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VOLljMEi:^ 
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WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

Published  semiannually  by 

the  University  Libraries 

and  the  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences 

at  Western  Illinois  University 

Macomb,  Illinois  61455 

BOARD  OF  EDITORS 

JAY  R.  BALDERSON  GORDANA  REZAB 

DONALD  W.  GRIFFIN  ROBERT  P.  SUTTON 

JOHN  E.  HALLWAS,  Chairman 

ADVISORY  COMMITTEE 

DAVID  D.  ANDERSON,  Michigan  State  University 
MICHAEL  BECKES,  United  States  Forest  Service 
RICHARD  W.  CROCKETT,  Western  Illinois  University 
RICHARD  QKO'^XyEK,  Purdue  University 
JAMES  E.  DAVIS,  Illinois  College 
RODNEY  DAVIS,  A'/2o;c  College 
ARLIN  D.  FENTEM,  Western  Illinois  University 
MYRON  J.  FOGDE,  Augustana  College 
FRANK  W.  GOUDY,  Western  Illinois  University 
PEARCE  S.  GROVE,  Western  Illinois  University 
THOMAS  E.  HELM,  Western  Illinois  University 
WALTER  B.  HENDRICKSON,  MacMurray  College 
ROBERT  JOHANNSEN,  University  of  Illinois 
FREDERICK  G.  JONES,  Western  Illinois  University 
JERRY  KLEIN,  "Peoria  Journal  Star" 
CHARLES  W.  MAYER,  Western  Illinois  University 
DENNIS  Q.  McINERY,  Bradley  University 
RONALD  E.  NELSON,  District  Historian, 

Illinois  Department  of  Conservation 
RONALD  E.  NELSON,  Western  Illinois  University 
RICHARD  D.  POLL,  Western  Illinois  University 
FRED  SOADY,  Illinois  Central  College 
STUART  STKliEVEK,  Northwestern  University 
ROALD  D.  TWEET,  Augustana  College 
WILLIAM  L.  URBAN,  Monmouth  College 
ELLEN  M.  WHITNEY,  Editor  emeritus, 

"Journal  of  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Society  " 
DOUGLAS  WILSON,  Knox  College 


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Correspondence  about  subscriptions,  contributions,  and  books  for  review  should 
be  sent  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Editors,  Western  Illinois  Regional 
Studies,  Western  Illinois  University,  Macomb,  Illinois  61455.  Bibliographic  and 
other  information  for  the  Notes  and  Documents  section  should  be  sent  to 
Professor  Gordana  Rezab  at  the  same  address. 


WESTERN  ILLINOIS 
REGIONAL  STUDIES 

VOLUME  IV  FALL  1981  NUMBER  2 

CONTENTS 


The  Naming  of  Spoon  River 

Hermann  R.  Muelder  105 

Sarah  Fenn  Burton's  Diary  of  a  Journey 
to  Illinois 

James  K.  Bracken  1 1 5 

The  Memoir  of  William  T.  Brooking, 
McDonough  County  Pioneer  (Part  2) 

Gordana  Rezab  136 


Tornadoes  of  Western  Illinois 

Prior  to  1875 

Daniel  L.  Wise 

152 

Illinois  Grassroots  Politics  of  the  1890's 

in  Brand  Whitlock's  Fiction 

David  D.  Anderson 

163 

Louis  William  Rodenberg,  an  Illinois  Poet 

Walter  B.  Hendrickson 

176 

Notes  and  Documents 

192 

Reviews  of  Books 

195 

Contributors 

200 

Copyright  1981  by  Western  Illinois  University 

REVIEWS  OF  BOOKS 


Boritt,  LINCOLN  AND  THE  ECONOMICS  OF 
THE  AMERICAN  DREAM 

By  William  L  Burton  195 

Fleming,  THE  LIVING  LAND  OF  LINCOLN 

By  Floyd  S.  Bar  ringer  196 

Cain,  et  al,  TALES  FROM  TWO  RIVERS  I 

By  James  K.  Bracken  197 

Rankin,  BORN  OF  THE  PRAIRIE:  MONMOUTH, 
ILLINOIS  1831-1981 

By  Robert  P.  Sutton  199 

Cann,  etal,  HISTORY  OF  RARITAN,  ILLINOIS 
AND  COMMUNITY 

By  Robert  P.  Sutton  199 


THE  NAMING  OF  SPOON  RIVER 


Hermann  R.  Muelder 


The  "Spoon"  may  look  like  an  over-sized  creek  during  most  of 
the  year,  but  it  has,  by  the  poetry  of  Edgar  Lee  Masters,  become 
one  of  the  most  widely  known  rivers  in  the  Middle  West.  A  pamphlet 
published  by  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Society  in  1963  gives  a  kind 
of  official  sanction  to  the  idea  that  "Spoon  River"  is  a  translation 
of  the  aboriginal  name  of  the  stream,  "which  survives  in  Maquon, 
a  village  and  township  in  Knox  County."^  The  author  of  that  mono- 
graph, Virgil  J.  Vogel,  makes  a  very  strong  case  for  "Maquon" 
meaning  "mussel"  or  "mussel  shell,"  but  evidence  that  this  was 
translated  into  "Spoon"  is  not  given.  There  have,  moreover,  been 
other  meanings  attributed  to  the  name  "Maquon"  and  other  explana- 
tions given  for  the  name  "Spoon  River."  "Maquon"  has  been  said 
merely  to  mean  "Big,"  hence  "Big  River"  in  contrast  to  a  "Little 
River"  that  was  one  of  its  tributaries.^  One  who  settled  on  the 
Spoon  River  as  early  as  1823,  while  Indians  were  still  there,  said 
that  the  Indians  called  the  stream  "Ma-quon-sip-pi,"  which  meant 
"Hickory  River."^ 

Certainly  it  is  true  that  the  river  at  one  time  abounded  in 
mussels,"*  and  accumulations  of  mussel  shells  may  be  found  in 
ancient  Indian  village  sites  throughout  the  valley.  Indians  used  these 
shells  as  "spoons."^  Also,  it  is  true  that  a  word  like  "Maquon"  was 
used  to  name  the  river  on  maps  made  long  before  English  speaking 
settlers  displaced  the  Indians  and  the  French  pioneers.^  But  the 
question  about  the  meaning  of  Maquon  will  have  to  be  settled  by 
someone  who  knows  something  about  the  languages  of  the  I  Mini,  the 
Kickapoo,  the  Sauk  and  Fox,  and  the  Potawatomie,  all  of  whom  in 
historic  times  had  some  kind  of  claim  to  the  river  valley  before  it 
was  named  "Spoon." 

However,  there  may  be  another  explanation  for  the  origin  of 
the  name  "Spoon."  It  may  have  come  from  an  incident  described 
in  an  Elmwood  Messenger  article,  which  was  reprinted  in  the  Gales- 
burg  Republican  Register  on  June  30,  1877: 


105 


106  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


The  Elmwood  Messenger  is  publishing  a  series  of  "Pioneer 
Sketches,"  the  last  of  which  is  entitled  "Spoon  River."  Mr.  Levi  Ellis, 
founder  of  Ellisville,  Fulton  County,  a  cooper  by  trade,  and  a  very  early 
settler  in  that  part  of  the  country  and  w/ho  contrived  to  establish  the 
most  friendly  relations  with  the  Indians  who  still  numerously  dwelt 
about  him,  is  represented  as  thus  accounting  for  the  manner  in  which 
Spoon  River  derived  its  name:  "The  Indians,"  said  he,  "called  it  Ma- 
quon-sip-pi  —  that  means  the  Hickory  River,  but  it  was  called  Spoon 
River  by  a  party  of  surveyors,  who  camped  one  night  below  at  Babylon, 
six  miles  from  here.  They  took  turns  at  cooking  and  washing  the 
dishes,  and  one  of  them  named  Gage,  after  washing  the  dishes,  threw 
the  water  from  the  steep  bank  where  they  camped,  into  the  river,  which 
was  high  at  the  time,  and  with  it  the  half  dozen  spoons,  all  they  had, 
forgetting  that  they  were  in  the  bottom  of  the  dishpan.  He  saw  his 
error  when  it  was  too  late  —  spoons  and  dish-water  both  pitched  away. 
The  stream  was  deep,  and  the  current  strong,  therefore  there  was  no 
use  trying  to  recover  them,  and  so  the  Ma-quon-sip-pi  got  the  name 
of  Spoon  River,  which  it  is  likely  to  hold  for  the  future."'' 

Levi  Ellis  came  to  Fulton  County  in  1823  and  stayed  at  the 
home  of  the  first  settler  in  the  northern  part  of  that  county.^  Indians 
were  still  in  the  area  when  he  built  his  first  home  and  when  he  laid 
out  the  village  of  Ellisville,  where  he  erected  in  1829  the  first  mill  on 
the  Spoon  River.  He  was  very  familiar  with  the  river,  especially  with 
that  segment  of  it  where  he  said  the  incident  of  the  losing  of  the 
spoons  occurred.^  To  support  his  story  there  is  impressive  docu- 
mentation. 

To  begin  with,  before  1816,  when  the  United  States  land  office 
surveyors  first  reached  the  river,  the  name  "Spoon"  was  not  used  on 
any   map   of    Illinois  or  of  the  Northwest  Territory  or  of  North 

America.  Words  like  "Mequen"  were  used.^° 

Immediately  after  the  completion  of  the  surveys  of  the  Military 
Tract  in  1817,  the  name  "Spoon  River"  appeared  on  maps.  Further- 
more, cartographers  that  first  used  this  name  gave  special  credit  to 
the  notes  of  surveyors,  implying  that  these  were  new  maps  based  on 
information  newly  derived  from  the  surveyors'  records.  More  specific 
note  should  be  taken  of  the  first  three  maps  to  use  the  name  "Spoon." 

The  first  is  Map  of  lllinoise  [sic]  Constructed  from  ttie  Surveys 
in  ttie  General  Land  Office  and  Other  Documents.  By  John  Me/ish. 
1818.  Melish  labels  the  river:  "Micouenne  or  Spoon  River."  This 
new  name  is  particularly  significant  because  in  1816  Melish  had 
published  a  IVIap  of  the  United  States  that  used  the  words  "Semi 
Quan"  and  "Demi  Quan"  (note  the  sound  of  the  last  two  syllables 
in  each  case),  and  on  that  map  he  had  labeled  the  area  between  the 
Mississippi  River  and  the  Illinois  River  "Army  Lands  3,500,000 
acres."  This  1816  map  was  published  while  the  survey  of  the  "Army 
Lands"  was  under  way;  his  1818  map  was  published  after  the  surveys 
were  completed.  "Spoon"  does  not  appear  on  the  map  of  1816;  it 
does  appear  on  the  map  of  1818.^^ 


THE  NAMING  OF  SPOON  RIVER 


107 


The  Upper  Spoon  River.  Photo  by  Jack  Bradley,  courtesy  of  the  Peoria  Journal 
Star. 


Next  is  Map  of  the  Bounty  Lands  in  Illinois  Territory,  by  John 
Gardner,  Chief  Clerk,  General  Land  Office.  C.  Schwarz,  sc.  Dist.  of 
Columbia.  There  is  no  date  on  this  map,  though  bibliographers 
have  dated  it  1817.  This  is  possible.  The  surveys  of  the  Military 
Tract  were  completed  in  June  of  1817.  Gardner  had  access  to  the 
surveyors'  notes.  His  office  would  have  had  immediate  use  for  such 
a  map.  This  map  names  the  River  "Spoon"  and  in  no  other  way.^^ 
It  is  true  that  Vogel  cited  this  map  as  authority  for  his  statement 
that  the  "English  translation"  of  "Spoon"  was  in  "use  by  1812," 
and  he  dated  the  map  "1812-1818."  In  this  he  erred.  The  informa- 
tion on  the  map  about  the  completed  surveys  was  not  fully  available 
until  June  of  1817  at  the  earliest.  Information  about  the  surveys 
in  the  area  of  the  Spoon  River  could  not  have  been  reported  until 
after  April  of  1816.  The  map  could  not  have  been  made  in  1812; 
the  earliest  it  could  have  been  made  was  1817. 

Also,  there  is  A  General  Plat  of  Military  Lands  between  the 
Mississippi  and  Illinois  Rivers  from  the  Official  Surveys  .  .  .  by 
Nicholas  Biddle  Van  Zandt,  late  a  clerk  in  the  General  Land  Office 
of  the  United  States.  There  is  no  date  on  this  map,  but  it  was  prob- 
ably issued  to  accompany  his  book  on  the  Illinois  military  bounty 


108  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

lands  which  was  published  in  1818.  He  named  the  river  "Spoon" 
and  used  no  alternate  names  such  as  "Mequen."^^ 

In  fact,  the  first  use  of  the  word  "Spoon"  to  designate  that 
river  is  to  be  found  in  the  field  notes  of  a  land  office  surveyor, 
recorded  in  the  Spring  of  1816.  The  first  surveyors  to  reach  what  was 
to  be  called  the  Spoon  River  Valley  were  the  parties  headed  by 
Enoch  Moore  and  his  brother  John  Milton  Moore.  In  March  and 
April  of  1816  they  extended  the  Fourth  Principal  Meridian  north 
from  the  base  line  for  forty  miles  to  the  north  boundary  of  these 
Townships:  North  7;  Ranges:  West  One  and  East  One.  They  also 
surveyed  the  exterior  or  boundary  lines  for  the  townships  immedi- 
ately joining  this  segment  of  the  Fourth  Prime  Meridian. ""^  Toward 
the  end  of  this  surveying  expedition  John  Milton  Moore  and  his 
Crew  reached  the  general  area  where  Levi  Ellis  was  later  to  locate 
the  episode  of  the  loss  of  the  spoons.  On  April  8  and  9,  1816,  Moore 
made  these  entries  in  his  field  book: 

North  between  T  7&7  N,  R   1&2  E  along  East  boundary  of  Sect  36, 
T  7  N,  R  1  E.  This  mile  .  .  .  chiefly  Lake  in  Prairie 

April  8,  1816 

North  along  the  East  Boundary  of  Sec.  13,  T7,  R  1  E 

12.38    [chains  and  links]    set  a  post  on  the  Bank  of  the  river  340  Iks 

[224  feet]  w.  r.  S.E 

47.00  entered  a  Ik 
55.00  quit  lake^^ 

The  notes  readily  suggest  that  this  surveying  party  camped  on  the 
night  of  April  8,  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  when  the  stream  was 
flooded  and  hence  running  strongly.  The  conditions  fit  the  descrip- 
tion by  Levi  Ellis. 

John  Milton  Moore  and  his  brother  Enoch  had  good  reason  to 
be  doubtful  about  any  existing  maps  of  the  Illinois  River  Valley. 
Only  the  preceding  autumn  they  had  lost  out  on  a  surveying  assign- 
ment because  the  contract  had  been  based  on  false  assumptions 
regarding  the  course  of  the  Illinois  River.^^  Even  if  J.  Milton  Moore 
had  carried  one  of  the  available  maps  with  him  on  this  trip  in  1816, 
he  could  not  be  sure  which  of  the  streams  vaguely  located  on  those 
maps  might  be  the  river  that  he  had  seen  on  April  8,  that  he  had 
measured  and  that  he  had  precisely  described  with  the  surveyors' 
coordinates,  for  the  first  time  ever.  In  his  notes  Moore  did  not  give 
a  name  to  the  river. 

A  name  would  be  given  to  the  river  by  another  surveying  crew 
that  was  also  in  that  area  about  the  same  time.  The  second  party 
took  over  where  Moore  left  off,  filling  in  the  details  for  the  town- 
ships that  Moore  had  laid  out,  such  as  marking  the  interior  section 
lines,  tracing  the  "meanders"  of  the  Illinois  River,  and  observing  also 
the  "meanders"  of  this  tributary  stream  that  they  encountered  as 


THE  NAMING  OF  SPOON  Rl  VER  109 

they  imposed  their  rectangles  on  the  landscapeJ^ 

The  leader  or  "Deputy  Surveyor"  of  this  second  party  was 
William  H.  Bradsby,^^  who  started  surveying  on  March  23,  1816, 
two  days  behind  the  Moores,  but  remained  in  the  field  more  than  a 
month  longer  than  the  Moores,  until  after  the  middle  of  MayJ^ 
About  three  weeks  after  he  started  surveying,  Bradsby  came  into  the 
township  where  J.  Milton  Moore's  party  had  located  the  "river" 
that  was  left  unnamed  in  Moore's  notes.  On  April  17,  1816  Bradsby 
made  this  entry  in  his  field  book: 

East  On  Random  Line  Between  sect  12;  13  T5N  R1E 

35.50  [chains  and  links]  a  lake  300  Iks  wide 

40.00  set  Temp.  1/2  mile  post 

72.50  a  river  4.69  wide  bears  from  N.W. 

80.20  intersect  Range  line 

Then  the  surveyors  returned  west:  "On  true  line  Between  sections 

12:13  T5N  R1E  at  2.90  a  river  *  4.69  Iks  wide at  42.50  a  lake 

300  Iks  wide."  The  asterisk  in  the  second  quote  was  in  the  original 
and  referred  to  this  further  note  at  the  bottom  of  the  page:  "this 
river  from  the  best  information  I  can  get  must  be  (River  La  Quen) 
or  [these  parentheses  are  in  the  original]  Spoon  river  is  a  beautiful 
stream  and  appears  to  be  navigable  for  crafts  of  considerable  burthen 
—  the  water  appears  to  be  clear  &  beautiful." 

This  is  the  first  time  the  name  "Spoon"  was  given  to  the  river.^° 
A  week  later  there  was  in  Bradsby's  record  a  second  use  of  the  words 
"Spoon  River,"  followed  this  time  by  the  letters  "L  Q"  which  were 
crossed  out  thus:  "y-Qr."^'^  At  this  time  he  was  tracing  the  meanders 
of  the  river.  Thereafter  he  sometimes  used  only  "Spoon"  as  the  name, 
but  on  May  3,  1816  he  used  "The  River  La  Quen"  as  the  preferred 
nomenclature,  as  in  this  note:  "North  Between  sect  13;14,  T7N, 
R1E,  at  49.50  *  River  La  Quen  (or  Spoon  River)  402  links  wide." 
The  asterisk  in  the  original  referred  to  this  note  at  the  bottom  of 
the  page:  "This  river  though  it  is  a  beautiful  stream  will  not  admit 
the  navigation  of  crafts  of  any  size  further  up  than  Section  24  Town 
7N.  Above  that  it  is  full  of  falls  and  rapids.  It  appears  to  be  a  very 
fine  river  for  fish  and  its  bank  lined  with  huge  rocks  of  a  most 
superior  quality  for  grindstones  and  coal  beds  appear  plenty  on  the 
banks.""^^  This  entry  was  made  very  near  the  site  recorded  by  Moore 
and  also  near  the  location  of  the  loss  of  the  spoons  as  reported  by 
Ellis. 

One  may  interpret  Bradsby's  use  of  the  name  "Spoon"  as  a 
translation  of  "La  Quen,"  but  the  use  of  that  word  to  identify 
this  stream  may  well  have  referred  to  the  incident  of  throwing 
spoons  into  the  river  as  related  by  Levi  Ellis. 

If  Ellis'  story  is  to  be  accepted,  then  sometime  in  late  March  or 
April  of  1816  a  member  of  the  crew  of  either  John  Milton  Moore  or 


110 


WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


The  Spoon  River,  showing  the  Bernadotte  Mill  in  the  late  nineteenth  century. 


of  William  H.  Bradsby  emptied  the  dishwater  with  half  a  dozen 
spoons  into  the  river.  Thereafter,  "Spoon"  was  the  word  used  to 
identify  a  river  about  whose  name  they  were  otherwise  unsure.  If 
the  episode  occurred  with  Moore's  crew,  then  it  could  readily  have 
been  told  to  Bradsby's  party  during  the  days  when  both  groups  were 
in  the  same  vicinity. 

In  any  event,  the  name  first  used  in  Bradsby's  notes  persisted. 
At  least  three  of  the  surveying  parties  that  advanced  further  into  the 
valley  of  the  Spoon  River  in  the  late  summer  and  autumn  of  1816 
used  this  name  for  the  river.  Two  of  these  crews  were  those  given 
the  important  responsibility  of  enlarging  the  grid  for  further  surveys 
by  lengthening  the  Fourth  Principal  Meridian  to  the  north  and  by 
establishing  from  it  at  right  angles  four  standard  parallels,  two  west 
to  the  Mississippi  River,  two  east  to  the  Illinois  River.  These  latter 
two  lines  had  to  cross  over  the  Spoon  River. 

One  of  these  standard  parallels,  thrust  east  from  the  meridian 
to  the  Illinois  River,  came  out  on  September  1,  1816  "on  the  side 
of  the  Bluff  in  plain  view  of  Fort  Clark, "■^^  which  had  been  built 
during  the  War  of  1812  at  Lake  Peoria.  The  leader  of  this  party  was 
Deputy  Surveyor  Amos  Wheeler.  On  August  27,  1816  his  crew  had 


THE  NAMING  OF  SPOON  Rl  VER  1 1 1 

crossed  (and  measured)  a  stream  132  feet  wide,  "Current  rapid.  Bed 
Rocky,  Sandy  banks.  High  on  the  E  side."^"*  He  did  not  name  it, 
but  two  days  and  fifteen  miles  farther  east  he  came  to  a  high  prairie 
with  a  fine  view,  and  he  made  this  entry  in  his  field  book:  "North 
is  a  fine  picturesque  country  beautifully  diversified  with  timber  and 
Pr.  agreeably  uneven  ....  This  Pr.  suppose  to  be  the  dividing  ridge 
between  the  waters  of  Spoon  River  and  Kickapoo  Creek. "^^ 

A  second  standard  parallel  was  marked  east  to  the  Illinois  River 
six  townships  or  thirty-six  miles  farther  north  by  Isaac  E.  Robert- 
son^ and  his  party.  On  September  23,  1816  he  put  down  a  post  at 
the  corner  of  Sections  34  and  35,  T  15  N,  R  6  East  and  made  this 
note:  "S.  of  this  corner  is  a  point  of  timber  1/4  mile  distant  20  Iks 
wide  runs  S-W.  Supposed  to  be  the  headwater  Spoon  River. "•^^ 
Robertson  remained  in  the  field  to  divide  the  area  between  the 
two  parallels  into  townships,  generally  at  the  latitude  of  Townships 
10-11-12  North.  Here  in  November  of  1816  he  made  note  of  the 
"Mequon  or  Spoon  River."^^ 

Meanwhile,  farther  south,  where  Moore  and  Bradsby  had  started 
the  survey,  the  crew  of  Jonathan  Dimick  expanded  the  rectangular 
lines  toward  the  Illinois  River,  and  as  the  meanders  of  the  tributary 
river  were  encountered  they  were  given  the  name  "Spoon"  often, 
and  no  other  name.^  Hence,  it  is  quite  evident  that  between  March 
of  1816  and  the  end  of  that  same  year  the  river  became  "Spoon 
River." 

There  are  impressive  circumstantial  details  in  Ellis'  narrative, 
unlike  the  more  vague  "legend"  reported  by  Josephine  Craven 
Chandler  a  century  after  Ellis  settled  in  Fulton  County. "^^  The 
"half  dozen"  spoons  corresponds  nicely  to  the  number  of  men 
likely  to  comprise  a  surveying  crew:  Deputy  Surveyor,  two  chain 
carriers,  two  axe  men,  and  a  camp  keeper.  Ellis  even  named  the  man 
who  threw  the  spoons  into  the  river.  Though  this  man,  "Gage,"  is 
not  named  in  the  field  notes,  neither  are  the  other  crewmen,  except 
for  the  chain  carriers,  who  had  to  be  sworn  to  their  duties.^^ 

As  this  demonstrates,  the  historical  documents  are  consistent 
with  the  story  of  Levi  Ellis  about  the  naming  of  Spoon  River.  More- 
over, he  was  at  the  place  in  time  to  know  what  he  was  talking  about 
and  had  contact  with  an  even  earilier  witness.  Other  sources  are  also 
consistent  in  chronology  and  geography  with  the  event  he  described. 
Thus,  the  founder  of  Ellisville  provided  a  plausible  explanation  as 
to  how  "Spoon"  was  substituted  for  "Mequon"  as  the  name  for 
the  river. 

NOTES 

Virgil  J.  Vogel,  Indian  Place  Names  in  Illinois,  Pamphlet  Series  No.  4.  (Springfield: 
Illinois  State  Historical  Society,  1963),  pp.  62-63. 


7 12  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


9 

Josephine  Craven  Chandler,  "The  Spoon  River  Country,"  Journal  of  the  Illinois 
State  Historical  Society,  14  (October  1921 -January  1922),  255—329.  This  reference  is 
to  pp.  273-76. 

Galesburg  Republican  Register,  June  30,  1877,  p.  1. 

See  the  excellent  essays  on  the  natural  history  of  Fulton  County  by  W.  S.  Strode, 
M.D.,  particularly  in  the  Historical  Encyclopedia  of  Illinois  and  History  of  Fulton  County, 
II,  edited  by  Jesse  Heylen  (Chicago;  Munrell,  1908),  pp.  627-31. 

Whenever  shells  were  available  they  were  used  in  their  natural  form  as  dippers  and 
were  wrought  into  spoons."  "Handbook  of  American  Indians  North  of  Mexico,"  edWed  by 
Frederick  W.  Hodge  (Washington:  1910),  Part  II,  p.  626. 

c 

A  river  corresponding  to  the  present  Spoon  River,  as  related  to  other  features  such  as 
Lake  Peoria,  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Rock  River,  appeared  on  nnaps  late  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  It  can  be  traced  throughout  the  eighteenth  century  on  the  nnaps  in  the  John 
Finley  Collection  on  the  History  and  Romance  of  the  Northwest  in  the  Knox  College 
Library,  Galesburg,  Illinois. 

Galesburg  Republican  Register,  June  10,  1877,  p.  1. 
p 
Captain   David   Barnes,  a  veteran  of  the  War  of   1812,  came  up  the  Illinois  River  in 

the  spring  of  1819  to  Fort  Clark  (Peoria).  In  1821  he  settled  temporarily  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Spoon  River  and  then  at  Lewiston  and  then  near  Canton.  Thus  this  host  of  Levi  Ellis 
was  in  that  part  of  Illinois  within  two  years  of  the  time  it  was  being  surveyed  by  the  federal 
government.  For  the  pioneer  career  of  Barnes  see  History  of  Fulton  County  (Peoria:  Charles 
Chapman  and  Co.,  1879),  pp.  197—202.  In  the  same  work  see  the  biographical  information 

on  Levi  Ellis;  particularly  for  this  reference,  p.  724. 
q 
History  of  Fulton  County  pp.  615—725.  Babylon  was  located  on  the  southwest  quar- 
ter of  the  southeast  quarter  and  the  east  half  of  the  northeast  quarter,  and  part  of  the  north- 
east quarter  of  Section  14,  of  Lee  Township.  Historical  Encyclopedia  and  History  of  Fulton 
County,  p.  689.  Lee  Township  was  Township  7  N,  Range  1  E. 

A  New  Map  of  Part  of  the  United  States  of  North  America  Exhibiting  the  Western 
Territory,  Kentucky,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  etc.  Also,  the  Lakes  Superior,  Michi- 
gan, Huron,  Ontario  &  Erie,  from  the  Latest  Authorities.  By  John  Cary,  Engineer,  1805. 
Published  London,  June  1,  1805. 

On  this  map  there  are  three  rivers  that  could  by  general  location  and  relation  to  other 
geographical  features  be  regarded  as  the  present  "Spoon  River."  They  are  labeled:  "Saga- 
mond  R.,"  "Mine  R.,"  and  "Se  Seme  Quan." 

A  new  publication  of  this  Cary  map  in  1811  made  no  change  in  this  area.  Still  another 
edition,  in  1819,  added  another  stream,  parallel  to  the  Se  Seme  Quan;  the  new  stream  was 
named  "Demi  Quan."  Notice  that  the  last  three  syllables  in  both  these  names  approximate 
the  sound:  "Mequen." 

Another  interesting  map  is  that  of  John  Melish:  Map  of  the  United  States  (Philadelphia, 
1816).  This  map  has  the  "Semi  Quan"  and  "Demi  Quan"  where  the  names  "Mequin"  or 
"Spoon"  would  later  be  located. 

John  Melish,  Map  of  the  United  States  (1816).  The  Finley  Collection  has  a  photo- 
static copy  of  the  map  in  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

1 2 

The  Gardner  map  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  from  a  copy  in  the  Finley  Collection 

at  Knox  College. 

1  o 

Map  in  the  Finley  Collection,  Knox  College  Library.  An  alternate  name  persisted 
on  some  maps.  The  river  was  labeled  "Mequin  or  Spoon  R."  on  the  map  Illinois  by  A. 
Finley  (Philadelphia,  1824),  and  repeated  by  the  same  cartographer  in  1831.  The  name 
"Mequin  or  Spoon  River"  was  used  on  Map  of  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois 
with  the  Settled  Part  of  Michigan  by  S.  Augustus  Mitchell  (Philadelphia,  1834). 


THE  NAMING  OF  SPOON  RIVER  1 13 


14 

This  prime  meridian  is  an  important  feature  of  the  American  landscape.  It  would 

reach  to  the  northern  boundary  of  Illinois,  be  lengthened  to  become  the  north-south  axis 

of  all   surveys   in   Wisconsin   and   Eastern  Minnesota,  even  leap  the  western  part  of   Lake 

Superior  and  stretch  to  the  border  with  Canada. 

In  western  Illinois,  in  the  old  Military  Tract,  this  surveyors'  line  is  a  kind  of  spine  along 

which  eight  of  the  counties  have  boundary  lines. 

Box  268  of  the  field  notes  of  the  federal  surveys  in  Illinois,  pp.  119—22.  These 
manuscripts  are  in  the  Illinois  State  Archives,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

1  fi 

In    November   of    1815  John   Milton   Moore,   Enoch   Moore,   and   John   Messinger 

initiated  the  surveys  of  the  military  bounty  lands.  To  do  this  they  were  instructed  to  estab- 
lish the  Fourth  Principal  Meridian  and  the  point  where  the  base  line  would  run  at  right 
angles  to  that  meridian.  This  being  done  the  Moores  were  to  start  surveying  township  lines 
in  the  area  east  of  the  meridian  as  far  as  the  Illinois  River  and  south  of  the  base  line.  This 
proved  to  be  impossible. 

As  instructed,  Messinger  and  the  Moores  ran  a  line  from  the  juncture  of  the  Illinois  and 
Mississippi  Rivers  north  for  seventy-two  miles.  The  assumption  that  this  line  would  cross  the 
Illinois  River  proved  to  be  wrong.  The  surveyors  found  that  the  point  was  in  the  Illinois 
River,  where  the  Fourth  Meridian  and  its  base  line  accordingly  began. 

This  meant  that  there  was  no  land  east  of  the  meridian  and  south  ofvthe  base  line  for 
the  Moores  to  survey,  and  they  set  out  on  a  long  trip  back  home,  frustrated  by  the  false 
geographical  information  about  the  Illinois  River  Valley.  Other  crews  did  start  to  survey 
lands  west  of  the  meridian  and  south  of  the  base  line.  John  Messinger  to  Edward  Tiffin, 
Clinton  Hill,  Illinois  Territory,  November  20,  1815,  and  Enoch  Moore  to  Edward  Tiffin, 
St.  Clair  County,  on  the  same  date  in  Territorial  Papers  of  the  United  States,  compiled  and 
edited  by  Clarence  Edwin  Carter  (Washington:  U.S.  Government  Printing  Office,  1948), 
XVI,  248-51. 

Book  277  of  the  Illinois  field  notes. 

18 

Bradsby  was  a  protege  of  the  master  surveyor  and  mentor  of  surveyors  John  Mes- 
singer. He  recommended  two  men  at  this  time,  when  surveyors  were  in  great  need,  and 
indicated  he  would  proceed  to  employ  them:  "They  (William  H.  Bradsby  and  Isaac  E. 
Robertson)  have  each  of  them  spent  some  considerable  time  with  me  in  the  theory  of 
surveying,  and  they  have  likewise  been  with  me  in  the  field.  The  former  is  about  30  years 
old  —  the  latter  about  23  —  and  in  reputable  standing  in  point  of  morals."  (John  Messinger 
to  Edward  Tiffin,  Jan.  12,  1816  in  The  Territorial  Papers  of  the  United  States,  XVII, 
283-84. 

19 

With  his  departure,  surveying  in  this  area  was  interrupted  until  the  following  autumn. 

Because  full  foliage  obscured  vision,  surveying  was  not  feasible  during  the  summer  season, 

even  if  the  surveyors  had  been  able  to  endure  the  insects  in  the  humid  heat. 

20 

Field   Notes   Book   277,  pp.   116—18.   Four  chains  and  69  links  approximate  310 

feet.  The  river  was  obviously  swollen  to  flood  size, 
^^bid.,  p.  148. 
^^Ibid.,  p.  196. 
"^•^Ibid.,  Book  274,  p.  94. 
^'*lbid.,p.  58. 

^^Ibid.,  pp.  74-75. 

26 

Robertson,  like  Bradsby,  was  a  student  and  protege  of  John  Messinger;  see  note  18. 

■^^Field  Notes,  Book  274,  p.  163. 

•^^Ibid.,  p.  188. 


114  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


"^^Ibid.,  Book  278,  pp.  129-71. 

^°Chandler,  p.  276. 

Thus  J.  Milton  Moore  had  administered  this  oath:  "We  James  Moore  and  William 
Stallings  do  solemnly  swear  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God  that  in  all  measurements  and 
surveys  in  which  we  may  be  employed  as  chain  carriers  that  we  failthfully  and  impartially 
execute  the  trust  in  us.  So  help  us  God"  (follows  title  page  of  Book  268).  The  need  for 
fidelity  is  suggested  by  the  words  of  an  oath  administered  to  the  "fore  chainman"  and  "hind 
chainman"  by  James  Campbell  (Book  267,  p.  334):  ".  .  .  we  will  level  the  chain  and  plumb 
the  pins  so  as  to  obtain  the  true  horizontal  distance." 

There  is  an  unusually  full  listing  of  the  members  of  a  surveying  party  in  Book  135,  pp. 
47-48  ("Field  Notes  of  the  Continuation  of  the  Fourth  Principal  Meridian  in  the  State  of 
Illinois"  (November,  1831).  In  addition  to  the  Deputy  Surveyor,  there  were  two  chainmen, 
one  "axes  Man,"  one  "flag  man,"  one  "camp  keeper,"  and  one  "packman  or  baggage 
master."  Only  the  chainmen  were  sworn.  Given  the  special  importance  of  their  survey,  this 
seven-man  crew  may  have  been  somewhat  larger  than  ordinary. 


SARAH  FENN  BURTON'S 
DIARY  OF  A  JOURNEY  TO  ILLINOIS 


James  K.  Bracken 


In  1835  Nathan  Burton,  his  wife  Sarah  Fenn  Burton,  and  their 
children  emigrated  from  Connecticut  to  Illinois  along  a  well-traveled 
2,200  mile  route  which  featured  the  most  modern  transportation 
facilities  at  the  time— steamboats  and  railroads  to  Philadelphia,  the 
canals  and  railroads  of  the  Pennsylvania  Main  Line  system  to  Pitts- 
burgh, and  finally  steamboats  to  St.  Louis  and  QuincyJ  The  Burtons 
covered  the  distance  in  twenty-five  days,  half  the  time  required  for 
comparable  journeys  by  keelboat  and  wagon  in  1817  and  a  third  of 
the  time  needed  for  trips  by  wagon  alone. ^  Yet  despite  the  modern 
transportation,  particularly  of  the  Main  Line  route,  the  journey  was 
difficult  for  the  Burtons.  In  her  diary  Mrs.  Burton  describes  travel 
conditions  which  must  have  been  shared  by  many  families  going 
west  at  the  time. 

The  Main  Line  system  of  canals  and  railroads,  linking  Phila- 
delphia with  Pittsburgh  in  1834,  was  an  inadequate  engineering 
response  to  the  transportation  problems  caused  by  Pennsylvania's 
mountains.  Its  395  miles  included  four  sections:  a  railroad  from 
Philadelphia  to  Columbia  on  the  Susquehanna  River;  the  Middle 
Division  Canal,  following  the  Susquehanna  to  Harrisburg  and  then 
the  Juniata  River  to  Hollidaysburg;  the  Alleghany  Portage  Railroad 
from  Hollidaysburg  to  Johnstown;  and  the  Western  Division  Canal, 
following  the  Conemaugh  and  Alleghany  rivers  to  Pittsburg.  The 
complete  length  of  the  Main  Line  officially  opened  on  October  6, 
1834,  only  months  before  the  Burtons  traveled  it."^ 

Mrs.  Burton's  descriptions  show  the  basic  shortcomings  of  the 
Main  Line  in  its  early  operation.  The  repeated  transfer  of  passengers 
and  freight  from  railroad  cars  to  canal  boats  caused  delays  and  in- 
conveniences. In  their  first  hours  on  the  Main  Line  (April  11),  the 
Burtons  were  separated  from  their  baggage  and  only  resecured  part 
of  it  by  the  time  they  reached  Pittsburgh.  The  remainder  finally 
turned  up  a  month  later  (May  19)  after  the  family  was  temporarily 
settled  in  Fairfield  (Mendon),  Illinois.  Further  logistical  problems 
stemming  from  the  varying  speeds  and  passenger  capacities  of  the 


115 


7 16  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

canals  and  railroads  bottlenecked  traffic,  especially  at  the  junction 
of  the  Middle  Division  Canal  and  the  Alleghany  Portage  Railroad. 
Only  a  few  families  from  their  party  and  the  Burtons'  older  sons 
found  space  on  the  April  15  cars.  The  rest  of  the  Burtons  were 
forced  to  "spend  one  day  at  least  to  wait  for  the  Transportation 
cars"  to  carry  them  over  the  mountains.  While  fifty  cars  served 
the  Alleghany  Portage  in  its  first  year,  this  number  was  insufficient 
for  the  route's  increasing  volume  of  passengers  and  freight.'* 

Traveling  conditions  along  the  entire  route  were  generally 
crowded.  The  Burtons,  without  their  baggage  after  the  first  day, 
could  not  have  been  comfortable  for  their  remaining  days  and  nights 
on  the  Main  Line.  Even  without  it,  however,  Mrs.  Burton  noted  that 
they  were  so  crowded  on  the  canal  boat  that  the  passengers  could 
"scarcely  stir,  all  lay  in  heaps  in  the  Cabin"  (April  12).  Conditions 
later  for  deck  passengers  on  the  Ohio  River  steamboat  Iowa  were 
little  better.  "When  we  go  to  rest,"  remarked  Mrs.  Burton,  "the  Deck 
is  covered"  (April  22).^ 

Besides  its  inconveniences  and  difficult  traveling  accommoda- 
tions, Mrs.  Burton  reveals  that  the  Main  Line  was  considered  by  some 
to  be  more  dangerous  than  other  routes.  Charles  Dickens,  who 
traveled  the  Main  Line  in  1842,  said  that  the  Alleghany  Portage  was 
"not  to  be  dreaded  for  its  dangers"  and,  in  fact,  his  journey  was 
without  incident.^  Mrs.  Burton,  on  the  other  hand,  witnessed  cars 
on  the  Philadelphia  and  Columbia  Railroad  "run  off  the  track" 
and  passengers  thrown  "headlong  among  the  Iron  Rails"  (April  11). 
On  April  24  she  reported  that  they  heard  "that  many  and  distressing 
accidents  have  occurred  on  the  [Alleghany  Portage]  Rail  Road  since 
we  crossed"— men  crushed  to  death  in  collisions  and  cars  coming 
within  inches  of  disaster.  Aboard  the  Iowa  Mrs.  Burton  reflected  on 
the  choice  of  the  Main  Line  route  to  Illinois.  "Some  who  have 
travelled  the  Erie  Canal  Route  and  this,"  she  wrote,  "give  this  the 
prefference,  but  I  think  that  route  has  fewer,  what  we  call,  dangerous 
places,  than  this,  therefore  I  should  certainly  choose  that  route, 
were  I  to  come  again"  (April  25). 

As  can  be  expected,  Mrs.  Burton  and  a  seasoned  traveler  like 
Dickens  disagreed  about  traveling  conditions  on  the  Main  Line.  It 
is  likely  that  the  feelings  and  thoughts  of  many  of  the  emigrants 
during  the  period  resembled  Mrs.  Burton's.  Dickens  was  confident 
that,  his  American  journey  completed,  London  and  publication  of 
his  notes  awaited  him.  Mrs.  Burton,  however,  embarked  for  Illinois 
knowing  only  that  behind  her  were  "many  acquaintances  and  friends 
that  I  had  not  expected  ever  to  meet  again  in  this  world"  (April  1) 
and  that  all  security  ahead  depended  on  the  physical  and  spiritual 
strength  of  her  family  and  community. 

Sustaining  the  Burtons  and  their  party  through  the  trials  of  the 


SARAH  FENN  BURTON'S  DIARY  1 17 


journey  was  a  determination  to  survive,  shown  in  the  general  ob- 
servance of  domestic  rules  and  customs.  Mrs.  Burton  forbids  her 
children  to  attend  a  New  York  "Museum"  and  a  Philadelphia 
"Theatre"  (April  9)  and  separates  her  family  from  "a  world  of  sin" 
(April  19)  where  people  labor,  swear,  and  drink  on  the  Sabbath. 
More  significant,  however,  are  the  group's  prayer  meetings,  which 
were  organized  as  often  as  conditions  permitted,  with  the  head  of 
each  family  taking  a  turn  as  leader.  Throughout  the  journey  the 
Burtons'  party  tried  to  remain  a  New  England  community,  if  not 
in  fact,  at  least  in  spirit.  Perhaps  like  many  of  Illinois'  New  England 
colonists  of  the  1850's,  the  Burtons  had  been  urged  by  earlier 
settlers— their  former  Yankee  neighbors— and  western  Congrega- 
tionalist  pastors  "to  come  and  help  to  save  the  West  for  God."^ 
In  any  case,  they  brought  with  them  Yankee  ideas  of  morality  and 
culture  and  endeavored  to  cultivate  them  on  the  prairie. 

In  a  very  real  sense,  the  Burtons'  community  arrived  intact  in 
Illinois  and  there  discovered  other  communities  which  were  nearly 
identical  to  the  ones  left  in  Connecticut.  The  Burtons  were  tempo- 
rarily taken  in  by  Connecticut  Congregational ists  who  had  come  to 
Adams  County  in  1831  and  established  the  town  of  Fairfield  in  1833. 
Fairfield  was,  according  to  Mrs.  Burton,  a  New  England  village  of  ten 
or  twelve  families  transplanted  and  thriving  on  the  Illinois  prairie. 
The  settlers  had  organized  a  Sabbath  school  and  weekly  prayer  meet- 
ings in  April  of  1832,  nearly  a  year  before  founding  the  Guilford 
Church— the  first  Congregationalist  church  to  be  formed  in  Illinois. 
Prior  to  this  no  church  in  Illinois  was  organized  initially  as  Congre- 
gationalist.^ 

By  the  fall  of  1835  the  Burtons  and  some  of  the  other  families 
which  had  made  the  journey  with  them— the  Cooks,  Terrels,  and 
Adkinses— settled  near  the  boundary  of  Hancock  and  Schuyler 
counties.  In  1836  they  established  the  town  of  Plymouth  and  organ- 
ized a  Congregationalist  church,  meeting  at  the  homes  of  the  Burtons 
and  the  Terrels  until  the  church  building  was  completed  in  1837. 
Their  Fairfield  friends  supplied  a  minister  once  a  month  to  preach 
to  them.  A  Sabbath  school,  organized  in  the  spring  of  1835,  fell 
under  the  management  of  Nathan  Fenn  Burton  who  expanded  its 
services  by  establishing  missions  in  the  surrounding  area.^ 

When  Nathan  Burton  died  in  1849,  his  family  was  firmly  estab- 
lished. Nathan  Fenn  Burton  inherited  his  father's  land  outside  Round 
Prairie.  One  of  the  first  acknowledged  abolitionists  in  the  area,  he 
operated  an  underground  railroad  station  at  his  home.  Slaves  escap- 
ing from  Missouri  were  hidden  in  a  basement  beneath  his  kitchen. ^° 
Another  son,  Daniel  W.  Burton,  served  for  twenty-four  years  as 
secular  agent  at  the  American  Missionary  Association's  Mendi  Mis- 
sion on  Sherbro  Island  off  Sierra  Leone.  Among  his  many  accomp- 


118 


WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


The  home  of  Nathan  and  Sarah  Burton  was  just  east  of  present-day  Plymouth. 
This  photograph  shows  the  summer  kitchen,  which  had  a  basement  where 
slaves  were  hidden. 


lishments  was  the  raising  of  the  boy  later  baptized  Barnabas  Walker 
Root,  who  was  taken  to  the  United  States  and  in  1864  enrolled  at 
Knox  College  in  Galesburg,  Illinois.  Daniel  W.  Burton  and  also 
Nathan  Fenn  Burton,  whose  own  sons  were  one  year  junior  to  Root 
at  Knox,  acted  as  Root's  guardians  and  intermediaries  with  the 
American  Missionary  Association.  Root  graduated  from  Knox  in 
1870— the  first  black  to  graduate  from  an  Illinois  college— and 
from  the  Chicago  Theological  Seminary  in  1873.^^ 

Sarah  Fenn  Burton's  diary  was  passed  to  her  daughter,  Nancy  A. 
Burton  Whipple,  the  wife  of  Edward  Whipple,  whose  farm  was 
adjacent  to  that  of  Nathan  Burton.  It  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
Whipple  family  until  1957  when  Margaret  Burton  Edmunds,  great 
granddaughter  of  Sarah  Fenn  Burton,  gave  it  to  the  Knox  College 
Library. 

The  diary  consists  of  fifteen  stabbed  conjugate  and  disjunct 
leaves,  measuring  17  by  19  centimeters.  All  manuscript  spellings  have 
been  preserved  in  this  edition.  Obvious  omissions,  however,  have 
been  corrected  in  brackets.  Errors  of  addition  have  been  identified 


SARAH  FENN  BURTON'S  DIARY  119 


with  [sic] .  The  manuscript's  punctuation  has  been  retained  for  the 
most  part.  IVIrs.  Burton  consistently  omitted  punctuation,  particu- 
larly at  the  edges  of  the  leaves.  Punctuation  has  been  added  silently 
where  an  accurate  reading  demanded  it. 

Wednesday  April  1st.  1835.  Started  from  home  about  3  Ock. 
afternoon.  Arrived  at  my  Mother's  in  Plymouth  in  the  evening. 
Stayed  with  her  until  Tuesday  the  7th.  On  Sabbath  eve  a  meeting 
was  held  at  the  Schoolhouse  in  Terry  Ville  professedly  on  our 
account,  when  prayers  were  offered  up  to  God  on  our  behalf,  and  I 
trust  we  parted  with  our  Plymouth  friends  in  friendship  and  good 
feelings.  Tuesday  morning  at  7  Ock.  took  my  final  leave  of  my  dear 
Mother.  Parted  with  my  dear  Sisters  the  day  previous.  Arrived  in 
New  Haven  towards  evening.  Saw  many  acquaintances  and  friends 
that  I  had  not  expected  ever  to  meet  again  in  this  world. 

Wednesday  8th.  At  7  in  the  morning  embarked  on  board  the 
Steam  Boat  Superior,  Capt.  Stone.  Our  company  consisting  of  42 
souls  are  now  sailing  down  the  Sound  all  in  good  health  (colds 
excepted). ^^  Have  just  passed  Milford  and  Stratford.  Eleven  Ock. 
Have  passed  Bridge  Port  &  Norwalk.  What  a  day  this.  My  dear 
Brother  who  brought  me  and  my  family  to  New-Haven,  came  on 
board  and  bade  me  farewell.  With  what  sorrow  I  parted  with  him, 
a  kind  and  loving  brother.  May  a  kind  Providence  ever  provide  for 
him  and  his  and  I  sincerely  hope  the  time  may  come  that  we  shall 
yet  meet  on  earth  [and]  spend  many  happy  days  of  joy  to  gether, 
but  if  not  may  we  at  last  meet  in  heaven. 

Thursday  9th.  A  beautiful  morning.  Last  night  lodged  on  board 
the  boat  we  came  to  New  York  in.  This  morning  walked  through  a 
number  of  streets  a  mile  or  more  and  went  on  board  the  Steam-Boat 
Swan,  Capt.  [blank]  for  Philadelphia  at  7  Ock.^^  A  beautiful  Boat 
but  crowded  with  passengers.  At  ten  left  the  Steam  Boat.  Took  a 
seat  in  a  Car,  and  for  the  first  time  in  life  went  on  a  Rail  Road. 
Beautiful  riding,  but  it  seemed  to  me  hazardous.  We  went  at  the  rate 
of  one  mile  in  3/4  minutes.  Went  this  thirty-six  miles  to  Amboy, 
then  took  the  Steam  Boat  Trenton,  Capt.  Jenkins,  for  Philadelphia 
and  arrived  there  at  [blank]. ^"^  Waited  on  board  till  night  in  order 
that  our  husbands  might  make  arrangement  to  proceed  on  our 
journey  as  speedily  as  possible.  God  has  been  thus  far  very  merciful 
to  us  and  prospered  us  on  our  way  beyond  what  we  could  have 
anticipated,  and  let  our  hearts  be  warm  with  gratitude  to  him  for 
every  expression  of  his  goodness  to  us  as  well  as  for  this.  Thursday 
night  lodged  at  [blank].  Left  there  at  eleven  on  the  morning  of 
Friday  and  marched  through  several  streets  to  Broad  Street.  Stopped 
at  Mathew's  Hotel.  Mathews  being  the  name  of  my  dear  Mother  I 
derive  a  sort  of  pleasure  from  the  circumstance  of  embarking  from 


120  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


this  house.  The  children  in  our  connpany  are  very  noisy  but  not 
quarrelsome.  While  on  board  at  N.  York  an  acquaintance  Mr.  [blank] 
came  on  Deck  to  see  us,  warmly  solicited  me  to  allow  my  children 
to  go  with  him  to  walk  and  to  the  Museum.  Yesterday  a  new  ac- 
quaintance, a  person  of  gentteel  appearance  asked  me  to  permit  my 
daughters  to  go  with  him  to  the  Theatre  here  in  Philadelphia.^^  I 
refused  in  both  cases  and  I  pray  God  in  mercy  to  give  me  and  my 
children  resolution  and  above  all,  grace,  to  withstand  every  tempta- 
tion to  evil. 

Saturday  11th.  Was  awaked  by  the  cry  of  fire.  The  fire  was  in 
the  same  street  with  us  and  but  a  little  distance  from  us.  I  had  a  full 
view  of  it  while  lying  on  my  pillow.  It  was  the  first  view  of  the  kind 
I  ever  witnessed.  The  alarm  of  the  bells  ringing,  men  hallowing, 
engines  playing,  dogs  barking,  the  flames  ascending,  and  all  display- 
ing a  most  terrific  appearance.  How  it  reminded  me  of  that  day  when 
the  trumpet  shall  sound.  Will  the  Lord  in  mercy  prepare  me  for  that 
day,  and  may  every  day  be  spent  as  tho  it  were  the  last.  0  let  me 
never  forget  the  horrors  of  the  past  night,  but  let  me  improve  every 
passing  event  in  a  manner  that  will  benefit  me  and  my  family,  and 
glorify  my  God.  We  are  to  start  on  Rail  Road  at  8  for  Columbia. 
The  Company  all  well.  Have  paid  our  passage  to  Pittsburg.  Started 
at  8.  Every  [thing]  went  smoothly  for  upwards  of  40  miles  when  a 
number  of  the  cars  run  off  the  track.  The  car  the  Emigrants  were  in 
and  on  fell  and  precipitated  a  number  of  persons  that  were  on  the 
top  headlong  among  the  Iron  Rails.  No  essential  injury  was  done  to 
any  person.  Two  of  the  cars  were  broken.  One  was  left.  The  one  we 
were  in  was  able  to  pass  on  and  we  arrived  just  at  sunset  at  Columbia 
and  found  to  our  great  surprise  that  the  two  Cars  which  contained 
our  baggage  had  been  left  almost  back  to  Philadelphia,  contrary  to 
our  expectations  and  contrary  to  the  firm  contract  of  the  Agent 
whose  recipt  we  took  when  we  paid  him  between  5  &  6  hundred 
dollars  for  the  safe  conveyance  of  ourselves  and  our  baggage  to 
Pittsburg. ^^  I  think  it  the  duty  of  Individuals  and  Companies  thus 
imposed  upon  to  bring  these  men  to  an  account  for  their  conduct, 
or  else  publish  them  their  proceedings  to  the  world  that  other 
emmigrants  and  tra[ve]llers  may  understand  with  whom  they  have 
to  deal  and  act  accordingly.  I  think  we  erred  in  paying  before  hand. 

Sabbath  morning,  12th.^^  So  much  crowded  that  we  can  scarcely 
stir,  all  lay  in  heaps  in  the  Cabin.  The  children  say  3  or  4  cry  inces- 
santly. How  shall  we  spend  this  Sabbath  acceptable  to  God.  The 
boat  continues  to  move.  We  have  just  passed  Harrisburg.  Have  no 
opportunity  to  view  the  country,  and  I  find  I  have  not  much  in- 
clination. The  safety  of  ourselves  and  our  children  together  with 
the  anxiety  we  feel  on  account  of  our  baggage  being  left  behind 
occupies  all  our  attention.  May  the  God  of  all  the  families  of  the 


SARAH  FENN  BURTON'S  DIARY  121 


earth  protect  us  from  harm  and  especially  from  sin  the  greatest  of 
all  evils.  May  he  in  mercy  help  us  to  keep  this  sabbath  holy. 

Monday  13th.  Kept  the  sabbath  in  a  most  unholy  manner.  Made 
up  our  minds  to  have  religious  exercises  on  board  partly  owing  to 
the  absence  of  the  Capt.  in  the  forepart  of  the  day  whose  permission 
we  thought  it  proper  to  ask,  and  partly  I  fear  from  indifference.  He 
was  present  in  the  afternoon  and  gave  us  permission  to  hold  a  meet- 
ing. We  were  about  to  commence  and  had  invited  a  Mr.  Lawrence, 
a  Methodist  Minister  who  is  journeying  on  to  Illinois,  to  preach  to 
us,  when  we  were  deterred  by  hearing  that  the  boat  was  soon  to 
cross  the  Susquehanna  River,  and  we  were  aware  that  it  must  of 
course  very  much  interrupt  our  meeting  and  indeed  spoil  it.^^  Of 
course  we  had  no  meeting,  a  circumstance  to  be  lamented.  May  the 
Lord  in  mercy  pardon  our  indifference,  and  incline  us  to  be  more 
zealous  in  his  cause.  In  the  afternoon  we  had  a  great  fright.  A  knock 
of  the  boat  was  so  hard  that  [it]  broke  the  gate  to  a  Lock  through, 
and  by  the  splashing  of  the  water  and  the  screeches  of  passengers 
we  in  the  Cabin  feared  that  many  of  our  children  on  deck  must  have 
been  knocked  overboard.  Indeed  we  almost  knew  they  were.  It  was 
soon  however  ascertained  that  no  one  was  hurt.  When  in  great  danger 
and  sudden  alarm,  we  fear  and  tremble,  but  how  soon  forgotten. 
Grant  Lord  we  may  have  thy  fear  ever  before  us  that  we  sin  not 
against  thee.  This  morning  rainy,  the  first  rain  we  have  had  since 
we  started.  12  Oclock.  It  has  cleared  off  very  pleasant.  Today  have 
passed  Lewistown.  This  is  a  very  romantic  country.  I  have  viewed 
but  a  little.  We  are  on  the  Alleghany  Mountain.  What  a  world  of  sin. 
People  appear  to  follow  their  usual  occupations  on  God's  holy  day. 
We  have  heard  less  profanity  than  I  expected,  but  yesterday  several 
large  decanters  and  bottles  were  filled  by  the  waiter  from  this  Cabin's 
Closet  and  carried  in  to  the  gentlemen's  Cabin.  I  was  sorry  to  witness 
it  and  feared  the  consequences.  This  Canal  Boat  is  called  Doctor 
Lehman,  Capt.  Morgan,  a  very  pleasant  and  accommodating  man 
(eighty  passengers  on  board,  fifty  of  whom  are  for  Illinois).  This 
morning  found  some  yarn  in  my  basket  and  began  to  knit  a  little, 
and  clothing  all  left  behind.  Know  not  when  it  will  arrive.  Perhaps 
never. 

Tuesday  14th.  Last  night  had  our  families  collected  in  the  Ladies' 
Cabin.  Had  a  chapter  read,  and  singing.  Then  a  prayer  was  offered  up 
by  Mr.  Hart  who  with  his  family  is  going  to  Jacksonville  as  steward 
of  the  College. ^^  This  morning  we  were  at  a  place  called  Huntington. 
We  did  not  see  much  of  the  place.  The  buildings  we  saw  were  of 
brick  and  stone  four  stories  high.  They  appear  singular,  the  buildings 
generally,  except  in  the  large  towns,  being  the  most  miserable  look- 
ing things  for  dwellings  that  I  ever  saw.  This  morning  assembled  our 
households  in  the  Cabin.  Read  the  scriptures,  and  a  prayer  was  made 


122  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


by  Mr.  Lawrence  our  Methodist  friend.  All  are  well  except  Daniel. 
He  canne  into  the  Cabin  early  in  the  morning  quite  sick  with  the 
headache,  and  connplains  greatly  of  pain  in  his  eyes.  The  weather  is 
quite  cold  to  day  here  on  the  mountain.  Considerable  ice,  and  it 
snows.  Indeed  a  good  fire  is  necessary  to  make  us  comfortable  here 
in  our  tight  little  Cabin.  Thirty  two  lodge  in  this  little  room  and 
there  is  not  room  scarcely  to  stand  when  we  are  all  in.  Daniel  groans 
and  I  fear  he  is  going  to  be  very  sick. 

Wednesday  15th.  Last  night  had  evening  devotions  in  the  Cabin, 
led  by  Mr.  Lawrence.  Arrived  at  Hollidiesburg  about  10.  Slept  on 
board.  Tedious  night.  Cold  weather.  The  Harbour  or  basin  frozen 
over  in  part.  Breakfasted  on  board,  standing.  Soon  after  left  the 
boat,  bade  the  Capt.  farewell  and  walked  to  the  Hotel  to  spend  one 
day  at  least  to  wait  for  the  Transportation  cars  to  carry  us  on  Rail 
Road  over  the  mountain  thirty  six  miles,  to  the  other  part  of  the 
Canal  that  is  to  land  us  at  Pittsburg.  Daniel  quite  sick  and  I  very 
much  fear  a  bit  of  sickness  will  be  the  consequence.  I  suppose  his 
sickness  was  occasioned  by  his  bad  lodging,  exposure  to  the  cold 
night  air  &c.  1  Oclock.  Daniel  better.  We  have  dined  at  the  Hotel  on 
tough  Old  hens.  We  can  stay  here  24  hours  for  one  dollar  each. 
Part  of  our  company  have  gone  on.  Mr.  Raynolds'  family,  Mr. 
Lawrence's  family,  and  Nathan,  Henry,  Charles,  and  Andrew  have 
gone  along  with  them  in  the  Cars,  to  remain  at  John's  Town  for  us. 
I  have  a  thousand  anxieties  on  their  account  lest  they  should  be  hurt 
while  we  are  separated  from  them.  I  think  it  a  wrong  step  for  parents 
and  Children  to  separate  while  journeying.  The  cares  and  anxieties 
and  [sic]  great  enough  while  we  keep  to  gether,  but  how  infinitely 
are  they  increased  when  we  are  parted  and  our  inexperienced  boys 
sent  on  among  strangers.  Whether  we  shall  ever  meet  again  is  known 
only  [by]  him  who  directs  all  things.  I  wish  to  be  resigned  at  all 
times  but  find  it  hard.  Took  tea  at  the  Hotel  and  had  comfortable 
lodging  for  a  part  of  us.  The  remainder  fared  as  they  could. 

Thursday  16th.  All  well  this  morning.  Breakfasted  at  the  Hotel 
(good  breakfasted).  Started  at  9  to  cross  the  Mountain.  Carried  over 
in  a  wonderful  manner,  part  of  the  way  by  stationary  steam  Engines, 
called  Locomotives,  part  of  the  way  by  horse  power,  and  part  of  the 
way,  by  nothing  at  all,  where  the  level  as  it  [is]  called,  is  a  little 
descending.  At  half  past  eleven  we  reached  the  top  of  the  Allegany 
Mountain.  At  half  past  two  came  to  the  Conemaugh  River,  the  first 
we  have  seen  of  the  western  waters.  Passed  a  village  called  Guinea. 
A  great  many  log  huts.  I  was  told  by  the  Capt.  that  this  place  had 
grown  up  with  the  Rail  Road  within  the  last  two  years,  and  was 
called  Guinea  in  consequence  of  the  proprietor  being  a  coulered  man. 
This  Rail  Road  is  a  most  surprising  work.  The  first  Car  was  run 
through  thirteen  months  ago,  and  now  it  is  filled  with  Cars  loaded 


SARAH  FENN  BURTON'S  DIARY 


123 


A  Norris  locomotive  of  about  1840,  which  was  famous  for  surmounting  the 
Belmont  incline  on  the  Philadelphia  and  Columbia  Railroad. 


^  :J^s^fiEt-it  ■*<*«^  KTJ—ri 


An  Ohio  River  steamboat  of  1837. 


124  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

with  passengers,  or  luggage. ^°  Some  carry  fifty  passengers,  as  was 
the  case  with  the  one  our  sons  came  on  yesterday.  No  accident 
occurred.  At  twenty  minutes  past  five  arrived  at  what  is  called  the 
Tunnel.  The  Rail  Road  runs  through  the  mountain  320  yards,  solid 
rock.  The  mountain  over  the  each  is  more  than  nine  hundred  feet 
in  depth  (a  dark  place  in  the  middle,  3  minutes  in  passing). ^^ 

Friday  morning  17th.  Last  night  stept  out  of  the  Car  into  the 
boat.  Met  with  our  sons  all  well.  Found  the  boat  so  crowded  with 
passengers  that  three  of  our  families,  Mr.  Adkins,  Mr.  Hatch,  the 
Engineer  and  ourselves  went  on  shore  to  wait  for  another  boat  and 
our  baggage.  We  traveled  through  the  street,  mud  and  snow  more 
than  ancle  deep,  to  the  public  house  where  we  were  comfortably 
lodged.  The  weather  this  (Saturday)  morning  is  somewhat  pleasant, 
tho  cold.  The  mud  frozen  up  and  the  ground  covered  with  snow. 
Yesterday  it  snowed  hard  a  considerable  part  of  the  way  over  the 
mountain.  This  place  in  John's  Town,  a  place  of  considerable  note, 
being  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  west  side  of  the  Allegany  Moun- 
tains. Breakfasted  at  the  public  house.  Went  on  board  the  Canal 
boat  Belvidere,  Capt.  Orcutt,  at  about  2  Oclock  in  the  afternoon. 
Found  a  very  comfortable  place. 

Saturday  18th.  Came  near  to  the  dam,  a  dangerous  place,  about  a 
week  since  a  boat  went  over  the  dam  and  the  Capt.  was  drowned. 
12  Oclock.  An  accident  has  just  happened.  We  had  passed  the  dam 
and  just  about  to  enter  the  Tunnel  when  the  horses  attached  to  this 
boat,  by  some  means  or  other  fell  into  the  Canal.  They  struggled 
hard  and  finally  by  the  help  of  the  passengers,  one  was  saved.  The 
other  was  drowned.  The  boat  was  then  drawn  by  hand  about  two 
miles.  We  went  through  The  Tunnel,  that  is,  the  Canal  goes  through 
the  mountain  eight  hundred  feet.  We  passed  under  a  man's  house, 
barn  and  well  of  water,  and  good  farm.  The  Canal  then  crossed  over 
the  Conemaugh  River,  which  having  received  the  Indian  Creek,  is 
now  as  large  as  the  Housatonic.  We  pass  smoothly  along.  Very  little 
noise.  No  crying  of  children,  and  not  very  much  crowded.  Pleasant 
company,  and  on  the  whole  we  pass  our  time  as  pleasantly  as  could 
well  be  imagined.  Abiah  complains  of  the  headache  and  is  quite 
drooping.  Sarah  and  myself  cough  badly.  Our  baggage  behind  yet. 
Of  course  we  have  no  clean  clothes  yet.  Icicles  on  the  sides  of  the 
mountains.  Indeed  we  passed  one  place  where  the  side  of  the  moun- 
tain was  literally  covered  with  ice. 

Sunday  19th.  Passed  over  the  Allegany  River  in  the  Aqueduct 
and  landed  this  morning  at  Pittsburg.  Had  prayers  this  morning  on 
board  the  boat,  offered  by  Husband.  Have  very  still  house  kept  by 
Mr.  Fluck.  This  place  seems  more  like  New  England  than  any  we 
have  yet  been  at.  The  bells  ringing  for  Church,  and  Sunday  School. 
Twenty  7  Churches,  all  well  filled  and  it  is  said  that  there  isuncom- 


SARAH  FENN  BURTON'S  DIARY  125 


mon  attention  at  this  time  paid  to  Religion.  We  have  passed  only  one 
house  that  we  thought  the  house  of  God,  in  coming  through  the 
whole  state  of  Pennsylvania  except  in  the  large  towns  as  Philadelphia, 
Lancaster  &c. 

Monday  20th.  Last  night  had  prayers  in  our  room,  offered  by 
Mr.  Hatch.  After  we  had  gone  to  rest,  in  the  night  had  a  hard  thunder 
shower.  To  day  is  pleasant,  and  we  expect  to  go  on  board  a  Steam 
Boat  for  St.  Louis.  We  stay  in  this  house  for  STA  cents  per  day, 
each  one.  Abiah  is  better  having  had  a  severe  sickness  of  about  two 
days  and  nights.  I  have  been  very  unwell  myself  but  this  morning  am 
better.  Went  out  today  some.  Purchased  six  Bibles  for  our  children. 
Showery  weather. 

Tuesday  21st.  Part  of  our  goods  arrived.  Eight  boxes  back. 
Every  family  has  a  part  of  their  goods  back.  Great  imposition  prac- 
tised upon  travellers.  Good  house  where  we  are,  and  kind  people. 
Last  night  had  prayers  in  our  room,  offered  by  Mr.  Adkins.  One  of 
their  children  sick,  such  as  ours  were.  Have  been  out  to  day  and  saw 
wonders.  The  Nail  factory  is  a  surprising  piece  of  machinery,  pro- 
pelled by  steam.  Have  paid  one  dollar  and  1272  cents  at  the  silver- 
smith's. Have  just  heard  that  the  next  day  after  we  crossed  the 
mountain,  the  rope  broke  and  a  Car  of  baggage  went  back  down  the 
mountain  and  was  dashed  to  pieces,  and  the  wheels  to  a  Car  of 
passengers  were  broken.  So  we  find  that  accidents  do  occur  on  the 
Rail  Road.  (At  noon)  Have  seen  an  old  scholar,  Mr.  Leverith  Kasson, 
also  a  Mr.  Root  of  Woodbury.  Have  seen  some  cheese  made  by  Mrs. 
Martin  Lewis  of  Ohio,  and  brought  here  a  few  days  since  by  Mr. 
Elmathin  Galpin. 

Wednesday  22nd,  at  sunset.  Have  spent  this  day  and  last  night 
on  board  the  Steam  Boat  Iowa,  Capt.  Belmont.  A  very  crowded 
Boat.  When  we  go  to  rest,  the  Deck  is  covered.  The  bell  has  rung. 
We  expect  soon  to  sail.  Our  goods  have  just  arrived.  Where  we  shall 
next  land  we  know  not.  It  may  be  in  Eternity. 

Thursday  23rd.  Held  a  Temperance  meeting  on  board  the  boat. 
Appointed  Officers.  Sung  a  hymn.  Husband  President.  Mr.  Hatch 
Secretary.  28  members.  Past  Wheeling. 

Friday  24th.  All  well  and  going  forward  fast.  This  morning 
passed  Galliopolis  and  Point  Pleasant  which  lies  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Great  Kanahwa  River.  Appletrees  in  full  bloom.  Forests  green.  A 
merciful  God  has  so  far  carried  us  safely  on  our  journey.  We  have 
heard  by  passengers  that  came  in  the  Cars  and  after  us,  that  many 
and  distressing  accidents  have  occured  on  the  Rail  Road  since  we 
crossed.  In  one  instance  the  cars  took  five  and  seventy  trunks  only, 
out  of  three  hundred  were  saved.  Some  families  lost  all  the  property 
they  possessed.  We  have  heard  of  two  being  killed  in  consequence  of 
having  their  legs  crushed,  and  one  man  was  instantly  crushed  to 


126  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


death,  just  as  the  Car  was  entering  the  Tunnel.  Men  were  at  work  in 
the  Tunnel  when  we  passed  and  appeared  to  be  pounding  at  the  rock 
at  the  bottom.  When  these  passed  they  were  doing  the  same  and 
it  seems  that  a  little  stone  flew  and  lodged  on  the  rail.  It  instantly 
turned  the  Car  off  the  track  and  crushed  the  man,  and  the  Car  came 
within  3  or  4  inches  of  being  precipitated  down  the  precipice. 

Saturday  25th.  This  morning  at  Cincinnati.  A  grand  place.  On 
the  opposite  shore  lie  Coventry  and  Freeport,  divided  by  the  Licking 
River. ^^  A  gentleman  came  on  board  this  morning  and  found  us  out. 
He  said  he  would  try  to  persuade  the  Capt.  to  stay  till  he  could  send 
a  man  or  go  himself  on  his  own  horse  and  let  Doctor  Beecher  know 
that  we  were  here,  and  he  would  surely  be  here  shortly,  but  nothing 
would  induce  the  Capt.  to  stay  a  moment.^  Indeed  our  husbands 
think  him  the  most  savage  man  they  ever  saw,  and  he  possesses  no 
disposition  to  accommodate  his  passengers  in  any  respect  whatever. 
What  a  great  undertaking  to  move  to  Illinois.  Some  who  have  trav- 
elled the  Erie  Canal  Route  and  this,  give  this  the  prefference,  but  I 
must  think  that  route  has  fewer,  what  we  call,  dangerous  places, 
than  this,  therefore  I  should  certainly  choose  that  route,  were  I  to 
come  again.  In  every  boat  we  find  people  who  are  moving  on  to 
Illinois.  Some  very  pleasant.  Here  is  a  family  on  board  going  there. 
Ten  in  number.  Quakers.  One  Lady  in  her  eightieth  year.  We  have 
become  acquainted  with  them  and  find  them  very  intelligent  and 
interesting.  They  are  going  to  Rushville  where  they  have  three  sons 
settled.  We  have  just  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  River. 
On  course.  We  are  now  against  Indiana.  A  great  part  of  our  way  has 
been  through  a  very  mountainous,  country.  The  mountains  are  high 
and  steep,  and  in  many  places,  the  Coalmines  are  almost  at  the  top, 
and  the  inhabitants,  live  in  log  cabins  on  the  banks  of  the  rivers, 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountains.  They  have  narrow  railroads,  just  for 
their  little  black  Cars,  to  bring  their  coal  down  the  mountain. 
These  Rail  Roads  appear  to  be  some  what  steeper  than  a  pair  of 
Connecticut  stairs,  and  extend  in  a  straight  line  almost  to  the  clouds. 
It  makes  me  dizzy  to  gaze  at  them.  Every  thing  here  goes  by  steam. 

Sunday  26th.  This  morning  found  ourselves  at  Louisville.  A  great 
and  growing  city.  Large,  elegant  brick  buildings.  Seven  front  doors 
in  each  story,  to  the  one  opposite  the  place  where  the  boat  lay. 
Every  one  we  see  is  pursuing  his  usual  occupation  on  this  holy  day. 
This  morning  the  boat  entered  the  Canal  to  get  round  the  Rapids  in 
the  Ohio.  It  is  a  most  surprising  work.  The  walls  of  hewn  stone,  at 
the  locks  exceed  any  thing  of  the  kind  I  ever  saw.^"*  We  passed  safe, 
guarded  by  that  Almighty  arm  that  alone  can  save.  After  we  were  on 
the  River  again,  it  was  thought  proper  to  assemble  our  families  and 
have  some  religious  exercises.  A  chapter  was  read,  and  some  other 
reading.  A  prayer  was  offered  by  Mr.  Hatch,  and  several  hymns  were 


SARAH  FENN  BURTON'S  DIARY  127 


sung,  I  must  just  mention  an  incident  that  tool<  place  last  night  to 
show  how  many  things  there  are  to  distract  us  on  our  journey. 
When  collecting  our  family  for  supper  Daniel  was  missing.  One  place 
and  an  other  searched  but  nothing  could  be  found  of  him.  The 
alarm  was  great.  Every  place  but  one  searched,  and  we  supposed  he 
must  be  in  the  River,  but  how  far  back  we  knew  not  for  we  sailed 
very  fast,  and  knew  not  how  long  he  had  been  gone.  Finally  a  little 
place  was  thought  of  where  the  boy  goes  to  scour  the  knives,  and 
there  Daniel  was  found  helping  the  little  boy.  In  one  case  Henry 
was  missing.  It  was  at  John's  Town  after  we  had  got  on  board  the 
Canal  Boat.  We  supposed  he  must  have  fallen  into  the  Canal,  and 
our  alarm  was  very  great.  I  think  I  may  say  that  I  have  heard  more 
profanity  on  this  boat,  than  all  I  ever  heard  in  my  life  before. 

Monday  27th.  All  well  this  morning.  Daniel  had  a  severe  cholic 
last  night,  but  is  now  over  it  and  well.  How  thankful  ought  we  to 
be  for  every  mercy  and  yet  how  unthankful.  We  get  along  pretty 
fast  and  so  far  safely.  We  expect  to  reach  St.  Louis  Wednesday 
morning,  nothing  happening  to  prevent.  Our  passage  from  Pittsburg 
to  St.  Louis  costs  us  sixty-five  dollars.  2  oclock  in  the  afternoon. 
Have  now  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash  River.  Of  course  we  are 
now  sailing  along  the  bank  of  Illinois.  The  country  looks  promising. 
The  foliage  of  the  trees  is  thick  and  in  blossom.  Grass  up,  what  in 
Connecticut  we  call  good  full  bite  for  cattle.  The  Captain  has 
stopped  to  take  in  wood.  The  male  passengers  have  about  all  gone 
on  shore,  the  first  time  of  setting  foot  on  Illinois.  There  is  great  joy 
on  all  hands.  Some  come  to  the  boat  loaded  with  flowers.  Six  kinds. 
Some  come  with  corn  stalks  of  last  years  growth.  Very  brown. 
The  tops  are  broken  off  where  the  stalks  are  as  large  as  a  yankee 
cornstalk,  and  still  they  are  eight  feet  high.  Husband  says  it  is  the 
richest  soil  he  ever  beheld  in  his  life. 

Tuesday  28th.  Three  weeks  since  we  left  Plymouth,  and  we  have 
now  entered  the  Mississippi  River.  Stopped  again  for  wood.  Men 
went  on  shore  again  to  make  more  discoveries.  Brought  more  flowers, 
particularly  the  Papua,  the  branch  of  a  kind  of  tree  I  never  saw 
before. ^^  It  hung  quite  full  of  blossoms,  and  it  bears  fruit  that  some 
people  are  very  fond  of.  They  brought  Spicebush,  violets  and  beauti- 
ful Licheadies,  or  nichniddys,  much  large[r]  than  the  common  ones, 
of  a  light  lilac  color,  and  very  fragrant.  They  grow  wild.  Our  men 
measured  a  tree.  It  is  twenty  eight  feet  in  circumference.  We  are 
all  well. 

Wednesday  29th.  All  well.  Weather  yesterday  and  today  extreme- 
ly warm.  Weather  I  should  think  as  warm  as  July  in  Connecticut. 
We  are  getting  up  the  Missisippi  slowly.  We  are  now  detained  for  a 
few  hours  to  have  the  engine  repaired.  The  Ladies  have  gone  on 
shore  to  make  new  discoveries.  They  find  a  new  plant  with  pods 


128  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


as  large  as  mustard  or  turnip.  This  year's  growth  and  filled  with 
seed.  Full  growth.  They  find  a  plant  resembling  mint  in  looks  but 
smelling  like  penerial. 

Thursday  30th.  All  well  and  going  slowly  up  the  river.  Money 
stolen  last  night.  A  search  on  board.  No  discovery,  altho  the  minds 
of  all  concerned  appear  to  be  satisfied  who  is  the  rogue.  The  money 
found,  the  one  suspected  proven  to  be  the  rogue.  Arrived  at  St. 
Louis  about  ten  this  evening.  A  splendid  place,  built  principally  of 
stone.  Many  boats  lying  at  the  bank  of  the  River. 

Friday  May  1st.  This  morning  prepared  to  leave  the  boat  and  go 
on  board  one  bound  for  Quincy.  Found  two  Cousin  Tharps  here  who 
had  come  early  from  Marine  Settlement,  to  market.^  They  were 
urgent  in  their  request  that  we  should  go  home  with  them  twenty- 
five  miles  and  spend  the  summer  with  them.  They  offered  to  carry 
us  home,  and  provide  for  us  and  our  things.  On  account  of  our 
things  which  would  have  to  be  moved  again,  it  was  thought  best  to 
go  first  to  Quincy  as  we  expect  to  settle  in  that  region,  and  visit 
our  Cousins  afterward.  Consequently  we  came  on  board  this  boat 
and  here  we  find  our  former  friends  Mr.  Lawrence  and  family  from 
whom  we  parted  at  Johnstown.  They  tell  us  of  a  sad  accident  that 
happened  on  their  boat.  A  man  fell  overboard  and  was  lost  at  Louis- 
ville. He  had  a  mother  and  family  on  board.  His  body  could  not 
be  found.  We  have  been  oblidged  to  part  with  most  of  the  company 
we  started  with.  Mr.  Hatch,  Cook,  Adkins  and  Raynolds  have  gone 
up  the  Illinois. ^^ 

Saturday  2nd.  All  well  this  morning.  Going  up  the  Missisippi, 
pretty  fast,  for  us.  A  sick  child  on  board,  from  Kentucky.  I  fear  the 
child  must  die.  It  is  eight  months  old.  The  parents  appear  pious.  It 
is  their  only  child.  Afternoon.  Mrs.  Terrel  is  quite  unwell.  Another 
sabbath  is  at  hand,  and  will  the  God  of  mercy  help  me  to  keep  this 
Sabbath    holy.    Have    interesting   conversation  on  various  subjects. 

Sabbath  3rd.  Mrs.  Terrel  better.  I  breakfasted  as  well  as  usual.  In 
the  forenoon  felt  something  unwell.  Could  eat  no  dinner.  Grew 
alarming  ill  towards  evening.  Arrived  at  Quincy  just  at  evening. 
I  could  not  walk  or  stand  alone,  but  was  got  on  shore  and  into  a 
waggon,  and  supported  by  husband  I  rode  half  a  mile  to  a  temper- 
ance tavern  and  was  laid  in  bed  for  the  night. •^^  I  think  I  can  say 
that  I  very  little  expected  to  see  the  light  of  another  day.  Henry  too 
was  taken  very  sick.  Our  disorder  was  a  diareah  which  seemed  to 
prostrate  us  at  once.  The  inhabitants  at  the  Inn  were  very  kind  to  us 
and  showed  us  every  kindness  possible.  They  told  us  that  almost 
everyone  that,  underwent  the  same  affliction,  that  it  was  owing  to 
the  bad  water  we  had  taken  on  board  the  boat. 

Monday  4th.  Spent  at  Mr.  Brown's  the  Temperance  inn.  Was 
unable  to  sit  up  at  all.  Thought  I  probably  should  never  move  from 


SA  RAH  FENN  BUR  TON'S  DIA  R  Y  129 

there.  No  appetite,  loathed  everything;  Henry  on  a  mattress  at  nny 
feet,  no  better,  and  Abiah  very  sick  of  the  same  disorder,  on  another 
bed  in  the  same  room.  All  the  family  disheartened.  Mrs.  Terrel 
homesick  as  possible  according  to  her  own  words.  Our  prospects 
were  truly  dismal,  but  the  Lord  reigns.  This  I  know,  and  that  my 
Redeemer  lives,  and  he  alone  can  send  deliverance. 

Tuesday  5th.  A  little  better.  Able  to  sit  up.  Henry  a  little  better. 
Abiah  better.  Afternoon  rode  with  a  Mr.  Burton  to  Fairfield  to  Mr. 
Piatt's,  sixteen  miles.^  Felt  better,  till  I  had  rode  about  ten  miles. 
After  that  grew  tired.  Rode  too  far.  Could  eat  no  supper.  Had  a  bad 
night.  Very  faint.  Thought  I  should  not  get  up  again  to  be  as  com- 
fortable as  I  had  been.  The  family  kind.  The  rest  of  our  family  and 
Mr.  Terrel's  excepting  Maria  safely  arrived.  Mr.  Terrel  doctors  us  and 
is  very  kind.'^^  Henry  better. 

Wednesday  6th.  (Thunder)  Better.  Went  on  horseback  more  than 
a  mile  to  Mr.  Bradley's  where  we  were  to  take  up  lodgings  for  the 
present.'^^  Found  it  very  snug.  Neat  Cabins,  and  what  is  more,  kind, 
agreeable  people.  We  are  comfortably  situated,  and  will  the  Lord, 
add  to  these  mercies.  Thankful  hearts,  in  each  of  us. 

Thursday  7th.  (Thunder)  One  month  since  I  left  my  dear 
Mother's.  We  are  all  better  but  Abiah.  She  seems  not  quite  so  well. 

Friday  8th.  (Rainy)  I  am  still  better.  Rebecca  and  I  have  washed 
our  dirty  clothes.  Henry  pretty  well  again.  Abiah  much  the  same. 
Nathan  taken  very  sick  of  the  headache  and  a  high  fever.  Sarah  un- 
able to  sit  up.  People  extremely  kind.  Col.  Baldwin,  has  made  us  a 
visit.  To  day  Dr.  Brown  and  Lady  have  both  visited  us,  and  invited 
us  to  go  to  their  house.^"^ 

Saturday  9th.  (Pleasant)  Children  about  the  same.  Sent  for  Mrs. 
Terrel  to  come  and  see  them.  Husband  gone  with  Mr.  Bradley's  son, 
to  Quincy  to  get  some  of  our  baggage.  Young  Mrs.  Bradley  has  called 
to  see  us.  A  very  pretty  woman. 

Sabbath  10th.  (Pleasant)  The  first  sabbath  spent  in  Illinois. 
Family  better.  Husband,  Self,  Sarah,  Henry,  Daniel,  and  Rebecca 
went  to  meeting  in  a  great  waggon  which  carried  thirteen  persons. 
The  meetinghouse  is  of  logs  and  it  was  pretty  well  filled  with  an 
attentive,  and  apparently  devout  audiance.^"^  I  should  think  the 
people  manifest  much  more  engagedness  in  Religion  here  than  the 
generality  of  Christians  do  at  the  east.  Mr.  Clark  the  Baptist  minister 
preached  in  the  afternoon  from  Ephesians  2nd.  8th.  "By  grace  are  ye 
saved,  through  faith,  and  that  not  of  yourselves,  it  is  the  gift  of 
God."  The  forenoon  was  spent  in  prayer,  that  is  a  prayermeeting  in 
the  meetinghouse.  In  the  evening.  Dr.  Brown  called  on  us  and  took 
Daniel  home  with  him  to  stay  a  while. 

Monday  11th.  (Clear)  Went  with  husband  across  the  Prairie  five 
miles,  to  Mr.  Hardy's  the  minister  of  the  town."^   He  has  gone  to 


130 


WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


1 


The  Burton  family  gravestone  in  the  Round  Prairie  or  Burton  Cemetery,  east 
of  Plymouth. 


SARAH  FENN  BURTON'S  DIARY  131 


attend  the  assembly  of  Ministers  at  Pittsburg  and  from  thence  to 
New  Hampshire  to  visit  his  parents,  and  regain  his  health  which  is 
poor.  Engaged  to  live  in  Mr.  Hardy's  cabin  for  the  present.  Mrs.  will 
stay  with  us  two  or  three  weeks,  then  she  expects  to  go  to  Jackson- 
ville to  spend  the  summer  with  her  mother.  She  has  a  babe  three 
weeks  old.  To  day  Charles,  Maria  and  May  Terrel  visited  our  children 
at  Mr.  Bradley's.  Family  all  better. 

Tuesday  12th.  (Cloudy)  Pretty  well.  Put  up  all  our  things,  and 
left  our  kind  friends  Mr.  Bradley's  family,  to  cross  the  Prairie  for  our 
new  home.  Arrived  there  about  noon.  Find  it  a  pleasant  home  and 
Mrs.  Hardy  a  fine  woman.  Our  nearest  neighbor  and  but  a  few  rods 
off,  is  the  good  Baptist  Minister  Mr.  Clark,  with  whom  I  hope  we 
shall  take  sweet  counsel  and  live  in  brotherly  love.  The  inhabitants 
in  this  town  are  remarkably  civil  and  decorous  in  their  behaviour. 
Nay  more.  They  are  some  of  the  best  bred  people  I  ever  lived  among. 
They  are  the  best  of  New  Englanders,  twenty  four  families  in  number. 
They  have  their  Sabbath  school,  their  Bible  Class  and  their  weekly 
prayer  meetings,  their  weekly  female  prayermeeting,  and  their  Ladies 
Sewing  Society,  and  what  more  I  have  not  yet  had  opportunity  to 
learn.  All  these  seem  to  be  entered  into  with  uncommon  interest 
and  zeal. 

Wednesday  13th.  (Pleasant)  Nothing  uncommon  occurred. 

Thursday  14th.  (Showery)  Husband  went  to  Quincy  to  get  some 
of  our  things.  Boys  worked  in  garden  some.  Mrs.  Clark  visited  us, 
and  we  had  a  very  pleasant  interview. 

Friday  15th.  (Clear)  All  well.  Our  things  or  some  of  them  arrived 
very  safe.  Find  nothing  injured  except  a  few  things  broken.  One 
plate,  two  wine  glasses,  two  teacups,  and  one  vial. 

Saturday  16th.  (Clear)  More  of  our  things  arrived.  Some  damaged 
a  little.  Our  summer  bonnets  injured  by  mildew. 

Sabbath  17th.  (Pleasant)  Went  to  meeting.  Heard  a  Mr.  Hurlburt 
from  Luke  15th.  8th.  Likewise  also  I  say  unto  you  that  there  is  joy 
in  in  [sic]  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteteth,  and  from  these 
words,  he  that  hath  not  the  spirit  of  Christ  is  none  of  his. 

Monday  18th.  (Pleasant)  Washed  for  Mrs.  Hardy  and  myself. 
Mr.  Terrel  and  wife  came  to  see  us. 

Tuesday  19th.  (Showery  thunder)  Husband  and  Mr.  Terrel  set 
out  to  view  the  country,  particularly  their  lots.  The  last  of  our  goods 
arrived  safely.  No  essential  damage  done  to  them. 

Wednesday  20th.  (Showery)  All  well.  Tired  of  looking  over  our 
things. 

Thursday  21st.  (Pleasant)  All  well.  Mrs.  Hardy  went  visiting  and 
we  were  left  alone  for  the  first  time.  Daniel  came  home  to  see  us. 

Friday  22nd.  (Pleasant)  All  well.  Dr.  Brown  called  to  see  us. 

Saturday  23rd.  All  well. 


132  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

Sabbath  24th.  Rainy.  All  stayed  at  home  from  meeting. 

Monday  25th.  Pleasant.  Washed.  Mrs.  Hardy  came  home. 

Tuesday,  26th.  Rain  and  thunder. 

Wednesday  27th.  Rain  and  thunder. 

Thursday  28th.  Pleasant  and  a  little  cooler  but  some  lightning  in 
the  evening.  It  has  thundered  and  lightened  almost  incessantly,  at  all 
hours  of  the  twenty  four  for  more  than  a  week,  one  day  excepted. 
Four  children  have  died  in  this  town  since  we  came  here,  three  in  one 
family.  Their  death  it  is  supposed  was  owing  to  fatigue  in  coming  on 
the  journey,  and  contagion  taken  on  the  River  and  Boat,  likewise 
want  of  suitable  care  care[sic]  and  necessary  comforts  of  life.  While 
others  have  suffered,  God  who  is  rich  in  mercy  has  supplied  our 
wants,  and  restored  those  of  us  that  were  sick  to  good  health,  and 
may  a  sense  of  daily  mercies  lead  us  to  daily  repentance  for  our  sins, 
and  renewed  gratitude  to  the  Author  of  all  our  mercies. 

Friday  29th.  A  pleasant  morning.  All  the  children  but  Abiah 
gone  to  Quincy  to  attend  a  protracted  meeting,  and  0  that  their 
souls  may  be  benefitted  by  this  meeting.  Husband  returned  home  at 
evening  with  Mr.  Adkins.  Brought  a  very  favorable  report  of  his  lots 
of  land. 

Saturday  30th.  Pleasant  morning.  Cloudy  afternoon.  Husband 
went  with  Mr.  Adkins  viewing  the  country. 

Sabbath   31st.   At   home.    Mr.  Adkins  spent  the  day  with  us. 

Monday  June  1st.  Heard  blessed  news  from  the  meeting.  Hope 
it  may  be  true.  Mr.  Terrel  and  Cook  came  here  after  viewing  the 
country.  Have  found  no  place  that  suits. 

Tuesday  June  2nd.  Children  all  returned  from  the  meeting,  and 
hope  they  have  met  with  a  blessing.  They  think  they  have  given  their 
hearts  to  their  Saviour. 

Wednesday  3rd.  Sent  letters  home  to  Connecticut  by  Miss  Fowler 
who  is  now  married  to  a  Mr.  Fuller  and  gone  to  Connecticut  for  a 
visit. 


NOTES 

Nathan  Burton  (1781  —  1849)  was  born  in  Bethlehem,  Connecticut.  Sarah  Fenn 
Burton  (1783—1838)  was  born  in  Plymouth,  Connecticut.  Both  are  buried  in  Round  Prairie 
(Illinois)  Cemetery.  Their  children  were  Nathan  Fenn  Burton  (1819—1886),  Henry  Ludlow 
Burton  (1821-1838),  Daniel  W.  Burton,  Rebecca  B.  Burton,  and  Nancy  A.  Burton. 

2 

The   men  of  the  Fairfield   (renamed  Mendon   in   1839),   Illinois  colony,  driving  five 

wagons,  required  eighty-seven  days  in  1831  to  travel  from  Guilford,  Connecticut,  to  Quincy. 
John  H.  Baldwin,  Mendon's  First  100  Years.  1834-1934  (1934;  rpt.  Mendon,  III.;  Baldwin, 
1975),  pp.  1—3.  For  further  details  on  speed  of  transportation  during  the  period  see  George 
Rogers  Taylor,  The  Transportation  Revolution,  1815—1860  in  The  Economic  History  of  the 
United  States,    ed.    Henry    David   et   al.,    IV    (New   York:   Rinehart,    1951),   132-52,  443. 


SA  RAH  FENN  BUR  TON'S  DIA  R  Y  133 


Baldwin's  is  the  most  compreiiensive  history  of  the  Fairfield  colony  and  is  cited  freely 
throughout  this  article. 

For  contemporary  descriptions  of  the  Main  Line  see  Joel  E.  Tarr,  Philo  E.  Thomp- 
son's Diary  of  a  Journey  on  the  Main  Line  Canal,"  Pennsylvania  History,  32  (July  1965), 
295—304;  Charles  Dickens,  American  Notes,  introd.  Christopher  Lasch  (Gloucester,  Mass.: 
Peter  Smith,  1968),  pp.  170—80;  and  H.  S.  Tanner,  A  Description  of  the  Canals  and  Rail 
Roads  of  the  United  States  (New  York:  Tanner  &  Disturnell,  1840),  pp.  97-98,  113-29. 
For  other  descriptions  see  William  Bender  Wilson,  The  History  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Company  (Philadelphia:  Coates,  1899),  I,  6-51,  95-152;  Alvin  F.  Harlow,  Old  Towpaths: 
The  Story  of  the  American  Canal  Era  (New  York:  Appleton,  1926),  pp.  92—103;  and 
Seymour  Dunbar,  A  History  of  Travel  in  America  (Indianapolis:  Bobbs-Merrill,  1915),  III, 
770-802. 

^Wilson,  I,  116. 
5 
By  purchasing  deck  passage  and  camping  in  the  Iowa's  midship,  the  Burtons  were 

allowed  to  ride  at  a  reduced  rate.  Deck  passengers  could  reduce  their  fares  even  further  by 
assisting  in  the  work  of  the  deck  crew.  For  descriptions  of  deck  passage  see  J.  M.  Peck, 
A  New  Guide  for  Emmigrants  to  the  West  (Boston:  Gould,  Kendall  &  Lincoln,  1836),  pp. 
372—373;  and  Louis  C.  Hunter,  Steamboats  on  the  Western  Rivers  (New  York:  Octagon, 
1969),  pp.  419-41. 

^Dickens,  p.  179. 

Stewart   H.    Holbrook,    The    Yankee   Exodus:  An  Account  of  Migration  from  New 
England  (New  York:  Macmillan,  1950),  p.  74. 
g 
For  the  settlement  of  Fairfield  see  Baldwin,  pp.  1—8;  The  History  of  Adams  County, 

Illinois  (Chicago:  Murray,  Williamson  &  Phelps,  1879),  pp.  537-40;  and  Atlas  Map  of 
Adams  County,  Illinois  (Davenport:  Andreas,  Lyter,  1872),  pp.  7,  127.  For  early  Congrega- 
tionalism in  Fairfield  and  Adams  County  see  First  Congregational  Church,  Mendon,  Illinois. 
125th  Anniversary.  1833-1958  (Mendon:  The  Church,  1958),  pp.  1-7;  "History  of 
Churches  in  Adams  County,"  Journal  of  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Society,  3  (1910/1911), 
71—76;  and  "Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists,"  Journal  of  the  Illinois  State  Historical 

Society,  12  (1919/1920),  11-19. 
g 
For  the  settlement  of  Plymouth  and  Round  Prairie  see  E.  H.  Young,  A  History  of 

Round  Prairie  and  Plymouth    (Chicago:   The  Author,    1876),   pp.   1—35;  Thomas  Gregg, 

History  of  Hancock  County,  Illinois  (Chicago:  Chapman,  1880),  pp.  578— 80;/4a7  Illustrated 

Historical  Atlas  of  Hancock  County,  Illinois  (Chicago:  Andreas,  1874),  p.  12;  and  Atlas  Map 

of  Schuyler  County,  Illinois  (Davenport:  Andreas,  Lyter,  1872),  p.  24.  Young's  is  the  most 

comprehensive  history  of  the  colonies  and  is  cited  freely  throughout  this  article. 

"Underground  Railroad,"  The  Schuylerite,  5  (Spring  1976),  17-18.  Also  see  D.  N. 
Blazer,  "The  History  of  the  Underground  Railroad  in  McDonough  County,  \\\\t\o\%,"  Journal 
of  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Society,  15  (1922/1923),  579-91. 

1 1 

Born  Fahma  Yahni,  Root  was  the  son  of  a  chief  of  one  of  Sherbro  Island's  tribes, 

though  his  maternal  grandfather  was  American  born  and  one  of  the  first  blacks  to  be  re- 
turned to  Africa  by  the  American  Colonization  Society.  Dr.  Hermann  Muelder,  Knox  Col- 
lege Historian,  is  now  examining  the  lives  of  Root  and  the  Burtons  and  provided  the  infor- 
mation about  them  for  this  article. 

12 

No  records  exist  for  the  organization  which  Mrs.  Burton  calls  "Our  company.     It 

does  not  appear  that  the  entire  group  intended  to  settle  in  a  single  colony.  The  membership 

roll  of  the  Congregational  Church  of  Round  Prairie  identifies  the  members  of  the  company 

who  settled  near  Plymouth  and  Round  Prairie  with  the  Burtons:  "Mr.  David  Adkins  and  his 

wife  Asenath;  Mr.  Benjamin  Terrell  and  his  wife  Electa,  with  their  daughters  Marie  and  Mary 

M.;  Mr.  Samuel  Kasson  and  his  wife  Almira;  Mr.  Lamarcus  Cook  and  his  wife  Marietta.  .  . 


134  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


Charles  Terrell,  A.  C.  Adkins,  Norman  Hart,  Miss  Martha  Cook,  Rosetta  Cook,  and  Lydia 

B.  Adkins."  With  the  Burtons  the  membership  totaled  twenty-three.  Only  the  Kassons  and 

Norman  Hart  are  not  mentioned  in  the  diary.  See  Young,  pp.  33—34. 

13 

Sarah   Fenn  Burton   left  four  blanks  in  her  account  of  April  9,  perhaps  hoping  to 

supply  the  needed  details  at  a  later  moment.  The  omission  of  the  name  of  her  New  York 

acquaintance,  however,  was  probably  intentional. 

14 

In  fact,  Mrs.  Burton  boarded  the  Camden  and  Amboy  Railroad  at  Amboy  and  got 

off  at  Bordentown. 

15 

Only  two  theaters  in  Philadelphia  were  open  on  April  9,  1835.  The  Walnut  featured 

The  Gamester  and  Lady  of  the  Lake  while  the  Chesnut  presented  Soldier's  Daughter  and 

Gustavius  III.   Arthur  Herman  Wilson,  A  History  of  the  Philadelphia  Theatre,   1835—1855 

(New  York:  Greenwood,  1968),  pp.  5,  135. 

1  f^ 

The  amount  likely  included  transportation  for  the  Burtons'  entire  party,  the  "42 

souls"  noted  on  April  8.  Prices  for  traveling  the  Main  Line  varied  with  each  agent.  The 
Pioneer  passenger  line  charged  $10  per  person  in  1836.  Leech's  line  charged  $7.  For  details 
on  the  expenses  of  travel  see  Peck,  pp.  364—74;  and  Taylor,  pp.  141—44. 

On  the  Middle  Division  Canal. 

18 

The  Susquehanna   was  bridged   by   a   two-storied   towpath.    Extending   2,231    feet 

across  the  dammed  river,  its  design  allowed  traffic  to  proceed  in  opposite  directions. 

19 

This  was  Abram  Hart,  who  became  the  keeper  of  the  Commons  at  Illinois  College. 

Harold    E.    Gibson,  Sigma  Pi  Society  of  Illinois  College,    1843-1971    (Jacksonville,    III.: 

Sigma  PI,  1972),  p.  2. 

20 

The  first  single  track  was  opened  on  March  28,  1834.  A  second  track  was  not  in  serv- 
ice until  May  10,  1835,  after  the  Burtons  had  passed.  The  Alleghany  Portage  Railroad's 
only  reliabile  locomotive,  the  Boston,  saw  brief  service  at  the  end  of  1834  and  did  not 
resume  regular  service  until  May.  For  a  description  of  the  line's  locomotives  and  stationary 
engines  see  Wilson,  I,  108-112,  121-25. 

21 

This  was  the  third  tunnel  to  be  built  in  America  and  at  the  time  the  longest. 

22 

These  are  apparently  corruptions  of  Covington  and  Newport. 

23 

This  was   Lyman  Beecher  (1775—1863),  who  had  removed  to  Cincinnati   in  1832 

to  become  the  president   and   professor  of   theology   of  the  Lane  Theological  Seminary. 

24 

This  was  the  Louisville  and  Portland  Canal,  open  to  traffic  in  1830  but  not  officially 

completed  until  1831.  More  than  a  thousand  steamboats  passed  through  its  locks  in  1835 
alone.  For  a  description  of  the  Canal  see  Hunter,  pp.  181  —  186,  233—234,  370—373. 

25 

Probably  the  papaw. 

This  was  probably  the  town  of  Marine  (Madison  County),  Illinois,  not  any  of  the 

Marine,  or  English,  Settlements  established  by  Morris  Birbeck  mainly  in  Edwards  County 

and  southeastern  Illinois.  The  town's  name,  however,  likely  derived  from  that  of  the  Birbeck 

colonies  whose  inhabitants  included  former  British  sailors. 

27 

These  members  of  the  Burtons'  party  and  their  families  traveled  by  steamboat  up 

the  Illinois  River  to  Peoria  and  thence  to  Farmington.  This  division  of  the  company  was 

merely  for  convenience  in  obtaining  temporary  accommodations  for  the  families,  as  they 

had  decided  to  locate  in  the  same  area.  Cook  is  Lamarcus  Cook,  born  in  1794  in  Plymouth, 

Connecticut.  A  farmer  by  trade.  Cook  was  partly  responsible  for  laying  out  the  town  of 

Plymouth  in  January  1836. 

28 

Rufus  and  Nancy  Brown  owned  a  half-log,  half-frame  tavern,  "the  brag  hotel  of  the 

place,"  which  stood  at  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Maine  Streets  in  Quincy.  For  the  lot  Brown 


SA  RA  H  FENN  BUR  TON 'S  DIARY  135 


paid  $7,  the  highest  price  paid  for  any  of  the  lots  around  the  Square.  He  received  his  tavern 
license  —  the  town's  first  —  in  1826  and  renewed  it  annually  for  $10.  A  meal  at  the  Browns 
cost  25i.  a  night's  lodging  ^2V2(i.  The  Browns  were  members  of  Reverend  Asa  Turner's 
Presbyterian  Church,  which  became  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Quincy  in  1833, 
and  services  were  often  held  in  the  Browns'  home  next  to  the  tavern.  The  Browns,  like  the 
Burtons,  were  strong  abolitionists.  See  William  H.  Collins  and  Cicero  F.  Perry,  Past  and 
Present  of  the  City  of  Quincy  and  Adams  County,  Illinois  (Chicago:  Clarke,  1905),  pp. 
23—40;  and  David  F.  Wilcox,  Quincy  and  Adams  County  History  and  Representative  Men 
(Chicago:  Lewis,  1919),  I,  612-16. 

Mr.  Piatt  was  Jirah  Piatt,  better  known  as  Deacon  Piatt  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  Mendon.  Piatt  was  born  in  Plymouth,  Connecticut,  and  was  one  of  the  original 
Fairfield  colonists.  In  the  1850's  Piatt's  home  outside  Mendon  was  an  underground  railroad 
station.  Escaping  slaves  were  conducted  from  the  Reverend  Asa  Turner's  homestead  north 
of  Quincy  to  the  Piatt  farm  and  from  there  carried  by  wagon  to  the  next  station,  perhaps 
the  Burtons'  farm  in  Round  Prairie. 

on 

Mr.  Terrel  was  Benjamin  Terrel  (1793-1868),  born  in  Watertown,  Connecticut.  A 
machinist  and  clockmaker  by  trade,  he  was  unable  to  adapt  to  farming  as  a  livelihood  and 
consequently  moved  to  Quincy  in  1839. 

Samuel  and  Elizabeth  Bradley  were  original  Fairfield  colonists.  The  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  Mendon  was  organized  at  a  meeting  held  in  the  Bradley  home  on  February 
7,  1833. 

Colonel  Benjamin  Baldwin  was  an  original  Fairfield  colonist.  He  helped  survey  and 
lay  out  the  town  in  1833.  Dr.  Calvin  Brown  was  one  of  the  first  physicians  in  Mendon. 

33 

It  is  likely  that  this  is  Mendon's  first  church  building,  called  the  Union  Meeting- 
Hall,  erected  earlier  in  1835.  Prior  to  it  all  services  were  held  in  settlers'  homes.  The  building 
was  a  crude  structure  of  round  logs,  with  a  split  log  floor  and  a  great  sod  chimney.  All 
denominations  met  together  here  on  the  Sabbath  with  a  preacher  from  either  denomination 
if  practicable  and  often  with  none  at  all.  The  structure  also  served  as  a  schoolhouse  and 
public  hall. 

This  was  the  Reverend  Solomon  Hardy,  organizer  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  Mendon.  It  was  founded  with  eighteen  members.  Hardy  came  to  Fairfield  in  the 
spring  of  1832  as  a  missionary,  half  of  his  time  at  the  expense  of  the  Home  Missionary 
Society.  See  First  Congregational  Church,  pp.  2—3. 


the  memoir  of 

william  t.  brooking, 

Mcdonough  county  pioneer 

Gordana  Rezab 
Part  2 


The  second  part  of  the  memoir  of  William  T.  Brooking  covers 
the  years  1844  to  1854.  While  in  the  first  half  he  described  his  arrival 
in  Macomb  and  removal  to  an  isolated  farm  on  an  open  prairie,  the 
second  half  highlights  his  participation  in  the  Mormon  War,  and  his 
courtship  and  marriage.  Throughout  the  entire  period  covered  by 
the  memoir.  Brooking  does  not  mention  schooling,  travelling,  or 
entertainment  other  than  hunting.  Indeed,  incidents  related  to 
hunting  constitute  a  full  half  of  his  entire  memoir,  underscoring  the 
importance  of  that  occupation:  as  a  source  of  food,  a  means  of 
defense  and  survival,  and  a  social  and  recreational  activity.  To  the 
old  man  that  William  Brooking  was  when  he  dictated  his  memoir 
in  1906,  the  passing  of  the  deer  in  1860  meant  an  end  to  a  way  of 
life. 

In  1844  the  militia  was  ordered  out  by  Governor  Ford  to  go  to 
Carthage  on  account  of  trouble  with  the  Mormons.^  I  belonged  to 
Capt.  Creels  company  of  Militia.  It  was  the  law  in  those  days  to 
muster  twice  every  year,  and  Regimental  Muster  once  a  year.  Every 
man  eighteen  years  and  over,  was  compelled  to  attend  muster. 
Militia  from  all  over  the  County  went  to  Carthage  and  marched  on 
foot.  Marching  in  regular  marching  order  we  reached  Carthage  at 
night.  We  were  ordered  out  for  a  period  of  ten  days.  The  time  of 
year  was  about  the  twentieth  of  June.  Nothing  of  special  note  hap- 
pened on  the  march.  Picketts  were  posted  at  night  as  they  were 
expecting  an  attack.  One  of  the  men  knew  one  of  the  men  on  picket 
duty,  and  in  fun  tried  to  take  away  his  gun,  and  in  the  scuffle  the 
gun  was  accidently  discharged  and  one  of  the  men  was  shot  in  the 
leg.  It  was  at  the  court  house  fence  and  I  never  heard  a  man  yell  so 
in  my  life. 

One  night  we  were  ordered  to  lie  with  our  guns,  as  an  attack  was 
expected.  There  came  a  hard  rain,  and  as  the  tents  would  not  turn 
water,  many  of  the  guns  became  wet.  They  were  a  motley  collection. 
Some   were   flintlocks.    The   attack    did   not  materialize,  and   next 


THE  MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  T.  BROOKING  137 


morning  we  were  marched  out  on  the  commons  and  ordered  to 
fire  our  guns.  Only  one  gun  in  my  entire  company  went  off.  What 
would  have  happened  if  the  Mormans^  had  attacked  us? 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  June"^  the  whole  army  was  drawn  up 
in  line.  Governor  Ford  came  along  with  Joseph  Smith  on  his  right 
arm,  and  Hyrum  Smith  on  his  left  arm.  He  introduced  them  to  the 
assembled  army  thus:  "This  is  General  Joseph  Smith  on  my  right, 
and  General  Hyrum  Smith  on  my  left."  As  they  marched  along  many 
hisses  were  heard.  Finally  the  Captain  of  the  Carthage  Greys  mounted 
a  wagon  that  was  standing  close  by,  and  called  for  volunteers  to 
take  the  Smiths  out  and  hang  them.  A  thousand  hats  went  up  in  the 
air,  with  loud  calls  of  "hang  them,  hang  them."  It  was  a  great  uproar. 
Governor  Ford  hurried  them  back  to  the  jail  and  put  a  strong  guard 
around  the  building. 

On  the  morning  of  the  twenty-seventh  of  June  1844  the  Smiths 
came  and  surrendered  themselves,  and  they  were  taken  to  the  jail. 
The  troops  were  disbanded  at  eleven  o'clock,  and  Bill  McCartney  and 
I  started  home  at  that  time,  and  walked  the  twenty-five  miles  by 
sundown.  Quite  a  squad  of  nightguards  were  put  on  duty  to  guard 
the  jail.  It  is  believed  that  they  purposely  loaded  their  guns  with 
blank  charges,  for  when  they  fired  on  the  mob  no  one  was  hurt. 
The  mob  came  a  little  after  dark  with  blackened  faces.  The  Smiths 
were  ordered  out  but  they  refused  to  come.  Joseph  Smith  leaped 
from  a  window  and  was  killed.  Hyrum  was  killed  in  the  jail.  This 
happened  the  night  after  I  started  home  at  eleven  o'clock  a.m.  I 
always  considered  it  a  cowardly  piece  of  work,  the  killing  of  the 
Smiths.  The  troops  from  this  county  were  orderly,  and  in  nowise  a 
mob.  It  is  not  true  that  the  militia  went  as  a  mob.  The  mob  that 
killed  the  Smiths  was  made  up  of  people  from  or  near  Carthage  and 
Warsaw.  Those  people  believed  that  Governor  Ford  was  carrying 
water  on  both  shoulders,  favoring  the  Mormons  when  with  them,  but 
opposing  them  at  other  times.  He  was  called  a  "Jack  Mormon.'"^ 

In  1845  I  went  deer  hunting  and  rode  a  little  bay  mare  owned 
by  Parker  Hawkins.  We  started  northeast  and  went  along  the  creek's 
about  five  miles  N.E.  of  home.  I  saw  a  deer  in  a  hazel  thicket,  or  I 
saw  the  eyes  of  one.  I  shot  from  off  the  horse  and  broke  its  neck. 
When  I  approached  the  deer  a  little  spotted  fawn  ran  out.  I  took 
after  it,  and  ran  it  half  a  mile,  and  it  could  outrun  the  horse.  It 
jumped  in  the  creek  and  swam  across,  and  I  did  not  follow.  I  would 
have  liked  to  have  caught  it  and  taken  it  home.  I  always  regretted 
that  I  shot  the  doe.  I  did  not  know  that  she  had  a  fawn.  I  went  back 
to  the  doe  and  took  it  home.  I  made  it  a  practice  of  never  hunting 
on  Sunday. 

In  1846  I  went  hunting  over  on  the  west  side  and  fell  in  with 
an  old  man  by  the  name  Jacobi,  who  lived  on  the  McLeod  Farm. 


138  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

We  went  west  through  the  woods  and  out  at  the  north.  The  brush 
and  saplings  were  so  thick  that  it  was  hard  to  get  thru  on  horseback. 
We  dismounted  and  followed  a  cowpath  when  a  big  buck  came  up 
the  path  about  fifty  yards  away.  He  stopped  and  we  both  fired  at 
once  and  both  hit  the  deer.  He  did  not  fall  but  was  unable  to  run. 
He  seemed  very  angry,  as  all  his  hair  bristled  up  and  stood  the  wrong 
way.  We  thought  of  looking  for  a  tree  to  climb  and  get  out  of  his 
way,  but  instead  of  attacking  us  he  went  into  a  little  clump  of  small 
saplings,  and  began  to  horn  and  fight  them.  He  soon  fell  over  dead. 
This  deer  had  very  large  horns  and  was  the  largest  deer  I  ever  saw.  His 
horns  were  in  what  they  called  "velvet."^  This  deer  was  killed  about 
one  hundred  rods  N.E.  of  the  old  McLeod  house.  We  divided  the  deer 
and  went  home. 

In  1847  I  had  the  hardest  day's  hunt  I  ever  had.  The  men  of 
Macomb  made  up  a  hunt.  They  selected  twelve  men  on  a  side,  and 
these  twenty-four  men  were  to  put  in  the  day  hunting,  and  the 
twelve  that  got  the  least  number  of  points  were  to  pay  for  the  supper 
and  dance.  The  supper  and  dance  to  be  at  Ben  Head's  in  Macomb,  on 
West  Jackson  St.^  A  deer  counted  forty  scalps,  a  turkey  twenty,  a 
rabbit  one,  a  prairie  chicken  one,  quail  one,  and  squirrel  one.  Ben 
Head  was  a  noted  deer  hunter  and  I  knew  it  and  was  determined  to 
get  a  deer  if  possible.  I  started  from  home  four  and  one  half  miles 
north  of  Macomb  about  sunrise.  It  was  a  pretty  cold  day  with  six 
inches  of  snow.  I  hunted  alone  all  day.^  About  the  place  where 
Jacobi  and  I  had  killed  the  deer,  a  wild  turkey  run  out  in  front  of 
me  but  I  soon  lost  sight  of  him.  I  was  after  bigger  game.  My  hands 
and  feet  getting  very  cold,  I  went  to  the  Widow  Miller's  and  warmed 
up,  and  of  her  I  bought  a  pair  of  woolen  mittens.  I  started  from 
there  and  went  down  s.w.  toward  our  old  timber  land,  and  there 
were  plenty  of  deer  signs.  I  could  see  where  the  deer  had  pawed  up 
the  snow  under  the  trees,  hunting  acorns  I  supposed.  On  the  ridge 
south  of  the  Calahan  place  I  saw  three  or  four  deer.  I  got  down  and 
hitched  my  horse.  The  deer  were  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or  more  from 
me  in  the  open  woods.  I  got  on  my  knees  and  crawled,  trying  to  keep 
a  big  tree  between  me  and  the  deer.  I  crawled  thru  the  snow  up 
within  one  hundred  yards  of  them.  I  rested  my  gun  up  against  a  tree 
and  took  deliberate  aim  and  fired.  I  missed  and  he  ran  away.  I  always 
thought  that  crawling  so  far  in  the  snow  was  the  cause  of  my  miss. 

I  went  back  and  got  my  horse  and  followed  the  deer  for  two 
hours  or  more.  At  times  I  would  lose  the  trail,  and  then  again  find  it. 
The  deer  crossed  Wigwam  hollow^  probably  about  a  hundred  yards 
above  the  mouth  of  it.  I  had  not  seen  them  for  the  last  mile  or  two 
but  I  followed  their  trail  across  the  Wigwam.  I  followed  the  slope 
that  runs  up  towards  the  present  site  of  the  McKee  house.  By  this 
time  it  was  about  four  p.m.  and  no  meat  yet.  A  big  buck  —  not  the 


THE  MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  T.  BROOKING 


139 


Farm  Residence  of  W.  T.  Brooking,  fronn  the  1871  Atlas  of  IVIcDonough  County. 


one  I  had  been  following  —  jumped  up  about  fifty  yards  ahead  of 
me,  but  on  account  of  the  thickness  of  the  brush  I  failed  to  get  a 
shot  at  him.  He  ran  very  fast  in  the  same  direction  the  others  had 
gone.  When  I  got  up  on  top  of  the  hill  south  of  the  big  hollow,  I 
could  see  nothing  of  the  old  buck,  but  saw  the  three  deer  going  up 
the  hill  on  the  other  side  of  the  hollow,  but  too  far  to  shoot.  I  got 
down  the  hill  and  up  the  other  side  as  quick  as  possible,  and  still  on 
horseback.  When  I  got  up  on  the  level  I  saw  the  three  deer  two 
hundred  yards  away.  They  were  standing  still  and  looking  back. 
The  horse  I  was  riding  was  trained  to  stand  fire,  and  he  stood  per- 
fectly still.  I  fired  and  hit  one  of  the  deer  behind  the  shoulder  He 
ran  about  a  hundred  yards.  He  dropped  his  tail  down  between  his 
legs,  a  sure  sign  he  was  hit.  Following,  I  found  the  deer  had  fallen 
against  a  hickory  sapling  and  was  dead.  I  cut  his  throat  and  let  out 
the  blood.  It  was  now  near  about  sundown,  and  I  took  out  his 
entrails.  I  put  the  deer  on  the  horse  and  he  jumped  from  under  it. 
This  was  repeated  a  half  dozen  times,  and  I  almost  exhausted  myself 
trying  to  get  the  deer  on  the  horse.  I  at  last  had  to  give  it  up  and  I 
hung  him  up  on  a  tree  high  enough  that  the  wolves  could  not  get  at 


140  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


it.  This  deer  was  killed  about  a  mile  west  of  where  Thomas  Brooking 
now  lives,  up  on  the  level  after  crossing  the  hollow  that  runs  North 
of  the  Marks  house. 

I  got  on  my  horse  and  started  for  my  brother-in-law,  J.  P. 
Updegraf's.  Had  my  supper  there  and  then  went  to  Macomb  to  the 
supper  and  dance  at  Ben  Head's.  I  had  no  dinner  all  day,  and  there- 
fore was  equal  to  two  suppers.  The  rest  of  the  hunters  had  all  arrived 
and  when  the  scalps  had  all  been  counted  our  side  won,  and  I  was 
the  only  hunter  that  killed  a  deer.  Ben  Head  tried  to  bring  in  two 
deer  scalps  that  he  had  covered  with  rabbit  blood,  but  he  was  de- 
tected and  they  were  not  counted.  I  went  back  the  next  morning 
and  got  my  deer.  Mike  Martin  went  with  me  and  the  same  horse 
stood  perfectly  still  while  I  loaded  him  with  the  deer.  I  never  could 
account  for  it. 

In  1848  I  was  up  north  of  the  present  site  of  Good  Hope  about 
two  miles,  threshing  with  the  old  chaff  piler  machine.^  One  night 
it  rained  so  we  could  not  work,  and  I  went  up  to  Old  Quintus  Walker. 
He  was  the  most  noted  deer  hunter  in  the  country.  He  lived  on  the 
sixteenth  section. ^°  He  had  killed  more  deer  than  any  man  in  the 
county  at  that  time.  He  had  a  park  with  a  high  fence  in  which  he 
had  about  fifteen  deer.  The  fence  was  made  of  rails,  set  on  end.  He 
would  frequently  let  his  tame  deer  out  in  the  cornfield,  and  they 
would  return  to  the  enclosure.  Sometimes  a  wild  buck  would  follow 
the  does  in,  and  he  would  kill  them. 

While  there  I  was  talking  to  the  old  man  about  hunting,  and  he 
said  he  would  get  his  dog  and  gun  and  show  me  how  to  kill  deer 
on  the  prairie.  We  went  out  about  two  miles  s.w.  of  his  house  on  the 
open  prairie.  We  saw  half  dozen  deer  a  half  mile  away.  We  went  up 
a  ravine  within  eighty  rods  of  them.  We  crawled  in  the  grass  until 
we  got  some  closer.  Walker  put  prairie  grass  in  his  and  my  hat  when 
we  commenced  crawling.  Finally  he  stopped  and  placing  his  cap  on 
the  end  of  the  ramrod  of  his  gun,  he  would  raise  it  up  and  then 
lower  it.  He  kept  repeating  this  until  it  was  noticed  by  the  deer,  and 
they,  out  of  curiosity  would  keep  coming  closer.  He  would  occa- 
sionally raise  his  cap  and  let  it  drop.  All  this  time  the  deer  were 
coming  closer  and  closer.  At  last  they  were  within  one  hundred 
yards  and  he  fired  and  wounded  one,  which  the  dog  was  able  to 
catch  in  a  run  of  a  half  mile.  This  dog  was  well  trained,  and  would 
creep  along  in  the  grass  like  his  master.  Quintus  Walker  said  that  if 
he  had  known  as  much  about  hunting  deer,  when  he  first  came  to 
the  country,  as  he  knew  now,  he  could  have  killed  a  great  many 
more  than  he  did. 

In  1842  Alexander  Hamilton  Brooking,  who  was  a  second  cousin, 
and  I  were  making  rails  in  the  timber  down  the  hollow  that  runs  s.w. 
from   Raridon's  House.  They  were  a  half  mile  down  this  hollow. 


THE  MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  T.  BROOKING  14 1 


It  was  a  winter  day,  but  not  extremely  cold.  We  were  using  a  yoke 
of  oxen  to  haul  the  rails  out.  We  had  worked  until  noon  chopping 
and  splitting.  We  then  built  a  fire  and  cooked  our  dinner  of  fried 
meat.  After  the  meal  we  commenced  chopping  down  a  white  oak 
tree  that  leaned  up  the  hill.  The  tree  was  a  foot  and  a  half  thru.  When 
it  began  to  fall  we  stepped  down  the  hill  about  thirty  feet.  As  the 
tree  fell  it  struck  another  tree  and  a  large  limb  from  one  or  the 
other  tree,  was  torn  loose.  It  was  four  or  five  inches  thru  and  fifteen 
feet  long.  I  did  not  see  it  in  time  and  it  struck  me  just  above  the 
temple.  My  skull  was  fractured  and  I  was  unconscious,  but  recovered 
and  was  able  to  walk  to  the  fire  about  twenty  yards.  At  the  fire  I 
became  very  sick  and  vomited,  and  Alex  said  I  would  never  be 
whiter  when  I  was  dead.  I  was  pretty  limber.  In  the  meantime  Alex 
had  put  some  rails  on  the  wagon  for  me  to  lie  on,  and  I  rode  on  these 
rails  a  half  mile  to  the  old  Eyres  place.  A  Mr.  Long  lived  there  and 
they  got  a  sled  and  took  me  home.  A  doctor  came  soon  after  I 
arrived  home.  He  bandaged  up  my  head,  and  I  was  in  the  house  for 
six  weeks  before  I  could  get  around. 

In  the  fall  of  1848  camp  meetings  were  very  common  in  the  fall 
of  the  year,  and  had  been  for  several  years.  These  camp  meetings 
would  attract  people  for  twenty  or  thirty  miles.  William  Stickle  and 
I  drove  a  little  bay  mare  to  an  open  buggy,  and  went  to  a  camp 
meeting  near  Table  Grove,  Fulton  County.  It  was  mostly  open  prairie 
and  just  a  few  houses  between  Macomb  and  Table  Grove.  We  were 
driving  along  very  leisurely,  when  Walt  Scott  and  Sarah  Jane  Stickle 
—  he  afterwards  married  her  —  drove  up  behind  and  undertook  to 
pass,  giving  my  horse  a  cut  with  a  whip.  We  raced  him  a  half  mile, 
and  finally  passed  him,  but  in  turning  into  the  road  the  hind  wheel 
of  the  buggy  brushed  his  horse's  collar.  It  was  a  narrow  escape  from 
a  wreck.  It  cured  us  from  racing  on  the  road.  We  arrived  at  the  camp 
meeting  ground  about  ten  o'clock  on  Saturday.  The  camp  was  in  the 
timber. 

On  Sunday  there  was  a  big  crowd,  two  or  three  thousand  people. 
It  was  customary  to  feed  strangers  from  a  distance  free  of  charge. 
This  was  done  at  all  the  camp  meetings  in  those  days.  On  Sunday 
a  young  man  went  into  a  trance.  They  carried  him  out  and  laid  him 
on  the  grass  in  the  shade,  and  he  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention. 
He  would  raise  himself  about  half  up  and  then  fall  back  and  slap 
his  arms  on  the  ground.  He  remained  in  that  condition  until  in  the 
night  some  time  before  he  came  out  of  it.  It  was  reported  that 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  having  these  spells  at  all  the  meetings  he 
attended." 

In  August  or  Sept.  1849  there  was  a  great  camp  meeting  a  mile 
and  a  half  east  of  Industry  in  the  timber.  It  was  a  beautiful  place 
in  a  natural  grove  of  hickory  trees  from  six  inches  to  a  foot  thru. 


742  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

The  camp  ground  occupied  about  an  acre  of  ground,  something 
near  a  hundred  yards  square.  The  preacher's  stand  was  situated  on 
the  north  side  of  the  seats.  The  seats  were  made  out  of  slabs  and 
boards.  The  preacher's  stand  was  covered  and  the  tents  were  arranged 
on  the  east,  west  and  north  in  straight  rows  about  forty  to  fifty 
feet  from  the  seats.  The  space  around  the  altar  was  covered  with 
straw.  There  were  a  great  many  tents,  and  they  had  a  shed  covered 
with  boughs  and  limbs  of  trees.  The  same  kind  of  a  shed  [was]  over 
the  altar  and  mourner's  bench.  The  horses  were  hitched  to  trees 
around  in  the  timber.  Some  came  in  covered  wagons  and  slept  in  the 
wagons.  At  night  the  ground  was  lit  with  torches.  John  Berry,  a 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  preacher,  and  Tom  Roach  also  a  Cumber- 
land, was  the  principal  Preachers.  The  meeting  commenced  on 
Tuesday  and  continued  a  week. 

George  Walker  of  Greenbush,  a  friend  of  mine,  was  acquainted 
down  in  that  country,  having  relatives  there.  I  was  a  stranger,  so  we 
arranged  to  go  to  the  camp  meeting  together,  and  I  was  to  furnish 
the  conveyance,  a  horse  and  buggy.  We  arrived  at  the  camp  ground 
at  ten  o'clock  a.m.  Saturday.  I  hitched  my  horse  to  a  tree,  and 
walked  around  on  the  north  side  of  the  seats.  Preaching  had  begun, 
and  we  stood  there  looking  over  the  great  crowd  of  people.  After  a 
survey  of  the  crowd,  I  leaned  over  and  whispered  to  George:  "Do 
you  see  that  girl  over  there  leaning  against  the  hickory  tree?"  "Yes," 
said  George.  "Do  you  know  her?"  "Yes,  I  am  acquainted  with  her." 
I  said,  "George,  I  am  going  to  get  acquainted  with  her  before  I  leave 
this  camp  ground."  I  had  never  seen  her  before.  George  said,  "I 
know  her  and  after  the  meeting  I  will  give  you  an  introduction,  and 
perhaps  we  can  get  our  dinner  with  her  folks." 

After  the  session  was  over,  we  started  to  discover  them.  Hun- 
dreds of  people  were  eating  and  preparing  their  dinner.  Finally  we 
found  her  and  her  sister  and  others  of  the  family.  They  had  their 
tablecloth  spread  on  the  ground,  and  were  preparing  their  dinner. 
When  we  approached,  George  introduced  them  as  Louisiana  and 
Mellisse  Walker,  his  cousins.  I  was  astonished  that  the  girl  I  had 
noticed  and  pointed  out  was  his  cousin,  but  such  was  the  fact.  He 
had  said  nothing  about  the  relationship,  when  I  first  referred  to  her. 
After  dinner  I  contrived  to  have  a  stroll  and  a  chat  with  her. 

We  were  at  the  camp  ground  until  night,  and  then  went  to 
Sanders  Campbell,  about  two  miles  distant,  where  George's  mother 
was  stopping.  That  was  the  farm  upon  which  John  McGaughy  after- 
wards lived.  We  stopped  over  this  Saturday  night  at  Campbells,  and 
next  morning  about  nine  o'clock  we  hitched  up  the  horse  to  go  to 
the  camp  ground.  I  was  getting  to  like  camp  meetings  pretty  well. 
I  tied  the  horse  to  the  fence,  and  went  in  and  informed  George 
that  I   was  going  over  to  get  the  Walker  girl,  and  take  her  to  the 


THE  MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  T.  BROOKING  143 


camp  meeting,  and  that  he  would  have  to  go  in  the  wagon  with 
Campbells.  About  this  time  the  Walker  girl  came  up  the  lane  carrying 
her  dead  sister's  child,  and  bringing  it  over  for  Mrs.  Campbell  to 
care  for  while  she  went  to  the  meeting.  I  asked  her  to  go  with  me, 
in  the  buggy,  to  the  camp  ground,  and  so  it  was  arranged.  We  were  at 
the  camp  ground  all  day  together,  until  four  o'clock,  and  then  I  took 
her  home.  On  the  way  home  we  met  her  brother,  Orrin  Walker, 
on  his  way  to  the  meeting.  We  were  at  the  Walker  home  until  the  rest 
of  the  folks  came.  We  cracked  walnuts.  When  the  rest  of  the  family 
arrived  I  was  made  acquainted  with  them.  Next  day,  Monday,  I 
again  took  her  to  the  camp  ground  in  the  buggy.  On  the  way  over 
my  horse,  a  sorrel  mare  that  I  had  run  down  a  deer  with,  balked.  I 
got  out  of  the  buggy,  took  her  by  the  head,  and  when  she  started, 
I  jumped  in  the  buggy  on  the  go. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  camp  ground  we  found  a  large  crowd 
there,  and  John  Berry  preached  in  the  forenoon.  He  offers  some 
books  on  baptism  for  sale  and  I  purchased  one.  When  it  was  time 
for  me  to  depart  for  home,  I  told  the  Walker  girl  that  I  wanted  to 
see  her  again,  to  which  she  consented,  but  no  time  was  designated. 
However,  in  two  weeks  I  was  there  again  to  see  her,  and  from  this 
time  I  was  a  regular  visitor  every  two  weeks.  We  took  produce  to 
Beardstown,  on  the  Illinois  river,  sixty  miles,  and  as  the  Walker  farm 
was  on  the  route,  I  made  it  convenient  to  stop,  on  my  frequent  trips 
to  the  river.  On  one  occasion  I  took  my  father  to  Frederick, ^^  to 
take  a  boat  on  his  trip  to  Virginia,  and  I  stopped  over  night  at  the 
Walkers.  About  the  first  of  November  I  informed  the  Walker  girl 
of  my  intentions,  and  why  I  was  coming  there  so  much,  and  that  I 
wanted  her  to  marry  me.  She  said  she  would  let  me  know  in  two 
weeks.  I  was  pretty  sure  of  the  outcome,  and  in  two  weeks  I  got  a 
favorable  answer.  The  next  thing  was  to  ascertain  what  the  old 
gentleman,  her  father,  thought  about  it.^^  When  I  asked  him,  he 
said  "it  is  alright." 

The  Walker  girl  wanted  to  put  off  the  marriage  for  a  year,  and 
at  the  time  I  did  not  urge  a  nearer  date.  This  was  some  time  in 
November.  On  the  Saturday  before  Christmas  I  went  down  on 
horseback  to  the  Walkers.  It  was  about  fourteen  miles  from  our 
home.  I  stayed  until  Tuesday  night.  At  this  time  I  urged  her  to 
shorten  the  time  and  suggested  in  the  spring  as  the  time.  My  Father 
was  going  to  Macomb  to  go  into  the  hotel.  In  the  meantime  I  had 
hewed  timbers  for  a  house.  The  time  for  our  marriage  was  set  for  the 
seventh  of  March,  1850,  and  we  were  married  on  that  date,  at  her 
home  on  Camp  Creek.  The  officiating  clergyman  was  Billy  K.  Stuart, 
a  Presbyterian.  A  large  crowd  of  relatives  and  friends  were  present. 
The  day  was  warm  and  pleasant.  The  next  day  we  went  to  my 
Father's,   four   miles   north  of  Macomb,  where  a   large  party  and 


144 


WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


Mrs.  W.  T.  Brooking 


THE  MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  T.  BROOKING  145 


supper  was  given,  attended  by  a  large  number  of  young  people. 
Those  days  it  was  called  an  "infair"^^  The  next  night  Joseph  P. 
Updegraph,  who  was  the  husband  of  my  sister  Elizabeth,  and  who 
was  keeping  a  hotel  in  Macomb,  gave  a  party  and  a  very  fine  supper 
at  the  hotel.  At  the  time  of  our  marriage,  I  had  completed  my  house, 
all  but  the  lath  and  plastering,  but  did  not  move  in.  My  father 
moved  to  Macomb,  and  wanted  us  to  stay  on  the  old  place,  so  we 
went  to  housekeeping  on  the  old  farm,  and  was  there  until  fall,  and 
we  then  moved  into  our  own  house. 

In  1851,  I  was  on  horseback  going  to  the  election,  which  was 
held  at  what  is  now  called  the  Copeland  place,  Macomb,  Tp.^^  A 
man  by  the  name  of  Elliot  lived  there.  When  I  arrived  at  the  place, 
one  of  the  Elliot  boys  asked  me  if  I  had  a  dog,  as  he  had  wounded 
a  deer  and  wanted  a  hound  to  run  it  down.  The  dog  took  the  trail 
and  run  it  about  a  half  mile  and  jumped  it  up,  and  after  a  chase  of 
two  miles,  caught  it. 

By  cutting  across,  on  my  horse,  I  was  within  a  hundred  yards 
when  it  was  caught.  A  neighbor  of  mine,  Parker  Hawkins  was  there, 
and  we  put  the  deer  on  his  horse  and  took  it  to  Elliot's,  and  told 
them  to  dress  it  and  we  would  take  dinner  with  them.  They  were 
hoggish  enough  to  keep  the  deer,  altho  it  was  not  wounded,  but  one 
front  leg  was  missing,  below  the  knee,  but  was  healed  over  smooth. 
It  run  very  fast  for  a  while  on  its  three  legs,  but  soon  tired.  The  boy 
thought  he  had  wounded  it  because  it  ran  on  three  legs. 

My  father  and  I  were  judges  at  the  election,  and  had  to  stay  until 
after  dark.  It  was  the  darkest  night  I  ever  was  out,  and  we  could  not 
even  see  our  hands  before  our  eyes.  On  the  way  home  we  became 
lost.  I  was  riding  the  sorrel  mare  previously  mentioned,  and  she 
would  not  keep  the  road.  Out  on  the  open  prairie  we  were  hopeless- 
ly lost,  as  far  as  knowing  directions  were  concerned.  The  creek  was 
north,  and  the  open  prairie  on  the  south,  and  in  that  direction  was 
our  place.  The  mare  bore  off  to  the  north  and  I  found  myself  on  the 
banks  of  the  creek.  I  was  completely  turned  around.  I  got  off  the 
horse  to  see  which  way  the  water  was  flowing,  but  could  not  get 
down  to  it.  I  got  on  the  mare  and  aimed  to  take  a  s.w.  course. 
We  got  too  far  south  by  a  mile.  I  saw  a  light  southeast,  and  surmised 
it  was  Old  John  Crabb's,  two  miles  too  far  east.  I  then  went  due 
west.  It  was  dark  as  pitch  and  tremendous  foggy.  I  ran  into  a  fence. 
I  dismounted  and  hitched  the  horse  to  the  fence,  got  over  in  the 
field  and  felt  around  to  see  if  it  was  fall  wheat.  I  pulled  some  of  it 
up  and  tasted  it  to  see  if  it  was  wheat.  I  decided  I  was  just  a  mile 
east  of  home,  as  the  wheat  was  ours.  I  started  again,  but  was  so 
confused  I  followed  the  fence  in  the  wrong  direction,  and  found 
myself  away  south  in  the  brakes  of  the  George  Upp  farm.  I  then 
turned  back,  and  by  following  the  fence  in  the  opposite  direction 


146  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


of  what  I  thought  was  the  right  way,  finally  reached  home.  When  I 
turned  back  from  the  brakes,  the  mare  became  frightened  at  a  wolf 
or  something,  and  ran  away.  I  finally  got  the  mare  checked.  When  I 
arrived  home  my  father  and  brother  Edward  were  there.  One  of  them 
walked  ahead  and  kept  track  of  the  road. 

In  1852,  I  had  an  attack  of  chills  and  fever,  and  was  unfit  for 
work.  I  went  horseback  up  about  eight  miles  n.e.  after  some  grey- 
hound pups,  I  had  spoken  for  of  a  man  by  the  name  of  Crawford. 
I  got  two  pups,  male  and  female,  and  both  perfectly  white.  I  brought 
these  full  blooded  greyhound  pups  home  in  a  basket.  When  they 
were  about  two  years  old  they  were  perfect  beauties,  and  I  took 
them  out  for  a  chase,  out  west  of  the  present  site  of  Good  Hope.  I 
saw  a  deer  about  half  mile  away,  and  managed  to  get  up  quite  near, 
when  it  leaped  out  of  a  slough  where  [it]  had  laid  down.  The  dogs 
got  a  close  start,  and  it  took  a  circle,  and  I  watched  the  case  for 
three  miles.  I  was  on  high  ground  and  could  see  the  chase  for  a  long 
time.  The  last  I  saw,  the  dog  "Bob"  was  about  ten  feet  behind  the 
deer,  and  "Miss"  was  about  the  same  distance  behind  Bob.  After 
losing  sight  of  them  I  started  home.  Before  reaching  home  the  dogs 
came  but  I  never  knew  whether  they  had  caught  a  deer  in  their 
first  chase  or  not.  When  I  got  near  home,  I  saw  a  deer  jump  a  stake 
and  ridered  fence  a  short  distance  from  the  house.  The  dogs  saw  it 
and  made  chase.  After  jumping  into  the  road  from  the  west,  it 
jumped  over  the  fence  in  the  field  on  the  east.  They  ran  it  s.e.  until 
they  struck  the  ridge,  and  kept  down  the  ridge  for  a  half  mile.  It 
then  turned  and  came  back  and  jumped  the  fence  almost  in  the  same 
place  it  started  from.  Just  as  it  jumped  or  started  to  jump,  one  of 
the  dogs  caught  her  and  cut  the  hamstring.  Being  unable  to  run  the 
dogs  soon  killed  it.  I  took  it  home  and  skinned  it,  and  used  the 
best  cuts  for  meat. 

Soon  after  this  Old  Man  Hayhurst  asked  me  to  bring  the  hounds 
over  west,  and  go  hunting  with  him.  I  went.  I  left  my  horse  at 
Hayhurst's  and  we  went  afoot.  We  took  the  first  hollow  running  s.w. 
from  Hayhurst's.  We  were  walking  leisurely  along  when  I  saw  a  deer 
lying  down  on  a  hillside  in  some  hazel  bushes.  I  leveled  my  gun  and 
fired.  The  deer  jumped  and  staggered  around,  and  Hayhurst  said, 
"you  have  got  him,"  but  I  will  shoot  at  it  and  see  if  I  can  make  a  hit. 
So  he  fired  and  succeeded  in  hitting  the  deer.  I  was  starting  to  the 
house  after  my  horse,  to  load  the  deer  on,  and  Hayhurst  said,  "he 
would  stay  and  perhaps  he  would  kill  another."  When  I  had  gotten 
the  deer  to  the  house,  Hayhurst  came  and  said,  "he  had  wounded 
another  deer  and  to  get  the  dogs  after  it."  The  dogs  took  the  trail  in 
the  west  part  of  Miller's  timber,  but  caught  it  on  our  timber  land. 
This  hunt  was  in  1854  or  55. 

In  1850  some  of  my  folks  caught  and  raised  a  fawn.  When  it  was 


THE  MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  T.  BROOKING  147 


about  a  year  old,  I  was  building  a  small  two  roomed  house.  It  was  all 
completed  but  lathing  and  plastering.  The  pet  deer  came  into  the 
house,  and  the  hounds  coming  to  the  door,  scared  the  fawn,  and  it 
jumped  thru  the  window,  carrying  the  sash  and  all  with  it.  Later  one 
of  the  boys  set  the  dogs  on  the  fawn  and  run  it  out  of  the  neighbor- 
hood and  doubtless  killed  it.  Deer  were  very  plentiful  here  in  1850. 
By  1860  one  was  rarely  seen. 


The  following  postscript  was  written  by  Lucian  Threshley  Brook- 
ing, William's  son.  It  was  probably  added  in  1926  at  the  time  the 
memoir  was  retyped. 

I  can  remember  my  mother  as  she  looked  at  thirty  years  of  age. 
A  handsome  woman,  and  it  is  easy  to  imagine  how  the  Walker  girl 
captivated  my  father  on  first  sight.  I  have  distinct  recollection  of 
the  John  McGaughy  place,  where  my  father  lodged  after  meeting 
my  mother  at  the  camp  ground,  a  long,  low,  old  fashioned  house 
with  an  enormous  chimney  built  up  on  the  outside  of  the  house,  as 
an  outlet  for  the  big  fireplace  on  the  inside.  More  than  sixty  years 
have  passed,  but  I  can  remember  the  big  mound  made  by  the  accu- 
mulation of  chips  from  the  woodchopping. 

In  June  1925  my  brother,  William  Alwin,  and  I  visited  the 
neighborhood  of  which  I  speak. ^^  The  old  McGaughy  house,  where 
my  mother  brought  her  sister's  child,  to  leave  so  she  could  go  to  the 
camp  ground  with  my  Father,  was  gone,  and  the  site  only  a  corn- 
field. On  the  field  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  we  walked  thru 
the  small  growing  corn  a  few  hundred  yards  west  to  locate  the  site 
of  the  log  cabin  of  my  grandfather  where  my  mother  was  born. 
The  very  face  of  nature  seemed  changed,  and  it  was  hard  for  me  to 
conjure  up  in  my  imagination  that  this  was  the  place  where  my 
grandfather  lived  in  1864.  We  located  the  site  by  finding  broken 
pieces  of  colored  queensware,  probably  pieces  of  the  very  dishes  my 
grandmother  had  in  her  cupboard.  The  same  draw  was  there,  but 
seemed  insignificant  to  the  one  that  lingered  in  my  memory. 

While  these  reminiscences  may  have  small  value  in  a  literary 
sense,  they  are  a  valuable  collection  to  the  one  who,  for  the  moment, 
can  forget  the  present  and  live  and  revel  in  the  past,  and  in  the 
recollections  of  the  splendid  men  and  women  who  were  our  ances- 
tors. In  presenting  them  to  you  this  Christmas  day,  1926,  I  can 
think  of  nothing  more  appropriate  or  more  valuable.  The  life  of  our 
father,  part  of  which  is  here  given  in  his  own  words,  is  a  heritage 
more  precious  than  gold  or  treasure. 


148  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

NOTES 

The  "Mormon  trouble"  or  "Mormon  War"  was  a  conflict  between  followers  of  the 
self-proclaimed  prophet,  Joseph  Smith,  and  the  sect's  non-Mormon  neighbors.  The  conflict, 
which  ultimately  led  to  the  murder  of  Joseph  Smith  and  his  brother  Hyrum,  was  caused  by 
a  clash  in  political,  social,  economic,  and  religious  views  held  by  the  two  groups.  The  Mor- 
mons, centered  in  Nauvoo,  were  a  closed,  elitist,  and  autocratic  society.  The  non-Mormons, 
whom  the  Mormons  called  "gentiles,"  were  rugged  individualists  who  resented  authority  and 
mistrusted  institutions.  The  resulting  disturbances  are  considered  one  of  the  greatest  histori- 
cal events  in  nineteenth-century  Illinois.  Open  hostility  subsided  only  after  the  main  body 
of  the  Mormon  population  left  Nauvoo  in  order  to  settle  in  Utah. 

The  calling  of  the  Illinois  Militia  in  June  of  1844  was  in  response  to  unrest  in  Hancock 
and  the  neighboring  counties.  The  immediate  cause  of  excitement  on  the  part  of  non- 
Mormons  was  the  destruction  of  a  newspaper  press  located  in  Nauvoo  which  published  a 
paper  called  The  Expositor  that  was  critical  of  Joseph  Smith  and  the  Mormon  society  in 
general.  The  underlying  cause,  however,  was  gentile  mistrust  of  Smith's  political  motives 
and  fear  of  the  heavily  armed  Nauvoo  Legion  controlled  by  Smith.  Contrived  and  real 
grievances  regarding  the  plundering  and  harrassment  of  non-Mormons  by  the  Mormons,  and 
the  envy  of  neighboring  towns  because  of  the  remarkable  growth  of  Nauvoo  during  the  brief 
Mormon  occupancy,  also  contributed  to  the  hostility. 

9 

The  variant  spelling  of  "Mormon"  is  frequent  in  writings  of  Western  Illinois  layman 
historians  and  nineteenth-century  residents.  The  word  "Mormon"  derives  from  the  name  of 
a  prophet,  who  according  to  Joseph  Smith,  wrote  a  history  of  one  of  the  lost  tribes  of 
Israel  which  found  its  way  into  the  Americas.  Joseph  Smith's  discovery  and  translation  of 
this  history  is  known  today  as  the  Book  of  Mormon.  The  name  "Mormon"  was,  however, 
totally  foreign  to  gentiles.  Not  knowing  the  origin  of  the  word  nor  its  spelling,  the  non- 
Mormons  transcribed  it  the  way  it  sounded,  thus  resulting  in  the  form  "Morman"  which  was 
phonetically  close  and  more  meaningful  to  the  uninitiated. 

June  27,  1844,  the  day  on  which  William  Brooking  mentions  that  the  parade  took 
place,  is  an  incorrect  date.  There  is  great  confusion  in  the  McDonough  and  Hancock  County 
histories  regarding  the  sequence  of  events  preceding  Joseph  Smith's  death  on  June  27,  at 
approximately  5:00  p.m.  The  official  History  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day 
Saints  contains  what  appears  the  most  precise  chronology  of  events.  According  to  this 
history  the  parade  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith  took  place  on  June  25th  at  the  express 
request  of  the  McDonough  troops  who  were  curious  to  see  the  two  men.  A  hollow  square 
was  formed  by  a  company  of  Carthage  Grays,  acting  as  guards,  and  within  that  square  the 
Smith  brothers  were  introduced  to  the  troops  by  Governor  Ford.  There  are  varying  accounts 
as  to  what  actually  happened.  While  Brooking  is  quite  explicit  as  to  how  the  troops  reacted, 
the  church  history  does  not  mention  any  hisses,  and  attributes  hostility  only  to  "some" 
officers  of  the  Carthage  Grays.  In  his  letter  to  Emma,  his  wife,  dated  June  25,  1844,  Joseph 
Smith  wrote;  "This  morning  Governor  Ford  introduced  myself  and  Hyrum  to  the  militia 
....  There  was  a  little  mutiny  among  the  Carthage  Greys,  but  I  think  the  Governor  has  and 
will  succeed  in  enforcing  the  law."  i-listory  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day 
Saints:  Period  I.  History  of  Joseph  Smith,  the  Prophet  (Salt  Lake  City:  Deseret  Book  Co., 
1975),  VI,  565.  After  this  display  of  hostility  on  part  of  the  troops,  the  Smith  brothers 
were  returned  to  Hotel  Hamilton  in  Carthage  where  they  had  stayed  since  the  night  of  June 
24.  In  the  evening  of  June  26  they  were  forced  to  go  to  Carthage  Jail  where  they  were  killed 
the  next  day. 

Brooking's  recollection  of  the  disbanding  of  the  militia  is  basically  correct.  According 
to  Governor  Ford's  History  of  Illinois  he  had  "at  first  intended  to  select  a  guard  [to  protect 
the  Smiths]  from  the  county  of  McDonough,  but  the  militia  of  that  county  were  much 
dissatisfied  to  remain;  their  crops  were  suffering  (due  to  an  extremely  wet  spring);  they  were 
in  perfect  fever  to  be  discharged;  and  I  was  destitute  of  provisions  to  supply  them  for  more 


THE  MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  T.  BROOKING  149 


than   a   few  days."  Thomas  Ford,  A  History  of  Illinois  from  its  Commencement  as  a  State 
in  1818  to  1847  (Chicago:  S.C.  Griggs,  1854),  p.  344. 

Jack  Mormon"  was  a  derogatory  term  applied  to  non-Mormons  who  for  pohtical 
or  personal  gain  supported  the  Mormons.  It  was  a  term  which  was  also  applied  to  those 
non-Mormons  who  counseled  lawful  settlement  of  disputes.  Thomas  Gregg,  History  of 
Hancock  County,  Illinois  (Chicago;  Charles  C.  Chapman,  1880),  p.  320. 

The  soft  covering  of  the  newly  developing  antlers  of  deer  and  related  animals.  This 
annual  renewal  of  antlers  takes  place  in  spring  and  early  summer. 

The  hotel  and  restaurant  that  W.  T.  Brooking  refers  to  seems  to  have  been  the  old 
St.  Elmo,  located  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Lafayette  and  West  Jackson  streets  in  Macomb. 
County  histories  are  vague  as  to  exact  dates  when  this  hotel  changed  owners  and  managers, 
but  George  Head  was  known  to  have  managed  the  hotel  some  time  prior  to  1850  when  the 
hotel  was  leased  by  Thomas  A.  Brooking.  Since  both  George  Head  and  B.  B.  Head  are  listed 
as  heads  of  households  in  the  1840  Census,  B.  B.  Head  could  have  been  Ben  Head.  The  1850 
Census  lists  Benjamin  B.  Head,  age  39,  a  farmer.  Assessor's  books  for  the  same  year  list  his 
property  in  Scotland  and  Chalmers  townships.  The  1840  Census  lists  him,  however,  with 
families  known  to  have  resided  in  Macomb.  There  is  no  known  confirmation,  however, 
that  Benjamin  B.  Head  was  in  effect  a  hotel  manager  or  owner. 

This  hunt  took  place  primarily  in  the  southeastern  part  of  Emmet  Township.  Martha 
W.  Miller  owned  in  1850  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  14,  while  the  Atlas  Map  of  Mc- 
Donough  County,  Illinois,  1871  lists  part  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  section  22  as  Thomas 
A.  Brooking  estate.  The  Callahan  and  McKee  properties  were  also  in  this  general  area. 

o 
The  "Wigwam    hollow"    is   not    the   creek  along   the  Macomb  street  called  Wigwam 

Hollow  Road  but  rather  the  Wig  Warn  Branch  which  empties  into  the  Lamoine  River  from 

the  north,  the  mouth  of  the  stream  being  situated  in  section  26,  just  northwest  of  Macomb. 

The  threshing  of  grain  initially  consisted  of  two  separate  operations:  removal  of 
grain  from  the  rest  of  the  plant,  and  separation  of  kernels  from  impurities  such  as  small 
pieces  of  stems  and  husks,  called  chaff.  The  latter  operation  was  first  done  by  hand.  Gram 
was  tossed  into  the  air  and  the  wind  would  be  allowed  to  blow  chaff  and  light-weight  seeds 
away.  Later  this  process,  which  was  very  time-consuming,  was  incorporated  into  threshing 
machines.  Beaters  would  first  separate  the  grain  from  the  straw  and  husks  and  a  fan  would 
blow  the  chaff  away  while  the  kernels  were  shaken  down  a  sloping  tray.  The  power  for 
these  machines  was  first  provided  by  men  (a  Ransom's  hand  threshing  machine  of  about 
1840  was  operated  by  four  men),  then  by  horses  and  finally  by  static  steam  engines.  It  is 
not  clear  what  kind  of  power  was  used  to  operate  the  chaff  piler  machine  mentioned  by 
Brooking.  Steam  was  used  to  drive  machines  already  from  1840  on,  but  horse  power  was 
also  used  at  least  until  mid  1860's.  Percy  W.  Blandford,  Old  Farm  Tools  and  Machinery: 
an  Illustrated  History  (Fort  Lauderdale:  Gale  Research,  1976),  pp.  128-30. 

The  chaff  pilers  were  first  brought  to  McDonough  Dounty  in  1841  by  John  Wiley,  a 
mechanic  by  trade.  They  were  produced  in  Ohio.  Soon  after  his  arrival  Wiley  embarked 
upon  their  manufacture  in  the  county.  The  threshing  machines  he  produced  were  known  as 
Rolston's  patent  and  were  considered  a  great  innovation.  S.  J.  Clarke,  History  of  McDon- 
ough County,  Illinois  (Springfield,  III.:  D.  W.  Lusk,  1878),  pp.  508-10. 

Quintus  Walker  was  one  of  the  numerous  Walker  brothers  and  their  relations  who 
settled  in  McDonough  County  in  the  1830's.  Most  Walkers  came  from  Virginia  via  Adair 
County,  Kentucky,  where  they  grew  up  prior  to  their  arrival  in  Camp  Creek  Settlement, 
McDonough  County.  Although  two  of  the  Walkers,  Cyrus  and  Pinkney  H.,  attained  great 
fame  as  lawyers,  and  Pinkney  as  a  judge  of  the  Illinois  Supreme  Court,  other  members  of 
the  family  were  content  to  be  farmers.  Quintus,  who  was  the  youngest  of  the  brothers, 
seemed  also  to  be  most  affected  by  the  hunting  tradition  of  the  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
settlers.   He  was  not  as  old  as  William  Brooking  intimated.  Born  in  1814,  he  was  only  ten 


ISO  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


years  older  than  William.  He  lived,  however,  a  long  life  and  William  probably  referred  to  him 
in  terms  of  how  Quintus  would  have  appeared  to  William's  children  and  grandchildren. 
These  inconsistencies  in  how  places  and  people  were  perceived  by  the  narrator  make  it 
sometimes  exceedingly  difficult  to  verify  the  facts  of  the  memoir. 

1 1 

Camp  meetings  were  an  important  part  of  the  social  and  religious  life  on  the  frontier. 

Originated  by  a  segment  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  which  later  split  from  the  main  body  to 
form  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  denomination,  and  most  fully  developed  by  Baptists  and 
Methodists,  camp  meetings  were  adaptations  by  churches  to  frontier  conditions.  Thin 
settlements,  scarcity  of  preachers,  and  unavailability  of  buildings  to  house  worshipers 
made  it  necessary  to  hold  large  but  infrequent  meetings  outdoors.  Sermons  which  aroused 
intense  feelings  of  guilt  and  fostered  conversion  to  righteous  conduct  had  as  their  ultimate 
goal  the  stabilization  of  the  unsettled,  violent,  and  physically  abusive  pioneer  conditions. 
In  addition,  respite  from  hard  work  during  the  relatively  quiet  time  of  the  year,  invited 
socializing,  festivities,  and  courting.  Camp  meetings  thus  also  served  to  alleviate  the  intense 
isolation  of  early  pioneer  settlements.  By  1848  and  1849  the  popularity  of  these  meetings 
was  already  waning  due  to  the  establishment  of  permanent  church  communities.  In  fact, 
both  preachers  mentioned  by  Brooking  already  had  their  congregations.  John  Berry  was  the 
first  preacher  of  the  Union  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  built  1845  one  and  one-half 
mile  east  of  Industry.  The  location  of  the  camp  meeting  thus  seems  to  have  been  in  the  close 
vicinity  of  this  church.  The  second  preacher,  Tom  Roach,  was  one  of  the  ministers  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  congregation  in  Macomb. 

The  layout  of  the  camp  as  described  by  Brooking,  followed  an  established  pattern. 
Tree  groves  were  usually  cleared  of  brush  and  undergrowth,  so  that  only  large  trees  re- 
mained, resulting  in  shade  and  free  movement  of  air.  The  other  elements  of  the  camp 
ground,  such  as  the  speaker's  stand,  the  altar  or  mourners'  bench  where  converts  confessed 
their  sins,  the  seats  of  the  congregation  at  large,  and  the  tents  enclosing  the  space,  were  all 
common  features  of  campgrounds.  See  Dickson  D.  Bruce,  And  They  All  Sang  Hallelujah 
(Knoxville:  University  of  Tennessee  Press,  1974). 

1 2 

Fredericksville  or  Frederick,  located  in  Schuyler  County  approximately  three  miles 

north  of  Burlington,  was  laid  out  in  1836.  The  town  owed  its  existence  to  a  point  on  the 
Illinois  River  called  Erie.  The  point  was  considered  one  of  the  best  shipping  locations  be- 
tween St.  Louis  and  Peoria.  Trade  in  general  merchandise  and  export  of  agricultural  prod- 
ucts contributed  to  the  importance  of  the  town.  By  1850  the  town  had  a  boat  yard,  a  stave 
factory,  and  a  large  pork-packing  house.  It  also  was  a  regular  stop  for  steam  boats  that  plied 
the  river.  With  the  advent  of  the  railroads  Frederick's  importance  declined  rapidly.  Con)- 
bined  History  of  Schuyler  and  Brown  Counties,  Illinois  (Philadelphia;  W.  R.  Brink,  1882), 
p.  282. 

1 3 

John  Walker,  Louisiana  Walker's  father,  was  a  cousin  to  Cyrus  and  Quintus  Walker. 

He  came  to  McDonough  County  in  1834  and  was  indeed  an  old  man  when  William  asked 
for  his  daughter's  hand.  His  permission  was  necessary  because  Louisiana  was  only  17  years 
old  when  she  married  William,  age  26.  John  died  in  1870  at  the  age  of  80  years. 

14 

"Infare"   is  a  term  which,  according  to  the  Oxford  English  Dictionary,    is  used  in 

Scotland,  in  the  northern  dialects  of  England  and  in  the  western  United  States.  It  denotes 
a  feast  or  entertainment  given  on  entering  a  new  house,  especially  at  the  reception  of  a 
bride  in  her  new  home.  The  infare  usually  takes  place  a  day  after  the  wedding.  The  Walker 
family  traces  its  heritage  to  Scotland,  and  it  is  therefore  interesting  that  this  old  Scottish 
custom  survived  on  the  frontier.  The  ancestry  of  the  Brooking  Family  is  not  known,  but  it 
would  be  safe  to  assume  that  they  also  originated  from  Scotland. 

The  Copeland  place  must  have  been  the  L.  H.  Copeland  farm  in  section  3  of  Ma- 
comb Township  as  listed  m  the  Atlas  Map  of  McDonough  County,  published  m  1871.  The 
place  was  only  four  miles  away  from  the  Brooking  farm  which  was  located  on  the  western 


THE  MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  T.  BROOKING  151 


edge  of  section  7.  The  creeks  mentioned  are  today  known  as  the  Farmers  Fork  and  the 

Town  Fork,  the  latter  a  tributary  of  the  LaMoine  River. 

1  fi 

The  location  of  John  Walker's  residence  was  not  on  Camp  Creek  as  William  Brooking 

indicated.  The  McDonough  County  Assessor's  Book  for  1850  lists  his  property  on  southeast 

quarter  of  section  9  in  Industry  Township,  and  Sanders  Campbell's  on  the  northeast  quarter 

of  the  same  section.  The  latter  land  was  listed  as  belonging  to  John  G.  McGaughy  according 

to  the  Atlas  Map  of  McDonough  County  for  1871.   Both  locations  are  today  situated  on 

the  west  side  of  Highway  67,  and  there  is  still  a  road  which  bisects  the  section  into  the 

northern  and  southern  half.  The  draw  which  Lucian  mentions  is  also  indicated  on  both  the 

Atlas  Map  and  on  contemporary  maps  issued  by  the  Division  of  Highways,  Illinois  Bureau 

of  Research  and  Planning. 


TORNADOES  OF  WESTERN  ILLINOIS 
PRIOR  TO  1875 


Daniel  L.  Wise 

Of  all  natural  phenomena,  tornadoes  have  the  capacity  to  be  the 
most  violent.  Fortunately,  tornadoes  are  fairly  localized,  averaging 
only  one-fourth  of  a  mile  in  width  and  having  paths  of  destruction 
averaging  ten  to  fifteen  miles.  The  probability  is  quite  low,  therefore, 
that  a  given  tornado  will  touch  down  in  an  inhabited  area.  On  those 
occasions  when  inhabited  areas  are  affected,  however,  a  tornado's 
rotating  column  of  air  can  wreak  havoc  with  an  entire  city  in  a 
matter  of  minutes,  leaving  death  and  destruction  behind. 

After  a  brief  discussion  of  the  general  characteristics  of  tornadoes, 
this  paper  will  focus  upon  tornado  activity  in  western  Illinois  prior 
to  1875.  After  1875,  systematic  governmental  documentation  of 
tornadoes  became  standard  procedure.  Accounts  of  tornadoes  prior 
to  1875,  however,  must  be  tracked  down  through  a  variety  of 
sources— usually  local  newspapers.  Those  accounts,  while  more 
difficult  to  locate  than  the  later  governmental  reports,  offer  interest- 
ing and  informative  insights  into  our  forebearers'  perceptions  of  his- 
torical tornadoes  in  western  Illinois. 

General  Characteristics  of  Tornadoes 

Approximately  seventy-five  percent  of  the  world's  most  violent 
tornadoes  occur  in  the  United  States.  The  majority  of  U.S.  tornadoes 
develop  in  the  vast  flatlands  between  the  Rocky  and  Appalachian 
mountains,  from  Texas  northeast  to  the  Great  Lakes— the  so-called 
"Tornado  Alley." 

Tornado  formation  requires  the  meeting  of  two  air  masses  with 
distinctly  different  temperature,  humidity,  and  wind  flow  character- 
istics. Illinois  is  an  ideal  location  for  tornado  formation,  especially 
during  the  spring  and  early  summer.  During  these  seasons,  low  pres- 
sure systems  are  constantly  moving  from  west  to  east  across  Illinois. 
Warm,  humid  air  masses  originating  over  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  rush 
towards  the  center  of  the  low  pressure  system  from  the  south  or 
southwest.  If,  simultaneously,  cold,  dry  Canadian  air  masses,  advanc- 
ing from  the  west  or  northwest,  intercept  and  override  the  warm 


TORNADOESOF  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  153 


air,  the  contrasting  temperatures  and  hunnidities,  as  well  as  the 
contrasting  direction  of  flow  of  these  two  air  masses  can  create  a 
whirling  motion,  or  vortex,  at  the  top  of  the  warm  air  mass.  If 
conditions  are  favorable,  the  vortex  will  intensify  and  extend  down- 
ward, resulting  in  the  funnel  cloud  so  characteristic  of  tornadoes. 
At  the  same  time,  thunderclouds  (cumulonimbus  clouds)  develop 
along  this  upper  air  boundary  between  the  cold  and  warm  air  masses. 
It  is  from  the  base  of  these  thunderclouds  that  the  tornado  descends. 

Once  formed,  the  path  a  tornado  follows  represents  the  com- 
posite flow  of  the  overriding  cold  air  mass  from  a  westerly  direction 
and  the  flow  of  the  warm  air  mass  from  a  southerly  direction.  As  a 
result,  Illinois'  tornadoes  usually  move  from  the  southwest  towards 
the  northeast.  Exceptions  do  occur  and  are  believed  to  result  from 
variations  in  the  orientation  of  the  flow  of  the  overriding  cold  air 
mass.  Almost  all  of  the  tornadoes  with  observed  paths,  or  tracks, 
in  western  Illinois  prior  to  1875,  had  the  typical  southwest  to 
northeast  movement.  While  tornadoes  may  "hug  the  ground"  for  a 
long  distance  as  they  follow  their  particular  path,  they  often  travel 
in  erratic,  skipping  motions,  sparing  some  locations  only  to  swoop 
down  and  destroy  others. 

The  vortex  of  a  tornado  becomes  visible  as  the  water  vapor 
within  that  rapidly  rising  column  of  warm  moist  air  undergoes  con- 
densation. Therefore,  the  vortex,  much  like  a  cloud,  initially  appears 
bright  or  light  in  color.  As  the  tornado  passes  over  bare  soil,  however, 
it  draws  the  soil,  as  well  as  the  debris  created  by  its  own  high  winds, 
into  its  vortex,  thus  giving  the  tornado  a  very  dark,  menacing 
appearance. 

Since  a  tornado  usually  occurs  in  conjunction  with  a  thunder- 
cloud, it  is  not  uncommon  for  heavy  rain  and  hail  to  be  reported 
during  a  tornado.  Lightning  and  other  luminous  features  also  tend 
to  occur  in  and  around  the  vortex  of  a  tornado.  At  one  time  it  was 
assumed  that  the  "eerie  glow"  often  accompanying  a  tornado  was 
the  result  of  large  electrical  charges  generated  by  the  high-speed, 
rotating  winds  of  the  tornado  —  like  a  huge  dynamo  in  the  sky. 
Many  experts  now  assume,  however,  that  such  a  glow  is  nothing 
more  than  static  electricity  produced  by  dust  particles  rubbing 
together  as  they  are  tossed  about  in  the  high  speed  winds  of  the 
vortex.^ 

The  damage  resulting  from  a  tornado  is  often  awesome— in  the 
completeness  as  well  as  the  speed  of  the  destruction.  Consequently, 
many  accounts  of  tornado  damage  seem  more  likely  to  have  resulted 
from  war-related  bombings  rather  than  a  natural  phenomenon. 
Much  of  the  damage  caused  by  tornadoes  results  from  the  destructive 
power  of  the  extremely  high  wind  speed  of  the  whirling  vortex  (up 
to  300  miles  per  hour). 


754  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

Another  source  of  damage  is  the  explosive  action  of  a  tornado. 
The  centrifugal  force  resulting  from  the  rotating  motion  of  the 
vortex  creates  a  partial  vacuum  in  the  center  of  the  tornado.  The 
lower  pressure  in  the  tornado  often  causes  considerable  damage  as 
the  air  within  a  building,  which  is  under  normal  pressure,  rushes 
towards  the  lower  pressure  within  the  tornado.  The  result  is  that  the 
building  will  literally  explode.  This  characteristic  of  tornadoes  was 
no  doubt  the  cause  of  much  consternation  among  church-goers  of 
the  early  nineteenth  century  who  were  bewildered  as  their  churches 
were  destroyed  while  nearby  saloons  went  unscathed  by  tornadoes. 
Apparently  the  saloons'  swinging  doors  allowed  for  quick  pressure 
equalization,  while  the  sealed  churches,  unable  to  adjust  to  the 
pressure  differences,  would  explode.'^ 

While  considerable  damage  is  done  by  the  strong  horizontal 
winds  on  the  edge  of  the  vortex  and  by  the  explosions  of  buildings 
resulting  from  the  low  pressure  within  the  vortex,  other  damage  is 
caused  by  the  strong,  vertical  winds  of  a  tornado.  A  tornado  is 
capable  of  lifting  extremely  heavy  objects  and  transporting  them  far 
distances.  The  most  spectacular  reports  concerning  the  lifting  of 
objects  by  tornadoes  are  the  accounts  of  people  being  carried  aloft 
by  the  updrafts  and  then  living  to  tell  the  stories  of  their  ordeals. 

A  more  recent  theory  attributes  the  damage  associated  with 
tornadoes  to  the  high-speed  air-flow  across  the  roofs  of  structures. 
Much  like  an  airplane  being  lifted  by  the  flow  of  air  over  the  curved 
upper  surface  of  its  wings,  the  flow  of  air  over  the  roof  of  a  structure 
can  literally  "lift"  the  structure  off  of  its  foundation.^ 

Historical  Accounts 

Presented  below  are  historical  accounts  of  tornadoes  occurring 
in  western  Illinois  prior  to  1875.  The  particular  accounts  were 
chosen  either  because  they  are  representative  of  the  accounts  of  that 
period  or  because  they  provide  an  unusual  insight  into  the  tornadoes 
of  that  period. 

Systematic  governmental  documentation  of  tornadoes  did  not 
exist  prior  to  1875.  Most  accounts  of  these  early  tornadoes,  there- 
fore, had  to  be  researched  through  other  sources  —  usually  local 
newspapers.  The  newspaper  accounts  vary  greatly,  from  single- 
sentence  references  to  elaborate  descriptions.  In  addition,  early 
newspaper  accounts  of  tornadoes  are  often  unverifiable  and  vague. 

The  shortcomings  of  many  of  the  early  accounts  of  tornadoes 
are  compensated  for  by  the  picturesque  phrases.  The  similes,  meta- 
phors, and  generally  "unscientific"  writing  style  characterizing  the 
accounts  offer  interesting  observations  of  the  tornadoes.  Despite 
the  fact  that  early  observers  did  not  understand  the  dynamics  of 


TORNADOES  OF  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  155 


tornadoes,  many  of  these  early  impressionistic  descriptions  were 
actually  quite  accurate. 

The  task  of  researching  accounts  of  historical  tornadoes  was 
further  complicated  by  varying  terminology.  The  general  terms 
"storm"  or  "windstorm"  were  often  employed.  Likewise,  the  term 
"whirlwind"  was  used  to  describe  storms  with  rotating  vortices. 
Early  tornadoes  were  also  frequently  called  "hurricanes"  even 
though  they  have  vastly  different  origins  and  properties  than  their 
water-borne  cousins.  The  term  "cyclone,"  which  today  is  used 
almost  exclusively  to  describe  common,  large-scale  storm  systems, 
was  applied  to  tornadoes  from  about  1870  well  into  the  twentieth 
century. 

All  tornadoes  which  occurred  in  western  Illinois  prior  to  1875 
and  which  were  verifiable  by  at  least  two  sources  are  detailed  in 
Figure  1  and  Table  1.  The  information  presented  in  the  table  and 
figure  reflect  the  settlement  patterns  of  western  Illinois  during  the 
period  covered  by  this  study.  As  indicated,  tornado  sightings  were 
rare  before  1850.  Not  only  did  the  number  of  observed  tornadoes 
increase  after  1850,  but  tornadoes  with  discernible  paths  —  as 
opposed  to  tornadoes  observed  at  a  single  location  —  also  became 
increasingly  common  over  time.  Such  a  change  probably  reflects  the 
rapid  population  growth  in  western  Illinois  during  the  mid-1 800's, 
and  consequently,  the  greater  chance  of  individuals  observing  and 
tracking  a  tornado.  The  concentration  of  tornadoes  with  discernible 
paths  within  the  northern  portion  of  western  Illinois  parallels  the 
spatial  variation  of  settlements  during  the  period  of  review.  During 
the  mid-1800's,  the  northern  and  southern  portions  of  western 
Illinois  had  similar  numbers  of  cities  and  towns.  These  population 
centers  in  the  northern  portion,  however,  were  fairly  evenly  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  counties,  while  those  in  the  southern  por- 
tion were  concentrated  in  relatively  few  counties.'*  The  tracking  of 
a  tornado  was  more  likely,  therefore,  in  the  northern  part  of  western 
Illinois. 

For  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  during  the  period  of  time 
under  investigation  in  this  paper,  photographs  of  tornadoes  them- 
selves do  not  exist,  and  photographs  of  tornado-related  damage  are 
rare.  Although  photographs  of  tornado  damage  in  western  Illinois 
for  this  period  were  not  located,  an  artist's  rendition  of  the  damage 
done  to  the  former  Mormon  Temple  in  Nauvoo  (Hancock  County), 
was  found.  The  temple,  which  had  been  completed  only  a  short 
time  before  the  Mormons  fled  to  Utah,  caught  fire  in  October, 
1848,  and  only  the  walls  were  left  standing.  "On  the  afternoon  of 
May  27,  1980  ...  a  terrific  storm  tore  into  Nauvoo,  and,  seeming  to 
single  out  the  temple,  filled  the  walls  with  a  roar  that  was  heard  three 
miles  away."^ 


156 


WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


TOP:  photograph  of  completed  Nauvoo  Temple.  BOTTOM:  sketch  by  artist 
Frederick  Piercy  in  1853  of  the  ruins  of  the  Nauvoo  Temple.  Courtesy  of  Illinois 
State  Historical  Library. 


TORNADOES  OF  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  157 

Littleton,  Illinois  (Schuyler  County),  was  struck  by  a  tornado  on 
October  23,  1856.  The  newspaper  of  a  neighboring  community  gave 
the  following  account:  "It  will  be  recollected  that .  .  .  this  town  was 
sadly  visited  by  a  windstorm,  which  in  its  course,  entirely  laid  waste 
the  east  side  of  the  street  running  north.  Some  twenty  buildings 
were  entirely  swept  away.  .  .  .  The  destruction  was  truly  great,  and 
it  seems  a  miraculous  intervention,  that  amidst  such  a  wreck,  but  few 
comparatively,  of  the  citizens  were  injured.  Mr.  Crawford  .  .  .  (was) 
the  only  person  who  was  so  seriously  injured  as  to  die."^ 

Because  of  the  great  likelihood  that  a  tornado  will  never  strike  a 
given  location,  the  probability  of  a  community  being  struck  more 
than  once  is  astoundingly  low— but  it  does  happen.  The  town  of 
Littleton  is  an  example.  Not  only  was  Littleton  struck  by  a  tornado 
again,  on  June  21,  1981,  but  the  devastating  results  were  astound- 
ingly similar  to  the  1856  tornado— extensive  damage  rendered, 
several  persons  injured,  and  one  person  killed. 

The  newspaper  account  of  a  tornado  which  killed  nineteen 
people  in  Ellison  (Warren  County)  on  May  31,  1858,  illustrates  the 
awesome  strength  of  a  tornado:  "The  trees  .  .  .  were  pulled  up  by 
the  roots,  twisted,  turned  about,  simply,  and  in  places ...  it  seemed 
as  if  they  had  been  torn  up  by  groups,  as  a  child  would  wantonly 
twist  the  tops  of  adjacent  weeds  and  tear  them  from  the  ground. 
Trees  a  foot  in  diameter  were  thus  made  the  sport  of  the  tornado, 
and  were  dashed,  crushed  and  broken  to  the  ground."^  The  short 
and  narrow,  albeit  devastating,  path  of  this  tornado  was  also  de- 
scribed: "The  track  of  the  whirlwind  seems  not  to  have  been  very 
wide,  nor  was  its  course  a  long  one.  Scattered  farm  houses  about 
the  village  in  various  directions  still  stand  .  .  .,  but  of  the  village 
proper  only  three  small  cabins  or  shanties  which  were  to  the  south- 
ward of  the  line  of  desolating  destruction,  were  spared,  and  they 
alone  remain  of  the  ill-fated  village  of  Ellison."^ 

A  tornado  which  killed  several  people  as  it  swept  across  the 
southern  portion  of  western  Illinois  (Calhoun,  Greene,  Scott  and 
Morgan  counties)  on  May  26,  1859,  was  reported  as  "a  violent 
storm  or  hurricane  (which)  did  immense  damage  to  houses,  barns, 
fences,  and  also  caused  some  destruction  of  life."^  It  was  described 
as  having  a  "frightful,  .  .  .  balloon  or  funnel  shape,  and  appeared  .  .  . 
peculiarly  bright  and  luminous,  not  at  all  black  or  dark  in  any  of 
its  parts,  except  its  base  or  bottom. "^° 

A  vivid  account  of  what  surely  must  be  related  to  the  output  of 
static  electricity  associated  with  a  tornado  is  given  in  this  account 
of  the  same  tornado  as  it  swept  across  Morgan  county:  "Mr.  Cowell 
was  plowing  his  field.  ...  He  saw  the  frightful  cloud  approaching 
.  .  .  and  at  once  attempted  to  drive  his  horses  and  plow  to  the  house 
....  The  horses  suddenly  took  fright  .  .  .  their  manes  and  tails  and 


158  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

all  their  hair  'stood  right  out  straight'  as  he  expressed  it,  and  ....  the 
iron  in  the  harness  ....  and  plow,  in  his  language  'seemed  all  covered 
with  fire.'  He  felt  a  violent  pulling  of  his  own  hair  which  left  'his 
head  sore  for  some  days'  and  the  hair  itself  rigid  and  inflexible."" 

In  addition,  although  unconfirmed  by  others,  Mr.  Cowell  was 
one  of  the  few  individuals  to  have  a  tornado  pass  directly  over  him 
and  live  to  tell  about  it.  He  described  the  light  in  the  center  of  the 
tornado  as  being  "so  brilliant  that  he  could  not  endure  it  with  his 
eyes  open,  and  for  the  most  part  kept  them  shut  ....  Yet  (inside 
the  tornado)  there  was  no  wind,  no  thunder  and  no  noise  whatever 
.  .  .  ."^^  Another  interesting  feature  of  this  same  tornado  can  be 
attributed  to  the  low  pressure  of  the  vortex:  "When  the  terrific  whirl 
struck  ....  (it)  stripped  all  of  the  feathers  off  from  the  hens  and 
turkeys,  as  perfectly  clean  as  if  picked  for  the  table.  Some,  though 
badly  plucked,  and  made  entirely  blind,  still  lived. "^^  Such  a  bizarre 
occurrence  probably  resulted  when  the  hollow  quills  of  the  feathers 
expanded  so  suddenly— as  the  low  pressure  vortex  moved  over  the 
area— that  the  birds'  feathers  "exploded." 

A  report  regarding  a  tornado  which  struck  Carlinville  (Macoupin 
County)  on  April  17,  1860,  is  one  of  the  few  historical  accounts  of  a 
tornado  describing  its  formation:  "There  seemed  to  be  two  distinct 
currents  of  air,  both  of  which  came  in  contact  when  above  this 
village  creating  a  most  terrific  and  appalling  scene  .  .  .  The  wind,  at 
intervals,  formed  whirlwinds,  and  wherever  they  struck  destruction 
was  the  result."^^  The  Carlinville  tornado  had  winds  of  sufficient 
force  that  "small  out-houses  went  tumbling  about  as  if  their  weight 
did  not  exceed  that  of  a  feather."^^  A  more  unique  feature  of  this 
tornado  was  that  "a  small  child  was  carried  at  two  different  times 
quite  a  distance  in  the  air,  but  not  seriously  injured. "^^ 

A  tornado  which  followed  a  path  from  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa,  to 
Rock  Island,  Illinois  (Rock  Island  County)  on  June  3,  1860,  was 
described  as  having  "the  appearance  of  a  large  black  shaft  or  column, 
shaped  like  an  upright  hour-glass  extending  from  a  tremendous 
threatening  cloud. "^^  The  fury  of  the  Cedar  Rapids-Rock  Island 
tornado  was  noted  in  the  following  description  of  its  devastating 
effect:  "Houses  gone,  utterly  gone,  and  nothing  but  foundations 
told  where  they  had  been:  trees  one  and  two  feet  in  diameter,  and 
even  larger,  uprooted  and  hurled  many  rods  (1  rod  =  16.5  feet)  .  .  . 
The  power  and  force  of  this  demon  of  the  elements  must  have  been 
immense. "^^  The  often  erratic,  skipping  motion  of  a  tornado,  sparing 
some  locations  only  to  swoop  down  and  destroy  others,  was  cap- 
tured in  the  following  description  of  the  Cedar  Rapids-Rock  Island 
tornado:  "We  were  told  by  Dr.  Hammer  this  morning,  that  when  he 
observed  it  (the  tornado),  it  would  sometimes  spring  up  and  for  a 
space  do  nothing,  then  in  an  instant  it  would  swoop  down,  destroy- 


TORNADOES  OF  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  159 


ing  everything  before  it  ....  We  noticed  nothing  of  the  kind,  it  al- 
ways hugged  the  earth  with  the  embrace  of  a  fiend." ^^  The  people 
were  awed  by  this  localized  display  of  energy:  "The  track  of  the 
whirling  dennon  was  not  more  than  20  rods  in  width— we  speak  of  the 
central  force  which  worked  the  destruction:  outside  of  that  there 
was  a  mighty  wind,  but  no  such  traces  of  power  were  left."'^'^ 

A  tornado  that  traveled  from  Shanghai  City  (Warren  County) 
to  Henderson  (Knox  County)  on  May  4,  1868,  was  accompanied 
by  a  deluge  of  rain  and  hail  with  hailstones  weighing  up  to  3  pounds. 
In  Shanghai  City  "sixteen  buildings  were  torn  to  atoms  and  many 
others  moved  out  of  their  places,  and  more  or  less  damaged.  Nearly 
the  whole  town  was  destroyed. "^^ 

As  a  result  of  the  inconsistent  terminology  and  frequently 
inadequate  descriptions  given  in  local  newspaper  accounts,  it  is  often 
difficult  to  ascertain  precisely  whether  or  not  a  tornado  actually  did 
occur.  A  newspaper  account  of  a  "storm"  in  Macomb,  Illinois 
(McDonough  County)  on  April  19,  1869,  serves  as  an  example: 
"Our  city  was  visited  with  a  heavy  rain  storm  ....  The  storm  .... 
unroofed  the  wash  houses  connected  with  the  Randolph  Hotel 
which  had  withstood  the  storms  of  many  years.  This  leads  ...  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  wind  must  have  taken  a  peculiar  freak  just 
in  that  locality,  no  other  part  of  the  city  having  been  in  the  least 
damaged  by  the  storm. "^^  Such  severe  localized  damage  to  struc- 
turally sound  buildings  implies  that  the  "peculiar  freak"  may  have 
been  a  tornado.  This  contention  is  supported  by  the  fact  that  a 
tornado  was  observed  on  that  same  date  in  Peoria  (Peoria  County), 
sixty  miles  east- northeast  of  Macomb. ^-^ 

On  May  22,  1873,  a  tornado  followed  a  path  from  Keokuk,  Iowa 
to  Peoria,  Illinois.  "Huge  trees  were  twisted  into  slivers  and  blown 
about  like  feathers.  A  forty  acre  tract  of  heavily  timbered  land  .... 
(had)  large  trees  ....  torn  up  by  their  roots  and  others  ....  entirely 
stripped  of  bark  and  leaves.  One  large  tree  was  carried  in  mid-air  the 
distance  of  an  eighth  of  a  mile."^"^  As  this  same  tornado  passed  over 
a  house  in  Youngstown  (Warren  County),  "the  top  of  the  house  was 
blown  off,  and  a  woman  and  child  were  carried  out  of  the  house  by 
the  wind  and  lodged  in  the  top  of  a  tree  about  fifty  feet  from  the 
ground. "^^ 

The  following  passage,  describing  the  Youngstown  tornado,  prob- 
ably summarizes  the  feelings  of  most  people  who,  for  the  first  time, 
witness  the  destructive  force  of  a  tornado:  "We  have  not  the  ability 
to  describe  the  scenes  and  utter  desolation  caused  by  this  terrible 
storm  ....  It  would  take  a  large  volume  to  come  anywhere  near 
giving  a  full  account  of  this  most  terrible  storm.  We  trust  that  we  will 
never  be  called  on  to  chronical  such  a  scene  of  disaster  as  we  saw  last 
Saturday. "2^ 


160 


WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


TABLE  1.  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  TORNADOES  PRIOR  TO  1875* 


Date 


Location 


1. 

1825 

April 

2. 

1835 

August  17 

3. 

1850 

May  27 

4. 

1855 

May 

5. 

1856 

October  23 

6. 

1856 

November  17 

7. 

1858 

May  14 

8. 

1858 

May  20 

9. 

1858 

May  31 

10. 

1859 

May  26 

11.  1860  April  17 

12.  1860  May  20 

13.  1868  May  4 

14.  1869  April  19 

15.  1873  May  22 


Morgan  County 

New  Salenn  (Pike  County) 

Nauvoo  (Hancock  County) 

Jacksonville  (Morgan  County) 

Littleton  (Schuyler  County) 

Quincy  (Adams  County) 

Williamsville  (Sangamon  County) 

Oquawka  to  Galesburg,  (Henderson, 
Warren,  and  Knox  Counties) 

Ellison  (Warren  County) 

Calhoun,  Greene,  Scott,  and 
Morgan  Counties 

Carlinville  (Macoupin  County) 

Cedar  Rapids  to  Rock  Island  (Rock 
Island  County) 

Shanghai  City  to  Henderson 
(Warren  and  Knox  Counties) 

Macomb  to  Peoria  (McDonough, 
Fulton,  and  Peoria  Counties) 

Keokuk,  Iowa  to  Peoria  (Hancock, 
McDonough,  Fulton,  and  Peoria 
Counties) 


•Tornadoes  verifiable  by  at  least  two  sources. 
Source:  The  various  sources  employed  appear  in  the  Notes  section  of  this  paper. 


TORNADOES  OF  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  161 

Concluding  Remarks 

Although  there  were  several  tornadoes  described  in  newspapers, 
and  other  sources,  it  is  unlikely  that  these  were  the  only  tornadoes 
to  occur  in  western  Illinois  prior  to  1875.  Several  factors  may  con- 
tribute to  the  limited  accounts  of  tornadoes.  First,  the  small  and 
sparse  population  in  western  Illinois  decreased  the  likelihood  of 
someone  spotting  a  tornado.  Thus,  unless  there  was  damage  to  a 
major  city  or  village,  a  tornado  usually  went  unreported.  Also, 
because  of  the  lack  of  any  systematic  method  of  reporting  and 
recording  tornadoes  during  those  early  years,  most  accounts  of 
tornadoes  must  be  researched  through  local  editions  of  small-town 
newspapers.  These  early  accounts  are  often  difficult  to  locate  and 
their  authenticity  and  accuracy  are  sometimes  questionable. 

What  the  early  newspaper  accounts  lack  in  accuracy,  however, 
they  more  than  make  up  for  in  their  descriptive  prose.  While  reading 
such  accounts,  one  cannot  help  but  recapture  the  fear,  the  awe,  and 
the  feeling  of  powerlessness  that  tornadoes  must  have  inflicted  upon 
the  early  settlers  of  western  Illinois. 

NOTES 

Bruce  Schechter,  "The  Killer  Winds  of  Spring,"  Discover,  May  1981 ,  p.  23. 

2 
William  Braden,  "Tornadoes!,"  Chicago  Sun-Times,  8  March  1981,  p.  62 

■^Schechter,  p.  23 

4 
The  median  number  of  cities  or  towns  per  county  in  the  northern  portion  of  Western 

Illinois— north    of   and    including   Hancock,   McDonough,   Fulton,  and  Tazewell  counties  — 
was  nineteen.  For  the  southern  portion,  the  median  number  was  nine.  Source:  Population 
of  the  United  States  in   1860,  Table  No.  3  —  Population  of  Cities  and  Towns  (Washington: 
Government  Printing  Office,  1864)  pp.  88-101. 
5 
Federal  Writers'  Project  of   Illinois,  Nauvoo  Guide   (Chicago:   A.  C.  McCiurg  &  Co., 

1939)  p.  38 

"Littleton,"  The  McDonough  Democrat  (Macomb),  20  Nov.  1856,  p.  2 

"A  Terrible  Tornado,"  New  York  Daily  Tribune,  5  June  1858,  as  quoted  in  David 
M.  Ludlum,  Early  American  Tornadoes,  1586—1870  (Boston:  American  Meteorological 
Society,  1970)  p.  118. 

^Ibid. 

9 
"The  News,"  The  Macomb  Eagle,  4  June  1859,  p.  2 

Transactions  of  the  Illinois  Natural  History  Society   (Springfield,   Illinois:   Phillips 
Bros.,  1861)  I,  1,  p.  42. 

^^bid.,  p.  43 

Ibid. 

^^Ibid.,  p.  44 

14 

"Terrific  Storm  and   Great   Destruction  of  Property,"  The  St.  Louis  Republican  in 

The  Macomb  Eagle,  28  April  1860,  p.  1. 


162  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


l^lbid. 

"Tornado— Houses  Swept  Away  and  Forests  Uprooted,"  Mt.   Vernon  (Iowa)  News 
in  The  Macomb  Eagle,  8  June  1860,  p.  2 

Ibid. 

19,bid. 

20,bid. 

21 

"Terrible  Tornado,"  Galesburg  Register  in  The  Macomb  Journal,   9  May  1868,  p.  3 

22 

"Rain  and  Wind— Great  Destruction  of  Property,'    The  Macomb  Journal,  23  April 

1869,  p.  2 

^^Ludlum,  p.  213 

24 

"A    Terrible    Tornado— Immense    Destruction    of    Property    near    Youngstown, 

Monmouth  Leader  in  The  Macomb  Journal,  29  May  1873,  p.  2 
25|bid. 
26,bid. 


ILLINOIS  GRASSROOTS 

POLITICS  OF  THE  1890's 

IN  BRAND  WHITLOCK'S  FICTION 


David  D.  Anderson 

In  July,  1898,  Ainlee's  Magazine  published  the  first  short  story 
by  a  twenty-nine-year-old  Toledo  lawyer  who  aspired  to  careers  as 
a  realistic  novelist  and  as  a  reform  political  activist.  The  young 
writer-lawyer  was  Brand  Whitlock,  a  veteran  police  and  political 
reporter  in  Toledo,  Chicago,  and  Springfield,  Illinois,^  and  the  story, 
"The  Pardon  of  Thomas  Whalen,"  was  based  on  his  experience  as  a 
member  of  the  Altgeld  administration  in  Springfield. 

"The  Pardon  of  Thomas  Whalen"  was,  however,  more  than  the 
typical  sentimental  story  preferred  by  popular  magazines  during 
what  Thomas  Beer  has  described  as  the  "mauve  decade."  It  was 
based  upon  perhaps  the  most  celebrated  judicial  act  of  the  decade, 
the  pardoning  of  the  remaining  imprisoned  Haymarket  anarchists 
by  Whitlock's  friend  and  mentor,  John  Peter  Altgeld,  to  the  subse- 
quent ruin  of  Altgeld's  political  career.  The  story  defines  the 
concerns  that  had  dominated  Altgeld's  governorship  and  were  to 
dominate  Whitlock's  future  careers  as  writer  and  political  activist: 
a  preoccupation  with  the  elusive  nature  of  justice  and  a  conviction 
that  truth,  equally  elusive,  must  be  the  ultimate  test  of  the  worth 
of  all  human  activity. 

The  story  itself  is  both  an  idealized  portrait  of  Altgeld  and  a 
thinly-disguised  account  of  his  act.  Set  in  Springfield,  it  concerns 
a  politically  ambitious  governor  who  is  nevertheless  dedicated  to  an 
ideal  of  justice  rarely  found  among  successful,  ambitious  politicians. 
Under  intense  public  pressure,  a  man  has  been  convicted  of  a  notori- 
ous political  murder,  and  public  opinion  is  satisfied.  However,  as  the 
governor  is  preparing  to  run  for  reelection,  a  woman  secretly  con- 
fesses to  him  that  she  is  the  murderer,  and  the  governor,  against  the 
advice  of  his  supporters  and  knowing  its  inevitable  effect,  determines 
to  keep  the  confession  secret  and  pardon  the  man.  His  secretary 
pleads  that  the  confession  be  made  public,  insisting  that  then  justice 
will  be  served  and  his  career  saved,  but  the  governor  refuses.  Then, 
his  secretary  insists,  he  is  saying,  "to  hell  with  justice."  "No, 
William,"  the  governor  replies,  "leave  that  to  heaven."  In  his  later 


164 


WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


Brand  Whitlock. 


BRAND  WHITLOCK'S  FICTION  165 

collection  of  stories,  Whitlock  revised  the  last  phrase  as  "Well,  then, 
what  do  you  say  to  a  little  mercy  now  and  then?" 

The  plot  is  slight,  and  the  story  borders  on  the  sentimental,  but 
it  is  intensely  human,  and  it  includes  sharply  etched  vignettes  of  the 
political  arguments  and  debates  that  surround  the  incident.  It  makes 
clear,  too,  the  political  ideal  which  Whitlock  shared  with  Altgeld 
and  which  he  was  determined  to  pursue.  Equally  clear  are  the 
political  reality  with  which  he  had  become  familiar  in  Springfield 
and  the  path  that  his  writing  as  well  as  his  political  career  was  to 
take. 

Whitlock  followed  "The  Pardon  of  Thomas  Whalen"  with  other 
political  stories  set  in  Springfield  and  Chicago,  including  "The 
Vindication  of  Henderson  of  Greene"-^  and  "The  Has-Been,"'*  both 
attempts  to  define  the  elusive  line  between  pragmatic  politics  and 
political  principle,  as  well  as  "An  Affair  of  State, "^  another  portrayal 
of  Altgeld's  essential  humanity  as  governor.  But  Whitlock's  prime 
interests  were  his  legal  practice,  increasingly  devoted  to  the  poor 
and  the  unfortunate  who  were  caught  up  in  a  legal  system  more 
oppressive  than  just,  and  his  determination  to  be  a  realistic  novelist 
in  the  Howells  tradition.  At  the  same  time  he  became  an  advisor  and 
campaign  manager  for  Samuel  L.  "Golden  Rule"  Jones,  reform 
mayor  of  Toledo,  who,  like  Altgeld,  pursued  the  justice  that  lies 
beyond  legality.^ 

In  March,  1902,  Whitlock  published  his  first  novel.  The  Thirteenth 
District.^  Like  the  stories,  it  was  the  product  of  his  Illinois  experi- 
ence and  his  philosophic  convictions,  but  in  contrast  to  them,  it  is 
neither  slight  nor  does  it  border  on  the  sentimental.  Like  Howells, 
he  had  come  to  believe  that  the  novelist  who  would  be  true  must 
construct  literary  art  out  of  "a  fidelity  to  experience  and  probability 
of  motive,"^  both  of  which  Whitlock  drew  from  his  experience  and 
observations  in  Illinois.  For  Whitlock,  as  for  Howells,  "The  novel 
can  teach,  and  for  shame's  sake  it  must  teach,  but  only  by  painting 
life  truly."  "This,"  Howells  said,  "is  what  it  must  above  all  things 
strive  to  do,"^  and  this  Whitlock  determined  to  do.  The  result  was 
and  remains  the  most  vividly  real  portrait  of  Midwestern  American 
grassroots  politics  yet  written,  and  at  the  same  time,  it  teaches  a 
lesson  unfortunately  unlearned  by  the  American  electorate  in  the 
days  of  whistlestops  and  stump-speaking,  and  still  unlearned  when 
candidates  speak  electronically  in  every  home  in  the  country. 

In  The  Thirteenth  District,  set  in  the  Thirteenth  Congressional 
District  of  Illinois,  a  rural  and  small-town  constituency,  Whitlock 
focuses  upon  an  element  that  he  had  observed  all  too  often  in 
Toledo,  Chicago,  and  Springfield:  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  demo- 
cratic system  as  it  permits  the  inept  and  unworthy  to  attain  elected 
office.   In  the  novel  he  also  focuses  on  the  peculiar  character  of 


766  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

Jerome  Garwood,  a  politically  ambitious  young  lawyer  and  state 
legislator  from  the  central  Illinois  town  of  Grand  Prairie,  for  whom 
the  system  seems  designed. 

The  novel  focuses,  too,  in  human  terms,  upon  the  life  of  the 
district,  upon  the  Illinois  countryside,  and  upon  the  men  who  make 
the  system  what  it  is.  (Whitlock  reserves  his  comments  on  women 
in  politics  and  women's  suffrage  for  his  next  novel.  Her  Infinite 
Variety.)  In  realistic  fashion,  the  interaction  of  countryside,  people, 
and  social  structure  emerges  as  a  complex  unit  reminiscent  of  a 
novel  by  Thomas  Hardy  or  by  Whitlock's  literary  mentor,  Howells. 

The  novel  opens  with  a  vivid  political  scene:  Garwood  is  return- 
ing by  train  to  Grand  Prairie  from  the  district  convention  in  Clinton, 
at  which,  as  the  result  of  skillful  management  by  the  local  political 
boss,  Jim  Rankin,  Garwood  has  been  nominated  for  Congress.  As 
the  train  nears  the  station  full  of  supporters,  Rankin  slaps  Garwood 
on  the  shoulder,  remarking  that  "There's  nothing  like  it,  is  there?". ^° 
And  then  they  step  down  to  a  civic  ovation:  flags  waving,  a  band 
playing,  the  crowd  cheering,  hands  thrust  forward.  In  the  back- 
ground, Rankin  remarks  again,  "Well,  if  we'd  been  skinned,  they 
wouldn't  'a'  been  here  when  you  needed  sympathy. "^^ 

The  crowd,  led  by  the  town  band  playing  "See,  the  Conquering 
Hero  Comes,"  and  Garwood  and  Rankin  in  a  carriage,  swings  up 
Kaskaskia  Street,  down  Main  to  the  Square,  and  stops  in  front  of  the 
Cassell  House.  There  the  crowd  calls,  "Speech!  Speech!"  and  Rankin 
turns  to  Garwood:  "You'll  have  to  give  it  to  'em,  Jerry,  'fore  they'll 
let  you  go."^^  Whitlock  sketches  the  incident  on  three  vivid  levels 
simultaneously: 

And  he  led  the  way  up  the  stairs  toward  the  parlor.  Garwood  went 
after  him,  with  the  mayor  and  a  self-appointed  committee  follow- 
ing, and  in  another  minute  he  had  stepped  out  on  the  balcony  and 
bared  his  head  to  the  breeze  that  was  blowing  warm  off  the  prairie. 
As  he  stood  there,  erect  and  calm,  with  the  little  wind  loosening  the 
locks  over  his  forehead,  his  lips  compressed  and  white,  his  right  hand 
in  the  breast  of  his  coat,  after  the  fashion  of  our  orators,  many  in  the 
crowd  for  the  first  time  were  conscious  of  how  like  a  congressman 
this  young  fellow  really  looked.  They  began  to  celebrate  the  discovery 
with  another  cheer,  but  Garwood  drew  his  hand  from  the  bosom  of 
his  coat  and  raised  it  toward  them.  Instantly  a  warning  "Sh!"  ran 
through  the  whole  concourse,  the  few  wagons  rattling  by  halted  sud- 
denly, and  a  hush  fell.  Garwood's  eye  swept  the  old  familiar  square, 
his  face  flushed,  his  heart  beat  high,  but  outwardly  he  was  calm,  as  he 
affected  the  impressive  pause  that  adds  so  much  to  oratory.  And  then 
he  began  with  studied  simplicity. ^^ 

As  Garwood  speaks,  modestly  and  sincerely,  about  his  memories 
of  his  youth  in  the  town  and  his  desire  for  love,  for  respect,  for  the 
opportunity  to  serve,  Rankin,  in  the  background,  places  his  hand 
on  the  mayor's  shoulder.  "John,"  he  said,  "he'll  do."^"* 

Indeed,  Garwood  demonstrates  that  he  will.  In  the  first  part  of 


BRAND  WHIT  LOCK'S  FICTION  167 

the  novel,  "Of  the  People/'subtitled  "On  the  Stump,"  Garwood 
stumps  the  seven  counties  that  make  up  the  district,  and  he  is  re- 
vealed for  what  he  is:  a  young  man  of  no  particular  convictions  but 
great  self-confidence  who,  in  a  quiet  moment,  cries  to  himself,  "I 
will  win,  win  it  all— Congress,  Governor,  the  Senate. "^^ 

In  this  section  of  the  novel  Whitlock  recreates  the  petty  deals, 
the  vague  attempts  at  blackmail,  the  ambiguous  morality  of  Gar- 
wood's service  in  the  legislature,  but  he  also  constructs  two  superb 
characters,  each  at  an  opposite  end  of  the  spectrum  of  political 
morality,  and  perhaps  the  best  sketch  ever  written  of  a  campaign 
whistlestop  as  the  party's  presidential  campaign  visits  the  district. 
The  characters  are  Emily  Harkness,  daughter  of  the  town  banker 
and  Garwood's  fiancee,  who  becomes  his  wife  upon  his  election 
to  Congress,  and  Jim  Rankin,  the  party  boss  of  Polk  County.  The 
whistlestop  visit  is  of  the  unnamed  presidential  candidate,  apparently 
that  of  William  Jennings  Bryan  aboard  his  private  car,  misnamed 
"The  Idler,"  in  the  campaign  of  1896. 

Emily,  apparently  modeled  on  Whitlock's  second  wife,  Ella 
Brainerd  Whitlock  of  Springfield,  whom  he  had  married  in  1895 
(his  first  wife,  Susan  Brainerd  Whitlock,  sister  of  Ella,  had  died  in 
1892,  four  months  after  their  marriage),  is  the  author's  portrayal 
of  the  only  Jeffersonian  idealist  in  the  novel.  She  is  also  his  portrayal 
of  the  woman  who  finds  her  own  liberation  within  the  confines  of 
a  small  I  llinois  town  in  the  1890's. 

Emily  is  neither  a  feminist  nor  a  social  revolutionary,  but  she 
is  determined  to  seek  her  fulfillment  not  in  a  conventional  marriage 
but  in  social  service.  She  reads  widely,  she  works  with  the  poor  of 
the  community,  and  she  dreams  of  meeting  a  young  doctor  who 
shares  her  ideal,  with  whom  she  can  work,  and  whom  she  can  love. 
Instead  she  meets  Garwood,  who  is,  she  is  convinced,  on  the  side  of 
humanity  in  a  law  case.  But  his  "first  victory,"  Whitlock  comments, 
"was  for  himself,"  and  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature.^^ 

But  Emily,  naively  romantic,  looks  beyond  Garwood's  facade 
and  sees  something  that  isn't  there.  Convinced  that  he  went  to 
the  legislature  as  a  crusader  for  justice  and  would  do  the  same  in 
Congress,  she  falls  in  love  with  what  she  is  convinced  that  he  is,  and 
through  him,  she  believes,  she  can  serve  her  ideal.  But,  like  the 
electorate,  from  which  as  a  woman  she  is  excluded,  she  mistakes 
Garwood's  magnificent  facade  for  the  substance  he  lacks.  At  the 
end  of  "On  the  Stump,"  when  the  people  have  spoken  and  Garwood 
is  elected,  they  marry,  and  she  is  convinced  that  her  ideal  is  about 
to  become  real. 

Rankin,  conversely,  is  no  idealist,  and  he  knows  exactly  what 
lies  beyond  Garwood's  facade:  a  man  who  has  a  price.  Rankin  is  the 
cynical  political  realist  who  takes  advantage  of  the  inherent  weak- 


168  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

nesses  of  the  democratic  system,  and  he  is  delighted  with  Garwood. 
For  the  first  time  he  owns  a  congressman,  and  political  patronage 
and  pork-barrel  legislation  for  the  district  will  be  his.  But  Rankin's 
most  valued  political  asset  and  his  concept  of  the  greatest  good  is 
political  loyalty;  once  he  gives  it,  it  is  irrevocable,  and  he  expects 
no  less  from  the  new  young  Congressman  from  the  Thirteenth 
District.  He  fakes  a  tear  at  the  wedding  as  he  winks  in  jovial  con- 
spiracy at  the  bridegroom. 

Just  as  Emily  Harkness  and  Jim  Rankin  define  the  opposite  ends 
of  the  political  spectrum,  the  visit  of  the  presidential  candidate  and 
Garwood's— and  Rankin's— role  in  it  represent  the  reality  that 
occupies  the  muted  but  spectacular  middle  bands: 

The  crowd  began  its  cheering  as  the  engine  slid  on  past  the 
weather-beaten  station  and  stopped,  puffing  importantly  as  if  it  knew 
how  big  a  load  it  had  hauled.  And  then  the  candidate  appeared,  and 
midway  in  a  cheer  the  crowd  ceased,  stricken  into  silence  by  the  sight 
of  him.  He  stood  for  an  instant,  pale  and  distinguished,  a  smile  on  his 
cleanly  chiseled  face,  an  impersonal  smile,  almost  the  smile  of  a  child  .  . 
Looking  carefully  to  his  right  and  left,  still  with  that  impersonal  smile 
on  his  lips,  the  candidate  set  his  patent  leather  boots  to  the  splintered 
platform,   and   then   sighing  "Ah!"   looked  around  over  the  crowd. T' 

In  the  ensuing  confusion  the  chairman  of  the  Logan  County 
committee  forgets  the  order  of  the  procession  to  the  square,  and 
Rankin  steps  quickly  into  the  breech: 

"This  way,  Mr.  President!" 

The  candidate  had  been  standing  there  smiling  and  giving  both  his 
hands  to  men  and  women  and  children  that  closed  upon  him,  and  as 
the  chairman  looked  toward  him  he  saw  Garwood  standing  by  his  side. 
The  chairman  had  forgotten  Garwood.  In  fact  he  had  not  expected  him 
until  evening,  and  he  had  no  place  for  him  in  his  scheme.  Rankin  .  .  . 
promptly  assuming  an  official  relation  to  the  affair,  gently  urged  their 
presidential  candidate  toward  the  waiting  carriage  .  .  . 

They  all  helped  him  into  the  carriage,  and  he  smiled  his  gratitude. 
The  colonel  climbed  into  the  front  seat  facing  his  chief.  Then  another 
traveling  companion  of  the  candidate,  a  man  who  was  slated  for  a 
cabinet  position,  followed  him.  Garwood  seemed  about  to  withdraw, 
and  had  raised  his  hand  to  lift  his  hat,  when  Rankin  said: 

"Get  right  in,  Mr.  Garwood,  there's  plenty  of  room!" 

Garwood  felt  called  upon  to  demur  .  .  .  ,  but  Rankin  began  to 
shove  from  behind,  and  Garwood  found  himself  sitting  in  the  same 
carriage  with  the  presidential  candidate  .  .  .  .'° 

The  procession  moves  through  the  streets  like  an  Elizabethan 
progress: 

Amid  a  crash  of  brass,  the  throb  of  drums,  and  a  great  roar  from 
human  throats  the  procession  wound  up  the  crowded  street.  All  the 
way  the  sidewalks  were  lined  with  people,  and  all  the  way  the  candidate 
lifted  his  high  hat  with  that  distinguished  gesture. 

The  whole  county  had  come  in  from  the  country,  and  farmers' 
muddy  wagons  were  hitched  to  every  rack,  their  owners  clinging  to 
the  bridles  of  horses  that  reared  and  plunged  as  the  bands  went  by 
....  The  procession  did  not  go  directly  to  the  court  house,  for  that 


BRAND  WHITLOCK'S  FICTION  169 


was  only  two  blocks  away,  but  made  a  slow  and  jolting  progress  along 
those  streets  that  were  decorated  for  the  occasion.  There  were  flags 
and  bunting  everywhere,  and  numerous  pictures  of  the  candidate  him- 
self, of  varying  degrees  of  likeness  to  him  ....  Some  of  the  house- 
holders, galled  by  the  bitterness  of  partisanship,  flaunted  in  their 
windows  pictures  of  the  candidate's  rival,  but  the  great  man  lifted  his 
hat  and  bowed  to  them,  clustered  in  silence  before  their  residences, 
as  impartially  as  he  did  to  those  of  his  own  party. ^9 

As  the  band  plays  "The  Union  Forever,  Hurrah,  Boys,  Hurrah," 
the  candidate  climbs  the  platform,  shakes  hands,  and  begins  to 
speak.  Whitlock  departs  from  reportorial  realism: 

The  candidate  began  his  speech  immediately.  It  was  the  same 
speech  he  had  delivered  all  along  his  itinerary,  though  his  allusions  to 
the  splendid  agricultural  community  in  which  he  found  himself,  the 
good  crops  that  had  been  yielded  to  the  hands  of  the  husbandman, 
gave  a  fictitious  local  color,  and  his  touching  reference  to  his  old 
friend.  General  Bancroft,  by  whose  side  he  had  sat  at  Washington 
through  so  many  stirring  years  .  .  .  and  his  glowing  tribute  to  the 
Bloody  Ninety-third,  brought  the  applause  rolling  up  to  him  in  great 
waves.  He  spoke  for  nearly  an  hour,  standing  at  the  railing  with  the 
big  flag  hanging  down  before  him,  and  a  big,  white  water  pitcher  stand- 
ing close  beside  .  .  .  .^O 

In  the  background,  the  old  courthouse  frowns  majestically,  the 
white  clouds  pile  high  against  the  sky,  the  crowd  is  silent,  "treasuring 
his  words  for  future  repetition,  treasuring  perhaps  the  sight  of  him, 
the  sensation  of  being  in  his  actual  presence,  for  the  tale  of  future 
years."^^  And  suddenly  it  is  over;  the  candidate  bounds  into  his 
carriage  and  is  off,  the  ubiquitous  small  boys  "swarming  like  out- 
runners at  his  glistening  wheels."^^ 

The  whistlestop  is  as  empty  as  the  candidate  himself  or  as  Gar- 
wood, standing  in  his  reflected  glow,  perhaps  reflecting  Altgeld's  — 
and  Whitlock's— distrust  of  Bryan,  his  party's  candidate  in  1896. 
The  candidate  is,  like  Garwood,  a  magnificent  facade,  orotund, 
eloquent,  empty.  But  Book  One  ends  in  victory— for  Garwood,  who 
is  elected  to  Congress  and  wins  Emily,  for  Emily,  who  has  found 
her  cause,  for  Rankin,  who  owns  a  Congressman.  As  Garwood  goes 
off  to  serve  the  people,  leaving  Emily  behind,  pregnant  and  nursing 
a  sick  father,  he  comes  into  clear  focus.  He  leaves  behind,  too, 
unpaid  personal  and  political  debts:  he  is  not  a  bad  man  but  a  weak 
one.  Like  Dreiser's  Sister  Carrie  en  route  to  her  success,  he  does  not 
seek  control  or  attempt  to  make  things  happen,  as  Emily  and  Rankin 
are  determined  to  do;  rather,  he  is  eager  to  let  success  happen  to  him. 

Book  Two,  "By  the  People,"  subtitled  "In  Convention  Assem- 
bled," is  set  a  year  and  a  half  later,  when  Garwood  returns  to  the 
district  to  seek  reelection.  His  degeneracy  is  already  evident: 

He  was  really  a  fine  looking  man,  was  Garwood,  as  he  threw  his 
shoulders   back,    and    gave    his   head   that  old  determined   toss,   finer 


170  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


looking  then  as  a  congressman  than  he  had  been  as  a  mere  candidate 
for  Congress  a  year  and  a  half  before.  Perhaps  it  was  because  he  had 
grown  stouter,  perhaps  it  was  the  finer  manner  of  a  man  of  the  world 
he  had  learned  in  Washington  ....  But  more  than  all,  it  was  the  atmos- 
phere of  official  position  which  enveloped  him  —  and  of  which  he  was 
thoroughly  conscious.  No  one  would  ever  call  him  Jerry  now  .... 
[His]  mouth,  clean  shaven,  had  taken  on  new  lines,  but  they  were 
hardly  as  pleasing  as  the  old  ones  had  been  .  .  .  .23 

Garwood's  moral  degeneracy  is  even  more  advanced.  His  wife 
and  young  son  have  become  mere  conveniences,  at  home  in  his 
district,  and  his  only  regret  in  Washington  is  that  his  district  is  not 
safe  and  he  must  return  to  campaign  for  renomination  and  reelection. 
But  he  is  a  nonentity  in  Congress:  his  vote  and  his  loyalties  are 
known  to  be  available,  and  he  travels  in  sophisticated  circles.  General 
dissatisfaction  with  him  as  well  as  intra-party  rivalries  and  the  ma- 
chinations of  an  unscrupulous  editor  place  his  reelection  in  doubt, 
but  he  promises  a  postmastership  to  the  editor— a  position  he  had 
pledged  to  Rankin— and  so  the  editor  supports  him,  and  he  is  re- 
elected and  returns  to  Washington.  But  his  duplicity  is  revealed  to 
both  Emily  and  Rankin;  the  latter  determines  to  destroy  his  career, 
while  Emily  begins  to  doubt,  not  her  ideals,  but  Garwood's  role  in 
realizing  them. 

His  second  term  is  his  last;  the  district  convention  system,  with 
its  ease  of  manipulation,  is  replaced  by  the  direct  primary  system, 
and  his  continued  degeneration  in  Washington,  his  lack  of  principle 
in  dealing  with  the  postmastership,  and  his  incompetence  become 
common  knowledge,  and  he  is  defeated.  In  the  end,  there  is  no 
evidence  that  Garwood  has  learned  anything,  but  he  determines  to 
start  over,  and  Emily,  her  loyalty  greater  than  her  good  sense, 
determines  to  help  him  build  a  career  on  principles.  But  it  is  evident 
that  his  corruption  will  continue  and  Emily's  disillusionment  will  be 
permanent. 

Whitlock  parallels  the  central  scene  of  the  presidential  candi- 
date's visit  in  Book  One  with  that  of  the  district  convention  at  Pekin 
in  Book  Two.  In  it,  Garwood  makes  his  secret  deal,  the  chairman 
exerts  his  complete  control  over  a  seemingly  democratic  process, 
poker-playing  cronies  make  other  deals,  tension  heightens  during 
roll  calls,  the  bandwagon  psychology  rolls,  the  heat  of  an  Illinois 
July  is  omnipresent  in  the  room  as  forces  fall  into  place,  and  the 
nomination  is  made.  In  fact,  so  graphic  is  this  part  of  the  novel 
that  the  convention  dominates  the  second  part  as  the  presidential 
whistlestop  dominates  the  first. 

In  the  novel  Whitlock  shows  machine  politics  for  what  it  is, 
a  mockery  of  the  democratic  process,  but  more  serious  is  his  indict- 
ment of  the  weak  men  who  corrupt  both  the  political  machine  and 
the  men  who  operate  it.  Whitlock  does  not  suggest  that  substitution 


BRAND  WHITLOCK'S  FICTION  171 


of  direct  primaries  for  party  conventions  will  eliminate  abuse- 
indeed,  he  comments  that  Garwood's  successor  is  no  improvement— 
but  it  is  evident  that  he  is  concerned  with  the  appearance  that  so 
often  substitutes  for  worth  in  the  political  process.  But  he  has  no 
cure  in  the  novel;  it  is  not  a  tract  or  a  philosophical  treatise  but  a 
portrayal  of  reality,  and  the  ideal  society,  to  the  realist,  is  an  ideal 
and  no  more. 

Whitlock's  second  and  last  novel  dealing  with  Illinois  politics  in 
the  nineties  is  Her  Infinite  Variety. ^^  In  it,  he  departs  from  the 
realistic-critical  emphasis  in  Ttie  Ttiirteentti  District  and  turns  instead 
to  ironic  but  realistic  social  commentary.  It  is  a  short  novel  or 
novella,  and  there  is  some  inconclusive  evidence  to  suggest  that  it 
was  written  prior  to  The  Ttiirteentti  District  and  revised  extensively 
for  publication,  but  whether  written  before  or  after  the  first  pub- 
lished novel,  the  relationships  are  clear. 

hier  Infinite  Variety  focuses  upon  the  introduction  of  a  bill  in 
the  Illinois  State  Senate  to  legalize  woman's  suffrage  in  all  elections. 
Illinois  already  permitted  women  to  vote  in  issues  concerning  schools 
—in  the  context  of  the  times  the  only  suitable  female  political  role— 
and  the  bill  under  consideration,  already  passed  by  the  House, 
actually  as  a  rider  attached  to  a  reapportionment  bill,  was  the  work 
of  perhaps  the  last  old-time  reformer  in  the  legislature.  Whitlock 
comments  that  "at  the  time  it  had  been  adopted  in  the  House,  every 
one  had  laughed;  no  one,  with  the  exception  of  its  author,  Doctor 
Ames,  had  taken  it  seriously. "^^  But  Ames  had,  in  the  legislative 
eye,  gone  the  way  of  all  reformers,  and  its  chances  were  considered 
slight: 

Ames  was  known  to  be  a  crank;  he  was  referred  to  as  "Old  Doc" 
Ames.  He  had  introduced  more  strange  bills  and  resolutions  than  any 
member  at  that  session;  bills  to  curb  the  homeopathists,  bills  to  anni- 
hilate English  sparrows,  bills  to  prohibit  cigarettes,  bills  to  curtail  the 
liquor  traffic,  and  now  this  resolution  providing  for  the  submission  of 
an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  that  would  extend  the  electoral 
franchise  to  women. 26 

The  bill's  passage  in  the  House  had  been  a  matter  of  political 
infighting  rather  than  political  principle: 

...  on  the  female  suffrage  resolution  he  [Ames]  had  been  obdurate, 
and  when— with  a  majority  so  bare  that  sick  men  had  to  be  borne  on 
cots  into  the  House  now  and  then  to  pass  its  measures— the  party  had 
succeeded,  after  weeks  of  agony,  in  framing  an  apportionment  bill 
that  satisfied  everyone.  Doctor  Ames  had  seen  his  chance.  He  had 
flatly  refused  to  vote  for  the  reapportionment  act  unless  his  woman- 
suffrage  resolution  were  adopted  first. 

It  was  useless  for  the  party  managers  to  urge  upon  him  the  im- 
possibility of  getting  the  necessary  two-thirds  vote;  Ames  said  he  could 
get  the  remaining  votes  from  the  other  side.  And  so  the  steering  com- 
mittee had  given  the  word  to  put  it  through  for  him.  Then  on  the  other 


172  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


side,  seeing  a  chance  to  place  the  majority  in  an  embarrassing  attitude 
before  the  people,  either  as  the  proponents  or  the  opponents  of  such  a 
radical  measure— whichever  way  it  went  in  the  end— had  been  glad  to 
furnish  the  additional  votes.  The  members  of  the  steering  committee 
had  afterward  whispered  it  about  that  the  resolution  was  to  die  in  the 
Senate  .  .  .  .27 

But  the  bill  was  not  to  die  in  the  Senate,  largely  because  of  the 
work  of  a  remarkable  young  woman  from  Chicago,  Maria  Burley 
Greene,  attorney  at  law  and  counselor,  who  is,  in  the  novel,  the 
liberated  woman  that  Emily  of  The  Thirteenth  District  could  not  be 
in  her  rural  Illinois  town.  The  bill  eventually  fails,  but  it  very  nearly 
becomes  law  through  her  capable  lobbying  and  her  conversion  of  a 
young  senator,  also  from  Chicago,  Morley  Vernon;  that  it  did  not 
was  largely  the  work  of  a  group  of  Chicago  club  women  who,  seeing 
the  bill  as  an  attack  upon  their  femininity,  lobby  more  effectively 
and  out-trick  the  opposition. 

Vernon,  who  is  young,  ambitious,  honest,  conscientious,  con- 
ventional, and  of  a  good^  Chicago  family,  is  in  love  with  Amelia 
Ansley,  a  proper  fin-de-siecle  young  lady  who  despises  politics,  hates 
the  demands  the  Senate  makes  on  Vernon,  and  deprecates  Spring- 
field society.  Vernon  is  determined  to  secure  her  interest  in  his  work, 
and,  fascinated  by  the  contrasts  between  Amelia  and  Attorney 
Greene  as  well  as  by  Greene's  attractiveness  and  efficiency,  he  de- 
cides that  supporting  the  bill  will  bring  Amelia  into  politics,  as  a 
voter,  he  hopes,  and  perhaps  something  more. 

When  the  bill  comes  up  for  debate,  Vernon  makes  a  logical  but 
impassioned  speech,  citing  the  evolutionary  progress  of  laws  and  legal 
decisions  advancing  the  status  of  women  in  Illinois— the  decision  of 
1869  permitting  them  to  practice  law,  the  Employment  Act  of  1872, 
the  Sanitary  District  Act  of  1890,  and  others  pending  in  the  legisla- 
ture and  courts.  The  bill  is  continued,  and  Vernon  takes  the  oppor- 
tunity to  learn  more  about  Attorney  Greene: 

"You  love  the  country?"      he  asked,  feeling  the  need  of  speech. 

"Yes,"  she  said,  but  she  went  no  farther. 

"And  you  once  lived  there?" 

"Yes,"  she  said  again,  but  she  vouchsafed  no  more.  Vernon  found 
a  deep  curiosity,  springing  within  him;  he  longed  to  know  more  about 
this  young  woman  who  in  all  outward  ways  seemed  to  be  just  like  the 
women  he  knew,  and  yet  was  so  essentially  different  from  them.  But 
though  he  tried,  he  could  not  move  her  to  speak  of  her  own  life  or  its 
affairs.  At  the  last  he  said  boldly: 

"Tell  me,  how  did  you  come  to  be  a  lawyer?" 

Miss  Green  turned  to  meet  his  inquisitive  gaze. 

"How  did  you?"  she  asked  .... 

"Well  — "  he  stammered.  "I  don't  know.  I  had  to  do  something." 

"So  did  I,"  she  replied  .... 

"I  did  not  care  to  lead  a  useless  life,"  he  said.  "I  wanted  to  do 
something  —  to  have  some  part  in  the  world's  work  ....  And  then, 
I'd  like  to  make  my  own  living." 

"I  have  to  make  mine,"  said  Maria  Greene. 


BRAND  WHITLOCK'S  FICTION  173 

"But  you  never  thought  of  teaching,  or  nursing,  or— well— painting 
or  music,  or  that  sort  of  thing,  did  you?" 
"No,"  she  replied.  "Did  you?"28 

Vernon  naively  insists  that  the  women  of  his  acquaintance  will 
profit  from  knowing  her;  she  demurs.  He  insists  that  together  they 
will  educate  them;  she  is  silent.  He  suggests  that  they  will  come  to 
Springfield  to  support  the  bill;  and  she  is  silent. 

The  women,  Amelia  among  them,  led  by  Mrs.  Overman  Hodge- 
Lathrop,  do  come  to  Springfield,  but  as  Maria  Greene  anticipated, 
they  come  to  do  battle  with  those,  Vernon  included,  who  would 
despoil  American  womanhood  by  making  them  voters.  The  climax 
of  the  novel  sees  Mrs.  Hodge-Lathrop  lobbying  effectively  and  as 
skillfully  as  an  old-line  political  boss,  in  the  process  marshalling  the 
forces  of  opposition.  Attorney  Greene  charms  "Bull"  Burns,  the 
boss  from  Chicago,  traditionally  opposed  to  woman's  suffrage,  into 
fighting  for  it,  and  the  result  is  a  stalemate  in  the  vote.  Amelia 
distracts  Vernon  into  missing  the  crucial  vote,  and  the  cause  is  lost. 
Mrs.  Hodge-Lathrop  smiles  in  calm  satisfaction,  as  Vernon  and 
Amelia  together  look  on.  Amelia  comments  in  triumph,  "  'Why, 
Morely,  would  you  want  to  see  your  mother  or  your  sister  or  me, 
or  even  Mrs.  Hodge-Lathrop  in  Politics?'  'Well,'  he  said,  with  a  sud- 
den and  serious  emphasis,  'not  Mrs.  Hodge-Lathrop  exactly.  She'd 
be  chairman  of  the  state  central  committee  from  the  start,  and  well 
—the  machine  would  be  a  corker,  that's  all.'  "^  His  tone  is 
prophetic. 

Unlike  The  Thirteenth  District,  l-ier  Infinite  Variety  does  not  use 
political  incidents  as  focal  points,  nor  is  it  concerned  with  the  effects 
of  political  processes  on  people  and  on  government;  rather,  it  ex- 
amines character  and  social  conditioning  as  they  affect  the  political 
process,  and  in  it  Whitlock  examines  the  varieties  of  people— male 
as  well  as  the  female  of  his  title— who,  for  better  or  worse,  enact 
or  influence  legislation.  His  characters  are  paired:  Vernon  and 
Amelia,  youthfully  naive,  who  find  themselves  actively  involved  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  issue;  "Doc"  Ames,  the  crank,  and  Maria  Burley 
Greene,  the  feminist,  as  opposites  who  join  their  radical  forces; 
"Bull"  Burns  and  Mrs.  Hodge-Lathrop,  whose  manipulative  skills 
bring  about  the  stalemate.  At  the  end  of  the  novel,  as  Whitlock 
brings  Mrs.  Hodge-Lathrop  and  Maria  Greene  together  for  the  first 
time,  victor  and  vanquished,  leader  of  the  old  guard  and  pioneer  of 
the  new,  it  is  evident  that  eventually,  if  not  now,  the  new  will  prevail. 

l-ler  Infinite  Variety  is  successful  as  a  social  commentary,  but  it 
is  even  more  successful  as  a  comment  upon  an  important  political 
and  social  issue  that  Whitlock  saw  as  essential  to  the  further  develop- 
ment of  a  just  and  effective  democratic  society.  It  is  successful,  too, 
in  its  portrayal  of  women  as  human  beings,  depicting  a  variety  of 


174  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

women  who  display  the  same  characteristics,  talents,  and  idiosyn- 
crasies as  their  male  counterparts  and  who  are  as  jealous  of  their 
prerogatives  as  men.  In  these  portrayals,  Whitlock  makes  clear,  too, 
that  their  ultimate  destiny  will  be  determined  by  themselves,  for 
better  or  worse. 

In  the  background,  as  the  ironic  comedy  is  played,  is  the  central 
Illinois  countryside,  less  obtrusive  than  in  The  Thirteenth  District, 
but  no  less  evident:  the  rolling  prairie,  punctuated  by  the  blasts 
set  off  by  men  digging  for  coal  beneath  its  surface,  the  heat  of  an 
Illinois  summer,  the  two  faces  of  Lincoln,  that  which  made  Spring- 
field a  tourist  attraction  and  the  brooding  presence  that  dominates 
the  town  and  permeates  the  process  carried  out  under  the  capitol 
dome. 

With  the  conclusion  of  Her  Infinite  Variety,  Whitlock  drew  upon 
his  Illinois  political  experience  for  the  last  time,  but  both  the  experi- 
ence and  its  use  in  his  future  careers  were  to  have  their  effects  until 
his  death  thirty  years  later.  As  Her  infinite  Variety  came  from  the 
presses  he  was  moving  directly  into  reform  politics  in  Toledo,  result- 
ing in  his  four  terms  as  reform  mayor,  with  much  of  his  energy  de- 
voted to  police  reform,  utility  regulation,  penal  reform,  and  home 
rule  for  cities.  His  career  culminated  in  his  appointment  by  Woodrow 
Wilson  as  Minister  to  Belgium  in  1914  and  the  ensuing  drama  of  the 
war.  His  Illinois  literature  led  to  the  grimness  of  The  Turn  of  the 
Balance,  set  in  Toledo  and  published  in  1907;  it  led  to  the  magnifi- 
cent two-volume  memoir  Belgium!  (1919),  to  7.  Hardin  &  Son,  set 
in  the  Urbana,  Ohio  of  his  youth  and  published  in  1923,  and  it  led 
to  the  decline  of  Whitlock's  two  careers  in  an  age  that  denied  the 
values  of  his  literary  mentors,  Howells  and  James,  as  surely  as  it 
denied  those  of  his  political  mentor,  Altgeld.  But  his  works,  political 
and  literary,  provide  the  record  of  a  man  who  learned  his  lessons  well, 
who  determined  to  write  and  to  act,  who  did  both  effectively  and 
impressively,  and  who  deserves  much  more  than  the  obscurity  into 
which  he  has  passed. ^° 

NOTES 

For  a  detailed  discussion  of  Whitlock's  background  see  David  D.  Anderson,  Brand 
Whitlock  (New  York:  Twayne  Publishers,  1968)  pp.  20-24. 
2 

The  revised  version  is  standard.  It  appears  in  Brand  Whitlock,  The  Gold  Brick  (Indian- 
apolis: The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company,  1910),  pp.  302-32. 

^Published  in  Ibid.,  pp.  89-118. 

Published  in  Ibid.,  pp.  35-64. 
^Published  in  Ibid.,  pp.  165-200. 

See  Anderson,  pp.  25—26. 


BRAND  WHITL  OCK'S  FICTION  1 75 


Brand  Whitlock,  The  Thirteenth  District  (Indianapolis:  The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company, 
1902). 

Q 

William  Dean  Howells,  "On  Truth  in   Fiction,"   in  Great  Short  Works  of  American 
Realism,  ed.  William  Thorp  (New  York:  Harper  and  Row,  1968),  p.  708. 
g 
William  Dean  Howells,  "Novel-Writing  and  Novel  Reading,"  in  The  Norton  Anthology 

of  American  Literature,   ed.   Ronald  Gottesman,  et  al.    (New  York:  W.  W.  Norton,  1979), 
p.  305. 

The  Thirteenth  District,  p.  8. 
11, 


"Ibid. 

,p.  11. 

12,bid. 

,  p.  15. 

^3,bid. 

^^Ibid., 

,  p.  17. 

15,bid., 

,  p.  27. 

^6,bid., 

,  p.  35. 

l^lbid., 

,  p.  57. 

IS.bid., 

,  pp.  58-59. 

^9|bid., 

,  pp.  60-61. 

20,bid., 

,  p.  62. 

21  Ibid., 

,  p.  63. 

22,bid. 

23,bid.. 

pp.  198-99. 

24 

Brand  Whitlock,  Her  Infinite  Variety  (Indianapolis:  Bobbs-Merrill  Company,  1904). 

2^lbid.,  pp.  20-21. 

2^lbid.,  p.  21. 

2^lbid.,  pp.  21-23.  -. 

2^lbid.,  pp.  75-77. 

•^^Ibid.,  pp.  166-67. 

30 

For  details  of  Whitlock's  later  career  and  works,  see  Anderson,  Brand  Whitlock. 


LOUIS  WILLIAM  RODENBERG, 
AN  ILLINOIS  POET 


Walter  B.  Hendrickson 

Louis  William  Rodenberg  was  a  blind  poet  who  was  born  in 
western  Illinois  and  lived  there  all  of  his  life.  He  was  associated  with 
the  Illinois  School  for  the  Visually  Impaired  in  Jacksonville  and 
became  an  internationally  known  authority  on  the  printing  of 
braille  music  and  literary  works.  He  made  little  attempt  to  publish 
his  poetry  but  left  money  in  his  will  so  that  a  collection  of  them 
might  appear  posthumously.  Some  of  his  most  interesting  lyrics  are 
based  on  his  early  life  on  a  farm  near  Chester,  Illinois.  They  reveal 
his  remarkable  ability  to  evoke  a  sense  of  place  by  working  with  his 
memories  of  early  childhood,  before  the  unfortunate  accident 
occurred  which  left  him  sightless  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  In  particular, 
"Pieces  in  the  Quilt"  offers  a  vivid  depiction  of  rural  life  decades 
ago,  and  provides  a  sensitive  portrayal  of  the  poet's  mother  as  an 
active,  devoted  and  joyful  farm  wife. 

Rodenberg  was  born  on  May  1 1,  1891,  on  a  small  farm  near  the 
village  of  Ellis  Grove  in  southwestern  Illinois.  Later  in  life  he  was 
conscious  of  his  family  origins,  for  he  wrote  a  genealogical  memoir, 
"Frederika  and  Her  Family,"  and  distributed  it  in  typescript  to  his 
brothers  and  sisters.^  There  were  three  parts  to  the  account:  (1) 
Frederika  and  Her  Family,"  a  gracefully  written  history  of  his 
parents'  families,  the  Rodenbergs  and  Von  Behrens,  beginning  with 
their  European  origins  and  continuing  with  their  immigration  to  the 
United  States;  (2)  "Pieces  in  the  Quilt,"  a  poetic  description  of  life 
on  the  Illinois  farm,  written  as  though  his  mother  was  speaking; 
and  (3)  the  Rodenberg-Von  Behren  Family  Chart. 

Louis  was  the  eldest  son  of  Phillip  and  Frederika— or  Rika— 
(Von  Behren)  Rodenberg.  Phillip  was  a  widower,  and  came  to 
Frederika  with  a  family  of  three  small  boys.  She  was  American- 
born,  and  Phillip  was  born  in  Europe,  coming  to  the  United  States 
when  he  was  twenty  years  old.  Their  son  Louis  was  born  in  a  four- 
room  log  cabin,  and  until  the  age  of  ten  he  lived  a  life  of  familiarity 
with  the  outdoors— the  open  fields  and  wooded  areas— and  daily 
contact  with  the  animals  of  the  farm  and  countryside. 


LOUIS  W.  RODENBERG,  AN  ILLINOIS  POET  177 


The  typical  and  contented  farm  life  of  young  Louis  ended  after 
Christmas  vacation  in  1901.  On  the  first  January  school  day,  as  he 
walked  over  the  frozen  fields,  a  lunch  pail  in  one  hand  and  a  pen- 
holder in  the  other,  he  stumbled,  and  in  falling,  pierced  an  eye  with 
his  pen.  It  became  infected,  the  infection  spread  into  the  other  eye, 
and  in  a  few  days,  he  was  totally  blind. ^ 

Nothing  could  be  done  to  restore  his  sight,  although  he  received 
the  best  medical  attention,  and  he  was  kept  out  of  school  until  the 
fall  of  1901.  Then,  he  was  given  a  seat  near  the  front  of  the  room 
where  he  could  easily  hear  the  teacher  and  pupils  as  class  recitations 
went  on.  Thus,  he  endured  the  humiliating  experience  of  many  blind 
people— being  regarded  as  someone  who  is  also  deaf  and  who  should 
be  spoken  to  in  a  loud  voice.  This,  and  other  problems  in  school, 
made  him  a  very  unhappy  boy,  although  he  was  loved  and  cared  for 
by  his  family. 

After  two  miserable  years  in  the  country  school,  there  came  a 
new  and  understanding  teacher  who  knew  about  the  school  for  the 
blind  at  Jacksonville,  and  he  wrote  for  and  received  a  braille  alphabet 
chart  and  reading  materials  prepared  for  prospective  pupils.  With 
the  devoted  assistance  of  a  sister,  Louis  learned  the  braille  alphabet 
and  read  the  short  exercises.  He  said  later  that  at  first  he  would  not 
touch  the  sheets  of  braille  because  they  were  repulsive  to  him— 
"like  something  from  the  regions  of  death,  but  when  I  heard  my 
older  sister  make  out  words  with  the  help  of  the  alphabet  chart  my 
rebellion  turned  suddenly  to  jealousy,  and  I  demanded  to  take  over. 
After  about  an  hour,  with  much  excited  help,  I  was  able  to  make  out 
word  after  word  without  the  chart."^  This  childhood  joy  at  the  dis- 
covery of  braille  influenced  his  whole  life,  and  he  often  spoke  of  the 
benefits  that  a  full  knowledge  of  braille  could  bring  to  blind  people. 

In  September,  1903,  with  his  father  accompanying  him,  Louis 
made  the  long  train  trip  from  Randolph  County  to  Jacksonville,  to 
enroll  in  the  Illinois  Institution  for  the  Education  of  the  Blind.'* 
He  found  a  tree-shaded  campus  of  ten  acres  or  so,  with  a  large  garden 
plot  and  a  dairy  barn.  The  main  building  was  a  three-story  brick 
structure  in  which  seventy-five  pupils,  boys  and  girls,  had  their 
dormitories  and  classrooms.  In  the  building  there  was  also  an  audi- 
torium and  a  dining  hall.  Another  seventy-five  pupils  lived  in  separate 
girls'  and  boys'  cottages.  When  the  boys'  cottage  was  demolished 
several  years  after  Louis  graduated,  he  wrote  a  poem  about  it,  in 
which  he  declared. 

Not  fate  with  all  its  mauls 

May  batter  down  the  old  familiar  walls 

That  in  my  memory  standi 

Now  oft  I  seek  the  refuge  of  your  halls  .... 

They  welcome  me,  the  laughter  and  the  tears 

Of  those  within,  the  comrades  of  my  youth. 5 


178  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


Louis  flourished  at  the  school.  He  was  a  tall,  sandy- haired  boy, 
physically  tough  and  mentally  alert.  One  of  his  teachers  said  of  him, 
"He  was  a  hard  worker,  determined  to  overcome  his  handicap  by 
intense  study,  and  by  doing  things  better  than  was  expected  of  him, 
and  by  the  thoroughness  and  adeptness  that  won  the  admiration  and 
the  respect  of  teachers  and  student  alike. "^ 

The  high  school  provided  a  four-year  curriculum  that  included 
large  amounts  of  history,  civics  and  political  economy,  English  and 
American  literature,  and  intensive  work  in  spelling  and  rhetoric, 
as  well  as  science  and  mathematics.  He  also  had  a  year  of  German 
and  one  term  of  Latin. ^  It  was  the  usual  academic  curriculum  found 
in  all  four-year  high  schools  of  the  time,  and  followed  guidelines 
established  by  the  Illinois  Department  of  Public  Instruction.^  Young 
Louis  had  no  difficulties  with  any  course  and  his  teachers  gave  him 
high  grades— many  E's  (Excellent)  and  Vg's  (Very  good),  and  only 
a  few  G's  (Good).^  He  was  a  self-starting  student,  and  he  brought  his 
bright  mind  and  quick  intelligence  to  bear  on  a  personal  education 
program  that  he  followed  all  of  his  life.  He  read  widely  on  many 
subjects,  partly  by  means  of  material  in  braille,  in  the  use  of  which 
he  was  expert,  and  partly  by  being  read  to,  first  by  his  teachers, 
and  later  by  paid  readers.  Even  in  high  school  he  spent  hours  poring 
over  the  braille  dictionary. ^° 

Rodenberg  also  received  an  excellent  education  in  music,  study- 
ing theory  and  harmony,  and  public  school  methods,  as  well  as 
performing  on  the  clarinet,  cello,  piano  and  organ.  He  was  the 
inventor  and  developer  of  the  form  of  braille  music  for  the  keyboard 
which  he  named  "bar  over  bar."  It  is  in  general  use  today. 

Finally,  he  was  skillful  at  the  operation  of  mechanical  devices, 
and  was  the  inventor  of  several  machines  for  the  printing  of  braille. 
He  also  created  such  devices  as  conversation  boards  for  deaf-blind 
persons  and  a  check  writing  attachment  for  use  on  a  typewriter. 

Rodenberg  became  the  head  of  the  braille  printing  department 
of  the  Illinois  School  for  the  Blind  in  1913.  This  was  a  particularly 
important  position,  not  so  much  for  the  mechanical  aspect  of  print- 
ing braille,  but  rather  because  the  school  was  deeply  involved  in  the 
promotion  of  braille  as  a  means  of  communication  and  education.  It 
was  here  that  the  machines  for  making  braille  dots  on  paper  and 
metal  plates  quickly  and  legibly  were  invented  by  Frank  H.  Hall, 
the  superintendent  of  the  school  in  the  1890's  and  later.  And  it  was 
Hall  and  his  assistants  that  led  the  fight  to  establish  the  use  of  the 
code  devised  by  the  Frenchman,  Louis  Braille,  early  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  as  the  standard  over  less  efficient  and  more  difficult 
codes  that  were  proposed.  It  was  here,  also,  under  Hall  that  the 
school  printing  shop  entered  early  into  the  publication  of  braille 
music.  It  was  widely  held  then,  and  until  recent  times,  that  music 


LOUIS  W.  RODENBERG,  AN  ILLINOIS  POET 


179 


Louis  Rodenberg,  accepting  the  Migel  Medal  from  Helen  Keller,  1943. 


was  especially  important  in  the  education  of  the  blind  as  an  esthetic 
stinnulant  and  a  means  of  providing  vocational  opportunities. 

So  it  was  that  the  position  of  braille  printer  was  much  more 
than  that  of  an  artisan  or  craftsman.  Rodenberg  found  it  an  outlet 
for  intellectual  interests  in  developing  an  international  code  for 
braille  music,  and  for  the  standardization  of  literary  braille.  In  these 
endeavors  he  became  a  national  leader  and  an  international  expert, 
attending  conferences  in  Paris  in  1929  and  1954,  and  he  was  a 
member  of  the  1932  committee  that  standardized  literary  braille 
for  Great  Britain  and  the  rest  of  the  English  speaking  world,  includ- 
ing the  United  States.  For  his  services  he  received  the  Migel  Medal 
of  the  American  Foundation  for  the  Blind  from  the  hands  of  Helen 
Keller  in  1943.  He  was  also  the  recipient  of  the  McCann  Award  for 
services  to  the  blind  people  of  Illinois  in  1963,  and  he  was  given  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Humane  Letters  by  MacMurray  College 
in  1959. 

Rodenberg  had  an  insatiable  desire  to  search  for  all  kinds  of  in- 
formation. He  always  employed  readers,  but  in  his  lifetime  there  was 
an  ever-increasing  number  of  books  and  periodicals  available  to  him 
in  braille.  He  set  himself  to  learn  as  much  as  possible  about  particular 
subjects,  two  of  which,  his  friends  remember,  were  medicine  and 
architecture.^^  He  was  also  well-read  in  history,  music  history,  and 
literature.  Moreover,  he  was  well-traveled,  not  only  in  England  and 
Europe,  but  in  the  United  States,  where  he  was  a  regular  attendant 
at  the  meetings  of  professional  organizations. 


180  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

He  was  the  editor  or  author  of  books  on  braille  music  and  the 
author  of  many  articles  on  the  use  of  braille  and  other  subjects  in 
leading  periodicals  for  the  blind.  He  edited  the  Illinois  Braille  Mes- 
senger until  his  retirement  in  1963J^  He  was  as  expert  at  the  type- 
writer as  with  the  braille  writer. 

While  the  writing  of  poetry  was  continually  a  part  of  his  life,  he 
wrote  much  less  as  he  grew  older,  "Pieces  in  the  Quilt"  being  his 
last  important  work.  He  does  not  seem  to  have  shared  his  poetry 
with  his  friends  or  family,  except  for  "Pieces  in  the  Quilt,"  and  his 
only  publicly  distributed  work  was  "Triptych  for  a  Sunken  City." 
When  the  author  of  this  study  had  conversations  with  people  who 
knew  Rodenberg,  very  little  was  said  about  his  poetry,  and  when 
some  of  the  verses  were  read  to  them,  they  were  surprised,  even  a 
little  embarrassed.  Their  memories  of  him  were  of  a  man  always 
busy  at  the  typewriter  or  the  braille  writer,  or  working  at  the  press 
or  stereotype  machine,  a  man  of  few  words  who  demanded  a  high 
standard  of  performance  from  his  associates.  People  sometimes  said 
that  he  was  so  smart  and  efficient  that  he  was  intolerant  of  others 
less  capable  than  he.  (It  was  this  insistence  on  perfection  that  led 
him  to  rewrite  and  improve  his  poetry.)  Yet  he  was  also  kind  and 
patient  with  learners,  and  his  assistants  stayed  with  him  for  years. 
His  habit  of  exploding  when  faced  with  what  he  thought  was  sloppy 
work  or  slow  understanding  was  not  carried  over  into  his  numerous 
encounters  with  other  braille  experts,  either  at  home  or  abroad. 
There  were  even  occasions  when  he  compromised  on  what  he  con- 
sidered to  be  lesser  matters  in  order  to  gain  larger  objectives,  using 
politeness  and  soft  words.  In  many  ways  he  kept  his  professional 
life  separate  from  his  personal  life,  especially  his  interest  in  poetry 
and  esthetics. 

Rodenberg  died  in  1966  and  was  buried  in  Ellis  Grove.  In  Jack- 
sonville he  is  remembered  as  an  educated,  cultured,  and  sensitive 
man,  reserved  and  suave  in  public,  who  was  exacting  in  his  demands 
on  fellow  workers  but  who  also  set  high  standards  for  himself. 

While  he  was  still  in  high  school,  Rodenberg  began  to  write 
poetry;  he  collected  these  early  verses  under  the  title  "Baby  Warb- 
lings."^-^  He  apparently  did  not  consider  them  very  important 
because  he  did  not  transcribe  them  into  typescript  as  he  did  all 
of  his  later  works.  His  serious  interest  in  poetry  began  in  1913.  He 
said, 

While  hearing  a  Schumann  composition  played  by  the  Kneisel 
String  Quartet  in  1913,  I  began  suddenly  to  wonder  if  there  could 
really  be  verbal  expression  of  the  joys  that  drive  genius  to  advance- 
ment, that  when  fashioned  for  us  make  the  world  more  beautiful, 
and  that,  in  short,  prove  that  we  are  finite  sparks  of  divinity.  If  Whittier 
in  his  "Song  of  Labor"  could  sing  the  songs  of  artisans?  .  .  .  Shortly 
thereafter  thoughts  began  to  shape  themselves  into  lines  and  stanzas. 


LOUIS  W.  RODENBERG,  AN  ILLINOIS  POET  181 


Music  of  course  was  the  first  theme;  just  prior  to  this  I  had  been  in- 
spired to  do  this  by  the  efficiency  of  the  inventive  power  such  as  Edi- 
son was  manifesting  and  I  had  written  a  few  stanzas  of  "Invention." '^ 

But  during  the  same  time  when  he  was  thinking  such  lofty 
thoughts  about  art  and  creativity,  he  composed  a  simple  poem  that 
grew  out  of  attachment  to  the  area  where  he  lived  as  a  boy:  "Lines 
to  the  Ruin  of  a  Water  Mill"  (1914).  It  was  inspired  by  his  memory 
of  a  tumbled  down  grist  mill  erected  by  Frenchmen  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  poem  is  a  nostalgic,  meditative  work  of  sixteen  stanzas. 
At  the  outset,  he  describes  the  ruins  of  the  "mould'ring  Water  Mill" 
and  stresses  the  conventional  theme  of  time's  destructive  force,  but 
memory  soon  gives  place  to  vision  as  he  pictures  children  playing 
about  the  ruins  and  imagines  the  mill  is  still  in  operation: 

Awhile  he  sits.  So  fancy  turns  to  dream: 

Again  the  mill  wheel  runs  and,  dark  and  tall. 

With  measured  stroke  the  millwright  swings  his  maul 

Upon  the  dam  across  the  foaming  stream. 

Again  the  waiting  wagons  keep  their  lane 

And  to  the  mill  in  turn  are  driven  past. 

Where  shouting  drivers  to  the  miller  cast. 

With  brawny  arms  the  bulging  bags  of  grain. 

Clearly,  the  young  Rodenberg  was  drawing  on  recollections  of  his 
trips  to  a  country  mill  with  his  father.  He  concludes  the  poem  with  a 
request,  directed  to  the  Mill,  which  perhaps  reveals  his  desire  for  an 
achievement  of  lasting  value: 

Teach  me.  Old  Mill,  that  when  my  toil  is  spent. 
The  good  I  wrought,  tho'  homely  and  obscure. 
May  somehow  on  the  breast  of  time  endure. 
Itself  its  own  sufficient  monument.  ^^ 

Forty  of  Rodenberg's  poems  were  published  in  Poetical  Writings 
but  there  are  more  that  remain  in  manuscripts— braille  or  typescript. 
He  rewrote  and  rearranged  them  numerous  times,  and  since  few  of 
them  are  dated,  it  is  difficult,  and  would  probably  not  be  useful,  to 
make  a  chronological  study.  He  wrote  little  in  his  later  life;  "Pieces 
in  the  Quilt"  (1946)  was  perhaps  his  last  lyric. 

Rodenberg  at  one  time  considered  offering  his  poems  for  publica- 
tion, as  a  result  of  a  three-sonnet  composition  that  was  cast  in  bronze. 
That  was  "Triptych  to  a  Sunken  City."  He  wrote  it  to  commemorate 
the  lost  village  of  Kaskaskia,  which  was  near  his  home  and  is  today 
Kaskaskia  State  Park.  Rodenberg,  who  acquired  the  family  home- 
stead at  Ellis  Grove,  became  fascinated  with  the  history  of  that  area 
in  Randolph  County.  Kaskaskia  was  one  of  the  centers  of  French 
settlement  in  Illinois,  and  the  territorial  government  of  Illinois  was 
seated  there  for  a  short  time.  Old  Fort  Kaskaskia  stood  on  a  high 
bluff,  with  the  village  down  below  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi 
River.  In  1881,  during  the  season  of  flood,  the  river  carved  a  new 


182  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


channel  and  completely  destroyed  the  village.  Present  day  Kaskaskia 
is  on  an  island  in  the  river. 

Rodenberg  thought  that  the  village  should  be  commennorated 
by  a  memorial  located  on  the  overlook  on  top  of  the  bluff,  where 
the  river  and  the  island  could  be  seen.  For  two  years  (1940—1942) 
he  corresponded  with  the  Division  of  State  Parks  in  the  Illinois  De- 
partment of  Public  Works,  and  with  citizens'  groups  in  Chester,  the 
largest  town  near  Kaskaskia,  concerning  the  creation  of  what  was 
later  called  Kaskaskia  State  Park.  He  sent  his  poem  and  his  sugges- 
tions at  a  propitious  time,  because  the  state,  with  the  aid  of  WPA 
labor,  was  expanding  and  improving  the  state  park  system.  The 
authorities,  however,  were  doubtful  about  using  Rodenberg's  poem, 
and  they  suggested  that  he  gather  expert  opinions  from  teachers  of 
English  in  Illinois  colleges  and  universities.  Rodenberg  prepared  an 
elaborate  brochure,  setting  forth  his  reasons  for  writing  the  poem, 
and  the  poem  itself,  and  asked  for  teachers'  opinions.  Sixteen  of 
them  gave  their  approval,  some  less  enthusiastically  than  others,  but 
on  the  basis  of  the  favorable  ones,  the  state  accepted  the  poem. 
Another  fortuitous  development  came  from  the  Illinois  state  organi- 
zation of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  which  had  a 
policy  of  supporting  the  establishment  of  historical  markers  and 
memorials,  and  they  received  permission  from  the  state  authorities 
to  provide  the  three  bronze  tablets. 

All  of  these  events  culminated  in  the  dedication  of  the  memorial 
on  Sunday,  October  18,  1942,  with  Rodenberg  present  to  hear  his 
poem  recited  by  the  choruses  of  two  local  high  schools  from  a  script 
which  he  provided. ^^  It  was  a  moment  of  much  satisfaction  for 
Rodenberg,  and  he  took  great  pride  in  his  accomplishment.  However, 
the  "Triptych"  is  not  one  of  his  better  compositions,  characterized 
as  it  is  by  inflated  and  conventional  language.  It  is  written  as  an 
apostrophe  to  the  Mississippi  River,  the  "monarch  of  the  plains," 
which  displayed  its  "ruthless  fury"  by  destroying  the  city.^^ 

On  the  basis  of  the  acclaim  he  received  from  many  persons,  who 
were  not  poetry  critics,  he  decided  to  present  his  other  poems  to  the 
public.  It  was  suggested  by  some  person  in  Jacksonville  that  Roden- 
berg contact  W.  H.  French  of  the  English  Department  of  Cornell 
University.  We  do  not  know  the  details,  but  French  was  an  lllinoisan 
who  had  Jacksonville  connections  and  had  lived  in  Griggsviiie  and 
Decatur. ^^  Rodenberg  went  to  New  York  City  in  the  summer  of 
1943,  where  he  received  the  Migel  Medal,  and  after  that  ceremony 
he  made  a  side  trip  to  Ithaca,  but  French  was  not  at  home.  When  he 
returned  to  Jacksonville,  Rodenberg  wrote  to  French,  sending  some 
of  his  lyrics. ^^ 

Professor  French  replied  that  Rodenberg  should  "publish  at  least 
a  good  many  of  the  poems;  and  that  you  must  by  all  means  complete 


LOUIS  W.  RODENBERG,  AN  ILLINOIS  POET  183 

the  odes  at  the  end."  In  general,  French  approved  of  Rodenberg's 
work,  but  he  said  that  "Triptych  to  a  Sunken  City"  was  not  as  good 
as  most  because  it  was  stilted,  and  contained  "mixed  metaphors." 
French  also  offered  to  help  prepare  the  poems  for  submission  to  a 
publisher,  if  Rodenberg  decided  to  go  in  that  direction. ^°  In  answer, 
Rodenberg  said  that  he  would  like  to  explore  the  possibility  of 
publication  and  would  be  grateful  if  he  could  have  French's  help 
in  pruning  and  revising  poems. ^^  But  the  poet  did  not  follow  through, 
being  satisfied  to  circulate  his  work  to  friends  and  family  in  typed 
form.  Among  the  Rodenberg  papers  are  several  different  collections 
of  these  typed  poems. 

But  the  desire  to  find  a  wider  audience  was  not  abandoned,  and 
when  Rodenberg  died,  he  provided  in  his  will  that  forty  percent  of 
his  estate,  excluding  his  house  and  furniture— about  $4,000— was 
to  be  used  by  his  executor  to  publish  the  poems.  He  named  his 
nephew,  Lyie  E.  Seymour,  as  the  person  to  be  asked  to  carry  out 
this  provision. ^^  The  latter  used  as  a  vehicle  the  Wayne  State  Founda- 
tion of  the  State  College  in  Wayne,  Nebraska.  Mr.  Seymour  is  now 
the  president  of  Wayne  State  College.  The  volume,  printed  by  an 
offset  process  on  8y2  by  1 1  inch  sheets,  contains  seventy  pages,  and 
includes  thirty-eight  poems.  It  is  not  copyrighted,  is  not  dated,  and 
was  circulated  privately. ^"^ 

Rodenberg's  work  falls  into  three  broad  categories:  (1)  poems 
about  art  and  creativity,  (2)  shorter  poems  inspired  by  his  reading  or 
his  observations  of  life,  and  (3)  poems  associated  with  the  farm  and 
the  countryside  around  Ellis  Grove.  His  most  elaborate  verses  are 
three  long  "Odes  to  Creation,"  which  focus  on  Science,  Art,  and 
Music,  These  poems  are  heavy  going  for  the  reader  because  they  are 
so  flamboyant  and  obscure.  For  example,  the  "Ode  to  Music" 
begins. 

While  God's  dream  divine 
Bore  on  the  coming  glory  of  the  plan. 

Ere  in  the  chaotic  void 
The  infant  stars  their  trackless  orbits  run 

Vying  to  be  the  first  in  heaven  to  shine, 
Ere  dreadful  power  its  levin  wings  employed 

Or  Beauty  shapes  began, 
The  awful  silence  of  the  vast  design 
God's  dream  annoyed  .... 

The  lyric  concludes  ten  pages  later,  after  an  extravagant  allegorical 
description  of  an  orchestral  performance.'^'* 

Dr.  Patricia  Burnette,  a  specialist  In  English,  and  a  former  college 
teacher,  has  remarked  that  Rodenberg's  poetry  is  mainly  "  'nature 
Imitating  art,'  not  'art  imitating  nature,'  "  and  that  he  was  apparently 
"influenced  by  the  popular  textbook  poets  of  his  day,  the  English 
and  American  Romantics  that  were  usually  included  in  anthologies 


184  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

used  in  the  public  schools."  She  has  also  suggested  that  Rodenberg 
wrote  poetry  in  the  way  that  he  thought  a  poet  ought  to  do  it  and 
that  the  result  was  often  stilted  and  derivative. ■^^  This  is  certainly 
true  of  his  poems  about  art  and  creativity. 

Rodenberg  also  wrote  a  few  short,  light  poems.  Perhaps  the  best 
of  them  is  "Up  in  the  Nursery,"  which  must  have  been  inspired  by 
boyhood  memories  of  the  still,  bright  country  nights: 

The  stars  are  children,  the  moon  is  a  nurse. 
And  they  hide  in  the  funniest  places 
When  she  comes  with  the  wet  cloth  of  a  cloud 
To  wash  their  pretty  faces. 

When  her  patience  wanes,  she  hangs  her  cloth 
Of  cloud  on  a  mountain  chain; 
Then  she  goes  away,  and  the  naughty  stars 
Come  blinking  out  again. 

There  are  so  many  for  her  to  watch 
That  never  a  nurse  you'll  find 
Who  wouldn't  be  angry  just  a  bit 
If  they  all  refused  to  mind. 

The  other  day  when  'twas  oh  so  dark 
And  no  stars  shown  over  head, 
I  knew  the  moon,  like  a  proper  nurse, 
Had  sent  them  all  to  bed. 

I  thought  I  saw  one  little  star 

Peep  out  with  a  tearful  eye; 

Then  raindrops  fell,  and  I  knew  full  well 

That  even  stars  can  cry. 

Tomorrow  night  they  will  forget 

And  will  twinkle  as  they  play; 

The  moon  will  smile,  as  a  good  nurse  should, 

When  children  all  obey. 26 

The  childlike  imagination  of  the  speaker,  the  simple  language,  and 
the  extended  moon  metaphor  make  the  lyric  very  similar  to  the 
moon  poems  of  Rodenberg's  famous  Springfield  contemporary, 
Vachel  Lindsay. 

The  third  group  of  Rodenberg's  poems  is  based  on  his  personal 
experience— the  everyday  happenings  of  his  early  life,  his  relations 
with  his  family,  and  the  round  of  events  in  the  countryside,  where 
men,  animals,  plants,  rain  and  sunshine  were  a  part  of  life.  Of  these 
things  Rodenberg  wrote  directly  and  sensitively,  and  so  he  makes  a 
contribution  to  our  appreciation  of  rural  life  in  western  Illinois  in 
the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  period  before  he 
experienced  his  blindness.  One  of  the  notable  works  in  this  category 
is  the  long  poem,  "Harvest  Phantasy,"  in  which  he  describes  the 
sounds  and  smells  of  the  day  the  harvesters  came  to  cut  the  wheat. 
He  begins  with  his  dreams  of  the  night  before,  and  then  he  depicts 


LOUIS  W.  RODENBERG,  AN  ILLINOIS  POET  185 

the  activities  of  the  day,  starting  with  the  rooster  crowing  at  day- 
break: 

From  chanticleer  to  chanticleer 
The  tidings  of  the  morning  fly. 

Soon  Chanticleer  comes  fluttering 

From  off  his  watch  on  noisy  wing 

And  leads  his  gaudy  tribe  to  feed 

In  the  democracy  of  greed. 

Now  by  the  chickens'  cross-slatted  pen. 

Who  is  that  barefoot  boy  of  ten 

Who  to  the  brood  is  calling  stands 

Scattering  grain  from  his  glad  young  hands? 

I  envy  him  his  morning  chore. 

Envy  him  his  boyish  heart  and  grace; 

Young  is  the  morn  on  his  face; 

Ah,  where  have  I  seen  him  there  before? 

Hark  to  the  breakfast  bell  that  rings 
High  on  its  post  by  the  maple  tree; 
Here  how  it  rings  and  swings  and  flings 
Welcome  access  to  the  field  of  gold. 


To  chanticleer  the  boy  concedes 
The  last  full  dole  of  the  grain  he  feeds. 
So  now  he  drops  his  big  red  pail, 
Climbs  o'er  the  fence's  topmost  rail. 
Runs  to  the  cistern's  strong  place 
To  dash  cold  water  on  his  face. 


The  speaker  then  projects  himself  into  the  scene,  juxtaposing  his 
childhood  self  with  the  man  he  has  become— or  the  joyful  unself- 
consciousness  of  youth  with  the  somber  awareness  of  time  that 
comes  with  maturity: 

On  the  rough  log  wall  of  the  house  hard  by 

In  the  old  brown  mirror,  hung  so  high 

He  can  barely  reach  its  faded  rim; 

So  he  mounts  to  the  bench  that  stands  below: 

If  I  am  stealthy  and  slyly  go 

Behind  him  there  and  peek  at  him, 

Perhaps  he  will  never  guess  or  know 

The  strange  demeanor  of  my  whim. 

He  is  combing  his  curly  auburn  hair. 
And  his  bright  blue  eyes  are  happy  there; 
His  smooth  young  brow  has  no  line  or  mark; 
But  whose  is  the  face  reflected  bark. 
Framed  with  his  in  the  mirror's  rim. 
Peering  so,  that  resembles  him. 
The  same  perhaps  save  in  point  of  years. 
The  one  more  marred  like  the  mirror's  brim? 

The  boy  later  begins  his  task  of  taking  water  to  the  threshers. 
Off  he  goes  to  the  harvest  field,  stopping  along  the  way  to  join  his 
sister,  Annie,  in  her  play  and  swinging  with  her  on  the  rope  swing. 


186  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

Later  he  continues  his  task,  but  not  so  intently  that  he  cannot  stop 
to  hear  the  "lyric  thrush"  and  watch  as  the  hawk  "pursues  his 
cerulean  track."  He  dreams  that  he  would  like  to  run  a  race  with 
the  "vagrant  cloud,"  and  he  imagines  other  adventures  by  the  stream, 
in  the  woods,  and  in  the  meadows. ^^  In  spite  of  its  sometimes  awk- 
ward verses  and  occasional  Christian  moralizing,  "Harvest  Phantasy" 
is  a  good  evocation  of  rural  sights  and  sounds  as  experienced  by  a 
farm  boy  of  nine  or  ten. 

But  a  much  finer  poem  is  "Pieces  in  the  Quilt,"  written  in  the 
1940's  when  Rodenberg  was  at  the  height  of  his  powers.  After  the 
death  of  his  father,  his  mother  came  to  live  with  him  in  Jacksonville, 
and  he  spent  many  hours  with  her,  learning  about  his  family  and 
listening  to  her  stories  of  her  life.  From  these  stories  and  from  his 
memories  that  were  stimulated  by  them,  he  composed  "Pieces  in 
the  Quilt,"  in  which  his  mother  is  the  speaker.  The  poem  provides 
an  authentic  description  of  rural  experience  in  the  Middle  West  dur- 
ing the  late  nineteenth  century,  a  period  when  the  rural  way  of  life 
reached  its  fullest  development.  In  this  poem  Rodenberg's  concern 
for  the  techniques  of  poetry  writing  was  minimized,  and  he  wrote 
freely,  naturally,  and  specifically.  But  at  the  same  time,  the  essential 
sensitivity  of  the  artist-craftsman  touches  every  line.^ 

"Pieces  in  the  Quilt"  has  more  than  300  lines  and  is  divided 
into  twenty-four  free  verse  stanzas  of  irregular  length.  It  focuses  on 
the  life  of  Rodenberg's  mother,  from  the  time  of  her  marriage 
until  she  is  very  old.  The  poem  not  only  celebrates  the  goodness  of 
rural  life  but  emphasizes  the  value  of  memory  as  the  preserver  of 
those  moments  which  have  deep  meaning  for  the  individual. 

In  the  opening  section,  Rika  Rodenberg  introduces  both  the 
memory  theme  and  the  quilt  metaphor,  speaking  as  she  sits  working 
at  her  quilting  frame: 

To  live  and  to  remember  —  are  they  not  much  the  same? 

That  which  we  live  we  remember  and,  remembering,  we  live  again. 

Life  is  a  crazy-quilt  of  dreams,  of  living  and  remembering, 

Stitches  of  days,  color  patches  of  years. 

Uneven  pieces  of  light  and  dark  .  .  .  .29 

As  she  works,  she  recalls  moments  in  her  adult  life  which  had— and 
still  have— meaning  for  her,  beginning  with  the  first  week  of  her 
marriage: 

Again  I  stand  at  the  farmhouse  window,  absently,  not  weeping. 
Looking  westward  towards  the  far-away  hills  of  my  childhood  home. 
Till  the  boyish  voices  of  my  three  dear  stepsons  at  play 

in  the  yard 
And  the  sound  of  a  clanking  and  lumbering  wagon  brings  me  back 

from  a  hundred  miles  away. 
Now  the  sorrel  team  rounds  the  bend  of  the  browning  autumn  orchard 
And  I  see  my  man  of  last  week's  marriage  standing  erect  in  the 

fore  of  the  wagon  holding  the  guide-lines, 


LOUIS  W.  RODENBERG.  AN  ILLINOIS  POET 


187 


The  poet's  mother,  Frederika  Rodenberg.  Louis  Rodenberg,  in  about  1930. 


So  I  must  hurry  with  the  supper  to  please  him,  ; 

And  he  must  not  find  me  idle,  looking  west  toward  the  hills  ',,  , . 

of  home.  (p.  39) 

As  this  indicates,  the  moments  of  lasting  value  for  Mrs.  Rodenberg 
are  not  important  ceremonies— such  as  her  wedding— but  everyday 
scenes  and  events.  Hence  the  poem  reveals  her  deep  appreciation  for 
the  simple  realities  of  life:  husband  and  family,  farm  and  friends,  and 
the  natural  world. 

Her  descriptions  of  the  rural  seasons  are  always  filled  with  human 
activity,  especially  the  rituals  of  farm  life,  as  illustrated  by  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  woodcutting  in  the  winter: 

After  the  snowfall,  the  woods! 

Who  can  tell  how  pretty  they  stand  in  the  first  morning  sun? 
It  is  stinging  cold;  and  today  Phillip  and  the  men  crunch  away 
In  their  heavy  boots  and  gloves,  with  caps  let  down  and  over 

their  ears. 
Shouting  at  each  other,  muffled,  as  they  go. 

Carrying  on  their  shoulders  the  sharpened  axes  and  long  cross-cut  saw. 
Soon  they  are  chopping  and  sawing  at  the  innocent  white  hushed  trees 
He  driving  them  hard  all  day  to  clear  new  areas  for  spring  corn. 
The  countryside  is  all  crisp  and  still;  so  I  in  the  house, 

half  a  mile  away. 
Hear  with  a  pang  of  pity  how  the  great  tree  crashes  down. 
And  after  a  while  another,  (p.  40) 

Rika  Rodenberg's  descriptions  are  vivid  because  the  poet  makes 
extensive  use  of  verbs,  as  in  this  passage.  Also,  her  sensitivity  is 
continually  revealed  because  Rodenberg  often  conveys  her  emotional 
response  to  what  she  recalls— even  the  cutting  of  trees. 

Indeed,  the  poet  very  subtly  displays  a  kinship  between  his 
mother  and  the  living  landscape  that  surrounds  her.  Like  the  country- 


188  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


side,  she  is  fertile,  productive,  full  of  goodness: 

Everything  I  see  of  summer  through  the  window  there  is 

wonderful  — 
The  orchards  with  their  fruits  growing  ripe,  now  this, 

now  that,  through  the  summer. 
The  fields  with  their  grain  ripening,  now  this,  now  that, 

through  the  summer. 
The  animals  on  the  pasture,  hearing  their  young,  now  these, 

now  those,  through  the  summer. 
The  birds  feeding  their  young,  the  bees  gathering  honey, 

the  clouds  gathering  rain. 
In  the  spring-house  the  crocks  of  milk  from  the  patient  cows, 

the  cream  and  the  butter. 
In  the  kitchen  stove  the  fire  that  crackles  quietly  as 

if  alive. 
In  the  bread-pan  under  the  white  cover,  the  dough  rising 

in  the  yeast. 
The  unborn  child  I  shall  bear  in  the  winter,  growing  within 

me  through  the  summer. 
And  he  shall  be  rich  with  goodness  like  the  things  all  about  us; 

The  world  is  full  of  wonder  and  goodness,  (p.  41 ) 

Even  the  continual  household  chores  that  kept  her  busy  through 
the  long  days  do  not  diminish  her  love  for  the  life  that  she  leads: 

How  endless  are  the  things  to  do,  how  busy  are  my  hands. 
Baking  the  bread  and  the  cakes  and  pies. 
Washing  the  clothes  and  hanging  them  in  the  sun  and  wind. 
Caring  for  the  babies,  sewing  the  dresses  and  waists 
Making  the  heavy  shirts  and  pants  for  the  men  to  work  in. 
Giving  the  children  their  baths  in  the  biggest  washtub. 
Skimming  the  crocks,  churning  the  butter,  canning  the 

drying  fruit. 
Tending  the  garden,  with  the  little  boys  helping  me. 
Glad  for  the  endless  things  to  be  done. 
And  glad  for  the  welcome  rest  of  sleep,  (p.  42) 

This  self-description  of  Mrs.  Rodenberg  as  a  capable,  active  woman 
who  is  very  cheerful  and  satisfied  with  her  hard  life  recalls  Edgar  Lee 
Masters'  Spoon  River  Anthology  poem,  "Lucinda  Matlock,"  based 
on  his  beloved  grandmother.  Like  that  famous  lyric,  "Pieces  in  the 
Quilt"  is  a  celebration  of  the  character  and  spirit  of  the  midwestern 
farm  wife  of  the  late  nineteenth  century. 

Stanza  twenty-three  is  the  climactic  part  of  the  poem.  It  is  the 
longest  section,  and  it  offers  a  detailed  account  of  the  most  exciting 
annual  farm  event  of  decades  ago,  threshing.  In  spite  of  his  blind- 
ness, Rodenberg  was  able  to  vividly  re-create  not  only  the  sounds 
but  the  sights  of  the  threshing  activity.  Especially  noteworthy  is 
his  account  of  the  steam  engine  as  it  approaches  the  farm  and  begins 
operation: 

Now,  on  this  morning  of  mid-July,  the  fast-puffing  engine 

approaches. 
And  we,  at  the  kitchen  window,  looking,  can  see  it  come 

along  the  lane  from  the'neighbor's. 


LOUIS  W.  RODE NB ERG,  AN  ILLINOIS  POET  189 


Drawing  behind  it  the  big  red  thrashing-machine  with  its 

blow-pipe  laid  on  its  back  like  a  tail; 
Nearer  it  comes,  and  louder  and  louder  sound  its  puffings 

and  steam  escaping; 
Now  it  rounds  the  garden  bend  and  comes  roaring  close  by 

the  house. 
So  near  that  the  little  boys  scamper  in  and  hide  under  the 

bed; 
It  rounds  the  barn  out  of  sight  and,  with  fits  of  puffing 

as  if  out  of  breath. 
It  pushes  the  heavy  thrasher  in  place  by  the  rail-raftered 

cowshed. 

Now,  behind  the  barn,  the  engine  lets  out  its  shrill  whistle, 

the  whirr  of  the  thrasher  begins. 
The  drone  and  song  of  it  rises  and  falls,  and  it  rises  and 

falls  all  the  day. 
And  the  engine  pants  as  the  whirling  teeth  of  the  hopper 

snarl  through  the  sheaves,  (p.  44) 

In  spite  of  being  mechanical,  the  engine  is  not  depicted  as  an  intru- 
sion upon  the  natural  scene,  but  as  a  living  part  of  the  harvest,  an 
effect  which  is  largely  acconnplished  through  personification. 

All  of  the  activity  on  threshing  day  is  deeply  related  to  the 
rhythms  of  the  living  earth,  and  so  in  this  section  Rika  Rodenberg 
explicitly  associates  herself  with  the  productive  landscape: 

All  the  while  I  think  within  me  how  good  to  live  on  the  land. 
How  in  a  week  or  two  I  shall  bear  another  child. 
Perhaps  another  girl,  making  two,  and  my  own  boys  are  two  — 
How  blest  we  are  with  children  and  harvests  and  home!  (p.  45) 

Nowhere  else  in  the  poem  is  the  goodness  of  rural  life  so  thoroughly 
and  effectively  conveyed. 

The  concluding  section  returns  to  the  quilt  metaphor,  as  Mrs. 
Rodenberg  muses  over  the  "patches  and  patterns"  that  appear 
while  she  works  "in  reverie  at  the  quilting  frame."  Very  rapidly, 
she  recalls  her  later  years,  when  the  children  grew  up  and  left, 
her  husband  died,  the  farm  was  lost  due  to  debt,  and  she  was  forced 
to  live  successively  in  the  homes  of  her  children.  But  she  triumphs 
over  these  adversities  by  giving  of  herself: 

And  soon  I  am  quite  at  home  in  the  house  of  each,  knowing  and 

helping  with  everything. 
Caring  for  their  babies  as  if  they  were  mine,  loving  them. 
Keeping  my  heart  young  with  the  going  about  and  the  caring 

for  all (p.  46) 

As  the  poem  ends,  she  is  determined  to  make  quilts  for  each  of 
her  children,  thus  revealing  metaphorically  her  interest  in  contribut- 
ing to  their  lives,  by  providing  them  with  memories  that  will  be  for- 
ever meaningful  to  them.  The  success  of  her  effort  is  indicated  by  the 
poem  itself,  "Pieces  in  the  Quilt,"  for  it  is  Louis  Rodenberg's  quilt, 
given  to  him  by  his  mother.  In  other  words,  the  poem  is  full  of 


190  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

meaningful  moments  that  his  mother  provided  for  him,  through  her 
recounting  of  early  family  events  and  his  later  recollections  of  her 
as  he  was  growing  up. 

"Pieces  in  the  Quilt"  raises  the  old  question  of  how  a  blind 
person  can  write  about  things  which  he  cannot  see.  In  this  instance, 
Rodenberg  created  vivid  midwestern  scenes  by  relying  on  an  advan- 
tage which  persons  blind  from  birth  do  not  have,  recollections  of 
what  he  had  seen  as  a  boy— which  were  reinforced  by  what  his 
mother  had  told  him.  The  result  is  a  poem  which  evokes  a  powerful 
sense  of  place  as  it  also  delineates  a  speaker  who  is  deeply  connected 
with  the  world  she  describes.  In  the  process  of  demonstrating  the 
way  in  which  memories  provide  meaning  for  his  mother's  life, 
Rodenberg  displayed  the  importance  that  very  early  visual  memories 
had  for  him  as  a  poet. 

Although  "Pieces  in  the  Quilt"  is  not  significant  enough  to  give 
Louis  Rodenberg  a  posthumous  reputation  as  a  poet,  it  offers  a  fine 
reading  experience  for  anyone  interested  in  midwestern  rural  life 
in  the  late  nineteenth  century.  It  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
achievements  by  the  sensitive,  hard  working  man  who  did  not  allow 
the  tragedy  of  blindness  to  prevent  him  from  contributing  to  Ameri- 
can culture. 

NOTES 

I  wish  to  thank  Professor  John  Hallwas  for  his  encouragement  to  undertake  this 
study  and  his  assistance  in  putting  it  together,  as  well  as  my  friends  at  the  Illinois  School 
for  the  Visually  Impaired  for  sharing  their  recollections  of  Rodenberg  with  me.  I  am  also 
grateful  to  Superintendent  Richard  Umsted,  who  acquired  for  the  school's  Historical  Room 
much  important  material  which  he  and  I  located. 

There  is  a  copy  in  the  Rodenberg  Papers  (ISVI).  All  materials  cited  in  this  study  are 
in  the  Historical  Room  of  the  Illinois  School  for  the  Visually  Impaired. 

Don  O.  Nold,  "A  Little  Light  for  a  Dark  World,"  Panorama  Magazine  (of  the  Chicago 
Daily  News),  Apr.  18,  1964,  n.  p.  Nold,  himself  partially  sighted,  won  the  confidence  of 
Rodenberg,  and  this  is  the  only  place  in  public  print  where  Rodenberg  told  about  his  boy- 
hood accident;  even  his  colleagues  at  the  Illinois  School  for  the  Blind  did  not  know  the 
details.  Rodenberg  did,  however,  tell  the  whole  story  in  a  five-page  typed  "Chronology  of 
the  Life  Events  and  Undertakings  of  Louis  W.  Rodenberg."  (Cited  hereafter  as  LWR,  Life 
Events)  which  he  prepared  for  Lyie  E.  Seymour,  the  nephew  who  printed  Rosenberg's 
poems  under  the  title  Selections  from  the  Poetical  Writings  of  Louis  W.  Rodenberg.  Cited 
hereafter  as  LWR,  Selections. 

"^Nold;  LWR,  Life  Events. 

Pupils'  Register.  Through  the  course  of  its  history,  the  school  at  Jacksonville  has  been 
named  the  Illinois  Institution  for  the  Education  of  the  Blind,  the  Illinois  School  for  the 
Blind,  the  Illinois  Braille  and  Sight  Saving  School,  and  the  Illinois  School  for  the  Visually 
Impaired.  In  this  paper  the  appropriate  name  at  the  time  of  the  events  discussed  will  be  used. 

To  an  Old  Cottage  Replaced  on  Campus,"  LWR,  Selections,  p.  26. 

^Leo  J.  Flood  to  Homer  Nowatski,  Sept.  12,  1952,  Rodenberg  Papers  (ISVI). 

^Record  Book,  High  School  Classes  and  Grades,  1895-1924. 


LOUIS  W.  RODENBERG.  AN  ILLINOIS  POET  191 


Q 

Walter    B.    Hendrickson,    From   Shelter   to   Self- Reliance:   A    History   of  the   Illinois 
Braille  and  Sight  Saving  School  (Jacksonville,  III.:  Illinois  Braille  and  Sight  Saving  School, 

Jacksonville,  III.  1972). 
g 
Record  Book,  High  School  Classes  and  Grades,  1895—1921. 

10 

Flood  to  Nowatski,  loc.  cit. 

The  author  knew  Rodenberg  and  talked  with  him  about  braille  printing.   He  also 

talked  frequently,  but  often  in  only  brief  conversations,  to  persons  who  knew  and  worked 

with  him,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  pin  these  down  in  footnotes. 

1 2 

See    Hendrickson,    p.    162—67.   The   author    is  writing   a   full-length   biography   of 

Rodenberg.  Rodenberg  prepared  a  brief  account  of  the  invention  and  development  of 
braille  in  The  Story  of  Books  for  the  Blind  ,  Educational  Series,  No.  2  (New  York;  Ameri- 
can Foundation  for  the  Blind,  1952).  For  a  recent  study  of  blindness,  see  Berthold  Lowen- 
feld.  The  Changing  Status  of  the  Blind:  From  Separation  to  Integration.  (Springfield,  III.: 
Charles  C.  Thomas,  1975). 

13 

"Baby   Warblings"   is  in  Rodenberg  Papers  (ISU).  The  ISU  division  of  Rodenberg 

Papers  is  a  collection  of  material  that  in  some  manner  was  deposited  with  Southern  Illinois 

University,  and  later  given  to  ISVI. 

^^LWR  to  W.  R.  French  (Cornell  University),  Jacksonville,  July  28,  1943.  Rodenberg 
Papers  (Seymour). 

^^L\NR,  Selections,  p.  4-5. 

1 6 

There  is  an  extensive  correspondence  concerning  the  project  in  Rodenberg  Papers 

(ISU). 

The  text  of  the  poem  was  included  in  a  small  printed  brochure  that  was  provided 
for  visitors  to  Kaskaskia  State  Park.  The  author  has  quoted  from  the  version  in  LWR, 
Selections,  p.  1. 

^^W.   R.   French  to  LWR,  Ithaca,  N.Y.,  July  16,  1943.  Rodenberg  Papers  (Seymour). 

The   Seymour   division   of    Rodenberg's   papers  at    ISVI    refers  to  items  received  from  his 

nephew,  Lyle  E.  Seymour. 

19 

LWR  to  French,  Jacksonville,  Aug.  13,  1943.  Rodenberg  Papers  (Seymour). 

9(1 

French  to  LWR,  July  16,  1943.  Rodenberg  Papers  (Seymour) 

21 

LWR  to  French,  Aug.  13,  1943.  Rodenberg  Papers  (Seymour) 

22 

Will  of  Louis  W.  Rodenberg,  in  Farmers  State  Bank  and  Trust  Company  of  Jackson- 
ville. Joined  with  Lyle  Seymour  was  another  nephew,  Melvin  Seymour,  but  it  was  Lyle  who 
carried  out  LWR's  wishes. 

23 

The  ISVI  Historical  Room  has  a  copy  of  this  book  obtained  from  the  Farmers  State 

Bank  and  Trust  Company,  which  also  retained  a  copy  in  the  Rodenberg  Estate  File.  Another 

copy  is  in  the  Rodenberg  Papers  (Seymour). 

^^LWR  Selections,  pp.  60-70. 

25 

Dr.    Burnette  read  all   of   Rodenberg's  poems  and  wrote  a  critique  which  has  been 

helpful  to  the  author.  Her  typescript  is  in  the  Rodenberg  Papers  (ISVI). 
^^LWR,Se/ecf/OA7s,  p.  36. 

^^  LWR ,  Selections,  p.  6- 1  7. 

28 

The  author  has  profited  from  conversations  about  Rodenberg's  poetry  with  his  wife, 

Dorris  Walsh  Hendrickson,  an  English  M.A.  from  Smith. 

29 

LWR,  Selections,  pp.  39-47. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS 


Because  the  "Notes  and  Documents"  section  of  the  spring  issue 
featured  a  bibliography  pertaining  to  the  history  of  Fulton  County, 
there  was  no  space  for  comments  about  recent  meetings,  events, 
and  publications.  Those  matters  are,  then,  the  subject  of  this 
commentary. 

The  Western  Illinois  Regional  Studies  Association  held  its  third 
annual  conference  on  March  28,  1981,  at  Knox  College  and  Carl 
Sandburg  College  in  Galesburg.  Entitled  "Land  and  Ethnic  Heritage 
in  Western  Illinois,"  the  conference  included  talks  on  photographic 
images  of  nineteenth-century  towns,  perception  of  the  region  by 
early  travelers,  environmental  consequences  of  strip  mining,  Swedish 
Lutherans  in  western  Illinois,  and  Carl  Sandburg.  Field  trips  to 
Bishop  Hill  and  Carl  Sandburg's  Galesburg  were  also  part  of  the 
program.  Both  were  preceded  by  illustrated  lectures.  The  attendance 
at  this  whole-day  event  was  very  good,  attesting  again  to  the  public's 
interest  in  western  Illinois  history  and  culture. 

The  1982  conference  will  be  held  on  April  17  at  MacMurray 
College  and  I  llinois  College  in  Jacksonville.  The  theme  of  this  confer- 
ence will  be  the  settlement  of  Illinois.  Proposed  sessions  will  deal 
with  religion,  blacks,  security,  linguistics,  newspapers,  architecture, 
and  the  natural  environment  of  the  frontier.  A  featured  speaker. 
Dr.  Glenda  Riley  of  the  University  of  Northern  Iowa,  will  talk  on 
the  role  of  women  on  the  frontier.  An  historical  tour  is  also  planned. 
The  conference  director  is  Professor  James  Davis,  who  can  be  con- 
tacted at  the  History  and  Political  Science  Department,  Illinois 
College,  Jacksonville,  62650.  Brochures  about  the  conference  will  be 
distributed  in  late  winter. 

A  different  kind  of  meeting,  one  which  combined  fellowship  and 
study,  was  the  thirteenth  annual  reunion  of  The  Descendants  of 
Icaria.  Held  on  July  18-19,  1981,  in  Nauvoo,  the  meeting  featured 
Icarian  art  and  photographs.  The  speakers  lectured  on  the  Icaria- 
Speranza  settlement  in  California,  on  Icarian  art  and  architecture, 
and   on   Cambre   family  history.  Also,  reports  were  given  by  Dr. 


192 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS  193 


Robert  Sutton,  Director  of  the  Center  for  Icarian  Studies  at  Western 
Illinois  University,  and  Dr.  Mark  Rousseau,  who  represented  the 
Institute  for  Icarian  Investigations  at  the  University  of  Nebraska  in 
Omaha.  Dr.  Sutton  announced  that  the  first  complete  English 
translation  of  Etienne  Cabet's  Voyage  en  /car/a  is  forthcoming. 
Inquiries  about  that  translation  should  be  made  to  Dr.  Sutton  at  the 
History   Department,  Western   Illinois  University,  Macomb,  61455. 

Humanistic  Values  of  ttie  Icarian  IVIovement,  a  forty-eight-page 
booklet  containing  the  proceedings  of  the  1979  symposium  on  the 
relevance  of  the  Icarian  movement  to  today's  world,  was  published 
in  the  fall  of  1980.  Inquiries  as  to  price  and  availability  should  be 
made  to  the  editor:  Dr.  Lillian  M.  Snyder,  Sociology  and  Anthro- 
pology   Department,  Western   Illinois  University,  Macomb,  61455. 

On  September  12,  1981,  Western  Illinois  University  Library 
offered  an  adult-education  program  entitled  "The  Legacy  of  Virginia 
S.  Eifert."  Mrs.  Eifert,  who  died  in  1966,  was  a  Springfield  author 
who  wrote  eighteen  books  about  nature  and  midwestern  culture,  in- 
cluding River  World,  Mississippi  Calling,  Land  of  the  Snowshoe  Hare, 
and  a  five-volume  biography  of  Lincoln  for  young  readers.  The 
featured  speaker  for  the  program  was  Dr.  Frank  Bellrose,  a  wildlife 
specialist  from  the  Illinois  Natural  History  Survey  in  Havana,  who 
spoke  on  "Conservation  in  the  1980's:  Central  Illinois."  Dr.  John 
E.  Hallwas  of  the  WIU  Library  also  gave  a  slide  program  on  "The 
World  of  Virginia  S.  Eifert."  Books,  manuscripts,  photographs,  and 
art  works  from  the  Library's  Virginia  S.  Eifert  Collection  were  on 
display,  and  various  nature  art  exhibits  were  coordinated  with  the 
program. 

Within  the  past  year,  several  western  Illinois  community  histories 
have  appeared.  Reviews  of  two  of  them  can  be  found  in  the  book 
review  section  of  this  issue.  In  addition  to  those,  some  other  region- 
oriented  publications  that  our  readers  may  wish  to  know  about  are 
Eileen  Smith  Cunningham's  booklets  on  Jersey  and  Greene  counties, 
and  related  areas  —  such  as  Lower  Illinois  Valley  Sketches  of  Long 
Ago,  Lower  Illinois  Valley  Limestone  Houses,  and  Lower  Illinois 
Valley:  White  Hall.  These  and  other  titles  are  available  from  Mrs. 
Cunningham,   whose  address  is   Rural  Route  2,  Carrollton,  62016. 

Two  publications  related  to  prehistoric  occupancy  of  Western 
Illinois  appeared  recently.  Kampsville  is  a  newsletter  of  Northwestern 
University  teaching  and  research  activities.  It  appears  quarterly  and 
focuses  on  the  teaching  aspect  of  Kampsville  archaeological  site 
explorations.  Kampsville  is  published  by  Northwestern  Archeology, 
P.O.  Box  1499,  Evanston,  IL  60204.  Dickson  Mounds:  the  Dickson 
Excavation  by  Alan  D.  Harn  was  published  by  the  Illinois  State 
Museum  in  1980.  This  volume  is  a  revision  of  the  1971  edition  by 
the   same   author.  The   1980  edition   includes  a  wealth  of  newly- 


194  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

discovered  information  not  used  in  the  1971  edition.  Foremost 
among  these  are  photographs  showing  the  original  Dixon  excavation 
in  progress,  as  well  as  views  of  the  external  burial  area.  Original, 
handwritten  excavation  field  notes  by  Don  F.  Dixon  make  this 
volume  a  valuable  work  on  the  early  Dixon  Mounds  explorations. 

Illinois  Libraries,  a  monthly  journal  of  the  Illinois  State  Library, 
published  in  its  March  and  April,  1981  issues  a  listing  of  archival 
repositories  in  Illinois.  Each  repository— state,  historical,  university, 
or  hospital-medical— is  described  in  terms  of  its  holdings  and  collec- 
tion focus.  In  addition  to  these  individual  descriptions,  there  is  also 
a  selective  bibliography  of  archival  literature  relating  to  Illinois 
repositories  and  their  holdings.  This  long-overdue  reference  guide  to 
unique  holdings  in  Illinois  institutions  should  be  of  help  to  both 
academic  and  lay  researchers  of  Illinois  history  and  culture. 

Next  spring  "Notes  and  Documents"  will  again  be  devoted  to  a 
list  of  publications  useful  in  regional  historical  research.  The  bibliog- 
raphy will  feature  Mercer  and  Henderson  counties. 

Gordana  Rezab 

Western  Illinois  University 


REVIEWS  OF  BOOKS 


LINCOLN  AND  THE  ECONOMICS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  DREAM. 
By  Gabor  S.  Boritt.  Memphis,  Tenn.:  Memphis  State  University 
Press,  1978.  Pp.  xxiv,  420.  $15.00 

This  is  a  revisionist  interpretation  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  but  the 
author  writes  to  praise  Lincoln,  not  to  bury  him.  Gabor  S.  Boritt, 
an  Hungarian  immigrant  educated  as  an  American  historian,  offers 
American  readers  a  fresh  perspective  on  our  sixteenth  president. 
Boritt  asserts  that  his  prime  goal  "is  the  examination  of  his  economic 
persuasion,  of  how  it  broadly  manifested  itself  in  his  political  life, 
and  how  in  time  it  affected  American  history."  (p.  xi). 

According  to  Boritt,  previous  Lincoln  scholars  have  failed  to  find 
the  key  to  the  real  Lincoln.  That  key,  he  argues,  was  Lincoln's  in- 
tense commitment  to  the  ideal  that  all  men  should  receive  a  "full, 
good,  and  ever  increasing  reward"  for  their  labors,  and  that  all  men 
should  have  the  opportunity  to  rise  in  life.  This  was  the  American 
Dream,  and  Lincoln  both  articulated  it  in  his  political  rhetoric  and 
lived  it  in  his  own  life.  Until  1854,  asserts  Boritt,  Lincoln  consistent- 
ly and  persistently  promoted  this  version  of  the  American  Dream. 
After  1854,  Lincoln  dropped  this  overt  support  for  an  economic 
version  of  the  American  Dream  and  turned  to  a  moral  crusade  against 
slavery.  Even  then,  insists  Boritt,  Lincoln's  opposition  to  slavery  was 
grounded  in  his  economic  philosophy.  He  saw  the  continued  exist- 
ence of  slavery  as  a  threat  to  the  realization  of  the  Dream  on  the  part 
of  free  white  workers  as  well  as  the  slaves  themselves.  Boritt's  thesis 
includes  an  exhaustive  survey  of  Lincoln  literature  (his  bibliography 
alone  covers  thirty-six  pages),  and  an  appendix  includes  a  valuable 
twenty-page  historiographical  essay  that  should  be  a  boon  to  stu- 
dents and  a  handy  reference  to  mature  scholars. 

There  are  serious  problems.  About  the  third  or  fourth  time  the 
reader  is  told  that  Lincoln  favored  a  protective  tariff,  wanted  internal 
improvements,  and  worked  for  a  national  bank,  he  begins  to  tire  of 
the  repetition  and  realizes  that  the  book  might  have  been  more 
worthy  a  contribution  as  a  journal  article.  There  are  internal  contra- 


196  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 


dictions,  with  Lincoln's  Dream  described  on  the  one  hand  in  pure 
economic  terms  and  on  the  other  hand  as  a  love  of  democracy  and 
the  American  way  of  life  —  a  very  traditional  Lincoln  indeed.  The 
Whigs  are  described  both  as  the  party  of  economic  development 
(p.  xiii)  and  as  a  party  favoring  eastern  interests  more  than  economic 
development  (p.  84).  Boritt's  prose  is  often  that  of  the  undigested 
and  unedited  dissertation,  with  a  fondness  for  the  passive  voice, 
convoluted  sentences,  sweeping  and  misleading  generalizations  about 
Western  civilization,  and  the  use  of  archaic  words  (eg.,  "estray"). 
The  most  serious  reservation,  in  the  mind  of  this  reader,  is  his  zeal  to 
prove  the  centrality  of  an  economic  dream  for  Lincoln.  A  fresh 
perspective  is  one  thing,  but  Boritt  comes  close  to  a  monocausal 
explanation  of  a  complex  man. 

Still,  it  is  refreshing  to  read  the  work  of  an  historian  with  an 
unabashed  admiration  for  a  genuine  American  hero.  Does  it  take  a 
new  American  to  remind  us  that  our  past  should  be  a  source  of 
pride,  that  it  is  more  than  a  record  of  villainy  and  greed? 

William  L.  Burton 
Western  Illinois  University 


THE  LIVING  LAND  OF  LINCOLN.  By  Thomas  Fleming.  Readers 
Digest  Press:  McGraw-Hill  1980.  Pp.  128.  $20.00 

If  I  were  visiting  America  for  the  first  time  and  planning  a 
Lincoln  pilgrimage,  this  would  be  my  handbook.  Before  beginning 
my  pilgrimage,  I  would  read  it  through,  unable  to  put  it  down,  and 
would  refer  to  it  at  each  site  visited.  And,  I  am  sure  I  would  want 
an  extra  copy  for  some  good  friend  back  home. 

The  Living  Land  of  Lincoln  is  a  sturdy  yet  artistic  book  with 
twenty-four  pages  of  excellent  full  color  photographs.  The  author 
supplies  the  matrix  of  the  story,  the  main  body  of  which  consists 
of  extensive  quotes  from  Lincoln  biographies  and  reminiscences  as 
well  as  the  words  of  Lincoln  himself.  The  bibliography  at  the  end  of 
the  book  lists  191  varied  sources.  The  story  flows  smoothly  and 
is  most  readable. 

If  in  the  course  of  the  pilgrimage  I  should  become  a  convert  to 
the  study  of  Lincoln,  I  would  obtain  a  copy  of  A  Shelf  of  Lincoln 
Books  by  Paul  M.  Angle  (Rutgers  University  Press,  1946)  and 
Portrait  For  Posterity  by  Benjamin  P.  Thomas  (Rutgers  University 


REVIEWS  OF  BOOKS  197 

Press,  1947).  With  the  bibliography  of  my  handbook  open  before 
me,  I  would  refer  to  Angle  and  to  Thomas  for  a  better  understanding 
of  and  confidence  in  the  sources  of  the  quotations  that  tell  the 
Lincoln  story. 

To  tell  the  story  of  Lincoln  fully,  there  must  be  freedom  of 
selection  of  information  sources,  with  the  consequent  mixture  of 
fact  and  myth.  This  is  necessary  because  Abraham  Lincoln  has 
become  a  legendary  American  folk  hero  since  his  assassination. 
To  limit  the  story  of  Lincoln  to  just  the  incontrovertibly  proven 
facts  of  his  words  and  deeds  would  be  almost  unpatriotic. 

In  the  words  of  H.  L.  Mencken,  in  his  critique  of  Carl  Sandburg's 
The  Prairie  Years,  "Are  the  facts  all  respected?  Is  the  narrative 
satisfactory  to  the  professors  of  Lincology?  To  hell  with  the  profes- 
sors of  Lincology!" 

This  book  serves  a  very  real  need  and  Mr.  Fleming  should  feel 
much  satisfaction  with  the  end  product  of  his  work. 

Floyd  S.  Barringer 

Abraham  Lincoln  Association 

Springfield,  Illinois 


TALES  FROM  TWO  RIVERS  I.  Edited  by  Jerrilee  Cain,  John  E. 
Hallwas,  and  Victor  Hicken.  Macomb,  III.:  Two  Rivers  Arts  Council, 
1981.  Pp.  187.  $7.95. 

Most  Americans  have  little  difficulty  recognizing  those  school- 
book  catchwords  used  to  describe  the  last  few  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  and  the  first  four  decades  of  the  twentieth,  those 
eras  when  western  lllinoisans  found  themselves  in  automobiles  and 
airplanes,  on  European  battlefields,  in  "Coolidge  Prosperity,"  and, 
finally,  at  the  ends  of  breadlines.  A  comparative  few  alive  today, 
however,  can  say  that  they  have  known  all  those  times  through 
experience  and  recall  their  lessons  as  readily  as  they  can  their  own 
names. 

These  121  tales,  written  by  senior  citizens  of  twenty-nine  Illinois 
counties  and  submitted  to  the  1980  Tales  from  Two  Rivers  writing 
contest,  are  just  such  a  faithful  rendering  of  those  times  for  a  social 
history  of  western  Illinois  in  the  forty  or  fifty  years  before  World 
War  II.  Their  authors  tell  of  distances  which  were  longer  then:  to- 
day's one  and  a  half  hour's  drive  from  Hardin  in  Calhoun  County 
to  Quincy  could  require  "a  boat  trip,  two  rail  journeys,  five  meals. 


198  WESTERN  ILLINOIS  REGIONAL  STUDIES 

a  hotel  room,  forty-five  hours,  and  the  loss  of  a  day  at  Gem  City." 
Days  and  weeks  were  longer,  too.  Before  World  War  I,  work  filled 
twelve-hour  days  and  six-day  weeks.  A  nine-hour  day  and  a  fifty- 
hour  week  (with  the  treat  of  Saturday  afternoon  off)  marked  pros- 
perity, but  in  1929  it  took  a  seven-day  workweek  to  keep  you  off 
the  dole. 

Experiences  seem  farther  removed  than  a  half  century  when 
described  in  a  language  which  includes  expressions  like  "scrapple," 
"shoe  buttons,"  "tumble  bug,"  "store  bought,"  "soft  soap,"  "service 
flag,"  "lard  sandwich,"  and  "jerk  coffee."  Ta/es  from  Two  Rivers  I 
is  like  a  healthful  restorative— a  dose  of  onion  syrup— which  pro- 
duces a  clearer  sense  of  those  earlier  times. 

The  tales  are  grouped  around  broad  subjects,  like  community 
life,  work,  families,  education,  transportation  ("Tin  Lizzies,  Etc."), 
hard  times,  and  farm  life.  The  editors  balance  an  expected  emphasis 
on  the  period's  many  significant  developments  (such  as  the  advent 
of  the  automobile  and  highways  and  the  increasing  mechanization 
in  farming  and  mining)  by  including  memoirs  of  events  which  Ameri- 
cans both  then  and  now  would  hope  to  be  unthinkable:  that  in  1918 
western  Illinois  high  schools  and  colleges  eliminated  German  lan- 
guage courses  and  night  riders  shotgunned  the  homes  and  businesses 
of  German-Americans.  Editorial  intervention  was  restricted  to 
instances  where  meaning  was  unclear  and,  consequently,  simple 
narratives  on  common  subjects,  like  picnicking  on  the  Fourth  of 
July,  playing  games  on  winter  evenings,  and  butchering  hogs,  show  a 
natural  variety. 

The  book's  design  is  consistent  with  its  contents  and  purpose. 
Wider  than  it  is  tall  and  paperbound,  it  fits  the  reader's  lap  comfort- 
ably and  makes  paging  through  it  all  the  more  enjoyable.  One  wishes 
for  more  than  ten  photographs,  but  the  tales,  to  use  another  one  of 
those  phrases  which  today  has  lost  most  of  its  original  sense,  "get 
by"  on  their  own.  Let  us  hope  that  the  second  volume,  to  contain 
stories  from  the  1981  and  1982  Tales  from  Two  Rivers  writing 
contests,  and  others  following  it  get  by  with  equal  success. 

James  K.  Bracken 
Knox  College 


BORN   OF  THE  PRAIRIE:  MONMOUTH,  ILLINOIS  1831-1981. 
By  Jeff  Rankin,  Editor.  Monmouth,  Illinois:  Sesquicentennial  Com- 


REVIEWS  OF  BOOKS  199 

mittee,  1981.  Pp.  140.  Hardback:  $25.00  Paperback:  $3.00 

HISTORY  OF  RARITAN,  ILLINOIS  AND  COMMUNITY.  By 
Allene  Cann  et  al.  Aledo,  Illinois:  Historical  Committee  of  the 
Henderson  County  Historical  Society,  1981.  Pp.  103. 

Beginning  with  the  first  generation  of  local  histories  published 
during  the  years  after  the  celebration  of  the  nation's  centennial, 
community  histories  all  shared  a  remarkably  similar  characteristic: 
they  were  written  by  amateurs.  That  is  to  say,  the  authors  were 
not  professional  historians  trained  in  a  rigorous  PhD  program  to  be 
sensitive  to  the  subtleties  of  cause-and-effect  change  through  time. 
This  being  the  case,  their  end  products  were  episodic,  based  upon 
uncritical  use  of  information,  overloaded  with  photographs,  heavily 
biographical,  and  void  of  footnotes.  To  date  this  tradition  still 
remains  largely  intact,  as  can  be  seen  in  the  two  histories  of  Mon- 
mouth and  Raritan  published  this  spring. 

Both  works  provide  brief  sketches  of  the  community  churches, 
schools,  fire  departments,  opera  houses,  banks,  businesses,  and, 
of  course,  prominent  homes  and  their  distinguished  owners.  The 
Monmouth  study  is  essentially  a  collection  of  essays  edited  by 
banker  Jeff  Rankin  with  notable  contributions  by  Ralph  Eckley, 
feature  writer  of  the  Monmouth  Review  Atlas,  Dr.  William  A.  Urban, 
Mrs.  Mary  B.  Crow  of  Monmouth  College,  and  Marilyn  Kloeppel 
(herself  a  holder  of  a  master's  degree  in  history  from  Western  Illinois 
University).  It  features  valuable  accounts  of  Monmouth  College  and 
urban  transportation  and  overall  will  live  up  to  the  expectations  of 
the  Sesquicentennial  Committee  which  sponsored  it.  The  Raritan 
history,  by  comparison,  is  a  more  modest  undertaking  in  both  scope 
and  format.  Indeed,  about  one-half  of  it  is  a  verbatim  reprinting  of 
excerpts  from  local  newspapers.  Still,  like  Born  of  the  Prairie,  the 
Raritan  book  will  be  well-received  by  the  numerous  readers  who  will 
be  exposed,  many  for  the  first  time,  to  the  story  of  their  own  past. 

Such  qualities,  however,  stand  as  the  shortcomings  and  the 
strongpoints  of  histories  of  this  genre.  While  they  basically  fail  the 
historical  challenge  to  answer  wtiy  the  community  as  a  whole  devel- 
oped and  changed  in  the  way  that  it  did,  they  at  the  same  time 
provided  scholars  with  sources  of  information  available  in  no  other 
place.  As  such,  these  two  recent  works,  like  their  predecessors,  serve 
as  invaluable  resources  for  the  further  understanding  of  western 
Illinois.  One  might  question  whether  they  are  really  "histories" 
of  their  respective  localities,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  are 
indispensable  to  professional  historians  of  the  region  and  the  state. 

Robert  P.  Sutton 
Western  Illinois  University 


CONTRIBUTORS 


DAVID  D.  ANDERSON,  Professor  of  American  Thought  and  Lan- 
guage at  Michigan  State  University,  is  the  editor  o^  Mid  America  and 
Midwestern  Miscellany.  He  has  written  books  on  Lincoln,  Sherwood 
Anderson,  Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  Brand  Whitlock,  and  other  fannous 
Americans,  as  well  as  scores  of  articles  on  midwestern  literature  and 
culture. 

JAMES  K.  BRACKEN,  Reader  Services  Librarian  at  Knox  College 
Library,  has  graduate  degrees  in  both  Library  Science  and  English, 
and  his  primary  interest  as  a  librarian  is  special  collections. 

WALTER  B.  HENDRICKSON  is  Professor  Emeritus  of  History  at 
MacMurray  College  and  volunteer  archivist  and  curator  at  the  His- 
torical Room  of  the  Illinois  School  for  the  Visually  Impaired  in 
Jacksonville.  He  is  the  author  of  a  book  and  various  articles  about 
that  institution,  as  well  as  publications  on  American  intellectual 
and  cultural  history. 

HERMANN  R.  MUELDER  is  Professor  Emeritus  of  History  at  Knox 
College,  as  well  as  College  Historian.  He  is  the  author  of  Fighters 
for  Freedom  (1959)  and  a  number  of  articles  on  American  history. 

GORDANA  REZAB,  an  Assistant  Professor  at  Western  Illinois 
University,  is  the  university's  Archives  and  Special  Collections 
Librarian.  She  is  the  author  of  articles  on  land  speculation  in  Fulton 
County  and  the  history  of  WIU. 

DANIEL  L.  WISE  is  an  Assistant  Professor  of  Geography  at  Western 
I  llinois  University,  and  he  specializes  in  climatology  and  meteorology. 
In  recent  years,  he  has  developed  climatic  models  for  the  Environ- 
mental Protection  Agency. 


200