History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 62

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 62
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 62
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 62

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).

Thebes was laid out as a town in 1844, and occupies a fine site on the banks of the Mississippi. The first court held here was in 1845, under the shade of a big elm tree. The court house was commenced the follow- ing year, and was built under the supervis- ion of H. A. Barhauser, architect. Court was held here until the county seat was moved to Cairo. The court house was then used as a public hall until 1879, when it was sold to Baptists, and has since been used as a temple of worship. Thus it passed from one extreme to the other -- from the law to religion.

The first store in Thebes was opened by J. H. Oberley, who had for a partner after- ward John Hodges, the father of the present Sheriff of the county. In 1854, Thomas J. McClure came to the village and engaged in business. A store was opened in 1859 by Mr. Marchildon. A son of his, C. A. March- ildon, has a store here at present. B. F. Brown started a store in 1869, which is still in operation. J. G. Rolwing has carried on a store here since 1863. He came here as a clerk of McClure & Overby, and afterward bought them out. He has a fine new build- ing. Thomas A. Brown has a drug store in the place.

A steam flouring mill was erected about the year 1875, by Martin and William Brown. It has a capacity of about forty bar- rels per day. Martin Brown and his son, Alfred, have a large steam saw mill, some. four miles from Thebes, on the Jonesboro road, which was built in 1880. A saw mill

run by water power is located about a mile from the village, and is operated by William Slosson. The usual number of shops com- plete the business of the place. The Method- ist Church has an uncompleted church building, which was commenced in 1881. They also carry on a flourishing Sunday school.

The first addition to the population of Thebes was a baby of Mr. and Mrs. Bar- hauser- Adaline Barhauser, now the wife of Henry A. Planer. "There shall be marrying and giving in marriage," and the first mar- riage celebrated in the village was Judge Lightner and Mrs. Susan E. Wilkerson. He was the first County Judge after the court house was removed to Thebes. In 1845, Thebes contained but few inhabitants: Judge Lightner; Henry Weiman, Jr., who was a workman on the court house; Alexan- der Anderson, who was the first Sheriff after the county was divided; James Brown, Thompson Brown, Mr. Clutts and perhaps a few others. Judge Lightner described Cairo, when he came by it on his way to Cape Girardeau, as a place of one log house filled with 500 negroes.

Thus Thebes was once a town of consider- able pretensions, and a business place of great expectations. For some fifteen years or more it was the seat of justice, and' its friends entertained the most extravagant predictions of its one day becoming a great city. Had it remained the county seat, there is no telling to what "extent its glory might have expanded, but the removal of the court house was the "frost which nipped the shoot," and with it

" Its hopes departed forever."

Goldsmith's Deserted Village tells the tale of its fading glory, and time has written the name of Ichabod upon its decaying build-

497

HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY.

ings. It is no longer a flourishing young city, but a rather dead old town a third of a century old. It was named, perhaps, in honor of Thebes, the ancient capital of Upper Egypt, but differs from its ancient namesake in that the latter stood upon both sides of the river Nile, while our Thebes sometimes has a river on both sides of it. Ancient Thebes began to decline 800 years B. C .; our Thebes when the county's capital was removed to Cairo. The ruins of ancient Thebes are among the most magnificent in the world; these of our Thebes are only equaled by a half-score of other towns in Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties. Troja fuit !

The Poor Farm of Alexander County is located in this precinct, about a quarter of a mile from the village. Moses A. Brown is the Superintendent and Keeper. A small farm is attached, which contributes to the support of the institution.

On the farm of William Bracken, Esq., in this precinct, is a partly-developed mine of iron ore. It is found in the center of bowl- ders, or pudding stones, bedded between clay and feldspar. Some ten years ago, a company came down from Chicago, sunk a shaft to a considerable depth, and found a good deal of ore. But the panic came on, and the men interested suffered in conse- quence, and the works were abandoned. It is the belief of those who have at all investi- gated the matter, that the mine is rich in ore, and only needs capital to develop it, and bring out its hidden treasures.

Unity Precinct. - This division of the county lies east of Thebes Precinct, and, like the latter, it once carried Cæsar and his fortunes-that is, it contained the capital of the county. Unity, as originally formed, has been cut up and divided until it bears little resemblance, geographically, to its former

self. In 1870 it was divided, and Sandusky Precinct was created. It was divided again in 1878, and Beech Ridge was formed. The Beech Ridge part of the precinct is mainly settled by colored people. There is a station on the railroad, called Beech Ridge, but has only one store, a grocery or saloon, and a post office.

Unity Precinct proper, the central part of the 'original Unity, contains the flourishing little village of Hodges' Park, which is also on the narrow gauge railroad. It was laid out by Alexander Hodges, who, together with his brother, John Hodges, owned most of the land. The town now contains some half-a- dozen stores, saloons, a blacksmith shop and a saw mill. The latter is owned by A. C. Ather- ton. In the extreme corner of the precinct is a store owned by William Wilburn, and a post office near by called Olive Branch.

Unity was laid out in 1833, and estab- lished as the county seat of Alexander County when Pulaski was a part of it. A court house and jail were built of logs, and most of the houses in town were also of logs. In 1842, the court house was burned, and with it many of the books and records of the county. The town was located on the Cache River, and a ferry was established here across the river by Green P. Garner. A bridge was built over Cache, where the Jonesboro road crossed, and $600 was appropriated by the Legislature to improve the road through the Cache bottom. These improvements brought quite a number of inhabitants to the place, and the population gradually increased, and the town flourished accordingly. The county seat was moved to Thebes in 1845, and Unity was soon almost deserted.

On the farm of Mr. John Hodges, in Unity Precinct, there are two fine mineral springs, about a mile north of Hodges' Park. The water is strongly impregnated with iron

498

HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY.

and other health-giving substances, and a chemical analysis reveals the fact that it contains fine medical properties. A little capital spent in improvements here would make these springs a fashionable resort.

A large proportion of the population of Hodges' Park are negroes. They have one school building and two church organiza- tions-Methodist and Baptist. The latter holds its meetings in the schoolhouse, while the Methodist Church has a building of its own. The whites also have a schoolhouse, which is used both for school and church purposes. Elder Richardson is the preacher, and is said to have preached throughout the southern portion of Alexander and Pulaski Counties for the past forty years.

Sandusky Precinct comprises the southern portion of what was originally Unity Pre- cinct. Along the narrow gauge railroad the lumber interests predominate. There are three saw mills; one owned by George Freeze, of Elco Precinct, one is operated by St. Louis parties, and the third by a gentle- man of Pulaski County. There is a large settlement of colored people in the precinct -the male portion are employed in the mills and in logging. Most of the land is still covered with fine timber. The portion of the land farmed is subject, more or less, to over- flow. At the village of Sandusky there is, at present, one store and one saloon. In the western part of the precinct there are some good farms among the line of hills that ex- tend from Elco Precinct into Thebes.

When the precinct was first formed, the voting place was changed nearly every year until the railroad was built, and the lumber business centered about the village of San- dusky, when it became the voting place-per- manently, perhaps. Churches are needed in and around Sandusky, the colored people having the only church organization, and it

meets in a schoolhouse. In the western part of the precinct there is one church building, which is a kind of a union institution, and used by all denominations. In Township 15, Range 2 west, which includes Sandusky and Hodges' Park, there are four school- houses-three good frame buildings, well finished and furnished with modern appli- ances, while the fourth is only a temporary structure, the schoolhouse proper having re- cently been destroyed by fire.

The eastern part of the ;precinct lhas all been settled in the past ten years, but in the western parts settlements were made much earlier. Among the settlers of the latter were Henry Nelson, who came to the neighborhood in 1830 and lived here until his death in 1850; William Powles, moved in from Mill Creek; Jeremiah Dunning, William Henlen, John H. Parker and others settled early in this section. Heulen kept a store and post office for a number of years. Dennis Hargis and his son came here in 1849, and carried on a large farm for many years. William Clapp was also among the pioneers of this part of the county.

Santa Fe Precinct .- This precinct is but a small division of the county. It lies on the river, south of Thebes, and west of San- dusky Precinct, with Goose Island south of it. It is mostly high land and above high water mark, and contains some good farms. A small part of the precinct, however, is what is termed " second bottom," and suffers more or less from overflow. One of the early set- tlers of this part of the county was William Ireland. I. C. McPheeters was another early settler; also Ransom Thompson, mentioned elsewere, settled here in an early day.

The town of Santa Fé is one of the oldest in the county, and once was quite a flourish- ing place, but of late years it has retrograded very much. Now it has but one store, owned

499

HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY.

by Alexander H. Ireland. A late improve- ment, which may revive the decaying pros- pects of the town, is the recent establishment of a steam ferry between here and Com- merce, Mo., and which brings in many of the 'farmers to these points who were in the habit, formerly, of going to Cape Girardeau and Cairo.

There is one church in the precinct, called the Sexton Creek Baptist Church. There are also two schoolhouses, which are used both for school and church purposes.

Goose Island .- This precinct is mostly low bottom lands, which suffer greatly from in- undation, and hence are of little value for farming purposes. Some excellent farms are found here, however, but they are few in number. The precinct occupies a large area, and, could it be protected from overflow, would soon become a fine farming region. Santa Fé and Sandusky Precincts lie north of Goose Island, Cache River forms the east and the Mississippi the west, boundaries, and Dog Tooth and the Mississippi River the sonth boundary.

Among the early settlers of this precinct were the Russells and Holmeses-John Holmes and his brother, Squire Holmes. The danger from high water has always kept this portion of the county from settling like other portions, which are free from this drawback.

Dog Tooth and North Cairo partake much of the same nature of Goose Island, and much of their area is overflowed in time of high water. Dog Tooth Bend, as it is called, is a place of historic interest. It is claimed as the scene of the first settlement made in Alexander County by Ohio people. "Four

families," says Mr. Olmstead, " settled there in 1809, and were named Harris, Wade, Crane and Powers." This was an important place in those early days; but so much is said concerning it in preceding chapters that it is unnecessary to repeat it here. Milli- gan, from whom Milligan's Bend took its name, was also an early settler in this sec- tion of the county. Commercial Point is a place of some business importance.

North Cairo is but little settled, the nature of the bottoms rendering them wholly unfit for farming purposes. Wilson Able, who is extensively mentioned in a preceding chapter, lived on the river, about twelve miles above Cairo, and carried on a large store and wood yard, from which he furnished wood to steamboats. He did a large business, and was a man of considerable prominence.

This concludes the portion of our work devoted exclusively to the history of Alexan- der County. The sketches of the precincts are necessarily brief, owing to the fact, as we have already stated, that every subject of especial interest has been exhaustively treated in the preceding chapters. The years, comprising the greater portion of a century, since the first white people came here, have produced wonderful changes and improvements in the face of the country; and judging of the future by the past, we indulge in no great latitude of expression when we predict that a few mere generations will find the rivers confined by levees, the bottoms drained and converted into the finest farm- ing region in Southern Illinois. Money, energy, labor and enterprise will accomplish it-nothing else is required.

PART IV.

HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY.

PART IV.

HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY

BY H. C. BRADSBY.

CHAPTER I.

GEOLOGY, METEOROLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, TIMBER, WATER, SOIL, ETC .- GREAT FERTILITY OF THE LAND -ITS AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL ADVANTAGES -WHAT FARMERS ARE LEARNING-ADDRESS OF PARKER EARLE, ETC.

TN this day and age, any reasonably well educated man can readily tell by a slight examination of the geology of a country, no matter how new and wild it may be, what kind of a people it will some day contain, and almost exactly what degree of enlightenment and civilization it will eventually possess. When he knows its geological formation, he can forecast the future of its people with nearly as much accuracy as can the patient and labori- ous historian who plods along in the tracks of the generations that have passed away. A warm climate and bread growing upon the trees, or abundant and nutritious food spring- ing spontaneously from the earth has always in the world's history held back civilization and produced a listless, prolific and inferior people. A continuously mild climate through- out the year and an abundance of food readily produced by nature has much the effect upon a people as the barren arctic regions, where the scarcity of food and the severity of cli- mate stunts and dwarfs the people and holds them securely locked in primeval ignorance

and barbarism. The tropics and the arctics -the one oppressed with the profusion of nature's bounties that appall mankind and produce enervation, is the antipodes and yoke-fellow of the bleak north and its long winter nights and storms and desolation. The richest country in the world in soil, perhaps, is Brazil, both in vegetable and animal life. So profusely are nature's bounties here spread, so immense the forests, so dense the undergrowth, all decked with the most exquisite flowers of rarest perfume, they so teem with animal life, from the swarming parasite up to the striped tiger, the yellow lion and snakes spotted with deadly beauty, and the woods vocal with the songs of countless species of birds, with the bird of paradise perched like a crowning jewel upon the very tops of the majestic trees, and yet this wonderful country, capable of supporting, if only it could be subjugated to the domination of man, ten times all people that now inhabit the globe, is an un- explored waste, defying the puny arm of man

504

HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY.

to subjugate or ever penetrate to the heart of its forbidden secrets. For hundreds of years civilized man has sailed in his ships along its shores, and in rapture beheld its natural wealth and profuse beauties, and colonies, and nations and peoples have determined to reap its treasures and unlock its inexhausti- ble stores. How futile are these efforts of man, how feeble the few scattering habita- tions has he been enabled to hold upon the very outer confines of all this great country! Brazil will, in all probabiltiy, remain as it is forever, and it is well that it is so. For could you by some powerful wand conquer all that country and place there 50,000,000 of the same kind of people that now consti- tute this nation, with all our present advan- tages of civilization, it is highly probable that in less than 200 years they would lapse into the meanest type of ignorant barbar- ians, and degenerate to that extent that in time they would become extinct. Thus an over-abundance of nature's bounties, both in food, dress and climate, brings its calamities upon man more swiftly than do the rigid severities of the arctics of northern Green- land or Siberia.

It is evident, therefore, that the two sub- jects of supreme importance in all countries are those of soil and climate. Any ordinar- ily bright child between the years of twelve and twenty could be taught these invaluable lessons of practical wisdom in a few weeks rambling over the country and examining the banks of streams and the exposures of the earth's surface along the highways. How much more valuable a few weeks of such an education would be than is much of the years now worse than wasted in the getting an education from the wretched text books and the ding-dong repetitions of the school- room! How easy to show them what the soil is, its varieties, and why and from whence

they come, namely, the rocks; and how eagerly the young mind seizes upon such real education! How easy it is to show them (and such education they will never forget) that where the soil and subjacent rocks are profuse in the bestowal of wealth, and the air is deprived of that invigorating tonic that comes of the winters of the temperate climate, that there man is indolent and effem- inate. Where effort is required to live, he becomes enlightened and virtuous; and where on the sands of the desert, or the jun- gles of Africa, or Brazil or Greenland's icy mountains, where he is unable to procure the necessities or comforts of life, he lives a sav. age. The civilization, then, of states or na- tions is but the reflection of physical condi- tions, and hence the importance of an under- standing of these subjects by all people, but more especially the rising generation. Hence, too, the importance of understanding the geological history of the county.

Our concern in regard to this subject and our desire to impress its value upon the ris- ing generation at least, must be our excuse for these extensive references to it in differ- ent chapters of this work. A painful reali- zation of the defects in the education of our young farmers and of their great losses, disappointments and even disasters in the pursuit of their occupation of tilling the earth, that come of this neglect in their early education and training prompts this seeming persistence that so many readers will at first flush consider a dry or uninterest. ing subject. The most important subject to all mankind at this time is how to get for the young people the best education; how to fit our youths for the life struggle that is before them. For 2,000 years, the schools have believed that Latin and Greek were the highest type of information and knowledge, and next to these dead languages, were met-

505

HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY.

aphysical mathematics and the theories of so-called philosophy. It is time these long- drawn-out mistakes were rectified, and the truths that are revealed in the investigation -the experimental facts of the natural laws that govern us-be made known and taught to those who soon will bear along the world's highway its splendid civilization. Here and there are to be found an intelligent machin- ist, or a farmer, who understand the simple scientific principles that govern their work

or occupation. Their knowledge is power. In every turn of life they stand upon the vantage-ground, and their lives are success- ful in the broad sense of the term. They understand the soil they till, or the imple- ment or industry they are called upon to make or use. They know where ignorance guesses, doubts and fears, and by not know - ing so often fails and falls by the wayside. It is told that at one time Agassiz was ap- pealed to by some horse-breeders of New Eng- land in reference to developing a certain strain of horses. He told them it was not a question of equestrianism, but one of rocks. To the most of men this reply would have been almost meaningless, yet it was full of wisdom. It signified that certain rock for- mations that underlay the soil would insure a certain growth of grasses and water, and the secret of the perfect horse lay here.

In order that the youths who read this may gather here the first lessons in the knowledge of the rocks that are spread over the earth, we give, in their order, the differ- ent ones and in the simplest form we can present them as gathered from the geologists. These explanations will, too, the better enable the reader to comprehend what is said in other chapters upon this subject. We only deem it necessary to explain that all rocks are either igneous (melted by fire) or strati- fied (sediment deposited in water). Their

order, commencing with the lowest stratified rocks, and ascending, are as follows:

The Laurentian system is the lowest and oldest of the stratified rocks. From the great heat to which the lower portion of them were exposed, has resulted the beauti- ful crystals that are often found in the rock. The Laurentian system was formerly sup- posed to be destitute of organic remains, but recent investigations have led to the discov- ery of animals so low in the scale of organ- ization as to be regarded as the first appear- ance upon the earth of sentient existence. This important discovery extends the origin of life backward through 30,000 feet of strata. This is an American discovery in geology, and for the first time renders the descending scale of life complete, and verifies the conjectures of physicists that in its ear- liest dawn it should and did commence with the most simple organisms.

The Huronian is the next system above the Laurentian. Here, too, are found the beau- tiful natural crystals. Then the Silurian, or the age of fire and water, earthquakes and volcanoes came to the world. During this age, nearly all North America was subma- rine except, perhaps, the elevation of the Alleghanies, which were subject to frequent elevations and depressions. During this age was added to the first dry land on our conti- nent, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Wiscon- sin and Minnesota. The St. Peter's sand- stone, a rock found in Union, Alexander and Pulaski Counties, was formed. It is often almost a pure silica and nearly free from coloring matter, and is the very best mate- rial for the manufacture of glass.

The Devonian system next follows, and is distinguished for the introduction of verte- brates and the beginning of terrestrial vegeta- tion. The vertebrates consisted of fishes, the forerunners of the reptiles so numerous and

506

HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY.

some of them of such gigantic size that it has sometimes been styled the age of fishes.

The Carboniferous age opens next with the deposition of widely extended marine formations. In this age, the whole earth was warm; the temperature near the poles was 66°. The prominent feature of this age was the formation of coal. The process of form- ing coal is exactly the same as practiced in the formation of charcoal by burning wood under a covering of earth. In addition to this age forming coal, it also formed the Burlington, Keokuk and St. Louis limestones, which, to this part of the country, are most important formations.

Then came the Reptillian age, the Mam- malian age, and finally the age of man. These are the order of the earth's for- mation, in the fewest and simplest words, to the time of the coming of man. Though the absolute time of his coming cannot be deter- mined, he was doubtless an inhabitant of the earth many hundreds of thousands of years before he was sufficiently intelligent to pre- serve the records of his own history.

The present age still retains, in a dimin- ished degree of activity, the geological action briefly sketched above. The oscillations of the earth's crust are still going on, perhaps as rapidly as they ever have. As an evidence of this it is a well-known fact that the coast of Greenland, on the western side for a dis- tance of 600 miles, has been slowly sinking during the past 400 years. Thus constantly have the bottoms of the oceans been lifted above the waters and the moutains sunk and became the beds of the sea. In the science of geology this " solid, too, too solid earth" and its fixed and eternal mountains are as unstable as the [fleeting waves of the waters. They come and go like a breath, or

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 62

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