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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
A HISTORY
OF JOHNSON COUNTY
ILLINOIS
THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
LIBRARY 977.3996 C 36h
ILLINOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
http://archive.org/details/historyofjohnson00chap
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THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLMINIS
MRS. P. T. CHAPMAN
ERRATA
Page 67. "Coverlets of wool and rag rugs" should read Coverlets, wool and rag rugs.
Page 78. The election held at John Bradshaw's was for the pur pose of electing Territorial Representatives.
Page 82. In the tenth line of the first paragraph "or" should be omitted between oven and near.
Page 132. "Douglas Rose" should read Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Rose.
Page 163. The names of H. M. Ridenhower and T. J. Murry were omitted from the list of lawyers.
Page 258. Adrespodendum should be adrespondendum.
Page 279. H. M. Ridenhower was omitted from the list of State's Attorneys and J. W. Damron from the list of Assessor and Treasurers.
Page 304. The name Helter should be Hetler.
Page 313. U. . C Simpson should be W. C. Simpson in the list of Vienna Woman's club members.
Page 363. The third line from the top of the page should be omitted.
Page 393. The seventh line from the top of page is omitted and should read "question. He lived to be eighty eight years old. J. C. B. Heaton."
THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLT O'S
A HISTORY
OF
JOHNSON COUNTY ILLINOIS .
BY MRS. P. T. CHAPMAN
WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Copyrighted 1925
by MRS. P. T. CHAPMAN
Press of The Herrin News
1925
12028 E. K. B.
977.3996 C 36 4
66723
This book is dedicated to my hus- band, Pleasant Thomas Chapman, who has spent his life in the community of his birth and has never faltered in his loyalty to its interest.
663732
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012 IRALA
GALLATIN
RIVER
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Hid Elvira
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OIHO
Cantonment Wilkinson
Caledonia
Ft Massac
PRIVER
Early Map of Johnson County
MISSISSIPPI
Prassel / settlement
PREFACE
We will never realize what it meant to the men and women of a hundred years ago to leave their homes and all that was dear to them and lay the foundation of a new civilization in the unbroken forest. The heart aches, the deprivations, the longings for old friendships and home we will, it is hoped, never experience. Most of us have a tend- ency to smile at the rude hut, primitive customs, and lack of comforts of the pioneer, but rather let us reverence their determined course in founding a civilization from which you and I are reaping the results. The North West, think of her wealth, population and power, and to whom it is due.
Several years ago I was asked to prepare a paper on the early history of Johnson County to be read at a Teachers Institute. In looking up material for this I found what seemed to me, some very interesting documents; also in writing to Mr. G. B. Gillespie, then as now, a resident of Springfield but a native of this county, for some data he suggested that this county should have a history and that I should write it.
Having been a housekeeper for years and with no ex- perience in writing for publication, I began, perhaps fool- ishly, to gather material for this work. The times I have censured my friend for his suggestion, I could not number, but * put my hand to the plow" I did not have the courage to turn back. I have met with discouragements and hind- rances, yet most people have been exceptionally willing to help me.
Heretofore this county has had no history except some biographies appearing in the Tri-County History of Massac, Pope and Johnson, and since there is but one other county in the state without a published history and ours being so rich in interesting events and records of pioneer days, not common to other localities, I felt that I should like to try to perpetuate at least some of them.
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A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
This book is not perfect. I have tried to be accurate with circumstances and dates but in the biography I fear there are many mistakes owing to the manner in which I was obliged to gather much of the information, sometimes over the telephone, through letters not clearly written, and from older people whose memory was inaccurate as to names.
Please do not say "I could have told her correctly." No doubt you could, but I did not know it. And if inclined to be too critical all I ask is that you undertake to trace a large family from the first to the sixth generation. Per- haps some would say biography isn't history, but it appears to me, that the history of a place is the history of its people.
I appreciate the many kindnesses shown me in my work and feel deeply grateful to each one who has contri- buted in the least to this self imposed task of mine. Hoping it may interest the older ones, assist the younger ones, and that this imperfect effort will not be entirely fruitless, 1 present to you, kind reader, the result.
January 1925.
Mrs. P. T. C.
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
PART I
The first civilized government that was extended over Johnson County was, no doubt, the authority of England. When, in 1609, King James granted to the London Company "All those lands, countries, and territories called Virginia, from the cape or point of land called Comfort, all along the seacoast, to the northward two hundred miles, and from the said point on the coast southward two hundred miles, and all that space and circuit of land lying from the sea- coast of the precinct afore said, up into the land throughout, from sea to sea, west and northwest." Johnson county be- came theoretically, at least, part of the possession of Eng- land. Although the charter of the London company was renewed and then annulled, Virginia always insisted on her from "sea to sea" grant and thereby included in her domain this tiny speck of mother earth called Johnson County, with all the other vast, unexplored territory.
But for Gain and the Gospel, we might still be undis- covered. France had no claim in the new country by right of discovery, but she set about securing her portion by other means. As early as 1504 French fishermen had visited the region of New Foundland. In 1609 Champlain, a Frenchman, discovered the lake which bears his name. He went back to France, and in 1615, returned to America with four priests. He established missions in Canada, and with the Missions opened trade with the Indians. He was un- fortunate with his warfare on some of the tribes and so caused strife among the Indians, and the fur trade was paralyzed. for twenty years. Finally a truce was made and trade was resumed. The French trader who recognized the vast wealth in the fur trade, the soldier of fortune who longed to plant the Lilies of France on every available spot, and the humble Jesuit whose consuming desire was to plant the Gospel in every human heart, encroched step by step into the Northwest Territory.
In 1678, Joliet, in the interest of the French Govern- ment and Marquette in the interest of the church, explored the Mississippi as far as the mouth of the Ohio. This ex-
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A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
pedition had carried the authority of France far to the south and almost around the English settlements. The advantage to France of completing the circuit can easily be discerned. In fact LaSalle, in 1667 had seen the advantage to be gained for his country by discovering the mouth of the Mississippi. He pursued this idea with relentless vigor and when in 1682 he descended this father of waters to its mouth, he took possession of this wonderful valley in the name of the sover- eign of France, calling it Louisiana in honor of Louis the XIV, and we became, figuratively speaking, Frenchmen or citizens under the French Government. But all these heroic efforts to make the Mississippi valley French by coloniza- tion, to secure wealth from her vast store-house, and make us all good French Catholics, came to an end. The Treaty of Paris, 1763, made us again an English possession.
We were not destined to remain English for any great length of time. The restless people of the Atlantic coast were pushing out into the great Northwest. Tennessee, Kentucky, and the southern part of Illinois were being set- tled, even though still menaced by the Indians. Then by declaring themselves "free and independent," in 1776 the Colonies made us for a short time Virginians. In 1779 the "County of Illinois" was established. Captain John Todd was appointed "County Lieutenant Commandant" but the gov- ernment was never effective and soon ceased altogether.
Virginia, however, soon ceded us to the United States and in 1784 we became a part of that Great Northwest Territory.
These changes in government disturbed the citizens of this county very little. Certain it is, nevertheless, that there were people living in Johnson County, in the latter part of the 18th century. 'Boggs says there were 650 families living along the Ohio river in 1801 and this river washed the shores of the first Johnson County for many miles. Victor Collet also states there were seven or eight families living near Ft. Massac in 1796. This fort was in Johnson when the county was organized. Reynolds tells us the Flanneries settled in Alexander County in 1777 which was also John- son County territory at that time. The seat of government being so far away and the means of communication so very difficult, the people of this section, like all other frontier communities were a law unto themselves.
15
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
LOCATION
Johnson County is in Southern Illinois, in that part of this great commonwealth that lies south of the Ohio and Mississippi railroad running from Vincennes across the state to St. Louis, excepting St. Clair County. This section is not designated on the school geographies as 'Egypt,' but by common usuage and politically it has been known in the state for many years by that name. Different reasons have been given for this appellation, and whether of odium or honor, depends on the point of view.
The most obvious reason for such a name having been attached to this region is that many of the towns in the sec- tion bear the names of those in the older Egypt of the African Continent: Cairo, at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, Thebes, on the Mississippi, and Karnak, on the Big Four railroad. Alexander is the name of the most southern county in this section and is the masculine for Alexandria, another ancient city of Egypt. Some are un- kind enough to say the name comes from lack of education and progress in this section. That Egypt where Joseph fled from Herod with Mary and the Babe and from which we take our name, was noted as the home of ancient civilization, learning, marvelous public improvements, and historic cities. Our modern 'Egypt' may not boast of all the attributes of that country but she is proud of her pioneer families, native population, and patriotic record. Others say that the name came from the following incident: In the summer of 1821 there was not a bushel of corn raised in Central Illinois. The old settlers of the southern part of the state had plenty and the farmers of the central section, like the brethern of Joseph, had to go down into Southern Illinois to get corn.
Johnson County was once very proud of her area. At its organization it included all the land between the Missis- sippi and Ohio rivers and from 70 to 80 miles north of the Ohio. As early as 1837, J. M. Peck, an historian, of Illi- nois, said of Johnson County, "It was organized from Ran- dolph in 1812 and is situated in the southern part of the state. It is bounded on the north by Franklin, east by Pope, south by the Ohio river, and west by Union and Alexander counties. It is from 25 to 30 miles long and eighteen miles wide. Its area is about 486 square miles. This territory is watered by Cache and Big Bay Creeks. Between these
16
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
streams, and ten or twelve miles from the Ohio, which makes its southern boundary, is a line of ponds interspersed with ridges and islands of rich land." This was written be- fore Massac and Pulask were organized.
At present the county is bounded on the north by Williamson, on the east by Pope, by Massac and Pulaski on the south and Union on the west. The most southern line of the county is, at its nearest point, four or five miles from the Ohio river, and the western line in some places is as near as twenty miles to the Mississippi river. It is situated between 88 degrees, 44 minutes and 89 degress, 4 minutes west longitude ; 37 degrees, 20 minutes, 37 degrees, 38 min- utes north latitude, about the same latitude as the city of Richmond, Virginia.
ORGANIZATION
Up to 1790 the settlers who had braved the wilderness and Indians and located in southern Illinois knew little of laws and government, but in that year St. Clair came as Governor of the Northwest Territory, and began to bring order out of chaos. He organized a county and named it after himself, the eastern boundary running through the eastern part of the present Johnson County and terminating at or just above Ft. Massac, on the Ohio River. Cahokia was the county seat. The little strip of Johnson county beyond the eastern boundary of St. Clair was in what was then known as Knox County. Randolph County was organized in 1795 from St. Clair, with Kaskaskia as the county seat, but a small strip of Johnson still remained in Knox till 1801 when Randolph's boundaries were changed.
Johnson was wholly within the bounds of Randolph county until 1812, when Governor Edwards with Alexander Stewart, Jesse B. Thomas, and Stanley Griswold, Territorial Judges, acting as a Legislature, defined and named John- son county as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of Lusk Creek (which is in what is now Pope County on the Ohio River) thence with a line of Gallatin to Big Muddy thence down Big Muddy and the Misissippi to the Ohio River, and up the Ohio to the beginning, I do appoint the house of John Bradshaw to be the seat of justice for Johnson County. Done at Kaskaskia, 14th of September, 1812, by the Governor, Ninian Edwards." These boundaries included what is now
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A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Johnson, Union and parts of Pope, Williamson, Saline and Jackson Counties.
Madison and Gallatin were organized at the same time, these three being the third counties set out in the state. In 1816 Jackson and Pope were organized, making a direct line almost across the state from Big Muddy on the west to Saline river on the east. All below this line from the Missis- sippi to the Ohio was Johnson and Pope, the eastern line of Johnson being a little west of its present location and ex- tending to the Ohio river. Again in 1818, there was an attack by the organizers and Union was taken wholly from Johnson county territory. Alexander was defined the fol- lowing year, including part of Pulaski. In 1843 Johnson county was encroached upon once more by the formation of Massac and Pulaski and the consequent reduction of John- son to its present limits of 340 square miles. It thus became one of the smallest counties in the state. It comprises a little over nine townships, and is almost square in shape. About eight miles of the southern boundary is formed by Cache river. Along this section the county extends about two miles further south than the rest of the southern bound- ary.
The division of the county into townships was begun early in the county's history. On January 15, 1813, when the first court was held at the house of John Bradshaw in Elvira with Hamlet Furguson and Jesse Griggs as judges, under the Territorial law which empowered them to trans- act the business of the county, the townships known as Big- Bay, Muddy, Center, Clear Creek, Cache and Massac were laid off. These were the militia districts which had been created by the Governor for the defense of the settlers against hostile Indians. These townships were described as follows: "The district that lies on the eastern corners of this county on the Big-Bay waters and at present known by the name of Captain Whiteside's company and agreea'bly to the boundaries of said company, as laid off by a board of officers, shall be created into one township and called the township of Big-Bay, and the militia company of Captain Griffith's on Muddy, (described) in like manner, shall be called the township of Muddy." This township was located in the northwest part of the county, on what is now called Big Muddy river. Captain Bradshaw's company bounds
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A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
formed Center township and was in the center of the county.
Captain Green's company bounds was named Clear creek township, which was located in the southwestern part of the county on the Mississippi river. Captain Lamb's Com- pany on the northeast side was called Cache; Captain Fox's company made Massac township.
One can readily see these townships were immense at the time they were laid off. Big-Bay township, being the southeastern corner, included portions of what is now Pope and Massac counties. The township of Muddy included parts of the present counties of Williamson, Jackson and Union. The township of Center included, no doubt, sections of the present Johnson and Union, possibly Alexander. Clear Creek township was the counties of Alexander, Pul- aski, and perhaps parts of Johnson and Union. Cache town- ship when first established was in the northeastern part of the first bounds of Johnson county including possibly some of Saline, Pope and Williamson. Massac township included Massac county in its present form, with possibly a little of Johnson and Pope. These militia districts had been laid off according to Territorial law and while they were called townships, they were not the size and shape of the present township and might more properly be called districts.
In 1814, the court divided the township of Center and the bounds of Captain William Thornton's Company, 'being a militia company, was formed into a new township to be known as Elvira. At the March term the court created some new townships and changed the boundaries of some of the old ones as follows : "All that part of the county that lies between what is called the ponds and the Ohio river be created into a new township to be known by the name of Massac, and all west of the center line dividing range three shall form a township by the name of Elvira and all east of the aforesaid line as far as the county line of Pope shall be known by the name of Cache." At the September court, 1819, held at Vienna, the name of Cache township was changed to Bloomfield and that of Elvira to Vienna town- ship. These boundaries and names were changed from time to time. In 1871 the names of the townships are given as follows: Saline, Sulpher Springs, Bluff, Elvira, Bun- combe, Cache, Flat Lick, Simpson and Vienna. That same year the question of the county taking on the township
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A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
form of government was submitted to the people and carried at the November election. Issac Wise, Bluett Bain and John C. Albright were appointed to divide the county into townships. Their report was given in December term 1872. The new townships were Burnside, Tunnel Hill, Goreville, Elvira, Bloomfield, Simpson, Grantsburg, Vienna and Cache, these names and divisions have continued till the present.
NAME
Johnson county was named in honor of Col. Richard M. Johnson, a native of Kentucky and a friend of Governor Ninian Edwards, who was also from that state. He was 'born at Bryants Station in 1781; was educated at the Uni- versity of Transylvania Lexington, Kentucky. He selected the profession of law and began his career at the age of nineteen. He served in the war of 1812 as Colonel of Volun- teers. Colonel Johnson has been given the credit of killing Tecumseh at the battle on the Thames river, but this fact has been disputed by some who say that Tecumseh was not killed until later. But Johnson did kill in this battle a famous Indian warrior who might have been Tecumseh. He was wounded himself during the engagement. President Madison in his message to Congress, December 7, 1813, re- ferring to the results of the Campign in the North West, speaks of him in the following manner: "Colonel Johnson and his mounted volunteers, whose impetuous onset gave a decisive blow to the ranks of the enemy, with others (referr- ing to General Harrison) forced a general action, which quickly terminated in the capture of the British and the dis- persion of the Indians."
Colonel Johnson represented first his district in the Legislature of Kentucy, was next elected as a Jackson demo- crat to the United States Congress when not quite 25 years of age. He then served two terms as United States Senator; was elected to the Vice-Presidency with Van Buren in 1836. He was defeated for that office in 1840 but later elected to the State Legislature of Kentucky and died in Frankfort, November 19, 1850.
PHYSICAL FEATURES AND SOIL
In writing of southern Illinois, Lewis C. Beck says, "That part of Illinois that lies south of the great and little
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A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
Wabash to the Ohio river is about as hilly as Hertford- shire, England. It is intersected with streams and inter- spersed with natural meadows; these are very irregular and are dotted with clumps of trees like English Parks." Such a description gives a fairly animate general picture of John- son County. It is one of the most hilly and broken counties in Illinois. It is crossed from west to east in the northern part by an elevated ridge, known as the Ozark Uplift, which is in reality the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. This ridge enters the state from Missouri and extends across the entire northern part. The highest points of this ridge in the coun- ty rise to an elevation of 800 feet above sea level. The low- est part of the county lies along Cache River where the elevation decreases to about 300 feet. The Ozark Ridge forms the watershed or divide between the streams which flow toward the north and those which flow south. The fall of the streams on the northern slope is slight and the erosion is, therefore, not great. On the southern slope the streams have a very rapid fall; erosion has been active so that the most broken part of the county lies in the central and southern section. The small streams have cut out can- yon-like gorges, sometimes as much as 200 feet in depth; the sides of these gorges are often formed by almost per- pendicular cliffs that wind through the uplands so unnotice- ably that one does not suspect their presence until very near them.
A broken and irregular line of cliffs cross the county parallel to the Ozark Ridge and two or three miles south of it. Although these cliffs and rocky gorges are most fre- quent in the part of the county south of the Ozark Ridge, they occur also in other sections, especially in New Burn- side and Grantsburg townships. Between the ravines are broad rolling ridges. The surface in general may be char- acterized as rolling and hilly. The rocks of this area are sand stone, limestone and shale. This is not our only asset from stony lands. They are things of beauty, have been, and will be a joy forever. No one can look on the towering cliffs without being thrilled with their grandeur and made to wonder at the mighty force that must have been in action to make them as they are. Some are gray, some red, some brown, and yellow, covered with lichens, moss and fiowers; the myriads of long fronded ferns, the drooping branch, the secluded cave. the ever green of the cedar, the trickling
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A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
stream, all com'bine to draw you to their inviting nooks. They are not so monstrous they awe you, so bare they repel you, but seem to say, "Come bring your baskets, we have cool shade, quiet, rest and protection for you.
It can well be imagined that this topography creates all kinds of attractive nooks and corners, particularly adapted to that well loved recreation, a picnic. Ferndale, a beautiful spot with its rocks, shady dells, ferns, and streams, situated a short distance south from Tunnell Hill, directly on the Big Four railroad, has long been a favorite picnic grounds. People may reach it from points on the railroad both north and south. Benson's Bluff, five or six miles north of Vienna on the old Marion Road, is another ideal place for the basket lunch but it can be reached only by local conveyance. Near Simpson is some very beautiful scenery of the type described above; also some mineral springs said to be very fine in a medicinal way. This is a lovely spot to camp. Fern Cliff is a most attractive place of natural beauty and a resort quite widely known. It is situated in Goreville township and about a mile and a half from the Chicago and Eastern Illinois railroad. Several years ago a company of Marion citizens bought 20 acres in the heart of the scenery and built a club house and used it as a resort. Leon Dennison was the moving spirit of the corporation and after his removal from Southern Illinois, Miss Emma Rebman, of this county bought it and occupies it as a home. It is hoped that some time it will be a county park through her generosity. It is now known as "Redman- Park Fern Cliff," Redman Park, in honor of Miss Redman's brother, Thomas, who was associated with her in her office of County Superntendent of Schools. This spot must be seen to be appreciated, huge walls of stone, bowlders, caves streams, trees, wildflowers, ferns, all contribute to make up an ideal place in which to spend a day, a week, a month, shut in with nature and your companions.
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