Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, Part 37

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Cunningham, Joseph O. (Joseph Oscar), 1830-1917
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 632

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The year 1853 witnessed the coming to Ur- bana of Dr. Joseph T. Miller, who is still in active practice after more than fifty-one years of continued service, the oldest member of the profession, in point of years of practice, in the county, outranking all others now or here- tofore engaged in that profession. The same year Dr. James Hollister also came, but re- mained only a few years. Dr. Hartwell C. Howard, of Champaign, came a year or two afterwards, and ranks next to Dr. Miller in seniority, in the profession. Dr. Shoemaker was the first to locate in Champaign, which was in the autumn of 1854. Dr. C. H. Mills came to Urbana early in 1854 and, after two years, removed to Champaign, where he is still engaged in his profession.

The want of mills in which to grind their grain into flour or meal was one of the great- est inconveniences which our pioneers had to meet and overcome. Of course, the mortar and pestle-or, in their absence, some rough contrivance for bruising or grinding the grain so as to be kneaded into dough for the baking of bread-were easily at hand and in use in families with which to meet emergencies; but this slow process which would fill the want of the aborigines or lake dweller, would not long be tolerated by the progressive American pioneer. The alternative was to carry the grist of grain to the mills then in operation

in the western part of Indiana, from fifty to seventy-five miles from the Big Grove. A water-power mill was in use on the waters of the lower Vermilion at Eugene, before many settlements were made in the eastern coun- ties of Illinois, as also upon some of the . smaller streams putting into the Wabash from the east. To these our pioneers had re- course before grinding facilities were estab- lished at home, and stories of the long jour- neys to these mills with ox-teams, and of the long waitings often necessary for the turn of the later comers, have often been told at the gatherings of the early settlers. This was many times done by Henry Sadorus between 1824-the time of his coming-and the period

"As late as the year 1833," says Mr. Sadorus, "there were no grist-mills within the county, save one, or perhaps two small ones driven by horse-power; and nearly all the work of this kind was taken a distance of fifty or sixty miles, to the Vermilion or Wabash River, in Indiana. On the twentieth day of December, 1830, I started with a team of four yoke of oxen, a large Virginia wagon (covered), loaded with wheat and buckwheat, to go to mill, near the State line, a distance of about fifty-five miles. The weather had been mild and pleas- ant, thawing a little each day, until the night of the fourth day out. when it became intense- ly cold. The next day-the fifth from home- I arrived at the mill. Before reaching the mill, however, it was necessary to go down the bluff to the river. The road down the bluff had been cut through the steepest portion, leaving an embankment upon either side. The road through this cut had been paved with logs, placed crosswise the road; but when I arrived at the top, the whole length of the road through the hill was one mass of smooth ice. This was the only way to the mill, which was now in sight. It was evident that the oxen could not stand upon that glassy surface, to say nothing of holding back the load. As it was the only way, I was compelled to make the venture. The result was as I had anticipated: the oxen slipped, the wagon swung around to one side, and in one minute. oxen, wagon and wheat, lay in complete confusion in the ditch near the bottom of the hill-the quickest de- scent on record. Fortunately, there were no very serious breakages, and, with assistance from the mill, I was soon relieved from the unpleasant situation. That night the weather moderated, and the day after I commenced the return.

"Before night I was compelled to cross a small stream, which had been swollen by melt- ed snow, and was frozen over. The oxen, re- membering the experience of the hill, would not step upon the ice. Drawing the wagon as near the ice as I could, I detached the oxen and took them across at a point below, where there was an open place, but where it would not have been safe to have driven the wagon. Then taking my chains, I managed, after much diffi- culty, to obtain length enough so that I could attach a lever, and, using a tree for a fulcrum, slowly worked the loaded wagon across to

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

These local mills, run by hand or by horse- power, were early established in the different settlements of the county, and, though ·slow and unsatisfactory in their operations, re- lieved the people of the necessity of making the long journeys to the Indiana mills of which Mr. Sadorus tells. These rude mills were, in local parlance, called "corn-cracker mills," for the reason that they did no more than crush the grain, leaving the work of sep- · arating the bran from the meal, or the process of "bolting" to be done with a hand sieve. The first of this class of mills used in the county-or rather within its territory-was brought here, and its story was told the writer in a letter to him of the date of July 3, 1878, by Hon. H. W. Beckwith, of Danville, late President of the Illinois State Historical So- . ciety, in these words:

"In reply to your postal of the 1st, the first corn-cracker mill used, either in Vermil- ion or Champaign county, was made by James D. Butler, about the year 1823. It consisted of a 'gum' or section of a hollow tree, some four feet long by two feet in diameter. In this was set a stationary stone with a fiat surface. The revolving burr, like the other, was selected with reference to its fitness

from the granite boulders-or, as the old set- tlers would designate them, 'Nigger-Heads' --- distributed freely over the ground everywhere. The two were broken and dressed into circu- lar form, and the grinding surfaces reduced and furrows sunk in them so as to make cut- ting edges, by such rude instruments as Mr. Butler could manufacture for the purpose. A hole was drilled near the rim on the upper side of the rotary burr. A pole was inserted in this, while the other end was placed in a hole in a beam some six or eight feet directly above the center of the hopper, and thus, by taking hold of the pole with the hand near the burr and exerting a push and pull movement, a rotary motion was given to the mill. The capacity was about one bushel of corn per hour, with a lively muscular man to run it. It served the wants of the settlement at But- ler's Point (now Catlin) until the water-mill at Denmark was made in 1826. Then it was taken to Big Grove by Robert Trickel. It sustained its reputation as a good, reliable mill for several years, among the five or six families at the Big Grove, and was their first mill."

This hand-mill was used by the Trickels and their near neighbors after their removal to the

where the oxen could again be of service. The next morning I was joined by a man with his family, who were moving to Macon County, and who had been waiting for me to come along. as he had been told I was at the mill. The last night had been passed at a house, but we now started upon a stretch of country where no houses could be seen, nor other signs of civili- zation, save the roads or trails across the prai- ries.

"The weather now became intensely cold. and the day's journey was performed with great difficulty and suffering on the part of ourselves and the animals. At night we stopped at Hick- ory Grove, and after drawing logs together, we built a rousing fire, and placing the wagons so as to protect us from the winds, we passed the night in comparative comfort. With ven- ison and pork, and a delicious cup of coffee prepared by the wife of the mover, with appe- tites to match, we partook of our supper with a relish seldom excelled. The next morning was bitter cold, and appeared to be increasing in severity. I feared to start out, and proposed staying where we were until the weather mod -- erated. My traveling companion objected to this, saying that his wife and children would not be able to endure so much exposure, and desired to press on as fast as possible. The woman and children were put into the covered wagon, wrapped in the bedding, and start made. Our course lay across the prairie, where, the wind seemed to sweep with resistless force, driving through every protection that could be interposed against it. The wind increased in violence, and the cold in intensity; and to pre- vent freezing as we journeyed along was the only problem we attempted to solve. It was late at night when we drew into Lynn Grove. The woman and children had been in bed all

day, jostling over the frozen ground; nothing had been eaten by man or beast. We soon had logs together for a fire; but the fire-that was the question. There were no matches in those days, and our only hope was with the flint and steel. We had with us a small piece of dry, decayed wood, or "punk," as it is called; but so cold and benumbed were we that it was im- possible to throw a spark upon it, or even to strike the spark. Our efforts for the purpose were long and unavailing; it seemed that we must be freezing, for without a fire we could not hope to endure until morning, and to go farther that night would but hasten the calam- ity. In the desperation of the moment, after having stamped and beaten my hands and feet, I took the flint and made one more effort; this time, O, joy! the flint true to the purpose, sent a tiny spark upon the dry tinder. Gathering over and protecting the feeble life. we fed it with dry blades of grass, carefully and tenderly, until strength gave evidence of speedy warmth and comfort. At this point, the man who was with me thinking he could induce it to burn faster, held his powder horn over the fire to drop a few grains upon it. The result was, that the powder-horn was blown to pieces, himself burned and singed, and the fire scat- tered. The parties, in the wagon, who, during the day had endured their sufferings with heroic fortitude, yielded to this new calamity, and wept in the hopelessness of their despair. Fortunate- ly we were able to gather enough of the frag- ments still on fire to start another, and with great care succeeded; and, although the cold was such that we suffered much through the night, still we were in no danger of freezing, for which we were deeply grateful. The next day I reached my home, and the stranger went his way."

696

HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

Big Grove, and was undoubtedly the first mill of any kind in that neighborhood. What the Fielders and their neighbor, William Tomp- kins, did to reduce their corn to meal from 1822 to the time of the arrival of this mill, tradition does not inform us; but the long journeys by the Fort Clark road or other trails to the Indiana mills were always possi- ble, and it is probable were resorted to, or Oftener, probably, resort was had to the mor- tar and pestle, in some of its forms. .

Sample Cole, whose name has been quoted in other chapters as an early occupier of land in the Big Grove-a man evidently fruitful in expedients, as a true pioneer must be-early copied after the Trickel mill, and set up his product at the Stanford home. This Cole mill did service at Stanford's until 1836, when John Brownfield, availing himself of the service of one James Holmes, a skilled artisan in the construction of mills, built a mill of a higher order than were the Trickel and Cole mills. This mill was run by ox-power and was capable of much greater results than the others. When in use it relieved the hand- mills and drew patronage from residents for many miles around. Oliver, the eccentric pio- neer from Oliver's Grove in Livingston County, is remembered as a patron of the Brownfield mill. (1)

About 1830 or 1831, Henry Sadorus, wearied of long journeys to Indiana and of other ex- pedients for reducing his grain-for he was also a patron of the Big Grove mills-con- structed at his place in the Sadorus Grove a power-mill, which was operated either by horse or ox-power. This mill attracted pat- ronage from long distances and was evidently highly useful. So great was the demand upon its capabilities that it became the source of no little annoyance to its owner. To accom- modate his neighbors Mr. Sadorus was often taken from his farm-work when the latter was pressing. This mill, with its further use, was

abandoned about the time water-mills first came into use in the county.

Moses Thomas, who has often been referred to in these pages, built the first mill where water was the motive power, in this county. It was put in operation about 1834, and both ground the pioneer's grain and sawed his tim- ber into boards-an office next in importance to the immigrant to that of having his grist reduced to flour or meal. (1)

This mill came to the ownership of M. D. Coffeen & Co., before the year 1840, and under their management led a long and useful ca- reer, being rebuilt and refurnished. Water, as the motive power, is now nearly obsolete, a steam engine. having done duty there for many years.

This building was at first built of logs, upon some kind of a foundation which sup- ported it above the creek; but, in after years, when the property had passed to the owner- ship of M. D. Coffeen & Co., it was rebuilt as a substantial frame building. This mill is the oldest public institution in the county, having served the public on the same ground for a period of seventy years, and still an- swers the call of the miller.

Not far from the same date-but a little later as is now understood-George Akers erected a mill which performed, for a time, the same offices as the Thomas mill, upon his land in Section 2 of Sidney Township, which was operated by the water of the Salt Fork, and performed valuable services.

Charles Heptonstall, in the year 1836, dammed the waters of the creek about a mile below Urbana, and there built a mill at which the lumber was sawed for the first frame house erected in Urbana, and subse- quently erected a grist and saw-mill on the Sangamon River at Middletown. The former structure, from the difficulty attending the

(1)"Fountain J. Busey relates that one of their neighbors by the name of Smith, whether 'Nicholas or his son, Jacob, is not indicated, had ta hand-mill which sometimes accommodated the family of his father; also that the pioneer, Runnel Fielder, had what was known as a "band mill," which he says was the first in the county, which is quite probable. The descrip- tion of this mill would justify the conclusion that it had some kind of gearing which would operate it more rapidly than the usual family mill."-Matthews & McLean's Early Pioneers of Champaign County, page 99.

(1) It was told the writer by the late William H. Webber, that his father Wililam T. Webber, · in default of saw-mills for the manufacture of lumber, caused sufficient lumber to be prepared by the whip-sawing process, to floor the loft of his cabin, the lower floor being constructed of split puncheons. This may have been the first sawed lumber manufactured in the county. The lumber in the cabin loft served that pur- pose until the death of some one in the set- tlement when a coffin became necessary. The request of bereaved friends for enough to make a coffin could not be refused and lumber went out for that purpose. In like manner, as one after another the neighbors of Mr. Webber died, requisitions were made upon his cabin loft for coffin lumber, until all was gone for that pur- pose.

697

HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

maintenance of the dam, was of a short du- ration; but the latter both ground the grists and sawed the lumber of the settlers for many years.

John Brownfield, before 1840, erected a mill upon the creek in the Big Grove, lower down than that of Heptonstall, and Jacob Mootz, about 1842, erected one above, upon the land of Col. M. W. Busey, now within the limits of Crystal Lake Park, where remains of the dyke made to confine the water may yet be seen. Both these mills sawed lumber and ground grists, and both ended, like the Hep- tonstall mill, for the want of a permanent foundation for their dams.

The first steam mill erected in the county was by William Park, in Urbana, in 1850, it being the nucleus of what was, until lately, known as "Park's Mill." This mill was run by a steam engine, which was the first en- gine brought to the county for any purpose. As Mr. Park was the first to put a steam mill in operation, so he has, perhaps, the credit of doing more for the people in this- line than any other man. He has since then erected mills at Parkville on the Kaskaskia, on the Sangamon and at Sidney. The erec- tion of this, the first mill in the county where grinding and bolting were both done (if we except the mill at Homer, which could only be run when the water was high), was an event in the progress of the county which caused great rejoicing, second only to that witnessed upon the advent of the first rail- way train of cars as it came over the prairie. Some time in July, 1902, this mill was burned at night. It was owned by its originator and builder, and by his brother, Joseph Park, from the time it was built until the death of the latter in 1893, when it passed to others.

Many other mills for both purposes were built in later years; but, as it is not the pur- pose of the writer to make a complete his- tory of the county, no reference will here be made to them.

The agriculture of the early settlers of this county, at its beginning, was not materially different, in the class of products, from those now produced, except that flax was more gen- erally cultivated for domestic use than now. So, also, tobacco was grown to a consider- able extent, professedly for home use, but many cultivated it as an article of commerce. Then no Federal laws interfered to vex the

producer; and the article was not only raised, but in a manner manufactured by some rude form of pressing and sold in considerable quantities. It formed one of the variety of "country produce" with which wagons, freighted for the Chicago market, were loaded.

CHAPTER XV.

SOCIAL LIFE-AMUSEMENTS.

SOME FEATURES OF PIONEER LIFE-LONG RIDES FOR SOCIAL GATHERINGS-CORN-SHUCKINGS, DANCES, ETC-EARLY HOUSE PARTIES-HOUSE RAISINGS- GATHERING AT HENRY SADORUS'S-A BARN RAIS- ING AND QUILTING BEE-OLD SETTLERS' MEETING -ALLEN SADORUS-PLENTIFULNESS OF WILD GAME AND THE HUNT-CIRCULAR HUNT-WOLVES AND THEIR FEROCITY-WILD GEESE AND DUCKS-WILD GAME AS FOOD-SHOOTING MATCH-HORSE RACING -FIRST SOCIAL GATHERING AT CHAMPAIGN- PIC-NICS-PROMINENT FAMILIES AMONG THE PIONEERS.

Amid their many duties necessary to the sustenance of themselves and their families, our pioneers were not lost to the love of the social amenities of life nor to the love of amusements. No sooner were settlements established in the county, as told in former chapters, and acquaintances made or re- newed from old associations, than were so- cial gatherings and visits among families re- sorted to for the gratification of the gregari- ous instinct universally prevailing in the hu- man family. These visits were not confined to the immediate neighborhoods of the indi- vidual settlers, but long rides were taken across the prairies from timber grove to tim- ber grove, or wherever a cabin or settlement could be found, and social visits of families interchanged; or, in larger companies, for "raisings," "corn-shuckings" and "dances"- anything to bring together the people young and old for a frolic. (The hyphenated word "pic-nic" had not then been invented.)

Stories are yet told by the few who survive the earlier years of our county's history, of long rides from the Big Grove to Sadorus Grove, the Salt Fork, to the Sangamon and to Linn Grove to meet the youth of those neighborhoods for dances and amusements of

698

HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

various kinds. These jaunts were usually made upon horseback, both sexes being ex- pert riders. The trails across the prairie were followed and the shortest route was available, so far as fenced-up farms were con- cerned. "House parties," as now practiced, were not then known by that name; but it not infrequently happened that gatherings of this kind lasted a day or two, the lasses find- ing accommodations in the house upon emer- gency beds, while the boys were accommo- dated upon the hay and straw mows in the barn, if there was one, or out of doors, as the case might have been. Such gatherings brought together young people from a large territory and often established friendship of a life-long character, many matrimonial alli- ances of which the county records bear wit- ness, tracing their inception to such a gath- ering.

When' the "raising" had been accomplished, the corn shucked and the quilting done, when all were satisfied with the intervening danc- ing frolics, the gathering broke up and all dispersed to their distant homes.

Only one of these gatherings, a typical party, need be described. It was held at the home of Henry Sadorus, at which the young people from all the groves of this county- from Monticello, from down on the Okaw and Ambraw, and some from as far as Eugene, Ind .- came on invitation to participate in the sports. Some of the Buseys were there from the Big Grove, one of the Richmonds from the Ambraw, two of the Lesters from the Okaw, the Piatts from Monticello, and many others-more than thirty in all-men and women, gathered in the fall of 1832, the par- ticular business on the part of the men being . to raise a log barn, and, on the part of the women, to "quilt" two bed-quilts for Mrs. Sadorus.

The barn to be raised was what was known as a "double" barn; that is, two separate apartments built far enough apart to leave room for a threshing floor between, but all under one roof. The logs of which it was constructed-for it was a log barn-are re- membered to have been straight ash logs of a rare quality, and the structure covered ground thirty by sixty feet in extent. The logs had all been cut of the proper length and hauled to the ground ready for use. In three days' time the men-who were, by pre-

vious practice, well schooled in the art of building after the frontiersman's fashion- had erected the two separate structures, cov- ered them with split boards held in place by weight poles, and nicely finished the thresh- ing floor of split puncheons, so well lined at the edges and smoothed down with the adz as to make a tight floor. This barn stood as a noted landmark, near the old Sadorus homestead for many years, and will still be remembered by later comers who survive.

Within the double log cabin which served the Sadorus family as a home from 1824 un- til 1838, the lady guests, most of whom, it is most likely, were-clad in homespun, made busy work with their needles upon the quilts, or assisted in the preparation of the meals by day and joined in the merry dance at night, to the music of a fiddle in the hands of a backwoods artist named Knight, from Danville.

This must have been a happy occasion, if one may judge from the merry twinkle of the eyes of those who participated whenever, in later years, it is alluded to in their pres- ence. At an Old Settlers' meeting held at the Fair Grounds in 1882, fifty years after the event, Mrs. Malinda Bryan, William Sadorus, and perhaps others who participated in the fun, talked it over in public with shouts of laughter at the recalling of the happenings, as if they were yet the youngsters who en- joyed the fun of half a century before, and as if but a few weeks had intervened.

Perhaps the last of that merry throng to yet remain in life and upon the ground is Mr. Allen Sadorus, a son of the host, who was then a lad of about twelve years, but an observer of all that went on, and can now, after more than seventy years and at the age of eighty-four, tell what took place and who were there with the accuracy of a very late observer. The mentioning ^of the event to him now is met with the heartiest of ringing laughter on his part, as he re- calls each guest and tells of the fun all had.

In this manner, and upon like occasions, did our pioneers cultivate acquaintances and perpetuate friendships in the olden times. Their hospitalities at their homes were un- bounded and free to all honest comers, espe- cially to those who sought to establish homes in their settlements.

699

HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

Hunting the wild animals which bred and roamed over these prairies before their lairs were broken up by cultivation, was engaged in by men and boys universally. Both as a means of diversion and pastime, and for the contribution to the table and clothing of the settlers, did all follow the chase in the proper seasons. No law interfered with the natural right to take for their use these wild ani- mals, and their profusion and the ease with which they were taken, either by snare or gun, made the sport engaging and profitable if deer and fowl were taken, and if wolves and other destructive vermin were taken, protection was given to domestic animals.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, Part 37

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Cunningham, Joseph O. (Joseph Oscar), 1830-1917 Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 632

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Cunningham, Joseph O. (Joseph Oscar), 1830-1917
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 632