USA > Illinois > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, Illinois, 1810-1962 > Part 7
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Zadok and Rachel Casey were the parents of eight children: Michala, Many Jane, Samuel K., Hinam R., Alice, Newton R., Thomas S. and John R. Casey. Newton and john were practicing physicians and Thomas served as a judge on the judicial circuit in this area.
The Casey family have played a very important role in the Rounding and developing of Int. Vernon, and we regret that space does not permit mentioning all of the people who descend from this pioneering family.
FORST SETTLER IN CASNER TOWNSHIP
The really first settlen in Casnen Township was my grand- father, George Casnen. He was born in 1796 and passed away in his
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eighty-third year in 1879. He was married three times. Of his first wipe, I have no history other than the Location of her grave. This is also true of his second wife. His third wife was my grandmother, bonn Catherine Lewis Gilbreth, from : Jales. To this third marriage were born two daughters, the younger of whom was my mother.
There were three children of the first marriage and ten of the second marriage. All of these children have passed away, but there are four granddaughters and one grandson living at present, and many descendants,
He had four sons in the Civil War: John, Andy on Andrew, Steve and George. Two sons went out to the gold rush in those days but returned,
George Casnen and sons built the first log school house on his land; this building burned. Then the school was built about a mile north of the home place; from there the location was moved to the present old school, Casnen School.
He was a farmer and carpenter. He made coffins up to the time of his death.
Another thing my mother told me, he gave money as well as land for the L & N Railroad. Before that, about twice a year he made the trip to St. Louis with oxen for supplies on necessities.
He was born in Virginia, passed away on the home site. He and his three wives are buried on a little knoll just beside the L & N Railroad. He was said to have been half Indian.
My father, john H. Randolph, bought out the heirs of the Casnen estate. I was born in the first frame house built in Casner Township, the house George Casner built.
In 1902 my father sold the homestead to Frank Rensky. Frank Rensky's son Louis now owns the farm. The house he built stands where the old barn was, a beautiful pond lies near where the old house was.
This is the history mother and her one sister handed down to me.
-- By E. Catherine Randolph Pruno Woodlawn, Illinois
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L. A. DEARINGER CONTRIBUTES:
"Jefferson County in the Nineteenth Century"
When we read about the past it is hard to accept those personalities about whom we read as being real people, such as those we meet every day. We are quite sure, for instance, that we never knew an Aunt Becky Depriest, who weighed some 345 pounds and who always wore a "stovepipe" hat. Neither have we known a Jesse Green, from Long Prairie, who was called Jesse Button to distinguish him from his son who was called Jesse Purpose, and who would amuse folks on public days by dancing on the grass in his moccasins with "so much agility." Peculiar people? But of course. Shall we not seem peculiar to those readers of our history a century hence? People are products of their times. By our deeds and actions we identify the period in which we live. Consequently, from these tales and Legends about the Aunt Becky Depriests, the Jesse Buttons, and the others whom we shall meet, we should better understand what it was to live in Jefferson County during the Nineteenth Century. This, then, is the purpose of our contribution to this volume.
Some of these sketches have been passed along by friends who knew of our interest in such things. And many have been adapted from "Recollections of Jefferson County and Its People, " a series of articles by Adam Clank Johnson, which appeared in the old litt. Vernon Free Press around 1882. * *
According to Johnson, there never was a frontier just like Southern Illinois. There were few Indians, and these were peaceful. The wild beasts were not very wild on numerous. In this pocket between the great nivers was a fresh, fertile and safe domain of about twelve thousand square miles, barely accessible to the outside world. Des- tined to an exceedingly slow development, it was much longer in be- coming materially better.
Clothes worn into Jefferson County soon wore out. It was then necessary to resort to buckskins, which were too long when wet and too short when dny, on to homespun. Dyes from homespun were made
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from copperas, a mineral taken from the bluffs not far from the site of Jefferson City, which was on the Richview Road, north of Woodlawn. A red rock - evidentally a soft, red stone, used by Indians - was utilized as a sione dye. Then, too, people raised indigo. The liquid used to "set" the blue dye was attractive to insects. It was most provoking, so we are told, to be decked out. in one's Sunday best and be surrounded wherever one went by a swarm of buffalo grats.
When hats wore out, winter caps of skin might be used, which often were of the most fantastic shape. Summer hats were of straw, home-made, the straw being bleached with sulphur smoke, Governon Zadok Casey, after he had been to Congress, wore on Sundays a straw hat made by lins. Anna Moss, *
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The first white man to settle in Jefferson County, Andrew Moore, gave his name to the area where he settled -- Moore's Prairie. One day liloone and his young son node down to Jordan's Mill, in Franklin County, after meal and never returned. Some six years later a human skull was found stuck upon a snag of an elm tree within two miles of the liloone place, Recognizing the evidence of a missing tooth, Mrs. libore identified the skull as that of her missing husband. She took the ghastly nelic home, kept it in her trunk and had it placed in her coffin when she died. It was presumed that Indians had committed the murder of the father and had taken the child with them.
It was said that Billy Casey and Issac Hicks were the only pioneers who brought any surplus money with them. Much of the land entered by the early settlers was entered with money borrowed from one of these two. It was believed that Billy Casey had a considerable sum buried away at the time of his death, "which would never be found unless by accident. " Apparently there is still an accident around, waiting to happen.
Another pioneer was Roaring Billy Woods, who got his name from the peculiar way of halloing when intoxicated. Alfred, a brother of Roaring Billy, was killed in 1828 by a falling bee tree. He was brought to Old Union for burial, but the creek (Casey Fork?) was so high that it was necessary to build a raft so the little procession could cross.
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It seems that getting married was an exciting event in the Woods family. Mrs. Alfred Woods bitterly opposed the marriage of her daughter Nancy to Bill Dodds. Learning that the two had gone over to John Dodds to be married, she seized a large butcher knife and set out on foot at full speed to have her way, on to have blood, preferably that of Bill Dodds. She reached the Dodds home, but too late. Easily overpowered, she soon accepted the inevitable.
Anderson Woods and Martha Norton also had parental opposition from Jacob, Martha's father. However, Jacob's opposition was vetoed by unanimous decision of the young couple. One day Martha was at the gap, milking; Anderson node up, Martha jumped up behind him and away they went, with reconciliation following in due time.
We have mentioned Aunt Becky Depriest. One of her sons, Green, had a curious courtship. Starting to Walnut Hill for a little spree, he stopped on the way at the house of a widow Allen to make some inquiries. The daughter joined in the conversation, and Green fancied her appearance. He told her who he was and also told her that he would like to marry hen, if agreeable. Well, she said, she did not care. So Green Depriest took a wife, bringing her home the next day, to the astonishment of his friends and neighbors. The choice, according to Johnson, proved an excellent one for Green Depriest.
Elsewhere it will be recorded that in 1830-31 the first school in Jefferson County seems to have been held in Shiloh Township, the building being of logs. In 1838-39 school was held in Mt. Vernon in the Methodist parsonage, which then was in the edge of a woods. Occasionally snakes would invade the schoolroom, thus creating con- siderable excitement among the pupils and teachers.
The Mt. Nebo School was located where Richview Road crosses Betty Dugan Creek. Many A. Casey was the teacher, beginning her career at the age of fourteen and teaching for fifty-seven years. Sometime prior to 1845 the decapitated body of an unknown traveller was found in the area. One day a resident, John Payne, met the ghost of this unfortunate stranger; and for years following Payne's experience Miss Casey would dismiss school early on the short winter days, so
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the children could get home safely before dusk, when the ghost took his walk, * * *
With meat prices the way they are, it might be interesting to mention an early settler by the name of Bob Holt who was several times indicted for stealing hogs and who shocked the moral sensibilities of the public by confessing that he had stolen hogs, but not the ones changed, and that he would steal hogs whenever he wanted to. This, Johnson tells us, did not then look as bad as it would now, because hogs were of no great value and nan half wild and chiefly took care of themselves.
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The Mckinley-Bryan campaign of 1896 was a hot issue in Jefferson County. Although women then were denied the vote, never- theless they formed and staunchly stood for their own political opinions.
Attending a Bryan rally in Mt. Vernon were a Horse Creek family, James and Mallie Warnen and their two boys, (Lyde, who was three on four, and Hill, under two. Politically, the family was divided, James being a Democrat and Mallie a Republican, a very strong Republican, as we shall see,
As soon as the Warrens arrived in town father James bought a Bryan cap for son Clyde. Mother Mallie immediately bought a Repub- lican cap for baby Hill. The rally was long, the day was warm, and the baby got tired and had to be carried! However, papa Warren would not carry the baby as long as he wore the Republican cap, and mother Mallie would not remove the headgear as long as son Clyde wone the Democratic cap. Neither would give in, so Mrs. Warren carried the baby the entire day, the baby getting heavier by the hour. Presumably, the experience did not soften mother Mallie's feelings toward the Democratic Party. *
No anthology such as this would be complete without a bit of early superstition - on is "folk lone" a better term? This has to do with a Hoop Snake which, as every one knows, is able to grasp its tail in its mouth and roll merrily from hither to you. The bite of
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the Hoop Snake is venomous. There is a venomous stinger at the tip of its tail. Furthermore, it seems that Hoop Snake bodies exhude a venomous substance. Of course, science doesn't support such reports, but who in the world would ever think of accepting science as against the voices of experience? In such stories, however, the ordeal always was experienced by another, preferably a relative.
This tale was related by Dr. R. B. Guthrie, Pastor Emeritus of the First Presbyterian Church of lit. Vernon, who got the story from a sick patient. Presumably the event happened in Jefferson County. According to the sick patient, an aunt - a young girl in hen early teens -- was picking blackberries along a pasture lane, which had a considerable grade. Hearing a noise the aunt looked up, and one can imagine hen honnon at seeing a gigantic Hoop Snake rolling down the path at a terrific speed directly towards her. The aunt dodged behind a tree, and just barely in time. So close was the reptilian hot-rod that it scraped some bank from the tree as it flashed by and tone an exposed conner from her skirt.
Now, in those days teen-age daughters did their own mending, reptile on no reptile, so the auntie proceeded to repair the damage caused by the Hoop Snake. After sewing on the patch the aunt discovered that she had no scissors with her, so she bit the thread in two, Within ten minutes she was dead, the poison was so potent. And because the snake had scraped against the tree trunk, neither did the tree escape the effects of the poison ~ it failed to leaf out the following spring, and by midsummer was quite dead. * *
Not only were the ways of these pioneer settlers not our ways, but the descriptive terms they used are also strange. In Johnson's "Recollections" we find such terms as "skelped down, " "buttin-poles," "weight poles, " "knees, " "sanched meal," "firmity," and "metheglin, " which last seemed to be a home-made drink made with honeycomb, If such terms are unfamiliar to us, it can be expected that those pioneers might have trouble with "video, " "rock and roll" and other such expressions, could they be suddenly introduced to our times. However, many terms would be mutually understood - when those
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men, for instance, spoke of a "well-built filly" we know that they weren't always talking about a horse. * *
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A majority of the people kept Sunday as a day of worship and of sacred nest. For want of a church the men would preach at private homes. However, in a new settlement, churches were among the first public buildings to be built. At the time of this writing (1962) the lilt. Olive Church, built of logs in 1840 and Located southeast of Bluford, is the oldest church structure in Jefferson County.
Johnson's description of a typical "going to church" is repeated verbatim;
"See them come in. Here comes a family in a home-made cart, with wheels sawed out of a big log, and drawn by a yoke of cattle. Here comes a younger man on horseback, with his wife behind him. Here comes another, walking with the larger children, while his wife nides with a child behind her, and one in her lap. But most of them come on foot, "in twos and threes and fours, " chatting along the path nogether, Their clothes are clean, white, yellow, red, blue, brown, on check, all clean; their shoes, if they have any, cleaned up and greased; the women in their sunbonnets and the men in their newest straw hats; all in good shape. The preacher stands ..... preaches long and loud, and the brethren cny "amen, " the women shout, and all go home happy."
-- L. A. Dearinger
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
On July 25, 1918, a group of ladies met at the home of Its. William T. Pace to organize a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution fins. Pace had been appointed Organizing Regent by the President General of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, whose headquarters are at Washington, D. C.
Then, as today, only direct descendants of Revolutionary soldiers on those whose ancestors gave material aid to the colonies were eligible for membership in the D. A. R. To perpetuate the memory and the spirit of the men and women who achieved American independence, thirty-five women signed for membership; thirteen were resident members; twenty-two were non-resident members. This group of thirty-five women represented the branches of eight Revolutionary families.
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At the organizational meeting officers were selected and committees appointed. Of the thirty five chanter members, three still hold membership in Joel Pace Chapter: Miss Mabel Pavey, whose mother, Isabella Pace Pavey, was a grand-daughter of Joel Pace; Mrs. Alice K. Cummings, the first treasures of the chapter; and Miss Nell Jane Kell, who was registran of the chapter for many years.
The chapter organized in 1918 was named Joel Pace Chapter for Joel Pace, Sr., head of one of Jefferson County's best known families. He enlisted in the Continental Anny in Henry County, Virginia, in Manch 1779, and served eighteen months. His ancestors were instru- mental in saving Jamestown and many of the colonists from the massacre of 1622. Joel's grandfather, Richard Pace, had befriended an Indian who, in turn, informed his pale-face friend of the Indians' impending attack and enabled scones of colonists to flee to the stockade before the redmen came on the pitiful band of settlers.
Joel Pace, Sr., came to Jefferson County to join the family of his son , Joel Pace , In. The senior Pace died in 1831 and is buried in Pace Cemetery near Mt. Vernon, Illinois.
We know of two other Revolutionary soldiers who are buried in Jefferson County: William Tong, buried at Old Union Cemetery; and Peter Owen, buried at Pleasant Grove Cemetery. Joel Pace Chapter had had the graves of these soldiers marked and kept in good condition.
Among the many other activities of Joel Pace Chapter was the dedication of a bronze tablet to the memory of Abraham Lincoln on November 22, 1923. Appropriate ceremonies preceded the placing of this permanent historical marker on a building on North Tenth Street in litt Vernon. This bronze plate marks the spot where an address was given by Abraham Lincoln.
The work of the Daughters of the American Revolution includes that of patriotic education, historical research, the preventing of desecration of the flag, the creation of an interest for and a respect of the flag, conservation of good roads and old trails, Americani- zation, and international relations.
-Nell J. Kell
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MACALLEN DINWIDDO E
Macallen Dinwiddie was born in slavery on December 4, 1846, in Missouri. His father had come from Africa and was in slavery all of his life in America and possibly before he was brought to America. Young Macallen Dinwiddie spent the first years of his life in Missouri, where he was owned by a family named Canten who lived in Inonton, Missouri.
Very soon after the Civil War was over, Macallen Dinwiddie and his brothers were taken to a place in Texas to be held as slaves. Their father was left in Ironton, Missouri, and the Dinwiddie brothers did not yet know that the wan was over when they were taken to Texas. It is not now known whether or not li. Carter had planned to sell on trade the brothers, on whether he intended to keep them for himself.
The brothers were contacted by a friend of theirs in a short time after their arrival in Texas and were informed for the first time that the war had ended and that they were free. No one now can truly realize what a thrill it was for the Dinwiddie boys to learn that for the first time in their entine lives they had the freedom which white people had always taken for granted. Our country is still struggling to perfect this freedom for all men, with all the nights, privileges and responsibilities which go with it, and we have need of much further progress; but what a comfort it must have been to these young men to know that they were no longer the property of another and that hence- forth they would be responsible only to themselves and to God. They joyfully returned to their home in Ironton, Missouri.
Macallen Dinwiddie was not yet nineteen years of age when". War Between the States came to an end. He remained in Missouri for some time, was married there and had one child prior to coming to Illinois. He was married to Ellen Russell in Ironton, Missouri, about the year 1875.
Mr. Dinwiddie spent his entire Life as a farmer. He came to Jefferson County, Illinois prion to 1900, but the exact year is unknown. He first settled on a farm south of Woodlawn where he spent a few years. Then he purchased a farm in Section Two of Shiloh Township where he remained until his death. His daughter, lis. Harry Young, and her husband now live on this same farm.
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Macallen Dinwiddie truly saw slavery in its fullest, but his life was an outstanding demonstration that he was worthy of the freedom he had received. He departed this life on August 1, 1909, and his body lies buried in the J. O. O. F. Cemetery, Woodlawn, Illinois. (Information on the Life of Mr. Dinwiddie was furnished by his daughter, livs. Harry Young, Woodlawn, Illinois. )
COUNTY PERSONALITIES
(Taken from articles written in the filt, Vernon Register News by L. A. Deaninger)
Up in Rome Township, about two miles beyond Graze Point, was
Budtown. At one time this early trading center could boast of a stone, a grist mill, and a blacksmith shop. The smithy was an accomplished worker in iron; one, it seemed, who could nepain on make just about every tool on implement used on a farm,
Many men of today have hobbies -- fishing, playing golf, photography, writing. Hobbies are not new, are not necessarily the result of increased leisure. Our smithy at Budtown had a hobby. In his spare time he liked to make dies, on molds, which when filled with molten lead produced half-dollars having a remarkable resemblance to the legal coins used at the time. These spurious coins were passed to patrons in the course of making change. Passing these coins quickly brought the blacksmith an invitation to an extended so journ in the Federal Rest Home at Leavenworth, Kansas. While a guest of the govern- ment our smith met other unlucky counterfeiters, from whom he learned some of the finer points of die making. Upon his release from prison our blacksmith soon discovered that he still had much to learn about making dies, so back again to Leavenworth. After his second incarcer- ation nothing more is heard about Jefferson County's counterfeiter. Which, perhaps, is just as well. The public has little interest in the unsuccessful, especially unsuccessful counterfeiters.
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One of the victims of the Budtown counterfeiter was one Newt Brown, grandfather of Newt Brown, lit. Vernon druggist. Newt Brown,
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the grandfather, not the druggist, was one of a family of seven boys and four girls. Grandfather Brown became a farmer and a preacher. It has been claimed that Preacher Brown was well able to cope with sin and sinners, anywhere he found either.
One day Parson Brown bought a mule, a very stubborn, cantan- kenous mule, the handling of which challenged to the utmost the parson's ability to cope. Preachers, as everyone knows, are even-tempered, mild of speech, and kind to men and beasts. And the mule never was born which wouldn't take advantage of such a situation. One day it happened. Filled with the impatience of Job __ Job, it must be known, was the most impatient of men ~~ with his bare fist Preacher Brown smote the mule mightily upon its nose. It has been related that the parson suffered no injury from such a blow, but the mule carried throughout its muleish career a sizeable Lump as a memento of the occasion. As Preacher Brown's remarks were not reported, about the only observation Left is that miles apparently are no respecters of parsons.
According to Newt Brown, the dunggist, not the grandfather, Newt Brown, the grandfather, not the druggist, stood six feet three and was well-built. Yet, he was the nunt among the brothers. What a bas- ketball team those seven Brown brothers would have been! Unfortunately, basketball had not then been invented. *
Jesse A. Dees when a boy originated the old Nashville road. He and some friends were camped out on the West Fork ( of the Muddy?) when a man came along and asked one of them to pilot him across the country, in the direction of the Beaucoup settlement. Jesse undertook the job, and the trail which they made was followed by others and soon became a path. When the road was located it followed this path from the creek to the county line. Then the other county took it up and followed it on to Beaucoup. The present hand road to Nashville follows this old road in many places.
PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS IN MT. VERNON
lit. Vernon Township High School is the successor of the old lit. Vernon City High School, which graduated its first class in 1884. In 1883 the Exponent, a lilt. Vernon newspaper, reported that the city
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had nine teachers, eight of whom were teaching the Lower grades and one the high school.
An alumni record of 1906 lists J. L. Frohock as superinten- dent and the following as members of the Class of 1884: Grace Plummer, l'ary Gowenlock, Mollie Hawkins, Kate Yost, Lillian Johnson, lilamic Hayes, Clarence Lyon, Nellie Klinker, Etta Crowder, Amy Downer, Emma Hoffman, Viola Sturgiss, Minnie Keller, and Mary Parrish. Other superintendents during the years 1883 to 1905 were W. C. Barnhart, S. P. MicRea, John B. Nichols, A. O. Reubelt, J. T. Ellis, H. J. Alvis, and & E. Van Cleve. The city high school was located at Sixth and Harrison Streets, in the Franklin School building which had been constructed in 1867. Schools were disrupted by the cyclone of 1888 which destroyed the Franklin School, and Oscar 0. Stitch was the lone member of the Class of 1888. There were no graduates in 1889. After the cyclone the Franklin School was rebuilt and the high school was conducted there until June, 1905.
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