USA > Illinois > DuPage County > History of Du Page County, Illinois (Historical, Biographical) > Part 9
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We subjoin a few instances, showing how summarily a certain class of claim difficulties were disposed of. Many more might be added, but let these suffice.
Two neighbors owned adjoining claims, and at the time of the organization of the claim society, their land was being surveyed by the Government surveyor. One of the men hap- pened to be a member of the society, and the other, not. It so happened that the random line, run by the surveyor, cut off a portion of the claim of the first, and left it in such a man- ner that the other would be entitled to a pre- emption upon it. When he discovered this, he refused to deed the land to the one who claimed it. Persuasion was used in vain. He thought he had the advantage of his neighbor, and de- termined to keep it. In a few days, however,
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matters assumed a different light, and then the line was established so as to give back to the society man not only what he claimed, but also a large corner from his neighbor's tract, and now he was entitled to a pre-emption. The ob- stinate man was thus induced to join the socie- ty, and take upon himself the obligation to " deed and re-deed." After being kept in sus- pense for awhile, by way of punishment, his land was again restored to him. .
There were many of the settlers who did not join the claim societies, but among all bona-fide settlers there prevailed a determination to pro- tect each other. The first trouble arising from " claim jumping," was in 1836, or thereabouts. respecting the claim of a Mr. Frothingham, in the town of Milton. A family of squatters came on and took possession of a portion of his claim, without leave or license, and were deter- mined to remain there in spite of entreaty or physical force. The settlement was apprised of this state of affairs, and a company of about fifty horseman proceeded to the cabin of the in- corrigible squatters, who, on seeing them, broke for tall timber, leaving but one occupant in the cabin, an old lady who had passed the running point. The sum of $17 was raised among the company to indemnify the family for sundry outlays which they had made upon the prem- ises. This the old lady received upon condi- tion that the family should quit the claim without delay. To expedite the execution of her part of the contract, the settlers fell to work and assisted in the removal of the furniture from the house, and in clearing the premises of everything that belonged to the family. After this had been done, the house was torn down and the rubbish thrown into a heap near by, preparatory to kindling a bonfire, when the "meeting " was called to order and several stump speeches, of a decidedly inflammatory · character, were made. We are not in posses- sion of the minutes of those speeches, but have been informed that the Hon. Nathan Allen
figured quite conspicuously in this part of the exercises. His speech on that occasion is spoken of as being one of his most felicitous and pointed " efforts." When the speech-mak- ing had subsided, fire was set to the heap of promiscuous ruins, and the hut of the interlop- ers was soon reduced to ruins. The conduct of the settlers in this case proved a warning to future intruders, and claim-jumping was rarely heard of in that part of the county afterward.
A man from Plumb Grove happened to be on his way to the Naper settlement, and passed near the place while the affair just described was taking place. Seeing the smoke ascend from the spot, and hearing the universal uproar among the settlers, he concluded at once that a party of Indians was there, killing and laying waste. Turning from the beaten track which led near the house, he made a circuit around the " marauders," and lashing his horses to their utmost speed, rode to the settlement, warning everybody to flee for their lives. The cause of his fright was pretty generally under- stood, and therefore he did not succeed in get- ting up a very serious alarm.
A few years after, a contention arose respect- ing the Tullis claim, which was situated in the same neighborhood. Under a pre-emption law passed about that time, a man by the name of Harmond undertook to pre-empt a portion of the claim of Mr. Tullis, who had already ob- tained possession of it under a former pre- emption act. In order to comply with the provisions of the later act, Harmond built a pen of small poles near the center of his claim, stayed in it only one night, and started immedi- ately for Chicago, to prove his pre-emption. On his return, he commenced making repairs upon an old block-house which was already built upon his " quarter," and being asked why he was doing it, replied that he had pre-empted that claim, and was going to live there. This aroused the indignation of the neighboring squatters, who called a meeting to take into
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consideration the conduct of Mr. Harmond. He, being present, was advised to relinquish his claim, but he positively refused to do it, and at the same time threw out some pretty savage threats against the settlers, in case they at- tempted to remove him by force. After a long consultation, it was concluded that the building on the premises should be torn down if he did not abandon it without delay. At this decis- ion, Harmond became greatly exasperated, and, having his rifle with him, threatened to fire upon "the first man who should tear off a board." Whereupon a fearless Quaker gentle- man stepped forth and remarked to Mr. Har- mond that if he designed to put that threat into execution he had better begin by shooting at him, as he considered himself a mark of suffi- cient magnitude for a claim jumper to shoot at, anyhow. The old Quaker was soon joined by Lyman Butterfield, who addressed Mr. Har- mond in pretty much the same strain, inform- ing him that if he was not willing to waste his powder on one man, he would offer the addi- tional inducement of placing his own body in fair range, so that he might at least kill " two birds with one stone." But Harmond could not be prevailed upon to shoot, and so the party proceeded to the disputed claim, tearing down the house, and removing every vestige of former occupancy. Before ten minutes had elapsed, after the decision of the council of settlers, this was done, and Mr. Harmond was sent on his way to other parts, not rejoicing, but uttering the most awful denunciations against such ungentlemanly treatment.
In justice to a numerous class of our early settlers, we deem it appropriate to introduce here a brief notice of a society which was formed in 1834, and known as the " Hognatorial Coun- cil." We haveransacked all the dead languages we ever heard of in order to obtain for our readers some clew to the origin of this pronomen, but have been signally defeated in the under- taking. Its origin is altogether too obscure for
us, and we leave the task of tracing it to pro- fessional archeologists. The object of the " council " seems to have been the settling of a peculiar class of claim difficulties, which were not taken cognizance of by the bona fide claim committee, and its operations were designed to burlesque the proceedings of that committee, as well as to ridicule courts in general. All disputes brought before the " Hognatorial " were settled in a summary and satisfactory manner. We can illustrate this remark with but one instance, which occurred in the south part of the county. A man by the name of Clark, who was firmly grounded in Midship- man Easy's doctrine of " what belongs to my neighbor belongs also to me." made a " claim ' upon another man's land, lying somewhere on the Du Page River. Finding that peaceable and quiet possession was impossible, he applied to a gentleman who happened to be posted in " hognatorial matters " for advice. He was, of course, advised to bring the matter before the " Hognatorial Council," as that was the only reliable tribunal having jurisdiction over such grievances. His case was prepared by Nathan Allen, a man of superior legal attainments. and upon a certain day the Hognatorial Council room was crowded to witness the proceedings in the case. Allen opened the case by giving to the jury a plain, unvarnished statement of the faets, and closed it by a most pathetic ap- peal to their sense of justice in behalf of his wronged and injured client. Several witnesses were called upon to testify, and the upshot of the testimony was that Mr. Clark had a claim commencing at a certain point on Du Page River, but in what direction his lines ran from that point it was impossible to ascertain. Sev- eral hours were occupied in examining wit- nesses, during which time Clark kept a boy running to and fro between the " council cham- ber " and his house, to inform his wife of the different phases which the case assumed as the trial progressed. At length the testimony was
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all in, the closing argument made, and the case submitted to the jury. There was but one point left for the jury to act upon, and that re- lated particularly to the boundary of Clark's claim. They were out but a short time, and re- turned the following verdict : "We, the jurors in this case, decide that Mr. Clark is justly en- titled to a piece of land lying on the Du Page
River, and described as follows, to wit : Com- mencing at a certain point on the east bank of said river, and running perpendicular to the horizon straight up." This was enough for Clark. He hastened to communicate the result to his waiting, anxious wife, and afterward pro- ceeded to the tavern and got ingloriously drunk over the result of his victorious suit.
CHAPTER V.
FIRST INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY INTO THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA-FIRST ANTI-SLAVERY LITERA- TURE-SOUTHERN ORIGIN OF ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES-ACTION OF THE QUAKERS-"THE GENIUS OF UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION"-EARLY ABOLITIONISTS-THE OLD FEDERAL PARTY-ORIGIN OF THE DEMOCRATIC AND WHIG PARTIES-ORIGIN OF THE RE- PUBLICAN PARTY -GOV. COLES- ELIHU B. WASIIBURNE-STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS-ABRAHAM LINCOLN-THE "WESTERN CITIZEN" INTRODU- CES ABOLITIONISM INTO CHICAGO-ITS EFFECT-ILLINOIS THE FIRST STATE TO TAKE POLITICAL ACTION IN THE ABOLI- TION MOVEMENT-JOHN BROWN-FORT SUMTER.
T THE history of the war of the rebellion has been written by several of the ablest men our country has produced as political econo- mists and authors ; and while these men have given us the fundamental principles that ruled in the issue, and even told how these principles gathered force in the councils of the nation, none of them have made an historical record of the special events from the first, which, step by step, produced the cause for which the issue came into being. Nor have they biographically sketched the men who were the instruments by which the great change in public opinion was wrought, that finally became an "irrepressible conflict," to be decided by the sword only. This as yet unwritten chapter in history may be appropriately introduced here to precede the war record of Du Page County.
Among the first American anti-slavery lit- erature to be found sinec we became a nation are some tracts in the private library of George Washington, which library was purebased by
some Boston gentleman, and presented to the Boston Athenæum for preservation, where they may now be found. Next in order, exclusively anti-slavery, may be cited an oration upon the moral and political evils of slavery, delivered at a public meeting of the Maryland Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, July 4, 1791, by George Buchanan, M. D., member of the American Philosophical Society, Baltimore ; printed by Philip Edwards, 1793, and re-printed by Robert Clark & Co., Cincinnati, in 1873, as an appendix to an address by William F. Poole on early anti-slavery opinions, delivered before tlie Cincinnati Literary Club in 1872. Dr- Buchanan's oration was a forcible argument against slavery, for which he received a vote of thanks from the society before whom it was de- livered. He was born near Baltimore, Septem- ber 19, 1763, and died at Philadelphia of yellow fever in 1807, while in the discharge of his duties as a physician.
In Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, which were
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written in 1781-82, oeeur paragraphs condem- ning slavery in forcible language, and canvassing different plans for its extinction. In these sen- timents Mr. Jefferson was sustained by a very respectable constituency of Southern men, among whom was George Wythe, of William and Mary College.
Says Mr. Poole in his address already re- ferred to : " There never has been a time since 1619, when the first slave ship-a Dutch man- of-war-entered James River, in Virginia, when in our country there were not persons protest- ing against the wickedness and impolicy of the African slave trade, and of the domestic slave system. Slavery was introduced into the American colonies against the wislies of the settlers by the avarice of British traders, and with the connivance of the British Government. In 1772, the Assembly of Virginia petitioned the throne of England to stop the importation of slaves, using language as follows : ' We are encouraged to look up to the throne and implore your Majesty's paternal assistance in averting a calamity of a most alarming nature. The importation of slaves into the colonies from the coast of Africa hath long been considered as a trade of great inhumanity, and under its present encouragement, we have great reason to fear, will endanger the very existence of your Maj- esty's dominion."
No notice was taken of the petition by the erown, from which it is manifest that slavery was enforced upon America by the mother country,
Even while the first erude thoughts of the American Revolution were revolving in the minds of our fathers, an anti-slavery society was formed by the Quakers at Sun Tavern in Philadelphia, April 14, 1775.
The next year, 1776, the Quakers disowned such of their members as continued to hold slaves over the lawful age.
Patrick Henry in a letter dated January 18, 1773, to Robert Pleasants, afterward President
of the Virginia Abolition Society, said : “ Be- lieve me I shall honor the Quakers for their noble efforts to abolish slavery. * *
* I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil." The first anti-slavery society took the name of the society for the relief of free negroes unlawfully held in bondage. It met four times in 1775, but on account of the Revolutionary war did not meet again till February, 1784, the next year after peace. Benjamin Franklin was Pres- dent and Benjamin Rush Secretary of this so- ciety in 1787.
A society in New York was established for the manumission of slaves January 25, 1785, of which John Jay was President, and Alexan- der Hamilton his successor.
The foregoing are only a few of the leading anti-slavery societies which sprung into exis- tence in the first half-century of our Govern- ment. The American Colonization Society was formed in 1816, for the purpose of freeing slaves and sending them to Africa, but this was found to be of but little avail in the immense work to be accomplished. In 1827, there were 136 aboli- tion societies in the United States, 106 of which were in slave-holding States. Many of the later established ones of these, were the result of Benjamin Lundy's efforts, who was the main connecting link between the old societies founded by the Revolutionary fathers and the more modern Abolitionists, who revised the work that they begun, and carried it on to suc- cess amidst a storm of abuse, and sometimes great personal violence.
Mr. Lundy was a Hicksite Quaker, born in New Jersey January 4, 1789. In 1821, he commenced the publication of The Gen- ius of Universal Emancipation at Mount Pleasant, Ohio. This name to his paper was borrowed from Grattan's eloquent speech on the abolition of slavery in the British Do- minion. His paper was removed to Tennessee, where it was continued till it was again re-
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moved to Baltimore in 1825, and afterward to Philadelphia, where it was continued till de- stroyed by a mob at the burning of Pennsyl- vania Hall in 1837.
Mr. Lundy, then undaunted by the murder of Elijah P. Lovejoy, went to Illinois to con- tinue the work he had begun there by resuming the publication of the Genius, where his prede- cessor had lost his life in the same cause.
William Lloyd Garrison, William Goodell, Joshua Leavitt, Arthur Tappan and many other leaders of the anti-slavery movement owe their convictions to Lundy's teachings. His paper was largely patronized by prominent men in the Slave States. In an August num- ber of the Genius, 1825, a statement is made showing that there were more subscribers to the paper in North Carolina than in any other State. He died at Lowell, Ill., August 22, 1839.
William Lloyd Garrison was born at New- buryport, Mass., December 12, 1804, and when very young, his father died, and he was left to the care of a Christian mother. When only nine years old, he was apprenticed to a shoe- maker, but found his health would not permit him to continue the trade. He then, after some efforts to secure the advantages of an academy, became apprenticed to the publisher of a paper in his native town, and, while learn- ing this trade, kept up his studies and began to contribute for the press. At the age of twenty-four, he became editor and proprietor of a paper at Newburyport, but this enterprise was not a success. In 1827, he became editor of a total abstinence journal in Boston, which was united later with a temperance and political paper in Bennington, Vt. Subsequently, he united with Benjamin Lundy, a Quaker, in the publication of The Genius of Universal Eman- cipation, at Athens, Ohio, where his nncompro- mising spirit soon manifested itself, and Gar- rison was imprisoned for libel. His fine was paid by A. Tappan, and Garrison went to Bos- ton, where, January 1, 1831, be issued the first
number of the historical Liberator. He started without money, and did not have even an office. In 1832, he visited England, where he was well received by many of the leaders of public opinion. When the American Anti- Slavery Society was organized at Philadelphia, he took a prominent part in the work. He lectured frequently, and was on one occasion dragged through the streets of Boston by a mob for pleading the cause of the bondman. Garrison was persecuted greatly, and the Gov- ernor of Georgia once offered $5,000 for his arrest. The warfare he waged against slavery was continued until the slaves were set free, and January 1, 1866, he published the last number of the Liberator. From that time till his death, which occurred May 24, 1879, he was engaged in writing on various topics.
Benjamin Franklin Wade was born in Spring- field, Mass., October 27, 1800. Like Garrison, and many of the most eminent men of this country, his early life was a struggle to obtain an education-a struggle which was success- ful. In 1826, he began the study of law, and two years after, was admitted to the bar in Ashtabula County, Ohio. In 1847, he was chosen Presiding Judge of the Third District of the State, and in 1851 was elected United States Senator, and re-elected in 1857 and 1863. In 1865, he became President pro tem. of the Senate and Acting Vice President of the United States. In March, 1867, he was elected President of the Senate. Senator Wade was a strong anti-slavery leader, a stalwart Union man, and advocated the homestead bill for years, and it was in his charge that it finally passed through the Senate. He was a member of the San Domingo Commission, and favored the annexation of that island to the United States. His death occurred March 2, 1878, at Jefferson, Ohio.
T. Allan was born in Middle Tennessee, and grew to manhood in Huntsville, Ala. In 1832, he went to Lane Seminary at Cincinnati, Ohio,
Loel Wianh
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and soon afterward took an active part in slavery disenssions by the students of that institution, always advocating abolitionism. This banished him from his father's house in Alabama and also from Lane Seminary, to- gether with many other anti-slavery agitators among the conscientious students. Mr. Allan then took the lecture field, and became agent of the anti-slavery society in Ohio and West- ern New York and also in Illinois. For ten years this was his main work. He now lives at Geneseo, Ill.
William Goodell, by profession a merchant, converted also by Lundy in 1828, was the editor at the time of the National Temperance Journal at Providence, R. I. He became a permanent editor of anti-slavery journals, the Friend of Man and Principia. He was the main editor and supporter of the Gerrit Smith doctrine of the nnconstitutionality of slavery, on which a section of the Liberty party was formed. He died at Janesville, Wis., in 1879.
Joshua Leavitt, born in the western part of Massachusetts, a convert of Lundy's, a minister by education and an editor by profession. He published the Emancipator, the organ of the : national Abolitionists, after Garrison's disaffec- tion. He was the leader in the foundation of the Liberty party of 1840, which grew into the Republican party of 1860, of which Abraham Lincoln became the first successful and official representative. Both the Evangelist and the Independent of New York have been under his editorial charge, and were indebted to him for no small share of their influence as anti-slavery organs. He died at Brooklyn, N. Y., January 16, 1873.
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William Ellery Channing was born at New- port, R. I., April 7, 1780. Coleridge said : “ He had the love of Wisdom and the wisdom of Love." In 1837, his efforts to abolish slavery began. In 1841, his book on the subject was published, and had a wide circulation. He died at Bennington, Vt., October 2, 1842.
Elijah Parish Lovejoy, "first American mar- tyr to the freedom of the press and the free- dom of the slave," was born in Albion, Me., November 9, 1802; educated at Waterville ; went to St. Louis, Mo., in 1827 ; ordained in 1834 ; became editor of the St. Lonis Observer, a Presbyterian weekly. Required by the pro- prietors of the paper to be silent on the sub- ject of slavery, he boldly claimed the rights of free speech and a free press ; was mobbed in St. Louis and St. Charles ; bought the paper ; removed it to Alton, Ill., where three presses were destroyed by violence, and at length, on the night of November 7, 1837, while, by the Mayor's order, defending his fourth, he was shot by an armed mob. His murder roused the North against slavery.
Rev. and Hon. Owen Lovejoy, a younger brother of Elijah P., born in Albion, Me., Jan- uary 6, 1811. He vowed eternal hostility to slavery over the dead body of his brother ; be- came pastor of the Congregational Church of Princeton, Ill., in 1838; was elected to the Illinois Legislature in 1854, to Congress in 1856, and for three succeeding terms; died while a member, in March, 1864, in Brooklyn, N. Y. He was a very able preacher ; had wonderful magnetism as a political speaker over the masses ; became a leader in Congress, asserting and maintaining the right of free speech there, against elamorous opposition .*
James G. Birney was born at Danville, Ky., February 4, 1792. He was the first Liberty party candidate for the Presidency ; was a wealthy Southern slaveholder ; emancipated his slaves, and was editor of the Philanthropist at Cincinnati, Ohio. His press was destroyed sev- eral times. He died at Perth Amboy, N. J., November 25, 1857.
Gammiel Baily, a physician by profession, succeeded Birney in editing the Philanthropist. He founded the National Era at Washington,
*II. L. Hammond contributed the sketch of both of the Love- joy8.
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the paper that first gave to the world " Uncle Tom's Cabin." The Era had a great influence in popularizing anti-slavery principles. Dr. Baily died in 1857 on a passage from Europe.
John G. Whittier was born in Haverhill, Mass., December 17, 1807. He was a shoemaker by trade, a Quaker in religion, and a poet by nature. He was an early friend of both Garri- son and Lundy, from whom his innate abhor- rence to human slavery was strengthened, and he never ceased to use his able pen against it till emancipation was proclaimed. His other contributions to American literature have done much to elevate its standard. His home is at Amesbury, Mass.
Arthur Tappan was born in Connecticut May 22, 1786. He became a wealthy New York merchant, well known throughout the whole country as the abolition merchant, whose store was shunned by the Southern trade. He founded the Emancipator ; helped to found Oberlin Col- lege, and was ever ready to assist the great cause both with his influence and money. He died July 23, 1865.
Lewis Tappan, brother of Arthur, was born in Connecticut May 23, 1788. He was also a wealthy New York merchant. He founded the American Missionary Association, and was one of the promoters of the National Era. He died July 21, 1873.
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