Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 26

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 26

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This organization of Illinois County legally ceased in 1782, and there was no government resting on positive enactments of law from then until in 1790. The people in and ahout Kaskas- kia appealed most earnestly to Congress for the estahlishment of a hetter government. At last Congress passed the celebrated Ordinance of 1787 for the government of the Northwest Ter- ritory, of which the Illinois Country formed a part. Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed the first Governor, and established the seat of gov- ernment at Marietta on the Ohio River in 1788, although the first Territorial Legislature in 1799 met at what is now Cincinnati. Gov. St. Clair did not reach Kaskaskia until in 1790 when he organized the County of St. Clair, which then comprised, as part thereof, more than half of the present State of Illinois. This county had two county seats, Kaskaskia and Cahokia, hut in 1795 the disputes between these rival seats of government, together with other causes, led to the formation of the second county of Randolph, with Kaskaskla as its county seat.

ILLINOIS TERRITORY ORGANIZED-FIRST CAPI- TAL .- By Act of Congress, May 7, 1800, the Northwest Territory was divided into two Ter- ritories, Ohio and Indiana, what is now the State of Illinois heing a part of the latter. The capital of Indiana Territory was Post Saint Vin- cent, now Vincennes. In 1809 Congress divided the Territory, the western part heing called the Territory of Illinois. Its boundaries were then the same as the present State except that on the north it extended to the Canada line. Kaskas- kia was made the capital of the new territory until otherwise directed. Here the first Terri- torial Legislature convened November 25, 1812. The building then used as the capitol is de- scrihed as a rough building in the center of a square in the Village of Kaskaskia. The body of this huilding was of uncut limestone, the gahles and roof of the gamhrel style, of un- painted boards and shingles, with dormer win- dows. The lower floor, a long cheerless room, was fitted up for the House, whilst the Council

sat in the small chamher ahove. This huild- ing was, during the French occupancy of the country prior to 1763, the headquarters of the military commandant. In 1838 this house was a mass of ruins. This building was the capitol during the existence of Illinois as a Territory and in It the State Government was organized.

Rev. John M. Peck, in his Gazetteer, says: "In olden time Kaskaskia was to Illinois what Paris is at this time to France. Both were in their respective days the great emporiums of fashion, gayety and, I must say, happiness also. Kaskaskia for many years was the largest town west of the Allegheny Mountains. It was a tolerahle place before the existence of Pittsburg, Cincinnati or New Orleans."

It was the commercial center of the great in- terior valley of the Mississippi River. Twice a year the surplus products of the region were sent hy fleets of keel hoats to New Orleans, whence on their return three months later they brought hack rice, manufactured tobacco, cot- ton goods and other fahrics and such other com- modities as the simple wants of the inhabitants required.

Fort Chartres and Kaskaskia were huilt on the soft alluvial soil of the American Bottom and the sites of both places have now heen almost entirely swept away hy the waters of the Mississippi River.

ADMISSION INTO THE UNION .- Illinois was ad- mitted into the Union in accordance with an enabling act passed hy Congress and approved April 18, 1818, entitled "An Act to enable the people of Illinois to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the Original States."

The Constitutional Convention of the State provided for hy this act met at Kaskaskia and on August 26, 1818, adopted what is known as the Constitution of 1818. and on December 3, 1818, hy resolution of Congress, this constitu- tion was approved and the State declared ad- mitted to the Union.

Section 13 of the Schedule to this Constitu- tion of 1818, provided as follows :

"The seat of Government for the State shall he at Kaskaskia, until the General Assembly shall otherwise provide. The General Assembly, at thelr first session, holden under the authority of this Constitution, shall petition the Congress of the United States to grant to this State a quantity of land, to consist of not more than four

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

nor less than one section, or to give to this State the right of preemption in the purchase of the said quantity of land. the said land to be sit- uate on the Kaskaskia River, and as near as may be east of the Third Principal Meridian on said river. Should the prayer of such petition be granted, the General Assembly, at their next sesslon thereafter, shall provide for the appoint- ment of five Commissioners to make the selec- tion of said land so granted, and shail further provide for laying ont a town upon the said land so selected, which town, so lald out, shall be tile seat of government of this State for the term of twenty years. Should, however, the prayer of said petition not be granted, the Gen- erai Assembly shail have power to make such provision for a permanent seat of government as may be necessary, and shall fix the same where they may think best."

The members of this convention, evidently .

foreseeing the future immigration to the north- ern part of the State. and the consequent shifting of the center of population in that dlrectlon, Inserted this limitation of twenty years to the location of the second State capital.

While the seat of government was located at Kaskaskia the State owned no State House there, but rented three rooms at the rate of four dollars per day in which to hold the ses- sions of the first General Assembly, of which the Senate consisted of fourteen members and the House of Representatives of twenty-eight.

CHAPTER V.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

I'RIMITIVE NATURAL CONDITIONS-LAPSE OF TIME FROM THE COMING OF MARQUETTE TO FIRST SETTLEMENT IN SANGAMON COUNTY- DIFFICUL- TIES OF TRAVEL-ARRIVAL OF TIIE PULLIAM PARTY IN 1817-LATER COMING OF ZACHARIAH PETER- RAPID INFLUX OF SETTLERS FROM 1818-CHAR- ACTER OF THE PIONEERS-DOMESTIC INDUSTRIES AND CONDITIONS-REV. J. L. CRANE'S DESCRIPTION OF A LOG-CABIN HOME-RESIDENTS OF SPRING- FIELD WHEN IT BECAME TIIE COUNTY SEAT- FIRST COURT HOUSE AND JAIL-ELIJAII ILES THE FIRST MERCHANT-SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES- SOCIAL LIFE AND AMUSEMENTS-FIRST FRATER-

NAL ORGANIZATION-FOOD CONDITIONS-WILD GAME-MALARIAL DISEASES-MAYOR ILES' TES- TIMONY AS TO STANDARD OF FIRST SETTLERS- A PUGILISTIC ENCOUNTER.

(By Charles P. Kane.)

Those who have dwelt long in the Sangamon Valley affectionately regard it as one of the choicest regions of eartil, an attachment which wlli be winked at and even cordially sanctioned by any muaking only a casual survey of the beauty and fruitage of this delectable land. Without the rugged majesty of mountalus or the solenin spell of wide bordering seas to enhance its charm, still Its milder comeliness strongly appeals to both eye and heart. The broad ex- panse of level or gently undulating surface Is weil watered by the river and its branching tributaries. Primitiveiy the streams were fringed with dense thickets of shrub and wood, which have since beeu greatly wasted by the assaults of the practical farmer. The soil of this valley Is of rare fertillty and most bonnti- fuliy repays the care and labors of husbandry. At present a teeming population thrives upon its nourishing bosom, whose numbers, wealth and culture grow apace.

Yet for ages this fair domain iay unsought by civilized meu. Nearly a century and a haif elapsed after Marquette and Joliet in 1673 guided thelr pioneeriug canoes down the Missls- slppi and up the Illinois, before a white man erected the rudest dwelling in the territory now defined as the County of Sangamon.

To quote from the address of Hon. Charles A. Keyes, delivered to the Old Settlers' Society Au- gust 14, 1900, "Less than one hundred years ago, the Sangamon Country was practically a wilderuess, with no inhabitants save the Indian, the eik, the buffalo, the American deer, the black bear, the panther, the wolf, the wild cat, the wild horse, the wild turkey and the pralrie chicken. The gentleman fox, both gray and red, delayed his coming until the advance of civii- ization."

Hon. Miiton Hay, speaking to the same society August 20, 1879, declares that "these regions were not considered so inviting as to canse a rush or haste iu their settlement ; doubt exlsted as to whether a prairie country was habitable, and the impression generally prevalled that its characteristics were those of a desert."

The difficultles of travel and want of means

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

of transportation long deterred homeseekers from pressing on to the frontier lands of Central Illinois. The earliest comuers, having no roads to follow, no chart or compass to point their course, were often lost in the woods or on the prairies and confided in the instinct of their animals to gnide them to water. Many were ill supplied with horses and wagons, so that members of the party walked aud rode by turns ; occasionally a horse or an ox died by the way, a most serions and irreparable loss. One of the old pioneers thus relates his own experience : "My wife and child in arms were placed upon a horse with a bed and bed clothing ; a second horse bore the cooking utensiis and two chairs; upon a third myself and child were mounted; and so equipped we jonrneyed to our future home on the Sangamon."

At length the fullness of time is come. After ages of walting the wilds of the Sangamon are to be taken and subdned by the aggressive Anglo-Saxon, and eventually to become the de- lightful home of a thriving multitude. In the autumn of 1816, a group of four or five herds- men, like the first flight of birds that herald the approach of a new season, appeared in the southern part of the connty and built the first cabin within its present borders. The next spring, like homing birds, they went to the South agaln, leaving their solitary cabin in the woods. At this date Iliinois had uot been ad- mitted Into the Union, and more than four years later the county of Sangamon was estab- lished by law.

Robert Pulliam was a native of Virginia, born April 12, 1776, abont three months prior to the adoption of the Declaration of Inde- rendence. With his father's family he enil- grated to Kentucky and thence to Illinois, arriv- ing at what was then knowu as the New Design settlement, now a part of Monroe County. After several changes of residence to points in Illinois and Missourl, Mr. Pulliam In 1815 re- moved to St. Clair County, Iil. One year later, with two or three employes, including one woman, a sister of one of the men named Strickland, who accompanied the party as cook, Mr. Puliiam drove a herd of cattle northward for grazing, and upon arriving at Sugar Creek timber, built the first cabln In the county as before narrated. It was erected October 20, 1817, on the tract designated by a subsequent government survey as the south-west quarter

of Section 21, In Township Fourteen North, Range Five West of the Third Principal Me- l'idian, about ten and one-half miles south of the City of Springfield. The next spring he drove his cattle South, but in 1819 returned with his family to find his cabin on Sugar Creek snugly occupied by Mr. Zachariah Peter. The premises were promptly surrendered and the Puiliams became permanent residents there. Mr. Peter afterward served as one of the Com- missioners to locate the county seat of the new County of Sangamon.

Mr. Pulliam was married to Mary Stont, who was born April 9, 1776-the locality not 'known. They had six children, and many of their descendants stili reside in the county. Mr. Pulliam died Jnly 31, 1838, and his widow, July 1, 1847.

Immediately following the advent of Mr. Puliiam, a number of immigrants entered the connty, no less than a score of them in 1818, many with families, and thereafter a swelling tide flowed in. The sonthern part was occupied earliest as most of the newcomers were from Southern Illinois, primarily from Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, and naturally were in- fluenced to seek a location as near to the South as might be convenient. Good report of a de- sirable new land rapidly spread to the far South and East.

Well defined roads and lines of travel were uow opened up by government officials and an increasing procession of pioneers. Elljah Iles in 1821 heard that "commissioners had staked ont a road" from Vincennes to the Sangamon Valley. He followed the stakes from Vandalla, favoring his horse by waiklng and leading It much of the way, tili he could see the timber of Sngar and Horse Crecks on the headwaters of the Sangamon.

Seven years later Hon. John T. Stuart sought a new home at Springfield. As he pursued the same course that Iles had traveled, he saw men, women and children, with ail kinds of domestic animals, following every conceivable fashion of conveyance. Some rode on horseback, some in carriages or wagons, and many trudged along on foot.

Despite the disparity between the limited tim- ber tracts and the pralries, ontreaching in all directions, early settlers unanimously chose to locate in the timber. The sod was thickly matted, the wild grass grew iuxurlant and tall

BALTIMORE CLOTHING HOUSE

THE CORNER CASTI STORE

NEW CASH STORE

NORTH SIDE PUBLIC SQUARE IN 1860

SOUTH SIDE PUBLIC SQUARE IN 1860

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

on the open country, and no plow had yet been invented to cleave it; it was therefore dis- carded as unfit for tillage. The argument was made that should the country ever become well populated, proprietors in possession of the tim- ber would have the residuc at their mercy; for where conld fuel, fencing or building material be procured except of them. The opinion was frankly expressed that the prairie lands would never be purchased of the Government; that they were not worth the taxes, and would forever remain common pasture grounds for owners of land near the woods; and so, with axe and grubbing hoe, the invaders bravely as- salfed the thickets, felled the trees and plowed among the stumps. How have the introduction of steel plows and the development of our coal industries discredited the confident forecast of our ancestors !

The vanguard of the army that came up to possess the Sangamon Valley were not men of wealth, but rather such as desired, by the strength of yonth, to wrest a competence from the wilderness or, at maturer age, ventured to retrieve fortunes that had failed. They ex- pected to endure hardship and without flinching encountered the privations that marked frontier Hfe in Illinois ninety years ago. Money was scarce and little used. Necessarily resort was nad to hunting and agriculture as about the only. vocations which promised a livelihood. Wild game was plentiful, but there were no railways, telegraphs or newspapers; no cultivators, no planting, reaping or threshing machines, no mills or factories. Only the simplest farming impie- ments were obtainabie; corn was cultivated largely with the hoe, small grains were sown broadcast from the hand, harvested with scythe and cradle, threshed with flails and winnowed by tossing in a sheet or canvas, or by other device equally inartificial. But things must be done. One father saw, with something of dis- may, that he must not only make his children's shoes but tan the leather as well. And so he did.

Rude fabrics turned out by the spinning wheels and looms of cabin homes supplied the artless raiment of the household. Women ac- quired a cleverness in the manufacture of home- made stuffs, and prepared from minerais and the juices of bark, leaves and berries, varied dycs to add life and color to the flannels, jeans and linsey's woven for family wear and tear.

Garments for men as well as women and chil- dren, were cut aud neatiy sewed by wives and daughters, oftentimes before the spacious blaz- ing hearth, or by the light of grease dip or tallow candle, which the same hands had molded that so deftiy plied the needle. Early settlers are unanimous and emphatic in their eulogy of the women of those times, and declare their courage, patience and enterprise beyond praise. They met every obligatlon conditions imposed upon them, discharged every duty without com- plaint. A gentleman who became a leading citizen and whose family was one of the most prominent in Springfield in after years, first saw his wife at the washtub and her beauty at once made a deep impression upon him. Professionally she engaged in school-teaching and was a lady of fine presence and culture. Her husband, after her death in the 'sixties, bore testimony that her natural mental endowments were superior to his own. Such was the qual- ity of many of the pioneer wives of the Sanga- mon regions. In laying the foundations of civillzed society there their aid was indis- pensable.

The dwellings erected were built of logs, chinked and daubed with clay, roofed with clap- boards and floored with puncheons, the smooth side up, the round side down. A capacious fire- place was constructed of stone and ciay at the side, and the broad chimney continned upward made of sticks and mud.

Rev. J. L. Crane, author of "The Two Cir- cuits," thus refers to the interior of an old time cabin : "The door was left ajar, not for ventilation but light ; poles were hanging a few inches from the ceiling, thickly encircled with ring, string and circular cuts of pumpkin, hung there to dry. On your left as you faced the fire, were three or four shelves, which contained qneensware, tin-cups and pans. A small stool under the shelves held the water bucket, in which floated an old brown gourd. There was no window with glass in the house, but opposite the door a log was cut out, where a window was expected to be." A wood rail fence, rigged with stakes and riders for increased helght and stability, enclosed plow land and door yard; the latter was entered by a stile instead of a gate. Within the yard the househoider dng his weli and walled It with broken rock. A section from a large hollow tree-trunk served as a curb and the tall sweep stood by for lowering the iron-

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

bound bucket to the water. So commonly it was trade with the Iudlans was almost as large as in the beginning.

Iu the process of occupation settlers hecaine sufficiently numerous at attractive points to constitute distinctive neighborhods, which were named from some natural features of the local- ity. Tbus early became known the settlements of Richland, Fancy Creek, Wolf Creek and Buffalo Hart in the North, German Prairle and North Fork in the East, Sugar Creek and Lick Creek in the Sonth and Island Grove in the West. But in April, 1821, when the temporary county-seat was located and named Springfield, it is said the Commissioners were largely in- fluenced in their choice hy the discovery tbat this was the only settlement in the county large enough to entertain the officials, lawyers and litigants, who were expected to attend terms of conrt. At this date there were residing within two miles of the stake, set to mark the location of the county-seat, nine families, wbo are named by Iles as follows : John Kelly, William Keliy, Andrew Elliot, Jacob Eilis, Levi Ellis, John Lindsay, Abram Lanterman, Samuel Little and . Mr. Dagget. These were the families with whom it was hoped the Judge, practitioners and clients would find shelter until other accommo- dations were provided. The County Commis- sioners imparted an impetus of growth to the town by indulging in the extravagance of a Court House costing, complete and finished ac- cording to contract and specifications, the re- markable sum of seventy-two dollars and fifty cents. The jail ran into higher figures, having been constructed at an expense to the public of eighty-four dollars and seventy-five cents. This was not the work of children, but the achieve- ment of men struggling with limitations.

The development of these neighborhood settie- ments calied for other factors of civilization. It opened tile way for the fixing of trading points, for the store, the mechanic, the school honse, the church. Accordingly, Elijah Iles erected the first merchandising establishment in the county near the historic stake fixing the county-seat. The store building was eighteen feet square with sheds on the sides for shelter ; the sides were made of hewn iogs, roofed witil boards upon which heavy poles were laid "to keep the boards from hlowing off." Mr. Iies purchased a stock of goods in St. Lonis, which was transported to tile site of Beardstown by water, and thence by wagons to Springfield. His

with the whites, and extended over an area reaching from the Iilinois River on the west, to Champaign Connty on the east, and from Trazeweli County on the north to Macoupin on the sonth. Many customers came eighty miles to trade. They were poor, says Mr. Iles, and their purchases were light hnt a more honest and industrious class never settied a new country.

The first miil was built by Daniel Liles on Ilorse Creek, a rude contrivauce without a covering and operated in falr weather. Stones picked up in the vicinity functioned as burrs and a team of horses supplied the power. The capacity of the mill, intended for grinding corn only, was from eight to ten hushels per day. Farmers came tbirty and forty miles, and iu snch numbers that often a wait of several days for a turn at the mill was necessary.

Schools from the beginning were regarded as a prime necessity. In the absence of any pub- lic provision for educating children, subscription schools were started, in which a tuition fee was subscribed for each student, to be collected by the pedagogue, who was also entitied to the privilege of "boarding 'round," or by turns, among his patrons. "Keeping the teacher" was varlously regarded as an honor or a burden, according to the temper or disposition of the host.

Log school houses were provided by all the thriving settiements. One of them is thus de- scribed by a qnondam pupil : "A rectangular huilding of logs, at one end of which was the teachers desk, at the other the indispensable great fire-place piled with blazing wood. The desks consisted of a wide board, extending across the room and supported at convenient height for books or writing. Along behind the desk was a puncheon seat, smooth side up. upheld by crossed sticks for legs and extending. like the desk, entirely across the room. Here the principles of reading, writing and ciphering were inculcated, and advanced pupils were in- structed in the mysteries of geography and Murray's grammar. Spelling matches afforded an opportunity for the ambitious to engage in combats of erudition, and the whole neighbor- hood turned ont to see some champion speli down the school, and any outsiders, as well. who cared to risk their reputations rasiily. At this school a custom had grown up among the

GROCER.

ES GROCERIES

BA.M. CONVERSEI

LIMONSION STORE

TEAS WINES. LIQUORE

CASH

EAST SIDE PUBLIC SQUARE IN 1860

SILVER-WARE

GROCERIES

RSS270

Esois 300008

WEST SIDE PUBLIC SQUARE IN 1860

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

big boys of locking out tile teacher at Cirristmas holidays and keeping him out untli he had treated all around to whisky and sugar. Tile teacher usually yielded and often the boys be- came unsteady on their feet. One day a gritty young Scot from Edinburg University, whom the whirligig of time had tossed out upon the frontier, came and offered to teach for the ensuing term. The customary measures were being taken to lock him out at Christmas, but the display of a pistoi at the official desk and the stern countenance of the taciturn Scotchman induced an abandonment of the usual holiday program."

Special subscription schools for writing or singing were common, the singing schooi being very popular with the young folks, where the soclai propensity received cuitivation along with learning "to sing by note."

The people of Sangamon Couuty have aiways favored the thorough education of their chil- dren, but not always at public expense. When the public school system was established in 1854 there was serlous and excited opposition. There were many to whom the righteousness of taxing one man to educate another's children did not appear to be axlomatic. Happliy the public school has now firmly entrenched itself in the esteeur of the whole people.

The church met with cordial welcome from the early settiers. The Methodists led at Spring- field by organizing In 1821. soon followed by the Presbyterians. Baptists, Disciples and others. At meeting tite men always sat on one side of the house (or aisle) and the women on the other ; the minister lined out the hymns, and the congregation sang with right good will, and deilghted thereafter to hear an hour and a half sermon. For they did not hear sermons every Sunday, and, with littie to divert. the churcil perhaps held tile general Interest and drew the people together more than anything else. Churches sprang up In every part of the county and were loyaliy and affectionately maln- tained.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 26

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