USA > Illinois > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 1
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Lucille 2. Key
01076 U.S. 977. 3994 H 2b F# 0962314
TN- 270641
BS
1763.
HISTORY OF
JACKSON COUNTY,
ILLINOIS.
Illustrations
DESCRIPTIVE OF ITS SCENERY,
AND
Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers.
PUBLISHED BY BRINK, MCDONOUGH & CO., PHILADELPHIA.
CORRESPONDING OFFICE, EDWARDSVILLE, ILL.
1878.
BC1330617
The reproduction of this book has been made possible through the sponsorship of the Jackson County, Illinois, Historical Society, Carbondale, Illinois.
A Reproduction by UNIGRAPHIC, INC. 1401 North Fares Avenue Evansville, Indiana 47711 Nineteen Hundred Seventy Three
Binding by MODERN PRE-BINDING CORPORATION Portland, Indiana
PREFACE.
O the citizens of Jackson County. The publishers of this work would be pleased to make acknowledgment to such of the parties who have aided and assisted us in our labors in the making up and preparation of this volume; especially are we indebted and ac- knowledge the same to Prof. James H. Brownlee, of the Southern Illinois Normal University, who has principally had in charge the editorial department of the work, ably assisted by President Robert, Allyn of the same institution. These gentlemen, with scholarly ability, have also carefully prepared the various articles to which their names are attached. We would also render thanks for the aid and assistance given by Dr. B. Boon, whose vast store of historical recollections has been called upon and cheerfully given, also to Prof. Parkinson, Judge U. E. Rob- inson, Col. D. H. Brush, George W. Holliday, John Gill, Sen., Judge Bradley, Berry B. Whitson, Mrs. Henson, Mrs. Worthen, Capt. W. E. Talbott, Hiram Swartz, Judge A. D. Duff, Judge W. A. Lemma, F. W. W. Barr, Judge M. F. Swortzcope, Hon. Robt. Beasley, Hon. F. E. Albright, John Gill, Jr., Peter Kiefer, Dr. James Roberts, A. L. Davis, Davis Cox, F. M. Tuthill, Hillery Ripley, Prof. Granville, F. Foster, William B. Pike, Dr. H. C. Hodges, Judge Wm. J. Allen, Col. Wiley Gill, J. Burr, Hon. J. Banks Mayham, Charles Kirkham, Co. C'lk, Robert Hamilton, Cir. C'lk, Geo. W. Smith, Esq., and many others who have been our friends and advisers in this enterprise.
We are under many obligations to the members of the different pro- fessions, for the favors conferred by them. From the press we have re- ceived that aid which members of the profession so cheerfully render to one another. We return onr hearty thanks to the County officials for their assistance.
We have confined ourselves as nearly as possible to the original materials furnished, except, when from necessity, we were compelled to abbreviate the material furnished, all being of an interesting character. The public is aware of the great difficulty attending the compilation of such a work, not so much for lack of material as to the difficulty of judicious selection. The material has been classified as carefully as pos- sible, and will, we are assured, be a great help to the publie as a book of reference, as to the History, Geography, Topography and all subjects that make up the character of Jackson County. Our work may, and probably will be criticised, but when it is taken into consideration the difficulty of proper classification, the crndeness of the material, the different persons from whom facts are to be obtained, the imperfections of memory, and the different manner in which facts arc detailed, there can be no doubt but there may be errors and inaccuracies in the work.
But trusting that the Public will believe that we have done the best under the circumstances, we throw ourselves upon their generosity.
THE PUBLISHERS.
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
PAGE.
THE ABORIGINES 9-10
ILLINOIS IN 1822 facing 11
CHAPTER I .- Pioneers and Early Settlers. .
11-12 CHAPTER II .- First Territorial Legislator Elec- ted-First Senator elected-State Bank Cre- ated-First Grand Jurors-License to Sell Liquors - First County Judge - Clerks- Sheriffs- Attorneys -Treasurers - Circuit Clerks-County Surveyors-Senators and Representatives-County-seat Changed-In- debtedness-Flood of 1844-Muddy Saline Reservation-The Bar-The Great Rebel- lion-Assessments 12-21
CHAPTER III .- Organization of County-Slaves brouglit into County-Militia-Navigation
of Big Muddy River-First Cargo of Coal. 21-25 CHAPTER IV .- Customs of Early Days-Habits
and Modes of Living of the Pioneers and Early Settlers-Riley's Mill-Oldest Deeds -First Marriage Records . 25-31
CHAPTER V .- Early Settlements-First Perma- nent Settlement-First Death-First Volun- teers 31-33
CHAPTER VI .- The War of 1812 - Mounted
Rangers on the Frontier-Indian Depreda- tions-Forts Erected . 33-35
CHAPTER VII .- Township Surveyors in 1806 . 36-37
CHAPTER VIII .- Geography-Number of Sq. Miles-Number of Acres-Drainage-Soil -Timber .. 37-39
CHAPTER IX .- Mineral Products of Jackson
County 39-40
CHAPTER X -Agricultural Resources 40-41
CHAPTER XI .- Fauna and Flora 41-48
CHAPTER XII .- Ecclesiastical History of Jack- son County-Historical Sketch of the Evan- gelical Lutheran Church-History of Pres- byterianism-History of First Presbyterian Church of Carbondale-First Presbyterian Church of Grand Tower - Murphysboro' Presbyterian Church-History of Method- ism-Oak Grove Methodist Church-Meth- odist Episcopal Church of Murphysboro'- History of M. E. Church South-Sketch of Baptist Church-Historical Sketch of Chris- tian Church-History of Catholic Church -Sketch of Catholic Church of Murphys- boro' . 48-56
Business Notices 124
Roster of Enlisted Men . 125
List of those who Died in the Late Rebellion .
127
Partial list of Patrons
128
Revised Constitution of Illinois
132
Decl Declaration of Independence 139
Constitution of the United States
140
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
PAGE.
Allen, Wm. J. . 68
Albright, F. E. . 69
Andrews, G. W.
70
Allyn, Robt., LL.D. .
82
Bradley, Wm., Sr.
, 76
Burr, Gilbert J. 76
Brownlee, Prof. J. H. facing 82
Barononsky, Frank
95
Broader, Frank A.
96
Barrow, Jas.
102
Bouscher, Samuel
108
Beasley, Robt. A. facing 108
Bowers, Jacob . 113
Blue, Uriah
115
Boon, Benningsen
119
Crain, Willis 91
Cross, Thomas J. 105
Duff, Andrew D.
facing 81
Duncan, W'm. M.
86
Dillinger, John.
96
Downen, James .
106
Davis, W. H. .
108
Easterley, Elbert S. .
73
East, Jolın J., (Dec'd) 97
East, James P. .
97
Easterly, Aaron, (Dec'd) 98
Easterly, John R. 98
Easterly, Geo. A. 98
Eakin, N. T.
109 .
Easterly, Branner
112
Fraley, Henry J.
89
Gill, Hon. John M., Jr. 78
Goodwin, Robert 83
Grosvenor, Parker 91
Grizzel, A. J. .
115
Grubb, Jackson .
121
Hamilton, Robt. W. 72
Hord, Hon. Thos. F. 73
Hanks, F. B. 73
Hill, Geo. W. .
74
Holliday, S. A. .
76
Hord, W. H., M.D. (Dec'd) facing 83
Hamilton, Archibald. 86
Hodges, H. C., M.D. . 87
Hagler, Tillman
112
Holliday, Geo. W.
115
Harris, Washington L.
95
Ingram, Col. W. T., M.D.
facing
72
PAGE.
CHAPTER XIII .- The Press of Jackson County
-The Jackson Democrat - Murphysboro' Sentinel - Carbondale Transcript - Car- bondale Weekly Times - The Observer -Jackson County Era-The Independent- Grand Tower Item-Ava Register-The Carbondale Democrat. 56-60
CHAPTER XIV. - Common Schools - School
Fund Established-First Free School Sys- tem-School Houses and Furniture-First House used for a School Room-School Offi- cers and Teachers 60-63
CHAPTER XV .- Historical Sketch of the South-
ern Illinois Normal University-The Facul-
ty-Course of Study-Literary Societies-
Academy of Science of Southern Illinois . 63-67 CHAPTER XVI .- Climate of Jackson County . 67-68
TOWNSHIP HISTORIES.
PAGE.
City and Township of Murphysboro' 69-78
= Carbondale . 79-83
Township of Degognia
84-87
Levan . 88-89
Kink
90-92
Grand Tower 93-98
= Makanda
99-103
Bradley
. 103-107
Somerset . 107-109
Sand Ridge.
. 110-111
=
Ridge .
. 111-113
Ava
. 113-114
Ora
. 114-116
Elk
. 116-117
= Big Hill
. 118-119
Vergennes
. 120-121
De Soto
122
Big Lake
. 122-123
=
5
Corey, Geo. B. . 108
6
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Isom, John C.
86
Mansker, W. W. H. .
Stephen, R. J. .
77
Imhoff, Henry .
109
O'Hara, Dr. G. M.
83
Swortzcope, Judge M. F.
94
Johnston, George W.
85
Pugh, A. R.
facing 77 Swartz, Jacob
103
Jones, Aaron
92
Parsons, Dr. M. G. .
77
Snyder, Christian (Dec'd). 109
Jenkins, Thos. W.
96
Prickett, Thos. J.
102
Talbott, Wm. E.
91
Jackson, James .
Powers, Newton J. .
Thompson, J, C.
104
Kirkham, Chas.
72
Prickett, F. A. .
83
Waller, Wm. .
77
Kimball, John B ..
72
Pike, Wm. B. .
84
Wayman, John W.
83
King, Freeman, Esq.
89
Price, Madison, Esq. .
85
Logan, Maj .- Gen'l John A.
facing
68
Rogers, W. S. .
74
Wolf, George .
95
Logan, Thos. M.
72
Robinson, Judge U. E. 75
Whitson, Berry B. 97
Levan, Samuel, Esq.
89
Robarts, Joseph P.
75
Webb, Eli, Esq.
105
Lemma, W'm. A.
facing
80
Rogers, Dr. George A. (Dec'd).
105
Will, Daniel G.
106
Mayham, Hon. J. B. .
71
Rees, R. R.
109
Ward, Jesse H., Esq.
106
Mahoney, Dr. Oscar L.
74
Robinson, T. T. . 112
Worthen, Edward 110
Moore, James E. 77
Reeder, Prof. John M.
113
Worthien, Daniel W. (Dec'd) 111
Morgan, Robt. B., Esq.
86
Russell, Wm. 115
Worthen, Thomas
111
McClure, John A.
88
Rosson, John B., M.D.
121
Wiley, Col. B. L. 102
Morgan, Jesse .
105
Sams, B. F.
74
Williams Family 117
Mohlenbrock. Wm.
106
Smith, Geo. W ..
75
Young, Prof. R. J.
75
GY
ILLUSTRATIONS.
VIEW'S.
FACING PAGE.
Makanda
24
Mayham, J. Banks
76
McClure, Jolin A.
88
Hill, Geo. W .. 71
Hord, Thos. F. .
Hamilton, Robt. W. . 75
Hanks, F. B. 74
Hord, Wm. H., (M D.)
Hodges, H. C., (M.D.) 87
Ingram, Col. W. T., (M.D.) 72
Kirkham, Chas. 74
Kimball, J. B. . 74
Logan, Maj. Gen'l John A. 68
Logan, Thomas M. 73
Logan, Mrs. Sallie
73
Lemma, Wm. A.
81
Harris, W. L. .
119
Jackson County Map .
11
Jones, Aaron
90
Kirkham, Chas. .
76
Kimmel, P.
77
110
Andrews, G. W.
70
Pugh, A. R.
77
Albright, F. E. .
69
Wayman, J. W.
89
Brownlee, Prof. Jas. H. 83
Wayman, Mrs. Catharine .
89
Logan, Thon. M.
72
Beasley, R. A.
108
Duff, A. D. 80
Easterly, Aaron (Dec'd) 118
Easterly, Mrs. Saralı (Dec'd) 118
Baptist Church
Beasley, R. A. 107
Court House 20
C'arbondale. 24
('ity of Girand Tower.
36
Crain, Willis
91
Desberger Building .
77
Easterly Homestead 118
Eakin, N. T.
110
Grand Tower
36
Hord, Thos.
76
Wilson, W. P. .
90
Hamilton, Robert W.
76
Worthen, Thos.
110
Hodges, H C., (M.D.)
86
Mayham, J. B. .
71
Murphy, W. S. .
75
Robarta, Joseph . 74
Smith, Geo. W. . 71
Sams, B. F. 75
Kimball, J. B. .
King, Freeman .
110
Logan House, Ruins of 63
Wilson, Wm. P.
92
Wilson, Mrs. Margaret
92
Office of Grand Tower Item 77
Pike, Wm. B. . 85
State Map of Illinois. 10
Southern Illinois University 63
Talbott, Wm. E. 90
Thompson, J. C.
107
Waller, Wm. 77
Wayman, John W.
89
PORTRAITS.
Allen, Wm. J. . 68
Levan, Samuel . 88
PAGE.
PAGE. 123
117
103
Wilson, Wm. P.
facing 92
Natural Bridge . 119
FACING PAGE.
FACING PAGE.
INTRODUCTION.
R EW studies are more profitable to mankind than that of the past experiences, deeds, thoughts and trials of the human race. And inconsistently and unfortunately, few are more frequently and more strangely neglected. True, national patriotism and literary pride have prompted many, in all times to write and preserve the annals of particular peoples. But narrow prejudice and selfish interests, too often, have availed to suppress the truth, or to distort facts ; and history, consequently, is little more than a record of one man's opinions, concerning the few things he has carelessly learned or dimly conjectured. While even this has been valuable, it has been misleading ; and it has tended to cause men to overlook the im- portance of local traditions and events, the rise and education, the training and habits of particular families. It has therefore come to pass, that the material, from which alone, a full and instructive history of a nation or a state could be inferred and even written, have been lost, or, at least, have been preserved in a manner so fragmentary as to be of little account. Hence it is that every attempt to collect the history of a county or a town, of a city or a church, of a family, or a school, or college ought to secure the hearty encouragement and active co-operation of all lovers of humanity.
This work aims to do something to supply such a want. It aims to col- lect and preserve in a popular form some of the facts of the history of one of the most important counties of Southern Illinois. The families whose ancestors were early on the ground, and whose members have made the country what it is, deserve remembrance ; and their difficulties, customs, labors and patriotism, should not be allowed to fall into oblivion. By a knowledge of these the present generation will be instructed, and the future will be guided.
Another object to be gained by this work, is to bring to the notice of our own citizens, the immense resources which a bountiful Providence has be- stowed upon them, and which it becomes, not merely a privilege to use, but a duty to improve. How little is now known of these treasures, and how greatly profitable such information may be, needs only a thought to com- prehend. Our fertile soils, our noble timber trees, our genial climate, our inexhaustible mineral treasures, our excellent building stones, and our easy facilities for commerce, are, in a great degree, unknown even to our own population. This volume seeks to develop an appreciation of them, and to stimulate a desire to improve and extend them.
Then, local customs, old family traits and anecdotes are so rich in interest and so full of instruction to the young, that they ought never to be for- gotten. These, so many as time and diligence could gather, are here
recorded and will be found to form no unimportant or uninstructive portion of this volume.
Among the most influential agencies in building a nation, and in establish- ing a character for its people, are the efforts of its citizens to educate their children, and to provide for social religious worship. While the first of these will be partially, at least, and as a rule only in part, provided for at the public cost, and by an equalized taxation ; the latter is wholly a volun- tary and entirely an individual affair. These two interests will therefore show most accurately the tastes, the habits and aspirations of a community. They have hence been made prominent in the ensuing narrative, and it is confidently hoped that they will not only interest readers, but will be studied and appreciated.
Family biography so full of incident, and often of sparkling humor, has not been omitted, although, from the nature of the case, it cannot be made to occupy a very large space. The numbers of citizens of the County siuce its organization, each one of whom has had his idiosyncracies, and striking peculiarities, either of person, or mind, of custom or character, preclude a notice of by far the most. Of only a few is it possible to make satisfactory mention. But enough has been said of many to sharpen interest for more, and if this attempt to record the local history of Jackson County shall stimulate others to write more fully, and more vivaciously concerning matters of common interest to us all, one purpose of our publication will have been gained.
A word is scarcely needed in regard to the maps and illustrations with which the work abounds. It has been the design to put in nothing simply for the sake of a picture, because it could be had cheap. We desire to pre- sent to the eye what the mind should grasp firmly, and what can be better seen by the imagination with the help of the illustration. All has been done with the purpose of giving satisfaction, and adding to the value of the book. We trust it will be found a decided advantage to the County, that it has been written and published, and we anticipate for it a high appreciation from our people.
It is only a very meager outline of what might have been compiled and digested into history. Jackson County and its excellent people deserve a far better notice. And their resources need only to be known in order to attract hosts of emigrants to fill its plains, and cultivate its fertile bottoms, to de- velop its mines and to use its timber, and stones and clays in the interests of a better civilization.
THE ABORIGINES.
BY ROBT. ALLYN, LL.D.
HO were the first men on the ground? What were their customs ? Whence came they ? What is their history ? are always questions of interest concerning any country ; but most of all are these in- quiries full of profit to those who occupy a land. Especially is that the case when the living nation has driven away the aborigines, and when these were a people of strange habits, and have been made objects of sympathy by their singular misfortunes. Such were the American Indians. Never did a race inspire more romantic contemplation, or suffer more speedily and com- pletely a disastrous fate. They perished when they came into contact with our civilization, almost as the hues of sunset fade when you look at them through the telescope; or as the odor of the rose vanishes while you attempt to analyze it. Before they could be studied as men or as nations, as families or as tribes, either by their traditions and literatures, by their customs and affinities, they had disappeared; or at least they had been so degraded as to seem to have fallen below the level of even scientific observa- tion.
It is therefore very little we can learn concerning them. Their origin is a mystery. Their history is a myth. Their manners and customs are chiefly romance. Their language is mostly unknown, and their literature is a blank. We can study them little, and that by scarcely another light than conjecture as to facts, and very unreliable inference as to the conclusions reached. It would hence seem lacking in promise of interest to write concerning them. But their misfortunes, no less than their brotherhood in the race, entitle them to remembrance, and the interests of historical and ethnological science should. prompt us to collect every item of knowledge which remains to illustrate in any way their history. It is with this purpose that these few pages are written, with the hope also that they may serve as a stimulus to others who have leisure to make local inquiry, till a complete history of tlie Indian tribes who have inhabited Southern Illinois shall have been com- piled.
These tribes or nations were by no means the first denizens of the soil. America appears to have been the home of a prior race, who have totally disappeared, leaving behind them a singular poverty of records. A few mounds, some beads, a small variety of earth-made ware, stone hammers, implements for dressing skins, and now and then one of their own idols of religious worship, together with a few personal articles of luxury or dissipa- tion, or ornament, are all of their domestic or public life left to us. To de- scribe them is now impossible, and to write their history would be to set forth " the baseless fabric of a vision." Yet all their relics are curious and sug- gestive. We find in Jackson county a large representation of their mounds and flint implements, and many traces of their habits. The whole of the Mississippi bottom is dotted with their earthworks, and so is that of the Big Muddy, and Crab Orchard and Cedar Creek. Indeed hardly a fertile and arable spot in the county embracing a mile square can be found that does not bear unmistakable and instructive evidence of their labors or battles. Were they the lost Tribes of Israel, as some have argued ? Were they Astecs, akin to those who settled Mexico and perhaps Peru ? Were they Mongo- lians, who crossed Behring's Straits? Each theory has had ardent advocates ; but no ingenuity has thus far obtained any key to this riddle.
We only know that the Red Men, who lived here when the English or French came to visit the land and trade for peltries, had not even a tradi- tion of them. They must have perished wholly before the present forests began to grow. That period, however, may not be so remote as at first would appear. The age of forest trees can be read by the annual layers of their growth, with considerable accuracy. This age, determined by an examina- tion of hundreds of trees in a region rich in mounds-which were themselves also covered with trees-showed these trees to be not over three hundred years. A fact like this suggests that our present forests may have sprung from a nearly prairie country, at a period only a short time previous to the settlement at Jamestown. The mounds and earthworks clearly show that large tracts of land were free from trees. Whether these artificial works were for defence or for worship, they imply a numerous population acting in con- cert, and having well ordered customs. So far we can certainly conjecture. How they perished, in war, or by pestilence, we cannot ascertain.
Another race succeeded them, and though they were numerous in Southern Illinois as late as sixty years ago, who knows much of them? We are sure they were of the hunter race ; they practiced scarce one of the arts of peace. They could not build houses ; only huts or wigwams sheltered them. They tamed no aninials to aid them, except possibly the dog. They scarcely tilled the earth. They rarely had fixed boundaries for their tribes or nations. No time-honored institutions bound them to the past or gave them a pledge for the future. And so we can only remember a brief day of their history, and, in fact, only fragments of even that. It is like trying to say of an April day how much was sunshine and how much was shower. They were, and they are not. They preceded us, but left the country no better for their labors. We can scarcely be grateful. It would be curious, profitable, to know all about them. But that is impossible.
Those who occupied Southern Illinois were the Kaskaskias, the Shawneese, and the Piunkashaws. These were kindred branches of the Algonquins, as Bancroft calls them. They appear to have lived,-the Shawneese on the Ohio below the Wabash, the Kaskaskias on the Mississippi, and the Piunka- shaws on the Wabash. Tradition points to a field on the Crab Orchard, near where it enters Big Muddy, as a place where one of the last battles between the Piunkashaws and Kaskaskias was fought. At all events, large numbers of war arrows are found in that place, and some skulls also. These Indians seem to have been generally friendly to the whites, though it is known that many of them engaged in the war in which St. Clair was defeated, and the very last remnant of them went north and engaged in the Black Hawk war of 1832. Since that day-and probably for a few years previous-not an Indian foot has trodden our soil. We find their gimlets, arrow-heads, spear-heads, saws, flesh-scrapers, spades, and hammers, all made of stone, and demanding almost infinite patience for their manufacture, and hardly less for their use. They were not ingenious, but they were sufficient for their simple habits ; and they excite our wonder, how a people having so much power to concentrate the mind on such difficult work as shaping flint-stones should have been so barren in all the graceful and elevating arts. At most they were children, but yet children who could persevere a year in chipping a flint for a weapon, or a shell for a jewel. They had high notions of dignity ; and yet how they
9
10
HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
ignored all convenience and comfort. How they delved as patiently as their neighbors the beavers, and yet how they despised labor and imposed it as a degrading burden on their women. We alternately pity and despise them ; admire their sublime stoicism, and sicken at their abominable cruelties. We praise their valor and denounce their selfishness. They gave us their country and left us none of their customs. We use the maize which they sometimes cultured, and stupefy ourselves with the smoke of tobacco which they taught us to consume. These are their sole contributions to the world's progress in profit and comfort. Is it wonderful that we forget them ? Or that we should readily persuade ourselves that such an idle, unprogressive people should scarcely have a right which an enterprising, ambitious and needy race should respect ? Their whole ideas, habits, wants, aspirations, and beliefs were so different from those of our race that we can scarcely rise to any sym- pathy with them or their interests.
Their modes of life seem to have been individual rather than social. In war they were cunning and cruel, brave and cautious, almost to cowardice at the same time. Like the lion, they never rushed upon the foe in open sight, if they could conceal themselves in ambush and spring unawares upon the
victim, or could speed the arrow from a hidden lurking place into the back of an enemy. Yet they could endure torture with stoic indifference, and look a single foe in the face with a determination as resolute as ever the Spartan faced a helot. Sometimes, as in the case of the Kaskaskias, an entire tribe would perish in battle before they would yield. Having selected their place of ambush, it is said this tribe was surprised by a more numerous enemy, and remained, each warrior at his post by his tree, till every man was killed. It was a long fight, and the nation at its close was annihilated, every warrior having given his scalp to his antagonist, and every woman and child having been made a captive. The Piunkashaws seem to have shared the same fate at the hands of some northern tribes. By these wars of extermination they had been so reduced in power, that when the English or Americans came they were obliged to succumb as much to numbers as superior skill and mightier weapons. They were selfish and unsocial. Each man for himself, they could not combine to grow. And having done nothing for the future, that future has in vain asked for their records. They left us nothing, and why remember them ?
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