USA > Illinois > Henry County > Bishop Hill > A history of Bishop Hill, Illinois : also biographical sketches of many early pioneers in Illinois, 100 years > Part 9
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The adoption of the charter was a complete abandonment of the principle of hereditary leadership. It took the temporal as well as the spiritual authority out of the hands of a single individual and vested it in a board of seven trustees. In so far, the democratic movement inaugurated by Jonas Olson had found a logical conclusion. However, the popularization of the form of government was more apparent than real. According to the provisions of the by-laws, the trustees were empowered not only to regulate and direct the business and various indus-
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trial pursuits of the community, but also to decide upon the fitness of applicants for membership, as well as upon the equity of compensating retiring members. The trustees were not obliged to await the instructions of the community-only one general business meeting annually was provided for-but had the right of initiative in matters of the gravest as well as of the most trivial importance. Finally, the community had practically no check upon the trustees, for they held office for life or during "good behavior," and could not be ousted before, either through criminality or gross incompetence, some serious injury had al- ready been done.
The circumstances under which the instruments of incor- poration were adopted are suggestive. The demand for the charter did not spring from the people. The majority of the community did not know what the charter meant, except that in some way it would protect their interests in court. They were told that the community would continue to be governed, not by human laws, but by the Word of God. They had no voice in the election of trustees. The board of trustees was already made up when the petition to the Legislature asking for a charter was presented to the members of the community for their sig- natures. Indeed, the members were originially requested to affix their signatures, not to the petition itself, but to a blank sheet of paper, and it was only when a certain wrong-headed individual demanded to see the petition that it was given to the people for inspection at all.
On the other hand, there is no reason to suppose that the self-appointed trustees were conscious of arrogating to them- selves undue powers. The Jansonists were unaccustomed to self- government. Their leaders hardly looked upon themselves as servants of the people, but rather as authoritative interpreters of the will of God. The seven trustees in question were all per- sons who had been appointed to positions of trust under Eric Janson, and who therefore considered that they had a perfect right to any formal recognition of the powers which they al- ready virtually enjoyed. In reality the distribution of authority remained very much the same as it had been before. Jonas Olson continued to be the leading spirit also in the board of trustees, and his influence was sufficient to make or mar the success of any project.
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VI-Social, Economic, and Religious Life under the Charter
Under the improved business methods made possible by the charter, the material progress of the community was rapid and permanent. The indications of prosperity became visible on all sides, especially in the improved condition of the village, which had hitherto been built without regard to any definite plan either of convenience or of beauty. The site of the village was an elevation overlooking the surrounding country, but the beauty of the spot was marred by an unsightly ravine which intersected it from north to south. During a whole summer the trustees kept men and teams at work to remove this objectionable feature, and a park was planted where the ravine had been. The new brick houses, nearly all of which were several stories in height, were erected around this park and made looking into it. When the village was completed it contained twelve brick houses, the largest of which was two hundred by four hundred and forty- five feet, and four stories in height, besides six substanial frame buildings.
The buildings were almost entirely the product of home industry. When a new building was contemplated, invitations were extended by the trustees to the members of the community to hand in plans and specifications. The bricks were burned in the society's own kilns. The lumber, a great deal of which was oak and black walnut, was sawed in the society's saw-mill, most of the iron work was forged in the society's smithy. The masonry was executed under the supervision of August Band- holtz, a German mason, who fell in love with a blue-eyed Jan- sonist and married into the community.
There were no fences or outhouses to break up the symetry of the village. The streets were lined with shade trees and were kept scrupulously clean. The stables and enormous cattle-sheds were in an enclosure by themselves at some distance from the village. The village contained a general store and post-office, a smithy, a brewery, a bakery, a weaving establishment, a dye- house, and a hotel, together with wagon, furniture, harness, tailor and shoemaker shops. Besides, there were a hospital, a laundry, bath-houses, mills and manufactories. The store and post-office employed two clerks. The tailor shop employed six
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men and three women ; the shoemaker shop, six men ; the smithy, ten men; the wagon shop, six men. The smithy boasted seven forges, while the wagon shop was extensively known throughout the country for the excellent character of its work. The weaving establishment contained twelve reels and twelve hand-looms, be- sides which one hundred and forty spinning-wheels were dis- tributed privately among the women of the community. The broom shop employed three men and nine women and turned out thirty dozen brooms a day.
But, nevertheless, agriculture was the principal pursuit of the community-so much so that, in the busy seasons, work in the shop and in the manufactory was allowed to come almost to a standstill. Men, women, and children over fourteen years of age, worked side by side in the fields. Nobody who was able to work remained unemployed. The main farm was at Bishop Hill, but besides there were eight sub-farms, where gangs of workmen relieved each other at fixed intervals. A great deal of the unskilled labor was performed by women, for they consti- tuted about two-thirds of the community, and the men were greatly needed in the trades. Unmarried women worked in the brick-kilns and assisted in the building operations, pitching the bricks, two at a time, from one story to another, instead of car- rying them in hods. The milking was done wholly by women. Four women cared for the calves, four had charge of the hogs, and two worked in the dairy, where butter was made in an im- mense churn run by horse-power. Cheese was manufactured on a similarly extensive scale. There were eight laundresses, two dyers, four bakers and two brewers.
A visitor to the community in 1853 writes as follows: "We had occasion this year to visit the colony and were received with great kindness and hospitality. Everything, seemingly, was on the top of prosperity. The people lived in large, substanial brick houses. We had never before seen so large a farm, nor one so well cultivated. One of the trustees took us to an adjacent hill, from which we had a view of the Colony's cultivated fields, stretching away for miles. In one place we noticed fifty young men, with the same number of horses and plows, cultivating a cornfield where every furrow was two miles in length . . . . In another place was a field of a thousand acres in broom-corn, the product of which, when baled, was to be delivered at Peoria
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for shipment to consignees in Boston, and was expected to yield an income of fifty thousand dollars. All the live stock was ex- ceptionally fine and apparently given the best of care. There was a stable of more than one hundred horses, the equals to which would be hard to find. One morning I was brought to an enclosure on the prairie where the cows were being milked. There must have been at least two hundred of them, and the milkmaids numbered forty or fifty. There was a large wagon, in which an immense tub was suspended, and in this tub each girl, ascending by means of a step-ladder, emptied her pail. The whole process was over in half an hour. On Sunday I at- tended service. There was singing and praying, and the ser- mon, by one of the leaders, contained nothing that a member of any Christian denomination might not hear in his own church. Altogether I retain the most agreeable remembrance of this visit."
The common dining-halls and kitchen were located in a large brick building at the northwest corner of the public square. The dining halls were two in number, one for the men and women and one for the children. The women ate at two long tables, while one table was set aside for the men. The tables were covered with linen table-cloths, which were changed three times a week. The table service was neat, durable and substan- tial. Twelve waitresses served at the tables, while eighteen per- sons were employed in the kitchen as cooks or in other capacities. Soup was boiled in a monster kettle holding from forty to fifty gallons, and everything in the unitary cuisine was arranged on a similarly magnificent scale. The food was wholesome and substantial. No luxuries were indulged in ; pastries of every des- cription was banished, except on the great church holidays and on the Fourth of July. The abundance which prevailed was quite a contrast from the poverty of early days, when the com- munity had been frequently obliged to observe fast-days for want of food, and when only one meal had been forthcoming on Sundays. A beef and several hogs were butchered each week. Mush and pure milk were extensively used. The bread was made of pumpkin meal and wheat flour. The beverage consisted of coffee and small beer. Nothing was allowed to go to waste, and it was estimated that the cost of board per person was about three cents a day.
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Clothing was correspondingly cheap, for the society man- ufactured its own linen, flannel, jean and dress goods. The women cut and sewed their own clothes, while the men's suits were made at the society's tailor shop. The society dressed its own leather and made its own shoes. Every person received each year two suits of clothes, together with one pair of boots and one of shoes. On work-days the women wore blue drilling, but on holidays they appeared in calico and gingham. The men dressed either in jeans or in woolen stuffs, and wore their hair long. The society adopted no fixed styles, but neverthless a certain amount of uniformity of dress prevailed.
With regard to the institution of the family, its relations, at first, remained intact. Whole families occupied one-room tenements. Single persons dwelt together in separate quarters according to sex. With the exception of the modifications im- posed by the unitary cuisine, the home-life of the Jansonists dif- fered in nowise materially from that of their neighbors under the individualistic system. But a change also in this respect was impending.
Of the twelve apostles appointed by Eric Janson to convert the world, Nils Heden alone had met with any degree of success. Besides making a number of converts, he visited several of the principal religious communistic settlements in the United States. From Hopedale. N. Y., he persuaded twenty-five or thirty per- sons to join the Bishop Hill Colony. He also established friendly relations with the Oneida Perfectionists of New York and the Rappists of Pennsylvania. In 1854 he made a journey to Pleas- ant Hill, Kentucky, which was destined to have important con- sequences.
The Shakers taught the Jansonists the advantages of rais- ing small fruit, and instructed them in improved methods of dyeing wool. From Pleasant Hill also the Jansonists got im- proved breeds of cattle. A number of the Jansonists accepted Shakerism and went to live at Pleasant Hill, among them being the widow of Eric Janson.
On his visit in 1854, Nils Heden allowed himself to be con- verted to the doctrine of celibacy. Returning to Bishop Hill he won the support of Jonas Olson, who straightway proceeded to ingraft the new doctrine upon the Jansonist creed. The practice of celibacy was somewhat difficult of enforcement. Some of
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the members of the community objected strenuously, but they were dealt with according to article 3 of the by-laws, which pro- vided that any person guilty of preaching and disseminating re- ligious doctrines contrary to those of the Bible might be ex- pelled. Thus, after a number of voluntary resignations and forcible expulsions, the opposition was broken and submission secured.
After the introduction of celibacy the families continued to live together as heretofore, only that married persons were enjoined to practice restraint in the conjugal relations, and new marriages were, of course, prohibited. Under such circumstances celibacy could not be strictly enforced, and remained a constant source of irritation, becoming eventually a potent factor in hastening the dissolution of the community.
The Jansonists placed great value upon elementary edu- cation. Ever since the winter of 1847-48 the community had kept and English day-school, employing usually a native Amer- ican as principal, and appointing one or more of its own mem- bers as assistant teochers. At one time, as stated above, the society was joined by a number of American communistic fam- ilies from Hopedale, N. Y., among whom were several persons competent to teach. These families did not remain long, how- ever, and the society was again compelled to resort to outside help.
At first the school was conducted in mud-caves or any vacant room, but later a fine brick school-house, with accom- modations for several hundred pupils, was erected. The average attendance was about one hundred, the school age being limited to fourteen years. The number of school months in the year was six. Swedish was not taught in the school, and the only knowl- edge which the children obtained of the language was through their parents. On the whole, the Jansonists evinced a commend- able zeal in acquiring and adopting the language and customs of the country. Thus, for instance, the records of the Bishop Hill Colony were kept in the English as well as in the Swedish language.
When the school days were over there were no means of continuing the studies. With the exception of the Bible, the Jansonists had destroyed all their books before leaving Sweden. Newspapers were not allowed. So there was no reading matter
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to be had except the Bible, the Jansonist hymn-book and cate- chism, and the well-worn school-books. Individuals sometimes happened upon other reading matter. Strangers stopping at the hotel occasionally left newspapers and books, which were surreptitiously circulated among the youthful members of the community. Among those who in this manner kept alive their appetite for knowledge were men since famous in letters and politics.
The church organization was loose. There was no regularly ordained clergy. Any one with the gift of expression might preach. But the general management of ecclesiastical affairs was intrusted to Jonas Olson, assisted by Olof Stenberg, Andreas Berglund, Nils Heden and Olof Aasberg. Under Jonas Olson's leadership the religious tendency was, in some respects, one of conservative retrogression. He modified some of the excesses of the Jansonist theology in a Devotionalistic direction, abolishing the Jansonist catechism altogether and thoroughly revising the hymn-book in 1857.
Thus, it will be seen, community life at Bishop Hill had its lights and shadows. Which predominated it is impossible at this distance to say. In order to judge correctly, one must be able to comprehend the dominant motives of action. These were of a religious nature. They decided the complexion of the social and economic life. But they did not determine the in- trinsic merits or demerits of the communistic system. All reason- able material wants, at any rate, were abundantly satisfied. No one was obliged to overtax his strength. Each one was put to the work for which he was best adapted. The aged and the infirm were cared for. The children were educated. Everybody was secure in the knowledge that, whatever befall, his subsistence was a certainty. On the whole, the members of the community enjoyed a greater amount of comfort and security against want than the struggling pioneer settlers by whom they were sur- rounded.
VII-Disastrous Financial Speculations, Internal Dissensions, and Dissolution of the Society
One of the grandest elements in the early development of the State of Illinois was the Illinois and Michigan Canal, con- necting the Illinois and Mississippi rivers with the Great Lakes.
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The canal was recommended by Governor Bond in his first mes- sage to the State Legislature. In 1821 an appropriatoin of ten thousand dollars was made for the purpose of surveying the route. The estimated cost of the canal was from $600,000 to $700,000. The actual cost was $8,000.000.
Pending the construction of the canal, speculation in land broke out in 1834 and 1835. From Chicago the disease spread. over the State. In 1834 and 1837 it seized upon the State Legis- lature, which forthwith enacted a system of internal improve- ments without parallel in grandeur of conception. It ordered the construction of 1300 miles of railway, although the pop- ulation of the State was not 400,000. The railroad projects were surpassed by the schemes for the building of canals and the improvement of rivers. There were few counties that were not touched by railroad, river or canal, and those that were not were to be compensated by the free distribution among them of $200,000. The work was to compensate simultaneously upon all river crossings, and at both ends of all railroads and rivers. The appropriations were $12,000,000, commissioners being ap- pointed to borrow money on the credit of the State.
About this time the State Bank was loaning its funds freely to Godfrey, Gilman and Co., and other houses, for the purpose of diverting trade from St. Louis to Alton. These houses failed and took down the bank with them. In 1840 the State was loaded with a debt of $14,000,000. There was not a dollar in the treasury, credit was gone, and the good money in circulation was not sufficient to pay the interest for a single year.
But in 1848 the Illinois and Michigan Canal was finally completed, and began turning into the treasury an annual net sum of $111,000. The industries of the State revived, and the projects for the internal development of the country were again brought forward, with the difference, however, that they were now supported by private instead of public enterprise.
In 1854 the managers of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad proposed to run their line into Bishop Hill. But the Jansonists, apprehensive of the probable effects of the intrusion, objected, and the railroad instead went through Galva, five miles distant. This did not prevent the Jansonists from entering upon a $37,000 contract with the company to grade a portion of the roadbed.
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The manner in which Galva was founded is so illustrative of the origin of most Western towns and of the practices of rail- way corporations in general, that the following quotation from Kett's History of Henry County is inserted in full: "The idea of building a town upon this site was first entertained in 1853. While Messrs. J. M. and Wm. L. Wiley were traveling from Peoria County to Rock Island in the spring of that year, they were attracted to the beauty of the surrounding country, and halted their team on the ground that now forms College Park, across which the old trail led. Standing in their buggy and looking out upon the scene, one of them remarked to the other, 'Let us buy the land, and lay out a town!' At this time there were only two or three buildings to be seen from that point, and the country around was one vast sea of prairie, over which the deer were still roaming at will. The land was shortly purchased by them, and after negotiating with the C. B. and Q. Railroad Company a full year, they finally secured the location of a depot upon their purchase by donating the land now owned and oc- cupied by the company in the center of the town. In the fall of the year succeeding its purchase (1854), and about the time that the arrangement with the railroad company was effected, the town was laid out in its present shape by the gentlemen mentioned. The cars commenced running in December of the same year."
On account of its location on the railroad, Galva could not fail to become an object of interest to the Bishop Hill Colony. The community purchased fifty town lots, and lent its money and influence towards building up the place. The station was named after the populous seaboard town of Gefle in the province of Helsingland, Sweden, although the name was soon corrupted to Galva. The Jansonists built the first house and dug the first well. Before the close of 1855 the society had erected a hotel, a general store, and a large brick warehouse, the material for which was hauled from Bishop Hill.
The Bishop Hill Colony was represented in these business enterprises by Olof Johnson, a member of the Board of Trustees. Olof Johnson was originally a peasant from Söderala Parish, So. Helsingland. He was one of the leaders appointed by Eric Janson to conduct the Jansonist emigration. Later he had been sent by Eric Janson on a business trip to Sweden. Upon the
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adoption of the charter he was as a matter of course given a position as trustee. When Galva became the business head- quarters of Bishop Hill he was appointed by the trustees to represent them in that place. As the business in Galva in- creased in volume and importance it was natural that the bus- iness in Bishop Hill should also fall under his control. In so far as his plans met with Jonas Olson's approval he dictated the business policy of the community. The two supplemented each other, Jonas Olson managing the internal affairs of the community, while Olof Johnson managed its external affairs. Olof Johnson made Galva his headquarters, but otherwise spent much of his time in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, Mobile, and other points where the com- munity transacted business. He was of a hearty, social disposi- tion, and was a universal favorite wherever he went. He was not educated, being unable even to keep his own accounts, but possessed, it was thought, great natural talent for business.
The society was now excellently organized for the purposes of economic production. The several departments of industry were under the charge of superintendents who were responsi- ble to the Board of Trustees. Under the superintendents were the foremen of gangs of workmen. According to a later arrangement the trustees were expected to meet every Monday evening for the consideration of the affairs of the community, and on the first Monday of every month any member might consult with the trustees on matters of general importance.
The first report of the trustees was made on January 21, 1855. According to this report the society owned 8028 acres of land, improved and unimproved, fifty town lots in Galva, improved and unimproved, valued at ten thousand dollars, also ten shares in the Central Military Track Railroad valued at one thousand dollars, together with five hundred and eighty- six head of cattle, one hundred and nine horses and mules, one thousand hogs, and divers poultry, unthreshed wheat, flax, broom-corn, etc. Furthermore, the community possessed other property to the value of $37,471.02. The entire debt amounted to only $18,000. Some idea of the effectiveness of the industrial organization may be obtained from the fact that the subsequent reports show an average annual increase in personal property alone of $44,042.96.
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Meanwhile Olof Johnson was developing a brilliant, if not altogether sound business policy. He managed to make his influence paramount in the Board of Trustees, obtaining control over four of the seven votes. This made him to a certain extent independent of Jonas Olson's dictation, although the latter could by his influence with the people have pre- vented any scheme distasteful to him from being realized. The very fact that Jonas Olson did not choose to exercise this influence, even when he disagreed most with Olof Johnson, makes him morally responsible for the latter's disastrous financial mistakes.
Olof Johnson's idea was to make the community rich by employing its resources to build up manufactories and estab- lish a large general business. Jonas Olson's policy, on the other hand, was distinctively an agricultural policy. At first Olof Johnson was eminently successful. Prices went up during the Crimean war. Wheat went up from thirty-five cents to one dollar and fifty cents a bushel. Broom-corn rose from fifty dollars to one hundred and fifty dollars a ton. Oats and Indian corn advanced correspondingly. The steam flour mill at Bishop Hill was kept running night and day, turning out a hundred barrels of flour every twenty-four hours. Olof Johnson erected at Galva a pork-packing establishment and an elevator for the storage of grain. He operated a coal mine, dealt in stocks and bonds, and purchased real estate, holding at one time one hundred and sixty acres of land within the present limits of Chicago. In 1856, together with Robert C. Schenk, sometime U. S. Minister to England, and other prominent men, he planned the construction of the Western Air Line Railroad, which was to run from Fort Wayne, Indiana, through Iowa. He made a five million dollar contract with the company to grade the roadbed from Indiana to the Mississippi, accepting one million dollars in bonds as part payment. In the same year he entered into the banking business, becoming secretary of the Nebraska Western Exchange Bank in Galva.
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