USA > Illinois > Effingham County > History of Effingham county, Illinois > Part 7
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In the first elections ever held in the county, Hankins was elected County Commissioner, and he organized the County Commissioners' Court and was the central figure in all the official acts and doings of that body. He was, at the same time, County Surveyor, Justice of the Peace, Postmaster, and in nearly every im- portant special commission, or supervision. or agent for the people or county, he was invari- ably the master, mover and leader. At one time or another he held about every position of public trust in the county, and in each and all was he ever honest, faithful and com- petent. His education in the school books had been limited and meager. His chirography was good; his spelling bad and his grammar faulty, and yet he wrote many legal and other documents and papers that are models of terse- ness, completeness and perspicacity. He evi- dently had been his own schoolmaster mostly, and he had wrought out for himself a practical education of great value to himself and the people of the county. lle probably, if alive
e
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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.
and in his prime, could not pass a successful examination for a fourth grade teacher's cer- tificate, yet it is a question if there has ever been a school teacher in the county but that could have gone to Hankins to learn-and there have learned much of incomparable value. He helped the helpless, aided the weak, fed the hungry and was a generous and warm-hearted friend to all mankind, as were all men who knew him, a friend to him.
Among the simple rustic pioneers he lived a useful and busy life. If he had ambition, it was not made of that "sterner stuff " that pro- tects its friends by crushing to death all oppo- nents. lle must have felt he was superior to the majority of his surroundings, yet he was never officious or offensively dictatorial.
When the county's record of social life, its legal and official growth and existence, the people's prosperity, happiness and joy, together with their griefs and pains are rendered and the accounts closed, the great book completed, bound and ready to put away, let it be in- scribed "The work of William J. Hankins and others."
Among the earliest elections in the county was a memorable race made by William Free- man for Justice of the Peace. In those good days, that official was most commonly called "Squire," not Esquire, but Squire, and some pronounced it Square. Freeman was ambitious to serve his country, and to his ear the title Squire was a long step in the line of honorable promotion. There was another man who coveted the prize, and so the two became can- didates. The contest was spirited, and on the day of election it was, to put it mildly, red hot. The candidates and their friends, in looking for the official worm, literally left no stone unturned. As election day waned, the con- test raged only the fiercer. It was hurrah! for one side, and hurray! for the other. Living witnesses testify that before the middle of the afternoon some of the ablest " blowers and strik.
ers " at the polls had grown so weary and ex- hausted, at Freeman's expense, that they could not walk straight. This and some other unfavor- able symptoms so discouraged Freeman that he went home before the polls closed, convinced that he was defeated. He had, in slang par- lance, " thrown up the sponge." He lived two or three miles out of Ewington.
To the surprise of every one, when the polls were elosed, Freeman was elected by two votes. A few of his friends mounted their horses and rode to his house to inform and surprise him with this good fortune. He was in bed, sound asleep. They roused him, called him out and told him he was elected Justice of the Peace. At this he raved and swore, as did the army in Flanders, and bid his friends go back and tell the election that he was not, and had not been, a candidate for Justice of the Peace, and that he would either have squire or nothing; that was what he ran for, and he would not be fooled with by anybody.
He changed his mind in time to qualify as Justice of the Peace, and made an efficient officer, discharging his duties not only honestly. but with ability.
Of the early comers here, the man first licensed and authorized to vend goods in our county was John Funkhouser. His line of work lay in a different avenue from that of Judge Hankins, but it was parallel and equally important to the young commonwealth. He was a merchant, miller, farmer, trader in stock, and a buyer and seller in everything that the people wanted to buy and sell. When there was no trade or commerce, no stores nor money before for the convenience of the people, he or- ganized and made the way for these. He opened the avenues for money to come and cir- culate among thie people, as well as for indus- tries that furnished imployment to men that, without him, would have, of necessity, been idle, and perhaps dissolute. In this way his depend- ants outnumbered those of any man who has
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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.
ever been in the county, and his strong, clear judgment, quick foresight and nerve in those broad fields of commerce that brought him profits and the community gains and the means of many comforts, are bright examples of how much better it is to give in that which encour- ages men to help themselves by their own ex- ertions than that old and mistaken charity that doles out its stinted aids and fosters by it the idleness and want of thrift that first produced it. His executive abilities must have been of no common order. He not only had to direct and plan his multiform business, but he had to create it where there was uone before, as well as think and provide for his little army of de- pendants, and so wise and just did he manage this that what made him a rich man, con- tributed to the wealth and comfort of the entire community. His liberality and generosity to- ward his dependants and neighbors is well told in a little ancedote. He advised one of his men to plant a little piece of ground in corn, and he would furnish seed, teams, etc., neces- sary for him to work it. It was a little out-of- the-way patch of ground of three or four acres. This man did as advised, and the season proved not the best for corn. In the fall, he got Funk- houser's wagon and gathered it, and took it all. When asked about the one-third for rent, he re- plied : " Why, you see there was no third. There was only two loads in the field. That was my two-thirds, and I reckon as how you don't want your third, when it didn't grow."
Funkhouser enjoyed this joke the balance of his life.
John Funkhouser was born in Green County, Ky., in the year 1778. He died in this county, in 1857. Ile came to Illinois in 1814, and located in Gallatin County. He moved to Wayne County in 1819, and to Effingham in 1833, and improved the farm now the property and possession of C. F. Lilly, in Jackson Town- ship; here he opened a store and built a horse-"" mill. and commenced those extensive business
operations that grew and multiplied until the day of his death.
When his strong, generous and busy hands fell nerveless at his side in death, his life-work was taken up, where he had stopped, by his son, Presley Funkhouser, who proved a worthy son of a worthy sire. He not only carried on successfully the extended operations inaugu- rated by his father, but increased and enlarged them in every way. A willing tribute that is paid to his memory by all who knew him in life, was, that he was the most generous and liberal of men. He helped all with a free and liberal hand. A man of strong head, warm heart, and a plethorie purse made him a citizen that was a boon to the people of the county, whose like we may never look upon again.
The oldest living persons born in the county are two-a man and woman, born the same night, in the same house, and not twins. These two persons are Thomas Austin and Martha Tucker, née Brockett, born 14th of November, 1828. Stephen Austin and family arrived in this county, and that night, in the house of Thomas I. Brockett, with whom Austin stopped, was born Thomas Austin and Martha, the daughter of Thomas I. Brockett. Martha mar- ried Jonathan Tucker. So far as can be ascer- tained, these were the first births in the county. These two oldest children of the county were born in what is now Jackson Township, where they are both still residing.
For a new border settlement, where the press- ing want was people, these two little squalling pioneers were a most encouraging beginning, and truly great must have been the sensation of the day to the half-dozen or so of families that then occupied all the territory that now constitutes Effingham County. Henry Turner was born December 28, 1830.
Births and deaths follow each other in nat- ure's order. The first death that we have any account of was that of Isaac Fulfer, who was killed in the year 1829 or 1830. He had found
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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.
a bee-tree, and the hive was in a limb of the tree, to where he climbed, in order to cut off the limb. As he stood by the body of the tree and cut the large limb, it commenced to fall, and, instead of breaking directly, split, and that part uncut held it to the main tree, while the other part caught the body of Fulfer against the main body of the tree and pushed it up a consider- able distance, with such force that he was crushed to death almost instantly. When the outer part of the limb had come to the roots of the tree, the body of poor Fulfer was released, and life wholly extinct, it fell and lodged upon the limb, and the friends of the dead man had some difficulty in getting his body down to the ground.
In 1830, a negro who had been a laborer at work on the National road, during the winter, started to go to Vandalia on foot, and was frozen to death on the way, a " Dacotah bliz- zard" meeting him in a short time after he left the cabin on the Little Wabash. His name is not mentioned. It is a enrious accident that the first two births should have happened as they did, and as is related above, as well as it is remarkable that the first two deaths known were violent ones.
In September, 1835. the Commissioners' Court was called upon to provide homes for the two infant children of Phillip Bucker, who had suffered death from exposure, caused by an attack of mental aberation. This sad duty was the first of the kind the court was called upon to perform, as well as was the death that left these poor orphans the first of the kind in the county.
In 1832, the Black Hawk war was in prog- ress, and this young county sent out its first warriors. The little battalion was not very strong in numbers, yet it was a large propor- tion of the able-bodied men to go to war. Four- teen names are all that can now be recalled
of these Indian fighters, to wit: Alexander Me Whorter, John Griffy, Henry P. Bailey, John Trapp, Mike Brockett, John Allen, James Porter, Eli. Parkhurst, John Beasley, Isaac Fancher, Alexander Fancher, James Patton, Gideon Louder, and John Meeks.
Of this little army of our county's first he- roes that started to the front, keeping step to the spirited fife and drum, all are now sleeping in their graves except Alexander McWhorter, to whose green old age are we indebted for the brief story that tells of all the county's heroes in a very important war. Not a great war, great in its many battles and innumerable slain, but great in its fruits. and its good to all the millions of people in the Mississippi Val- ley and their descendants. It was not in a war tainted with invasion or conquest, those unholy purposes that stain mankind and make their battles so shocking in brutalism and har- barism; it was to protect their homes, and their wives, and little ones from the tomahawk, the scalping knife, and the fire and faggot of the monster red devils in their cruel and bloody course, that the noble little band went forth. The country has not very graciously remem- bered these, its true heroes and benefactors. The politicians have had no occasion to spill over the living or the dead of these heroes any of their ocean of crockadile tears in order to catch votes. It has not been fashionable to do so, and there are no fashion-followers that can equal the politicians.
There are but few of thesoldiers of the Black Hawk war now left among us. In a very few short years there will be none. May their names and their fames be intrusted to the gen- tle and just hands of that future historian, who will, with tears in his eyes and divine anger in his heart, exterminate false gods and idols. and resurrect from unmerited forgetfulness and oblivion, the world's true and modest heroes.
HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.
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CHAPTER IV.
CHARACTER OF THE PIONEERS-GREAT MEN-CUMBERLAND ROAD-TOLL BRIDGE-THE FIRST CENSUS-IIARD LIFE - HOW BROCKETT PLAYED BULL CALF - PIONEER WOMEN - WILD HONEY-COFFEE AS BEAN SOUP-DR. BISHOP'S MILLS-THE KILLING
OF HILL-ROD JENKINS AND WHISKY-BOLEYJACK, ETC., ETC.
"How sweet the memory of those early days." TY the preceding chapters we have attempted to give some account of the coming of the earliest settlers here, who they were, and in what order they came, with some sketches that were intended to serve as illustrations that would give the reader the best idea that we possessed of what manner of men they were. These pen sketches are all that can be given of a people that have passed away, and of whom the artist and painter had preserved no re- corded signs. Of necessity, such sketches are drawn by those who never saw the originals, and who can know of them only by much talking and communications with those who did know them long and well, while they were here and playing their part in life. To pick out the representative people of all the differ- ent classes of a community, and draw a true representation of them-so true that any reader ean gather an actual, personal acquaintance with those who were perhaps dead before he was born-is no easy task, yet one, if done well and truly, will give him a just and correct idea of those about whom he is studying history for the purpose of learning. For a certain quality of society will produce a certain kind of men, or a certain kind of character-a lead- ing character with strong marks and signs that arrests attention, and fixes upon him the duty of furnishing posterity the key to the whole mass of his fellow-men, who were his neigh- bors and contemporaries.
We have said that such sketches are, of ne-
cessity, not drawn by those who personally knew the originals. It is best this should be so, for, then, there is most apt to be no prejudices, either for or against the subjects that constitute the picture, and false colors are not so liable to slip in. There is less incentive (there should be none) to suppress here and overdraw there; in short, less of prejudice, and consequently more of truth. But men who write are affected by much the same prejudices or color of vision in viewing transactions of which they formed a part as other men, and for this reason history is written by strangers, or rather the sons and daughters of strangers, who live in the long years and ages after the actors and their imme- diate descendants have passed away.
It requires a remarkable state of society to produce a remarkable individual. The individ- ual thns becomes the index to the surroundings that created him. For, mark you, the great man, the extraordinary-the marked man-is not a special providence for a special providen- tial purpose, any more than is an extraordinary prize pumpkin. One is as much the result of surroundings that preceded his or its coming as the other. Yon look upon the huge pump- kin in huge amazement, and while you may not openly confess it, you in your heart believe that the god of pumpkin-pie has here made a strong, a long, and a pull altogether. And so when you look upon that erowned monarchi of all mankind -Shakespeare. The one is no more a miracle than the other. They are both the results of those laws that never change ---
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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.
where like causes produce like results always. If the statistics of a people, together with these character sketches that are the statistics of that inner life of men, that is a part and parcel of the first named, are both truly given, they constitute the true history of that people. Because a history of a people is only a just account of so much of the human mind, its in- fluence upon itself-the influence upon it of the surroundings.
In the preceding chapters we have, as nearly as we could, followed events, and even the in- dividuals, in their chronological order. We found that on the 15th of February, 1831, here was formed a new county, with a pioneer pop- ulation of about three hundred people, and nearly as many more people here who consti- tnted the forces at work upon the National road, that was then in process of construction through this county.
This road was originally called the Cumber- land road, after the old stage road from Wash- ington City to Cumberland, Md., where had been the resting place for Clay, Jackson, Harrison, Randolph, and many other notables, as they journeyed to and fro from the seat of government. This road was a national work. It had been provided for in the reservation of five per cent of the sale of publie lands in Illi- nois and other States, and biennial appropria- tions were its dependence for a continuation to completion. When Congress made any appro- priations for this road, it required that " said sums of money shall 'be replaced out of any funds reserved for laying out and making roads, under the directions of Congress, by the several aets passed for the admission of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States."
The heaviest foree of these workmen was at the crossing of the Little Wabash, and here was ereeted shanties and a little supply store in 1830.
The county lines now are identical with those designated by the Legislature in the act of February, 1831, although in 1845 the Legisla- ture, in order probably to better fit the county seats of Shelby and Effingham Counties to their geographical centers, passed an act to take from Shelby County the north half of Towns 9, 4, 5 and 6, and make them a part of Effingham County; provided, the people of those half townships mentioned should, by a majority vote, so elect. This proposition was voted down, and the act became null and void.
The bridge over the Little Wabash at Ewington was a toll bridge. By act of the Legislature of 1847, it was made a free bridge after a specified time.
In 1835, Col. Sam Huston was desiguated by the County Commissioners' Court to take a census of the county. There then had gath- ered here about one thousand people, two stores, about two hundred improvements called farms, but little elearings, that would not aver- age over two or three acres each, and stump mills, for pounding corn into meal, were about as numerous as the cabins in the county. Every family was their own miller, practically, until a man named Witherspoon started a mill in Shelby County, about twelve miles north of Ewington. This was a horse mill, and here the people would gather, await their turn to put their horses iu the mill, and grind out their grist. Like all new settlers, they labored under not only the disadvantage of being poor in all the comforts of life-the plainest neces- sities even-as well as a complete absence of those things, such as mechanies, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, etc., that are essen- tial, in the procuring every aid they were com- pelled to have. There was little or nothing to be bought, and they had even less to purchase with had it been there. In 1829, there were only two or three farms in the county where land enough was tilled to use an old " Carey plow," and one of these pioneer farmers tells
HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.
how he footed it from the south line of this county to Shelbyville, carrying his plow to have. it sharpened. Many started their "dead- nin" in the timber, and dug holes here and there, planted corn and potatoes and perhaps a few beans, and thus raised their little truck- patches, that gave them food or bread at least; their meat they could procure in great abun- dance by their rifles. Frequently there would be but one wagon to a whole neighborhood, and then for ordinary uses the old "lizzard " sled was the universal substitute. This was made by entting the forks of a tree, the two limbs making the runners, and the short end above the forks with a hole in it to hitch to. A yoke of scrawny bull calves, a big boy and all the family of little ones and a dog or two were the forces that " snaked up " water some- times, and wood sometimes, and other things were thus transported short distances. The calves had to be put to work young ; they were naturally of a big horned, sharp rumped breed, and not the best cared for in the world at that. In fact, John I. Brockett vows and declares that when he was a good sized lont of a boy, their extremity in the line of bull calves was so great that he conceived the happy expedi- ent of yoking himself up with the only one his family possessed. The idea was no sooner conceived than it was executed, with a younger brother to drive. But John made such a sor- ry-looking calf that his mate refused to pull, and wheeled his rump around and turned the yoke, and thus they stood with their heads in opposite directions. This would not do. John had heard of tying oxen's tails together to keep them from turning the yoke. So he got a cob and gathered it up in the seat of his leather breeches, and tied the rope fast below the knot formed by the cob, and this was se- curely tied to the calf's tail, and the difficulty was overcome and the team re-hitched to the " lizzard." The calf again tried to twist him- self around and turn the yoke. Ile pulled till
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John's suspenders " popped," and his leather breeches stretched out until they were as long and slim as the calf's tail, when John ordered his brother to give them the gad. The bull looked at John, its mate, and bellowed and plunged and pulled its tail nearly off, and finally, in agony and fright, it ran off at full speed, John doing his best to keep up, or check the calf, or keep his neck from being broken. Over the brush, the briers, logs and everything pell-mell, the frightened calf bellowing, and the now worse frightened John roaring at his mother, as the runaways approached the house. " Here we come, d-n our fool souls ! stop us ! stop us ! we're running away !"
The single wagon to a neighborhood was generally kept busy; when not employed by the owner's work it was hired to the neighbors the established price for wagon, team and driver was five bushels of corn a day. This corn was worth from 8 to 12 cents a bushel.
As a general thing, the evidences are that the women of the pioneers were more industri- ous than the men. The majority of them had to raise the flax, or assist at it, and then when it was " broke " and " scutched " and " hackled,' it fell to their lot to spin and weave and make it into wearing apparel and household goods. They worked often in the truck patches; they carried the water at a distance often from springs, and here they would take their clothes on wash-day, often they picked up the fire- wood and carried it in their arms to the house. They dressed the skins frequently, and these were made into wearing apparel. They made their own soap and year in and year out in nearly every cabin stood the "dye-kettle " and after "dyeing " pretty much all the time, it was no surprise when they went to church to be called " poor dying sisters." The "dye- kettle " was always at the fire-side. A rough cover made it a convenient seat and many of our now old people can tell you about :
" How sweet the memory of those early days."
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HISTORY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY.
when they sat upon the dear old kettle and courted grandmother. This reminds us of a current story of one of the very bashful young fellows, who called to " spark " his girl, and when he took his seat on the kettle to com- mence the long, delightful evening's work, and his girl, no other seat being handy, seated her- self in his lap. His delirious first joy passed away after some time, but the girl talked and giggled and laughed and continued to talk. He grew silent as she grew talkative; after awhile he blubbered ont crying at a terrible rate. The poor girl inquired the matter-petted, and soothed him and clung the closer to him. Finally, the household was raised and when compelled to tell what was the matter, he whined and sobbed out " The-kittle-cuts me!" The edge of the kettle had stopped blood cir- enlation in his limbs, and the dear girl on his lap had increased its circulation in his heart; the pain from the kettle was agony; holding the girl was a delightful ecstasy. He could not push her off, nor could he endure the suffering any longer. In his helplessness he cried. Who blames him?
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