USA > Illinois > Greene County > History of Greene and Jersey Counties, Illinois : together with sketches of the towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent individuals, and biographies of representative men, History of Illinois > Part 6
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Jesse B. Thomas-One of the federal judges during the entire territorial exis- tence, was chosen senator on organiza- tion of the state, and re-elected in 1823, and served till 1829.
John MeLean-In 1824 Edwards re- signed, and John MeLean was elected to fill his unexpired term. He was born in North Carolina in 1791, and came to Illinois in 1815; served one term in con- gress, and in 1829 was elected to the United States senate, but the following year died. He is said to have been the most gifted man of his period in Illi- nois.
Elias Kent Kane-Was elected No- vember 30, 1824, for the term beginning March 4, 1825. In 1830 he was re-elec-
ted, but died before the expiration of his term. He was a native of New York, and in 1814 came to Illinois. He was first secretary of state, and afterwards state senator.
David Jewett Parker-Was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Judge McLean in 1830, November 12, but the legislature refused to endorse the choice. Parker was a native of Connecticut, born in 1792, and died in Alton in 1869.
John M. Robinson-Instead of Baker, the governor's appointee, the legislature chose Robinson, and in 1834 he was re- elected. In 1843 he was elected supreme judge of the state; but died within two months of his election. He was a native of Kentucky, and came to Illinois when quite young.
William L. D. Ewing-Was elected in 1835, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Senator Kane. He was a Kentuekian.
Richard M. Young-Was elected in 1836, and held his seat from March 4, 1837, to March 4, 1843, a fullterm. He was a native of Kentucky; was a circuit judge before his election to the senate, and supreme judge in 1842. He died in an insane asylum at Washington.
Samuel McRoberts-The first native Illinoisan ever elevated to the high office of United States senator from this state, was born in 1799, and died in 1843, on his return home from Washington. He was elected circuit judge in 1824, and March 4, 1841, took his seat in the United States senate.
Sidney Breese-Was elected to the United States senate, December 17, 1842, and served a full term. He was born in Oneida county, New York. He was a major in the Black Hawk war; was cir-
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
cuit judge, and in 1841 was elected su- preme judge. He served a full term in the United States senate, beginning March 4, 1843, after which he was elected to the legislature, again circuit judge, and, in 1857, to the supreme court, which position he held until his death, in 1878.
James Semple-Was the successor of Samuel McRoberts, and was appointed by Governor Ford in 1843. He was afterwards elected judge of the supreme court.
Stephen A. Douglas-Was elected De- cember 14, 1846. He had previously served three terms as congressman. He became his own successor in 1853, and again in 1859. From his first entrance in the senate, he was acknowledged the peer of Clay, Webster and Calhoun, with whom he served his first term. His famous contest with Abraham Lincoln for the senate in 1858, is the most mem- orable in the annals of our country. . It was called the "battle of the giants," and resulted in Douglas' election to the senate, and that of Lincoln to the pres- ideney. He was born in Brandon, Ver- mont, April 23, 1813, and came to Illinois, in 1833. He died in 1861. He was appointed secretary of state by Governor Cariin, in 1840. and shortly afterward to the supreme bench.
James Shields-Was elected and as- sumed his seat in the United States senate in 1849, March 4. He was born in Ireland, in 1810, and came to the United States in 1827. He served in the Mexican war, was elected senator from Wisconsin, and in 1879 from Missouri for a short term.
Lyman Trumbull-Took his seat in the United States senate March 4, 1855,
and became his own successor in 1861. He had previously served one term in the lower house of congress, and served on the supreme bench. He was born in Connecticut; studied law and came to Illinois in early life, where for years he was actively engaged in politics. He resides in Chicago.
Orville H. Browning was appointed United States senator in 1861, to fill the seat made vacant by the death of Stephen A. Douglas, until a senator could be regularly elected. Mr. Brown- ing was born in Harrison county, Ken -. tucky; was admitted to the bar in 1831, and settled in Quincy, Ilinois, where he engaged in the practice of law, and was instrumental, with his friend, Abraham Lincoln, in forming the republican party of Illinois, at the Bloomington conven- tion. He entered Johnson's cabinet as secretary of the interior, and in March, 1868, was designated by the president to perform the duties of attorney gen- eral, in addition to his own as secretary of the interior department.
William A. Richardson -- Was elected to the United States sonate in 1863, to fill the unexpired term of his friend, Stephen A. Douglas. Hle was born m Fayette county, Kentucky, about 1810, studied law, and settled in Illinois; served as captain in the Mexican war, and was promoted for bravery on the battle-field of Buena Vista, by a unani- mous vote of his regiment. He served in the lower house of congress from 1847 to 1857, continuously.
Richard Yates-Was elected in 1865, and served a full term of six years. sketch of him is given in connection with the office of governor.
John A. Logan-Was elected to the
46
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
United States senate in 1871. He was born in Jackson county, Illinois, Feb- ruary 9, 1826, received a common school education; enlisted as a private in the Mexican war, where he rose to the rank of regimental quarter-master. On re- turning home he studied law, and came to the bar in 1852; was elected in 1858 a representative to the 36th congress and re-elected to the 37th congress, resigning in 1861 to take part in the sup- pression of the rebellion, served as colonel, and subsequently as a major- general, and commanded with distinc- tion, the armies of the Tennessee. He was again elected to the senate in 1879, and served the full term. He was the candidate of the republican party in 1884 for vice-president of the United States, with Blaine, but was defeated.
David Davis-Was elected to the United States senate in 1877, for a term of six years. He was born in Cecil county, Maryland, March 9, 1815; grad- uated at Kenyon college, Ohio, studied law, and removed to Illinois in 1835; was admitted to the bar, and settled in Bloomington, where he has since resid- ed, and amassed a large fortune. He was for many years the intimate friend and associate of Abraham Lincoln, rode the circuit with him each year, and after Lincoln's election to the presidency, was appointed by him to fill the position of judge of the supreme court of the United States, which position he re- signed to accept the senatorship. When Arthur ascended to the presidency, at the death of Garfield, Davis was elected president of the senate and aeting vice- president of the United States.
Shelby M. Cullom-Was elected to the United States senate in 1883, to succeed
David Davis for a term of six years, and is serving in that capacity at present. At the time of his eleetion to this office he was filling the gubernatorial chair, and resigned, and John M. Hamilton succeeded him. Senator Cullom is a resident of Springfield.
In 1885, John A. Logan, after a pro- tracted contest in the legislature, was eleeted as successor to himself in the senate, and is the present colleague of Senator Cullom.
REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.
Fifteenth congress, 1818-John Me- Lean.
Sixteenth, 1819-20-Daniel P. Cook. Seventeenth, 1821-22 -- Daniel P. Cook. Eighteenth, 1823-24-Daniel P. Cook. Nineteenth, 1825-26-Daniel P. Cook. Twentieth, 1827-28-Joseph Dunean. Twenty-first, 1829-30-Joseph Dun- can.
Twenty-second, 1831-32-Joseph Dun- can.
Twenty-third, 1833-34-Joseph Dun- can, Zadock Casey.
Twenty-fourth, 1835-36-Zadoek Ca- sey, John Reynolds, William L. May.
Twenty-fifth, 1837-38-Zadock Casey, John Reynolds, William L. May.
Twenty-sixth, 1839-40-Zadock Ca- sey, John Reynolds, John T. Stuart ..
Twenty-seventh, 1841-42-Zadock Ca- sey, John Reynolds, John T. Stuart.
Twenty-eighth, 1843-44-Robt. Smith, Orlando B. Ficklin, Stephen A. Douglas, John A. MeClernand, Joseph P. Hoge, John J. Hardin, John Wentworth.
Twenty-ninth, 1845-46-Robt. Smith, Stephen A. Douglas, Orlando B. Fick- lin, John J. Hardin (1845), Joseph P. Hoge, John A. McClernand, John Went- worth.
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
Thirtieth, 1847-8-John Wentworth, Thomas J. Turner (1847), Abraham Lincoln, John A. McClernand, Orlando B. Ficklin, Robert Smith, William A. Richardson.
Thirty-first, 1849-50-John A. Me- Clernand, John Wentworth, Timothy R. Young, William A. Richardson, Edward D. Baker. W. H. Bissell, T. L. Harris.
Thirty-second, 1851-52-William A. Richardson, Thompson Campbell, Or- Jando B. Fieklin, John Wentworth, Richard Yates, Richard S. Maloney, Willis Allen, William H. Bissell.
Thirty-third, 1853-54-William Il. Bissell, John C. Allen, Willis Allen, Elihu B. Washburne, Richard Yates, Thompson Campbell, James Knox, Jesse O. Norton, William A. Richardson.
Thirty-fourth, 1855-6-Elihu B. Washburne, Lyman Trumbull, James H. Woodworth, James Knox, Thomp- son Campbell, Samuel S. Marshall, J. L. D. Morrison, C. Allen, Jesse O. Nor- ton, William A. Richardson.
Thirty-fifth, 1857-58-Elihu B. Wash- burne, Charles D. Hodges, William Kellogg, Thompson Campbell, John F. Farnsworth, Owen Lovejoy, Samuel S. Marshall, Isaac N. Morris, Aaron Shaw, Robert Smith, Thomas L. Harris.
Thirty-sixth, 1859-60-Elihu B. Wash- burne, John A. Logan, Owen Lovejoy, John A. McClernand, Isaac N. Morris, John F. Farnsworth, Philip B. Fouke, Thomas L. Harris, William Kellogg, James (. Robertson.
Thirty-seventh, 1861-62-Elihu B. Washburne, James C. Robertson, John A. Logan, Owen Lovejoy, John A. Mc- Clernand, Isane N. Arnold, Philip B. Fouke, William Kellogg, Anthony L. Knapp, William A. Richardson.
Thirty-eighth, 1863-64-Elihu B. Washburne, Jesse O. Norton, James (. Robinson, William J. Allen, Isaac N. Arnold, John R. Eden, Lewis W. Ross, John T. Stuart, Owen Lovejoy, William R. Morrison, John C. Allen, John F. Farnsworth, Charles W. Morris, Eben Ingorsoll, A. L. Knapp.
Thirty-ninth. 1865-66-E. B. Wash- burne, Anthony B. Thornton, Jno. Went- worth, Abner C. Hardin, Eben C. Inger- soll, Barton (. Cook, Shelby M. Cullom, John F. Farnsworth, John Baker, Henry P. H. Bromwell, Andrew Z. Kuykendahl, Samuel S. Marshall, Samuel W. Moul- ton, Lewis W. Ross.
Fortieth, 1867-68-Elihu B. Wash- burne, Abner C. Hardin, Eben C. Inger- soll, Norman B. Judd, Albert G. Burr, Barton C. Cook, Shelby M. Cullom, John F. Farnsworth, John Baker, Henry P. H. Bromwell, John A. Logan, Samuel S. Marshall, Green B. Raum, Lewis W. Ross.
Forty-first, 1869-70-N. B. Judd, John F. Farnsworth, H. C. Burchard, John B. Hawley, Eben C. Ingersoll, Barton C. Cook. Jesse H. Moore, Shelby M. Cullom, Thomas W. MeNecley, Al- bert G. Burr, Samuel S. Marshall. Jobn B. Hay, John M. Crebs, John A. Logan.
Forty-second, 1871-72-Charles B. Farwell, John Farnsworth, Horatio C. Burehard, John B. Hawley, Bradford N. Stevens, Henry Snapp, Jesse H. Moore, James C. Robinson, Thos. W. McNally, Edward Y. Rice, Samuel S. Marshall, John B. Hay, John M. Crebs, John S. Beveridge.
Forty-third, 1873-74-John B. Rice, Jasper D. Ward, Charles B. Farwell, Stephen A. Hurlburt, Horatio (. Bur- chard, J. B. Hawley, Franklin Corwin,
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
win, Robert M. Knapp, James C. Roh- inson, John B. MeNulta, Joseph G. Cannon, John R. Eden, James S. Mar- tin, William R. Morrison, Greenbury L. Fort, Granville Barriere, William H. Ray, Isaac Clements, Samuel S. Mar- shall.
Forty-fourth, 1875-76 -- Bernard G. Caulfield, Carter H. Harrison, Charles B. Farwell, Stephen A. Iurlburt, Hora- tio C. Burchard, Thomas J. Henderson, Alexander Campbell, Greenbury L. Fort, Richard II. Whiting, John C. Bagby, Scott Wike, William M. Springer, Adlai E. Stevenson, Joseph G. Cannon, John R. Eden, W. A. J. Sparks, Wil- liam R. Morrison, William Hartzell, William B. Anderson,
Forty-fifth, 1877-78-William Aklrich, Carter H. Harrison, Lorenzo Brentano, William Lathrop, Horatio C. Burchard, Thomas J. Henderson, Philip C. Hayes, Greenbury L. Fort, Thomas A. Boyd, Benjamin F. Marsh, Robert M. Knapp, William M. Springer, Thomas F. Tip- ton, Joseph G. Cannon, John R. Eden, W. A. J. Sparks, William R. Morrison, William Hartzell, Richard W. Town- shend.
Forty-sixth, 1879-80-William Ald- rich, George R. Davis, Hiram Barber, John C. Sherwin, R. M. A. Hawk, Thomas J. Henderson, Philip C. Hayes, Greenbury L. Fort, Thomas A. Boyd, Benjamin F. Marsh, James W. Single- ton, William M. Springer. A. E. Steven- son, Joseph G. Cannon, Albert P. Forsythe, W. A. J. Sparks, William R. Morrison, John R. Thomas, R. W. Townshend.
Forty-seventh, 1881-82-William Ald- rich, George R. Davis, Charles B. Far- well, John C. Sherwin, Robert M. A.
Hawk, Thomas J. Henderson, William Cullen, Lewis E. Payson, John H. Lewis, Benjamin F. Marsh, James W. Singleton, William M. Springer, Diet- rich C. Smith, Joseph G. Cannon, Samt- uel W. Moulton, W. A. J. Sparks, William R. Morrison, John R. Thomas, R. W. Townshend.
Forty-eighth-Ransom W. Dunhanı, John F. Finerty, George R. Davis, George E. Adams, Reuben Ellwood, Robert R. Hilt, Thomas J. Henderson, William Cullen, Lewis E. Payson, Nicholas E. Worthington, William II. Neece, James M. Riggs, William M. Springer, Jonathan H. Rowell, Joseph G. Cannon, Aaron Shaw, Samuel W. Moulton, William R. Morrison, R. W. Townshend, John R. Thomas.
Forty-ninth-Ransom W. Dunham, Francis Lawler, James H. Ward, George E. Adams, Reuben Ellwood, Robert R. Hilt, Thomas J. Henderson, Ralph Plumb, Lewis E. Payson, Nicholas E. Worthington, William H. Neece, James M. Riggs, William M. Springer, Jona- than H. Rowell, Joseph G. Cannon, Silas Z. Landes, John R. Eden, William R. Morrison, Richard W. Townshend, John R. Thomas.
Only three-fourths of a century ago, the territory of Illinois was organized, with a population estimated at 9,000; to-day it numbers more than three and one-half milhons-a greater number than in all the colonies during the rev- olution. When organizea, steamboats had never traversed its waters; rail- roads, telegraphs and telephones were unknown; to-day, every navigable stream is alive with vessels, carrying her products to other lands; while rail- roads traverse every county and almost
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
every township in the state; while the number of miles of telegraph wire would probably encircle the globe, and the telephone is placed in many thous- ands of homes, enabling their inmates to converse intelligibly with parties at a distance of many miles. Then the light that shone out of darkness was only the tallow dip, or that furnished from blazing logs in the old-fashioned fire-places; to-day, after having dis- placed the tallow dip, the candle and the common house-lamp, the darkness of night is penetrated by the glare of gas, and the bright rays of the electric light, rivalling the light of day. Then agriculture was in its infancy, it being possible with the machinery then used, only to raise sufficient crops to supply ! wonder what the future will reveal.
the wants of those lying within its boundary; to-day, with the improved plows, the self-binding reaper, the steam thresher, and other improved machinery, Illinois can feed a nation of 50,000,000 of people. Then the news- paper was a rare visitor in the house- hold; to-day, the humblest citizen can scarcely exist without his daily and weekly paper. Then knowledge was possessed by few; to-day, by means of free schools, well endowed colleges and other influences, there is no excuse for living ignorant. But time would fail to compare the advantages of t ,-day over the first decade of the present century, and the student of history, as he reads of the progress made, can only
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HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
HISTORY
OF
JERSEY COUNTY,
ILLINOIS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
To nearly every thinking mind the study of history is one of peculiar pleas- ure and enjoyment. The sage and scholar poring over a dusty tome, draws from the details of a vanished past the lessons of to-day. The fiery mind of youth receives from its pure well the in- spiration for bright and noble deeds that oft bear the fruit of name and fame. The politician, too, can therein see the rocks and shoals that have wrecked so many a noble craft, and can steer his bark into safety's haven by its glow.
All history, if properly written, is in- teresting; and there is not a country, or a city, or a hamlet-nay, it might be said, not a family or an individual on the globe-whose history might not be more or less valuable to posterity.
From those days called ancient, away back in the dim and misty past, when the human race first arrived at a state of intelligence sufficient to enable them to transmit a traditionary account of themselves, all along down "the dim corridors of recorded time" our ances- tors have left in various ways, and by different means, information, more or less mythical and fabulous, of the age and generation in which they played their ephemeral part on the world's ever changing theater of action. It is graven in bronze on the wonderful works of the central nations of Africa, around those "dim fountains of the Nile;" the grey old pyramids in the valley of that clas- sic river are covered with the demotic and hicoglyphical language of the past.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
The vast and mighty "palaces and piles stupendous," heavy with the dust of unknown centuries, that bewilder the traveler amid Egypt's drifting sands, upon the plains of the Tigris and Euphrates, and hidden away in the jungles of the Indies; the gigantie ruins of Central and Southern America, under the snow-capped Cordilleras, and among the prolifie forests of Yucatan; the seamed and wrinkled pyramids of the Aztecs, in Mexico and California, and the ten thousand crumbling evidences of a powerful and advanced civilization scattered throughout the great valley of the Mississippi, all bear testimony to the countless attempts to transmit knowledge to posterity.
The written history of the American Continent dates back scarcely four cen- turies, yet within that comparatively short period its pages have garnered from her hills and mountains, from her grand rivers and mighty inland seas, valuable additions to the world's stock of knowledge.
Like the Eastern Continent, our own has its historie points, its nuclei around which cluster the memories of heroic deeds, the story of martyrs, and the le- gends of a barbarous past. St. Augus- tine, Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, Que- bec, Montreal, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Detroit, are localities about which gather volumes of history.
A recital of these chain the attention and inflame the imagination of the care- ful student, as he slowly peruses its pages, and lives over again the deeds of those that have left such "footprints in the sands of time" as excite the emula- tion of all good people.
If this is true of general history, the
annals, of the long ago, in distant climes, among a strange people, how much more interesting it must be to peruse the pages of local history-the chronicle of the birth and develop- ment of our homes, the history of the people with whom we have an ac- quaintance, the record of the develop- ment of towns, the buildings, the institutions that surround us and that we have known for years-when on each page we can sean the rise and growth of some familiar landmark in our own lives, or watch with pride the ca- reer of some one loved and dear.
It is the aim of this work to collect and preserve in enduring and popular form some of the facts of the early set- tlement and subsequent growth of a great county of a grand state. The families whose ancestors were early on the ground, and whose members have made the county what it is are worthy of re- membrance, and it is the intention to rescue them from the dust of oblivion.
The hands upon the dial of time had scarcely pointed to the last hour of the second decade of the present century when first the foot of civilized man pressed the virgin soil of Jersey county. Before that era this bright land was a vast, unbroken wilderness, whose only inhabitants were the birds and beasts, and their scarcely less wild congener, the nomad Indians of the plains, who here found a hunting ground, oftimes a place of battle and a red grave. To the untutored savage, who lived but in the present, the thought that the "palefaces" would penetrate this beau- tiful country occurred not to disturb his dreams, and he continued on with his daily life of hunting and fish-
LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
ing, and only varied the monotony of his lazy existence by a short, but bloody, passage-at-arms with some rival tribe. But the time must come when he must surrender this lovely heritage of his fathers and move onward to the sunset land, to give place to the hated white man. The time was soon to come when all nature must be changed; when the fair prairies with their gorgeous flowers and emerald sod must be broken up by the husbandman, and grain fit for the uses of civilized man sown therein.
Seventy years ago the soil was as yet unvexed by the plow, and the woodman's ax had never been heard ; the rude eabin of the settler with its smoke curling heavenward, with an air inviting the weary traveler to come and rest, was totally wanting in the broad landscape, and there was not even the slightest trace of the coming civilization-noth- ing but emerald seas and luxuriant grasses.
" These, the gardens of the desert these The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful, As the young earth ere man had sinned.
Lo! they stretch
In airy undulations far away,
As though the ocean, in the gentlest swell, Stood still, with all its rounded billows fixed, And motionless forever."
But these beautiful prairies that but a few short years ago lay basking 'neath a summer sun, without a trace of human habitation upon their broad bosoms, are now covered with fertile farms, thriving villages, commodious mansions and busy towns. The wilderness has been changed into the abode of man and the home of civilization. And the annals of the men and the times that wrought this wonder- ful transformation, it is the duty as well as the pleasure of the historian to collect
and jot down upon these pages, so that when these heroes of the frontier shall have passed onward to their " great re- ward " they shall have left these lines behind them as monuments to mark their memories-monuments more en- during than stone or brass, even were their epitaphs written in letters of gold.
Even while they live, the recital of those early days when first they " stuek their stakes " in this their land of pron- ise, the changes from the then to now will come uppermost in their minds, and the contrast will afford some food for thought. In those by-gone days the road hither was long and tedious, no roads, no bridges; the only mode of cross- ing the numerous streams that mean- dered across the path of the pilgrim was by fording or swimming. The only mode of transportation was the covered wagon, within whose protecting hood was packed the courageous wife and mother with her little ones, together with the few articles of furniture thought necessary to begin life in the " far west." Letters from the dear ones, left in the home-nest, were like the proverbial angels' visits, " Few and far between." Entering upon pos- session of their new-found home, after the labor, keen and arduous, of the father and husband had been rewarded by the completion of the humble cot, built of the primeval logs, the family settled down to the hardships and seant fare of pioncer life. No labor-saving machinery was there in those days to lighten the work in husbandry or domes- tic economy, only heavy manual labor, with the crudest of tools. No conven- ient mill or store at which to purchase the necessities of life when "reluctant nature withheld her smile" and crops
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HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
failed to meet the emergency. These were but a tithe of the trials and incon- veniences of a new settlement, but how changed to-day. In place of the weary journey through mud, or dust, or drifted snow, thirty or forty miles to mill, or dis- tant village for provision, the only means of transport, the slow-paced oxen or seareely faster plodding farm-horse, now the iron steed of commerce, with rush and roar, dashes up alnost to the door-step of the farmer, and towns and villages with stores and mills dot these verdant hills and plains. Conveniences are brought to their very homes, and the mails, that were many weeks on their way in the past, now are hardly cold from the hands of the loved ones in the "old home" ere they are in the hands of the receiver. Ye newer-comers, com- pare, in your minds, the rude appliances of early days, both in the farm imple- ments, and the domestic helps to the labors of both man and wife; contrast the horse-power thresher with the Hlail; the seythe and cradle with the self-bind- ing harvester; the sewing machine with its hunble sister, the needle, and thous- ands of other innovations and improve- ments with the makeshifts and ruder implements of former times.
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