History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois, Part 26

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 826

USA > Illinois > Clark County > History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois > Part 26
USA > Illinois > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois > Part 26

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).

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

learned. The first schools here, as in other parts of the county, were taught in any cabin which might happen to be vacant. The first school-houses were built of logs, after the regular pioneer pattern, and the first teachers were as primitive as the buildings in which they wielded their brief authority. The township is now very well supplied with temples of learning, in which good schools are taught for the usual term each year.

Religious meetings were held in the pioneer settlements of this section, almost as early as the settlements were made. The first meetings of which we have any reliable account were held in the old Lamotte school- house, and the first sermon in the township is supposed to have been preached by Elder Daniel Parker, of whom reference has been made in preceding chapters, and who was of the " Hardshell " Baptist persuasion. He was one of the early ministers, not only of this but of the surrounding counties, and was considered a powerful preacher in his day. It is told of him, that he would never accept pecuniary compensation for his minis- terial labors, but deemed it his duty to preach salvation to a "lost and ruined world," with- out money and without price. In this he differed from his clerical brethren of the present day. Mr. Seaney relates the follow- ing incident of one of Elder Parker's meet- ings: Mr. Seaney started out one Sunday morning to look for some calves that had strayed away from him, when upon nearing a church or school-house, he encountered a group of young men, barefooted, dressed in leather breeches and tow-linen shirts. They were patiently awaiting the arrival of the minister, and whiling away the time in " cast- ing sheep's eyes " at a bevy of young ladies who had just arrived upon the scene, gor- geous in " sun-bonnets and barefooted." This seems on a par with the costume of the Geor- gia major, which, we are told, consisted of a

paper collar and a pair of spurs, but whether this was the extent of the young ladies' ward- robe or not we can not say, but no other ar- ticles of wearing apparel were mentioned. The preacher finally made his appearance, clad, not like John the Forerunner, with "a leathern girdle about his loins," but in a full suit of leather. He walked straight into the house, and as he did so he hauled off his old leather coat and threw it upon the floor. Then after singing a hime and making a prayer, he straightened himself, and for two mortal hours he poured hot shot into " the world, the flesh and the devil." John Parker, a brother of Daniel Parker, was a preacher of the same denomination, and used to hold forth among the early settlers in their cabins, and at a later date in the school-houses. Thomas Kennedy, well known as one of the early county officers, was also a pioneer Bap- tist preacher.

Bethel Presbyterian Church was organiz .. ] in 1853, by Rev. Joseph Butler. Among the early members were A. D. Delzell, Mrs. M. E. Delzell, Wm. Delzell, Mrs. M. J. Delzell, L. B. Delzell, John Duncan and Mrs. S. M. Duncan. Rev. Butler visited them a few times and then left the society to die, which it lost but little time in doing. Some of the members united with the church at Palestine and some aided in founding the church at Beckwith prairie a few years later.

Beckwith Prairie Presbyterian Church was organized by Revs. E. Howell and Allen Mc- Farland, and Elder Finley Paul, with twenty- eight members, mostly from Old Bethel church above described. The first elders were James Richey, Samuel J. Gould and Wm. Delzell. The ministers, since its organization, have been Revs. A. McFarland, J. C. Thornton, Aaron Thompson, Thos. Spencer and John E. Carson. The house of worship, a neat white frame, was erected in 1859, at a cost of $1,300, and stands on the southeast quarter of section

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

23, one mile from Duncanville, in a southwest direction.

Good Hope Baptist Church was organized in a very early day. Among the early mem- bers were George Parker, Hiram Jones, Sam- son Taylor and wife, W. F. Allen, Wm. Croy, S. Goff and Wm. Carter. The first church was a log building, erected about 1848. The present church is a handsome frame recently completed, and the membership is in a flour- ishing condition, and numbers about eighty, under the pastorate of Elder John L. Cox. A good Sunday-school is carried on, of which Hiram Jones is the present superintendent.

The Methodist Episcopal church at Flat Rock was built about the year 1871. They had previously held meetings a half mile south of the village near James Shaw's. We failed to receive full particulars of this church.

The United Brethren church at New He- bron was built in 1855-56 by individual sub- scription. Rev. Mr. Jackson was among the first ministers. Before the erection of the church, meetings were held in the school- houses throughout the neighborhood, and were participated in by all denominations- the Methodists at that time being the most numerous. Samuel Bussard and the Gear family were among the early members of the church. A Methodist Episcopal church was organized here about the time the building was erected, but the exact date was not ob- tained. From this it will be seen that the people of Honey Creek Township have never lacked for church privileges. If they are not religious, it is certainly their own fault, and they can blame none but themselves for any shortcoming charged to their account.

Villages .- The township can boast of several villages, but all of them are rather small, and have sprung up mostly since the building of the railroad. Hebron, or New Hebron, as it is now called, is an exception. It was laid out in July, 1840, by Nelson Haw-

ley, and is located on section 21 of township 6 north, range 12 west, or Honey Creek Town- ship, and was surveyed and platted by Wm. B. Baker, the official surveyor of the county. The land was entered by Dr. Hawley in 1839 and the year following he laid out the town. He practiced medicine in the neighborhood until 1850, or thereabout, when he opened a store in Hebron, the first effort at merchan- dizing in the place. He was from Ohio, and was a local preacher, as well as a physician, and administered to the soul's comforts as well as to the body's infirmities. After establish- ing a store at Hebron, he ceased the practice of medicine except in cases of emergency, when he was found always ready to lend his assistance in relieving suffering humanity. He eventually moved to Olney, where he de- voted his time wholly to the ministry. He was the first postmaster at Hebron, as well as the first merchant and physician.

Leonard Cullom opened a store in the old Hawley building after Hawley had moved to Olney. Cullom came to the county when a boy and lived for a time in old Fort Lamotte. Ile remained in business in Hebron but a short time, when he moved his goods back to Palestine. A man named Newton was the next merchant, and about 1860 John Haley opened a store. He has been in business here ever since. He keeps both the hotel and store, and is also the present postmaster.

The first house in New Hebron was built by Thomas Swearingen. A tread-wheel mill was built by Dr. Hawley at an early day, most probably the first mill in the township. It was afterward converted into a steam-mill; a saw-mill now forms a part of it. The boards for the original mill were all sawed out with whip-saws. Hezekiah Bussard was the first blacksmith; Wm. Gates was the next, and J. S. Bussard and S. H. Preston now follow the same business.

A school-house, the first built in Hebron,

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

was erected about the year 1842, and has long since passed away. It was constructed of logs and was used for all purposes. A brick school-house was built to take its place, about 1858, situated in the south part of the town. It is also gone, and the neat frame was built about ten years ago.

The village of Flat Rock was laid out April 20, 1876, by J. W. Jones. It is the old town of Flat Rock somewhat modified, and moved to the railroad. It is situated on the east half of the southeast quarter of section 6, township 5 north, range 11 west, and was sur- veyed by John Waterhouse for the proprie- tor. The first merchant was J. W. Jones, who kept a grocery store and sold whisky. He commenced business in a small way, and has been very successful. In 1876 he built a large store-house, fronting the railroad, where he still does a prosperous business. S. P. Duff was the second merchant, and started a store soon after the railroad was built. To sum up his history as it was given to us-he eloped with a neighbor's wife, and his store was closed out by creditors. I. Goff next started a dry goods store, but did not continue long in the business, when he closed out and rented his store-house to J. W. Jones. Dr. A. L. Malone established the next store, but after operating it a short time removed his stock to Palestine.

A drug store was established in Flat Rock by Dr. H. Jenner and S. R. Ford. James Kirker had started a drug store sometime previously, and sold out to Jenner and Ford, who continued about eighteen months, when they sold out to Bristow & Barton; the latter sold to A. W. Duncan who still carries on the business. Other lines of business have been opened, and Flat Rock is jus.ly con- sidered one of the best trading points in the county. A masonic lodge has been organized in the village, but of its history we failed to learn any particulars.

Duncansville is located on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 24, township 6 north, range 12 west, and was laid out September 6, 1876, for R. N. Dun- can, the owner of the land. Its existence may be accredited to the building of the railroad, as its birth has been subsequent to the com- pletion of the road. The first store was kept by T. L. Nichols. He was succeeded by A. S. Maxwell, who is still merchandizing in the place, and doing a thriving business. A saw- mill, with a shop or two, and a few resi- dences constitute all there is of the town.

Port Jackson is situated on the Embarras river about ten miles south of Robinson. It was laid out May 22, 1855, by Samuel Hanes, and years ago, was a place of some impor- tance, a point from whence shipping by flat- boats on the Embarras River was carried ou to a considerable extent. Hanes built a mill here and opened a store, and did a rather lucrative business for several years. A dis- tillery was built and operated until the be- ginning of the war. Ilanes finally moved away, and the town went down. The build- ing of the railroad, and the laying out of other towns, has buried Port Jackson beyond the hope of resurrection.

Purting Words .- This brings us to the close of the first part of this volume, the con- clusion of the history of Crawford County.

" How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use ! As though to breathe were life."

The writer has appeared in the roll of his- torian to this community probably for the last time. The task of rescuing from oblivion the annals of the county, and of preserving on record the deeds of the pioneers who have made it what it is, though an onerous, has been a pleasant one, as well from a love of the work, as that he once considered himself a part-though a very small one-of the county. That he has been permitted to dis-

fre Co. Hildon.

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

charge this duty affords him no little satis- faction. While the work may be somewhat imperfect in minor details, it is believed to be, on the whole, substantially correct. And now that it is finished, the writer strikes hands with the old pioneers, with whom his stay has been so pleasant, and with his many friends throughout the county, with a kind of mourn- ful and melancholy pleasure, conscious that

their next meeting will be beyond the beauti- ful river, for the pioneers still left, who con- stituted the advance guard-the forlorn hope of civilization in the Wabash Valley, must pass to that "bourne whence no traveler returns." It is not probable, then, that we shall meet again, and the writer with many kind remembrances of the people of Crawford County, bids them-FAREWELL.

PART II.

HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.

CHAPTER I .*

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF CLARK COUNTY-TOPOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES- GEOLOGY-COAL MEASURES-THE STORY OF THE ROCKS-BUILDING STONE- SOILS, TIMBER AND PRODUCTIONS-ARTESIAN WELL-THE MOUND BUILDERS AND THEIR WORKS-INDIAN RELICS, ETC., ETC.

" Ye mouldering relics of departed years,

Your names have perished; not a trace remains," etc. C

YLARK County, originally, was diversified , between woodland and prairie. It is situ- ated on the eastern border of the State, and is bounded on the north by Edgar and Coles Counties, on the east by the Indiana line and the Wabash River, on the south by Crawford, and on the west by Cumberland and Coles Counties. It contains ten full and eight frac- tional townships, making a total area of about five hundred and thirteen square miles. The surface of the country in the western portion of the county is generally rolling, though some of the prairies are rather flat. The eastern portion is much more broken, especial- ly in the vicinity of the Wabash bluffs, where it becomes quite hilly and is often broken into steep ridges along the courses of the small streams. The general level of the surface of the highlands above the railroad at Terre

Haute, which is a few feet above the level of high water in the Wabash, is from one hun- dred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty feet. The principal streams in the west- ern part of the county are North Fork (of the Embarras) which flows from north to south, and empties in the Embarras River in the eastern part of Jasper County; and Hurricane Creek, which rises in the south part of Edgar County, and after a general course of south twenty degrees east, discharges its waters into the Wabash River near the southeast corner of the county. In the eastern part of the county, Big Creek, and two or three of less note, after a general southeast course in this county, empty into the Wabash River. The North Fork, throughout nearly its whole course, runs through a broad, flat valley, affording no ex- posures of the underlying rocks, and the bluffs on either side are composed of drift clays, and rise from thirty to fifty feet or more above the valley, and at several points where wells have been sunk, these clays and underlying quick- sands are found to extend to an equal depth beneath the bed of the stream. The creeks

* The succeeding chapters on the county at large. have been written and prepared by Hamilton Sutton, Esq., for this volume .- ED.]

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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.

in the eastern portion of the county are skirted by bluffs of rock through some por- tion of their courses, and afford a better opportunity for determining the geological structure of the county.

Geology .*- The quarternary system is represented in this county by the alluvial deposits of the river and creek valleys, the Loess of the Wabash bluffs, the gravelly clays and hard-pan of the true drift, and the under- lying stratified sands that are sometimes found immediately above the bell rock. The drift deposits proper vary in thickness from twenty to seventy-five feet or more, the upper portion being usually a yellow gravelly clay with local beds or pockets of sand. The lower division is mainly composed of a bluish- gray hard-pan, exceedingly tough and hard to penetrate, usually impervious to water, and from thirty to fifty feet in thickness. This is underlaid by a few feet of sand, from which an abundant supply of water can be had when it can not be found at a higher level. A common method of obtaining water on the highlands of this county, where a sufficient supply is not found in the upper portion of the drift, is to sink a well into the hard-pan, and then bore through that deposit to the quicksand below, where an unfailing supply is usually obtained. Bowlders of granite, sye- nite, trap, porphyry, quartzite, etc., many of them of large size, are abundant in the drift deposits of this county, and nuggets of native copper and galena are occasionally met with, having been transported along with the more massive bowlders, by the floating ice, which seems to have been the main transporting ageney of our drift deposits.

Coul Measures .- All the rocks found in this county belong to the Coal Measures, and include all the beds from the limestone th it lies about 75 feet above Coal No. 7, to the sand-

stone above the Quarry Creek limestone, and possibly Coal No. 14 of the general section. These beds are all above the main workable coals, and although they include a total thick- ness of about 400 feet, and the horizon of five or six coal seams, yet none of them have been found in this county more than from twelve to eighteen inches in thickness. In the north- west part of the county several borings were made for oil during the oil excitement, some of which were reported to be over 900 feet in depth; but as no accurate record seems to have been kept, the expenditure resulted in no general benefit further than to determine that no deposits of oil of any value existed in the vicinity at the depth penetrated. The following record of the " old well," or "T. R .. Young Well," was furnished to Prof. Cox by Mr. Lindsey : Soil and drift clay, 23 feet; hard-pan, 30 feet; sandstone, 20 feet; mud- stone, 20 feet; coal and bituminous shale, 3 feet; sandstone, 22 feet; coal, 1 foot; sand- stone, 5 feet; clay shale-soapstone, so-called, 23 feet; blackshale, 9 feet; sandstone, 12 feet; coal, 1 foot; sandstone, 90 feet; mudstone, 2 feet; hard-rock, 1 foot; sandstone, 52 feet. The upper part of this boring corresponds very well with our general section, except in the absence of the Quarry Creek limestone, which should have been found where they report 20 feet of " mud-stone," but whatever that may have been, it seems hardly probable that such a term would be used to designate a hard and tolerably pure limestone. This well was tubed with gas-pipe for some eight or ten feet above the surface, and water, gas, and about half a gallon of oil, per day, were discharged. All the wells, so far as I could learn, discharged water at the surface, show- ing that artesian water could be readily obtained here, but it was all more or less impregnated with mineral matters and oil, sufficient to render it unfit for. common use.

* State geological survey.

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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.

The 900-foot well must have been carried quite through the Coal Measures, and if an accurate journal had been kept, the informa- tion it would have afforded would have been of great value to the people of this as well as of the adjacent counties. It would have gone far toward settling the question as to the number and thickness of the workable eoals for all this portion of the State and the depth at which they could be reached from certain specified horizons, as, for instance, from the base of the Quarry Creek or Livingston lime- stones, or from either one of their coals of the upper measures that were passed through in this boring. As it is, the expenditure was an utter waste of capital, except in so far as it may have taught those directly engaged in the operation the folly of boring for oil where there was no reasonable expectation of find- ing it in quantities sufficient to justify such an expenditure of time and money.

The beds forming the upper part of the general section in this county are exposed on Quarry Creek south of Casey and one mile and a half east of Martinsville, on the upper course of Hurricane Creek, and the Blackburn branch southeast of Parker prairie. At the quarry a mile and a half east of Martinsville, the limestone is heavy-bedded, and has been extensively quarried for bridge abutments, culverts, etc., on the old National Road. The bed is not fully exposed here, and seems to be somewhat thinner than at Quarry Creek, where it probably attains its maximum thick- ness, but thins out both to the northeast and southwest from that point. The upper part of the bed is generally quite massive, afford- ing beds two feet or more in thickness, while the lower beds are thinner, and at the base it becomes shaly, and locally passes into a green clay with thin plates and nodules of limestone. These shaly layers afford many fine fossils in a very perfect state of preservation, though they are neither as numerous nor as well pre-

served here as at the outcrops of this Jime- stone in Edgar County. Possibly the appar- ent thinning out of this limestone to the northward in this county may be due to sur- face erosion, as we nowhere saw the overlay- ing sandstone in situ, and Prof. Bradley gives the thickness of this bed in Edgar County as above 25 feet, which does not indicate a very decided diminution of its thickness in a north- easterly direction. Below this limestone, in the vicinity of Martinsville, there are partial outcrops of shale and thin-bedded sandstone, with a thin coal, probably No. 4 of the pre- ceding section, and southwest of the town and about three-quarters of a mile from it there is a partial outerop of the lower portion of the limestone in the bluff on the east side of the North Fork valley, where we obtained numerous fossils belonging to this horizon. West and northwest of Martinsville no rocks are exposed in the bluffs of the creek for some distance, but higher up partial outerops of a sandstone, probably overlaying the Quarry Creek limestone may be found.

At Quarry Creek, about a mile and a half south of Casey, on section 28, township 10, range 14, this limestone appears in full force, and has been extensively quarried, both for building stone and the manufacture of quick- lime. It is here a mottled-gray, compaet limestone, locally brecciated, and partly in regular beds from six inches to two feet or more in thickness. At least 25 to 30 feet of limestone is exposed here, and as the overly- ing sandstone is not seen, its aggregate thick- ness may be even more than the above esti- mate. At its base the limestone becomes thin-bedded and shaly, passing into a green- ish caleareous shale with thin plates and nod- ules of limestone abounding in the character- istic fossils of this horizon. At one point of this creek a bed of green shale about two feet in thickness was found intercalated in the limestone. A large amount of this stone was

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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.

quarried here for lime, for macadamizing ma- terial and for bridge abutments on the old National Road, and this locality still furnishes the needed supply of lime and building stone for all the surrounding country. At the base of the limestone here there is a partial ex- posure of bituminous shale and a thin coal, probably representing the horizon of No. 4 of the preceding section, below which some ten or twelve feet of sandy shale was seen.

On Hurricane branch, commencing on sec- tion 14, township 10, range 13, and extending down the creek for a distance of two miles or more, there are continuous outcrops of sand- stone and sandy shales-No. 12 of the county section. The upper portion is shaly with some thin-bedded sandstone, passing down- ward into a massive, partly concretionary sandstone that forms bold cliffs along the banks of the stream from twenty to thirty feet in height. At the base of this sandstone there is a band of pebbly conglomerate from one to three feet in thickness, containing fragments of fossil wood in a partially car- bonized condition, and mineral charcoal. The regularly bedded layers of this sandstone have been extensively quarried on this creek for the construction of culverts and bridge abut- ments in this vicinity, and the rock is found to harden on exposure, and proves to be a valuable stone for such uses. Some of the layers are of the proper thickness for flag- stone, and from their even bedding can be readily quarried of the required size and thickness. This sandstone is underlaid by an argillaceous shale, and a black slate which, where first observed, was only two or three inches thick, but gradually increased down stream to a thickness of about fifteen inches. The blue shale above it contains concretions of argillaceous limestone with numerous fos- sils, which indicate the horizon of No. 13 roal, and in Lawrence, White and Wabash Counties we find a well-defined coal seam as-

sociated with a similar shale containing the same group of fossils, but possibly belonging to a somewhat lower horizon.

The limestone on Joe's Fork are the equiv- alents of the Livingstone limestone, and they pass below the bed of the creek about a mile above the old mill. The sandstone overlaying the upper limestone here, when evenly bedded, is quarried for building stone, and affords a very good and durable material of this kind for common use. At the mouth of Joe's Fork the lower limestone is partly below the creek bed, the upper four feet only being visible, and above it we find clay shale two feet, coal ten inches, shale five to six feet, succeeded by the upper limestone which is here only three or four feet thick. The upper limestone at the outerop here is thinly and unevenly bedded and weathers to a rusty brown color. The lower limestone is more heavily bedded, but splits to fragments on exposure to frost and moisture. It is of a mottled gray color when freslily broken, but weathers to a yellowish-brown. Fossils were not abundant in either bed, but the lower afforded a few specimens of Athyris Subtilita, a coral like Heliophyllum, Productus costa- tus and Terebratula bovidens. At Mr. Spangler's place, on Section 12 in Melrose Township, a hard brittle, gray limestone ont- crops on a branch of Mill Creek. The bed is about eight feet in thickness, and is under- laid by a few feet of partly bituminous shale and a thin coal from six to eight inches thick.

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History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois, Part 26

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 826

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 826