USA > Illinois > Cass County > Beardstown > Historical sketch of Cass County, Illinois: an oration delivered July 4, 1876, at Beardstown, Ill. > Part 1
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977.3461 Sh 26h
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
CASS COUNTY,
TRENDIS
AN ORATION DELL'
J. HENRY SHAW.
BEARDSIOWY
FULLFED AT THE OFFICE OF THE CAR COUNTY MESSENGER. 1873.
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LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
977.3461 Sh26h
Illinois Historical Survey
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HISTORICAL SKETCH - (F
CASS COUNTY,
ILLINOIS:
AN ORATION DELIVERED JJULY 4, 1876, AT BEARDSTOWN, ILLS.,
BY -
J. HENRY SHAW.
BEARDSTOWN :
PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE OF THE "CASS COUNTY MESSENGER." 1876.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by JOHN II. SHAY, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
977.3461
HISTORICAL SKETCH
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CASS COUNTY, ILLS.
LLINOIS dates its white settlements among the first in North America. Four years prior to the settlement of Plymouth, Le Caron had explored Upper Canada ; and twenty years later the hardy and ambitious French traders and voyageurs and zealous missionaries had erected trading posts and missions along the rivers and upon the lake shores now within the jurisdiction of Illinois and Wisconsin.
At that period the surface of Illinois was much lower, geologi- cally considered, than it is at the present time. Since its creation, the thin crust of the earth has been undergoing slow mutations, breathing, as it were, by centuries ; elevating and depressing in the lapse of ages under the influence of its mighty lungs of fire ; sinking slowly and imperceptibly beneath their former level continents and islands, and as gradually raising others above the waste of waters.
While the countries bordering upon the Levantine seas have been
Ject . 44 22:11 :
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY.
gradually encroached upon by the water, there has been a correspon- ding rise in the earth's surface here. Two hundred years ago the white settlers of Illinois navigated the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to the great northern lakes. French pirogues and Indian canoes found no difficulty in passing through the portages of the North to Hudson's Bay. The routes from the Mississippi River-up the Wisconsin and down the Fox to Lake Michigan ; and up the Illinois to Chicago, or " River of the Miami," as it was then called ; or up the Kankakee and down the St. Joseph-were well known and navigated.
Indeed, but a few centuries since, these rivers were the southern outlets for the waters of the great lakes, and the Illinois penitentiary, near Joliet, now stands upon a ledge of rocks over which a great river once flowed in rapids similar to those of the Des Moines on the Upper Mississippi.
In the southern part of the State, at that point now known as Tower Rock, this great river was dammed up by a wall of rock, over which it fell one hundred feet, forming a cataract of such volume and' height as to rival even the great Niagara. But the continual wearing of the water, aided materially by earthquakes, finally opened the present channel of the Mississippi, and gave an outlet to the ocean of waters that lay stagnating in the swamps, now prairies, above. These are the two great natural causes of the present agricultural productiveness of the State of Illinois.
Two hundred years ago northern and central Illinois was inhabited by two powerful nations of Indians, the Illinois and the Miamis. The Miamis occupied the northern part of the present State of Illinois, and part of Wisconsin, and their chief town was upon the present site of Chicago.
The Illinois tribe occupied the country bordering upon the Illinois, called by the French the "River Seignelay ;" and all the country between that country and the " River Colbert," or Mississippi.
The principal tribe of the Illinois were the Muscootens, and their town was upon the present site of Beardstown, on the east bank of the river, at the foot of Muscooten Bay, and was called by the French the " Mound Village."
The Peorians, another of the Illinois tribes, more particularly occupied that portion of the country between the rivers, having their
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY.
town on the west bank of the Illinois River, four miles above the Muscooten village, upon the bluffs back of the present town of Frederick. The present site of Beardstown was at that time an island, surrounded on the north, east and south by almost impassable swamps, containing dangerous quicksands and quaking bogs, and which could be crossed only in canoes, or by Indians jumping from hilloek to hillock of the turf grass with which these swamps were interspersed, and on the west by the Seignelay or Illinois River. The Indian town of the Muscootens was a beautiful place. It was built upon a series of beautiful mounds, covered with grass, and partially shaded by tall trees, which stood like sentinels upon the hills, or ornamental trees upon a lawn, so scattered as not to obstruct the view of the whole town from the river. The island had evidently been selected, not only on account of its natural beauty, but for its easy defense and safety from enemies.
By two bends in the river, forming two obtuse angles, the allied villages of the Peorias and the Muscootens stood at the two elbows, in plain sight of each other, the broad river forming a straight sheet of water between, while north of the Mound village, and in front of the Peorias. spread the wide and glassy surface of Muscooten Bay, separated from the river by a narrow peninsula.
Back of the swamp which protected the rear of the town, was a wide belt of rich prairie bottom land, and beyond. six miles, loomed up the Sangamon Bluffs, looking like miniature Andes in the distance, between which and the island, in the day time, all approaching foes could be discerned.
This island town was a favorite resting place with the tired voyageurs and devout missionaries ; a large cross was erected here, and friendly relations established between the "children of the forest " and the white men. This favoritism on the part of the French towards the Illinois Indians excited the jealousies of the Miamis, and they determined upon revenge. In vain did the missionaries try to prevent animosities. The Miamis invaded the country of the Illinois, and took some prisoners. At this time, the Chevalier La Salle, who had built a fort called Creve Coeur, or the "Broken Heart." where the present city of Peoria now stands, in order to prevent further hostilities, made a journey alone down the river to the Muscooten village, but his efforts were without avail, and the war continued.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY.
The Muscootens believed that La Salle was acting as a spy for the Iroquois, whose chief town was then where Buffalo, N. Y., now is, and who were the most powerful Indian nation upon the continent. This impression seemed to be confirmed when it became known to them that the Iroquois and Miamis had formed an alliance for the purpose of exterminating them.
Many battles were fought between these hostile nations, but, by the superior numbers of their enemies, the Illinois were worsted and besieged in their towns. The Peorias fortified themselves with earthworks upon the bluffs at their village, and passed men down the river in canoes, as necessity required, to the Mound village, the river being protected from the arrows of the enemy by marshy ground on one side and the bay on the other, which forbade their near approach.
The Muscootens were besieged in their island town. Occasionally they were assailed by parties of their enemies, who, more courageous than their fellows, crossed the swamps in the night, on the grassy hilloeks. with the help of long poles. On these occasions fierce battles were fought, and none of the daring assailants survived to reeross those trembling hillocks. At every defeat the Miamis and Iroquois became more enraged. In the night time, when out of danger from arrows, the allied Indians cut grass and small trees, and gathered floating wood, and began building a causeway across the swamp. When it was completed they rushed upon the island, and for several days the battle raged fiercely. There was no quarter given or asked. Death was dealt out by unsparing hands on both sides. They had been rendered doubly savage by hunger and delay. Their revenge had long been at usury, and they were now satisfying principal and interest. The battle temporarily subsided only when the combatants became exhausted, and was resumed when rest brought returning strength Those who from fatigue were unable to rise, were sealped and tomahawked, entering from the dreamland of life to the dreamland of death.
At length, exhausted, and overwhelmed by superior numbers, the Muscootens began to fall back towards the river, when with yells of victory their allied enemies rushed upon them, and with tomahawks and scalping knives ended the battle. A few of the unfortunate Muscootens swam the river, and concealed themselves in the high swampy grass beyond, and a small number fled in canoes to the village of the Peorias. The women and children were taken pris- oners.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY.
The battle being over, then came the mourning for the slain. Funeral rites, in which the missionaries took part, were performed, and in the great mound on the bank of the river, which had been raised centuries before by a long forgotten race, they buried the slain warriors, with their bows, arrows and tomahawks, together with the silver and flint crosses of the missionaries.
After these ceremonies were concluded the Iroquois returned to their own country. The Miamis, with their prisoners, encamped upon the present site of Chandlerville, where game was plenty, and attended to their sick and dying, great numbers of whom did not survive their wounds. Their dead were buried in the bluffs near by, and long after the settlement of Chandlerville their ghastly skeletons lay in white rows, exposed to the sun, laid bare by the action of the winds upon their sandy covering.
Some years later Mound Island was taken possession of by the Kickapoo Indians, upon which they built their village, known by the name of " Kickapoo Town," although still remembered by the French missionaries as the " Beautiful Mound Village."
This became a favorite trading post and missionary station, and continued in the possession of the Kickapoos until its settlement by Thomas Beard, in 1820, after whom the present city of Beardstown was named.
Forty years ago the great mound in Beardstown began to be encroached upon by the spade and pickaxe of the avaricious white man.
The decaying bones of the red warriors, as they lay in their quiet and lovely resting place, with the implements of war around them ; the silver and flint crosses of the missionaries ; even the beautiful mound itself, which as an ornament to the river, and a historic feature of the town should have been held sacred, could not restrain the money making white man from destroying it, and it is now recollected only by the old settlers, who used to sit upon its summit and watch the passing away of the last of two races-the Indian in his canoe and the French voyageur in his pirogue.
Many years ago, at the request of a young friend, I related one of the incidents of the above narrative and put it into verse and rhyme, which is as follows :
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY.
THE LEGEND OF MONSÆL.1.
Far, far into the long ago, and upon the very place Where Beardstown stands. there lived and loved and died a noble race. Where pretty lawns and spacious streets and lofty buildings stand, Mousœla's Indian village stood upon the hills of sand.
It was an island then. and round the hills on which it stood The river ripples wandered in a long continuous flood ; While over all the tall oaks waved in foliage bright and green, And the trees and tents were mirror'd on the broad and glassy stream.
Far above the stars were shining. bathed in clouds of silv'ry light. And the gentle breeze of summer-day had slumbered into night: The murmur of the wavelets flowing, and hum of insect wings, Fell lightly on the sleepers' ears, nor waked their slumberings.
Three weary moons two Indian tribes had been in deadly strife. And Miamis and Muscoutens had yielded many a life ; 'Till the allies of the Muscoutens had left them all alone. And the Miamis besieged them upon their island home.
Slowly. at night. across the waters upon the southern side, The Miamis were paddling up their canoes against the tide ; While in advance of every boat was held a branching bough. Which from the gaze of watching eyes might shield the advancing prow.
Upon the island. faint and tired. the Muscoutens lay at rest. All witless of the coming foe as the flowers which they pressed : They had fought them day by day, their watchfires burning night by night, Until glimmered on their ashen beds the last faint rays of light.
Just as the distant glittering beams that led the morning sun Sat lightly on the yellow knobs of the bluff's of Sangamon. A yell as of a thousand fiends fell on the startled ears, And sleepers woke to sleep again pierced by the foemen's spears.
Monscela then. Muscouten's Chief. raised high the battle ery, And bade his warriors follow him and win the fight or die : Now on the left, now on the right. his ponderous war-club fell. And many an Indian skull crushed he. and stifled many a yell.
Now backward borne. now pressing on, Muscouten's wavering braves Proved that the blood that nerved their arms was never meant for slaves ; 'Till overpowered. and rank by rank fell weltering in their blood, The brave Monsuela fonght alone amidst the crimson flood.
Then the old chief's daughter, White Wing. ran through the rift of spears ; "Though gentle as a fawn. that day she showed no childish fears : Pierced to the heart. into his arms she threw herself. a shield, Hc grasped her lifeless form and slowly bore her from the field.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY.
Where the golden grass was waving on the river's western shore, Monscela's birchen shallop touched the flowery bank onee more; There oft before the same proud chief had pushed his light eanoe, With warriors in sinewy keels-three hundred brave and true.
Near two hundred years have entered into the dreamy past Since the chief of the Muscoutens on his village looked the last- One longing, lingering look he gave toward his island home, Then drew his mantle round him and wandered forth alone.
In 1700, Illinois was a part of the territory owned by the French government, and was called New France.
In 1720, all the country west of the Mississippi River belonged to - Spain, with Santa Fe as its capital.
In 1763. Illinois was ceded by France to Great Britain, after a " seven years' war." Many French inhabitants, rather than live under British rule, joined La Clede and settled St. Louis.
In 1778. the Illinois country was conquered from Great Britain by troops from the State of Virginia, under the command of General George Rogers Clark, which was an independent military enterprise of that State ; and on the 4th day of July of that year, Gen. Clark and his troops took possession of Kaskaskia, the capital of the British possessions west of the Alleghenies, and declared the Illinois country free and independent of Great Britain, thus making the 4th day of July the natal day of this State as well as of our nation.
In that year, Illinois was created a county of Virginia, and Tim- othy Dernanbrun was appointed by the governor, Patrick Henry, a / justice of the peace, to rule over it; which was probably the most extensive territorial jurisdiction that a magistrate ever had.
In 1794, the Legislature of the Northwest Territory divided it into two counties, Randolph and St. Clair.
' In 1809, Illinois was declared a separate territory.
In 1812, Madison County was organized from St. Clair, and then contained all of the present State north of St. Clair and Randolph.
In 1818, Illinois was admitted into the Union as the twenty-second State.
In 1821, Green County was formed from Madison County.
/ In 1823, Morgan County was formed from Green County.
: In 1837, Cass County was formed from Morgan County.
/ During the first quarter of the present century, immigration to the Illinois country had been retarded by frequent earthquakes ; indeed. from 1811 to 1813 they were as severe as ever happened on
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY.
this continent. and the few of the settlers here were in constant dread from these disturbances. - New Madrid, a flourishing town near the mouth of the Ohio, was utterly destroyed and swallowed up. But in 1825 the Erie Canal was completed, and steamboats had been intro- duced upon the Mississippi and its tributaries, and immigration received a new impulse and flowed in vigorously. This immigration excitement was called on the other side of the mountains, the "west- ern fever ;" and it carried many a good man off-west.
In 1818, a man by the name of Pullam settled upon Horse Creek, a tributary of the Sangamon, and later, in November of that year, another man, by the name of Seymour Kellogg, was the first settler in the country comprised afterwards in the county of Morgan, and it was at his house that the first white child of the Sangamon country was born.
The first actual and permanent white settler within the limits of the present city of Beardstown, was Thomas Beard, who came here on horseback when it was a Kickapoo village, in 1819, and made it his home for some time as a trader among the Indians.
Martin L. Lindsley, together with his wife and two children, John C. and Mary A., and Timothy Harris and John Cettrough, settled here in 1820. These settlers located afterward in "Camp Hollow," a short distance east of the site of the present county farm, where Mr. Lindsley built a cabin, and the first white child born in this immediate vicinity was added to his family.
During the year 1820, a family named Eggleston settled on the site of Beardstown.
Major Elijah Iles, now a resident of Springfield, Ills., landed in 1819 where Beardstown now is, on his way to the " Keeley Settlement," afterwards named Calhoun, and now "Springfield," the State capital. He says that at that time there was a hut at Beardstown, built of birchen poles, standing on the bank of the river, but unoccupied. As the Indians lived in tents, this hut was probably erected by the French traders nearly a quarter of a century before the landing of Major Iles.
Archibald Job settled first at Beardstown, and then at Sylvan Grove, in the edge of North Prairie, in the spring of 1821, sur- rounded by Kickapoo and Pottowatamie Indians.
There were other pioneers settled here about that time, whose names I have not learned.
In 1821, there were but twenty families within the present limits of Morgan, Cass and Scott counties.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY.
In the early years of the white settlements here, wheat was unknown, and Indian corn, the only breadstuff, was exceedingly hard to obtain, as mills were scarce. Jarvoe's Mill, on Cahokia Creek, was for a long time the only one accessible to our pioneers. In 1821, a small horse-mill was erected on Indian Creek by one Richard Shep- ard. Then a horse-mill was put up at Clary's Grove, Menard County. To these mills the boys of the families had to make frequent and tedious journeys to procure corn meal for bread.
The public lands were first offered for sale in November, 1823 ; so that all those who settled here previous to that time were only squat- ters on the public lands, and could hardly be termed permanent settlers. In fact, Thomas Beard, and his friends who lived with the Indians at Kickapoo village, were merely squatters, dependent upon the Indians for the privilege of erecting their huts.
The first land entry was made by Thomas Beard and Enoch C. March, jointly, who entered the northeast quarter of 15, 18, 12, Sept. 23, 1826. It was upon this quarter section that Mr. Beard's cabin was built. On the 28th day of October, 1827, Beard and March entered the northwest quarter of 15, 18, 12, which extended their river front down below the mound. Thomas Beard individually entered the west half, southwest, 15, 18, 12, October 10, 1827; and John Knight entered the east half, sonthwest, 15, 18, 12, July 17, 1828. Thus there were three men entered the entire section upon which the original town of Beardstown was located, in the years 1826, 1827 and 1828. So you will see that the stories current that Beardstown was laid out in 1824, and that the site was bought by Beard and March for twenty-five dollars, are not founded on record evidence.
The fact is, that the original town of Beardstown, consisting of 23 blocks, fronting on the river, three blocks deep, reaching from Clay to Jackson Street, of which block 10, lying between the Park and Main Street, is the centre one, was laid out and platted by Enoch C. March and Thomas Beard, and acknowledged before Thomas B. Arnet, a justice of the peace of Jacksonville, September 9, 1829, and is recorded on page 228 of Book B of the Morgan County records.
Among the first settlers in Beardstown, after it became a town site, were Francis Arenz and Nathaniel Ware, who purchased an interest and became joint landed proprietors with Beard and March. The town was named after Thomas Beard.
The very first deed from March and Beard upon record, of lands
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY.
within the present limits of Beardstown, was made before the town was laid out, and is dated August 21, 1828, to " Charles Robinson, of New Orleans," for the consideration of $100, being for a "part of the fractional part of the N. W. qr. of Sec. 15, in town. 18, 12; beginning at a forked birch tree on the Illinois river bank, marked as a corner, running thence down the river meanders thereof, so as to make two hundred yards on a strait line, and from thence running out from the river at both ends of the above line by two parallel lines, until they strike the north line of the E. hf. of the S. W. qr. of Sec. 15, 18, 12, supposed to contain 12 acres."
And immediately following this deed upon the record is this singular " deed of defeasance," executed by Charles Robinson.
DEED OF DEFEASANCE.
"I having this day bought of Enoch C. March and Thomas Beard and his wife Sarah a piece of land on the river below the ferry of the above Beard and have this day ree'd from them a deed for the same I hereby declare that it is my intention to do a publie business on the said land between this date and the first day of Oet. next year and if I have not upon the land by that date persons and property to effeet the same or actually upon the way to do so I will return the above deed and transfer back the land to them upon receiving the consideration given them for the same. The above publie business means. a steam mill. distillery rope walk or store. Witness my hand and seal this 21 day of Ang 1828.
(Signed) "CHARLES ROBINSON. [SEAL.]"
Acknowledged August 1, 1828, before Dennis Rockwell, Clerk of Morgan Circuit Court ; recorded June 29, 1829, Book B, deeds, 180. This land is part of the original town of Beardstown .*
Mr. Charles Robinson, party to these deeds, still lives in this county, near Arenzville. On the 8th of February, 1872, he wrote a letter to the Chicago Journal, from which I make this extract :
"'Fifty years ago, or in the summer of 1821, there was not a bushel of corn to be had in Central Illinois. My father settled in that year twenty- three miles west of Springfield. We had to live for a time on venison. blackberries, and milk. while the men were gone to Egypt to harvest and procure breadstuff's. The land we improved was surveyed that summer, and afterwards bought of the government. the money being raised by sending beeswax down the Illinois river to St. Louis in an Indian eanoe. Dressed deer skins and tanned hides were then in use. and we made one piece of eloth out of nettles instead of flax. Cotton matured well for a ·decade. until the deep snow of 1830."
The southern part of the State, referred to by Mr. Robinson as
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY.
Egypt, received this appellation, as here indicated, because, being older, better settled and cultivated, it » gathered corn as the sand of of the sea," and the immigrants of the central part of the State, after the manner of the children of Israel, in their wants, went " thither to buy and bring from thence that they might live and not die."
Reddick Horn, a Methodist minister. settled at Beardstown about 1823, and entered eighty acres near by, afterward making entries near the bluff.
The Cottonwood School-house was built in 1830, in the Sangamon Bottom, and is now known by that name.
The exact date of each arrival of the settlers is very hard to obtain, as those of them now living differ in their recollections of those who have precedence ; but, by taking a conspicuous event, such for instance as the deep snow, which occurred in the winter of 1830-31, it becomes more easy to decide who then lived in the different neigh- borhoods. At that time, upon the Sangamon Bottom road there were the following named settlers : The first above Beardstown. was Solo- mon Penny, in section 10, 18, 11, where Richard Tink now lives. The next was John Waggoner, who lived where the Bottrell farm is now. Above him were the Carrs-Elisha, William, and Benjamin- and their father : Elisha lived on the present Kendall farm. Next above the Carrs was Grandpa Horrom. Then Jerry Bowen. where Calvin Wilson now lives. Next, the widow Stewart. Next, Shad- rach Richardson, on the present Brauer farm. Then Thomas Plas- ter, sr., where, Jeptha Plaster now lives.
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