USA > Illinois > Effingham County > History of Effingham county, Illinois > Part 1
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1800
Glass E547 Book E APA
1
Y
HISTORY 1
OF
EFFINGHAM COUNTY,
ILLINOIS.
EDITED BY WILLIAM HENRY PERRIN.
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO): O. L. BASKIN & CO , HISTORICAL PUBLISHERS, LAKESIDE BUILDING. 1883
4
6 +31
101
Pulver Hage hoynetto PRINTERS 18 &120 MONROE ST
CHICAGO
-
02-2221
.
CONTENTS.
PART I. HISTORICAL.
PAGE.
CHAPTER 1 .- Introductory-The First Pioneer-Griffia Tip- sword-Ilis Superstitious Eccentricities-The Fifty-One Families-Timber and Prairies-Obstacles to Settlement -Wild Beasts and Insects-Ben Campbell-Moralizing on Pioneer Experience-Some Anecdotes and Incidents of Campbell-Ilis Last Marriage and Death-Requiescat In Pace .. II
CHAPTER II .- Topography and Physical Features-North- western Elevation or Movads-The Little Wabash Bluffs -Geology-Relations Between Physical Geography and Geological Structure - Formation of Rocks - Natural Forces-The Florida Reefs-Petrifactions-Human Re- mains-Coal-Iron Ore and Building Rock - Mineral Waters-Origin of the Prairies, etc ... 22
CHAPTER III .- Organization of the County-Act of the Legislature Creating It-Location of First County Seat -Extracts from the Early Records-First Land Entries -Census and Taxes-Marriages-Schools -Their Origin and Improvements-Some New Facts and Theories on Education - William J. Hankins - Early Elections- Effingham in the Black Ilawk War. 36
CHAPTER IV .- Character of the Pioneers-Great Men-Cum- berland Road -- Toll Bridge-The First Census - Hard Life-How Brockatt Played Ball Calf-Pioneer Women -Wild Honey-Coffee as Bean Soup-Dr. Bishop's Mills -The Killing of IIill-Rod Jeakins and Whisky-Buley- jack, etc., etc .. 55
CHAPTER V .- Legal Life of the County-List of Officers- Boards of Supervisors-Their Official Duties-Farming and Stock Raising-Agricultural Societies, Their Meet- ings and Officers-The Good Accomplished, etc., etc ........ 70
CHAPTER VI .- Population, Farm Products and Other Statis- tics-Foreigners-Our Own People and their Politice- Hash Money-How Kept and How Invested-Removal of County Sent - Township Organization - Rich Mines- "Gold, yea, Much Fine Gold "-The " Way-Bill," and Where it Led-Salt Creek Silver-The Deserted Cabin, etc 77
CHAPTER VII .- War History-Our Struggle with Mexico- Soldiers Furnished-The Great Rebellion-Effingham's Part In It-The Press - " Effingham Pioneer " - The " Register "-Other Newspapers and Their Success and Influence, etc., ctc ..
PAGE.
CHAPTER VIII .- Internal Improvements-The Illinois Cen- tral Railroad-Its Great Importance as a Highway-IIol- broek Charters-The Purt Taken in the Road by Judge Breese and Judge Douglas-Completion of the Road- Brough's Failures-Vaadniia Line-Its Construction- Opened for Business-Other Railroads, etc., etc .... 96
CHIA PTER IX .- Retrospection-Moralizing on the Flight of Tinte- Post Office, Telegraphs, etc .- The Singing and Writing Masters-" Fling, Dang, Doodle, Da "-Literary Tastes of the County-Examination of a Schoolmaster- The Dutch Town War-A Bit of Church Gossip-Vale- clictory, etc. 124
CHAPTER X .- The Bench and Bar-Early Courts of Effing- ham County -- Lawyers from Abroad-Judges of this Ju- dicial District-Sketches of Ewing, Field and Davis- Naturalization of Gen. Shields-Gov. Ford and Sidney Breese-Other Legal Luminaries, Past and Present-The Present County Bar, etc. 132
CHAPTER X1 .- Douglas Township-Its Boundaries and To- pography-Early Settlement - American and German Pioneers-The Bull Flatters-Progress and Advancement -Pioneer Incidents-Church and School History-The Railroad and the Birth of Effingham, etc., etc ............. I$5
CHAPTER XII .- City of Effingham-The Old Town of Brough- ton-Laying Out of the New City-1ts Boundaries and Additions-First Houses, Stores and Post Offices-Hotels. Manufactories, etc-The Fire Department-City Organi- zation and Officials-Railroads and the Press-Literary Societies, etc., etc .. 150
CHAPTER X[1] .- City of Effingham-Its Religious History- Early Churches and Preachers-Organization of Different Denominations - Secret and Benevolent Institutions, Freemasonry, etc .- Early Schools of the Towa-Present Eilucational Facilities-Mercy Hospital, etc., etc ........... 160
CHAPTER XIV .- Summit Township -Introductory and De- scriptive -- Timber, Surface Features, etc-Settlement of White People-Their Rough Life and Habite-Hanting as a Pastiaie-First Schools and Present Educational Fa- cilities - Early Churches - Pioneer Preachers, etc- Towns and Villages-The Old County Seat, etc., etc ......... 167
CHAPTER XV .- Mound Township-Introduction, Description and Topography-Settlement of the Township-Pioneer Life-Churches and Schoole-Blue Mound-The Village of Altamont-Ita Growth and Development-Grain Busi- ness and Manufactories-Schools, Churches, etc .. etc ....... 181
viii
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER XVI .- Mason Township-Topographical aod De- scriptive-Settlement-Broom, the Stewarts and other Pioneers-A Fourth of July Celebration-Schools and Churches-An Incident-Villeges-Growth and Develop- ment of Mason-Its Business Importance-Edgewood - Laid ont as a Town-Stores, Shops, Churches and Socie- ties 188
CHAPTER XVII .- Watson Township-Surface and Physical Features-Coming of the White Settlers-Their Loca- tione and Claims-Sketches of Some of the Noted Ones- Mills and Other Pioneer Industries-Schools and School- houses-Churches-Village of Watson-Its Growth and Business 200
CHAPTERXVIII .- Jackson Township-Introduction and Gen- eral Description-Topography, etc .- Settlement of White People-Pioneer Improvements and Business Industries -Some Early Incidents-Births, Deaths and Marriages- Mills, Roads, etc .- Schools and Churches-Villages, etc., etc ...... 212
CHAPTER XIX .- Union Township-Introductory - Bound- aries and Topography - White Settlement - Frederick Brockett-Other Pioneers-Incidents of Early Life-The First Roads-Educational-Schoolhouses-Churches, etc. Flemshnrg Village-A Tragedy and its Results ......... 220
CHAPTER XX .- St. Francis Township-Description and Topog- raphy-The First Settlers and Their Hardships-A Trag- edy-Mills, Roads and Other Improvements-Early Religions History-Churches and Preachers-Schools, Schoolhouses, etc .- The Village of Montrose - Its Growth, Development, etc ....... 229
CHAPTER XXI .- Liberty Township-Its Physical Features- Timber Growth, etc .- Early Settlement-Pioneer. Hard- Bhips-industries and Improvements-The State of So- ciety-Educational and Religious-Beecher City-A Vil- lage of Large Pretensions-Ita Business, Churches, Schools, Benevolent Societies, etc. 238
CHAPTER XXII .- Lucas Township-Introductory-Topogra- phy and Boundaries-Pioneer Occupation-Where the Settlers Came From-Their Early Life Here-Growth and Improvement of the Country-Mills, etc .- Educational Facilities-Churches and Preachers-Villages, etc., etc ... 242
CHAPTER XXIII .- Teutopolis Township-Its Description and Formation-Topography-The Prairie and Timber Soils -German Emigrants-Village of Teutopolis-The Ger- man Colony-Growth of the Village-Schoole-St. Jo- seph's College-Sisters of Notre Dame-The Church- Village Incorporation and Officers. 250
CHAPTER XXIV .- West Township-Introductory and De- scriptive-Topography and Physical Features-The First Settlements-Pioneer Industries and Internal Improve- ments-Ao Incident-Schools, Churches, etc .- Village of Gilmore-War Record and Experience, etc ... 257
CHAPTER XXV -Banner Township-Topography, Timber Growth, etc .- The Settlement-Bingeman, Rentfrow and Other Pioneers-Wolf Ilnnts-Churches and Church In- fluences-Schools-Village of Shumway-Ite Growth and Development-Religions and Educational Facilities ........ 264
PAGE.
CHAPTER XXVI .- Moccasin Township-Configuration and Boundaries-Streams, Timber, etc .- Pioneer Settlement -Early Life of the People-An Incident-Churches and Preachers-The First Schoolhouse-Schools of the Pres. ent-Moccasin Village-Platted-General Business of the Place. 270
CHAPTER XXVII .- Bishop Township-Topography and Sur- face Features-Coming of the Pioneers-Their Hard Times and Vicissitudes-The Early Improvements in Liv- ing-Roads, Mills, etc .- Schools and Schoolhouses- Religious History-Churches and Preachers-The Village of Elliottstown, etc., etc. 274
PART II.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
PAGE.
EFFINGHAM CITY and Douglas Township 3
Mound Township -5
Lucas Township 124
Teutopolis Township. 140
Mason Township 148
Jackson Township. 179
Liberty Township. 196
West Township 205
Wateon Township. 217
Moccasin Township. 028
Bishop Township. 238
St. Francis Township. 244
Union Township 251
Banner Township. 257
Summit Township. 261
Addendum-Weiler & Meyer. 286
PORTRAITS
PAQE.
· Beecher, II. L .. 279
Bernhard, II
16
- Broom, John 189
Dawson, Robert 32
Field, L. J. 171
- Gillenwaters, T. J. 27
. Groves, John N 153
Gwin, J. N 81
- Hoeny, John 45
Kepley, Henry B 117
Le Crone, John 63
Leith, David.
48
Mitchell, Calvin. 135
Rice, S. S 207
Scott, Owen 99
Stair, Jacob
64
Tennery, Thomas D.
171
Williamson, D.
243
Wills, John .. 225
Woody, John 171
Wright, C. M 261
PREFACE.
A FTER several months of laborious research and persistent toil, the history of Effing- ham County is complete, and it is our hope and belief that no subject of general importance or interest has been overlooked or omitted, and even minor facts, when of sufficient note to be worthy of record, have been faithfully chronicled. In short, where protracted investigation promised results commensurate with the undertaking, matters not only of undonbted record but legendary lore, have been brought into requisition. We are well aware of the fact that it is next to impossible to furnish a perfect history from the meager resources at the command of the historian under ordinary circumstances, but claim to have prepared a work fully up to the standard of our engagements. Through the courtesy and assistance generously afforded, we have been enabled to trace out and put into systematie shape the greater portions of the events that have transpired in the county np to the present time, and we feel assured that all thoughtful persons interested in the matter will recognize and appreciate the importance of the work and its permanent value. A dry statement of facts has been avoided. so far as it was possible to do so, and anecdote and incident have been interwoven with plain recital and statistics, thereby forming a narrative at once instructive and entertaining.
We are indebted to H. C. Bradsby, Esq., for his very able general history of the county comprised in the first nine chapters ; to B. F. Kagay, Esq., for the chapter on the " Bench and Bar;" to Charles Eversman, Esq., for chapter on Teutopolis, and to G. M. Le Crone, Esq., and many other citizens of the connty for material aid in making the proper compilation of faets embodied in the work. '
FEBRUARY, 1883.
THE PUBLISHERS.
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PART I.
HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY
CHAPTER I .*
INTRODUCTORY-THE FIRST PIONEER-GRIFFIN TIPSWORD-HIS SUPERSTITIOUS ECCENTRICITIES -THE FIFTY-ONE FAMILIES-TIMBER AND PRAIRIES-OBSTACLES TO SETTLEMENT- WILD BEASTS AND INSECTS-BEN CAMPBELL-MORALIZING ON PIONEER EXPERI-
ENCE-SOME ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS OF CAMPBELL-HIS LAST MARRIAGE AND DEATII-REQUIESCAT IN PACE.
"I stand alone, like some dim shaft which throws Its shadows on the desert waste, while they Who placed it there are gone-or like the tree Spared by the ax upon the mountain's eliff, Whose sap is dull, while it still wears the hue Of life upon its withered limbs."
-The Aged Pioneer.
TS resene from fast-fading traditions the simple annals of the pioneer people of our county is a pleasing but a laborious task, not so laborious as perplexing, the annoyances arising from there being now no connected record of their official acts and doings. Many of the earliest and most important legal papers are gone beyond recovery; many of them were never put in a more permanent form than mere slips or seraps of unbound sheets of papers, stuck carelessly away, not even marked or filed; some not dated, and others again ad- dressed to no onc. Then, in the burning the court house in 1868, many were consumed or destroyed in being removed.
To supply this loss of important papers, with their invaluable facts and statistics, is now largely forever impossible.
But to meet and converse with the few now living of these early settlers-those who came here as children, or as very young men and women, and are now fast approaching or have passed the allotted threeseore and ten. stooped with age, venerable patriarchs mostly. and their white-haired "blessed mothers in Israel," companions and helpmeets-has been the most pleasing task of our life.
To gather up the raveled threads of the strange but simple stories of their lives-now mostly broken threads-to catch these fleeting traditions and fireside histories, and hand them on to posterity, might well be the ambitious labor of any man's life.
The importance that attaches to the lives. character and work of these humble laborers in the cause of humanity and civilization will some day be better understood and appreciated than it is now. They will some time, by the pen of
* The Chapters following on the history of the county at large are written by H. C. Bradsby, Esq.
12
HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.
the wise historian, take their proper place in the list of those immortals who have helped to make this world wholesome with their toil and their sweat and their blood. Of them all the pioneer was the humblest, but not the meanest nor the most insignificant. They laid the foundations on which rests the civilization of the Western Hemisphere. If the work was done well, then the edifice stands upon an enduring rock; if ill, then upon the sands; and when the winds and the rains beat upon it, it will tremble and fall.
If great and beneficent results-results that endure and bless mankind-are the proper meas- ure of the good men do, then who is there in the world's history that may take their places above these hardy, early pioneers?
To point out the way, to make possible our present advancing civilization, its cheap and happy homes, its cheap food, its arts, sciences, inventions and discoveries, its education, litera- ture, culture, refinement and social life and joy, is to be the truly great benefactor of all man- kind and for all time. This, indeed, was the great work of these adventurous pioneers.
Grant it, captions friend, that they builded wiser than they knew; that few, if any of them, ever realized in the dimmest way the transcend- ant possibilities that rested upon their should- ers. Grant it that, as a rule. their lives werc aimless and ambitionless, with little more of hope, or far-reaching purposes, than the savage or the wild beasts that were their neighbors. Yet there stands the supreme fact that they fol- lowed their restless impulses, took their lives in their hands, penetrated the desert wilderness, and with a patient energy, resolution and self- sacrifice that stands alone and unparalleled, they worked out their allotted tasks, and to-day we are here in the enjoyment of the fruitage of their labors.
Should we allow their names and their fame to pass into oblivion and contempt, the act would mark us as the degenerate sons of heroic sires, unworthy the inheritance they gave us.
To say that in this work it is proposed to write the history, in the broad and large mean- ing of that word, would be a careless use of language-would be promising more than it is possible for us to do; for history in its true sense is philosophy in its highest type, teach- ing by example. But to gather such facts, in- cidents, statistics and circumstances, trifling or important, as are left to us, and place them in a durable form, and transmit them, ready to hand, to the future and real historian, is all that one can attempt or hope to do in a manner at all satisfactory. To tell their simple annals in their chronological order, to secure something of the substance ere the shadows wholly fade, . is enough to attempt now.
In the year 1814 or 1815, Griffin Tipsword came to this part of Illinois and took up his abode with the Kickapoo Indians. These In- dians then occupied what-is now parts of Fay- ette, Shelby and Effingham Counties. South of the Kickapoos were the Winnebagoes and Del- awares. At that time these Indians were peace -- ably disposed, and, it seems, were indifferent as to the coming of the lone, straggling, white man.
We make no doubt that Tipsword was the first white man that was ever here. He was a strange compound of white man by birth and Indian by adoption. IIe was a self-exile from civilization in his native Virginia, and by choice a roving nomad, who sought the solitudes of pathless woods, the dreariness of the desert waste, in exchange for the trammels of civilized society. Of the latter, he could not endure its restraints, and he despised its comforts and pleasures. His soul yearned for freedom-free- dom in its fullest sense, applied to all property, life and everything, here and hereafter. He hunted in the Indian chase, talked in their dia- lect, danced their dances, and to show how fully he was for them, with them and of them, he gave them his oldest son, who remained with them wholly for years, in order that he might be fully educated in their ways.
13
HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.
Moses Doty was a nephew of Tipsword, and from him and the grandsons of the old pioneer we learn that lie left Virginia in the year 1812 and came to Southern Illinois, where he re- mained for two or three years, and then came,
For years after he came here he saw no hn- man face except the Indian. His people in Vir- ginia had no word of him for sixteen years after he left them.
In many respects he was a remarkable man. He had gone West, cut loose from kith and kin, and he didn't burn the bridges behind him, be- cause there were none to burn. He was a pio- neer, a doctor, a missionary preacher, his own bishop, as well as his own committee on ways and means. He hunted, fished, cut bee-trees, and talked with the Indians in their way and fashion. He was as illiterate as they, and he told them in Indian the story of Mount Calvary and the lake of fire and brimstone, and those who had no fears of an angry God had a healthy dread of his unerring rifle. Beneath God's first temples he pointed the way to heaven to these simple savages. In the trackless woods he met the bad Indian and slew him. He was not only a physician for the poor soul, but he was a " medicine man," who could exorcise witches, conjure ghosts, remove " spells," make " silver tea " for cattle sick of the murrain or otherwise bewitched. He regulated the storms, stayed the angry lightning flashes, and could appease the deep-mouthed thunders as they rolled across the darkened heavens in terrifying peals. lle had much to do in his Protean capacity of a hunter, a half savage, a doctor, a preacher, and a pioncer, with no visible means of support except
his rifle, and that he lived out a long life (it is supposed over a hundred years) is evidence that he was singularly well adapted to surrounding circumstances.
His family name was Souards. Ile only called with his wife and two children, to this part of | himself Tipsword after he came here. It was the State; that he first lived in the northwest corner of this county, and in Shelby, and lived and hunted and migrated as far northwest as Quincy, and then would return to this place. The Indians did much the same in following the game and in searching for new and better hunting ground. only in the latter years of his life that he told any one that he had changed his name. When asked why he had done so, he woukl nod his head toward the south, where he had first lived among the Indians, and reply that he did not want to run his " head into the halter." From this and other hints that he gave out in his last years the inference may be drawn that, in his mind, it was much the same whether you saved a savage by preaching or by the rifle. lle believed it was the Divine economy to save, and in one way or the other he did a lively business.
It is not known what particular church be belonged to-perhaps he did not himself know, but the records leave no doubt it was that broad, liberal Catholic faith and practice that gathered up with as much alacrity the Indian with a bullet hole through his head as the saint with finger nails two or three feet long. He was a well-armed drummer in the golden slipper trade, a "rustler " for the golden stairs.
Hle could doctor the body quite as well as the souls. The prevalent diseases of his day, it seems, were witches, spooks, spells and charms. He was as superstitious as his neighbors and quite as illiterate, and yet he must have played many tricks upon his savage followers to retain his power over them, and impress and awe them with a dread of his occult powers. His trade was not destroyed by the coming of the first whites and the migration from here of the Indians. He continued to practice medicine. preach and hunt. He kept sacred his witch- balls to the day of his death. These were made of deer's and cow's hair, were large, and held together by a long string. They consti- tuted his materia medica.
14
HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.
Most people then believed implicity in witches and charms; some do now. All dis- eases were the work of witches, and so it was with their cattle. Ghosts could be seeu any dark night in passing a grave or a graveyard.
Hunters would sometimes be almost be- deviled out of their lives by witches that would appear to them in the woods as a beautiful deer, which would career and gallop around them in easy range and yet, no matter how often he shot, he could not touch them. It came to be well known that a leaden bullet would not touch a witch, but a silver bullet car- ried death on its wings. When this kind of a ball was fired at a witch deer, if the aim was fatal, the deer would run home, return to its human form, go to bed and die. If the shot was not fatal, the witch would go to bed, be sick a long time, and no visitor would be al- lowed to see the wound, nor would the attend- ants tell them the particulars of the ailment.
If cattle were sick, it was the witches and nothing would do them any good except " silver tea." This tea was made by boiling a silver coin in water for a long time and giving the water to the sick brute. -
When people were bewitched, they would send for Tipsword or take the patient to him. He would doctor them by standing over them, moving about in a mysterious way his witch- balls and muttering a strange guttural jargon, and this was repeated from day to day until the witch would fly unseen away in sore agony and distress and the cure was complete.
The good old John Knox, Presbyterian, of Scotland, never had more trouble with witches, or the devil, as he went prowling through the country, in the shape of a snake, a wild boar or some other unknown and unseen wild beast, than did these pioneers and Indians. Men who are now growing old. who were here as children, in the days of unbounded super- stition, can yet tell you how they have often sat around the log fireside and heard the gathered
neighbors tell over their soul-harrowing stories of ghosts and witches. Poor, innocent, credu- lous children, listening, open mouthed. to superstitious fathers and mothers telling fright- ful stories-stories that would make these youngsters' hair stand out " like quills upon the fretted porcupine." If the story chanced to be too monstrous for even ignorant cre- dulity, then some crooning old granny, well known to the whole neighborhood, was always referred to as a living authority, who had been there and had seen or knew it all.
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