Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 34

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126

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Farming was engaged in by all the settlers, as their purpose in coming here was to establish permanent homes, but during the early years of their occupancy. the products of the farm were almost worthless, save for home consump- tion. The ground was easily cultivated and the yield almandant. but there was no cash market for grain and vegetables of any kind. Corn was valued in trade at five cents a bushel, and oats were so abundant nobody wanted them. Good cows, with calves at their side, sold for $S. and hogs ran wild in the woods and were bunted like other wild game. Money there was none, and, as we have said before, the circulating medium of the country consisted of furs and peltry.

Cultivating the soil and harvesting the crops was accomplished with the erudest implements, and the work was all done by hand. The first plows used were made with an iron share and a wooden mold-board, and they were heavy and cumbersome. In breaking the native sod, the plow was usually drawn by a yoke of oxen, and it would throw a furrow from twenty to thirty inches wide and three to five inches deep. Corn was oftentimes planted in the sod without eulti- vation. and good crops were thus harvested. Grain was cut with the cradle, bound by hand and threshed with a flail of the farmer's own manufacture. All the smaller agricultural tools were hand-made, and were limited to the hoe. rake, spade and pick, and, as a rule. they were heavy and unwieldy, and productive of many back-aches for the lads who were called upon to do their full share of farm work. At harvest time the farmers joined together in garnering their crops, and gaiety and good fellowship

abounded on every hand. The harvesters always expected the farmer for whom they worked to have a jug of whisky in the field, and it was handed about as freely as water. Whisky in those days sold for eighteen to twenty cents a gallon, aud. while there were occasional excesses, the pioneers as a rule were not addicted to drunkenness. The evolution of mechanical ap- pliances ou the farm has been so rapid and won- derful as almost to exceed beliet, and it has been accomplished largely within the memory of the present generation. many of the older residents of the county being familiar with the primitive methods by actual experience.

With no mill less than fifty miles distant. the first settlers in the county were dependent upon hominy mortars and tin graters for their meal. The former was constructed by scooping out a dish-like hollow in top of a stump, and di- rectly above it suspending a huge wooden pestle that was operated by a sweep, much the same as used for drawing water. Corn or wheat was placed in the improvised mortar and crushed by the operation of the suspended pestle. The finer particles of corn were thus available for meal, and the coarser particles for hominy. Even more primitive was the tin-grater. whereby the corn in the car was reduced to edildle proportions. To meet the growing demands of the settlement. Calvin Hobart constructed a band-mill. driven by horse-power, which would grind two or three bushels of corn an hour. In 1-26 another mill was erected on the southeast quarter of Section 17 by Mr. Hobart, and it was successfully oper- ated by him for several years. The mill-stones were manufactured from boulders found in the neighborhood. and while at work dressing down the stones, it was necessary to travel six miles to the nearest blacksmith shop, where tools could be sharpened. This mill was operated for several years, and settlers living forty and fifty miles to the north, brought their grain to the Hobart mill. Some years afterwards, when advantage was taken of water-power for the operation of mills, the old band-mills were abandoned, but they had served their purpose well. and were a great convenience to the early settlers.

In considering the home life of the early set- tlers, the pioneer woman should most surely be extolled, for her life was one of hard-hip and self-denial. and building a' home in the unde- veloped West meant many privations to her that did not affect the stronger sex. In the long.

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wearisome journey from the Eastern States, only the most essential household furnishings were brought along, and while some of the settlers could boast of a bureau and bedstead, in the majority of the early homes even these necessi- ties were provided for on the spot. Cooking stoves were unknown, and all the baking and cooking was done in the big fire-place that was built in one end of the cabin. Ilere the venison and fowl were roasted on a spit, and hoe-cakes were baked on the hearth. and while the daily diet may have been monotonous, the appetite of the pioneer needed no coaxing. and cornbread and side-meat were relished as a daily fare.

In addition to her regular household duties, the pioneer mother had to "break" the water for washing. for no one enjoyed the luxury of a cistern ; also make her own soap, and dip or mold the candles, and during the summer and fall, she dried the fruit for winter use and ren- dered out the lard at butchering time. The women also brought with them from the eastern settlements their spinning wheels, with which yarn was made, and it was not long until rude looms were improvised to weave' cloth. Not every cabin, however, in which spinning was done bad a loom. But there was always someone in each settlement, who, besides doing her own weaving, did work for others. Nearly all the clothes worn by the men and women were bome- made. The men and boys wore butternut-colored jeans, and linsey-woolsey was a popular fabric for both sexes. Deer hides were also tanned. and served the men for wearing apparel, and the coon-skin caps were much in vogue. During the summer season footwear was generally discarded entirely, or buekskin moccasins worn, and the settlers served as their own shoemakers. After the country became more populous. the settle- ments were visited regularly by itinerant shoe- makers, who boarded with the settler while he worked up the family stock of eow-hide into footwear.

Among the early settlers of Schuyler County there existed two distinet types of society. The Yankee brought with him the Puritan ideas of the East. while the Southerner was of that jovial, generous disposition, with a fondness for fun and frolic. While this social distinction was clearly marked, there was no diminution of the neighborly spirit that so perfectly characterized the pioneer, and they met together on a plane of equality in the social activities of the settle-

ment. Notwithstanding their cabins were widely separated, whenever there was a "house-raising." a "log-rolling," or a "husking-bee," the entire settlement, including men, women and children, took part. And, even though the serious minded and deeply religious settlers did not join with the Southerners in their horse races and revels, the conditions of the times demanded that there be no serious estrangement, for all were mutually dependent upon each other. Individuality counted for much more in those days than now, for the people were brought into closer contact one with another, and were wont to gauge a man's stand- ing and capabilities accurately from their own observation. As in every new country, physical prowess was held in higher esteem than mental endowments, and about the fireside the familiar topics of conversation were the exploits of the chase and of the border warfare. Then, too, in all their gatherings, the common amusements were wrestling, foot-racing and shooting matches, and, when difficulties arose, it was the common practice to settle them by personal combat.

At the "house-raisings" and corn-huskings, the women vied with the men in the festivities. These gatherings usually ended in a dance, and greatly prized in the settlement was the cheerful fiddle that enlivened the long winter evenings, and relieved the tedium of their lonely life. For those who could make music with their fa- vorite instrument there was always the heartiest welcome, and the choicest seat near the great log-tire that supplied alike heat and light.

A true glimpse of pioneer life is afforded us in the following account of the second wedding in the county. written by Jonathan D. Manlove, one of the early pioneers :

"In the spring of 1826, Mr. Samuel Green and Miss Caroline Trainer were married at the cabin of the bride's father. James Trainer. in Littleton Township. The cabin was small-say sixteen by eighteen. The company was some dozen, be- sides the family. There were two beds and a table in the house, leaving Inuit little room for the guests. The night was stormy. The chimney was hut little above the jambs, and the smoke found vent in the house. Chairs then were not fashionable, and there was no room for them if they had been so. All went off well. Plenty to eat-venison, turkey, honey and methezlin, besides other luxuries, Songs were sung and old- fashioned plays were the order of the night ; but, as all things come to an end, so did the night.

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

The past was a reality, but the infair was in the future, and its events unknown.

"Readers, did you ever see 'the bottle run for?' I have. often ; and on this occasion the first and last time in Schuyler. This is the way it is done --- this case will illustrate: On leaving the bride's home for the home of the groom, John Green and Mr. Me Allister made tracks for the residence of the groom's father, Henry Green, which was just where Mr. Vail lives above Rush- ville. The person who could first reach there got the bottle, and in triumph returned to meet the delighted party and give them a dram. John Green, to use his own language. took a bee-line, and was far in advance of his competitor (who was not a woodsmau), and met the party some miles back. When the party arrived it was raining, and continuel incessantly most of the evening and night. The cabin here was smaller than the other and the crowd larger."

In every phase of life the pioneers entered heart- ily into the spirit of the occasion, and while their sports and recreation may now seem rough and uncouth, the same hearty zeal that was noticeable in their pleasures was a predomi- nating trait of their religion as well.

The first settlers were hardly settled in their rude log-cabins in 1523, when the itinerant preacher appeared, and, as the settlement in- creased in munber, almost every denomination was represented by ministers, who, with untiring zeal, had consecrated their lives to the Divine Master. As a rule, they were men of little education or refinement. but they possessed the earnestness of deep conviction, and their pas- sionate utterances moved the people mightily. In their travels, which sometimes included a cir- enit of fifty or sixty miles, they married the lovers, baptized the converted, christened the children and spoke words of consolation above the still forms of the dead.

But it was at the camp-meetings that their greatest power was shown, and, with fiery zeal, they enthused the multitude. These meetings often lasted for a week or more, and were held in the open air beneath the big forest trees. Here such intellectual giants as Peter Cartwright were often heard, and as often a whole community was wrought up and converted by the unmeas- ured force that leaped from uneducated. un- polished backwoods preachers. These men were types of a civilization that. in the rapidly chang- ing and marvelous development of the country,

has passed away; but their influence in guiding publie sentiment and action aright in that forma- tive period can bardly be overestimated.

CHAPTER XI.

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

SOME PIONEER MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES IN SCHUYLER COUNTY-HAT AND CHAIR FACTORIES -TANNERIES AND IMPORTANCE OF THEIR PRO- DUCTS TO THE EARLY SETTLER -- FIRST CARDING MILL IN RUSIIVILLE-A WAGON FACTORY ESTAB- LISHED IN THE EARLY 'FORTIFS-THE RAMSEY FLOURING MILL -- THE COOPERING INDUSTRY -- WOOLEN MILLS. KNITTING AND SPINNING FAC- TORY-BRICK-MAKING-CIGAR FACTORIES -- COAL MINING A PROSPECTIVE INDUSTRY-FISHERIES AND THEIR PRODUCTS-MANUFACTUILS FROM MUSSEL-SHELLS A GROWING INDUSTRY.

While agriculture. as the method of seenring means of support for the pioneer and his family, was necessarily the first industry receiving at- tention of the early settlers of Schuyler County, yet in the decade beginning with 1830, we find that many small mercantile industries flourished in Rushville, and it will be interesting to review the history of the most important ones.

A. La Croix established a bat factory on what is now known as the B. C. Gilliam property, in the carly 'thirties, and for many years, main- tained a flourishing business.

William Sneider's chair factory, established abont the same time, was located near where II. B. Roach's residence now stands, There was a good demand for household furnishings at that time. as the pioneers were prospering, and they had brought little if any furniture with them to the settlement. The Sneider chairs were of the split-bottom, hickory kind. but were substan- tially made, and there are a few of them to be found in Rushville today, and, perchance. be- droked with white enamel and at velvet cushion. . and occupying a place of honor in the front parlor.

There were cabinet-makers in those early

John, J. Brines

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

days who also turned out furniture that now, after a lapse of seventy-five years, is brought out from the garrets and refurnished anew. Of these cabinet-makers, E. H. O. Seeley is the most widely known. He established his business in 1831, on the site of the present brick store building owned by his heirs, and it is interesting, in this connection, to state that be paid for the two corner lots on the public square by making a dresser and a set of pigeon-hole postoffice boxes for Hart Fellows.

Dr. James Blackburn established the first tan- nery in the county at Rushville, in 1830, near where G. H. Scripps' residence now stands, and operated it until 1836, when he sold the prop- erty to George Baker and removed to Brooklyn to engage in the practice of his profession.

The tannery business appears to have been a profitable one in the early days of the county, and there were eight or ten establishments in Rushville in the later 'thirties and early 'forties. George Baker, George H. Scripps, John Seripps, Mr. Kirkham, and Mr. Orendorf are remembered by the older citizens as proprietors of tanneries. In later days, Philip, William and August Peter continued the tanning business on an extensive seale, but it was finally abandoned as unprofit- able by August and William Peter, about 1850.

Geer Brothers operated a small shop, near the old Peter Fox property, in the early days. for the manufacture of hora-eombs, but their busi- ness was a limited one, and was soon aban- doned.

John Hodge established the first earding mill in Rushville, and he brought his machinery here from Kentucky. His first mill was located on the present site of the Electrie Light building. The mill was at first operated as a horse tread- mill, and it had a capacity of from 90 to 100 pounds per day. When first established. the standard price for carding wool was a pieayune (614 ets.) a pound, but in war times the price was advanced to ten cents a pound.

Mr. Hodge also installed a flaxseed crusher, and engaged in the manufacture of linseed oil. but the business did not prove profitable, as local dealers bid up on the seed and imported the manufactured product from St. Louis.

John Whorley became owner of the carding mill business in the early 'fifties, and he in- stalled the first steam engine used for motive power in the county in 1854. This engine and boiler was afterwards in use at MeCahe's brick

yard. and has only lately been put out of com- mission.

William II. Hodge learned the carding trade under his father, and engaged in the business for many years, He dismantled the plant and re- tired from the business in 1878.

The financial depression following the panic of 1837 had a wide-spreading effect on industrial conditions in Illinois, and it was not until ten years later that we observe any marked im- provement in conditions in Rushville. In that year John and Joseph Knowles established their wagon-shop in Rushville, and it thrived and prospered for nearly fifty years. The business was started on a small scale, but grew steadily, and. at one time, a force of twenty to twenty- five men was employed, and machinery was in- stalled to manufacture all parts of the wagons in the local shops. Then came the era of the machine-made wagon, and this firm closed out its business in 1894 to Corbridge & Glossop, who continued the manufacture of hand-made wagons, and later the business was merged into a corpora- tion known as "The Rushville Wagon and Ma- chine Company."

In this same year what is known as the Ram- sey flouring mill was built by Little & Ray, and William Hardy was put in charge as superin- tendent. Samuel Ramsey afterwards operated the mill for many years, and it finally passed to the ownership of Kerr Brothers, and was owned by them when it was destroyed by fire.

From the earliest days of pioneer settlement, coopering was one of the industries of Schuyler County, and it was a productive source of wealth for many of those who engaged in it extensively. There was abundance of fine native timber, and, as the wooded traets were settled first, coopering came to be regarded as the main industry of the settlement.

Perry Tolle was one of these old pioneer eoop- ers, and we are indebted to him for the faets here presented. He says the halcyon days of the cooper were from 1844 to 1852, and places the number of men engaged in the business in Schuy- Ier County during that period, at about 1500. He says there were 500 cooper shops in the county, and they would easily average three men to the shop.

Good wages were earned by expert coopers. as they were paid by the piece. A whisky bar- rel that sold for $1.25 netted the cooper 621_ cents, and a good man could make four or five

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

in a day, and some could turn out six. Fifteen certs was paid for flour barrels, and an average day's work was ten barrels. Then there was what was called "nest work." a half barrel, a quarter barrel, and a kog, one inside the other.

Ham barrels, with a capacity of fifty gallons, netted the cooper 3716 cents each, and slack hogs- heads were made for 75 and 80 cents each.

White oak timber was used exclusively for pork and whisky barrels, and red or black oak for the other barrels.

Broom making was another industry of the early day that flourished in Schuyler County, and broom corn was looked upon as a staple erop. With the advancement in agriculture, however, farmers found other erops more profit- able, and it is now wholly eliminated as a product of the county.

Industrial disaster, rather than industrial de- velopment, would more fitly deseribe the history of the woolen mill business in Rushville, which was carried on at intervals between 1850 and 1887. The private fortunes of several well- known Rushville citizens were depleted by their connection with this business, which held out alluring prospects of success, but always ended in financial disaster.

The pioneers in the woolen mill business in Rushville were George Wheelhouse, George Weber and John Korstian. who established a small plant about 1850. They did spinning and weaving for the local trade, and put in the first fulling and shearing machines brought to this county. The business was continued for a number of years and sucessfully managed on a small seale.

In 1867 a local stock company was organized to engage in the business on a large scale, and the large three-story brick factory building was erected that year. The egipment was modern. and the prospects looked bright for the new com- mereial industry. Joseph Duncan came from the East to act as superintendent, but he was in- competent, and within two years the mill shut down.

In 1SSO Dr. N. G. Slack and Albert L. Gavitt formed a partnership and refitted the woolen mill. They, too, operated for about two years, and found the venture a financial burden.

Again in 1884 the mill was reopened, this time by a local stock company, and Lester Gor- don was placed in charge as superintendent. At this time a specialty was made of the manufac-

ture of shawls, but the business failed to prove a financial success, and it was closed out in 18ST and the mill dismantled, thus ending for all time the effort to establish a woolen mill in Rushville.

John Foote came to Rushville in 1876 and started a knitting factory, and the business thus established is continued by his sons, G. H. and Walter Foote. For many years this factory had a large output of hosiery, but in late years it has been a spinning factory exclusively, and operated in connection with a factory owned by Charles Foote of Ipava, Ill.

John MeCabe, a pioneer in the brick-making business in Rushville, first opened his yard here in 1866, and he continued the business until 1905, when he retired.

The manufacture of cigars is a local industry of considerable importance in Rushville, and there are now three factories in operation. They are owned by Keeling & Schnur, Guy Grubb and Joseph MeKee.

COAL MINING is one of the undeveloped indus- tries of Schuyler County, and there are vast coal fields adjacent to Rushville that will one day furnish employment to hundreds of men. Just now coal is mined for the local market alone. and at this the total output will aggregate some $40,000 to $50,000 annually. Round about Rushville and Pleasantview. the coal vein is four to five feet thick. and at Littleton a thirty- six inch vein is being mined. But with this wealth of coal deposits, closely adjacent to a line of railroad. there will soon come a time when it will be fully developed. and made a source of profit to the owners.

FISHERIES .- The fisheries of Schuyler County in the Illinois River and its tributaries are exten- sive and profitable, but exact statisties as to the business is difficult to obtain. All along the river. from Bluff City in Hickory Township to Crooked Creek, which forms the southwestern boundary line of the county, there are men en- gaged in fishing for a livelihood. During the fishing season there are probably two hundred men thus engaged. and the value of their catches runs into thousands of dollars. The fact that Beardstown and Havana are competing fish markets, with Browning for the catch in this county, makes it ditheult to obtain accurate sta- tisties. Browning, however, is one of the im portant tish markets on the Illinois River, and

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

in some years more than 1,000.000 pounds of commercial importance, as well as of scientific t h are marketed there.

MUSSEL FISHING-A rapidly growing industry on the Illinois River is mussel fishing, which in the past few years, has attracted hundreds of men to the work. All along the eastern boundary of Schuyler County there are found extensive beds ot mussels in the Illinois River and, to a lesser extent. in Crooked Creek. These mussel beds are said to be from eight to ten feet deep, and since au economic use has been found for the shells in the manufacture of buttons, the mussel nishing industry has developed a hitherto neg- inted source of wealth.

('lam fishing in the Illinois River was first lun some four or five years ago, but not until the summer of 1907 was it mished vigorously. With the tinding of a number of valuable pearls by the mussel fishermen, a new impetus was given this industry, and now some 200 or 400 men are at work fishing for mussels between Browning and the mouth of Crooked Creek.

The price of mussel shells ranges from $4 to $12 a ton, and fabulous prices are paid for pearls which are oftentimes found by the fishermen. The method of fishing for clams is simple, cheap and effective. A flat boat, with scow-bow and end. is generally used and on the gunwale are ¡laved standards from three to four feet high. The utensils consist of an iron bar to which is attached a succession of lines and hooks, the lat- fer being made of bent wire without barbs. The lair is thrown overboard and drawn along the twd of the river and, at the touch of the hooks the clams close their shells and hold on, and the lar is drawn to the surface and rested on the gunwale standards while the mussels are de- t:1.ed. After the shells are unloaded they are put into a large galvanized iron vessel, and tolled or steamed until the shells open and the flesh can be removed. In removing the flesh from the shell a sharp watch is kept for pearls, mud they are easily detached by the men who Unsome expert in the work.

Dr. W. S. Strode, of Lewistown, has made a special study of the mussels in the Illinois River. and we quote as follows from an article written lyy him for the History of Fulton County :

"The Unionidas or Pearly Fresh Water Mus- "+!4. are the most important of shell-bearing s-ies of the county or state. Our rivers and iskas are densely occupied with them and they Pre destined, at no distint day. to become of some

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 34

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1126

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126