USA > Illinois > Cumberland County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 11
USA > Illinois > Richland County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 11
USA > Illinois > Jasper County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 11
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
thought he had a dead shot sure, and fired, and away went the deer. His shot brought his brother to him. After carefully examining the ground they found some blood which was evidence he had hit the deer-so they took the track expecting every moment to come upon the dead deer. Around and around they followed the deer track (there was snow on the ground), supposing the deer was 'gut' shot. This they kept up until evening when the deer passed upon the prairie close home. He then called his dog which run it up near to Gardner's, who put on a fresh dog and caught it. After putting in a whole day of continued travel, he came up to find another reap- ing the reward of his hard day's chase. It was found that instead of a gut wound he had only cut the deer a little on the inner side of one hind leg. His next and last experience in deer hunting he took sometime after this. The next time he concluded he would ride. Starting out one morning he had gone but a short distance when a large buck presented a broadside view; this time certain of his game he up and fired and away went the buck. He rode back home, laid his gun up, and he says that settled his deer hunting."
Game of all kinds was abundant, and most of the men were good marksmen. Fur-bearing animals were the most remunerative, as their skins found a ready sale at their cabin doors. A branch of the American Fur Company was established at St. Louis, and its agents found their way throughout this country. One gentleman relates that he caught 184 coons one season, and disposed of them all at a good price, some of them as high as seventy-five cents. Wolves were found here in great numbers, and were hunted as a means of protection from their depredations. Three kinds infested the coun- try, the timber wolf, a large, fierce animal ; the gray wolf, a large but not so powerful as the former, and the coyote, or prairie wolf. None of these animals were bold enough to attack persons, but small pigs, calves and sheep fell an easy prey to them. Their howl- ing at night was calculated to unnerve those who were fresh in the country, or to those who knew something of the fiercer timber wolf of Kentucky and Ohio. A bounty subsequently offered by the State and county stimulated the hunters, and these animals were early driven from this region.
The work of the women was of that arduous kind found every- where on the frontier or in a new settlement. The hatchel and brake, the spinning wheel and loom were in almost every cabin. A few sheep were maintained in spite of the depredations of wolves and dogs, and the wool once shorn from the animal was turned over to the housewife to be converted into clothing, for men and women.
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
Housekeeping was crowded into the smallest possible space, to give room to the more exacting duties of preparing cloth and clothing. The principal amusements of the women were the outgrowth of these latter duties. Wool picking, spinning parties and quiltings were the harmless dissipations of the women, and besides these there were the husking bees, loggings and an occasional camp meeting for diversion.
The dress of the people of Cumberland was of the most prim- itive kind. Coon-skins furnished caps for the men, while buckskin furnished durable if not so pleasant pants for the men. This, with the linsey-woolsey blouse completed the usual attire of the men. Linsey-woolsey was the material with which the women clothed themselves, and was their only wear, save, perhaps, a calico dress for special occasions. But this was not considered a great privation, where all fared alike, and with wholesome food the work of pioneer times could be and was accomplished with less repining than are the duties of more favored times. A very sore trial, and one keenly felt. was the regular attack of the ague or miasmatic fevers which haunted this country until recent years. This infliction visited the whole country impartially, and some entire communities were pros- trated at the same time. Mr. Vandike relates that at Greenup he was the only well person in the village, and as he then had no family of his own to care for, he was pressed into the service of the beleaguered town, and found it difficult to answer the demands made upon him for assistance. Physicians were few, and located at distant points, but if this had not been the case, the settlers did not have the means to employ them for every recurrence of this familiar malady. Each family had a store of receipts and a stock of herbs. and these were made into decoctions which generally weakened the force of the recurring " shakes."
Of the social status, an exhaustive series of articles, contributed by an " Old Settler" to one of the papers of the county, may com- plete this branch of the subject. He writes as follows:
" It is a notable fact that in the early settlement of Cumberland County, her pioneer settlers, generally speaking, were rude and eccentric in manners, and their education in the important art of reading and writing sadly neglected. The educational status of the people in those palmy days of perilous adventures, was the result of unavoidable and adverse circumstances, over which the most ambi- tious aspirant for scholastic honors had no control, however ardent the disposition in that direction. This want of 'book larnin',' as the natives were pleased to term it, was not exclusively confined to
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
the borders of Cumberland County, but the unenviable legacy had been distributed with a lavish and prodigal hand throughout the wide expanse of the whole State. In reverting to this marked feat- ure of the . old settlers' there is nothing censurable to that noble class, as a different conclusion could not have been reasonably ex- pected with a fair and just knowledge of their progenitors. They were the sons and daughters of those illustrious characters, who, while yet basking in the sunlight of joyous manhood and woman- hood beyond the eastern slopes of the Alleghanies, had listened with wonder and astonishment to the marvelous stories of the pilgrim travelers, who pictured in 'rhapsody of words' the rich and the beautiful domain that stretched out in its native and original grand- eur toward the setting sun. They were the descendants of those who, casting aside the endearments of their native heath, first erected the home of civilization upon the productive soil of Ohio and Ken- tucky. Here they were compelled to assist their parents in the toil- some task of clearing their newly-made settlement. Schools and institutions of learning which now dot the area of those once west- ern wilds, were then slumbering in embryo. Without the advan- tages and facilities of acquiring an ordinary education, and with energies, incessantly engaged in the important object of averting dangers that environed them, and procuring raiment and subsistence for their families, it could not be supposed that they could progress very rapidly in educational matters. Under such disadvantages they arrived at the age of maturity, and having inherited the adven- urous spirits of their progenitors began to glance significantly towards the vast prairies of the West. Collecting the seanty and available means at their disposal they journeyed hither, where they settled down and invested in Uncle Sam's 'celebrated s'il.' With the advantage of long experience, and the additional advantage of natural cleared farms, they soon began to prosper and rapidly accu- mulated in worldly possessions.
" In the midst of their thriftiness and prosperity they began to realize the importance of cultivating and developing the unpolished minds of their children, and placing them under the tutelage of some learned prodigy, that had performed the remarkable feat of · going through' Webster's Elementary Spelling Book, and accom- plished the then looked upon ' double-summersault-act' of advanc- ing mathematically as far as . vulgar fractional figures.' By consultation and discussion among each other, an interest was awakened in each neighborhood, and soon schoolhouses, though rude and unprepossessing in appearance, began to loom up
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HHISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
' all over the country. The schoolmaster with his direful rod and terrible facial contour was not long in forthcoming. He soon introduced himself in the various communities or neighborhoods to the delight of parents and dismay of unruly urchins. He was viewed as a natural prodigy and sat upon his throne like a petty monarch of a limited principality. He was consulted upon matters that happened to arise either public or private, and his decision was then regarded with the same deference as those of the Supreme Court are now.
" Morally speaking, we would not offer the 'old settler' as an example and model, worthy of imitation if we cher- ished the least inclination to advance and improve the moral standard of the youth of the country. They were extremely per- tinacious in manifesting marked disrespect for the author of the first commandment, and persistently adhered to the execrable fashion in those days of introducing 'd-n' in peaceful conversation. This des- picable custom and habit arose not from any intended sacrilege, but was the result of want of acquaintance with the English descriptive adjectives. If profanity was a marked feature in the social and friendly tete-a-tete of the 'original inhabitants,' how uninviting to the sensi- tive and fastidious ear of morality must have been the immediate vicin- ity of warm and angry political discussions, over which the conscience exercises no restraint. Very frequently have we witnessed a meet- ing of two friends in days gone by, and listened to their exchange of words, and noted the observation 'that d-dest,' sometimes accompanied with its superlative addition, was a substitute for all and every adjective known to the English idiom. 'He can beat any man swearing I ever heard,' was the expression used in giving a graphie description of some celebrity of more than ordinary capacity and prominence. He was always adjudged by the hearer to be a · devil of a fellow.'
" Horse-racing, shooting-matches and amusements of similar character were indulged in to a considerable extent. These horse- races, in which the most speedy material was brought into requi- sition, approximated to what we now-a-days term a contest between . scrubs.' These races were usually largely attended and seldom failed to convoke all the 'old settlers.' Those were the periodical fetes and gala days that amused the cold settlers' and gave unlim- ited license and excuse for them to run riot and confusion. The termination or close of these entertainments, generally concluded with a series of engagements for pugilistie honors, in which the contestants figured and were disfigured. Morally speaking, the 'old
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
settlers ' had a failing that has been handed down unimpaired to the present generation. He couldn't forego the ecstatic pleasure to be derived from a stiff glass of old bourbon. It was his first love, and how consoling it must be to look back through a dark vista of years with the proud consciousness that he never ' went back ' on his first love. Almost every individual had an acquired fondness for whisky. and was inconsolable when some unforeseen accident sep- arated him from his liquid idol, and he was prevented from his regu- lar devotions at the shrine of Bacchus.
" The most commendable feature that clusters around the mem- ories of early days was the manifest sociability of the people. Al- though they possessed some inherent attributes that were obnoxious to refined ideas and culture, yet in their social intercourse with each other they displayed those exemplary traits of character which can only emanate from a warm and generous heart. If they deviated from the strict rules of morality and indulged themselves in habits and excesses that have been discarded by progressive civiliza- tion as enervating and ruinous, they still retained those estimable virtues which are inseparably allied with a generous and hospitable people. Unpretentious and unostentatious, they tendered whatever hospitality their houses afforded, and were assiduous in their efforts to provide for the comfort of those who, by chance, were cast within the purview of their domestic circles. There was not any affec- tation in their liberal entertainment of their visitors and guests, and selfishness and motives of interest cannot be rightfully adjudged as the prompting and incentive by which they were influenced in the be- stowal of their benignity upon the hungry and shelterless. History may ascribe to the ' old settlers' of days gone by, ignorance. immo- rality, eccentricity and rudeness of manners, but it never can, without a manifest spirit of injustice, but speak in praise and commendation of their excellence as a hospitable people. No footsore traveler. seck- ing rest and shelter from his wearisome ploddings. was ever refused admittance to their homes. They manifested no distinction or par- tiality in opening their doors to the weary and hungry. The penniless wanderer, covered with the dust of his journey and clothed in the gar- ments of destitution and poverty. was as kindly welcomed to their thresholds, as the arrogant nabob, drawn by his richly caparisoned steeds, and integumented in the gaudy trappings of wealth. It was sufficient for them to know that their hospitality was solicited, and the · sissing hog' and ' steaming hominy' bespoke the stranger's welcome.
" In the way of repast, for the entertainment of their guest, the ' old settlers' supplied their festal board with porkling, hominy,
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
· sassafrack tay,' and ' gobs' of hoe-cake, which in the absence of modern luxuries were disposed of with remarkable relish. The adornments and convenience of the table were notable only by their absence. Ordinary table furniture was had only in a limited supply, but the fare was none the less enjoyed, nor the welcome less real."
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.
Cumberland County had its origin in the enterprise of the lead- ing men of Greenup, rather than in the necessities of the situation, or in the general voice of the people. The National road, then the great thoroughfare of the West, seemed to open up to the ambitious village unlimited possibilities of growth. It was a thriving village in 1840, with mills patronized from far and near, and business attrac- tions superior to any place within thirty miles about it. It was natural that the leading spirits of such a place should aspire to the additional prestige which the location of a county-seat located here would giveit. E. H. Stark weather was then in the legislature, and was allied with the interests of this section of the original Coles County. It was easy therefore to enlist him in the project of the formation of a new county, and the preceding act was the result. To the most of the people the act came unsought, and it may be doubted whether, if submitted to a general vote in the light of the next year's expe- rience, the county would have been so early formed. However, there was no hesitaney on the part of the people in carrying out the act of formation. The preliminary election was held, and on the 8th of May, 1843, the Commissioners met at Greenup to complete the organ- ization and put the new machinery of government in motion. It may be interesting to note the record of these early proceedings, and the first year's proceedings are here substantially copied: " Com- missioners' Court, Special Term, May 8. 1843 .- At the organization of the County Commissioners' Court of Cumberland County and State of Illinois, begun and held in Greenup, in said county, com- meneing on Monday, the 8th day of May, 1843; whereupon James Gill, Charles G. Chowning and David T. Wisner, Esquires, appeared, pre- sented their certificates of election, and were severally sworn into office as the law directs; and also JJ. F. Holley, Clerk of said Court, came and presented his certificate of election, and also his official bond, which said bond is approved by the court, and ordered to be spread upon the records of the court, which said bond is in the following words and figures, to-wit, etc.
"The said J. F. Holley also took and subscribed to the following oath, to wit : etc.
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IHISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
"Ordered,-That the county be laid off'i ito road districts, with the following metes and bounds, to wit: [The description would prove too tedious and is omitted, but the Supervisors appointed are as follows: No. 1, Thoda Garrett; No. 2, M. B. Ross; No. 3, J. N. Hays; No. 4. Wm. Jones: No. 5, Wm. House; No. 6, Enos Stewart; No. 7. Andrew S. Freeman; No. 8, Sam'l Montgomery: No. 9, Thos. C. Tutewiler: No. 10, Milton Crainer; No. 11, Jno. Carpenter, No. 12, Abert B. Stull. ]
"Ordered .- That the Supervisor in each district call upon cach able-bodied male person between the ages of twenty-one and fifty years. to perform three days' labor on all roads in their respective clistricts.
"Ordered,-That the county be laid off into election and justice's precinets, with the following metes and bounds, to-wit: [These are omitted in this place.]
" May 9, 1843,-On petition of a number of citizens, Nathan S. Aleshire and Thomas Brewer were appointed Constables. Over- seers of the Poor were appointed for the different precincts as fol- lows: Woodbury, Levi Beals; Clear Creek, H. Williams; Cotton wood, Hyde Perrin: Greenup. A. S. Freeman; Hurricane, Ambrose Carner; Long Point, Thos. C. Tutewiler. Lewis H. Goodwin was appointed Assessor for the county, and Thos. Sconce, Collector, with a fee of 4 per cent. for his services."
" Trustees of School Lands were appointed as follows: For Township 9 north, Range 8 east, Levi Beals, Jno. Gardner and Ellis McKay; Township 9 north, Range 7 cast, Jno. W. Jones, Stephen Kingery and Thoda Garrett; Township 10 north, Range 10 east, Albert Cutright. Hugh Reed and William Davis. Court adjourned sine die.
"June 5, 1843,-A petition was presented praying the court to grant the viewing and locating of a road from the National road, at the half-mile stake, of Sections 34 and 27, Township 10 north. Range 10 east, thence north on the half-section-line, one mile; thence west one-half mile to the line dividing Sections 21 and 22. Township and Range aforesaid; thence north until it intersects the road running east and west. north of Cutright's.
"Ordered .- That the Treasurer pay Wm. Price the sum of $40, with interest from date, bearing at the rate of 12 per cent. per an- num, for money loaned to purchase books and stationery for the different county officers of Cumberland County, out of the first money that comes into his hands.
"Ordered .- That a tax be levied at the rate of 15 per centum.
George W. Albin Mp.
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
to every 100 dollars, for the year of our Lord 1843, for a revenue for county purposes. [Then follows the names of Grand and Petit Jurors, omitted here.] Adjourned sine die.
"Special term. July 4, 1843. Petition was presented for the viewing and locating a road beginning on county-line at half mile corner of Section 28, Township 11 north, Range 10 cast, thence south through middle of Section 28 and 33, Township and Range as aforesaid to the township-line, when it intersects a county road running on said township-line.
" Another, for a road commencing on State road leading from Shelbyville to Palestine, Illinois, at the line dividing Sections 11 and 12, in Township 9 north, Range 9 east, thence south on or near said line to the county-line. Adjourned.
"July 5th. Time employed by the court in examining and ap- proving bonds for donations for the county-seat of Cumberland County. Adjourned sine die.
"Special term. August 18th, 1843. Ordered,-that an election be held on the 23d day of September. A. D. 1843, at the different precinets of Cumberland County, Ill .. for the purpose of voting for a county-seat for said county, at which said election a poll to be opened in each precinct for two points, viz ; Sconce' Bend and Greenp. Holley was allowed $6 for official services, and the court adjourned sine die.
" Regular term. September 4th, 1843. [Newly elected Commis- sioners and Clerk took oath. Favorable report was made on the two roads petitioned for at June meeting.] D. T. Wisner. J. P., reported fines against Johnson Bright for assault and battery,-$3; against Jesse Beals for same offence .- $3. Daniel Needham, J. P., reported fines against D. T. Wisner, for assault and battery,-$3; against John D. Smith and Chipman Webster, each for the same offense,- $3. The latter gave notice of appeal. Against John D. Gardner, for failing to comply with law regarding estrays,-$10. Execution in hands of Constable. Payment of sundry election expenses were ordered, and a bounty of $1 for the sealp of wolves over six months old, and the court adjourned.
"October 25, 1843. James Housley, Jr., John Dow, and Lem- uel Peterson, appointed trustees of school lands in, Township 10 north, Range 8 cast. Silas Anderson, appointed Constable for Cottonwood precinct on petition. Appropriations were made of niney-four cents for paper and inks and $3 to Wisner for services. Adjourned.
" December, 1843. Ordered, that the Treasurer pay James Ewart for candles and labor done, $2.12. Formed Wabash precinct,
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
appropriated $13.43 to James Ewart for labor performed, and sundry election expenses, and adjourned."
Thus ends the record of the first year's experience as an independ- ent county. The record is but an imperfect echo, however, of the agitations that absorbed the citizens of the new county. By the act which formed the county the settlement of the county-seat was left to the people for decision, and a contest was at once begun which has not ceased even now. In the course of settlement the northern part of the county had developed nearly as rapidly as the more ta- vored region along the National road, and it was doubtless something of a disappointment to the Greenup people to find the location of the county-seat so ably contested by this section. A high point on the Embarrass River within the present limits of Cottonwood Town- . ship, known as Seonce' Bend, but platted as DeKalb for the purposes of this contest, was offered in competition with Greenup. The rival points were canvassed and the two sections brought out their supporters to the last voter, and in the issue proved very evenly bal- anced. On the 23d of September the vote was had, and out of 431 votes polled, Sconce'¡Bend received 219, a bare majority of seren votes. The vote shows the nature of the settlement at that time; the pre- cincts of Hurricane and Clear creeks gave 72 and 23 votes respectively for Sconce' Bond; Long Point, 51 for Greenup and 4 for the Bend : Cottonwood, 1 for Greenup and 74 for the Bend; Woodbury. 46 for Greenup and 17 for the Bend, and Greenup 114 for its own location, and 29 for 'its adversary. Although DeKalb was thus successful in the contest before the people, the seat of justice was never located there. James Gill and Thomas Sconce gave bond for the donation at DeKalb, but it was subsequently found that the title was encum- bered, and the friends of the rival village made all the capital possible out of this circumstance. However, logs were drawn and prepara- tions made for the erection of county buildings at DeKalb, until October 15, 1844, when the Commissioners ordered the work sus- pended. The question was by no means so easily decided. The proprietors of DeKalb insisted upon the sufficiency of their bond and plead the previous official sanction. but the Commissioners still hesitated. The bond was subsequently submitted to Judge Harlan. who decided that the bond was legally sufficient, and in April. 1848. the Commissioners reluctantly decided to take a deed of the property, and the same was recorded. In the following June, the court decided to advertise for bids for the construction of the public buildings, and on the 20th of July the contract was let. There was still a good deal of doubt whether the county had a good title, and it was decided to
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
once more submit the whole matter to the people. The site of De- Kalb was reconveyed to James Gill, and in February, 1849, an act was passed by the legislature authorizing another election and con- firming the action of the Commissioners. At this election there were several contestants-Greenup, Pleasantville, Jerome, Buck's Knoll, and even " Bill Dad," at the mouth of Muddy, besides the site of forty aeres offered by Nelson Berry. The result of the election was in favor of the latter place.
The act under which this election was held, provided that the fact of the election and its result should be " certified to by the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the next session of the legislature, describing said point so agreed upon by the inhabitants of said county, by the Clerk of the County Court of said county ; which cer- tificate shall be full evidence of the fact, and which certificate shall be laid before the said House of Representatives, and the point so selected shall be established and be and remain the permanent county-seat for Cumberland County, in such manner as may be provided for by a law to be passed by the legislature at their next session, and not otherwise." It is difficult to understand the object of this provision from the context of the act, and it was shrewdly suspected by the opponents of Greenup that it was framed in favor of the latter town. At all events it resulted in this way. The certificate of the facts was, it is said, to be sent to the member of the house representing this county, but from design or accident it did not reach him, and so Greenup enjoyed its ill-gotten gains until 1855, when the issue was joined between Prairie City and Greenup, which resulted in favor of the former by 608 to 518 votes. In all this protracted struggle, covering the period from 1843 to 1855, Greenup was forced to take the defensive attitude, and while continually defeated still en- joyed the advantages of success. The principal opposition to Greenup was its location on the east side of the Embarrass River, which, in those days of no bridges or very poor ones, was a great disadvantage to the larger portion of the county. This fact proved sufficient to defeat the hopes of the village. It had, however, the advantage of possession, and by the first act was constituted a sort of residuary legatee. a position which its friends seemed to know well how use to its advantage. It was believed that the scruples against the site of DeKalb were founded more in a desire to aid Greenup than to secure the county against loss, and the failure to forward the certificate of the election of 1849, was freely charged to the desire of certain officials thwart the will of the people. However that may be, it was 1857 before the official records were removed to Prairie City, and
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