History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 3

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 758

USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 3
USA > Illinois > Bond County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 3

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).

trying to get on both sides of him, each time coming a little closer and closer, whirling about in various ways or falling down flat in the grass and weeds whenever he seemed likely to fire. Occasionally one gave him a thrust with his spear, when they would all laugh to see him dodge and writhe with the pain, but were afraid to advance near enough to take hold of him. He still reserved his fire knowing that his only chance for life was to kill one " dead" at the first and only shot he would get. He said that one of them was the " biggest Injun" he ever saw, and he thought if he could only kill him first his chance for life would be much better. At length feeling himself growing weaker, and receiving a severe wound in the mouth and jaw from the spear of the largest Indian, who also was the boldest, Higgins leveled his rifle at him as he pulled the spear from the wound and fired, killing him dead on the spot.

The other two, knowing that his gun was discharged, now advanced on him without fear. His success in killing the most formidable one inspired him with fresh courage, and not having time to reload his rifle, he seized it by the muzzle, and as they rushed upon him with loud and triumphant yells. struck the foremost one with all his power over the head, knocking out his brains and killing him immediately. The force of the blow broke the gun off at the breach and the barrel flew out of his hands to some distance in the thick grass.

He now fell exhausted, and being unable to rise to his feet, commenced crawling to- ward the gun-barrel, his only means of defense, in order to obtain it before the remaining In- dian, who had also started to search for it. The savage succeeded in getting it first, and with a tremendous yell, came slowly up in front of him, brandishing the weapon in his hands, as if to give him all the anguish possible, before striking the final blow. Having reached a small tree, he raised himself by means of it to a

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

standing position, leaning back against it for sup- port, feeling that his time had come when, to his great joy, he beheld two white men-William Pursley and David White-on horseback, com- ing to his rescue. They were coming up behind the Indian, who was too much elated with the idea of capturing his victim to observe them. As soon as Higgins saw them he exclaimed, " Pursley, for God's sake, don't let him kill me."

The Indian still believing no one near and that this was a cry of despair, laughed tauntingly in his face, and mimickingly repeated his cry in bad English. The words had scarcely passed his lips when the men were upon him with rifles leveled. Instantaneously he com- menced a series of the most vigorous and ludi-

crous gymnastic exercises, but they finally suc- . houses were small, consisting of one story, built ceeded in killing him.

A portion of this fight was witnessed by the women in the fort, and one of them-Mrs. White-when she saw Iliggins likely to be over- powered, seized a gun, mounted a horse, and started to his assistance. She had not pro- ceeded far, however, when, perceiving Pursley and her husband hastening to his relief, she re- turned to the fort. lliggins was taken to the station, where his wounds were dressed and cared for until his recovery. He died, a few years since, in Fayette County, having been a perfect specimen of a frontier man in his day. He was once assistant door-keeper of the House of Representatives of Illinois.

Such are the scenes through which some of the pioneers of Bond County passed during its first settlement. Our citizens should cherish the memory of those victims who fell at Hill's : doors, causing many squalls and bruises. A Station, Jones' Fort, and other places in the county. Their graves lie neglected, and some of them unknown. This ought not to be. They should all be found, if possible, neatly inclosed, and a monnment erected to their memory.

At the close of our last war with England, a treaty of peace was made with the Indians as

well as with the English, thus bringing peace to the pioneer. After the conclusion of this treaty, the forts in Bond County were aban- doned, though with some misgivings on the part of the whites, lest the Indians should fail to observe the terms of peace. In a short time, however, the people becoming more satisfied of the peaceful intentions of the savages, " scat- tered out " from the different stations, forming settlements several miles apart.

Emigrants came to the country but slowly, so that by the year 1816, Bond County num- bered not over twenty-five dwelling-houses, if their pole cabins could be called dwelling- houses. The people then managed to get along without nails, glass, sawed lumber or brick, for the reason they could not procure them. Their of logs or poles, in many cases unhewed, with the ends projecting from six inches to two feet at the corners, the crevices between them being daubed with mud or clay, and the whole struet- ure covered with clapboards, held on by heavy poles called " weight-poles." The same kind of boards, fastened to cross pieces by wooden pins driven into holes made with a gimlet, con- stituted the door shutters, generally constructed to open outwards. The floor, when they had any, was made of puncheons, pinned down or laid on loose. These, when carefully dressed and closely put together, constituted a very good floor, but some of them conveyed the idea that the settlers believed in ventilation, for they left cracks so wide that the children, in pursuit of their juvenile amusements, their little feet often slipped through those dangerous trap- wooden latch, raised by a string, served as a fastening for their doors. This string had one end tied to the latch and the other passed through a small hole above it, and when the door, fastened on the inside, was left hanging out, the person wishing to enter having ouly to pull it, in order to raise the latch ; hence, to

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

leave the "latch-string hanging out," they con- sidered synonymous with sociability and hospi- tality. They built wooden chimneys, plastering them inside with earth, making the jambs and hearths also of the same material-except when stone could be procured-beating the hearths with a maul to make them solid. The fire- places were from six to ten feet in width, and two rocks or billets of wood served instead of andirons. Though so wide, these fire-places were, nevertheless, quite convenient, furnishing a receptacle for most if not all the cooking uten- sils of the family, and when crowded the chil- dren, and in some families the dogs found ac- commodations on each side, in company with skillets, ovens and frying pans. But at one side or the other of these capacions hearths, one article always stood conspicuous, and that was the kettle of "blue dye," as the old ladies called it, in which they colored their "yarn " for weav- ing. This kettle being covered with an old barrel-head, or something of the kind, often did service as a seat for some member of the family, and even for visitors. Young fellows, when ou courting expeditions, sometimes found it a very convenient seat, with the "idol of their heart " in close proximity. Some of the best men of our country wooed and won their brides, seated on a kettle of " blue dye" by the blazing fire of the backwoodsman's rude cabin. An in- cident is related of a youthful swain seated on a kettle of " blue dye," engaged in close con- versation with a lass, whose love he hoped to win, when the covering gave way, precipitating him to the bottom of the vessel in a sitting

position. As he wore white pantaloons, the results may be imagined.

Articles of household furniture were few and rude. With the exception of those brought from the States, chairs could not for several years be procured, their place being supplied by wooden stools, which, though answering very well the purpose of seats, were easily upset, a circumstance often causing much mer- riment.

The tables and bedsteads were rude, the former being constructed of the same kind of material as the doors, and many of the latter by boring two holes in the wall with a large auger, six or seven feet apart ; into these, pieces of wood were driven having the oppo- site end of each inserted into an upright post, this constituting a kind of frame work, which, being covered with clap-boards, served as a receptacle for the beds. Sofas, rocking chairs, center-tables, bureaus and all such articles were not used except where some old lady or whimsical old maid had refused to part with these " household gods," and had them hauled out to this wild region, over mountains, hills and swamps, at much trouble and expense.

On the outside of the houses, it was no un- common thing to see a goodly number of rac- coon and deer skins stretched and hanging up against the wall to dry, and occasionally the skin of a wild cat. wolf or bear. The project- ing ends of the logs at each corner of the cabin served as places to hang the varions ntensils used on the farm, such as hoes, rakes, bridles and harness.

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

CHAPTER III .*

ORGANIZATION OF BOND COUNTY-THE TERRITORY FROM WHICH IT ORIGINATED-ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE-THE COUNTY AS NOW BOUNDED, WITH ITS DESCRIPTION AND TOPOGRA- PHY -COURTS ORGANIZED -THE FIRST GRAND JURY AND COURT OFFICERS - COUNTY SEAT AT PERRYVILLE-JAIL BUILDING-A CASE OF LYNCIING-

LAWYERS LOST ON THE PRAIRIE-PERMANENT LOCATION OF THE SEAT OF JUSTICE, ETC., ETC.

A S the country settled up and population in- 1 creased, it became necessary to form the territory into smaller divisions for the purpose of convenience and the better administration of the laws. It may be of interest to the read- er to give a few of the territorial changes of the country in which we now live. Illinois was taken from the British in 1778, by conquest of Gen. George Rogers Clark, and became a county of Virginia. It then embraced what is now the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi- gan and Wisconsin, with the seat of government at Kaskaskia.t In 1784, Virginia ceded it to the United States Government, and by the or- dinance of 1787 it became the Northwestern Territory, with its capital first at Marietta, and then at Cincinnati, Ohio. This continued until 1800, when it was made a part of the Indiana Territory, with the seat of government at Vin- cennes, Ind., and embraced the present States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. In 1809, that portion now forming the States of Illinois and Wisconsin, beeame the Territory of Illinois, and in 1818, Illinois became a State of the Federal Union, with her capital at the ancient town of Kaskaskia. The Southern part of the State was settled long before the central and northern part, and here the first counties were formed, even before the State was admitted into the Union. The country within

the boundaries of the present State of Illinois extending northward to the mouth of the Little Mackinaw Creek, was organized into a county in February, 1790, and named for His Excel- lency, Gen. Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwestern Territory. Other counties were formed, as population increased. In 1795, Rau- dolph was created, and Madison in 1812. Bond County, comprising a large extent of territory, and from which several counties have since been formed, was organized in 1817. The fol- lowing is the act of the Legislature, or that part of it pertaining to the subject, which gave it a legal existence.

An act forming a new county out of the county of Madison, approved January 4, 1817 :

Be it enacted by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of Illinois Territory, and it is hereby enacted by authority of the same, that all that tract of country within the following boundaries, to wit:

Beginning at the southwest corner of Township 3 north, Range 4 west ; thence east to the southeast corner of Township 3 north, Range I east, to the third meridian line ; thence north to the boundary line of the Territory ; thence west with said bound- ary line so far that a south line will pass between Ranges 4 and 5 west ; thence south with said line to the beginning. The same shall constitute a separate county to be called Bond, and the seat of justice for said eounty shall be at Hill's Fort until it shall be permanently established in the following man- ner, that is to say, there shall be five persons ap- pointed, to wit : William Roberts, John Powers, Robert Gillespie, Jolin Whitley, Sr., and John

>By R. O. White.

+Near Chester, the seat of the New Southern Penitentiary.

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

Laughlin, or a majority of them being duly sworn before some Judge or Justice of the Peace of this Territory to faithfully take into view the situation of the settlements, the geography of the county. the convenience of the people and the eligibility of the place, shall meet on the first Monday in March, next, at Hill's Fort, on Shoal Creek, and proceed to examine and determine on the place for the perma- nent seat of justice and designate the same. Pro- vided that the proprietor or proprietors of the land shall give to the said county, for the purpose of erecting public buildings, a quantity of land at the said place, not less than twenty acres, to be laid off in lots and sold for the above purpose. But should the proprietor or proprietors refuse or neglect to make the donation aforesaid, then, in that case, it shall be the duty of the Commissioners to fix upon some other place for the seat of justice as conven- ient as may be to the present and future settlements of said county, or should the said Commissioners fix it upon lands belonging to the United States, in that case, the Judges of the said county, or any two of them, may apply to the Register of the Land Office for that district, and in behalf of the county purchase one-quarter section for the use of athe county, and the seat of justice shall be established thereon, and the county shall be bound for the purchase money, which place, when fixed upon and determined, the said Commissioners shall certify under their hands and seals, and return their certifi- cates of the same to the next County Court in the county aforesaid ; and as a compensation for their services they shall each be allowed $2 for every day they may be necessarily employed in fixing the aforesaid seat of justice, to be paid out of the couu- ty levy, which said court shall canse an entry thereof to be made on the records, etc., etc.

The remainder of the act, which is a very long one, is taken up with matters which have no reference to Bond County. It will be seen by this act that the county was much larger at the time of its formation than it is now. As at present constituted, it is bounded on the north by Montgomery, on the east by Fayette, on the south by Clinton, and on the west by Madison.

It contains nine cutire townships, in a square, and five fractional ones on its north- ern and western sides, comprising about three hundred and seventy-eight square miles. The

population is fourteen thousand, being thirty- seven to the square mile.

Shoal Creek and its tributaries water the western and central portions, and the Okaw River and Hurricane Creek the eastern part.

Shoal Creek rises in the northern part of Montgomery County, and crosses the line of Bond at the north half-mile corner of Section 28, Township 7. Range 4, and. flowing nearly south through the county, leaves it near the southwest corner of Section 36, Town 4, Range 4. It has on both sides a fine body of timber. varying in width from two to five miles. Its principal tributaries in Bond County are the Dry Fork, Indian Creek, East Fork, Loenst Fork, Beaver Creek aud the Lake Fork.

The largest of these streams is the East Fork, which rises in the northeastern part of Montgomery County, and, running southwest into Bond, empties into Shoal Creek, in the southwest quarter of Section 36. The timber ou this stream is of a good quality, and several miles in width. Beaver Creek rises a few miles northeast of Greenville, and, flowing nearly south, crosses the line into Clinton County. The whole length of this ereek is abont twenty-five miles ; it is a muddy, sluggish stream, and wa- ters a fine portion of Bond County. When the Government Surveyors first came to this stream, they found a dead horse in it, and from this circumstance called it "Stinking Creek," a name which appears on some of the older maps. Lake Fork enters the county a few rods south of the northwest corner, flows in an easterly direction near the north line for a little over a mile ; then, turning north and northeast, passes into Montgomery County and empties into Shoal Creek. Itis noted for being a rapid. rocky, stream, furnishing numerons quarries of a good building stone, and for beds of coal along its banks at various points. Dry Fork rises in the southwestern part of Montgomery County, and, running southeast into Bond, empties into Shoal Creek. It is a rapid stream,

William S. War

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

and runs through a rough, broken tract of country. Indian Creek rises in the southwest part of Township 6, Range 3, and runs south- west into Shoal Creek. It was so named from the Indians having once beeu encamped on it during the first settling of the county. Locust Fork is a small stream in the the south- ern part of Township 4, Range 4, running southeast through a fine portion of country ; coal, and extensive beds of the finest limestone in the connty are found along this creek and its branches. It flows into Shoal Creek, a short distance north of the Clinton County line.

The Okaw or Kaskaskia River runs through the extreme southeastern part of the county. It rises in Champaign County, and, taking a southwestern course, empties into the Missis- sippi River, about one hundred and twenty miles above the mouth of the Ohio, passing through or bordering in its course the counties of Donglas, Coles, Moultrie, Shelby, Fayette, Bond, Clinton, Washington, St. Clair, Monroe and Randolph. A body of excellent timber, from two to ten miles wide, is found along this river, supplying the numerous and extensive farms on both sides of it with lumber. It is not navigable for any considerable distance, though a small steamboat once ascended as far as Carlyle in a time of high water. The Hurricane Fork and its tributaries water the eastern por- tion of Bond County, and are bordered with fine bodies of timber.

Bond County contains a due proportion of timber and prairie, and has a generally level or undulating surface, but no mountains nor very high hills. The general quality of the soil is second rate, though in certain localities there is excellent land. Some of the prairies are too level to answer well the purposes of cultivation without some artificial drainage, bnt most of the land is sufficiently undulating to drain well, and in fact some of the finest landscape views in the State are found in this county. The tim-

ber consists of white, black, Spanish, over-cup, water, black-jack, post and pin oak, hackberry, ash, hickory, walnut, elm, sycamore, cotton- wood, sugar and white maple, locust, mulberry, sassafras, wild cherry and other kinds. Springs are not very numerous, but good wells can be obtained in all parts of the county. With but few exceptions the water is limestone. There are saline springs in Shoal Creek, a short dis- tance above New Berlin, where, during the first settling of the country, salt was manufactured to a small extent, bnt, being down in the bed of the creek, they are inaccessible the greater part of the year, and have long since been aban- doned.

In addition to the places already noted, good quarries of both sand and limestone are found in the western part of the county, at various points along the banks of the main fork of Shoal Creek, and many of the smaller streams running into it from the west. In the prairies are found, lying on or near the surface, large bowlders nearly round, weighing from five hun- dred to several thousand pounds. They are granite in formation, and have been broken from the parent quarry by some convulsion of nature, and removed to their present situation, probably through the agency of water, and seem to have been rounded by rolling over a hard surface. It is difficult to account for them on any reasonable ground. There is not, so far as is known, a quarry of granite in the State, and hence it is evident that these " lost rocks," as they are called, have been transported many miles.

As Bond County was organized in 1817, when Illinois was yet a Territory, it was one of the fifteen counties represented in the Consti- tutional Convention of 1818. Thomas Kirk- patrick and Samuel G. Morse represented this county in the Convention that formed the first State Constitution. Of the dimensions of Bond at the time of its formation, Rev. Thomas W. Hynes, in his address, July 4, 1876, says : B

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

"Originally our county was of immense size, extending indefinitely northward and eastward ; but in 1821 the formation of Montgomery and Fayette, and, in 1825, the county of Clinton reduced her extent on three sides till she was so small that an addition taken from Madison had to be made in 1843, to bring it up to the present extent of territory. This addition, two miles wide and nine miles long, leaves the county of respectable and convenient magni- tude, though much below the average of the 102 counties in Illinois. Bond has 378 square miles, while the average for all the counties of Illinois is 544 square miles."

After the adoption of the act of the Legisla- ture for the legal organization of the county, the next business in order was to establish the dif- ferent departments, and set the political, civil and judicial machinery in motion. This was accomplished without any unnecessary delay. The first Circuit Court was held at Hill's Station, on Monday, May 30, 1817. The State being under a Territorial Government, all the offices were filled by appointment, and were as follows : The Hon. Jesse B. Thomas, Judge ; Daniel Converse, Clerk ; Samuel G. Morse, Sheriff ; and Charles R. Matheny, State's Attorney. The following persons served as grand jurors : John Whitley, Sr., Foreman, Solomon Reavis, Fields Pruitt, Coonrod Hoosong, Samuel Davidson, Paul Beck, William Robinson, John IIopton, Robert Gillespie, Benjamin James, Charles Reavis, Charles Steel, Andrew Moody, Absalom Mathews, William MeLane, John Whitley, Jr. Peter Hubbard, David White, Francis Kirk- patrick, William Burgess, John Samples, Elijah Powers, Thomas White.

The list of petit jurors cannot be given, for it does not appear in any of the old records of the county, and, so far as can be ascertained, John B. White, residing a short distance west of Greenville, is the only man now living who served on either jury at that court. The petit jury, on retiring to make up their verdict, in-

stead of being shut up in a close room, went out and sat on a large log.

There was only one bill of indictment found, and but one case tried. Judge Thomas, allud- ing to this circumstance when dismissing the grand jury, remarked, " It speaks much for the morals of your community ; long may such a state of things continue." In the foregoing list of grand jurors, quite a number of our citizens will recognize the names of ancestors and others with whom they have been familiar in former years.

Two or three terms of the Circuit Court were held at Ilill's Station, after which it was held at Perryville, the first county seat, situated near the mouth of Hurricane Creek, in the south- western part of what is now Fayette County. The following report of the Commissioners ap- pointed to locate the seat of justice for Bond County, shows something of the extent of terri- tory then under its jurisdiction, and also, the ideas entertained by the people in relation to the navigation of the small rivers and large creeks in this country :

SHOAL CREEK, April 15, 1817. ILLINOIS TERRITORY, BOND COUNTY. S

We, the Commissioners to fix the seat of justice for the county of Bond, being duly sworn, after re- viewing different parts of said county for that pur- pose ; we do nominate and appoint for that pur- pose, the bluff lying west of the Hurricane Fork of Okaw, being the southwest quarter of Section No. 5, of Range No. 1 west, of Township No. 4 north, now the property of Martin Jones, taking into view the geographical center, the navigation, the eligibility, and the common good of the people, as directed by law. Given under our hands and seals, the day and year first above written, JOHN POWERS, ROBERT GILLESPIE, JOHN WHITLEY.

This town was laid out in the spring of 1818, and the plat recorded May 17 of the same year. Illinois having been in the meantime admitted into the Union, Bond County was regularly or- ganized the following autumn, and named for Shadrach Bond, the first Governor of the State,

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

who was elected in October, 1818, and filled a term of four years. The county then included a large scope of territory, extending to the north, east and south, which is now embodied in adjoining counties.

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History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 3

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin Number of Pages: 758

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 758