USA > Illinois > Morgan County > Jacksonville > Historic Morgan and classic Jacksonville > Part 13
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The successive M. E. preachers of this period, at "Jacksonville Station," were as follows:
1831, Wm. Askins and J. T. Mitchell; 1832, W. S. Crissy; 1833, Thomas J. Starr, (dead); 1834, S. T. Robinson, (dead); 1835, J. T. Berger, (dead); 1836, J. T. Mitchell, (dead.)
77
DR. STURTEVANT-FATHER DICKENS-CARRYING DOUBLE.
The presiding elders were :
1831, Peter Cartwright; 1832-'34, Simon Peter; 1835, J. Sinclair.
In 1883 the semi-centennial of Jacksonville Methodism was celebrated in the spacious M. E. Church. Among the speakers was the venerable Dr. Sturtevant, who had then lived in the city fifty-four years. He said :
I am glad to remember that the city of Jacksonville did not have its origin in the horse race, gambling hell, or other rascality. It was in the church. When I came here (in 1829) there were two churches-the First Presbyterian and the Methodist, and in less than four hours after my arrival in this city, I was preaching in the former one of these two churches. Clear back to the beginning of this town there was a religious atmos- phere. The foundation of this church is entitled to a glorious record with the first. This town has always been a sort of a Jerusalem where great things were to be done for the christian cause. This is the cause of the peculiar past history of the place, and the reason that the Institutions for the Blind, Deaf andDumb and Insane are here, and that so many institutions of learning are located in this city.
There is far more christian kindred in this town now than there was in those early days. Let the same improvement go on and on still. I want to say before I sit down that the work which I have been connected with owes a debt of gratitude to this church for its kindness and accommodation in the past, and I desire to return my most hearty thanks for past favors.
Among the pioneer Methodist preachers of that day and this vicinity was Father Dickens, lately deceased, who was at the time of his death the oldest effective pastor in the old Illinois Conference -- the mother and grand-mother of all the other conferences. Mr. Dickens tells of himself and those times, as follows:
"I was raised in the old Tennessee state, right under the shadow of General Jackson's hermitage; in 1829 concluded could do better; took rib from the south and came north, in 1830. just before that ever memorable great snow; lived within two miles of Jackson- ville that hard winter. We had eaten all the potatoes, and bad drawn heavily on old hog and hominy, and thought we must have some meal. A long journey was made to find a mill that had not been frozen up, and a terrible time had in getting through the snow in the bitter cold, nearly freezing to death.
He told also about ferrying a bride over a swollen stream in a hog trough, about eight feet long and fourteen inches wide. They got him to do it because they said he was the best prepared to die, Once he attended a camp meeting in a log building, when a dog was disturbed by one of the congregation. This dog howled and every dog about -and there were about a hundred of them-set up a howling and fighting, and it seemed as if pandemonium was let loose. The congregation rushed out and drove them off, and the rest of the services were sadly interrupted. He says;
"Those days were such as tried men's souls, their mettle, their nature. I would like to take some of the young preachers around some of those circuits-one of them was 300 miles round-flies terrible; mud bottomless; no bridges, no ferries, no canoes; sometimes they would swim; sometimes swim their horses; and in winter cross on the ice. Those were times of trial, but some of them were the happiest days I ever spent. They thought they were laying the foundation for some grand future, but they never expected to see what we see to-day."
At an "Old Settlers' Picnic"-an annual feature of modern Morgan county life- Mr. Larkin was called out and said :
"I came to Morgan county in 1836. The county was entirely new. The first time I was ever in Jacksonville I came in town, stayed over night, and in the morning I took breakfast at the mound. The jail when I first came to this state stood about where the Park House now is, and any man could go through it with a jack knife."
Mr. John File, of the northwestern part of the county, was called on and contrib. uted some remarks of which we give a few :
"I came to this state in 1831 and was in a store. They thought I was about sharp enough to make a peddler. I followed that business two years with several others, now citizens of this city. In those days if you would go to a house and ask to put up they would say certainly, if you can put up with what we have. The hospitality at every house was almost always very warm. One of the questions that was always asked in buying a horse was 'will he carry double;' because we always took the girls on behind us on the horse. Things are very different now-a-days, and young people enjoy themselves in different ways."
Mr. T. Shepherd bought a farm of Levi Fanning, and moved to it March Sth, 1831.
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78
A HARDSHELL PREACHER-COUNTY OFFICIALS.
He made his first well bucket, by chopping off a section of a log, boring an auger hole through it, and lengthening and enlarging the hole with a chisel until nothing remained of the block but a thin rim. He then fitted in a bottom. A split appearing in the side he was compelled to take his bucket to Fielding Grimsley, the nearest blacksmith, to get it ironed. That individual, when questioned as to what he was doing, dryly replied that he was "hooping Shepherd's folly." Mr. Shepherd was a "hardshell" Baptist preacher, and was highly esteemed for noble traits of character and strict rectitude. He remained on Big Sandy until his death, a few years since, and left a large family.
In 1830 a meeting of the citizens of Jacksonville, was held in the cabinet shop of John Henry, in pursuance of a public call, to make arrangements for the celebra- tion of the Fourth of July. The usual committee was appointed with the venerable John Eads as chairman. The committee inet in Henry's cabin to make the necessary arrangements. It turned out to be a successful observance of the day, and the first cel- ebration in this county of the Nation's birth that there is any account or recollection of.
It is worthy of mention here that in 1833 Stephen Arnold Douglas, afterwards of state and national reputation as statesman and patriot, came to Illinois. He was born April 13, 1813, at Brandon, Vermont. He landed at Meredosia in 1833, and tried to se- cure a school to teach, but was unsuccessful, so he went on foot to Naples and from there to Jacksonville. At both these places he was unable to get a school. He then went to Winchester, where he succeeded in getting a school of forty pupils at a salary of $3 per quarter.
In 1834 Mr. Isaac D. Rawlings opened shop in the tailoring business in this city. Subsequently he abandoned custom work and devoted himself to ready made clothing exclusively. Steadily but constantly the business grew on his hands, through the strict- est adherence to his upright business principles. In the year 1863, his sons Isaac and Daniel were taken into the firm but the business continued under the old name. In 1868, however, the senior member retired but is still living as one of our honored citi- zens, represented in our business circles by his two merchant sons.
As indicative of merchandise prices here in olden times, the following document is of interest. Mr. Stevenson thinks this was about the first credit he ever had in a store in Jacksonville :
Mr. ELLIOT STEVENSON,
To HOOK & WISWALL, Dr.
March 2d, 1832, for 1 Curry Comb. $ 38
for 1 pair Cards. 50
Sept. 29th, for 12 lbs. Iron, at 812 1.02
Oct. 13th, 6 for 5 lbs. Coffee. 1.00
$2.90
The following were the trustees of the town of Jacksonville during these years :
1834 .- A. Brockenbrough, Jas. Dunlap, William Thomas, T. Thornton, Jno. T. Cassell. 1835 .- John Hurst, Jacob Cassell, Thos. T. January, James J. Tilton, John J. Hardin. 1836 .- William Brown, William W. Happy, Thomas W. Melendy, William P. War- ren, Murray McConnel.
The county officials, Representatives, Congressmen, &c., were as follows:
1830-'32 .- Sheriff, Samuel T. Mathews; Coroner, Wm. Jarred ; County Commission- ers, Wm. Gillham, Jas. Green, Wm. Woods; Representatives, N. Cloud, J. M. Fairfield ; State Senator, James Evans.
1832-'34 .- Congressman, Joseph Duncan ; State Senator, Waller Jones; Representa- tives, Murray McConnel, Samuel T. Matthews, John Henry, John Wyatt; Sheriff, Wm. Orear; County Commissioners, William Gillham, Wm. Woods, James Green; Coroner, Jacob Redding.
1834-'36 .- Congressman, Wm. L. May ; State Senator, Wm. Thomas : Representatives, Newton Cloud, John Henry, Wm. Gordon, John Wyatt : Sheriff, William Orear ; Coroner, Anthony Arnold ; County Commissioners, Jacob Redding, Jacob Ward, James Green.
70
CORN DODGER AND COFFEE-BUSINESS IN 1832.
1836-'38 .- Sheriff, Alexander Dunlap; Coroner, Anthony Arnold : County Commis- sioners, Jacob Redding, Jacob Ward, James Ethel ; Representatives, Stephen A. Douglas, W. W. Happy, John J. Hardin; State Senator, William Orear.
L. F. Stoddard, now of Ramsey, Ill., wrote in 1883, to a friend in Jacksonville, of these times, thus :
. "Fifty years ago, when you and I were young men, these prairies were sparsely settled, in fact but few farms were found except along the edges of the timber. Then houses were of logs, covered with boards and floored with puncheons, chimneys of sticks and mortar, inhabited by as whole-souled, hospitable set of people as ever lived. The benighted stranger was never turned away. The entertainment was primitive but generous-corn dodger, jerked venison and coffee the staple diet; the scaffold bedstead or a pallet upon the floor, was the couch.
Our mode of transportation was in the saddle, or if by wheels it was in a wagon drawn by oxen. During the summer if we crossed the prairies we necessarily traveled by night, on account of the flies (green heads). Now how changed! The cabins are all gone, and with them, I fear, much of the sociability. The prairies are all in culti- vation, railroads and telegraph lines crossing them in every direction. Villages and various industries have sprung up on every hand * * * *
Camp meetings are conducted so different from what they used to be when you and I were boys.
Then we had no young man to gather and report a synopsis of all that passed- arrivals, departures; who preached and his discourse, and who was to lead the meet- ing the following day, nor had we a Journal to publish his reports.
As already noted, Judge Thomas of our city, served as quartermaster-sergeant, in the Winnebago War under Col. Neale. From 1828 he served two years by appointment of Gov. Edwards, as State's Attorney for the (then) fifth circuit. He was one of a con- mission to inquire into the relations of the government and Black Hawk, and served as quartermaster under Gov. Duncan in the Black Hawk War.
He was twice elected to the State Senate- in 1834 and '38 and then elected as judge of the first circuit. He was the author of the first bill which became a law about 1839, to authorize free public schools.
The Church of Christ was organized in January, 1832, with seventeen members, prominent among whom were Josephus Hewett, John T. Jones, Jacob Cassell, and Peter Hedenberg. Of these Mr. Hewett became the first preacher. In October, Mr. Stone was instrumental in effecting a union of this and a similar organization which had been organized some time previously. In 1835, Elder Gates, of Louisville, became pastor.
But no glimpses of "auld lang syne" are quite so vivid as those gained from the weekly newspaper of the time. From copies of The Illinois Patriot, James G. Edwards, editor, issued in January and February 1832, we glean the following facts :
Among those who were in business and who advertised, were John Ament, Joseph McKee, cabinet makers; James Fally, N. H. Gest, butchers; Gillian & Long, merchants, Upper Alton; Knapp & Pogue hardware merchants, Beardstown; Drs. Chandler and Jones, Jacksonville; Gillett & Gordon, who "want all accounts settled either in pork, wheat or cash;" Wm. Manning, jr., cooper, &c., &c.
Among the agents of the Patriot announced are Gershom Jayne, M. D., Spring- field; Wm. R. Smith, Esq., Naples; C. H. Perry, Exeter; F. Arenz, P. M., Beardstown; H. Fellows, P. M., Rushville; Postmaster, Quincy; B. W. Holliday. P. M., White Hall; Justus Rider, Esq., Carrollton; Wm. II. Brown, Esq., Vandalia; W. Manning, jr., Al- ton; Levi Harlan, Winchester, and a score of others in the region between St. Louis and Galena.
The issue of January 7th opens with a grand New Year's address, knocking the kings and queens of the old world right and left, and, in dealing with domestic affairs, hits "Old Hickory" a severe blow in these lines:
"He has his failings, which we think Should not be passed without a wink- His wicked system of reform Has gather'd o'er him a dark storm."
Of the cabinet of that time, the poet says: "The cabinet, of late turned out, Have kicked up a confounded rout."
He laudeth Henry Clay, at the expense of "Old Hickory," in this style:
"Old Hickory," in our estimation, Ilas lost the people's approbation- Ilis brightest laurels fade away Before the blaze of Henry Clay."
SO
THE PATRIOT IN 1832- JACKSONVILLE IN 1834.
It is an elegant effusion, and we wonder why Cheever overlooked it in his "Poets and Poetry of America."
Next comes a long memorial to congress, gotten up at Quincy, "to locate and con- struct a railroad from Buffalo in the state of New York, to the Mississippi River." Stories and miscellaneous items follow: A letter from Joseph Duncan, at Washing- ton, to Col. John J. Hardin, concerning the pay due "Capt. Edmonson's company." The proposals of Benjamin McCary, to publish the "Beardstown Chronicle." A long "list of letters," signed by Dennis Rockwell, postmaster. Then come numerous advertisements-among the names we notice Gillett & Gordon; William Thomas, school commissioner, the same as attorney at law; Jesse Barber, and Alton and Beards- town business cards.
In another copy of this same paper-one of the issues of October, 1833-we find at the head of the editorial columns the name of the same James G. Edwards, once of the Burlington Hawkeye. The Patriot was published weekly, and as in 1832,at $2.50 in ad- vance, $3 00 if not paid within six months, and $3.50 if not paid within a year. And yet it was a four page paper, and to-day men are unreasonable enough to grumble at $1.50 for a ten page paper. From the advertisements we learn that John S. Clark "wishes to sell his farm lying seven miles north of Jacksonville, and one-half mile east of New Lexington in the Jersey Prairie."
Gillett & Gordon advertise that they "will pay fifty cents per bushel, of sixty pounds, in goods, for good, clean, dry, merchantable wheat delivered at the Exeter Mills."
A large cutting from a Sentinel of August, 1835, gives us the name of William H. Coyle as editor and proprietor, and the name of Hugh Lawson White as "the people's candidate" for president. In the advertising columns R. William Dummer's card ap- pears as attorney at law, Frederick Collins prints a notice as executor of Anson Collins' estate, Carleton H. Perry as administrator of the estate of David Dinsmore, and John White as administrator of Thomas Smith. The leading editorial is in relation to the Jacksonville Female Academy, of which Miss E. P. Price was then "superintendent." The writer says: "The Academy is yet in its infancy, having only been incorporated at the last session of the legislature, and this being its first chartered term. The pres- ent number of pupils is from twenty to thirty," etc., etc. "A superior seminary for the instruction of young ladies in a sound and refined education we may safely say exists not in our state."
Among the memorable personages of those days we must not forget "Grandma Conn." She was born in one of the West India Islands, educated in New York. She married Mr. Conn and afterward emigrated to Cincinnati, thence to the vicinity of Kas- kaskia, but later removed to Jacksonville in 1829, with Rev. Mr, Ellis, who married her half sister. Mrs. Ellis died with cholera in June 1833. Mrs. Elizabeth Conn was the mother of eight children, Richard, Matilda, Julia, William, Curtis, Eliza, Samuel and Eunice. She was always cheerful and as full of life as many, much her junior.
Mrs. Conn was raised a Catholic, and after removing to Kaskaskia she formed the acquaintance of the leading Protestant families there, among others an intelligent Prot- estant lady. They had frequent discussions upon the subject of their faith, and ulti. mately agreed to discuss the various points. Says a friend: In relating this to me she asked me what I thought was the result. I replied that I supposed she was made a Protestant, as she was then a very zealous one. She replied "Yes, but the other be- came as zealous a Catholic."
From a "Gazetteer of Illinois" written by J. M. Peck, and published at Jackson- ville by R. Goudy, 1834, a copy of which is in the Free Library, we learn that then "Jacksonville has sixteen stores, six groceries, (?) two druggists shops, two taverns or hotels, one baker, two saddlers, three hatters, one silversmith, one watchmaker, two tinners, three cabinet makers, one machinist, one house and sign painter, six tailors, two cordwainers, four blacksmiths, three chair makers, one coach maker, one wagon maker, one wheelwright, eleven lawyers and ten physicians. It has one steam flour and one saw mill, a manufactory for cotton yarn, a distillery, two oil mills, two card- ing factories, a tannery, and three brickyards, with a proportion of various mechanics in the building line to other trades.
81
ILLINOIS COLLEGE IN 1834-WAVERLY FOUNDED.
The public houses are, a spacious Court House, of brick, a neat frame building for the Presbyterian house of worship; a large brick building for the Methodist socie- ty, and a handsome edifice, also of brick, for the Episcopalian denomination; a female academy, a brick market house, and a county jail.
The college edifices are one mile west of town, There are two printing offices that publish weekly papers, the "Patriot" and the "Gazette," and also a book and job printing office, with a book bindery attached.
The present population is about 1,800, exclusive of the college students Situated Hear the center of the county, and in the midst of one of the finest tracts of land, densely populated with industrious and enterprising farmers, with the advantages of good water, health and good society. Jacksonville must continue to prosper, and doubtless will attract many emigrants, who are seeking an agreeable home in the far West."
Of those then engaged in trade or business in this town, how many and who are still so engaged ? The watch-maker was Mr. Nolan. Of the lawyers, probably Judge Thomas is the only one now living here. And of the physicians, Dr. Henry Jones. So many lawyers were eredited to the town, we presume some must have been enumer. ated who did not reside, but only practiced here.
In an appendix is a table giving the counties in the State (60,) "vote in 1834," and estimated population-Morgan is credited with a population of 22,950, being 1,350 more than Sangamon, and the largest in the State. This was before Scott and Cass were sliced off. Cook county is credited with 3,265.
Of Illinois College it is stated that the buildings consist of a brick edifice 104 feet in length, 40 feet wide, five stories high including the basement. To this are attached two wings, each 38 feet long and 28 feet wide, three stories high, including basement. The chapel is a separate building, 65 feet long, and 36 feet wide, two stories high. There are also upon the premises a farm house, barn, bake-house, workshops for stu- dents who wish to perform manual labor, and other buildings. The farm consists of 300 acres of land all under fence.
Students who choose are allowed to employ a portion of each day in manual labor, either upon the farm or in the workshop. Some individuals earned each $150 during the year. The library consists of about 1,500 volumes. There are 16 students connected with the college classes, and 60 students in the preparatory department. The faculty consisted of Rev. Edward Beecher, Rev. J. M. Sturtevant, Truman MI. Post, J. B. Tur- ner, Erastus Colton, and Dr. Henry Jones, lecturer on chemistry.
Other places in the near vicinity of Jacksonville are "Deaton's Mill," one of the first settlements in Morgan county, on the Mauvaisterre, three miles northwest fron Jacksonville. Here is a mill and a large and flourishing settlement.
"English Settlement" is in Morgan county, west of Jacksonville, on Cadwell, Wal nut and Plum Creeks. There are about one hundred families, mostly from Yorkshire England, and farmers. They appear to be well pleased with the country, and to be ac. cumulating property.
Of the Mauvaisterre it is said, "for beauty of situation, fertility of soil, salubrity of climate, a due proportion of timber and prairie, good water, and almost every other advantage for agricultural purposes, no country in the widespread valley of the west excels this; and yet, by a most singular misnomer, the French, who explored the Illi- nois River, called it the 'Mauvaise-terre'-poor land."
The year 1834 witnessed the arrival of Cleveland J. Salter whose death nearly fifty years later was a sore loss not only to Waverly, but to our county. The year after his first visit to Jacksonville, Mr. Salter invested largely in Morgan county lands, purchas- ing some 5,000 acres in the southeastern portion. In 1836 the town of Waverly was laid out by him and Messrs. D. B. Salter, A. C. Twining and J. A. Tanner. They dona- ted the land for the public square and also 640 acres for educational purposes. A $5,000 building was put up and a flourishing high school established.
Crime was not unknown or unpunished in these primeval days, although churches had been planted and a God-fearing sentiment prevailed. In an old and time-worn book
82
PUBLIC FLOGGING FOR FORGERY.
in the Morgan county court house "A," p. 243, Law Record) can still be found the fol- lowing recorded as a proceeding of the September term of court, 1831, Samuel D. Lock- wood, judge, Samuel T. Matthews, sheriff.
The People of Illinois VS. Upon indictment for forgery.
Charles King.
The said Charles King being brought to the bar in custody of the sheriff and being inquired of whether he had anything to say why the court should not now proceed to pronounce sentence of the law against him, and replied that he had not, whereupon it is ordered by the court that defendant be fined in the sum of fifty dollars, that he be imprisoned for the term of four months in the jail of the county of Morgan, that he receive on his bare back twenty-five lashes for the offense of forgery, whereof he stands convicted by the verdict of the jury. And it is ordered that the sheriff inflict the punishment of stripes on the defendant on the first day of December, next, between the hours of ten o'clock and two o'clock, of that day, on the public square of Jack- sonville. It is further ordered that the defendant pay the costs of this prosecution and be imprisoned until the fine and costs be paid and the costs of imprisonment.
There are citizens now living who saw the sentence of the court carried out. The man, King, was soundly flogged. An old citizen asserts, however, that the report that in this public flogging blood was drawn is incorrect. He states that the whipping was administered in the mildest degree consistent with the carrying out of the sentence, and that the kind-hearted sheriff was moved to tears when he was ordered to administer the punishment. There are other instances of public flogging ; one of Benjamin Crisp, for larceny, and others.
Mr. J. W. Lathrop writes to the Courier: "It seems too that some rascality went un- punished. In 1822, and previous to that time, a man named Holmes lived on what is known as the Claybourne Coker farm, a few miles east of this city. Holmes had an excel- lent wife, and though a hard worker himself, he was looked upon with suspicion by many of his neighbors as a man not to be trusted, and altogether as "slippery" in his dealings with other men-ever ready to make a dollar, no matter by what way. It was at length thought by some that he was regularly making counterfeit Mexican dollars, and he was closely watched. His wife was not in sympathy with his wicked ways, and protested strongly against his pursuit of them. At length he became alarmed lest she should expose more than he would have the public know, and he decided to circum- vent arrest should exposure be made. On the 3d of July, 1832, he went to Naples, tak- ing his wife, to spend the Fourth. Next day he disappeared, and was never seen in this part of the country afterward.
In 1875, Mr. Atterbury, who now lives on the same farm occupied by Holmes at the time given above, was plowing a field near the site of the old house, when his plow turned up an iron concern, that at once invited his scrutiny. It proved to be a pair of iron moulds for Mexican dollars. The iron was, of course, rusted and eaten from long burial in the ground, but the inside of the moulds was as bright as though new, and stamps were perfect. Mr. Atterbury now has the moulds in his possession, and they have been examined by persons among whom were many old residents who knew Holmes well, and remember the cirumstances surrounding his disappearance, and fur- thermore, they are re-assured in their belief, by this last indisputable evidence, of Holmes' guilt.
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