USA > Illinois > Douglas County > Historical and biographical record of Douglas County, Illinois > Part 2
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how great a debt the country owes to its pioneer women.
Eli Sargent was a settler in Douglas county in the same year. He was a native of Mary- land, but had subsequently emigrated to Ohio where his children were born. Anxious to avail himself of the cheap lands in Illinois, he made a journey here, accompanied only by his son, Snowden. They left home on the 18th of March, and proceeded down the Ohio river to Evansville, Indiana, on a flat-boat. Here they continued their journey overland, crossing the Wabash at Vincennes and directing their course to Paris. Mr. Sargent's original inten- tion was to seek a location in Buffalo Heart Grove in Sangamon county, a point he had greatly admired when he passed through it, returning from a trip to Missouri two years before. Coming through Walnut Prairie, some fifteen miles below Marshall, Clark county, Illinois, he learned of Walnut Point, on the Embarrass river, where Ashmore had made a settlement. The favorable reports of this loca- tion determined him to visit it, and so pleased was he upon examination, that he entered four hundred acres here when he returned to Pales- tine. The household goods were promptly brought forward in wagons, and arrived at the new location in April, 1830, Mrs. Sargent arriving soon afterward. A wigwam in the Indian fashion was the first erected, and later the usual cabins which served the family as homes for several years. Maj. Ashmore was the only settler in this township (Sargent). In 1834 Mr. Sargent died, leaving his son, Snowden Sargent, to care for his family.
William Brian, a native of Ohio, came to Douglas county in 1834, and entered one hun- dred and sixty acres of land in section 18,
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township 16 north, range 7 east. He arrived at this point in June and erected a cabin, return- ing then to bring his family, consisting of his wife and four children. He returned to Illi- nois in the following September, and cultivated his farm for about a year, when he removed to the farm which is known as the old homestead For several years he was the only resident of what is now Tuscola township. Jacob Taylor was probably the first settler in Garrett town- ship. Soon after him came Jamies Drew, who came to the territory of Douglas county in 1839, having, with his father, a job to split rails for Taylor. Land was cheap here at that time, and Drew being only eighteen years of age, thought it a favorable opportunity to secure a start by entering land. He first en- tered eighty acres, borrowing one hundred dol- lars of Taylor to make the purchase, and con- tracting to discharge a portion of the debt by day's labor. He put up a split-log house in 1840, and lived with his brother-in-law. At this time, for thirty miles west in the direction of Decatur, there was not a single house. Jacob Mosbarger was among the earliest set- tlers in Garrett township. He was a native of Ohio, settled subsequently in Indiana, and in 1845 started with the intention of settling in Iowa. He found it impossible to reach lis proposed destination in time to secure a crop before the coming winter, and therefore stopped here to raise one crop, proposing to continue his journey the next season. He was so favor- ably impressed with the country, however, that he gave up his idea of proceeding to Iowa. He first settled in the edge of the timber on Lake Fork, and rented land. Two years later he settled on Congress land, pre-empting one hun- dred and sixty acres, which still remains in the
family. Nathan Garrett was another early and prominent man in Garrett township; he was newly married when he came here in April, 1845, and began life on a capital of forty dollars in cash, and two horses and a wagon; he began by renting land until 1852, when he entered eighty acres, and has been successful in amassing considerable property. Benjamin Ellars, a native of Ohio, came to Illinois in 1835. In 1849 he moved to Douglas county, and settled on the west side of the east Okaw timber, just south of the Campaign county line. The family was one of the first to locate in that vicinity. To the west of their improve- ment on the prairie there was not a single set- tler. John D. Murdock, for whom a township in Douglas county was named, was a prominent settler in that section of the county; he was a native of Ohio, but had made a settlement in Fountain county, Indiana, but, dissatisfied with the health of the section, he sought a home in a prairie country. His attention was called to this region in 1853, and in July of that year came here to "spy out the land." Pleased with the outlook he would have purchased land, but did not meet with a satisfactory opportunity. On returning home he sold his farm, and in January, 1854, returned, coming to George- town, and then by way of Hickory Grove, fol- lowing the ridge to Camargo. At this time he met with a man of whom he bought some three hundred and forty acres at eleven dollars per acre. In the following April he brought his family. A split-log house stood upon the tract at the time of its purchase, but being in- sufficient for the accommodation of his family, Mr. Murdock prepared a frame house in In- diana, and hauled it to his new purchase where he put it up in readiness for his family.
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William W. Young came to Douglas county in the fall of 1853, and was one of the earliest settlers in Newman township. He was a native of Indiana, and lived for a few years after his marriage on rented land in his native state. Ile then came to Douglas county, accompanied by two of his wife's brothers. After entering one hundred and sixty acres of land he re- turned to Indiana, and a year later came with his family to the place chosen for his new home. On their arrival they boarded for a week in the neighborhood, while Mr. Young erected a frame dwelling into which the family moved directly it was completed. J. M. Cooley, one of those accompanying Mr. Young, took up one hundred and sixty acres on a land warrant in November, 1853. B. C. Nelson came to Douglas county three years later, and bought three hundred and twenty acres of railroad land on section 4, township 16 north, range 8 east. With the exception of one or two fam- ilies there were no neighbors nearer than Okaw timber, and the site of Tuscola was a wild prairie covered with tall grass and resin weed.
There was nothing in the character of the country or in the history of the emigrants to this section to lead to the early formation of villages or thickly settled communities. The pioneers of Douglas county came singly or by twos and threes, and fixed upon an eligible site for farming, and there pitched their tabernacle. Up to the coming of the railroad influence in 1850, Camargo was the only village even on paper, and there was therefore no disturbing influence to divert the even settling up of the country. Camargo dates earliest among the townships of the county in settlement, and counts among the early settlers the Richmans, Hammets, Gills, Braggs, Watsons and Mur-
docks. Tuscola claims William Brian, the Hacketts, O. J. Jones, J. W. Smith, G. P. Phinney, B. F. Boggs, B. C. Nelson and others. Garrett claims the Garretts, Otters, Mullens, Lesters, Goodsons, Mosbargers, Drews, Howes and Ellars. Newman inendes among its early settlers Enoch Howell, the Winklers, the Hop- kinses, Cooleys, Youngs, Skinners and Shutes. Sargent numbers the family from which it took its name, Ashmores, Gwinns, Reddens, Allisons, Maddox, Casebear and others. Bow- dre claims Isaac Davidson, Breedens, Davises and Barnetts. Arcola, the Shaws, Henrys and McCanns; and Bourbon the Moores, Deharts, Weltons, Nelson Shaw, the Drews and others. In the latter township are quite a number of Germans who came in about 1852 and the years immediately following, and in 1864 the first of a considerable number of the same national- ity generally known by the "Amish,", a name commonly bestowed upon this sect of relig- ionists.
NATURAL RESOURCES.
The country which these pioneers has thus chosen was a hunter's paradise. The prairie and timber were thronged with game of all kinds, and without this the early settler's fare must have been hard indeed. The first comers to this region were considerably in advance of those pioneer industries which mitigate the severities of pioneer life and were forced to make long journeys for the common necessities. Thus cut off from the natural sources of supply, the pioneer was forced to depend upon the re- sources of the country alone, which, even with the abundance of game, proved but a meager support for the family. Deer were found in
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unlimited numbers, and the first settlers found no trouble in killing more than the needs of the family required, right at his own door. Droves, reaching to the number of a hundred, were often seen, and settlers were in the habit of car- rying their guns on almost all occasions, and seldom returned from any expedition without an evidence of the abundance of these ani- mals in the shape of a haunch or ham of veni- son. Wild hogs served also to vary the frontier fare. These were animals that had escaped from the older settlements, and, subsisting upon the nuts and roots of the woodland, had gone wild in the course of nature. They were of a long-legged, gaunt species, and kept the timber pretty closely. They were no particular dam- age or annoyance to the settlers, but furnished capital hunting sport, and gave a relief to the monotonous recurrence of venison upon the table of the settler. Wolves were of the coyote species and were found in the open prairie. These were of more annoyance to the settle- ments, attacking sheep, young pigs and some- times cattle. They were miserable cowards, never attacking a person, and were hunted and killed as a nuisance. They were small and un- dersized, making the night dismal with their howling, and when overtaken by the dogs would fall on their backs and fight much like a cat. On frozen ground, and when filled with a re- cent meal, they were run down with little diffi- culty on horseback, as they seemed to avoid the timber and woukl risk capture rather than go into it. Pinnated and ruffed grouse, better known as prairie chickens and partridges, were everywhere found in inexhaustible numbers and furnished a touch of delicacy to the early fare. Wild geese and ducks were to be had in con- siderable numbers, while in the rivers were 2
found some fine edible fish. With this abundance of what are even now considered luxuries, it would seem at a casual glance that the pioneer life was a life of ease rather than hardship; but when it is considered that these were the sum of their early luxuries, that what we deem the common necessities and find so cheap as to pass almost unnoticed in our estimate of family supplies and expenses, were to the early settlers almost inaccessible and the most expensive, a great change is wrought in our estimate. Salt was more expensive than sugar and more dif- ficult to procure. Flour could not for a time be procured at any price, and even meal, such as is provided to-day, was unknown on the frontier. And even the variety of game pro- vided soon failed to answer the purposes of beef and pork. The system exposed to ravages of disease, and subject to the trying experience of early farm labor, demanded something more substantial than this. Nor could all give their attention to hunting. The prime reason for the presence of most of the pioneers in this country was to build up a home and lay the foundations for a future competence, and to accomplish this the larger part of the community centered here had only their hands with which to accomplish their mission. It was no uncommon occurrence to find men surrounded by this profusion of game who never shot a deer, and occasionally one who never owned a gun.
LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE.
The pioneers who formed the early settle- ments in this county were generally familiar with the isolation, and inured to the hardships and privations of frontier life, but with all this the open prairie presented difficulties to which
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
they had hitherto been a stranger. From the practice of every economy led the settlers to de- pend upon their own skill. Boneset, Culver's physic ( root), and a long list of teas and herb decoctions were to be found in every cabin, and most of the ailments incident to a frontier life were generally made to yield to them. To have a severe case of malarial fever or several season's run of the ague was expected by each new-comer, and none were considered as having been fully inducted into all the mysteries of citi- zenship until they had had the regular malarial experience. standpoint of this later day, when the adapta- bility of the prairie has been so abundantly proven, it seems unfortunate that the early ex- periences of these pioneers led them to cling to the timbered portions of the country where foul water and miasma aggravated the iney- itable discomforts of frontier existence. Life in a new country is everywhere subjected to the misery of malarions diseases. The clearing off of timber or the breaking up of prairie sod, involving the rapid decay of large quantities of vegetable matter, gave rise to the inevitable miasma, which wrought its sure work upon the THE CABIN. system. Such sickness was generally confined The early settlers brought with them noth- ing but what the necessities of the situation de- manded. One wagon generally sufficed to bring the family, honsehokl furniture, farming implements and frequently two or three months' supplies. It requires no great amount of con- sideration to conclude that luxuries, or even comforts, could find no place in such an outfit, and so the pioneer, after constructing a shelter for his family, found his skill and ingenuity taxed to their utmost to supply this deficiency. It was necessary to manufacture tables, chairs and bedsteads before they could be used, and some of the most striking incidents of frontier life are founded upon this universal dearth of ordinary comforts. Hand tools were always a part of the load when possessed by the emi- grant, but in the absence of these the ax ac- complished all that was necessary. A section of a good-sized log, smoothed with an ax and furnished with a rough back, or often without a back of any sort, and legs, took the place of chairs. A rude bedstead was often constructed in the corner of the cabin with a single leg, to the last of the summer and fall. There was but little sickness in winter, except a few lingering fall cases that had become chronic; there were but few cases after severe frosts, and the spring and early summer were per- fectly healthy. It was commonly remarked that when the bloom of the resin weed and other yellow flowers appeared, it was time to look for the ague. The first spring flowers on the prairie were mostly pink and white, then followed purple and blue, and about the middle of August yellow predominated. High water in spring, flooding the bottoms and filling the lagoons and low places along the streams, and then drying off with the hot sun of July and August, was a fruitful cause of disease, and in such localities it was often quite sickly, while the higher prairie was comparatively exempt. With these evils the pioneer was generally forced to struggle alone. Physicians were very few, and often so far sitnated from the scat- tered settlements that it took a day's ride to reach them. But where they were found within practical distance, the urgent necessity for the the two sides of the structure supporting the
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rest of the bedstead which was framed in the logs. Upon this the bed cord, which could be easily brought, was arranged, or in its absence, deer-hide thongs. This or simply a heap of brush supported the "tick," which was brought with the family, and filled with leaves and dried grass until the first crop supplied a better sub- stitute in the husks.
The cabin itself displayed the ingenuity of the pioneer and the poverty of his resources. A log pen, with a single door and window, the latter closed with greased paper or left open, and the door provided with a simple blanket, the fireplace constructed of such loose stones as could be found, and the chimney built up of sticks protected with a covering of mnd; the roof of "shakes" split from a straight-grained tree, and held in place by weight poles, com- pleted the tout ensemble of the early homes. At first there was often no floor but the ground, but generally slabs split out from the unsea- soned timber were smoothed with the ax and made to do good service as a protection from the bare earth. When the door was con- structed, these "puncheons" served as the ma- terial from which it was constructed, wooden pins taking the place of nails, and wooden hinges, latch and bars serving the purposes of the modern builder's hardware.
THE FARM.
These preliminaries accomplished, the most urgent necessity was to secure a crop. The plows were crude affairs, strong and serviceable but requiring great team power and consider- able mechanical skill in the plowman. The sod was found tough, not easily "tamed," and very
uncertain in producing a first crop. So tenacious was the turf, that the furrow turned out one unbroken strip of earth, and occasionally, when not especially careful, the plowman had the dis- appointment of seeing yards of this leathery soil turn back to its natural position, necessitat- ing the tedious operation of turning it all back again by hand. The expenditure of all this la- bor was generally well repaid the first year, if the sod became thoroughly rotted, even though it produced but a small crop. Oftentimes the second and third plowing showed the soil stub- born and unkind. Few, even among farmers, know much of the labor involved in "breaking prairie," unless they have experienced its ob- stacles and overcome them. Corn was the only crop planted at first, and this furnished food for man and beast. A few years later, it was a mark of unusual prosperity to be able to furnish wheat bread to especial guests. The first crop was generally planted by cutting a gash in the inverted sod with an ax, dropping in the corn and closing it by another blow be- side the first; or it was dropped in every third furrow, and the sod turned on it; if the corn was so placed as to find the space between the furrows, it would find daylight; if not, the re- sult of the planting was extremely doubtful. Of course cultivation in this case was impos- sible, and if the crows and squirrels gave the crop an opportunity to mature, it generally proved a satisfactory return. Later the culture of wheat was begin, and with the increase of markets has grown to larger proportions.
Most of the settlers brought in horses and cows, but the former pretty generally gave way to oxen for working purposes. Hogs and sheep were occasionally brought in at first, but gen-
:
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erally they were a later importation. All these animals were supported with little cost. The wide range of wild grass afforded excellent pasture and hay. With the range the early set- tlers had, their cattle would put on more flesh and in less time than on any other pasture. The sedge which grew along the sloughs was the first to start in the spring, and furnished the earliest pasture. The bent or blue-joint. which was principally found along the sides of the sloughs, or, in the vernacular of the pioneer. "between the dry and wet land," was preferred by stock to all other varieties, especially when mixed with the wild pea-vine. This made the best hay, and, as its yield was very large, was generally selected for this purpose. But the combined ravages of stock and scythe rapidly exterminated it, so that in many cases the ground where it grew became almost bare of vegetation. The stock and the farmer then re- sorted to upland grasses, but before the settlers multiplied so as to limit the range of the stock, the older and more experienced of the herd would go long distances to find their favorite pasture, often necessitating on the part of the pioneer a hunt of several days to recover them.
The native grasses were scarcely less marked for their medicinal qualities. Cattle and horses seemed to be remarkably free from disease so long as they could find plenty of wild grass and hay to feed upon. Horses raised upon the prairie were said never to be afflicted with the heaves, while horses brought here, suffering with this malady, were speedily cured by simply feeding on the native grasses. This advantage, however, was somewhat offset by the colic which this rank grass frequently pro- duced in horses with fatal effect.
MILLS AND MARKETS.
No sooner was a crop secured than the lack of any proper means to reduce it to the neces- sities of the household was made painfully ap- parent. So long as the corn was soft, it was grated on rude graters, made by punching holes through a piece of tin. After it became hard, it was sometimes parched and ground in a cof- fee mill, and at other times pounded in a rudely constructed mortar. A stump was hollowed out by burning and scraping to serve as a mortar. Over this was suspended from a "sweep" a pestle, to the end of which was fixed an iron wedge, and with this rude machinery bushels of corn were broken sufficiently fine to use in the various ways common to pioneer days. The finest was used in cornpones and dodgers, while the coarser was used as hominy. the separation being effected by means of a sieve made of a perforated deerskin stretched tightly over a frame. Corn-crackers were put in various settlements at an early date, but these did but little better work than the mortar. They did the work quicker, and such a mill was kept running night and day, while the patrons com- ing from distances of fifteen or twenty miles would wait patiently for a day or two to get their grist. But for flour, the only resort was to Eugene, Indiana, where an older settlement had secured the advantages of a flouring mill. The demand for groceries was limited to the means for purchasing, which were generally of the most slender sort. There was but little to sell, and then the only market was at Chi- cago, where the settlers hauled hundreds of bushels of shelled corn to sell at thirty cents per bushel. Coonskins, however, were almost land-
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office money. Fur buyers were an institution of the carly times here, and many a quarter- section was purchased with the price of these skins.
There were some luxuries, however, that could be secured without money. Bee trees were, in many parts of the country, found in great numbers, and no piece of timber was en- tirely devoid of them. It sometimes required an expert to find them, and some united pleas- ure and profit in this sort of hunting. An ex- perienced hunter would go out in a bright, warm day in winter or late fall and burn some honey comb, which seldom failed to attract the game to the honey, which was provided for them. Loading up with this, the bee would rise, circling in the air, and then fly straight to its tree. It was then the hunter's business to fol- low the fleet-winged insect closely, and thus pert, and there were few who were marked discover its secret. To do this required an ex- for their success. Sometimes a number of bees from a single tree, at no great distance, were attracted. These do not rise in circles, but dart- ing to and fro in a straight line, make the course plain enough to be easily followed, but this is rare. In other cases, the best that can be done is to discover the direction of the bee's flight, and taking this-against the sun if possible- to stumble along with upturned gaze, scanning every tree for the telltale hole or crack. But when the tree was found the battle was but half won. This must be felled and the occupants dispossessed of their stores. When the hollow extended down to the point where the ax must penetrate it, the hunter was often obliged to decamp in hot haste as soon as the blows had aroused the swarm.
The bee was easily domesticated, and many
of the settlers captured swarms, placed them in sections of hollow logs, and in a little while possessed a constant source of supply for the table and the market. In some cases this was the principle source for the sweetening used in the culinary work of the cabin, and was the basis of a favorite drink. "Metheglin" was made of steeped honey-comb, and honey fer- mented. It was counted an excellent drink, and much preferred to cider, and when strengthened by age became a powerful intoxi- cant. This, however, has passed away with many other of the homely joys of pioneer days.
The ready tact of the pioneer housewives, and the unpampered tastes of that early day, found a good substitute for fruit in the pump- kin. When frozen, they were prepared and stewed down to a sirup, which furnished a very acceptable substitute for sugar or molasses in the absence of honey, and mixed with fresh stewed pumpkin formed a desirable sweetmeat. They were planted in considerable numbers, and stored in a vault constructed underneath the haystacks to be fed to the cattle during the winter. Well may this "fruit loved of boy- hood" be apostrophized by the poet, and hon- orably be placed in a state's coat of arms.
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