Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 24

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 864

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1 > Part 24

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(By Paul Seiby)

History consists largeiy of combined hiog- raphy. While hiography deals with personai detaiis, History, in its most comprehnsive form, deals with the consolidated results of personal effort combined with special causes and natural events.

The twenty-first county in order of organiza- tion of the one hundred and two now composing the State of Illinois, Sangamon County, In point of historicai and politicai importance is second to no other in the State. Its central location and the superiorIty of its soli and other natural resources gave to tills reglon a prominence which was widely recognized before the date of its organization ninety years ago. This is iilnstrated by the statements of explorers, biographers and historians of that period. Ferdinand Ernst, a German traveler who visited this region in 1819, and whose reminis- cences are quoted from freely in Chapters III and VI, of this volume, had his enthusiasm aroused hy what he called "the beautiful land of the Sangamon" and after reviewing It, indulged in the optimistic declaration-"I do not helieve that any one State in all America is so highiy

favored by Nature, iu every respect, as the State of Iilinols."

Of no iess significauce is the statement of Gov. Reynolds, one of the early pioneers of what was then called "The Iiiinols Country," and most widely acquainted with the State, as a whole, during a later period. In "My Own Times," referring to the period (about 1822-24), when many new counties were heing organized, Gov. Reynolds says;

"About this time Sangamon County became famons and known all over the West as the most heautiful country in the valley of the Mississippi. It acquired a great reputation, as it deserved, for Its exceedingly fertile soil and fine timber, which last 'advantage attracted a numerons, respectabie and wealthy population from Kentucky who settled in it. The first settlement commenced in 1819. The Indians, iong before a white man saw the Sangamon Couutry, were apprised of its fertiilty and rich products. In the Pottawatomie iauguage, Sangamon means 'the where there is pienty to eat.' According to our parlance, it would be termed 'the land of milk and honey.'" (Rey- nold's "My Own Times," p. 151.)

- According to Reynoids, the Indian name by which the Sangamon was known in 1812, was "Sain-quee-mon," and there were tben said to he "Kee-ka-poo" villages on its branches. Sur rounded for a time by different Indian tribes, not always friendiy with each other, but to whom this region was accessible, it seems to have heen a sort of neutral ground, which these tribes entered at different periods for hunting purposes and where they established temporary setticments.

Lewis C. Beck, author of "Beck's Gazetteer of Ililnois and Missouri," published in 1823, re- ferring to Sangamon County, which had heen organized two years previous, and where the first permanent settiement had been made only four years earlier, says :

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

"The County of Sangamon, since its first settlement, has been justly esteemed the most desirable tract in the State, and it consequently has been settled with a rapidity heretofore unequaled. Previous to 1819, not a white in- habitant was to be found on the waters of the Sangamon; at present (1823) the population amounts to near 5,000, while not a single acre of land has yet been brought into market. The Sangamon River, which has a northeasteriy course (toward its head waters) through the southern part of this county (as it then existed), may at a trifling expense be made navigable for nearly 200 miies; it is now obstructed by timber. This stream passes through a tract of country which is unexceiied in fertility."

This dream of the Sangamon as a navigable water-way was experimented upon in 1832-as will be described in another chapter-but proved a failure. This, however, did not check the development of a more ample system of trans- portation in the county, as shown by the exis- tence at the present time of eight different iines of railroad penetrating its territory.

At the time mentioned in "Beck's Gazetteer," Sangamon County, besides its present dimen- sions. included ali the territory now embraced within the present counties of Cass, Menard, Mason, Logan and Tazewell, with portions of Woodford, Marshali, Putnam, a strip from the western part of 'McLean, a smali section of the western part of Macon and more than half of Christian County-its eastern border extending north along the Third Principal Meridian to the Iliinois River at what is now the western border of La Salle County, and its area embracing aii the territory north of its present southern boundary and west of the Third Principal Meridian to the Iiiinois River, except the territory now embraced in Morgan and Scott Counties-the total area being nearly 4,800 square miles. By subsequent changes at different periods up to 1839, when Logan, Menard and Dane (now Christian) Counties were organized, Sangamon County was reduced to its present dimension of 875 square miles.

In connection with this period the following reference in Rev. John M. Peck's "Gazetteer of Iliinois" (1834) to the village of Springfieid, and foreshadowing its future development, will be of interest : "Situated not far from the geographicai center of the State, and surrounded

by one of the richest tracts of country in the great western valley, it is thought by some that, should the seat of government be removed from Vandalia, it will find a location at this place"- a forecast that was realized in the removal of the State Capital to Springfield by act of the Legislature in 1837.

While the development of the natural re- sources of Sangamon County is a matter of just pride to its citizens, there is no feature of its history that will appeal to the interest of a iarger ciass of citizens of this and other States than the roster of noted names that have been so intimately interwoven in both State and liationai history. For more than seventy years the political center of the State, Springfield has been the official home of a larger number of distinguished citizens identified with public affairs than any other city of the Middle-West. Yet the name of Abraham Lincoln, during the twenty-five years of his career preceding his entrance upon his duties as Chief Magistrate of the nation a resident of Springfield, wiil, through ali time, stand at the head of this iist, not only in his own State but throughout the Nation.

To this honored list Sangamon County has contributed its full share in the civic councils of the State and the Nation, as well as in the military field, the professions and business en- terprises; but as these wiii be treated more fully in other chapters and the biographicai department, it is not necessary here to enter into personal detaii. It is hoped that this voiume will preserve, in somewhat adequate form, a record of past events and personal history that wiii be of interest and value to future genera- . tions.

CHAPTER II.

PREHISTORIC ABORIGINES.

PREHISTORIC CONDITIONS-NO RECORD OF DISCOV- ERY UNTIL THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN- NATURAL PRODUCTS-UNIFORM DEMANDS OF THE HUMAN BEING-PREHISTORIC TRIBES WHO OCCU- PIED THE AMERICAN CONTINENT-CONDITIONS

LINCOLN,

LINCOLN MONUMENT, OAK RIDGE CEMETERY, SPRINGFIELD

THE LINCOLN RESIDENCE, SPRINGFIELD

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

AND MODES OF LIFE-CHANGES THAT HAVE BEEN WROUGHT BY TIME-INDIAN RELICS AND MONU- MENTS-THEIR RELIGION, LEGENDS AND TRADI- TIONS-PRESENT DAY CHANGES AND A FORECAST OF THE FUTURE.

(By Edward W. Payne)

"Write a Prehistoric History of Centrai Illi- nois"-a strange request, quite a compliment, with, "you are just the one to do it," etc., but when you realize it not only requires a very vivid imagination but probably stronger and more elastic treatment, have tried to calculate the value of the compliment.

A geologist can teil you many things that hap- pened since the great ice-pack melted and left the hills and fields around us to be smoothed over by rains and floods, to be covered with black soii, and still further changed and altered by the effect of winds, water and vegetation up to the present time. And a forester can take a monarch of the woods and teli many things that happened long before Columbus discovered America, afterwards buying it from the people that had held it for thousands of years.

It is one of the peculiar traits of the white race that no discovery ever took place, or at least was recorded, until the white man saw flt to do the discovering. While I do not claim to be an anthropologist, I have paid some attention to the subject, but only as a relaxation. Just as you would turn out from a smooth finished pike-road into a dark, winding, rough timber drive an old abandoned log route, in among the low boughs, ferns and shrubbery-and after a half hour's pleasure, although scratched and brushed, you are back on the main road in better spirits, ready for a fresh start.

The sycamore is a stately tree, tall, erect and solid to the core, but it is governed by certain conditions. Unlike the cottonwood, its seed is not carried far by the wind and its thin bark, affording no protection from the fire, prevents it from being a pioneer of the prairies. Its seed is not carried by the squirrels or birds, and rarely by the hoofs of animals, so the stately sycamore, as the water is practically the oniy carrier of its seed, is forced to live along the streams, although it enjoys the fresh air and sunshine of the prairie as weil. And, as the sycamore is so firmly held and restrained, just so the human race is held and reverted, espe- cially so prior to rapid transit by railroads,

horses and other means. In fact, we are only a species of lobster, dwelling at the bottom of a sea of air-knowing littie more beyond the surface of that sea than the real lobster knows of what lies beyond his domain of sea-water.

Man requires water and food continually, and he must naturally remain where they are to be found. We do not wonder at having for break- fast grapefruit from Florida, broiled salmon steak from the Columbia River, cakes made from wheat flour produced in the Saskatchewan Valley, mixed with corn meal from Iiiinois, with Vermont mapie syrup, grapes and nuts from California and, possibly a banana from Central America. Such a meal was never dreamed of in prehistoric times : perhaps you remember the very interesting little story and the great reward the Arab received who sent the large and deli- cious red and white cherries to the invalid king, hundreds of miles over the desert, by car- rier pigeons, each cherry neatly enclosed in a little siiken bag.

On account of these restrictions we have the "Shore People" that live along the ocean beach ; they are educated and trained for thousands of generations to live there, like the sea-guli, and cannot very well live anywhere else. The enor- mous shell. heaps that these people left are remarkable. Then we have the "Fish People," for example; those that have lived for ages on the salmon along the Columbia River; they have full developed bodies, but undeveloped and pecu- liar looking legs, from living in boats and canoes.

Again, we have the "Piains People," who live with the buffalo. The buffalo provided them houses, clothing, thread, tools, implements, and nearly everything they required; they moved with the buffalo, eating meat and seldom any- thing else the year round; in fact, they were human wolves. Next were the "Northern Woods People," or "T'imber Indians;" they lived on fish, game, nuts, berries, roots and wild vegeta- tion, but not cultivating the soil on account of its poor quality and the short seasons ; also they were required to keep on the move, more or less, for game and new hunting grounds.

A little further south were the "Wild Rice People," a very similar people to the "Timber Indian," with wild rice (that is, wild to us) as their staple food; well advanced and workers in hammered copper.

Next we have the "Corn People," the class

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

that cultivated the soil and did not have to keep on the muove In pursuit of game. They stored up grain for winter use, aud were uot forced to undergo, at times, the same hardships that the "Game People" were forced to meet ; they were a superlor race because thelr conditions, good food and permanent location, enabled them to become so. In fact, through Illinols and South- ern Indiana the flint-hoe is found everywhere, more so than in any other part of the western coutiueut, aud wherever you will find the hoe or its present descendant, the Sattley Plow, you will find a good class and most invariably a very superior race.

Such were the "Cliff Dwellers" and the Aztecs of Mexico, who were probably of Chinese origin, while the northern Indians were possibly of that vast horde that menaced China on the North for thousands of years-the people that the Great Wall was built to keep In restraint. And, no doubt, even when the Great Wall was built, this country had beeu occupied for a long period. While It Is a commou belief that our prehistoric people were Asiatics, yet the ruins in Ceutral and South America may have been ruins when the pyramids were new.

You have, uo doubt, watched on your lawn a "tribe" of busy little ants, in Central Africa you cau find a similar ant hill, with a simllar lot of busy little workers. Did our ants come from Africa, or did the African ants come from this country? It is simply impossible to say. That is about as much as we know of the "Thumb-animals," who later advanced and were diguified by the uame of the "Fire People."

In prehistoric times, when the spear, arrow and battle-axe were the weapons of the world, one man was about as good as another. Inter- course was almost impossible. Might ruled, but change came, and a rapid one, when brain and knowledge commenced to rule and spread with the help of gunpowder and leaden bullets; and we are rapidly nearing the age when the auto- matic gun and central fire cartridge will be unnecessary for the further advancement of what we call civilization.

Our Indians traveled by canoe-the creeks and streams were their highways. The country was wet and swampy ; cross country traveling was difficult and at times Impossible, especially as there were uo pack animals, the llama of Peru being the only domesticated animal ou the American continent. It was a verltable Indian

Heaven; the streams were alive with fish, the woods aud fields with game, the greatest resort iu the world for all kinds of water fowl, grouse, pralrie chicken, wild turkey, quail, and many other kinds of game. The woods were full of many kinds of wild fruits, berries, acorns and nuts-a paradise. In fact, the Indian Heaven of the Cherokee, the Osage and other tribes of the Indian natlon, rests upon the traditions and umemories of this Central IllInols and part of Indiana, handed dowu through many genera- tious to the present.

The white man little realizes that he is now living in another man's heaven. When the "Red Man," or rather the "Red Woman," man- aged to raise a little patch of corn, and after teuding it with flint hoes and keeping and guard- Ing it with the help of a lot of wolf dogs, from the wild animals and birds, and the corn was matured enough for food, the whole tribe held a corn dance and gave thanks to the great and good Spirit for all their blessings, and while many a modern farmuer working with improved machinery and horses, raises more corn than all the Indians in central Illinois, it is very doubt- ful if he Is as sincere in his "Thanksgiving Day" as were those simple wild people, and though the white man has polluted the streams, killed the fish and wild game, cut down the nut bearing trees, and worn out the soil, it Is still one of the most prosperous lands on earth.

The education of these people was strictly a business one, to swim, run, fight, to use the bow, spear and battle axe, to trap, hunt and fish, all to meet the two requirements, protection and food, and at times, a little clothing.

There is hardly a farmer In Central Illinois who has not plowed up many arrows and spear points on his farm; in fact. this entire country Is strewn with them. They were not wasted by the Indian, but were gathered up after a hunt and re-used. The beveled saw-tooth point, the last step of the Stone Age, is very common, showing, without doubt, that these people were a somewhat superior class.

All along the crecks and streams in central Illinois, wherever you find a beautiful location, especially at the top of the bluff or hill at the bend, you will find everywhere the low mound, now probably only two feet In height, although originally much higher, and probably fifteen to thirty feet in width, marking the resting place of a chief or prominent members of the

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

nearby village, as well as the lookont or watch tower from which the signal fires at night sent out the wireless message of alarm, repeated dur- ing the day by slender columns of smoke reach- ing towards the sky, the pillar of fire and cloud that led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage.

Is it not singular and could there possibly be any connection in the fact that an Indian has never been made a slave?

Very little remains in these mounds and sci- ence will gain nothing by any further investi- gation ; perhaps you may pick up a beautifully made and polisbed tomahawk, surely too light and small for use, just a little toy, a week's work at least, possibly for a little fonr year old boy ; or you may find an exquisitely braided broken strand of hair, evenly and carefully en- twined with little copper rings; that is all except the roots of the wild flowers growing there and, as you stand on the beautiful spot, you wonder who planted the first wild rose.

These aborigines had their trials, hardships and troubles just the same as their followers of tbe present day, only they were different as to impure food, transportation, (for instance, rail- road crossings), and the diseases caused by im- pure air and imventilated bomes. The little three-cornered sharp fiint found everywhere. especially in Gardner and Salisbury Townships, the tip of a poisoned arrow-the arrow that is used only to kill other human beings-tells its story. They were quick and deadly in effect and, in the underbrush and undergrowth of the forest, were preferred in after years to fire- arms.

The streams were the boundary lines and limits of their possessions, which were usually respected, as it was not safe to go beyond them. When one crossed the river it meant going into strange lands and among strange people; death meant the crossing of the river, and, as at that time a day's journey was from ten to thirty miles, you can readily see how much smaller the world is today. Every tribe had its own dialect or language, and at that period the same conditions prevailed all over the world; even in England and Germany, it was difficult for the people of one village to understand the language of those living in another only twenty- five miles away or even less.

There is nothing for us to learn from these people, no superior knowledge in any line that

would now be worth anything to us. There were no pigmies or dwarfs. They knew nothing of metal work excepting hammered copper, had lio knowledge of hardening copper; they knew nothing of cast iron; in fact. it has been im- possible to find where they had even melted lead before the advent of the white man. Their blankets, baskets, bead-work, qnill-work are works of art, and some of their carvings on stone and slate are exquisitely well done. They tanned leather as well as it is done today. They had a universal sign language, and or- dinary correspondence was carried on by many tribes by sign or picture writing.

There was no distinct or separate race of mound builders. We are all mound builders. Even after the discovery of granite cutting tools we cling to mound building-the pyramids are only mounds-public opinion has prevented the fiat grave custom in our cemeteries. Nearly everything remarkable or sensational said or written about these people is merely "Heap Noise" or "Big Smoke."

Among these people a man did not build his own monument ; there was no monument other than that his friends built for him. If these enstoms existed today, many of us would have a hole in the ground as a marker. How many of us would have a monument. a mound of earth, that would cost at least $25,000 to build with modern methods and machinery? Making a comparison with the actual labor, the Lincoln Monument would be a very ordinary headstone in comparison with some of the mounds along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Truly, there must have been other heroes here ages ago as there are today, all brought up and raised on the golden yellow corn, the greatest gift of the Great Spirit to his people. The mounds tell us so, and also that these people had a great love not only for their dead but for the bean- tiful in nature. They had a great respeet even for the graves of their enemies, and would not disturb them, while the white race, who at least once a week reverently bow their heads and repeat that they believe in the resurrection of the body, are the only people that cut up and sell their cemeteries into public building lots.

All their work, except stone, has long since decayed and disappeared. Their bone needles, tools and implements of wood, their beautifully tanned leather, their woven blankets and feathercloth are gone. Occasionally sbell beads

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

and pearis are found, but so old that they have. domesticated wild animais, wearing weird head lost all their luster and heauty.

Their stone chert, commonly called flint work, is very artistic and heautifui, showing art, taste and talent aside from a great deal of patience and lahor.

At that time the world was made for men, the males spent their lives in idieness, indolence and amusement, the females in ciose restraint in youth, then a period of license and revelry, then a life of drudgery and oid age, not so very different from that of today among a class.

Their religion was varied and simple; spirits were everywhere; signs and omens were com- mon among them and governed their actions, just as they did our ancestors at the same period. Many of them heiieved in a Great and Good Spirit and a happy hunting ground-that was aii. Strange to say, it is the religion that is even now gradually, hut surely, spreading aud taking possession of this country-and that, too, without a minister, missionary, Bible, prayer, hymn or discordant clanging heil. They had many weird so-called legends or traditions about the creation and other subjects, hut noth- ing any more astonishing or unreasonable than Jonah and the Whale, to which our "great thinkers" still cling.

They had their medicine men aud they certainiy had various kinds of treatments, hut when it is estimated that at the present time 95 per cent of ali illnesses will get weil without a doctor, that 971% per cent will get well with a doctor, and that 21% to 5 per cent of the patients will die anyway whether they have a doctor or not, one can readily see that the Indian medicine man had just about an even break with Chris- tian Science, and that he was not many laps behind the average physician. In one respect his charges were very reasonable, and there were not many serious operations.

Many of them refused to believe that God would send to them a missionary or messenger direct from heaven that could not speak their language, hecause many of their people were in heaven and, if it were possible that they were not, they did not care to go there. Were they ignorant, stupid or right?

But changes are going on now as ever hefore. In a comparatively few years our ancestors will be known mereiy as a people from Europe with strange beliefs and superstitions, destruc- tive and wasteful, ever ready to kill, using

coverings and heavy and strange looking cioth- ing ; curing ali kinds of disease with pilis, pow- ders and liquids taken into the stomach; a peo- pie that knew uothing hut iabor-that lived in unventilated houses; and used locks, bars, holts and fences; a civilization (?) fuii of the disso- lute and criminal class ; paupers, feehle-minded and insane-in fact, a horde of "white devils" that drove the "red devils" out-and that will be ali.

CHAPTER III.

INDIANS IN SANGAMON COUNTY.

EVIDENCE OF OCCUPANCY-DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBES ON ILLINOIS SOIL AT DIFFERENT PERIODS-TIIE SANGAMON COUNTRY A "HAPPY HUNTING GROUND"-KICKAPOO INDIAN FORT IN MCLEAN COUNTY-CONDITIONS IN THE EARLY PART OF THE LAST CENTURY-ALEXANDER ROBINSON'S STORY OF A KICKAPOO VILLAGE ON THE SANGA- MON-GOV. JOHN REYNOLD'S MARCH THROUGH TIIE SANGAMON COUNTRY IN 1812-THE OLD IN- DIAN TRAIL DESCRIBED BY ZIMRI A. ENOS-VISIT OF FERDINAND ERNST, A GERMAN EXPLORER, IN 1819-HIS DISCOVERY OF AN INDIAN CAMP ON SPRING CREEK-INDIAN VILLAGES IN ISLAND GROVE AND CURRAN TOWNSHIPS-ACQUISITION OF INDIAN LANDS-THE SANGAMON REGION IN- CLUDED IN THE PURCHASE AT EDWARDSVILLE IN 1818.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 24

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913 Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 864

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 864