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977.3995 L55h
HISTORY
OF
UNION COUNTY
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
977.3995 L55h
ILL. HIST.SURVEY
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Lulu Leonard
Author of the HISTORY
of UNION COUNTY
Dies at 105
Tilman Manus died at the home of his son, Andrew, in Anna last Spring and was nearly 106 years old. Tilman was 24 years old when Lincoln and Douglas held their famous debate in Jonesboro and he served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
This picture was taken by a Gazette-Democrat photographer on his 105th birthday.
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CHAPTER I BEFORE IT WAS A COUNTY
There is much conjecture among archeologists as to who the first inhabitants of Union County were. It is reasonable to believe that a civilization existed here long before history keeps a record of the first white settlers.
The rolling country and the spur of the Ozark Mountains in the northern and western parts of the country were covered by a dense forest full of wild game which flourished because of the plentiful water supply from springs. The watershed along the north- ern boundary of the county protects it from the storms from the north in winter and allows a longer growing season than would be possible if the land were not so protected.
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It is doubtful that Joliet and Marquette set foot on the soil of Union County, but in the spring of 1673 they did pass down the Mississippi River, which bounds the county on the west. At that time a French mission and trading post was established at Kaskaskia and five years later at Cahokia but it is doubtful that any of the French traders, hunters or trappers ever ventured as far away from these settlements as Union County. The nearest settlement on the Ohio River was Fort Massac, established in 1711. For a number of years this settlement was known as Fort Massacre because the Indians so ruthlessly massacred the white people who settled there.
Some of the earliest settlers fled into Union County from these attacks of the Indians.
Little immigration came into Illinois before 1812 because of the Indians and the inability of the settlers to gain legal title to land upon which they located. As a result of the treaty ending the war between England and France, signed February 10, 1763, the territory had become English. After the United States was organ- ized the old French settlers encountered difficulty when they tried, under American law, to have their titles ratified. In 1791, Congress enacted a law providing that Americans who had occupied their lands before 1783 should have their titles confirmed. Each person was allowed title to from four hundred to eighteen hundred acres of land. After that date, land was granted in tracts of not less than four thousand acres.
Peace treaties with the Indians and transfer of titles of their land to the United States government and the end of the War of 1812 with Great Britain opened wide the Illinois doors for settle- ment. In 1810, the white population of Illinois was 12,282 and in 1820 was 55,162. Land was sold to settlers at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. The original counties existing in Illinois when it came under the rule of the governor of Virginia, who appointed a governor of Illinois territory, were Randolph and St. Clair counties. These counties surrounded the
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Jus Unión Center 1800 1818
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settlements of Kaskaskia and Cahokia. September 14th, 1812, Gov- ernor Edwards created by proclamation Madison, Johnson and Gal- latin counties. In anticipation of statehood, the legislature created Washington, Franklin and Union counties. Between 1812 and 1817, Edwards, White, Monroe, Pope, Jackson, Bond and Crawford coun- ties were created, making fifteen counties in all. There were two members sent to the Legislature from the northern counties and two from the southern. John Grammer represented the southernmost counties.
In 1803 the first white settlement was made in Union County. It consisted of two families, Abram Hunsaker's and George Wolf's. In 1805, David Green came with his little family and built his little cabin in the Mississippi bottom about one-half mile north of what is known as Big Barn. He was a river navigator from Virginia and came upon the spot where he settled his family in some of his early trips. It was a long time before he knew the Hunsakers and Wolfs were his nearest neighbors. Jacob Lingle settled west of Cobden in 1807 and George Evans and John Bradshaw on Bradshaw Creek. In 1808 John McGinnis settled near Mt. Pleasant. In 1809 John Stokes, William Gwinn and Thomas Standard came to live in what has long been known as the Stokes settlement. Rob- ert Hargrave and Jessie Echols, who was later appointed to fix the seat of justice in Union County, came the same year. In 1812, Thomas D. Patterson, Phillip Shaver, Adam Clapp and Edward Vancil settled. The arrivals in 1814 were John Lawrence, John Harriston, John Whittaker, A. Cokenowen, Giles Parmelia, Samuel Butcher, Robert W. Crafton, Jacob Wolf, Michael Lindbaugh, Alex- ander Boren, Hosea Boren, Richard McBride, Thomas Green, Eman- uel Penroa, George Hunsaker, George Smiley, David Kimmel, John Whitaker, David Cother, David Brown, Alexander Brown, Alexander Boggs, David F. Coleman, Benjamin Menees and Jacob Littleton. These settlers came from Virginia and the Carolinas and a few from Pennsylvania. They came down the Ohio, some crossing the river at Shawneetown and some coming via Fort Massac.
The record of "marks and brands," opened immediately after the county was organized, shows the following men lived in Union County and registered a "brand" for his domestic animals, Jacob Wolf, George Wolf, Edmund Vancil, William Dodd, Samuel Hun- saker, Michael Lindbaugh, David Brown, William Thornton, Joseph Hunsaker, William Pyle, William Grammer, Rice Sams, Abram Hunsaker, Thomas Sams, Benjamin Menees, John McIntosh, George Hunsaker, James Brown, Jeremiah Brown, John Weigle, Christopher Hansin, Isaac Vancil, R. W. Crafton, John Cruse, James Jackson, George Smiley, Joseph Palmer, George James, Robert Hargrave, John Hargrave, John Hunsaker, John Whitaker, Johnson Somers, Charles Dougherty, Joel Boggess, Jones Vancil, Emanuel Penrod, John Stokes, Samuel Penrod, Cliff Hazlewood and John Kimmel.
Those who had entered land that lies within the county up to and including 1818 were John Yost, Wilkinson Goodwin, George
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Hunsaker, William Thornton, John Hunsaker, John Miller, George Lawrence, Henry Clutts, Christian Miller, James Mesam, John Har- riston, John Kimmell, John Frick, Edmond Holeman, Adam Clapp, George Devolt, Michael Dillon, John Grammer, Benjamin Menees, Michael Holhauser, John Hartline, Anthony Lingle, John Whitaker, Phillip Shaver, Phillip Paulus, William Worthington, John Bradshaw, John Saunders, John R. McFarland, John Tyler, Joseph Waller, Joseph Walker, A. Cokenower, Andrew Irwin, Giles Parmelia, Sam- uel Butcher, Samuel Penrod, Robert W. Crafton, Edward Vancil, John Gregory, Jaboc Lingle, Israel Thompson, Adam Cauble, Jacob Rendleman, Jacob Weigle, George Wolf, Michael Lindbaugh, Johna- than Haskey, Joseph Barber, Last Cape, John Cape, Isaac Biggs, Alexander Biggs, the Meisenheimers, John Eddleman, Thomas Mc- Intosh, Cornelius Anderson, David Lence, Benedict Mull, Peter Casper, John Worten, Anthony Lingle, David Crise, William Mor- rison, Jacob Hileman, David Miller, A. Cruse, Abraham Brown, John Knupp, Andrew Smith, David Meisenheimer, Joseph Smith, Thomas H. Harris, Richard McBride, S. Lewis, Thomas Green, Benjamin J. Harris, Jacob Trees, Joseph Palmer, Thomas Green, David Kimmel, Alexander P. Field, Anthony Morgan, James Ellis, Joseph McEl- haney, Abner Field, Thomas Deen, Rice Sams, Daniel Spence, Wil- liam Craigle, George Cripe, Isaac Cornell, Nicholas Wilson, Henry Bechtle, Thomas Bechtle, Thomas Lanes, John Uri, Stephen Dona- hue, Jacob Littleton and S. W. Smith.
From the best estimation obtainable it is believed that the population of Union County when Illinois became a state was 1800, one third of them freeholders. Most of them were from Kentucky and Tennessee or from Pennsylvania south along the eastern coast states since the Ohio and Cache Rivers were the lanes of travel at that time.
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CHAPTER II HOW THE EARLY SETTLERS LIVED. ORGANIZATION OF UNION COUNTY.
These early settlers of Union County lived a rugged, difficult life. They earned their livelihoods hunting, trapping and fishing. They grew what few items of food they ate and depended on wild game, which was plentiful, for meat. The county was a dense forest, so thick that the hunter carried an axe to blaze his path when he went away from the small elearing surrounding his log cabin. They ground their corn by hand to make meal for corn pone and Johnny cake and their main diet was "hog and hominy." They grew fax and wool and spun the thread which was woven into cloth for bedding and clothing. Much of the men's clothing was made of skins from the wild animals the hunters killed.
The men wore long hunting shirts and moccasins and leather or buekskin breeches and the women linsey dresses and petticoats and home-made shoes. Ordinarily the people went barefoot.
Fort Massac was the nearest trading post where supplies could be obtained. These came from New Orleans or Pennsylvania, trans- ported on a barge tied with ropes and pulled up the river by men walking along the river banks.
An account is given of the difficulty encountered in making suitable garments for John Grammer to wear to the legislature when he represented Johnson County (which then included what is now Union County) in 1812. The neighbors and friends gathered nuts which were taken to Fort Massae and exchanged for a few yards of "blue drilling," which with careful cutting and measuring was only enough to make a long hunting shirt and a pair of high "leggins."
John Grammer was the first person from this county to be elected to publie office. He was uneducated but was said to be very shrewd. He invariably voted "no" if he did not fully understand the question before the house. He coined words at random with which to express himself in his lusty speeches. He was popular enough to be re-elected each term of the legislature and served his last term as a senator in 1834.
The only social events of the times were weddings, dances, quilting parties, singing schools and "meetins." Everyone took part in the wedding celebration. The men would meet at the home of the groom and the women at the home of the bride. Then the nien would go in a group to the home of the bride where the wedding would take place. As soon as the guests assembled for the wedding a bottle race would ensue. After dinner the dancing began and would continue until early the next morning. At ten o'clock at night the bride's friends would steal her away and put her to bed in the "loft" of the house, then the groom's friends would do the same for him, while the dancing and fun making continued down-
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stairs. The merry making would frequently continue for several days in both the home of the groom and the bride and often in the new home of the bride and groom which the friends and neigh- bors had usually helped to build.
The first marriage in the county records was John Murray and Elizabeth Latham, by John Grammer, February 26, 1818. On April 7th, 1818, John Weldon, Esq., certified he married James Latham and Margaret Edwards on March 2nd. Joseph Painter and Elizabeth Brown were married April 26, 1818, by George Hunsaker. Other early marriages were Samuel Morgan and Rebecca Casey, Francis Parker and Catharine Clapp, Allen Crawl and Catherine Vancil, John Rupe and Lydia Brown, Eli Littleton and Ede Hughes, David Callahan and Elizabeth Roberts, Isaac Finley and Polly Hargrave, William McDonald and Mary McLane, Henry Johnston and Nancy Atherton, John Russell and Percy Huston, Daniel Ritter and Eliza- beth Isenogle, Peter Sifford and Leyah Mull, Jacob Hunsaker and Elizabeth Brown, A. H. Brown and Sarah Mathes, William Ridge and Esther Penrod, Abraham Hunsaker and Polly Price, George Dougherty and Rachean Hunsaker, John Biggs and Sarah Cope, William Clapp and Phoebe Witherton, George Lemen and Sarah Lesley, John Price and Nancy Vancil, John Leslie and Catharine Nigel, Peter Wolf and Margaret James, Messiah O'Brien and Char- lotte Hotchkiss, Daniel T. Coleman and Lucy Craft, and Samuel Dillon and Margaret Lingle.
As children grew up the boys were taught to use bows and arrows and shoot game and the girls were taught to cook, spin and sew.
The first school was taught by an unknown Irishman at Dog- tooth Bend. Later Winsted Davie established a school two miles south of what is now Jonesboro. The teachers were paid by sub- scriptions from the parents of the pupils. Reading, writing, spelling and numbers were the subjects taught.
In 1812 what is now Union, Pulaski, Alexander and part of Johnson counties, was known as Jonesborough township. A town hall and court house were erected at Elvira, a spot one mile east and seven miles north of what is now Mt. Pleasant. This served as the town hall for several years. After Illinois became a state in 1818, John Grammer donated a plot of ground upon which to build public buildings. This ground was located in what became Jones- boro, the county seat of Union County.
Jessie Echols, George Wolf and Thomas Cox were appointed commissioners by the legislature to fix the boundaries of Union County. The present boundary line was established by them Feb- ruary 25, 1818, but a provisioned boundary included Pulaski and Alexander counties in Union County until such time as they became counties.
In the act of the legislature creating Union County, it was also provided that the home of Jacob Hunsaker, Jr., was to be used as
a seat of justice until such time as a permanent location was estab- lished and a court house erected.
Jessie Echols, John Grammer, George Hunsaker, Abner Keith and Rice Sams were elected county commissioners and they met at the Hunsaker home in accordance with the ruling of the legislature. Abner Field was made clerk of the court and Joseph Palmer was the first sheriff. George Hunsaker, William Pyle, John C. Smith, Rice Sams, Abner Keith, Jessie Echols and John Bradshaw were appointed justices of the peace by the governor of Illinois and Robert Twidy was the first constable.
The first official act of the commissioners' court was to declare the road from Penrod's Ferry to Elvira and from Elvira to Jackson county, public roads.
The oldest public industry in the county is road building and Henry Laymer, Ephriam Voce, William Pyle, David Arnold and George Hunsaker were appointed road overseers and viewers.
The first county order of two dollars was written to Samuel Penrod for bounty for a wolf scalp. Two people were licensed to open taverns in their homes and the price of liquor was regulated. Whiskey was 121/2 c per half pint, rum 50c; brandy 50c; breakfast, dinner, and supper 25c each; bed 1212c; horse to stand at hay and corn all night, 371/2 c.
Two ferries were licensed and taxes were levied on horses, negroes, ferries, cattle, hogs, sheep, wagons and wheeled carriages. In 1812 taxes of 1/2 per cent were levied on town lots, carriages for conveyance of persons, distiller's stock in trade, horses, cattle, grist and saw mills and in 1821 on watches and clocks.
The first criminal case on record was that of the United States vs. John Thomas. Since there was no jail the prisoner was boarded with Robin Hargrave, who was allowed seventy dollars for keeping him sixty-two days. Joseph Palmer, the sheriff, was paid thirty dollars for his services in apprehending the culprit and bringing him to trial. The jury deliberated its verdict on a log near the Hunsaker home.
It seems that the poor have been with us always because dur- ing the first year of the existence of Union County, the court bound out an indigent child.
Thus in 1818 a county government was set up and began to function in Union County and the county began to grow in industry and population.
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CHAPTER III. GROWTH OF POPULATION AND INDUSTRY
The reason Union County and Southern Illinois enjoyed a greater growth in population than the central and northern parts of Illinois during the years 1818 to 1820 was the mildness of the climate. In 1816, the weather was unusually cold so that crops failed all over Illinois and Indiana but because this part of the state is protected from the storm of the plains by a spur of the Ozark Mountains extending from the Mississippi to the Ohio Rivers through the northern parts of Union, Johnson, Pope and Hardin counties, crops were abundant. The people living north of this range of hills came here to buy food as the ancients went into the valley of the Nile in Egypt on several occasions. For this reason the country has long been known as "Egypt" and also for this reason many of the people who came to buy food liked the country and stayed and others returned later with their families and friends. This not only increased the population of Union County, but stimu- lated the settlers to produce more than enough foodstuff to meet their own needs. Population was increased as much in two years at that time as it was during the whole decade following. The rate of increase was gradual after that until the building of the Illinois Central Railroad. The number of inhabitants increased from 1800 . in 1818 to 2,362 in 1820 and 3,239 in 1830.
Since the only modes of travel were by water or by horse or ox, the industries of road building and ferry transportation grew. Nine ferries paid a tax to the county government for the privilege to operate, Harris on the Big Muddy, and Harris, Hays, Green, Penrod, Smiley, Ellis, Smith, and Ruppel on the Mississippi.
When Jonesboro was established as the county seat, roads were built from that town to each of the above ferry landings. Bridges were built across creeks at public expense. The job was let to the contractor making the lowest bid for it. The two earliest bridges were the one across Bradshaw Creek which was completed for fifty dollars and the one across Clear Creek which cost one hundred and fifty dollars. No description of the type of bridge constructed was given in the county records.
Roads were also built from Jonesboro to Vienna, Jonesboro to America, Jonesboro to Cape Girardeau, Jonesboro to Brownsville in Jackson County and from the mouth of the Big Muddy River to Golconda. As agriculture and population increased, mill seats were established and as these came into being, the roads were made to go past the mills enroute to their destinations. An "overseer" and "viewer" was appointed over various sections of the road and the people living within four or five miles on each side of the roads were required to work on their construction and maintainance. This work must have been done without pay since the county records do not show where any payments were made for this type of work in
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the early days of the county. Then as now the "overseers" and "viewers" were changed with a change of county administration. The following names appeared in the county records as holding this office, David Arnold, William Pyle, Ephriam Noel, George Hun- saker, Henry Lamer, Benjamin Meneese, William Alexander, John Hunsaker, Allen Mckenzie, Nathan Turpin, Will Waford, Alexander Boggs, Aaron Thornton, Owen Evans, Joseph Palmer, Moses David- son, and John Stokes. Under the new administration, the "over- seers" and "viewers" were changed to John McIntosh, Jacob Snider, Jacob Lingle, Johnson Sumner, George Evans, Henry Lamer, John Elmo, Aaron Howard, Robert H. Loyd, William Barton, Harry Bar- ringer, James Abernathie, Christopher Houser, Edmund Vancil, John Lingle, Abner Keith, William Shelton, Benjamin Meneese, Benjamin Hall, Ephriam Noll, James Elmo, William Grammer, Rich McBride and Francis Murphy.
Jacob Rantleman, William Thornton and George Hunsaker be- came the new commissioners in 1819 and with them appeared many new names in the records. Abner Field, Jr., was made clerk of the court and Benjamin Meneese was made treasurer.
It seems that then as well as now there were officials who could not resist the temptation of making personal use of public money entrusted to them. The first sheriff was found to be short in the amount of money he turned over to the new officials and afer several postponements of a hearing before the commission's court, he was allowed to settle the matter out of court for a part of the amount of money that was missing.
Public as well as private buildings were constructed at this time. A court house was built by Thomas Cox for forty dollars, and a jail by Jacob Wolf for twenty dollars. Two years later, 1820, Nathaniel Davis built a new court house for six hundred dollars and a new jail for three hundred seventy-nine dollars. The number of dwellings necessarily increased to house the growing population.
At this time practically all manufacturing was done in the individual homes by the women, mainly who are seldom mentioned in public records. Supplies were bought at Fort Massac and paid for with nuts, honey, and skins of animals. At this time the nearest cording mill was in Jackson, Missouri, seven days journey from Jonesboro, and salt was obtained from the Saline salt mines in Saline County, a distance requiring a ten day journey. The mills which had been built to grind the corn and wheat were operated by a horse turning the wheel and by 1820 by water turning the wheel. Three such mills had been established in Union County but many hand mills were still in use in the homes. The early mill owners were Jacob Rantleman, John Whittaker and Henry Clutts.
Distilling ranked as one of the leading industries of the times and licenses were granted to many people who lived along the newly constructed roads to operate taverns to accommodate trav-
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elers. A tavern in those days was usually in a private home where a wayfarer might stop and procure drink, food and lodging for himself and hay and shelter for his horse. The price of these ser- vices was regulated by the county board as has been mentioned before. Each tavern keeper paid a two dollar license fee and filed a $100 bond. Later these amounts were increased to six dollars and three hundred dollars. William Shelton, Robert Lloyd, Isaac Wil- liams, Sam Putchez, Squire Bone, John Meneese, Jacob Hybarger, George Smiley, John Thornton, Henry Lamer, David Hunsaker and Frederick Barringer were all licensed to keep taverns during the first two years after the county was established.
Within the next ten years industries and business expanded beyond the stage of the home manufacturing and bartering between neighbors and an occasional trip to a trading center, salt mine, etc.
The men who served as constables, appointed by the governor between 1818 and 1820 were John Meneese, William Shelton, Samuel Betcher, Sam Hunsaker, Willie Sams, Samuel Sprouse, Isaac Williams, Jessie Doolen, Sam Hunsaker, Levi T. Holland, Alfred N. Dilliard, Squire Bone and William Thornton.
Judges and clerks of elections appointed by the county board were John S. Hacker, William Echols, Levi Holland, Francis Parker, Alfred N. Dilliard, John Bradshaw, Hugh Craig, Thomas C. Patter- son, Benjamin Meneese, William Barton and Owen Evans.
In 1820 new commissioners, Francis Parker, Daniel T. Coleman and Robert Hargrave were elected.
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CHAPTER IV INDUSTRY AND BUSINESS LEAVE THE CONFINES OF THE HOME
In 1820, Mrs. Nancy Willard, a widow whose husband had died in Cape Girardeau, brought her four children, Elijah, Willis, Anna and William to Jonesboro to live. She was the mother of two of our earliest business men and the mother of the woman for whom the city of Anna is named.
Elijah was old enough to go to work in one of the new stores which had been established and within a few years was able to buy the store from his employer. He and Sam Reed were given a liquor license in 1826. Later he was associated with his brother, Willis, in the store.
Nimrod Ferguson, Willard, Winsted Davie and Charles Rixleben were the earliest merchants establishing themselves in Jonesboro. They bought produce from the farmers and took it to New Orleans where they traded their wares for sugar, coffee and other necessities which were brought back to Jonesboro and sold to the people. This type of trading stimulated the residents to produce more salable materials in order to exchange them for comforts of life. Dry goods came from Philadelphia.
Elijah Willard seems to have been the leader in this type of trading because Willard's Landing, where the bulk of the local trading was done, was named for him.
The Willard's erected a group of store buildings and accumu- lated much farming land. More will be said of them later.
Road building still continued with names of new men appearing on the court records with each change of administration. About 1821 compensation was given to the commissioners, sometimes as much as ten dollars per year, so they no longer served gratis. Two or three more mill seats were condemned and roads built past them. Several churches were erected during the 1820 decade and roads laid out to run past them.
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