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Full text of "History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement .."




LIBRARY 

OF THL 
U N 1VER5 ITY 
or ILLl NOIS 



>.\ 



KLINOIS HISTOSICAL SUMt 



JIJI, 



STARK COUNTY 

ILLINOIS 

AND ITS PEOPLE 



A RECORD OF SETTLEMENT, ORGANIZATION, 
PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENT 



J. KNOX HALL 

SUPERVISING EDITOR 



ILLUSTRATED 



VOLUME I 



Chicago 

THE PIONEER PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1916 



^ -^..f .^r'^y 






CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 
<^ PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. 

LOCATIOX AND BOUNDARIES — SURFACE — RIVERS AND CREEKS — GENERAL 

CHARACTER NATIVE A'EGETATION ANLMALS AND BIRDS GEOLOGY 

— THE COAL MEASURES — SECTIONS OF MINING SH^Vl'TS — EXTENT OF 

THE COAL DEPOSITS — BUILDING STONE — THE GLACIAL EPOCH HOAV 

STARK COUNTY ^VAS FORMED — CHARACTER OF THE GLACIAL DRIFT — 
THE AVATER SUPPIA' 9 

CHAPTER II 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

.MOUND BUILDERS FIRST NOTICE OF MOUNDS IN THE UNITED STATES 

CHARACTER AND STRUCTURE OF THE MOUNDS — EARLY INVESTIGA- 
TIONS AND THEORIES WORK OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY — DIS- 
TRICTS IX THE UNITED STATES — WHO WERE THE MOUND BUILDERS — 
MORE THEORIES — RELICS IX THE COUNTY OF STARK — ADAMS AND 
shallexberger's work 22 

CHAPTER III 
INDIAN HISTORY 

DISTRIBUTIOX OF IXDIAX NATIO>JS AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTEENTH 
CENTURY" — THE ILLINOIS — SUBORDINATE TRIBES — THE SACS AND 

FOXES THE BLACK HAWK WAR DEATH OF BLACK HAWK THE 

POTTAWATOMI THEIR VILLAGES IN STARK COUNTY SHAB-BO-NEE 

— TREATIES WITH THE POTTAWATOMI THEIR CHARACTER THE 

WINNEBAGO INDIAN NA:MES 31 

\ iii 

\ I I 0948 I 



iv CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IV 
THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION 

EiiRLY EXPLORATIONS IN AMERICA SPANISH, FRENCH AND ENG- 
LISH CLAIMS TO TERRITORY IN THE NEA\^ WORLD — THE JESUIT 
MISSIONARIES — DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI — :MARQUETTE AND 

JOLIET LA SALLE's EXPEDITIONS LOUISIANA CROXAT AND LAW 

THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE — CONFLICT OF INTERESTS — FRENCH AND 

INDIAN AVAR — ILLINOIS A BRITISH POSSESSION THE WAR OF THE 

REVOLUTION CLARK's CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST ILLINOIS 

UNDER VARIOUS JURISDICTIONS ADMITTED AS A STATE EVOLUTION 

OF STARK COUNTY — RECAPITULATION 45 

CHAPTER V 
SETTLEMENT OF STARK COUNTY 

AN OLD TRADING POST EVELAND AND ROSS — ISAAC B. ESSEX THE ORIG- 
INAL PIONEER — FIRST CABIN IN STARK COUNTY — LIST OF SETTLERS 
EACH YEAR TO 1839 — PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS — THE HOUSE 
RAISING — FURNITURE AND UTENSILS — SWAPPING WORK — AMUSE- 
MENTS AND PASTIMES — MARKING ANIMALS — THE OLD TRAPPER's 
SOLILOQUY 58 

CHAPTER VI 
STARK COUNTY ORGANIZED 

THE MILITARY LAND GRANT — FORGED TITLES — FIRST COUNTIES IN THE 
ILLINOIS VALLEY — STARK COUNTY — THE ORGANIC ACT — FIRST ELEC- 
TIONS — THE COUNTY SEAT — CHANGE IN GOA'ERNMENT — THE COURT- 
HOUSE — THE ANNEX — THE COUNTY JAIL — SHERIFF MURCHISON's 
REPORT — THE POOR FARM — HOW THE COUNTY WAS NAMED 70 

CHAPTER VII 
TOWNSHIP HISTORY 

ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP — FIRST TOWNSHIPS IN THE UNITED STATES — 
justices' districts in STxVRK COUNTY — ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL 



CONTENTS V 

TOAVNSHIPS IX 1853 — ELM IRA — ESSEX— GOSHEN — OSCEOLA — PENN 
— TOULON — VALLEY — WEST JERSEY — MILITARY LAND ENTRIES IN 
E^CH — HOW THE TOAVNSHIPS AVERE NAMED — EARLY SETTLERS- 
PRESENT DAY CONDITIONS— RAILROADS— SCHOOLS— POPULATION AND 
AVEALTH ^^ 

CHAPTER VIII 
CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES 

SPECULATION IN EARLY DAYS — NUMEROUS TOWNS PROJECTED — LIST OF 
TOAVNS AND VILLAGES IN STARK COUNTY — CITIES OF TOULON AND 

WYOMING INCORPORATED VILLAGES OF BRADFORD AND LAFAYETTE 

MINOR VILLAGES HISTORICAL SKETCH OF EACPI PRESENT DAY 

CONDITIONS POSTOFFICES AND RURAL MAIL ROUTES Ill 

CHAPTER IX 
MILITARY HISTORY 

AVAR OF 1812 BLACK HAAVK AA^VR AVAR AVITH MEXICO AA'AR OF 1861- 

'65 — CONDITIONS LEADING UP TO THE AVAR — THE SLAA'ERY QUESTION 

C0MPR03IISE LEGISLATION — KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL — POLITICAL 

CAMPAIGN OF 1860 — SECESSION OF THE SLAA'E STATES — FALL OF FORT 
SUMTER — CALL FOR A'OLUNTEERS — AVAR MEETING AT TOULON — ILLI- 
NOIS' RESPONSE — EARLY ENLISTMENTS — BRIEF HISTORIES OF THE 
REGIMENTS IN AVHICH STARK COUNTY AVAS REPRESENTED — ROSTER 
OF STARK COUNTY COMPANIES — MISCELLANEOUS INFANTRY ENLIST- 
MENTS — CAA^ALRY SERVICE — ARTILLERY — SOLDIERs' MONUJIENT^ 
THE AVORK AT HOME 135 

CHAPTER X 
INTERNAL II^IPROVEMENTS 

EARLY CONDITIONS IN STARK COUNTY — ^DIFFICULTIES OF EARLY TRAVEL 
— INDIAN TRAILS — PUBLIC HIGHAVAYS — KNOXVILLE & GALENA STATE 

ROAD FIRST ROAD DISTRICTS AND SUPERVISORS PETITIONS AND 

VIEAVERS MODERN HIGHAVAYS STATE HIGHAVAY COMMISSION- 

STATE INTERNAL IMPROAEMENTS — ILLINOIS & MICHIGAN CANAL — 



vi CONTENTS 

ACT OF 1836 LxUJGE APPROPRIATIONS FOR RIVER IMPROVEMENTS 

AND RAILRO^VDS THE RAILROAD ERA WESTERN AIR LINE A3IER- 

ICAN CENTRAL — CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND &: PACIFIC — CHICAGO, BUR- 
LINGTON & QUINCY — CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN — VALUE OF RAIL- 
ROAD PROPERTY IN THE COUNTY 162 

CHAPTER XI 
FINANCE AND INDUSTRY 

PUBLIC REVENUES — PROPERTY VALUES — PRINCIPAL FUNDS RAISED BY 
TAXATION — BANKING INSTITUTIONS — GENERAL HISTORY — EARLY 

BANKING IN ILLINOIS STARK COUNTY BANKS AGRICULTUItE^ 

CROP AND LIVE STOCK STATISTICS STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 

farmers' INSTITUTES — COAL MINING — MANUFACTURING TELE- 
PHONE COMPANIES 177 

CHAPTER XII 
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

CHARACTER OF THE EARLY SCHOOLS — SCHOOLHOUSE AND FURNITURE — 

TEXT-BOOKS SPELLING SCHOOLS — THE THREE r's — PUBLIC SCHOOL 

SYSTEM — STARK COUNTY SCHOOLS PIONEER TEACHERS — EDUCA- 

TION^VL PROGRESS BY TOWNSHIPS THE SEMINARY TOULON PUBLIC 

SCHOOLS — TOULON ACADEMY WYOMING PUBLIC SCHOOLS — SCHOOL 

OFFICERS TEACHERS^ INSTITUTE — TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION — THE 

PRESS — BRIEF HISTORIES OF THE VARIOUS NEWSPAPERS — EXTINCT 
NEAVSPAPERS PUBLIC LIBRARIES WYOJIING TOULON LAFAY- 
ETTE BRADFORD ELMIRA IJBRARY ASSOCIATION SCHOOL 

LIBRARIES. ....... ^ 194 

CHAPTER XIII 
THE BENCH AND BAR 

PURPOSE OF THE COURTS — THE LAWYER AS A CITIZEN — EARLY COURTS 

OF STARK COUNTY FIRST JURORS SKETCHES OF EARLY JUDGES- - 

LIST OF CIRCUIT JUDGES SINCE 1839 — CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS 

CONCERNING COURTS PROBATE COURT COUNTY COURT AND JUDGES 

state's ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES COURTS THE BAR CONDI- 
TIONS OF EARLY DAYS SKETCHES OF OLD-TIME LAWYERS THE BAR 

OF 1915^ — CRIMINAL CASES A STRAY INCIDENT 219 



COXTENTS vii 

CHAPTER XIV 
THE MEDICAL PKOFESSION 

MEDICINE AX OLD I'UOl-ESSION HOME-:\rADE liEMEDIES CHARACTKli Ol'' 

THE PIONEER DOCTOR HIS METHODS OF TREATMENT^ HARDSHIPS 

OF FRONTIER PRACTICE — STANDING OF THE DOCTOR AS A CITIZEN — 
STARK COUNTY DOCTORS — BRIEF SKETCHES OF OLD-TIME PHYSICIANS 
■ — STARK COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY — REGISTERED PHYSICIANS IN 
191.3.... 236 

CHAPTER XV 
CHURCH HISTORY 

DIFFICULTIES IN AVRITING CHURCH HISTORY — JESUIT MISSIONARIES — 
THE METHODISTS — PEORIA MISSION THE BAPTISTS THE PRESBY- 
TERIANS THE CONGREGATIONALISTS LATTER DAY SAINTS^ — CHRIS- 
TIANS OR DISCIPLES — THE UNIVERSALISTS — UNITED BRETHREN — 
THE CATHOLICS — HISTORIES OF THE VARIOUS CONGREGATIONS — 
MISCELLANEOUS RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS 240 

CHAPTER XVI 
SOCIETIES AND FRATERNITIES 

MUTUAL PROTECTION SOCIETY ITS AUMS AND OBJECTS — AGRICULTURAL 

SOCIETIES AND FAIR ASSOCIATIONS OLD SETTLERs' ASSOCIATION — 

THE LOG CABIN OLD SETTLERS' MONUMENT LETTERS FROM 

PIONEERS MASONIC FRATERNITY ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR 

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS — DAUGHTERS OF REBEKAH — 
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC — TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES — MISCEL- 
LANEOUS SOCIETIES '2C}(> 

CHAPTER XVII 
MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY 

PURPOSE OF THIS CHAPTER — FIRST THINGS — PRICES AND AYAGES — LIN- 
COLN AND DOUGLAS AT TOULON — THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD — 

FOUNTAIN AV ATKINS TELLS A STORY- — A RESOLUTION THE FIRST 

POLITICAL CAMPAIGN INDIAN RETALIATION HUNTING IN EARLY 

DAYS — THE MORMON PROPHET — A POLITICAL HERO 280 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XVIII 
STATISTICAL REVIEW 

POPULATIOX AT EACH UNITED STATES CENSUS — CONSTITUTIONAL CON- 
VENTIONS — CONGRESSION.VI. DISTRICTS — GENERAL ASSE5IBLY — HOW 
STARK HAS BEEN REPRESENTED IN THE LEGISLATURE OEITCIAL ROS- 
TER — LIST OF PUBLIC OFFICLXXS SINCE 1839 — VOTE FOR PRESIDENT 
AT EACH ELECTION SINCE 1840 — SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL 
E^'ENTS CONNECTED WITH THE COUNTy's HISTORY 305 



UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
UR6ANA 




J. KNOX HALL 



History of Stark County 

CHAPTER I 
PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. 

LOCATIOX AND BOUNDARIES SURFACE RIVERS AND CREEKS GENERAL 

CHARACTER NATIVE VEGETATION ANIMALS AND BIRDS GEOLOGY 

— THE COAL MEASURES — SECTIONS OF MINING SHAFTS — EXTENT OF 
THE COAL DEPOSITS— BUILDING STONE — THE GLACIAL EPOCH — HOW 

STARK COUNTY AVAS FORJIED CHARACTER OF THE GLACIAL DRIFT 

THE WATER SUPPLY. 

Stark County is situated northwest of the center of the state, its 
western Hue being about fifty miles from tlie INIississippi River at 
Keithsburg. and its northern bounthiry is eighty-seven miles from the 
\\'isc()nsin state line. On the north it is bounded by the counties of 
Rureau and Henry; on the east l)y Rureau and Marshall counties; 
on the south by Peoria County, and on the west by Knox and Heiu-y 
cdunties. It embraces Congressional townshi])s 12 and 13 north. 
Range o east; townships 12. l.'i and U, Range (i; and townships 12. 
I. "J and 14, Range 7. As each of these townships contains thirty-six 
square miles, the total area of the county is 288 square miles. 

The general surface of the county is slightly undulating, or roll- 
ing, except in the vicinity of the Spoon River and at some places along 
Indian Creek, where it is more or less broken. More than nine-tenths 
of the 184.320 acres responds easily to cultivation, and the remaining 
tenth is by no means waste land, though its cultivation is attended 
by greater effort. Natural drainage is afforded by the Spoon River. 
Indian and AValnut creeks, Cooper's Defeat, Camping Run, Jack 
Creek, ]Mud Run, Jug Run and a number of smaller streams. 

The Spoon River is composed of two branches. The East Fork 
rises in Rureau County and the West Fork in Henry County, the 
former flowing in a southwesterly direction and the latter toward the 



10 IIISTORV OF STARK COUNTY 

southeast until they form a junction in the northeastern part of Tou- 
lon Township, Stark Countj'. From this point the main stream fol- 
lows a general southerly course through the townships of Toulon 
and Essex. It finally empties into the Illinois River near the town 
of Havana, Mason County. The Indian name of this stream was 
"]Maquon," which in the Pottawatomi language means "Feather," 
certainly a more euphonious name than the one adopted by the white 
people. 

Indian Creek, the second largest stream in the county, has its 
source not far from the town of Galva, Henry County. It enters 
Stark County about two miles west of the northeast corner of Goshen 
Township, and follows a general southeasterly direction until it 
empties into the Spoon River a short distance above the old settlement 
known as Slackwater. This creek takes its name from the fact that 
when the first white men came to what is now Stark County they 
found a few Indians living along its banks. 

Walnut Creek, so named because of the number of walnut trees 
that once grew along its course, rises near the little village of Xekoma, 
Henry County, whence it flows southeast until it enters Stark County 
a little south of I^afayette. Its course is then almost south through 
Goshen and West Jersey townships until it mingles its waters with 
those of the Spoon River in the northwestern part of Peoria County. 

The creek known as Cooper's Defeat begins in the southern part 
of Bureau County. Its general course is westward and it finally emp- 
ties into the East Fork of the Spoon River in the southwest corner of 
Osceola Township. About three miles above its mouth it bends south- 
ward into Penn Township, where William and Jeremiah Cooper were 
frozen to death in the severe snow storm just before Christmas in is:n, 
from which incident the creek takes its name. A further account of 
this event Avill be found in another chapter. 

Some seven or eight miles south of Coojjer's Defeat and flowing 
in the same general direction is Cam])ing Rim, or Camp Creek, as it 
is sometimes called. It has its beginning a short distance east of 
Camp Grove, in INIarshall County, and joins the Spoon River about 
a mile and a half west of the little village of Stark. Before the advent 
of the railroad emigrant parties frequently encamped in the grove 
near the headwaters of the creek, from which custom it took its name. 

Still farther south is ]Mud (or ]Muddy) Run. \\hich rises in ^Slar- 
shall County and flows westAvard through the southern part of Valley 
Township until it empties into Camping Run about half a mile from 
the mouth of the latter. Its name indicates its character. 



HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 11 

Jack Creek rises near the western boundary of Elniira Township 
and Hows in a southeasterly direction througli that township and Tou- 
lon, finally falling into the Spoon River a short distance below the 
village of JNlodena. 

.Jug Riui parallels the course of Jack Creek about two miles 
farther south. It is a short stream and is all in Toulon Township. 
Of the smaller streams the most important are Fitch Creek, which 
rises in Knox County and touches the northwest corner of Goshen 
Township; and Silver Creek, a tributary of the East Fork of the 
Spoon River in the northeast corner of Osceola Township. 

GEXEKAh CIIAKACTEU 

Originally the greater part of the county was prairie, with groves 
of timber interspersed in such a way that none of the prairies con- 
sisted of more than a few square miles. The largest prairie was be- 
tween Cooper's Defeat Creek and Camping Run, in what are now 
Pcmi and \'alley townships. The absence of timber \ii)on the tracts 
of land called prairies has been the subject of considerable specula- 
tion among geologists. geogra]ihcrs and botanists as to the cause of the 
vast, treeless plains in the ^Middle West and the smaller tracts of sim- 
ilar character in other parts of the country. It is a notable fact that 
no prairies existed east of the State of Ohio. Professor Whitney, 
who made .some observations on this subject, says: 

"The cause of the absence of trees on the prairies is due to the physi- 
cal character of the soil, and especially its exceeding fineness, which is 
prejudicial to the growth of anything but a superficial vegetation, the 
smallness of the particles of the soil being an insuperable barrier to 
the necessary access of air to the roots of dee])ly-rootcd vegetation, 
such as trees. \Vherever, in the midst of the extraordinary tine soil 
of the prairies, coarse and gravelly patches exist, there dense forests 
occur." 

Dr. Charles A. White, who held the office of state geologist in 
Iowa for several years in the early '7()s, made a somewhat extended 
investigation of the subject and reached a different conclusion from 
that of Professor Whitney. After calling attention to the fact tliat 
])rairies are found resting uj)on all kinds of bed rock, from the Azoic 
to the Cretaceous ages, and that all kinds of soil — alluvial, drift and 
lacrustral, including sand, clay, gravel and loam — are frecinently 
found upon the same prairie, he says: 

"Thus, whatever the origin of the jirairies might have been, wc have 



12 HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 

positive assurance that their present existence is not due to the influ- 
ence of the chmate, the character or composition of tlie soil, nor to the 
character of any underlying formations. 

"There seems to be no good reason why we should regard the for- 
ests as any more natural or normal condition than are the prairies. 
Indeed it seems the more natural inference that the occupation of 
the surface has taken place by dispersion from original centers, and 
that they encroached upon the unoccupied surface until they were 
met and checked by the destructive power of fires. The prairies 
doubtless existed as such almost immediately after the close of the 
glacial epoch." 

Doctor White's statement, that the prairies are not due to any 
character or composition of the soil, is borne out by the fact that in 
the towns that have been built up on the prairies, and in the artificial 
groves around many of the farm houses in the West, trees have grown 
M'ith as much vigor as though the surface had once been covered by a 
gnjw th of native timber. But, no matter how the prairies originated, 
the pioneers of Stark County found upon them a soil — a dark loam in 
.structure — that \\hen properly drained and rightly cultivated is unsur- 
passed in productiveness. 

Along the streams the first settlers foimd belts of timber, vai'ying 
in width, the principal varieties of native trees being oak, maple, lin- 
den, hickory, black walnut and elm. Smaller and less important spe- 
cies were the dogwood, hawthorn, red bud. wild plum, crab apple, etc. 
The soil of the timbered lands is lighter in color than that of the ])rai- 
ries and not so deep, but with the right kind of care and cultivation it 
can be made to produce excellent crops. 

Before the plow and the spade of civilization disturbed the nati\'e 
vegetation of the ])rairies the land was covered with flowers of various 
hues. First in im])ortance was probably the tall plant known as 
"Queen of the prairie," which often grew to a height of six feet and 
bore at the top a large cluster of flowers resembling the blossoms of 
the peach tree. Then there were the white, yellow and ]Hu-])le lady 
slipper, the golden rod, the buttercup, the INIay api)le. the blue bell, 
the forget-me-not, several members of the phlox family, the best 
know n of which was the modest little flower known as the sweet wil- 
liam. and numerous others, all of which have disappeared except in 
very rare instances. 

Along the banks of the streams and around the ponds could be 
found three or four species of water lilies, the cowslip, the cat tail 
and blue flags, various kinds of mint, etc. In the Avoods the wild mari- 



HISTORY OF STxVRK COUNTY 13 

gold, tlie bell flower, the yellow honey suckle, aiieinones, the clematis, 
the trumpet creeper and the modest violet grew ahuiidantly, and some 
of these flowers are still to be seen in a few secluded places, wjicrc the 
ravages of civilized man have not yet encompassed their destruction, 
in the early days, before the physician and the drug store had 
become established institutions, many herbs were gathered and pre- 
served for their medicinal properties. Foremost among these were 
the horehound, boneset, pennyroyal, catnip, wild garlic, barberiy, yel- 
low water dock, burdock, wild senna, gentian, lobelia, and a species of 
wormwood. A i'eA\- straggling siJecimens of these plants may be seen, 
but whei-e they once grew in pi'oi'usion are now the cultivated fields 
of the thrifty husbandman. 

ANIMALS AND lilKIlS 

Time was when the l)ison. or American I)uff"alo, roamed in great 
berds over the prairies of Illinois. At several points along the Spoon 
IJivei-, within the limits of Stark County, large quantities of the bones 
of these animals have !)een found. It is supposed that these bone 
heaps are due to the bufl'aloes seeking shelter in the timber along the 
river from some violent storm, and that here the whole herd perished. 
What the storms failed to accomjjlish toward the extinguishment of 
the bison the rifle of the pioneer and the encroachments of civilization 
did accomplish, and they have gone, never to return. 

The Virginia deer was also once plentiful in what is now Stark 
County and venison formed a considerable jjortion of the meat sui)i)ly 
for the family of the early settler. Occasionally a black bear could 
be seen prowling about some frontier settlement, but when some 
pioneer "drew a bead" on him with the long barreled rifle his tenure of 
life was limited to a few seconds at most, and then the family ^^ould 
least on bear meat for a short season. 

Although not so plentiful as the bufl'alo or tlie deei\ tiie elk was 
one of the native animals of the S])oon River \'allev. The beaver, 
ottei', nniik. raccoon and nmskrat were the best known of the fur- 
bearing animals and in early days were tra])ped in large numbei's for 
the revenue that their skins woidd bring. The beaver and otter have 
joined the bufi^alo, bear, deer and elk in oblivion and oidy on r;u-e 
occasions are any of the others to be seen. 

Among the predatory animals, or beasts of ])rey, the prairie and 
timber wolf, the lynx, the pantbei-. the catamomit. the wildcat, the 
grav and red fox were those most common. Of these the wolves were 



14 HISTORY OF STARK COUXTY 

probably tbe most troublesome. In JNlarcb, IH^J', the county com- 
missioners offered a bounty of $1 for the scalp of each big wolf and 
;50 cents for that of each prairie wolf "six months old killed in Stark 
County during the year 1844." As late as December 18, 1884, a large 
wolf was killed a few miles west of Toulon, and on ^Nlay 23, 188.3, the 
county clerk paid E. H. Bates, of Osceola, $24 on fourteen young 
wolf scalps. There are still living in the county jjersons who can 
I'emember how, when they were children, they were wont to cuddle 
more closely together in their beds as the mournful howl of some wolf, 
engaged upon his nightly foraging expedition, came to their ears in 
the lonely cabin on the frontier. 

Other wild animals that were common in the early days were the 
IMaryland marmot — commonly called the woodchuck or ground hog — 
the rabbit, which is still found in considerable mmibers, several species 
of squirrels, the skunk, the opossum, the weasel and a few others. 
The gray squirrel, the striped and spotted prairie squirrel have dis- 
api)eared aTul the other varieties are found only in limited numbers 
compared with former years. 

In October, 1867, Robert Church killed an American eagle near 
the bridge over Indian Creek on the road leading from Toulon to 
Lafayette. The bird was a magnificent specimen, measuring seven 
feet from tip to tip of its wings. So far as can be learned this M'as 
the last eagle killed in the county, where the bald eagle was once (piite 
common and occasionally the golden eagle cotild be seen. Closely 
allied to the eagle in habits, but much smaller, are the hawks, several 
s|)ecies of which were once quite nmnerous in Stark County. Those 
best known were the pigeon hawk, the sparrow hawk. Cooper's, the 
sharp-shinned, the red-tailed and the swallow-tailed hawks, while the 
fish hawk, the red shouldered hawk and the marsh hawk were more rare. 

Of the owls, the most common was the ordinary screech owl. 
Next was the barred or barn owl. The long and short eared, the 
great horned owl and the snowy owl were to be seen in the smaller 
numbers, the last named being rather rare. 

Game birds, or birds used for food, were abundant. The wild 
turkey, several species of wild ducks, the wild goose, the loon and the 
gull Mere the largest of such fowl, though some of the smaller varieties 
made u]) in numbers what they lacked in size. The most familiar of 
this class were the prairie chicken and some other members of the 
grouse family, the quail, the snipe, of which tliere were several kinds, 
the plover, and last, but not least in importance, the passenger pigeon. 
Prior to 187o great flocks of wild pigeons numbering thousands of 



HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 15 

birds would pass over the county during the migratory seasons. At 
night they wouhl pause to roost in some forest and would perch upon 
the rimhs of the trees in such numbers that often branches several 
inches in diameter would give wav under the weight. Those were red- 
letter days for the sportsman and the birds were killed by hundreds, 
merely for the sport of the killing. In the early '70s the size of the 
flocks began to diminisli and a few years later the ])assenger pigeon 
disappeared altogether. The question has l)een asked many times 
where they went or what became of them, as they have not been heard 
from anywliere. Their disappearance is still shrouded in mystery. 

Other birds once seen here in considerable numbers that are now 
entirely extinct or exceedingly rare were the turkey buzzard, the 
C'aroliit* parrot, the whippoorwill, the cuckoo, the crane, the heron, 
the common crow, the tintle dove and quite a number of song birds, 
such as the thrush, the finch family, several species of warblers, the 
oriole, etc. Then tliei'e were the swallows, of which there were several 
kinds, the bunting, the little wren, the titmouse, the chickadee, the 
native sparrows, the red throated humming bird, the meadow lark, 
the nuthatch, the fly catcher, the jn'airie skylark, the pewee, the blue 
bird and some others that have entirely (lisa])peared or are extremely 
rare. The ax, the plow and the scythe destroyed many of their 
accustomed haunts and drove them to seek other (piarters, and the 
pugnacious, worthless English sparrow has added to the destructive 
work of man in driving out many of the native birds. The wood- 
pecker, the l)lack bird and the uliiquitous lilue jay are still seen in the 
county, but in smaller numbers tlian formerly, and on rare occasions 
some of the other species mentioned above are to be met with, as 
thougli they had returned to mourn over the scenes of their l)y-gone 
ha])piness. It is to be regretted that greater and timely protection 
was not given to the song ])irds and insect-eating varieties, which 
could have done so much toward adding to the cheerfulness of the 
liiiiiian familj' and the protection of the farmers' crops. 

GEOLOGY 

Although America is called the Xew ^Vorld, geologists believe 
that it is older than any of the continents of the Eastern Hemis])here. 
P]-ofessor Agassiz says: "Here Avas the first dry land lifted out of 
the waters; here the first shores were Avashed by the ocean that en- 
velo])ed all the earth besides; and while Europe was represented onlv 
by islands rising here and there above the sea, America already 



16 HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 

stretched in one unbroken line of dry land from Nova Scotia to the 
far West." 

It is not witliin the province of a history such as tliis to discuss the 
methods by which geok)gists readied this conclusion, but other eminent 
autliorities, as well known in scientific circles as Professor Agassiz, 
are inclined to favor the same theory regarding the age of the conti- 
nent upon which we live. If their hypothesis be correct. Stark County 
may have been the home of the creatures of the reptilian type belong- 
ing to the Jura-Trias and Cretaceous eras, while the so-called Old 
World was still under water. 

The first official geological survey of the conditions existing in 
Stark County was made by H. A. Green, under the auspices of the 
state geological survey, and published in the report for 1870. ]Mr. 
Green found in his investigations that all the stratified rocks of the 
county belong to the Coal INIeasures, including all the lower portion 
of the series from coal No. 7 to coal Xo. 2, inclusive. Coal Xo. 7 was 
observed in only a few places, the most notable of which was in section 
10, township 14, range 7, where S. C. Francis was engaged in oper- 
ating a mine near the east fork of the Spoon River. A section of 
the shaft at this mine, as given by Mr. Green, shows the following 
formation : 

Ft. In. 

Yellow clay 2 

Red sand 2 

Xodular limestone 2 4 

Light colored clay G 10 

Clay shale 2 

Sandstone 8 

Blue clay shale 4 2 

Sandstone 1 4 

Blue clay shale 8 

Dark clay shale 5 8 

Coal ...". ■ 2 

Blue clay shale 12 

Impure limestone 3 

Clay shale 8 

Impure limestone 2 

Blue clay shale 1 4 

Dark clav shale 3 

Coal ..." 2 7 

Depth of shaft 62 6 



HISTOKV OF STAKK COUNTY 17 

Concerning the product of this mine and the coal deposits in the 
vicinity, Mr. Green says: "Tliis coal appears to occupy the ])osition 
of coal No. 7, and prohal)ly l»eh)ngs to that seam. The coal worked 
at the Bradford shaft, which is hut a short distance from here, in 
section 21, is thought to he some thirty or forty feet helow, and is 
probahly No. G." 

With regard to the coal deposits in general his report says : "Stark 
County has an abundant supply of coal, which is at present derived 
mainly from coal No. i>. It crops out along the West Fork in JOImii-a 
Township, along the Spoon River in Toulon, at intervals for about 
twenty miles, and can i)robably be found and worked along the 
streams and their tributaries for the entire distance. This coal varies 
in thickness from 2I/2 to 6 feet, seldom reaching the extreme, but 
averaging from 3\-> to .) feet. Immense quantities of coal have been 
taken from this seam at its outcrops along the diff'erent streams. In 
Osceola Township one shaft has been sunk near the East Fork, and 
several others are pai'tially completed. Shafts have also been sunk 
at ]Modena. near Wyoming, in Toulon Township and at Cox's Mill 
in Essex Township." 

That was wi'itten in 1870. Since then several new developments 
have been made in the mining industry. Coal No. (i is the ])i'inci])al 
seam worked in the county. It first appears in the bluffs along the 
West Fork, in the southeast part of section .'}. townshij) 14, range 0. 
From that point to the southeast quarter of section 10, in the same 
township and range, it has been worked at intervals along the west 
side of the stream. In section 16 a number of openings have been 
made and considerable quantities of coal have been taken out. Here 
the coal crops out of the bluff, some ten or fifteen feet above the level 
of the creek. The seam nms from fom- to five feet thick, with a clay 
parting of about two inches near the middle. No. seam is also 
worked at what is kno\\n as the Bradford shaft, located on the east 
side of the East Fork in section 28, township 14, range 7. The shaft 
here shows as follows: 

Ft. In. 

Yellow elaj' .'J 

Limestone 4 

I^ight colored clay 4 6 

IJght colored clay shale 8 4 

Limestone 2 4 

Clay shale 9 10 

Coal 2 



18 IIISTOKV OF STARK COUXTV 

Soft black slate (fossiliferous) 4 

Clay 4 5 

Sandstone 22 2 

Clay shale 

limestone 4 

Light colored clay shale 6 

Green clay shale 2 4 

Dark clay shale 3 2 

Impure limestone 1 6 

Dark clay shale 2 6 

Coal (with 3-inch clay parting) 4 

Depth of shaft 88 7 

At IModena the vein ranges from 41/.' to .jl/ feet in thickness and 
is rarely more than thirty feet below the surface. Coal has also been 
noted in the bed of Jack Creek, in section 4, township 13, range 6, 
where some of the deposits have been worked a little. In sections 2. 
11 and 12, of the same township and range, a short distance south of 
jNIodena, the coal crojjs out along the bluff from eight to ten feet above 
the bed of the creek and several mines were in operation in this part 
of the county at the time of IMr. Green's sur^'ey. 

According to Green, coal Xo. 4 is found at only one place in the 
county, viz: in section 19, township 12. range .5. near Walnut Creek, 
about two miles southwest of the "N'illage of ^Vest Jersey. Here he 
found a vein of coal 41/. feet in thickness, below which was a layer 
of impure cannel coal, varying from six to ten inches in thickness and 
containing the fossil remains of plants and fishes. The vein of No. 4 
coal at this point is only about fifteen feet below the surface. Fur- 
ther mention of the coal deposits and their develoiMiient will be found 
in the chapter on Finance and Industry. 

BUILDING STONE 

When INIr. Green visited the county in his geological research in 
1870, he found only a small quantity of building stone of value. The 
best deposit of limestone worked at that time was in the quarries in 
sections 21-22, township 14, range 7. a short distance northwest of 
Bradford. This he pronounced the largest bed exposed anvwhere in 
the countv, being from six to twelve feet thick, but in thin ledges, 



I 



HISTORY OF STARK COUXTV 19 

none of which was over six inches thick. The stone from this (iiiarry 
is of a light drab coh)r, conij)act and of even textnre, moderately hard 
and stands exposure to tlie weather. It can be l)urned into a lime 
suitable for masonry, but too dark in color to be used for plastering. 
Near the Spoon River, in section 14, township 1"2, range G, jNlr. 
Green found a deposit of sandstone which he considered the best in 
the county. About three miles west of this, in section 17 and near 
Inilian Creek, he found another sandstone deposit, \\hich furnishes a 
fair ([uality of building material. An old house near the quarry, con- 
structed of this stone, shows that the weather has l)ut little effect 
upon it after years of exposure. Another bed of sandstone is in sec- 
tion 20, township 12, range 5, near ^Valnut Creek; a soft sandstone 
exists in considerable quantities in section Ki, township 14, range (i, 
and a better quality is found in section 13, township 13, range 6, but 
neither of these deposits has been worked to any extent. The thick 
vein of sandstone (22 feet (J niches) in tiie Jiradford coal mine could 
be used for building purposes, but the fact that it lies from thiity-five 
to i'orty feet below the surface has prevented its develoi)ment. 

THE GLACIAL El'Ot'U 

Far back in the geologic past, while the coal beds of Stark County 
were in j^rocess of formation, the siu'face was probably one vast marsh 
covered with tangled masses of vegetation and inhabited only by 
reptiles. ^Vbout the close of the Tertiary period came the I'leistocene 
or "Ice Age," during which the upper Mississippi Valley was covered 
l)y one vast sheet of ice called a glacier. This glacier extended from 
tile country about the (ireat Lakes to the Rocky ^lountains on the 
west, and southward to about the latitude of St. Louis. It was formed 
in the northern part of the continent by successive falls of snow, each 
of wliich added to the weight of the great mass liclow until it was 
compressed into one solid body of ice. After many years of the 
formative process, a change in tlie tenqicrature started the glacier to 
moving slowly soutliward, carrying with it great bow Idcrs. clays, soils, 
etc.. to be deposited u])on the bed rocks of a region i'ar distant from 
that where they were first placed by the hand of nature. As the 
huge mass moved slowly along, the bowlders and other hard sub- 
stances at the bottom of the glacier left scratches (called stri;e In- the 
geologists) u])f)n the bed rocks, and from these markings the course 
of the glacier can be determintd w Itli a fair degree of accuracy. Ex- 
aminations of the stria' at various places in the IMississippi Vallev, 



20 HISTOKV or STARK COUXTY 

where the bed rock is exposed, show that the general direction followed 
by the great central glacier was toward the southeast. 

-(\.s the ice melted in the warmer latitude, the materials carried by 
the glacier Aiere deposited upon the bed rock in the form of drift, 
composed of till, loess and alluvium. It was through this method 
that the great swamp above mentioned underwent a change. At the 
close of the Pleistocene the earth's surface, over which the glacier had 
])assc(l. was void of either animal or vegetable life. In time the action 
of tile rain and wind gradually leveled the surface, the heat from the 
sun warmed it, and life in the most primitive forms made its 
appearance. 

l"V)r the rich heritage of soil in Stark County, the region is indebted 
to the great glacier that once overflowed the country. In its slow 
mai-ch it ground up the rocks over which it passed, mixed the fresh 
rock flour with the granites of British America and Northern jNIinne- 
sota, with the pulverized limestones and shales of the more southern 
latitudes, and de2)osited these materials upon the rocks of earlier 
geologic periods. Everywhere the soil is the product of rock disinte- 
gration. In Stark County the glacial drift is from twenty to sixty 
feet deep, giving it one of the most fertile soils in the state. 

It was through the action of the glacier that the surface of Xorth- 
ern Illinois was formed. At the edge of the glacier, as it moved 
forA\ai-. township 11, are thirteen common round mounds, 
varying in height from eighteen inches to tive feet. As far as ex- 
amined these are burial mounds and in one I found nineteen skeletons. 
This one was forty-tive feet in diameter and five feet high. The bones 
wei'C' ill a fair state of preservation. I opened four or five of this 
group and in each were found pieces of trap rock from one and one- 
half to two inches square; pieces oi' burned sand rock, small water- 
worn pebbles, and in the largest mound a very small fragment of red 
pottery." 

Although the mounds thus described by jSIr. Adams are not within 
the limits of Stark County they are situated near its southwest corner. 
The first "hogback" mentioned by him is a little southeast of the 
Village of Ftherley, Knox County, and the thirteen burial mounds 
.ihiiost touch the southwest corner of Stark. All are near enough to 
sustain the belief that the ^lound Huilder was once an inhabitant of 
the county. Mr. Adams and T. jM. Shalleiiberger gave considerable 
attention to the archieology of the Spoon River \'^alley, and after the 
Indians Mere removed from the country these two men visited all the 
old cam])ing grounds and villages of the red men, leveling numerous 
small mounds in search of historic relics. Few were found, however, 
exce])t arrow and spear heads, such as those above referred to, and 
some I'ragmentary .skeletons. It is doubtful whether the skeletons 
found on the old village sites were those of Mound Builders or the 
bones of Indians buried there in comparatively recent years. 

There is a sort of grim pathos in the reflection that where the 
Avhite people of Stark County now live in peace and prosperity there 
once dwelt a people of widely different manners and customs: that in 
the march of time they ])assed out of existence, leaving only here and 
there the mounds and other relics to mark their ])lace of residence. 
After the Mound Builder came the Indian, who in turn retired before 



30 



HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 



the superior civili/,atii)ii of the wliite man, and there is also a pathos 
in the refleetion that 2,000 years hence another race may indulge in as 
much speculation over the relics left hy the present occupants of the 
country as our scientists have indulged in over the mounds and earth- 
woi'ks of America's aboriginal inhabitants. 



I 



CHAPTER III 
INDIAN HISTORY 

DISTKIBUTION Or INDIAN NATIONS AT THE CLOSE OF THE EIFTEENTH 
CENTURY — THE n.IJNOIS — SUBORDINATE TRIBES — THE SACS AND 

rOXES THE BLACK HAAVK WAR DEATH OF BLACK HAWK THE 

POTTAMATOMI THEIR TILLAGES IN STARK COUNTY SHAB-BO-XEE 

— TREATIES WITH THE POTTAWATOMl THEIR CHARACTER THE 

AVINNEBAGO INDIAN NAMES. 

When Christopher Cohimhiis first discovered the Western Hemis- 
phere, in l-^D-i, he heheved that he had at hist reached the goal of his 
k)ng- cherished desires and that the country was the eastern shore of 
Asia. The first European explorers in America, entertaining a sim- 
ilar belief, thought the country was India and gave to the race of 
copper colored peojjle they found here the name of Indians. Later 
explorations established the fact that Columbus had actually dis- 
covered a land hitherto unknown, but the name conferred upon the 
natives still remains. This race is divided into several groups, or 
families, each of which is marked by certain physical characteristics 
and the language spoken. At the beginning of the Sixteenth century 
the \arious groups, or at least the leading ones, were distributed over 
the continent of North America as follows : 

In the far north were the Eskimo, a tribe that never played any 
iiiipdrtaiit part in history. Their descendants still inhabit the country 
in tlie vicinity of the Arctic Circle, where some of them are occa- 
sionally employed as guides to polar expeditions. 

The Algonquian family, the largest and most powerful of all the 
Indian nations or groups, occupied a large triangle, roughly liounded 
l)y the Atlantic coast from the most eastern point of Labrador to 
Ca]je Hatteras and lines from those two points to the western end of 
Lake Superior. To this great group belonged the tribes that once 
inhabited what is now the State of Illinois, the principal of which were 
tlie Illinois, the Sacs, the Foxes, the Shawnees, the ^Vinnebagoes, the 
Ottawas, and the Pottawatomies. 

31 



32 HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 

In the center of the Algonquian countiy — along the shores of 
Lake Ontario and the upper waters of the St. I>a\\rence River — was 
the home of tlie Irociuoian trihes, to wit: The Oneidas, Onondagas, 
JMoliawks, Cayugas and Senecas. To the early colonists these tribes 
became known as the "I^'ive Nations." Some years later the Tus- 
caroras were added to the confederacy, whicii then took the name of 
the "Six Nations." 

South of the Alguntjuian and Iroquoian families lay the country of 
the JMuskhogean family, the principal tribes of which were the Creeks, 
Chickasaws, Choctaws and Cherokees. The people of this group were 
among the most intelligent and aggressive of the North American 
Indians. 

In the great Northwest, about the sources of the Mississippi River 
and extending westward to the IMissouri, Mas the country of the 
Siouan group, which was composed of a number of tribes noted for 
their physical prowess and warlike tendencies. South and west of 
this lay the domain of the bold, vindictive Comanche, Apache and 
other tribes, closely allied to the Sioux in appearance, language and 
customs, while in various parts of the continent were minor tribes 
which claimed kinship with none of the great families. They were 
generally inferior in numbers, often nomadic in their habits, and con- 
sequently are of little historic importance. 

Yolinnes have been written upon the subject of the North Amer- 
ican Indian — his legends, traditions and habits — and it has not yet 
been exhausted. In a work of this nature it is not the design to give 
those tribes whose history is connected with the country now included 
an extended account of the Indian race as a whole, but to notice onlj' 
within the State of Illinois and Stark County. 

THE ILLINOIS 

The Illinois — or Illini, as they were at first known to the white 
men — belonged to the Algonquian family and was the tribe from 
Avhich the State of Illinois took its name. The organization of the 
Illinois was in the natiu-e of a confederacy, which \\as conq)osed of 
five subordinate tribes — the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Tamaroa, jNIichigani 
(or jMoingwena) and the Cahokia. According to their traditions they 
were once a powerful tribe and took ])ossession of their lands in Illinois 
by driving out some of the Siouan group. Later they made war on 
the Winnebago Indians and drove them northward, after which they 
held undisinited possession of the broad prairies of Illinois until about 



I 
I 



lUSTOUV OF STARK COUNTY 33 

the middle of tlie Seventeenth century, wlien they were attacked by 
tlie warh'ke Irociuois and forced to rehn(iuish part of tlieir domain. 

The Illinois were expert hunters, skilled in the use of the bow and 
arrow, but could not successfully handle a canoe. The principal cen- 
ter of their coirfederacy was at Kaskaskia, which, during the most 
prosperous days of the tribe, numbered some eight thousand inhabi- 
tants. Their cabins here were well built and covered with a water])r()of 
matting. Generally each cabin contained four tires, around which 
the inmates would gather of evenings, the old warriors relating in- 
stances of skill and bravery in the chase or in battle for the edification 
of the members of the younger generation. 

.Vbout the beginning of the war with the Iroquois, in Ki.jd, some 
of the Illinois crossed the Mississippi River and established several 
villages in what is now Lee County, Iowa, where they were visited by 
JNIarquette and Joliet in tlie summer of 1073. 

In the summer of 1G80 anotiier invasion of the Illinois country 
was made by the Iroquois, who attacked the Peoria and Kaskaskia 
tribes, the object having been to drive them out and get possession of 
their hunting grounds. ]Many of the Illinois were killed, their homes 
burned, their crops destroyed and about nine hundred were carried 
away as prisoners. 

In 1709 the Ottawa chief, Pontiac, who had formed the conspiracy 
and led the uprising against the white settlements six years before, 
was killed by some of the Illinois Indians. The great chieftain was 
the idoj of his tribe and was also held in high esteem by the Chii)pe\va 
and Pottawatomi Indians. The three tribes allied themselves in a wai- 
upon the Illinois to avenge the death of Pontiac. The Illinois, who 
had never fully recovered from the onslaughts of the Iroquois, were 
in no condition to meet such powerful enemies. Defeat after defeat 
followed in (piiek succession and the remnant of the tribe was driven 
to the summit of the bluff known as "Starved Rock," on the Illinois 
River, about half way between the ])resent cities of La Salle and 
Ottawa. The bluff offered a good ])lace of defense, as the sides of 
the rock are perpendicular, except in one place, and there not more 
than two persons could ascend abreast. Assault was therefore out of 
the question and the allies settled down to a siege. The Illinois held 
out until one dark, stormy night, when they made a sortie, but only a 
few succeeded in making their escape. Those few took to canoes and 
])ad(lled down the river, finally reaching St. Louis, where they were 
given shelter and food by the white occu])ants of the fort. 

One account says that their pursuers soon afterward appeared be- 



34 HISTOKY OF STxVHK COUNTY 

fore the fort and demanded the surrender of the Illinois, that the 
tribe might be comijlctely exterminated, and that when their demands 
Avere denied they departetl witli threats of Nengeance against the fort — 
threats that were never carried into execution. After spending some 
time at the fort, until their strength was fully recovered, the refugees 
recrossed the Mississii^pi and joined their kindred tribes in Southern 
Illinois. 

Some writers say that tlie Illinois were greatly addicted to vice 
and were almost constantly at \var until they were converted by the 
teachings of Father JNIarquette and other Jesuit missionaries. But, so 
far as can be learned, the only aggressive wars ever waged by tliem 
were against the minor Siouan tribes and the Winnebagoes in the 
early days of their history, the accounts of which are only vague tradi- 
tions. In the wars with the Iroquois, and the allied tribes above 
mentioned, the Illinois fought on the defensive. 

THE SxVCS AXU FOXES 

These two tribes, Ashicli at one time occujiied a large tract of 
country in Western Illinois, and no doubt hunted where Stark County 
is now situated, are usually sjioken of as one people, though they were 
two separate and distinct tribes. They liecame allied by force of 
circumstances for their mutual protection, each tribe maintaining its 
identity, though one chief ruled over both. 

The Sacs — also called Sauks and Saukies — belonged to the Algon- 
quian family and were known as "The people of the outlet." Their 
earliest known habitat was in the lower peninsula of IMichigan, where 
they lived with the Pottawatomi. The name Saginaw, as applied to 
a bay and city in ^Michigan, means "the place of the Sac," and marks 
the place where they once dwelt. The Sacs are first mentioned as a 
separate tribe in the Jesuit Relations for IGiO, though they were then 
allied with the Pottawatomi, jNIascoutens, Foxes and Kickapoos, and 
maintained friendly relations a\ ith the 3Iiami and Winnebago tribes. 
Their ti'aditions tell how they were driven from the shores of Lake 
Huron by the Iroquois and their allies before the middle of the 
Seventeenth century. They then retired by A\'ay of jNIackinaw and a 
few years later found a new abode along the shores of Green Bay, 
AVisconsin. Father AUouez, one of the early Jesuit missionaries, in 
Avriting of these Indians in 1667, says: "They are more savage than 
any of the other people I have met ; they are a populous tribe, although 
they have no fixed dwelling place, being Avanderers and vagabonds in 
the forests." 



IIISTOKV OF STARK COUXTV 35 

That portion of their traditions rchiting to their expulsion from 
the eountry on the west shore of Lake Huron and their pilgriniage to 
Green Bay is first told by Father Uablon, in the Jesuit Kelations for 
KiTl. Says he: ''The Sacs, Pottawatomies and neighboring tribes, 
being ilriven from their own countries, which are the lands southward 
from ^Nlissilimakinac, have taken refuge at the head of this bay, be- 
yond which one can see inland the Nation of Fire, with one of the 
Illinois tribes called Oumiami and the Foxes." 

In the same year that this was written, the Ilurons and Ottawas 
startetl on an invasion of the Sioux country. On the way they per- 
suaded the Sacs and I'ottawatomi to join the expedition. They were 
defeated in the undertaking and the surviving Sacs returned to Green 
Hay, where they were content to live in peace for several years before 
making any more warlike demonstrations. 

Dorsey divides the tribe into fourteen gentes, or clans. ^Marriages 
were usually made between men and wouien of different clans, though 
they were not forbidden among persons of the same clan. Polygamy 
was practiced to some extent, though in this respect the Sacs were 
not so bad as some of the other AIg(iii(|uian tribes. Their religion 
consisted of a belief in numerous "JNlanitous" and was rich in myth 
and fable. 

The Foxes, also an Algonquian tribe, resembled in many particu- 
lars the Sacs, with whom they became confederated. Their Indian 
name was JMesh-kwa-ke-lnig (nearly always written INIusquakies), 
signifying' "Peojile of the red earth." Their original dwelling place 
is somewhat uncertain. According to their traditions they once lived 
along the Atlantic coast in the vicinity of the present State of Rhode 
Island. Subsequently some of them occu])ied the country along the 
southern shore of Lake Sii])erior, from which they were driven by the 
Chippewas. In IG.'Ji Jean Nicollet found some of them on the Fox 
River, not far from Gi'cen Bay, Wisconsin, and in 107(5 Father 
.Allouez visited a band of Foxes on the Wolf River, in the same state. 
In his rejxirt of his year's work he speaks of a "IMus()uakie village of 
about five thousand inhabitants." 

The name "Fox" originated with the French, who called these 
Indians "Reynors." They were regarded by the neighboring tribes 
as "avaricious, thieving. ])assionate and (|iiarrelsome." With an in- 
tense hati-cd for the French they planned the attack upon the ])ost at 
Detroit in 1712. The timely arrival of reinforcements saved the post 
and the Indians were signally defeated. The Foxes that took ])art 
in this movement then joined those spoken of by Father Allouez on 
the ^Volf River. 



36 HISTORY OF STAHK COUNTY 

About 1730 the Dutch and EngHsh traders, knowing the hatred 
of the Foxes for the French, formed an alliance with the tribe for the 
jjurpose of driving French conijjetition from the fur country about 
the Great Lakes. On the othei- hand the French enhsted the coopera- 
tion of the Huron, Ottawa, Pottawatomi and some minor tribes. In 
the war which followed the Foxes were defeated and sought shelter 
M'ith the Sacs who lived near Green Bay. The French authorities, 
thinking the Foxes had not been sutticiently punished, sent a force of 
French soldiers and Indians, ccjmmanded by an officer named De Vil- 
liers, to the Sac village on the shores of Green Bay to demand their 
surrender. The demand was rei'used by the Sac chiefs and a hard 
fought battle ensued, in which the Sacs were defeated, but the refugees 
were not surrendered. This was the beginning of the alliance which 
afterward resulted in the two tribes being generally recognized as one. 

In the meantime some of the Sacs had migrated southward, into 
what is now the State of Illinois, and in 1731 they fovmded the Village 
of Sau-ke-nuk on the Kock River near its mouth. ^Vhen those who 
remained in Wisconsin were defeated bj' the French and their Indian 
allies for defending the Foxes, they brought their refugees and joined 
the Sacs on the Rock River. At the beginning of the Xineteenth 
century there were about eight thousand Sacs and Foxes living along 
the Rock River, their hunting grounds extending eastward to the 
Illhiois River. When Lieut. Zebulon ]M. Pike went up the Mississippi 
River in 180.5, he visited the Sac and Fox villages in Illinois. 

Of all the Indian tribes, the Foxes were prol)ably the only one 
that had what might be called a coat of arms. The design consisted 
of an obli(|ue line (supposed to represent a river), with the figure of 
a fox at each end, but on opposite sides. Following a victory in Mar 
this emblem was ])ainted or carved on rocks and trees to tell the story 
of their valor and at the same time serve as a warning to their enemies. 

The Fox tribe, according to Dorsey, was divided into twelve gentes. 
Their pi'incipal deities were Wisaka and Kiyapata. mIio were bi'others. 
The former ruled the day and the latter the night. The princijial 
features of their religion were animal fable and a crude mythology, 
and they had many ceremonial observances, anniversaries, etc. The 
Fox Indians practiced agriculture in a primitive way. raising corn, 
beans, tobacco, squashes and some other vegetables. In a few cases 
some big chief or warrior of note would l)e i)ermitted to have more 
than one squaAv, but jjolygamous marriages were the exception rather 
than the rule. 

Two of the greatest chiefs in the history of the North American 



I 



HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 37 

Indians hflonoed to tlif allied tribes of the Sacs and Foxes. They 
were Rlaek Hawk and Keokuk, both born of Sac parents, but recog- 
nized as chiefs by the Foxes. Black Hawk was a warrior and Keokuk 
was a politician. The latter never played any considerable part in 
the history of Illinois. 

THE m.ACK HAWK WAli 

Black Hawk, whose Indian name was INIa-ka-ta-wi-nie-sha-ka-ka, 
was born at the Sac village on the Rock River in 1767. His father, 
l*y-e-sa, was a direct descendant of Xan-a-nia-kee (Thunder) and 
l?lack Hawk was therefoi-c a member oi' the Thunder clan. Accord- 
ing to tribal tradition, Xan-a-ma-kee had been intrusted by the (ireat 
Spii'it with the great medicine bag of the Sac nation and instructed 
to keep it always within the clan. ^Vhen Black Hawk was about nine- 
teen years old his fatiier was killed in an encounter with the Cherokee 
Indians and the youth thus became the custodian of the sacred medi- 
cine bag. This medicine bag had never been disgraced, and to ])re])are 
himself for the duty of preserving it unsullied Black Hawk took no 
part in the military affairs of his ])coi)le for about five years, although 
be bad l)een trained in tlie arts of war by liis father and bad already 
(Hstinguished himself upon the Held of battle. The five years were 
s{)ent in praying to the (ireat S])irit to endow him with the necessary 
strength and wisdom to perform his duty. During that ])criod he 
would fre(iuently go to the i)romontory near his home on tlie Roeli 
IJivcr. where be would pass hours at a time smoking and meditating. 
'IMie pi'omontory is still called "HIack Hawk's ^Vatch Tower." 

On November ."}, 1804, (xcn. William H. Harrison, then governor 
of the Indiana Territory, negotiated a treaty at St. I>ouis with some 
of the ihinor chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, by which the confederated 
tribes ceded their lands cast of the JNIississippi Rivei- to the United 
States, retaim'ng the ])rivilege of dwelling thei'eon until the lands were 
actually taken up by white settlers, wiien they were to remove to a 
new reservation west of the IMississippi River. There was a great 
deal of dissatisfaction among a large element of the Sacs and Foxes 
over the terms of this treaty. It was then the custom for these tribes 
to instruct their chiefs or delegates to a treaty council in advance as to 
what course was to be pursued, or afterward confirm the action of 
such chiefs or delegates by a vote. Some of the Indians claimed that 
the chiefs who attended the council at St. Louis had no definite in- 
structions to sell the lands east of the Mississi])pi, and a |)ortion of 



38 IIISTOKY^ OF STARK COUNTY 

the allied tribes, uiuler the leadershij) of Black Hawk, refused to 
confirm their action. 

At the heginnino- of tlie War of 1812 part of tlie Sacs and l-'oxes 
joined tile British and became known as the "British Hand of Rock 
River," of which Black Hawk was tlie leader. Shortly aftei- tiie 
conclusion of the war treaties were made with the several tribes or 
bands wiiich had fought on the side of England, but it was not until 
JNIay 13, 1816, that Black Hawk and twenty-one other head men of 
the Rock River Sacs could be persuaded to enter into an agreement 
to keep the peace. On that date, at St. Louis, those twenty-two 
Indians "touched the goose quill," or signed a treaty reaffirming the 
treaty of November 3, 1804, though Black Hawk afterward declared 
that he did not understand what he was signing and repudiated his 
action. 

In 1828 President Adams issued a proclamation declaring the 
lands ceded by the treaty of ISO-t opened to white settlement and 
ordering the removal of the Indians to the west side of the JNIississipjji. 
As a matter of fact Chief Keokuk and his band had removed to the 
west side of the river about two years before the proclamation was 
issued, but Black Hawk refused to vacate until the United States 
Government actually sold the section of land upon which his village 
was situated. In 1830 he and his followers crossed tiie river "under 
protest," the old chief being far from reconciled to the situation. 

In the spring of 1831, «'ith a number of his braves and their 
families, he recrossed the river antl they took possession of their old 
cabins and cornfields. The white settlers appealed to Governor Rey- 
nolds, of Illinois, for protection and the governor sent General Gaines 
to Rock Island with a force large enough to compel the Indians to go 
back to their new home west of the river. 

During the winter of 1831-32 the Indians underwent severe hard- 
ships in their new homes. Their houses were poorly built and pro- 
visions were scarce, so that thej' suffered from both cold and hunger. 
About this time Black Hawk fell under the influence of AVa-bo-kie- 
shiek, a "bad medicine man," who advised him to recross the ^lissis- 
sippi, ostensibly to visit the Winnebagoes, secure the cooperation of 
that tribe and the Pottawatomies, and drive out the hated pale faces. 
Accordingly, on April (!. 1832. he again crossed over to the east side 
of the jMississippi within ])lain view of the garrison at Fort Arm- 
strong, giving out the information that he was on his way to visit the 
\Vinnebagoes and join witli tliein in raising a crop of corn. His 
disobedience Avas construed as a hostile demonstration, however, bv 



I 



HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY ;^9 

the military authoritifs. who feared that he ini^ht attempt to take 
possession of his old village on the Roek River. There is no evidence 
that he made or attempted to make any such an attempt, and some of 
the settlers, knowing that an Indian war party was never accomi)anie(l 
hy the old men. women and children of the trihe, expressed the opinion 
that J}laek Hawk was on a peaceful mission. 

Although the settlers felt no special alarm over the expedition, 
Governor Reynolds took the view that Black Hawk's conduct in the 
]jast had heen such that he would "hear watching." He therefore 
ordered out the state militia to the numher of •2,000 men, which force, 
under command of General Whiteside, was sent to the aid of the 
gai-i-ison at Fort Armstrong. There has al\\a\s heen a difference of 
opinion as to whether Black Hawk's intentions were really hostile, 
it is certain, however, that the first warlike movement was made hy 
tlie M-hites. 31ajor Stillman was sent out with a force. of 2.50 moimted 
meu to turn hack the Indians. The detachment came upon Black 
Hawk and about fort>- of his warriors at some distance from where 
the main body of the Indians were encamped. Black Hawk sent for- 
ward five of his men bearing a flag of truce, to ask for a parley, but 
Stillman's men opened fire and two of the messengers were killed. 
The Indians then took up the fight according to the tactics of their 
race, concealing themselves behind trees and rocks and picking off 
the white troopers. Stillman's men being mounted fought at a disad- 
vantage and in a short time were uttei'ly routed, abandoning their 
provisions and camp equipage in their fiight. 

Up to this time no hostile demonstration had been made by the 
Indians. The killing of the two warriors while engaged in bearing 
a Hag of truce was the beginning of hostilities. This occurred on ^lay 
12. 18.'}2. and during the next month some raids were made by the 
Inrlians upon the unprotected settlements. But not all the atrocities 
were committed by the members of Black Hawk's band. A number 
of 'Wimiebagoes and Pottawatonn'es took advantage of the disturbed 
conditions to kill and ])lunder. though they declined the invitation tv 
join Black Hawk and "fight like men." 

Stark County was at that time a ])art of Putnam, and though at 
some distance from the seat of war the settlers Avere greatly alarmed 
for fear that some straggling war ])arty would reach the Spoon River 
A'alley. ]Mrs. Shallenberger, in her "Stark County and Its Pioneers," 
savs: "Manj' settlers along the frontiers of Northern Illinois, in 
dread of the untold horrors of savage warfare, fled from their lands 
and homes, some of them never to return. It was at this crisis that 



40 lUSTOKV OF STiVRK COUNTY 

volunteers from Spoon River rciulezvoiised at Hennepin, as related 
hv Mr. Clifford, under the direetion of the gallant Colonel Strawii in 
'Honajjarte hat and laced coat,' and it is said that no less than fifteen 
hundred men reported themselves for service at that point." 

Colonel Strawn's name does not appear in any published account 
of the war and it is possible that his men were employed for local 
defense. Immediately after Stillman's defeat volunteers were called 
foi' and on June 1.3, 18.'32. there were three brigades in camp at Dixon's 
Ferry, commanded by Gens. Alexander Posey, Milton R. Alexander 
and James D. Ilein-y. In addition to these volunteer l)rigades. there 
were the regular ti'oops at Fort Armstrong, commanded by General 
Atkinson, and the state militia under General Whiteside. And all 
this military array was considered necessary to overcome the little, 
half-starved band of Sacs and Foxes, whose hostile intentions had not 
j^et been made certain. 

General Atkinson being between Black Ha^\k and the ^Mississippi 
River, the chief started for the \Visconsin River, intending to descend 
that stream and recross the jNIississippi. Early in June jNIaj. Henry 
Dodge, with his Galena Battalion, joined the forces at Dixon's Fei-ry. 
^^'hen it was learned that Black Hawk was making for the \Visc()nsin 
River, General Henry and Major Dodge started in pursuit. On 
July 21, 18.32, they overtook the Indians at the Wisconsin, about fifty 
miles above its mouth, and Black Hawk was forced to make a stand 
until the women, children and old men could retreat across the river. 
With his few warriors he held the white soldiers at ba.y until the squaws 
constructed light rafts for the transportation of the goods and small 
ehildi-en. These rafts thej' pushed across the stream, at the same time 
leading the ponies. When the noncombatants were out of danger 
on the other side. Black Hawk sent half his fighting force over. From 
the opposite shore these braves opened fire to cover the retreat of 
the chief and the remainder of his little band, who then swam across 
to safety. This feat was accomplished with fewer than two hundred 
warriors in the face of a vastly superior force, with a loss of oidy six 
men. Jefferson Davis, then an ofi^cer in Dodge's Battalion, afterward 
president of the Southern Confederacy, said of this maneuver: 

"This was the most brilliant exhibition of military tactics that I 
ever witnessed; a feat of most consummate management and bravery 
in the face of an enemy of greatly superior numl)ers. I never read of 
anything that could be compared -^ith it. Had it, been performed by 
white men it would have been immortalized as one of the most wonder- 
ful achievements in military history." 



HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 41 

The last battle of the Black Hawk War was fought at the mouth 
of the Bad Axe River on August '2, 1832. Here all the white troops 
were concentrated against Black Hawk, and a steamboat luul been 
sent up the river from Fort Crawford to i)revent the Indians from 
crossing the ^lississippi. The force on this boat kept up a tire on tlie 
red men in front, while from all sides the Indians were assailed by 
the land forces. Yet, in spite of the great inequality in the strength of 
the two armies. Black Hawk held out for about two hours, hoping 
vainly for some fortunate turn in the battle that would permit at 
least a part of liis people to escape. Some even attempted to swim 
the ^lississippi, but the steamboat ran in among tliem, capturing a 
few and dro\^ning others. 

After the battle of tlie Bad Axe, Black Hawk escaped to the 
\\'innebago village at Prairie la Crosse. Through the treachery of 
two AVinnebago Indians, he was turned over to General Street, the 
huhan agent at Prairie (hi Chien, as a prisoner. His two sons were 
also captured and held as ])risoners of war. They were contined at 
Fortress ^Monroe, ^'^a., until June -4, 1833. when President Jack- 
son ordered their release. Under the escort ol' Major (iarland the 
three Indians were then taken on a tour of the country, in order that 
they might behold the greatness of the United States and the futility 
of again making war against the white men. AVhen taken ])efore 
President Jackson, Black Hawk said: 

"I am a man; you are only another. We did not expect to con- 
(pier the whites. Thej'' had too many men. I took up the hatchet to 
avenge injiu'ies my ])eo])le could no longer endure. Had I borne 
them longer without striking, my people would have said Black Hawk 
is a s(|uaw; he is too old to be chief; he is no Sac. These retlections 
caused me to raise the war whoop. The result is known to you. I say 
no more." 

This speech has been quoted to show that Black Hawk really 
crossed the Mississii)pi with a hostile object in view. At its conclusion 
President Jackson presented the old chief Avith a beautiful sword — ■ 
"a gift from one warrior to another." Black Hawk then rejoined the 
remnant of his band in Iowa and died there on October 3, 1838. An 
old ^Vtlas of Stark County states that Black Hawk once had an 
encampment in what is now Goshen Township, but there is no cor- 
roborative testimony to show that he ever sojourned, even for a brief 
pei'iod. in the present county of Stark. 



42 HISTORY (JF STARK COUNTY 

THE POTTAAVATOJII 

Tribal traditions and accounts in the Jesuit relations go to show 
that the Pottawatonii once constituted one of the powerful tribes of 
the Algonquian family. French missionaries and traders first came 
in contact with them near the northern limits of the lower ^Michigan 
peninsula, where they were known as the "Nation of Fire." Nicollet 
met with some of tliem in Wisconsin as early as 1664. Bacqueville 
de la Potherie. an early French writer, says: "In 1665 or 1666 the 
Pottawatonii took the southern and the Sac the northern shores of 
Green Bay, and the ^Viimebago, who were not fishermen, went back 
into the forests to live on venison and bear meat." 

A few years later the Pottawatonii moved southward in large 
numbers and took possession of the country around the head of Lake 
^lichigan. In 1674. some of this tribe met Father ^Marcjuette on his 
return from the ^Nlississipjji River and acted as his escort part of the 
way back to Canada. As already related, they joined with the Ottawa 
and Chipi^ewa tribes in a war with the Illinois Indians after the death 
of Pontiac, and as a result of that war became possessed of a jjortion 
of the lands once inhabited by the Illinois. 

About the close of the Revolutionary war a part of the tribe 
moved eastward and in the early years of the nineteenth centuiy 
occupied practically all that part of Indiana lying north of the 
\Vabash River. By the treaty of August '2i. 1816, they ceded their 
lands along the shores of Lake ^Michigan to the United States and 
received in exchange some of the Sac and Fox lands in Western 
Illinois. This brought them into the valley of the Illinois River and 
some of the tribe established their homes along Walnut Creek, in 
what is now Stark County. In 1830 the band removed to Indian 
Creek, in the i)reseiit townships of Goshen and Toulon, where they 
were joined by others, and for a time this region A\as the principal 
hunting ground. 

The leading Pottawatonii chief in this part of the state was Shab- 
bo-nee, who was really an Ottawa, ])ut became chief through his mar- 
riage to a Pottawatonii maiden, daughter of a chief. In the War of 
1812 he listened to the blandishments of the ShaMnee chief, Tecumseli, 
and joined the British, but afterward proved to be a good friend to the 
white settlers. In 1832, at the time of the Black Hawk war, he visited 
the settlers on the Spoon River and warned tliein to leave, as tlie war 
was likely to extend to that part of the country. Acting upon liis 
information David Cooper and the three Essex families went to the 



HISTORY OF STAKK COUNTY 43 

flirt at the foot of Peoria Lake, tliough they all returned to their 
liouies in Stark County with the exeeption of Thomas Essex, Jr., who 
settled near Peoria. Shab-bo-nee died in Grundy County, Illinois, 

•July 17. 1H.5!). 

On August 17, IH-'l. a council was held at Chicago, when (icn. 
Lewis Cass, as the coniniissioner of the United States, defined the 
Pottawatonii country as "extending along both sides of the Illinois 
Kiver and all its tributaries, and along the western shore of Lake 
JMichiiian to CTreen Bav, with certain lands south of Lake Erie." 
At tlie same time the trilie reliiKiuished title to about five millions of 
acres in Michigan and Northern Indiana. 

Another council was held at Chicago on September 26, 1833, when 
the Pottawatomi chiefs and head men ceded all their remaining lands 
in Indiana, and all their possessions in Illinois, to the United States. 
Two years later they received their last annuity east of the ^Mississippi 
and soon afterward removed to reservations in Iowa and INIissouri. 
A few of this once powerful tribe are still living in Kansas. 

Says ]Mrs. Shallenberger: "Our pioneers report those they found 
here as a dirty, shiftless, set. the men of the tribe eking out a precarious 
living by hunting and fishing, while the women broke the sod, built 
the 'pony fences,' and raised paltry cro])s of coi-n. They were given 
to begging most importunately, if not to stealing from their white 
neighbors; their villages or encampments, of which there were several 
within our present county limits, formed rendezvous, especially on 
Sundays, for the idle and vicious, where horse trading and liquor 
drinking went on. much as in later days at a gipsy camp. So destitute 
of any element of poetry or romance were the last days of the red 
man in this region, and their trails, their corn pits, and the graves 
of their dead were the legacies they left us when they took up their 
enforced march west of the Mississippi about 183.5-3(5." 

THE AVINNEBAGO 

Originally this tribe belonged to the Siouan family, but far back 
in the past they became allied with the Algonquian tribes living about 
the Great Lakes, and some ethnologists class them as being one of 
tiie iMgonquian tribes. They are first mentioned in history as early 
as l(i()l). wlien they were allied with the Pottawatonii, Chippewa, Sac 
and Fox and other members of the Algonquian group. 

In the Revolutionary war some of the Winnebago fought with 
the Rritish. and in the summer of 179-i some took i)art in the battle 



44 HISTOllV OF STAllK COUNTY 

of Falk'ii Tiiiihers against the white forces coininaiided by Gen. 
^Viithuny Wayne. A few were en<>a<>'e(l in the battle of Tippecanoe 
in Novenibei", 1811, and witii the I'ottavvatomi were active in the 
massacre at Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) in 1812. Shortly after 
that tiiey located in that part of Illinois lying north and west of the 
Hock Kiver, tliongh they frecinently visited their Pottawatonii breth- 
ren farther south, and it is quite likely that some of them passed 
through Stark County. They were friendly to Black Hawk at the 
time of his mvasion of Illinois in 18.'32, though it was through the 
treachery of two members of the tribe tliat Black Hawk was captured. 
Not long after that they were given the strip known as the "neutral 
ground" in Iowa for a reservation in excliange for their lands east of 
the INIississippi. They intermarried freely with the Sacs and Foxes 
and were closely allied to those tribes. — so closely in fact that some 
of the last treaties made by the Sacs and Foxes were submitted to 
the ^Vinnebago chiefs and head men before they became effective. 

The foregoing includes probably all the Indian tribes that inliab- 
ited or hunted over that part of Illinois now included in Stark County. 
As the march of civilization proceeded westward the Indian retired 
before the superior race, and about all that is left as a reminder of 
their former occupation of the country are the names of certain 
streams and towns which ai-e of unquestionable Indian origin. The 
county seat of Gallatin County, in the southern part of the state, 
bears the name of Shawneetown. in memory of the Indian tribe that 
once liA-ed in that region. Kaskaskia. Kandolj))) County; Cahokia, 
St. Clair County; Tamaroa, Perry County; and the city and county 
of Peoria all bear names of minor tribes of the great Illinois confed- 
eracy, and Indian Creek, in Stark County, marks the site of the Potta- 
watomies' old hunting grounds. 



chapter iv 
tup: period of phepakation 

EARIA' EXPLOKATIOXS IX AMERICA SPANISH, FRENCH ANH ENG- 

IJSH CLAIMS TO TERRITORY IN THE NEW WORLD — THE JESUIT 

.AIISSIONARIES — DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI MARQUETTE AND 

JOIJET LA SALLE's EXPEDITIONS LOUISIANA CROZAT AND LAW 

— THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE — CONFLICT OF INTERESTS — FRENCH AND 

INDIAN WAR — H.LIXOIS A BRITISH POSSESSION THE WAR OF THE 

REVOLUTION CLARK's CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST ILLINOIS 

UXDER VARIOUS JURISDICTIONS — ADMITTED AS A STATE EVOLUTION 

OF STARK COUNTY RECAPITULATION. 

Eastiat. thv eminent Freneh writei- on political economy, once 
wrote an essay entitled "The Seen and the Unseen." People of the 
present generation see the conditions around them, hut they are not 
always so well acquainted with the conditions of former years, and 
therefore do not fully appreciate the influence of the ])ast upon the 
])resent. Civilization is the outgrowth of a gradual evolution. Stark 
County, like all the political suhdivisions of the Lhiited States, is the 
])r()(luet of a series of events running hack for many years. The 
part of each event may have heen small, hut tlie gradual development 
constitutes the "unseen" history of the county. It is therefore deemed 
ad\isaiile to devote a chapter to this subject, in order that the reader 
may he able to form some general idea of the evolution of the State of 
Illinois and the County of vStark. 

In 14!).'J. the year iollow ing the first voyage of Columbus to 
America, the pojjc granted to the King and Queen of Spain "all 
countries inhabited by infidels." At that time the extent of the conti- 
nent (liseovered by Columbus was not known, but in a vague way this 
papal grant included the present State of Illinois, the region then 
inhabited by Indian tribes who knew not the religion of the Catholic 
Church, and therefore came within the categoiy of infidels. 

Three years later Henry Xll of England granted to John Cabot 
and his sons a patent of discovery, possession and trade "to all lands 

45 



J6 II IS TORY OF STAKK COUNTY 

they may discover and lay claim to in the name of the Knglish crown." 
Before the close of the century the Cahots had made exjjlorations 
aloni>' the Atlantic coast from Cape Ilatteras northward, and their 
discoveries formed the hasis of England's claim to all the central por- 
tion of North America. 

While Spain was pushing her explorations through the West 
Inches and along the coast of the (iulf of ^Mexico, and Kngland was 
oi)erating along the xVtlantic seahoard farther north, the French Gov- 
ernment sent Jacques Cartier on an expedition to the New World. 
He discovered and laid claim to the Valley of the St. Lawrence River 
and the country ahout the Great I^akes, from which hase the French 
suhse(iuently pushed their explorations and claims westward to the 
JNIississippi River and southward into the Ohio Valley. 

Following the usage of that jjcriod, each of these three great Euro- 
])ean nations claimed title to certain territory "by right of discovery." 
Spain's 2)apal grant was strengtliened by the expedition of Hernando 
de Soto into the interior in 1.54U-i2, one result of whicli was the dis- 
covery of the Mississippi River. De Soto died in the wilds and his 
body was buried in the great river. The few survivors, after many 
hardships, finally reached the Sjianish colony at St. Augustine and 
upon their report Spain, in 1.54.;j. claimed all the land bordering upon 
the iMississippi as well as the gulf coast. In this way what is now the 
State of Illinois became Spanish territory. 

In 1()20 the Eritisli crown, ignoring the authority of the pope 
and the explorations of De Soto, issued a charter to the Plymoutli 
Company including "all the lands between the fortieth and forty- 
eighth parallels of north latitude from sea to sea." The southern 
l)oundary of this grant crossed Illinois about fifteen miles north of the 
present city of Springfield, and wliat is now Stark County was there- 
fore included in the old Plymouth Company grant. 

Eight years later (in 1(;2S) the ^lassacliusetts Bay Company 
received a grant that included a strip of land al>out one Inmdred miles 
Avide "extending from sea to sea." The northern boundary of this 
stri]) crossed tiie Mississippi River not far from tlie present city of 
Prairie du Chien. Wis., and the southern crossed the State of 
Illinois about ten miles north of the noi-th line of Stark County. Thus 
at least a part of the state was claimed by both Spain and England 
"by right of discovery." but no effort was made by either nation to 
extend colonization into the interior. S])ain was so busily engaged in 
the search for the rumored rich gold and silver mines that she paid but 
little attention to the establishment of permanent settlements, whil^ 



1 



HISTORY OF STAKK COUNTY 47 

the English were apparently content with tlie little colonies at James- 
town. Vii., and in Xew England. 

^leantinie the l<'rench were not idle. Quebec was fouiuled by 
Samuel Champlain in 1608, only one year after the English colony 
was planted at Jamestown. In KH I Jesuit missionaries from Quebec 
visited the Indian tribes living about the Great I>akes, and in l(>ir> 
a French explorer named Le Caron \isited the country of the Huron 
and Inuiuois tribes. The reports of Le Caron and the missionaries 
C(in\iiieed the r'rencii authorities that it was possible to open up a 
jM-otitable trade with the natives, particularly in furs, and explorations 
were pushed still farther westward. In KJ.'U Jean Nicollet reached 
the Fox River country, in what is now the State of ^Visconsin. For 
more than half a century, however, after the founding of Quebec, 
no systematic eff'ort was made to establish anything like a colony in 
the (ireat Lake basin. 

In the fall of KHi.j Claude xVllouez, one of the most zealous of the 
Jesuit missionaries, held a council with the Indians at the Chippewa 
village on the southern shore of Lake Superior. Chiefs of tiie Sioux, 
Chippewa, Sac, Fox, Pottawatomi and Illinois tribes were present 
and to them and their jjcople Alloue/. promised the j^rotection of the 
great French father, thus opening the way for the establishment of 
trading posts in the Indian country. Some of the Sioux and Illinois 
chiefs told .Alloue/, of a great river farther to the westward, "called bj^ 
them the ^le-sa-sip-pi, which they said no white man had yet seen 
(they knew nothing of the expedition of Ue Soto), and along which 
fur bearing animals abounded." 

This same Fa4:her Allouez and another missionary named Claude 
Dablon founded the JNIission of St. jNIarys — the first white settlement 
in Michigan — in lOCtH. Friendly relations were soon established 
between the people of the mission and the neighboring Indians. In 
1(J71 Jac(jues INIarquette, one of the most influential of the Jesuit 
missionai'ies in Aniei'ica. founded the Mission of Point St. Ignace, 
near the present city of INIackinaw, for the benefit of the Huron 
Indians. For many years this mission was considered as the key to 
the great, unexplored West. 

Father .Marquette had first heard of the great river through the 
report given bj" Allouez of the coimcil held at the Chippewa village 
in IfU!.). and as time passed he grew more desirous of verifying the 
Indian accounts of its existence. Fearing hostility, or at least opposi- 
tion, on the part of the natives, he made no attempt to reach the river 
until after the founding of the mission at Point St. Ignace. Some 



48 HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 

time was then sixnt in making his preparations and in obtaining the 
consent of the Canadian colonial officials. In the spring of 1073, 
armed with the proper credentials, he went to Michilimackinac to 
com])Iete his final arrangements for the expedition. It is said that the 
friendly Indians, w^ien they learned of his intention, tried to dissuade 
him from the undertaking by telling him that the Indians who lived 
alonsi' the great river were cruel and treacherous, and that the river 
itself was the abiding place of great monsters that could easily swal- 
low a canoe loaded with men. 

Giving no credence to the horrible stories, JNIarquette continued 
his work of preparation and on ^Nlay 13. 1673, accompanied by Louis 
Joliet. an explorer and trader, and five voyageurs, with two large 
canoes, the little expedition left the mission. 

DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

Passing up Green Bay to the mouth of the Fox River, they 
ascended that stream to the portage, crossed over to the Wisconsin 
River and drifted down that stream in the belief and hope that it 
emptied into the great river of which they were in search. Xor were 
their hopes idle and their belief without foundation. On the morning 
of June 17, 1673, a little over a month from the time they left Point 
St. Ignace, their canoes floated out upon the broad bosom of the Mis- 
sissipi)i. Turning their canoes down the mighty stream, a few days 
later they came to what is now the State of Illinois, opposite the city 
of Dubuque, Iowa, and were probably the first white men to see the 
western part of the state. 

On their way down the river ^Marquette and Joliet visited some of 
the villages of the Illinois Indians in Southeastern Iowa, after which 
they continued their voyage until they met with a tribe of Indians 
whose language they coidd not understand, when they retraced their 
steps and returned to the French settlements about IMichilimackinac. 
They had been absent about four months and had traveled about two 
thousand five hundred miles, through an unknown region, anchoring 
at night in mid-stream to prevent attacks by foes, and to avoid any 
rocks or rapids that might be in the river. 

Joliet was a good topographer and prepared a map of the countrj'^ 
through which he and jNIarquette had passed. The reiJorts of their 
voyage, when presented to the French authorities, made the knowledge 
of the ]Mississippi's existence certain and it was not long until a move- 
ment was started to claim the countrv drained bv it for France. 



HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 49 

LA SAI.LK's expeditions 

Robert Cavalier, Sieur tie la Salle, in \(\7i. was granted the 
seigneury of Fort I'rontenac, where the eity of Kingston, Canada, 
is now located, and on ]May 12, 1078, Louis XIV, then King of 
France, granted him a permit to continue the explorations of Mar- 
quette and Joliet, "tind a port for the king's ships in the (iulf of 
3Iexico, discover the western parts of New France, and find a \\ay 
to penetrate Mexico." 

Nicholas Perrot had already made some explorations in the Illinois 
country in l()71:"the missionaries Allouez and Dablon visited the Illi- 
nois Indians in 1(572; and in 1073 Father ^Nlaniuette ascended the 
Illinois and Desplaines rivers. The information gained from the 
reports of these early explorers led La Salle to select the Illinois 
River route as the best way to reach the Mississippi. His first attemj)t 
ended in failure, chiefly because his preparations had not been care- 
fullv made. As his desire was to explore the great river from its 
source to its mouth, he sent Father Louis Hennepin in 1680 to lead 
an expedition from the mouth of the Illinois River to the headwaters 
of the Mississippi, and in April of that year Heimei)in reached the 
Falls of St. Anthony, where the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota, now 
stands. 

Late in December, 1681, La Salle, accompanied by his lieutenant, 
Henri de Tonti; .Taccivies de la ]Metairie, a notary; Jean ^Michel, a 
surgeon; Father Zenobe 31endjre, a Recollet missionary, and "a num- 
ber of Frenchmen carrying arms," started upon the second expedi- 
tion to the mouth of the JMississipjji. After a weary journey in the 
dead of winter, they arrived at- Peoria Lake on January 2.3, 1082. 
La Salle had reached this ])oint about two years before, and had here 
built Fort Creveeoeur (liroken Heart), so named because it was here 
he had been forced to abandon his first expedition. A short rest was 
taken at the old fort and on February (>, 1082, the whole party reached 
the mouth of the Illinois. Here another halt of a week was made 
until the Indian members of the expedition came up, their progress 
having been impeded by the heavy snow and ice. On the 13th the 
canoes started down the Mississippi and on i\])ril S. 1(582, I^a Salle 
and Tonti jjassed through two of the channels that led to the (iulf of 
Mexico. The next day La Salle formally took possession of all the 
country drained by the great river and its ti'ibutaries in the name of 
France, and conferred upon it the name of Louisiana, in lionor of 
Louis XIV, the French king. Under this claim Illinois became a 
dependency of France. 



50 HISTORY^ OF STARK COUNTY 

Before the close of the year 1682 settlements were established by 
the French at Kaskaskia and Cahokia — the oldest settlements on the 
INlississippi River. A little later settlements or trading posts were 
established at Fort Chartres, Prairie du Rocher, Prairie du Pont and 
Peoria. To the French therefore belongs the honor of founding the 
first settlements within the limits of the present State of Illinois. 

It is not surprising that in time a conflict of interests arose among 
the English, French and Spanish. Spain claimed the interior of the 
continent by virtue of De Soto's discovery of the ]Mississippi River. 
England had sent no expeditions into the interior, but upon the dis- 
coveries made by the Cahots claimed the country "from sea to sea." 
Neither Sjiain nor England made any attempt to found settlements 
in the ^Mississippi Valley. The claim of La Salle was acknowledged 
by other European nations after some dispute and hesitation and 
France remained in control of the great valley for more than three- 
quarters of a century. At the beginning of the eighteenth centiuy 
the English settlements occupied the Atlantic coast from INlaine to 
Georgia; Spain was in possession of the Peninsula of Florida and that 
part of the Gulf coast not included in Louisiana: and France held 
the Valley of the St. Lawrence, the Great Lake Basin and the 
Mississippi Valley. 

In 1712 the French Government granted to Antoine Crozat, a 
wealthy merchant of Paris, a charter giving him exclusive control of 
the Louisiana trade under certain conditions. But when his agents 
arrived in the Gulf of ^Mexico they found the Spanish ports closed to 
Crozat's ships, for Spain, while recognizing France's claim to Loui- 
siana, as based upon the discovery of La Salle, A\as jealous of French 
ambitions. xAfter five years, tired of -constantly combating the Spanisli 
ojiposition and other difKculties, Crozat surrendered his charter. 

Crozat was succeeded by the INIississijjpi Company, which A\as 
organized by John I^aw as a branch of the Bank of France. In 1718 
Law^ sent about eight hundred colonists to Louisiana and the next 
year Philipe Renault went up the ]Mississippi to the Illinois country 
with about two himdred colonists. He reestablished the settlement 
at Kaskaskia and laid the foundations of the settlements at Prairie du 
Rocher and Prairie du Pont. Law AA-as a good promoter, but a poor 
executive. In 1720 his whole scheme collajised and so dismal was the 
failure that his company is known in history as the "^Nlississijjpi Bub- 
ble." In 1730 the white i)opulation of the French settlements in the 
Illinois country was about three hundred and fifty, and in 1732 Law 
surrendered his charter and Louisiana again became a French crown 
province. 



lilSTOUV OF STAUK COLNTV 51 

l-'KEXCir AND INDIAN AVAR 

111 the iiicaiitinif the English had l)eeii gnulually ])iishiiig the 
frontier of their eivihzation farther westward. As early as 1()(>7 the 
Hudson's Bay Company had been organized and its trappers and trad- 
ers passed freely among the Indian tribes around the Great Lakes and 
in the Upper .Mississippi \'alley, despite the French claim to the 
territory and oblivious to the French protests against their trespasses. 
The attack of the Fox Indians on the French post at Detroit in 1712 
was incited by the English traders. iVgain in 1730 the English and 
Dutch traders infiuenced some of the tril)es to make war on the French 
in the hope of driving them from the country. The first open rupture 
between France and England did not come until 17.53, when the 
former began the establishment of a line of forts from the Great 
Lakes to the Ohio Kiver, for the pur])osc of holding back the threat- 
ened English occupation of the Ohio \'alley. The French claimed 
that the Allegheny JNIountains formed a natural boundary, west of 
whieli the British had no right to pass. One of the French forts was 
located upon land claimed by Virginia, and (Governor Dinwiddie of 
that colony sent George ^Vashington, then just turned twenty-one, to 
demand of the French commandant an explanation of this invasion 
of English territory while the nations were at peace. The reply A\as 
unsatisfactory, not to say insolent, and in 1754 Washington was sent 
into the disputed territory with a detachment of troo])s. having been 
promoted to lieutenant-colonel. 

Some years before this a charter had been granted by the British 
Government to an association called the Ohio Company. The charter 
carried with it a large tract of country and the right to trade with the 
Indians on the Great Miami River. In 17.50 the Ohio Company built 
a fort and opened a trading post near the site of the present Citj^ of 
Piqua. Ohio. The Canadian authorities, regarding this as an en- 
croachment upon French territory, sent a body of soldiers and Indians 
to break up the post. The Ohio Com]iany then began a ne\v ]K>st at 
the head of the Ohio River, where the City of Pittsi)urgli is now- 
located, but again they were driven away by the French. Part of 
Washington's instructions in 175-1 was "to complete the fort already 
commenced by the Ohio Comi)any at the forks of the Ohio, and to 
capture, kill or drive out all who attem])te(l to interfere with the 
English posts." 

.Vn order of this kind naturally aroused the indignation of the 
French and in Mav, 17.5(). that nation formallv declared war against 



52 HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY 

England. The conflict that followed is known in American history 
as the "French and Indian war," which in the end had a great iniluence 
upon the history of the Illinois country. After keeping the Indian 
tribes and Ajnerican colonies in a state of tvn-nioil for several years, 
the war was concluded by the treaty of Fontainebleau on November 
3, 17()2, by which France ceded that ])art of Louisiana lying east of 
the ^Mississippi River (except the City of New Orleans and the island 
upon which it is situated) to Great Britain. The treaty was ratified 
by the treaty of Paris on February 10. 1768, and on the same day it 
was announced that, by an agreement jireviously made in secret, all 
that part of Louisiana lying west of the ^Nlississijjpi was ceded to 
Sjjain. Through the operation of these two treaties the jurisdiction 
of France came to an end in what is now the LTnited States and 
Illinois became a British jjossession. 

]Many of the French subjects living east of the INIississippi refused 
to acknowledge allegiance to Cireat Britain ami removed to the west 
side of the river. When the English colonies in America became in- 
volved in war with the JNIother Country in 177.>, a large number of the 
French, who had formerly lived in Illinois, recrossed the river and 
joined the colonists in their struggle for independence. 

Clark's conquest of the northwest 

In the territory acquired by England by the treaty of 1763, several 
posts had been established by the French, prior to the cession. Near 
the present City of East St. Louis was Cahokia. Forty-five miles 
down the river was St. Philippe. A few miles below St. Philippe were 
Prairie du Rocher and Nouvelle Chartres (on the site of the old fort 
of that name), and a little farther south was Kaskaskia. On the 
Wabash River, in what is now the State of Indiana, were the posts of 
Ouiatenon and Vincennes, and still farther north was Detroit, the 
most important post of all. These posts Avere occupied by the British 
at the beginning of the Revolutionary war. 

In 1777 George Rogers Clark, a colonel of the Virginia line, sent 
two spies — Samuel INIoore and Benjamin Liim — into the Illinois 
country disguised as hunters to ascertain the conditions there. LTpon 
their return they reported the population of Cahokia as 300 whites and 
100 negroes; that a few French families Avere living at St. Philijjpe 
and Prairie du Rocher; that Kaskaskia consisted of eighty houses, 
500 white inhabitants and nearly as many negroes; that in none of the 
posts was the garrison very strong, and that many of the French 
inhabitants were friendly to the American cause. 



HISTORY OF STAllK COUXTY 53 

Armed with this inloriiiation, Chirk Merit before the Viroinia 
Assembly and presented a phm for the overthrow of British power in 
the Mississippi Valley. On Jannary 2, 1778, the Assembly voted 
£1,200 to defray the expenses of the expedition and the same day 
Governor Patriek Henry gave Colonel Clark seeret instruetions au- 
thori/ing him to raise seven companies of fifty men each, ol)tain boats 
at Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) for the transportation of troops, ammmii- 
tion and supplies down the Ohio River, "and during the whole trans- 
aetion you are to take especial care to kee]) the true destination of 
your forces secret. ' 

Clark raised but four of the seven companies. These four, com- 
manded by Captains John Montgomery, Joseph Bowman, Leonard 
Helm and \Villiam Ilarrod, rendezvoused on Corn Island, in the Ohio 
Ri\er, not far from the present City of Louisville, Kentucky. On 
June 24, 1778, the little ai-my left the island and droi)i)ed down the 
Ohio, Clark's intention beiirg to ascend the \\'abash and attack the 
])ost at ^^incennes first. Circumstances caused him to change his plan 
and begin his campaign at Kaskaskia. Leaving the boats at the 
mouth of the Tennessee Rivei-, Clark marched his force across the 
country to Kaskaskia, which place was captured without opposition 
on the night of Jidy 4, 1778. 

The inhabitants were treated with every consideration and some 
of them joined Captain Bowman, who was sent up the river Avith his 
com])any to capture the post at Cahokia. Here another bloodless 
victory was won and the inhabitants cheerfully took the oath of alle- 
giance to Virginia. Clark then commenced his preparations for the 
reduction of the ])ost at Vincennes. Father Pierre (ribault, who liad 
been in charge of the parishes between the Wabash and ^Mississippi 
rivers for ten years, volunteered to bring the people of A'incennes 
over to the American interests without any military demonstration, 
provided his name should not be used openly in the transaction and 
that Dr. Jean Baptiste LafFont, a ])hysician of Kaskaskia. might be 
cliarged with the temporal i)art of the mission. 

The priest anil the doctor, with tlieir attendants, left Kaskaskia 
on the 14th of July, with an address to the ])co])le of Vincennes au- 
thorizing them to garrison their own town. etc. They succeeded in 
their embassy and Clark placed the post under the command of Capt. 
Leonard Helm, who was also appointed Indian agent for the dcjiart- 
ment of the Wabash. 

So far everything had worked well and Clark had succeeded be- 
yond his most sanguine expectations. But late in the fall Henry 



54 HISTUllV OF STAllK COUNTY 

Hamilton, the British lieutenant-governor at Detroit, eolleeted a force 
of thirty regulars, fifty French volunteers and 400 Indians, with 
which he descended the Wabash and on December 1.5, 1778, recap- 
tured the post at Vincennes. No attempt was made by the inhabitants 
to defend the place. They were disarmed and Captain Helm wa.s 
detained as a prisoner of war. When this unfortunate event occurred 
Clark was making his preparations for his advance upon 13etroit, but 
now he deemed it more important to take and hold Vincennes. 

On January 29, 1779, Francis Vigo, a Spanish merchant who liad 
been at Vincennes, arrived at Kaskaskia and gave Clark the informa- 
tion that Hamilton had weakened his garrison by sending his Indians 
against the frontier settlements: that the garrison did not number 
more than seventy-tive or eighty men, and that the plan was to have 
the Indians gather at Vincennes eai-ly in the spring for the purpose 
of driving the Virginians from Kaskaskia and Cahokia. Ui^on learn- 
ing these things Clark realized that there was no time to be lost. On 
February 4, 1779, Capt. John Rogers and forty-six men embarked 
on a large keel-boat, with two four-pounders and four swivels and a 
su])ply of ammunition and provisions, under instructions to drop down 
the ^lississippi and ascend the Ohio and AVabash rivers with all sjiecd 
jiossible, while Clark, with the remainder of his force and some French 
volunteers marched across the country. 

Crossing the Kaskaskia River, Clark followed the old trail be- 
tween the two posts imtil he reached the Embarrass River, near the 
present City of Lawrenceville, where the flooded condition of the 
country caused him to change his course and he struck the \A'abash 
River about ten miles below the post. The march was one of great 
hardshijis. the men often wading in water up to their waists and the 
rations were limited for the greater portion of the march. Notwith- 
standing all the obstacles, on the morning of February 18, 1779, they 
were near enough to the fort to hear Hamilton's morning gun. Three 
days later, two canoes having been found, the men were ferried over 
the ^Vabash not far from the j^resent Town of St. Francisville. 

In his account of the expediti