USA > Illinois > Johnson County > A history of Johnson County, Illinois > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
The contract for building the first jail was let some time in 1814 to Marvin Fuller; the jail to cost $500.00 and the bond fixed at $1,000.00 with Jacob Jones as security. At the December court, 16 lbs of iron and $5.00 were ordered delivered to Hezekiah West to have the jail repaired at Elvira. The sheriff was ordered to sell the old jail at Elvira, April, 1823. The sheriff was ordered to let the con- tract for building a jail at Vienna, September, 1819, also to ascertain the plans of the jails at Golconda, County Seat of Pope; Jonesboro, County Seat of Union and Browns- ville, at that time County Seat of Jackson. The following order is found on the record, dated October 9, 1819 : "Ordered that a stray pound be built on the public square, 32 feet square, of good oak timber." There must have been much need of these Estray pounds as there was another ordered built in 1827 at a cost of $11.00. This was more than a hundred years ago and we had not grown entirely away from the desecration of the public square in 1922, but there has been much improvement as above stated in the last two years. The contract for the building of a jail was let in 1819 to John S. Graves, with Irvin Morris, Milton Ladd, Alfred Bridges and James Crunk as bondsmen; the amount of the bond was $1,000.00. The jail was to be of logs, two stories, with an outside stairway and platform. For some reason the jail was not built 'until 1820, and Ivy Reynolds was the contractor with Irvin Morris, Milton Ladd Squire Choat and William Hendry as security at a cost to the county of $849.00. It can not be stated whether this is the same jail or not, but there was a log jail that stood in a low place, between where the library stands and the court
66
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
house, in 1851. It was still standing some years later as Mrs. Fanny Jackson as a little girl remembers a man by the name of Tice, who was a prisoner, setting it on fire. The jail that did duty for the county before the present one was built, stood near the corner of fourth and Locust streets and not a great distance from the site of the present one. It was built of logs, had two stories and an outside stair- way, similar, no doubt, to the first one. This county was without a jail for some time and prisoners were kept in ad- joining county jails. The present brick jail was erected in 1887, at a cost of $5,000.00. There is also a dwelling ad- joining it in which the jailor lives.
COURT HOUSE
1.
CUSTOMS
PART III
When civilized or semi-civilized man set foot in a new country, he brought with him ax, dog and gun. These weapons meant food, and safety. In the early day when one entered a home, somewhere he saw a gun rack, usually over the door, and there were just as many guns as male members of the family who were large enough to handle them. In those pioneer days hotels were few and far be- tween, and many times the traveler was forced to take shelter in an isolated farmhouse. The story is told of a traveler stopping at a farm house for the night; about dusk a stalwart young man came into the room and stacked his gun. Soon another and another came until there were five or six. The traveler was paralyzed with fright thinking he had fallen among a den of murders, but knew not how to escape. When bedtime came the father took up the Book read a chapter and all kneeled in prayer. The travelers fears vanished and he slept as peacefully as if in his mother's trundle bed. This incident may not have happen- ed in Johnson County but it could have.
Just as the head of the house brought his tools of war- fare to a new country the housewife brought hers. The spinning wheel, the cards, and loom. The looms were larger and more cumbersome than those now in use, but were very much on the same order. Home manufacture of cloths has long since been discarded, but coverlets of wool and rag rugs are still woven in the county. Everyone does not know the process of putting in cloth in a hand-loom but if they should be obliged to separate warp a thread at a time and hand it to someone on the other side of the gear of a loom, they would possibly appreciate more fully the debt we owe the pioneer. Please don't think that the cards the frontier mother brought, were the little pasteboards decor- ated with colored spots that are now so necesary to the overworked housewife to divert her mind from the cares of her large family. The cards the pioneer woman had were thin pieces of wood about six by twelve inches with small steel pins on one side and were used for carding wool and
68
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
cotton. They had a flat handle about the middle of the card so that one could hold a card in each hand. The cotton or wool was put on these little sharp pins one held firmly while the other was rubbed across until the material was all smoothed out. Then it was gently folded together into a lovely soft roll. This was attached to the spindle of the spinning wheel and was pulled out into a thread with one hand while the other one buzzed the big wheel and twisted the thread. This process was continued and soon a large broach of fine or coarse thread for kniting or weaving was ready. The spinning wheel had a body, a large and small wheel, a head, a gear, and a spindle.
The body was raised on legs to a height convenient for one to walk on the floor since it required a great deal of walking turning the big wheel and pulling out the roll, all at the same time, and strict attention to your work, to make the thread the size one desired. There was no button to press or lever to raise to regulate the hand manufacture. The coloring and dyeing were also done at home and in some instances the indigo for coloring the blues was raised in the garden. Indigo blue, madder, cochineal red, and cop- peras were the principal colors. The following incident related by an elderly lady of the county will corroborate the statement about, at least one of the home dyes. She said she was married the summer of 1853 and moved into a new neighborhood. The following Sunday, she and her husband went to church. The services were held in a brush arbor, made by putting leafy branches of trees on a large frame of forked poles for supports, and straight poles laid across them. This shielded the people from the sun and used be- cause there were no church houses. The minister this day wore trousers made from home woven cotton cloth, colored with copperas and was barefoot.
The thrifty housewife was not content to bring the mere necessities to the new country, but brought seed, both garden and flower, also scions of roses, fruits and herbs, which she divided with her neighbors. Instead of looking over the multitude of catalogues that flood the farm house in early spring and late winter at the present, the women folks visited each other and took home plants, seeds and shrubs for the early planting. Mrs. Harrell who came here with her family from Kentucky about 1820, was one of
69
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
these pioneer mothers who brought supplies from her yard and garden of her native state. She was the mother of the late Mrs. Minnie Bain, long a resident of this county and she is the authority for this story of thrift. The old fashion garden and its walk through the middle with marigold, larkspur, flowering almond, and fortune grass, camomile, bachelor buttons, garden pinks and all the old fashion flowers on either side, and the long weedless rows of veget- ables beyond the flowers was the pride of the home maker of that time, and no neighborly visit was complete during the growing season till one had been down the garden walk, admired the many varieties of kind and color, and carried away a huge bouquet.
While these pioneer mothers were adepts in the textile art, they not only made the cloth but designed and built their own gowns, tailored their husband's and sons' dress suits, and had ever at hand snowy linens for the tables and beds which were the fruits of their labor. Quilts, blan- kets, linens and feather beds for the daughter's wedding dower which was in lieu of the hope chest of the present. The following will ilustrate the resourcefulness of the pio- neer women of this county. An early historian of this state says, "John Grammar was elected to the first Legislature of the Territory from Johnson County. It is said after his election he and family gathered a large quantity of hickory nuts, took them to the salt mines and traded them for blue strouding, like the Indians wore for breech cloths. The neighbor women gathered in to make up the cloth. It was discovered that he had not purchased quite enough cloth to make a full suit, and after measuring and counseling for a time, they decided to make a bob-tail coat and a long pair of leggings. Dressed in these he appeared at the seat of government, continuing to wear his primitive suit during the greater part of the session."
Other trades beside the manufacture of cloth were re- quired of the pioneers. The first settler tanned the leather, made their own shoes, saddles, bridles and harness. Joseph McCorcle owned a tan yard on the east side of town in 1821. A description of an old road says that it was where the road crossed the street leading south from town. The remains of this old yard could be seen there as late as 1875. It was operated in later years by Duke Smith. G.
70
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
N. Thacker had a tannery in this county as late as 1890, near Pond on the Simpson road.
The law allowing imprisonment for debt was practically abolished in the United States by the beginning of the nin- teenth century, but Johnson County kept up the practice much later. If one should visit Edinburg, Scotland, he would be shown the debtor's line, which Sir Walter Scott raced, many times, madly to cross to escape the debtor's prison, while he was writing the Waverly Novels. Johnson County had no such line, but we find Peter Prow and Cath- erine Crice confined for debt as late as 1816. The following is a description of the plot of the prison grounds as they stood in old Elvira at that time, "Beginning at a large pop- lar in Judge Finney's lot, running north 46 degrees, east 20 poles, to a high black gum stump, in Issac Worley's lot, north 38 degrees, west 80 poles to a large sweet gum just be- low the spring, then south 50 degrees and west 22 poles to a large white oak, then 342 degrees east 81 poles to the be- ginning. Elvira, Johnson County, Illinois, 1816." Judging from papers served in the court proceedings, Prow was im- prisoned at the suit of Weir and Campbell. Catherine Crice's suit was brought by parties from Kentucky.
This was not the only law enforced in this county for the benefit of the merchant. The estate of J. W. Gore paid two dollars interest on nine dollars and seventy cents to W. E. Morris for merchandise as late as 1853. There is no especial spite harbored against our ancestors that their mis- takes should be arrayed in print, but one would scarcely think that they trafficked in human flesh. Such, however, is the case. We have only to turn to the records made in the courts to find our early residents bought and sold slaves up to 1814, although Congress in 1784 passed a law saying, "There shall be no more slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the states made from the Northwest Territory."
As has been stated, this county, at its early settlement abounded in game and wild animals. In fact, all kinds of animals found in the Temperate Zone were here. The wolf was an enemy to the early settlers and a bounty for wolf scalps was paid by the county at the rate of fifty cents to two dollars. Since the gun was so necessary at that time, there must be amunition and powder must be made and one could not go out and buy shells ready to put in his gun.
71
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
Sometimes the ingredients for the powder was hard to get. Salt peter was necessary for the making of powder and great was the joy of the neighborhoods when a Mr. Mercer discovered salt peter in a cave in Cedar Bluff. This is the bluff where the Charles stone quarry is located. Salt peter was found in several other places in the county in small quantities. These first settlers manufactured their own bullets as well. Running bullets, as the process was called. Lead was melted and poured into molds made some- thing like a nut cracker, that opened and shut on a hinge. The melted lead was let cool a minute, the molds were opened, the neck of the bullet cut off, and "there you are." Each one meant a vension steak, a baked turkey or some other delicious game for the coming meal.
The first merchants, possibly storekeepers would be a better name, as that was what they were called in those days, handled very little dry goods or shoes, as everyone made these things for themselves. Their stock consisted, principally of sugar, coffee, tea and liquor, some of the necessary articles not raised on the farm or manufactured in the home. One can scarcely realize how few things were necessities, when money was scarce and there were no markets for products. Real money was not always at hand, in fact, salt, salt peter, cattle, hogs, furs, deer pelts, corn and other things of this kind were used in trade instead of money. In one instance, an early resident relates, he used pumpkins in trade with the Indians, getting two pounds of coffee for one Pumpkin, the coffee had been issued to the Indians by the government. Coon skins were also legal tender, for some time after our organization, as the follow- ing story will illustrate. The custom of selling whiskey, as has been mentioned, was engaged in by a great many of our citizens. One of our county officers had stocked up and was retailing at a quart for a coon skin. His store was the room in which he slept, and when he bought a skin, he threw it under the bed. There was a large crack between the logs of the outside wall and some practical joker brought in a coon skin and bought a quart of whiskey. Some one went outside, slipped the skin from under the bed and sold it to the officer again, not only once but a good many times dur- ing the day. He finally decided he had quite a number of skins and went to count them, much to his surprise there was only one skin.
72
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
The early stores were located at cross roads or some farmer would keep a stock of goods in a small house in the yard near his home, if the nearby settlers would justify. In time the peddler made his appearance. He would take his wares in a wagon or cart, travel through the country and exchange them for such things as the settlers had to trade and take the produce to some town or settlement on the river. The merchant with his pack on his back also invaded the country and tempted the house wife with his dress goods, laces and bright colored ribbons. Giles Stewart was the first person to take out retail license to vend mer .. chandise in this county in 1813, and Joshua Gross, the sec. ond receiving his license in 1814.
This county was rather a long time in getting access to markets. Mrs. Mary E. Chapman who began housekeep. ing in the early fifties, said she sold eggs at five cents per dozen and hens for two dollars per dozen regardless of weight. This was before railroads had reached us, but al- most unbelievable, since the high prices which were paid for such things during the World War. Eggs sold for eighty-five cents per dozen and hens at thirty cents a pound in our home markets.
Tavern rates in 1828, which were regulated by law, were, meals twenty-five cents, lodging twelve and a half cents, half pint whiskey, six and a half cents, half pint brandy, twelve and a half cents, keeping a horse with feed, corn, hay or fodder, twenty-five cents, single feed for a horse, twelve and a half cents. These prices as against two and one half dollars for one half pint whiskey, from fifty to seventy-five cents per meal in the county, in 1924, show how prices have increased.
Much of our revenue was gained from the manufacture of liquor. All merchants and tavern keepers dealt in it, and home-brew was not unknown, as the court records will show. One William Conway is convicted of stealing two dollars worth of methiglon. This was an entirely new com- modity and whether dry goods or groceries, was difficult to determine. Finally a person was found who explained that it was a beer made from persimmons. The name of the maker of the beer could not be deciphered. The penalty was to pay the owner four dollars and a four dollar fine to the court. From this it appears that the makers of honre
73
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
brew at the present have nothing on the pioneers, except the present manufacturer would pay a fine instead of the one taking the beer.
A law of that time which is not now in force, and doubtless, made life hard for many orphans was the binding out of such children as had no parents, by the court. At a court held in September, 1816, Cyrus Butler, an orphan bcy about nine years old was bound to Thomas C. Paterson. In a court held the same year Cynthia Davis, a minor daughter of George Davis, deceased, was bound to Jacob Hunsaker Jr., until she arrives at the age of eighteen years, and the said Jacob gave bond and security in the sum of one hundred dollars. At the December session, the application of Mathew Sparks to have an orphan girl by the name of Nancy Col- lins bound to him, was granted, on condition that the said Sparks file a bond with security to be approved by the court, in the sum of one hundred dollars, to have the said Nancy. well and carefully treated, clothed and given one year's schooling. When she arrives at the age of eighteen years, to give her a bed worth thirty dollars, a good suit of clothes or a full dress fit to wear on Sunday or holidays, over and above her common wearing apparel. The said Nancy is supposed to be about eight years old. Another order is that Jeremiah Collins, an orphan boy of about 12 years old, be bound unto Giles Parmerly, until he arrives at the age of 21, and that the said Parmerly execute a bond of one hundred dollars for his well treating, clothing, and taking care of the said Jeremiah until he is of age, and that he will cause him within that time to be learned to read, write and cipher, as far as the rule of three. And when free that he will give him a good horse, saddle and bridle of a com- mon good quality, which together with the horse shall be worth eighty dollars. The security for the performance of same to be approved by the court.
Such are a few of the obsolete laws and customs which governed our forebears.
The first animal that was used to till the soil or save man from long tramps of distant journeys was the ox which served our pioneers in this as well as all other frontier countries. The wagons in which many of the first settlers came to this county were drawn by oxen. These wagons had long beds which scooped up at each end and were called
74
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
schooners. They had long hoops fastened on the side board and extending over the top, which were covered with cloth. This protected the family and its possessions from the weather while traveling. Many immigrants to this new country did not even have wagons but transported their household goods on their own vacks or that of a norse or cow or often in a two wheeled cart drawn by the family cow. Oxen were used to draw wagons, carts and plows but not often to ride. J. J. Simpson, a native of this county and nearing eighty-six years old tells the story of riding an ox, when a small boy from his father's farm near Simpson to De Soto, Illinois, a distance of fitty miles. After the ox as a domestic animal, the horse came into use. He was more fleet of foot and lessened distances, when roads came into use the ox wagons and carts were succeeded by two horse wagons, hacks and buggies. Mr. George Elkins, born in this county in 1825, says he was twenty-one years old before he saw a wagon and team of horses. This team was owned by Stephen Hendricks, and the second one he remembers was owned by Henry Mathis. Mathis hauled a load of shelled corn to Vienna for Mr. Elkins which he sold for ten cents per bushel.
One wonders in this time of rapid transit how people of that period made a journey of any length. The automobile enables one to go from place to place in a few hours which formerly took a whole day or two. This machine has dis- placed most all other modes of local travel; also the horse for plowing and hauling to a great extent. One would scarcely think an ox would evolve into an automobile, but such appears to be the case. J. F. Farris, an implement dealer of Vienna owned the first automobile in the county, about 1907. It was an auto carriage and some what differ- ent from the models of 1924. The number of machines in- creased rapidly in the county till now, 1924, there are 666.
In this day of railroads, automobiles, and flying machines, one can scarcely realize the inconvenience and infrequency of travel to any distant point. Mrs. Fannie Jackson, daughter of John Bain, tells the story that on one occasion her father was going to Louisville, Kentucky, to buy goods and her mother was going along for the trip. All the neighbors came in to tell her good-bye, and the children from a nearby select school came. It was considered a
75
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
wonderful journey at that time and many accidents might befall Mrs. Bain, while on the journey. Hence the solicita- tion of her friends. Another incident was related by an old citizen regarding one of our early merchants in connection with Louisville, which was, that this merchant went as usual to purchase his season's stock of goods. A salesman waiting on him asked him what per cent he calculated to make on his sales. He replied, he knew nothing about per cent but when he bought an article for one dollar, he sold it at home for two. Some of his decendants must have been doing business during the World War.
Farming in a primitive way, of course, was the occupa- tion of the early settler. Corn was the most generally grown grain in the beginning as it was cultivated with a hoe. The grains were dropped in hills or crosses made with a plow. The wheat was sown broadcast and cut with a sickle. One of the first wheat cradles used in this county was made by Ishmael Veach. He brought the scythe or cut- ting part from Kentusky and made the framework himself in 1825. This more easy method spread and continued to develop until the reaper was invented. Now the farmer hitches up his tractor to his wheat machine, drives around the field a few times and the thing is done. Originally the wheat was tramped or flailed out, but as population in- creased and markets became accessible the modern inven- tions were brought in. The Axley Brothers, Jack and Jim, as they were familiarly called, owned and operated one of the first threshing machines in the county, in the neighbor- hood of West Eden. These threshers were called ground hogs and the power was furnished by horses. The man who could "holler" the loudest was elected to drive, and one could tell where the thresher was located by the noise of the driver then, as you may now know by the whistle of the engine.
The raising of grain for his own use was all the early farmer undertook. There were no markets near and no transportation for any products. A few hogs and cattle, for home consumption, and to supply the local market, were all he needed, and the range was sufficient for the raising of these. The farmer fenced in his field then, to keep the stock out, and not his entire farm, as now, to keep the stock in, consequently not so much fencing was needed,
76
A HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
which was fortunate as all fences were made of rails like Abraham Lincoln split and rail making was a very labor- ious job. The cattle and hogs ranged at will and had cuts on the ears, called marks. Each farmer had his own pe- culiar way of marking his stock. These were recorded in the County Clerk's office so as to make it easy to settle any dispute regarding ownership of live stock. The mark of S. J. Chapman recorded in 1820 was "under half crop off of right ear and a slit in the left." In 1814, Benjamin Peters' mark, a half crop out of each ear and underneath a bit out of the corner of the right ear.
The making of sorghum for home use has been an in- dustry of this county since long before the Civil War. To illustrate how customs and good things spread from com- munity to community the story of the introduction of sorg- hum making in this county, will not, it is hoped, be amiss. Miss Mary Smith, a young lady of West Eden, made a visit to Judge Hugh McGee's in Pulaski County, from where she brought some stalks of sorghum cane, which she exhibited at a gathering in the neighborhood. Pleasant Axley of the same locality went over to the Judges the following spring, and secured some cane seed. That was before the halcyon days of government distribution of seed. That year he raised some cane but having no machinery, one of his neigh- bors, J. P. West, made a crusher to extract the juice from the cane and Uncle Pleas., as he was called by his neighbors, borrowed all the wash kettles in reach to boil it down. The molasses was not very satisfactory, being black from the iron kettles. He later procured the proper machinery and thus began the manufacture of the famous Johnson County sorghum.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.