History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 36

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 36
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 36
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 36

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).

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

283

named " the bread rounds." This epithet of reproach was bandied about in this way; when he came in sight of a group of men, one of them would call, "Who comes there ?" another would answer, "The bread rounds." Another would say, "Who stole a cake out of the ashes ?" when another would reply giving the name of the man in full. And this he would hear during the campaign and after his return home. If a theft was de- tected, the thief was tried by his neighbors, and if guilty severely whipped and ordered out of the country.

With all their rudeness, these people were given to hospitality, and freely divided their rough fare with a neighbor or stranger and would have been offended at the offer of pay. In their settlements and forts, they lived, they worked, they fought and feasted, or suffered together in cordial har- mony. They were warm and constant in their friendships. On the other hand, they were revengeful in their resentments. And the point of honor sometimes led to personal combats. If one man called another a liar, he was considered as having given a challenge which the person who re- ceived it must accept, or be deemed a coward, and the charge was generally answered with a blow. If the injured person was quite un- able to fight the aggressor, he might get a friend to do it for him. The same thing took place on a charge of cowardice or any other dishonorable action, a battle must follow, and the person who made the charge must fight either the person against whom he made the charge, or any champion who chose to espouse his cause. This accounts for the great difference in then and now in speaking evil of your neighbors.

In a preceding chapter we have given an account of those who came into the territory now comprising Union, Alexander and Pu-

laski Counties prior to the year 1810, and where the first settlements were made. The tide of immigration was then checked by the growing hostility of the Indians toward the whites, and the prospect of a general war which did commence in 1812. Indian mas- sacres and outbreaks commenced in 1811. and early in 1812 a most shocking butchery of all the settlers on Lower Cache occurred. A full account of this will be found in the chapter on Mound City and Precinct.

Mr. George James came to this part of Illinois in 1811, and settled west of Jones- boro, but he had hardly fixed his location when he was warned by the Indians, and he returned to his old home in Kentucky, and after the war was over and a peace had been conquered from the Indians, he returned to what is now Union County.

Ex-Lieut. Gov. John Dougherty came to this part of Illinois, in company with his parents, in the year 1811. Like most of the immigrants who came to Illinois that year, they were flying to the hills from the great earthquakes. John Dougherty was of poor parents, and when a lad was apprenticed to a hatter to learn the trade, at which he worked for some years. He married the daughter of George James, and lived out a long life among the people of Southern Illinois, practicing law, and fulfilling the many arduous duties of a politician and office-holder. He was State Senator, Circuit Judge and Lieutenant Governor, besides fill- ing several minor positions of trust. His politics was intensely Democratic until after the breaking-out of the war. In 1860, he was a candidate for a State office on what Judge Douglas called the Danite party's ticket. This party was known in Illinois as the "Breckenridge party," and they bitterly opposed Douglas, because his Democracy was "too weak on the slavery question." Out of

284

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

nearly half a million votes, Dougherty got something over 4,000. The election over, he issued through a Cairo paper an address to the world, reading Douglas and his quarter million of deluded followers out of the Democratic party, and solemnly warned the approaching Charleston Convention not to admit the Democratic .(Douglas) Delegates from Illinois. Mr. Dougherty attended the Charleston Convention, and, it is said, made, from the steps of the hotel. after that conven . tion had dissolved, a most able and fiery address to the Southern people on the subject of the state of the country. He ran upon the Republican ticket for Lieutenant Governor, and was elected and served out his term with great fidelity to his party.

When the war of 1812-15 was over, the stream of Illinois immigration again set in, and except occasional trouble from Indians, continued uninterrupted, and we note the following as the arrivals in what is now Union County, in the order of their coming:

1812 -- Thomas D. Patterson, Phillipp Shaver, Adam Clapp, Edmund Vancil.

Phillipp Shaver was one of the parties that was in the Cache massacre of 1812, and the only one who escaped alive. He was badly wounded by a blow from an Indian's toma- hawk, and pursued by two savages, and swam the icy bayou, and on foot made his way to the neighborhood south of where Jonesboro now stands.

Thomas Standard, John Gwin, John N. Stokes, settled in Section 12, Range 1 east, in the year 1811. Robert Hargrave came the same year.

1814-The arrivals included the following heads of the households and their families: George Lawrence, John Harriston, John Whitaker, A. Cokenower, Giles Parmelia, Samuel Butcher, Robert W. Crafton, Jacob Wolf, Michael Linbaugh, Alexander Boren,

Hosea Boren, Richard McBride, Thomas Green, Emanuel Penrod, George Hunsaker, George Smiley, Daniel Kimmel, Robert Har- grave, John Whitaker, David Cother, David Brown, Alexander Brown, Alexander Boggs, Daniel F. Coleman, Benjamin Menees and Jacob Littleton.

October 22, 1814, Thomas D. Patterson entered the northeast quarter, of Section 33, Township 11 south, range 1 east, the first entry ever made in the county. C. A. Smith settled near Cobden in 1815.

Jesse Echols, who was appointed by the Legislature to fix the seat of justice in Union County, came to Illinois in 1809, and settled at Caledonia, and afterward moved into what is now Union County.

Two brothers, Joseph and Ben Lawrence, came here on a trapping and hunting expe- dition in 1807. They were so pleased with the country that they selected a home on Mill Creek, and one of them returned to his old home and brought Adam Clapp and family.

Jacob Lingle, it is supposed, came in 1807. His son lives west of Cobden. In company with two other families, the Lingles came down the Ohio River in batteaus, and landed near where Caledonia now stands, and slowly continued their way to their future home in Union County. Among the first settlers in the eastern and southern part of county was George Evans and family Then came John Brad- shaw, and Bradshaw's Creek bears his name. In 1808, John McGinnis and family settled near Mt. Pleasant.

James McLain was born January 8, 1783, in Rowan County, N. C., and died May 15. 1870, aged eighty-seven years and four months. He came to Illinois and settled near Shawneetown in 1808, and in 1810 came to what is Union County, and lived here sixty years. He was for years a Justice of the Peace, and Associate Judge of the County

285

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

Court, and had long acted as a Constable. In his last years, he was a pleasant picture of a bright and cheery old man, who was a friend to everybody, and nothing more pleased him than to get a good listener, when he would tell over by the hour the story of pioneer life in Illinois, when in the long ago he had to make trips over all this vast territory that was then under one jurisdiction. He carried his hotel with him in his saddle-bags, as often it was fifty miles or more between houses. He would stop when darkness over- took him and stake his horse, and his saddle for a pillow, bivouac beneath the twinkling stars,

his lullaby the howl of the wolves. Like all travelers in those days, even on horseback, he had to carry with him a hand ax, to cut his way through the dense, tangled under- growth that often obstructed his way. He stood upon the banks of the Ohio, and saw the soldiers on their way to New Orleans to whip Packenham. McLain was a useful cit- izen, and much respected by all who knew him. In his death, there passed away one of the landmarks that divide the past from the present. He will long be remembered for his many sterling qualities and his social disposition.

CHAPTER VI.

ORGANIZATION OF UNION COUNTY-ACT OF LEGISLATURE FORMING IT-THE COUNTY SEAL- COMMISSIONERS' COURT-ABNER FIELD-A LIST OF FAMILIES-CENSUS FROM 1820 TO 1880-DR. BROOKS-THE FLOOD OF 1844 -- WILLARD FAMILY-COL. HENRY

L. WEBB-RAILROADS-SCHOOLS-MORALIZING-ETC., ETC.

T 'HE act creating Union County bears date of January 2, 1818. £ It is entitled " An act adding a part of Pope County to Johnson County, and forming a new county out of Johnson County."

Section 1 detines the boundaries of the new county of Johnson.

"SECTION 2. And be further enacted, that all that tract of country lying within the fol- lowing boundary, to wit: Beginning on the range line between Ranges 1 and 2 east, at the corner of Townships 10 and 11 south, thence north along said range line eighteen miles to the corner of Towns 13 and 14 south, thence west along the boundary line between Townships 13 and 14 south, to the Mississippi River, thence up the Missis- sippi River to the mouth of the Big Muddy

River, thence up the Big Muddy River to where the township line, between Towns 10 and 11 south, crosses the same, thence east along said township line to the place of be- ginning, shall constitute Union County ; Provided, that all that tract of country lying south of Township 13 south to the Ohio River, and west of the range line between Ranges 1 and 2 east, shall, until the same be formed into a separate county, be attached to and be a part of Union County."

Section 3 provides that the courts for the county shall be held at the house of Jacob Hunsaker, Jr., until a permanent seat of Justice shall be established and a court house erected.

Section 4 provides for the appointment of Commissioners to fix the seat of justice,

286

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

and, without explaining why, provides for two sets of these officials. It starts out by declaring that William Fatridge, James Bane and Isaac D. Wilcox be appointed Commissioners to fix the permanent seat of justice. It then proceeds to say that George Wolf, Jessee Echols and Thomas Cox are appointed Commissioners to fix the perma- nent seat of justice, etc.

The first-named Commissioners are not recognized as of the old settlers of Union County, while the other Commissioners are. And in addition to this, Wolf, Echols and Cox did proceed at once to fulfill the position as their report following shows :

To the Honorable the Justices of the County Court of Union :

The undersigned Commissiones, appointed by the Legislature of Illinois Territory, for the purpose of designating a seat of justice for said county, report as follows : That they met at the time and place men- tioned in the law establishing said county, and pro- ceeded to examine and to take into view the most cen- tal, convenient and eligible spot for the same, that they have chosen and designated to (your ?) Honors, the northwest quarter of Section No. 30, in Township 12, Range 1 west, and that they have received a deed of conveyance for twenty acres, the donation required by law, to which you are referred for particulars.

They also beg leave to designate and recommend the center of said donation as the suitable place for the erection of the public buildings. Given under our hands and seals this 25th day of February, 1818.

(Signed) J. ECHOLS, GEORGE WOLF, THOMAS COX.

The first Commissioners were not residents of the county of Union, and as the bounda- ries of Johnson and Pope had been dis- turbed in order to fix the new county, it is probable they were to look after any change that might be necessary to make in these older counties.

It will be noticed that the first part of the act describes the boundaries of Union County exactly as they are now, and it calls this

original boundary line as including Union County, and then the proviso goes on to attach to this county and make a part thereof, "until a new county is formed, " all of what is now Alexander County, and a large por- tion of Pulaski County. Union County, there- fore, extended to the junction of the rivers at Cairo and the major part of Pulaski County until Alexander County was formed, which act passed the Legislature March 4, 1819, at which time Union County assumed exactly the boundary lines that she now has.

The land mentioned in the report of the Commissioners above given for a county seai belonged to John Grammer. On the 25th of February, 1818, be and his wife, Juliet, duly executed a deed donating "to the Justices of the County Court of Union County," the following described lands : "Being a part of the northeast quarter of Section 30, Town 12, Range 1 west; beginning near the north- west corner of said section at a stake and a dogwood tree; thence running south 6 poles 2 links; thence east 18 poles 24 links; thence south 21 poles 2 links; thence east 28 poles 23 links; thence north 60 poles; thence west to the beginning." This is the tract of land that the Commissioners, fixing the county town, say they, "beg leave to designate, and recommend the center of said donation as the suitable place for the erection of the public buildings."

The county seal when explained, tells how the county came to be named Union. The figures upon the seal represents two men standing up and shaking hands. One of them is dressed in the old-fashioned shad- bellied coat and vest, broad brimmed hat, and long hair. The other is in the conven . tional ministerial suit. It represents a meet- ing of a Baptist preacher named Jones, and George Wolf, a Dunkard preacher, mentioned in another place, as one of two men, first in

287

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

this county. Jones had been holding a re- markable series of meetings, and Wolf and he met, shook hands, and agreed to hold or con- tinue the meeting, the two joining in the work, and calling it a Union Meeting. This was held in what is now the southeast portion of the county. The seal illustrating this his- toric incident in the county was designed and adopted by the County Commissioners in 1850, and it was, it is said, the suggestion of Gov. Dougherty. The meeting of these pio- neer preachers that thus became historical, probably occurred about 1816 or 1817.

A County Commissioners' Court for the new county was elected, and consisted of Jesse Echols, John Grammer, George Hunsaker, Abner Keith and Rice Sams. They met, organized and held the first court at Hunsak- er's house, as the law directed, March 2, 1818. The court's first official act was to accept John Grammer's donation, and name the town Jonesboro.

Abner Field was Clerk of this court, and Joseph Palmer was the first Sheriff of the county. The Clerk certifies that on the 2d day of February, 1818, George Hunsaker, William Pyle, John C. Smith, Rice Sams, Abner Keith, Jesse Echols and John Brad- shaw were each commissioned by the Gover- nor as Justice of the Peace for Union County, and the oath was taken and they entered upon their official duties. Robert Twidy was the first Constable.

The court declared the road leading from Elvira to Jackson and from Penrod's to El- vira, public roads, and David Arnold, Will- iam Pyle, George Hunsaker, Ephraim Voce and Henry Larmer appointed Road Overseers and Viewers. Robert H. Loyd was licensed to open a tavern. The first county order ever issued was one for $2 to Samuel Penrod for a wolf scalp. The Constables for the county were John Wenea, William Shelton,

Samuel Butcher, Samuel Hunsaker and Wil- lie Sams. This court realized that the main stay of life was "suthin " to eat and drink, and with a wise forethought that is to be for- ever commended, they ordered that the price of whisky should be 122 cents per half pint; rum, 50 cents ; brandy 50 cents; dinner, sup- per and breakfast, 25 cents each; bed, 12} cents; horse to stand at hay and corn all night, 373 cents.

Thus, the young county was full blown, and was well started on her future great career. Courts and officers were in their po- sitions, and the roads arranged for, and the price of meat and drink regulated to a nicety. Who was here to enjoy all its blessings, fell the great forest trees and open farms, kill the wolves and wild animals and tame and civilize and make habitable for their descend- ants this great wilderness ?

A record of "marks and brands," opened at once after the county was organized, shows the following were here and were interested in domestic animals. Jacob Wolf, George Wolf, Edmund Vancil, William Dodd, Samuel Hunsaker, Michael Linbough, David Brown, William Thornton, Wilkinson Good- win, Edmond Hallimon, Joseph Hunsaker, William Pyle. William Grammer, Rice Sams, Abram Hunsaker, Thomas Sams, Benjamin Menees, John McIntosh, George Hunsaker, James Brown, Jeremiah Brown, John Weigle, Christopher Hansin, Isaac Vancil, R. W. Crofton, John Cruse, James Jackson, George Smiley. Joseph Palmer, George James, Rob- ert Hargrave, John Hargrave, John Hunsaker, John Whitaker, Jolinson Somers, Charles Dongherty, Joel Boggess, Jonas Vancil, Emanuel Penrod, John Stokes, Samuel Pen- rod, Cliff Hazlewood and John Kimmell.

Those who had entered land that lies within the county up to and including the year 1818 were John Yost, Wilkinson Good

288

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

win, George Hunsaker, William Thornton- John Hunsaker, John Miller, George Law- rence, Henry Clutts, Christian Miller, James Mesam, John Harriston, John Kimmell, John Frick, Edmond Holeman, Adam Clapp, John Miller, George Devolt, Michael Dillon, John Grammer, Benjamin Memees, John Miller, Michael Halhouser, John Hartline, Anthony Lingle, John Whitaker, Phillipp Shaver, Phillipp Paulus, William Worthington, John Bradshaw, John Saunders, John R. McFar- land, John Tyler, Joseph Waller, Joseph Walker, A. Cokenower, Andrew Irwin, Giles Parmelia, Samuel Butcher, Samuel Penrod, Robert W. Crafton, Edward Vancil, John Gregory, Jacob Lingle, Israel Thompson, Adam Cauble, Jacob Rentleman, Jacob Wei- gle, George Wolf, Michean Linbough, Jon- athan Hasky, Joseph Barber, Lost Cope, John Cope, Barber, Isaac Biggs. Alexander Biggs, the Meisenheimers, John Eddleman, Thomas McIntosh, Cornelius Anderson, Du- vall Lence, John Lence, Benedict Mull, Pe- ter Casper, John Wooten, Anthony Lingle, David Crise, William Morrison, Robert Crof- ton, Jacob Hileman, David Miller, A. Cruse, Abraham Brown, John Knupp, Andrew Smith, David Meisenheimer, Joseph Smith, Thomas H. Harris, Richard McBride, S, Lewis, Thomas Green, Benjamin J. Harris, Jacob Trees, Joseph Palmer, Thomas Green, David Kimmel, Alexander P. Field, Anthony Morgan, James Ellis, Joseph McElhany Abner Field, Thomas Deen, Rice Sams, Dan- iel Spence, William Craigle, David Miller, George Cripe, Isaac Cornell, Nicholas Wil- son. Henry Bechtle, Thomas Bechtle, Thomas Lanes, John Uri, Stephen Donahue, Jacob Littleton and S. W. Smith.

From the best estimation we have been en- abled to make, there was here, in what is now Union County, a population of 1,800 souls. About one-third of the families were at that time freeholders.

The official census of 1820 shows a popu- lation of 2,362. In the year 1830, it had increased to 3,239; in 1840, to 5,524; in 1850, the population rose to 7,615; in 1860. to 11,181; in 1870, to 16,518, and in 1880, to 18,100. The smallest increase was from 1820 to 1830, which was a little over 1,000, and the largest increase of any decade, from 1860 to 1870, was 5,337. This is ac- counted for by the fact that it was the period of the coming of the railroad-a ray of light let in upon the eternal darkness. The com- pletion of the Illinois Central Railroad, in August. 1855, from Anna to Cairo, and finally to Dubuque, and then on the 1st day of January, 1856, the time of the first through train on schedule time, from Chicago to' Cairo, was an era in the county's history.

The tide of emigration here was never in a strong and swollen stream, as it was in the northern portion of Illinois, and yet it was constant and increasing, as the census re- turns above given show. The county's growth has been a slow, yet a steady and healthy one, and it has never suffered from what is often a serious condition of affairs in locali- ties where the rush of people has been very great, and a sudden turn in affairs would produce a widespread distress and suffering, and a turbulent and restless population.

The first marriage on the county records was John Murry and Elizabeth Latham, by John Grammer, on the 26th of February, 1818. On the 7th of April, 1818, John Wel- don, Esq., certifies that he married James Latham and Margaret Edwards, on the 2d.of March. Joseph Painter and Elizabeth Brown were married on the 26th of April, 1818, by George Hunsaker. Samuel Morgan and Re- becca Casey were married by Abner Keith, Esq., on the 28th of May, 1818. July 5, 1818, Francis Parker and Catharine Clapp were married by George Wolf, the Dunkard preacher, and, by the records, the first min-

280

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

ister who performed the ceremony in the county. August 6, same year, Allen Crawl and Catharine Vancil were married by the same minister. September 24, 1818, John Rupe and Lydia Brown were married by John Grammer. December, same year, Eli Littleton and Ede Hughes were married by Wolf. This includes the entire list of mar- riages of 1818, as the record shows.

The next year, 1819, there was quite a falling off in the activity of the marriage market, there being but two weddings the entire year. These were David Callahan and Elizabeth Roberts, February 25, and Isaac Finley and Polly Hargrave, March 17.

In looking further along in the records, we find the Dunkard preacher Wolf had per- formed four marriages in 1818, and he only made his returns to the County Clerk in 1820. His certificate reads as follows: "I did, on 7th of June, 1818, join in marriage, as man and wife, William McDonald and Mary Mc- Lane, and Henry Johnston and Nancy Ath- erton, all of the aforesaid county." Strictly speaking, the good old Dunkard married the double couple as men and wires, and not, as he states, as "man and wife." But we are told the marriage return was good and strong enough, and each couple picked themselves ont of the jumble, and were happy and con- tent.

The year 1820, however, showed a cheer- ful state of activity in the line of courting and marrying. We can account for this be- cause it was leap year, and the dear girls were resolved to "make hay while the sun shines." John Russell and Percy Huston opened the ball, by marrying on the 3d of February; Daniel Ritter and Elizabeth Iseno- gle, March 2; Peter Sifford and Leyah Mull, February 20; Jacob Hunsaker and Elizabeth Brown, March 9; A. H. Brown and Sarah Mathes, June 19; William Ridge and Esther

Penrod, July 30; Abraham Hunsaker and Polly Price, May 20; George Dougherty and Rachean Hunsaker, August 3; John Biggs and Sarah Cope, September 1; William Clapp and Phœbe Wetherton, September 8; George Lemen and Susan Lasley, October 2; John Price and Nancy Vancil. October 5; John Leslie and Catharine Wigel, and Peter Wolf and Margaret James, Messiah O'Brien and Charlott Hotchkiss, Daniel T. Coleman and Lucy Craft, Samuel Dillon and Margaret Lingle, December 26.

In the year 1835, the county had the cen- sus taken, and a careful count showed there were 4,147 persons in the county --- 2,100 males, and the remainder females. There were forty-seven negroes. Only one person over eighty years of age, five shoe-makers and saddlers, one tailor, two wagon-makers, two carpenters, and one cabinet-maker (supposed to be a man named Bond), two hatters (one of whom was James Hodge) eleven black- smiths, three tan-yards (one Jaccord's, south of Jonesboro, and the other, Randleman's, north of the town), twelve distilleries, two threshing machines, one cotton gin, one wool-carding machine (Jake Frick's), one horse and ox saw mill, eighteen horse and ox grist mills, two water saw mills, and five water grist mills. Of the shoe- makers, were John Blatzell, David Spence, John Thames and Wesley G. Nimmo. The tailor probably was William Kaley, and George Krite and David Masters were the wagon-makers, and John Rinehart was one of the carpenters.

The venerable Mrs. McIntosh came to the county in 1817, settling south of Jonesboro. Her husband, John McIntosh and one child, now Mrs. Malinda Provo, constituted the family. There were two others. Mrs. Mc- Intosh was a married woman with a child seven years old when she came to this wild

290

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

territory. She has lived here sixty-four years, and her physical strength is unusual, considering her great age. Her neighbors, she remembers at first, were John Grammer, Robert Hargrave, Samuel Hunsaker, Rice Sams, Thomas Sams, Daniel Kimmel, James Ellis, George Wolf, Jacob Wolf, Winsted Davie, Joseph McElhany, John Menees, Har- ris Randleman, Willis, Elijah and William Willard, George Weigle, Wiley Davidson, David Miller, J. S. Cabb, Jeremiah Brown and Mr. Verble.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 36

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