History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 35

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 948

USA > Illinois > Union County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 35
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 35
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 35

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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ritorial Legislature convened November 25, 1812, and adjourned December 25 of the same year. The second session met and com- pleted its session and adjourned on the 8th day of November, 1813. A prominent, if not pre-eminent, member of that body was John Grammer. He then retired from the legislative halls for one session, and then was elected in 1816 again. When Illinois became a State, he was elected to the State Senate. In the Territorial times, the Legis. lative Assembly consisted of a Council and House of Representatives. In the first As- sembly-1812 -- John Grammer was a mem- ber of the House of Representatives, repre- senting one of the five counties, St. Clair, Randolph, Gallatin, Madison and Johnson, that then constituted the State. In 1816, he was elected again, but was promoted to a member of the Council (now called the Sen- ate), and was re-elected to the session of the same body for the session of 1817-18. He was again elected to the State Senate in 1822-24, and again to the Assembly of 1824- 26, and again re-elected Senator to the As- sembly of 1830-32, and again 1832-34. Here was a long service in the legislative de- partment of the State. The importance with which he was esteemed is fairly illus- trated by the fact that, while he was a mnem- ber of the Senate, the first compilation of the "Illinois laws was made, and among the people they were distinguished by the name of the " Grammer laws." It is reported that a certain Judge Block was holding court in Vienna in the early, rude times. Jeptha Hardin was arguing a case before him, and when he undertook to fortify himself by read- ing from a book which he held in his hand, " What book is that you are reading from ?" demanded Judge Block, sternly. "May it please the court," said Hardin, blandly, "it is Chitty on Contracts." "Chitty!" said

the Judge, " Chitty! Take it away, sir! take it away! What did our fathers fight for ? Take it away; we will try this case by the Grammer laws! "

In Stuvé and Davidson's history of Illi- nois, John Grammer is mentioned as the father of Illinois demagogues. This is an in- justice to that sturdy, honest-minded old pioneer. The charge is an injustice to his memory. He simply voted "No," and had the moral courage to oppose the public craze of 1837, on the subject of internal improve- ments, and for this wise stand in defense of the people he lost the affection of the voters, and was then, for their first time, defeated at the polls. Had he been a demagogue, he would have played the demagogue's part, and simply trimmed his sails to the popular breeze, and only have increased his power, not lost it. The same history relates an anecdote of Grammer, and while it is not well-authen- ticated, nor is it, on its face, a reasonable story, yet we give the substance of it, be- cause it, to some extent, explains his humble beginning in life. When he was first elected to the Legislature-so the story runs-there was much counseling and financiering in his own and his neighbors' families as to how a suit of clothes could be got for him to go to Kaskaskia in. Eventually, he and family gathered nuts and carried them to Fort Massac trading post, and exchanged them for a few yards of " blue drilling." This was carried home, and the neighbors called in to cut and make the clothes. After meas- uring, turning, twisting and stretching, the cloth was short and finally it was cut into a hunting shirt and then there was only enough left to make a pair of high "leggins," and thus arrayed he served his term in the Leg- islature.

This is something of the life and times and character of John Grammer-a historical

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landmark in the early history of Illinois-a study and a delight for the coming children of men. He left numerous descendants, but his scepter of power, originality and invention passed away forever with the breath from his body. He was a just man in his judgment it seems, and wholly fearless in following the convictions that took hold of him. It appears that he about equally divided his time in a rigid and exemplary membership of the church, and then a jolly, won't-go-home-till- morning with his good friends and neigh- bors, and whether it was one or the other, he allowed no grass to grow under his feet, as his energy and industry kept even pace with his quick mother wit, shrewd good sense or bad grammar. He never made a long speech in his life, but he never took his seat after an effort of the kind without having made just such a speech, particularly in words,

quaint phrases, construction, and sometimes ideas, as no other man in the world could have imitated, much less made. His was a rich and incomparable vein of originality- often the most humorous when he felt the most solemn, as at other times he was as funereal as a hearse when he fancied his wit and humor the most sparkling. He always opened a stumping campaign by announcing that he believed there were men " more fitner" for the office than he was, but his friends would " anominate " him " wherer or no," and " thairfore" he would make the race, and, if elected, would do the best he could; and thus he would beat his eloquent huzzy- guzzy and sound his thew-gag down the banks of the Mississippi and up the Ohio, till the deep-tangled wildwood echoed his eloquent refrain, and victory floated out upon his banners.

CHAPTER V.

SETTLERS IN UNION, ALEXANDER AND PULASKI-LEAN VENISON AND FAT BEAR-PRIMITIVE FURNITURE- A PIONEER BOY SEES A PLASTERED HOUSE- HOW PEOPLE FORTED- THEIR DRESS AND AMUSEMENTS-WITCHCRAFT, WIZARDS, ETC .- NO LAW NOR CHURCH -SPORTS, ETC. - GOV. DOUGIIERTY -PHILIP SHAVER AND THE CACHE MASSACRE - FAMILIES IN THE ORDER THEY CAME, ETC .. ETC.

" The sound of the war-whoop oft woke the sleep of the cradle."

T THERE is much of romance in the story of the first settlers upon this southern point of Illinois, which is now comprised in the three counties-Union, Alexander and Pulaski. The first white men that were here trod the soil of St. Clair County, then em- bracing the State --- 1790. Then they were citizens of Randolph County; then Johnson County, then Union County. and from the

territory of this last-named county was formed Alexander County, and eventually Pulaski-mostly from Alexander County, but partly from Pope and Johnson Counties.

The spirit of adventure allured these pio- neers to come into this vast wilderness. The beauty of the country gratified the eye, its abundance of wild animals the passion for hunting. They were surrounded by an enemy subtle and wary. But those wild borderers flinched not from the contest ; even their

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women and children often performed deeds of heroism in the land where "the sound of the war-whoop oft woke the sleep of the cradle," from which the iron nerves of man- hood might well have shrunk in fear.

· They had no opportunity for the cultiva- tion of the arts and elegancies of refined life. In their seclusion, amid danger and peril, there arose a peculiar condition of society, elsewhere unknown. The little Indian meal brought with them was often expended too soon, and sometimes for weeks or months they lived without bread. The lean venison and the breast of wild turkey they taught themselves to call bread. The flesh of the bear was denominated meat. This was a wretched artifice, and resulted in disease and sickness when necessity compelled them to in- dulge in it too long, preceded by weakness and a feeling constantly of an empty stomach, and they would pass the dull hours in watching the potato tops, pumpkin and squash vines, hoping from day to day to get something to answer the place of bread. What a delight and joy was the first young potato! What a jubilee when at last the young corn could be pulled for roasting ears, only to be still intensified when it had at- tained sufficient hardness to be made into a johnny cake by the aid of a tin grater. These were the harbingers from heaven, that brought health, vigor and content with the surroundings, poor as they were.

The first settlers along the rivers and among these hills of Southern Illinois judged the soil upon their first coming here by what they knew of North Carolina, Vir- ginia and Tennessee; and that, with a few years' cultivation, it would wear out and have to be abandoned. We now know they were utterly mistaken in this respect. The grounds, when pastured, soon produced rich grasses, that afforded pasture for the cattle,

by the time the wood range was eaten out, as well as to protect the soil from being washed away by rains, so often injurious to hilly countries.

The difficulties these people encountered were very great. They were in a wilderness, remote from any cultivated region, and am- munition, food, clothing and implements of industry were obtained with great difficulty. Then, as early as 1810, the merciless savage had begun to paint himself for war and put on his tomahawk and scalping-knife, and there was then only increased danger, toil and suffering for the few and widely separ- ated settlers.

The furniture for the table for several years after the settlement of the country consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates and sometimes spoons, wooden bowls, trenchers and noggins, gourds and hard-shelled squashes, that were brought from the old States, along with the salt and iron, on pack- horses. "" Hog and hominy" were the viands that were served upon this table furniture. Johnny-cake and pone bread were in use for dinner and breakfast: at supper milk and mush was the standard dish. Ask any of these very old settlers you meet if, in his youth, he did not have many a scramble, and often a battle-royal, with his brothers and sisters, for the "scrapings" of the mush-pot.

Dr. Doddridge, in 1824, said in his diary: " I well recollect the first time I ever saw a teacup and saucer, and tasted coffee. My mother died when I was six years old; my father then sent me to Maryland. to school. At Bedford. everything was changed. The tavern at which I stopped was a stone house, and to make the change still more complete, it was plastered on the inside, both as to the walls and ceiling. On going into the dining room, I was struck with astonishment at the appearance of the house. I had no idea there

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was a house in the world not built of logs; but here I looked around the house and could see no logs, and above I could see no joists. Whether such a thing had been made so by the hands of man, or grown so of itself, I could not conjecture. I had not the courage to inquire anything about it. I watched at- tentively to see what the big folks would do with their little cups and spoons. I imitated them, and found the taste of the coffee naus- eous beyond anything I had ever tasted in my life. I continued to drink, as the rest of the company did, with tears streaming from my eyes; but when it was to end I was at a loss to know, as the little cups were filled immediately after being emptied. This circumstance distressed me very much, and I durst not say I had enough. Looking at- tentively at the grand persons, I saw one person turn his cup bottom upward and put his little spoon across it. I observed after this his cup was not filled again. I followed his example, and, to my great satisfaction, the result, as to my cup, was the same."

The hunting-shirt was universally worn. This was a loose frock, reaching half way down the thighs, with large sleeves, open before, and so wide as to lap over when belted. It generally had a large cape, and was made of cloth or buckskin. The bosom of this shirt served as a wallet, to hold bread, . jerk, tow for wiping the barrels of his rifle, or any other necessary article for the warrior or hunter. The belt, which was tied behind, answered several purposes besides that of holding the dress together. Moccasins for the feet and generally a coon-skin cap were the fashion. In wet weather, the moccasins were only a " decent way of going bare- footed," and were the cause of much rheu- matism among the people. The linsey petti- coat and bed-gown were the dress of the women in early times, and a Sunday dress"

was completed by a pair of home-made shoes and handkerchief.

The people "forted " when the Indians threatened them. The stockades, bastions, cabins and block-house were furnished with port-holes. The settlers would occupy their cabins, and would reluctantly move into the block-house when an alarm was given. The couriers would pass around in the dead hours of the night, and warn the people of the danger, and in the silence of death and darkness the family would hastily dress and gather what few things they could lay their hands on in the darkness, and hurry to the fort.

For a long time after the first settlement, the inhabitants married young. There were no distinctions in rank, and but little of fort- une. A wedding often engaged the atten- tion of the whole neighborhood, and the frolic was anticipated by old and young with eager expectation. This was natural, a its was the only party which was not accompa- nied with the labor of log-rolling, building a cabin or planning some scout or campaign. On the morning of the wedding, the groom and his friends would assemble at the house of his father, and they would proceed to the house of the bride, reaching there by noon, and here they would meet the friends of the bride, and a bottle race would ensue, and the joy of life was in full sway. The gentlemen, dressed in shoe-packs, moccasins, leather breeches, leggins, linsey hunting- shirts, and all home-made; the ladies dressed in linsey petticoats and linsey or linen bed- gowns, coarse shoes, stockings and handker- chiefs, and all home-made. After dinner, the dancing commenced, and would generally last until daylight next morning. About 10 o'clock in the evening, a deputation of young ladies would steal off the bride, and ascend the ladder to the loft, and passing softly over

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the loft floor, which was made of clapboards, lying loose, put the bride to bed. A deputa- tion of young men would then steal off the groom, and similarly put him to bed, and below the dance went on. The next day, the "infair" went on at the house of the bride, much as it had at the house of the groom, and sometimes this feasting and dancing was continued for days.

A grater, the hominy block, the hand- mills and the sweep, were the order of the coming of the mechanic arts in bread-mak- ing. Pretty much each family was its own tanner, weaver, shoe-maker, tailor, carpenter, blacksmith and miller. The first water-mill was a grand advance in the comforts of civili- zation. They were often called tub-mills, and consisted of a perpendicular shaft, to the lower end of which a horizontal wheel of four or five feet in diameter was attached.

Amusements are, in many instances, either imitations of the business of life, or at least of some of its particular objects of pursuit. Many of the sports of the early settlers were imitative of the exercises and stratagems of hunting and war. Boys were taught the use of the bow and arrow at an early age, and ac- quired considerable expertness in their use. One important pastime of the boys was that of imitating the noise of every bird and beast in the woods. This faculty was a very nec- essary part of education, on account of its utility in certain circumstances. The imita- tion of gobbling and other calls of the turkey often brought these keen-eyed denizens of the forest within reach of the rifle. The bleat- ing of the fawn brought its dam to her death in the same way. The hunter often collected a company of mopish owls to the trees about his camp, and amused himself with their hoarse screaming. His howl would raise and obtain a response from a pack of wolves, so as to inform him of their neighborhood, as

well as to guard him against their depreda- tions. This imitative faculty sometimes was requisite as a measure of precaution in war. The Indians, when scattered about in a neighborhood, often collected together, by imitating turkeys by day and wolves by night. And sometimes a whole people would be thrown into consternation by the screeching of an owl. Throwing the tomahawk was another sport, in which many acquired great skill. The tomahawk, with its handle a cer- tain length, will make a given number of turns in a given distance. At one certain distance, thrown in a certain way, it will stick in a tree with the handle down, and at another distance with the handle up. Prac- tice would enable the boy to measure with his eye the distance so accurately, that he could throw the ax and stick it into the tree any way he might choose. Wrestling, running and jumping were the athletic sports of the young men. A boy when twelve or thirteen years of age, when it was possible so to do, was furnished with a light rifle, and, in killing game, he soon could handle it expertly. Then he was a good fort soldier, and was assigned his port-hole in case of an attack. Dancing, quiltings, singing schools and "meetin's" soon were the amusements of the young of both sexes. Shooting at a mark was a com- mon diversion of the men, when their stock of ammunition would allow ; this, however, was far from being always the case. The modern mode of shooting off-hand was not then in practice. This mode was not consid- ered as any trial of the value of a gun ; nor, indeed, as much of a test of the skill of the marksman. Such was their regard to accuracy in those sportive trials of their rifles, and in their own skill in the use of them, that they often put moss, or some other soft substance, on the log or stump from which they shot, for fear of having the bullet thrown from the

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mark by the spring of the barrel. When the rifle was held to the side of the tree, it was pressed lightly for the same reason.

The belief in witchcraft was so prevalent among the early settlers as to be a sore afflic- tion. To the witch was ascribed the power of inflicting strange and incurable diseases, particularly on children ; of destroying cattle by shooting them with hair balls, and a great variety of other means of destruction ; of put- ting upon guns spells, and of changing men into horses, and after bridling and saddling them, riding them at full speed over hill and dale, to their frolics and places of rendez- vous. The power of the witches was ample, hideous and destructive. Wizards were men supposed to possess the same mischievous power as the witches ; but these were seldom exercised for bad purposes. The powers of the wizards were exercised almost exclusively for the purpose of counteracting the malevo- lent influences of the witches of the other sex. They were called witch-masters, who made a profession of curing the diseases in- flicted by the influence of witches, and they practiced their profession after the manner of physicians. Instead of "pill-bags," they carried witch balls made of hair, and in strange manner they moved these over the patient, and muttered an unknown jargon, and exorcised the evil spirits. One mode of cure was to make the picture of the supposed witch on a stump, and fire at it a bullet with a small portion of silver in it. This silver bullet transferred a painful, and sometimes mortal spell, on that part of the witch cor- responding with the part of the portrait struck by the bullet. Another method was to cork up in a vial, or bottle, the patient's urine, and hang it up in the chimney. This gave the witch strangury, which lasted as long as the vial hung in the chimney. The witch had but one way of relieving herself

of any spell inflicted on her in any way, which was that of borrowing something, no matter what, of the family to which the sub- ject of the exercise of her witchcraft be- longed. And thus often was the old woman of a neighborhood surprised at the refusal of a family to loan her some article she had ap- plied for, and go home almost broken-heart- ed, when she learned the cause of the refusal. When cattle or dogs were supposed to be un- der the influence of witchcraft, they were burned in the forehead by a branding-iron, or when dead, burned wholly to ashes. This inflicted a spell upon the witch, which could only be removed by borrowing, as above de- scribed. Witches were often said to milk the cows. This they did by fixing a new pin in a new towel for each cow intended to be milked. This towel was hung over her own door, and by means of certain incantations, the milk was extracted from the fringes of the towel, after the manner of milking a cow. This only happened when the cows were too poor to give much milk. Once upon a time, the German glass-blowers drove the witches out of their furnaces, by throwing living puppies into them.

Voudouism was one of the miserable su- perstitions of witchcraft that was largely be- lieved in early times. The distinction between this and the original belief in witches is in the fact that it applies wholly to the negro conjuring. An African slave by the name of Moreau, was, about the year 1790, hung on a tree, a little south of Caho- kia. He was charged with this imaginary crime. He had acknowledged, it is said, that by his power of devilish incantation, "he had poisoned his master ; but that his mistress proved too powerful for his necro- mancy," and this, it seems, was fully be- lieved, and he was executed. In the same village, ignorantly inspired by a belief in the

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existence of this dread power of diabolism, another negro's life was offered up to the Moloch of superstition, by being shot down in the public streets. One of the first acts of the first civil Governor of Illinois Territory, Lieut. Tod, was an order to take a convict negro to the water's edge, burn him and scat- ter his ashes to the four winds of heaven, for the crime of voudouism. It was a very com- mon feeling among the French to dread to incur in any way the displeasure of certain old colored people, under the vague belief and fear that they possessed a clandestine power by which to invoke the aid of the evil one to work mischief or injury to person or property. Nor was the belief confined to the French, or this power ascribed wholly to negroes. The African belief in fetishes, and the power of their divination, is well known. Many superstitious negroes have claimed the descent to them of fetish power; the in- fatuation regarding voudouism is still to be found among the ignorant blacks and whites. In 1720, Mr. Renault, agent of the " Com- pany of the West," bought in San Domingo 500 slaves, which he brought direct from Africa to Illinois. Mankind have been prone to superstitious beliefs ; there are many per- sons now who are daily governed in the mul- tiplied affairs of life by some sign, omen or angury.

The red children of the forest seem to have been as ignorant as the whites upon this subject. The one-eyed Prophet, a brother of Tecumseh, who, commanded at the battle of Tippecanoe, in obedience, as he said, to the commands of Manitou, the Great Spirit, ful- minated the penalty of death against those who practiced the black art of witchcraft or magic. A number of Indians were tried, convicted, condemned, tomahawked and con- sumed on a pyre. The chief's wife, his nephew, Billy Patterson, and one named

Joshua, were accused of witchcraft; the two latter were convicted and executed by burn- ing ; but a brother of the chief's wife boldly stepped forward, seized his sister and led her from the council house, and then returned and harangued the savages, exclaiming : "Manitou, the evil spirit has come in our midst and we are murdering one another.', It is a sad confession to make that no white man had the sense and courage to thus save his friends and family and rebuke the miser- able murders that were being perpetrated in the name of witchcraft.

For some time this was a country with " neither law nor Gospel," and for a long time the people knew nothing of churches, courts, lawyers, magistrates, Sheriffs or Con- stables. Every one was, therefore, at liberty " to do whatsoever was right in his own eyes." Public opinion answered the place of church and State. The turpitude of vice and the majesty of virtue were then far more apparent than now, and people held these crimes in greater aversion then than now. Industry in working and hunting, bravery in war, candor, hospitality, honesty and steadiness of deportment, received their full reward of pub- lic honor and public confidence among these our rude forefathers, to a degree that has not been sustained by their more polished de- scendants. The punishments they inflicted upon offenders were unerring, swift and in- exorable in their imperial court of public opinion and were wholly adapted for the ref- ormation of the culprit or his expulsion from the community. They had no law for the collection of debts, and yet every man was rigidly compelled to sacredly keep his promises. Any petty theft was punished with all the infamy that could be heaped on the offender. A man on a campaign stole from his comrade a cake out of the ashes, in which it was baking. He was immediately

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History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 35

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 948

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 948