USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume I > Part 23
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"The name of Governor Edward Coles can- not be passed over without remark. He was of one of the leading families of Virginia-a genuine F. F. V., but his course was so eccen- tric in the view of his kindred that he well nigh lost caste among them; and it may be that he deemed a sort of honorable banish- ment to the wild prairies of Illinois a relief from what would almost be considered social ostracism at home. He was wealthy and did not value office for its emoluments. I said he was deemed eccentric, and no wonder, for when, upon the death of his father, he fell heir to a parcel of slaves he determined to set them free; and not all the expostulations of his friends and family, nor their offers to ex- change other property for them, could induce him to change his determination. He would emancipate them and he did. He brought them to Illinois, bought land a few miles from Edwardsville, where with his help they be- came farmers, and some of them, whom I knew years afterwards, lived comfortably and respected.
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"There were three brothers then in Ed- wardsville, and for some years afterwards, who occupied conspicuous positions-James, Paris and Hail Mason. The first of these, James Mason, was, as I have said, proprietor of the old town plot. He was a genial, pleas- ant man, seeking mainly the acquisition of wealth and having no political ambition. His household was ever a place of delightful re- sort, not only from his own cordial good fel- lowship, but especially rendered so by the cor- dial, interesting conversation of his wife. Paris Mason was an industrious man and car- ried on a mill at the foot of the street, where the Cahokia was dammed for that purpose. The third, Hail Mason, was for a number of years a justice of the peace and a worthy citi- zen. He afterwards became a preacher in the Methodist connection."
[The next three numbers of Mr. Lippincott's papers are devoted to the bar of Madison county, and are of exceeding interest. They are referred to under the head of Bench and Bar. His following paper is devoted to sketches of and tributes to Hooper Warren and George Churchill, both of whom are spoken of elsewhere as the pioneer editors of the county-Editor. ]
"There was a time," continues Mr. Lippin- cott, "when Gaius Paddock and his farm were considered an institution of our county. His residence, seven miles north of Edwardsville, on the Springfield road, was as well known to travelers to the Sangamo and Mauvais Terre country (all central Illinois) as Edwardsville itself. He was a Revolutionary soldier and drew a pension for services. When I first came to St. Louis in 1818 Mrs. Paddock kept a boarding house, and all the bachelor law- yers and other big men boarded there while the old gentleman was at the farm preparing it for the residence of the family. So it con- tinued several years, some of the daughters living by turns with the father and some with the mother until a new house was built and
the family came together. It was and is a charming place, and a resort for those who loved to mingle with intelligent, energetic women, mother and daughters, and see the re- sults of their economical and tasteful labors .*
"I knew a bachelor in those days who lived on a farm adjacent. He did not remain a bachelor long, but took one of those daughters to wife and lived and prospered there; but lives no longer. Gershom Flagg was well known as an intelligent, prosperous but unam- bitious farmer, and it was always a mystery why he was not known in the councils of our state if not our nation. That he was com- petent to fill a respectable if not a high station was well known, and there were those who doubted whether his brother, then secretary of the state of New York, possessed any more solid qualifications. I have some suspicion that the declination of his son at the late elec- tion, tended somewhat to explain. Is the dis- inclination to office hereditary ? There was an- other son-in-law of Mr. Paddock's living near there in those days, Pascal P. Enos, Esq. He was a lawyer but did not, so far as I know, practice in our courts. When J. Q. Adams was elected president he was appointed regis- ter of the land office at Springfield-a con- fessedly good appointment. He did not live many years afterwards, but his family occu- pies a deservedly high position among the early inhabitants of the state capital. £ I
should also mention John Estabrook as an- other of those whose early and long residence in that neighborhood helped to give it charac- ter. Robert Collet, in 1820, sold out his store at Milton, and improved a farm a mile or two west of Mr. Estabrook which he stocked with choice fruit trees from New Jersey. Formed for society, Mr. and Mrs. Collet could not long enjoy the seclusion of their beautiful place and removed to St. Louis, where their
*Gaius Paddock, a retired St. Louis merchant and a grandson of the original proprietor, now resides at this farm.
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son now resides. Mr. Collet's mother, a grand old lady, resided with them. She was a native of the Isle of Man and, as she has in- formed me, a descendant of that Edward Christian (or his brother) who was a promi- nent character in one of Scott's novels. In those days there came to the county a man who figured much more largely in political life, Emanuel J. West. He purchased the farm of Thomas Rattan, near Mr. Collet's, which he named Glorietta." [Mr. West's im- portant career is spoken of elsewhere and is therefore omitted from Mr. Lippincott's narrative-Editor.]
The next paper of Mr. Lippincott's, de- voted to Marine settlement and its people, ap- pears in the sketch of that township.
At the close of 1819 a group of families all connected together, yet independent, arrived in Edwardsville from New York. They were the families of Abraham Leggett, his son, Abraham A. Leggett, and his four sons-in- law, Captain Breath, Thomas Slocum, Cor- nelius Oakley and Edwin E. Weed. They first stopped in Edwardsville and then pur- chased farms on the east side of Silver creek. Mrs. Weed, Mr. Leggett's youngest married daughter, died in Edwardsville before they could get to the farm selected and her husband soon returned to New York. . The son and sons-in-law of Mr. Leggett soon got tired of farming and also returned to New York, but the old folks remained in Edwardsville until 1822, when they likewise returned. Their then minor son, William Leggett, was a man of great talent, and ' was subsequently distin- guished as an editor of the New York Even- ing Post in association with William Cullen Bryant, the poet.
William L. May was a citizen of Edwards- ville who was not then considered remarkable for talents or popular arts. He removed to Springfield and, in later years, was elected to congress over Benjamin Mills of Galena. Mr.
Lippincott speaks of the brothers, Abraham, Isaac and David Prickett, and Mr. Churchill adds this annotation: "Abraham Prickett was a delegate to our constitutional convention of 1818 and a member of our first house of rep- resentatives in 1818-19. He was postmaster at Edwardsville and at one time judge of pro- bate. He died at Natchitoches, Louisiana, June 12, 1836, aged forty-seven years. His brother, Isaac Prickett, was a merchant and a very worthy man. The third brother, David, was a lawyer, was once elected to the legisla- ture and was at one time judge of probate of this county.
"But the big store at Edwardsville was kept by Robert Pogue, who, with his brothers, did a large business for a few years and then left the country. Joshua Atwater was there-and I believe is there yet (written in 1864). I be- lieve his old age is cheered by a competence of this world's goods and a good hope for the next. I should do wrong to omit a name that in the earliest days of Illinois was well known and respected in Madison county. He was a recorder of deeds when the county covered a large territory. As a Methodist preacher he possessed unbounded confidence and respect. His two sons, Barton and Richard, have be- come well known preachers since. Josias Randle kept his office on a hill which skirts a ravine on the west side of the village. There were several families located there, of whom I remember Nathan Scarritt and Don Alonzo Spaulding. Nathan Scarritt resided at Ed- wardsville, a year or two, and then removed to what became known as Scarritt's prairie, now in Godfrey. He had a brother, Isaac Scarritt, a preacher of more than ordinary ability. I recall two little boys who used to do errands and sometimes came to my residence. Perhaps my readers may have heard since of Isaac and Russell Scarritt. I say nothing of the younger ones, Jotham and others. (The Jotham referred to is the Rev. J. A.
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Scarritt, of Alton, who became a famous Methodist divine and still abides with us in a venerated old age-Editor.)
"In speaking of the venerable Josias Randle I might, with propriety, have introduced others of the same name and kindred. He had a brother whose name I cannot now re- call, but he was the father of Josiah, who lived many years in Scarritt's prairie ; George, who was at a mill on the Macoupin, and Ir- win B., long well known at Alton (spoken of in Biographical section). A cousin, Parham Randle, was long a very interesting preacher, and Thomas Randle began his ministry in those days. In the same neighborhood lived William Otwell who served in the Legislature in 1820 and 1824. His son, Stith Otwell, be- gan to preach about that time, but his use- fulness was early cut short by death. Mathew Torrance, Joseph and David Robinson, though well known and highly respected, were never in public life, but I may remark that these, and such like them contributed greatly to preserve and bless the community of which they formed an influential part.
"South of Edwardsville, on the edge of Ridge Prairie, were several persons who ought to be mentioned: William Gillham, a substantial farmer, connected with the Gill- hams of the American Bottom, had been, I be- lieve, a member of the territorial legislature. Adjoining his farm was that of the widow Robinson, whose son, Benaiah Robinson, a well educated man, who, if he had chosen to employ his abilities to win popular favor would have been conspicuous. He was twice a candidate for the legislature, but was unsuc- cessful. Mr. Churchill says he was chosen county surveyor as often as he desired the of- fice. He was elected a delegate to the consti- tutional convention of 1847.
"Robert McKee was a neighbor and a good man, but unpretentious. Near him was John Barber, a farmer and teacher, who, however quiet and unambitious, could not be unknown.
His influence as an able and religious man preceded by many years his official character as a preacher. His son, John Barber, Jr., be- came an uncommonly able minister of the Gospel.
"Among those connected with the Leggetts and Breaths were two Irish families who have left their mark upon the State, David Gilles- pie and Robert Gordon. The survivors of that early day in Edwardsville will remember well the mother of Mathew and Joseph Gilles- pie. Strong, athletic and hard-working, she was held in such estimation by the better class that no one was more welcome as a visitor in their families than Mrs. Gillespie. She had a strong, nervous mind, stored more than any other, I thought, with a vast amount of Script- ure truth. I never durst encounter her in argument, or hardly attempt to quote Script- ure to her, for she was more than my match. Her sons, later occupying important positions in public life, doubtless received the impress of their mother's mind, who did not live long enough to see them in the fullness of their prosperity, but the judge upon the bench doubtless looks back with pride to his noble mother, as well as with love and veneration. In reference to the other family I need only point to Rev. Joseph Gordon, who lives to occupy no small place as a minister of the Gospel, respected and beloved as he is, by all the brethren associated with him in the Alton Presbytery.
"I have alluded to Maj. William H. Hop- kins and wish to say something of him, be- cause at the early day his house was for a season my home and the resort of many per- sons in social and political life. Major Hop- kins was a native of Orange county, New York, and came to Edwardsville in 1819. After keeping boarders for some time he re- moved to a new and commodious house he had erected in the new town. His house was for several years the best-kept and most re- spectable in the region and was patronized by
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the elite. The homelikeness of the place was enhanced by the presence of his venerable parents, General Reuben Hopkins and wife. The family later removed to St. Louis where the Major kept an excellent hotel on Main street which was the resort of Madisonians visiting that city.
"Dennis Rockwell was in Edwardsville when I went there in the fall of 1820. He had established a land office agency there in con- nection with a Mr. Van Zandt of Washington. He employed me as an assistant. Few men have won more friends or retained them longer than Mr. Rockwell. He subsequently removed to Jacksonville where he became cir- cuit clerk and postmaster. Another interest- ing reminiscence of the Hopkins House is that of Chester Ashley. He came from the east and engaged in the practice of law. He was a man of talent and education ; possessed of ele- gant manners, frank, genial and sociable. I think he had a high sense of honor and recti- tude. He married a relative of the Hopkins family and removed to Little Rock, Arkansas. I was not surprised when he was elected to the senate of the United States from Arkansas, but rather wondered that his political advance- ment did not occur sooner. His career and death are known as a part of the nation's his- tory.
"Andrew Miller is a man not to be forgot- ten by me while memory lasts. He was not only one of those who formed the pleasant cir- cle at the Hopkins House, but an endeared friend before and after. His father, John Miller, came to Milton in 1819, with a son and two daughters. He built and set up a hat fac- tory. Their coming was remarkable for one thing : they landed in Milton from a keel boat directly at the mills, the only instance, perhaps, in which Wood river was navigated by a keel boat. Mr. Miller, the father, soon died. The son was employed by me as a clerk while I
continued in business. The daughters mar- ried and from that time Andrew Miller and I dwelt together, mostly in my family, until I removed from Edwardsville. In this place he became cashier of the Edwardsville branch of the State Bank, and settled up its accounts for the state government. After this he was em- ployed by Dr. Edwards in the land office until his last sickness. He died in Dr. Edwards' home. No man was more respected and con- fided in by all-and, I may be permitted to add, none was more beloved by me.
"Benjamin J. Seward came to the State --- or Territory rather-in 1817. He preceded me about a month at Shawneetown, but left immediately, and I did not meet him until I came to Edwardsville where he was cashier of the bank of Edwardsville, of which Benjamin Stephenson was president. My acquaintance with him was really of a later date when he was agent in Illinois for the American Sunday School Union. From this state he was pro- moted to the general agency for the Mississippi valley with headquarters at Cincinnati. He was called from this post by his brother, Wil- liam H. Seward, at the time the latter was elected governor of New York, to attend to his extensive land business.
"On the road from Edwardsville to Ripley, which was once expected to be a town, lived the family of Mr. Hoxsey, and some of them are there still (1864) being known as respect- able citizens. It was a common remark- among bachelors and widowers that there was always a beautiful daughter there, and so it became the nearest way to several places. At least four gentlemen with whom I have been acquainted, have drawn upon the bank of Sil- ver creek for their best treasure, viz: Benaialı Robinson, Dr. Weir of Edwardsville, Daniel Anderson and A. M. Blackburn. There is a cluster of descendants of the old gentleman, sons of his son, Tristam, in Perry county, in
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which I write, who are worthy to bear and transmit the name. One of them has given his young life to his country.
EARLY CHURCHES OF THE COUNTY
"The Methodist and Baptist churches were early planted in Illinois and there were many preachers of these denominations who labored more or less in Madison county. The Bap- tists were mainly of the old school, or what we called the hyper-Calvinistic class. They were then popularly called Ironsides, but have since obtained the name of Hardshell. I do not approve of such nicknames and only men- tion them because I do not recall their own distinctive name.
"About 1819 Rev. John M. Peck, who had come to St. Louis before me, came also to itin- erate among them. He was an able man, as many can testify, and urged his missionary, Bible, Sunday school and temperance efforts with great success. But he was not received cordially by the brethren of the old churches. They considered him an innovator, and, after a few years he declared non-fellowship with them. Of the good brethren of the old side I need not add any more.
"The Methodist church furnished many specimens of able ministry and devotion to the work. Besides those already mentioned by me, who were, with one exception, local preachers, the best remembered by me were John Dew and Samuel H. Thompson. They were noble men. Mr. Dew was a man of great intellectual power. His strong appeals to the judgment, rather than to passions, were felt especially by thinkers. Samuel H. Thomp- son was a different style of man. His intel- lectual powers could not be esteemed equal, yet he could command an audience and produce more effect upon the public mind than any other man of his day. Governor Edwards said of him that he was the most powerful man with the people he knew, and that if he made
politics a profession he would be wonderfully successful. But he was devoted to a higher work, and though, in later years, he allowed his name to be used as a candidate for lieuten- ant governor, he abstained from personal ef- fort and thus, it was thought, lost his election.
"Of Presbyterians, in those days, there were few, if we except the Cumberland Presby- terians who were active, efficient and success- ful. I have mentioned the John Barbers, father and son, as among the most efficient laborers in the denomination, though not the first in point of time. Three early Presbyterian ministers whom I recall were Benjamin Lowe who came to Illinois in 1817, and Mr. Graham, both edu- cated at Princeton. About the same time came Nicholas Patterson. All three labored in Madison county, but not for a long period. Other Presbyterian ministers of the county were Rev. Salmon Giddings, Daniel Gould, Edward Hollister, Orin Catlin, Daniel Green Sprague and Abraham Williamson, all men of note in this county between the years 1818 and 1822, and the first named until 1828, although his home was in St. Louis. He married Miss Almira Collins of Collinsville, Among the conspicuous persons in the early day was Na- thaniel Buckmaster. He was here, probably, before I became a citizen. My first recollec- tions of Edwardsville include two brick houses which he had put up, one for James Mason, in the rear of the old courthouse square, and one for Governor Edwards on the corner of the public square in the new town."
Mr. Churchill supplements Mr. Lippincott's recollections with the following sketch of Col- onel Buckmaster, who, he says, was a success- ful candidate for the legislature in 1820: "His vote helped to charter the state bank in 1821. He turned his attention to the shrievalty in 1822, and was elected and regularly reelected every other year until 1834, when he ran for state senator and was defeated by Cyrus Ed- wards. In 1835, at a special election, he was
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chosen to fill a vacancy in the house of repre- sentatives occasioned by the resignation of Jesse B. Thomas, Jr. In 1836 he again turned his attention to the shrievalty and was elected by a plurality of 35 votes over Isaac Cox. In 1838 John Adams was elected by 85 majority over N. Buckmaster. In 1840 Andrew Miller was elected by 71 majority over Samuel A. Buckmaster (nephew of N. Buckmaster) and was several times reelected to the same office. Nathaniel Buckmaster was, sometime, post- master at Alton and, at another time, warden of the State Penitentiary, a position filled later by his nephew. In 1854 N. Buckmaster tried his luck, unsuccessfully, for congress.
"George Barnsback and Jacob Gonterman were respected farmers living south of Ed- wardsville. The latter, I believe, never occu- pied a public position, but by his high char- acter and the record of his descendants has left an excellent reputation." Mr. Churchill says of him: "In 1826 Jacob Gonterman came within, six votes of being elected county com- missioner, being defeated by his neighbor, Emanuel J. Leigh."
George Barnsback was an educated Ger- man gentleman, choosing to live a retired life on a large farm on the edge of Ridge prairie. Mr. Churchill says of him: "George Barns- back has never been an office seeker, but in 1819 he, Col. Sam. Judy and Rev. William Jones constituted the first county commis- sioners' court under the state government. In 1844-45 Mr. Barnsback, Newton D. Strong and myself had the honor of representing the county in the Legislature. My acquaintance with him commenced in November, 1817. I was traveling through the county in search of land whereon to make a home. A shower coming up I stopped at Capt. George Kinder's, but he said that his family were sick and he could not entertain me, but if I went on to his brother-in-law's (Barns) I could un- doubtedly be accommodated. Of course I went and found an industrious, intelligent Vol. I-10
Hanoverian busily engaged in hammering shoe leather. He informed me of a vacant quarter section of land adjoining that of William F. Purviance. The latter politely rode with me out on the prairie and pointed out the land. The next day I went to Ed- wardsville and entered the land. I learned the 'Barns' was an abbreviation for Barns- back. Julius L. Barnsback, a nephew of the preceding, has been dead several years. Of course he was not our representative, but Julius A. Barnsback, youngest son of the venerable George Barnsback, has attained to that honor. He was sheriff of Madison county two years, commencing November, 1860, and last year (1864) was captain of a company of 100-days men in his country's service. The Gonterman and Barnsback families are related by marriage.
"There was a man living in Edwardsville for a time named John Kain. His family resided in an old frame house nearly oppo- site where the Catholic church was after- wards built. Charles Slade married one of the daughters of John Kain. Slade moved eastwardly and laid out the town of Carlyle, at the point where the old Vincennes road crossed the Kaskaskia river. He named it after his grandmother. Mr. Slade was an active, handsome, gentlemanly young man. He held the office of United States marshal for the district of Illinois. In 1832 he was elected to congress, receiving a plurality of 389 votes over Governor Edwards, the next highest candidate. He was a candidate for reelection, but when on his way home from Washington he died of cholera near Vin- cennes, July II, 1834.
"I cannot recollect the exact date of the advent of John Adams to this county but it was in the spring of 1823, or before, as his card in relation to wool carding and cloth dressing first appeared in the Edwardsville Spectator of May 3, 1823. At one time he essayed the manufacture of woolen cloth,
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but it appears to me the latter venture did not succeed owing to the nature of the water. He was the first to introduce into this county, and, as far as I know into the state, the manu- facture of castor oil. In this he did an ex- tensive business, giving quite an impetus to industrial pursuits in Edwardsville. He was elected sheriff of Madison county in 1838."
POLITICS IN THE EARLY PERIOD
"The election for delegates to the consti- tutional convention of 1818 took place at Ed- wardsville on the 6th, 7th and 8th of July of that year," writes Mr. Churchill. "The votes were given viva voce. The candidates all professed to be opposed to slavery. At the close of the poll the vote stood: Abraham Pricket, 468; Joseph Borough, 392; Ben- jamin Stephenson, 324; George Cadwell, 171 ; William Jones, 158; Joseph Meacham, 38. The three first named were elected. The elec- tion under the new constitution took place September 17th, 18th and 19th at Edwards- ville.
"The result in Madison county was as fol- lows: for state, congressional and county of- ficers :
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