USA > Illinois > Knox County > Annals of Knox County : commemorating centennial of admission of Illinois as a state of the Union in 1818 > Part 20
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Livingstone, Justices of the Peace. The population of Walnut Grove in 1860 was 1,120; 1870 was 1,960; 1880 was 1,781; 1890 was 1;350; 1900 was 1,280.
Endured Privations
The old settlers endured many hardships and the present generation would be very uncomfortable if they had to live in the old log houses with their fireplaces, very few of which re- main. One was standing a few years ago on the H. K. Whit- ing farm now owned by Mrs. Amenoff. The names and deeds of the old settlers who endured hardship and trials in a new and wild country to lay the foundation for future greatness and make a more beautiful and cultivated country and their memor- ies should be perpetuated and handed down to posterity so that future generations should know and appreciate those who be- gan the work of settling and changing a wild unsettled country as Knox once was to what it is now. Without a road or guide the pioneers roamed the prairies and timber with their slow but faithful oxen. At this time there was but one traveled road in the county running from Peoria to Galena, through Victoria and Walnut Grove Townships, known as the Galena Trail. Streams were forded, hogs butchered and frozen, then taken to Rock Island or Peoria, some taking their grain and hogs to Chicago, Jonathan Gibbs in 1842 receiving 47c a bushel for his wheat, one party received 15c a bushel for wheat and were 111/2 days making the trip. They received $19.50 for the wheat, bought three barrels of salt at $1.50 a barrel, the price at home being $3.00. In the winter of 1841 Judge Hanneman drove 1,300 head of hogs from Knoxville to Chicago for which he had paid $2 a hundred pounds net. He had them slaughtered and packed in Chicago and shipped to New York and Boston. In this transaction he lost $5,000. He hired sixteen boys to drive them, the trip consuming sixteen days. At that time Chicago was a small town situated in the middle of miry swamps.
In 1842 Jonathan Gibbs went to Peoria to sell his pork, the highest offer was 11/bc per pound for dressed hogs, 31/bc cash or 4c in trade for green hams and lard. Over a fireplace in Mr. Gibbs' cabin sixteen barrels of lard were tried out that fall. Such a stupendous job of work would scarcely be under- taken by any family at the present time. Money was an article little known and seldom seen among the early settlers, nearly all business was transacted by trading or barter. Taxes and postage required cash and often letters remained a long time in the postoffice for want of twenty-five cents. The mail was carried every week by a lone horseman with a mail bag or if the village was on a stage route the old stage coach would make its appearance about once a week with the mail. One or two
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letters a month was considered a large mail nor did three cents pay the postage. It took twenty-five cents which some- times took five or six weeks to earn, fifty dollars being consid- ered ample compensation for one year's labor. The amount of taxes on $1,100 worth of property in 1836 was $1.371/2.
Bee hunting was one of the early pastimes of the settlers the strained honey was sent in barrels to St. Louis and the price 371/ec a gallon. The first crops of the settlers, however abundant, gave only partial relief, there being no mills to grind the grain. Hence the necessity of grinding by hand power or grating. A grater was made from a piece of tin sometimes taken from an old worn out tin bucket. This was thickly per -- forated with nail holes bent into a semi-circular form and nailed, rough side up, to a board. The corn was taken in the ear and grated before it was quite dry and hard.
The first year after Mr. Amos Ward arrived in the county, he took a bag of corn on his horse and went to Andover Mills. On arriving there he found they had stopped running during the dry weather. He returned home and the following day went to Centerville. There the miller was grinding a little when he could so he left his grist and in a few days returned for it, but it was not ground, so he went home and finally traveled one hundred miles back and forth before he got his bag of corn ;in the meantime grating corn on the primitive grater described and making the meal thus obtained into batter cakes, Johnny cakes, corn dodgers, and pone, which was a common diet at that time.
A. W. Miller came to the county in a pioneer wagon, (prairie schooner). It was all made of wood, there being no iron about it. The wheels were about ten inches thick and two and a half feet in diameter. The wagon was quite low. These wheels were sawed from the end of a log and were solid. A plank was pinned on the side to prevent season cracking. The axles were about six inches square rounded at the ends for a six inch hole in the wheel. Four or five oxen were hitched to a wagon and it was slowly dragged over the prairie. When in use it would be heard for miles squeaking even when well greased with soft soap. One load of wood such as this wagon was capable of hauling would last a family all summer.
Spinning wool and flax by means of the spinning wheel was one of the common household duties. The loom was also necessary. A common article woven on the loom was linsey woolsey, the chain being linen and the filling woolen. This cloth was used for dresses for the girls and their mothers. Nearly all the clothes worn by the men were homespun. The cooking was done in large kettles hung over the fire suspended on trammels which were held by strong poles. A long handled
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frying pan was used for meat which was furnished in abund- ance. Wild game, quail, prairie chicken, and turkey, deer and bear meat, were plentiful, pork and poultry were soon raised in abundance. The pleasures of the early settlers took the form of amusements such as the "quilting bee," "corn husking," "apple paring," and in timbered sections "log rolling," and "house raising," and they would come for miles around to en- joy these gatherings. Wolf hunts were enjoyed by the men.
The census of 1870 gives the population of the township 1,962; voters, 375. Number of farms, 170; dwellings, 393; horses, 1,042; mules, 29; sheep, 458; hogs, 2,405; bushels of wheat, 17,607 ; rye, 3,300; corn, 210,220 ; oats, 66,733.
Census of 1910-Population, 1,209. Township officers, 1918, are: Supervisor, J. A. Johnson ; Town Clerk, S. H. John- son ; Assessor, N. H. Nelson ; Collector, G. N. Larson ; Commis- sioner of Highways, C. L. Youngdahl; Justice of the Peace (re- signed) ; Constable, O. W. Peterson; School Trustees, J. P. Walgren, Alfred Nelson, W. C. Stuckey; Library Board, C. C. Sawyer ; Clerk, A. C. Keener.
Altona
Coming from the west, the traveler sees a picturesque lit- tle village, its streets embowered in trees, crowning a slight elevation in an otherwise level tract of farming land. This town, Altona, is situated on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad about sixteen miles east of Galesburg. Around it lies as rich a farming country as can be found in Illinois, and the village itself is one of the most prosperous in the county, hav- ing electric lights, cement wailks, a public library, bank, and all modern improvements.
Altona was laid out and platted in 1854 by John Piatt for the heirs of John Thompson. Later E. B. Main and Daniel Al- len laid out an addition, just northeast of the first location. The place was then called La Pier. While the Central Military Tract, now the C., B. & Q. R. R. was being built in 1853 many laborers employed on the road came and camped in the edge of the wood, near the railroad line. To supply their wants, Cyrus Willard and J. S. Chambers built a store, 18x36 feet in size near the center of Section 16 on the northeast quarter of that section of land then owned by Daniel Allen. This was the first store building erected in Altona, and was the pride of the community, as it was the only store between Galesburg and Kewanee. Samuel P. Whiting built the second store, Niles & Gay later. In 1854 Mr. Erickson, of Moline, built a flouring mill. The mill continued in successful operation for ten years, Nels P. Peterson and Thos. Taylor operated it later. Ambrose Foster had a broom factory. There were several wagon makers,
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Darius Pierce operated a cooperage, later Mr. Tornquist had a carriage factory. None of them employed much extra help. In 1855 an elevator was built. Cline's elevator and Tamblyn's were burned. The farmers now own an elevator on the site of the Tamblyn elevator.
The first hotel was built back of Willard & Chambers store (which was located where E. F. Swanson's store now stands) was operated by a Mr. Hahn and later burned down, never rebuilt. The Walnut Grove Hotel was built in 1854, operated by Needham Rogers, Matthew Wiley and Mrs. Acker- man in turn, is now demolished and a nice modern residence built on the site by W. C. Stuckey whose father, S. S. Stuckey came here in 1854 and built the first house in the northeast part of the township. The Altona House, facing the depot, was constructed by Mrs. McKie, H. G. O. Wales, J. A. Negus, J. B. McCalmont and Mr. Hopkins were successive proprietors. The Brown Hotel was built later by B. H. Brown and operated by him, later by G. F. Edwards, Robert Wilson and Mr. Hopkins, is now a private residence occupied by S. M. Whiting, whose father built the second store building in town. He was later editor of the Altona Journal from 1877 to 1884, succeeded by O. B. Kail. The Altona Record was first published March 1, 1888, by C. F. McDonough. Later editors were Sam W. West, Arthur Austin and F. C. Krans, its present proprietor, who is also mayor of the town.
The village of Altona was incorporated under special char- ter in 1856 under the general law in 1862 and again in 1874.
Altona has always been noted for the excellence of its schools. There has been a good graded school here since 1858. The first school election was held October 9, 1858, at which M. B. Waldo, E. B. Main and Jas. T. Bliss were elected directors, and a graded school established with a primary, intermediate, and grammer ccourse. The grammar course as follows: Prac- tical and intellectual arithmetic, geography and map drawing continued, Sander's New Fifth Reader, Analysis of words; 2. Single entry bookkeeping, U. S. History, English Grammar, Analysis and Punctuation, Elocution and Composition; 3, Harkness first and second Latin book, Caesar, Cicero and Vir- gil, First Greek Book, Xenophon's Anabasis, Higher Arithme- tic, Algebra, Geometry, Surveying, Rhetoric, Natural Philoso- phy, How Plants Grow, Political Economy and History. The first principal, Wm. A. Jones, a Yale graduate, received $600 a year; Nancy Johnson, Intermediate, $240; Miss Marsden, Pri- mary, $4.50 a week. A new school building and location was voted for at an election held May 2, 1863, at which thirteen votes were cast, O. T. Johnson receiving ten for director. August 15, 1864, it was voted to sell the old building and site
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for $1,500. An additional $1,500 was borrowed of Geo. W. Ransom for building purposes. Matthew Wiley was the con- tractor and the High School building was completed in 1864. The new Kufus Grade School was erected in its place and occu - pied for school purposes September, 1917, Mrs. Mary I. Riner Kufus donating $8,000 toward its erection. It was completed and dedicated August 28, 1918, Rev. Brink, M. E. minister ; S. J. S. Moore, Presbyterian minister; A. R. Keeler, Mayor of Al- tona; Hon. Francis G. Blair, State Superintendent of Public Instruction ; Walter F. Boyes, County Superintendent of Schools; W. L. Steele, Galesburg, City Superintendent of Schools, and Mrs. Thos. Sheahan, (a former teacher and grad- uate of the old school and daughter of Wm. Hillerby, an old settler,) being on the program. A short time before, in 1916, the Walnut Grove Township High School in the north part of town had been dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. Judge J. D. Welch, Co. Supt. Boyes of Galesburg and State Supt. of Public Instruction Francis G. Blair were speakers on the pro- gram. Mr. and Mrs. J. M. McKie donated a fine new piano for the use of the school and handsomely furnished a rest room for the teachers.
The Ransom Public Library was erected and dedicated March 28, 1890. Hon. E. A. Bancroft of Galesburg and Dr. G. S. Chalmers were speakers. Geo. W. Ransom left his entire estate, some $8,000, (with the exception of a bequest to the Masons and Walnut Grove cemetery), to establish a Public Library in the town, if the township would built a suitable building.
The Churches
The Methodist Episcopal church was organized in August, 1853, with a membership of thirteen, under charge of Rev. Jas. Quimby. In 1857 a church was erected and later a par- sonage, the two costing $5,000. The church has been remod- eled and rededicated twice. Rev. Brink is the present pastor, members 128. The Congregational church was founded Feb. 21, 1857, with nine members under charge of Rev. A. Root. A church costing $4,000 was dedicated November 9, 1866. The present members worship with the Presbyterians, Geo. A. Ward, clerk. Rev. I. N. Candee, D. D., T. S. Vaill and J. T. Bliss organized the Presbyterian church (O. S.) April 25, 1857, there being twenty-one members. The old building was re- modeled and burned, a new brick structure was erected and dedicated December 2, 1917, members, 133. The formation of the Lutheran church took place in 1869, the congregation erect- ed a church building costing $4,000 and later a parsonage. The first pastor was Rev. Philip Direll. The denomination has steadily grown in numbers, membership at present about 350. The Swedish Baptist Mission was opened in 1876 by J. W.
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Stromberg but only holds occasional services being without a regular pastor.
The Banks
The first bank in the village was an outgrowth of the gen- eral mercantile business of A. P. Johnson & Co., which was startedin 1854. Until 1890 when Mr. Johnson left the place his was the only bank in Altona. Then the Bank of Altona in- corporated under the State Banking Law was organized with A. M. Craig, President; C. S. Clarke, Vice President; Geo. Craig, Cashier; J. M. McKie, Assistant Cashier. In January, 1896, J. M. McKie was elected to the position made vacant by Geo. Craig's death. The present officers are J. M. McKie, President; C. C. Craig, Vice President; G. N. Larson, Cashier, and C. E. Eckstedt, Assistant Cashier. The capital stock is $50,000 and surplus $100,000.
Fraternal Life
Among the societies can be mentioned the Masonic, the I. O. O. F., Maccabees, Modern Woodmen of America, Eastern Stars, Rebekahs, Royal Neighbors, Altona-Oneida Branch of the Free Kindergarten and Red Cross. The Masonic Lodge was organized October 1, 1860, and now owns its own Masonic Hall, a gift being left toward its purchase by Geo. W. Ransom. The first officers were Hiram Hall, W. M .; A. P. Stephens, S. W .; G. D. Slanker, J. W .; J. N. Bush, Sec .; J. S. Chambers, Treas .; B. H. Scott, S. D .; Geo. Mckown, J. D .; O S. Lawrence, T. An order of Eastern Stars was organized in 1892 with forty-six members. In the 60's a lodge of Good Templars or W. C. T. U. was organized and during its career the members demolished a saloon which stood where the garage is now located. I. O. O. F., No. 511, was organized Oct. 14, 1873, charter members, Matthew Wiley, P. G .; John A. Stuckey, Edward Nelson, Richard J. Burneson, Harry E. Wheeler, Jas. A. Griffith, G. A. Hall. M. W. A. Camp, 3737, organized April 3, 1896, charter members, Alfred Anderson, Carl Elion, Nels H. Nelson, Harry Austin, W. B. Elliott, E. W. Norene, August Bowman, P. Englund, F. Parker, G. L. Brown, G. Harling, O. W. Peterson, H. S. Brown, G. Johnson, R. C. Sellon, Thos. Shea- han, S. B. Brown, Frank Krans, A. Swanson, S. L. Collinson, Wm. Lady, W. H. Van Scoyk, J. H. Cummings, Nels Lundahl, H. L. Weaver, Wm. Doak, and Alf Nelson. K. O. T. M. organ- ized August 14, 1894, charter members G. C. Eckley, C. W. Miller, Arthur Shade, C. Gates, A. C. Peterson, G. W. Pierce, Reuben Cox, C. A. Clifford, J. S. Swanson, C. A. Ackerman, Ben Davenport, W. B. Gray.
Of the old settlers very few are left (none of 1850). B. H. Scott, A. J. Anderson, Mrs. L. B. Cummings, Mrs. R. C. Stuc- key still reside here. D. Pierce, Knoxville; Mrs. Helen Lind- wall, California ; Ed Wales, Colorado, and Mrs. Tamblyn, Ne-
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braska are some of the pioneers still living.
Fires and Floods
Disastrous fires have occurred at various times. B. H. Scott's store and the buildings south of it having been de- stroyed by fire three different times. January 2, 1899, the main street was completely wiped out but was replaced the next year by the substantial brick buildings which are now there, two of which were erected by Judge A. M. Craig and two by John McMaster. In 1900 the electric light plant and Tornquist carriage factory was burned, electric light plant rebuilt.
Several floods have caused Walnut Creek to go on a ram- page. One, June 25, 1898, resulted in the death of J. F. Hub- bell, and washed out the large railroad bridge and arches west of town, causing erection of a new iron road bridge and a sum- mer's work by the C. B. & Q. R. R. when new foundations were sunk deeper to hold the large new arches. Last year the rail- road built a large reservoir at their pumphouse east of town, 800 feet long, 150 feet wide and 15 feet deep. This reservoir was completed July, 1918, after eight month's work. A fine place for a factory location. August, 1907, a disastrous hail- storm destroyed the crops in the township, a strip six miles wide and fifty long being devastated. The year 1859 is noted as having a frost every month in the year, was also very wet. The winter of the deep snow was 1830. Cold winds, dark skies, and gusty winds made the days preceding Christmas of 1830 dismal, streams were swollen and snow fell in big wet flakes, later the weather grew bitterly cold and a wind of hurricane force whipped snow hard as sand into the faces of men and beast and piled it in drifts many feet deep covering all fences and cabins. Scores of men perished on the prairies and many of the bodies were not found until spring had melted away the snow. For sixty days there was no sun. Snow four feeet deep on the level, lasted until late in spring. In 1891 there was a great deal of snow and roads could not be used until shoveled as they filled up with every fresh storm. Snow still remained in fence corners in June. 1917 was another snowy year with bitter cold weather, drifts eighteen feet deep in the railroad cuts, trains stalled from Friday until Sunday, January 17, 1918, between Galva and Kewanee. Each new snowstorm filled the roads from fence to fence, making roads impassable even at this late day ; so the days passed shoveling coal and snow but no such hardships as the pioneers endured in that winter of 1830 when the domestic and wild animals and game perished by the thousand, and the settlers them- selves by the score.
The population of Altona in 1870 was 902; 1880, 806; 1890, 654; 1900, 633, and 1910, 528.
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INDIAN TRAILS
The following map, prepared by Eva Chapin Maple, of Maquon, shows the old Indian Trails of this county :
RTO.
ONTARIO.
GROTELA.
To Chicag
To Malena-
..
.
Wastage
HENDERSON
SPARTA
COPLEY
VICTORIA
. Ayhan Traje
654
32
1
City of Galesburg
2.24
789 10 11 12
GALESBURG
Korox.
& PERSIER
13
19
20
21
22133
30
29
2:8
,77
26
125
31
32
3.4
35
3 4
ยท
CEDAR.
ORASIGE.
HAW CREEK
ELBA.
esta lity
TorDIAS
CHESTNUT It
SALTAR
POINT
--
(Poria )
e)
iston
Vietain
673
---
--
to mississippi h
--
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THE INDIANS
In the foregoing township annals, there is frequent refer- ence to the Indians. The following citations are here used to throw further light on the tribes that once lived in this county and their methods of gaining a livelihood:
According to Major Thomas McKee, a pioneer resident of the county: "The Indians most frequently seen in this lo- cality were Foxes, Sacs, Kickapoos and Pottawatomies. They were alike in many particulars. The Kickapoos and Foxes were often in the vicinity of Henderson Grove, which was a favorite sugar camp. They were as kind a people as you ever saw. They were considerate. For instance if you were in a wigwam talking, the rest would keep respectful attention. They did not interrupt you. They made their children act with deference in the presence of strangers. They did not hunt perhaps as extensively as some other tribes. They lived on corn and beans, on berries and other fruits gathered in the woods, while a favorite dish was the wild potato or penyon, as it was called. This they found in the bottom lands. It was formerly quite abundant but of late I have not noted it. They speared and caught fish and now and then secured a deer. The squaws did the work and it was not until they were aroused by injustice and unkindness that they became cruel and warlike. The Pottawatomies retained their identity better than the others.
"The language of these Illinois Indians was simple, con- sisting of but few words, made plain by the most significant of gestures. Their names were long and full of vowels. The following are some of the words used by the Pottawatomies :
Horse Nan-ka-toka-shaw
Cow Na-noose
Dog
_Co-co-sh
Hog
Ne-moose
Gun
Pos-ka-soogan
Tomahawk Quimesockin
Knife Co-mone
Water
Bish
Fire
Sco-ti
Whiskey
Sco-ti-o-pe
Drink
Tela-ma-cool
Food Wau-a-net
Mean Mean-net
White men. Che-mo-ko-man
The future Mon-a-to
Small Pe-tete
Baby Pap-poose
Potato Pen-yon
Nothing left Cho-ca-co
You are a liar Kiwa-lis-ki
Pumpkin Wam-pa-cum
Beans Ko-Kees
Corn
Ta-min
Melons
Esh-kos-si-min
Hominy
Do-min-a-bo
Major McKee was one of those who organized a company and served at the time of the Black Hawk War.
Eva Chapin Maple, of Maquon, gives in Perry's County History a map of the Indian trails of the county.
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About Their Villages
The following facts are gleaned from a paper read before the Knox County Historical Society several years ago:
As to the Indian inhabitants of Knox county probably the largest Indian village in the county was on the Spoon river bottom, near the site of the present village of Maquon. At different times this village numbered several lodges and possi- bly several hundred inhabitants. They raised corn on the second bottom and for many years after they were driven from this country they returned at intervals to plant and raise their crops. It was also the custom to place the bodies of their dead in the forks and tops of trees, but after the advent of the white people they commenced burying them in the ground. Another village was at the mouth of Court Creek on Spoon River near the present village of Dahinda. Mr. Morgan Reece, who came there in the 30's, relates that the lodge poles of the abandoned village were still standing when he came there and a few families of Indians lived in that vicinity on Sugar Creek for many years afterwards. The latest family to live in that section had their wigwams on the northeast quar- ter of Section 14 of Persifer township on land now owned by Mr. William Sargent.
Another Old Village
Another old village was situated just southeast of the present village of Henderson and another in Lynn township at what was called Fraker's Grove. Persifer township is es- pecially rich in Indian lore and traditions. For many years the inhabitants of that township have dug in various places for treasure that is supposed to have been buried somewhere in the township by the Indians. One legend is to the effect that the Indians were paid a large sum of money for their land and that they quarreled over the division of this money and finally fought for it, until, like the fabled Kilkenny cats, there was none left who knew where it had been hidden, but this was improbable. Another story as related in Chapman's his- tory of Knox County of 1878 was as follows: "A tribe of Indians settled or located on Court Creek, Persifer township, whose custom it was to make sugar from the maple trees. They used brass kettles in which to boil the sap. It seems one spring, after they had made considerable sugar, they were compelled to leave. Among the Indians was a squaw and her son called 'Bil." This woman had accumulated great wealth. Not being able to carry all her money, she filled one of her kettles with gold and silver and buried it on the bank of the creek. She was afraid of the whites; so after reaching her destination in the West she sent her son back after her money. Bill made extensive searches up and down the creek, but failed
.
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to find it, and the treasure is supposed to be still buried some- where on Court creek. On the Taylor farm, in 1841, a cellar was being dug, when at a depth of about four feet three bars of copper were found. These had been forged out by hand. A well was sunk, when down about 22 feet the remains of a camp-fire were found. Charcoal and rubbish were discovered which plainly proved that at one time, within the life of man here, that was the surface." An Indian Doctor visited that vicinity a few years ago, claiming to be a descendant of Black Hawk and pointed out many places to the inhabitants of Da- hinda which had been described to him by his ancestors who had formerly lived there and in such a way that those who became acquainted with him were impressed with the truth of his representations.
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