History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois, Part 33

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 33
USA > Illinois > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois > Part 33

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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averted, that milder counsels would prevail, that some plans of pacification could be united upon. But all in vain, and when in the twilight calm of a southern morning a screaming shell burst over Sumter, its rever- aberations echoed from sea to sea, and aroused a mighty nation to arms. How little did the actors in that opening scene dream of the horrors that were to follow!

In response to the first call for troops, in early May, 1861, a company was at once enlisted, with: Edwin Harlan as captain, and Nineveh S. MeKeen and A. G. Austin as first and second lieutenants. It was afterward assigned to and became Company " H," 2Ist Infantry, of which U. S. Grant was colonel, and then began his illustrious military career. The next were Company " G," 10th Infantry, and Company " B," 2d Artillery. As the war progressed old Clark, true to her aneestry, sent company after company. She was rep- resented by Companies " F," of the 30th; " G," of the 5tth; "C," of the 62d; "G," of the "0th; "I," of the 79th; "K," of the 130th, and " G," of the 152d Regiments of Illinois In- fantry. She had Company " K " in Ist Mis- souri Cavalry; her sons fought in the 14th Indiana. She was represented by detach- ments in Illinois and other State regiments other than above mentioned. Space pre- eludes an extended mention of each, and comparisons would be invidious. Suffice it to say they fought and died as freemen, and shed imperishable glory on the arms of the State. Clark, throughout that long and des- perately eontested war, sent 1,560 men to the field, over one tenth her population at the time, of which number it is safe to say, one eighth never returned.

Old Clark was largely represented in the War of the Rebellion, and her sons fought in nearly every important battle in the south and southwest. They were in that gallant host that captured Forts Henry and Donel-

son. They stood in the murderous hail at Crab Orchard and Stone River. They stormed at Lookout midst hissing shot and hurtling shell, and planted the banner of their coun- try amid the war and shoek of battle upon his dizzy crest. At Chickamauga they rallied around that " Rock of the Union," General Thomas, and aided in stemming the tide of inglorious defeat. They charged at Fred- ericktown and fought at Mission Ridge. Their blood crimsoned the fated field of Shiloh, and reddened the sod at Atlanta. They were in the sieges of Vicksburg and Mobile, at Corinth and the Wilderness. Before Nash- ville, at Franklin and Five Forks. They were in that wonderful masterpiece of modern warfare, unequaled in its boldness of concep- tion and execution in the history of the world, in that army that swept to the sea, and thence north ward through the Carolinas and Virginia. They wore out their lives in weary waiting and hopeless captivity amidst the cruelty and disease of loathsome prison pens, and their ashes repose at Andersonville and Tyler. The bones of her children rest in unmarked graves along the lonely bayous of Texas and Louisiana. In the dusky glades of the Wilder- ness, in the sunny savannahs of Georgia, at the foot of frowning Lookout. And their bones reposing on the fields they helped to win, and in the graves they fill, are a perpet- ual pledge that no flag shall ever wave over their silent dust but the flag they died to maintain.

Herewith are appended the muster-rolls of the two companies furnished by Clark County, during the Black Hawk War, and also the names of those who served during the war with Mexico. They are appended in the belief that it is eminently appropriate that the names and memories of these gallant men should be perpetuated within the pages of this work, and that it will be a matter of in- terest to their descendants, for generations to

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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.

come. The first company raised in the Black Ilawk War, was that of William B. Archer, of which mention has heretofore been made. It was known as Capt. Royal A. Knott's company of the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Brigade, Illinois Mounted Volunteers, called into the service of the United States by the Governor's proclamation of May 15, 1832, and mustere l out August 15, 1832.

The following is the roster:

Daniel Poorman, 1st Lieut.

George W. Young, 2d Lieut. discharged July 21, 1832. Lost mare.

Sergeants .- Stephen Archer, John Fears, James Lockard, Oliver C. Lawell.

Corporals .- William T. McClure, James Duolap, discharged July 31, 1832; Noah B auchamp, discharged July 31, 1833; John W. Thompson, lost mare, saddle, bridle and blanket.

Privates .- Jesse K. Archer, Daniel Boone, lost horse, strayed away; Samuel Burk, lost horse; William Bostick, George Berry, Thos. F. Bennett, Theophilus Cooper, lost his horse; Joel Cowen, Chalkley L. Cooper, lost mare; Jeremiah Crip, lost mare; Martin L. Cheno- weth, Alexander H. DeHart, discharged July 21, 1832; Lorenzo D. DeHart, disch. July 21, 1832; Alhanan Davis, Daniel Davis, Samuel Dalson, furloughed, Aug. 9, 1832; Andrew Fleming, discharged July, 21, 1832; Ahalis Fanin, horse worn out; Phineas Fears, lost his blanket; Martin Grove, John B. Grant, James E. Henderson, Hez. A. Henderson, Sanford Johnson, Moses Kenney, discharged July 21, 1832; Marshall Lafferty, Artemas Lathrop, William MeCabe, John McCabe, John McGuire, Thomas Minor, Benj. Ogden, sick and furloughed June 21; Nehemiah Ogden, Absalom O. Peters, Samuel Poorman, discharged July 21; Samuel Prevo, furloughad August 2, 1832; Ira Prevo, Ebenezer Payne, discharged July 21; Lyman B. Squires, Elon Sharp, lost blanket; James Shaw, Elijah Staf-

ford, discharged July 21; John Van Winkle lost his blanket; John Waters, lost his horse; Thomas Wade, Thomas White, lost his horse.

This company of volunteers assembled in Darwin, Clark County, Illinois, May 31st, 1832, and then and there elected officers; and from that place marched June 3, 1832, and under the Governor's order rendezvoused at Hennepin, on the Illinois river, June 11; next day marched and arrived at Fort Wilbourn, Lower Rapid, Illinois river, and the company was mustered into the United States' service June 19th, 1832.

August 15, 1832, (signed) Royal A. Knott, Captain .

The next command was Captain John F. Richardson's company, of Spy Battalion, 2d Brigade Illinois Militia Mounted Volunteers, called into service same as company forego- ing; organized June 5, 1832, marched to Fort Wilbourn and was mustered into the service of the United States June 19, 183?, and mus- tered out at Dixon's Ferry, Rock River, Illi- nois, August 15, 1832.

The following is the roster:

Woodford Dunlaney, 1st Lieut. furloughed August 4, 1832; Justin Harlan, 21 Lieut. fur- loughed August 4, 1832.

Sergeants .- Jacob Dolson, John Wilson, lost horse, saddle and bridle; Asher V. Bur- well, lost saddle and spancels; Robert David- son, horse gave out, left at Ft. Winnebago.

Corporals .- Christian Jeffers, Nathan Hal- lenbeck, Richard Ross, George Wilson.

Privates .- Zeno A. Ashmore, Samuel M. Biggs, furnished Martin L. Ashmore, as subst .; Franklin Cooper, lost horse and saddle; Daniel Davidson, Aspano Elliot, Andrew Hadden, supposed to have been discharged; Samuel Hadden, supposed to have been dis- charged; Joseph Hogue, supposed to have been discharged; George Johnson, supposed to have been discharged; John Kerr, sup- posed to have been discharged; Conrad F.

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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.

Locker, lost his horse; Joseph W. Markle, Stephen Nott, Nineveh Shaw, appointed ad- jutant; Cyrus Sharp, Martin Thomas, Robert Taylor, deserted June 20; James Williams, Gideon B. White, Samuel White, lost his gun and blankets; Luther White, Robert White, Tarleton Wheeler, lost his horse; Alexander Yocum, Abel Laugham, supposed to be dis- charged.

Mexican War .- As has been elsewhere re- marked, Clark had no distinct organization in the war with Mexico. After the rejection, by the governor, of the company from this county, several of its members enlisted in other organizations, and served through the war. The following list is reasonably accu- rate, though others may have served whose names are not embraced within it.

In company "K," Capt. Lyman Mowers, of the First Regiment Illinois Foot Volun- teers, commanded by Colonel John J. Hardin,

were the following privates: David Dolson, Isaac English, Stephen Elam, Lyman Guin- nip, Jonathan Groves, Luther Groves, Aus- tin Handy, Cyrus Lathrop and W. H. Robin- son. They were enrolled June 18, 1846, at Alton, and were discharged June 17, 1847, at Camargo, Mexico. In company " D," Captain W. W. Bishop, of the Third Regiment, Illi- nois Volunteers, Col. Ferris Forman, were Sergeant Burns Harlan, left wounded in hospital at Vera Cruz, May 7, 1847, and Corporal James C. Robinson. Their company participated in the siege of Vera Cruz, and at the battle of Cerro Gordo, and was dis- charged at New Orleans, May 21, 1847. In company "H," Captain John S. McConkey, of the Fourth Regiment, under Col. E. D. Baker, was Robert H. Eaton, discharged Oc- tober 13, 1846, in Mexico, on surgeon's cer- tificate of disability.

CHAPTER V.

EDUCATIONAL-FIRST STEPS TOWARD KNOWLEDGE-SCHOOL LANDS AND THE FUND DERIVED FROM THEM-THE DUNCAN SCHOOL LAW-TAXES FOR EDUCATION- AL PURPOSES-CHANGES OF THE SCHOOL LAWS-FIRST SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTY-EARLY TEMPLES OF LEARNING AND PIONEER TEACHERS-ACADEMIES AND COL- LEGES-STATISTICS, ETC., ETC.

"'Tis education forms the common mind; Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined." AS early as 1647, the question of educating the masses through the medium of com- mon schools was agitated in New England. In that year, an act was passed, to enable " every child rich and poor alike, to learn to read its own language." This was followed by another act, giving to every town or district, having fifty householders, the right to have a common school, and to every town or district having one hundred families, a grammar school taught by teachers competent to pre- pare youths for college. An eminent writer, in after years, commenting upon this aet, states it to be the " first instance in Christen- dom where a civil government took measures to confer upon its youth the blessings of edu- (Ition." " And never before," he adds, " was embodied in practice, a principle so compre- hensive in its nature, and so fruitful in good results, as that of training a nation of intelli- gent people, by educating all of its youth." When our forefathers, nearly a century and a half later, declared in the ordinance of 1787, that "knowledge, with religion and morality was necessary to the good government and happiness of mankind," they struck the key- note of American liberty.

The educational history of the county, should interest every reader of this work, more perhaps than any other subject men-

tioned and treated in the general history of Clark. When the survey of the Northwest territory was ordered by Congress, it was de- creed that every sixteenth seetion of land should be reserved for the maintenance of public schools within each township. The fa- mous ordinance of July 13, 1287, proclaimed that "schools and the means of education, should forever be encouraged." B. the aet of Congress of April 18, 1818, enabling the people of Illinois to form a Sta e Constitution, the " section numbered sixteen in every town- ship, and when such section has been sold, or otherwise disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, should be granted to the State, for the use of the in- habitants of such township for the support of schools. The act further recites, "That five per cent of the net proceeds of the lands ly- ing within said State, and which shall be sold by Congress from and after the first day of January, 1819, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be reserved for the purposes following: two fifths to be dis- bursed under the direction of Congress, in making roads leading to the State; the resi- due to be appropriated by the Legislature of the State for the encouragement of learning, of which one sixth part shall be exclusively bestowed on a college or university." In other words, Congress donated to the State a full township, six miles square, for seminary

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purposes, and the thirty-sixth part of all the residue of public lands in the State, and three per cent of the net proceeds of the sales of the remainder, to support common schools, and promote education in the then infant State. Truly a most magnificent and princely dona- tion and provision for education. The six- teenth section, so donated, amounted in the State to nearly a million acres; in Clark Coun- ty, to about nine thousand acres.

Laws were first made directing county com- inissioners courts to appoint three trustees for the school land in each township, where the inhabitants of such townships numbered twenty white persons. The first school trust- ees in Clark County, were appointed Decem- ber 2, 1819, and were Samuel Prevo, William Lockard and William B. Archer, for Union, or what is now York township; Charles Neely, Zaccheus Hassel and John McClure for Du- bois, now Darwin township; Thomas Black, Richard Armstrong and Samuel Peery for Washington, now Wabash township; Jona- than Mayo, Lewis Murphy and John Stratton for a township then in this county, and lying about seven miles north of the present town of Paris. The commissioners also appointed three trustees for the school section lying two miles east of the city of Danville then in this county. These trustees had power to lease the school lands at public outcry, after twen- ty days notice, to the highest bidder, for any period not exceeding ten years, the rents to be paid in improvements, or in shares of the products raised. The laws were crude, and fell far short of their intended object. The school lands under the lessee or rental arrange- ment, yielded little or no revenue; many of the renters having no title to, nor common in- terest in the land, only opened and cultivated enough for a bare support, and of course pro- duced nothing to divide. Then squatters took possession of a considerable portion, and wasted the timber, and in many ways depre-

ciated the value of the lands. As a result, the cause of education languished, and was at a stand-still for years. There were a great many influences and obstacles in the way of a general diffusion of knowledge. The settle- ments were sparse, and money or other means of remunerating teachers were scarce. And teachers competent to impart even the com- mon rudiments of an English education were few and school books were fewer.

This state of affairs continued until 1825, when Joseph Duncan, then a member of he State senate, and afterwards joint owner with W. B. Archer, of the lands on which Mar- shall is situated, introduced a bill for the sup- port of common schools by a public tax. The preamble to the act, appended, was as follows: "To enjoy our righs and liberties, we must understand them; their security and protection ought to be the first object of a free people; and it is a well-established fact, that no nation has ever continued long in the enjoyment of civil and political freedom, which was not both virtuous and enlightened; and believing that the advancement of litera- ture always has been, and ever will be the means of developing more fully the rights of man; that the mind of every citizen in a re- public is the common property of society; and constitutes the basis of its strength and happiness; it is therefore considered the pe- culiar duty of a free government, like ours, to encourage and extend the improvement and cultivation of the intellectual energies of the whole."

¿ This admirable law gave education a power- ful impetus, and common schools flourished in almost every settlement. But the law was in advance of the civilization of the times. The early settlers had left the older States, and plunged into the wilderness, braving countless dangers and privations, in order to better their individual fortunes, and to escape the burdens of taxation, which advanced re-

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finement and culture in any people, invariably impose. Hence the law was the subject of much bitter opposition. The very idea of a tax was so hateful, that even the poorest preferred to pay all that was necessary for the tuition of their children, or keep them in ignorance, as was generally the case, rather than submit to the mere name of tax. This law, is the foun- dation upon which rests the superstructure of the common school system of to-day. In fact, our present educational laws contain nearly all its salient and distinctive features. The law provided for the division of town- ships into school districts, in each of which were elected three trustees, corresponding to directors of the present day, one clerk, one treasurer, one assessor and one collector. The trustees of each district, had supreme control and management of the school within the same, and the employment of teachers and fixing their remuneration. They were re- quired to make an annual report to the county commissioners court of the number of chil- dren living within the bounds of such district, between the ages of five and twenty-one years, and what number of them were act- nally sent to school, with a certificate of the time a school was kept up, with the expenses of the same. Persons over the age of twenty- one years, were permitted to attend school upon the order of the trustees. And it was no uncommon thing for men beyond the meridian of life, to be seen at school with their chil- dren. The law required teachers at the close of their sehools, to prepare schedules, giving alphabetically, the names of attending pupils, with their ages, the total number of days each pupil attended, the aggregate number of days attended, the average daily attend- ance, and the standing of each scholar. This schedule was submitted to the trustees for their approval, as no teacher was paid any remuneration, except on presentation to the treasurer of his schedule, signed by a ma-

jority of the trustees. The law further pro- vided that all common schools should be main- tained and supported by a direct public tax. School taxes were payable either in money or in produce, and teachers would take the produce at market price, or if there was no current value, the price was fixed by arbitra- tion. Peltries were received in full payment of school taxes. It is related that the salary of a teacher named Malcom, for a ten weeks school, was once paid wholly in coon skins. And that the pedagogue carried them on his back to Vincennes, a distance of over thirty miles, and there disposed of them.

When this wise and wholesome law was repealed by the Legislature, General Duncan wrote, as if gifted with prophecy, "That com- ing generations would see the wisdom of his law, and would engraft its principles on their statute books; that changes in the condition of society, might render different applications of the same necessary, but that the principle was eternal and the essence of free and enlightened governments." "And," he ad- ded, " legislators who voted against the measure, will yet live to see the day, when all the children of the State will be educated through the medium of common schools, sup- ported and maintained by a direct tax upon the people, the burden falling upon the rich and poor in proportion to their worldly pos- sessions." These predictions are yellow with the years of a half century and over, and have been faithfully fulfilled and verified.

The Duncan School Law, as it was called, remained in force only a little over two years, when it was repealed. It was, substantially, that the legal voters of any school district, had power, at any of their meetings, to cause either the whole or one half of the sum necessary to maintain and conduct a school in said district, to be raised by taxation. And if the voters decided that only one half of such required amount was to be so raised, the

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remainder was to be paid by the parents, masters and guardians, in proportion to the number of pupils which each of them might send to such school. No person, however, could be taxed for the support of any free school, unless by his or her consent first ob- tained in writing. Though all persons re- fusing to be taxed, were precluded from sending pupils to such school. In almost every district there were those who had no children to educate, and then there was an uncivilized element of frontier life, who be- lieved education was a useless and unnec- essary accomplishment, and only needful to divines and lawyers. That bone and muscle, and the ability to labor, were the only re- quirements necessary to fit their daughters and sons for the practical duties of life. A proverb then current, was: " The more book learning, the more rascals." To quote a localisin of the day: "Gals didn't need to know nothin' about books, and all that boys orter know, was how to grub, maul rails and hunt." That senseless prejudice, born of the civilization of the time, has descended in a slight degree to the present, and yet tinges the complexion of society in some localities in our county.

The law required the trustees, when they deemed it expedient, to divide the township into school districts, so that each district should not contain a less number than eighteen scolars; and that the funds arising from the rents of school-lands, should be paid over to the several districts, in proportion to the number of attending scholars, to be ap- plied toward employing a school teacher, etc. At this time, 1827-8, there were only three or four schools in the county. This law was repealed January 22, 1829, and a law enacted the same date, provided that the sixteenth section, given by the government to each township, might be sold upon petition of nine

tenths of the freeholders of the township, to the trustees of school lands, the proceeds to be loaned on real estate and personal security, and the interest to be applied toward the payment of teachers. The lands not to be sold for less than government price, one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. This law was repealed in turn, by an act of the Legislature of February 15, 1831, which provided that three fourths of the white male inhabitants of any township could petition for the sale of their school section, the pro- ceeds to be loaned at the highest obtainable rate of interest. The law furthur provided, that any five citizens, of any school district, could borrow any sum not exceeding two hundred dollars, for a period not exceeding ten years, for the purpose of erecting a school- house.

Not one of all these laws embodied, nor did they for many years after, embody, a standard of qualifications for teachers. All that was necessary, was for the instructor to satisfy the people and trustees hiring them. As a consequence, many of the early schools were of a poor description. The teachers, as a rule, were illiterate, their acquirements con- sisting of a smattering knowledge of the trinal branches of early day teaching, namely: reading, writing and ciphering, which were then considered to comprise all needful learn- ing. Geography, history and grammar, were never taught, the latter being considered as especially useless and superfluous. Once at at a debate, where the question, "whether or not grammar was necessary to learning," was discussed, a pioneer teacher paralyzed his opponents, and demolished their argu- ment, by declaring that "grammar was like the top-knot of a jay bird-more for ornament than for use." "For," he con- tinued, "what difference does it make whether a fellow says onions or ingens, so he

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can figger, and tell what five and a half bushels come to at twenty-three and three fourths cents a bushel."

A portion of the school fund received from the State, known as the "State Interest Fund," and which has been paid regularly for over half a century for the support of common schools, occurred substantially in this way: In 1828 the practice of selling the school lands was first inaugurated. The sys- tem was continued under various laws, to follow which, through all their ramifications, would necessitate tedious prolixity, and be of no interest to the reader. The proceeds of such sales, together with the 3 per cent of the net proceeds of the sale of public lands, were paid into the State treasury, and were disbursed by legislative authority, as other moneys. But the State only borrowed these funds, and agreed to pay interest on them. Under the law trustees of school lands were authorized to invest the funds resulting from their sale in auditor's warrants, and State paper, as the notes of the State bank were then called, at any discount they were able to proenre. These vouchers were received by the State at face value, and interest was paid on them at the rate of 2 per cent per annum to February 15, 1831, when the interest was added to the principal, the State paying 6 per cent interest on the aggregate, and so on, adding the yearly interest to the princi- pal, until December 31, 1833, when the total amount became the principal, to which has been added all amounts since received, and on the total the State pays an annual interest, which is distributed yearly among the coun- ties, the share of each being proportioned to its school population.

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History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois, Part 33

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