, city officials perform the work and
collect off him the amount. Many peoj^le Avho do busi-
ness in the city have to j^ay for a license to do it, which
is nothing more nor less than a tax. And it is the most
oppressive kind of a tax. Those who pay it put it, with
interest and commissions, on their customers. It can
easily be shown that every dollar the butchers pay for
the privilege of selling meat, in the market-house, costs
the people ten dollars in the enhanced price of meat we
have in consequence to pay.
The people have never fiuled to vote for any tax,
or the sale of any bonds that has been proposed, nor
will they, as long as a majority of the voters pay none of
the taxes. The city has voted for the following bonds :
For the Avater works $320,000
For railroads 360,000
School bonds 84,000
Bounty bonds 1 36,000
Three-fifths of the bonds issued to Peoria and
Hannibal R.R 45,000
Three-fifths of the bonds issued by the county to
build jai] 49,500
Three-fifths of the bonds by same to build alms-
house 21,000
Three-fifths of tlie bonds voted for the Peoria
and Rock Island R.R 60,000
76 fllSTORY OF PEORIA.
Ninety-five one-hunclredlhs of bonds "voted by
township of Peoria, for Peoria, Atlanta and
Decatur Pt.R 95,000
In the above cases, where three-fifths of the amount of
the bonds are stated, the bonds had been issued by the
County of Peoria, and three-fifths is supposed to be the
amount the city has to pay. The last item was voted for
by the Township of Peoria, which contains a few families
that are not in the city proper, but the city will have to
pay nearly all of them. We have not paid any taxes as
yet on the $100,000 voted for the Peoria and Pock Island
Railroad, nor for the $100,000 for the Peoria, Atlanta
and Decatur Railroad, but we will have to do so next
year, which will add about $14,000 more to our taxes.
In the sale of these bonds we never obtained, in cash,
the amount they call for : j)artly because the most of men
have use, in their business, for all the money they can
command, but mainly because capitalists are susiDicious
of municipal corporations, and the greater their doubts
of their punctuality, the less they are willing to give.
Besides, our bonds have to be sold in the East, where
money is plentier than it is here. We have consequently,
in addition to a loss of fifteen to twenty per cent., to pay
the expense of j^rinting the bonds, to pay a broker for
making sales, and afterward, for paying interest; but
however little we get for a thousand-dollar bond, we have
to pay interest on a thousand, and ultimately pay the
thousand itself.
That we have been greatly benefited by the sale of
HISTORY OF 1>E0RIA. T7
railroad bonds is clear and indisputable; but another
thing is equally clear, and equally indisputable: that
there is a point beyond which this thing can not be car-
ried with im2^unity; and that point, I think, is now
reached. If we strain our credit any further, it will be
ruined, and with it, the prospects of our city. We are
riding on the stream of an inflated currency, and but
for the mania above referred to, which blinds men's eyes,
all men could see that when we return to specie pay-
ments, and rents and every thing else are reduced to one-
half their present jDrice, we can not pay the interest on
what we now owe, to say nothing of the expense of the city
government. If we stop now, and contract no more
debts, the interest on what we have contracted, including
what will be required to finish the water works, will be
about $300,000. When we come to specie payments, the
Avhole City of Peoria can not be rented for enough to
pay this sum. Then is not the whole city confiscated?
If those who have supported the city government have
all their property taken by the bondholders, who will
support the city government in future ?
I remember when the rage was all the other way. So
strong was the popular clamor against taxation, that the
mere politician did not dare to vote for the most neces-
sary tax, for fear of losing his place. N"ow it is changed,
and none but the most indej^endent would dare to vote
against any tax proposed, however unnecessary; and
when my friends shall see these remarks, I fear some of
them will stand aghast at my disregard of the best interests
/
78 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
of the piihllc., or, what now seems to mean the same
thing, public opinion.
"Truths would you tell to save a sinking land,
All fear, none aid you, and few understand,"
The mayor of the city was intended by the charter to
be a judicial officer and an influential personage, and the
first mayors exercised judicial authority; but the Su-
preme Court, in process of time, decided, that mayors
were precluded by our constitution, that went into oper-
ation in 1848, from exercising judicial authority. The
charter had not given the mayor much else but judicial
authority, and being thus shorn of that, the office dwin-
dled, into insisrnificance. This need not have been entirely
so, but the aldermen generally combined against the
mayor, to shear him of his authority, first by giving the
authority he ought to have exercised to the street com-
mittee and others ; and secondly, by refusing to pay him
for his services. For years they gave him no salary at
all, but of late they pay him $500 per annum. They
have, however, always allowed him a dollar a night for
presiding over their meetings, but nothing for committee
or day work.
The following is the list of City Officers for 1870:
Gakdixer T. Barker, Mayor.
Henry H. Forsyth, Clerk.
Otto Triebel, Treasurer.
Michael B. Loughlix, Collector.
M. C. QuiNX, Attorney.
Daniel B. Allex, Surveyor and Engineer.
UISTORY OF PEORIA. 79
Jonx M. GuiLL, Superintendent of Police.
Nicholas Louis, Chief of Fire Department.
AuGusTixE A. BusiiELL, Sealer of Weights and
Measures.
Charles Fkederick, Market Master.
Nicholas Bergax, Harbor Master.
Aldermen.
J. D. Burr, 2 years. ) t-,. , ^^j ^
T t:> -, c Jii'st Ward.
Johx Kyax, 1 year. j
Hexry Frederick, 2 years. ) c? ^ wr ^
rj K ^^ 1 c second Ward.
Samuel A. Kix'Sey, 1 year, j
Ralph Phillips, 2 years. ) rri • i ^ir ^
T T? i\ 1 c ihird Ward.
Larkix B. JJat, 1 year. j
Emil Huber, 2 years. ) p^^ ,^ ^^^^^^
Joiix JDoLAx, 1 year, j
Wm. T. IIax^xa, 2 years. ) ^r^y ^^r ^
T7, T7. 1 r i' iith VV ard.
J^RAX^K iUELD, 1 year. \
Daxiel Costello, 2 years. ) o- >r, ^^r i
T T 1 r Sixth vV ard.
Isaac Lamplugh, 1 year. j
William R. Bush, 2 years. ) r. .i ^tt ^
T^ .TT XT. 1 [-Seventh Ward.
Joiix 11. Hall, 1 year. j
80 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
UHAPTER XVIII.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
At first, court was held, as heretofore stated, in a
small log house, about fourteen by sixteen feet square ;
but this soon became so crowded that an upper room over
a store on Water street Avas procured, and used while
the court-house was being built. The brick for the pres-
ent court-house was made in 1833, by Samuel S. Hackleton.
At the January term, 1834, the county commissioners'
court passed an order that sealed proposals be made to
the clerk of said court, by the next term, for the building
of a court-house. At said term of said court, the propo-
sals of Charles W. McOlallen for the mason work, and
those of George B. Macey for the carpenter's and joiner's
work, were accepted. That building, which is still used
as a court-house, is said to have cost |15,000. If that is
so, the people understood then as now how to ' pick the
public goose '. Labor was so low then, compared to what
it is now, that it ought not to have cost more than half
that sum. The court-house has several times been
changed since, to suit the whim of those who Avere tem-
porarily in power. The bench, the bar, the jury-box,
spectators' seats, and stairs, have all been several times
changed. The^stairs formerly were inside the building.
In early times we had no jail. Itjias^ often been put
i
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 81
in print that the cellar under the old court-house was the
jail. There was a sort of cellar under it, said to have
been made to store fur-skins in. I never saw it used as
a jail, nor was it at all fit for such a use, — a dog could
have scratched out of it; but about the year 1834, a jail
was built of square logs, on the alley between Main and
Hamilton and between Monroe and Perry streets. It
was sixteen feet square, and fourteen feet high. The
lower story was constructed of three thicknesses of logs
— two lying horizontally, and one between them standing
perpendicularly, so that, should an attempt be made to
bore the logs out, the perpendicular ones would come
down, and stop the hole. The upper story was of only
one thickness of logs. To give the work strength, these
loiTS were dove-tailed at the corners. Above the strons;
room there was a strong floor, and a trap-door. Through
this trap-door prisoners were passed, and then the ladder
drawn up. The floor of the lower part was made by
square timbers fitted close together, and the whole
covered Avitli oaken plank spiked down. This building
is said to have cost $1000. Such timber as composed it,
all but the roof, stairs, floors and doors, could then be
bought, delivered on the ground, for eight cents per foot,
running measure, and men to put it together for from a
dollar to a dollar and a half a day. From this the reader
can determine whether that pen ought to have cost a
thousand dollars.
This jail proving to be altogether too small, and very
inconvenient, another jail was built in 1849, partly of
stone and j^artly of brick, at the intersection of Wash-
11
I
82 HISTORY OF PEOPJA.
ington and Xorth-Fayette streets. That building Avas
used as a jail until recently, although exceedingly incon-
venient on account of its distance from the court-house.
Every body saw this, but there Avere two difticulties in
the way of amending it. This building cost $11,000,
and then for the public to be taxed for another seeme^d
extravagant; but then the county commissioners, who
owned the whole tOAvn plat, had sold all the ground about
the public square for little more than nominal prices, and
now to buy back one of those lots, for ten or twenty
times as much as they had received for it, was more than
they thought their popularity would stand. But the ne-
cessity became greater, and people became less inclined to
watch their constituents, and iinally, in 1867, the board
of supervisors, the successors to the board of county com-
missioners, bought a piece of ground for $6000 that the
commissioners had sold for about $75, and on that lot thev
have, at the expense of about $75,000, erected much the
finest jail I ever saw, and they have it now in use for the
incarceration of prisoners.
A question may be asked, how ^\ e secured prisoners ^
before we had a jail. I answer, we some times set a
guard over them, some times let them go on bail, even
Avhen it was doubtful whether the case was bailable, and
some times we sent them to neighboring counties for se-
curity. As the legislature was constantly forming new
counties, and it required some time to put up public
buildings, an act was passed requiring prisoners to be
sent to some other county for confinement, when there
was no sufiicient jail in the county in which they were
charored with criminal conduct.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 83
In old limes there ^vas literally no clerk's office in
Peoria county. Isaac Waters, who was clerk of both
courts when I came here, lived in a cabin made of small
unhewn logs, daubed with common mud, not half large
enough to accommodate his family; and yet he had r.o
other i)lace to keep the few books and papers belonging to
said courts. These he some times could not find, and
was blamed Avhen he perhaps deserved more to be pitied.
After the present court-house w^as completed, which was
in ]83C, the clerks and the sheriff w^ere accommodated
with rooms in the first story. Originally the first story
of the court-house was divided into six rooms, three of
which were used for public offices, and the others were
rented to the lawyers. Tliis building was not fire-jjroof,
and in process of time some became afraid our records
might be burnt, and advocated pulling down the old house,
and buildino; one that should be much finer and also be
fire-proof Those who pay no taxes are always in favor
of any new expenditure, because tliey pay none of it,
and have a chance to get some money as it circulates; and
in this way the most careful and the most reckless of tlie
town's people became comlnned in favor of an expendi-
ture of something like 1 100,000, but were in part over-
powered by the farmers in the board, and in part by a
fear of their constituents, and a compromise was made.
They agreed to put up one wing of the great temple of
justice first, for the protection of the records. The result
of this compromise was our present clerks' offices, which
cost about 1^19,000. They are fire-proof, and are so
constructed as to compose a ]^i\rt of the great edifice.
84 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
according to the original plan, when, at some future time,
the plan shall be carried out. I suppose at that time
every one expected that before now the whole edifice
would have been completed ; but the enormous debts we
have contracted for raih-oads, water works, and the jail,
make it now very uncertain when it will be done.
CHAPTER XIX.
SCHOOLS BY INDIVIDUALS AXD COMPANIES.
I HAVE not been able to learn that the French po2:)ula-
tion of Peoria ever had a school in this place. I believe
they had none. Several of them could read and write,
but I presume they learned that in Canada. When I
came here there was no school in the village, nor was
there any worth the name for several years afterward.
This was not because of there being any opposition to
education, but it was partly owing to the smallness of the
number of children in the village, and partly to the fact
that the people were too j^oor to build school-houses. They
could Avith difficulty get shelter for themselves.
There never was, since the Americans settled here, a
party opposed to education, nor has there been one op-
posed to public improvements, though there has been
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 85
much dispute as to the mode; but particularly between
those who wish to make money off the public by every
thing they do, and those who wish to protect the public
against such cormorants; and as education and public
improvements have always been popular, those who de-
sired to prey on the public have generally carried the
elections, and had their own way in these matters, by
raising the hue and cry against those who were equally
zealous for education and j^ublic imj^rovements, but who
wished to protect the public against them, and charging
them with being opposed to both. In the matter of
schools, one of the most iniquitous modes of robbing the
public has been for those intrusted by the j^ublic with
these interests to combine with book-makers, and every
few months condemn the present books, and require new
ones, or new editions of old ones, to be bought. Still, as
any schools are better than no schools, and as it is better
to have schools at an enormous expense than not to have
any, we may congratulate ourselves on our public schools.
I believe the first school ever attempted in Peoria was
in the fall of 1832. The author, seeing some children
about, and learning that there was no school in the vill-
age, rented a room and opened a school ; but it was so
badly patronized, for want of children, that in a short
time it was closed. Several other attempts of this kind
were, with more or less success, made by young ladies.
I remember very well when Miss Morrow (who will be
remembered by the old settlers, as the sister-in-law of the
Burlingames and the first wife of Mr. Amos Stevens)
came to Peoria, in 1834, she could not rent a room in the
86 HISTORY OF PEOEIA. :
tillage to keep school in : finally the author hereof let her
have, for that purj)ose, a small frame house he had built
for an office, on the lot on which has since been built, by i
Mr. Herron, a block of stone-front stores. George H.
Quigg, who will be remembered by the old settlers, but
more by the writer hereof, came in competition with the
youiig ladies in this business, in 1834 or 1835. The
greatest trouble was the scarcity of houses.
Among those who established private schools, in early
times, was Rev. David Page. He called liis school the
Peoria Academy, and opened it for the reception of j^upils
on the 7th of January, 1840. In his advertisement he
Said " Children of every age are admitted, from those in
the alphabet, and upwards through the whole circle of
sciences, so far as they are taught in any academy. The
branches that have been taught, above the ordinary
branches of common schools, are geometry, algebra, sur-
veying, natural philosophy, chemistry, botany, celestial
geography, astronomy, history, logic, rhetoric, composi-
tion, declamation, and the Latin and Greek languages.
Very small boys, in their first attempts at going to school,
are some times placed in the female dej^artment.'
"Almost any kind of property is received
for tuition, at a reasonable j^rice, provided arrangements
be made at the commencement of the quarter." This
advertisement was published on the 1st of May, 1844.
At that time Mr. Page had purchased a house, and
deemed liis prospects sufficient to justify him in expand-
ing a little; but before that he had, in an unpretending
wav, tausrht in a hired house. Others, from time to time.
15
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 87
did SO also, and iii that way wc were pretty well sup-
plied with coimnoii schools until a system of free schools
was introduced, Avhich to some extent superseded all pri-
vate schools. There have, however, always, to the pres-
ent day, been some private schools supported by those
who preferred them.
In 1855, C. C. Bonney, Esq., noAv a lawyer of Chicago,
established a liiii-h school, which he called the 'Peoria
Institute '. It was located in the Baptist Church. This,
however, was of short duration.
The Methodist Church, in 1851, by virtue of a charter
from the legislature, ushered into life, with the sound of
trumpets, 'The Wesleyan Seminary of Peoria, Illinois'.
Tliey purchased the Mitchell House, at the corner of
Fulton and Jefferson streets, and put forth a large pro-
gramme, with a list of no less than twenty-three trustees;
but this thing went down, before it was f\urly up.
Our Methodist brethren were so uuAvise as to put a
very sanctimonious but a very immoral man at the head
of this institution. The people were greatly pleased with
the prospects of the seminary, and but for that unfortu-
nate selection, it would hardly have failed of success.
Tliey were just going into operation, when it was sud-
denly ascertained, from unmistakable facts, that he who
was appointed to educate our daughters was a vile hypo-
crite — a filthy debauchee, lie fled from the state, and
the institution sunk without an effort to save it. The
Methodists saw at once that, although we had confidence
in them as a Christian community, we could not trust
them to select teachers for our daughters.
88 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
In 1850, Rev. J. S. Chamberlain bought the large house
built by Capt. W. S. Moss, but now occupied by Hon.
G. C. Bestor, and opened what he called ' St. Mary's
School'. The school, however, did not prove a success.
In 1855 and 1856, an effort was made, under the aus-
pices of the Presbyterian Church, to establish the 'Peoria
University '. An act of incorporation was obtained, and
a large amount of funds raised, with which an eligible
site, on the bluff, was bought, and some progress made
toward erecting suitable buildings; but the whole thing
finally, before completion, as did the two academies, as
below stated, fell into the hands of the school inspectors.
The first house that was built on purpose for a school-
house was built by the author in 1846, on Walnut street,
between Washington and Adams streets; and a private
school was kept there until the public school-house was
built, under the school-law of 1857, on Adams street: the
same that now belongs to the German Turners.
Those various private schools, in their day, answered the
purpose very Avell, so far as concerned the ordinary
branches of education ; but a general dissatisfaction arose
as to their efficiency in teaching the higher branches of
education; and hence the principal citizens organized
two joint-stock comjjanies to build and carry on two acad-
emies — one for boys and young men, and the other for
girls and young women, who were pretty Avell advanced
in education. These companies were composed mostly,
but not altogether, of the same persons.
The company for a male academy Avas organized on the
23d of March, 1854. Of this institution
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 89
Hon. Onslow Peters was President;
Mr. Amos P. Bartlett was Secretary;
Dr. Rudolplius lionse, )
Hon. P. II. K. Brotlierson, [-Directors;
Mr. John W. Hansel, )
Mr. H. (t. Anderson, Treasurer;
Capt. Thomas Bahlwin, )
Mr. William U. Phelps, [ Trustees;
3
Committee to purchase a
suitable site for the acad-
emy.
Henry S. Austin, Esq., )
Hon. Jacol) Gale,
Capt. Hugh J. Sweeny,
Col. C. Ballance,
Mr. Charles S. Clarke
William F. Bryan, Esq
On the Gth of April, 1854, said connnittee reported in
favor of buying lots 10, 11, and 12, in block forty-seven,
of Monson and Sanford's Addition, for Jf^lSOO; Avhicli
was acquiesced in, and a house authorized to be built,
that would cost ^3,300, which, at a subsequent meeting,
was altered to ^4,200.
The house was built, the school established, and proved
successful, insomuch that the profits of the year 1855
exceeded the expenses by |307.8G. This, for so new an
cnterj)rise, in so new a place, Avas remarkable, but not so
remarkable as the fact that on the Gth of April, 185G, the
directors of this seminary transferred the whole thing —
house, lots and furniture — to the School Inspectors of
the City of Peoria, — not for the money they had cost,
but by the said School Inspectors issuing to each stock-
holder scrip to the amount that he had paid, payable two
years thereafter, without interest for the time past, but
with six per cent, interest for the time to come.
12
90 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
The female school, in its first organization, Avas not
called an academy nor seminary, but the 'Female
School Association'. At the commencement the associa-
tion was too poor to buy ground on which to build, and
leased ground from me on Jefferson street, between Lib-
erty and Fulton streets, at a nominal rent, on a lease of
ten years, upon the condition that at the end of the time
the lessor should, at his option, buy the house to be built,
or sell the ground, at their appraised value. That lease
is before me now : it is in Judge Powell's handwriting,
and dated April 1st, 1850. It purports to have been
made between myself of the first part, and Jacob Gale,
Hervey Lightner and Elihu N. Powell, on behalf of the
association; but for some reason, Avhicli I have forgotten,
Mr. Lightner's name is not subscribed to it. This school
succeeded admirably, and became a som'ce of jjrofit; but
before the lease had expired, some ill-disposed person
burnt it dow^n, together with some books and chemical ap-
paratus that had been jn-ocured for the school. The par-
ties concerned were so encouraged by this experiment
that they bought a lot, and built a much better house
(the first having been of wood and the latter of brick) ;
but the same men who swallowed np the male school
found room in their capacious maws for this also. 13y
what appears on their records as a fair vote, but which
had none of the elements of fairness about it, it was, in
like manner, for a like consideration, turned over to the
same parties, and they are both in their hands to this
day. This created much dissatisfaction, for it was done
without the knowledge of the most of the stockholders.
i
i
HISTORY OF PEORIA. , 9l
Some i\ fused to receive the scrip that was offered to them
for their stock, and talked of suino^, and I suppose it was
a clear case for the interference of a court of chancery ;
hut no suits were hrought, but in process of time the mat-
ter quieted down, and all, or nearly all, finally accepted
the scrip or the money.
One great objection made to this change was that it
was done clandestinely, without sufficient notice to the
stockhoklers. It was even done without the author, who
was one of the four directors elected to conduct said
school, having any knowledge of it, until it was all over.
Yet the most substantial difference between the two
plans was this : In these joint-stock companies, none had
a voice in managing them but those who had taken
stock in them, and then the votes were in proportion to
the number of shares owned by each voter; whereas, as
soon as the property was turned over to the ' School In-
spectors ', it was entirely beyond their control. It is
true that these same men had a rii^ht to vote for the
School Inspectors, but that vote was liable to be entirely
overshodowed and lost sight of by the great multitude
who had furnished none of the money, and who joaid no
taxes, and yet had a right to vote for Scliool Inspectors.
It was virtually taking the money of those who liad been
industrious enough, and provident enough, to lay up any,
and giving it to those Avho had been too lazy or careless
to make any, or who had spent their earnings in dissipa-
tion, or, peradventure, in enjoyments that were only ob-
jectionable as ]>eing beyond their means.
On Second street, near Franklin, is now in successful
92 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
operation an institution called 'The Peoria German
School Association'. They have a large and well-built
brick building, and teach the English and German lan-
guages. They employ two German male teachers, and
one female Eiioflisli teacher. Tliis school was established
by a company of German gentlemen, with their own
funds, and is managed by them, in their own way.
CHAPTER XX.
THE TRESENT SCHOOL SYSTEM, COMMONLY CALLED FREE
SCHOOLS.
Various school-laws were passed by the legislature,
from time to time; but the first one Avorthy of note, in
this connection, is one passed on the sixteenth of Febru- ||
ary, 1857, which may be found on page 259 of the stat-
utes of that year, and on page 444 of the collection of
Scates e^ al. This had previously been the law. It was I
enacted and reenacted from 1841 to 1847. It is a long
statute, with many and ample provisions. By section 42,
it is provided that the legal voters shall elect "three per-
sons within the district, to be styled school directors^''''
who are to hold office for a vear. Section 43 is in these
words : " For the purpose of erecting school-houses, or j,
for the purpose of purchasing school-house sites, or for
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 93
the purpose of repairing and improving the same, for
procuring furniture, fuel and district libraries, and for the
purpose of paying the balance due teachers, after tlie
state and township funds are exhausted, the board of
directors of any district shall be authorized to have lev-
ied and collected a tax annually, on all the jiroperty in
their district."
This law gave them power, without limit, to levy tax
to any amount they might please, subject, however, to a
vote of the people, Avhicli people were the same to whom
they owed their election, a large majority of whom j^aid
little or no taxes. Under this law^ large amounts of
money were collected, and several school-liouses partly
built, and one would have thought that even ' democracy
run mad ' would have been satisfied with it ; but such
was not the fact.
The besetting sin of American society is a mania for
office. Men will abandon a business worth two thousand
dollars a year for an office Avorth one thousand, and they
are ready to ruin the public interests, for the honor of
ruling the public. They array the poor against the rich,
and assume the honor of leading the former, because they
are most numerous. This class of men are constantly
endeavorhig to get into some small office, as a stepping-
stone to a higher one; and they educate those who liavc
nothing to believe that tlie way to get the property of
tlie rich is to break them down by taxation; and, to get
the votes of such, they promise to assess a new tax, or
increase the old ones.
Tliis baleful disposition caused a law to be passed, on
94 HISTORY OF PEORtA.
the 14tli of February, 1845, wliicli provided for the elec-
tion of seven inspectors of schools, to be denominated
' The Board of School Insj^ectors'. Tlie name of this
cor2:)oration seems incongruous. School trustees, school
directors, school superintendents, or school commission-
ers, would seem more appropriate ; but the fact is, so
many laws had been passed on the subject that all appro-
priate terms had been exhausted, leaving the getters-up
of our present school-law no alternative but to call them-
selves 'inspectors'.
This act gives this board omnipotent power, on the
subject of renting or building school-houses, hiring teach-
ers and determining their salaries, and levying taxes for
these purposes, except that the eighth section requires
that, after the amount of taxes has been determined by
them, the question of levying shall be submitted to the
people, at the next election, and if a majority vote for it,
it becomes j^eremptory on the board of aldermen to levy
and collect the tax, and hand it over to the treasurer ap-
pointed by the board. This clause, liowever, in practice,
lias amounted to nothing, for the majority, getting the
benefit of the tax without paying any of it, would vote
for a million dollars, were that the sum projjosed, in stead
of find in preference to any smaller sum.
On the 27th of January, 1857, this law was so amend-
ed as to require nine in stead of seven insj^ectors to form
the board, and it provided " That the persons so elected,
and their successors in office, are hereby constituted a
body corporate and politic, by the name and style of the
* Board of School Inspectors of the City of Peoria'; that
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 95
they shall have perpetual succession, and by said name
shall have power to sue and be sued, plead and be im-
pleaded, in all courts and places where judicial pro-
ceedinixs are had."
This law also provided for the issuing of |5 0,000 of
city bonds, to be put into the hands of the school inspect-
ors, to aid in building school-houses.
On the 20th of February, 1869, an act was passed en-
titled " An act to reduce the Charter of Peoria, and the
several acts amendatory thereof, into one act, and revise
the same." Said two school-laws, with but little varia-
tion, are incorporated into said charter, and, as thus re-
enacted, are now the law on the subject.
The second section of this law provides that " The
said board of school inspectors shall consist of the mayor
of the City of Peoria, and two members from each ward
(the election districts in the township of Peoria to be
deemed, for school purposes, portions of the wards at
which the voting for said districts is now or may hereaf-
ter be done), who shall be residents of their respective
wards, and who shall hold their offices, respectively, for
two years, or until the election and qualification of their
successors." From this I understand that, as we have
seven wards in our city, and the board of aldermen may
make as many as they j^lease, the number of school in-
spectors is increased to fifteen, and may be much larger,
should the number of wards be increased.
The most noticeable point wherein the law, as thus in-
corporated into the city charter, difters from the law of
1855, is this: By the law of 1855, the board of alder-
96 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
men were only bound to levy the tax after it had been
voted by the people; whereas, by the charter, the board
of inspectors is supreme. It is only necessary for them
to demand the money, and the board of aldermen (their
humble servants) are compellable to levy the tax. collect
it, and hand it over. -^
By this last charter, besides giving all the school-funds
to the school inspectors, to the exclusion of all other
schools, and an unlimited power of taxing the people in
any sum not exceeding six mills in the dollar's worth, l
which is withheld from all other schools, the city council
is authorized to issue and put into their hands any
amount of city bonds, not exceeding in the whole
125,000. jj
Effectually to break down all independent schools, the
following; section is contained in both of said laws:
" No school in said city, or the teacher or pupils thereof,
shall receive any part of any school-fund belonging to
the state, or any money raised by taxation, that is not a
public school, as provided by this act, and established
and maintained under the authority and direction of the
board of inspectors." But, as above stated, this effect
was not entirely produced.
To understand the importance of the above clause, it
should be stated that taxation, the greatest source of
school-funds now, was not formerly resorted to at all.
We then had, and still have, other sources of revenue,
obtained in this wise: "When it was jiroposed to give
the Illinois Territory the position of a state, the general
government required several concessions of the future
HISTORY OP PEORIA. 97
state, ami, as an inducement to those concessions. Con-
gress proposed to concede —
" That five per cent, of the net proceeds of tlie hinds
lying within such state, and which shouhl be sohl by
Congress from and after tlie tirst day of January, 1S19,
after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall
be reserved for the purposes following, viz: two fifths to
be disbursed, nnder the direction of Congress, in making
roads leading to the state, the residue to be appropri-
ated, by the legislature of the state, for the encourage-
ment of learning, of which one-sixth part shall be exclu-
sively for a college or university."
" That thirty-six sections, or one entire township, shall
be designated by the President of the United States, to-
gether Avith the one heretofore reserved, for the use of a
seminary of learning, and vested in the legislature of the
said state, to be a])propriated solely to the use of such
seminary, by the said legislature."
TJie schedule containing the above propositions Avas
passed in Congress on the 18th day of April, 1818, and
accepted by the State of Illinois on the 2oth of Au-
gust, 1818. A large amount of funds went into the state
treasury, by virtue of this compact, which Avere squan-
dered. iVfterward, Avhen the national treasury Avas OA^er-
tloAving, and a reduction of the tariff was opposed to the
policy of the majority, the surplus revenue Avas divided
among the several states, and Illinois, after fooling away
her part, voted to add it to the school-fund, and pay in-
terest on the Avhole for the benefit of schools. To all of
13
98 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
which should be added the proceeds of the sixteenth sec-
tion.
On the 16th of February, 1857, the legislature, that
had always been too poor or unj^atriotic to restore the
college and seminary funds, i>assed a law levying a tax
of two mills on all taxable property, for the use of
schools.
From these sources of revenue are produced the
school-fund, the interest on which is annually divided
among the counties, in proportion to the children that
might be educated, and then, in the counties, it is divided
among all the scliools, according to the actual number of
scholars sent to school, and the actual time they are hept
at it. It was in these funds that said laws prohibited the
schools in Peoria from participating, unless they would
submit themselves to the said school inspectors.
Under these laws schools have been established in the
City of Peoria very extensively. Xo less than nine
school-houses have been built, and all but three of them
are very expensive brick buildings. Three of them are
wooden buildings, and one of the three is exclusively for
colored children. In these the Superintendent computes
that he is educating 2,600 pupils. To teach these stu-
dents, fifty-five tutors are employed — six males and forty-
nine females — at salaries, to the males, of 81,200, except
the principal, who gets -$1,900, and to the females, from
$375 to 8900.
AYhat effect the Catholic movement, detailed in Chap-
ter XIX, will have on these schools is yet to be proved ;
the Catholics are so numerous that, should they withdraw
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 99
all their children, it must thin out the schools consid-
er ably.
Appended to these is an institution called the Normal
School, which is in its infancy. This school is supported
by the County of Peoria and the City of Peoria — the
county paying three-fourths of the exj^enses. There
are, as yet, but two teachers — Mr. White, at a salary of
$2,500; and Miss Ilannay, at a salary of $750= — and forty
scholars.
These are very showy schools, and many of our citi-
zens are proud of them; but this feeling is far from be-
ing universal. A consideral^le number (although these
schools are free to them) prefer to send their children
away, to where board and tuition are very costly.
The Board of School Inspectors at present (1870) con-
sists of
William F. Beyax, Esq.,
Chauxcey Nye, Esq.,
CiiAELES Feinse, Esq.,
Mr. Alexander G. Tyng,
Mr. Charles Raymond,
Mr. B. L. T. Bo URL AND,
Hon. Gardiner T. Barker,
Mr. A. F. Lincoln,
Mr. Benjamin Foster,
Mr. George H. McIlyaine,
Mr. Eldrick Smith, jr.,
Mr. Eugene B. Pierce,
Mr. John WICII:^[ANN,
E. S. WiLLCox, Esq.,
Mr. N. C. Nason.
Mr. J. E. Dow is Superintendent.
Mr. John Hamlin is Treasurer.
100 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
CHAPTER XXL
CHUECHE3 AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
Feom Mr. Beggs's Early History of the TTest and
Northwest, P^^^o^ 131, I learu tliat "in the year 1825,
Jesse Walker formed a class of sixteen members," com-
posed of the following persons, to wit, " Jesse Walker
and wife; James Walker and wife; Sister Dixon, the
wife of the proprietor of Dixontown, on Rock River;
Sister Hamlin and another sister, converts that winter;
William Holland and wife; William Eads and wife;
AVilliam Blanchard ; Rev. Reeves McCormick, and Mary
Clark," He also speaks of a camp-meeting had about a
mile above Peoria, the next smnmer; and a year or two
afterward of a camp-meeting on Farm Creek, three
miles east of Peoria; and he gives the names of several
Methodist preachers who officiated here, in those days.
Be all this as it may, when I came to the country, in Xo-
vember, 1831, these people were mostly gone, and the
whole thing seemed to have been forgotten. I never
heard it mentioned. There was then no religious society
of any kind, nor a preacher of any kind, in the County of
Peoria.
Yet we occasionally had fervent preaching, by those
who felt it their duty to travel to the remotest ends of j
the earth in search of the * lost sheep of the House of Is-
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 101
rael ' ; and i^eradventiire, some times, by tliose Avho took
that mode of paying their traveling bills. I remember
to have heard preach, before any church was organized
liere, Rev. Mr. Heath, then of St. Louis; Rev. John St.
Clair, from Ottawa or thereabouts; Rev. Joel Arrington,
from I know not where; Rev. Zadoc Hall, who, I be-
lieve, is yet alive and m AVoodford county ; Rev. John
Bricli (an elderly English gentleman, who would have
been, like Goldsmith's country clergyman, " passing rich
with forty pound a year " ; and with that AVould " ne"'er
have changed, nor wished to change, his place"; but the
trouble was, he did not get the forty pound a year, and^
of necessity, had constantly to change his place. In
short, he was a good old man, who had mistaken his call-
ing; and, though every body else saw it at once, he never
ascertained that fact, and, having no place at which per-
manently to preach, he traveled abroad, preaching in the
most out-of-the-way places. It was said at the time, Init
I know not whether it was true, that a drove of wolves
caught him, in the great prairie extending through Hen-
ry and Mercer counties, and eat him up) ; Rev. Jonathan
G. Porter, who made shoes of week-days, and j)reached
on the Sabbath (but what became of him I know not.
He was a ' Henglishman', who sounded an h before eve-
ry vowel where there was none, but omitted every one he
met with) ; Rev. Flavel Bascom, Rev. Romulus Barnes,
and Rev. Ozias Hale. J\[r. Hale did not preach long. It
soon became manifest that he had likewise mistaken his
calling, and he withdrew from the ministry. After living
a few years in great retirement near Hale's Mill, he died,
102 HISTOHY OF PEORIA.
a good, but not a useful man. He was brother to two
very clever men, who were long well known here, but
who are now both dead, viz., William and Asahel Hale.
The first Christian church organized in Peoria, of
which I had any knowledge, until I saw Mr. Beggs's
book a few days ago, was a Methodist-Episcopal church.
It was organized in 1833, by Rev. Mr. Heath and Rev.
Mr. St. Clair. It was oro-anized with the foUowins: mem-
bers : Jonathan G. Porter, Samuel B. King and his wife,
Mark M. Aiken, Laura Hale, Hannah Harker, and Abi-
gail Waters. The meetings were held in the ' old
court-house', and in private dwellings, imtil 1840, Avhen
a frame building was erected, on the 2:>resent church-lot,
corner of Fulton and Madison streets. In 1844 fifteen
feet were added to the rear of this building, making it
in all a house 43 feet lonoj bv 40 wide. In this house the
society worshiped until the spring of 1849, when it was
sold to James McFadden, who removed it to the corner of
Water and Harrison streets, where it still stands, and
constitutes a part of the Central Hotel. In the mean
time, the society had been building a large brick edifice,
90 feet long by 60 feet wide, on the same lot. This they,
began in the summer of 1847, and got completed in]
about two years. It was dedicated on the 9th of Sep-
tember, 1849.
Although other branches of the Methodist Church!
have sprung up in the city, this one has continued to in-j
crease, and has at i^resent about 220 members. Rev. J.|
P. Brooks is the present minister, and Rev. L. B. Kent]
is the presiding elder.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 103
There is a very pretty little frame eclitice, on Chestnut
street, between Adams and Jefferson streets, of Avhicli
the members are mostly, if not all, Germans, and yet
are Methodists, in connection and good standing with
the great Methodist-Episcopal Church of America. This
society has only been in existence about two years, llcv.
Henry Thomas is their minister.
There is a Methodist society whose place of worship
for several years was at the intersection of Perry and
Eaton streets; but they have recently removed their
meeting-house from that place to the intersection of Jef-
ferson and Evans streets. They are in fellowship with
the great Methodist-Episcopal Church. Kev. Henry Ap-
ple is their pastor.
On the bluff, at the head of Main street, is a fine new
church, built by funds devised by Mr. Ashael Hale,
called Hale Chapel. The worshipers here I understand
to be about 150, and to be in connection with the Metho-
dist-Episcopal Church. Rev. W. A. Spencer is their
minister.
In 1852 the Germans organized a Methodist church, in
which the worship is carried on in the German language.
Whether they are in connection with the general Metho-
dists or not I have not learned.
At the corner of Fifth and Monson streets is a small
chapel for the colored people Avho belong to the African
Methodist-Episcopal Church.
Since the Presbyterians have again united as a band
of brothers, the following anecdote may amuse the pres-
ent generation without hurting any one. In 1834, the
104 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
strife that ultimately split the church iu twain was brew-
ing; and although the common people did not then, and
do not now, know what they quarreled and divided
about, those who made the split did know what they
were after, and, some time before the split actuallytook
place, were shaping things so as to have the majority in
the General Assembly Avhen the crisis should be upon
them. There were hardly then Presbyterians enough in
Peoria for one society, much less to form two; and one
society being organized, it was known that the synod
would not recognize a second. Joshua Aiken, Moses
Pettengill and Enoch Cross were Presbyterians of New-
School predilections, and they made arrangements to or-
ganize a church with such materials as would cast their
influence in favor of tlie New-School j^arty, and they ap-
pointed the 21st day of December, 1834, for that pur-
pose; and as Romulus Barnes and Flavel Bascom were
missionary preachers agreeing with them in this matter,
and were officiating as such in Illinois, they were sent
for to perform that duty. They organized a church of
eleven members, of which the three above-named gen-
tlemen were appointed elders. These were all Xew-
Enofland men.
But, while these things were transpiring, there was a
counter-current at work. Samuel Lowry was a zealous
Old-School Presbyterian, from the north of Ireland, and
deemed it very im^^ortant to prevent the other party from
getting the start. He found the old gentleman, Mr.
Brich, of whom notice has been taken, and on the 22 d
of the same month organized a church of persons of Old-
HISTOEY OF PEORIA. 105
School proclivities, to wit: Samuel Lowry, Mrs. Gray,
Mrs. Taggart, John Sutherland, Nelson Buck, and per-
haps two or three others.
Here was a fine prospect for an interminable ecclesias-
tical litigation, between brothers Aiken and Lowry, each
one endeavoring to jorevent the other's church from being
recognized by the synod; and those who were ac-
quainted with the persistence of the parties expected
nothing less, for both of them belonged to that class of
stern, old-fashioned Christians,
" Who never knelt, but to their God to pray,
Nor even then, unless in their own way."
But soon after this the great split in the Presbyterian
Church took place, and the Old-School branch recog-
nized Mr. LoAvry's church, and the New-School the
other, which was commonly called Mr. Pettengill's, as
Mr. Aiken was much from home and finally died, and
Dr. Cross moved away.
In the summer of 1835, Rev. Isaac Keller, an Old-
School Presbyterian preacher of some ability, removed
from Maryland, with his family, to Peoria; and. in the
fall of the same year, Mr. Henry Schnebly, with a large
family, came from the same state. In the mean time
Mrs. Lindsay, with a large fiimily, mostly Presbyterians,
had come from Pennsylvania, and Clark D. Powell from
Virginia. These additions, being Old-School men, ena-
bled the Old-School party to present a bold front; and,
but for internal divisions, they might have made a strong
party. The world never knew — perhaps I never knew
— the real cause of the schism. I suppose, however, the
14
106 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
real cause was a strong disposition in Mr. Lowry to rule
whatever he was concerned with, and an equally strong
disposition on the part of Mr. Keller not to be ruled.
The ostensible cause, however, was a discovery that
Lowry, who was insolvent, had taken the deed to the
church-lot in his own name. Be all that as it may, Mr.
Keller, who had preached for the society, withdrew and
preached in the court-house until his party became strong
enough to build a church, which they did on Fulton
street, the same noAV occupied by the Jews as a syna-
gogue. They abandoned the old organization, and on
the 31st of October, 1840, organized themselves, as an
Old-School Presbyterian church, and elected as elders Mr.
Henry Schnebly, Clark D. Powell, and Joseph Batchelder.
For this organization Rev. Isaac Keller preached several
years; but having settled j^ermanently in the country,
and being somewhat advanced in life, he was succeeded
by Rev. Addison Coffey, a lean, tall man, of feeble
health, whose morals and orthodoxy were never ques-
tioned. He died in the ministry at Peoria. During Iiis
ministration the church on Fulton street was sold to the
Universalists, who afterward sold it to the Jews, by whom
it is now occupied, and during that time the present
church, on the corner of Main and Madison streets, was
built. The bell and steeple have since been added.
After the death of Mr. Coffey, viz., in October, 1855,
R'jv. Robert Johnston was installed as pastor to this
congregation. He preached for it until his death, which
happened on the 19th of August, 1864. If I say this
man did not mistake his calling — that he was ' the riglit
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 107
man in the right place', — I know no man Avho I think
would be mclined to contradict me.
After Mr. Johnston's death. Rev. J. H. Morron was in-
stalled as parson of that church, and he occupies that
position now.
When this church was organized, it was composed of
24 communicants; in 1851, of 120; but now it has a
much larger number.
On the 7th of December, 1853, the Old-School Presby-
terian church was amicably divided, and out of a part of
its members a church was organized, called the Second
Presbyterian Church of Peoria. They built a church at
the corner of Madison and Jackson streets, and obtained
for their preacher Pev. R. P. Farris. The old church,
from that time forward, was called the First Presbyterian
Church of Peoria. Rev. Robert P. Farris preached for
the second church, for a time, and was succeeded by
Rev. Samuel Hibben. After his death Re\^. William E.
McLaren preached for it several years. After he left,
Rev. H. V. T). Nevius was installed, and preaches for
them yet. That church has now about 185 communi-
cants.
The Presbyterian church organized by Mr. Brich died
a natural death. The most of the members followed Mr.
Keller. Messrs. Lowry, Powell and Sutherland moved
away, and all died. The church and church-lot went to
pay Mr. Lowry's debts, or for some other purj^ose, and
were not accounted for. In fiicts there had ceased to be
any one to account to for them.
I stop the press to say that, since this work was hand-
108 HISTORY OF PEOHIA.
ed over to the printer, I have just received from Rev.
John G. Bergen, who was once a leader in the Presbyte-
rian Church, a letter dated February 2d, 1870, from
.which I copy the following : " There was a commission
of the Synod of Illinois, vested with synodical powers
to call before them j^ersons and papers, of which I was
chairman; and we met at Peoria (if I remember cor-
rectly) in 1842; and we investigated and adjudged on
the whole matter of the difficulty : dissolved the church
which Mr. S. Lowry claimed to have organized, and for
which he said Rev. Mr. Bricli jDrayed, and j^roceeded to
organize, with the power of synod committed to us, a
Presbyterian church, in due form, over which Mr. Keller
became stated supply."
This proceeding, I supj^ose, was gotten up by Mr. Kel-
ler's party, to clear the record of the then defunct church
which had been organized by Messrs. Lowry and Brich,
so that the oro^anization of a church for Mr. Keller misrht
not seem unj)resbyterial.
On Walnut street, near the corner of Walnut and Wa-
ter streets, is a church called Calvary Mission, which
was gotten up mostly by the exertions of Mr, William
Reynolds. It was commenced as a Sunday school, but
by degrees was developed into a church. Christianity
in general has been taught there, more than any particu-
lar sectarian doctrine; yet the society is substantially a
Presbyterian society. It has been nurtured mostly by
Presbyterians, and William Reynolds, the principal
founder, and sole elder at its organization, is a Presbyte-
rian, and Rev. John Weston, the pastor, is a Presbyteri-
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 109
an. This society was organized into a church on the
28th day of June, 1867, and ah-eady contains many mem-
bers. Since the organization. Dr. J. Carey has been add-
ed to the eldership.
Another Sunday school of this kind, mostly under the
auspices of Mr. George H. Mcllvaine, has lately devel-
oped into a church, and Rev. George Johnson has been
employed to officiate as its parson. Their place of wor-
shij? is in a small meeting-house at the corner of Green
and Clay streets. Their numbers I have not learned.
The society has heretofore been called Grace Mission,
but it will now probably take the name of the Fourth Pres-
byterian Church. Several of the i^rinci^^al religious so-
cieties have established, in the suburbs, Sunday schools
of this kind, which may or may not develop into
churches.
The Presbyterian society oi'ganized by Messrs. Barnes
and Bascom increased in numbers, and in 1835 built them-
selves a small frame meeting-house on Main street, 28 by
50 feet square. When this church was organized, it con-
sisted of but eleven members. In October, 1847, it had
increased to twenty-two members.
In 1852 this society built themselves a brick church,
on the ground of the frame one, at a cost of 88,000.
This entailed upon them a debt which lay like an incubus
upon til em for seven years. Finally, " on Thanksgiving
morning, ISTovembcr 25th, 1859, Deacon Pettengill, who
held the obligations, presented the whole amount,
84,074.07, as a freewill offering to the church." How-
ever, before this glorious jubilee had- arrived, to wit, in
110 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
October, 1855, twenty-two members withdrew from this
chm'ch, find resolved themselves into a New- School Pres-
byterian church, as is seen below. This church has met
many difficulties, but upon the w^iole its march has been
onward. It now numbers 172 communicants.
At a time when abolitionism was very unpopular, this
was called an abolition society, and a very decided abo-
litionist, Rev. William Allen, jpreached for them. A
publication went abroad that on the 13th of February,
1843, a meeting would be held in said church to organize
an abolition society. A counter meeting was called at
the court-house to counteract that movement. Strong
resolutions were passed against the abolitionists, and a
determination expressed to suppress the meeting, ' ^^^^cc-
ably if they could, but forcibly if they must'. A com-
mittee of respectable citizens was appointed to appear
in the abolition meeting, and read a parcel of resolutions
to them. Although these were respectable men, they
had on their side all the rabble of the city; and when all
these, with their rough looks, made their appearance, the
abolitionists thought it was no place for them, and left.
With some difficulty, the better class prevented the rab-
ble from pulling down the house. They did not prevent
them, however, from running the preacher's buggy into
the lake. The Rev. J. A. Mack is their j^astor.
Those who withdrew from Mr. Pettengill's church, and
resolved themselves into a New-School Presbyterian
church, built a brick house of worship on the corner of
Fulton and Monroe streets, and have kept up their organ-
ization ever since: first as a New-School church, and
HISTORY OP PEORIA. Ill
since the iiiiioii of the two branches as the Fulton-Street
Churcli. Rev. Mr. Hovey is their j^astor.
On the third of March, 1855, a Cumberland-Presbyte-
rian churcli was organized, and they built themselves a
small house of Avorship, on Monson street, between
Fourth and Fifth streets, and obtained for their preacher
Rev. S. T. Stewart. He has long since left, and I be-
lieve they have now no preacher. Their number is small.
I believe they have disbanded, and sold their meeting-
house to the Episcopalians, for whom Rev. John Benson
preaches.
Through the zeal of a Mr. S. Glover (whose piety
proved to be not at all equal to his zeal and talents), a
very respectable edifice was built, at the corner of Madi-
son and Liberty streets, and a respectable society of wor-
shipers collected there, who called themselves United
Presbyterians. As I understand it, they were seceders.
They were Presbyterians in every thing, except that they
would not sing Watts's hymns, which the Presbyterians
do. They flourished for some time, but their favorite
preacher ' fell from grace ', and ' quit his country for his
country's good '. They were generally respectable peo-
ple, and were not resi:)onsible for their preacher's conduct;
yet they seemed unable to survive the blow. They kept
up their organization for some time, but finally sold their
place of worship, and I do not know that they have now
any preaching. Their meeting-house has gone into the
hands of the ' Turners '.
On the 27th day of October, 1834, a Mr. Palmer Dyer
organized an Episcopal church in Peoria, which he named
112 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
St. Jude's Church. Augustus O. Garrett was, at that
time, keeping a tavern at the corner of Main and Wash-
ington streets. Mr. Dyer put u^^ there as a traveler or
boarder, and, as there was no house of worship in town,
preached in Mr. Garrett's ball-room. lie proposed to or-
ganize a society for religious worship. There were few,
if any, Ej^iscoj^alians present, but no body objected to
preaching, and all were more or less ardently in favor of
it. So he organized an Episcoj)al church, without any
reference to the kind of religious training his audience
had had, or the religious opinions they entertained. I
have not a list of the members of his church, if he made
any, but his officers were as follows : Palmer Dyer, Rec-
tor; Edward Dickinson and Samuel C. Baldwin, Wardens ;
Augustus O. Garrett, Josej^h C. Frye, William Mitchell,
Rudolphus Rouse, George Kellogg, P. A. Westervelt,
William Frisby, and Andrew M. Hunt, Vestrymen ; Wil-
liam Frisby, Clerk. By those who knew the above gen-
tlemen this would not be considered a very ' highj
church'; yet it is said that Bishop Chase owed his ele-
vation to the position of Bishop of Illinois to this sam(
Rev. Mr. Dyer and his St. Jude's Church, and that h(
recognized it for several years as a very proper Episcopal
organization; yet at a subsequent time he ignored it, an(
treated it as never having existed, and organized in its
stead another, which he called St. Paul's Church. This^
is the society that built the large church at the corner of
Monroe and Main streets, to which Mr. Cracraft long
preached, and which now has for its rector Rev. James
W. Goe. The corner-stone was laid, with considerable
mSTORY OF PEORIA. 113
ceremony, by Bisliop Chase, in 1849, and the church was
finished and dedicated on the 15th of September, 1850.
This society is composed of about G3 persons.
There is a liouse of worship on Monson street, between
Fourth and Fifth streets, called St. Paul's chapel, under
the ministration of Mr. John Benson, who is understood
to be a 'high-church ' Episcopalian.
The first Baptist society was organized in Peoria on
the 14th of August, 1836. Rev. Henry Headley preached
for them in the Court-House for some time. Rev. Isaac
D. Newell took cliarge of this congregation on the 22d
of October, 1843. Several others have ministered to
them since, and some times they have been without a
parson. No one, however, whom they have had left a
fairer record than Rev. II. G. Weston, who, when I last
saw him, Avas preaching to a large congregation in the
City of New York. They built a church while Mr.
Newell was their pastor, on Hamilton street, fronting on
th3 public square, wdiich they occupied for many years.
Finally they sold it to one who turned it into a billiard
saloon, and in lieu thereof, for the sum of $10,000, they
bought a church, in July, 1864, which the Unitarians had
built, at the corner of Madison and Fayette streets.
Their membership is between 200 and 300, and Mr. S. A.
Kingsbury, D. D., is their preacher.
Another Baptist church was organized on the 24th of
January, 1855, and for several years Rev. John Edmin-
ster was their pastor. They built a meeting-house on
Adams street, between Locust and Persimmon streets.
Rev. W. T. Green is their present pastor. To Rev.
15
114 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Messrs. Edminsler and Weston is mainly due the honor
of establishing this church.
On the 24th of August, 1852, the ' First German Bap-
tist Church' was organized. They first held worship in
the basement of the First Baptist Church. They now
worship in a meeting-house on the corner of Jefferson
and Elm streets, and Rev. J. Merz is their j^astor.
There is a small society who glory in the name of
Christians, and are not pleased Avith having any other
name applied to them, but people generally call them
Campbellites. As I understand it, they are Baptists,
simple and pure, but they are not held in fellowship by
the others — not because they are not as much in favor of
baptism as they, but because they denounce all creeds
and confessions of faith. This society was organized on
the 1st of Xovember, 1845; but it has not prospered,
and I do not know whether thev continue their meetino-s.
They built a house of Avorship on Seventh street, between
Franklin and Monson streets.
In 1847 the Roman Catholics organized a church
which they called St. Mary's Church, and they built a
large house of worship at the corner of Jefferson and
Eaton streets. They liaA^e had various priests, but the
one who officiates now is Rev. John Mackin. They re-
l^ort about 2,000 members. In connection with this
church is a large school-house, nearly read}- for the re-
ception of 2>upils, which will cost about $12,000, and be
sufficient to accommodate 500 scholars.
On the 10th of September, 1861, the Rev. Henry
Doyle, then in charge of St. Mary's Church, established
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 115
an appendage to it, whicli lie called St. Patrick's
Chiircli. This church continued as an apj^endage to St.
Mary's Church until March 1st, 1808, Avhen it became an
independent church, with Eev. Michael Hurley as priest,
Avho continues to officiate in that capacity. He claims
fifteen hundred members. Their j^lace of worship is in
the small frame church at the corner of Ilio^h and Cedar
streets.
Attached to this church, and subject to the supervision
of Father Hurley, is a common school of about two hund-
red pupils.
At the corner of Spencer and First streets is a tolera-
bly large Catholic church, in which the Rev. William
Deiters is priest. They claim 2,000 members. They
are Germans, and the sermon is preached in the German
language. Attached to this church is a school kept by
Sisters of Notre Dame, who teach abont 300 scholars in
the German and Encjlish lanirnaaies.
There is a select Catholic school, kept by the Sisters
of St. Joseph, near the intersection of Madison and Ham-
ilton streets. They have about IGO scholars. Although
this is a sectarian school, I have been informed by a
Catholic priest that it is more patronized by Protestants
than by Catholics.
The Catholics are opposed to our public schools, be-
cause the Protestant Bibles are read in them and Protes-
tant prayers and hymns are nsed in them, and have taken
the most of their children from them, and intend to with-
draw the rest as soon as they have provided sufficient ac-
commodations.
116 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
In 1847 there was a society of German Protestants
organized into a church, who called themselves the
Evangelical Association. They have a small church at
the corner of First and State streets. Rev. F. W. Walk-
er is their pastor.
The German Protestants have a society called the
* Evangelical Lutheran Church ', organized December 1st,
1853. Their house of worship) is on First street, between
Fisher and Goodwin streets. Rev. M. J. Tjaden is their
pastor.
A place of worship called the ' German Evangelical
Lutheran Trinity Church' is located on the corner of
Jefferson and Maple streets. It was organized June 28th,
1853, by Rev. F. Boeling. The number of communi-
cants is 350. The present minister, who has charge of
the congi'egation, and who has had charge of it for nine
years, is Rev. Paulus Held. With that church three pa-
rochial schools are connected : one located on North-Mad-
ison street; another on South- Adams street; and the
third near the church, on Jefferson street.
On the 3d day of January, 1847, was organized a
New-Jerusalem or Swedenborgian chiu'ch. They first
built a temi^le on Jefferson street, immediately to the
northeast of Mr. Lightner's residence, and this they oc-
cupied for a good many years; but now they have
erected a very good, though not a large, house of wor-
ship on Hamilton, street, between Jefferson and Madison
streets. Rev. G. F. Stearns is their pastor.
A Universalist society was organized here on the 6tli
of May, 1843. At first they had no house of worship.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 117
but in process of time they bought tlic meeting-lionse
built by the Presbyterians, on Fulton street, but which is
now owned by tlio Jews. After using that for several
years, they sold it, and were for a while without a place
of worship; but they have recently built upon Main
street, between Perry and Hale streets, a very fine house
of worship — the most ex^^ensive one in the city. Rev.
R. H. Pullman is their pastor.
The Unitarians have not flourished in Peoria. In June,
1840, Rev. Benjamin Huntoon organized a Unitarian so-
ciety here, and from his zeal considerable results were
anticipated; but he returned to New England, and his
church went down.
In January, 1855, a Unitarian church was organized
Under the auspices of Rev. James R. McFarland. They
had their meetings, for some time, over Mr. Joseph
Clegg's clothing-store, at No. 47 Main street; but they
soon afterward built a very comfortable house of worship
at the corner of Madison and Fayette streets, and held
their meetings there for some time ; but, for some cause
I can not explain, the church went down, and their house
of worship passed into the hands of the l^aptists.
In 1846, Michael Ruppelius, a very good sort of a Ger-
man, organized a religious society of forty members,
which he called simply the * Protestant Church '. This
society was composed mostly, perhaps altogether, of
Germans. In 1851, Mr. Drown's Directory says lie had
150 members. He preached to them several years, in
the Court-House. Finally he quit that business, and be*
took himself to the business of a conveyancer, and followed
118 HISTORY or PEORIA.
that for some time before his death. "What went witli
liis little society I never knew.
In early times there were no Jews liere, or, if there
were, they were not known as such. But in jirocess of
time, as foreigners came pouring into the country, it was
found that many of them were Israelites, and they occa-
sionally had worship to themselves on Saturday : Sunday
being no holy day with them. On the 2d of May, 1863,
they were organized into a regular religious congrega-
tion, since which time their services have been as regular
as others. The Kev. Marx Moses is the officiating pastor
or priest.
Besides the above religious societies, that may be called
churches, we have a number of religious organizations
that would hardly bear that name : for instance — 1st, the
various mission Sunday schools above referred to, which
liave not been developed into churches; 2d, the 'Peoria
Bible Society '; 3d, the 'Young Men's Christian Associ-
ation ' ; 4tli, the ' Peoria Branch of U. S. Christian Asso-
ciation ' ; 5th, the ' German^ Roman Catholic, St. Joseph's
Benevolent Association ' ; Cth, the ' Hibernian Benevo-
lent Society ' ; Tth, the ' Ladies Hebrew Benevolent So-
ciety'; 8th, the 'Peoria Ladies' Soldiers'-Aid Society';
9th, the ' Union Pelief Society '.
Besides these, we have a number of secret societies,
said to be benevolent institutions, such as the different
orders and grades of Free-Masons, Odd-Fellows, Sons of
Malta, Druids, Sons of Temperance, Oriental Order of
Humility, etc., about all of which I am most profoundly
ignorant. From their exhibitions, however, on gala-days.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 119
and fit funerals, some of them are manifestly very nu-
merous.
CHAPTER XXII.
MANUFACTURES. FOUNDRIES AND MACHINE-SHOPS.
The foundry and machine business has made many
men rich, but perhaps nearly as many poor. To prose-
cute this business successfully requires skill, patience,
and financial ability. The most of manufacturing proj-
ects will succeed if the parties have skill and financial
ability ; but with both these qualities a man will fail at
the above business unless he have patience. For years
the expense for patterns will swallow up most of the
profits, and without patience a man will go down. But
after years of perseverance, all the ordinary patterns will
have been made and laid by ; then, if a man have skill
and financial ability, the greenbacks will roll into his lap.
The first man who undertook this business in Peoria
was William R. Hopkins. He had learning, but no skill
in this matter, no patit'nce, nor financial ability. He com-
menced the business about twenty-seven years ago, in a
one-story brick building, on the ground where the Cen-
tral Hotel now stands, at the corner of Harrison and
AYater streets. The house had been built by Messrs.
120 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Isaac Underbill and Aquila Wren, for a pork-packing
house. Mr. Hopkins did considerable business ; but, as I
understand it, he made no money, and run out for want
of means.
The next who attempted the business in Peoria was
William Peters. He had skill and patience, and perhaps
financial ability; but he commenced very poor, and strove
on to the time of his death, say fifteen years, to get a
start. All that time, besides supporting his family, it
took him to procure sufticient buildings, machinery, and
patterns. Since his death, his establishment has fallen
into the hands of men who, it is understood, have made
money by it. It is now believed to be a success. Five
practical men, under the name and style of Nicol, Burr
<fc Co., now own and are operating that establishment;
and they report to me that they work every day in the
year, Sundays excepted, upon an average, fifty men.
That during last year they built seven steam-engines, and
that they make every day, upon an average, except Sun-
days, from 3G00 to 4000 pounds of castings. That in
doing this they use daring the year 150 tons of anthra-
cite coal, 60 tons of Blossburg coal, and 360 tons of com-
mon Illinois coal. In connection with this business, they
have started the manufixcture of corn-planters, and ex-
pect to run pretty largely into that business this year.
At a pretty early period, Mr. Luke Wood run a found-
ry a while, but for some reason, that I have forgotten, if
I ever knew, it went doAvn. I do not remember the date
of his operations.
The foundries that are now driving the business, with
HISTORY OP PEORIA. 121
every prospect of success, are Voris & Co., who call
their establishment 'Voris Steam-Engine AVorks'; and
Nicol, Burr & Co., who call their establishment 'The
Peoria Foundry and Machine-Shop'.
H. G. Anderson, for several years, has been doing a
larf>"e business in the old foundry established by the
lilessrs. Moore, which, it is understood, belongs to him
and Mrs. Evans, late Mrs. Moore ; but, for some reason
not explained to me, the business is now suspended.
All the above are machine-shops as well as foundries.
There are tAVO iron-foundries, however, that have no
machine-shops attached, to wit, the foundry of Culter &
Proctor, who make the manufacture of stoves a specialty,
and the firm of O'Rorke & Co , which is composed of
several practical moulders. They do a good business,
mainly in making castings for the manufacturers of agri-
cultural implements. They labor every day, except Sun-
day, every one of them, and are not even at the expense
of a clerk. One of the parties does the clerking, without
charge, after working-hours are over.
We have two brass-foundries : one operated by Messrs.
Kinsey & Mahler, and the other by Messrs. Frazer,
Thompson & Co. The business of both these establish-
ments seems to have increased amazingly, since the es-
tablishment of our water-works and the extension of the
gas-pipes.
We have three establishments in which the manufac-
ture of steam boilers is followed as a business.
The greatest things, however, we have in the way of
machine-shops, are the machine-shops of the Toledo,
16'
122 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Peoria and Warsaw Railway Company. In the engine
and machine department of that road, or so much of it as
lies between the Indiana state line and the Mississippi
river, are employed 260 men. Of these, about 195 are
employed in and about the machine-shops in Peoria.
This force use in a year 21,632 tons of coal. The greater
part of this is Illinois coal, obtained beside the road, and
costs, delivered in the cars, only eight cents a bushel, or
$2.00 per ton. This coal, for most purposes, is as good
as any, but for some purj)oses it is not, and they consume
in a year about 350 tons of Pennsylvania coal, of a kind
called Blossburg coal. This costs them, delivered here,
about ten dollars per ton.
The shops do the mending for the road, and occasion-
ally manufacture a car or locomotive engine.
I have not the means of showing the amount of ma-
chinery made at Peoria; but the following is a correct
statement of the number of pounds of merchantable cast-
ings made by the Yoris Steam-Engine Works during
each month of the year 1869. The aggregate shows an
increase over the previous year's business, which is espe-
cially gratifying in view of the general dullness of the
times. It is proper to be understood that this establish-
ment does not do any agricultural work, consequently the
winter months are the dullest, and the spring and summer
months the best of the year.
January 63,410
February 45,598
March 41,258
Carried forward 150,266
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 123
brought forward 150,266
April 37,654
May , 61,888
June 84,913
July 73,723
August 59,102
September 72,556
October 73,899
November 40,481
December 35,756
Total for 1869 690,238
" " 1868 544,416
Increase during 1869 145,822
Rate of increase, 27 per cent.
CHAPTER XXIIL
MANUFACTURES. BLACKSMITHS AND PLOW-MAKERS,
It is manifest, from the pieces of iron, etc., found by
IMr. Birket, as has been described, that there was a
blacksmith here before the building of the Peoria village,
burnt by Captain Craig; but I have seen no account any
where of the French people ever having had a mechanic-
shop here of any kind. Soon after the American popu-
lation began to settle here, there was an Indian agency
established in this place, Avith a Mr. Graham as Indian
124 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
agent; and, pursuant to some treaty, William Holland
was establislied here as an Indian blacksmith. But when
I came here, both were gone : Graham to St. Louis, and
Mr. Holland to Washington, twelve miles east, where he
has lived ever since, and is now eighty-three years old.
The only blacksmiths here, when I came, were Alexander
Caldwell and John AY. Caldwell, two young men from
Ohio, who were brothers and partners. They are both
yet alive, and follow farming a few miles east of Peoria.
At an early period (I believe in 1834), Isaac Evans, a
very good blacksmith, from Pennsylvania, settled in Pe-
oria, and carried on the business for several years, and
then removed to Galena, where he and a son-in-law, by
the name of John Adams, carried on the plow-making
business for a long time. Whether he is there now or
not I do not knoAV.
One of our earliest blacksmiths, who carried on the
business here, was Philander C. Merwin, from Western
New York, or Northeastern Pennsylvania. For several
years, he has abandoned the business, and lives on a farm
not far below the city.
The first blacksmiths in a country are also gunsmiths :
that is, through necessity, they repair guns ; but as soon
as population has so increased that it can sustain the
gunsmith as a separate mechanic, he appears. The first
of this class of smiths who settled in Peoria was Mr«
George Ford. He came here about 1834, and followed
the trade for many years; but, having acquired a compe-
tence, he has retired from business. Other gunsmiths
have been here from time to time, but the number at
present is eight.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. l25
When a gunsmith makes his appearance in a place,
having tools to suit that purpose, he generally absorbs all
of that business, and other smiths quit it; but in Peoria
it has not been exactly so. Mr. Whittemore, an old set-
tler, has always done a general repairing business. He
has always repaired every thing worn or broken, from a
piano-forte to a Jew's-harp ; from a crow-bar to a cambric
needle, or from a clock to a sun-dial; and his nephew,
Mr. Weatherl, is pursuing the same course.
But in the line of blacksmiths there are none who de-
serve higher compliments for so remarkable success than
Mr. Alexander Allison. He conmienced here in early
times, a poor, but honest and industrious, journeyman
blacksmith. He is now a gentleman of large means, and
carries on the wagon and carriage making business.
Closely connected with blacksmithing is the plow busi*
ness. In early times, except a few old-fashioned plows,
made by John Birket, the plows used hereabout were
manufactured at Pittsburg, and brought on by our mer-
chants, as an article of trade. They were of a very in-
ferior quality, with cast-iron mould-boards that ' would
not scour '. In 1 843, William Tobey and John Anderson j
under the name of Tobey & Anderson, commenced the
plow business in a very small way. They w^ere both
very poor, too much so to buy ground or even materials,
only a very small quantity at a time. Mr. Tobey liad
been a wagon or carriage maker, from New England, and
Mr. Anderson had been a common blacksmith, from Ken-
tucky, but recently from Indiana. They rented a very
inferior log building, on Water street. Mr. Tobey did
126 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
the wood work, and Anderson the iron work, in the same
room. It was an experiment; but they soon, by dint of
experiments, obtained a pattern for a plow that excelled
all others, and has not since been excelled. They gradu-
ally increased their business, until the Tobey & Anderson
plow became celebrated all over the West, as far as Cali-
fornia. They soon were able to obtain steam machinery
to do the work,' and to own the houses in which they did
it, and the ground on which those houses stood. In
short, they became wealthy, and then, as all men are
liable som-e time to do, they both died. But the ploAV
business did not die with them : there are more plows of
that pattern now made in Peoria than they ever saw.
Their old establishment is carried on by Messrs. Buckley,
Hanny, Estes & Co., who generally work from 25 to 30
men. During the last year they manufactured 3,000
plows of all kinds, and about 1,200 cultivators.
But a much larger shop has been established in Peoria,
by men who learned the business in the old Tobey &
Anderson factory, and who, in fiict, under a lease from
the proj^rietors, carried on the business in that establish-
ment; and although they have altogether abandoned the
old, and built a new establishment, they advertise them-
selves as successors of Tobey <fc Anderson. They do
not claim, however, to make exactly the same patterns of
plows as were made by the latter, but they claim to have
improved on them. Lorin G. Pratt is really the soul of
this concern; but, to insure industry and economy in all
its parts, he has for some time had three practical men in
j^artnership of the profits, and recently the strong firm of
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 127
Plant Brothers, of St. Louis, have taken an interest in
the business. It is now carried on in the name of Plant
Brothers, Pratt & Co. They generally take a recess
during the hot months, but when running they work from
100 to 110 men. They make about 20,000 plows in a
year, besides scrapers, harrows, corn-shellers, cultivators,
etc. The value of the Avhole of their manufactures for
the year just past Avas about 1 25 0,000.
Other shops have made a few plows, but^ these two are
doing the main business in this city.
Tobey & Anderson did not long live to enjoy their
fortune, but they have shed greater blessings on Peoria
and the "West than the hero of a hundred battles. They
gave employment for many years to a large number of
men, and furnished our farmers with better plows than
they had ever had before. May all the wooden mould-
board plows, Carey plows, and bull plows, be built into
a monument to their memory.
CHAPTEPi XXIY.
MANUFACTURES. MILLS.
Ix 1830, Mr. John Hamlin and Mr. John Sharp built a
flouring-mill on Kickapoo creek, three miles, or there-
abouts, west of Peoria; and this was the only flouring-
128 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
mill that existed in this part of the country for several
years. Soon after the mill was built, Mr. Sharp died,
and tlie property, by some means (I suppose by purchase
from Sharp^s heirs), fell into the hands of Mr. Hamlin,
who soon after, I think in the fore part of 1834, sold it to
Joshua Aiken. This was a small mill, propelled by the
water of the Kickapoo; but it was said to have been ca-
pable of making fifty barrels of flour in twenty-four
hours. Mr. Aiken added a saw-mill to it, and run both
for some time, but finally permitted the stream to under-
mine them and carry them away; and now a stranger
might almost as well seek for the site of Nineveh or
Babylon as the site of these mills. And this is the more
remarkable, as there were dwelling-houses there, in which
the persons lived who owned and run said mills, and all
the land thereabout was staked ofiT into streets, alleys,
lots, etc., and called Peoria 31ills, and a considerable
amount of business was done in traftickino: in these lots,
thirty-four years ago.
In 1838, William Hale (and perha2:)S others as silent
partners) built a flouring-mill further uj) the creek. This
was a good mill, and did much business for many years;
but during the whisky mania it fell into the hands of men
who turned it into a whisky-making establishment, but
too late, for the two-dollar tax going into effect cut off" all
the profits, and it suffered the fate of a number of whisky-
mills in this neighborhood. It was insured beyond its
value, then took fire and was burnt down, and now the
tall chimney stands there solitary and useless.
Soon after this several steam flourinoj-mills were erect-
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 129
ed. Among those wlio, in former times, patronized the
city in the way of flouring-mills, I would name Orrin
Hamlin, John llankin, James 11. McCall, and Isaac
Moore, all of whom built flouring-mills that, after doing
much service, were burnt down. I should except that of
Mr. McCall, for it was burnt down almost as soon as
finished.
Those to whom the city is at present mainly indebted
for this branch of business are George Field, Frank Field,
J. T. Robinson, H. 11. Potter, W. M. Randall, Horace
Clark, W. T. Hanna, and Henry I. Chase.
The steam flouring-mills now in Peoria are the follow-
ing:
1st, The Fort Clark Mill, owned by George Field
and J. T. Robinson, under the name and style of Robin-
son & Co. This mill runs eight pairs of mill-stones.
2d, City Mill, which belongs to the same parties, under
the same style. It runs five pairs of mill-stones. These
two mills, run by the same company, can make VOO bar-
rels of flour in a day of twenty-four hours, and they have
actually, on an average, for the last seven years, done a
million dollars' worth of business a year.
3d, Diamond Mill, owned by Frank Field, Mr. Russell
of Peoria, and Messrs. Potter and Mavnard of Massa-
chusetts. Style of copartnership, Field, Russell & Co.
This mill has nine sets of mill-stones.
4tb, Globe Mill, belongs to the last above-named pro-
prietors, under the same name. They run four pairs of
mill-stones in this mill.
5th, Fayette Mill, belongs to II. II. Potter and W. M.
17
130 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Kandall. They do business under the name of Randall
& Potter. This mill has five pairs of mill-stones.
6th, Home Mill : Horace Clark, W. T. Hanna and J.
C. Kingsbury, proj^rietors ; style of firm, Clark, Hanna &
Co. This mill has five pairs of mill-stones.
Tth, Chase's Mill : Henry I. Chase, E. D. Chase and
P. F. Chase, proprietors; style of firm, Henry I. Chase
<fc Co. They have four pairs of mill-stones.
All these mills use French Burr mill-stones.
When the manufacture of flour was first tried in Pe-
oria, those who undertook it were not only poor, but they
managed badly, and their want of success discouraged
others, and for a long time it seemed almost impossible
to get flour enough made in Peoria for our own use ; but
since a few enterj^rising men have been successful in a
high degree, the manufacture of flour here has become
one of our most important interests.
The fiulure of j^ersons engaged in the flouring busi-
ness, in early times, was not owing to any thing inherent
in the business, but to want of caj^ital and to bad man-
agement. The failure of no manufacturer of flour injured
the prospects of Peoria, in that line, more than that of
John Rankin. He was a practical man, but he was ex-
tremely imprudent, and not only got himself involved in
law about his machinery, but he bought up some French
claims and delved into law about them, and, after sj^end-
ing a large amount of money, got badly beaten. Had
John Rankin paid for his machinery before putting' it
into his mill, or, being unable to do that, had he obtained
time, even upon a high rate of interest, and let specula-
HISTORY OF PEORIA. IBI
tion alone, lie would have made a fortune. For some
time afterward lie injured Peoria by deterring others from
engaging in the business, yet temporarily he was of great
benefit to our city. We had in those days no banks nor
capitalists, and the transmission of funds to the East,
either by the merchants or by lawyers who had collected
oti' them, was extremely difticult. 3Ioney would some
times lie idle for a considerable length of time, waiting
for the means of transmission. When Rankin's mill was
finished, it was not paid for, and he was without a dollar
to buy wheat, and yet the farmers had plenty of wheat,
and were anxious to sell. Captain John Moore had
opened a general store of groceries and dry goods in the
city. He had not much money nor credit, but found a
man in St. Louis who was understood to be in the same
situation, but who, however, had a father-in-law, in New
York, that had both money and credit. Moore made an
arrangement with the St. Louis man to foot all the bills
for wheat, by getting his father-in-law to provide for his
bills in New York, and, as security and compensation,
the flour was to be shipped to St. Louis, and to be charged
with a commission. With the merchants and lawyers in
Peoria Moore made an arrangement that, as fast as they
should receive money they wished to transmit east, they
should jjay it over to him, and he would procure them a
credit in New York. As soon as this arranirement had
obtained the confidence of the people, it worked like a
charm. The wheat-market became lively, money moved
briskly, and the community felt relieved from a great
pecuniary pressure. A thousand dollars, which may
132 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
have lain in the vaults of a lawyer or merchant a month,
Avaiting for the means of transportation, was, under this
arrangement, paid in to Moore, and by him paid to the
farmers, and by them paid to the merchant, and so on
every day for a month; and in fact, the $1,000, in stead
of lying idle, may have paid |100,000 of debts; and who
was injured by this routine of credit? The farmer got a
sale for his wheat, and got his debt to his merchant paid,
and got some goods and groceries. Mr. Rankin did
well, for he obtained the profits incident to grinding and
shij^ping the flour. Mr. Moore did well, for he, in paying
the men, was generally able to pay a j^art in goods which
they wanted. The Peoria merchants did well, for they
got debts paid which otherwise could not then have been
paid, and stopped the interest on their eastern debts
sooner than it otherwise could have been done. The St.
Louis man did well, for he got commissions on all the
sales that were made. The 'New York man did well, for
he got commissions on his advances; and the eastern
creditors did well, for they got their money sooner than
they otherwise could have done.
Our millers now have a more convenient way of work-
ing this matter. We have plenty of banks, and a railway
communication directly with the eastern cities. They
can, in twenty-four hours after buyhig the wheat, have it
on its way to the eastern cities, in the form of flour, and,
if necessary, draw on the faith of the bill of lading, and
immediately put themselves in funds to buy more wheat.
When our people were poorer, in banking and railroad
facilities, than at present, we had to ship every thing by
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 133
way of St. Louis or Chicago ; but our flour and whisky
men are now independent of botli. They transport flour
and whisky daily by rail, without breaking bulk, from
Peoria to the eastern cities, and their agents there make
sales, and j^lace the money in bank to meet their drafts.
Saw-milling has been abandoned, there not being a
saw-mill now in the city.
The first steam saw-mill in Peoria was built by Mr.
Wm. W. Williams, or by a man by the name of Baldwin,
who immediately sold it to Mr. AYilliams. At any rate,
Mr. Williams operated it a year or two, but did no good
with it, and it passed into the hands of Samuel Ward, an
English millwright, who turned it into a wind-mill; but
he, likewise, did no good with it, and the thing went
down. I do not remember whetlier it was burnt down,
or pulled down, or turned into a warehouse, as has been
stated. Williams failed because, though a sober man, he
was not calculated to succeed at any thing; and AV^ard
failed because he was, all the time he carried on the busi-
ness, killing himself with whisky, in which latter business
he succeeded. There were, however, two steam saw-
mills in Peoria once that did much business. The first
was built by Mr. James C. Armstrong, whose death took
2:)lace a few days ago, and was at one time in the hands
of Henry S. Aiken and the Bartons ; but it afterward fell
into the hands of Moss & Bradley, who put a Scotchman
named James Smith in charge of it. Smith proved to be
tlie right man in the right place. In a short time it was
said that he had made enough of money with it to pay
for it, and make himself a third owner* Smith worked
134 HISTORY OF I'EORIA.
himself, and saw that every body about him worked. He
made it a large som*ce of profit; and, but for the interpo-
sition of death, the leveler of all things, he no doubt
would have become very wealthy. He proved — what the
bad management of others had caused to be doubted —
that sawing lumber in Peoria was a very profitable busi-
ness. This mill was on the bank of the river, in the lower
part of the city.
Christopher Orr and G. W. Schnebly built, and for
several years operated, a steam saw-mill on the bank of
the river, at the upper end of the city. They did much
business, but I suspect they sold a good deal of lumber
to men who never paid them ; but probably the ' gold
fever' was the principal cause of breaking up the business.
When it was the fashion to sell out and go TVest, Mr.
Schnebly did so; but, though he soon returned, the old
business was not resumed.
These two mills were of great advantage to the city,
even when they were not profitable to those who operated
them, and I, who have had an oj^portunity to know some-
thing about this, give it as my opinion that nothing but
the bad management of the parties prevented this busi-
ness from being profitable at all times, and now more so
than at any former time; for, although the facility of ob-
taining lumber by the canal and railroads is now greater
than ever before, yet the price of lumber is higher now
than before these facilities existed. It is objected that
lumber made of our timber is not so good as pine. For
some purposes it is not, and for some it is ; but for other
purposes it is better. ,
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 135
ClIAPTEK XXV,
MANUFACTURES. DISTILLERIES.
'No business that has been undertaken in Peoria has
proved to be more profitable than making whisky. In
early times, corn was so low" in proportion to the price of
whisky that any one, without much skill, could have
made a fortune at the business; but there were three
reasons that prevented that business from being under-
taken. 1st, A great deal of pains had been taken, by
public lectures and the establishment of temperance soci-
eties, to render it unpopular, and to some extent these
efforts had succeeded. 2d, There is a general disinclina-
tion on the part of men to branch out into a new and un-
tried business. 3d, We were generally scarce of money,
and destitute of banking facilities.
However, in 1844, Almiran S. Cole, a man of small
means but considerable enterprise, started a small steam
distillery, capable of using up only 200 bushels of corn in
a day. This step was not looked upon with favor, even
by those w^ho had no objection to the business in a moral
point of view. His downfall was looked upon as certain.
The day of his bankruptcy was considered but a matter
of time. He was considerably in debt when he com-
menced, and that step of folly, as his creditors deemed it
to be, at'once ruined his credit, and his creditors hurried
136 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
to get judgiiieuts against him before he would break.
And wlien he got the establishment comj^leted, for want
of money or credit, he fomid great difficulty in running
it; and he must have failed, had it not been a remarkabl}'"
dull time. Many people were out of work, the farmers
had no other market for their corn, and were glad to sell
at almost any price, even at the risk of not getting their
pay. However, he did run his establishment, difficult as
it was; he made money rapidly, paid off his debts, filled
his cellar full of whisky, and the people all suddenly
waked up to a knowledge of the fact that he was getting
rich; and had he so continued, he would have become
very wealthy. But Sylvanus Thompson, a man of some
experience on the subject, and, withal, possessing good
credit and some money, saw that there was a fortune in
the business, and boucrht him out. Mr. Cole was not
deceived in the business; but, having obtained some ex-
perience, he designed to build a distillery three times as
large as the one he had sold. For this purpose he pur-
chased ground (whereas in the other case he had only
leased the ground) and made some progress toward
building a distillery ; but, his funds failing, he was de-
layed a year or two, but finally raised sufficient means to
complete it, and it proved a j^erfect success. Then, pell-
mell, every man that could raise the means went into the
whisky business — mostly upon borrowed money at high
interest.
Finally, by the year 1864, there were no less than
twelve of these establishments in the city of Peoria
alone, besides several others in the neighborhood owned
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 137
and operated by Peorians. Those that were hi operation
in 1864 were ru;i by tlie following j^ersons, and of the
following capacities :
Charles R. Carroll 600 bushels.
Higbie ik Xnsbauni SOO "
Clarke & Ely 1,000 »
Moss, Bradley & Co 1,200 "
Gregg c'k Cockle 1,200 "
Edward F. Nowland 1,000 "
Sweeny, Littleton & Co 600 "
I). C. Farrell 1,200 "
James G. Spier 600 "
Martin tfc Eastman 300 "
Lightner & Schimpferman 1,200 "
Thomas S. Dobbins 800 "
The quantity of whisky these establishments threw on
the market daily can be calculated with tolerable cer-
tainty. They were capable of making, upon an average,
fifteen quarts of whisky from a bushel of grain ; but it
some times happened that some one, for want of a good
distiller, or for want of good yeast, fell a little short of
this. At the above rate they consumed 10,500 bushels
of grain per day. This multiplied by li^, in stead of 15,
will produce 152,250 quarts, or 38,062^ gallons of whisky.
To contain this whisky, when reduced to highwines, re-
quired 636 barrels daily, and 5,250 bushels of coal. Be-
sides, thousands of beeves and hogs were fattened on the
grain after the whisky had been extracted. Take also
into the account the great number of men it took to oper-
ate all these establishments, and some idea may be formed
of their imjiortance to the city. In fact, the lower part
- 18
138 HISTORY OP PEORIA.
of the city, in which tliese establishments were located,
received a powerfnl impulse from them, until they were
all suddenly brought to a stand, by what is generally
called the two-dollar tax. Congress passed a law which,
if I remember right, went into effect on the first of June,
1864, laying a tax of two dollars a gallon upon all the
whisky thereafter made. The effect of this was to raise
the price of whisky on hand suddenly and enormously,
so that those who had a quantity on hand, whether by
having made it or bought it, would grow suddenly rich.
Some congressmen Avere charged with having voted for
the bill with this view, they having gone deeply into the
wliisky business as soon as they saw the bill would be
passed.
The avowed object of this tax Avas to increase the rev-
enue; but, as every man well informed on the science of
government knew would be the case, the revenue was
thereby greatly diminished. It is a well-established
principle in political economy that no duty should be
laid on an article greater than the expense of producing
it; otherwise, the great temptation to evade the law will
operate as a bribe to men to do so. This being foreseen
when such laws are passed, it is usual to provide ruinous
penalties to deter men from violating them; but this is
beginning at the wrong end. In stead of inducing men
to violate the law, and then punishing them for it, they
should be induced to respect the law. When a man is
brought to ruin for violating a law that is only malum
prohibitum^ many will say 'served him right'; but this
man has friends and relatives, and, peradventure, depend-
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 189
ents : these become opposed to the law, and influence all
they can against it. Finally another is ruined, and the
same result follows ; and another, and another, until the
opposition to the law becomes extensive, if not universal,
and no informers can be found, and, if detectives should
unearth a case, witnesses could not be found. Then of
what avail would be the law ? Congress finally waked
up to the fact that they were getting but little revenue,
and blamed the wickedness of the age, in stead of their
own folly. They i3assed a law reducing the tax, but
surrounded the right to make whisky with so many ty-
rannical and expensive concomitants that it is doubtful
whether, even now, any one can make whisky profitably
but those who evade the law.
In many parts of the United States whisky Avas profit-
ably made during the two-dollar tax, but not in Peoria.
While the two-dollar tax was the law, whisky could be
bought in Peoria, all regularly stamped, as if the taxes
had been paid, for a less sum than the tax. Of course,
the taxes had not been paid. In some districts distiller-
ies were run as usual, but not so in Peoria. The whole
business was broken up, doing an immense damage to
the city. It is said, however, that there was an attempt
on this side of the river — perhaps more than one attempt
— to evade the law, but such results followed that those
concerned were convinced of the truth of the old adage,
' Honesty is the best policy.'
Multiply 38,0G2, the quantity made in a day, in Peoria,
before the two-dollar law went into force, by two, and
you have $76,125 as the amount that this one interest
140 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
was expected to pay every clay to tlie general govern-
ment; and multiply this sum by 300 as the working days
in a year, and you have the enormous sum of $22,837,500
for a year. But Peoria evaded this tax by not making
the whisky, while many other places evaded it by making
and selling the whisky without paying the tax, and ' Uncle
Sam' got poor, while some of his collectors got rich.
What a compliment in favor of the collectors on this side
of the river.
Could any legislation on this subject prevent men from
drinking whisky (certainly a very foolish, if not a wicked
habit), we might patiently submit to it, however great
the pecuniary loss ; but I have not been able to perceive
that any legislation affected this habit. After all, the
amount of whisky drank is only a drop in the bucket,
compared to the quantity manuftictured. Just think of
the amount made in Peoria alone, before the two-dollar
tax went into operation : 38,062 gallons made every day,
Sundays excepted, in one little town of 25,000 or 30,000
people !
lltSTOilt OF PEORIA. 141
CHAPTER XXVI.
MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTLRES.
Besides tlie above manufactures, various others have
been carried on to a greater or less extent. We have
always had tailors and shoe and boot makers, who have
made a portion of the clothing, etc., for our community;
but a large portion of them have always been imported
from the eastern cities, as articles of commerce. With
regard to hats and caps, much the largest portion has
always been imported.
Formerly, Mr. John Ramsey had a small tan-yard and
curry ing-shop, in which he manufactured leather; and
Mr. Jacob Shafiher had a currying-shop, in which he
dressed leather that had been tanned elsewhere : except-
ing the small amount of leather furnished by them, all
that has been used in this part of the country has been
brought from abroad. Several years ago, Mr. ShafFner
withdrew from business, and Mr. Ramsey's health failed,
and, after several years' affliction, he died, and now no
tanning nor currying is carried on here, or hereabout.
Since a pretty early time, we have had abundance of
jewelers and silver-smiths here; but their operations have
generally been confined to repairing jewelry, watches,
and clocks. I do not know that any watch or cloek was
ever made in Peoria. Almost every house contains a
clock, and nearly every man and woman in tolerably
142 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
good circumstances carries a watch, and the most of
hidies are ornamented, more or less, with jewehy; yet
these are all imported into our state, and many of them
from Europe.
The same is true with regard to the harness and sad-
dlery business. Although we have always had saddlers
and harness-makers, we have always imported a consider-
able amount of oroods in that line of business.
Except a few articles, occasionally made by Mr. Whit-
temore and Mr. Weatherl, our cutlery and hardware has
all been imported.
[We are woefully behind the times with regard to the
manuficture of woolen goods ; and those of hemp, flax,
cotton and silk have never been attempted.^ Many years
ago, more than tAventy, Henry llahn, with a set of black-
smith's tools, without any of the ordinary machinery used
for that pm-pose, built a steam-engine, and attached to it
a carding-machine, on lot one in block 50, on Water
street, and for a time carded wool with it; but after a
while it was discontinued, for what reason I do not re-
member. About the time this went down, two brothers,
the two Messrs. Henderson, built a small woolen-mill,
which they worked a while, but not to much profit to
either themselves or the community. We have now in
full operation a clothing-mill, carried on by Mr. Charles
Raymond, which is likely to prove a complete success.
(No rolling-mill has ever been attempted here, nor ma-
chinery for making railroad iron;^ and, what may seem
more strange,(3ve have always imported all our glass, of
all kinds."^
On puGjo 142, for "Messrs. IIciKlcrsoii''' read "Messrs.
McCulloSh."
_^gg_^
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 143
Onr great backwardness in going into these mannfac-
tnres has been owing, in part, to onr want of capital, bnt
it is also owing, in part, to the great disinclination of most
people to embark in a new business, to which they are
not accustomed. There is, perhaps, no country in the
world better adapted to the culture of hemp than Illinois ;
yet no one in Illinois, with whom I am acquainted, can
be induced to raise hemp. Nor is there any better place
for the manufacture of whisky ; yet, until an imprudent
man, as Mr. A. S. Cole was then called, tested its feasi-
bility, no man could be got to go into it. But Mr. Cole
having proved it to be a money-making business, many
went into it, and, but for the foolish legislation of Con-
gress on the subject, it would be one of the best businesses
in the country.
So would it be with several other branches of business,
should some enterprising man break the way, and prove
their feasibility. Where, on this continent, could glass
be more profitably made than at Peoria ? There is no
place where food and coal (the i^rincijoal ingredients in
the manufacture of any thing) can be got plentier or
cheaper than at Peoria, and the best of sand for glass-
making can be floated down the river, or brought down
on the railroad, for a trifling expense. The saving of
freights, however, is perhaps the greatest argument in
favor of making glass here. A large portion, and some
times the largest portion, of the cost of heavy articles is
on account of freights. Cotton is shipped from Memphis
to Boston at a cost much greater than would bring it to
Peoria. It is manufactured by machinery propelled by
144 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
coal costing three times as much as coal at Peoria costs;
by men eating food costing a fourth more than food at
Peoria would cost; and then sold to us at a price that
pays all these charges, and a profit to all concerned.
Why not shij) the cotton here at once, and save the extra
expense of getting it to Boston, and the freight from
Boston here, and the diiference between the coal and
food here and at Boston? Besides, j^atriotism — self-
interest — promj^ts us to give employment to our own
men, in preference to those abroad; or, if we lack com-
petent men, to cause them to emigrate, with their fami-
lies, to help build up our city.
"We have always had carj^enters and house-joiners, but
formerly it was a j^art of their business to make the doors
and sash, and plane and tongue-and-groove the flooring
by hand. All the machinery by Avhich these things are
now done is of modern invention; and as we had no
poplar nor pine before the canal and railroads were made,
to operate by hand on oak and walnut was a tedious and
tiresome business. So hard was the wood that we used
for floors, and so tedious was the operation of planing
and tongueing-and-grooving such lumber, that I gave a
man a cow to lay the floor in my kitchen, a room eighteen
feet square from out to out. That floor, however, has
been scrubbed and walked on for nearly twenty-six years,
and is worth more now than a new pine floor.
Now, the making of sash and doors and the planing of
boards for joiner work are a separate trade. No carpen-
ter or joiner would now think of making his own doors
and sash, or planing his joiner lumber, any more than a
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 145
shoemaker or saddler would think of tanning the leather
used in the course of his business.
The follo^Ying are the principal carpenters and joiners
in the city, and some of them are good architects : Chas.
Ulricson, Valentine Jobst, Joseph Miller, sr., Henry
Jacobs, McKenzie & Eckley, William Comegys, M. F.
Meints, John Waugh, E. Baldwin, Ruley & Bro., Tod-
hunter & Son, J. Buell, D. J. Bracken, W. J. Gardner,
G. Herwig, Peter Blumb, Bramble & Lynch, Petlicr-
bridge & Stonier, G. L. Ryors.
The following men have figured as carpenters and
joiners in this city, but their names are not in the above
list, because they have all gone to 'that bourne from
which no traveler e'er returns ', viz., Henry Gilbert,
George W. Reed, Chester Hamlin, Thomas J. Hurd,
David Markley, John S. Pierce, and Daniel Brestel.
There are three principal planing-mills here, where
materials are prepared for the house-joiners, and where
sash and doors are also made on a large scale. They are
owned and operated by Mr. William Truesdale, Mr. D.
J. Bracken, and Messrs. Hicks & Herschberger. Some
others make doors and sash, but on a smaller scale.
A planing-mill has also lately been put in operation, on
Washington street, by Messrs. Shield & Izatt.
Of late years, the making of corn-planters has become
a very considerable business with us. Messrs. James
Selby & Co. do the largest business in this line. They
tell me they Avork from fifty-five to sixty men, and that
th?y made last year 1,600 planters, and only worked
19
146 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
eight months in the year; and they sell all they make, at
wholesale, for |60 each.
Messrs. Hearst, Dunn & Co,, and Messrs. Nicol, Burr
& Co. (see Chap. XXII), are also carrying on this busi-
ness, to a considerable extent, and all have machinery
adapted to each j^articular thing, so that steam is made
to do nearly all the work. Messrs. Hearst, Dunn & Co.
also carry on the manufacture of saws and sickles for
reaping and mowing machines.
In the millwright business none have obtained a greater
degree of public confidence than Mr. George Greenwood,
Augustine Greenwood, and I. G. Reynolds. The latter
also carries on the manufacture of mill-stones.
The manufacture of starch here, in the midst of the
greatest corn-producing region in the world, seemed for
awhile to be a failure; but, under the management of
Mr. E. S. AYillcox, it promises to be decidedly a success.
/^Ever since the Germans began to settle in Peoria, the
manuficture of beer has been deemed essential. Fred-
erick Miller is the pioneer in this business. At a very
early day, I judge about thirty-three years ago, he estab-
lished a brewery, and for some years had the whole busi-
ness in his hands ; Jand had not much to boast of at that,
for there were but few Germans here then, and the
Americans had not learned to relish ' lager '. But the
Germans have greatly increased since then, and many of
the Americans, English and Irish have proved to be apt
scholars in learning to use this beverage, and Friend
Miller no longer has the whole thing his own way.
There are now several breweries in the city, one, at least,
of which makes more beer than Mr. Miller ever made.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 147
The following-named persons are in the brewery busi-
ness, viz., Lutz & Lincoln, GipjDS & Shurtleff, Joseph
Huber & Son, Sehmer & Fuchs, Wichmann & Co., and
C. Bitz.
CHAPTER XXVII.
RAILROADS.
It is only lately that railroads came into use any where.
In the winter of 1836-7, the legislature of Illinois ran
wild on the subject of internal improvements; and, al-
though we had not a dollar in the treasury, nor a man
who had had any experience in railroading, and but few
who had ever seen a railroad, they passed a law to make
many millions of dollars' w^orth of railroads, checkering
up the state like a chess-board. The state depended
upon English capital for all this ; and so good was the
credit of the young state, that capital enough for any
reasonable amount of railroads might have been obtained,
and in fact Avas got, but all that was obtained was nothing
to the amount required to complete so many and so great
works. If one road at a time had been completed, the
people at home would have had greater fiuth in railroads,
and capitalists abroad would have had more confidence
in our rulers ; but this was not the plan adopted. Men
148 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
were set to work on every road, all over the state, and
immense amounts of money were expended, without any
returns. Confidence was lost in our rulers, and no more
money could be obtained, and the whole thing burst up
like a mighty bubble — like John Law's financial oj^era-
tions. Under that law, Peoria county had a considerable
amount of grading done, on what was called the Peoria
and TVarsaw Railroad, but not a mile of road finished.
For several years the people were much disgusted with
railroads ; but in process of time this feeling wore away,
and on the 12th day of February, 1849, the legislature
granted a charter to the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad
Company, by which charter they were ail!lhorized to build
and construct a railroad from the City of Peoria, on the
Illinois, to the town of Oquawka, on the Mississippi river.
Any one acquainted with that part of the country can see
at once that Burlino-ton was the natural terminus of this
road, on the MississijDpi, because it was a larger place
than Oquawka, and because it was a much better place
to cross the river; but there were influences brought to
bear on the legislature, in favor of the latter and against
the former, on account of which the bill could only be
passed Avith Oquawka as the terminus. But the bill
having been passed, and those influences becoming less
potent, the legislature, on the 10th day of February, 1851,
amended said charter by a clause j^ermitting said com-
j^any to make a branch of said road to Burlington. On
the 20th of June, ]8ol, the stockholders of said company
met at Knoxville, and organized under said charter; and
on the 22d of June, 1852, said charter was amended so as
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 149
to permit said company to extend said road east to the
Indiana state line. Burlington being the point desired
by capitalists, they made the road to that point, but not,
to this day, to Oquawka; and as no time was ^^rescribed
within which the road should be completed to reach
Oquawka, I imagine it will never reach there. The road
from Peoria to Burlington is 93 miles, from Peoria to the
state line 100 miles, and from Peoria to Logansport 173
miles. Through much tribulation, and a considerable
amount of rascality, this road was finally worked through,
and has become a good and profitable road. A great
drawback to it, however, is the fact that it was broken in
two at Peoria, and the western end fell into the hands of
the road now called the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
road. This was done by said corporation obtaining a
majority of the mortgage bonds that had been issued by
the Peoria and Oquawka road, and foreclosing them, and
buying in the westerly half It would seem manifestly
the interest of Peoria to have this whole road under the
management of one board of directors, so as to have the
trains run through without a change of cars or want of
proper connection at Peoria. But the managers of the
C, B. & Q. road (as it is now universally abbreviated)
have been charged with constantly discriminating against
Peoria, and purposely running their trains so as not to
connect with those on the eastern end of the road, and
with carrying produce away from Peoria much more
cheaply than to it. This course not only created great
dissatisfaction with the j)eople of Peoria, but it caused
the owners of the eastern end to put forth so much ex*-
150 HISTORY OF PEOPJA.
ertion as to extend their road through to the Mississij^pi,
at Warsaw and Keokuk. And, moreover, said road,
which is now called the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw
Railway, is so managed that passengers and freight can
pass through from Peoria to Toledo with only one change
of cars or freight, and to Jsew York, or Springfield,
Mass., without any change at all. Still fm-ther, the Pres-
ident of the T., P. & W. Railway, as the other road is
called, tells me that he has made such arrangements with
parties in Iowa that he will, in a short time, have trains
running through southern Iowa to Xebraska City, on the
westerly bank of the Missouri river, and that too without
involving the City of Peoria a dime; so that the opposi-
tion of the Ci, B. & Q. road to Peoria has redounded
greatly to our interest.
The City of Peoria took stock to encourage the building
of this road (east and west) to the amount of |!22o,000,
all of which has been lost; but the peoi^le were not so
much incensed at losino- so lar2:e amount of stock as at
the belief that a company who had swallowed up the
stock should, in transacting business, discriminate against
them.
With regard to the Bureau Valley Railroad, the city
has been more fortunate. It subscribed $50,000 to that
road, but made a permanent lease of it to the Rock Island
road on such terms as to lose nothing, but actually to
make a little monev. That road has been well manao^ed,
to the satisfaction, so far as I know, of every one.
We have a railroad now in successful operation from
Peoria to Jacksonville, and through certain connections
to St. Louis, that has cost the city nothing*
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 151
A railroad is now being built from Peoria to Rock
Island, for Avliicli the city has subscribed, and has to pro-
vide for, stock to the amount of |1 00,000, and the County
of Peoria, including the city, $100,000. Of this, about
$60,000 falls on the city to pay.
A railroad was projected from Peoria to Hannibal, and
to procure the making of this road the County of Peorig,
involved itself to the amount of $75,000. Of this about
$45,000 falls on the city to pay. This road, however, has
never been made, and probably never will be.
A company has been incorporated to construct a rail-
road from Peoria to Decatur, of which Hon. John T.
Lindsay, of this city, is President, and he assures me it
will be speedily built. If it shall be built, the City of
Peoria, by a vote of the people, has agreed to pay $100,-
000 toward the expense of it.
This company is called the Peoria, Atlanta and Decatur
Railroad Company. The following is the Board of Di-
rectors, viz. : John T. Lindsay, President; J. C. Prescott,
William H. Cruger, Robert G. Ingersoll, Seth Talbot, A.
Dills, W. Dunham, H. Armington, T. Tolland, O. Smith,
J. Milligan, Directors; S. H. Carter, Engineer.
The reader here again will please turn to his map, and
see the situation we soon will be in : at least, the situation
we are now in. When at the map before, we discovered
a fine country, and one of the finest navigable rivers in
America, and in that river a beautiful expansion called
Lake Peoria, and at the lower end of that lake the town-
site of Peoria. Now behold five railroads completed,
and in full operation, all centring here, and two not
152 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
completed, but botli expected soon to be. The road from
Peoria to Bm'ean Junction connects with the Chicas-o and
Bock Island road, forty-nine miles northeast of Peoria,
and the Peoria and Rock Island road will soon be in
connection with the Pacific Ocean. From the map you
may see that it crosses the C, B. & Q., besides others in
Iowa. The T. P. & W. road, besides the advantages
above named, crosses the Illinois Central at Gihnan and
El Paso, and the Chicago and St. Louis road at Chenoa ;
and west of the Illinois it crosses a branch of the C, B.
& Q. road at Canton, and the principal C, B. & Q. Road
at Bushnell. The Peoria and Oquawka road, which has
become a branch of the C, B. & Q. road, intersects a
branch of the same at Yates City, and the principal road
at Galesburg. The Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville road
intersects the Toledo, Wabash and AVestern road at
Jacksonville. The Peoria and Rock Island road, besides
crossing the C, B. & Q., will have, at Davenport, con-
nections with all the Xorthwest. Mr. Lindsay's road,
besides crossing the Jacksonville, Petersburg and Tonica
road and the Chicago and St. Louis road, will have direct
connection, at Decatur, with all the South and Southeast.
While I have been writing these chajoters, the C, B.
& Q. Ti. R. Comj)any have quietly been building, and
have completed, a branch of their road from Elmwood to
Buda, through the back part of Peoria county, making,
by means of their other roads, another tolerably direct
route from Peoria to Chicago, and bringing the immense
coal-fields of Peoria and Fulton counties into connection
vrith the Chicagro market.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 153
CHAPTER XXVIir.
LIGHTS.
Ix early times tallow candles were used, more than
all other thuigs, to light our houses of nights; but, in pro-
cess of time, stearine candles and lard oil, to a consider-
able extent, took their place. By-and-by spirit-gas, and
then kerosene oil, became to be much in use ; but they
proved to be dangerous, as well as unfashionable, and
coal-gas, has well-nigh superseded them all.
In January, 1853, the legislature incorporated the 'Peo-
ria Gas-Light and. Coke Company '. Soon afterward a
company was organized in pursuance to that charter.
They commenced supplying the central parts of the city
first, and, as they progressed in laying down the gas-
pipes, they superseded all other kinds of light; but, as
the city is spread over a large space of ground, and the
population is too sparse in the suburbs for it to pay well
to take gas to them, there are many yet in the city who
are deprived of the benefits of this modern invention. It
is now, however, so far extended that in all the thickly-
settled parts of the city the people enjoy this comfort, not
only in the streets, but also in their houses.
It was originally supposed that the coal for the manu-
facture of this gas would have to be brought from East-
ern Ohio or Western Pennsylvania, because the vein of
20
154 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
coal generally used here for heating houses and propell-
ing machinery contains too much sulphur to answer the
purpose of making gas. It has, however, for several
years been knoAvn that another vein of coal, lying higher
and a little further off, answers well for gas-making.
This costs a little more than the common kind, but it is
much cheaper than that brought from abroad. After
the gas is extracted from the coal, it is still valuable as
coke, and for some purposes more valuable than the coal.
This luxury, however, is exceedingly expensive. Like
most modern improvements, it was recommended as a
matter of economy; but, upon trial, I think it the most
expensive plan of lighting a house or city that has ever
been contrived. The company charges the city thirty-
two dollars a year for every street lamp they kee]^ lighted,
and they have enough of them for their charge against
the city alone to come to |12,000. It should be borne in
mind that the lamps do not burn all night, exccj^t Avhen
it is entirely dark. They are not permitted to burn when
the moon is up, although, by reason of clouds, it be dark.
They charge individuals |3.50 per 1000 cubic feet. At
this rate, to light a private residence costs from ten to fif-
teen dollars per month — say $150 a year; but this is
small compared to the amount it costs to light machine-
shops, stores, saloons, public halls, etc.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 155
CHAPTER XXIX.
BOATING.
In early times tliere was but little boating on the Illi-
nois, because tliere was but little to bring to the country,
and less to take out of it. There were plenty of Indian
canoes here, in those days; but when the Indians disap-
peared, canoes were not long disappearing. When white
men had to do the work of making their small craft, they
preferred making skiffs. Those who have never been
accustomed to canoes will think this was a great change
for the better. When timber became valuable, it Avas as
a matter of economy, for each canoe required a whole
tree, and a large one at that. Otherwise the canoe was
the better boat for the Indian and the backwoodsman.
Those accustomed to them could run them with great
speed, and were in no danger of capsizing them.
Pirogues and Mackinaw boats had been discontinued
before I arrived. Several flat-boats (broad horns) were
run out of the river with produce, in early times, but the
steamboats soon superseded them. The Messrs. Yoris
built two or three flat-boats, on the bank of the lake, be-
tween Main and Fulton streets, about the years 1834 and
1835. I believe they built one as late as 1840. They
carried mostly pork, but some whisky and other articles
of country produce. Steamboats could have been ob-
166
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
tained to carry the produce, but the other mode was
thought to be cheaper; and besides, it gave the owner
the choice to stop wherever he could find the best market.
On the 10th of March, 1832, I arrived on a steamboat
from St. Louis, which was the first that had been up, or
that could come up, on account of the lateness of the ice
in the river. It often happens that the river is open in
January, as far up as Peoria; but that winter it froze up
about the 25th of November, and so remained to the 10th
of March, and but for a strong south wiyd which blew
all day and broke up the ice, the steamboat could not
have got in on that day.
The winter of 1835-1836 was worse than this. The
ice then became solid (if I remember correctly) on the
15th of November, and so remained until the 15th of
March ; but these were exceptions.
I remember a steamboat comino; from St. Louis to
Peoria in the spring of 1832, of which one Smith, a man
of showy aj)pearance, was captain. Who he was I do
not know, for I have never seen him since. Shortly be-
fore this, say in November, 1831, Snatch wine, an Indian
chief of the Pottawatamie tribe, whose village was about
a mile above Chillicothe, had died, which threw the band
into much grief, and some confusion. He had a son, a
laro:er and a better lookinsf man than Pottawatamies
usually were; but, like many other Indians, he was a
drunken fellow. For this or some other reason his au-
thority was not much regarded by his tribe ; yet he felt
his consequence, and concluded to j)ay a visit to Caj^tain
Smith, on his boat He had to walk a long plank to get
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 157
on board. Before he was quite at the upper end, some
mischievous fellows turned the plank, and threw him into
the river. lie came out perfectly w^et, and in a high rage.
The spectators began to reflect on what had been done,
and became alarmed lest he and some of his tribe, who
were near, might get up a row, and burn the boat or vil-
lage; but no one present could understand a word he
said, nor could he understand a word they said. In the
mean time. Captain Smith, who was some where in the
village, and heard of the muss, made his appearance, and
pacified the Indian, by apologizing in a bland and familiar
manner, in a language he did not understand a word of
The Indian's wrath cooled down, and he became mild
and good-natured, and I presume expressed his satisfac-
tion in Pottawatamie, for he said much in a calm tone,
that no one understood. Tone and gesture did the busi-
ness.
As time progressed, the business of the city greatly
increased; and as there were no railroads in those days,
the business of the city was done by steamboats.
Drown's Directory for 1851 speaks thus of the steamboat
business previous to that year : " The first steamboat that
arrived at Peoria was the Liberty (formerly known as
the Native), in the month of December, 1829. In the
spring of 1830, Mr. John Hamlin went to St. Louis to
make purchases to return to Peoria. He chartered the
S. B. Triton to bring up his stock of goods. This was
the second steamboat to this place. In 1832 the Fairy
made a trip, and a contract was made by Mr. Hamlin to
purchase one half of the boat on her return and delivery;
158 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
but in a short time thereafter she was lost, near the mouth
of the Missouri, on her upward trip. In 1833 three
steamboats were running on the Ilnnois to this j^lace, viz.,
the Exchange, Utility, and Peoria. In 1834 there was
added to these the Express, Herald, Argus, and Winne-
bao'o. Others were added, as the commerce on the river
increased, and in 1840 there were forty-four; in 1841, the
number was sixty. From that time up to 1844 they had
increased to one hundred and hfty different boats, seven-
teen of which were regular packets : and the number has
been increasing ever since. Some of our citizens have
become owners and part owners in some of them. In the
spring of 1848, our enterprising citizen, Captain W. S.
Moss, purchased the hull of one of the burned boats at
St. Louis (the Avalanche), and had it towed up to Peoria.
He had her put upon the stocks, about twenty feet added
to her length, and completely rebuilt by Peoria workmen,
and ready for the fall trade of that year. The next
spring, 1849, the keel of another steamboat was laid in
Peoria, and furnished with the engine of the Oregon,
which had been wrecked on Beard stown bar. The boat
was commenced by Captain David Brown, who. sold her
before she was finished, and is called the Kingston, at
which place she is owned (about 18 miles below this),
and is engaged in the coal-trade, and towing canal-boats
from Lasalle and intermediate points to St. Louis.''
He then goes on to give a list of all steamboat arrivals
and departures during the year 1850, and the tonnage of
ail those boats, from which it appears that there were,
during that year, engaged in the Illinois trade, as high
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 159
lip as Peoria, 59 steamboats, whose tonnage was rated at
9,463 tons, at ship carpenters' measurement; whereas it
was well known that boats carry about a third more than
the estimated tonnage, and that they carry much more
down stream than up stream. And that the number of
steamboat arrivals at our quay had been 1,236; about
300 more than there were in 1847. In addition to this,
we had liad more than double the number of canal-boats.
Since that time, however, although the business of the
country has immensely increased, yet railroad facilities
have so far kept ahead of this increase that the steamboat
business has greatly fallen off. Now there are only four
regular boats running between Peoria and St. Louis;
three of them only running as high up as Peoria, but one
runs farther up, generally as high up as Lasalle. There
are, however, generally about eight steamboats of a less
expensive class, 'called tOAV^-boats, the main business of
which. is to carry freight, partly in their holds, and partly
. in canal-boats and barges. They, however, carry some
passengers.
Compare the above with the folio win o; article taken
from Drown's Almanac and Business Directory for 1851,
and remark the contrast, and remember that the business
of the country has greatly increased since then :
" By this list it will be seen there have been fifty-nine
steamboats engaged in the trade of the Illinois as high
up"as this city, whose tonnage is rated at 9,463 tons at
shii) carpenters' measurement j but it is a well-known
fact that our steamboats will carry about one-third more
than the estimated tonnage, and also they carry much
more down stream than np. There have been 1,236 ar-
160 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
rivals of steamers at our wharf the past seasoo, about 300
more than there were in 1847. In addition to this, we
have had more than double the number of canal-boats.
It will also be seen that this list does not take into ac-
count barges and Jlat-boats. I think the amount of pro-
duce exported from Peoria has equaled that of any pre-
ceding year, and it is well-known that our importations,
including merchandise, lumber, etc., have been quadru-
pled." ■'
NAME OF BOAT. TONiN^AGE. TRIPS.
Alleghany Mail 77 2
Lamartine 175 4
Daniel Hillman -145 42
Pioneer 209 30
Falcon 144 76
Mountaineer 213 60
Kingston 145 72
Archer 148 30
Planter 200 48
Martha Xo. 2 177 18
Lightfoot 155 4
Movastar 140 60
Avalanche 220 77
Senator 121 32
Prairie Bird 215 56
Tiger. 83 28
Andrew Jackson 290 12
Connecticut 249 56
Robert Fulton 200 28
Ocean Wave 205 66
Schuylkill 272 6
Enterprise 200 2
AYyoming 198 2
Carried for VKird ....... 4,181 811
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 161
Brought forward 4181 811
AlUquippa 215 8
Biieiia Vista 266 4
St. Croix 160 16
Lanrel 80 10
Citizen 171 2
Beardstown 80 40
Gov. Briggs 91 6
Jewess 220 18
Alvarado 1 35 22
Niagara 215 12
Susquehanna 142 14
J. J. Crittenden 225 2
Caleb Cope 80 40
Belmont 115 36
Gen. Gaines 160 12
Time and Tide 261 6
Eureka 115 26
Piasa 85 6
Magnet 98 8
Pearl 54 4
Comet 116 18
Financier 125 18
America 145 30
Uncle Toby 109 2
Hudson 95 16
Prairie State 288 44
Kentucky 140 22
Daniel Boone 170 2
Mary Stevens 225 4
NcAvton Wagner 105 6
Visitor 141 2
MaryBlain 181 2
Oswego 187 4
Clermont 112 1
R. II. Lee 180 2
Total tonnage and trips 9463 1236
21
162 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
CPIAPTER XXX.
SHADE-TREES, FRUIT-TREES, AXD SMALL FRUITS.
Peoria is not so well supplied with shade-trees as it
ought to be. This is mainly owing to two reasons: 1st.
We have generally been cursed with ignorant engineers,
who, in grading the streets, in nearly all cases, took the
sidewalks down, when they would have been better as
nature made them, and thus many trees were destroyed,
after we had waited years for them to grow. 2d. Our
first shade-trees were generally the black locust, which
had always been a thrifty and healthy tree; and they
grew remarkably well a few years, but lately ^ve can not
raise them at all. I had on my j^remises, I suppose, a
hundred, all of which were destroyed by worms. Since
that several other kinds of trees have been found to suc-
ceed well ; but I believe the fevorite, at this time, is the
soft maple. The hard or sugar maple makes a beautiful
tree, but where the land is sandy it is a slow grower.
The silver poplar is a fast grower, and a handsome tree ;
but it sprouts as badly as the black locust, and some times
the same or a similar worm attacks it. The honey locust
is not attacked by the borers, and it is a hardy, thrifty tree.
Every man of taste desires a small garden and orchard
about his house, if he has ground enough for that j^urpose.
Every part of our soil is well adapted for this purpose.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 163
bat that on the bhiff is the best. The toj) soil is good
enough any where, but there is a jDortion of the city based
on clean, dry sand : fruit-trees of no kind do so well here
as where the foundation is clay. Tlie trees when young
Avill do well enough where there is sand below, but when
the roots liave penetrated into the sand, they become
sickly, and some times die. Perhaj^s in this statement I
should except pears. I am inclined to think they will do
better here than in the black, rich prairie. They are not
subject to the blight here as they are there. Some years
ago, when the blight was fatal in some neighborhoods,
we had but very little of it, and, for twelve or fifteen
years, I have not had a case of it. I would therefore say
that pears succeed remarkably well in Peoria.
Apples do well on the bluff, but only tolerably well be-
low. Like other j^arts of the state, we have a kind of
worm, called borers, in the trees, and a difierent kind that
eats into the fruit; yet we raise a considerable quantity
of excellent apples.
Plum-trees do not generally do well. Some do not
grow well in our soil, and others are destroyed by the
worm called curculio. Often the aphides, or tree-lice, in-
jure the trees, but the borer never does. Perhaps I ought
to except out of this general condemnation the green-
gage plum. It generally grows well, and bears well, but
it some times sufters from cold.
Peaches, apricots and nectarines are not worth raising
here. The soil is congenial to them, but the peaches are
constantly preyed upon by the borers, and all are liable
to be frozen to death, any cold winter; and when the
164 HISTORY OF PEORLA..
weather is not cold enough to kill the trees, it will some
times kill the fruit in the bud, so that, although the trees
will live, and grow in the spring, they will not bloom,
and some times the late spring frost kills them in the
bloom. I have, however, once seen fine apricots and nec-
tarines grow in this city; and I have several times seen
fine crops of peaches here. The fiiilures, however, have
been so great that all, so far as I know, have quit trying
to raise apricots and nectarines. A few peach-trees are
still cultivated, and, when they do bear, bear well.
Quinces have been pronounced a failure here; but I
think it is owing to a mistake in bringing them from the
Xorth in stead of from the South. An impression j^re-
vails that our climate is too cold for them. My opinion
is that it is not the cold of winter that injures and some
times kills our quince-trees, but the dry, hot weather of
August and July. My first quince-trees were from the
North, and they grew badly, and bore no fruit. Those I
have now are from the South, and, though they do not do
well, they do better than the others did. I now get some
fruit, and hope we will yet get a kind that will do well.
Cherries, except the morellos and the early Richmond
(called by some early May), have proved a perfect failure.
All kinds grow well a while, but some will die before
they bear, while others will bear a year or two and then
die. The morello is healthy, and leaves very well, and
the fruit is generally perfect. The fungus or black smut
on the twigs, that has ruined the morello cherries in
Maryland and Pennsylvania, is unknown in Illinois. The
early Richmond is always healthy, and bears full every
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 165
year. Xo one wlio has a rod of vacant ground should be
without a tree of this kind. Any man who has a morello
tree can graft it with this kind. There is a prejudice
against this, and some nurserymen deny grafting on mo-
rellos : but I presume they all do it, for all the trees of
this kind, that I have seen, send up morello sprouts.
This, in fact, is the greatest objection to them, but it is
not insuperable ; it only requires to cut them oft' twice a
year — in x\pril with a grubbing-hoe, just under the sur-
face, and in July with a scythe, as low as convenient.
Grapes, of the American kinds, generally do well in
our city. Some times the Isabella and Catawba need
protection from the cold, but they generally can bear our
winters without covering. When they do not get killed,
they bear very fine fruit. They are seldom aftected by
any disease, such as the mildew or rot. There are sev-
eral new hardy kinds, that are said never to need cover-
ing in this place. I aj^prehend no Euroj^ean kind would
succeed here. I once planted the seeds of a very fine
grape from Spain. They grew, but did no good. After
looking sickly for two or three years, they all died, with-
out ever have borne a graj^e.
The small fruits, such as currants, gooseberries, rasp-
berries, and strawberries, succeed well, in every part of
the city and neighborhood; but the currants, in my oj^in-
ion, do better on the bluft', and the gooseberries on the
sandy land below. The mildew, that is so fatal to the
latter in the black, rich 23rairies, has never injured mine,
in the sandy land. I have gooseberry bushes that are
more than twenty years old, that have borne full every
166 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
year for twenty years, without having been mildewed
once. 1 have been told, however, that cuttings taken
from my bushes to richer and moister lands have proved
subject to mildew. For some reason, that I can not ex-
plain, raspberries formerly did well in my garden, but
finally all died out. When mine first began to die, those
of my neighbor, Mr. Yoris, Avere healthy ; but after a
while his died also. Last spring I procured and planted
others, and will soon see whether my land has perma-
nently become incapable of bearing that kind of fruit.
Blackberries do well in Illinois generally, but not in the
sandy parts of the City of Peoria. The above fact with
regard to rasj^berries is not new in the science of vegeta-
tion. A species of grass or weed will some times over-
run a piece of ground, and keep possession of it for sev-
eral years, and then, without any seeming cause, disap-
pear.
CHAPTER XXXI.
WATER.
Peoria has never been much afilicted for want of
water. Should every other resource fail, the Illinois river,
at hand, is inexhaustible. In old times there were springs
of clear, cool water issuing from the bank, between high
and low water, all along in front of the town-site ; and as
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 167
the first inhabitants settled near the river, they were thus
well supplied. As they began to settle farther back,
wells were dug. They found no difficulty in this, as ftir
back as Washington street. It was found that every
where between the bluff and river the earth was full of
water, to the level of the water in the river, and that, that
far back, it was not so deep but that an ordinary pump
would reach it, and the composition of the soil was such
that it would not cave in while digging. On and further
back than Adams street, the depth became too great for
a suction pump, being from sixty to seventy feet. Be-
sides, the earth, at a distance of about four feet, became
dry running sand, that endangered the well-digger, and
required him to j)nt in curbing as he went down. To
accommodate those who lived on the high sandy ground,
cisterns were resorted to by all who could afford the ex-
23ense. The poor, who could not afford the expense of
cisterns, some times had to pay the drayman to haul
them water. Those along the bluff were accommodated
with water by small springs that occasionally are met
with, issuing from the bluff.
It being early known that a part of the city would suf-
fer inconvenience on account of the difficulty of digging
wells, and drawing water from them Avhen dug, men be-
gan to look out for some better way of getting water.
So long ago as 1833, Stephen Stillman, a man of some
enterprise, but entirely void of efficiency, on account of
an inordinate habit of drinking ardent spirits, attempted
to bring water from a spring which issued, and perhaps
still issues, from the bluff, in front of the old Frink resi-
168 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
dence, now in the possession of Dr. Cooper. At the
March term of the county commissioners' court, in 1833,
an agreement was made between them and him, "his heirs,
executors, assigns or associates, who sliall have the exclu-
sive privilege to bring water on to the jDublic square," in
lead, wood or other pipes; which was to be completed
about the first of June, 1834. The princii^al object the
county commissioners had in view was to obtain water
to make mortar for the court-house they were about to
build. Stillman used wooden pipes, bored by hand.
These 'water-works' fell through almost immediately,
probably for want of money and credit on the part of the
proprietor. But had he had both, he must ultimately
have failed, because of the insufficiency of the supply of
Avater.
Subsequently a company was formed for the same pur-
l^ose, and they actually excavated and built over, with sub-
stantial masonry, a spring which then issued from the
bluff in the northeast corner of section 8, T. 8 IST., R. 8
E. of the 4th principal meridian, and through substantial
leaden pipes they conveyed the water to several families
in the city, who still enjoy its benefit; but although this
spring is larger than the other, it was soon made satis-
factorily to appear that it was entirely too small for gen-
eral pm-poses.
Other unsuccessful attempts were made to get up
water-companies; but, until the present year, a majority .
of our people have depended upon cisterns, and water
from their house-tops, for a supply of the indispensable
element. For the purpose of drinking when one becomes
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 169
used to it, especially Avlien (as in Peoria) one has plenty
of ice, this is as good as any, and for washing better.
The whole town-site, from the bluff to the river, is an al-
luvial bank of sand and gravel, and is a first-rate filter.-
At the depth of the river it is always full of water, and
no common pump is sufficient to exhaust it; and this nat-
ural filter purifies the water of the ordinary impurities,
and in fact of foreign matters generally, excejDt lime. All
our wells, as well as our springs and the river, have been
found to contain in solution a considerable quantity of
lime; but as this has been abundantly proved not to be
prejudicial to health, it was not this fact that i^revented
wells from coming into general use, but it was the fact
that, further from tlie river than AYashington street, it
became, as above stated, very difficult to dig wells, and
for the further reason, as also above stated, that, further
back than that street, the depth becomes too great for a
common pump to operate.
On the 20th day of February, 18G9, an act was passed
by the legislature granting a new charter to the City of
Peoria, by which are granted to the city the most extra-
ordinary powers, on the subject of water-works. They
are authorized " To erect and construct water-works,
either within or Avithout the corporate limits of said city,
for the purpose of supplying the City of Peoria with a
sufficient quantity of pure and wholesome water, to be
taken from Lake Peoria, or elsewhere"; and, for that
purpose, to buy and hold an}^ amount of real or personal
property that may be uecessary for that object; and to
make all rules and regulations about the same they may
22
170 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
think proper; and to " enter upon any land or water,
within or without the corporate limits of said city," which
is, however, to be paid for, according to the provisions of
"An act to amend the law condemning right of way for
purposes of internal improvements, aj^proved June 2 2d,
1852, and the act or acts to which the same is an amend-
ment." To accomplish all which, it is provided that " the
city council shall have power to borrow, from time to
time, as they shall deem expedient, a sum of money not
exceeding 8500,000 in all, and issue bonds therefor,
pledging the faith and credit of said city for the payment
of the principal and interest of said bonds."
But the most noticeable part of said charter is the 9th
section of the 12th chapter, which is in these words : " The
said city council shall have i:)ower, from time to time, by
ordinance, to jDrovide for and assess and collect, as water-
rents, or assessments, such amounts as they may deem
equitable, on any lots of land which shall abut and adjoin
any street, avenue or alley, in said city, through which
the distributing-pijoes of the water- works of said city are
or may hereafter be laid, which shall have a building or
buildings thereon, whether the water from the water-
works of said city shall be used in said building or build-
ings, or on such lot, or not; and the said assessment shall
be and become a continuing lien or charge upon all such
lots, or buildings situated thereon."
Under this charter an immense amount of money has
been borrowed and expended in procuring water for the
city, and to a large portion of the city it is now suj^plied ;
but the cold weather and a scarcity of funds have
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 171
checked the work for the present, but during tlie next
year the water will probably be supplied to all the most
populous part of the city.
The plan lias not been, as usual, to force the water into
a large reservoir on an eminence, from wliich distributing-
pij^es carry it to all parts of the city ; but a large pipe has
been extended into the lake, some two miles above the
city, and by a large steam-engine the water is forced
through that, and many smaller pipes connecting with it,
to all parts of the city, so far as the system has been car-
ried out.
I do not propose to discuss the propriety of these j^ro-
ceedings. But it is proper to state, as a historical fact,
that there are those, and they are not few, who think that
the whole thing is an unconscionable outrage on the pub-
lic. They do not see why the city should be run in debt
a half a million dollars for that which could be better
done for a A^ery small portion of that sum. They do not
see why our population, for all time, should be doomed
to drink the most lilthy water, when pure water can be ob-
tained, any where between the bluif and the river, in an
ample quantity, for com2')aratively a trifling sum ; nor do
they see why, if they must drink the impure water of
Lake Peoria, they might not get it further down, and
save the enormous expense of two miles of cast-iron i^ipe,
large enough, and strong enough, to carry all the water
that will be needed in this city for all purposes, including
that of running mills and machinery; nor do they see the
necessity of being at the perpetual cost of keej^ing on hand
an engineer and head of steam to keep on an eternal press-
172 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
lire, when, with a reservoir on a hill, one man and en-
gine once a Aveek, to fill the reservoir, coiikl keep on all
the pressure necessary to supply every i^art of the city.
But were all this apparent, is there any body that sup-
poses it right to tax a man j^ay for water who does not
use it, whether he fails to use it because he i:)refers rain
water, or well Avater, or because he belongs to the old
company, and has already a supply of spring water?
CHAPTER XXXII.
COAL AND STONE.
In early times there was but little coal of any kind
used here. The blacksmiths used a little charcoal, and
the tinners and brass-foundry men still continue its use ;
but there never was much used. The most of people, in
old times, warmed their rooms and cooked their victuals
with wood (of which we have always had an abundance) ;
but as coal was also abundant, and it took less trouble to
prepare it, the use of wood was gradually abandoned,
first for heating rooms, and afterward for cooking.
When the first steam mills were built, it was thought
necessary to have wood to propel them ; but that is now
an antiquated idea. I know no one who thinks it neces-
sary to have wood fires for any 2:>urpose except for cook-
ing, and but few continue to use it for that.
niSTOKY OF PEORIA. 178
Coal is so abundant, in this neigliborhood, tliat there
is no danger of the supply failing in a thousand years.
The vein is usually four feet thick, and there is generally
slate or stone on top of it. The usual way is to dig hori-
zontally into the hill, leaving some pillars, and putting in
some props to protect the miners from the weight above.
If a mine happens to have no slate or stone above, it is
generally considered troublesome and hazardous, and is
abandoned. The coal of the vein generally used is very
hard, and has a hill pressing upon it, and the usual way
of getting it out is to pick out a little of the coal at the
bottom of the stratum, and put in a blast of powder on
to]^, and this will so break it down that crow-bars and
picks will easily do the rest.
When it happens that there is not more than eight or
ten feet of earth on the coal, the practice is to strip it, as
the term is: that is, to take the earth off of a portion of
the coal, and then make a row of holes about two or three
feet back from the edge, drop a plug of wood into each,
and then drive an iron wedge in each plug, by swinging a
large hammer and striking each wedge alternately, until
all are driven fully down. By this time, it will be seen
that there is a small crack running from one wedge to
another. Two men, with sharp-i:>ointed crow-bars, can,
in a few minutes, pry all that strip off, and then repeat
the process.
At present, the amount of coal used in Peoria, to warm
our houses, cook our victuals, run our mills, distilleries,
and other numerous kinds of machinery, including the
locomotives on all our railroads, is very considerable.
174 mSTORY OF PEORIA.
Hundreds of families get their entire support by digging
coal and bringing it to market. Our foreign trade in
coal has never been A^ery considerable, sim2:)ly because
coal abounds in every direction, and to wliatcver market
we carried it, there were others always nearer the market
than we, wlio could undersell us; yet we have occasion-
ally, from the earliest times, sent some coal to the St.
Louis market, and since the canal and the railroads have
been in operation, we have sent some to Chicago.
(2The great abundance of coal in the vicinity of Peoria
is not a new discovery. ^The United States surveyor
who surveyed the township west of the one Peoria is in,
in 181V, made a minute on his field-notes, that are on file
in the Surveyor-GeneraFs office, that he crossed a vein
of coal, in running one of the lines, ten feet thick; and
these field-notes I copied from the original, in December,
1833, and have the copy yet. As long ago as the 25th
of March, 183G, I surveyed that land and saw that coal.
It was not, however, so thick as represented. (^All the
old settlers knew of the existence of coal in these hills,
and Mr. John Bowls, as long ago as 1821, dug and took
a boat-load of coal from this neighborhood to St. Louis
for sale ; and Joseph MofFatt)the fiither of the older Mof-
fiitts living beloAV Peoria, and the grandfiither of some of
the younger ones, and the great-grandfather of the others,
(dug and took down the Mississippi, to some point below
St. Louis, a boat-load of coal, in 1822/) The greatest
quantity of coal that has been shipped from this county
has been taken from a place called Kingston, about six-
teen miles below Peoria.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 175
Our coal was said to Lc incxliaiistible, when it was
thought we had but tliree strata of coal; hut the Messrs,
Voris tfc Co. have established the fact that we have five,
lu 1864, they dug an artesian Avell, across the lake, in
sight of tlie city, in which they found two other veins of
coal, of which we had no knowledge. From a long arti-
cle describing tliis Avell, in the Peoria Transcript of April
25th, 18G4, I extract tlie following: "At 120 feet, a four-
foot vein of coal was found. At 207, salt water. At
235, anotlier vein of coal, three feet in thickness. At
317, a vigorous stream of saltwater, 2^ per cent, strength.
At 734, another large quantity of water, containing sul-
phur, but otherwise fresh. This last water was found in
a porous rock, and has increased in quantity as the drill
went down. The overflow has become so great that no
more drilling can be done until a heavier set of tools can
be procured. The upward rush of water is so great that
it prevents the 400-pound drill from descending with suf-
ficient force to eifect any thing. The sand-pump, with a
sixty-pound drill-sinker attached, will only go down about
four hundred feet.'"' " The water has been carried up in
pipes sixty-five feet above the surface of the well, llow
much higher it would go there is no means of knowing
short of getting i)ipe enough to run it to the top of the
bluff. The first artesian water was struck at 317 feet, in
a i^orous rock, that was 44 feet thick, and in which water
was found all the way through. Tlie last vein of water-
rock is also porous, and has been penetrated forty-two
feet. Tlie well discharges at least 25,000 barrels of water
per day." . . . "The total cost of the experi-
ment, including the loss of the old well, is $4,325,"
176 HISTORY OF PEORIA..
The digging of this well added to our geological
knowledge, for the Messrs. Yoris & Co, furnished the
State Geologist with a specimen of every stratum through
which they passed, and it proved we had more coal in Illi-
nois than we had supposed; j'^et, so far as concerned the
purse of Messrs. Yoris & Co., I imao-ine the dio-frinor of
this well was decidedly a depletory j^rocess. The water
rushed out at that well boldly and noisily five years ago,
and does it yet; but to no purpose worthy of the great
bustle and fuss with which it breaks forth. I suj^posed
it would be turned to account to run machinery ; or, on
account of its supj^osed medicinal qualities, be the occasion
of erecting an establishment for the resort of j^leasure-
seekers under the pretense of hunting health; but noth-
ing of the kind has been done. The Germans some times
have a Sunday beer-party there, and the proprietor of
the Peoria House run a small pipe across under the lake
to supply his hotel with the water; but whether the
Messrs. Yoris & Co. ever made any monej^ off the spring
is more than I know. Of one thins: I am sure, it is a
piece of property out of which money could be made;
not out of the coal, for that is too plenty hereabout ; but
out of that well as a mill-privilege and as mineral water.
I am not competent to judge of the medicinal qualities
of this water; but it smells and tastes to me like the
water of other medicinal springs I have seen, particularly
that of White Sulphur Springs, near Warrenton, Ya.
Although Philip Kenault reported to the government
of France, nearly 150 years ago, that there was plenty of
copper in this neighborhood, and lead in a certain locality
UISTORY OF PEORIA. 177
in Southeast Missonri, and bis statement about the lead
in ^Missouri bas proved true, none of tbe present genera-
tion bas found any mine of copper, or any otber metal, in
tbis neigbborbood. Besides coal, as above stated, we
bave abundance of stone in tbe neigbborbood. It is true
we bring our stone from Joliet, and beyond tbere, but
tbat is mainly, I presume, because tbat stone is more
easily quarried tban ours, and because tbat is quarried
near tbe canal and a railroad, wbereas all our limestone
and most of our sandstone would require from four to
seven miles' cartage to reacb our city or a raih'oad. We
bave a great abundance of sandstone convenient, of a
quality well adapted to building. Tbere being some
stone in our quarries wbicb, wben soaked full of water,
will disintegrate by freezing, an early prejudice was
produced against our sandstone generally; but every one
used to working in stone can easily tell tbat wliicb is un-
fit to build Avitb, and discard it. Tbat tbis stone will
stand wetting and freezing, wben properly selected, is
clearly proved by tbe fact tbat the piers of tbe two
bridijes across tbe river bere are made of tbat kind of
Stone, and bave for years endured tbe weatber perfectly
well.
We bave plenty of limestone witbin six or seven miles;
but, because it is not convenient to a raih'oad, and does
not lie in strata of equal tbickness, it bas not been mucb
used for building. Mucb of it is, bowever, used for lime,
and it makes a strong mortar, but is not so wdiite as otber
kinds; and bence, altbougb mucb of it is used for walls
and plastering, wbere the color is no object, yet for fine
work we get lime from Alton or Indiana.
23
178 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Another circumstance that has prevented our people
from using stone for building has been the fact that brick
costs less. We even build cellars of brick, in stead of
stone. The first brick made here was made by Hon.
Samuel Hackelton, in 1833, for the court-house. Those
brick, and the most that have been made since, have
been of an inferior quality ; but this has not been because
good brick can not be made of the clay in our neighbor-
hood. It has been because the demand for brick has
been so great that men could find sale for an inferior
article, which cost them less expense and trouble. Be-
sides, our people have heretofore been more concerned to
get houses sufficient for our business than to get fine
houses. A few experiments, however, by competent per-
sons, have established the fact that superior brick can be
made of our clay.
Of late, however, some superior buildings have been
erected in our citv : some of brick and others of stone
fronts. Some of our best brick fronts have been con-
structed of brick made in this vicinity, while others
have been built of brick transported from St. Louis. Our
stone fronts, however, have all been made from stone
brought down the canal, from Joliet, or beyond that place.
That may, in part, be from the fact that the stone in that
region is moi*e easily quarried and put into j^roper form
than ours ; but I imagine it is more because the people
there are prepared with the skill and tools, and habits for
the occasion. Like the people of Michigan and Wisconsin,
who will saw timber and carry it several hundred miles
south and sell it at a profit, to people who have more tim-
HISTOEY OF PEORIA. 179
ber than they, but who lack the mills and habits necessary
for successfully prosecuting the lumber business. Tliere
is no lack of timber on the lower half of the Illinois river,
and on the lower Mississippi and some of its branches it
is more abundant than in the North.
CHAPTER XXXIIL
FERRIES AND BRIDGES.
Before I came to Peoria, there had been a ferry kept
by Mr. Sliarp, a half-mile or more below^ the present
bridges; but Sharp had died, and the ferry had been dis-
continued before I came. At the time of my arrival here,
Bogardus run the only ferry in this neighborhood, and it
was where the upper bridge now^ stands. There being
no buildings or other obstructions in the Avay, the land-
ing was some times made further up or down, according
to the course of the wind, or the desire of the passengers,
who wished to go up or down the river. Bogardus did
not personally run this ferry, but some times by hired
men, and some times he let it by the year. He, however,
was never able to hold this ferry in peace, nor was any
one else. It was constantly in law as long as it continued.
Not only did opposing claimants go to law about it, but
they occasionally did some fighting about it.
180 HISTORY OF PEOEIA.
To detail all the various controversies that were had
about this ferry, during its existence, Avould be exceed-
ingly amusing to a reader of noA^els, if written by one ex-
perienced in that kind of lore; but in this plain matter-
of-fact history, I suppose I must omit the most of those
matters. Perhaps the indulgent reader will pardon me
if I tell two or three anecdotes connected with that es-
tablishment. One of the most conspicuous characters
hereabout, in early times, was Abner Eads. He was con-
spicuous because he was one of the '1819' men, and be-
cause he was naturally a very enterprising, energetic
man; but he had been raised in the backwoods, had little
or no education, and knew nothing about the intricacies
of the law. On the other hand, Bogardus had been
raised in the City of New York, and had studied law as
a profession, but knew more about its intricacies than its
principles. Both of these men claimed the ferry, but
Bogardus had got the inside track. He had obtained
possession, and, being in receipt of the profits, he had
nothing to say against the law's delays. Eads did not
comprehend things mystical so well as things pugilistical.
He preferred fighting to lawing, and ' walked into ' the
aforesaid Bogardus. Xow it so happened, in those days,
that a very thick kind of blanket was manufactured for
the Mackinaw trade, called hence Mackinaw blankets,
and it became the fashion in the Northwest to cut up
these blankets for overcoats. Said Eads wore one of
these, with great iron buttons bigger than dollars; and
the said Bogardus, being afraid of mankind in general,
but of said Eads in particular, carried a pair of small
HISTORY 0]F PEORIA. 181
pocket pistols. In the melee, Bogardus was down, and
Eads was on top, punishing him freely, as the bruisers
would say. Bogardus, who seemed to be ' used up ', was
all the time getting out a pistol, which he i^laced against
Eads's breast, and lired. The bystanders, Avho Avere more
the friends of Eads than of Bogardus, and who had not
thought it necessary to interfere until the firing of the
pistol, were at once greatly impressed with the duty they
owed to Christianity and civilization, at once to stop the
fight; and Eads, who thought he was killed, and Bogar-
dus, who thought he had killed him, were easily sepa-
rated. Eads did not wish to receive another shot, and
Bogardus, believing the business sufficiently done, did not
wish to spend ammunition on ' dead ducks '. Dire confu-
sion prevailed. But when Mr. Eads's wounds were ex-
amined, it was found that the ball had not entered the
skin : it had spent its whole force on one of those large
iron buttons, and had only been able to drive it through
the thick overcoat.
Another. After the people in and about Peoria liad
got tired of fighting and lawing about the ferry, George
Depree, as assignee of Isaac Underhill, seemed to be in
the perpetual and peaceful possession of the same ; and
though he commonly had some ' hard cases ' about him,
he still appeared to be the cock of the walk. He was a
broad-shouldered, powerful man, with a black, fiendish
countenance, who was, and desired to be, feared. lie
some times acted the part of a generous-hearted man,bui;
his besetting sin was a desire to be feared. In the use
of the weapons nature gave him, he was skillful and to be
182 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
clreacled; and with a foe thus armed he was no coward.
He, however, had a great horror of being shot.
William L. May and Philip Latham finally set np a
claim to the ferry. Depree j^i'eferred to 'bluif them oif'
rather than go to law. May & Latham thought it more
their interest to drive the occupants to bring suit to test
their rights than to sue themselves, and they determined
to put in a ferry-boat, in defiance of UnderhilFs or De-
pree's rights, and let them sue; but Depree swore they
should neither make nor run the boat. Under such a
threat, from such a man, there Avas probably but one man
in the country that would have dared to build the boat.
That man was John Kelsey. He was a man greatly
skilled in ' fisti-cuffs '. He was the terror of the river
towns, and had knocked down many a man, and seemed
desirous of picking a quarrel with any body but Depree,
and Depree seemed anxious to fight any body but Kel-
sey. This man Kelsey contracted with May & Latham
to build the boat, and blood was expected to flow. But
nothing of the kind. He built the boat, and Depree, in
stead of fighting him, said he might build the boat, but
that he would kill the man who should attempt to run it.
This, some suspected, was a slight backing-down on the
part of Depree ; but, so high was his character for cour-
age, that most people believed kSOuic one would be hurt
when an attempt should be made to run the boat. Why
Kelsey did not himself attemj^t to run it I never knew : I
suppose, but do not know, that he had become afraid of
Depree. William L. May, who managed the business
for May & Latham, employed one George H. Quigg to
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 183
run the ferry until an injunction should he ohtained
against running it, or until the charm should be broken.
This Quigg was a tall Irishman, with a bold, rather im-
pudent countenance, who had a high opinion of himself,
and was greatly desirous that the world should have an
opinion of him equally high, especially as to the qualities
of gallantry and courage. Some doubts had been raised
as to his courage, and it was predicted that Dei3ree would
drive him oft^. AYhen he got ready to start the boat, he
did not go as sole guard for his oarsmen, but he took with
him a small Irishman, named McCreery, of dark complex-
ioji, and darker countenance, in which obstinacy was
most strongly portrayed. When he had occasion to go
about the ferr}^ -landing, that day, he went no where, and
did nothing, without McCreery being by his side. AVhen
they first made their appearance at the ferry, Depree's
wrath knew no bounds. He swore awful oaths, and
made bloody threats; and if the attempt had then been
made to run the boat, he would probably have done
something desperate. But, although McCreery said
nothing, he looked like a viper, and walked wherever
Quigg went, with his right hand grasping a cocked pis-
tol, in his pocket. It was generally believed that Depree
Avould shoot Quigg, and McCreery would instantly shoot
Depree. Of this opinion no doubt Depree Avas, for his
voice lowered as they were getting ready to sto.rt, and
finally they pushed off* the boat, leaving Depree, with a
countenance as black as a western cloud, and muttering
bitter oaths, like low distant thunder.
After much wrangling and lawing, Mr. May got the in-
184 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
terest- of the opposing j^arties into his own hands, and
then, to prevent any future controversy, he obtained from
the legishiture a charter for a bridge at the same place,
and raised funds to build the bridge, by selling stock,
with the understanding that he was to have 810,000 of
the stock, for his ferry and the charter. The bridge, with
its abutments, is 2,600 feet long. It was commenced in
1848, but not finished until Nov. 1, 1849, and is said to
have cost $33,000; but neither this time nor price will be
understood, without explanation. Before the bridge was
completed, a large portion of it, during the high water of
1849, fell down, and the rebuilding of it had to be de-
layed until the abatement of the high water. Besides,
while the bridge was still a steamboat broke the swing-
part off; and, because one of the piers had given away a
little, they took it down and rebuilt it together Avith the
swinging part of the bridge. Thus much delay was pro-
duced; but whether these expenses are included in the
cost I do not know, but suppose they were not. A sin-
gular piece of stupidity was exhibited on the part of the
engineer in building said bridge, and also one on the part
of the managers after it was built. For a considerable
distance on the east side an embankment was erected, in
stead of trestle-work, and the engineer made several
sluices for the water to pass through, lest the weight of
so much water should carry away the embankment, not
once perceiving, what everyone ought to have perceived,
that the weight of the water below would so far balance
the weight of the water above as to j^reclude any danger
of that kind. In time of freshet the water rushed throu2:h
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 185
the sluices Avith so great force as to threaten much dam-
age, and they Avere, one by one, filled up, and it was soon
found that the expense of making them was lost labor.
The embankment proved to be safer without them than
with them.
The other was this : the other part of the bridge, ex-
cept the swinging part, was covered with thick green
white-elm plank, a kind of wood that shrinks and swells
a great deal. At first the weather was exceedingly dry,
and said planks drew up to their narrowest dimensions.
Men were employed Avith crow-bars to work the planks
together and make them tight. Tn doing so, whercA^er
they had space enough, they put in a four-inch scantling.
Afterward there was along spell of Avet Aveather, and the
plank swelled and became very tight, and the bridge be-
gan to lean considerably to the southeast. Large props
Avere obtained to prevent the bridge from falling, but the
plank continued to swell, and forced the props into the
ground, until all that part Avhich Avas built on trestle-
Avork fell into the Avater; and during all the time those
having charge of the bridge could not see Avhy it Avas
fallino^.
This Avas built for a toll bridge, and has to this day, by
a kind of common consent, its charter having expired,
been continued as such; and has been of immense bene-
fit both to the public at large and to the City of Peoria
in particular.
The other bridge, immediately below, belongs to the
Toledo, Peoria and WarsaAv Railway Company. ItisAvell
calculated for crossing over railroad trains, but not for any
other kind of conveyance.
24
186 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Two thin2:s concerning: the buildino; of these bridojes
are worthy of remark: 1st, The piers are built of the
common sandstone of the Kickapoo valley, which many
predicted would crumble and fall to pieces; but experi-
ence has shown there is no danger of this, provided the
better quality of sandstone be used. Xor were these
piers built of solid blocks of stone fitted together. An
outside ring was dressed and fitted together, and
laid in hydraulic-cement mortar, and then stone of the
same kind, but of any form, were placed in this ring un-
til it was level full, and then thin mortar, made of hy-
draulic cement, was poured in until all the spaces among
these stones were filled; and soon, in like manner, an-
other ring was added, until the pier was of the requisite
hight. 2d, These piers were built upon the ground,
upon the smooth river-bottom, and many supposed they
would sink of their own weight, or the current would
carry away the mud and sand on which they were j^laced
and upset them. Soon after the first bridge was built,
one of the piers began to lean a little, and was taken
down and rebuilt. Excepting that, they have all stood
firmly.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 187
CHAPTER XXXIY.
NEWSPAPERS, ETC.
The first newspaper published in Peoria was a weekly,
called the Illinois Champion. Its first issue was on the
lOtli of jMarch, 1834, by Abrani S. Buxton and Henry
Wolford. It commenced as a neutral sheet in politics;
but its editor, Mr. Buxton, being a decided Whig, soon
threw off his neutrality, and came out boldly in defense
of the principles of his party. Mr. Buxton had been a
partner of the celebrated George D. Prentice, in the
publication of the Louisville Journal. Mr. Wolford was
a practical printer, and Buxton a ready writer, as well as
printer, and the paper was commenced under the most
favorable auspices. But Mr. Wolford, for some reason
not now recollected, returned to Louisville, in a short
time, and has never been back to Peoria, to my recollec-
tion. Mr. Buxton fell a victim to that monster destrover,
the consumption. The press and types fell into the hands
of Mr. James C. Armstrong and Jacob D. Shewalter,
who employed Jerome L. Marsh to carry on the estab-
lishment.
In the spring of 1837, Samuel II. Davis, who had pub-
lished the Winchester Republican, in Virginia, and had
also 2)ublished some paper, not now remembered, in
Wheeling, Virginia, came to Peoria, and commenced a
188 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
paper called the Peoria Register and Xorthwestern Ga-
zetteer, the first number of ^vhich .was issued on the Tth
of April, 1837. Mr. Davis, like Mr. Buxton, attempted
to publish a neutral paj^er; but he, being a decided Whig
in politics, as soon as a Democratic paper made its ap-
pearance in the place, came out a Whig, and as long as
he continued to publish it that paper was a strong advo-
cate of Whig principles.
In 1842, the Messrs. Butler succeeded Mr. Davis, and,
if I remember right, droj^ped the latter part of the name,
and simply called the paper the Peoria Register. They
published said paper about a year, and then it went into
the hands of Thomas J. Pickett (the same who was some
time colonel of a volunteer regiment, during the war of
the Rebellion, and is now postmaster at Paducah, Ky.)
Mr. Pickett published said paper until the 26th day of
January, 1850. Previous to this date he took into part-
nership Mr. H. K. W. Davis, a son of Samuel H. Davis,
who had formerly published the paper, and they had just
commenced, in addition to the Weekly Register, a daily
called the Champion. They occujDied the second story
of a brick building on Main street, between Washington
and Water streets, that had been built and occupied by
Mr. S. H. Davis, on an alley which Mr. Davis named
Printers' Alley. The foundation was of sandstone, badly
built. The inside of the cellar-wall was well enou2:h
built, but the side next the alley was filled i\p with
spawls of stone, with little or no mortar; and, to make
it worse, the brick wall, above ground, in stead of being
placed over the better part of the stone wall, was placed
HISTORY OF PEORIA. J 80
over the worse part, and tlie brick was even extended
beyond this. The joists were j^^^ced crosswise jjarallel
with Main street, and wonld, under ordinary circumstan-
ces, have held the buikling togetlicr; but the printers
had weighted down the weaker side of the house, witli a
heavy cast-iron printing-press. The first story of the
front of the buihling was what is called an open front.
In stead of iron columns or pilasters, as is now the fash-
ion, square timbers were used, which were framed to a
plate, on which the wall stood. This wall, the weight of
which was sufficient to hold the first story firm, while
perpendicular, would naturally hasten its fall as soon as
it was sprung out of a perpendicular position. The first
story and cellar had been occupied by William A. Her-
ron, as a drug store. He also dealt in paints, oils, var-
nish, etc. At the above date he had removed the most
of his goods to a new store he had just built, at the cor-
ner of Main and Washington streets. It is said he had
left in the cellar much straw and other combustible rub-
bish, used in packing up goods, and also some kind of
exceedingly combustible liquid. The second story was
used by the printers, and the back j)art of the building
and the third story were occupied by a Mr. Decker as a
sort of temperance tavern or boarding-house. A light
was seen to glare up in the cellar, and almost instantly
an explosion was heard in the cellar, of such force as to
drive out into Main street the front timber work. Almost
instantly the front on the southeast or alley side came
down into the alley. There was no one in the front
building at the time (it being Saturday evening) except
190 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
William Pickett, the clerk of the establishment and
brother of the proprietor, Colonel T. J. Pickett, and Mr.
N. C. IN'ason, who was an employe of the office. Although
this explosion and fall were the work of a moment, they
gave time enough for these men to have made their escape
by an outside stairway ; but, after they had run down the
stairway, Mr. Pickett said "I will save the books," and
stepped back. He was not afterward seen alive, and Mr.
Nason barely escaped being covered with the brick and
rubbish of the falling house. I was on the ground im-
mediately after the fall, and was shown a large pile of
bricks, under which Mr. Pickett had been heard to groan.
We attempted to remove them, but the burning paper
and combustible part of the house soon drove us away.
After the fire had been quenched by the engines, he was
found to be dead.
At the same time that we were digging for Mr. Pickett,
it was said that, at the moment of the explosion, Mr.
James Kirkpatrick, who published a paper, called the
Peoria American, on the other side of the square, attempt-
ed to run through the alley, and was supposed to be
buried some where beneath the rubbish. After the fire
had abated, this was found to be true. At the first sound
of the fire, Mr. Bearce, a son-in-law of Mr. Decker, who
was in the second story of the back building, ran into the
main building to see what was the matter, or perhaps to
warn the printers of their danger, and had just time to
save himself, by jumj^ing from a floor that was falling
upon one that did not Ml. The back building did not
fall, nor become entirely destroyed by the fire, though
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 191
both it and the furniture were much damaged. On the
next day (Sunday) a great crowd attended the burial of
Mr. Pickett and Mr. Kirkpatrick.
On the 20th of February, 1840, John S. Zeiber, who
had published the People's Press, in the town of Princess
Ann, Somerset County, Md., commenced the publication
of the Democratic Press, which he continued to jD^blish
until about the 1st of June, 1846. His establishment was
then 2>iii'chased by Thomas Phillips, who had formerly
published a paper at Pittsburg, called the American
Manufacturer. After Mr. Phillij^s had published said
paper about three years, he sold out to Washington
Cockle. This paper was continued by Mr. Washington
Cockle mitil the fall of 1851, when he sold the establish-
ment to Mr. Enoch P. Sloan, who conducted it until the
fall of 1856, when he sold it to Mr. Corn well, who pub-
lished the paper a while, and then sold out to Mr. G. W.
Raney, who had previously commenced a comj^eting
paper called the Peoria Daily News. Mr. Raney, some
time in the winter of 1857-'8, had the good fortune or
misfortune, I know not which, of getting this whole es-
tablishment burnt. For the last two years that Mr. Sloan
published that paper, he i^ublished it weekly, tri-weekly,
and daily.
The first daily paper attempted in Peoria was by
Messrs. Pickett & Woodcock, on the 28th of June, 1848.
The paper was, however, not sustained, and only contin-
ued to be published about three months.
Other efforts were made, from time to time, to establish
papers in the English language, by Messrs. T. J. Pickett,
192 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
H. K. W. Davis, D. D. Irons, G. W. Raney, and others,
the history of which I can not state from recollection,
and none of them have furnished me with the data to
give it. It is worthy of record that, though in early
times we had no German paj^ers, yet for a number of
years we have had two, all the time — one in the interest
of each political party.
At present the following political papers are published
in this citv :
1st, The Peoria Transcript, published daily, tri- weekly,
and weekly, by the Transcript Company.
2d, The Peoria Democrat, published daily, tri-weekly,
and weekly, by W. T. Dowdall.
3d, The Peoria Review, just started by a joint-stock
company, and published daily, tri-weekly, and vv^eekly.
This company has a capital stock of $10,000.
4th, The Peoria Deutsche Zeitung, published by Mr.
Fresenius.
5th, The Peoria Deutsche Demokrat, published by
Bernard Cremer.
In addition to all these, Mr. X. C. Xason publishes the
Illinois Teacher, a monthly octavo pamphlet, devoted to
the cause of education. I have before me No. 1 of Vol-
ume XYI, this being the sixteenth year of its existence.
He also publishes The Memento, a small quarto, pub-
lished monthly, and devoted to the cause of Odd-Fellow-
ship. This was commenced in 1854, but it was suspend-
ed during the war.
Two of the above offices, to wit, the Transcript and
Democrat, are prepared to do, on an extensive scale, all
HISTORY OP PEORIA. 193
kinds of job printing, and book-binding. Besides these,
we liave three job offices, at wliich books, pamphlets and
bills are printed, by Mr. Xason, Mr. Hill, and Mr. Foster,
bnt from which no newspajocrs are issued. We have,
also, two other regular book-binderies here, belonging to
Mr. Foster and Mr. Roberts, besides those connected with
the Transcript and the Democrat offices.
The paper to supply these establishments, until recent-
ly, has all been brought from abroad; our city, till re-
cently, not being able to supply herself with any part of
that necessary article. We now, however, have a paper-
mill which supplies a large amount of wrapping paper
and some printing paj^er.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE FRENCH CLAIMS CONTROVERSY.
For many years a controversy existed between the
citizens of Peoria and certain speculators. That contro-
versy originated as follows :
There had never been any survey of the Fren(;h vil-
lage, nor did they claim title under any government, but
were mere squatters, claiming under an act of Congress,
approved May 15, 1820, entitled "An act for the relief of
the inhabitants of the Village of Peoria, in the State of
25
194 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Illinois," and another act of Congress, approved March 3,
1823, entitled "An act to confirm certain claims to lots
in the Village of Peoria, in the State of Illinois," and the
report of the Register of the land-office at Edwardsville,*
and a survey that was long after made by Joseph C. Brown,
a deputy from the Surveyor General's office at St. Louis;
and some times also they claimed under a patent from the
United States, issued in pursuance of those laws. For,
although the huv neither gave the Secretary of the Treas-
ury nor any one else the power to adjudicate between
the claimaints and say who, if any, were entitled to pat-
ents; yet the Secretary of War did undertake that ardu-
ous task, and did issue j^atents to some, and refuse them
to others. The land between the Illinois and Mississippi
rivers was surveyed to be given to the soldiers of the
war of 1812, as bounties, and this survey was made, and
patents were granted to the soldiers, before either of
those laws were passed, or said French survey was made;
but no fractional sections were granted to the soldiers,
and all those lying along the river were fractional and
therefore not granted, and were liable to be preempted,
under the preemption laws of 1830, 1832, and 1834.
When a preemption was claimed to any particular
piece of land, and the proper proofs of improvements and
residence were made before the register and receiver,
they had no option. The law required them to let the
entry be made, because, whatever opinion they may
have had as to the validity of those French claims, there
was nothing in their office showing any conflict between
* See Chapter VI, page 21.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 195
any French claim and the land proijosed to be entered.
Although, when the United States surveys, in 1817 and
1818, were made, so soon after the French had left, their
lots might have been connected with the f)ublic surveys,
yet, as the place was entirely abandoned by the French,
and the Americans had not yet found their way here, it
was not done. And when the French laid in their claims
before the register and receiver at Edwardsville, they
probably did not know that said survey had been made.
At least, the register in his report says " I have not been
able to ascertain, with precision, upon what particular
quarter-sections of the military surveys these claims are
situated." — 3d Am. St. Papers.^ page 422.
All the lands on which any of these French claims were
located, by Brown, had been disposed of by the govern-
ment to other parties, the money paid, and patents issued,
and the land possessed and occuj^ied long enough for the
statutes of limitation to protect them, were their titles
bad. Under these circumstances, and since the excite-
ment of the day had passed away, the reader will won-
der how any controversy could have been gotten up suf-
ficient to interfere with the repose of our society. But,
strange as it may seem, a controversy was gotten up,
which lasted about twenty years, in which the author
spent many thousand dollars and much j^recious time;
but those controversies are all happily settled, and we
can say to the world buy and build without fear, for our
titles are as good now as those of any other city.
This is not the place to discuss the merits of those con-
troversies : suflice it to say that man is a gregarious ani-
196 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
raal, not only physically, but mentally. Men are not
only inclined to move in masses, but to be affected in
masses, as by an influenza. Some times men are gener-
ally taken with a religious monomania; some times Avitli
a political one ; some times with 2:)atent-right invention
mania; and some times with a gold-mine mania. On
this occasion they were taken with a French-claim mania.
Men generally believed that every man j^rofessing to hold
a French claim ought to succeed against any one else^
although his claim may have been decided against by
government, and he lacked proof to connect him with the
original claimant; and although the defendant may
have had a patent from the United States, and been in
actual possession by residence, for any length of time.
The first suits were brought in the state court, and were
all successful; but a half-dozen of them were taken to
the Supreme Court of Illinois, and all reversed. This
closed the state courts as to this sort of business. Some
suits in the state court were dismissed, and then brought
in the United States Circuit Court. A great many new
ones were commenced there, and resulted as the others
had done, and were carried to the Supreme Court of the
United States. Here, although the law was not always
laid down correctly, enough principles were settled ad-
versely to the plaintifls to prevent them from bringing
any more suits any where.
This mania, for a few years, was astonishingly great.
It pervaded the country generally : it found its way into
the jury-box, the bar, and even to the bench. I have
known honest jurors to find verdicts against evidence,
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 197
and honest judges to overrule the plainest princij^les of
law that have been established since the days of Lord
Coke, to aid the speculators in these controversies. I
have known a certain speculator in those days to take
a surveyor and survey about block 34 (to which he had
no more title than the king of Dahomey), and look wise,
and say nothing, Avhile all the inhabitants of that block
were running out and begging him not to dispossess
them, promising submission, and agreeing to pay what-
ever he said they should. He haughtily replied, "if they
had any business with him to call at his hotel." So they
did, and he presented them a paper containing a requisi-
tion on each of them for an arbitrary sum, such as he
thought they could be scared into, and they all, ' every
mothers son of them', paid the sum set opposite their
names, and thought him a generous-hearted gentleman
for exacting no more.
In those days, the best men in the community, without
knoAving any thing of the merits of the controversy, pitied
me if they were my friends, and hated me if they were
my enemies, for what they supposed to be an obstinate
and mulish disposition. If I am not mistaken with re-
gard to public sentiment at this time, it has entirely
changed on that subject. I have been as much flattered
and caressed of late, on account of my success, as I once
was pitied and contemned for my supposed obstinacy. I
hope I have borne both with equanimity.
The quantity of ground in dispute was never so great
as the number of suits brought, or the number of claims
filed in the land-oflice, would seem to indicate. The
198 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
property was cut up and many more suits brought than
necessary, to jorevent writs of error to the Sujoreme Court
of the United States ; as the land in controversy must
be worth 82,000 to give that court jurisdiction. Although
the number of claims filed in the land-office was 70, it
should be remembered, —
1 st, There were not so many clahnants, for each claimant
generally claimed more than one lot, some times several.
2cl, There were not as many ^:>^eces of ground claimed
as there were claims, for it often happened that two, un-
der different numbers, claimed the same ground.
3d, A portion of them were located at the old village^
which had been voluntarily abandoned long before the
war, and were not valid claims, under the law, as the Su-
preme Court of the United States decided in the case of
Hall vs. Papin, 24 Howard, 132.
4th, As the said court decided in the same case, said
law " applies only to the new toicn, and the land in ques-
tion is an outlet or field of ten acres, near the old Village
of Peoria."
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 199
CHAPTER XXXVI.
roruLATiox at differext times.
The first census of Illinois was taken in 1810, when
the whole population, including a few blacks, but no In-
dians, was 12,450. In 1820, it was 55,128. In 1830, it
was 158,232. In 1840, it was 471,515. In 1850, it was
876,038: males, 445,544; females, 400,490; excess of
males, 45,054.
The population of Peoria county for the first four quin-
quennial censuses was as follows :
1825, by Bogardus 1236;
1830, by Isaac Waters 1792 ;
1835, by William Compher 3199;
1840, by A. W. Harkness 7041 .
The census taken by Bogardus included all the country
then attached to Peoria — Chicago, Galena, etc.; but the
other three included Peoiia county as it now exists.
Why the county was at the expense of taking the census
in 1830 and 1840 is not apparent, for in those years the
general government took the census of the whole United
States, which, when taken, was at the service of every
one.
Some idea may be formed of the advance of population
from 1826 to 1843, inclusive, from the following table of
the votes cast in Peoria county in those years :
200 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
1826, in August 184 ! 1834, in August 223
1827," " 17 1835, " " 283
1828," " 65 1836, " " 294
1830," " 53 i 1837, " " 329
1831, " " 100 I 1838, " " 490
1832," " 141 I 1839, " " 1042
The tables from which the above is taken were profess-
edly deficient as to the years 3 829 and 1833, and hence
I omit them; and I suppose they are deficient as to the
years 1827, 1828, and 1830. In ascertaining the number
of 23opulation from the numbei' of votes, it is usual to
multiply by five ; but this rule is not reliable, for voters
frequently fail to go to elections. Although at the Con-
gressional election in August, ]836, the vote was 294, yet
at the Presidential election in November of the same year
the vot3 was 531.
In January, 1844, Mr. Drown, under the authority (as
I supi^ose) of the Board of Trustees of the Town of
Peoria, took the census of said town, and reported the
same at 1619.
I suspect the above is an overestimate, for he was
always thought to be inclined to overestimate the popu-
lation of our city, as was j^roved by the census he took
in 1850, when Hon. H. S. Austin, employed by the Gen-
eral Government, took it the same year, and made it out
much less. In fact, there is always so great a difference
between the reports of different persons employed to take
any census, that we can only approximate at the truth.
The following table shows the number of voters in the
City of Peoria in the years 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849,
and 1850 (provided, at the adoption of the present consti-
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
201
tution, in 1848, they were actual residents, and if they
have come in since, they have become naturalized), and
the state or country in which they were born. Any table
of votes actually given in tliose years will show a less
number, for there are usually some who neglect to attend
elections.
1S45
1&46
1S47
1848
1849
1850
New York
111..
135..
158..
218..
222..
204
Pennsylvania. . . .
99..
118..
141..
161..
170..
159
Ohio
46..
68..
89..
114..
123..
119
3[assachusetts . . .
52. .
61..
Q<6.,
73..
78..
63
Viro:inia
31..
45..
42..
68..
57..
46
Kentucky
18..
21..
26..
38..
39..
35
Connecticut
12..
23..
26..
34..
30..
28
Maryland
18..
25..
30..
33..
34..
35
New Hampshire,
23..
18..
19..
29..
27..
25
New Jersey
10..
9..
11..
21..
17..
13
Vermont
15..
18..
11..
19..
18..
16
-Tennessee
2..
2..
8..
17..
14..
11
Indiana
5..
3..
12..
9..
13..
6..
15..
8..
15 . .
8..
16
Maine
8
Dist. Columbia. .
3..
3..
2..
8..
7..
5
Illinois
2..
2..
2..
3..
8..
4..
/ . .
5..
11..
4..
16
Ilhode Island ....
2
Delaware
2..
3..
1..
5..
4..
4
North Carolina . .
0..
2..
5 . .
4..
4..
4
CTeor<T^ia
1..
0..
1..
0..
1..
2..
3..
2..
2..
1..
o
South Carolina. . .
1
Louisiana
c.
0..
0..
~2..
0..
Missouri
2..
1..
1..
1..
9
3
AVisconsin
1..
1..
1..
1..
1..
2
Alabama
0..
0..
0..
1..
1..
Germany
88..
61..
106..
163..
171..
197
Carr led for w" d.
546
641
V77 :
1050
1060 "
1014
26
202 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
1S45
Bro't forind. . . 546. .
Ireland 41 . .
Eni:C^and 33..
Scotland 7 . .
Canada 1 . .
France 12. .
Switzerland 1 . .
Wales 1 . .
Xorway . .
Prussia . .
Xova Scotia . .
Italy . .
1&4G
lS4'i
1848
1848
1850
641..
777.
.1050.
.1060.
.1014
52..
61.
. 93.
. 125.
. 150
43..
57.
. 67.
. 79.
. 87
8..
8.
. 17.
. 23.
. 27
4..
5.
. 12.
8.
4
10..
16.
. 11.
. 12.
. 14
1..
5.
6.
8.
. 10
2..
4.
3.
4.
5
2..
3.
2.
2.
1
0..
1.
2.
2.
2
3..
1.
0.
0.
0..
0.
1.
1.
1
Total 642.. 766.. 938. .1294. .1324. .1315
In June, 1855, the County Commissioners' Court em-
ployed Mr. Drown to take the census of the county, and
in Xovembcr he made a report of his work; and, as he
had been censured before for too inflated a report, he took
the precaution to make them spread on their record a
vote of approval of this rejDort. I extract from it the
following :
CITY OF PEORIA. COUNTY.
Males imder 10 years of age 1776 3568
Males from 10 to 20 years of age 1177 3427
" " ' 1806 3632
" " 1030 2203
" " 416 1156
" " 172 586
" " 70 265
" " 24 77
" " 1 10
Males 90 years of age and over
Females under 10 years of age 1771 4458
20 to 30
30 to 40
40 to 50
50 to 60
60 to 70
70 to 80
80 to 90
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 203
Females from 10 to 20 years of age 13G8 3343
" 20 to 30 " " 1498 2981
" 30 to 40 " " 292 1605
1' 40 to 50 " " 204 888
" 50 to 60 " " 148 432
" 60 to 70 " " '79 223
" '70 to 80 " " 22 65
" 80 to 90 " " 4 13
Females over 90 years of age 1
He also reported that, exclusive of these, who were
white people, there were in the city 44 colored males,
and 58 colored females, and in the whole county there
were 49 colored males, and 59 colored females.
An approximate opinion of the increase of j^opulation
may be formed from the votes given at different times
for public offices :
In 1862, the vote of Peoria Co* on Treasurer was. . .5821
In 1864, the vote of Peoria Co, on President was. . .7275
In 1866, the vote of Peoria Co. on Cong'sman was. .7354
In 1868, the vote of Peoria Co. on President was. . .8464
In 1869, the vote of Peoria Co. on Co. Judge was. .6338
At the same time the vote on Co. Clerk was 6383
In the last above election the vote was not full. The
Democrats manifestly did not all vote, or they would
have defeated the two successful candidates (Judge Yates
and Colonel McClure). These gentlemen are Republic-
ans and were elected, while it is well known that the
Democrats have a majority in the county. I suj^pose
Peoria county could now give 10,000 votes.
In 1864, W. E. Robinson, in the employ of the City of
204 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Peoria, took the census of the city, and made return as
follows :
Males over 21 years of age 4164
Females over 21 years of age 4153
Males under 21 years of age 4266
Females under 21 years of age 4644
With this the Board of Aldermen Avere dissatisfied,
believing he had missed a good many, and afterward, on
that account, they declined to employ him again in that
service. In 1868 they employed John C. Mulvihill in
that service, and he reported the whole number at 21,829.
This was thought to be worse than the other, it being the
opinion of the city fathers that we had a much greater
l^opulation than this.
The following table will show the population of Peoria
from 1844 to 1849, inclusive:
DATE VSDEU 20 OVER 20
"^'^- YRS. OF AGE. YRS. OF AGE. xkjxo.!^.
Jan'ry 1st, 1844 805 814 1619
" 1845 972 962 1934
" 1846 1136 1256 2392
" 1847 1522 1492 ...3014
" 1848. . 2327 1752 4079
March 1st, 1849 2622 2439 5061
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 205
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY.
Ox the 4tli of July, 1867, a preliminary meeting was
had in Peoria, to organize an Old Settlers' Society. A
committee was appointed to draft a constitution, etc., and
finally, at a meeting held on the 27th of said month, a
constitution was adopted, and officers were elected — in
short, all the usual steps were taken to organize said so-
ciety.
Hon. Jonx Hamlix was elected President for one year;
Col. Charles Ballance was elected Yice-Pres't; and
George W. H. Gilbert was elected Secretary.
The design that none should be registered as members
but those who had lived in Peoria, or its immediate vicin-
ity, for more than thirty years, was not fully carried out;
for, the thing becoming poj^ular, many sought to join who
by no means came wdthin the spirit and meaning of the
constitution ; and, as a considerable degree of liberality
of feeling prevailed, a number were permitted to be en-
rolled who had not the proper residence nor length of
time. In the following list those who came into the jilace
since 1836 are omitted, but some are retained who never
lived in the city at all, and others who have long since
removed away. About half of the following, however,
now live within the bounds of the city :
206 HISTORY OF PEOEIA.
MT-MT^FRS WHEN- RESIDENCE
MEMBERS. COMMENCED.
John Hamlin ]N'oy. 1819.
C. Ballance Xov. 1831.
Samuel B. King Sej^t. 1831.
John Waugh June, 1836.
Jacob Hepperly March, 1831.
Edward F. N"owLand Jan. 1835.
John C. Flanagan May, 1834.
John T. Lindsay July, 1836.
John Todhunter June, 1834.
Samuel Tart Sept. 1834.
Matthew Taggart Nov. 18, 1835.
Thomas Mooney, jr Oct. 1835.
Edward D. Shutts Oct. 4, 1836.
Peter Sweat Dec. 24, 1833.
Jacob Tapping Dec. 1, 1836.
Jacob Darst June 20, 1835.
Frederick Miiller June 10, 1836.
Robert Boal June 4, 1836.
John H. Lisk Sept. 1835.
John Leadley Oct. 1836.
George C. Bestor Aug. 1835.
Rudolphus Rouse Aug. 1832.
Isaac Underbill Dec. 25, 1833.
John Hines Nov. 3, 1836.
William A. Hall Nov. 6, 1833.
Aquilla Moftatt June 2, 1822.
John Feilkil Aug. 1836.
Josiah Fulton April, 1819.
William Blanchard May, 1819.
HISTORY OF PEOEIA. 207
MEMBEES. WHEN EESIDENCE
COMMENCEl>.
John Shar]) Oct. 1824.
Jolin W. Caldwell Oct. 3, 1830.
John Whitby Oct. 1835.
Daniel Corbet Oct. 1835.
George Greenwood Oct. 9, 1835.
Nelson L. Woodruff Nov. 16, 1835.
W. H. Ellis Oct. 1836.
George Gilfillen 1836.
George W. Schnebly Nov. 1835.
Thomas P. Smith Nov. 1834.
William Stillwell June, 1836.
John C. Schnebly Nov. 1835.
Nathaniel Robinson Oct. 19, 1835.
J. H. Schnebly Nov. 10, 1835.
George Ford May, 1835.
Griffith Dickinson April, 1835.
James H. McCall May 10, 1835.
H. W. Partridge June, 1836.
Alexander Caldwell Dec. 1827.
J. S. Hornbaker Oct. 1830.
E. C. Root Oct. 1830.
Amos Stevens Ji^ly? 1833.
Alvah Moftatt June 10, 1822.
'5
Lorin Wilder Oct. 27, 1836.
Alexander M. King Sept. 1831.
Longworth Armstrong Oct. 1836.
Chauncey C. Wood Sept. 1836.
Henry W. Jones Nov. 1, 1831.
John A. McCoy Dec. 28, 1836.
208 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
MEMBERS. COMMENCED.
John Benson May, 1834.
Edward C. Benson May, 1834.
Ebenezer Stowell June, 1836.
Lewis Howell May, 1836.
William Reynolds Nov. 1836.
Peter AY. Hawley July, 1835.
William C. H. Barton Dec. 23, 1325.
Perry Frazer Ji^b% 1834.
P. C. Reding June, 1822.
Auren Garrett Aug. 1833,
Daniel Trail May 4, 1834.
CM. Frazer July, 1834.
Elihu K Powell March, 1836.
Alva Dunlap May, 1834.
Lyman J. Loomis .Aug. 1834.
George W. Fash June, 1835.
Augustine Greenwood Aug. 16, 1836.
William E. Mason Aug. 19, 1834.
J. T. Stewart Born in 111. June 20, 1824.
John E. Bristol Oct 19, 1830.
Moses Clifton Oct. 1826.
L. H. Armstronof Nov. 1836.
B. L. T. Bourland June, 1834.
Peter Frye Nov. 1834.
John J. Runkle Oct. 1833.
Lnri W. Case Oct. 3, 1836.
Johnson S. Adams March, 1831.
James F. Murden June 15, 1835.
James Monroe Sept. 5, 1836.
HISTORY OF PEOELV. 209
This organization has thus far contributed much to tlie
pleasure of the society; especially on the Fourth of July,
our national birth-day. On the fourth of July, 18G8, we
had a sumptuous feast, and a number of speeches, in the
shade of Flanagan's Grove, for the members and their
families, and some invited guests.
On the fourth of July, 1869, preparations Avere made
for even a more sumptuous feast, for a larger crowd, and
the kindest of feelings prevailed; but our hilarity was
much checked by a rain-storm that broke into the midst
of it.
The same officers were reelected at both of said meet-
ings, and officiate in said offices yet.
The above are nearly all old men ; and yet, since this
society was formed (two years and a lialf ), only one of
its members has died, to wit, Hon. Peter Sweat. He
was a native of New Hampshire, but had lived the last
half of his life in Peoria. The most of the time he dealt
in dry goods or groceries (I believe at one time in both),
but for a few years he had turned his attention to culti-
vating grapes and other fruit. His integrity as a busi-
ness man I never heard questioned. He appeared to be
a man of moderate talents; yet he must have possessed
a considerable amount of shrewdness, for he was for a
long time a ruling sj^irit in the democratic party, and was
by it frequently elected to office. At one time he served
a term of four years in the State Senate.
27
210 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
CHAPTER XXXYIIT.
COMMERCE OF PEORIA.
Ix French times there was no commerce at Peoria, ex-
cept the barter of a few m-ticles of Indian goods, such as
blankets, beads, tomahawks, powder, lead, guns and
butcher-knives, for peltries, such as deer, beaver, otter,
mink and muskrat skins. Immediately before the War
of 1812 this business was carried on mainly by a Mr.
Michael Lacroix, who never returned to reside here after
the war. He was born in Canada, removed to Peoria in
1800, went back to Canada at the commencement of the
war, accepted a commission in the British army, after
the war brought a stock of goods to St. Louis, and, in
1821, died over in Cahokia.
From 1812 to 1818 there were no white people at Peo-
ria, not even a straggling trader. But in 1818, as is set
forth in Chap. X, page 43, the American Fur Company
sent goods into the place, and they continued to do so for
ten or twelve years, as our neighbor Hon. John Hamlin,
who was at one time in their employment, can testify.
In 1831 trade was at its lowest ebb in Peoria. By the
destruction of the i^eltries, partly by the combined efforts
of white and red hunters, but mainly by the deep snow
and sleet of 1830-31, the Indians had become too poor
to buy goods, and the few Avhite people in the country
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 211
had brought no money with them, and had not had time
to raise any thing to sell; and what made it worse was,
the first settlers avoided the prairies, in which they might
have had something to sell mncli sooner. John Hamlin
and Henry B. Stillman had a few goods, but fewer cus-
tomers. In 1832 flour was shij^ped from St. Louis to Peo-
ria to be eaten, and corn to be planted.
Times were exceedingly discouraging; but it did
seem to me that so much rich land Avould before Ion or fur-
nish a rich harvest for some enterprising traders. I had
known, in Kentucky, Messrs. F. & A. Yoris, who then
had a small store in Salem, Indiana, and, knowing that
Francis was a smart trader in things generally, and that
Abram was a good merchant, I informed them of the ad-
vantages of the place. Mr. Francis Voris came on, and
I rode around with him to show him the country. We
visited Pekin, Hennepin, and Ottawa. He was pleased
with the country generally, and with Peoria in particu-
lar, and they immediately removed their store to Peoria.
They at once became, and for years were, the prin-
cipal merchants. Not but that there were other mer-
chants of high respectability, who soon after came in, and
helped to build uj) the place, such as Andrew Gray,
Samuel Lowry, Moses Pettengill, Amos P. Bartlett, Rey-
nolds & Smith, etc., etc., but the Messrs. Voris adapted
their business to the circumstances of the country. They
bought the produce of the country, and gave our carpen-
ters and laborers employment in building flat-boats, on
our wharf, to ship the produce to market.
In 1835 Mr. Abram Voris, while on his return from the
212 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
South, with the proceeds of a cargo of pork, was cut off
by the cholera. Soon after Mr. Samuel Voris came in
and took the phice of his brother Abrara in the firm, and
continued in it until the loth of May, 1852, when Francis
died. Since his death the family have turned their at-
tention to other things than merchandise.
Mr. Petteno^ill was once called one of the old merchants
of the place; but he withdrew from the business several
years ago. There is no person who has been engaged in
this business that deserves more credit for persistence
than Amos P. Bartlett. He has followed the business in
this city for about thirty-five years, and has generally
kept a full store of good goods. He has had several
partners. At one time he was in with Mr. Pettengill,
but for a good while he has had for a partner his cousin,
P. C. Bartlett.
In speaking of pioneer merchants, I should by no
means forget to mention Mr. John G. Bryson. He was
put into business by the Vorises, but has been doing busi-
ness ' on his own hook' for many years. I knew him
when he was as poor as ' the next man ', but by close at-
tention to business, for a quarter of a century, he has
made a fortune — much more than he needs, for he has
not as yet fulfilled that first great commandment, " Be
fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth"; nor is it
in proof that he has taken any steps in that direction, at
all commensurate with its importance.
Kor must I from this list omit the names of William
E. Mason, James H. Work, James Daugherty, Charles
W. McClallen, Alter & Howell, John McClay Smith, and
HISTORY OF PEORIA.
213
John Reynolds, although they have all quit selling goods
but Mr. AYork, who is still in that business at Chenoa,
and Mr. Reynolds, Mr. ]\[cClalIen and Mr. Alter are dead.
In the iirst settling of any place, those who trade in
dry goods also trade in groceries, hardware and drugs
and often in grog also; but as po2:)ulation increases, the
business becomes divided up into diiferent branches. At
a pretty early day John B. Burlingame undertook to deal
in drugs and joaints, on a large enough scale for tlie City
of Boston, and he soon broke down. Soon after. Dr.
James Mossman tried it, but did not succeed, because
such were his habits that he would not have succeeded at
any thing: a nephew of his, however, a youth he brought
to the country, took hold of the business, and made a for-
tune by it, and is now living at his ease, on the fruits of
his labors in his younger days. That youth is William
A. Herron. Among those who tried the drug and paint
business in those early times were W. B. & H. G. Far-
rell. They succeeded well.
The following firms are carrying on the dry-goods busi-
ness in Peoria now, distinct from grocery, drug or any
other branch of trade :
Bartlett, A. P. & P. C,
Day Brothers,
Nusbaum, J.,
Faxon, ^V. H. & Co.,
Beckman & Dreifuss,
Bryson, J. G.,
Muller & Gruse,
Kleene, F.,
Conigisky & Co.,
Netter, H.,
Clarke & Co.,
Johnston, R. & Co.,
Rohrbach, L.,
Bissell, O. P.,
Eggleston & Snelbaker,
Miller, William,
Seabury, S.,
Rattle, Henry,
Eppsteiner, D.,
I Seabury, Charles & Co.
214
EISTORY OF PEORIA.
The following firms carry on the drug business
Miller & "Wheeler,
Miles, Dr. B. R,
Simoneau & Colburn,
Farrell, H. G.,
Fisher, Charles,
Keen, Aug.,
Tompkins, J. B.,
Shelly, P. S. & Son,
Davis, W. H.,
Matthies, A. L.,
Bastow, J. D.,
Martin tt Kinnear.
The grocery business has become entirely divorced
from the dry-goods business; but there is so easy and
regular a gradation from the greatest wholesale estab-
lishment down to the merest ai)ple or chicken stall, that
it is difficult to know who should be included and who
excluded from a list of our grocers. I send the following
forth as the best list I can make of the j^rincipal ones :
Thompson, S. H. & Co., Lottmann, S. T.,
Even, Enno,
Kundin2:er, A. c^ J.,
Welte, F.,
Knowlton, Jesse L.,
Chapman & Sloan,
Green, Louis & Co.,
Gibson & Woodbury,
McCoy & Straut,
Ulrich, Valentin,
Henry, J. F. & Co.,
Lathrop, M. J. 5
Burt, R. W.,
Schimj^fi", R. A.,
Lindsay & Dolan,
Ellis, B. F.,
Lindsay & McCoy,
Lehne, C. F.,
Benton, C. & Co.,
Hudson, J. A.,
Bohl & Pabst,
Fosket, J. T.,
Lammers, C,
Anderson, Augustus,
Auer & Cutter,
Miiller, Jacob,
Ziegler, J.,
Burgi, P.,
Eaton, Thomas,
Lyon, Simon,
Pierce, C. S.,
Clark, G.,
Dewein, J. X.,
Ford, William,
Look, L.,
Harsch Bros.,
Reichhardt, George,
Eberle, C. F.,
, Heberer, Christian,
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 215
!Murphy, J. R.,
Polster, C,
Scliraitt, G.,
Schweinbold, C. S..
AVeers, H.,
Folkers, J. H.,
AVeil, I. A.,
Bourke, iS^.,
Roth, C,
Campen & Brother,
Kre liter, J.,
Ohl, J.,
Purtsclier, A.
Uh-ich, T.,
Gorman, J. C,
Winkehneyer, F.,
Meyer, Charles,
Hoffman, Ernst.
The first who attempted to divorce the hardware from
the dry-goods business were Moses Pettengill and Jacob
Gale. This was in 1834. They connected the tin-ware
and stove business with it; but they had not the business
long to themselves, before Walker & Lightner appeared
as competitors for public patronage in that line. From
that day to this Mr. Walker has sedulously j^ursued that
business : for a long time with Ilervey Lightner as a
j)artner, and then with George H. Mcllvaine; but now
the name of the firm is Walker, Mcllvaine & McClure.
For a long time Mr. Z. I^. Hotchkiss, who learned tlie
business from Messrs. Walker & Lightner, has done a
large business in this line. In addition to these, the fol-
lowing firms are engaged in this business : Billings &
Lloyd, M. Pfeifer & Co., Proebsting & Yoigt.
In olden times all grain shipped on the western waters
was put into sacks, and carried on men's shoulders onto
the steamboat, and again from the boat to the shore;
and, if the warehouse was a little away from the water,
drays were also used. This was very exjiensive, and the
merchants of Chicago and other lake cities built large
warehouses, and macliinery to raise the grain to the top,
216 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
and then through spouts fill boats without the expense of
sacks to contain it or men to carry it. This gave the
lake cities so much the advantage in the matter of freights
that much trade was turned north that naturally would
have gone south. To remedy this, elevators have lately
been erected at St. Louis and other places on the western
waters. The first erected at Peoria was by the Messrs.
Grier & Co., two or three years ago; but that not being
deemed sufficient for the business of the place, Messrs.
William J. Dobbins, John E. McClure and Henry Mc-
Fadden are building, in plain view of my house, a much
larger one, which is nearly completed. On its front, in
large letters, I see the words ' Central City Elevator.'
From these, and others that will be built, as soon as they
are proved to be necessary, I anticipate much benefit to
our place. This city should be a great central depot for
all the grain raised in this region, collected in the winter,
when the roads are hard, and the farmers have leisure to
haul it, to be distributed east, west, north, or south, as
the exigency of trade should require. The farmer should
bring in his grain at his convenience, take receipts, and
keep them as money, or sell them for money, according
to his opinion of the market, or the necessity for money.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 217
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE FAUNA OF PEOKIA.
Inteoductiox. — Xot being sufficiently versed in the
technicality of the Fauna of Peoria and its vicinity to
perforin that duty proj^erly, I jorocured Dr. F. Brendel, a
gentleman of considerable reputation on that subject, to
write the following chapter. I would just add that the
bear, elk, buflalo and beaver had disappeared before I
came to Peoria. A few otter and a plenty of paroquets
were still here, but they soon disappeared.
There Avere originally three kinds of wolves here — the
black, the gray and prairie wolf I understand a few of
them still remain, especially of the latter kind, but I have
not seen one of either kind for years.
I have never seen a black or white squirrel in Illinois.
Even the gray squirrel, that is so plenty in Kentucky,
Indiana, and Ohio, is scarce here.
I never knew any poisonous snakes in this vicinity but
rattlesnakes and copperheads, and the latter were always
scarce. I never saw a rattlesnake in Peoria, but they
were plenty within two or three miles. As soon, how-
ever, as a place begins to be settled, hogs, dogs and men
wage an unrelenting war upon them, and they soon dis-
appear.
28
^18 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
The following list of vertebrata represents the active fauna as
observed during the last eighteen years. It is plain that the fauna
and flora of a newh^-colonized country can not be the same as it
was in a wild state, because, as the Indian did, so many wild ani
mals jaelded to civilization, and many plants to cultivation. The
black bear, the elk, the butfalo, the beaver, retired to the west and
north, and the swarms of paroquets, which rambled formerly in
the woods along the river, are gone for ever. Civilization replaced
these with its companions, the rats and mice, and one day will, as
a substitute to the paroquet, the naturalized house-sparrow arrive
from the east.
The observed quadrupeds are : Two bats — the dark-brown
Nycticejus noveboracensis, and the reddish Nycticejus lasiurus,
and probablj' is there a third species, the Kycticejus pruinosus ;
the shrew (Blarina talpoides), the prairie mole (Scalops argenta-
tus), the w^ild-cat (Lynx rufus), the gray wolf (Canis occidentalis),
the gray fox (Yulpes Yirginianus), the weasel (Putorius nove-
boracensis), the mink (Putorius vison), the otter (Lutra Canaden-
sis), the skunk (Mephitis mephitica), the raccoon (Procyon lotor),
the opossum (Didelphys Yirginiana), the western fox-squirrel
(Sciurus Ludovicianus), the gray squirrel (Sciurus Caroliuensis),
which is some times black, the flying squirrel (Pteromys volucel-
la), the chipmunk (Tamias striatus), the gray prairie-squirrel
(Spermophilus Frauklini), the striped prairie-squirrel (Spermophi-
lus tridecimlineatus), the woodchuck (Arctomys monax), some
times wrongly taken for a badger, the muskrat (Fiber Zibethicus),
the gopher (Geomys bursarius), the jumping mouse (Jaculus
Hudsonicus), the deer-mouse (Hesperomys leucopus), the meadow
mouse (Arvicola riparia), the gray rabbit (Lepus silvaticus), the
deer (Cervus Yirginianus).
The birds are — 1. Rapacious : the turkej^-buzzard (Cathartcs
aura), the golden eagle (Aquila Canadensis), scarce — only one
specimen seen, the bald eagle (Haliaetos leucocephalus), mostly
seen in a young state with brown head and tail, the fish-hawk
(Pandion Caroliuensis), the pigeon-hawk (Falco columbarius),
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 219
the spaiTow-lmwk (Falco sparverius), Cooper's hawk (Accipiter
Cooperi), the sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter fiiscus), the red-taik'd
hawk (Buteo boreahs), the red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus),
the swallow-tailed hawk (Naiiclerus furcatus), the marsh hawk
(Circus Hudsonicus), the great-horned owl (Bubo Virginianus),
the mottled owl (Scops asio), the long-eared owl (Otus Wilsoni-
anus), the short-eared owl (Brachyotus Cassinii), the snowy owl
(Nyctea nivea), only in cold winters, the barred owl (Syrnium
nebulosum).
2. Scansores, comprising the cuckoos and woodpeckers: the
yellow-billed and the black-billed cuckoo (Coccygus Americanus
and erythrophthalmus). The woodpeckers are the pileated (Ily-
latomus pileatus), the hairy (Picus villosus), the downy (Picus
pubescens), the yellow-bellied (Sphyrapicus varius), the red-bellied
(Centurus Carolinus), the red-headed (IMelanerpes erythrocepha-
lus), the golden-winged (Colaptes auratus).
3. Insessores, comprising the humming-bird (Trochilus colu-
bris), the chimney swallow (Chaetura pelasgia), the whippoorwill
(Antrostomus vociferus), the night-hawk (Chordeiles popetue), the
king-fisher (Ceryle Alc3^on), the king-bird (Tyrannus Carolinen-
sis), the crested fly-catcher (Myiarchus crinitus), the pewee (Say-
ornis fuscus), the wood-pewee (Cantopus vircns), the wood-thrush
(Turdus mustelinus), Wilson's thrush (Turdus fuscescens), the
robin (Turdus migratorius), the blue-bird (Sialia sialis), the ruby-
crowned and the golden-crested wren (Regulus calendula and
satrapa), the Tit-lark (Anthus ludovicianus), the black-and-white
creeper (Mniotilta varia), the protonotary warbler (Protonotaria
citrea), the Maryland yellow-throat (Geothlypis trichas), the Ken-
tucky warbler (Oporornis formosus), the yellow-breasted chat
(Icteria viridis), the worm-eating warbler (Ilelmithcrus vermivo-
rus), the blue-winged yellow warbler (Helminthophaga pinus), the
Tennessee warbler (Helminthophaga peregrina), the golden-
crowned thrush (Seiurus aurocapillus), the water thrush (Seiurus
noveboracensis), the black-throated green warbler (Dendroica
Yirens), eight other warblers of the same genus — Dendroica coro-
220 HISfORY OF PEORIA.
nata, blackburniae, castanea, pinus, coerulea, striata, aestiva, pal-
marum, — the hooded warbler (M54odioctes mitratns), the redstart
(Setophaga ruticilla), the scarlet tanager (Pyranga rubra), the
summer red-bird (Pyrauga a^stiva), the white-bellied swallow
(Hirundo bicolor), the rough-winged swallow (Cotyle serripennis),
the purple martin (Progne purpurea), the wax-wing (Ampelis
garrulus), the cedar bird (Ampelis cedrorum), the great northern
shrike (Collyrio borealis), the white-rumped shrike (Collyrio excu-
bitoroides), the red-eyed fly-catcher (Yireo olivaceus), the white-
eyed vireo (Vireo noveboracensis), the blue-headed fly-catcher
(Vireo solitarius), the j^ellow-throated fly-catcher (Yireo flavi-
frons), the cat-bird (Mimus Carolinensis), the brown thrush (Har-
porhynchus rufus), the house-wren (Troglodytes aedon), the win-
ter wren (Troglodytes hymealis), the American creeper (Certhia
Americana), the white-bellied nut-hatch (Sitta Carolinensis), the
blue-gray fly-catcher (Polioptila coerulea), the tufted titmouse
(Lophophanes bicolor), the black -caped titmouse (Parus atricapil-
lus), the sky-lark (Eremophila cornuta), the evening grosbeak
(Hesperiphona yespertina), which was observed only once, the
purple finch (Carpodacus purpureus), the yellow-bird (Chrj^somi-
tris tristis), the lark-finch (Chondestes grammaca), the snow-bird
(Junco hyemalis) the chipping sparrow (Spizella socialis), the
tree-sparrow (Spizella monticola), the song sparrow (Melospiza
melodia), the fox-colored sparrow (Passcrella iliaca), the black-
throated bunting (Euspiza Americana), the rose-breasted grosbeak
(Guiraca ludoviciana), the indigo bird (C^^anospiza cj'anea), the
red-bird (Cardinalis Virginianus), the ground robin (Pipilo er}'-
throphthalmus), the cow-bird (Melothrus pecoris), the swamp
black-bird (Agelaius Phoeniceus), the meadow-lark (Sturnella
magna), which is by no means a lark, but a starling, the orchard
oriole (Icterus spurius), the Baltimore oriole (Icterus Baltimore),
the rusty black-bird (Scolecophagus ferrugineus), the crow black-
bird (Quiscalus versicolor), the common crow (Corvus Americau-
us), the blue-jay (Cyauura cristata).
4. Rasores: The wild pigeon (Ectopistes migratoria), the com-
HtSTORt OF PEORIA. 221
mon dove (Zenaidura Carolinensis), the prairie hen (Cupidonia
cnpido), the quail (Ortyx Virginianiis), and the wild turkey (Me-
leagris gallopavo).
5. Grallatores: The whooping crane (Grns Amcricanns), the
sand-hill crane (Grus Canadensis), the white heron (Herodias
egretta), the great blue heron (Ardea herodias), the least bittern
(Ardetta exilis), the bittern (Botaurus Icntiginosus), the green
heron (Butorides virescens), the night heron (Njxtiardea gardeni),
the wood ibis (Tantalus loculator), the glossy ibis (Ibis Ordii), the
golden plover (Charadrius Virgiuicus), the kill-deer (^Egialitis
vociferus), the semipalmated plover (^gialitis semipahnatus),
Wilson's phalarope (Phalaropus Wilsonii), the woodcock (Philo-
liela minor), the red-breasted snipe (Macrorhamphus griseus), and
another species, the Macr. scolopaceus, the English snipe (Galli-
nago Wilsonii), the jack snipe (Tringa maculata), the least sand-
piper (Tringa Wilsonii), the semipalmated sandpiper (Ereunetes
petrificatus), the willet (S3nnphemia scmipalmata), the tell-tale
(Gambetta melanolcuca), the j^ellow-legs (Gambetta flavipes), the
solitary sandpiper (Rhj^acophilus solitarius), the spotted sandpiper
(Tringoides macularius), the field plover (Actiturus bartramius),
the great marbled godwit (Fedoa limosa), the long-billed curlew
(Numenius longirostris), the marsh hen (Rallus elegans), the Vir-
ginia rail (Rallus Virginianus), the common rail (Porzana Caroli-
na), the coot or mud-hen (Fulica Americana).
G. ISTatatores: The trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator), the
white-fronted goose (Anser Gambelii), the Canada goose (Bernicla
Canadensis), the mallard (Anas boschas), the black duck (Anas
obscura), the i^intail (Dafila acuta), the green-winged teal (Nettion
Carolinensis), the blue-winged teal (Querquedula discors), the
shoveler (Spatula clypeata), the gadwell (Chaulelasmus streperus),
the widgeon (Marcca Americana) the summer duck (Aix sponsa),
the big black-head (Fulix marila), the little black-head (Fulix
affinis), the ring-necked duck (Fulix collaris), the red-head (Ay-
thya Americana), the canvas-back (Aythya vallisneria), the but-
ter-ball (Bucephala albeola), the shell drake (Mergus Americanus),
222 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
the red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator), the hooded mer-
ganser (Lophodytes cucullatus), the pehcan (Pelecaniis erythro-
rhynchus), the double-crested cormorant (Graculus dilophns), the
herrhig gull (Larus argentatus), the royal tern (Sterna regia),
Wilson's tern (Sterna Wilsonii), the northern diver (Colymbus
torquatus), the pied-bill grebe (Podylimbus podiceps).
The above one hundred and seventy-six species of birds are
partly nesting here, partly as many water-birds passengers; as
ornithology has never been made a special study in this place, very
probably there might be noticed between fifty and one hundred
more.
Reptiles of the four orders are represented here.
1. Turtles: the soft turtle (Aspidonectes spinifer), the snapping
turtle (Chelydra serpentina), Ozotheca odorata, Thyrosternum
Pennsilvanicum, Trachemj's elegans, Graptemys geographica,
Chrysemys Bellii.
2. Lizards : very scarce ; Cremidophorus sexlineatus, and the
' Glass snake ', which is no snake, Ophiosaurus lineatus.
3. Snakes : Crotalus durissus, the banded rattlesnake ; Crotalo-
phorus tergeminus, the prairie rattlesnake ; Agkistrodon contort-
rix, the copperhead. These are our poisonous snakes. Harmless
are Eutainia sirtalis, the gartersnake ; Nerodia sipedon, the water
snake ; Heterodon platyrhinos, the blowing viper or hog-nose ;
Pituophis melanoleucus, the bull snake ; Scotophis vulpinus ; Ophi-
bolus Sayi, the king snake ; Ophibolus eximius, the milk snake ;
Bascanion constrictor, the black snake ; Chlorosma vernalis, the
green snake ; Storeria Dekayi ; and Storeria occii)ito-maculata.
4. Batrachia, or naked reptiles : the toad (Bufo Americana), the
tree frog (Hyla versicolor), the bull frog (Rana pipiens), the com-
mon green frog (Rana halecina), the salamanders (Ambystoma
lurida, ISTotophthalmus viridescens), the water puppy (Menopoma
Alleghaniensis).
The most known fishes in Illinois river are : the yellow perch
(Perca flavescens), the black bass (Centrarchus fasciatus), the sun-
fish (Pomotis vulgaris), the cat-fish (Pimelodus catus), the horned
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 223
dace (Leuciscus cliplema), the wartcd sucker (Catostomiis tubercu-
latus), the red-horse (Catostomiis Diiqiicsnii), the pike (Esox
estor), the gar (Lepidosteiis), the eel (Anguilla hitea), the stur-
geon (Acipenser), the shovel-fish (Polyodon folium), and many
others; among them perhaps many undescribcd, as our river
fauna is not studied at all.
Why has a city of nearly 30,000 inhabitants no public collection
of the natural products of its vicinity, accessible to all, who might
instruct themselves ? Is the dollar so mighty to suppress all the
interest in the natural history of our country ?
CHAPTER XL.
THE FLORA OF PEORIA AND ITS VICINITY.
Inteoductiox. — The following chapter was written by
our townsman Dr. J. T. Stewart (on special request) for
the History of Peoria.
The reader w^ill probably be surprised w^ien he is in-
formed of the great amount of unappreciated beauty in
the midst of which he has lived.
The Flora of Peoria is varied and rich. Within a compass of
five miles from the Oourt-IIouse may be found almost every spe-
cies of plant that grows in middle Illinois, middle Indiana, Ohio,
and Iowa. Probably no spot in the United States represents a
greater number of species. The extraordinary fertility and variety
of soil which surrounds us is of necessity prolific of species.
224 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
The dry and sandy plateau on which the greater part of the city
stands, extending from the bkiff to the river and from Kickapoo
creek to the Narrows, has its peculiar flora, and was, when the city
was in its infancy, one grand carpet of flowers.
The bluff, with its black prairie loam and clay sub-soil, repre-
sents, or did before it was so fully occupied with farms and gar-
dens, the prairie flora, with all the varied forms of vegetation
that cover the immense prairies of Illinois.
Beyond, and in some places almost touching the brow of the
bluff, is what is characteristically termed the Barrens. This, as
every western man knows, is not a poor soil, but is neither tim-
ber nor prairie, being covered with scattering trees, is a firmer
soil, containing less loam and more clay, and has quite a different
flora.
Beyond the lake is a great body of land which annually over-
flows, in which are many lakelets and marshes. Here is another
flora, and one of unbounded richness. In this vicinity are some
peat-bogs, containing many species peculiar to such localities:
these in the fall are surpassingly beautiful.
Jutting up against this bottom, the bold blufls rise, interspersed
with deep mossy glens and covered with an immense forest. The
same conformation exists on this side of the river abov3 the Nar-
rows, and below the city on Kickapoo Creek. In these localities
the flora differs widely from any of w^hich we have spoken. And
here are found some of the rarest and finest specimens of beauty
and elegance the world can produce. And allow me to remark,
that we by no means appreciate the beauty which surrounds us.
We send to the ends of the earth for flowers, and regard them as
rare beauties, while we have growing wild, almost in sight of our
doors, finer and more elegant ones, many of which have been sent
abroad and are classed among the finest flowers by the most re-
fined and cultivated men of Europe. Not a florist in Europe but
cultivates some of the very flowers and shrubs that grow in this
vicinity, prizes them highly, and places them among his choicest
soecunens.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 225
I have only space to name a few, which I do at random, all of
which and many more are worthy of a place in our gardens.
In early spring the Spring Beauty (Claytonia Caroliniana) pusli-
cs its scapes up among the dead leaves, unfolding its clusters of
delicate flowers, shaded from white to rose-c(>lor and veined witli
purple; the Blood-root (Sanguinaria Canadensis), snow white
with golden anthers; the Liverwort (Ilepatica triloba), varying in
its hues from whi.tish to blue, purple, and flesh-color, too elegant
to pass by and too pure and beautiful to pluck; the Isopyriun
bitcrnatum, falsely called Anemone, rising above the rest on
smooth, slender, branching stalks, with tiny white flowers; the
Blue Bell (]Mertensia Yirginica) ; the Columbine (Aquilegia Cana-
densis) ; the Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne), with its raceme of
azure-blue flowers ; the Anemone Caroliniana and Pennsylvanica ;
the Violets, wlritish, blue, and yellow ; the Buttercups (Ranuncu-
lus fliscicularis and rcpens) ; the Crane's-bill (Geranium macula-
tum); the Polemonium (Poleraonium reptans), easy of cultivation,
with its corj^mbs of light-blue, bell-shaped, nodding flowers ; the
Phlox (Phlox reptans, pilosa, glaberrima, and bifida), — the last is
rare here, but is one of the finest of the phlox famil}' ; the Painted
Cup or Indian Pink (Castilleia Coccinea), a unique annual and
biennial, showy and prett}^; the Wild Hyacinth (Scilla Fraseri);
the Shooting Star (Dodecatheon Media) ; the Spirea aruncus and
lobata, — the lobata is the Queen of the Prairie and is well named,
grows from three to six feet high, bears compound clustered pani-
cles of peach-blossom-colored flowers — ver}' handsome ; the yel-
low, white and purple Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium pubescens,
candidum, and spectabile), — the last is a superb flower; the Five-
fingered Gentian (Gentiana quinqueflora), an annual; the Lion's
Heart (Physostegia Yirginiana), annual ; the Cardinal Flower
(Lobelia cardinalis), annual ; the Spiderwort (Tradescantia Virgin-
ica) ; the Prairie and Wood Lilies (Lilium Philadelphicum and
superbum).
Our Asters are very abundant, and some of them very beautiful.
There are more than twenty species, and varieties without end.
29
226 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Some of our Golden-rods are worthy of cultivation. The Eupato-
rium ageritoides is an elegant, free-flowering, white, fall flower of
the composite order, very hardy, preferring shady places.
Of the ornamental vines, we have the Virgin's Bower (Clematis
Virginiana) ; the Moonssed (Menispermum Canadense) ; the Bit-
tersweet (Celastras scandens) ; the Virginia Creeper (Ampleopsis
quinquefolia) ; the Trumpet Creeper (Tecoma radicans) ; theDios-
corca villosa, a delicate little vine growing in thickets ; the wild
Balsam-apple (Echinocystis lobata) ; and the Star-cucumber
(Sicyos angulatus).
Of ornamental shrubs there are, among others, the Wafer Ash
(Ptelia trifolia) ; the Staff Tree (Staphillea trifolia) ; the Wahoo
(Euonymus atrapurpureus) ; the Sumach (Rhus glabra and aromat-
ica), — the former is our common sumach, and the latter is quite a
pretty shrub, four to five feet high, with aromatic foliage.
Our trees are too well known to require notice here.
The Cyperaceae and grasses are well represented. There are as
many species of grasses on a mile square here as there are in the
entire South, excepting Texas and Arkansas, or the whole of New
England.
We are deficient in evergreens, having none but the Red Cedar,
and it is rare. The great Ericacia family (of which the Cranberry
is a representative), which is so abundant in the East and South,
has but one little insignificant representative, the Monotropa uni-
flora.
The Ferns are well represented, there being about twenty spe-
cies, and among them some of the most delicate and elegant of the
family. Other cryptogamous plants, as the Mosses, Lichens, and
Fungi, are abundant.
Unfortunately, the march of improvement, divorced as it ordi-
narily is in the West from fine taste and culture, is making sad
havoc with our flora. It never seems to enter the minds of men
owning hundreds of acres of lands to inclose a few rods for the
protection of our indigenous plants. I can now call to mind but
one exception, and that is worthy of honorable mention. The Su-
HISTORY OF PEOEIA. 227
perintendent of Springdale Cemetery, Capt, John H. Hall, has
set apart a portion of that lovely place, -which associates so much
sulness and beauty, for Ihe preservation of Nature's o%vn flora.
CHAPTER XLI.
PHYSICIANS.
The first man who attempted to live by the healmg
art, hereabout, was Dr. Augustus Langworthy. As late
down as 1833, I believe he was the only physician be-
tween Springfield on the south and Chicago on the north,
and the Wabash on the east and the Mississippi on the
west. He was not popular, and the place only wanted
people to make it a tempting place for some young physi-
cian to break into competition with him.
In 1833, Dr. Hudolphus Rouse hoisted his sign, and
bid fair to stand alone in the profession ; but population
soon began to pour in, and doctors too. Dr. Cross, Dr.
Bartlett, Dr. Livingston, Dr. Joseph C. Frye, and some
others, came pouring in with the current, but none of them
are remaining with us but Dr. Rouse and Dr. Frye. The
former has succeeded well, and has withdrawn from the
practice to enjoy a com|)etence in his old age, whicli he
earned in his younger days. Dr. Frye has succeeded
equally well, but is still engaged in a large practice. Dr.
Langworthy died in Bureau county, about two years ago.
228 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Dr. Cross returned long ago to New England, whence he
came. Dr. Bartlett died in this place many years ago.
Dr. Livingston has long since been living at West Wheel-
ing, Ohio.
At a very early date, it was found that there was a
great diversity among our physicians. There were
among them allopathic, botanic, eclectic and homoeo-
pathic jDhysicians, and what more I know not. I heard a
good deal about root doctors, and Thompsonian doctors,
and doctors whose particular sagacity lay in their ability,
from the inspection of a vial of certain fluid brought from
the 25atient, to tell what was the matter with him, and
what to prescribe as a remedy, and whose title among the
country i^eoi^le, to distinguish what kind of doctor lie
was, was the name of the aforesaid fluid. However, for
aught I know, all these may be included in some of tlie
above divisions.
The laws of Illinois do not prescribe who may and who
shall not 23ractice medicine. To remedy this evil, certain
physicians, on the 19th of April, 1848, formed themselves
into a medical society, which has been ke2:>t up to this
day. Those who went into that arrangement were Ru-
dolphus Rouse, Joseph C. Frye, Edward Dickinson, El-
wood Andrew, John Murphy, John D. Arnold, F. Mc-
Neil, William R. Hamilton, E. Cooper, J. T. Stewart, E.
M. Colburn, John L. Hamilton, H. H. Waite, John X.
Niglas, AYillis Sperry, McConnell, Clark D. Rankin,
A. B. Chambers, Robert Roskoten.
But there were, at that time, a number of men who re-
lied upon the practice of medicine for a support, whose
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 229
names are not contained in the above list. That was
probably because they could not produce a diploma from
some medical school of tlieir qualifications, or it may have
been because they had adopted doctrines, or fallen into
practices, that were deemed unj^rofessional.
Those belonging to that society at this time are, Ru-
dolphus Rouse, Joseph C. Frye, Robert Boal, E. Brendel,
F. Brendel, J. Cary, I. J. Guth, J. P. Johnson, J. T.
Stewart, J. L. Hamilton, IT. Kruse, J. Murphy, J. N. Nig-
las, R. Roskoten, J. T. Skinner, J. R. Snelling, J. Studer,
G. L. Lucas, and Wm. R. Hamilton.
Besides these, who call themselves regular physicians,
I find the following persons practicing medicine who do
not belong to the medical society, to Avit, E. M. Colburn,
Moses Troyer, J. W. Martin, James Huggins, Ilarriman
Couch, J. M. Evans, I. W. Johnson, and M. M. Eaton.
The reader will perceive the name of Dr. Colburn in
the list of regular-bred physicians when the society was
first organized, but not in the list now. I understand the
explanation to be that he was a regular-bred physician,
and practiced as such for many years; but a new light
having broken upon him, with regard to ' infinitissimal
jiills', or, peradventure, becoming convinced that the
world was bound to be humbugged by some one, and
that it was better for it to be done by an educated man,
Avho could tell when the patient needed medicine and
when he did not, than by an ignorant man, who would
administer infinitissimal doses when substantial medicine
was necessary, or for some other reason, he became a
homoeopathist, and was dropped from the list of regular
230 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
l^hysicians. What a capital idea is this. I claim the
honor of its discovery myself. Let all men designed for
the medical profession be thoroughly educated in medi-
cine, anatomy and surgery, and then turn homoeopathists,
Thompsonians, clairvoyants, root-doctors, and p — s doc-
tors, and thus steal from the humbuggers their thunder,
and drive them out of the practice. When Mrs. Fidgety
sends for a jDhysician to see her daughter, the very deli-
cate Miss Fidgety, who is dying from tight lacing and
Avant of air and exercise, v^'hat is he to do? Should he
tell them the truth, they would discharge him as family
physician — a position worth a hundred dollars a year,
and send for some one who, for want of knowledge,
might give medicine that would ruin her, or perhaps have
no effect whatever. But the greatest evil about this mat-
ter is this: women, whether right or wrong, are ^^ermitted
to decide who shall be the family physician. Xow when
Dr. Humbuggus is inaugurated as family physician, and
Mr. Fidgety gets sick, he must die for want of medicine :
w^hereas, if the family j^hysician had turned humbug, and
' doctored up ' Miss Fidgety w^ith ' little pills ' he might
have been on hand to save Mr. Fidgety's life. Half the
people who call for medicine need none, and in many
cases little pills Avould be better than big ones; but a
man must have some knowledge to be able to judge
which to use; also to be able to judge whether the dis-
ease is in the body or mind.
I find the name of Dr. Kouse still retained in the list,
although, as stated above, he has Avithdrawn from the
practice. It should also be stated that, although the
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 281
name of Dr. W. 1\. Hamilton is retained in the list, he is
not now in the practice. lie is President of the Peoria
and Rock Island llaihvay Company, and tliat office, I
presume, occupies all his time.
Dr. Andrew, Dr. Arnold, Dr. Cooper, Dr. Dickinson
and Dr. Kankin have died. Whether Dr. Waite, Dr.
McNeil, Dr. Sperry, and Dr. 3IcConnell are dead, or, if
alive, Avhere they are, I can not tell. I did not know any
of the latter but Dr. McNeil. As for Dr. Chambers, I know
him well. He now lives in Warsaw, Ky., and practices
his profession at that place.
CHAPTEPv XLII.
LAWYERS.
Our early legislatures never thought it necessary to
protect ns against ignorant jDrctenders in the practice of
medicine, but did in the practice of the legal profession ;
and we have always had laws that required every lawyer
to undergo an examination as to his qualifications before
he received a license to practice law. Not only does the
law require that the student shall know the law, but lie
must prove that he has read at least for the space of two
years in the office of some regular practitioner. This
being so, it has been wondered how some have obtained
232 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
license to practice without any legal learning. The thing
is simple enough when explained. The Supreme Court
has always deemed it an act of courtesy to the sister
states that any lawyers they had examined and admitted
to practice there should be admitted here without an ex-
amination, and some of the sister states require no par-
ticular amount of reading: before beins; admitted. At one
CD CD
time our Supreme Court was very exact on this subject.
While that was the case, young men could go across the
line and get a license, and walk into court here with tri-
iiniph, without having studied the two years, or two
months even. Much of the time our court here has been
very indulgent on the subject, and, in stead of examining
the student themselves, would appoint a committee to
examine him, who, having enough to do, and expecting
no pay for the service, would sign a report in the stu-
dent's favor with little or no examination. I have seen
poor fellows examined in open court, until they would
sweat profusely ; I haA^e also known licenses granted upon
examinations that amounted to nothing.
Gov. Ford and some one, I believe G. T. Metcalf, Esq.,
and I, were appointed a committee to examine an appli-
cant. We met in Mr. M.'s office; Gov. Ford asked
"What is law?" and the usual answer being given, he
signed the recommendation. Mr. M. asked a similar
question, and signed it; I asked two or three others, and
signed it also. Then, all at once, he who dreaded the
examination and looked upon it with awful misgivings
lest he should be rejected, found himself a happy, new-
fledged lawyer.
niSTORY OF PEORIA. 233
Samuel Q. Ricliardson, wlio, in his day, was well known
in Kentucky (especially will his tragical death be remem-
bered), told me (nearly forty years ago) the following
story: He and two others were appointed by a court
in Cincinnati to examine an appHcant for the profession ;
they met, and a tall, rather good-looking, but at the same
time a verdant, young man made his appearance before
them. They examined him a little and told him they
could by no means recommend him to the court as quali-
iied to practice the legal profession. lie told them that
he was no lawyer; that he had been brought up a car-
penter, and was plying that trade then in that city, but
he had concluded he could do better. I see, said he,
where the shoe pinches. You perceive I am ignorant
(which fact is as well known to me as to you), and you
are ashamed to have such a one side by side ^yith you in
the bar of Cincinnati. I propose nothing of the kind. If
you will procure my license, I will go immediately to
Indiana, and apply myself to reading, and before the peo-
ple find out how ignorant I am I Avill cease to be so igno-
rant. His argument prevailed, and he obtained the li-
cense, went to Indiana, and, when the story was told to
me he was governor of that state. His name was James
B. Kay.
I once heard of, but was not present at, the following
examination:
1st Committeeman. — What is law?
2d Committeeman. — What is meant by the common
law?
3d Committeeman. — What is meant by the civil law ?
30
234 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
1st Committeeman— What is good brandy made of?
2d Committeeman. — Are you a judge of the article?
3d Committeeman. — Do you know where the article
can be got? Ans. I do.
1st Committeeman.— That Avill do.
And while he was getting the brandy they signed his
recommendation, and the brandy ended the farce.
This sounds ridiculous enough, but really the public
needs but little protection against ignorant lawyers. Let
a fellow who knows nothing obtain a license to practice
law, and who will employ him ? He will not get busi-
ness enough to keep him from starving, and will have to
quit and go to some other business. This is the rule.
The only exception is that a man of great persistence may
endure the mortifications of defeat until he rises above
them.
Not so with doctors. If a lawyer commits blunders,
there is always a man on hand hired to expose them;
whereas, the quack, with his dignified and mysterious
airs, creeps quietly into your family Q^erhaps in the dead
hours of night), and administers to your dearest friend a
nostrum that will kill or cure, no one knows Avhich, nor
will the secret ever be known until Gabriel's last trump
shall be sounded. How villainously wicked is the man
who, when intrusted with the life of your wife, your hus-
band, or child, will administer a drug that he does not
know whether it will kill or cure, or do neither! Every
honest, well-educated physician ought to be in flxvor of a
law that would prohibit a man from practicing medicine
or surgery who is not acquainted with the power of med-
icines and the anatomy of the human frame.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 236
I would make the same remarks with regard to the ne-
cessity of having learned men in the profession of divin-
ity (for divines, like doctors, have no one present liired
to expose their errors) ; but, from the earliest history of
man up to the present time, a large majority of men have
had the organ of marvelousness so strongly developed,
that they must be humbugged. They can not do with-
out it; and if no one will humbug them gratis, they will
readily pay some one to do it. For the present, at least,
every body must be permitted to j^reach — saints and sin-
ners, philosophers and fools.
To John L. Bogardus, Esq., must be awarded the
credit of being the pioneer lawyer of Peoria, and next in
order of time stands Hon. Lewis Bigelow.
When I came here, in November 1831, they were the
only lawyers here, and the latter was only looking out
for a location. He only remained a few days, and then
went to St. Louis, and sj^ent the winter there, I suppose
because there was noplace in Peoria where he could com-
fortably board. About the middle of March he returned
to Peoria, and made this place his home until he died, in
October 1838. He may, therefore, be called the second
lawyer who settled in Peoria.
He was born in Massachusetts in 1783; was educated
to the law, and practiced that profession for years there,
and was a member of Congress from 1821 to 1823. He
published a 'Digest of the first twelve volumes of Massa-
chusetts Reports '.
Mr. Bigelow was a well-read lawyer, but not a success-
ful practitioner. He was a man of strong prejudices, and
236 HISTORY OF PEORlA.
lacked complaisance of manner. He was not void of
logic, and apj^eared to be a good grammarian, and would
argue a question of law pretty well, but his speeches were
destitute of ornament, and his action was ungraceful. But
probably the main reason of his foiling as a lawyer was
his want of tact. He seemed to me to be unskillful in the
selection of a jury, and when selected, in addressing them
so as to take advantage of their prejudices, or to avoid
runnino; ao^ainst the'ra. He would have selected the same
kind of jurymen were he defending a horse-thief, as he
would had he been prosecuting him; or had he been ad-
justing a mercantile policy of insurance, or a controversy
between farmers about the trespasses of cattle. The ques-
tion with him was not whether this man, from his pecul-
iar habits and j^rejudices, will likely go against him or
for him, but whether, according to Mr. B.'s standard, he
was a sensible and good man — that is, whether he was a
man of staid Xew-England habits. He seemed to have
a poor opinion of southern and western people and their
habits.
He was not an orthodox Christian, according to Xew-
England ideas. He was, as I understood him, a strong
believer in the Christian religion, but not in the Trinity,
and some other strong Calvinistic doctrines. I under-
stood him to be a Unitarian.
He seemed to be aware of his want of adaptedness to
the kind of jury practice we had here, and withdrew from
the practice of the law for the offices of Justice of the
Peace and Clerk of the Circuit Court, although those
offices were then by no means lucrative.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 237
The name of Mr. Bigelow is made most fjimiliar to the
present generation by his being one of the proprietors of
Bigelow & Underhiirs Addition to Peoria. He left, at
his death, no wife nor son, bnt four daughters, Mrs.
Frisby, afterward Mrs. Rankin, Mrs. Harding, Mrs.
Armstrong, and Mrs. Metcalf, all of whom have raised
children.
Several lawyers who have cut a considerable figure in
their profession in Peoria have left this scene of action,
whether for a better or worse, the writer hereof presumes
not to decide, viz., AYilliam Frisby, Lincoln B. Knowlton,
Onslow Peters, Norman H. Purple, Halsey O. Meriiman,
Julius Manning, Thomas Ford, Ezra G. Sanger and AYill-
iam L. May. Mr. Frisby and Mr. Sanger died young,
before they had had time to establish high reputations,
but their prospects of success as lawyers were bright.
Mr. May was more of a politician than lawyer. He sel-
dom attempted to argue a question of law, but on a ques-
tion of fact, before a jury, or in apolitical speech, his abil-
ity was above mediocrity.
He was by birth a Kentuckian, and at one time a mem-
ber of the Illinois Legislature, and at another register at
the Springfield land-ofiice, and from 1835 to 1839 he was
a member of Congress. He, with thousands of others,
rushed to California on the first report of the discovery
of gold in that country, but the fatigues and exposure of
that journey were too severe for his constitution. He
sickened and died, leavhig a wife and some children in
Peoria. He had had, in his life, three wives. The one
he left when he died was the daughter of the once some-
what celebrated Caesar A. Rodney.
238
HISTORY OE PEORIA.
Mr. May was a profane man, who made no pretensions
to religion of any kind; yet as such men at heart often
believe the Christian religion, he may have done so. He,
however, was one of those who do not ' show their faith
by their works '.
The following compose the present bar of Peoria :
Elihu N. Powell,
Bryan & Cochran,
Cooj)er & Moss,
Wead & Jack,
Henry Grove,
Johnson & Hopkins,
Ingersoll & McCune,
Robison & Caldwell,
McCoy & Stevens,
McCulloch & Rice,
Kellogg & Son,
Thomas Cratty,
Julius S. Starr,
ElUs Powell,
L. H. Kerr,
H. W. Wells,
O'Brien & Harmon,
Lindsay <fc Feinse,
Chauncey ISTye,
Worthington &Puterbaugh,
F. W. Yoigt,
Griffiths & Lee,
M. C. Quinn,
L. A. Lapham,
W. Loucks,
A. M. Scott,
George E. Ford,
Georofe L. Bestor.
Several of these do but little business, but as they have
license and are willing to do business, I include them.
There are several others who have license, but, as I sup-
pose they obtained it not expecting to practice, but for
the honor of the thing, I omit them. I also omit Hon.
S. D. Puterbaugh, because he has left the bar for the
bench ; Hon. E. C. Ligersoll, because he has abandoned
the bar for a seat in Congress ; and myself, because I have
not abandoned the profession tem2yorarili/, as I suppose
they have done, but for life.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 239
CHAPTER XLIII.
THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. JOHN L. B0GARDU8.
The figure Mr. Bogardus cut in the settling of Peoria
will, I presume, justify me in devoting a chapter to him,
in addition to what has heretofore been said about him.
He was born in the City of New York, and married
there, to a lady who deserved to see better times than
she saw in Peoria; but in November, 1831, I found him
an ' old settler ' in Peoria, and I became well acquainted
with him. He was a lawyer by profession, but did but
little in that line after I became acquainted with him.
He was not fit for that kind of business after I became
acquainted with him. This may have been owing to in-
temperance, but I suspect his mind was never sufficiently
clear and discriminating for a successful lawyer.
I found him in possession, by tenants, of the ferry
which was then situated at the outlet of the lake, where
the upper bridge now stands. He occupied two houses
at that place, one partly of logs and j^artly of frame, both
parts being covered alike with split boards; the other
was a common hewn-log house. The first was one story
high, and stood immediately on the bank of the river, a
little above said bridge, and the other stood a little
further from the river, and a little nearer Bridge street.
At that time, however, Mx\ Bogardus did not personally
240 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
occupy tMs property. He then had a small log-cabin on
what is now called Mills's Addition, in which he lived.
He had rented the premises above described, with the
ferry, to Samuel Chichester, for a sj^ecific time; but Chi-
chester had recently died, and a kinsman of his, Mr.
Isaac Waters, was in possession, to carry out Chichester's
contract.
Bogardus had much trouble about this property, be-
sides the trouble he had with Eads, as set forth in Chapter
XXXIY, all of which resulted in Bogardus's favor; but
be had other troubles about it. Among the rest, he
leased the ferry to a Mr. Leach, Avho, finding that Bogar-
dus had no title to the land, repudiated his claim as land-
lord, and refused to pay rent or surrender. The law of
Forcible Entry and Detainer was not so well understood
then as now. The case of Fortier & Blumb vs. Ballance
(5 Gil. 111. Rep., 41) had not then been decided, and it
was the opinion of some of our northern lawyers, who
relied upon an old Massachusetts case, that title was
necessary to sustain this suit, as well as an ejectment.
Bogardus, I believe, was of this opinion, for he, in a dis-
consolate mood, came to me for advice. I told him the
law was clearly in his favor; that whether he had title
or not, his tenant, who went in under him, could not
raise the question; that he would not be permitted to
dispute his landlord's title, until he had surrendered it
up to him. He employed me, but a^^parently with but
little hope of success. I sued, got judgment, and put
out Leach, and restored Bogardus to the possession.
Bogardus, however, either because of his great appre-
HISTORY OP PEORIA. 241
hension of losing the property, and being desirous of
some one to aid him in protecting it, or because he was
too much intoxicated to be fully aware of what he was
doins:, made an absolute deed of an undivided two-thirds
of the ferry, and the tract of land on which it was situ-
ated, to LcAvis Bigelow and Samuel C. McCkire, as is
hereinafter set fortli.
In the A-^arious suits about said property, the considera-
tion paid by said Bigelow and McClure to said Bogardus
for said conveyance became material, and much testi-
mony was from time to time taken on the subject, all of
Avliich I have read, and some times acted as an attorney
in taking said evidence, and some times I was a witness
myself. It was testified to positively, by at least one
witness, that Bigelow and McClure practiced a base fraud
on Bogardus, by reading to him a lease, and then, in its
stead, presenting him for signature a deed for two-thirds
of the property. With all the above opportunity of
judging correctly, I give it as my opinion that no fraud
Avas practiced on Bogardus, but such fraud as it is to
deal with a man who is laborinsj under the delusions that
whisky some times produces. When Bogardus signed
tlie deed, he knew it was a deed^ and he knew he was
doing it without receiving a cent for it; but he labored
under the delusion that they, by some sort of indescribable
omnipotence, could protect him from all his enemies.
After his frenzy had passed, and he was in his right
mind, he repented, and attempted to repudiate what he
had done; but they held him to it, and they quarreled.
Biorelow becran to think it time to have the deed on rec-
31
242 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
Orel, and lie got it, and told McClure to take it immedi-
ately and have it recorded.
After McClure had plenty of time to have had it re-
corded, Bigelow invited McChire and myself to take a
walk with him, which we agreed to. We leism-ely
strolled back, and up a road which then wound up the
hill, northerly, through Mr. Pulsifer's property. When
nearly up the hill, Mr. B. asked Mr. McC. if he had the
deed recorded. The latter said he had not, but would
on our return. Mr. B. became excited, and expressed
strong dislike at his dilatory habits. He asked him for
the deed. McC. examined his hat and his pockets, and
not finding it, protested he had it since we started on the
walk. We all returned to seek it, but did not find it.
N'ot far to the northeast of where we started up the bluff
lived a man by the name of Trial (pronounced Triall).
We went to his house to make inquiries about the deed.
Mrs. Trial said one of her boys j^icked up a paper in the
road, at the foot of the bluff", and brought it to her. She,
not being able to read, could not tell what it was ; but
Bogardus's name being on it, she supposed it belonged to
him, and sent it to him. Bogardus's signature was a pe-
culiar one, which peojile who could not read could iden-
tify. The boy Avho took the paper to Bogardus asked
him if it was his. He replied that it was, and added
that he had been anxious to get hold of it for some time.
How remarkable that that paper should fiill into the hands
of young Trial, whose fiither was, at that time, unfriendly
to Bogardus, and yet that his mother should send him
directly to Bogardus with it !
HISTOHY OF PEORIA. 243
What a dilemma! Two poor men had got hold of a
paper which, if held on to, was a support for life for both
of them ; but that paper, through their carelessness, had
got into the hands of the grantor, who denied the grant.
They brought an action of replevin to recover the deed,
and a bill in chancery to enforce their rights under it.
This was the state of affairs when Mr. Underhill made
his appearance in Peoria. Bogardus was too poor to
carry on a lawsuit as he wished to see it done, and lie
sold out the whole property, vv'Orth a much larger sum,
for $1,050, with the expectation that Underhill (who w^as
from the great city of New York) would ' law them out
of house and home '. Underhill, however, made the pur-
chase with an understanding between himself and Bige-
low and McClure that he and they would be ecjual part-
ners; that is, that Bigelow and McClure, in stead of
owning two-thirds, according to their bargain with Bo-
gardus, were to have one-half, and that Underhill, in
stead of having all, according to his contract with Bo-
gardus, w^as to have one-half
Bicrelow soon aot clear of McClure, and he and Under-
hill laid off said ground into what is now called Bigelow
and Underhill's Addition to Peoria. And thus was laid
the foundation of two ample fortunes, in that which cost
one of the parties precisely nothing at all, and the other
^1,050.
There were an immense number of suits about that
property afterward ; but, as Bogardus's claim ceased with
his deed to Underhill, I will drop the subject for the
present.
244 HISTORY OF' PEOEIA.
There had been a hirge controversy at Xew York be-
tween the Trinity Chnrch and the heirs of Anneke Jans,
in which Bogardus was interested. An older brother of
his, called General Bogardus, had had the management
of this suit. After it had been pending a long time, it
was dismissed. Whether it was dismissed because the
other heirs failed to contribute their portion of the expens-
es, or because the general became satisfied the suit could
not be sustained, or because he was j^aid by the church
for doing so, is more than I know; but John L. aj^peared
to be indignant at the course of his brother, and went on
to Kew York avowedly to prosecute that claim. After
being there about that business for some time, he re-
turned here in the fall of 1838, and died from the effects
of the too free use of ardent sj^irits.
It is difficult to judge what J. L. Bogardus had been
from any thing I saw of him wdiile I knew him, for he
had been much damaged by the use of distilled liquors
before I knew him, and was, as above stated, drunk the
most of the time during the seven years of our acquaint-
ance.
Bogardus had a wife, who was living with her son-in-
law, Mr. Sill, in Troy, Xew York, in the winter of 1866-
1867. He had a son, William 31. C. Bogardus, who
married some where near the mouth of the Ohio. It was
reported he was dead ; but whether he left any child was
unknown here until I was informed by his mother, when
I saw her in Troy, that he left one son, called John L.
Bogardus. who was a lawyer in Cincinnati. W^illiam
was a very common man, having neither ambition nor
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 245
talents. He (the elder J. L. B.) had another son, named
Warren B. G. Bogardus, who died when sixteen or sev-
enteen years old, a2)parently a sprightly lad. Also, a
daughter, named Peoria Ann Bogardus, Avho died in
childhood. After that child had died, they had another,
to which they gave the same name. She is the wife of
Mr. Sill, an apparently well-doing gentleman, above re-
ferred to.
When Bogardus got drunk, he not only imagined rats
in his boots, etc., but he some times imagined himself
very rich, and that every body wished to rob him. There
came along a soldier by the name of Seeds, who had de-
serted from the military post at Green Bay. Bogardus
took him into his employment, and constituted him a
sentinel to guard his premises, and gave positive orders
that if any one came along who could not give the coun-
tersign, to shoot him down. A drunken fellow, who had
been drinking and gambling there, but who knew nothing
about the soldier nor his countersign, came round the
corner, and giving no satisfactory answer to a challenge
from the soldier, the latter shot him down. The soldier
was indicted for murder, but was never jiunished. There
being no jail, he was after a while permitted to escape.
In olden times, fish were much more plenty than now,
and Bogardus got a large seine, and caught many wagon-
loads of fish, and built a large hopper with split boards,
near where Judge Gale now lives, or a little nearer the
city, and filled it with fish, hoping tliat when they should
decay, the oil would run down into a pirogue placed be-
neath to catch it; but this was a mistake. The mass be-
246 HISTOKY OF PEORIA.
came filled with maggots, and raised a stench that no one
could endm-e. Even the wolves could neither comprehend
nor endure it. They would gather in groups on the hills
in that vicinity, but not too near, and make the night
hideous with their howlings.
CHAPTER XLIY.
THE SUBJECT CONTE!sUED. GOV. FORD.
Not so much for the figure Gov. Ford cut in the set-
tling of Peoria, as for the figure he cut in the state at
large, I have concluded to devote a chapter to his biog-
raphy.
Mrs. Ford, the mother of Gov. Ford, found herself, in
1802, near Brownsville, in Pennsylvania, with a large
family of small children, with no husband, and nothing
with which to support her children. She had had two
husbands, the first one by the name of Forquer, wdio was
killed by a coal-bank falling on him. Her second hus-
band, Robert Ford, disappeared, and was reported to have
been killed by robbers. Among her first set of children
was a boy named George Forquer, who was born near
Brownsville, Pa., in 1794, and afterward became some-
what conspicuous in the history of Illinois. One of the
second set of children was the subject of this memoir,
and was born near Uniontown, Pa., in the year 1800.
y
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 247
The Spanish government at this time had possession
of Louisiana, which included Missouri, and, to induce
emigration to that section, gave lands gratis to actual set-
tlers. To avail herself of this boon, Mrs. Ford, in 1804,
started Avith all her children in a keel-boat from Browns-
ville to St. Louis. But when she reached St. Louis, she
found, too late, that the country had been ceded to the
United States, and she could get no land without buying
it, and the money to buy with she had not. At St. Louis
her family got sick and were delayed ; but before the year
was out they were settled in Illinois, near where the town
of Waterloo has since been built. Mrs. Ford must have
been a superior Avoman, for, though extremely poor and
in a neighborhood where schools were exceedingly scarce,
she did give these boys a respectable education. About
the other children I know nothing. Keynolds, in his
'Pioneer History of Illinois', tells the remarkable story
that, when Forquer was nine years old and Ford five,
they '•''vx.dked upwards of three miles to school." I sup-
pose this is a mistake as to the date. The distance was
nothing unusual for those times, had the boys been a lit-
tle older. But both the boys had to work out the most
of the time to get bread and meat for the family. For-
quer, for this purpose, was hired out at the early age of
nine years, and I know a man who has seen Gov. Ford,
when a lad, officiating as a hostler and servant about a
small country tavern. Forquer, Avhen old enough for that
purpose, Avent over to St. Louis and learned the carpen-
ter and joiner's trade, and Avorked at it several years after
he got through Avith his apprenticeship. IIoav the mother
248 HISTORY OF PEOEIA.
and cliildren were suj^ported in the mean time, or wliether
the other boys ever worked any, has not been handed
down to me. That they were of no great account I infer
from the fact that Ford was always ready to talk about
George, but none of the others.
Mr. Forquer seems to have flourished as a carpenter
and joiner, for in 1818 he came over to Illinois and pur-
chased the land on which Waterloo is located, and he and
Hon. Daniel P. Cook laid out said town. This was, no
doubt, a good move, but he branched out into merchan-
dise — a thins: he did not understand — and went under,
CD '
and was harassed for years with debt.
At this time there was a debating club in his county,
and he participated in the debates, and here discovered a
fact that he had not known before, that he was by nature
pretty well qualified for a public speaker. At that time,
several talented men who were lawyers, orators, and poli-
ticians, ruled the destinies of Illinois. With these men
lie had become acquainted; a new scene burst upon his
theretofore circumscribed vision ; he became egregiously
aspiring; he laid aside the yard-stick and jack-plane,
and betook himself to law-books and political tracts. He
ran for office at nearly every election, and, whether a
candidate or not, he made political speeches to practice
oratory. His ambition was considered audacious, yet he
generally succeeded, and learned to be a pretty good
public speaker.
He held the offices of attorney-general, secretary of
state, register of a land-office, and member of the state
Senate, after I came to the state. He labored hard to
UISTORY OF PEORIA. 249
get into Congress, but failed; soon after wliicli his health
gave way and he went the way of all the world. Such
was his ambition and his determined will that, had he
lived a little longer, he would undoubtedly have become
governor of the state, or a member of the United States
Senate.
This is the man that the poor laborer, Thomas Ford,
had for a foster-father, as being an older brother and the
father being dead. When Forquer became a merchant,
he sent Ford to Transylvania University for a thorough
education; but before the lirst year was out, the former
broke, and the latter came home for want of funds to pay
his way. Hon. Daniel P. Cook, a young man of high
promise, who became son-in-law to Gov. Edwards, and a
member of Congress, had become acquainted with the
•fiunily while he and Forquer were figuring with their
town-lots, and, sympathizing with Ford's disappointment
in not being able to go through college, advised him to
read law without it, and at once become a lawyer. This
advice Ford took, hoping, probably, that Cook would fur-
nish the money; but this not happening, and not liking
to go to work again, he read law a while, and taught school
a while, until he Avas able to obtain license to practice
law. Which got license first, he or Forquer, I am not
able to tell; but Forquer's ambition bore him ahead, leav-
ing Ford in the back-ground. In 1823, the latter got
license to practice law. Although Cook f\iiled to furnisli
Ford money, he, no doubt, furnished him influence, for,
in 1829, his father-in-law. Gov. Edwards, appointed him
state's attorney of the judicial district in which he lived.
250 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
In 1831, Gov. Reynolds ai:)pointecl liim to the same office
for the northern circnit, incUiding nearly all the northern
half of the state. In 1835, as before stated (Chap. XY),
he was elected Circuit Judge; in 1810, a Judge of the
Supreme Court; and in 1812, Governor of the State of
Illinois.
Although Ford was more diffident than Forquer, and
did not show his ambition so much, he was, nevertheless,
ambitious,* and was successful — not as fast as his brother
Forquer, but as fast as his abilities could sustain him.
His clear perception, and j)lain, unassuming manners, en-
abled him to make a papular judge; but his administra-
tion as governor of the state was a perfect failure, and
this he understood as well as others; and in his 'History
of Illinois' (page 271), he explains why he ftiiled, in the
following words : "Mr. Snyder had been nominated be-
cause he was a leader of the party. Mr. Snyder died,
* It was the opinion of some that modesty and diffidence were
inherent with Gov. Ford, and that wherever he exhibited ambi-
tion he was spurred to it by Forquer ; and I have seen some evi-
dence of his native diffidence. Although the practice of the law
and the office of judge have a great tendency to wear out a man's
native diffidence, I remember that when he was sworn into office
as governor in the presence of the General Assembly, and under-
took to read to them his inaugural address, he could not do it. He
had read but a small way when his voice failed, and he sunk down
on the seat or table upon which he was standing. Hon. John Cal-
houn (of candle-box notoriety), rose as the governor sank down,
and took the paper from his hand and read it with a clear, strong
voice. Ford, however, had learned usually to summon up courage
enough to argue a case or give a decision.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 251
and I Avas nominated, not because I was alcader, fori was
not, but because I was believed to have no more than a
very ordinary share of ambition; because it was doubtful
whether any of tlie leaders could be elected, and because
it was thought I would stand more in need of support
from leaders than an actual leader Avould. To this cause,
and perhaps there were others, I trace the fact, which
will hereafter appear, that I was never able to command
the support of the entire party which elected me." Al-
though the above-quoted paragraph speaks the truth with
regard to himself, it does not speak the whole truth.
Although he had the ability to make a very respectable
judge, he was not man enough to rule Illinois in times so
turbulent, nor were there many men who could have done
any better; yet, I venture the assertion that his competi-
tor. Gen. Duncan, was the man that could have done that
thing. lam very sure that Gen. Hardin, had he been in
that office, Avould have made the Mormons and anti-Mor-
mons of Hancock, and the vigilants and anti-vigilants
and scoundrels of every grade in Massac, tremble before
the majesty of the law.
The trouble was, that, although Ford had accepted the
services of a dishonest clique to get into the governor's
chair, he intended, when once in, to govern the state
patriotically and independently, without being controlled
by them. But they proved too strong for liim. When
he found they would not aid him in putting down the
Mormon and anti-Mormon Avar, he employed Gen. Har-
din and other Whigs to do it. This created so great an
outcry throughout the democratic ranks, that he became
252 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
alarmed, and he let the people of Massac cut each other's
throats, and drown each other in the Ohio, until they quit
of their own accord; and when the second Mormon dis-
turbance broke out, he was afraid to call on Whigs for
aid, for fear of losing caste with his party. And when he
was in a state of quasi siege in Nauvoo, and deemed his
life in danger, he appealed to Mr. Smith Frye, a Demo-
crat of some standing in Peoria, to come with a force to
his relief Frye at first talked of raising a party for that
purpose, but finally abandoned the project, and left the
governor to his fate. I know AYhigs in Peoria who, if
they had been appealed to by the governor, under those
circumstances, would have hastened to his assistance with
a sufiicient force to relieve him.
But from what Ford says about how he got into the
governor's chair, no correct idea can be formed. By
what he says, the idea would be taken up that he had no
ambition for office, but, his party having nominated him,
he patriotically accepted the nomination. The facts were
the following: He belonged to the democratic party; but
there was much knavery practiced by that party in
those days (and by all parties, I believe, now-a-days),
which he heartily disapproved. He also became con-
vinced that he had obtained as liigh a position as he
could obtain, without throwing himself into the ring of
intriguers, and getting their aid in obtaining a nomination
to a higher position.
At that time there Avas a ring of young men, who gen-
erally ruled the destiny of the state. These young men
had procured the nomination of Hon. A. W. Snyder for
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 253
the office of governor. I know not whether Ford desired
that nomination, and felt chagrined because he did not
get it, or whether he had been disappointed in not get-
ting a seat in Congress; but about this time he had a long
conversation with me, in which he avowed the doctrine
that a man, to be able to benefit his country, must get in-
to power, and to do this he must adopt such means as
would put him into power; that the day had gone by
when quiet, old-fashioned virtue would procure for a man
a position in which he could display his patriotism; that
to refuse to adopt the only means of getting into power
was to yield all power into the hands of selfish and disso-
lute men; that the only means left for honest men to
purge the government was to use the governing cliques
to get into power, and then to purge out their corrup-
tions, and, if need be, them with them. This conversa-
tion was not had with reference to the then pending elec-
tion for governor, for that was looked upon as a fixed fact ;
but soon after this Snyder died. What was to be done ?
It was rather late to get together another convention of
the party, and should it be done, perhaps the governing
clique might not be able to govern the convention so as
to get a man they could control ; oi*, peradventure, they
might nominate a man whom the whig candidate (a very
strong man) might beat. A meeting of the clique was
had, and the determination come to to run Ford without
the indorsement of a convention, provided the necessary
assurances could be obtained. A committee of two was
sent to Ottawa, Avhere Ford was then holding court. A
long interview was had with him. What i)ledges were
254 HISTORY OF PEOEIA.
obtained, or whether any, I never knew; but as soon as
the interview was ended, it was advertised all over the
state that Ford was the democratic candidate for gov-
ernor. It was a wise movement, for the democratic party
was not strong at that particular juncture, and the Whigs
were running a very strong candidate; but Ford's char-
acter was fair, and he had not been much concerned in
the questions that had operated unfavorably upon the
democratic party, and success attended him.
The four years which Gov. Ford spent as governor of
Illinois were the worst spent four years of his life. He
left the office banlvru2:>t, and with greatly im23aired health.
In pecuniary matters, he was incorruj^tible; but it was
said that the harpies about the cai:>ital got him into habits
that were injurious to him, and probably shortened his
days. After his return to Peoria, I had a conversation
with him, in which he appeared to be deeply impressed
with the idea that his course for the last few vears had
been a bad one, and that he intended a thorough refor-
mation. In this I have no doubt of his sincerity; but it
was too late, and now he, who ought to be upon the bench
of the Supreme Court of the state, has for several years
been in Springdale Cemetery.
A short summary of Gov. Ford : He was a small man,
with features indicating one from the lower, rather than
the upper, walks of life. His nose was rather sharj:), and
bent a little to one side. He was plain and unj^retending
in his manners. He was no orator, in the common ac-
ceptation of the word; but what he said was to the point.
He was not a great man, but a smart little man. He was
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 255
not a great gun, but a small gun that shot quick, and shot
straight. lie reasoned well, not so much by any show of
logic, as by clear, distinct statements. Though his mind
was not far-reaching, it was never in a cloud. Whatever
he saw, he saw clearly. He had a tolerably clear percep-
tion of the ludicrous, and some times told anecdotes, but
not original ones; and so far was he from aspiring to orig-
inality in such matters, that lie Avould, in telling a story,
quote his authority, as, Mr. Lincoln, or Col. Strode, or
some one else having a reputation for telling stories, says
so and so; or, I will tell you one of Mr. Lincoln's, or
Strode' s stories.
He was not religious, in the common acceptation of the
word ; yet, up to his forty-second year, he lived as pure a
life as any man I knew. Like Lincoln, he belonged to no
church, opposed no church, and refrained from talking on
religious topics. I never did know what were his oj^in-
ions on those subjects. I supj^osed him to be an infidel,
in the common acceptation of that word ; but this I do not
assert to have been the case.
256 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
CHAPTER XLV.
BANKING FACILITIES.
Previous to 1851 we had no baukinof facilities in
Peoria of any kind, and all our interests suffered much
for want of them. In those days, the Democrats rejDu-
diated all kinds of banks in their public speeches, and pro-
claimed to the world the Jackson doctrine, that 'those who
dealt in borrowed capital ought to fail '. Yet, after being
elected to the legislature, they generally managed to keep
the South, where Democracy was triumphant, supplied
with banks, while the Xorth was nearly or quite destitute.
There was not one, in those days, in this part of the state,
nor could we any more succeed in getting one than we
could in getting the capital removed to Peoria. These
matters of finance ought not to be mixed up with party
politics; but politicians will resort to anything to carry an
election, and in such matters they exhibit much shrewd-
ness. The Whigs were bold advocates of a national
bank, but not of state or individual banks; yet these they
would tolerate, or even help to establish, rather than
have none. The Democrats generally managed it so
that abundance of bank charters were passed, by more
Whig votes than Democratic votes; that is, they would
get all the Whigs to vote for the measure they could,
and then spare to the measure only enough Democrats to
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 257
carry it, aiul let those be from counties wliose interest
was in favor of the bank, or whose constituents were not
in the habit of scrutinizing the conduct of their represent-
atives, or such as it was not the interest of the party
leaders to have returned to the legislature. They were
then ready at the next election canvass to denounce the
AYhigs as purse-proud aristocrats and bank-bought poli-
ticians; and many good Democrats to this day believe
their party has always been opposed to all banks.
There were two principal banks in Illinois — one located
at Shaw^neetown, and the other at Springfield; one was
called The State Bank of Illinois, and the other Bank
of the State of Illinois. Each Avas allowed by the legis-
lature to establish sundry branches, but none in Peoria.
I have no doubt that these banks did much good in their
day, in the neighborhoods in which they were located,
but their bad management and iinal downfall obscured
all the good they had done.
In 1850, we were almost destitute of a circulating me-
dium. Not only had all our Illinois banks gone down,
but the western banks generally had done so. A little
specie was in circulation, and some ISTew-England and
New-York bank-notes. We had not even a broker in
Peoria. In Chicago there were no banks of issue, but
several brokers, prominent among wliom w^as George
Smith, a Scotchman, and a smart business man, and re-
puted rich. He, perhajis aided by others, inundated the
north half of Illinois, and parts of other adjoining states,
with paper after the similitude of bank-notes, which pur-
ported to be issued by an institution at Milwaukee, called
33
258 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
the Marine and Fire Insurance Company. This paper
■v\^as said to be illegal and without a basis, but the people
were so anxious to have some kind of circulating medium
that they were not inclined to scrutinize it much.
In 1851, Mr. Xathaniel B. Curtiss came from Chicago
to Peoria, and opened an office, at the upper corner of
Main and Water streets, which he called the Bauking-
House of N. B. Curtiss & Co. He dealt for some time
in said Milwaukee paper, which, it was understood, he
got of George Smith. Be that as it may, that which
circulated to a small extent before now came into general
circulation. No body supposed the money was good, or
that Curtiss was responsible for it; but the people wanted
a circulating medium, and they were willing to take
whatever was oflered.
Curtiss drove a large business, and made money; and,
probably having to pay something for the Milwaukee
money, he got up and circulated other kinds, particularly
notes on the Cherokee Bank, which j)urported to have
been issued in Georgia. There may have been a bank
in Georgia of that name, and these notes may have been
issued there, for any thing I know to the contrary ; but
the fact that the people believed them to be spurious, and
the other bankers probably knew them to be, and still
people and banks received them freely as good money, is
a strong argument in favor of some body's doctrine on
the subject of credit. I suppose Curtiss paid a little,
but very little more than nothing at all, for this money;
and yet, from what I saw of his operations, I give it as
my opinion he made twenty-five per cent, on it, and yet
HISTOilY OF PEORIA. 259
lie broke. He became too reckless. He trusted every
body; among others, he let Kellogg & Co., who were
building the Peoria and Oquawka Kailroad, have more
than $100,000 (I have heard it said nearly three times
this amount). Finally, in 1857, he got scared, and closed
his doors. In this measure he was probably unwise, for
the people were not inclined to inquire into his circum-
stances. This made a great tumult in the community,
and where Christianity had not taken too deep root, some
' tall swearing ' was done.
Mr. Curtiss, however, after arranging his affairs a little,
and buying some of his paper at a discount, tried it again ;
but it 'would not work'. The charm was broken. 'lie
had to go under'.
Mr. Curtiss's success soon raised up competitors.
It being perceived that Curtiss was making money fast,
Messrs. William H. Phelps and Benjamin L. T. Bourland,
of Peoria, and Gideon H. ,Kupert and James Haines, of
Pekin, in 1852 opened an office on the opposite corner,
which they called the Central Bank. In 1853, they sold
out this establishment to Governor Joel A. Matteson and
his son-in-law, K E. Goodell, who run the establishment
about three years, when it failed.
Mr. Joshua P. Hotchkiss, in the fall of 1852, opened an
office of the same kind, which he called the Bank of J. P.
Hotchkiss & Co., and carried it on with apparent success
until his death, which hapi^ened in 185G. Mr. Hotchkiss
was in feeble health for some time before his death, and
intrusted the business to Lewis Howell, his cashier, and
was so well pleased with his management that he pro*
260 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
yicled in his will that Mr. Howell should, after his death,
cany on the business in the same name, at a salary, for
the benefit of his heirs. This Mr. Howell did for about
four years; but it becoming inconvenient, or perhaps
impossible, to carry out the requirements of the will, he
and others bought out the institution, and for about four
years carried on the business in the name of L. Howell
& Co. In 1864, it was organized into a national bank,
under the law of Congress, and called The Second Na-
tional Bank of Peoria. Under that law, and that name,
it is operating now.
Previous to 1864, there had been a bank at the upper
corner of Main and Washington streets, in the building
Mr. Curtiss had built, and in which his bank was kept at
the time of its failure. Marshall P. Stone, William F.
Bryan, and others, had been concerned in this establish-
ment (I do not remember them all). In 1864, that Avas
turned into The First National Bank, and from that time
to this it has been conducted as such. Mr. Washington
Cockle is president, and Mr. W. E. Stone is cashier.
In 1865 was established the Mechanics' National Bank
of Peoria. Mr. H. N. Wheeler is president, and J. Boyd
Smith is cashier.
There are two private banking-houses here. The style
of one of these is S. Pulsifer & Co. The business is
mostly conducted by Mr. Erastus D. Hardin, Avho is un-
derstood to be a partner in the institution. The other
is the Banking-House of Davis & Hogue. This firm is
composed of Thomas L. Davis, an old citizen of Peoria,
but now residing at Henry, and James B. Hogue, who
has recently come to this city.
HISTORY OF PEORIA. 2Gl
III addition to all those, we have a Savings Bank for
those who have small sums, with which other banks wish
not to be troubled, and even this is said to be doing well*
Mr. Philip Zell seems pretty much to have the control
of it.
All these institutions are doing well, and have a good
reputation with the people, and supply the community
with a reasonable amount of banking facilities, and de-
posits are considered safe in all of them. But let times
change; let some great commercial crash come upon the
country, and tliey would probably all or most of them *go
by the board'.
What then ? Because of the apprehension that in some
pecuniary panic they may break, shall we withdraw our
confidence and break them now, and bring on that crisis ?
Or shall we not rather foster them, and avail ourselves of
their benefits as long as we can, but keep as good a look-
out as we can, so as to be as well guarded as possible
against a panic ? The latter would certainly be the wiser
course.
The foundation of all j)rosperity is labor. Whatever
will induce men to work will contribute to the wealth of
a neighborhood. Should a bank be established without
a dollar of gold or silver, and the 23eoi:>le have such confi-
dence in the directors that they would take its j^aper as
freely as they would sj^ecie, they might use the money
to build factories — in fact, to build a manufiicturing city*
Then, after a city had been built, and some had grown
rich, and all had been supported ofl:' it for ten years, sup*
pose it should break. AVhat then ? Would the fortunes
^62 HISTORY OF PEORIA.
that had been made off it vanish ? "Would the city that
had been built by it take wings and fly away? AYould
the peoj)le who had been fed by it ten years have to dis-
gorge ? Should the bank go down, all who had dej^ended
upon it for the sinews of business would be put to some
inconvenience, and any who happened to have any of the
money on hand would be liable to lose it; but all these
losses would be nothing compared to the gain during the
ten years, and even these losses would be less than at first
they would seem to be. The ten years that had passed
would have infused so much energy into the peoj^le that
the stagnation in business would not last long; for they
would soon make another bank, or resort for funds to one
already in existence. As for the loss by the bank-notes
on hand, there would be but little on that score, for peo-
ple would generally pay their notes in the bank with its
paper, and those who owed the bank, but had no paper,
would buy it, perhaps at a discount, from those who had it.
Even in the case of IST. B. Curtiss, notwithstanding all
the curses he got for breaking, I am of the opinion that,
besides making a fortune for himself, he benefited this
commimity a good deal more than he injured it. It is
very questionable whether the Peoria and Oquawka Rail-
road would ever have been built without Curtiss's 'wild-
cat' money. It certainly would not have been built as
soon as it was.
INDEX.
Aiken, Joshua 104, 105, 128
Allen, Rev. William 110
Allison, Alexander 125
Alter & Howell 312
Artesian Well 175, 176
Banking in Peoria 256
Baptist Society 113
Bartlett, A. P 211
Bartlett, Dr. Peter 227, 228
Bartlett, P. C 212
Benson, Rev. John ' 113
Bergen, Rev. John G 108
Beggs, Rev. Mr 100
Bigelow, Lewis 235, 241, 243
Billings & Lloyd 215
Birket, John 27, 123, 125
Blacksmiths and Plowmakers 123
Boating 155
Bogardus, John L 180, 239, 241, 243, 245
Book-Binderies 193
Bourland, B. L. T. 259
Brich, Rev. John 101, 104, 107, 108
Brick 178
Bryan, William F 260
Bryson, John G 212
Buckley, llanney, Estcs & Co 126
Buildings, public 80
Buxton, Abram S 187
264 iNDE]
Caldwell, J. W. & A 124
Canada, LaSalle goes to 9
Canal, Illinois and Michigan 1,2
Canoes 155
Carpenters and joiners 144
List of 145
Charlevoix 23
Chase, Rt. Rev. Philander 112, 113
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Raih'oad 149
Chicago in Peoria covmty 54
Churches and religious societies 100
Circuit court, first held 59
List of jurors and officers 59, 60
Civil list for 1844 57
Clark, Gen. George Rogers 40
Clerli's office ■ 83
Coal and stone I'iS
Cockle, Washington 260
Coe, Rev. James W 112
Cole, Almiran S 135, 136, 143
Coles's, Edward, Report 22, 24
Commerce of Peoria 110
Commercial men of to-day 213
Commissioners' court -53
List of officers of the first one 53, 54
Convention to form a constitution 49
List of the members 50
Convention, present • 51
Cook, Hon. Daniel P 248, 249
Copper 176
Corn-planters 145
Court-House 86
Cracraft, Rev. Mr 112
Craig, Capt 29
His letter 30
INDEX. 265
Creve-Coeur 9, 26
Cross, Dr. Enoch 104, 227
Curtiss, KB 258
Daiiglicrt}'^, James 212
Davis, Samuel II 187
Davis, Thomas L : . . 2G0
Deiters, Rev. William 115
Desplaines river 1
Distilleries 135
List of in 1864 137
Dobbins, McClure and McFadden's Elevator, 216
Doctors, dead and removed 231
Drown, S. D. W 42
Dyer, Rev. Palmer Ill
Eads, Abner, and others at Peoria 44
Goes for his flimily -. 47
' Controversy with Bogardus 180
Edwards, Gov. *N 29, 51, 240
Elevators 216
Episcopalian Church. — St. Jude's Church Ill
St. Paul's Church 112
St. Paul's Chapel 113
Eustis, Secretary of War 29
Evans, Isaac 124
Farrell, W. B. & H. G 213
Fauna of Peoria 127
Ferries and Bridges 179, 183
First National Bank 260
Fiat-Boats 155
Flora of Peoria 223
Ford, George 124
Ford, Gov, Thomas, as judge 65
Biographical notice of 246
Summary 254
34
266 INDEX.
Forqiier George 246
Fort Clark 22
Location and description of 41 to 48
Fortifications, x\.ncient 25
Six in all 27
Foundries and Macliine-sliops 119
Frazer, Thompson & Co 120
French Claim controversy 193
French of Peoria, low and ignorant 18
List of them 19
Left no evidences of civilization 20
Frisb}^ William 237
Fulton county established 52
Fulton, Josiah, and others came with Eads 39, 44
Frye, Dr. Joseph C 127, 128
Gray Andrew 211
Great Britian, treaty with 28
Green, Rev. W. T 113
Griffin, LaSalle's vessel 9
Groceries 214
Grocers of to-daj'^ 214
Haines, James 259
Hale, Asahel 103
Hale, William 128
Hamilton, W. S 61
Hamlin, John 127, 210
Hardin, Erastus D 260
Hardware 215
Held, Rev. Paulus 116
Hennepin 7, 8, 11, 25
Herron, William A 213
Hogue, James B 260
Hopkins, Gen 33
Hopkins, William R 119
INDEX. 267
Horses, scarce at Peoria 63
Hotchkiss, J. P 2o9
Hotchkiss, Z. N 215
Hovey, Ilev. jNIr Ill
Howard, Gen 40
Howell, Lewis 212, 259
Hubbard, G. S 42
Hurley, Rev. Michael 115
Illinois Champion 187
Illinois State 1, 49
Illinois Territory 49
Indians, description of 12
Jail 81
Jay's Treaty 28
Jews 118
Job Printing offices 183
Johnston, Rev. Robert " 106
Joliet, the traveler 6
Mount Joliet 14
Kankakee 1
Keller, Rev. Isaac 105, 106, 108
Kentucky Volunteers 32
Kinsey & Mahler 121
Kirkpatrick, James, death of 188, 190
Knowlton, Lincoln B 237
Lager Beer 146
Lacroix 3
Langworthy 227
Lasalle, Monsieur 7
Arrival at Peoria 8
Goes back to Canada 22
Returns 25
Lawyers 231
Now practicing in Peoria 238
268 INDEX.
Leach, Mr 240
Lights 153
Lightner, Hervey 215
Livingston, Dr. Samuel 227
Lowry, Samuel 104 to 108
Mack, Rev. J. A • 110
Mackin, Rev. John 114
Madison county established 51
27
Maiilet, Hypohte
Maillet, John B 28, 49
Manning, Julius 237
Manufacturers — Foundries and Machiue-shbps 119
Marquette 6, 7, 21
Mason, William E 212
Matteson, Gov. Joel A 259
May, William L 237
McCiallen, Charles W 212
Mechanics' National Bank 2G0
Merriman, H. 237
Merz, Rev. J 114
Methodists 102
Michigan, Lake 1
Mills, flouring 127
Mills, saw 123
Millwrights 146
Medical Society 228, 229
Morron, Rev. J. II 107
Moses, Rev. Marx H*^
New-Jerusalem Church 116
Newspapers 187
Nicol, Burr & Co 120
Nomaque, an Indian 60
Old Settlers' Society organized 205
List of Members 206 to 208
INDEX. 269
O'Rorke & Co 121
Parkman's discovery, etc 3
Reference to his book 10, 11
Peoria, Atlanta and Decatur railroad 151
Peoria Lake 2, 22
Peoria, Geography of 1 to 4
Early History of 5
Old village 22
New village, La Ville de Maillet 22, 49
County established 52
Town organized 66
City organized 69
Present city oflScsrs 78, 79
Peoria and Oquawka Railroad 148
Peters, Onslow 237
Peters, William 120
Pettcngill, Moses 104, 105, 108, 211, 212
Pfeifer 215
Phelps, William R 259
Pickett, Thomas J 188
Pickett, William, death of 188, 190
Pike county established 52
Pimiteoui 8, 48
Plant Bros., Pratt & Co 127
Plowmakers 123
Population, at different times 199
Pratt, Lorin G 126
Presbvterians 103, 111
Printing office destro3'ed 188
Pullman, Rev. R. H 117
Pulsifer S. & Co 260
Purple, Norman II 237
Railroads 147
Rankin, John 129 to 132
270 IXDEX.
Reynolds, Gov. John 33, 249
Reynolds, William 108
Reynolds & Smith 212
Roman Catholics Ill
Rouse, Dr. Rudolphiis 227
Rupert, Gideon H 259
Rnppelins, 3Iichael 117
Russell, Col 32
Sanger, Ezra G * 237
Sash and doors 144
Schools, private 84, 96
Academy for young men 89
For young women 90
Present school sj^stem 92
Officers at present . 99
Second National Bank 2G0
Secret societies 118
Snyder, Hon. Adam W 2o0, 252
St. Clair, Gov 51
Steamboats 157
List of in 1851 160
S:earns, Rev. G. F 116
Stone 172
Marshall P 260
Supervisors, board of in 1850 58
Tanners and Curriers 141
Taxes, City 74, 75, 76
Thompson, Sylvanus 136
Tjaden, Rev. M. J 116
Tobey & Anderson 125
Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway 122, 150
Tonti,- flees to Green Bay 9
Trees, Shade and Fruit 162
Underbill, Isaac 181, 237, 241
i
INDEX. 271
Unitarians 117
Univcrsalists 116
Voris & Brother (Francis and Abram) 210, 211
Voris & Co. (S. Voris and H. T. Baldwin) 121
Report of Castings 122
Voris Samuel 112, 121
Walker, Rev. F. W 116
Walker, George E 13
Walker, Rev. Jesse 13, 100
Walker & Liglitner 215
Walker, Mcllvaine & McClure 21o
Warner, Capt. Jude, fishes at Peoria 47
Water 166
Weatherl, Mr 125, 142
Whittemore, Mr 125, 142
Work, James H 212
Young, Hon. Richard M. A good judge, because a good rider,
and having a good horse ; U.S. Senator. His sun set in
clouds 62, 64
Zell, Philip 261
'b
I
