USA > Illinois > Morgan County > Jacksonville > Historic Morgan and classic Jacksonville > Part 9
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Since that court house was built, there have been two powerful and wealthy coun- ties made out of Morgan county, and the people of the county as the same is now cur- tailed, have risen from a few hundred in number to many thousands, and from an an- nual county revenue of six or seven hundred dollars to near eighty-four thousand, and our county collector, instead of getting fifty or sixty dollars, as then, when the three counties were all Morgan county, now receives over five thousand dollars in fees per annum from the county with its present boundaries, for collecting the revenue including the school fund. Notwithstanding all this great advancement and increase of wealth, our county is yet comparatively new, there not being one-half the tillable land in the county in useful and profitable cultivation, and, I assert the fact here now, that more improvements are being made in this county than in any former period.
I will read to you a list of the various judges who have presided in the circuit courts of this county, and also a list of the names of the lawyers who have resided in this county from its organization to the year 1845. I do this to put their names on record if anyone should desire to refer to the list:
JUDGES-John Reynolds, John York Sawyer, Samuel D. Lockwood, Stephen T, Logan, Jesse B. Thomas, Thomas Ford, Stephen A Douglas, William Thomas, Wil- liam Brown, David M. Woodson, Charles D. Hodges.
LAWYERS-John Turney, Murray McConnel, J. Quimby, Benjamin Cox, William Thomas, James Berdan, P M Irwin, John J Hardin, Waller Jones, David Evans, John W. Evans, Josiah Hamborn, James A. McDougal, Stephen A Douglas, A. II. Buckner, Myron Leslie, Henry B McClure, William Brown, S. G. Anderson, A. S. Manning, T. J. Deumus, C. J. Drake, Charles Jones.
Of the first school teaching in this city, Judge Thomas has said :
Not being able to obtain other employment, out of which to pay for board, and be- ing out of funds, I engaged to teach school for three months, upon the old plan of obtaining subscribers for scholars. A log building had been erected, and used for a school house, in the south part of town, having no floor, chimney, doors, windows or loft, which I was to occupy. In the month of November the house was finished, with an unjointed floor und loft, a sod and stick chimney, one window in the cast and two in the north, with slabs for seats and wide plank for writing tables, and on the first Monday in December my school was opened in due form. About twenty-five scholars had been subscribed, with the understanding that each subscriber might send all the
54
A DOUBLE WEDDING- JUDGE WOODS AND D. G. HENDERSON.
children that he could spare from service at home. I agreed to teach reading, writing, and the ground rules of arithmetic. I had scholars to learn A, B, C's, spelling, read- ing, writing and arithmetic, and two only to study English grammar. I attended punctually every morning by seven o'clock, made a fire and had the room warm by the time the children arrived. Very soon I found that the Kentucky lawyer was giv- ing general satisfaction, and the house was filled with children from the town and neighborhood, several families sending their children in the winter. I was to receive my pay in cash or produce, pork, cattle or hogs at cash prices. I bargained with Mr. Bentley with whom I boarded to receive the pay from my subscribers for my board, and my three months school enabled me to pay for a year's board, besides furnishing moncy to pay postage and immediate expenses. My board cost me only $1.00 per week, including washing, food and lights. Mr. Bentley had two log cabins, one was given up to Dr. Chandler and myself, and the other was occupied by his fami- ly. The winter was cold, in the east rain, but here more snow than has been usual since. I often had as many as fifty children in the school, and scarce ever less than thir. ty. It required about 10 hours any day to hear the routine of lessons and frequently 12.
As an illustration of manners, customs, food, etc., at this time we are tempted to give a traditional report of a double wedding in the county, in the year 1825.
It was, it is said, a double affair. Nancy Cole and Joe Cole were married to Joe Porter and Nancy Porter respectively. The first day Joe Cole and Nancy Porter were married. On the next day Joe Porter and Nancy Cole were married On the third day an "infare" was given by Guinn Porter, who lived at what is now known as the Dr. Lurton place, in Arcadia township, Morgan county, at his residence (consisting of a cabin of one room). A puncheon-table groancd beneath the weight of the good things that day. The menu was: Lye hominy, dried venison, boiled venison, fried venison, wild turkey, prairie chickens, pork in every style, wild honey, dried pump- kin, turnips boiled and raw, the latter being a substitute for apples, of which they had none, hickory nuts, walnuts, pecans, and whisky, (brought from Naples on horse- back.) All were invited for miles around, and nobody sent their regrets, but turned out en masse to the number of twenty or thirty. Sam Bristow, a "forty gallon Bap- tist," performed the marriage rites at the weddings and was on hand at the "infare."
Before we pass beyond the year 1826, we must note the arrival of Samuel Woods afterwards a member of the legislature and judge of the county court of commission- ers, and in 1884 one of the largest land owners and heaviest tax-payers in Morgan. In an address at one of the annual meetings of the "Old Settlers' Association," he said :
"We came to this county in 1826, and settled nearly in the same place that we now live. There was only one business building in town and that was a small log cabin with a door so low that a man had to stoop to enter. There was neither school house nor church in the county. But we always managed to go to church, We nearly always had to go in ox carts. We had no nails, pins or needles There were four families that only had one needle between them. Thorns were used for pins and pieces of gourds covered with cloth for buttons Now we have everything that man can desire, and if we are not happy it is our own fault. We had to go to St. Louis to do our trading, and it took two weeks to make the trip one way and now I can go to St. Louis and back in one day, and do more business than I could do then.
I never had a great deal of schooling. I graduated at Sulphur Springs. My mother and father went once a month to the head of Indian Creek to church."
Another settler of '26, but one who passed away in 1882-Mr. David G. Henderson -came from Apple Creek, Greene county, to Jersey prairie in Morgan, in April of that year. He purchased a cabin giving in payment a cow valued at $10. He rented some land but his first corn crop proved a failure. At harvest time he returned to Apple Creek, a distance of over forty miles, with a sickle in hishand to reap a patch of wheat. Said wheat was threshed the old way, and carried to a tread mill near Alton, where it was ground, and then taken home, where it delighted the family, who had been so long without good bread, and "Uncle Davie" was wont to say "it was delicious, and tasted better than any sweet cake that he had ever eaten since that time." Mr. Henderson held the office of constable for eight years, justice of the peace for sixteen years, and township treasurer for twenty-eight years, without a single doubt as to his honor and integrity as a public official. In 1847 we notice his name as county commissioner, which position brought him in contact with many of the leading citizens of the county.
55
THE FIRST BABIES THE REVS. ELLIS AND LIPPINCOTT.
In fact nearly all the time from his arrival in '26 to the end of his long and successful career, he served the people in some official capacity.
An arrival in the family of Mr. Dennis Rockwell the county clerk, during the same eventful year made William Rockwell, of this city, the oldest native resident of Jack- sonville. Buker Daniels another present resident, was born a little later, making them the first two males horn in the village and now living in it. The first child, however, born in Jacksonville, was a daughter in the family of Mr. and Mrs. George Rearick.
Mrs. Catherine Carson was the mother of the first male child born in Jacksonville. She named him Alexander Woffendall. He was born December 21, 25, and died August 10, '33.
A history of Jacksonville with the rise and progress of her institutions of learning omitted, would indeed be like the great play of Shakespeare with the title role omitted. So in this chapter we must chronicle the founding of both Illinois College and Jack- sonville Female Academy-twin sisters in a bright galaxy of mind-training stars. The thought from which both sprang may be ascribed to Rev. John M. Ellis, of whom it has been well said-he "came to Illinois a messenger inspired and sent of God to cry throughout the land 'prepare the way to build churches and schools for the incoming population that will flood these rich prairies.'"
The late Dr. L. M. Glover, in an historical address, described him as
"A man not at all distinguished except with a wise foresight of the needs of form- ing society, and a singular zeal in projecting educational schemes with which he had no thought of sustaining any personal relation whatever. He had the genins which proposes good things and successfully invites co operation in realizing them. His thoughts were not seemingly great, but they were such as might not occur to others, and they proved to be seed thoughts in not a few instances. His mission was that of a fore-runner; his specific work was not with superstructures, but with foundations; when he had staked ont one enterprise and assured himself that it would go forward, he passed on to another; and his life was fruitful in suggestions that did not vanish with the breath that uttered them, but took form and have become incorporated among the influences which will prove a permanent blessing to society, the land, and world."
Mr. Ellis came to Illinois to labor as a minister under the direction of the Ameri- can Home Missionary Society. For two years, amid other duties, he was maturing a plan for a seminary of learning, and was exploring the counties of Randolph, Bond, Madison, Greene and other counties for the best location.
At Edwardsville, at Kaskaskia, everywhere his constant effort was to awaken in the hearts of others an interest in the subject like that which glowed in his own. Nor did he allow the indifference or the incredulity which he often met, to cool his zeal or hinder his efforts. Through the press, in the pulpit, at the fireside, with unflagging zeal he pressed the question, "how shall the means of education be furnished to meet the wants of this growing state ?" In Bond county, where the first Presbyterian church organized in the state was located, he found sympathy and awakened interest, and ef- forts were made for the location of a seminary there, but before any decisive steps were taken Judge Lockwood, of Jacksonville, and Dr. Todd, of Springfield, dining with Rev. T. Lippincott, the friend and helper of Mr. Ellis, suggested that the new counties of Morgan and Sangamon should be visited before a location for the school should be finally decided upon. From this hint resulted a visit to Jacksonville from Messrs. El- lis and Lippincott and the selection of College Hill in our city, where, soon after, the first building was erected, and within five or six years after the walls of the south half of what is now known as the "library building" were lifted up, all the land within three miles of Jacksonville rose in value at least a thousand per cent., and has never since de- preciated. Previous to closing the contract securing the college site, an association of young men in New Haven, Conn., bound themselves together for an effort to build a college in the opening West. Correspondence with Mr Ellis decided them to operate in Jacksonville. Pledges to the amount of nearly $2,000 and two valuable tracts of land had been seenred here, and Rov. Julian M. Sturtevant came from New Haven with assurances of $1,000 more.
56
ILLINOIS COLLEGE FOUNDED.
Those young men, then studying theology at Yale College, were Mason Grosvenor, Theron Baldwin, John F. Brooks, Elisha Jenney, William Kirby, Asa Turner and J. M. Sturtevant. They were planning to go west, as home missionaries, and to establish a christian college wherever their lot was cast, and to-day, nearly sixty years later, one of them-ex-president Sturtevant-is in the faculty of Illinois College, which, since its foundation, by him and his fellow students, has sent forth its hundreds of graduates to adorn the highest places in the religious, political and intellectual kingdoms of this great country and to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the remotest corners of the globe.
According to Dr. Sturtevant in his quarter-century celebration discourse in 1855, Messrs. John M. Ellis and Thomas Lippincott were acting as a committee of the Pres- bytery of Missouri (which, by a stretch of territorial jurisdiction which now looks rather grasping, then embraced the whole state of Illinois as well as Missouri) when they selected the site now owned and occupied by Illinois College. The next spring (1828) they reported their plan to that presbytery, and that body rejected their report, and refused to give the scheme any support or countenance.
Their "outline of a plan for the institution of a seminary in Illinois" was circulated through Bond, Sangamon, Morgan and other counties ; also a subscription paper in which the articles solicited in subscription, etc., were, besides cash, building materials, land, stock, wheat, books, bedding, furniture, etc. The subscribers promised to pay to Sam- uel D. Lockwood, John Leeper, Hector G. Taylor, Ero Chandler, Dennis Rockwell, William C. Posey, Enoch C. March, Archibald Job, Nathan Compton, Morgan county- John Allen, Greene county-James McClung, Bond county- John Tilson, Jr., Montgom- ery county-John Todd, Sangamon county, and William Collins, Madison county, the Trustees of said Seminary, or their agent, the sums set opposite their names respective- ly, in aid of the institution. This instrument was dated May 1st, 1828.
To this plan about $3,000, was subscribed. Then the Yale students heretofore men- tioned, says one of them, (Dr. Sturtevant :)
"Offered to furnish the proposed institution the sum of $1,000, provided the pre vious subscribers would consent to certain modifications of their plans, deemed by the New Haven men necessary to the permanent prosperity of the institution." The subscribers were seen personally, and the written consent of every one of them ob tained to the proposed modifications of the plan to which they subscribed, on certain conditions.
On the 18th of December, 1829, in the south half of the old college building now standing, and known in 1884 as Phi Alpha Hall. at that time in process of erection, amid carpenter's benches, shavings and piles of lumber, a meeting was held of the original subscribers, and two gentlemen, Theron Baldwin and J. M. Sturtevant, rep- resenting the young men at Yale College. The conditions on which the proposed modifications of the plan had been agreed to were formally fulfilled.
A board of trust was organized, and the institution was christened "Illinois College." The first Monday of the following January saw nine students assembled, with J. M. Sturtevaut the only instructor.
Of the origin of the name "Illinois College," and Mr. Ellis' connection, Dr. Sturte- vant says :
"On motion of Hon. James Hall, of Vandalia, well known in the literary world both before and since that time, it has unanimously resolved that the institution be called Illinois College. * *
* The proposed institution had up to that time always been called the sem- inary at Jacksonville, or the Jacksonville seminary, or as it was generally pronounced in the speech of the time, "siminery." It was never called the college, much less Illinois College. To me, and I think to all present, Judge Hall's motion was a sur- prise. I saw no objection to it and it passed unanimously without any discussion. * * * * Mr. Ellis did not first conceive the idea of founding a college at Jacksonville. That idea originated with the association. It was distinctly in their minds to found a college before they ever heard of Mr Ellis. Their attention was turned to Illinois and to Jacksonville by correspondence with him. * * *
* * * The reason that Mr Ellis was not conspicuously associated with the management of Illinois College in after years was, that he soon after these events ceased to be the pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Jacksonville, and for that reason left the place and State."
57
THE ACADEMY AND THE COMMON SCHOOLS.
Turning now to the founding of the Female Academy, we quote from the semi- centennial address of Dr. Glover :
"Almost every enterprise begins somewhat before the recorded beginning; begins in the original thought, the incipient suggestion, the pregnant inquiry, from which at length it starts into form and becomes fact Somewhere, in some single mind, by some unknown process, in some moment of solitary reflection, or in some season of earnest prayer, there springs the idea of a project which seems worthy, and, with the iden, a desire to realize it. Thus secretly and silently, divine providence often plants the seed of something valuable in the mind of an humble person not intent upon am- bitions ends except as ambition is worthily related to the best interests of the human race and the glory of God. This seminary is no exception to such an origin. The thought from which it sprang is confidently ascribed to Rev. John M. Ellis, the first Presbyterian pastor in this place."
One of the first meeting houses erected for the worship of Almighty God was about eight miles east of Jacksonville, near Col. Samuel T. Matthews', by the Cumberland Presbyterians, and Needham Roach was the preacher. In 1829 the Presbyterians erected the first meeting house or church in Jacksonville, on the corner of West State and Church streets, and Rev. John M. Ellis was the preacher. He was installed in 1828.
In. 1828 John P. Wilkinson built the first brick house or store in Jacksonville, on the southeast corner of East State street (then called Springfield street), which, with slight changes stands there to-day. The Carson tavern, already referred to, was a two story log house on the east quarter of the public square, and now stands on East Mor- gan street and is occupied as a dwelling house by his daughter, Mrs. Vail.
In another portion of this chapter will be found Judge William Thomas' experi- ence as a teacher, during the winter of 1826 and '27. He states that at that time there was an unfinished log house, situated in the south part of town, which had been built for what had always been known as the "West District School." The building was used as a school house, the upper story being used by the Masonic fraternity as a lodge room. When the growth of the district demanded more school room, the Masons with- drew from the room occupied by them, and it was used for school purposes.
A few years after the erection of this building, the east district, or that part of the town lying east of the public square, built two school houses, in which school was at once opened. Under the formation of these two districts the schools of Jacksonville were maintained until the adoption of the city charter in 1867. When the buildings already mentioned became too small for the school populatian of the growing town, rooms were rented in various parts of the town, so that all who desired the benefit of a free school could be accommodated. Private schools were also opened at different times and were generally well patronized.
On January 22, 1829, the General Assembly passed an act providing for a Commis- sioner in each county to sell each sixteenth section therein, that funds for common school purposes might be established. In accordance with the provisions of this act, Judge Thomas was appointed Commissioner for Morgan county. This duty the Judge faithfully discharged. About 1833 or '34, a public meeting of the citizens of Jackson- ville was held to take action in regard to the establishment of a school in their midst. This being prior to the act of 1839, and no provision being made for township organiza- tion, it was decided to support the school by private subscription. This method of sup- port was used for some time.
Returning again to political matters, we learn from Judge Thomas, that in 1826. Archibald Job, who died in 1874, after passing his 90th year, was elected to the senate from this district then composed of the counties of Morgan, Pike, Adams, Schuyler, Fulton and Peoria. During a service of eight years, his constituents never had cause to regret his election, nor to complain of his want of devotion to their interest. Ho maintained the character of an honest, fearless, intelligent and industrious representa- tive. In 1820 he was again a candidate for the senate, but was defeated, not because of
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58
TAXES FROM 1826 TO '36-DRAM SHOP LICENSE.
any complaint of his previous action, or any want of confidence in his ability and integrity, but because the Whig party, with which he was identified, was in the minority. Upon the passage of the law providing for the building of the State house at Springfield, be- cause of his known integrity and intelligence, he was appointed one of the State house commissioners.
A new court house was erected in 1829-'30, and was the second brick building in the county. The early records having been destroyed by fire, we can give no list of county officers earlier than 1828, viz :
Representative in Congress, Joseph Duncan; Representatives in State Legislature, William L. May, Wiley B. Green, William Thomas; County Commissioners, Joseph M. Fairfield, Samuel Rogers, John Wyatt; Sheriff, Samuel T. Matthews; Coroner, William Jarred.
As to taxes in these primeval days, one of our old settlers, D. G. Henderson, writes to the Journal in 1875, that his tax receipts show as follows:
1826 50 cents; 1827 50 cents, J. M. Fairfield, sheriff; 1828 55 cents, Wiley B. Green sheriff; 1829, $3, Cyrus Matthews, sheriff; 1830, 8712 cents, Samuel T. Matthews, sher- iff; 1832 $1, 1833 $2.20, 1834 $2.40, 1835 $2.40, William Orear, sheriff; 1836 $2.40, Alex- ander Dunlap sheriff.
He adds: Now I could go on for forty years more, for I have every one neatly filed away. No other man could have kept the first receipts, for they are written on old newspaper not more than two or three inches square. Since paying these heavy tax hills, the real estate that I have accumulated and given to my children is now worth $80,000 or more, all being in Morgan county except one farm, which is in Menard county.
The entire amount paid in for taxes in the then county of Morgan, in 1827, was $753.20, the population was then 7,000. Fifty years later in the same territory it was 45,000.
In view of these latter day discussions of the dram-shop and license question we here copy a document which is preserved in record in the county clerk's office-the third tavern and liquor license ever issued by our county commissioners. The date is 1827.
George M. Richards having this day applied to this court for a license to keep a tavern: It is ordered that said Richards be licensed to keep a tavern in the town of Jacksonville for the term of one year, from the date hereof, upon paying to the coun- ty $5.00.
Whereupon he executed his bond, with Chas. Luttrell as his security, and the court established his rates for selling as follows, to wit:
For rum, brandy, gin, wine and whisky 25 cents per half pint; for meal of victuals 25 cents; for lodging 6} cents; for horse feed, corn or oats 12} cents; keeping horse over night, 25 cents.
As will be readily seen lodging, feed and drinks in the ancient days when Jackson- ville was but a hamlet upon the prairies cost considerably less money than they do now.
As to the use of intoxicating liquor in harvest fields, Mr. J. Gorham, father of Josiah Gorham, now of Champaign county, claims the credit of being the first farmer in this county who refused to furnish ardent spirits to laborers employed in the harvest field and in raising a barn ; he furnished as a substitute ginger beer and butter milk.
Mr. Silas Massey, who bought land here in 1826 and lived here from 1832, was another farmer, if not the first in Morgan county, who succeeded in having his harvest- ing done without whisky, and when the men declined to work without it, told teem he could just turn in his hogs, and they would take care of the wheat, and not say whisky once ; but they thought better of it, and the wheat was harvested in good condition, and from that time no liquor was allowed in his field.
In 1833 Mr. Timothy Chamberlain refused to give his farm hands liquor, substituting ginger beer and coffee.
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