History of Effingham county, Illinois, Part 19

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 19

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Of the early lawyers attending our courts was Ferris Foreman, who located at Vanda- lia in the spring of 1836. He was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of New York in 1835. He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1845. In May, 1846, he recruited a company in Fayette County for the Mexican war, and, upon the organization of the troops, was elected Colonel of the Third Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. He participated in the siege of Vera Cruz, and was in the battle of Cerro Gordo, and at the end of one year, the term of enlistment, he returned to Vandalia, practicing law there until 1849, when he re- moved to California. While there, he held various offices; was Postmaster of Sacramen- to under the administration of Franklin Pierce; also acted as Secretary of State un- der John B. Wetter, Governor of California. He was Colonel of the Fourth California Vol- unteers for a period of twenty-two months. In 1865, he returned to Vandalia, and was elected State's Attorney of Fayette County.

Daniel Gregory, also an early practitioner at our bar, was a native of New York, and was born January 12, 1809. He came to Illi-

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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

nois in 1833, and located in Shelbyville, where he continued to reside until 1846, when he was appointed Receiver of the Land Office at Vandalia, and removed to that place. He was elected County Judge of Fayette County in 1849; in 1852, was again appoint- ed Receiver of the Land Office, and in 1856 was elected to the Legislature. He was an able lawyer, and, by strict attention to busi- ness, he accumulated a handsome fortune, and finally was forced to abandon his profes- sion and devote his time and attention to the management of his estate. Many of our old citizens well remember Judge Gregory and his genial accomplishments. He died a few years ago, greatly regretted.

Orlando P. Ficklin, another early attend- ant and practitioner at the Effingham bar, was born in Kentucky December 16, 1808. His education was obtained in a number of academic institutions in Kentucky and Mis- souri. In 1828, he commenced the study of law at Potosi, Mo., and in 1830 was admitted to the bar. He located at Mt. Carmel, Ill., and began the practice of his profession, meeting with encouraging success. In 1834, he was elected to the Legislature. In 1834- 35, he was chosen by the Legislature as State's Attorney for the Wabash District, which place he filled until in 1837, when he removed to Charleston, in Coles County, and has ever since resided there. In 1843, he was elected to Congress, and re-elected in 1844, and again in 1846. He then returned to the practice of his profession, but was again elected to Congress in 1850. He was a member of the Democratic Convention that nominated James Buchanan for President in 1856, and a member of the Democratic Con- vention in 1860, at Charleston. He belongs to the old school of Democrats, and is an able lawyer and statesman.

We come now to the resident lawyers of

our county. The first lawyer that located here was Kendall H. Buford, who was born in Tennessee about the year 1820, where he received a common-school and academie edu- cation. He had a smattering of Latin; had taught school in Tennessee; had also read law there, and was admitted to the bar. He came to Illinois in 1848, and taught a term or two of school, and in 1849 located in Ew- ington and commenced the practice of his profession. He was a man of considerable pretensions naturally, somewhat superficial in his knowledge of the law. and made many mistakes. He continued in the practice of his profession here until in 1853, when he moved to Missouri and took up the practice of medicine, as he had studied the healing art before leaving Ewington. He could make a pretty good speech if he took sufficient time to prepare it and commit it to memory.

Eli Philbrook was the second lawyer who located in our county. He was born in Lick- ing County, Ohio, where he received a good common-school education. At the age of nineteen, le commenced the study of law, and was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Ohio. He came to Illinois and lo- cated in Ewington in 1850, where he at once entered upon the practice of his chosen pro- fession. He was a good lawyer; but not a fluent speaker. He built up a large practice, and had the full confidence of the people. He died in Ewington in 1854, at the early age of twenty-eight years, of consumption. He was a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellow societies, and was followed to his grave by a large procession of these orders, as well as a large number of friends.

The third resident lawyer was James La- dow, who located at Freemanton in 1851. He continued there until 1854, engaged in teaching and practicing law, and then re- moved into Cumberland County, where all

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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

trace of him is lost. He was a mere petti- fogger, and never entered fully into the prac- tice of law.

John Anderson was the fourth addition to the Effingham bar. He settled at Ewington, but never did much in the practice of law, and, about the year 1852 or 1853, emigrated to Kansas. He became County Judge there but farther than that we know nothing of his success.

The fifth and next lawyer locating in our county was H. D. Caldwell, who came to Ewington in 1852. He was followed soon after by William J. Stevenson, and, in the spring of 1853, William B. Cooper located in Ewington. Mr. Caldwell was born in Vir- ginia, and came to Illinois with his parents, who located in Coles County. He com- menced the study of law in 1852, and attend- ed the Law University at Bloomington, Ind., from which he graduated, and, in 1854, be- gan practice at Ewington. He is at present a citizen of Effingham, but not in active prac- tice. Mr. Cooper is a native of Massachu- setts, and a descendant of the Pilgrim Fa- thers. He came to Illinois and taught school and read law until 1853, when he was admit- ted to the bar. He went to Salem, Iowa, and from thence came to Ewington and com- menced the practice of law as a partner of W. J. Stevenson, who shortly after removed to Clay County. There is but one lawyer now living who was a member of the bar at the time Mr. Cooper came to the county.

This brings the history of the legal profes- sion down to the present members of the county bar. As personal sketches of them appear in the biographical department of this work, we omit an extended mention of them in this chapter, merely giving a kind of directory of the present practitioners in the order in which they were admitted to the bar. They are as follows:

B. F. Kagay read law with Eli Philbrook and William Campbell, and was regularly admitted to the bar in August, 1854.

S. F. Gilmore studied law at Greencastle, Ind., and graduated from the Law Depart- ment of Asbury University in 1860.

H. B. Kepley commenced reading law in 1859, and was admitted to the bar by the Su- preme Court at March term, 1860.

J. N. Gwin studied law, and graduated with honors, and has since practiced his pro- fession in Effingham.

A. W. Le Crone studied law with W. B. Cooper, of Effingham, and was admitted to practice in the year 1860.

Benson Wood entered the Chicago Law School in the summer of 1863. from which he graduated in 1864.

W. H. Barlow entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he graduated in March, 1868.

Virgil Wood studied law with his brother, Benson Wood, and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1868.

William H. Gillmore read law with Bond & West, of Chicago, and graduated from the Law College there in the spring of 1868.

Ada H. Kepley read law with her husband, H. B. Kepley, and graduated from the Chi- cago Law School in 1870.

E. N. Rinehart studied law with Cooper & Kagay, and was admitted to practice at the bar in 1871.

John C. White read law with Judge Re- ber, of St. Louis, and then with Cooper & Gwin, and was admitted in 1872.

R. C. Harrah read law with J. N. Gwin, of Effingham, and was admitted to practice in the year 1874.

Oweu Scott read law with S. F. Gilmore, and was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court at Springfield in 1874.

W. S. Holmes, of Altamont, read law at

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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

Chatsworth, and was admitted to the bar at Ottawa, Ill., in 1877.

William E. Buckner read law with H. B. Kepler, and after with Cooper & Gilmore, and was admitted to the bar in 1881.

F. M. Loy read law with E. N. Rinehart, and graduated from the Northern Indiana

Normal School, at Valparaiso, in June, 1881.

W. B. Wright studied and graduated from the Law Department of the Northern Indiana Normal School in June, 1882.

P. K. Johnson, of Altamont, read law and was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court at Springfield in June, 1882.

CHAPTER XI .*

DOUGLAS TOWNSIIIP - ITS BOUNDARIES AND TOPOGRAPHY-EARLY SETTLEMENT-AMERICAN AND GERMAN PIONEERS-THE BULL FLATTERS-PROGRESS AND ADVANCEMENT- PIONEER INCIDENTS-CHURCH AND SCHOOL HISTORY-THE RAILROAD AND THE BIRTIL. OF EFFINGHAM, ETC., ETC.

" Wie wird das Bild der alten Tage Durch eure Träume glänzend wehn ! Gleich einer stillen, frommen Sage Wird es euch vor der Seele stehn.

" Der Bootsmann winkt! Zieht hin in Frieder Gott schütz' euch, Mann und Weib und Greis ! Sei Freude eurer Brust beschieden, Und euren Feldern Reis und Mais !"

YHARLES DICKENS once said that the typical American would hesitate about entering heaven unless assured that he could go West. Ever since, and even before the advice to young men to " go West " was pro- mulgated by the sagacious editor of the New York Tribune, the phrase "going West" has been a potent one to stir the blood of the en- terprising and adventurous. The mania for going West resulted in the discovery of America by Columbus, and since that day we have been told by spread-eagle orators that " Westward the star of empire takes its way." From the Atlantic coast, even from Plymouth Rock, our ancestors moved Westward with the star of empire. They crossed the Alle- ghanies, and, descending their western slope, burst into the rich valley of the Mississippi. But they paused not here. They poured a living flood across the continent, until the

advance-guard-the frontier skirmish line of American civilization rests upon the distant shores of the Pacific. In vain the Indian tried to stem the torrent, but was awept away like chaff before the wind. The settler's ax echoed through the forests as groups of three or four came, locating here and there, and soon an endless line of pioneers moved into these valleys, and settled on the margin of these prairies. Emigrant wagons found their way here with household goods. Then mills were built; the merchant brought on his goods; schools were established and churches organized, thus proclaiming the wonderful energies of our people.

But there is a page which should come be- fore this history, and, like the prologue to a drama, be recited first-a page which records the Indian occupation of the land and his resistence to the whites. All this, however, may be found in preceding chapters of this work, and hence is recited first. The Indian -the burly warrior and the dusky maid-are long since gone, but their footprints are left in many portions of the county. £ Ruins, burying-grounds and mounds tell the story of another race-the red sons of the forest.

*By W. Il. Perrin.

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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

But we will leave them with the tribute al- ready paid them, and take up the history of this division of the county until its settlement by the whites.

Originally, Douglas embraced all of Town- ship 8, and a part of Township 9 north, in Range 6 east, of the Third Principal Meridi- an. But at the December term of the Super- visors' Court, held in 1863, the east half of Township 8 was set off and created an inde- pendent township, which is known and desig- nated as Teutopolis. This change leaves Douglas in much the shape of a carpenter's " square," It is bounded north by Shelby County, east by Cumberland County and Teutopolis Township, south by Watson Town- ship and west by Summit and Banner Town- ships. It is drained by the Little Wabash and its tributaries, of which Salt and Green Creeks are the principal ones. Salt Creek flows nearly north and south, just touching its eastern line, while Green Creek passes through the northwest corner, and the Little Wabash curves into the west line a time or two in its tortuous course southward. The land is mostly rolling, and adjacent to the Little Wabash breaks into steep and abrupt bluffs. Indeed, some of the roughest land in the county is along the margin of the river in this township. There is but little prairie, the timber land largely predominating. Oak, ash, sycamore, hickory, white and black walnut, sugar maple, buckeye, cottonwood, etc., comprise the timber growth, with nu- merous hazel thickets and other common shrubs. The township is well supplied with railroads-these modern allies of civilization.

The history of Douglas Township centers in the city of Effingham, the capital of the county, which is located in the south end of the township. Usually, the township con- taining the county seat affords few facts of interest to the historian beyond that of its

settlement. It is specially so in Douglas, being principally an agricultural region, without towns or villages (except Effingham), manufactories, mills or anything else than its honest and energetic German farmers, which comprise by far the larger portion of the population. As will be seen in the following pages, the township was mostly settled by Germans, who still retain a strong foothold and are among the most highly re- spected citizens of the county. There were a few of our own people here, however, prior to the coming in of the Germans, and the settlement of these will be first noticed.

Of the early settlers we have the names of Isaac Slover, James Cartwright, James Lea- vitt, Jefferson Langford, John Gannaway, James and Nathan Ramsey, Aaron Williams, one Stewart, Richard Cohea, etc., etc. Slo- ver and Cartwright lived on the National. road, near the present railroad depot. Cart- wright was Slover's son-in-law, and both have long since gone the way of the earth. Gannaway came from Kentucky and settled east of Slover and just across Salt Creek. He afterward moved to Coles County and died there. Aaron Williams settled west of the city, where Henry Havener now lives. He moved West, perhaps to Missouri, and lived to the age of nearly one hundred years. Jeff Langford lived about a mile west of Williams, and was from Tennessee. He has been dead several years. Leavitt, also a Tennessean, settled a little south of Effing- ham. He has two sons still living in the county, but he himself is dead. The Ram- seys and Coheas settled in the northwestern part of the township, in the classic neighbor- hood of " Bull Flat." The old ones-the patri- archs of the tribes-are dead, but they have quite a number of descendants still living in- the township and surrounding country.

From the "Faderland," on the fabled

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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

banks of the Rhine, we may mention the fol- lowing settlers, who came here as early as 1840, and some of them several years earlier: Joseph, Bernard, Henry and George Koester, Ferdinand Braun, Joseph Feldhake, Matthias Moenning, Joseph Buessing, Gerhard Osthoff, Fr. Hoffmann, Bernard Vogt, John Fech- trop, Bernard Deters, Fred Grimmog, Ar- nold Kreke, Joseph Suer, Joseph Bloemer, Ferdinand Messmann, Hermann H. Nieman, Henry Best, Joseph Goldstein, Henry Gerdes, A. B. Jansen, Rudolph Dust, Henry Loh- mann, H. M. Mette, Ferdinand Kaufmann, Gerhard Nuxoll, John B. Gruenloh, William Kabbes, Dick Coers, Bernard Reiman, Henry Schmer, Joseph Woermann, William Aulen- brook, Peter Throele, John Rickelmann, Fred Cohorst, Henry Unkraut, John Meyer, Casper Krueppe, George Scoles, Henry Herboth, 'Ferdinand Wintrup and perhaps others.

George Koester settled east of town; the other Koesters north and northwest of town, and all are living except Henry. Feldhake is a respected citizen of Effingham; Braun settled northwest of town, and is still living; Buessing lives near Effingham. Nieman was the father of Mrs. Kaufmann, who is still living and who is the widow of Ferdinand Kaufmann. Matthias Moenning died 1882; Osthoff lives in the southwest part of the township, and Fr. Hoffmann in the west part; Vogt settled near him, but is now dead. Fechtrop and Deters settled in the southern part, and Best in the northern part of the township, the latter living, but the other two are dead. Goldstein, Gerdes, Bloemer, Jan- sen, Messmann, Lohmann, Joseph and Ber- nard Suer, Mette and Gruenloh, settled in the northern part and are all, we believe, still living. Nuxoll and Aulenbrook settled in the same neighborhood, and are dead. Most of the others mentioned settled also in the north part, and aro living or have descendants liv-

ing still in the township. Of these German pioneers of Douglas Township, the Koesters, Dust and Feldhake were the first settlers from the old country. They were soon fol- lowed by friends and relatives to the " land of the free and the home of the brave," until at the present day there are but few farmers in the entire township except the thrifty Germans. They are honest and upright in their dealings, simple in their manners and customs, and industrious, quiet citizens. Their- American neighbors and themselves have always gotten along together npon the best of terms-barring the " Dutchtown war," graphically described elsewhere, and without any special clashing of personal interests.

At the time of settlement, the people de- pended almost entirely for meat upon the wild game, then so abundant in the country. Deer and wild turkeys and other game were plenty, and it was no great task for an expert hunter to go out early in the morning and kill a deer or two or three turkeys and return in time for the matutinal meal. An old set- tler says: " When I came here, game was plenty, and white men were scarce; but I have lived to see matters reversed-white men are now plenty, and the game all gone." Then all the clothing was manufactured at home by the women. It was of the rudest material and of the rudest construction. Boots were seldom worn, except in the towns, and to see a man with boots on was indisput- able evidence that he was a preacher, doctor, lawyer or some other "big-bug," these fa- vored individuals comprising by far the big- gest ducks in the social puddle. The neces- saries of life were scarce, and that they were is no matter of wonder. When we consider that St. Louis was the only market until small stores were opened in the larger settle- ments, everything had to be hauled in wagons to and from that point, and with the

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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

roads of the early period this was a rather formidable and laborious undertaking.

The early history of this township cannot be fully given without a brief mention of a community in the northwestern part of it. The name " Bull Flat " is coincident almost with the settlement of the country. How the place received the classic name it bears is a conundrum, and we give it up. It was set- tled by Tennesseans, who have not advanced a single degree in social progress since they settled here fifty years ago. The customs of their fathers they hang to with all the zeal that a John Chinaman clings to his diet of rice and rats. They sing the old songs, dream the old dreams and dance the old dances their ancestors did before them. A waltz, or polka, or schottische, is as incom- prehensible to the genuine "Bull Flatter" as would be Arabic or Sanscrit, but " Ole Dan Tucker," " Chicken Pie" and "Possum up the gum stump," is more familiar to him than household words. Their mode of " call ing " at their dances is peculiar to " Bull Flat " alone, and is sung ont by the prompter to the " cow-bell " tune of a " hard-shell " preacher, somewhat after this fashion: " Bow to the gals;" "shake yer hoofs:" " swing yer honey," "all chaw hay," etc., etc .. the last expression when translated into the United States language, means "all promenade. "

In years agone, the " Bull Flatters," like the denizens of the Wabash hills and " Fid- dler's Ridge," were great enemies to whisky, and hence, strove to hide as much of it as they possibly could. Such was their reputa- tion for this species of gaiele de cœur. that a popular saloon keeper of Effingham constant- ly kept a bottle labeled " Bull Flat Whisky," a tablespoonful of which was warranted to kill any human being except the native Bull Flatter, but a half pint of it only made him

feel jubilant and a full pint of it put him in good fighting trim. On public days when these fellows turned out in force and filled themselves to the brim with Bull Flat whisky, what grand times they had! Such circuses could be gotten up by no other class of peo- ple.

This Bull Flat settlement is a tribe or community unto itself, and is a kind of city organization, governed by its own peculiar laws and ordinances. Of this noteworthy menagerie, Dr. Godell is Mayor, Billy Buck- ner, Lord High Constable, and Tobe Hennes- sey, Assistant. The care which these official dignitaries exercise over this frontier post shows a genuine interest of rulers for the mass of the people over whom they are called to reign.

Roads and mills were among the first im- provements to which the pioneers turned their . attention. The old Cumberland or National road was the first thoroughfare that was made through the township. It passed along with- in a few feet of where the Vandalia Railroad now runs, and was, for that day, a gigantic enterprise. But we will not repeat here what has already been said of this great work. Other roads were laid out and improved as the country settled up. The first mills were the little horse-power mills, built by the pioneers themselves, and were rude in the extreme. The buhrs were made of bowlders, and some- times not more than fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter. It was not until the day of steam that the poople had the benefit of first- class mills.

Previous to township organization the divisions of the county were known as pre- cincts and the Congressional townships were designated by numbers and ranges. But when township organization was adopted, and a new system of county government entered into, it became necessary to give names to

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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.

the Congressional divisions. This change or local organization took place when Stephen A. Douglas was in the zenith of his glory and popularity and the idol of the people, and it seemed but meet to the good " county fathers" that the " Little Giant " should be honored by having his namo bestowed on this township. Hence, in the christening of townships, this one was called Douglas, a namo with which the masses are well satisfied.

No better eulogium can be pronounced upon a community, or upon its individual members, than to point to the work they have accomplished. Theories look fine on paper, or sound well when proclaimed from the platform, but it is the plain work which tells on society. Thus, not only this towu- ship, but the entire county took an early in- terest in education. All the main settlements established schools as soon as they could sup- port them. As the population increased, and in the natural course of human events, the children also, schoolhouses were built, better teachers engaged and other improvements made in the facilities for education. Every neighborhood now has a good comfortable schoolhouse, and is supplied with from six to eight months of school each year.

Religious training was not neglected in the early days of the township. The few American settlers attended church in the other neighborhoods, while most of the Ger- mans, being Catholics, were first visited by clergymeu from Teutopolis. The second Catholic Church organized in the county was " Maria Help," or the Green Creek Church, as more familiarly known. It is situated on Green Creek in the north part of the township, and was organized in the fall of 1857 by Rev. Father Frauenhofer, a native of the Kingdom of Bavaria, and a regularly ordained priest. A little log church had been built previously by the settlers in this section, and various cler-

gymen came from Teutopolis to attend funer- als and otherwise administer to the spirit- ual wants of the people, but there was no regular pastor until Father Frauenhofer came in that capacity. He was desirous of being the first to plant a congregation here, and overlooked the poverty of the parishion- ers. He remained two years. and then the Franciscan Fathers took charge of the con- gregation. Under their auspices. the pres- ent handsome church was built and finished, at a cost of about $4,500, without steeple, which cost, with plastering and frescoing. $900 more. It is a brick structure, 67x40 feet in dimensions, with twenty feet addition- al in length for the sacristy. The original members of this congregation were H. H. Niemann. Jacob Dottmann, Bernard Tebbe, Henry Fischer aud their families, and three bachelors, John Osterhause, Antony Doren- kamp and one other whose name is forgotten.

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History of Effingham county, Illinois, Part 19

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