USA > Illinois > Shelby County > Combined history of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of their scenery and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 13
USA > Illinois > Moultrie County > Combined history of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of their scenery and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 13
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The women corresponded well with the description of the virtuous woman in the last chapter of Proverbs, for they " sought wool and flax, and worked willingly with their hands." They
did not, it is trne, make for themselves " coverings of tapestry," nor could it be said of them that their " clothing was silk and purple ; " but they " rose while it was yet night, and gave meat to their household," and they "girded their loins with strength and strengthened their arms." They " looked well to the ways of their household, and ate not the bread of idleness." They laid " their hands to the spindle and to the distaff," and "strength and honor were in their clothing."
In these days of furbelows and flounces, when from twenty to thirty yards are required by one fair damsel for a dress, it is re- freshing to know that the ladies of that ancient time considered eight yards an extravagant amount to put into one dress. The dress was usnally made plain with four widths in the skirt, and two front ones ent gored. The waist was made very short, and across the shoulders behind was a draw-string. The sleeves were enormously large, and tapered from shoulder to wrist, and the most fashionable-for fashion, like love, rules alike the " court and grove"-were padded so as to resemble a bolster at the upper part, and were known as " mutton-legs," or "sheep-shank sleeves." The sleeve was kept in shape often by a heavily starched lining. Those who could afford it used feathers, which gave the sleeve the appearance of an inflated balloon from elbow · up, and were known as "pillow-sleeves."
Many bows and ribbons were worn, but scarcely any jewelry. The tow dress was superseded by the cotton gown. Around the neck, instead of a lacc collar or elegant ribbon, there was dis- posed a copperas-colored neckkerchief.
In going to church or other public gathering in summer weather, they sometimes walked barefooted till near their desti- nation, when they would put on their shoes or moccasins. They were contented and even happy without any of the elegant arti- cles of apparel now used by the ladies and considered necessary articles of dress. Ruffles, fine laces, silk hats, kid gloves, false curls, rings, combs and jewels, were nearly unknown, nor did the lack of them vex their souls. Many of them were grown before they ever saw the interior of a well-supplied dry-goods store. They were reared in simplicity, lived in simplicity, and were happy in simplicity.
It may be interesting to speak more specifically regarding cookery and diet. Wild meat was plentiful. The settlers gen- erally brought some food with them to last till a crop could be raised. Small patches of Indian corn were raised, which, in the earliest days of the settlements, was beaten in a mortar. The meal was made into a coarse but wholesome bread, on which the teeth could not be very tightly shnt on account of the grit it contained. Johnny-cake and pones were served up at dinner, while mush and milk was the favorite dish for supper. In the fire-place hung the crane, and the dutch-oven was used in baking. The streams abounded in fish, which formed a healthfnl article of food. Many kinds of greens, such as dock and polk, were eaten. The " truck-patch " furnished roasting ears, pumpkins, beans, squashes and potatoes, and these were used by all. For reaping-bces, log-rollings, and house-raisings, the standard dish was pot-pic. Coffec and tea were used sparingly, as they were very dear, and the hardy pioncer thought them a drink fit only for women and children. They said it would not " stick to the ribs." Maple-sugar was much used, and honey was only five cents a pound. Butter was the same price, while eggs were three cents. The utmost good feeling prevailed. If one killed logs all shared. Chickens were to be seen in great numbers around every doorway ; and the gabble of the turkey and quack of the duck were heard in the land. Nature contributed of her fruits.
* Wooden vessels, either dug out or coppered, and called " noggens," were in common use for bowls, out of which each member of the family ate mush and milk for supper. A gourd formed the drinking cup.
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HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
Wild grapes aud plums were to be found in their season, along the streams.
The women manufactured nearly all the clothing worn by the family. In cool weather gowns made of " linsey-woolsey " were worn by the ladies. The chain was of cotton and the filling of wool. The fabric was usually plaid or striped, and the differing colors were blended according to the taste and fancy of the fair maker. Colors were blue, copperas, turkey-red, light blue, etc. Every house contained a card-loom and spinning- wheels, which were considered by the women as necessary for them as the rifle for the men. Several different kinds of cloth were made. Cloth was woven from cotton. The rolls were bought and spun, on little and big wheels, into two kinds of thread ; one the " chain," and the other the " filling." The more experienced only spun the chain ; the younger the filling. Two kinds of looms were in use. The most primitive in construction was called the "side-loom." The frame of it consisted of two pieces of seantling running obliquely from the floor to the wall. Later, the frame-loom, which was a great improvement over the other, came into use.
The men and boys wore "jeans" and linsey-woolsey hunting shirts. The "jeans" were colored either light-blue or butternut.
Many times when the men gathered to a log-rolling or barn- raising, the women would assemble bringing their spinning- wheels with them In this way sometimes as many as ten or twelve would gather in one room, and the pleasant voices of the fair spinners were mingled with the low hum of the spinning- wheels. "Oh ! golden early days!"
Such articles of apparel as could not be manufactured were brought to them from the nearest store by the mail-carrier. These were few, however. The men and boys, in many instances, wore pantaloons made of the dressed skin of the deer, which then swarmed the prairies in large herds. The young man who de- sired to look captivating to the eye of the maiden whom he loved, had his " bueks" fringed, which lent them a not unpleasing effeet. Meal-sacks were also made of buckskin. Caps were made of the skins of the wolf, fox, wild-cat and musk-rat tanned with the fur on. The tail of the fox or wolf often hung from the top of the cap, lending the wearer a jaunty air. Both sexes wore moccasins, which in dry weather were an excellent substitute for shoes There were no shoemakers, and each fam- ily made its own shoes.
The settlers were separated from their neighbors often by miles. There were no church-houses or regular services of any kind to call them together ; hence, no doubt, the cheerfulness with which they accepted invitations to a house-raising, or a log-rolling, or a corn-husking, or a bee of any kind. To attend these gatherings, they would go ten and sometimes more miles.
Generally with the invitation to the men went one to the women, to come to a quilting. The good woman of the house where the festivities were to take place would be busily engaged for a day or more in preparation for the coming guests. Great quantities of provisions were to be prepared, for dyspepsia was unknown to the pioneer, and good appetites were the rule and not the exception.
" The bread used at these frolics was baked generally on Jonny or Journey cake-boards, and is the best corn-bread ever made. A board is made smooth, about two feet long, and eight inches wide-the euds are generally rounded. The dough is spread out on this board, and placed leaning before the fire. One side is baked, and then the dough is changed on the board, so the other side is presented, in its turn, to the fire. This is Jonny-cake, and
is good, if the proper materials are put in the dough, and it is properly baked."-Reynolds' History.
At all the log-rollings and house-raisings it was customary to provide liquor. Excesses were not indulged in, however. The fiddler was never forgotten After the day's work had been ac- complished, out. doors and in, by men and women, the floor was cleared and the merry dance began. The handsome, stalwart young men, whose fine forms were the result of their manly out- door life, clad in fringed buckskin breeches and gaudily colored hunting-shirts, led forth the bright-eyed, buxom damsels, attired in neatly-fitting linsey-woolsey garments, to the dance, their cheeks glowing with health and eyes speaking of enjoyment, and perhaps of a tenderer emotion.
The following description of a "Shucking " of the olden time is taken from-Reynolds' Pioneer History of Illinois :
" In pure pioneer times the erops of corn were never husked on the stalk, as is done at this day ; but were hauled home in the husk and thrown in a heap, generally by the side of the crib, so that the cars, when husked, could be thrown direct into the erib. The whole neighborhood, male and female, were invited to the shucking, as it was called. The girls, and many of the married ladies, generally engaged in this amusing work.
" In the first place two leading expert huskers were chosen as captains, and the heap of corn divided as nearly equal as possi- ble. Rails were laid across the pile so as to designate the divi- sion ; and then each captain chose, alternately, his corps of huskers, male and female. The whole number of working hands present were selected, on one side or the other, and then cach party commeneed a contest to beat the other, which was in many cases truly exciting. One other rule was, that whenever a male husked a red car of corn, he was entitled to a kiss from the girls. This frequently excited much fuss and scuffling, which was in- tended by both parties to end in a kiss. It was a universal practice that taffia or Monongahela whisky was used at these husking frolies, which they drank out of a bottle, each one male and female, taking the bottle and drinking out of it, and then handing it to his next neighbor, without using any glass or enp whatever. This custom was common and not considered rude. Almost always these corn-shucks ended in a dance. To prepare for this amusement fiddles and fiddlers were in great demand ; and it often required much fast riding to obtain them. One vio- lin and a performer were all that was contemplated at these innocent rural games.
" Towards dark, and the supper half-over, then it was that a bustle and confusion commeneed. The confusion of the tongues at Babel would have been ashamed at the corn-shuckings. The young ones hurrying off the table, and the old ones contend- ing for time and order. It was the case, in nine times out of ten, that but one dwelling-house was on the premises, and that used for eating as well as dancing.
" But when the fiddler commenced tuning his instrument the music always gained the victory for the young side. Then the dishes, victuals, tahle and all, disappeared in a few minutes, and the room was cleared, the dogs drove out, and the floor swept off ready for action. The floors of these houses were sometimes the natural earth, beat solid, sometimes the earth, with puncheons in the middle over the potato-hole, and at times the whole floor was made of puncheons.
" The music at these country dances made the young folks al- most frantie, and sometimes much excitement was displayed to get on the floor first. Generally the fiddler on these occasions assumed an important bearing, and ordered, in true professional
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HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
style, so and so to be done ; as that was the way in North Caro- liua, where he was raised. The decision ended the contest for the floor. In those days they daneed jigs and four-handed recls, as they were called. Sometimes three-handed reels were also danced.
" In these dances there was no standing still ; all were moving at a rapid pace from beginning to end. In the jigs the by-stand- ers cut one another out, as it was called, so that this dance would last for hours. Sometimes the parties in a jig tried to tire one another down in the dance, aud then it would also last a long time before one or the other gave up.
" The eotillion or stand-still dances were not then known.
" The bottle went round at these parties as it did at the shuck- ings, and male and female took a dram out of it as it passed around. No sitting was indulged in, and the folks either stood or danced all night, as generally day-light ended the frolic. The dress of these hardy pioneers was generally plain homespun. The hunting-shirt was much worn at that time, which is a con- venient working or dancing dress. Sometimes dressed deer-skin pantaloons were used on these occasions, and mawkawsins-rarely shoes-and at times bare feet were indulged in.
" In the morning all go home on horse-back or on foot. No carriages, wagons or other vehicles were used on these occasious, for the best of reasons-because they had none."
Dancing was the favorite amusemeut, and was participated in by all.
" Alike all ages; dames of ancient days ; Have led their children through the mirthful maze, And the gray grandsire, skilled in gestic lore, Has frisked beneath the burden of three-score."
The amusements of that day were more athletic and rude than those of to-day. Among the settlers in a new country, from the nature of the case, a higher value is set upon physical than men- tal endownients. Skill in woodcraft, superiority of muscular development, accuracy in shooting with the rifle, activity, swift- ness of foot, were qualifications that brought their possessors fame. Foot-racing was often practised, and ofteu the boys and young men engaged in friendly contests with the Indians. Every man had a rifle, and kept always in good order ; his flints, bullet-molds, screw-driver, awl, butcher-knife and tomahawk were fastencd to the shot-pouch strap or to the belt around the waist. Target-shoot- ing was much practiscd, and shots were made by the hunters and settlers, with flint-lock rifles ,that cannot be excelled by their de- scendants with the improved breech-loaders of the present day.
At all gatherings jumping and wrestling were indulged in, and those who excelled were thenceforth men of notoricty. Cards, dice, and other gambling implements were unknown. Dancing was a favorite amusement. It was participated in by all.
At their shooting-matches, which were usually for the prize of a turkey, or a gallon of whisky, good feeling generally prevailed. If disputes arosc, they were settled often by a square stand-up fight, and no one thought of using other weapons than fists. They held no grudges after their fights, for this was considered un- manly. It was the rule that, if the fight occurred between two persons, the victor should pour water for the defeated as he washed away the traecs of the fray, after which the latter was to perform the sanic serviec for the former.
To illustrate the ready ingenuity of the early settlers, devel- oped by their poverty, and remoteness from places where neces- saries could be purchased, we borrow an anecdote, from " Ford's History of Illinois," related of James Lemon, a well-known
pioneer of Mouroc county, and an old-style Baptist preacher. A farmer by occupation, " He manufactured harness as they were required. Being one day employed in plowing a piece of stubble ground, on turning out for dinner, as was his wont, he left the harness on the beam of the plow. His son, not differing from the proverbial minister's boy, perhaps, who had assisted him by removing the elogging straw from the plow with a pitch-fork, remained behind long enough to conceal one of the collars, that he might have a playing spell while his father was occupied in making another. But his plot failed ; on returning after dinner and missing the collar, his father reflecting a few minutes prompt- ly divested himself of his leather breeches, stuffed the legs with stubble, straddled them across the neck of the horse for a collar, and plowed the remainder of the day bare-legged, requiring the assistance of his truantly inclined boy all the time." At this day to provide for such a mishap, half a day would have been spent in going to town after auother collar, and the boy would probably have gained his point.
Pioneer Mills .- Among the first were the " band mills." A description of one will not prove uninteresting. The plan was cheap. The horse power consisted of a large upright shaft, some ten or twelve feet in height, with some eight or ten long arms let into the main shaft aud extending out from it fifteen feet. Auger holes were bored into the arms on the upper side at the end, into which wooden pins were driven. This was called the " big wheel," and was as has been seen, about twenty feet in diameter. The raw hide belt or tug was made of skins taken off of beef cattle, which were cut into strips three inches in width ; these were twisted into a round cord or tug, which was long enough to encircle the circumference of the big wheel. There it was held in place by the wooden pins, then to cross and pass under a shed to run around a drum, or what is called a " trunnel head," which was attached to the grinding apparatus. The horses or oxen werc hitched to the arms by means of raw hide tugs. Then walking in a circle the machinery would be set in motiou. To grind twelve bushels of corn was considered a good day's work on a band mill.
The most rude and primitive method of manufacturing meal was by the use of the Grater. A plate of tin is pierced with many holes, so that one side is very rough. The tin is made oval, and then nailed to a board. An car of corn was rubbed hard on this grater whereby the meal was forced through the holes, and fell down into a vessel prepared to receive it. An improvement on this was the Hand mill. The stones were smaller than those of the band-mill, and were propelled by man or woman power. A hole is made in the upper stone, aud a staff of wood is put in it, and the other end of the staff is put through a hole in a plank above, so that the whole is frec to act. One or two persons take hold of this staff and turn the upper stone as rapidly as possible. An eye is made in the upper stone, through which the corn is put into the mill, with the hand iu small quantities to suit the mill, instead of a hopper A mortar, wherein corn was beaten into meal, is made out of a large round log three . or four feet long. One end is cut or burnt out so as to hold a peck of corn, more or less, according to circumstances. This mortar is set one end on the ground, aud the other up, to hold the corn. A sweep is prepared over the mortar so that the spring of the pole raises the piston, and the hands at it force it so hard down on the corn that after much beating, meal is manufactured.
The picture here drawn of the pioneers, their modes of living, their customs, and amusements, while lacking entire complete- ness, we feel is not inaccurate and untruthful.
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HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
CHAPTER IX.
CIVIL HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY.
HE civil history properly dates from the 23d of January, 1827, which was the period when the act of the legislature creating the county was approved by the Governor, and went into effect. Previous to the meeting of the legislature the people had considered favorably the organiza- tion of a new county, and appointed a commit- tee to attend the meeting of the legislature at Vandalia, the state capital, and procure the passage of an act creating the new county. The committee, it is needless to say, succeeded in their mission.
But little more than half a century has elapsed, since Shelby county had her birth, yet great have been the changes wrought within the time, and mighty have been the events and revolutions, the discoveries and inventions that have occurred and been made on this earth of ours. Perhaps since God " formed the earth and the world," and tossed it from the hollow of his hand into space, so many great things have not been accomplished in any fifty years. Reflection on these cannot fail to arouse wonder and to awaken thankfulness that God has appointed us the place we occupy in the eternal chain of events. Tennyson and Browning, Bryant and Whittier, Lowell and Longfellow have sung ; the matchless Webster, the ornate Sumner, the eloquent Clay, the metaphysical Calhoun, and Seward, have since reached the culmination of their powers, and sunk into the grave. Macaulay, Thiers, Guizot, and Fraude, have written in noble strains the great history of their native lands; and Bancroft and Prescott, and Hildreth and Motley have won high rank among the historians of earth .; Spurgeon, and Punshon, and Beccher, and Moody, have enforced with most per- suasive eloquence the duties of morality and religion. Carlyle and Emerson, and Stuart Mill and Spencer have given the results of their speculations in high philosophy to the world. And Abraham Lincoln, who during his earlier years was an occasional practitioner at the bar in this county, has been crowned the saviour of his eoun- try and benefactor of mankind ; Morse has discovered how to bind the subtle fluid, electricity, and send it forth to do the bidding of man. McCormick has given to the wheat-growing belt the reaper, and the ocean cable has been laid by Field, along the " slimy hottom of the deep," and the Atlantic and Pacific have heen united hy iron hands. Mexico has been conquered, and a magnificent terri- tory added to our western border, and Alaska has been purchased of Russia ; the centre of population has traveled 250 miles along the 39th parallel, and many states have been added to the glorious constellation on the hhue field of our flag. Great cities have been ercated, and populous counties developed. And the stream of emi- gration is still tending westward. Gohl has heen discovered in the far west, which has gathered her busy populations, and the great war for the Union has been fought and won.
The act creating the county specified that it should be called Shelby. This name was conferred upon it in honor of Isaac Shelby, whose fame at the time extended throughout the nation. He was a native of Maryland, born December 11th, 1750. He served in the Revolution as a soldier, and afterwards filled many offices in civil life. He died in Lincoln county, Ken- tucky, July 18th, 1826. In 1771 he removed to the west, and in
1774 served as a lieutenant in an expedition against the Indians. When the revolution broke out he became a captain of a military company in Virginia. In 1777 he was placed in charge of the commissary department, for the frontier militia. In 1779 he was elected to the house of delegates of Virginia, and soon after re- ceived a Major's commission, and the next year was promoted to the rank of Colonel for bravery at the battle of King's Mountain. On the 7th of October, 1780, he received a vote of thanks and a sword from the legislature of North Carolina, of which he was elected a member in 1781 - 1782. In 1781 he served in Marion's campaign, and on the organization of the state of Kentucky, in 1792, he was chosen Governor, and hell the office four years, and again from 1812 to 1816. In 1813 Governor Shelby joined General Harrison at the head of four thousand Kentnekians, served at the battle of the Thames, and owing to bravery and gallantry chisplayed at that battle, was presented by Congress with a gold medal. Such in brief is the record of the brave man from whom Shelby county derived its name. It was specified in the act creating the county, that the seat of justice and capital of the county should be called Shelbyville, thereby adding an additional honor, if possible to the name of the man they are both intended to perpetuate.
Shelby county has been very fortunate in the selection of public officers. They have been from the first men of integrity and ca- pacity, and the affairs have therefore been managed with economy and faithfulness. No base set of men have ever gained control to płunder her treasury and destroy her credit, while growing rich upon the spoils of office. The character of her thrifty and moral people has prevented such a misfortune. The citizens of this county have reason to be proud of the past. Never since the county had an existence has the nation called upon the sons of Shelhy in vain. Read the chapter on Patriotism, and you will see how many have offered their sword when their country was in danger. They volunteered when Black Hawk made war on defenceless or feeble settlements. They volunteered to fight for the honor of the flag in a foreign clime, and the bones of some of Shelby county's sons now lie mingling with the soil of Mexico. They came grandly forward when traitors threatened the nation's life, and many laid down their lives that the Union might live; and their hones are now mouldering beneath the soil of the hills and vales, and upon the plains of the sunny south.
Shelby county has fostered public schools, and has been rewarded therefor. Her people are intelligent and educated, industrions and enterprising. A great future is yet in store. A great material prosperity, and it is to be hoped a greater intellectual prosperity. After all the best erop, is a crop of chaste noble women, and brave noble men. The county has prodneed great men in the past. The voice of her sons has been listened to with attention in the higher councils of the nation, and has too heen inspiringly heard upon the battle-field. Great has been the prosperity and growth of this county in the fifty-three years of her existence as a political section of the state. But she has room for thousands more ; ten times the population can find support upon her soil, and at a no distant day they will be here.
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