USA > Illinois > Christian County > History of Christian County, Illinois > Part 7
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The report of the commissioners raised many doubts in regard to the validity and propriety of a number of confirmations by the Governors, and much dissatisfaction among the elaimants ; and in consequence, Congress, in 1812, passed an aet for the revision of these land claims in the Kaskaskia district. The
28
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
commissioners under this law were Michael Jones, John Cald- well and Thomas Sloo. Facts damaging to persons who oeeu- pied positions of high respectability in the community, were disclosed. They reported that the English claim of thirty thou- sand aeres confirmed by Governor St. Clair to John Edgar and the Governor's son, John Murray St. Clair, was founded in neither law nor equity, that the patent was issued after the Governor's power ceased to exist, and the claim ought not to be confirmed. Congress, however, confirmed it.
For a period of several years, emigration was considerably retarded by the delay in adjusting land titles. The aet of Con- gress passed in 1813, granting the right of pre-emption to set- tlers, was influential in bringing the public lands into market. Emigrants poured into the country, and improvements were rapidly made.
CIVIL ORGANIZATION.
The history of Illinois has been traced while a possession of Franee, and when under the British government ; and the for- mation of Illinois as a County of Virginia has been noted. The several States afterwards agreed, on the adoption of the Articles of the Confederation, to ccde their claims to the western land to the General government. Virginia exceuted her deed of eession March 1st, 1784. For several years after, there was an imper- fect administration of the law in Illinois. The French customs partly held foree, and affairs were partly governed by the pro- mulgations of the British commandants issued from Fort Char- tres, and by the regulations which had subsequently been issued by the Virginia authorities.
By the ordinance of 1787, all the territory north-west of the Ohio not constituted into one district, the laws to be administered by a governor and secretary, a court was instituted of three judges. A general assembly was provided for, the members to be chosen by the people. General Arthur St. Clair was selected by Congress, as Governor of the north-western territory. The seat of government was at Marietta, Ohio.
In the year 1795, Governor St. Clair divided St. Clair County. All south of a line running through the New Design settlement (in the present County of Monroe) was erected into the County of Randolph. In honor of Edmund Randolph of Virginia, the new county received its name.
Shadrach Bond, afterward the first Governor, was cleeted from Illinois, a member of the Territorial Legislature which convened at Cincinnati, in January, 1799. In 1800 the Territory of In- diana was formed, of which Illinois constituted a part, with the seat of government at Vincennes. About 1806, among other places in the West, Aaron Burr visited Kaskaskia in an en- deavor to enlist men for his treasonable scheme against the government. In 1805, George Fisher was elected from Ran- dolph County a member of the Territorial Legislature, and Pierre Menard was chosen member of the Legislative Council.
By act of Congress, 1809, the Territory of Illinois was con- stituted. Ninian Edwards was appointed Governor of the newly organized Territory, and the seat of government established at Kaskaskia. Nathaniel Pope, a relative of Edwards, received the appointment of Secretary.
For nearly four years after the organization of the Territorial Government no legislature existed in Illinois. All election for representatives was held on the eighth, ninth, and tenth of
October, 1812. Shadrach Bond, then a resident of St. Clair County, was elected the first Delegate to Congress from Illinois. Pierre Menard was chosen from Randolph County member of the Legislative Council, and George Fisher of the House of Representatives. The Legislature convened at Kaskaskia on the twenty-fifth of November, 1812.
In April, 1818, a bill providing for the admission of Illinois into the Union as a sovereign State was passed by Congress. A Convention to frame a Constitution assembled at Kaskaskia in the following July. The first elcetion under the Constitution was held in September, 1818, and Shadrach Bond was elected Governor, and Pierre Menard, Lieutenant Governor. Illinois was now deelared by Congress admitted to the Union as on cqual footing in all respeets with the original States. The Legislature again met at Kaskaskia in January, 1819. This was the last session ever held at Kaskaskia. Vandalia, the same year, was selected as Capital of the State. It was stipulated that Vanda- lia was to be the Capital for twenty years. At the end of that period it was changed to Springfield. Below we give list of governors and chief officers of Illinois.
Illinois was constituted a separate Territory by act of Con- gress, February 3d, 1809.
OFFICERS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
STATE
SOVEREIGNTY
TO 1878.
LONA
ILLINOIS TERRITORY.
DATE OF COMMISSION
NAME OF OFFICER. OFFICE. OR INAUGURATION.
Nathaniel Pope,.
Secretary of the Territory, March 7, 1809.
Ninian Edwards,
.Governor,
April 24, 1809.
H. II. Maxwell,
1816.
Daniel P. Cook,
Anditor Public Accounts, .. 66 January 13, 1816.
Joseph Phillips, Secretary, .December 17, '16.
Robert Blackwell, Anditor Public Accounts, .. April 5, 1817.
Elijah C. Berry.
August 29, 1817.
John Thomas, Treasurer,
1818.
STATE OF ILLINOIS.
Shadrach Bond Governor,. October 6, 1818.
Pierre Menard,.
Lient-Governor, =
6,1818.
Elias K. Kane,.
Secretary of State,.
6, 1818.
Elijah C. Berry,
Auditor Publie Accounts, 1818.
John Thomas
Treasurer,
1818.
Robert K. Mclaughlin, ...
Angust 2, 1819.
Edward Coles,.
Governor,.
December, 1822.
Adolphus F. Hubbard,
. Lient. Governor,
1822.
Sammel D. Lockwood, ..... Secretary of State,. 18, 1822.
Abner Field,
Treasurer, January 1.1, 1823.
David Blackwell,.
Secretary of State, April 2, 1823.
Morris Birbeck
October 15, 1821.
George Forquer,
January 15, 1825.
Ninian Edwards, Governor, ..
December, 1826.
William Kinney. Lient-Governor, 1826.
James Hall, Treasurer,. Febr'y. 12, 1827.
Alexander P. Field, .Secretary of State,. January 23, 1829.
"
FROM 1809,
UNION
29
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
John Reynolds, Governor, December 9, 1830.
Zadock Casey, Lieut-Governor, 9, 1830.
John Dement, Treasurer,
February 5, 1831.
Newton Batenian, ...... .Super't. Publie Instruction ...... January 10, 1865.
George W. Smith,. .Treasurer,
.January, 1867.
John M. Palmer, .. .Governor, January 11, 1869.
John Dougherty,. Lieut-Governor,. 11, 1869.
Edward Rummell, .Secretary of State 16 11, 1869.
Charles E. Lippincott. . Auditor Publie Accounts, 66 11, 1869.
11, 1869.
Newton Bateman,. .Super't. Public Instruction, ..... January, 1871.
Nov. 8, 1870.
Stephen A. Douglas, ....
Secretary of State,
Nov. 30, 1840.
Lyman Trumbull, March 1, 1841.
1841.
James Shields,. Auditor Publie Accounts.
1841.
Thomas Ford, . Governor,
December 8, 1842.
John Moore, .. Lieut-Governor,
8, 1842.
Thomas Campbell, .Secretary of State, Marelı 6, 1843.
William L. D. Ewing
.. Auditor Publie Accounts, 6, 1843.
Thomas II. Campbell
P. A. (to fill vacancy ), " 23, 1846.
Augustus C. French, Governor,
December 9, 1846.
Joseph B. Wells. . Lieut-Governor,
Ilorace S. Cooley,
Secretary of State,. 16 23, 1846.
John Moore, Treasurer, (to fill vacancy), August 14, 1848.
William McMurtry,. Lieut-Governor, ..
January, 1849.
David L. Gregg,
Sec'y. of State (to fill vacancy ), April 3, 1850.
Joel A. Matteson, .Governor,
January, 1853.
Gustavus Koerner, Lient-Governor,
1853.
Alexander Starne,. Secretary of State,.
1853.
Ninian W. Edwards, .. .. Super't. Public Instruction, ..... March 24, 1854. William II. Bissell, Governor, January 12, 1857.
John Wood, Lient-Governor,
12, 1857. Jolın Adams
Massachusetts, .. .. 1797 to 1801, four years.
Ozias M. Hatch, Secretary of State, ... 12, 1857. Thomas Jefferson.
Jesse K. Dubois Auditor Public Accounts, 12, 1857. James Madison Virginia .. .. 1809 to 1817, eight years.
James Miller,. Treasurer,
12, 1857.
William II. Powell, .Super't. Public Instruction,. 12, 1857.
Newton Bateman,. 66
10, 1859. Andrew Jackson
Tennessee, ... ,1829 to 1837, eight years.
William Butler, Treasurer (to fill vacancy) September 3, 1859. Martin Van Buren New York, 1837 to 1841, four years.
Richard Yates, Governor,
January 14, 1861.
Francis A. Hoffman, ...... Lient-Governor,
14, 1861.
Ozias M. Ilatch,
Secretary of State,.
14, 1861. James K. Polk
Tennessee, 1845 to 1849, four years.
Zachary Taylor Louisiana, 1849 to 1850, one ycar.
Millard Fillmore. New York. ... .1850 to 1853, three years.
Franklin Pieree New Hampshire,.1853 to 1857, four years.
James Buchanan. Pennsylvania ...... 1857 to 1861, four years.
Abraham Lincoln, (murdered) .. Illinois. .1861 to 1865, 4 yrs. 1 mo.
Andrew Johnson .. Tennessee, ...... .1865 to 1869, four years.
William Bross. Lieut-Governor,
16, 1865.
Ulysses S. Grant. Illinois,. 1869 to 1877, eight years.
Rutherford B. Hayes Ohio, .1877, present incumbent.
6.
Mareh 4, 1837.
Thomas Carlin, ..
Governor,.
December, 1838.
Stinson II. Anderson, Lieut-Governor,
1838.
Richard J. Oglesby, .Governor, January 13, 1873.
John L. Beveridge, Lieut-Governor, 13, 1873.
George H. Ilarlow, .Secretary of State,
13, 1873.
Charles E. Lippincott, .... Auditor Public Accounts, 13, 1873.
13, 1873.
Jolın L. Beveridge. Governor,
23, 1873.
John Early Lieut-Governor,
S. M. Cullom
Governor,
=
8,1877.
Andrew Shuman Lieut-Governor,
8, 1877.
George II. Ilarlow, Secretary of State,.
Treasurer,
8, 1877.
T. B. Needles,
Auditor Public Accounts, 8,1877.
S. M. Etter, .Super't. Publie Instruction,
8, 1877.
J. P. Slade,.
8, 1879.
J. C. Smith,
Treasurer, 8, 1879.
Believing that it will be interesting to the younger readers of our work, we subjoin the following list of Presidents of the United States :
PRESIDENTS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. TERM OF SERVICE.
George Washington.
Virginia, .. 1789 to 1797, eight years.
James Monroe .. Virginia,.
1817 to 1825, eight years.
John Quincy Adams
Massaeliusetts, .... 1825 to 1829, four . years.
William II. Harrison Ohio, ..
.1841,
one monthı.
John Tyler.
Virginia,. .1841 to 1845, four years.
Jesse K. Dubois. Auditor Publie Accounts,
14, 1861.
William Butler, Treasurer,
14, 1861.
Newton Bateman, .Super't. Public Instruction,.
14, 1861.
Alexander Starne, .Treasurer,
12, 1863.
John P. Brooks, .. .Super't. Public Instruction, ...
12, 1863.
Richard J. Oglesby, .Governor,
16, 1865.
Sharon Tyndale, . Secretary of State, 16, 1865. 66
Orlin II. Miner, Anditor Public Accounts, Dec. 12, 1864.
James II. Beveridge, ...... Treasurer, January 9, 1865.
James T. B. Stapp, Auditor Public Accounts, .. August 27, 1831.
Joseph Duncan,. .Governor, December, 1834
Alexander M. Jenkins .... Lient-Governor,
1834.
Levi Davis, Auditor Public Accounts.
Nov. 16, 1835.
Charles Gregory,
Treasurer,
December 5, 1836.
Jolm D. Whiteside,.
Erastus N. Bates,. Treasurer,
Erastus N. Bates, Treasurer,
Milton Carpenter, Treasurer,
Edward Rutz, Treasurer,
23, 1873.
8, 1877.
66 9, 1846. Edward Rutz,
Virginia, .... .1801 to 1809, eight years.
30
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
CHAPTER III. PIONEERS AND EARLY SETTLERS.
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES.
HE settlement of Christian county, began the year that Illinois was admitted into the Union as a state. Prior to this period, the whole country was occupied by different tribes of Indians, many of them hostile to the whites, and warring against each other. A few words concerning the aborigines will not be out of placc. Never did a race inspire inore romantic contemplation, or suffer more speedily or completely a dis- astrous fate. They perished when they came in contact with our civilization, almost as the hues of sunset fade when you look at them through the telescope; or as the odor of the rose vanishes while you attempt to analyze it. Before they could be studied as men or as nations, as families or as tribes, either by their traditions and literature, by their customs and affinities they had disappeared; or at least had been so degraded as to seem to have fallen below the level of even scientific observation. Their origin is a mystery, their history is a myth. Their manners and customs are chiefly romance. We can study them little, and by scarcely another light than conjecture, as to facts, and very unreliable inference as to the conclusions reached. These tribes or natious were by no means the first denizens of the soil. America appears to have been the home of a prior race, who have totally disappeared, leaving be- hind them a singular poverty of records. A few mounds, some beads, a small variety of earth-made ware, stone hammers, imple- ments for dressing skins, and now and then, one of their own idols of religious worship, together with a few personal articles of luxury, or dissipation, or ornament, are all of their domestic or public life left to us. We find scattered in many parts of the country their gimlets, arrow-heads, spcar-heads, saws, flesh-scrapers, spades and hammers, all made of stone, and demanding almost infinite patience for their manufacture. It seems a wonder that a people having power to concentrate the mind on such difficult work as shaping flint-stones, should have been so barren in all the graceful and elevating arts. We alternately pity aud despise them; admire their sublime stoicism and sicken at their cruelties. We praise their valor and denounce their selfishness. They gave us their country and left us none of their customs. We use the maize which they sometimes cultured, and stupefy ourselves with the smoke of tobacco which they taught us to consume. These arc their sole contributions to the world's progress in profit and comfort. Is it strange that we should forget them, or that we should readily persuade ourselves that such an idle, unprogressive people should scarcely have a right which an enterprising, ambitious and needy race should respect? Their whole ideas, habits, wants, aspirations and beliefs were so different from those of our race that we can scarcely rise to any sympathy with them or their interests. This portion of country was known in an early day as the " Black-Hawk Hunting-ground," and was widely noted as a fine hunting region. Game of all kinds was very abundant. Hither came in pursuit of game from the northward, under the command of their famous chief, the stalwart warriors of the Sac and Fox tribes.
A feeble remnant of this once powerful tribe are now in Kansas. Here also came the braves of the Pottawatomies, distinguished from other Indians by the swarthiness of their complexion. What is left of this trib ; onens, renowned in war are living in Kansas. This was one of the fioreest, bravest and most intelligent tribes of their race. Another with members of which the early settlers became familiar, was the Kickapoos.
Even after a few of the first settlers had located here, there still
-
remained as residents of the county a fragment of the Kickapoo tribe. " Bassena," the chief, said this land was theirs ; that they had occupied the territory of South Fork "more moons " ago than there are tracks of the buffalo upon the plain or feathers upon the wild fowl's back. An amusing anecdote is related in connection with one of the pioneer settlers of this county, by the surveyor- general, when passing through this section in 1818. He had formed the acquaintance of young Martin Hanon ; and wishing to play a joke, he went to the chief, and told him Hanon was about to enter some of the land he was measuring off, and that he wanted a wife. Upon hearing this news, the young squaws, gathered around the young candidate for matrimonial honors, as if they meant business. All of them wanted a white man "if he would hunt !" The Sur- veyor got out of the difficulty-by informing them much to his re- gret, he was a " poor hunter," and so would make but a sorry husband.
FIRST WHITE MEN IN THE COUNTY.
The first men of our race, so far as is known, whose glad eyes looked upon the beautiful portion of Illinois now embraced within the boundaries of Christian county, were a band of hunters and trappers who left Vincennes in the fall of 1811, and following an Indian trail traversing this county in a north-westerly direction, to the Illinois viver and stopping for the winter at Peoria lake to trap, hunt and fish. They were Frenchmen, and belonged to the mission at Vincennes. On their return trip, the following spring, they were robbed of a portion of their furs and peltries and two of their num- ber slain by the Indians.
FIRST SETTLEMENT AND EARLY SETTLERS.
The honor of being the first white resident of the country now comprised within the limits of Christian county, belongs to Martin Hanon. He was a native of Tennessee, born in April, 1799, near the city of Nashville. He came to the territory of Illinois with his father, Michacl Hanon, in the year 1812, and settled in Gallatin county, where he resided until his death in 1817. The year follow- ing his father's death, young Martin, in charge of his mother and family, emigrated and settled in Christian county, in the fall of the year 1818. At first he pitched his tent on the south side of a large fallen trec. Their meat in one end of a sack, and other provisions in the other end, were balanced in the crotch of a trec, until a log cabin was extemporized. The seent of it soon attraeted a pack of hungry wolves, and they were only kept at bay by occasionally throwing a fire-brand in their midst. There is nothing more terri- fying to the wolf. He first settled and improved what afterwards was known as the Squire Council farm. John S. Sinnet, a brother- in-law of IIanon's, and Claiborn Matthews with his family-Jacob Gragg, Eli Alexander and Kenchen-" the well-digger "-all came to and settled in the county Nov. 21st, 1818-only a few days after IIanon. Their nearest neighbor in this county in 1820, was Eph- raim Cooper, living on the North Fork. Martin Hanon, realizing that it was not good for man to be alone, soon after improving his claim determined to take to himself a wife. lle went down into Egypt, wooed and won one of the fair daughters of that land, and was married in Shawneetown, on the 10th of October, 1823, to Miss Sally Miller. Among the usual attractions presented on such occasions to his young bride was that he possessed on his farm a thousand bearing apple trees, Judge of her feelings when on reaching her new home of which she had become joint proprietor, her hus- band directed her attention to ten acres of thrifty crab-apple trees. Young Hanon's wife proved to be a thrifty, industrious woman. She frequently delighted in telling how she spun her dozen cuts of yarn in a day, and at the same time performed her other houschold duties.
31
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
The walls of her cabin home, were lined with numerous bundles of spun yarn and flax, which she wove into cloth-using a part to clothe the family, and bartering the balance for articles of house- hold use at the store. " Calico at that time cost 373 cents per yard.
There were no educational facilities in the territory when Hanon was a boy, and his education was consequently limited. For a short time he attended a school taught by Timothy Rodgers, on Horse creek, in Sangamon county. Eli Matthews and James Funderburk, of this county, were his classmates. The school-house was a regularly built cabin, with paper windows and one end open, forming a huge fire-place. This is said to have been the second school taught in that (Sangamon) county.
It is related that Hanon was very fond of attending all the rail- maulings and corn shuckings, far and near ; he was a lover of ath- letic sports, and he and Moses H. Brents were aceounted the most popular gallants of the day. They often extended their tours far into the Rochester prairie, till within hailing distance of the capital of the state. Martin was one of the best hunters of that day. On one occasion John S. Sinnet, Jake Gragg (mentioned below) and himself were out hunting. Sinnet wandered off and got lost from his companions. They came across three Indians, which moved them to hunt Sinnet. The Indians followed close behind them. They stopped and dismounted ; so did the Indians. Hanon, not being well acquainted with the Indian character, became some- what alarmed at their strange actions ; and more especially as he knew Gragg to be a rash man. They examined their guns and picked their flints ; and the Indians did likewise. Gragg, then, in a threatening manner ordered them to " puck-a-chee" (i.c., light out) and they did. Gragg turned to Hanon and said, if Sinnet lad been present he would have shot one of the Indians. It was the opinion of Hanon that they made a narrow cscape. In that day In- dians were quite numerous in this part of the country.
On one occasion, while Hanon was out hunting alone, he saw a number of them on the banks of South Fork, near the old Elgan mill. They had killed sixty-eight muskrats, and were skinning and eating them.
In one of his hunting excursions, about the year 1825, when skirting the timber west of Taylorville, he killed a panther near by a small stream, which measured nine feet from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail. This circumstance caused the stream to be called Panther creek, by which name it has been known to this day.
During the " deep snow," he, in company with Vandeveer and three or four others of the "Richardson Settlement" in South Fork, started for O'Banning's horse-mill, then located on a farm about three miles north-east of Taylorville. At that date the latter place did not exist. They made a bee-line, passing through the prairie north of the present county seat. Vandeveer had a horse ; the others ox-teams. They had to break the snow ahead ; thus making but poor headway. They finally abandoned their wagons, placing the sacks on the backs of the oxen; and, mounting on top of them, resumed their journey. Vandevcer, having a horse, pushed through first; and, when night came, built signal-fires to guide the others. They all battled their way through that night, but suffered much from the intense cold. Many such hardships did the pioneers have to brave in securing a subsistence. The summer following the " decp snow " there was frost during every month, rendering the corn raised unfit for seed. Hanon gave a yearling heifer for one bushel of old seed-corn, in the spring of 1832. It was that spring that the steamboat " Talisman" ascended the San- gamon river to Springfield with a cargo of corn. It sold readily for $2.50 and $3 per bushel for seed-corn.
In the year 1826, Hanon built a cabin, and lived in it a short
time, on the west side of Spring branch, where afterwards stood the old " Forrest mill," south of Taylorville. He returned again as a resident of South Fork. In 1834 he purchased an interest in the " Knuckols & Wallace" water mill, afterward more familiarly known as the " Elgan mill." He moved his family, and settled on the banks of the Sangamon, near the mill. It was here his aged mother died in 1838. Soon after this sad event he sold out his interest in the mill to Jesse Elgan ; and in 1839 settled perma- nently on his farm, five miles north-west of Taylorville. It was on the north side of Horse-shoe Prairie, lately owned by Josiah A. Hill. On this farm he resided nearly a quarter of a century. Here his aged partner died on the 28th of May, 1862. She was buried in the Horse-shoe grave-yard. He had a family-of eleven children. After the death of his wife, the children having grown up and gone to houses of their own, he sold the old homestead, and retired from the active cares of life. Mr. Hanon was a man of fine physical development and constitution, and was highly re- spected for his many virtues. The latter years of his life were spent with his daughter, Mrs. Mason, near Sharpsburg, this county, where he died, April 5, 1879; thus ending a most eventful life. He would have been eighty years old during that month. Capt. Jesse Hanon, Jr., is the eldest son of Martin Hanon, the first set- tler. He was born in this state, and is now a resident of Ricks township, this county. (See biographical sketch.)
As mentioned above, Hanon's brother-in-law, John S. Sinnet, Claiborn Matthews, with his family, Jacob Gragg, Eli Alexander, and a man by the name of Kenchen, all came and settled in the county soon after Hanon's arrival. The exact time of the arrival of these parties seems to be a conflicting question. In some in- stances we find that they came in the year 1818, and again in 1819; but it is undoubtedly correct to say that they came late in the fall of 1818, a short time after Martin Hanon settled, as he (Hanon) lias stated.
Jolin S. Sinnet was a native of Lexington, Ky .; born Marchi 10, 1796. When three years of age his father moved to Missouri, where young Sinnet remained until the war of 1812. He enlisted, and served his term in that war, and was honorably discharged. Soon after leaving the army he came to Illinois, then a territory. In the year 1818 he was married to Miss Rboda Hanon, a sister of Martin Hanon's. Soon after this event they settled in what is now Christian county. He located on land now including the south- eastern part of Taylorville. He built a cabin on the east side of the old Fair Grounds spring, in 1826. He sold this to Col. Thomas S. Young in 1829, and built another in the ravine, a little south-east of the junction of the O. and M. and W. St. L and P.
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