USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Montgomery County, Volume II > Part 40
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"Shortly after the Clingman raid, a company of United States soldiers got off an Illinois Ceutral train at Ramsey, and came west into this couuty, ostensibly in search of deserters. On the road they stopped at the house of 'Uncle' Johnny Sears, great-grandfather of ex-state's at- torney L. V. Hill of this city. The soldiers and Mr. Sears got into a controversy over a saddle the soldiers were about to 'borrow' and it is claimed that Sears got his gun aud threatened to shoot. Mr. Sears was standing in his front
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door at the time and the soldiers fired at him. Just as they shot, Mrs. Sears stepped up be- hind him and both were instantly killed. The soldiers then proceeded west, leaving the dead bodies in their front door. This incident created intense excitement all over this part of the state. Captain Clingman was a 'Jayhawker' who came into this country from Missouri, but he kept his history a secret and those who knew him while he operated in this county did not know just where he came from or where he went after he was run out of the country. The men com- prising his gang were supposed to have been a gang of lawless adventurers who he had gath- ered around him ard their object was robbery. He pretended to be in the service of the South- ern Confederacy, but this was a blind to cover up his lawless depredations. Captain Cling- man was a fine looking man and would attract attention anywhere, and was apparently an edu- cated man. But the Civil War gave him the opportunity to follow his lawless instincts and he became a brigand. Some of the citizens of this county are supposed to have joined his band but they left him as soon as they learned his real character."
Some effort has been made to get further in- formation of this historic event and in doing this William Bowles, I. S. Blackwelder, Robert Mann, Benjamin Wilton and others have been inter- viewed, and from their several conversations the following is added to the above.
"This occurred at an exciting time during the latter part of the Civil War when depreda- tions in various parts of the country from Golden Circles, Ku Klux Klans and Bush- whackers, were of daily occurrence. When the companies were gotten together to go to the Burg. there were almost no ablebodied men left in Hillsboro. Robert Stuart, after going part of the way, feeling anxiety on account of the lack of protection for the women and chil- dren at home, returned. William Bowles, Dan Lingofelter and Isaac Lewey were among those to stay. During one of the nights that the company was away, Mrs. Isaac Lewey gave birth to a daughter, who is now Mrs. Dr. Parkhill of Hillsboro. During the first night, Daniel Lingofelter was keeping a sort of vigil on the north side of town, and some one's horses having got away, were slowly grazing their way toward town, and Lingofelter hearing them was sure the town as about to be attacked, ran down town as fast as he could crying :
'They're coming, they're coming,' and the whole town was up in a minute and their fears so strongly worked up that but little sleep was obtained by any one.
"Harrison Brown was the sheriff at that time and he issued states warrants for any one who might be found doing, or supposed to be do- ing, any illegal acts. This warrant was placed in the hands of Buck Stevenson, a deputy sheriff, and all those who went were deputized as spe- cial sheriffs, with power to arrest under the direction of Mr. Stevenson. There were three companies, one from Litchfield, under Captain Jeffers, of over one hundred men; one from Butler of thirty-five men under Capt. Henry Berry, and one from Hillsboro of nearly a hun- dred men under Capt. Stokes Clotfelter. Among those trom Litchfield were John Ferguson and Captain Jeffers. In the Butler company were Moses Berry, Robert Bryce, Silk Wood, Wil- liam Wood, Peter Berrie, E. R. Hoyt, Henry Richmond, William Pence, Frank Phillips, Wil- liam Berry and Sam Harwood, Among the Hillsboro company were Captain Clotfelter, Paul Walters, Edward Lane, Dr. Amos Sawyer, Robt. W. Davis, Elisha Brown, Robert Mann, William Witherspoon, Daniel Cress and Stephen White. There was also a company of about twenty-five or thirty from Walshville which met with those of Hillsboro, and went on the raid. Capt. William Griffith was in command and among its members were Mr, Copeland, Wil- liam Klein, John N. Green, Joseph Young, Oscar Parish and William Cowden. During the first evening or the next morning Captain Griffith, under direction of Col. Paul Walters, entered a thick brush somewhere down there and cap- tured three head of horses, Mr. Copeland get- ting a fine sorrel mare. These under direc- tion of Colonel Walters, were sent to Hillsboro and eventually sold to pay a feed bill.
"These three companies met in Hillsboro and went down to A. H. Bell's place where they got together in his pasture, just south of the house, and there effected a complete organiza- tion, with the captains as above noted, and Capt. Paul Walters as colonel commanding. They arranged to take different routes in going, and to endeavor to surround Clingman. They were to meet at James Kirk's place on Sunday morn- ing to compare results, and receive new orders. Captain Berry went down to Henry Hill's place and encamped on Gilham creek. Captain Clot- felter took his command directly to the burg,
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MR. AND MRS. FREDERICK MILLER
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and Captain Jeffers went north, encamping some two miles north of the Burg. Clingman was rightly supposed to be somewhere on Dry Fork, north of the Burg. Clotfelter's company went to the place of John Isbell, who was known to be in sympathy with the adventurers, and demanded that he show them the way to the camp of Clingman. He was in bed, having been with Clingman the night before, and he said he would as soon as his wife got him a little breakfast. This delay served his treacher- ous purpose for he sent his boy quietly on a mission to the camp and gave Clingman a tip, and when Clotfelter got to the camp it was to find that Clingman had been gone about a half hour. A boy was picked up and held for a while, but evidently knew nothing, and was turned loose. Three men were seen running away, one of them on Clingman's claybank horse, and when they failed to halt they were shot at and one horse was killed, the shot being fired by a Litchfield man. Clingman rode that day a horse that he had stolen from James Kirk. On Sunday morning, agreeable to pre- vious arrangement, the companies met at the place of Mr. Wright. Captain Berry was or- dered to go back to the burg and see that all was quiet before they started for home. While in the burg, a body of men were seen coming over the hill from the south, and at once they were supposed to be the enemy, and conster- nation ruled for a while. Captain Berry got on his horse and rode toward the men coming. and soon returned and reported that they were a body of men who had come out from Vandalia to help find Clingman.
"Many amnsing incidents were reported, for instance, it was agreed that in case danger was suspected during the night, that a signal was to be given, to be three rapidly fired shots. During one night the three shots were fired, probably by some one who did not know the signal. The camp was on its feet in an in- stant and scrambling for its clothes, gnns and ammunition, only to find after a search no signs of danger. The saddest event of the whole affair was the accidental shooting of William Witherspoon. In an attempt to get his gnn he reached over the wagon bed and caught hold of it by the muzzle, and pulling it toward him- self in such a manner that it was fired, strik- ing him in the arm and so wounding him that the arm had to be amputated at the shoulder. I. S. Blackwelder, Benjamin Wilton and Dr.
Amos Sawyer were delegated to bring Mr. With- erspoon back to Hillsboro. Doctor Sawyer and Mr. Blackwelder held the arm and the lacerated arteries all the way to town to prevent him from bleeding to death.
"Clingman's gang evidently scattered, as he slipped up into Ronndtree Township where he 'left his horse, intending to get him later, and took a Wabash train, supposedly for Missouri. On learning that the horse was np there the Hillsboro officials went there and brought him here, where he was offered for sale at public auction. He was a very fine horse, trained to perform many interesting tricks. He was bonght by Keith & Lyford, for the sum of $200, and shipped to St. Lonis. Some one gave Cling- man the tip that bis horse was in St. Louis, and report says that he slipped into St. Lonis and bonght him back again. The money which the horse bronght was given to Mr. Wither- spoon. The horse was well known in Hills- boro, as he had often been put up at the stable of Wilton & Cress. Clingman probably had sev- eral places where he hid along Dry Fork, as one such place was found some years later on the place of Thomas Wilson, where a hay rack had been made in a dense wood, and about fif- teen ponnds of powder was also found there, hidden under an old stamp. While Clingman claimed to be a sonthern recruiting officer, it was apparent that he was nothing less than a robber and adventurer. A Mr. Evans, who knew Cling- man well, said that the real intention of Cling- man was to take his men and go to Carlinville which was at that time a recruiting station for the Federal Army, and where there was sup- posed to be on deposit a large snm of money belonging to the Government, and to make a wild demonstration in the town, and nnder cover of the excitement, a few were to rob the bank of its cash. Mnch bitterness was felt by some over the affair, and evidences of it were numer- ous. Some time after the affair was over the grand jury was in session, when some one from the burg appeared before the jury and on some trumped np charge, secured an indictment against I. S. Blackwelder. The next day, how- ever, after looking into the matter, on motion of Robert Mann, who was on that jury, the whole matter was dropped and the indictment quashed."
With reference to the shooting of Mr. Sears and his wife, there has been much controversy, and we refrain from discussing the causes that
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led to the deplorable event. Mr. Sears was a good resident as was his aged wife, and what- ever may have been the inciting cause it would be hard to make the people who knew him be- lieve that he did anything to justify such un- lawful an act. We only say that for some un- known reason Lieut. Thomas Anderson came from Chicago with a squad of soldiers and went to the home of Mr. Sears, and while en- gaged in a controversy with him, Mr. Sears having his gun in hand, the soldiers supposedly on the order of Colonel Anderson, shot both Mr. Sears, and his wife, who was attempting to shut the door at the time. After the shooting, and according to report robbing the house, the soldiers left, leaving the dead bodies of their victims lying in the doorway where they had been shot.
CHAPTER XXI.
AUDUBON TOWNSHIP.
IN GENERAL-BOUNDARIES AND NAME-EARLY SET- TLERS-OHLMAN-EARLY DAYS IN AUDUBON TOWNSHIP-EARLY CUSTOMS-TYPICAL PIONEER WASHDAYS-FUNERAL CUSTOMS-EARLY CIRCUS DAYS-ECCENTRIC CHARACTERS-AUDUBON HON- ORED-SUPERVISORS-TOWN CLERKS-JUSTICES OF THE PEACE-CONSTABLES.
IN GENERAL.
In the vernacular tongue, Bois d'Arc, Pitman and Harvel townships are the panhandle of the county ; and in like manner Audubon has been called the lip of the pan. The two additions give to the county its irregular shape. Audu- bon Township is composed of ruralities exclu- sively, and yet they display a splendid citizen- ship, support good schools, contribute liberally to churches and other philanthropic enterprises, own and enjoy, with their families, comfortable homes and manifest a thrift in their farming at once commendable and deserving. The men are not only good citizens, but in the recent election for township officers the women showed their interest by going to the polls and a fair
proportion of them voting according to their convictions.
BOUNDARIES AND NAME.
Audubon Township is located in the northeast corner of Montgomery County, and is bounded on the northi by Christian County ; on the east by Fayette County ; on the south and west by Witt and Nokomis townships. The most im- portant water course running through the town- ship is Ramsey Creek, which unites with Elliott Creek. These boundaries were given Audubon Township upon the adoption of township organi- zation in 1872, and it took its name from the now extinct town of Audubon which was laid out years ago, with great expectations, by a colony of emigrants who came and settled there from Massachusetts, with the intention of creat- ing a great rural and urban community, which to them, and very properly, was the ideal life. The name Audubon was probably given in honor of the renowned John P. Audubon, the great naturalist and ornithologist who about that time was a prominent figure in eastern states. Later he went to London, England, where he published many books on American birds and animals. The colony of Audubon was established in 1834 and the town of that name was laid out on sections 27 and 34 in township 10, north, range 1 west. The location was on the Shelbyville road, and that road was opened out through the town site to 100 feet, and in- tended as the main street of the town. The land was platted by Andrew Morton Brailey in 1834, lots laid out and sold and quite a number of important buildings were erected and business begun therein.
EARLY SETTLERS.
Thomas Price located on section 36 of this township in 1831. His son, John Henry Price was born in 1832, this being the first birth of a white child in the township. He also had a daughter, Amanda, who died about 1832, and hers was the first death recorded in the town- ship. The next settlers located a little lower down. and they came in 1832, being George Cottingham, Bailey Osborne, William Craig and William Cottingham. A year later Shipman Estes. William Orcar, James Smith and Wil- liam T. Slater settled in the south part of the township. William T. Slater was elected
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a justice of the peace about 1846, and was the first to hold that office in the township outside of the town of Audubon. At the same election Elias Pearce was elected the first constable of the township.
The first rural school in the township was taught by a man named Charles Turner, in a log school house on section 12 in township 9 north, range 1 west. In 1845 two marriages oc- curred in the township which are said to have been the first two. They were between John Slater and Miss Julian McCoy, and Dr. A. S. Vandeveer and Miss Isabel Slater. Among those who came and joined in an attempt to form a Massachusetts colony in this township, were Hiram Holmes who opened up a store and also ran a mill; M. S. Cushings who opened up a store; Samuel Patch who was also a merchant; Isaac Hinsley who was postmaster and land agent; and Robert Little, Otis Lit- tle and William Pike, who all were farmers. Among others in the town were Thomas Hill, Bazil Hill, Joseph Davis and James Davis. M. S. Cushman was made a justice of the peace in 1838 for the newly laid out town, and William M. Russell was made constable. The colony built a church of the Unitarian faith in 1839, Rev. Huntington being the organizer and first pastor. The Unitarian faith was entirely new to this section of the country, yet these people left a fair religious following that has not entirely ceased to exist and today has its fol- lowers in the county.
A courthouse was built for local purposes and with the hope that the colony could draw the county seat, it being the intention to present the courthouse to the county. The tavern that was erected was far better than business jus- tified. In fact the colonists had ambitions more commendable than prudent, and failure was the result. The town ceased to grow, the stores were unprofitable, and to complete the ruin, in 1856, the Big Four Railroad was built and Nokomis and Ohlman began to make important spots on the map, when Audubon gave up the fight. The church was moved to Nokomis and one after another the business houses and resi- dences were removed to more favorable loca- tions, and now the place where the erstwhile town was, is cultivated farm land. The peo- ple were good citizens, and many of them remained in the township to cultivate the soil and rear their families, and their descendants are to be found here and there who have heard
this story of illspent ambition, from the found- ers of the colony. A man named Crow ran a. store a mile east after Audubon ceased to exist, for several years.
Among the prominent old time farmers were: Guilford, James and Joseph Bass, J. W. Brew- ner, J. H. Limer, William Neece, E. N. Pray, F. M., J. M. and Jacob Strider, J. M. Umpleby, Alex. Durdy and Capt. Michael Ohlman.
This splendid farming township is so far from the county seat that it looks to Pana rather than Hillsboro as a market and source of supply, when in need of what cannot be obtained in Ohlman.
OHLMAN.
Ohlman is the only village in the township of Audubon. It is located on the line of the Big Four Railroad, about midway between No- komis and Rosemond. The railroad was built through the township in 1856, but the town of Ohlman was not laid out till some thirty years later. Capt. Michael Ohlman, a retired steam- boat captain, and very energetic business man, becoming the possessor of a large tract of land, planned the town for convenience and business. The town now has a population of about 200. although it has never been incor- porated. It may be surprising to know that a town that supports a post office, a bank, a gar- age, concrete tile factory, butcher shop, barber shop, lumber yard, harness shop, hay barn, stock pens, three good general stores, two of which carry both hardware and dry goods, should not be incorporated. But the inhabi- tants are exercising good judgment in defer- ring the matter of incorporating, so long as they can manage the interests of the village without it. There are two churches in the vil- lage, the German Evangelical, with Rev. Breu- sucke as minister-in-charge, and the Methodist Episcopal, supplied by the bishop. The Free Methodists also have an organization though at present they maintain no stated services.
The Modern Woodmen of America have a very good camp with a membership of over fifty. The Mutual Protective League also have a small lodge in the village. The village has a very good school with a house of two rooms, the present teachers are John Sparks and Miss Ella M. Kimball. The members of the school board at present are Martin Virden, I. G. Hubbard and August Shoraga. The bank deserves special
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notice. H. D. Gassman is president, J. H. A. Husman cashier, and it does a profitable busi- ness. There is a physician iu the village, Doc- tor Hubbard. The postmaster is George H. Grote. Those engaged in the mercantile line are Henry Zimmermann, George H. Grote, Charles Zimmermann, and William Kellogg who is the manager of the Paddock Lumber Co. James M. Umpleby runs a graiu and stock buy- ing business. Thus the principal needs of the rural township of Audubon are supplied at the little town withiu its own borders.
CAPT. MICHAEL OHLMAN.
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No history of Audubon Township is com- plete without some mention of Captain Ohl- man. He belonged to that class of men who "do things." Forceful in action, invincible in de- termination, quiet in demeanor, not a visionary, but one who forced things to bend to his power- ful energy that knew not defeat. A German by birth, although of French parentage, and an American by adoption, he landed in St. Louis when a young man, and on looking around to turn something to his advantage saw an op- portunity to go on board a steamboat as a laborer. When there he was no eight hour man, who saw nothing but his little per day, but one who saw a boat to be moved, and with his natural unconquerable will set himself to accomplish the task. It was not long before pro- motion led from step to step until he was made a commander of a boat, and not content with that position he pressed on till he owned one of the best boats on the river. Desiring to get back to the soil, which was congenial to one of his rearing, he sold his boat, came to Audu- bon Township, bought a large tract of fine soil and began a career of high-class farming. When the railroad was built across the northwest cor- ner of Audubon Township he was not slow to improve his opportunity in securing a station on his land, which was naturally named for him. The village of Ohlman is now a monu- ment to his memory for it is a splendid little community with prospects of the best for fu- ture greatness. Captain Ohlman was a born commander, too busy for congeniality, and pos- sibly not appreciated except by a few at his true worth, but it is such men as he that help any country breast the wave in its struggle for ascendency.
EARLY DAYS IN AUDUBON TOWNSHIP.
The following article is written by Anna Smith Brown.
"The history of Audubon Township would not be complete without some record of the set- tlers along the head waters of Ramsey Creek. These people were pioneers in every sense of the word and lived the primitive life. That life was just slipping away into the new order of things when my parents came to the county, so we saw but a ghostly flapping of its wings.
"Mordecai Weddle was the progenitor of the family of which I write, and, following the cus- tom of the times, the family had married and intermarried until every one was related and doubly related to everyone else. To this large family belouged the Followells, Brummetts, Gordleys, Ishmeals, Hamblens, and practically the whole of Audubon city and vicinity by either blood or marriage. They were poor, happy and peace loving. There were the usual fights and shooting scrapes but the trouble was always with some outsider, never among them- selves. There was good blood in them, for their descendants are some of the best people we have in the township today. Their religion did not amount to much, being of no set stripe or color, but their politics were as fixed as the laws of the Medes and Persians, and had one of this tribe dared apostatize from the faith of Andrew Jackson he would have been cast into utter darkness of ostracism if not totally annihi- lated. Uncle "Mortiky's" son Frank once said he 'would vote the straight Democratic ticket if it stunk.'
"When the settlers on old Ramsey went visit- ing they took the whole family and as many of the relatives as they could gather up along the way and they made a night of it. The cabin home always had a loft that seemed to be limit- less in its space and inexhaustible in its sup- ply of bedding, and, so long as floor space held out, there was no lack of places to sleep. One of these cabin homes was very near us and it was a joyous place for a child to go, espe- cially when there was company there, and they sat around the huge fireplace and told jokes and riddles, some nice and some not nice, and witch tales of "haunts" and "ghosts" in which they firmly believed. I do not know the size of this cabin but I know it was immense. Be- sides the large fireplace with its black andirons,
J.W. Milles + Family
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
dogs sitting on their haunches; there was in this room in the corner nearest the fireplace & cook stove and near the stove a cupboard. In the two corners furtherest from the fire- place were two high post beds, and so far away in the remote shadows, that they in no way interfered with the parlor and dining room accommodations of this immense room. The table was set in the middle of the room and was not near either the beds or the fire place. In the fourth corner and at the left of the fireplace were the stairs to the loft. Under these stairs and at the side of the fireplace was the sheltered nook where the man of the house smoked his pipe and took his ease. He raised his own tobacco and wore his hat in doors and out. He put his hat on the first thing in the morning and took it off the last thing at night. If he spent the whole day in his ingle nook his hat remained on just the same. It was my firm belief, as a child, that this man had some special privilege from the king that entitled him to wear his hat in the house, but I remember that all the other men in the cabin homes did likewise, and the cus- tom was doubtless one of necessity, caused by draughts from the faulty chinkings and suc- tion from the fireplace.
"Then those beds! Not the canopied price- less heirlooms we read of in song and story, but high posts ending in round knobs the size of a croquet ball, ropes for springs, threaded back and forth and up and down, a mattress of straw and a feather bed the like of which the world will never see again; the feathers plucked from wild geese with the freshness of the arctic cold, the fluff of the frozen snow, the odor of the inland waters, of marshes and grasses of sea and sky. To get into those beds was an accomplishment for a small girl to be proud of, upon a chair, then on a box, then seizing the bed post give one mighty leap and sink down and down into the depths. To peep out in the night and see the glow in the big fireplace, or down beneath the bed at the skim of snow sifting through the chinks between the logs, and then to huddle down and feel the softness and warmth of the nest of nature's feathering. How I hated our stove and our parlor after a night in one of these cabins! The quilts that covered those beds deserve a place in history for the record they bear of primitive woman's struggle to express her sense of beauty in her own creative skill. They were
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