USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume I > Part 51
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"The situation of this Territory is good for trade having the advantage of Water carriage on all sides the Missisipi on the West the Ohio & Wabash S. E. & the Kaskaskia and Illinois in the interior of the Territory. The Illinois which is about 400 miles in length heads near Lake Michigan. A branch of the Illinois heads within 4 miles of the head of Chicago a short River which empties into Lake michgon [sic]. In freshe[t]s boats pass this portage the waters being connected. They are made shallow for the purpose. I have seen them at St. Louis Landing, Miss. I think there will be a canall cut to connect the waters of Illinois & Chicago at no distant period. From informa-
tion the expense would not be great. One hun- dred thousand acres of Land, is appropriated for this purpose. This done we have a water communication from almost any part of the Territory to the states of Indiana Ohio & Pennsylvania on either side of those stat [e] s. Also with New York by the way of Lake Erie & an easy Communication with the Ocean by New Orleans. One steam Boat Run from St. Louis to Louisville Kentucky the last season and another from St. Louis, to New Orleans. One of them came up to St. Louis the Ist January last and returned but the ice generally covers the River in January & Feb- uary That is, drifting ice, for the Missisipi was not shut over last winter at St louis tho' it sometimes is. The Missouri was frozen over last winter. There are 8 or 10 steam boats on the Ohio and Missisipi Rivers and more build- ing there was two built in Cincinnati last sum- mer, & one at the Rising Sun and one at New Albany below the falls of Ohio. The Trade from St. Louis to Orleans is very considerable there are in St. Louis between 40 & 50 mer- cantile Stores.
We have a great plenty of Deer, Turkies, Wolves, Opossoms Prairie hens, Eagles, Turky Buzzards, Swans, Geese, ducks, Brant, sand hill Cranes, Parokites & with many other small Animals & birds. Gray squirrels are as thick here as I have ever seen stripeid [sic] ones in Vermont. There is more honey here in this Territory I suppose than in any other place in the world, I have heard the Hunters say that they have found 8 or 10 swarms in a day on the St. Gama & Illinois Rivers where there are no settlements (Truly this must be the Land of Milk & honey.) The Climate is not so hot as might be expected there is almost a contin- ual breeze blowing from the large prairies like the breezes on large Lakes & ponds. The country is so open that it is considerable cold in Winter the ground freezes very hard There being generally but little snow. The past summer has been very hot more than common
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I am told. The Thermometer on the hottest day stood at 98°. I learn from the News Pa- pers that the Weather has been very hot in different parts of the United States.
The Stock of this Country consists princi- pally of horses, horned Cattle & hogs. Sheep will do very well here if they can be kept from the Wolves but this cannot well be done in the newsettled parts the wolves are so very nu- merous. Hogs will live & get fat in the Woods and Prairies. I have seen some as fat upon Hickorynuts, Acorns, Pecons & Walnuts, as ever I did those that were fat [t]ed upon Corn. All that prevents this country being as full of Wild hogs as of Deer is the Wolves which kill the pigs when the sows are not shut up til the pigs are a few weeks old. There are places in this Territory where Cattle & horses will live all winter & be in good order without feeding, that is upon the Rivers. Most of the people cut no hay for their Cattle & horses but this is a foolish way of theirs they either have to feed out their Corn or their Cattle get very poor. Cattle & horses do very well in this Country they get very fat by the middle of June. They do not gain much after this being so harrassed by swarms of flies which prevent their feeding any in the heat of the day. They are so bad upon horses that it is almost im- possible to travel from the 15 June til the Ist Sept unles a horse is covered with blankets. Where ever a fly lights upon a horse a drop of blood starts. I have seen white horses red with blood that these flies had drawn out of him. As the Country becomes settled these flies disappear.
"It appears from the returns to the secre- tary that there is in this Territory upwards of 40,000 Inhabitants. The Convention which met the first mondy [sic] in August have formed a Constitution but it is not yet pub- lished as soon as it is I will send you a Copy. The Gov. is to be Chosen for 4 years as also the senate the members of the lower house are chosen once in two years the Legeslature to
set biennally. I have delayed writing for sev- eral days to hear whether Simeon Manuel was in St. Louis but can hear nothing of him. P. P. Enos formerly of Woodstock Vermont now lives in St. Louis and he tells me he knows no such man there.
"I have not been able to get any employment in surveying The Lands haveing been princi- pally surveyed in the winter of 1816-7. There was then upwards of 80 Companies employed upwards of 4 months. They surveyed the Mil- itary Bounty Lands and most of the other Lands where the Indian title was extinguished, 31/2 Millions of Acres of Bounty lands were survd between the Missisipi and Illinois Riv- ers. There is now considerable surveying to be done but the Surveyor General, Rector, has so many connections that are Surveyors that it is not possible for a stranger to get any Con- tract of any importance. Government Gives 3 dollars a mile for surveying all publick lands. Some who are not Surveyors (but fav- orites) make Contracts for surveying and then hire it done. I was offered 25 dollars a month last winter to go with another surveyor but did not choose to go under a man who did not know as much as I did myself.
"I Entered 420 Acres of Land near this place and about 25 mils from St. Louis and 10 or 12 from the Conjunction of the Missisippi and Missouri Rivers'and 18 or 20 from the Mouth of Illinois nearly in Lat. 38° 30' North. I now own only 160 acres haveing sold the re- mainder for $285. dollars being double what I gave for it. The quarter Section which I now own is on the trail which leads from Ed- wardsville to fort Clark which is at the south end of Illinois Lake a dilation of the Illinois River 210 miles from its mouth following its meanderings. This fort was built in the time of the Late War. This with the forts at Chi- cago and fox River which empties into green bay, Macinau, Prairie des Chien, and fort Ed- wards on the Mississippi below the mouth of
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Rock River serve to regulate the Indian trade and protect the Frontiers from the savages. The United States have also garisons upon Red River, Arkansaw, and Missouri Rivers.
"The people of This Territory are from all parts of the United States & do the least work I believe of any people in the world. Their principal business is hunting deer, horses hogs and Cattle and raising Corn. They have no pasture but turn every thing out to run at large and when they want to use a horse or oxen they will have to travel half a dozen miles to find them through grass and weeds higher than a man can reach when on horse back and the grass and vines are so rough that nothing but their Leather hunting shirts and trowsers will stand any Chance at all.
"These kind of People as soon as the set- tlements become thick Clear out and go fur- ther into the new Country. The method of Raising Corn here is to plough the ground once then furrow it both ways and plant the Corn 4 feet each way and plough between it 3 or 4 times in the Summer but never hoe it at all. Wheat is generally sowed among the Corn and ploughed in sometime in August or first sept. There are no barns in this Country peo- ple stack all their Wheat and thresh it out with horses on the ground. We have not many good mills in this Country.
"The price of Corn last harvest was 33 1/3 cents in the spring 50 cents in the summer 75 cents Potatoes are from 50 to 100 cents a bushel oats 50 cents Wheat one dollar Beef from 31/2 to 5 dollars per hundred Pork from 4 to 7 dollars a hundred. Dry goods are get- ting very Cheap the country is full of them we have more merchants than any thing else. Boots and Shoes sell the highest here of any place I was ever in Iron is 75 dollars a hun- dred salt 3 dollars a bushel Butter from 121/2 to 50 cents a pound Cheese generally brings 25 cents and very little to be had at that price, for there is none made except by Eastern peo-
ple. The price of improved farms here is from 5 to 12 dollars an acre.
"As soon as you Receive this I wish you to write to me. As soon as I can make it any way convenient I int[end to] come and see you all for I bel [ieve] you [MS. torn a]nd the rest of the young men [in the] vicinity [can] not leave your mothers long [enough] to come [here].
"I think I shall go by the way of New Or- leans and New York or Boston It being the easiest and cheapest route to go from here to Vermont. Give my love to all my friends. By your letter, I learn that you are all [MS. torn] married I expect in about 10 or 15 years when you have about a dozen Children each you will begin to think about moving to the westward. I have seen more old, than young men moveing. If you have any Idea of ever seeing the Western Country you never will have a better time than the present but if you are contented there you can live as well there as here. I send you my best wishes my respects to my Parents and remain your af- fectionat [e] Brothe [r] for ever
"GERSHOM FLAGG"
THE OLD CABIN
The old cabin was really two cabins with their gables towards each other, perhaps six- teen feet apart and the space between them was roofed over. The north cabin was built first of unhewn logs and covered with oak boards "rived" with a "fro" from oak logs and held in place, in default of nails, by other logs laid parallel with the eaves. When more room was needed the south cabin was built of hewn logs laid about two logs higher to give more room above stairs, and roofed with the space between the two cabins. The south cabin was floored with unmatched boards (if I am not mistaken) ; the north was floored with puncheons four or five inches thick, made
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by splitting large oak logs as straight as could be found and hewing the upper sides. The upper floors of both cabins were unmatched boards. The doors were batten doors with wooden hinges and latch. The windows were long steamboat windows sliding horizontally.
The cooking was done by the large open fire-place in the north cabin; the baking in "reflectors" and bake ovens which stood on the hearth. The boiling was done in kettles hung on a crane which was hinged to swing out over the hearth. A kitchen was attached later to the west side of the north cabin and a "rotary" stove installed. A bedroom was also attached to the west side of the south cabin.
The roofs of the cabins and passage way were extended twelve to sixteen feet and a floor laid on the ground below, making a long and pleasant verandah. We do not remem- ber ever seeing this closed up.
As luxury increased with wealth, the logs were taken off the old cabin, new and shorter boards were rived from straight-grained oak trees, a new roof put on with nails and the logs left off. The roof which had been im- pervious to rain under the logs, began to leak badly and Mrs. Flagg had to apply the most obvious remedy ; a tin pan under each leak. She was inclined to reproach her husband for taking the logs off the house. Under her re- proaches he is reported to have said he "did pity poor people who had no tin pans to put under their leaks."
W. F. BLISS,
Pana, Ill., Feb. 11, 1906.
NOT A SUCCESSFUL POLITICIAN
We present (p. 231) facsimile of the Whig ticket of 1846 now in possession of Hon. N. G. Flagg of Moro which indicates that he is a better politician than his grandfather. The vote for legislative candidates was as follows : Democratic-William Martin, 1,312; Solomon
Koepfli, 728; Martin Kurtz, 35 ; Thomas Judy, 645; A. G. Hall, 30.
Whig-George Smith, 897; Curtis Blake- man, 1,098; William F. D'Wolf, 933; Gershom Flagg, 592.
Martin (Democrat) and Blakeman and D'Wolf (Whigs) were elected representatives and Joseph Gillespie, state senator.
*REMINISCENCES OF GAIUS PADDOCK FAMILY
Paroquets used to be plentiful in this (Fort Russell) neighborhood until about 1833, the year Dr. Lathy came here.
Gershom Flagg killed a bear about the time we came here. Panthers were also here when we came. One with four young killed by L. Jackson and Solomon Pruitt. One jumped at Volney Richmond about 1830. Wild cats were common: used to carry off pigs. One was killed on Paddock's creek about 1840 by Tom Buck. Spear killed a very large one on same creek. Case and others killed one about same time and place. There were wolves, black, grey and prairie-black not so common. One followed Mrs. Jane Flagg from Flagg cabin to the Paddock home. One gray wolf was killed by dogs in yard; animals fought on gal- lery. Lou. Jackson had dogs attacked by them on Indian creek-one dog killed.
Buffalo remains were picked up about here at time of settlement. Horn of elk found by Gershom Flagg.
First foxes were brought here by Nimrod Dorsey of Kentucky.
Robins came about 1842 or 43, W. C. F. thinks. Gershom Flagg killed partridge about same time. Orioles came after 1820.
Man out hunting hogs was frozen to death in winter of 1820 or 1821. Lived down in timber. About 1820 or 1821 William Leggett and father came in; had come across from Jacksonville and got lost; had nothing to eat for four or five days : were first given mush and milk.
*Noted by W. C. Flagg.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Charles Tindall found skeleton of rattle- snake whose ribs were as long as a man could span with thumb and forefinger. Killed an- other rattlesnake of enormous proportions.
The army worm first appeared here in 1843. Green devil horns not here at first. Locusts first appeared in 18- and then in 1843.
Indians used to come from Ft. Clark (Pe- oria) on way to St. Louis. Their trail was under our (Paddock's) gallery and through G. Flagg's orchard, keeping on ridge. Ninian Edwards used to point out trail when going to Springfield.
"Metty," a Frenchman, was a noted agent and interpreter. He was a small man of un- common nerve ; used to stop here ; was a very polite man; would turn out his horse and sit on woodpile and smoke until dark; raised his hat to all comers.
Indian arrow heads were quite plentiful when we first came.
Farmers raised corn, wheat and oats. Cot- ton was raised by most families and spun ; everything made from it. Jimson, parsley, catnip, burdock and mayweed were not indi- genous, but came in after several years.
Women wore sun bonnets to meetings, made of printed calico; farmers made the men's shoes. Meetings used to be held at private houses. The preachers were Cumberland Presbyterians. Preacher Barber was here about thirty-five years ago (1825).
The first frame house was John Newman's ; built by Pemberton. Ours was next.
No sweet potatoes were raised then; Irish potatoes were better than now. Used to hear of Hoxey's farm when we first came. Wild fruits were about the same as now. Three kinds of wild plums. The cattle were mostly white. They were on the American Bottom. They were descended from cattle brought by the monks of Latrappe who settled on the great Cahokia mound in 1809. Wild hogs in the woods were dangerous. They would get
among farmers' hogs when driven in fall and would hurt men and kill dogs.
We used to go to mill near Moore's ; also to Collet's and to Montgomery's and to Hail Ma- son's in Edwardsville. He did not "cheat the Baptists." There was a distillery for peaches on the road to Edwardsville.
The first school (ladies') was taught by a Miss Scarritt, in Mrs. Enos' house. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard and Mr. Atwood also taught later.
Zenos Webster was the first settler above here; he came about 1820. Then came Elihu Palmer and Thomas Wood. Collet and West came in the fall of 1819, after we came in the spring. John Estabrook built his cabin before G. Flagg built his. John Newman came in 1820 to where Hill now lives.
LETTER FROM HON. BENAIAH ROBINSON
At a meeting of the board of surveyors of Madison county held at the court house in Ed- wardsville May 6, 1867, Hon. Benaiah Robin- son of Corvallis, Oregon, was elected an hon- orary member, and the secretary requested to inform him of the action taken and to request from him a history of his professional services while surveyor of this county. The following answer was received:
"Corvallis, Oregon, July 29, 1867-S. E. McGregory, Esq .- My dear Sir: Permit me to say that the receipt of yours of June 3d is with pride acknowledged. Still more proud is your servant of the honor conferred upon him by your very wisely organized society. For many years such an organization has been nec- essary, much more so now when the county has grown into so great importance and lands have risen to so great value. The surveyor has to be governed somewhat by the price of land ; otherwise, when land is nearly valueless, as it has been at times in Illinois, he would be left on the field to do the work himself at very scanty pay. But when the soil is in demand at a high rate he can afford to beat the kinks out
.
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of his chain and sharpen the points of his com- pass, and, withal earn something more than his daily bread. Such an arrangement as you have goes into, by the surveyors of a county, will do much to abolish that odious habit of too freely pulling up, without strong evidence of error, the corners placed by predecessors. But the judges of the circuit courts have said that there is less of that done in Madison than perhaps any other county in the state. And thus a considerable source of litigation would be cut off. Often, very often indeed, have I' come across the lines and corners made by your most worthy president (D. A. Spauld- ing) and always found them fixed with judg- ment and care.
"Your servant was born, March II, 1796, in Lincoln county, North Carolina, ten miles southeast of the battle ground of King's moun- tain; was brought to what afterwards became Edwardsville, in 1809. In the year 1812, hav- ing become desirous of learning the use of fig- ures, I cut a large chip out of a walnut tree out of which a slate was formed ; plank could not then be spared to make a black board. Began to learn what sine, tangent and angle meant in 1817. In the fall of that year I was made deputy under Asahel Enloe, who held the office of county surveyor under and by appointment of the territorial governor, Ninian Edwards. About the close of 1817 Mr. Enloe vacated the office by leaving the county. John Y. Sawyer then made applica- tion and, by the influence of Col. Benjamin Stephenson, was appointed county surveyor by Governor Edwards. Owing to an optical deficiency Mr. Sawyer could not fill the place. He made me deputy and exacted half the fees. In 1822 the legislature took part in making
surveyors ; it made recommendations and the governor appointed and commissioned them. The first commission under this law was given to myself in preference to George Teas who was an application, through Joseph Burrough, a member of the house.
"In 1825 I left the county and therefore the office. Being out of the state it was unknown to me when Mr. Spaulding was commissioned, but most likely he took the position not long after my leaving. In 1835 the office was made elective by the people of every county in the state, and by the same law it was made the duty of the governor to commission the suc- cessful candidate.
"Your servant was the first surveyor elected by the people of Madison county in opposition to the late Gershom Flagg, a man of fine sense and great respectability. I was elected to four successive terms of four years each. The last of these expired in 1851, but was made through courtesy to extend through two more years when the Oregon fever set in and drove me across the Rocky mountains. Since that I have not kept step to the music of good old Madison.
"The first surveyor that was ever appointed for Madison after it was stricken off from St. Clair, was Martin Jones and the next was Asahel Jones, spoken of above.
"Please present my best regards to the mem- bers respectively of your society, and permit me to remain,
"Your most obedient and humble servant, . "BENAIAH ROBINSON."
Mr. Robinson speaks very modestly of him- self, but he was a man of note in public life as well as in his profession. He was a mem- ber of the constitutional convention of 1847.
CHAPTER XLVII MURDER OF JACOB BARTH
STORY OF THE CRIME-MOB ATTEMPTS LYNCHING - DISPERSED BY SHERIFF - CRIMINALS TRIED AND PUNISHED-DECLINE OF RESPECT FOR LAW-ORIGIN OF MADISON GUARDS.
The murder of Jacob Barth, a German peddler, on May 12, 1857, by three young men from England, caused much excitement at the time throughout the county, and came near resulting in the lynching of the prison- ers at Edwardsville, by an excited mob from Highland, who had resolved to take the law into their own hands. The cause of this feel- ing was the racial tension then existing be- tween the native and foreign elements. The county at that time was a hot bed of Know Nothingism, that party (the American) hav- ing carried the county by a plurality at the presidential election of 1856.
STORY OF THE CRIME
The crime took place on the highway in Silver creek bottom between Troy and St. Jacobs. The perpetrators of the murder were George W. Sharp, alias George Gibson ; Robert Sharp, alias Joseph Watson, and John Johnson, alias Edward Barber. The murder- ers, lately arrived from England, had come down the river from Iowa to St. Louis; crossed the river there and set out in this county ostensibly in search of work. On the road between Collinsville and Troy they were overtaken by the peddler who said he was on his way to Highland. They asked for a ride but were refused by Barth, who feared they intended doing him an injury. This angered the men, they stated in their confession, and
they concluded to kill him when opportunity offered. The peddler stopped over at Troy, at noon, so did the murderers. The latter left town first and walked along the road three or four miles, where they lay in wait for the peddler, whom they knew was coming that way. They had all been drinking. They admitted, in a later confession, that when they first asked Barth for a ride they intended to rob and kill him. When the peddler ap- proached in his wagon John Johnson fired at him with an old musket which he carried, and George Sharp shot at him with a pistol three or four times, at the same time trying to hold the plunging mules. Robert Sharp did no shooting. Just after the shots were fired persons were seen approaching on the road and the murderers fled into the timber. The passers-by found the peddler lying in his wagon moaning from his wounds. He was removed to the adjacent house of John Ens- minger and Dr. John .S. Dewey of Troy was summoned to attend him. The doctor at once pronounced his injuries fatal, but the victim lingered three days before death came to his relief.
MOB ATTEMPTS LYNCHING
The murderers were captured the next morning, taken before the peddler and iden- tified by him. They were lodged in jail at Edwardsville and were tried on May 21st,
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found guilty and sentenced to death. Robert Sharp, the one who did no shooting, subse- quently had his sentence commuted to im- prisonment for life.
The execution of the two others was fixed for the 19th of June following. The cold- blooded character of the murder had caused intense excitement, especially among the for- eign element, owing to the racial tension spoken of. The report was circulated by demagogues that the prisoners would be ac- quitted and this inflamed certain of the resi- dents to the highest pitch. A mob thereupon gathered at Highland, and proceeded to Ed- wardsville at full speed, the leaders on horse- back and their followers in wagons, with the avowed purpose of lynching the prisoners. Hon. Z. B. Job was sheriff at the time and being warned of the approach of the mob, hastily summoned a posse to defend the jail. Among them were such citizens as Joseph and David Gillespie; Erastus, John and Wil- liam Wheeler; F. S. Rutherford, Jos. H. Sloss, John T. Luss, Capt. Jos. G. Robinson, F. T. Krafft, G. W. Phillips, Joshua Dunne- gan and others. The sheriff stretched a rope across the street with orders to shoot any man who attempted to cross it. The noise of the approaching mob was heard and the sheriff, accompanied by the Gillespies, hurried up the street to attempt to check it by his authority before it charged the defenders of the jail. In this he partially succeeded.
A great crowd had gathered by this time. Word went out that the posse was short of ammunition. A school boy, with the instinct of boys for being on hand when there is any- thing doing, was standing in front of Capt. Robinson's store watching the crowd, when the captain came out with a basket of eggs in his hand and asked the youngster to take it into the jail. The lad, who was Ansel L. Brown, then aged eleven years, took the basket, made his way through the lines, and was surprised to find beneath the layer of
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