USA > Illinois > Morgan County > Jacksonville > Historic Morgan and classic Jacksonville > Part 10
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We cannot give a better description of the appearance of the place in 1827 than by quoting from the Journal a report of a speech made to the old settlers of Morgan coun- ty at one of their annual love feasts, by Hon. Newton Cloud, since deceased :
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"BEFORE THE DEEP SNOW."
He said he located here in 1827, three years before the great snow. When he set- tled here the great prairies were covered with flowers, in their native luxuriance, and were untrodden by the foot of the white man. They were but a vast bone-yard, in which thousands of buffaloes killed by the Indians lay bleaching in the sun. He far from realized then the developments which would be made in this country, and remem bered to have told a visitor from Kentucky that he could give him a deed to all that vast arm of prairie which they were viewing, but that it was so far from market as to be without value. He did not forsee the change which a few years would bring about. Then, deer could be seen in herds on the prairie, so tame that they were evidently un- acquainted with the murderous rifle of the white man. Wolves would come up to the cabins seeking food. He said that on his arrival he pitched his tent on the same quar- ter section where he then lived, and his circumstances had not materially altered since, as he was as poor now as then. But he was glad that he had come to this county, where food and raiment had always been provided in plenty, and thanked God that he was permitted to see such a day. Friends had differed with friends in politics and religion ; yet warm friendships had ever marked the way, and he was glad to take them all by the hand and wish them, if may be, long lives, and joy even in their decline. It might now seem that shadows would come upon them, but the clear sunlight always shines upon the virtuous life. Ours was indeed a good country and never was there a better promise for crops. Egypt, in her palmiest days of plenty, did not excel it; perhaps it is to pro- tect us by its bounty against some approaching contingency. The young of the present day would be astonished to know of the hardships endured by the pioneers of Morgan county. When they wanted flour or meal they were obliged to travel over bad roads, or no roads at all, twenty miles to Allen's mill on Apple Creek. Sometimes they were obliged to crack or grate the grain themselves, and subsist on such food as Armstrong's mill, which was a very primitive machine indeed, could provide.
"The little patches of a few acres have given way to wide-spreading fields of growing corn, and golden harvest. The rail pens and log cabins have now moltered away, and splendid mansions like kings' palaces have taken their places.
The hand-mill, the mortar, and the old graters, which some of you remember, have all gone by the board. Steam has taken the place of elbow power, and the smoke of a thousand chimneys point out the spots where bread stuffs are manufactured from the finest wheat in abundance for home consumption, and to feed the nations beyond the seas. The hum of the spinning wheel, the clatter of the hand-loom have disappeared, and ten thous- and noiseless spindles have come instead. The single shuttle. thrown by the fair hand of a mother or loving sister, is superseded by a thousand shuttles that fly by steam. The development and prosperity of this beautiful country is owing in a great measure to the noble men and women who first settled here."
He made a very happy allusion, by way of contrast with the present, to the socia- bility of the early settlers; their readiness to assist one another, &c., enumerating many of his early day experiences, and closing his remarks with the admonition to the young present to Imitate the example of their ancestors.
The Jacksonville of to-day, is as emphatically a city of churches as of schools. The religious element has been prominent in her population from the first. The christian- izing idea has been in the mind of the founders of all her institutions -- educational and eleemosynary, as well as strictly religious. The existence of two church societies and two educational institutions before 1830, proves that the old settlers thought with sol- emn earnestness, of laying the foundation of a christian civilization among those rude beginnings; that there were prayers and hopes, and endeavors, which looked towards a great destiny for this place in the near future. In Morgan county, churches and som- inaries of learning, are not recent novelties. They hold by pre-emption right.
Looking back to the little flocks that were first gathered together under care of faithful pastors, we find that the first Presbyterian church organized, was by Rev. John Brich, in Judge John Leeper's barn, which stood until July 1883, about a mile east of the present Illinois Central Hospital for the Insane. Seven men and five women con- stituted this little church, and from this small beginning have grown three large Pres-
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THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
byterian churches in the town besides several in the county. Like their Methodist brethren, the Presbyterians at first occupied private houses or the log school house, until 1831.
At the founding of this church, officially known as "The Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville," the following persons presented their certificates: John Leeper and Fi- delia, his wife, Edwin A. Mears and Sarah, his wife, James Mears and Polly, his wife, Hervey McClung-all from Shoal Creek church ; James Kerr and Janet, his wife, from Reformed church in the city of New York; William C. Posey and Sarah, his wife, from Winchester and Paris churches in Kentucky; and Hector G. Taylor from Kings- bury, Vt.
This church being duly constituted, William C. Posey and John Leeper were elected elders, James Kerr and Hector G. Taylor trustees for one year. John M. Ellis, moderator. On July 28, 1827 and July 26, 1828, there were additions by certificate and profession that made up the total membership to twenty-two. February 29, 1830, there were forty-seven members, March 29, 1831, there were eighty-seven, October 29, 1831, there were one hundred and twenty-five, August 19, 1832, there were one hundred and sixty- six.
Of the piety and principle of the early settlers of this vicinity, Dr. Sturtevant on one occasion well said :
"We began to build the church of God when we began to build our own houses And we have generally tried to build as well for the Lord as for ourselves. There have always been those here in the midst of us, and in the darkest times, who regarded the privileges of christian institutions and worship as among the necessaries of life, and to be provided for as they provided shelter and food and clothing for their children. Such men were John Leeper and James Deaton and Wm. C. Posey, and the two Hedenbergs, (Peter and James V.,) and James Kerr, and David B. Ayers, Elihu Wolcott, Hector G. Taylor, and many more whom we cannot name. Such men could not dwell in their ceiled houses while the house of God was lying waste. They must plan and act for the moral and spiritual wants of themselves and their fellows, and even of distant posterity. Wherever such men make their homes in any wilderness there the church of Christ will be."
Of this period and the first churches and preaching here the same authority said in an historical address delivered in 1871.
"Before the deep snow!" What was Jacksonville-what was old Morgan then?
For the most part old Morgan was covered by primeval forests, or else the prime- val prairie grass waved in its breezes. I have not the means of making exact statements, probably the data are not in existence; but it is my opinion that at least nineteen-twenti- eths, probably a much larger proportion of the soil of this country, was then unmodified by the hand of cultivation. I could have traveled from the spot where Illinois College now is, seven or eight miles to the southeast without being obstructed by a single fence or a single acre of cultivated land. Cultivation was confied to a very narrow belt along the groves of timber. Human dwellings were but the rudest structure of logs, designed only for the most temporary purposes. School-houses and churches can scarcely be said to have had any existence. In Jacksonville there was one log school-house about twenty or twenty-five feet square. That was generally used as a place of worship on the Sab- bath. No other church or school-house existed. The Methodist society generally wor- shipped at a private house, John Jordan's double log cabin, but sometimes at the old court house, which, a few months ago, disappeared from the public square. The Presby- terians generally met at the log school-house just referred to.
In that house I preached my first sermon in Illinois, on the 15th day of November 1829. It was without pulpit, table, or stand of any description. The only distinction enjoyed by the preacher was that he had a split bottomed chair while the rest of the peo- ple sat for the most part on fence rails. You may be sure that this did not seem a very satisfactory arrangement to one who felt that he must depend on reading his sermon from a manuscript. I was not satisfied. I think the people were still less so. The next Sabbath things were still worse. The chimney of sticks had been pulled down for the purpose of arranging to warm the house with a stove, and a hole in the logs some eight feet by six, marked the place where the chimney had been. The chair had disappeared, and I might sit on a rail and lay my book on the rail by my side. A little such experi- ence cured me of reading sermons from a manuscript, for a log time. Such were the rude beginnings of things in Jacksonville before the deep snow. And yet two of our churches and two of our institutions of education are old settlers. They antedate the deep snow.
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PIONEER PREACHERS-BRICH, EADS. CROW, ELDER.
A Methodist church was here, now the Centenary church, and the First Presbyterian church, now Dr. Glover's, though neither of them had houses of worship.
The first church to be started by the Baptists, was in 1824 or 25 in Diamond Grove, but it was short lived.
Mr. Anderson Foreman, one of the few survivors of the period covered by this chap- ter, writes to the Illinois Courier as follows:
On the 8th of November 1828, I arrived in Morgan county and stopped with Mr. Humphrey, about a mile south of the town of Winchester, his residence being near what was then known as Rattlesnake Springs. Here I made my first acquaintance in "old Mor- gan," embracing at that early day the territory or slips of land now known as Scott and Cass counties. In this neighborhood there were no public houses in which to worship Almighty God or "teach the young ideas how to shoot." Two weeks after my arrival, in company with Mr. Humphrey, I visited the little village of Exeter where there were several dwelling houses, a shoe shop and a grist mill, the latter owned by Enoch C. March. Being here introduced to Mr. Mills I was by him invited to settle there, but anxious to see the country, I left on the 19th of November, 1828, and reached the town (now city) of Jacksonville; put up at a tavern on the northeast corner of the public square kept by Mr. Hull and his father-in-law, Bentley. Soon thereafter I formed the acquaintance of nearly every one in the town.
Many of the citizens were not intellectual giants, still there were among them some moral heroes-good and true men, who gave tone and direction to the moral and religious sentiments of the community. Here brother John Eads lived, a man of great moral worth. loved and respected by all; being a preacher of the Christian denomination, he was in the habit of calling on the boys in the stores and shops saying, "come, boys, this is prayer meeting night," and the boys attended the meeting out of respect for the man of God, and in that way the moral and religious sentiments of the people were built up and extended. This godly man lived to be 85 years old, and joyfully entered into rest" hav- ing been born in Snowhill, Delaware. About that time Rev. Mr. Brich (a Presbyterian minister), born in Scotland, spent the greater part of his life preaching to the people and doing good as opportunity offered; traveling a circuit from Edwardsville to Galena, and when well stricken in years was found on the prairie in the northwestern part of the state, frozen to death. Here, also, Mr. Drinkwater (a Wesleyan Methodist), devoted his life to preaching the gospel and doing good; whose example and good life were long remem- bered by the old settlers; he had his residence in a hole on the bank of Indian Creek about a mile and a half above Babb & Horn's mill. Afterwards for many years he lived below the mill, and on his way to the distant territory of Oregon died, and sleeps with the early pioneer preachers.
Rev. Wm. Crow, also a preacher of the Baptist (regular) church, lived here, whom many knew and kindly remember. His life and character, striking and proverbially good, and his power and fame as a man and preacher extended far and near, and having achieved a grand, good work, at a ripe age was gathered to his fathers, and "bis good works follow him." Here, too, lived the venerable Thomas White (member of the Pres- byterian church), whose good example and pure life were known and loved by all, hav- ing wrought a good work in the community where he resided, he departed this life, full of years and the respect of the people of the county, having been born in North Carolina. The Rev. John Green (a preacher of the Christian denomination), some of whose chil- dren live here, lived and spent his life, like the other old veterans of the cross, in teach- ing his neighbors and friends to live good and useful lives, and when, like the grain fully ripe, was gathered into God's granary above, loved and esteemed by all. Elder Matthew El- der, a compeer of Fathers Eads and Green, settled in Jersey Prairie (a strip of territory cut off from old Morgan in 1839, when Scott also became separated and formed a county), and after a long life of usefulness and kindness to his many friends and neighbors, joined the silent throng to that bourne whence no traveler returns! Pausing here to drop a tear for the good old men long dead and gone to their reward, let me turn aside and mention one who sat in justice and dispensed the law in solid chunks to his neighbors-Father James Deaton, who, born in old Virginia ("the mother of presidents") settled not far from Jacksonville in 1819. The first class meeting was organized and held in his house, and it is said of him that, during forty years as justice of the peace, he never gave judg- ment against any of his neighbors. Being a man of peace, he settled all his disputes and suits by compromise; and falling from one of his apple trees, full of years, honors and the good-will of all, he fell asleep. At the beginning I said there were no giants then! I forgot the venerable man of God, the Rev. Peter Cartwright-the hero of "the battle- axe and saddle-bags"-the grandest pioneer, the well-known Methodist minister and el- der of the west and south. Wherever Methodism has gone, the wide world over, the fame, eccentricities and wonderful preaching of Cartwright will be known and remem- bered. He was to Methodism, everywhere, what Daniel Boone was to Kentucky and the great Northwest! His field of operations was the world, his great heart, pluck and
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62 PETER CARTWRIGHT-ELDER OSBORN-DR. AKERS-SCOTT RIGGS.
unflagging zeal in his Master's cause, having reached four score years of hardships and self-sacrifices, battle-scarred and his soul made happy and radiant with numberless hut- man souls borne to God by his herculean labors in the Lord's vineyard. He died as he had lived, with his face to the foe of humanity, and his faith in God and the salvation of sin- ners clear and unshaken. In this county lived and died my good old friend, Thornton Shepherd (regular Baptist or Hardshell), who, after preaching every Sunday fifty-five years, told me, not long since, ' that he had not, for all his services as a preacher, received so much as $5 from any of his brethren." And yet the Lord blessed and prospered him; and having done what he could to serve and honor God, far advanced in years fell asleep, and the quaint old man and preacher will be remembered by his neighbors as faithful and true to God and humanity. Who in old Morgan will forget that good little old man eloquent, Elder Harrison W. Osborn. with a manner so meek, a voice so gentle and lov- ing; who, for nearly three-quarters of a century, broke to thousands in this and other states, the bread of eternal life. The compeer of the venerable and saintly Barton W. Stone (the leader and founder of the people known as "New Lights" in Kentucky), he was active in forming the union of the New Lights or followers of Stone, and Campbel- lites or Christians, and these united in Jacksonville in 1831 formed one body of disciples known and called the Church of Christ or Christian Church. He continued actively in his Master's work until a little while ago he fell asleep in Jesus, and his memory and life work none will ever forget to love and honor.
Of these grand old heroes I might fill a book, but time flies, my space and the read- er's patience all admonish me to hasten to the end. Having said so much of the dead, both good and great, what shall I say of even great men still living? Rev. Peter Akers, LL. D., who, in his younger days, lacked only one vote of being knighted a bishop of the M. E. Church. He is the Boanerges of Methodism in the nineteenth century. Who shall sketch this grand life or compass his colossal intellect? Although a nonogenarian, he still walks our streets, and at times the old time fire and force of fifty years ago lights up his face-flashes from his eagle eyes and rings in his stentorian voice like thunder, or the roar of Niagara! His life work is about done. What pen so trenchant or historian so truthful can tell of his power and usefulness, or even do justice to the grand old man, learned and eloquent, by writing his wonderful life, the most remarkable in the history of Methodism in the great Northwest?
Then, too, there is the Christian statesman (if that can be), the Rev. Newton Cloud. No man in this community stood higher in the state and church than he. Nature and grace combined to make him good and great.
His wise counsels in the organic laws of church and state will live and keep his name and memory bright and honored as long as time shall last or civil and religious government endures. Having reached that serene and honorable round in life's fair temple and Christian exaltation, he passed gently down the steps of time, and now sleeps with the pure, noble, honored and loved of earth.
I shall speak only too briefly of my friend and neighbor, John P. Wilkinson. He was a gentleman in the highest sense, the young man's friend and the widow's hope in time of need. Few, if any, knew him but to love and praise. He has gone to his reward, and his precious memory and good deeds will follow on.
What shall I say of old Father Scott Riggs, that good old man? He was an earnest, active Christian, and contributed to unite the two bodies of Christians in the old court house in Jacksonville in 1831. Father Riggs, octogenarian though he was, achieved mueh good and lived a useful life, and, dying, left a grand, rich legacy, a Christian life, for his children and friends to imitate and cherish bis memory.
"What visions of the inhabitants of Jacksonville forty-eight years ago. Where are they now! Why some have risen high, aiming their arrows even at the sky. Some have been wayward and gone astray, some hold the even tenor of their way. Some are recording an immortal name, with gilded letters on the scroll of fame. Many have departed hence, and some remain of forty-eight years since. I will give the names of all the heads of families, and the young men that were then living and doing for themselves in the then town of Jacksonville. In giving names and business followed by each family and person, I may not be able to give all their given names correctly, but their surnames I can. I bope some citizens now living may recall their names and give a more correct list:
"Dennis Rockwell, circuit clerk and county clerk; Mrs. Kellogg; John Handy, carpenter; Mr. Bunnell, carpenter; Samuel Titus, teamster, first colored man; Murray McConnel, lawyer; Matthew Stacy, saddler and harness maker; Geo. Rearick, merchant; Joseph Fairfield, merchant; Abram Vance, merchant; Nathan Gest, merchant, Thomas Carson, hatter and hotel keeper; George Nicely, hatter; Mr. Robinson, school teacher; Verien Daniels, gunsmith; S. H. Henderson, grocer; John P. Wilkinson, merchant; Rice Dunbar, carpenter. Thomas Church, farmer; John Buckingham, brick mason and plasterer; Ero Chandler, doctor; Doctor Allen, old practice; Bazaleel Gillett, doctor and merchant; Ranson Cordell, constable; Mr. Shull, hotel keeper; Mrs. Palmer; Wm.
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A LIST OF OLD TIMERS-FATHER HARNEY'S RECOLLECTIONS.
S. Jordan, farmer; Mr. Robley, farmer and brick maker; Hervey McClung, tanner and currier; E. T. Miller, carpenter; George Graves, cabinet workman; John Savage, car- penter; Edward Durant, carpenter; James Martin Eads, blacksmith; John Eads, Jr., blacksmith; John Eads, Sr., blacksmith; Simeon Mccullough, tailor; Levi Church, tailor. John Laughrey, laborer. David Tefft, carpenter; Joseph Coddington, merchant; Enoch C. March, miller and merchant; Thomas Arnett; William L. May, Representa- tive in the Legislature; Mrs. Joiner; Josiah Gorham, Sr , carpenter; Samuel Rixford, no employment; John Henry, cabinet maker; Dr. H G. Taylor, merchant and postmaster ; James Parkinson, wood-cording machine; William Thomas, lawyer; Jacob W. Barton, farmer; James Blair, dry goods clerk; Jaines Leeper, dry goods clerk; Joseph Robin- son, dry goods clerk; James Buckingham, plasterer; Daniel Busey, saddler and harness maker; Thomas Carson, Jr , brick mason; James Carson, cabinet workman; John Car- son, brick mason; Rev. J. M. Ellis, Presbyterian preacher; Aquilla Hutchins, farmer; George Richards, surveyor; Emanuel Metcalf, chair maker; Mrs. Buckingham; Phillip Haines; Darius Ingalls; Wm. Conn; Garrison W. Berry, brick maker; McHenry John- son, blacksmith; Mr. Grimsly, blacksmith; Nelson Johnson, dry goods clerk; Enos Hobbs, mail carrier; Mrs. George Rearick, Mrs George Richards, Mrs. John P. Wil- kinson, Mrs. Simeon Mccullough, Mrs. Martin Eads, Mrs. John Eads, Mrs Verien Daniels, Mrs. Doctor Taylor, Mrs. George Nicely, Mrs Matthew Stacy. Mrs. Handy, Mrs. Bunnell, Mrs. Emanuel Metcalf, Mrs. Robley, Mrs. Garrison W Berry, Mrs. James Parkinson, Mrs. E. T. Miller, Mrs. Thomas Church, Mrs. Charles Chappell, Miss Ann Robison, Miss Hester Kellogg, Mrs. Thomas Carson. Mrs. Nathan Gest, Mrs. Abram Vance, Mrs. William L. May, Mrs. Conn, Mrs. Ero Chandler, Mrs. Jacob Bar- ton, Mr. John Savage, Mrs. John Henry, Mrs. Dennis Rockwell, Mrs. McClung, Mrs. Ranson Cordell. Mrs. Joseph Fairfield, Mrs John Buckingham, Mrs. Dr Allen, Mrs. John Laughrey, Mrs. Samuel Titus. (colored,) Mrs. Grimsley, Mrs. McHenry Johnson, Mrs. Aquilla Hutchins, Mrs. Darius Ingals, Mrs. Phillip Haines, Mrs. Thomas Arnett.
In 1829 John R. Harney, now living in Woodson, came with his family to the then new state of Illinois and located near Jacksonville, Morgan county, where he has ever since resided. Coming to the state at so early a period he tasted of the contents of the pioneer cup of tribulation; and being a man of but moderate means has often been compelled to drink deep draughts from its unpropitious ebullitions. As for instance, going to mill thirty miles away through the most inclement weather and over roads blockaded with almost insurmountable depths of snow; through interminable prairies and dense forests whose wild depths were rendered still more frightful and hideous by the howling winter blasts and the distant and ominous yelp of the wolf ; breaking the stubborn glebe, as yet untamed by the kindly hand of agriculture, and all the while bracing against the miasmatic poisons infesting all the land and resulting in low fevers and chills. But why in this biographical sketch need we speak of these trials ; the abid- ing friendships formed and never to be broken only by death ; the bitter adversities and the unsophisticated manners of those times, since they were the common experience of all who lived in those never to be forgotten pioneer days.
John R. Harney has been married sixty years the 13th day of next February. Per- haps but few of the old settlers are ahead of him in this particular. He has reared ten children all of whom are still living in Morgan county
When Mr. Harney came to Jacksonville, in 1829, there were but two brick building in the town-the old court house and Wilkinson's-and no houses more than one story high, except two log houses, which were story and a half buildings, occupied by Mr. Church and Thomas Carson. John P. Wilkinson was the first man who built a brick dwelling house. The first dry goods mechant remembered was James McAllister, and among the first grocers Chambers, Rearick, Taggart and Israel, the last of whom was a brother of Miss Hettie Israel, who died but recently. Some of the above grocers also kept a saloon in connection with the grocery store. So we see we are making some advance steps after all. The first tavern keepers were Wm. Miller and Thomas Church. The first cabinet maker was Capt. John Henry. The first harness makers were Mat Stacy and Peter Hedenhurg. The first school was kept by the late Mr. Spalding in the south- eastern part of the town. The first doctors were Drs. Prosser and Chandler. The first lawyers, Judge Thomas, Murray MeConnel, John J. Hardin, Stephen A. Douglas, etc.
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