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 7
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The heroes and heroines of the early days, for women met the same fate with as bold a front as the sterner sex, havo earned their place in history, and it is but meet that they should occupy it.
A history of the people is, par excel- lence, the history of the state, the nation or the county, and in these pages the people shall fill the prominent place. The annals of the lives of these, the " Pilgrim Fathers" of Jersey county have within them all the elements of
tragedy or comedy, and the story of their conflict with nature and the vicissitudes of pioneer life shall be the principal theme of this history.
Thousands of facts are herein record- ed, and individual sketches of hundreds of citizens, living and dead, are here placed in enduring form. These men and women are, or have been, actors in the drama of the settlement and devel- opment of Jersey county. By inserting these sketches, in addition to other mat- ter, is preserved, not only the recital of historic fact, but a subeurrent of indi- vidual deeds that run through it, like some minor chord in the grand melody, giving a realism to the narrative, which could be imparted in no other way.
The first place in a history of this class necessarily begins with the first settlers, the hardy pioneers who first broke the way for civilization into these pristine wastes. The pioneers! how that word strikes a responsive chord in every bosom-how at its sound we con- jure up the bold, hardy and adventurous father of a family packing up a few in- dispensables and turning his back upon the parent roof-tree, all its conveniences and luxuries, and plunging into a savage and untried wilderness, far in advance of the hosts of civilization, there to carve him out a new home. Rugged men, with nerves and muscles of steel, and hearts bold as the Vikings of old, they merit our fullest admiration of their heroism, for heroic it was, this defying of nature in her wildest moods. Let, then, the tablets of history bear their names, that when, in a few short years, they have been called to the land of the hereafter, their deeds and actions perish not with them, and that coming genera-
1
54
HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
tions may have ever before them the bright examples of these noble men.
Rough were they in many cases, and uncouth, yet in them lies the true nobil- ity that lifts a man from an ignominious position and places him upon a high pe- destal. Burns, the Scottish poet, truly says:
" The rank is but the guinea's stamp, The gold the gold for all that."
And although in many cases these bold pioneers were men of limited edu- cation and little social training, men who would be out of place in the gilded salons of society, or the silken boudoir of beauty, still they were possessors of a noble manhood that is the monopoly of no race or caste. Then honor to these noble men, and women, too, that first made a settlement on the wild prairies and in the timber of Jersey county; and here planted the seeds that have grown into such a flourishing community; that have had a prominent hand in making it what it is.
When these argonauts first came here they were completely isolated from their kind. No railroads, and, in fact, no roads of any kind connected them with the far-away land of their kin. No house in which to dwell until they could rear their humble log cabin, no neigh- bors to render aid in sickness or trouble, no one to close their eyes in death- alone. Life with them was not all a rosy dream, but a hard and bitter strug- gle with want, penury and privation, and the wonder is that they should still be spared to us, after almost a life-time of toil and conflict; but still many of them
linger this side of the grave. Let us then hasten, and inelining the ear, listen to their tales of bygone days, the story of their lives, the description of their acts during the heroic age, that history may inscribe them upon her tablets, a monument, when they are gone, more enduring than stone or bronze.
The men of to-day, hardy sons of heroic sires, prominent in official or in commercial circles, also deserves a place in history, for "each day we live, we are making history," and the details of the rise and growth of the business in- terests of the county are not without their value in observations on the grad- ual rise of this section from barbarism and a wilderness to the teeming farm lands, interspersed with cities, towns and villages, as we now find it.
These old settlers must be gathered unto their fathers; the men so full of business and activity to-day must go down into the grave; the youth and bud- ding maiden, rise to manhood and womanhood, linger and decay, and even children that now linger 'round their parents' knee, give place to other people and other things. Then the value of history will be better understood, when all these actors upon the stage of life have lain down,
"With patriarchs of the infant world,-with kings,
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre,"
Then posterity will hail with gladness these annals of the times and deeds of their forefathers, that they may pattern after their noble sires.
55
HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
CHAPTER II.
-
GEOGRAPHY, TOPOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES.
Jersey county lies on the western border of the great state of Illinois, at the junction of the Illinois river and the mighty Mississippi, and embraces some- what over ten congressional townships or about three hundred and sixty-three square miles, and contains about 232,000 acres of land, nearly all of which is val- nable for tillage or pasture.
The county is bounded on the north by Greene county, on the east by Ma- coupin and Madison counties, on the south by the state of Missouri, from which it is separated by the Mississippi river, and on the west by Calhoun coun- ty, the Illinois river forming the boun- dary line between.
The central and eastern portions of this sub-division of the state, are mostly prairie, level or gently rolling, but the southern and western part becomes more broken and rough as it approaches the rivers, forming in bluff's and hills, sepa- ted from each other by narrow ravines, and with sharp deelivities, crowned with a narrow, knifelike ridge, some towering some two or three hundred feet in the air. This portion of the county was heavily timbered at one time, but the hands of the busy woodman has wielded the axe so well that much of the land has been cleared of its leafy mantle, but enough remains to give to it the appear- ance of a wooded country, and with the
outerop of gigantie rock, deep shady ravines and purling springs, make as picturesque locality as any found in the state.
The territory of Jersey county is di- versified with many streams of water, that flow in all directions from the cen- ter, of which Jerseyville is the highest point. The principal of these streams are the Macoupin, the Otter, Piasa and Phill's creek with their affluents. Ma- coupin creek enters Jersey county first in the northern part of Ruyle township and winding, with devious course in a general westerly course close to the boundary line between this and Greene county, is some times in one county and some times in the other, until it reaches the northeast corner of the township of Richwoods, from which point to the }}}- nois river, into which it empties. it forms the boundary line between the tw > counties. Phill's creek, which is an affluent of this stream, is formed by the junction of several small rivulets, which unite on section 17, of Fidelity township, and from thence flowing northwesterly, receives the waters of the Owl and Dorsey's branches, and flows into the, Macoupin creek. Piasa creek has its sourse in the southwestern part of Macoupin county, and is formed by the function of two or three small runs that meet on section 35, of
56
HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
Fidelity township, and from thence flowing in a general southwesterly course, empties into the Mississippi river. Otter creek has its rise in the center of the county, and flows west- wardly into the Illinois river, at the southeast corner of section 6, Rosedale township. These streams, with their numerous affluents, and many small creeks, runs and rivulets that empty into the two rivers, afford ample drain- age for the county, and supply an abun- dance of water for stock purposes.
RAILROADS.
There are three lines of railroad tra- versing the territory of Jersey county, in various directions, connecting it with eastern and southern markets. The St. Louis and Kansas City branch of the Chicago and Alton railroad enters the county on the north from Greene county and traverses the townships of Jersey- ville, Mississippi and Piasa. It has two stations within the county, those of Jerseyville and Delhi. Another branch of the same road crosses the southeast corner of Piasa township, the main line from Chicago to St. Louis. The Rock Island and St. Louis branch of the Chi- cago, Burlington and Quincy railroad crosses the northeastern part of Ruyle township and has one station within this county, Kemper. The St. Louis, Jerseyville and Springfield branch of the Wabash railroad, enters the county from the northeast, crosses the town- ships of Fidelity and Jerseyville to the city of the latter name, and then turns south, passing through Mississippi and Elsah to the town of Elsah, on the Mis- sissippi river, thence turning west, runs to Grafton, where it, at present, has its
terminus. Besides these iron roads, nature has provided the most magnifi- cent of waterways for the carrying off of the surplus products of this portion of the state, the Illinois river and the mighty Mississippi, the Father of Wat- ers. All these numerous avenues of trade, facilitate the transportation of merchandise and produce, and bring the county of Jersey into direct com- munication with the mighty marts of commerce, both north and south, and add largely to the commercial valuc of everything raised within its borders. From early times the energetic agricul- turists of this county have throve and gathered stores of this world's goods, until to-day Jersey county stands well to the front as one of the most prosper- ous in the state of Illinois. The bluff lands of the county are most admirably adapted to the cultivation of all kinds of fruits, as well as wheat and other cereals, and the prairie with its rich, black alluvial soil seems the home of corn and other grains. The rich succu- lent grasses of this region betray by the sleek hides and rounded forms of the stock that are pastured therein, the nu- tritive qualities drawn from a kindly soil. Thrift and affluence are mani- fested on every hand in the fine im- provements and graded stock throughout the county, and taking it as a whole, in an agricultural sense, this county ranks with the best in the land. Its proxim- ity to the great rivers, together with its excellent railroad facilities, and unex- ceptional resources, must make it com- mend itself to those seeking homes in the West. The broken land in the vicinity of the rivers is well adapted to the culture of grape, as is demonstrated
HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
57
Bouds. stocke; etc ..
200
Unenumerated property. 63,654
Aggregate
$665,179
Deduction
12,751
Total value taxable personal property. $652.428
Railway property
$ 12,507
Lands.
1,502.582
Town lots 211,448
$1,726.537
Total value of real and personal property . $2.378,965
1864
No.
Valued at.
Horsea.
5.099
$208,024
Cattle.
9,154
87,783
Molen and asses
463
15.160
Sheep.
5,561
10,576
Hoga.
13.378
25,852
Carriages and wagons
1,772
59 224
Clocks and watches
967
6,220
Piados.
65
5 645
Goods and merchandise
75,690
Bankera' property.
2,000
Manufactured
5,335
Moneye and credita
144,877
Bonda, stocka, etc .. 11,100
Unenumerated property
103.392
Aggregate. $760,878
Land
$1,481,720
Ногоев.
3,241 ·
$121.878
Neat Cattle.
6,790
50,963
Mules
260
8,729
Sheep
2,337
2,345
Hoge.
14,707
29,295
Carriagea and wagone
1,109
35,477
Clocka and watches
737
3,976
Pianoa
7
730
Sheep
4,459
5,887
Goods and merchandise.
41,150
8.961
19,767
Manufactured articlea
7.822
Money and credits.
134,040
Unenumerated property
30,100
Aggregate.
$466,514
Deductiona
27,473
Total value taxable personal property
$459,041
Lande.
. $996,652
Town lots.
87,679
$1,084.331
Aggregate
$760,790
Deduction 1,590
1859
No.
Valued at.
Horees
3,903
$176.480
Neat cattle.
9,023
88,911
Mules and assea.
606
28,729
Sheep.
2.413
2,421
Hoge.
14,323
23,753
Carriages and wagons.
1.549
53.639
Clocks and watches
1,008
6,009
Pianos
37
2,475
Goods and merchandise.
50,130
Railroad property.
205,540
Bankera' and brokers' property.
7,000
Telegraph property
918
Manufactured articles.
16,005
Moneya and cradita.
144,875
Aggregate value.
94,228,930
Town lots
220,430
$1,702,150
$2.463,028
Tax levied
$59,998,74.
1869
No.
Valued at.
Horaea ..
4,698
$171.056
Neat cattle.
6,733
77,319
Mules and asses
679
25,266
Hogs,
Carriages and wagons
1,612
51,225
Clocks and watchea.
1,196
7,806
Pianos. 88
10.160
Goods and merchandise
79,340
Bankere' property
1.000
Manufactured articles
7.415
Moneya and credite.
200,690
Unenumerated property
103,829
$759 200
Railroad property .
$66,208
Landa in the county.
2,219,282
Town lota. 499,039 2,784,529
Total aaseseed valuation
$3,543,729
1884
Valued at.
Lands.
$2,741,398
Town lots.
573,710
Personal property.
704,364
by those who have made essay in this direction, and in the hands of skillful vinegrowers could be made to yield a more liberal return for the labor de- voted to them, than can be obtained from the richest prairie land, devoted to the common cereals, indigenous to this climate and latitude. Sheep would, no doubt, do well here, as it is a known fact that they are more healthy on hill land than on the lowlands.
The following tables will give some idea of the wealth of the county, being the assessments made at various times during the existence of the county, and shows how the real and personal prop- erty of the citizens of Jersey county, has increased from time to time:
1853.
No.
Valued at.
$1,523,370
58
HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
CHAPTER III.
GEOLOGY.
[Hon. Wm. McAdams.]
The geological structure of Jersey county presents, with the exception of Calhoun, the most interesting and va- ried field for investigation of any county in the state. The outerops of the strat- ified rocks include a thickness of over one thousand feet of strata, ranging from the lower coal measures to the Trenton limestone of the Lower Silur- ian period. Some time after the depos- its of the carboniferous period were made, some great convulsion of the pent up forces of nature caused an up- heaval of the strata, and a mountain, or rather the half of a mountain, arose, whose highest point was in the south- ern portion of Calhoun county, with the foot of the elevation extending in a half circle from Alton through a part of Madison, Jersey, Greene and Calhoun counties to the southwest corner of Pike county, on the Mississippi river. This singular mountain doubtless presented on its southern and western side a mural wall, showing the whole range of the Paleozoic strata, from the St. Peters sandstone of the calciferous period to the coal measures, including over 100 feet of the latter formation. Jutting up against the base of this precipice, the rocks, with the coal measures on top, lie in their natural positions, though somewhat distorted, as if they
had been raised up and fallen back again. The lowest rock exposed in the county of Jersey is the well-known Trenton limestone.
This mountain was eroded away by the drift period, which, according to the theory of Agassiz, was an immense glacier, miles in thickness, and the fin- ishing stroke in the earth's creation. The erosive forces of the drift period left the site of the mountain on a gen- eral level with the surrounding country. The stream known as Otter Creek has its source over the coal measures, in the prairie near the city of Jerseyville, and its course in a western direction, for a dozen miles to its mouth, passes di- rectly over the exposed edges of the rocks raised by the upheaval, thus pre- senting nearly the whole series of rocks in the county. This locality, from the number of strata exposed in so limited an extent, makes it the most interest- ing field for the study of geology of which there is any knowledge in this part of the state of Illinois or the United States.
The following section will show the position and comparative thickness of the different groups in the county. The names of the groups given are some of the local, but are those by which they are
59
HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
designated in the geological report of the state of Illinois, by Prof. Worthen:
Drift .
100 feet.
Quarternary.
Coal
Measures
200 feet.
Lower Coal Measures.
15 feet.
Chester Limestone.
Lower Carboniferous.
60 to 75 feet.
St. Louis Limestone.
150 feet.
Keokuk Limestone.
200 leet.
Burlington Limestone.
s0 to 100 feet.
Kinderhook Group.
Devonian.
30 feet.
Black Slate.
15 fret,
Hamilton Limestone.
Upper Silurian.
120 feet.
Niagara limestone.
Lower
Silurian.
40 to 50 feet.
Cincinnati Limestone.
50 feet.
Trenton Limestone.
The total thickness of the geological deposits exposed is not far from 1100 feet.
We shall now proceed to describe the strata represented in the above section, taking them up in their order of se- quence, and giving some of the more prominent features that have attracted our attention.
In the Quarternary system we include the Alluvium, Loess, and Drift, com- prising all the loose superficial material that overlies the stratified rocks. The alluvial deposits of Jersey county are the bottom lands bordering on the Illi- nois river, and on the Piasa, Otter and Macoupin creeks. The bottom along the Illinois river is a deep, sandy loam,
differing somewhat in localities, by being formed wholly from the sediment deposited by the annual overflow of the river, or mainly formed from the wash from the highlands of the adjacent bluffs. These bottom lands are exeeed- ingly fertile, producing annually large crops of grain and vegetables, which are grown year after year on the same ground, with but little perceptible di- minution in the value of the crops. These lowlands are now gradually being elevated from year to year by the the causes already referred to; the swampy portions are filling up or being drained, and the arable area constantly increasing. The alluvial lands of Jersey county will, at no distant day, be very valuable.
That portion of the county bordering on the rivers has, adjacent to the bot- toms, a range of high bluffs, cut up by deep ravines and narrow ridges. These bluffs are covered with a heavy deposit of loess, varying from twenty to sixty feet in thickness. The term loess is ap- plied by geologists to certain deposits of partially stratified marly sands and clays, mainly restricted to the vicinity of our great river valleys. The deposit is in a finely comminuted condition, and contains the remains of fresh water and land shells, as well as some of the bones of animals of that period. It was doubtless formed after the deposition of the true drift, and when the Mississippi valley more resembled a lake than a flowing river. Where the deposit of loess is well developed, the bluff's usually present a series of bald knobs, which form such a marked feature in the topography of the county along the rivers.
60
HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
This formation, from its peculiar na- ture, is easily manipulated by the farmer, and yields excellent crops. The loess seems more especially adapted to fruits and vines, and some of the finest orchards and vineyards in the county are in this formation. It does not cx- tend far back from the river, except in the valleys of the creeks and streams, which are filled with the deposit, in some instances, three to six miles from the bluffs, an evidence that the valleys were excavated by other agencies than the water which now flows in them. In many places in the deposits of loess in the county are found curious concre- tions, which go by the names of petri- fied potatoc or petrified walnuts. Some of these are very singular, but none of them are fossils, being simply secre- tions, and their presence is without doubt due to some chemical action among the materials of which the loess is composed.
DRIFT.
The drift deposits are those accumu- lations of clay, sand and gravel which overlie the stratified rocks. The upper part of this deposit in this county is a yellowish, brown clay, furnishing an in- exhaustible supply of material for the manufacture of brick. It is also used in the manufacture of coarse pottery, by being mixed with the blue clay be- neath it. The middle division of the drift is usually a gravel bed, with elay or sand intermingled, and is the main supply of water for our wells. Boulders of granite, sienite, greenstone quartz and porphyry are often washed out of these gravel beds, and are seen in the course of all the streams. They are sometimes called "lost rocks," a name quite sug-
gestive, as they are indeed far away from their original ledges. The sand in the streams is all washed out of the drift.
The base of the drift in this county is a blue, plastic elay, in which are often found fragments of the vegetation of the period. A large proportion of the materials occupying the drift de- posits have been derived from regions far beyond the limits of the state, and consist of water-worn fragments of primitive rocks from the Lake Superior region, and beyond, and which have been transported southward by the com- bined action of ice and water, and were distributed over the valley of the Mis- sissippi as far south as the Ohio river, where the whole valley was covered by a vast sea of water.
Sometimes fragments of valuable min- erals, such as gold, silver, copper and lead, are found in the drift, and have been the cause of leading many persons to give many fruitless search for mines supposed to be hidden below. All over the country, in digging wells, pieces of coal are found that have been dragged away from the coal measures, and de- ceive the unwary by their presence. Occasionally in digging wells, after penetrating the drift deposits, an old soil is discovered. This is generally found in ancient valleys that existed previous to the drift period. Other creek cuts through one of these an- cient valleys not far above the iron bridge, and there is plainly to be seen, below the base of the drift, a curious black or dark brown formation, almost wholly composed of the limbs, leaves and fruits of trees mingled with a true soil. From a cubic foot of this
61
HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY.
old deposit we extracted perhaps a score of perfect cones, from an inch to three inches in length, that belonged to some old conifer tree. Of the vegetation of this period but little is known; the same may be said of the animals. They were, however, without doubt fitted to live in a cold climate. We have some remains of an animal found in the drift deposits near Grafton. It was an ani- mal as large as an ox, and had long tusks, very different, however, from those of an elephant; it is unknown to science. From the same locality we have the teeth of a mammoth species of elk or reindeer, together with the re- mains of rodents of unknown species. On the Piasa, Macoupin and Otter ereeks a number of the remains of the huge and peculiar mammals of the drift period have been found. Relics or re- mains of this kind, found in digging wells or other excavations should be preserved, as they are the fragmentary pages of a lost history.
Although no beds of the Tertiary age have been identified in this country, certain indications have been observed that would go to show that this forma- tion existed in local patches at least, in the valley of the Illinois river. While digging a well on the William's farm on bottom, four miles from the Illinois river, at the depth of twenty feet, a stratum of marl and sand was discov- ered, in which were fossils undoubt- edly of the Tertiary age. One of these fossils, in our possession, is a well pre- served shark's tooth, some four inches long. The river valley at this point is three to four miles wide, and seems to be filled with true drift deposits, beneath which was found the shark's tooth.
Further researches in this locality will no doubt reveal matter of great interest to science.
COAL MEASURES.
The roeks that belong to the coal measures in this eounty have a thick- ness of about 200 feet, embracing three or more seams of coal of workable thickness. These eval beds under-lie the eastern portion of the county. There is no eval of any value west of the Jacksonville and Alton railroad, which runs through the county from north to south. On the western side of this eoal region the measures, if any are found, are thin and of no great value, but as we proceed easterly the measures inerease in thickness, and the seams of coal become more numerous.
The following section is compiled from various local exposures, examined by the state geologist as well as myself, and given in his report, from which we draw largely in writing this chapter. The seetion may be taken as the ap- proximate thickness of the coal meas- ures of the county:
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