USA > Illinois > Jasper County > Sainte Marie > History of Sainte Marie, Saint Mary's Church and Sainte Marie Township, Precincts 1 and 2, Jasper County, Illinois, celebrating [the quasquicentennial] Sept. 1, 2, 3, 1962 > Part 1
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN ILL. HIST. SURVEY
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
http://archive.org/details/historyofsaintem00hart
374 h
1837
515-53
Quasquicentennial 1962
History
OF
Sainte Marie, Saint Mary's Church
AND
Sainte Marie Township
Precincts 1 and 2
JASPER COUNTY, ILLINOIS
Celebrating Sept. 1, 2, 3, 1962
1837
Quasquicentennial 1962
WAVEY AT URTTY. CAMPAIGN ILLINOIS LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF
Greetings From
Seessengood Funeral Home
Newton, Ill. r
ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN ILL. HIŞT. SURVEY
J. HARLIN SEESSENGOOD
(Served Jasper County with Reese Service since 1992.)
Our aim is to be worthy of your friendship!
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1837
Quasquicentennial 1962
ILLINOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY
History
OF
Sainte Marie, Saint Mary's Church AND Sainte Marie Township Precincts 1 and 2
JASPER COUNTY, ILLINOIS
Celebrating Sept. 1, 2, 3, 1962
1837
Quasquicentennial 1962
1
Drawing of Sainte Marie's First Cabin
This is a photograph of a drawing of the first cabin cver built in Sainte Marie. The original drawing, made by Joseph Picquet in October, 1837, with a quill pen, is owned by his granddaughter, Mrs. Charlotte R. Rudd of Evansville, Ind.
Men at work on the cabin are designated by initials, scarcely visible in this reproduction, but easily recognized on the original drawing. Men on the ground in the fore-
ground of the picture are, left to right, John Weiss, Jean Baptist Bernard and Joseph Picquet, the artist himself.
On the roof is Charles Gutkneck. At the far right, seated on a horse, is Xavier Kapp. The figure atop the load of hay was not identified.
In the hearts of all who love the Village of Saintc Marie, Sainte Marie Township and Jasper County, thir picture is indeed a priceless treasure.
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1837
917. 314 H257h
ILL, HIST, SURV.
Quasquicentennial
1962
Sainte Marie, Saint Mary's Church and Sainte Marie Township
DEAR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS:
This summer of 1962 over Labor Day week-end, Sept. 1, 2 and 3, Sainte Marie, Sainte Mary's Church and Sainte Marie Township will proudly celebrate their 125th birth- day. In this historieal booklet we will try to reeount the beginning of the little colony, and the dedieation of the town and Church to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We shall try, too, to give credit to all the good and fine people whose families have lived here for generations.
Several hundred people are working generously and feverishly to make this Quasqui-centennial of our com-
munity a milestone in our history. Some have ridiculed the idea of writing our history, but history is important. Hlad not our pioneer fore-fathers written down the hap- pening's of their days, we would have no United States history today. Had not Matthew, Mark, Luke and John written down the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, we would not have the greatest history of all, the Holy Bible.
Since the celebration plans have begun, enthusiasm has mounted with each meeting, more plans are ineluded until we are getting a little excited! Will everything go off all right? We tell ourselves and each other "we will weather the storm" and have a lot of fun, too.
The Dedication of Our Lady's Colony ADELA STEVENS CODY
The prairies gleam like burnished gold; the swamplands are ablaze
With all the gorgeous splendor of the rieh October days, The hazel bushes rustle as a fox goes swiftly by
When from the river's cottonwoods he hears the panther cry.
The tawny deer pause at the stream, their scarlet nostrils wide
As, slowly o'er the swelling ridge, they see gay horsemen ride.
The stealthy Indian drops his bow and looks with wondering eyes
At these strange people come to dwell beneath his native skies.
He sees them pause upon the ridge, and then, dismounting, stand,
His horse's rein thrown o'er each arm, each trusty gun in hand.
He sees their brave apparel gleam, each buekle burnished bright,
Perehanee a medal here and there, reflecting heaven's light.
What draws this band of young men here? The Indian
does not know
The speech that tells of home, of love, and friends left long ago.
They speak of seenes now far away; of Mass and feast and dance,
And homesiek longings draw their hearts back to their sunny Franee.
Yea-home and friends are far away but she, their Queen, is here!
This unknown land to loyal knights but makes her seem more dear.
"Salve Regina"! Strong and elear their blended voiees ring.
"Regina Coeli"! With what zest their favorite hymn they sing.
No fear have they of lurking foes as, kneeling on that sod,
They offer up, through Mary's hands, their hopes and fears to God.
"The truee of God" surrounds them there and wild things shrink away
As, trustingly, at Mary's feet their lives and souls they lay.
3
COMPLIMENTS OF
SAINTE MARIE AMERICAN LEGION POST 932 SAINTE MARIE, ILLINOIS
"FOR GOD AND COUNTRY" ORGANIZED 1946
War Veterans of W. W. I, W. W. II, and the Korean Conflict, Who Still Continue to Serve the Community, State and Nation, Are Proud to Be a Part of the Community Life of Sainte Marie and to Help in the Celebration of the Quasquicentennial (125th Annivers- ary) of the Village and of St. Mary's Parish.
1962 Is An All-Time High Year For The Post In Membership With 151 Paid Up Members, And We Still Expect To Grow!
4
Dedication
This Book, "History of Sainte Marie, Village and Township," is Sincerely Dedicated to:
All the good and fine people who at any time belonged to the Parish of Saint Mary of Assumption, to St. Valen- tine, and to all whomever called Sainte Marie township their home.
How This All Began
Along in June of 1957, while looking through my scrapbooks for a picture of the house where Christopher Columbus was born, I came across a clipping from The Newton Press. The story was one I had written and sent to The Press when Sainte Marie was 100 years old. Look- ing at the date and making some swift calculations, I came up with the astounding fact, that on Oct. 28, 1957, Sainte Marie and Saint Mary's Church would both be 120 years old.
That afternoon I had an appointment at the LaVogue Beauty Shop. The operator, Blanche Chapman was a protege of a daughter of the Picquets, settlers of Sainte Marie, and I told her about finding the clipping, and how our town and Church were coming into their 125th birth- day. I remarked something should be written up and sent in to the county paper. "You're just the woman to do it, Mrs. Hartrich," said Blanche.
Well, I thought I could, my mind on a column per- haps six or eight inches long. That evening, her week's work finished, Blanche packed a bag, got into her car, drove to Evansville, Ind., to see Mrs. Charlotte Rude and her family, sole survivors of the pioneer Joseph Picquet.
When Blanche told Mrs. Rudd why she had come, Mrs. Rudd remarked: "Well, Blanche, we will just go up into the garret and see what we can find on Sainte Marie's History". Their search was fruitful indeed!
On Monday morning Blanche came into my house carrying a huge shopping bag, crammed to the top with old books, newspapers, bits of written history and old pictures, no less than a million words. I was to read all of it, sort out what was good, pass over the non-essentials and write up a really good history of Sainte Marie.
I started looking through the material and it wasn't long before I was really intrigued with it. I wrote several pages, then I thought: "I could crack my brain on it, but what good would it do if it was never printed". I called Mr. Jim Wells of The Newton Press and told him about it. "I tell you what you do Mrs. Hartrich, send in what you have written, and I'll let you know what I think of it," he said.
Six pages were sent in the next afternoon and I re- ccived an excited telephone call, "This is wondrful, go into more detail about the history. If there is enough We will make a special edition of it to print it in; but don't make too much noise about it, we don't want that Decatur Herald getting in on this."
For seven weeks, every hour I could spare was spent looking into County Court House records; into the records at the Church, school and town hall here in Sainte Marie; talking to people who didn't want to be bothered, scraping moss from old tombstones in the cemetery, wading through old musty books and newspapers, getting black looks from my husband who thought there should be roast chicken and custard pies on the table, instead of old books, papers, scrap paper and worn down pencils.
But at last it was finished. It did make a fine story when it was put into a special edition in The Newton Press. All the tired days, all the digging, all the head- aches and black looks were forgotten when Ye editor said to me "Mrs. Hartrich this history will never be forgotten." -Mrs. Ferdinand Hartrich
nee Mary Clotilde Huber.
History
The following was taken from a book, entitled "His- tory of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland Counties," which is kept at the Newton Library:
In 1838 Joseph Picquet of Sainte Marie started the first store, bringing the goods from Philadelphia via Evansville, and thence by wagon. Goods were purchased at Evansville or Louisville, then wagoned across the coun- try save when the stage of water and the plying of steam- boats allowed a shipment by river to Vincennes. The cost of freighting goods was one cent per one-hunderd weight, amounting to about $1.25 for land transportation. The early trade was principally barter, skins and honey being the principal articles the farmer had for exchange. Game was abundant and the timber swarmed with the honey- bee. The latter was systematically hunted, and the honey brought into the store by the wagon-load.
In 1839 Mr. Picquet put up the first steam sawmill in the county, buying the machinery second-hand but little-used near Vincennes. A grist mill was added. The Hartrichs' were millers, (that is grinders of grain in their home-land in France) and they knew all about making flour and meal. This machinery was purchased at Pitts- burgh, Pa. This was the first steam grist mill in all this region and attracted patronage from an area of 40 miles away. People came from as far away as Teutopolis to have their grain ground into flour and meal.
For years Sainte Marie was the commercial metrop- olis of Jasper County and in its early years bid fair to hold this position for all time. The founders were wealthy, and natural advantages good, and their early enterprise kept pace with the development of the County.
Its most striking buildings are a Catholic Church of brick, built in 1850 with parsonage, and an establishment of Sisters of Charity, who devote their time to the nursing of the sick, raising of orphans and taking care of old people.
The school house, one of the first if not the very first free school building erected in Jasper County, has been for the last 10 years under the able direction of Prof. George Hubert of Evansville, a noted teacher of our county.
The Church and school are well attended. The prin- cipal businesses of the place are a sawmill, a stave factory, which furnishes employment of 25 to 30 hands, two gen- eral stores, two grocery stores, one hardware store, a tin shop, one seed store, two blacksmith shops, a wagon shop, three carpenters, three shoe-makers, one cooper and one vintner.
An excerpt from The Newton Press, issue dated March 27, 1957, reads as follows:
"Jasper, Newton Named for Heroes of Revolution"
Jasper county was originally in 1816 a part of Craw- ford county, which at that time comprised all territory between the Wabash and Kaskaskia rivers, and from its present southern boundary to "the northern limit of the
5
Happy Birthday
and
Good Wishes
to
Sainte Marie, Saint Mary's Parish
and Sainte Marie Township
On This, Their
One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Birthday
MRS. CHARLES D. RUDD AND FAMILY
(Mrs. Rudd is a granddaughter of Pioneer Joseph Picquet.)
6
United States".
But in 1831 the State Legislature, which had been dividing the giant Crawford County area into smaller counties, formed what is now Jasper County, calling it by that name and also declaring that its county seat, whenever selected by Commissioners Nathan Moss, Wil- liam Magill and Asahel Heath, would be called Newton. These names were selected in honor of two South Carolinian hereos of the Revolutionary War under General Marion.
An early Jasper settler, Michael Grove, who settled there in 1836, has chronicled that the first settler in what is now Jasper County was a man named Lewis who set- tled on Evermound Mound. He added, "The next settler was a man by the name of Sulzer, who settled in what was later called Mattingly Point below Sainte Marie," what is now known as Valbert Bros.' homestead.
Soon after, others came, some in the Dark Bend, the Enlows, Crabtree, Wilkens, Bayards, Jobs, Jordans, Gar- woods, Lambs, Richards and the Wades, founded in 1826 when James Jordan and his family settled and built the first cabin (near the north side of the present court house). Among others who came early were John V. Barnes, Ben- jamin Reynolds and L. W. Jordan, who entered the land in 1831 where the village was originally laid out, Law- rence Hollenbeck, Thomas Garwood and Benjamin Harris, who opened the first store in Newton.
Newton existed as a non-incorporated village until 1865 when it received its state incorporation charter.
Sainte Marie was settled originally by Joseph Picquet, coming as an immigrant from Alsace, picked the spot for his homestead in 1836, returned home and came back in 1837 to Sainte Marie with four families and 12 young people, a total of 25 people, after purchasing 12,000 acres in Jasper County. The group, a Catholic colony, a condi- tion which remains today, placed their tabernacle on the site of Sainte Marie.
A number of communities have been started in Jasper County but many of them, like in all areas, have gone out of existence. How many can be recalled ? Mount Sidney, Grandville (now Yale), Brockville, Buena Vista, Center- ville, Plainfield, Harrisburg, Queenstown, Franklin, Con- stantinople, New Liberty, Pleasant Hill, Point Pleasant, Hayville, Embarrasville, Langdon, Hunt City, Hidalgo, Falmouth, Latona, Mason (now Wheeler), Lis, Boos, Bogota, Advance, Willow Hill, Rose Hill and West Liber- ty, which was laid out in 1954 and later moved to the railroad line in 1877 where it is now a fine little community.
The early Jasper pioncers, mostly from Kentucky and southern states, used a path called the Palestine-Vandalia road in the earliest days, but the county grew very little until the completion of the railroad, now the Illinois Central (planned and fought for since the mid-50's but not completed through the county until 1876.) Since then, it has developed into an outstanding agricultural and oil-producing area and a progressive and highly suc- cessful community with fine institutions, homes and citizens rivaling any county in the Midwest.
Sainta Marie Township
Sainte Marie Township in the southeast portion of Jasper County, formerly Crawford County, was a part of the western portion of Crawford County. Early in the 1830's it was taken off from Crawford to prevent the removal of the county seat from Palestine, but this did not
prevent it from happening, because on Aug. 14, 1855, the County Seat was moved from Palestine to Robinson, Ill. Sainte Marie Township was now large enough to be divided into two precincts. Precinct one was where the Village of Sainte Marie was, and was named for it, Sainte Marie precinct one is west of both the Embarras and Northfork Rivers; precinct two, east of both these rivers and is called the Bend.
We will first tell the story of the Village of Sainte Marie and Saint Mary's Church, and farther on, the story of Precinct two, the community known as the Bend. So many interesting things have happened in our township and Village, I feel the History of Sainte Marie should be re-written. Using the past history written in 1957 as the back-bone of the story, I'll try to write an addition.
Sainte Marie Village and Precinct One
To me history is important. At the time of the Pales- tine Sesqui-Centennial, several ladies came to see me. They had heard Sainte Marie was planning to celebrate their 125th anniversary this year. In talking of their celebration, they told me "they had so little to go on". So few of the happenings of their town had been written down. One remarked "She believed Catholics kept better records than other denominations". It would seem so here in Sainte Marie. Not only at the Church, but the people themselves wrote down things, so we have quite a story for a background.
In their book on Palestine was one sentence, "Just when does a town have a beginning ? When can you start keeping dates?" Well, we here in Sainte Marie can definitely say when our town began. When those 10 old French gentlemen came to the United States from France they came with certainty they were going to start a village, or colony as it was then called. First they built a cabin as shelter for themselves. On Oct. 28, 1837, dressed in their best, the colonists mounted their horses and with guns in hand rodc to the highest knoll. Here they gathered about their leader, fired a salute, and chanted the Salve Regina, "Hail Queen," and with all the ceremony of an 18th Century Lafayette, took formal possession of their land, placed it under the protection of the Virgin Mary and named it "Colonie des Fres", Colony of Brothers. So many other colonists came in who were not brothers, it was changed to Saint Mary's. Down through the years it became Sainte Maric.
The history of Sainte Marie is colorful and interest- ing. Sainte Marie is an industrious, prosperous, thrifty and progressive village in the southeast part of Jasper County. Histories, at best, are often considered dry reading, but so many people have been born and reared in or near Sainte Marie, then have gone out into the world to make their way that we hope many of them will see and read this, and will feel a small sense of pride in having belonged at some time to the parish of Sainte Marie. To tell the story of Sainte Marie Township is to tell the story of its Church because then, as now, the Church was the center and heart of the community.
On Oct. 28, 1962, Sainte Marie will become 125 years old. Already in 1835 oppression and unrest were going on in Europe. A group of people in Hagunem, Alsace Lorraine, France, who believed in being free and equal and the right to worship as they pleased, held a family counsel and decided to send someone to that fine new country across the sca, America. These people were well-to-do, upper middle class, most of them farmers,
7
Welcome To The Quasquicentennial
Enjoy Yourself and Say-"PEPSI PLEASE!"
At Home or When Eating Out, Enjoy Heath Grade A Milk and Other Dairy Foods and Candy of Excellence.
L. S. HEATH & SONS, INC.
Robinson, Illinois
COMPLIMENTS OF BEER WHOLESALERS
REGION NO. 1
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8
most of them relatives and all of the Roman Catholic faith.
Joseph Picquet First
Joseph Picquet, age 19, was the one chosen to go. Small of stature but great of determination, he set sail. He was accompanied by a young Jesuit priest, Rev. Michael Guth, for at the age of 19 years, he was considered too young to travel alonc. No more mention was made of his tutor once they had landed in New York. Mr. Picquet then came west to Pittsburgh, where he worked for awhile in a land office to study the language and habits of this new country. Stretching westward was a thousand miles of territory which he must investigate. He was particularly interested in the country north and west of the Ohio river and east of the Mississippi river. St. Louis was the extreme western boundary in which he was interested.
Arriving in Fort Dearborn, which is now Chicago, he decided it was too swampy there so he procured a riding horse and rode downstate. He spent a year collecting material which he incorporated into a report. In October, 1836, he returned to France and another family counsel was held. His family, on hearing the report, was jubilant. He told of virgin timber, a river, rich, rolling country, much like the home place in France, and they were ready to go. In July, 1837, he returned to America with the nucleus of the new colony, made up of 4 families and 12 young people, 25 adventurous souls.
Other Early Names
Besides Joseph Picquet were the names of Ferdinand Hartrich, Charles Guthneck, Jean Baptiste Bernard, Xavier Kapp, John Weiss and wife, Xavier Hipp, Henry Hoffman, M. Lemmel, Etienne Laver, Barbara and Frances Orr. They went to Vincennes, Ind., and from there to St. Francisville, where they purchased a small farm to be used as a temporary shelter until they could select a permanent place.
On Sept. 22, 1837, Joseph Picquet, Ferdinand Hartrich and Etienne Laver went to Palestine, Ill., where they entered 12,000 acres of land. This land lay south and east of Newton, Ill., which was two years old, with two cabins. This land met their requirements and they re- turned to St. Francisville.
Rt. Rev. Bishop Brute of Vincennes, accompanied by Father Corbe, pastor at St. Francisville, came to visit the colonists at their farm. In front of one of the log houses they erected an altar so that the Bishop could celebrate Mass. The crucifix, candle sticks and vestments used were brought from France and are still in use in the Church in Sainte Marie.
Arrived Oct. 1, 1837
On Oct. 1, 1837, the little colony came to Sainte Marie to settle. They set to work building a cabin which was to be the center of the village. All being farmers and not woodsmen, instead of using their horses or oxen to drag the logs, they carried them. The first Mass said in the village was in this cabin. It was blessed by Father Stephen Theodore Badin, a Frenchman, the first priest ordained in the United States.
A Mr. William Price had a cabin on a few acres of land near here and the men boarded with him. The French traders would come each fall from Vincennes to barter with the Indians for their peltry. The Indians were from the Fort Wayne, Ind., reservation. They came each
fall to hunt for the abundance of game in the Embarras River bottoms. On one such expedition the Embarras rose so suddenly the Indians were trapped in the back water and had to take refuge for three days in the trees, an incident which amused the colonists greatly. Another story of the river's name was that there was so much driftwood stumps and tree tops in the river that the French called it Embarras-meaning obstructions.
Story of River's Name
A story says that the unusual name of Embarras was given the river when a young French guide, proud of his appointment, was asked the name of the river running through the territory for which he was acting as a guide. He did not know it, became so embarrassed his superior officer leaned over and laughingly wrote on the map "Embarras River". The Indians, unable to say Embarras, called it the Ambraw.
(Editor's Note: All such legends are interesting, but the truth about the river's name is simply that Embarras, correctly spelled with only one "s" on the end, means obstruction in French. Research on the word was done a couple of years ago by Mr. Omer M. Tobias of Newton, Ill., retired teacher and principal of Newton Community High School, at the request of The Newton Press-Mentor and local leaders of the Wabash Valley Association. Mr. Tobias' studies also led to the correct way to pronounce the river's name. Embarras should be pronounced as if it were spelled Ahmberah.)
During the winter of 1839 Fr. Corbe of Vincennes came to visit the little colony and to care for their spirit- ual needs. The distance was covered by horse-back, so he was asked to stay for the night. The guest room was nothing more than a lean-to built of poles with prairie hay stuffed into the cracks. The good father awakened in the morning with the bitter cold blowing over him. During the night the cows had eaten the hay out of the cracks.
Others Arrive in 1839
In 1839 new members came to join the colony. We find the names of Theodore Hartrich, Joseph Litzelman, Joseph Boos, Cyrise Kaufmann, Nicholas Kessler, Faller Bros. and Ignatius Moshenrose. Among those in the neighborhood were William Price, Israile Fithian, Job Catt, Freeman Bros., Mattingly Bros., E. Inlow, Daniel Doty and I. Allison. This Theodore Hartrich is the an- cestor of all the Hartrichs' now living in Sainte Marie.
In 1842, Jacques Picquet, father of Joseph Picquet, came to the United States, bringing with him a nephew, Joseph Schefferstine. He was delighted with the progress the young colonist had made, so in 1844 Joseph Picquet went again to France, bringing with him on his return his mother and two young brothers, James and Xavier, who later became Dr. James Picquet and Lieutenant Xavier Picquet of the Civil War.
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