History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 5

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 5
USA > Illinois > Bond County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 5

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).

In the year 1817, the first mill ever in Bond County was built by Paul Beek, on quite a primitive plan. It stood in the southwestern part of Greenville, near the cemetery, and is more particularly noticed in the history of Greenville. The fine spring near this mill was called " Beck's Spring." In a few years, other mills were built, some of which ground wheat, being supplied with a bolt turned by hand. The first water-mill in the county was put up on Shoal Creek, at Old Ripley, by Samuel Lee, about 1819 or 1820. E. R. Wheelock and Wyatt Stubblefield erected mills on the East

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

Fork of Shoal Creek shortly after. Both of these mills, together with their owners, have long since passed away.

Most of the mills for grinding, in Bond County, for a number of years, were horse- mills, similar to Beck's, with the improvement, however, of a large cog wheel instead of a raw hide band, but they ground very slowly. Every man had to hitch his own team to the machine and grind his own grain. The large wheel was furnished with two levers, so that either two or four horses could be worked to it. The work being much easier for four horses it was com- mon for two neighbors to join teams, each put- ting in a span of horses, and grind both their grists. As an illustration of the inconven- ienees under which the people then labored to obtain meal, some of them carried their grain in sacks, on horseback, eight or ten miles to an old horse-mill, where they sometimes had to wait two or three days for their grinding.

Other manufactories were few in number and on a par with mills in quality and impor- tance. The first settlers being mostly from the Southern States turned their attention early to cotton-growing, and henee establishments must necessarily be erected for its mannfacture. So, in the year 1820, Thomas Long put up a cotton-gin not far from Stubblefield. A year or two afterward Samuel White and Moses Hinton put in operation a spinning-machine in Greenville. Neither of these establishments had a very extensive run, however, for their owners had built them with the expectation of obtaining supplies from the products of the surrounding country. But it was found im- possible to supply them with material, as it was soon demonstrated that cotton would not

grow to do any good upon the soil of Illin- ois. A tannery was started by Samuel White in 1820, at the spring west of Greenville, the first in the county. In 1822, James B. Ruther- ford commenced the manufacture of hats in Greenville, which he carried on for several years. Other establishments of the kind were started up from time to time. Somewhere about 1823-24, Milton Mills started a wool- carding machine in the county near Wisetown. Many other small manufacturing establishments were started, most of which, however, had but a brief existence.

In the years that have gone, since the first occupation of Bond County by the whites, rapid strides have been made in every depart- ment of life. Scarcely a trace now remains of the old customs of the people. We are sur- rounded by conveniences never dreamed of fifty years ago. Instead of Beck's primitive mill with its quaint " findings," we have a num- ber of as fine mills as may be found anywhere. We no longer have to wade through mud, snow and raiu with slow-going ox-teams to St. Louis, but the iron-horse brings the best markets to our very doors. It is no longer necessary to go to Edwardsville for a physician ; every com- munity has one of its own, always ready to alleviate, so far as is possible, the ills of suffer- ing humanity. Children are not compelled, as of yore, to sit all day in a close, ill-ventilated log-cabin, " to learn to cipher," but comfortable schoolhouses are found in every neighborhood. Churches, with their lofty spires pointing to heaven, dot the country everywhere. When we view all this, we are forced to acknowledge the Americans a progressive people, and the present an age of improvement.

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

CHAPTER V .*

THE STATE OF SOCIETY IN EARLY TIMES -DAILY USE AND MANUFACTURE OF WHISKY DRUNKENNESS, FIGHTING, AND OTHER INNOCENT AMUSEMENTS-SHOOTING MATCHES- WORKING FROLICS-GOLD AND SILVER MINES OF THE COUNTY - GAYLORD'S

SWINDLE-NEGRO SLAVERY -THE MAGOON KIDNAPING CASE - EARLY PHYSICIANS, ETC., ETC.

IN the early history of Bond County, whisky was considered as almost one of the neees- saries of life, or at least "good in its place." This "place " was nearly everywhere, embrac- ing all occasions and applying to nearly every condition of life. Of course, no one presumed to uphold or advocate drunkenness, but a tem- perate use of spirituous liquors, was not only considered harmless, but in many cases abso- Intely beneficial. llenee, distilleries were ereeted, and the manufacture of whisky begun soon after settlements were made in the coun- try.

The first distillery in what is now Bond County, was put in operation, in 1819, by George Donnell, at a spring about two miles north of Greenville. Within a few years suc- ceeding the erection of this one, several others were built in different portions of the county, one of which was at Beek's Spring, near the graveyard (a very appropriate place for a dis- tillery). The manufacture of whisky at these distilleries was not carried on to a great extent, nor for any considerable length of time. And to the honor of Bond County be it recorded, that there is not now an establishment within its limits for the manufacture of ardent, spirits. At the time these distilleries were in operation, and for several years after, intemperance pre- vailed to an almost alarming extent. It is not exaggerating to say, that whisky was in use,

either moderately or otherwise, by more than one-half of the people in the county. On pub- lie occasions, drunken men were so common, that sober men seemed to be the exeeption. At any time between the years of 1830 and 1845, it was nothing unusual to see twenty or thirty men at one time, on eleetion or muster day, in Greenville, drunk, swearing and yelling like Indians, the majority of them with eoats off and sleeves rolled up, wanting to resent an insult which they faneied they had received from some one whom they were trying to find. Sometimes a fellow staggered against a tree, or post, or came in collision with another indi- vidual, and feeling the eoneussion, imagined that somebody had struek him. In an instant he would shed his coat and hat, and go ruslı- ing through the crowd, endeavoring to find his supposed enemy, and swearing that he was " a hoss," and eould " whip his weight in wild eats." And woe be unto the luekless indi- vidual who was mistaken for the aggressor. Many an inoffensive, respeetable citizen re- eeived rough treatment under such circum- stances, and astonished his better-half by returning home from an election, or muster, with a smashed hat, black eye, or bloody nose, to satisfactorily account for which, required, in some instances, no ordinary amount of ex- planation.

At the time of which we are writing, all the the voting at a general election was done in

*By R. O. White.

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

Greenville. On these occasions the people from all portions of the county congregated together and proceeded to settle their old grudges. Quarrels were renewed, and fought out, under the exhilarating influence of whisky. People looked upon fights as inevitable on public days, especially at elections, and were disappointed if they did not occur. It was not uncommon to see two or three fights in prog- ress at the same time on an election day in Greenville. These contests were conducted on the regular old - fashioned " fist and skull " style-knives and pistols being seldom used. Men prided themselves on their physical strength, and for one to declare himself the best man in the crowd was considered an in- sult to be resented by every one present. This expression, "best man," had no reference to anything further than mere bodily powers- the finer feelings and nobler qualities of the mind were not taken into consideration. It may with safety be said that Main street, in the old part of Greenville, has been the scene of more lotly-contested fist-fights, louder yells and oaths, and more brutal, as well as ludicrous drinking revels, than all other places in the county put together. On that street were located the dram-shops where liquid ruin, dealt out by glasses, quarts and gallons, sent misery and destitution to all portions of the community.

Other amusements, not quite so rough as figliting, were engaged in by the inhabitants on public days, such as wrestling, jumping, running foot-races and shooting with the rifle. Main street was, chiefly, the theater of these sports, except shooting. The scenes connected with them were more interesting, and occasion- ally somewhat ludicrous, and numerous inci- dents of the latter might be given, but space will not permit.

Shooting with the rifle was practiced just outside of the town, that there might be no danger attending it. Certain individuals spent

the greater portion of every public day in this exercise; and many of them became ex- pert marksmen, and very proud of their skill. Shooting-matches were then of frequent occur- rence. A beef was "put up," at a certain price, to be shot for, each man paying a stipu- lated amount-usually 25 cents-for every shot. The best shots took the first choice of the beef, the next best, the second choice, and so on. About Christmas times, a live turkey, fastened on a stump or fence at the distance of a hundred yards, was sometimes put up and shot at, the first man that drew blood taking the turkey.

Bond County, as we have already stated, at the time of its early settlement, abounded in all of the wild animals common in this lati- tude-bears, panthers, lynxes, wolves, cata- mounts, wild cats, deer, and many kinds of smaller game. Bears and panthers, however, were not very numerous, and soon became ex- tinct. A bear was killed in 1821, on Shoal Creek, in the northwestern portion of the county, which is the last account we have of Bruin in this part of the State. But many of the other animals remaining until a much later date, gradually leaving the country, however, as the settlements increased. A few deer and turkeys are yet found in two or three localities on Shoal Creek, where there are large bodies of timber. As the wild animals disappeared before the advance of the pioneer, a certain class of people left also, or changed their mode of living to the greater credit of the com- munity.

The inhabitants were, for several years, an- noyed by the ravages of wolves, which de- stroyed many of their sheep and pigs. Wild- cats and catamounts were also troublesome- killing many young pigs and lambs. Wolves continued so destructive that, as late as the ycar 1842, wolf-hunts were organized, in order to rid the country of these troublesome ma- rauders. The writer attended one about that

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

time, in the prairie northwest of Greenville, a description of which we will give as a sample. The people assembled on horseback, and formed a circle six or eight miles in diameter. At a certain hour, all commenced moving toward the center, and as the circle contracted, their line became more compact.

The plan did not succeed well, only one wolf being killed during the hunt. Wolves are very suspicious of danger, and in nearly every case, before the hunters got close enough together to prevent it, they broke through the circle to the outside, and escaped. This sport was both ex- citing and amusing, and was often indulged in by the early settlers.

In those early times, the people were more dependent on each other than at the present day, and, as a consequence, more social and accommodating. It was the general custom for the neighbors all to meet and assist each other in performing their heaviest work, such as harvesting, log-rolling, house-raising, corn- husking, etc., etc. In opening a farm, a great many logs had to be burned, or taken off the ground, before it could be plowed, hence log- rollings were common. At these annual gatlı- erings, the logs were collected in large heaps suitable for burning, and men took special pride in testing their manhood at the end of a handspike.

At corn-huskings and various other gather- ings common in those early days, lively, social times were experienced by both sexes. When_ ever men met to roll logs, husk corn, or raise a honse, the ladies would have a quilting, " sew- ing-bee," or something of the kind at the same place. When night came, it was not uncom- mon for the youngsters to have a dance or play. The dances were old-fashioned reels, and were sometimes continued till a late hour, and occa- sionally they

"Danced all night till broad day light,"

when the young swains, with love-stricken

hearts, and warmly-beaming affections, deemed it their duty to

" Go home with the girls in the morning."

Plays of various kinds, were as much in vogne as dancing, but they have long since be- come obsolete. Many persons, however, now living, can look back to the scenes of those old plays with pleasant memories. Who can think of the old lines,

"Oh, sister Phebe, how merry were we,

When we sat under yon juniper tree." Or,

" We're marching down to Quebectown, And the drums are loudly beating. The Americans have gained the day, And the British are retreating,"

without thinking also of the " lads and lasses" assembled on such occasions. Many delight- ful reminiscences are connected with those scenes, when memory calls them up from the far distant past.

A great excitement was created here many years ago from a belief in the existence of the precious metals in Bond County. Both silver and gold were believed to be deposited at vari- ous points in the middle, western and south- western parts. Tales were related by some of the old settlers, giving accounts of fabulous quantities of silver ore being obtained here by the French and Indians, more than a hundred years before. The people credited these stories and dreamed of future wealth and luxury.

Robert Gillespie, living on Shoal Creek, a few miles above Pocahontas, found shining particles in the sand of a spring near his house, aud washing out a quantity, showed it to some fel- low in St. Louis, who pronounced it pure gold. This was enough ; the demand for Gillespie's "dust" was such, that small quantities of it were in the possession of various persons, in order to compare it with such as might be found on their own premises. About this time, a man by the name of Gaylor, who was supposed to know something about minerals, being a

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

" water witch," astonished the neighborhood by announcing that he had discovered an inex- haustible mine of silver on the land of Samuel Hunter, near Indian Creek, about four miles from Greenville.

A furnace was erected at the expense of Mr. llunter, and Gaylor went to work manu- facturing silver. The business was carried on for some weeks, producing but little silver, how- ever, in proportion to the amount of ore smelted. Specimens of the metal had been tested by com- petent judges, and found to be silver. and men became almost insane with excitement, as they beheld the treasure issne from Gaylor's cruci- ble. Some individuals actually neglected their business, spending days in wandering up and down creeks, branches and ravines, and return- ing at night with their pockets crammed full of little pieces of the substance known as " horn- blende," the shining particles of which they be- lieved to be gold and silver.

Several of Ilunter's neighbors, believing the whole thing to be a deception, went, one after- noon, to the furnace, where Gaylor was at work, expressing a desire to see him smelt some ore taken from the mine in question. Ile did so, producing a small quantity of metal which was pronounced silver by all present. But while stirring the mass of pulverized ore, one of the men saw him drop a piece of silver coin into the crucible, which fact he communicated to the others. They then filled the crucible them- selves with precisely the same kind of ore, and placing it in the furnace, told him that, after being thoroughly searched, he should smelt it, with his coat off and sleeves rolled up. He re- fused to do so, when they took him into custody and proceeded to melt it themselves. After heating and stirring the precious mass as he had done, they poured it out, but no silver was found.

Gaylor was taken to Greenville and lodged in jail on a charge of swindling, but was soon after released. He left the country, and thus

ended the gold and silver excitement in Bond County.

Strange as it may appear to the reader, slav- ery existed in Bond County in the early period of its history. A man named Houston. from Kentucky, emigrated to this county and pur- chased a farm three miles west of Greenville, the place first settled and owned by Dr. Per- rine. Ile brought with him a number of slaves, among whom were a woman named Fanny and her two children, a boy and girl, Stephen and Charity. His family soon became dissatisfied, and he returned to Kentucky, taking all his negroes with him except Fanny and her chil- dren-she not being able at the time to travel. They were left at the residence of Thomas White, two miles west of town, until her recov- ery, when she went to Greenville and hired to work.

According to the laws of Illinois then in force, she and her children were free, having been in the State longer than the time specified, sixty days. About this time, one Magoon came to Greenville and stated that he had pur- chased those negroes from Honston. lIe was informed that they were free and could not be removed without a violation of law. He then formed a conspiracy with two citizens of Bond County to kidnap them, which they carried into effect one Sunday while the people were at church. They were pursued and captured at Pearce's, on Silver Creek, in Madison County. After being all brought back, the negroes were released and the kidnappers placed under bonds for trial, but it appears were never brought into court.

Magoon left the country, and remained away until the excitement subsided a little, when he returned and arranged with one of the Bate mans, living on the Okaw, to steal the boy, Stephen, from a place north of Greenville, where he had gone to live. Bateman succeeded in kidnapping him, and carried him down into the neighborhood where he lived. lle was kept

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

concealed in the Okaw bottom until Magoon found an opportunity to escape with him.

The excitement was intense, and a crowd of resolute men soon started in pursuit. They followed on to the neighborhood of the Bate- mans, and spent several days searching in the woods. Failing, however, to find the boy, the pursuit was abandoned and the party returned home.

Magoon succeeded in eseaping south with the boy, where he sold him into slavery, in which condition he remained until liberated by the late war between the States. He was never heard from until near the close of the rebellion, when he was found in the southern part of Georgia, by a Bond County soldier, to whom he related the particulars of his cap- ture and abduction. Bateman was one of the Okaw desperadoes and drunkards, who were wont to assemble in Greenville in the early history of Bond County, on public days, to drink and fight. He died not many years since, in a state of intoxication, uttering with his last breath the most horrible blasphemies.

Old Fanny's husband, Stephen Hudley, was a slave in Missouri, and she, after years of toil, saved money enough cooking, washing and selling ginger cakes, to purchase his freedom, and thus had the proud satisfaction of re-unit- ing those sacred ties which had been sundered by the curse of slavery. An attempt, as we have seen, had been made to kidnap her and her little children, not by slaveholders, from whom nothing better could have been expected, but by citizens of a free State-the last men it would be supposed, who would commit such a dastardly act. But who can account for human depravity ?

The health of the people of Bond County is much better now than in former years. This is attributable to the fact that there is less rain, less decaying vegetation, fewer marshes and stagnant pools, and a consequent diminution of the vapors thus generated, which have proved,

in so many cases, fatal to the human family. In addition to all this, we live in more com- fortable houses, are better clothed, and expose ourselves less to the inelemeneies of the weather.

The first physicians who located here were Drs. William Perrine and J. B. Drake, from New Jersey. Before this, when people became sick, they had to send to Edwardsville for a doctor. Both Dr. Perrine and Dr. Drake were young men of talent and education, and well versed in their profession. They soon got a good practice, and became noted physicians.

Dr. Perrine married a Miss Townsend-the daughter of a Presbyterian preacher, residing in the northwestern part of the county, and a few years later removed with his family to Florida. During the Seminole war, he was murdered by Indians at his own house. Dr. Drake removed to Greenville, where he con- tinned the practice of medicine for many years. He then engaged in the mercantile business, and, still later, married, residing in Greenville until his death.

As the county became more populous, other physicians of eminence located here and ac- quired considerable note as medical practition- ers. During some of the sickly seasons, there were not enough well persons to take care of the sick. This state of affairs was not con- fined to Bond County alone, but extended over the southern part of the State. The year 1844 was, perhaps, the most unhealthy one ever ex- perienced in this part of Illinois. Then, all the physicians of this county resided in Greenville, and, of course, their practice extended many miles. They were kept going night and day, during the siekliest portion, not only of 1844, but of several years preceding, and after that time.

There was mueh sickness then of a serious and fatal character, yet there were some per- sons who would send for a physician for every trifling illness. When an individual mounted

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

a horse to go for a doctor, he generally " put him through," no matter what the distance, nor what the disease, whether a sprained ankle, or congestion of the brain ; the speed was abont the same. A man living ten or twelve miles from Greenville was seen one day riding at a fearful rate toward town, his horse in a foam of sweat, and evidently going for a doctor in a desperate case. He was hailed on the way,

when the following dialogue ensued : " Who's sick ?" " My brother." "What's the matter with him ?" "He's bleeding." By this time he had got so far off as to render further ques- tions impracticable. It was afterwards ascer- tained that his brother had only taken a spell of bleeding at the uose, from which he soon recovered.

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS

HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY.

CHAPTER VI .*

RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF BOND COUNTY -THE FIRST PREACHERS AND THE FIRST CHURCHES -

THE METHODISTS AND PRESBYTERIANS-MOODY'S CAMP GROUND-SUNDAY SCHOOLS-

THE "JERKS"-TEMPERANCE-EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES-IMPROVEMENT IN

SCHOOLS-STATISTICS-THE PEOPLE AND THE STATE DEBT - WAR

HISTORY, ETC., ETC.

"Many things of many kinds."

"THERE is no better evidence of moral ad- vancement and Christian civilization in a newly-settled community than the establish- ment of churches. The history of Christianity in Bond County may be termed coeval with its settlement by white people. The first preacher of whom there is any authentic account made his appearance in the county in the year 1816 and was of the Methodist denomination, among which were found those pioneer soldiers of the cross, who preceded or followed close in the wake of civilization in the West. Rev. Jesse Hale, the pioneer minister of Bond County, preached his first sermon at the house of Robert Gillespie, who lived two miles southwest of Greenville, in the year mentioned (1816), and where he continued preaching at intervals, dur- ing that and part of the ensning year. A church, the first established in the county, was organized in that neighborhood during the two years of his ministration. What State he was from, or where he went after this, cannot now be ascertained.

The next preacher was Salmon P. Giddings of St. Louis, a Presbyterian, who preached oc- casionally at private houses, and in 1818 or 1819, organized a church at " Moody's Spring," about a mile sonthwest of Greenville. This spring was so named for Andrew Moody, who lived there several years, though the place was

first settled by Thomas Kirkpatrick. Here the first church in Bond County was erected during the year 1817, by the Methodist denomination. It was built of hewed logs, and thirty feet long by twenty-five feet in width. We have not been able to ascertain the precise dates when the first ministers belonging to each of the denominations now in the county came here, but those of the Baptists and Cumberland Presbyterians arrived soon after the two already mentioned, and those of the others at a still later day.

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History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 5

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