USA > Illinois > Hardin County > History of Hardin County, Illinois > Part 6
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Of the Christian order we find the Reverend Joel Coghill, David Warford and others.
Catholics have a strong church in Hardin County. Among their leaders we find such men as John B. Han- kin, Father Hankin had charge of that church some forty years ago. Father Sonnan had charge of the church about twelve years ago. He was a highly educated priest, a great scholar and orator. He did much good in the com- munity. Father Reish has been the priest for the past six years and appears to be a very able man.
Other General Baptist Ministers who deserve mention- ing are Horace Foster, William Rose, Elihu Oxford and James Oxford.
Teachers and Educators
Among the early educators of Hardin County, I would recall the names of H. Robert Fowler, who was the first teacher to come to Hardin County, who had a diploma, a graduate of the Normal University. He taught many years at Cave-in-Rock. Soon afterwards John H. Jenkins of Hardin County finished his educatoni at the Old Nor- mal University, Bloomington, Illinois and at Carbondale. They were followed by such teachers as John H. Oxford, E. N. Hall and our present worthy superintendent, Clyde Flynn. The schools have prospered greatly with such Superintendents of School as John H. Jenkins for nine years, John Womack, Hattie Rittenhouse, John H. Oxford. Many others deserve mention, but space forbids. Schools are now being well handled by our present worthy Su- perintendent, Clyde L. Flynn.
Among the first ladies to graduate at the State Uni- versity at Carbondale were Eunice Taylor, in 1909, and
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Gertrude Tyre, in 1910. Since then nearly all of the teachers from Hardin County have been attending those Universities, are well trained and teaching the best of schools.
Concluding Remarks
It is very evident from history that the General Bap- tist church divided from the Regular Baptist in the third Century and have existed as a separate body for over seventeen hundred years; claiming to be the true follow- ers of Christ. But the old Regulars claim that John the Baptist baptized Christ and that it established the Baptist church as the true church of Christ and that the Bible tells us that John and Christ went down into the water to- gether and that they both came up out of the water, thus inferring that John certainly put Christ clear under the water.
But now comes the Reverend G. L. Hancock and claims that Paul was taught to preach Missionary doctrine and that the Missionary Baptist is the true church. The writer now knows of about eight denominations of Bap- tist all claiming to be the church of John the Baptist. So the writer has about concluded that "There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it illy becomes any of us to talk against the rest of us".
FORESTS AND CONSERVATION
(By Judge Hall)
As people usually do in staging such enterprises as Centennials, we allowed time to slip upon us; and in our hurried selection of subjects, we overlooked forestry and conservation, two subjects that touch our country very materially. So as the printer is at work on the other ma- terial, some of the committee have suggested that I jot down a few thoughts as lessons at least for our youths.
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Since our civilization is built of wood, it becomes a rather grave question, "How are we going to maintain the com- forts of life when timber is gone ?"
Hardin County uplands surrounded by ever-rising vapors from her adjacent swamplands and rivers, grew a surprisingly heavy and dense forest. Pioneers used to say in wonder that they had never laid eyes upon such giant oaks, hickories, maples, and poplars as sheltered our hills and vales. And it is yet said in wonder that Hardin and Pope counties have as many acres of timber stands as the rest of the state of Illinois.
It is a point worthy the notation of history that the U. S. Government has chosen this section for a national forest project, and appropriately named it for the Shaw- nees who once roamed these forests as their "Happiest Hunting Ground." The Peters Creek Observation Tower stands only a little east of the center of our county. The High Knob Tower stands on the Gallatin County line over- looking our country from the north. While Williams Hill and Raum Towers overlook us on the west from the Pope County hills. So government eyes hold daily vigi- lance over our forests from four towers. Thus eyes look down upon us from elevations 1000 feet above sea level and 640 feet above the Ohio River. The government has been buying lands for this Shawnee Project about 10 · years, and still has lands in process of transfers, so that just now I am not prepared to give the acreage in exact figures, but it runs well into thousands, and when com- pleted it will aggregate other thousands.
Different Views of Forests
Ancient Nomads believed that forests were set upon the earth as a curse for man's disobedience. In the woods hid ravenous beasts which preyed upon their flocks, and the ugly dragons of their stories all lived in the dark for- ests. They hated forests and burnt them in the hope "to make the whole earth one vast pastureland."
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When our grandfathers came to Hardin County, they came with axes in hand. Never did man meet a more stubborn forest, and never did a stubborn forest meet a more sleepless, untiring race of men. They believed to clear away a uscless forest meant to build homes and establish an empire. Then and there began a war upon trees which lasted day and night for a hundred years.
Every summer about "dog days" they belted 10, 15, or 20 acres more of timber land. Next March they set fire to these "deadenings," and some great forest fires raged, as men followed to roll the logs into heaps and burn them at night by the light of their own fires. From my bedroom window I've watched fires climb tall dead trees many a night, delighted to see slabs of burning bark and limbs come down followed by fiery trails, like comets falling from the skies.
They also believed that timber was worse than worth- less; it was a curse to lands. There were two subjects which those sturdy, farmers never seemd to tire of. One was just how to belt a tree on the light of the moon, or during dog days, or when the Zodiac sign was in the heart, in order to "make a shore shot ter kill 'er dead." The other was just where a certain piece of road could be put in order to place it on lands that could not be tended. Their indefatigable industry succeeded with both pro- jects. they killed the timber and put the roads on lands that could not be tilled, or traveled either.
Timber Became Valuable
Our forefathers are not to be blamed for their iron industry in clearing timber from good lands; but in their hatred for trees, they destroyed valuable timber on lands worthless for anything else than the growing of timber, and it soon became valuable. However, when it did so, some of the finest timber in Hardin County was stolen by timber-thieves. Some have criticised me for writing
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of the outlaws of Hardin County. But I believe a writer should hew to the line, letting the chips fall as they may. This is one reason the Bible has held its place through the ages as a History of Truth. It lays bare the bad as well as the good, not even sparing kings and nobles.
That Hardin County in pioncer days was infested and even ruled by outlaws cannot be denied. We may seek to pass these things up as legends, but legend usually has truth behind its stories. When the writer was ten years old, a big portly looking fellow posed craftily as a government timber dealer, and passed under the name of Hornbuckle; but many lived under assumed names here in early days. He bought and had men to raft in Lit- tle Saline just east of Mount Zion Church the finest lot of logs that ever grew in the Hard Wood Section of our country.
When the work was done, he waited for the coming of a government pay clerk to settle for it all. About the middle of that September while they were expecting the pay clerk any day, a week's rainy weather came on. To the dismay and disappointment of many timber sellers and workmen, it was discovered that Hornbuckle and his immense lot of timber had floated away with the freshet. Later on, but too late, it was discovered that this timber thief with his cargo floated into Memphis, but neither he nor the pay checks ever floated back to Hardin County people. This is only one of many such swindles of those notorious days.
The Sawmill Age
About 1870 sons of pioneers began to tear away log huts and to replace them with framed dwellings and box- ed barns. This was the age of the sawmill, cooper fac- tory, vehicle factory, handle factory, furniture factories, paper mills, and tic-hacks; all calling for immense amounts of timber stands. From 1870 till 1910 statistics
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say that for every trec that grew in our Ozark forests ten trees fell. It was that age when "the axe was laid at the root of the tree." Now the timber is gone and 10 million workmen are idle, and economists fear that they will be idle a long time. The Mississippi Valley in which Hardin County lies is now paying 10 million dollars a year in freight rates to have lumber supplies hauled from the Gulf and Pacific coast forests. With this added to other costs, we have learned the value of timber at last.
Had our forefathers foreseen these things, much wealth could have been saved for their sons and daugh- ters; but as it is, I cannot estimate the thousands of dol- lars that timber has brought into our county.
A Valuable Industry
Our older citizens remember well the days of timber works here which furnished meat and bread for a lot of us fellows in our teens when our appetites were at their best. They can tell us some wonderful stories of the days when such companies worked our forests as Brunns and Braursaux, Aaron Lloyd Tie Company, and the John Maxwell Stave Company. These also furnished hauling to a lot of teemsters in those horse-and-wagon days, pay- ing good money for hauling. About 1895 the Maxwell Company worked a paying set just west of the T. B. Rutherford farm, and soon they advertised for haulers. One morning Mr. Brunns lined up about a dozen new haulers, asking for their names rather hurriedly. One gave his name Smith, another Jones, and so on, till he came to a rather excellent teamster named Thomas Guess. Tom like others answered his question with his last name, calling out "Guess." Whereupon Mr. Brunns impatiently demanded, "How the devil can I guess your name, man, when I never saw you before!"
A Stave Culler
The timber business like other businesses can find
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common workmen rather easily, but skilled, dependable men are always difficult to find, and are always in de- mand. Tie companies had much difficulty in finding that sort of men, but when they do find such a man as Willianı Irby, of our county, they hold on to him with increasing wages.
The writer happened to learn of these things per- taining to the stave business. The oil companies. as well as the whisky, and beer companies demanded particular qualities and measurements for their vessels, and tim- her companies had to meet their demands or lose their patronage. I intruded upon and forced our County Clerk A. H. Wooten to lay his books aside for a storm of cross questions pertaining to all this. It was said that the Max- well Company gave him the credit of having the quickest and best eye for judging and culling staves that they had ever tested, and they kept him on the job through some large sets in Hardin County; but he told me that they also used him as their stave culler in Kentucky and in Tenn- essee a few years after they moved from Hardin County. That was before Mr. Wooton's quick eye had learned to cull voters.
Climatic Value of Forests
Only in the last few decades scholars, called conserv- ationists, have discovered that trees are given by an All- Wise Creator for the comforts of man and for a protective covering of the earth from extremes of climate and weather. They now know that the three great deserts of the earth were anciently three cradle homes for the three races of mankind; that these millions of square miles of sandy wastes were once blessed with rivers and lakes, cities and villages, forests and glades. Hulks of ships and boats have been discovered with many other artifacts of man as well as large petrified trees, all offering silent evidences buried in sifting sands that those wilderness
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wastes prehistorically were forested homelands of happy people. But as charred remains prove, they burnt their forests to "make the whole earth one vast pastureland." A maddened climate followed with teeth of hot stinging sands, which drove them pell-mell from their homelands. Now a climate rules the day which lifts thermometers to 150 degrees, but that night, with no tree covers and waters to ameliorate temperature, ice will often freeze. The black hot simooms of Sahara hurled black dust into the very skin pores of man, driving the Black Race into the jungles of Africa. The white dust of Punjab Desert of Asia likewise drove the White Race from its unbearable climate, and the yellow sands of Gobi hurled a Yellow Race out of those plateaus from which the Yellow River rose and flowed into the Yellow Sea. Scholars now be- lieve that deserts are man-made instead of God-made.
Conservationists Warn Us
Hence scientists are asking us if Hardin County and the Ozarks will change, can they change as much during the next hundred years as they have changed during the last? What will Hardin County be like when our next centennial rolls around? Tests have shown that the water table under the Ozarks has steadily sunk an inch a year for 25 years, and many fine springs have discontinued their flows. They further tell us that in summer months a large tree brings up water from ground storages and breaths out from the leaf stomata vapor enough in 24 hours to condense into a barrel of water. It is believed that this forest vapor very largely accounted for the heavy dews and summer showers that grew the finest peachblow potatoes for our grandfathers.
It is likewise argued that forest shelters held snows from melting and held warm waves back for "old time winters." But since the forests are gone winter rains turn Wyspy torrents which sweep wheat lands from fields.
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Mr. George Ledbetter, who had bought wheat from many sections, even from the spring-wheat fields of the Dako- tas, told the writer more than once that the wheat with the heaviest test and from which was ground the best flour that ever went out of his mills, was grown on the plateaus of Hardin County.
When the writer was a boy, he had to climb the banisters of Jas. Brownfield's porch to see the combs of the Arch Rutherford house and barn, by looking over one of those fine wheat plateaus. A few months ago he stood on the porch floor and saw 10 or 12 feet of those roofs. The heights of none of the buildings have been changed, but the damaging tooth of erosion has gnawed 60 or 70 inches from that broad plateau; so that it will not grow wheat now. I decided that day that these figures would hold good for thousands of acres in Hardin County. Be- cause of this steady loss of our top-soils by winter freshets, we have lost the most valuable crop Hardin County ever raised; but by that erosion we lost a more valuable heri- tage than wheat-growing, and that was the virgin soils, the inherent wealth of a country.
Are Fruits Going?
We are assured by scholars that our climate is in danger of losing its evenness. The first hot winds ever felt in Hardin County schorched corn-tassels in August 1898, but since then they are becoming more and more common. In 1930 and 1936 the Western Desert laid claims to more than a million of acres of fine lands of the Great Plains. Even Congress became somewhat alarmed, when dust from the Western Dust Bowl threatened to becloud the noonday sun in Washington, D. C. They called scientists in for expert testimony. One scholar warningly said, "Gentlemen, our forests are gone, and our climate will go. In a hundred years from now the western line of the American Desert will be the Mississippi river."
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Should such a thing happen, Hardin County will have no fruit at our next centennial, for good fruits go first before an arid climate. One fruit company alone in the Arkansas fruit belt reported that in the drouths and hot winds of 30 and 36, they lost a million apple trees. It is an evil omen that such wealthy companies are now leaving the Ozarks to invest in the more equable climates along the coasts of the U. S.
The government now owns more than thirteen thous- and acres of land in Hardin County. It hopes to save our forests and therefore our climate, but the government cannot do so alone. That is too large a task for the gov- ernment. A hundred million people can devastate a country of many more trees than any government can plant and grow. We must teach forestry to our youths and the love of trees to our children. We must plant trees, protect and grow trees for our comfort, our health, and the conservation of our county and country. Teach in the spirit of Joyce Kilmer :
"Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree."
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Hardin County's First Business Directory
Through the courtesy of J. L. Hosick, merchant of Elizabethtown, I have access to an Illinois Atlas published in 1876, the centennial year of American Independence. It was purchased about that time by Mr. Hosick's grandfather, Joseph T. Hosick. This directory ought to pass as history with interest to the decendants and other relatives of these early business men of our county. Below I am giving their names, their business, their native homes, and the dates of their settlements in our county .- Chairman.
ELIZABETHTOWN
Wm. F. Adams
Farmer and Mechanic
Kentucky 1843
W. N. Ayres
Member of Lead Co. and Druggist
Ohio 1848
L. B. Anderson
Miller
Kentucky 1869
W. J. Banks
Farmer and Teacher
Tennessee 1866
John J. Baker
Farmer and Machinist
New York 1859
John S. Curry
Teacher
Illinois 1861
Willis Cunningham
Blacksmith
Tennessee 1874
Robert Craig
Farmer and Miner
Virginia
1844
Farmer and Mechanic
Kentucky 1869
Solomon Cox L. T. Dean
Physician and Druggist
Kentucky
1862
Jacob Drumm
Farmer and Carpenter
France
1851
Martin Eichorn
Farmer and County Commissioner
Germany
1857
Charles Eller
Grocer and Liquor Dealer
Germany
1849
Col. C. M. Ferrell H. Ferrell
Thos. Gribble Anna Gross J. W. Grimsley H. R. Hardin
Produce Dealer and Senator Dealer in Liquor
Tennessee 1841
Indiana 1848
Miner
England 1872
Teacher
Illinois 1859
Physician
Tennessee 1853
Barber
Kentucky
1871
Printer
Indiana 1856
Sheriff
Indiana
1858
John Jackson Matthew Jenkins
Boot and Shoemaker
Illinois 1841
Farmer and Teacher
Illinois
1850
Blacksmith
Germany
1852
F. C. Karber J. N. Ledbetter
Merchant and Real Estate
Kentucky
1843
Editor of Hardin Gazette
Illinois 1841
Arkansas
1856
Farmer and County Treasurer
Illinois
1845
Attorney at Law
Illinois
1842
Merchant and Postmaster
Tennessee
1844
Farmer and Ex-Circuit Clerk Miner
Illinois
1836
Physician and Druggist
Tennessee 1871
Teacher
Kentucky
1871
County Clerk
Tennessee
1860
Farmer and Real Estate
Illinois
1829
James A. Lowry J. Q. A. Ledbetter John T. Ledbetter W. S. Morris T. A. McAmis Jas. McFarlan Siddey Pankey J. L. Paris
Attorney and County Judge
Illinois
1810
Wm. J. J. Paris
J. H. B. Renfro J. W. Ralph
Joseph Irby Geo. W. Jackson
Marshall Rose Hannah M. Stone Giley Schmid J. K. M. Stone Charlotte Spyker Charles Swaggirt Andrew Shell Earl Sherwood La Fayette Twitchell J. B. Thomson
James Hunter C. W. Wilkinson Joseph T. Hosick
J. Chinoweth Otho Davis James Dunstar
G. W. Ferrell Wm. Fields Jesse Griffin J. W. Grigsby
County Supt. of Schools Teacher
Farmer and Carpenter
Sweden 1857
Tennessee 1842
New York 1837
Farmer and School Director
Pennsylvania 1870
Carpenter and Builder
Tennessee
1828
Attorney at Law
Pennsylvania 1865
Circuit Clerk
Illinois ' 1829
Pastor of M. E. Church
Maryland 1870
Lumber and Saw Milling
New York 1861
Lumber and Saw Milling
New York
1861
Attorney at Law
Tennessee
1867
Farmer
Kentucky
1827
ROSE CLARE (Rosiclare)
Miner and minerologist
Wisconsin
1867
Miner
Illinois 1856
England 1871
Farmer and Cooper
Kentucky
1869
Real Estate Dealer
Kentucky 1872
Butcher
Tennessee. 1850
Blacksmith
Kentucky
1868
Illinois 1840
Illinois 1857
Pastor, Big Creek U. B. Church Music Teacher
I. M. Williams
Minerologist
Mrs. M. J. Hopkins Clifton Hoskins R. J. McGinis Henry Magraw Jas. B. Miller J. M. Moxley D. W. Pell
Wm. Rowan John O. Smoot
Merchant
Kentucky
1865
Horseman and Livery Stable
Ohio
1862
Carpenter and Builder
Tennessee
1873
Dry Goods and Groceries
Germany
1849
Practical Mining
England 1871
Dealer in Loquors
Alabama
1871
Practical Mining
Illinois
1848
Liquor Dealer
Indiana
1872
CAVE-IN-ROCK
Dealer in Produce
Kentucky 1872
Dealer in Liquors
Tennessee 1874
General Merchant
Missouri
1868
Tennessee
1864
Indiana
1852
Ed. H. Baker R. C. Estridge J. J. Goodwin J. M. Jentry Thos. Hodges
Music Teacher
New York 1872
England 1871
Pennsylvania 1861
New York 1860
Bricklayer
Attorney at Law
Virginia
1875
Engineer
Kentucky 1871
Merchant
Illinois
1855
Merchant
Indiana 1839
Harrison Tryon J. A. Turner Mrs. S. Volkert George Wheeler
L. D. Webster W. B. White J. S. Walton
Practical Mining Physician
Physician Farmer and Minister
John Mitchell Pell & Madden Wm. L. Ray M. L. Shelby John M. St. John M. Wright E. F. Wall John Sheares
Farmer and Merchant General Merchants
Physician and Surgeon Dry Goods and Produce Farmer and Engineer Farmer and Minister
Farmer and Shipper First Teacher
Ireland 1832
Illinois 1840
Kentucky 1874
Kentucky 1846
Kentucky 1850
Kentucky
1871
Tennessee
1850
Pennsylvania 1818
PARKINSON'S LANDING
Shetler & Allard
Merchants and Grain Dealers
Indiana
1871
John E. Beal
Clerk and Salesman
Pennsylvania 1868
John S. Cummins
Physician
Indiana
1850
Geo. J, Carter
Carpenter and Cooper
Illinois 1850
General Produce
. Kentucky
1850
Cooper and Carpenter Mechanic
Tennessee
1859
Groceries and Produce
Ohio '1869
Moore & Reed
Blacksmiths
Illinois
1844
Joseph. Shetler
Shetler and Allard Merchants
Germany
1853
·
· . Illinois
1825
WV. T. Cullum Daniel V. Davis J. M. Dixon A. W. Givens
Braxton Ginger A. J. Lee John A. Oxford Elihu Oxford James Oxford William Patton Jas. Rutherford Benj. Ingram George Hall Caleb Grace John Russell
Horace Foster Jerry Reynolds -
Joseph Irby
SPARKS HILL'
Farmer and Teacher Farmer and Mechanic
Illinois 1852
Tennessee 1870 Illinois 1848
Farmer and Teacher
Farmer and Minister
N. Carolina 1836
N. Carolina 1836
Tennessee
1836
Farmer
Ohio
1844
Farmer
Kentucky
1840
Farmer
Ohio
1845
Farmer and Mason
Kentucky 1852
Farmer
Kentucky 1856
Farmer and Mail Carrier
Kentucky 1844
Farmer
Kentucky 1844
Farmer and Carpenter
Kentucky 1844
Farmer
Pennsylvania 1840
Farmer and Cooper
Pennsylvania 1840
Farmer and Minister
Kentucky 1844
Merchant and Physician
Kentucky 1850
Merchant and Postmaster
Kentucky 1850
Farmer
Tennessee 1846
Farmer
Virginia 1840
First Justice
Pennsylvania 1823
.
Garland Waters Arch Sutton Jess Miles Josiah Suits
Anderson Thacker Joel Coghill Wm. N. Warford David T. Warford
Farmer and Minister
Farmer
John C. Walrab Jefferson Hobbs Norman Pierce James Hill Ira Driver
WALRABS MILLS
Farmer and Miller
Germany
1849
.
Farmer and Flatboatman
Virginia 1842
Farmer and Shipper
Virginia 1845
Farmer
Kentucky 1848
Farmer and Minister
Tennessee
1845
Antone Herman
Farmer
Germany
1845
Nicholas Reif
Farmer
Germany
1845
Carl Humm
Farmer
Germany
1848
John Rotes
Farmer
Germany
1841
John Koch
Farmer
Germany
1841
John Seiner
Farmer
Germany
1848
Daniel Vinyard
Farmer
Virginia
1817
HERALD-ENTERPRISE
Golconda, Illinois, 1939
BOUND BY
11.89
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 977.398H219H C001 HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS. GOLC
3 0112 025400323
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