USA > Illinois > Cass County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Cass County, Volume II > Part 6
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"Beardstown, Morgan County, Illinois.
"I am still keeping ferry and public house. A part of my land I laid ont in town lots, which the people have given me the honor of calling by my name. The place is improving. There are three new stores and a very extensive steam mill, capable of mannfacturing from fifty to seventy-five barrels per day. Also a saw mill and a distillery attached. I am now engaged in building a two-story and a half brick honse, 33x43. This building prevented my coming home last fall, as I intended. My iron constitu- tion still holds good, though exposed to every hardship."
Hiram B Baxter Caps-Ceo 22°EL 148 Dad, Vol, Infantry. -
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
Mr. Beard had but limited education, but was oť a bright intellect and used every particle of knowledge obtained in his schooling to the very best advantage. He had been taught in early life by a private tutor, who prepared him to enter an academy, which he did later, studying history, mathematics and surveying, as well as the fun- damentals of a common school education. Added to this, his sound judgment and energy in promoting every undertaking, made him a forceful leader in those trying pioneer times in which he lived. He was a highly public- spirited man, and an earnest advocate of edu- cational matters. Mr. Beard and his friend, Francis Arenz, built the first schoolhouse, which was also used for public purposes and for religious worship. Mr. Beard was about six feet tall, straight as an Indian, and fully as muscular and active as one. He had blue eyes and light hair, and wore no beard except short side whiskers, which were of a slightly reddish cast. The portrait of him appearing in this volume is taken from an oil painting now hang- ing in the city hall of Beardstown, and is a very fair representation of that sturdy char- acter that gave to this county the full strength of his early manhood to redeem it from the wilderness and make it one of the most delight- ful and habitable spots on the globe. Even the iron constitution which he had could not, however, withstand a sudden and virulent at- tack of typhoid fever, which occurred in the fall of 1849, and he succumbed to that dread disease after a very short illness. He is buried on the Thomas Beard farm, section 16, township 18, range 11, in Cass County.
The fame of the Illinois River and Sangamo Country had spread to every part of the United States then settled, and many parts of Europe, and Beardstown was known as an excellent landing point which could be easily reached by boats from St. Louis and Cincinnati, as well as other points along the Mississippi and Ohio . rivers, where emigrants from the East or South might board them in their journey westward. Thus Beardstown first saw many of the early settlers who moved on farther east or into the central part of the state, as well as those who settled at Beardstown permanently, or in other portions of Cass County. Among those who came were :
Seymour Kellogg, at whose home was born the first white child in the territory forming Morgan, Cass and Scott counties; Martin L.
Lindsley, Timothy Harris and John Chittrough, and a family named Eggleston. Archibald Job landed at Beardstown, then moved on east and settled in Sylvan Grove in 1821. In that year, it is said on good authority that there were but twenty families in all Morgan, Scott and Cass counties. Reddick Horn, a Methodist preacher, settled in Beardstown in 1823. He entered lands later near the Bluffs and finally became clerk of the Circuit court. The exact date of the arrival of each settler, or any considerable num- ber of them, is difficult to obtain; we must look to public records and to conspicuous events from which to reckon. Many who came before the deep snow in 1830-31 may be named, and even then there may be a large number omitted. Between Beardstown and where Chandlerville now stands there were: Solomon Penny, John Wagoner, the Carrs, the Horroms, Jerry Bowen, a Mrs. Stewart, a widow, Shadrach Richard- son and Thomas Plasters, Sr. Then above Chandlerville were: Robert Leeper, William Meyers, Henry McHenry, Peter Dick, John Tay- lor, William Morgan, James Hickey, Amos Ogden and Isham Reavis. James McAuley and Elijah Garner came in 1832. In and about the vicinity of Arenzville were : Henry Mckean, John Mckean, Alexander Pitner, John Melone, Wil- liam McHenry, James Davis, George Bristow, Aquilla Low, J. A. Arenz, Richard Mathews, Charles Robertson, James Crum, Peter Hudson, Charles Wiggins, David Black, Alexander Huff- man, Benjamin Mathews, William Summers, Andrew Williams and Richard Graves.
Near the center of the county, about where Virginia. now stands, came Charles Brady, Captain Jacob Yaple, Henry Hopkins, Elijah Garver, John DeWeber, Thomas Hanby, John Dawsy, Samuel Way, William Weaver, Thomas Gatten, Halsey Smith, James Beadles, Matt Beadles, John Beadles, Silas Freeman and Little- berry Freeman. In the southern part of the county were : James Stephenson and his five sons, Wesley, James, William, Robert and August ; Charles Beggs, Jacob and John Epler, John Hiller, Rev. John Biddlecome, Isaac Mitchell, John C., Peter and William Conover, James Davis, Isaac Bennett, Strother Ball and William Grove, settled in the southeast corner of Cass. Farther out on the prairie, and near Panther Grove, were: Stephen Short and his four sons ; Tilman Hornbuckle, Stephen Lee, Dr. Stockton. John Miller, James Thompson, Daniel Blair and Rev. William Crow. Along the east side of the
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connty extending northward were the homes of George and John Willson, William Daniels, Bartlet Conyers, John Lucas, John B. Witty and Robert Hawthorn. Dr. Charles Chandler and Marens Chandler and another early comer named English, settled near the mouth of Pan- ther Creek, the present site of Chandlerville. From 1832 on, the country rapidly filled np with settlers from all parts of the East and from foreign conntries. Many came from Tennessee and from old Virginia, and quite a host from nearby Kentucky, which had furnished so many of the citizens of southern Illinois, and who had been aggressive in the matter of office holding, and had, in fact, np to that time, dominated almost every official act of the new state. They had modeled largely onr first constitution upon that of Kentucky, but Kentucky sent us many excellent, highly capable men, fitted to cope with conditions in a new country, and a large number of them made their way up into Cass County. Quite a number came "farther west" from Ohio and Indiana. Also came a large delegation from the eastern states, and in a very few years came the great immigration from Germany, England, Scotland and Ireland. Very few Freneh came to Cass County, though many had settled in this state farther south, and a number of early Freneh voyagenrs had passed up and down the Illinois River.
It was natural, of course, that each national- ity should settle in more or less close proximity, and thus we find the different settlements in this county which remain very marked to this late day. Around Beardstown and Arenzville came the Germans; the Scotch and English set- tled along the Sangamon bluffs, and back towards Virginia. Quite a number of Scotch and English families settled in township 18, north, range 10, west, and their descendants still occupy the lands entered by them soon after the county was organized. Most of the foreigners came to New Orleans and then up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, a few stop- ping at Shawneetown on the Ohio River and taking the trail across by land. It was in the picturesque and commodious "prairie ship." or "schooner," that most of the early settlers emi- grated from the older states. These schooners were thoroughly substantial, with solid running gear heavily ironed, four huge wheels with broad, well-tired felloes, and tongue so ar- ranged that either oxen or horses might be hitched. The high boards and curving side-
boards were ribbed, barred and riveted, and great bows of hickory or young white oak were shaved out and bent over the bed of the big wagon, and over these were stretched the white canvas, with the loose curtains, which, flapping in the wind, gave the appearance in the dis- tance which explains the derivation of the name. Most of these vehicles were drawn by four horses, or ox teams, some of the small ones by one team of horses or oxen. An early writer, referring to this style of craft and means of travel, says :
"The old 'Prairie Ship,' with its great white cover and flapping curtains, looking at a dis- tance on the prairie like a ship on the ocean, was the great original of the emigrant wagon of the West. This craft was of vast capacity. It contained ample bedding for a large family made np of all ages and both sexes. It held cooking utensils, provisions, ammunition, tubs and buck- ets, besides a family. The wagon box, or bed, was fitted with flat, iron staples. about 18 inches apart along its sides, and in these were placed ashen hoops which bended over, from side to side of the wagon box. leaving a roomy space inside about five feet high and 20 or more feet long, which, when covered with canvas looped over at the ends, made a comfortable room, high and dry and safe from storms. Upon the sides of the wagon box were cleats to secure the crow-bar, axes, spades, mattocks, chisels and augers; and underneath hnng the kettles, tar bucket, water bucket and baskets. An extra log- chain was coiled around the coupling pole under the wagon for use in emergencies, which fre- quently occurred."
ROADS AND TRAVEL.
There were but few roads and bridges at that time, and the prairies had to be crossed on Indian trails, the rivers forded where there were no ferries, and ereeks and brooks, where the banks were steep, were still more difficult to cross. In such cases, sometimes bridges were improvised, or a tree felled across the stream, the limbs being removed. The wagon was then taken apart, and each piece and article of freight carried by hand across over the fallen tree and set up on the other side, and the wagon reloaded. Sometimes the one man of the party would do all this alone. Generally, however, for convenience, those movers traveled in com- panies or caravans, and in that case each man
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
would assist the other, and thus make the journey more pleasant, sate and expeditious. It was a common sight in those days to see such a caravan, the white canvas tops of the prairie schooners looking in the distance like a fleet under sail. These emigrants usually drove along with them a few head of cattle, or led some brood mares, so that in the new country they would be prepared to raise cattle and horses. Frequently there were also to be seen, attached to the outside of the wagon, coops with a tew fowls for the purpose of raising . chickens in the new settlement. The movers on their long journey found many pleasant in- cidents to relieve them of monotony. They had the bracing open air in which to sleep, the cheer- ful songs of the birds to awaken them from their refreshing slumbers, the ever changing, entrancing scenery to gladden their eyes; green hills and verdant valleys traversed by spark- ling streams of fresh, pure water, broad rolling prairies, with myriads of beautiful wild flowers filling the air with their sweet odors, and bor- dered by magnificent timber, where under some spreading oak they pitched their camps for the night.
HARDSHIPS AND DANGERS.
Yet they endured hardships that the present generation cannot imagine. They encountered terrific storms, deluges of heavy rain that soaked the earth and swelled the streams so that they were often delayed for days until they could proceed. Then there were the moments, hours, aye, days, of depression ; the longing for a sight of the friends and relatives and the old familiar scenes they had left behind. A feeling of home- sickness, that disease which no physician, how- ever skillful, can diagnose or cure, woud over- power them. It was not alone the women, but also the men, who were subject to these soul- racking and body-weakening attacks, but the men, not being of so fine a mental organism, and being stronger physically, and sustained by their responsibilities, could throw off more readily or repress their feelings in the presence of others. The days of such methods of travel are over and gone with the prairie schooner and the ox-team, and are but a dim vision in the mystic halls of memory. No more slow windings of slow ox-teams over the mountain steeps and the trackless prairies ; no more stopping on the rise of the hill to take one last, fond, lingering
look over the old familiar valleys at the old homestead never to be seen again.
CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES. >
Having reached their destination and selected the tract of land that appealed to their fancy and suited them best, the pioneers staked it out and soon thereafter rode off to the government land office to make an entry under the law. Then they began in earnest the building of a new home in this vast, boundless region of the West. The first thing was the erection of the cabin. Early settlers invariably selected land with a goodly portion of timber growing upon it. Choosing tall, straight trees, their experi- ences in their old habitations had taught them were suitable for their purpose, they cut them in proper lengths and sometimes hewed them on both sides, then notched thein at the ends so they would fit close together when laid up. What cracks were left were filled with slabs and clay mixed with straw it they had any, and it not, with dried grass or similar substitutes, in order to keep the clay together. Rafters were cut and put in place, then came the cover- ing, and it was with no little skill that the pioneers prepared the roofing for their houses. A fair-sized, straight-grained black oak would be selected and felled, the experienced eye be- ing able to recognize the right kind of a tree before cutting into it. Blocks were then cut of the required length and shaped until they were of the proper width. Holes were bored into another standing tree, and pegs driven in and cross bars at the proper height to support the prepared blocks, so that one doing the work of riving could stand in a comfortable posi- tion. Blocks were placed on the supports and the frow was taken up. Perhaps the reader has never seen a frow. It was made from a bar of steel about fourteen inches long and two and one-half inches wide. At the back the bar was from one-half to three-quarters inch thick, and ran to a point at the forward end. The front edge was shaped and ground only fairly sharp, just sufficient for it to enter the wood when struck a blow from a wooden mallet. The other end of the blade had an opening welded around for the handle, which was nothing more than a smooth, round stick, large enough for a firm handhold, and perhaps two feet long. This handle was placed in the loop formed in the end of the blade and extended at right
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
angles from the back. Grasping the handle in the left hand, and placing the blade against the board block at the right distance from the top side of the block so as to form a board of the required thickness, a blow was struck with the wooden mallet held in the right hand, which drove the blade into the wood square across the block, then a pull downward on the handle like a lever, and the board was split off the full length of the block. These boards were called clapboards, or sometimes weather boards, from the manner in which they were laid over each other at the end so as to exclude the rain or snow. It was extremely interesting and sometimes astonishing to watch an expert board-maker with his frow and mallet, and to note how rapidly and skillfully he would resolve a large block of wood into niee, smooth boards of even thickness. After a number of boards were made, they were piled up crossed alter- nately three or four feet high, and left to dry out. When utilized for roofing, the most gen- eral use to which they were put. they were, in the very early days, placed in rows, beginning at the lower or eaves edge of the roof, and after the second layer was on, the ends lapping well over the first row, a pole was laid length- wise and pegged down at the ends. Thus the builders continued until the top of the roof was reached. In later years when nails were ob- tainable, the boards were laid on as ordinary shingles are now laid, but they had to be nailed before they were thoroughly seasoned, for when one of these old-fashioned oak elapboards did get hard, a bullet from one of the pioneer squirrel rifles would hardly pierce it. There was a nse, however, made of these boards which the younger generation of pioneers will always remember. Some of the boards would get split, leaving a slat two feet long and from two to three inches wide. It was the rod of disei- pline, under which we all had to pass. The biblical quotation is never heard by the writer but that, in vivid imagination, he sees Solomon bending over a pile of split clapboards selecting a piece that would be exceedingly pitiful for lim to see spoil.
The floors were made of puncheons, which were nothing but boards split out of straight logs, and if not made thin and smooth enough by the splitting process, they were hewed with a foot adze. The doors were made of split boards and hung with wooden hinges, and fast- ened with wooden latches. Sometimes a large
bar of wood was prepared and kept in readiness so that in times of danger the doors could be made more seenre therewith. The cabins usu- ally had but one room and a lott overhead. A smaller room was sometimes added, and was a great convenience for storing provender and utensils out of the weather. As there were no stoves in the earlier days, it was of course necessary to have a fireplace. This was made by cutting an opening in one end of the honse and building np three sides with small logs, as in building the cabin, daubing the walls with clay on the inside. This primitive chimney was continned on np to the roof, where it was topped out like building a rail pen. After passing the opening in the side of the honse, the chimney was drawn in and continued smaller to the top. A slow fire was made and kept up until the clay lining was as hard as a brick. Such a chimney would stand a hot, strong fire for years. The opening for the fire wood was made very large, and would take in a back log 4 or 5 feet long, and from 1S inches to 2 feet thick. These logs were frequently dragged into the house by a horse, and then rolled into place with big, wooden hand spikes. The big andirons. often called dogirons, were brought from the old home by the mover, and were placed in front of the back log, on which was laid the fore stick. The hickory bark and other dry pieces of wood were placed between until a great heap was had, and the fire when lighted was soon roaring up the huge chimney mouth.
The cooking was done before the fireplace. Pots and kettles were hung on cranes, and bak- ing was done in ovens of iron, which were big skillets with legs, with a covering of iron made to fit them closely. Coals were drawn out on the hearth, the oven was set on them, and more live coals were heaped around. Splendid corn pones were thus baked, and when wheat was grown, even large loaves of bread were also baked in the same way. There was also an- other kind of pone baked, called a corn dodger. This was made by forming the dough into large rolls, which were patted round, by hand, and then covered with clean wood ashes and laid in the hot ashes and coals. where they soon were excellently cooked. and were considered as among the best breads provided for the hungry household.
Around the big, glowing fire, which lit every sagging beam and corner of the great room.
Eng by & G. Willams & Bro. NY
Hiram B. Baxter
Marsall Publishing it
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
gathered on a winter night the true family circle.
"Between the andirons' straddling teet The mug of cider simmered slow,
The apples sputtered in a row,
And close at hand the basket stood,
With nuts from brown October's wood."
After the cabin was built the family removed from the wagon which had been their home for so many months, a shelter was provided for the beasts; fences were erected, and an effort made to get in a crop, and then civilization could be considered to be on an upward grade. After 1832 came many settlers of all kinds and characters, of both a high and low degree of intelligence. Some came to linger awhile and then pass on, bringing nothing with them, and taking nothing away. Others came with a defi- nite purpose and determination to better their condition, and as a necessity and natural con- sequence of their indefatigable efforts, steady labors and upright course of conduct, this once wild country soon became the happy home of a noble, industrious and thriving people.
PERSONS ENTERING LAND.
Many of those who came before 1830 entered land, thus indicating they intended to make their permanent homes here. A list of the entries are given here that may include some names that have been omitted in the list of early settlers given previously, with township and range.
In township 17, north, range S, are: James B. Watson, William Cooper, Stephen Short, Wil- liam Crow, Eli Cox, Robert Johnson, George W. Wilson, William T. Hamilton. In 17-9 are : Burton Litton, Page A. Williams, Morris Davis, Josiah Sims, Robert Fitzhugh, Jesse Gum, Thomas Atkins, Jolin Vance, James Welsh, Richard Jones, James Fletcher, Andrew Beard. John Bridges, John Creel, Joseph McDonald, Gersham Jayne, James McDonald, Anthony M. Thomas, Alexander Beard, John Robertson, Felix French, Richard A. Lane, John McDonald, John Hughes, Susanna Walker, Solomon Red- man, Henry Kitner, Martin Hardin, Josiah Flinn, David Manchester, William Miller, Strother Ball, Samuel Montgomery; in 17-10: William Chambers, John C. Conover, Susanna Pratt, David Black, James Marshall, Jacob
Ward, William Porter, Jacob Lawrence, Carrolton B. Gatton, Thomas Gatton, Archibald Job, Peter Conover, William Conover, Abner Tinnen, Nathan Compton, Joseph T. Leonard, Bazaleel Gilett, William H. Johnson, William Breeden, Peter Taylor, John Ream, Samuel Way, Archer Herndon, Evin Martin, James Stur- gis, Jonathan Atherton, Jacob Yaple, Alexander D. Cox, Henry Madison, James Marshall, Jesse Alard, Isaac Mitchell, Thomas Redman, George Tureman, Edward Fuller, Levi Springer, Wil- liam M. Clark, George Freeman, Thomas Payne, Lucian Bryant, William Lamme, Silas Freeman, Isaiah Paschal, Littleberry Freeman ; in 17-11: Thomas Wiggins, George F. Miller, Henry McKean, Daniel T. Mathews, John McKean, Daniel Richards, John Cuppy, Patrick Mullen, Shadrick Scott, Benjamin Mathews, Samuel Grosong, William S. Hauby, James Orchard, Oswell Thompson, Joseph C. Christy, Jos. L. Kirkpatrick, Frederick Trozel, Peter Karges, David Black, James Smart, John R. Sparks, Aquilla Low, Abraham Gish, Charles Robertson, James H. Richards, Peter Taylor, Martin Rob- crtsou, Jonah Case, Daniel R. Schaffer, Thomas Clark, David B. Carter, James Davis, Andrew Williams, Alexander Huffman, William Sum- mers, L. L. Case, John Savage, Dennis Rock- well, Augustus Barbor, Joseph P. Creshwait, Alexander Pitner, John Thompson; in 17-12: Freeman Skinner, Kimball & Knapp, Asa C. New ;' in' 1S-S: Samuel Reid, Robert Elkins, Ralph Elkins, Henry Williams, Eaton Nance, John Lucas, Susan Washburne, David Williams, Joel Ragsdale, William Holmes, John Lee, Robert Nance, Josepli Lee, James Fletcher.
There does not appear from the land entry record to have been any of the lands of 18-9 entered before 1832, but as a number of sub- stantial citizens came in shortly after, and entered those lands, a list is given of those entering lands in 18-9: Charles Chandler, Oba- diah Morgan, Mary C. Chandler, Henry C. Ingals, Marcus Chandler, Ambros Conkey, Marcus Hicks, Reddick Horn, William J. Blair, Richard McDonald, Henry Dick, Thomas Combs, John D. Paschall, Coleman Gaines, Nicholas Kelley, Jeremiah Davis, Levi Dick, William McAuley, Thomas May, Cyrus Elmore, Azariah Lewis, John Fanschier, Dwight S. Marcy, Nathal C. Marcy, Joseph McDonald, Cyrus Wright, Carey Nance, Robert Nance, James Fletcher, Joshua Nance, Nathan Coffin, John Grigg, Alfred Dutch, John Dutch, James D.
1
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
Mathews, Abraham G. Gaines, Solomou Bales, out of the county, the settlers went to work, after the Black Hawk war, with renewed energy to accomplish the next necessary subjugation of the soil. Until the time of the deep snow, cotton was grown to a considerable extent, but after that severe winter, cotton crops were a failure. Sheep had been brought into the community, and when flocks could be protected against the encroachments of the wolves and other beasts of prey, the wool was shoru from the sheep and carded by hand. It was then spun into cloth and made iuto clothing. The hand looms and spinning wheels usually formed a part of the household paraphernalia. The women usually dressed in linsey-woolsey, of their own weaving, aud the men in jeans, the cloth being colored either blue or with a dye made from walnut bark, which produced a color known as butternut. The skill of the people produced, from whatever materials lay at hand, that which was necessary for their comfort, and they were indeed fairly comfortable under all Charles Throop, William C. Stribling, George Beggs, Elias Mathews, Charles Beggs, Stephen Lee, William Holmes, William Davis, George Cunningham, Andrew Cunningham, George W. Phelps, Nathan Robertson, John Lee, Joseph Lee, Francis Robinson, William Carver, Elias Mathews, Elisha Evans, Elijah Carver, William H. Windom, Thomas Boicourt, Andrew Hower- ton ; in 18-10: William Meyers, Thomas Gatton, James Mason, Nathan Compton, Peter Carr, John Robertson, Susan Washburn, Henry Traughber, William McCord, Robert Alexander, Ralph Morgan, John Biddlecome, Zadoc W. Flynn, William Carr, William Sturgis, Shadrach Richardson, Robert H. Ivens, Josiah Rees, Joseph Baker, Thomas Plasters, William Sewell, John E. Scott, John DeWeber, A. S. West, John Ray, Joshua Crow, Benjamin Stribling, John G. Bergen, Phineas Underwood, Henry Madison ; in 18-11: Henry Summers, Richard Gaines, John S. Warfield, Robert Farrell, John Farrell, Temperance Baker, William W. Babb, Eldred . circumstances, except during the occasional Renshaw, Samuel B. Crewdson, Solomon Penny, severe cold spells, when, Benjamin Carr, Amos Hager, Reddick Horn, Elisha Carver, John Wagoner, James Scott; in "A ehill no coat, however stout, Of homespun stuff could quite keep out." 18-12: Thomas Beard, Enoch C. March, John Knight; in 19-S: Isham Reavis, Robert Taylor, William P. Morgan ; in 19-9: David McGinnis, Stephen Handy, Thomas Plasters, William Linn, Wilson Runyon, William D. Leeper, William Meyers, John Taylor, Elias Rogers, Jesse Arm- strong.
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