Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, Part 38

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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At an Old Settlers' meeting, in 1882, Will- iam Sadorus stated that he, on one occasion, shot and killed twenty wolves in five days, and upon another occasion he piled twenty- five of their carcasses in one fence corner.

In the earlier years of the settlements, the incursions of wolves, foxes, wildcats and other predatory animals upon the sheep, pigs and domestic fowls of the settlers, was a serious menace, and made their protection at night necessary. So, as a matter of self- defense, the hunting and trapping of these destructive animals was followed with a pur- pose.

The pelts and furs of these animals, taken in the course of a year, formed no small item in the incomes of the hunters, when trans- ported with surplus products to Chicago, or when sold to the local or itinerant fur dealer. (1)

The buffalo disappeared from this country long before the same was occupied by the white race, driven therefrom, or perhaps wholly exterminated, by the aborigines whom our people found here. That the prairies

here, like those beyond the Mississippi, were once the home of vast herds of this now nearly extinct animal, is well shown by ac- counts left us by the early French explorers, as well as by the yet visible marks left by them; but the smaller game remained in great abundance.

Deer were found here in almost incredible numbers until the middle of the last century, when, as population increased, they gradually decreased until about 1860, when they had become nearly or quite extinct. The writer has seen them in considerable flocks in pass- ing upon the stage from Urbana westward.

Mr. H. M. Russell, who came to the county as late as 1847, relates having seen a drove of sixty or seventy of these animals in the winter of 1848, a short distance west of Sid- ney. The same drove had nearly cleaned up a field of corn of a citizen there, and the neighbors, as a matter of protection to their crops, turned out en masse and destroyed them.

The means resorted to for taking the game were very numerous and suited to the taste or necessities of the hunter. At first, and before contact with men had taught them cau- tion, the gentle deer would come near the cabin of the pioneer, but such curiosity on the part of the animal was pretty certain to cost him his life; for, if the man of the house were not at home, the woman could aim the rifie and gather the prize. Such instances were often told in early times. The stalking of these animals, with a rifle single-handed and alone, was the most common method, and counted as the keenest of amusement. This was done both on horseback and on foot, and often resulted in securing a supply of toothsome venison.

As has already been stated, wolves were altogether too plentiful for the most abundant success in the farmyard, and so were ac- counted as an enemy to be destroyed, from whose death no benefit accrued to the cap- tor except the removal of an enemy.(1) They

(1) The operations of the American Fur Com- pany of the earlier part of the last century, while it conducted the larger part of its trade around the Great Northern Lakes and upon the Mississippi and its confluents, drew largely from the wild interiors of Western States, and Champaign County. in the earlier years of its settlement and until it was well under culti- vation, contributed annually its share of this product.

One H. C. Smith, a citizen of Chicago, for many years before 1860 made regular visits to Urbana and other places in the central part of the State, his mission being the buying of furs and wild peltries for that corporation. His visits are well remembered by many yet living. Charles G. Larned. once a resident of Urbana, and later of Champaign-of which place he was at one time the Mayor-first came to this part of Illinois as an itinerant merchant and as a purchaser of these commodities.

(1)So ferocious were these animals that they would attack full grown hogs. H. M. Russell remembers in the fall of 1847, the circumstance of a drove of fat hogs being driven from Mt. Pleasant, now Farmer City. to the Wabash. On the prairie between the Sangamon River and Urbana, a large pack of wolves scented the drove and dogged the steps of the hogs to Urbana, where the drove was yarded and fed for the night. The wolves invaded the streets of the town and it was necessary to guard the

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

were trapped, poisoned and shot. They were run down by the aid of horses and dogs, and beat to death with clubs. These races were, at times, most exciting and often extended across miles of prairie. A wolf-hunt of this kind, where a number of farmers wished to try or exhibit the mettle of their horses and dogs, was counted to be the greatest of sport, and the wolf, when lured from his den, got the worst of it.

One of the most popular and largely prac- ticed sports in the matter of hunting all sorts of wild animals, was what was known, far and near among the early settlers, as the "Circle Hunt," from the manner of prosecut- ing the same. This kind of sport could only be practiced in a considerably settled coun- try, because it needed men from a large area of country to organize and carry out the plan. As will be inferred from the name given it, the hunt was in a circular form; that is, beginning at the outsides of a given and agreed territory. The men, having taken their places, proceeded to a central point in unison, meantime driving ahead of them and towards the central goal all animals they

might scare up in their course. Usually, -as the center was approached, a miscellaneous gathering of wolves, deer and smaller game would be driven together, all heading towards the center pole-for it was usual to set up at the agreed center of the circle a long pole, upon which would be placed some kind of flag, to render the object more conspicuous and noticeable. The rules of this sport ex- cluded all firearms and all dogs, that acci- dental injuries might not occur, and that a stampede of the enclosed game might be avoided. The men, either on foot or on horse- back, as they chose, armed only with clubs, continuously approached the center of the circle, keeping as nearly in touch with their neighbors on the right and left as possible, meantime permitting no game to turn back. As they neared the goal the work of destruc- tion commenced and continued as they got within reach of the animals, until all game had been killed or had escaped by breaking through the circle.

In well conducted hunts of this kind, where sufficient numbers were engaged and the

weather favored the enterprise, the slaughter of game and of predatory animals was often quite considerable, and rarely ever did fail- ures occur.(1) One hunt is said to have taken place where the little grove near the village of Ivesdale, known as Cherry Grove in later years, was the central goal. In anticipation of the arrival here of the game, a few of the best marksmen of the settlements were selected and stationed in the grove, early in the day, to await the oncoming game. The drive was successful and the animals readily sought the shelter of the little patch of tim- ber from their pursuers upon the open prai- rie, only to be shot down by the cool hunters who there covertly awaited their coming. The catch of game was very great and no one was hurt.

At the first all kinds of game were here found by the white settlers in the greatest abundance, the annual requisitions of the Indian hunters having been insufficient to keep down the natural increase. As late as 1854 deer might be seen upon the prairies at almost any time, and wolves were in such numbers as to render the protection of pigs necessary at prairie homesteads.

The writer remembers, about January, 1854, seeing a wild wolf, which had been hotly pressed by hunters on the prairie south of town, run the whole length of Market Street, in Urbana, from south to north, in his effort to reach safety in the Big Grove, then a dense thicket of brushwood a quarter of a mile north of Main Street. A wolf chase, at that time, was easily held by any party but a short distance from the settlements, and

(1)"A Circular Hunt .- Those who love the sports of the chase will have an opportunity of enjoying a rare hunt on Saturday next. By a well matured plan the citizens of the county intend having a Circular 'Hunt. The perimeter of the circle touches at Urbana, Robert Dean's, the old Boyer farm, Sadorus Grove and Sid- ney. The center is about nine miles south of this place."-Urbana Union, January 11, 1855. The same paper of a week later tells of the result of this particular hunt: "Instead of re- turning laden with the trophies of the chase, and for weeks fattening on good venison, our hunters came in early in the afteroon with horses jaded, empty stomachs and frozen fing- ers; in short, with anything but plenty of game. It appears that detachments from other settle- ments, not so adventurous as our hunters, did not venture to brave the cold winds of the prairies that day, and the circle was not com- pleted until they arrived upon the ground near the centre; therefore the game was compara- tively scarce. A few deer and wolves were headed, but from the few hunters on the ground, all escaped but one wolf."

hogs all night to protect them from the marau- ders.

CHEMICAL LABORATORY-UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

was much indulged in by sportive men who owned good horses, often greatly to the in- jury of the horse.

Equally attractive as a sport, and as a means of supplying the table, was the hunt- ing of wild turkeys, prairie chickens, and others of the grouse family. One whose knowledge of these fowls goes back to the beginning of settlements in this county, says that turkeys were as thick in the timber as domestic fowls about a farmhouse, and al- most as easily taken. So of the prairie chicken until about 1870, when their ranges and breeding places were being taken for farms; their abundance can hardly be de- scribed. The skillful huntsman, with a double-barrelled fowling - piece, could, within a few hours in any of their haunts, load him- self with the finest of their flocks.

In the autumn and spring of each year droves of wild geese and ducks, in great swarms, visited the country, generally en route from northern to southern fields, or for longer stays about the many sloughs and ponds which yielded food and harboring places for them, and they were an easy prey to the man with a gun whose knowledge of their habits, and whose skill with his weapon, fitted him for the sport.

It goes without saying, that the products of all these sports were rich in their contribu- tions to the domestic tables of the pioneers. No other use could be made of them; for to have loaded traffic wagons for Chicago or other markets with game would have been like "carrying coals to Newcastle," since any- body at any place, even within a few miles of the mouth of the Chicago River, until less than fifty years ago, could do what the hunter of Champaign County could do, and the mar- ket would have been drugged by the product of a few game bags.

It is equally certain that never did tables support richer or more palatable viands than were thus supplied. Venison, turkey, prairie chicken, wild goose and duck, when cooked and served as the pioneer mistress of the cabin larder only knew. how, would move to ecstasy the gourmand or moderate eater of any nation.

The march of improvement across our prai- ries, while grateful to the statistician and land boomer, has driven out of existence these friends of humanity, without which these prai-

ries would have been as Sahara to the red man, and much less welcome to the white pioneer who looked to this source to eke out the scanty supply of food for his family dur- ing his first years here. The hunter has got in his work of destruction; the draining of ponds and sloughs, the breaking plow and the cultivator, while changing everywhere the landscape, have destroyed the breeding places and food supply of these wild animals, until specimens of all of them exhibited in a menagerie command as much attention from our own young people as the caged animals from the jungles of Africa.

Time and the events following in the wake of civilization have nearly closed this chap- ter of our history. The sportsman of to-day is hedged about by restrictive statutes passed for the protection of both the game and the farmer, until for one to appear with either rod or gun beyond municipal bounds, marks him as a suspicious character fit for the espionage of the police. It was not always so.

The "shooting-match," once so popular as a means of amusement, has nearly passed from the list, if not from the memory of the old- est inhabitant. However, it had its time and place and deserves to be mentioned, if not for the good it did, for the evils it produced. At a given announcement of time and place -generally at Thanksgiving or Christmas season-the men appeared with guns to shoot at a mark for a prize. The mark was a tur- key, chicken or other fowl, and the prize the wounded bird. Of course, the restraining in- fluence of woman was not present, for the gathering was not for her. Another influ- ence was there, which always makes for evil wherever it has a place. It was here that "John Barleycorn" got in his work more ef- fectually with the pioneer than elsewhere.

At this point it is well to drop the cur- tain upon the shooting-match, for full details would better not be told.

Horse racing, which prevailed in this county largely in the early times, has found its antidote in the county fair, where the proud owner of supposed fast horses may go at a given week and earn or lose his reputa- tion, if not his money, under the protection of the law.

In early days no fenced-in and graded course could be had; but the level prairie offered courses for the trial of speed of any

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

length and of any degree of excellence de- sired. No rules excluded any class of stock from the course; so the "blooded" racer met upon equal terms the "scrub stock" pony, and must win or lose upon what he could do. Many will remember these contests for equine excellence and few who witnessed them will forget.

Of course, there were the usual gatherings of the youth of both sexes for social purposes and, where the opportunity did not offer it- self, they generally made one. As population increased and people came in from eastern of northern homes, new customs and new names were introduced and the primitive forms and customs were supplanted.

In 1855 John Campbell built at the new town of West Urbana a large building located upon the ground now occupied by Dr. Haley's Sanitarium, at the corner of University Ave- nue and Fourth Street, intended, and long thereafter used, as a hotel. At that time it was the largest and finest in the county, and was completed near the end of the year. In the opinion of both Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, who were old residents, it was desirous to open the affair by a gathering of their friends, such as would now be known as a "function," but was then called only a "party." An in- vitation was issued by them(1) for such a gathering to take place on January 1, 1856, at seven o'clock P. M., and largely circulated, which brought under their hospitable roof a large number of people, both of the old resi- dents and of the new, a few of whom had then settled about the railroad depot. This invitation brought together as many as one hundred persons, which was the largest social gathering up to that time ever assembled in the county, and the first of its kind in the City of Champaign. Many who have since figured conspicuously in the social and pro- fessional life of both towns were there, and, while most of those who were there have passed away; it will be well remembered by all survivors who were there as a notable event.

Later there was another gathering, notable

1 (1) The following is a copy of the invitation issued, which was printed upon the only press of the county:

"Urbana, Dec. 24,1855.

Our compliments to Mr. J. O. Cunningham & Lady, respectfully solicit the pleasure of your company at our house on Tuesday, Jan. 1. at 7 o'clock p. m. Mr. and Mrs. J. Campbell."

for having been perhaps the first of its name ("Pic-Nic") to occur in the county. Nothing is remembered of what happened, or who was there, and it is chiefly cited for the many familiar names which appear upon the invi- tation, as given below. For this reason it has become historical.(1)

It was long the practice of the young peo- ple to make up parties for drives across the prairies in the summer, from Urbana to the Sangamon, to the Linn Grove, or to some other attractive place of resort, to spend a day in rural diversions. The only means of conveyance was by wagons or carriages driven by the most direct routes. These were popular and continued until long after the age of iron roads; (2) but are now quite passed out of the list of diversions.

Sleigh-riding from the towns where a con- siderable crowd could be gathered, to some out-of-town house or "tavern," were common in winter, when but little snow was necessary upon the prairies to render the sport of the best character. Some yet living will remem- ber one had from Urbana to "Kelley's Tav- ern," at the crossing of the Danville road over the Salt Fork, which took place late in the 'fifties, in which the young people of Urbana and West Urbana, in considerable numbers, took part. (3)

(1) The following is a copy of one of the in- vitations issued. The names of many of the signers will be recognized as long prominent in local society and business:

"Urbana, Ill., June 18th. 1856, Mr. J. O. Cun- ningham & Lady: You are respectfully solicited to attend a pic-Nic party to be held Saturday, the 28th, in the Grove east of Urbana." Wm. H. Somers, Jas. D. Dunlap, Jos. W Sim, H. C. Howard, H. W. Massey, F. W. Walker, A. Camp- bell, S. B. Stewart, Benj. Burt, Miss Amanda Gere, Miss Hattie Mead, Miss Mattie Dake, Miss Hattie Herbert, Miss Celeste Young, Miss E. Burlingame, Mrs. Wm .. N. Coler, Mrs. John Campbell and Mrs. A. G. Carle.

(2)"The beaus and belles of Urbana and West Urbana contemplate going on a picnic excur- sion to Linn Grove, on Saturday next, provid- ed always, the mercury is not below zero.

"The location chosen is one of the finest in the universe, and we presume a good time will be had."-Urbana Union, May 14. 1857.

(3)The building, still known as the "Old Kel- ley Tavern," although disused as such for near- ly forty years, still stands and is a notable land mark of the county. Its history reaches back to near 1830, when the beginnings of the composite, structure were built by Cyrus Strong. who has elsewhere been referred to. A fine painting of the building hangs in one of the corridors of the court house. It was often the stopping place for the noon meal, or for lodging, of Judge David Davis, Abraham Lin- coln and the lawyers upon their road from county-seat to county-seat, around the old Eighth Circuit. as well as of many other old cit- izens of this and other counties.

UNIVERSITY HALL-UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

LIRE RY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

Hon. John S. Busey loved to attend the Old Settlers' meetings and recount the hardships as well as the pleasures enjoyed in the' early days. At one meeting he sang the following song, which is believed to have been original with him:

"As thus with faltering steps we meet The oft-returning snow,

We'll not forget the old log cabin, Where we lived so long ago.

"Our fathers raised its walls with pride, When first he sought the wild frontier; And there he labored, lived and died, A hardy, honest pioneer.

"The floor was made of puncheon boards, The cracks were stopped with clay,

'Twas banked around with prairie ground, - To keep the cold away.

"Half hidden by a thicket maze, Its string was ever outward thrown;

And there, beside the genial blaze, The hungry stranger shared our pone.

"With hearts so light and hopes so high, We whistled at the plow; Those careless days have glided by, We seldom whistle now.

"But when we tread our rooms to-night, With carpets rich and warm, We'll not forget the old log cabin, That sheltered us from the storm."

The coming to the county before the days of the railroad of several prominent and cul- tured families, and the establishment in good houses of hospitable homes, where all were made welcome, had its effect upon the rural society before then existing, in extending hos- pitality and in the elevation of the tastes of the people.

It is only just to the memory of some of these people whose coming to this back coun- try was, at the time, notable and proved in time to be' of much influence, that brief men- tion of them be made.

Not far from 1850 Morris Burt, a native of New York, with his numerous family of sons and daughters just coming to manhood and womanhood, by purchase from Simeon H. Bu-

sey established their home a mile south of Urbana, where they were at once recognized as leaders in society, and as worthy and de- sirable associates. One of the daughters (Emma) in 1853 became the wife of N. M. Clark, then a civil engineer in charge of the work of constructing the Illinois Central Railroad, and another (Sarah) later became the wife of Thomas A. Cosgrove, who was long prominent as a business man in Cham- paign. Two of the sons, Benjamin and Jesse, were quite prominent in business, and a grandson, T. A. Burt, is the well-known and efficient County Clerk of the county.

This home was one of the most generous hospitality, and many will yet remember the hilarious gatherings of the young people of the settlement there upon many occasions, and especially at the wedding of Miss Emma to Captain Clark.

The Burt farm is now mostly occupied as Mt. Hope Cemetery, and the identical knoll, where stood the festive home surrounded by shrubbery and flowers, is now rapidly being filled with the graves of departed citizens. The past joy and hilarity of the happy home mingles inharmoniously in the mind of the observer, when he is now called upon to take part in the funeral ceremonies witnessed there under its present use.

Another family-that of Robert Deane- established their home in an ample house upon the ridge in the northwest part of Cham- paign Township, about six miles from Ur- bana, not far from the same time as that of Mr. Burt. The children were all young; but Mr. and Mrs. Deane, although past the merid- ian of life, were yet young in spirit, and many times attracted to their home from the settlements about Urbana and Mahomet the people, young and old, and their home was a hospitable resort for citizen and stranger. Mr. and Mrs. Deane were most influential in the organization of the few resident Presby- terians into a church of that denomination at Urbana, which, by removal, became the First Presbyterian Church of Champaign. They called about them the young people of the settlements and wielded an influence for good. (1)

(1)The following account of another entire family which came to Champaign County, made a home and ever since, has been and now- through its remote descendants, which are num- erous-is influential, has been furnished us by

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

CHAPTER XVI.

LIFE IN THE NEW COUNTRY.

THE SADORUS FAMILY-THEIR COMING IN 1824- REACHED THE GROVE APRIL 9TH-FORTY MILES

FROM NEIGHBORS-THEIR CABIN-HUNTING- FIRST WINDOW SASH-FIRST ENTRY OF LAND- RECOLLECTIONS OF WILLIAM SADORUS-INDIAN VISITORS-GAME-PARIS THE NEAREST POSTOFFICE -GOING TO MILL-TRIPS TO CHICAGO -. EARLY SCHOOLS-PERMANENT HOME-COMING OF THE RAILROAD-DEATHS OF HENRY AND WILLIAM SADORUS.

The manner of getting to this country in its early settlement, the building and prep- aration of new homes, the kind of life led by our pioneers, the hardships encountered and, in general, the laying of the foundations of the splendid civilization now enjoyed by the people here resident, at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, will be best understood by the reader, if we detail here the pioneer

one of those descendants, (Robert A. Webber, lately deceased), and is here inserted as an in- stance of the coming to this then wild country of a family of refinement, whose home and presence was a benediction to the country. It will not be difficult, from the names given, to identify many who now. and for many years, have figured very conspicuously in public af- fairs:

"Robert Carson and his wife, Catharine, came with their large family, consisting of three sons and five daughters, from Philadelphia, Pa., in 1836, by way of the Ohio River from Pitts- burgh to the Mississippi River, up that river to the Illinois River, thence up that river to Pekin. Ill., and across the country in wagons to a farm about one mile west of where Mahom- et now is. They were compelled to live in tents until a suitable log house could be built, said house being a model of its kind, being two stories in height and having an inside stairway of planed walnut lumber, as well as other fin- ishings; the fine work being done by a son, Mathias N. Carson, who had learned the trade of carpenter and joiner in the East. The re- mains of this house mav vet be seen on what is known as the "Ware Farm," where it has been used for a number of years as a stable.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, Part 38

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