History of Effingham county, Illinois, Part 17

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin & co.
Number of Pages: 650

USA > Illinois > Effingham County > History of Effingham county, Illinois > Part 17

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Now, in those days came the great itiner- ant lecturer on mesmerism and phrenology, and singing geography and similar wonders of the age. The lecturer was so prized that often he was prevailed upon to permanently locate in the county and condescendingly ac- cept the best office the infatuated people had to bestow. Did the coming of the cook-stove, think you, drive away these noble landmarks of the primitive days ?- that first stove brought to the county by Mr. Johnson, of Freemanton- such an event as that was! Is it to be wondered at that even the singing- master saw his glory pale before this new sensation? This cook-stove, it is said, wrecked more ambitions than those of the lecturer, the singing and the writing school- master. A son of the prominent man in the county was courting Johnson's daughter, and was there only a few days after it had been put up. He was up early in the morning and started a fire in it, and soon he smoked every one in the house out of bed and out of doors. He had kindled the fire in the oven, and was wondering what " ailed the creeter!"

They had weddings in those days, and these linger witli us to some extent yet, but those

good old fashions, and the "infairs," where are they? The wedding was at the bride's, and the "infair" was a kind of wedding No. 2, at the house of the groom's parents. Both were to eat, drink, dance and be merry. Two days and two nights, with often a long horse - back ride in the meantime, and the frolick- ing and dancing went on. Terpsichore! what dancing! Not your dreamy waltz of this day and age; not the bounding polka, the de- lightful schottische, or any of the other modern, fashionable dream-walks; but the one-eyed fiddler, keeping time with his foot, and to the inspiriting tune of the "Arkansaw Traveler," or the "Lightning Jig," the merry dancers raced over the floor in that good old walk-talk-ginger-blue style of hoe-down that filled with joy their innocent hearts, and their legs with soreness and pain. But the Vir- ginia reel, the hoe down, the jig and the "in- fair " are gone, and their places are taken by the rather tame wedding tour and the pub- lished list of presents from friends and foes -- a singular combination of pleasure and profit .*

They had the "young man of the period " in those good old days. Behold him! the happy possessor of a pacing horse, a new saddle, with its stitched flowers, a red blank-

*An illustration of the ancient irrepressible propensity for frol- icklag and fnn, of which no circumstances could deprive them, ie well given by an anecdote that the writer has heard related and acted out by one of the best mimics and story- tellers that ever set the tables or the parlor in a roar over delicious wit and inimitable story-telling. Itis impossible to write it out and do justice to the original; the types cannot act-mimicking the intonations, the song, the dancing, the expressione of face and movements of the whole person, as he could, and hence in the telling here the story will lose much of its rich sevor.

Upon one occasion the youngsters were gathered In goodly force at a farmhouse, where the boys and girls had had a " bee" of some kind during the day, and when supper wes over preparationd for the dance soon developed the fact that no violin could be had. This shocking intelligence soon spread gloom where before was only fun and joyous anticipations. The young lady of the house determined to entertain her gueste, bid them take partoere for the dance, and she would wing and dance aod "call" at the same time. In a trice the floor was filled, and "on went the dance, with no sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet "-fiddle or no fiddle. It would be something as follows :

" Honore to all fling-dang-doodle-daddle, Fling-dang-doodle-daddle da.

Swing on the left, fling-dang-doodle-daddle, Fling-dang-doodle-daddle-da."

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et, and ribbons on the head-stall of the bridle. He would unhitch his pacer from the plow by the middle of the Saturday afternoon, and dress up, in his broad brimmed, new, home- made, oat-straw hat, and, with cinnamon- scented bear's oil on his long, flowing locks, which are carefully combed and tucked under behind, much white shirt front, a rather short vest, with only the lower button fastened, a pair of ready-made nankeen breeches, with straps at the bottom, drawn tight at the waist, and no suspenders, a bulging white roll be- tween the vest and pantaloons, pumps and yarn socks on his feet, and a scissor-tailed coat, too small in every way, completed the gorgeous attire of this neighborhood phenom- enon, as he swaggered in his walk, or rolled lollingly about in his saddle-the-he-dar- ling, the daisy! We sing his praise-hail and farewell! Drop a tear to his dear memory.

The literary life of the young county was almost nil. At first there were no men here of either taste or cultivation in that line, nor were there facilities for the cultivation of this in the rising generation. The 'Life of Gen. Francis Marion," a copy of Josephus, the Bible, and a volume or two of dull ser- mons, were pretty much the sum total of the county's literature. Very few of the young formed in their young days the habit of much reading. They had been trained to work pa- tiently upon their little truck-patch farms, and they were eager hunters amid plenteous game. They used long rifles, and they only rarely wasted their ammunition upon any- thing smaller than wild turkeys. They knew nothing of the modern breech-loading shot. guns and pointer dogs, and shooting the prai- rie chicken, quail and snipe on the wing, as is now the hunter's method.

The first circus that came to Vandalia was to that county, and this as well as other ad- joining counties, an era equal in magnitude

to the crusades of the Old World. Time was reckoned by an event like this. There was a fascination in the saw-dust, as well as the smell of the animals, and the playful monkeys, and selah! there was the clown! There is a tradition that his same old jokes were new then, but this may well be donbted. The story is not reasonable, for did not pre- historic man, as well as we, want to know before he went to a circus just where each joke came in, in order that he could prepare himself to laugh again at the right moment? The fires of the memories of the first circus never paled until that transcendant event of the hanging of Ogle at Vandalia in 1842. We will never forget how an old lady exult- antly told how she had walked thirty miles, carrying her six-monthis-old child every step of the way. She concluded the story by pointing out her son, and we confess the great, beefy 220-pounder did not give evi- dences that his early education had been wholly ethereal and spirituelle.

An itinerant preacher once saw here an opening for his talents as school teacher. He duly made application for the place, and the learned pundits of the county were called upon to examine him. He knew nothing of grammar, geography or arithmetic, but opened the eyes of the committee by informing them, with great gusto, that he could count a flock of flying geese faster, he reckoned. than any man of his size in the county. A book was handed him to read. Then, indeed, did his countenance glow with pleasure. "Olı, yes, I kin read!" was his unctuous ex- clamation. And with a great parade and a loud voice, he read: "Two great com-pee- ti-tors Han-i-bawl and Ski-pee-o wag-ged- war in Af-ry-key," etc. "Oh, I kin read!" exulted the would-be teacher. Amid roars of laughter, the examination concluded with the reading of the sentence, "Darest thou,

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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Cassius, swim with me to youder point? ac- couterod as I was," etc. The roader must imagino for himself how tho podagogue pro- nouncod tho word " aecoutered."

In 1855 occurred what has since been a standing county joke, and has gone by the name of the "Dutchtown War." It was the outcrop of that Know-Nothing craze that ran over the entire country, commencing in 1854, and swept like a plague infection or a prairie fire over State after State, and that culminated in the Presidential election of 1856, when, more suddenly than it had risen, it expired. The Know-Nothing party had for its cardi- nal political idea opposition to foreigners, and blazoned upon its banners were: "Put none but Americans on guard." It is said the woods of Effingham were full of these de- luded statesmen. They met in secret by- places and took oaths, and had secret grips, and signs, and pass-words, and what stories they must have stuffed each other with at these meetings of the fell purposes and de- signs of the foreigners. Certainly nothing short of this could have so worked upon ig- norant minds and made in our county a little army of Quixotes, to go forth to battle, not with the windmills, but with the wind organ of the Teutopolis Church.

At the period mentioned, the Germans were progressing with their church edifice, which, at the time of building, was one of the cost- liest in Southern Illinois, and had com- menced the work of putting the organ in its place. Everything that came by railroad for Teutopolis was shipped to Effingham, and transported hence by wagons. Tho organ pipes were shipped in boxes, together with many other church fixtures. In handling them in Effingham, some excited Know-Noth- ing must have seen them, and he heralded the report that the "Dutch were importing arms." The story traveled far and wide,

and, like the legend of the three black crows was magnified with each repetition, until it was positively assertod that these people were about to secretly rise and massacre the na- tives. The great mass of our people paid no heed to these frightful stories, but there were others that were seriously alarmod, or at all events, acted as though they believed all and more, too. The Know-Nothing army was so- cretly called to arms. There was blood in the moon. The gathering clouds of war lowered upon Effingham, and many an old political veteran of tho county (he would de- ny it all now) who has waxed great and fat upon German votes, stuffed the battle afar off, and in the secret lodges of his Know- Nothing societies, clothed his neck with the thunderbolts of war, and hied himself and friends to the army rondezvous, about two miles west of Watson, on Spring Branch, where it passes through James Turner's land. They gathered here to organize an army, at- tack Teutopolis, and carry away the arms and ammunition of the place as trophies of war. How many of these patriots were there as- sembled cannot now be told; they are var- iously estimated at thirty-five, seventy-five, 100 and 150, as it is impossible to find any one who will admit that he was in that cruel war. Hunting for these old scarred (not scared, please, Mr. Printer) veterans is much like hunting the home of milk-sickness; it is always in the next township ahead. Wheth- er it was thirty-five or 150. or more or less, they went into camp and commenced the work of organizing an army of invasion. Scouts were sent out, and trusted spies stole into Teutopolis. In the meantime, that village was quietly plodding along its usual way. unconscious of the commotion the simple or- gan pipes had created, as they were uncon- scious of the flaming sword that impended. The gathering hosts and mustering squadrons

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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

had moved in mysterious silence. The clank of the wooden shoe of Dutchtown found echo in the whisperings of distress from the army rendezvous, where were cheeks all pale, which, before the war, had blushed at the sight of their own corn-fed loveliness. An election was held, which resulted in placing Gen. Morgan Wright in chief command, with some other man, now unknown, as his sec- ond. The General thanked the army for the honor and awful dangers and responsibility it had conferred on him; the "long roll" was beaten upon the hastily trumped-up tin pan, that furnished the only martial music these bloody patriots had or needed. With quiv- ering lips and chattering teeth, the army be- gan to "fall in" preparatory to a double- quick charge upon the Teutopolis Church or- gan. The silence was painful; the strain upon the heroes' nerves was intense, and evidently something must have given way soon, had not, at that moment, come dashing into camp the scouts and spies, and reported the war over-that Dutchtown was peace that the arms imported were organ pipes, and it was all a mistake that those people intended to massacre the entire people of the United States. And presto! camp was broken, white-robed peace spread her wings over the county, and "Johnny came march- ing home." There was great rejoicing at the safe return by the families and friends of these heroes. A great peace rati- fication meeting was, called, and a wooden sword nearly six feet long was presented, in an eloquent and stirring address by Dr. J. M. Long, to the Commander-in-Chief. When Sam Moffitt, " in thoughts that breathed and words that burned," presented an elegant pop-gun to the second in command. Gor- geously decorated, home-made land warrants were presented in each case where the com- mander could report any extraordinary acts

of bravery. A soldiers' re-union of the no- ble band of veterans, survivors of the Dutch- town war, is now in order. The people would make suitable provisions for the gath- ering of these heroes, and what could be more interesting than to again listen to the har- rowing stories of camp and field, and see these old veterans once more in life to " shoul- der the crutch and show how battles are won?"

The Church .- The " voice in the wilder- ness " was among the early pioneers, calling sinners to repentance, and wrestling with the awful sins of vanity and the old three- stringed cracked fiddle. Fifty years ago, the " good shepherds " were tinged with much of the rigid, dogmatic severity of the old, cruel Kirk-Sessions of a hundred years ago. For some years there were not near so many preachers as counterfeiters in the county. There paucity was, however, atoned for in the stern severity of their precepts. The value of a sermon was measured by its length, and the brimstone oder of the awful thunder- bolts that it let fly at the heads of the poor, frightened, credulous congregations. They were God-fearing, good men, who preached without a choir, and a bugle solo in church would have called upon the rocks and mount- ains to fall upon them. The devil invented the fiddle, and he and his grinning imps were the original first dancers. But few, if any, ministerial scandals marked their hum- ble, sincere, pious lives. They may have been very ignorant, but they were wholly honest and sincerely humble. Generally illiberal and full of severity, and warped and deformed with prejudices, they took up the cross of their Master, seized the sword of Gid- eon and smote His Satanic Majesty, hip and thigh, wherever they could find him. They would make sparse converts here and there, and the awful fiddle nearly as often seduced them away again into the paths of dancing and

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damnation. How they did launch their fierce and fiery thunderbolts against the vanities of men, and the ribbons, furbelows and jewelry of the women! when there probably was not a bolt of the irreligious ribbon and not $10 worth of pinchbeck jewelry in the county. The Hard-Shells and Methodists were cotem- poraneous in their coming here-the Meth- odists shouting and the Hard-Shells singing their sermons through the nose, and thus, in their different fields of usefulness, they dwelt together in true Christian love and friend- ship. They vexed not their simple souls with hair-splitting doctrinal points in theology. The force and power of their nasal blast and their sing-song delivery were as battering rams upon the ramparts of the evil one, while they were a sweet lullaby to the troubled soul of the good Christian. This is well illus- trated by the anecdote of the wag who had a contention with an old lady in reference to the might and power of a preacher that she was heart-broken over his going away. The wag was a fine mimic, and had caught the very tone, air and manner of the favorite preacher, and insisted he could preach quite as well as her favorite. He struck an atti- tude, and, in splendid sing-song, nasal style, told a story of his dog chasing a poor little sickly coon, and grabbing the dear little thing just as it was going into a hollow tree. As the story finished, the good dame was shouting with all her might. When the wag laughed at her, she excused herself by say- ing. "Oh, it was that heavenly tone!" The good old dame was right. It was the "heav. enly tone" that often did the good work.

The severity of this early religion had probably this effect: A portion became wild enthusiasts of the church militant, while the others joined, and, after a short trial and sincero endeavor, recklessly threw down all efforts when they discovered they could not

live up to the religious enthusiasts' ideal. This would exasperate the good shepherds, while in turn they redoubled their efforts, which only made the estraying lambs kick up their heels the higher and stray farther away where fancied pleasures tempted. There was no control or direction possible for these un- bridled theological colts nntil the church or- ganization came along and they were incor- porated into the management and control of cooler and wiser heads.

The Methodist Church organization was in Ewington in 1834, and for a short time preaching was at the house of T. J. Gillen- waters, by the Rev. Chamberlain. After- ward, services were held for some time at the court house in Ewington. In 1838, Rev. Hale was the preacher in charge. At the same time in the early day, Bishop Eames, the celebrated Bishop of the Methodist Church, was for a short time stationed at Ew- ington. He was then only a licensed exhort- er. The church sometimes had a minister in charge, and sometimes this was divided with some other locality, and the preacher would make visits to the county at stated times. Among others that preached at Ewington are recalled the Rev. William Blundell, of Clark County.

We have now reached the end of the half- century story of the people of Effingham County-especially of the pioneer fathers and mothers. To the writer, the past sixty days-the time allotted to this work-will ever be among the best recollections of his life. In this labor of love, there is no mixt- ure of pain, conflict or contention, until the moment comes to lay down the pen-to sever an association where friendships have grown sacred-friendships and communings with the living and the dead; to voyage back the little more than fifty years that mark the ex- istence of our county, and make the acquaint-

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ance of those men and women who were here -simple, restless pioneers-to find here and there, among the humblest of these people, a true and genuine hero and heroine, and iu- troduce them to the world, and pass them on to posterity, is as proud a task, to even the most ambitious, as it has been pleasant to us. Here we have found friendships without alloy -without those clashing interests that so de-

face often the best of human kind. Such friendships as will remain forever in purity and pleasantness. The brief retrospect will ever come back again, like a genial, pure, warm ray of sunshine, to the abodes of the cheerless, laden with warmth, joy and new life, to a soul fast growing lonely, desolate and sterile.

"What is writ is writ; would it were worthier."

CHAPTER X .*

THE BENCH AND BAR-EARLY COURTS OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY-LAWYERS FROM ABROAD- JUDGES OF THIS JUDICIAL DISTRICT-SKETCHIES OF EWING, FIELD AND DAVIS- NATURALIZATION OF GEN. SHIELDS - GOVERNOR FORD AND SIDNEY BREESE-OTHER LEGAL LUMINARIES, PAST AND PRESENT- TIIE PRESENT COUNTY BAR, ETC., ETC.

" There is a history in all men's lives."

TN giving the early history of the bench and bar of Effingham County, the histor- ian must travel outside of the county for his data and material, for the simple reason that there were no resident lawyers in the county until the year 1849. Litigants were sup- plied with attorneys from neighboring coun- ties, mainly from Fayette County, though some came from Shelby, Coles, Clark, Bond, St. Clair and others. Among them we may mention Levi Davis, A. P. Field, Sawyer, Brown, Foreman, Kirkman, Gallagher and James Shields, from Fayette; Daniel Greg- ory and A. Thornton, from Shelby; U. F. Linder and O. B. Ficklin, from Coles, Will- jam H. Underwood, Samuel McRoberts and Mr. Fisk, from St. Clair. From 1840 to 1850, Bromwell, Davis and Gallagher, from Fayette; Starkweather, from Cumberland; and Moore and Elam Rush, from Bond.

The first term of court held in the county was begun on the 20th day of May, 1833 and

continued parts of three days, at Ewington, the then county seat. The following is a copy of the first record made in the Circuit Court of this county:

At a Circuit Court begun and held at Ewington in and for the county of Effingham, on Monday, the 20th day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three. Present: the Hon. T. W. Smith, Associate Justice of the Su- preme Court, and Presiding Judge of said court; John C. Sprigg, Clerk, and Henry P. Bailey, Sher- iff. A list of the Grand Jurors were returned into court by the Sheriff, and after being charged by the court, retired to consider of presentments, etc.

The following cases appear on the record at this term of conrt, to wit:

Andrew Bratton, ) Appellant. VS.

Simeon Perkins. ) Appellee.

John Maxfield, )Appellant.

VS. John W. Robinson. Appellee.

William McConnell, ) Plaintiff. VS.

Jacob Slover. Defendant.

John Beasley, VS.

) Plaintiff.

Robert Moore. ) Defendant.

The Grand Jury returned the following indict- ments, indorsed " true bills," to wit:

*By B. F. Kagay.

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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

The People of the State of ) Indictment for Sell- Illinois, ing Spirituous Li- qnors without a vs. Liecnse.

Theophilus W. Short. 1

The People of the State of Illinois, VS.

Indictment for

Martha Henson.

Fornication.

The People of the State of Illinois, ) Indictment VS. for

William Cusip. S Adultery. The following appointment for Cireuit Clerk ap- pears upon the record of the Court:

VANDALIA, February 15, 1833.

Mr. John C. Sprigg-I hereby appoint you Clerk of the Circuit Court of Effingham County, with full power and authority to do and perform all duties appertaining to said office, and receive the fees and emoluments thereof.

Your obedient servant,

WILLIAM WILSON. There being no further business before the Court, ordered that it adjourn sine die.

THEO. W. SMITH.

Thus it will be seen that Theophilus W. Smith was the Judge who held the first term of court in the county. The county was then sparsely settled, and the settlements being mostly in the timber, in the bottoms of the i river and on the verge of the prairies. The lawyers who attended this first term of court were three in number, viz., A. P. Field, Levi Davis and William L. D. Ewing, all resi- dents of Vandalia, and all holding offices, either for the State or for the county in which they resided.

It will doubtless be of interest to our read- ers to know something of Hon. Theophilus W. Smith, the first Judge of this county, and therefore we will give the following incident in his life:

At the session of the Legislature of 1832- 33, articles of : impeachment were voted against him by the House of Representatives. There were seven articles of specifications transmitted to the Senate for trial against him. The first three related to the corrupt sales of Circuit Clerkships. He had author- ized his son, a minor, to bargain off the office

in Madison County by hiring one George Kelly at $25 per month, reserving the foos and emoluments until his son became of age, and to subject the said office to his will; he had made appointments three several times without requiring bonds from the appointees. He was also charged with being a co-plaintiff in several vexatious suits for an alleged tres- pass, commenced by affidavit in a court where he himself presided, holding the defendants illegally to excessive bail upon trifling pre- text, to oppress and injure them, and contin- ued the suits from term to term to harass and persecute them. The fifth article charged him with arbitrarily suspending John S. Greathouse, a lawyer, from practice for ad- vising his client to apply for a change of venue. The sixth article charged him with tyrannically committing to jail in Montgom- ery County a Quaker, who entertained con- scientious scruples against removing his hat in open court; and the seventh article charged him with deciding an agreed case between the Sheriff and Treasurer of Madi- son County, without process or pleading, to the prejudice of the county, rendering an ap- peal to the Supreme Court necessary.

The Senate resolved itself into a High Court of Impeachment, and a solemn trial was held, which lasted from January 9 to February 7, 1833. The prosecution was conducted by a committee of managers from the House, consisting of Benjamin Mills, Murray McConnell, John T. Stewart, James Semple and John Dougherty; the defendant was represented by Sidney Breese, R. M. Young and Thomas Ford, the latter subse- quently Governor of the State.

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History of Effingham county, Illinois, Part 17

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin & co. Number of Pages: 650

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin & co.
Number of Pages: 650