USA > Illinois > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, Illinois > Part 15
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He had served in the war of 1812, and was a man whom everybody that knew him loved and honored him. His Christian character was pure, and so far as man can judge, without spot or blemish. As a husband, father, neighbor, friend, he lived above reproach. He left a family of five sons and six daughters, several of whom are still living.
Mrs. Hicks was the widow of John Hicks, one of the seven men who fell in the battle of New Orleans January 8, 1815. Hicks was
standing by the side of Theophilus Cook when he received his death wound. He left three children, Stephen G. and two daughters. After the war was over, Carter Wilkey, who was a brother of Mrs. Hicks, visited her in Georgia, where she lived, and induced her to remove with her family to Illinois. It was a terrible journey to be made in winter in that early day, and rendered doubly so by the hostile demon- strations frequently made by the faithless In- dians. They finally arrived, however, in safety. It was about this time that a man named Hodge moved in and settled on the place where Abra- ham Irvin afterward lived for many years. Mrs. Robinson came about the same time, as also Fannin, Fipps, Bales and Mrs. Moore, widow of Andrew Moore (whose murder by the In- dians has already been noticed), moved back to Moore's Prairie.
The settlements so far described were made in that portion of Jefferson County originally belonging to White County. The northern line of White County then ran about four miles south of the present city of Mount Vernon, dividing Township 3 south, and extending west to the Third Principal Meridian, and all north of that line was in Edwards County. Moore's Prairie, where the first settlement of the county began, was in the northwest part of White County. The next settlement we shall notice sprang up in what was then the southwestern part of Edwards County, and was in the im- mediate vicinity of Mount Vernon.
The circumstances which led to the second set- tlement were somewhat as follows : Some time about the spring of 1816, a man of the name of Black came up from Pope County, on a hunt, and upon his return told fabulous stories of the country he had seen, and es- pecially of a beautiful prairie where perennial flowers seemed to bloom, and the richest Inx- uriance gave token of an earthly paradise. His description of the fruitful lands he had visited excited in his neighbors and friends a
* Regarding the name of Sloo's Point, Mr. Johnson, in his sketches, says: "Almost as soon as this connty was surveyed, Thomas Sloo of Shawneetown, came in and entered about one hun- dred quarter-sections of land in different parts of what is now Jefferson County. John T. Johnson lives on one of these quarter-sections ; on the southeastern part of Moore's Prairie was a long point of timber, lying on the waters of Ochshire's Creek; and Sloo had entered a good deal of the land in this vicinity-lience the name. Among other entries, I believe, was the land on which William Scrivner lives."
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burning desire to see and learn for themselves. Among others to whom he related his wonder- ful stories were the Caseys, who lived near Cave-in-Rock, and they at once determined to visit this fabled land. In the fall following the trip of Black to this section, the Caseys came on a tour inspection. This was the first sight any of the Caseys had of what is now Jefferson County.
Isaac Casey and two sons, William and Thomas, in the antumn of 1816, started out to visit Black's Prairie, of which he had given so glowing an account. They missed it, however, nor did they strike any prairie until they came to the small one in which Mount Vernon was afterward built. They stopped at Crenshaw's, and he, glad to meet new-comers, as all pio- neers were, accompanied them in their search of locations. They went a few miles beyond where Mount Vernon is situated, and then re- turned to Crenshaw's and finally home. The following spring, Isaac Casey came back, and his son William, his danghter Katy, and his son-in-law, Isaac Hicks, came with him for the purpose of founding a settlement. They built a cabin or camp in the open prairie, and culti- vated a small patch of ground near where the Methodist Church now stands. While thus en- camped in the prairie, they had no trouble in procuring meat, as game was abundant; honey, too, was more abundant still. But bread was a serious matter, and to procure it Mr. Casey and his danghter would go on horseback to the Wabash bottoms beyond Carmi for meal. He would ride one horse and lead one, while his daughter would ride another, and thus three " turns" of meal would be brought back. In the fall, they all returned to the Ohio River, where they had come from, and brought out the rest of their families, their stock and such other property as they possessed. William Casey moved into the camp or cabin above referred to, Isaac Casey erected his cabin near by and Isaac Hicks located near the place where he
died ; other families followed soon after. Kelly settled on the hill and remained there until the capital of the State was moved to Vandalia. He then moved to that place and became an officer in the first bank ever established there. An old man named Hynes settled a little west of Kelly, out on the Goshen road, where for some years he kept a public house; afterward he moved up North, where he died. Further up the Goshen road, William Goings settled. He was considered a bad man ; he made millstones, and it was believed that he made counterfeit money, too. He was finally, after the settle- ment had increased a little more, given warn- ing to leave the country, a warning he obeyed with alacrity, and in his vacant house many relics of the counterfeiting business, it is said, were found. James and John Abbott. John Utesler, Mr. Stull and Archibald Harris came in during the latter part of the year 1817. They were from Orange County, Ind., and upon their arrival here they settled in the neighbor- hood above noticed.
Zadok Casey, of whom we shall have more to say hereafter, came in the spring of 1817 and settled on the place where Mr. J. R. Moss now lives. He reared his cabin on a slight elevation of land, which he called Red Bud Hill. Abraham Casey, his brother, came the next year, and settled near where Joseph Pace lives. A son, Clark Casey, came with him and settled on what is called the "Mulberry Hill." Lewis Watkins settled about a mile south of the Atchison place, where he sold goods for a time. Thomas Jordan located in the edge of the prairie which was named for him. The place is now known as the McConnell place, and his brother William settled in the edge of Moore's Prairie. William Jordan, Jr., settled on Seven Mile Creek, and Oliver Morris settled near Joseph Jordan's first location.
While these accessions were being made to the new settlements, another, and a quite im- portant one, was on the way. This was a Ten-
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nessee colony of six families, consisting of William Maxey, James E. Davis, James John- son, Nathaniel Parker, John Wilkerson and H. B. Maxey. They organized themselves into a colony, and all started from William Maxey's, in Tennessee, and quite a lively trip they had of it. Fipps, who lived in Knight's Prairie, was the only man they found between the Saline and Crenshaw's, where they stopped. They arrived May 9, 1818, and camped in the edge of Moore's Prairie. Here they raised a small crop in the edge of the prairie, inclosed with a brush fence, and in the fall they moved up to the other settlement-all except Parker, who did not relish the gloomy aspect of the country, and moved back to Allen County, Ky. James Johnson settled near the place where he died ; Wilkerson, where Simon King afterward lived ; William Maxey, at the old Maxey place, and H. B. Maxey in the little prairie where Ward now lives. James E. Davis settled where Sam Edwards afterward lived. In September fol- lowing the arrival of this colony, Edward Maxey moved into the settlement. He came from Allen County, Ky., and settled on the branch, northeast of what is now Judge Satter- field's farm, on the present Richview road. About the same time, Fleming Greenwood came ; his son-in-law lived near what is now Thomas MeMeen's place. James and William Hieks also came during the fall or winter. James bought Clark Casey's place on Mulberry Hill ; William was single, but afterward mar- ried the Widow Dodds.
According to the historical sketches of Mr. Johnson, from which we have so often quoted, and which are considered by the old citizens generally to be substantially correct, the fore- going is believed to comprise a very full and complete list of the families who settled within the present limits of the territory of Jefferson prior to its organization as a distinet and in- dependent county. There may have been a few who came and remained but a short time,
and then left, but as to permanent settlers, the list, perhaps, is as nearly correct as it is pos- sible to make now, after all these years.
Illinois was still a Territory when the first white people came to Jefferson County. These early settlers were men inured to toil and danger. They had been reared, many of them, amid scenes of peril and savage warfare, where the howl of the wolf, the scream of the panther, and the yell of the Indian were familiar music to their ears. Some of them had not reached life's meridian, but they were hopeful, cour- ageous and determined. They were poor in actual worth, but rich in possibilities, and were ready to face danger and endure eold and hnn- ger, if a home stood at the end of their journey beckoning them on. For the grand simplicity of their lives and their sturdy virtue, these early settlers achieved recognition and fame, as Enoch Arden did-after death. It was their lot to plant civilization here, and in doing it they displayed virtues which render modern civilization a boast and a blessing. In their little space of time they made greater progress than ten centuries had witnessed before. The work thirty generations had left undone they performed, and the abyss between us of to-day and the pioneers of Jefferson County is wider and more profound than the chasm between 1815 and the battle of Hastings. They did so much that it is hard to recognize the doers. "They builded wiser than they knew," and the monuments to their energy and industry still stand in perpetuation of their memory.
The first settlements of the county were made under difficulties, and amid hardships and dan- gers. As we have said, the people were poor. They had come here with a meager outfit of this world's goods, expecting to increase their stores and provide homes for their children. Some of their experiences in their new homes are thus detailed by Mr. Johnson, the faithful chronieler of the early history of the county : " The farms, as in most new countries, were
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mere patches, inclosed with rails or brush, and sometimes not inclosed at all. The houses were round-pole cabins, but in rare cases made of small logs-" skelped down," or very slightly hewn, sometimes of split logs smoothed a little on the face. Some of the cracks in the wall were chinked and daubed, while some were left open to admit light and serve as windows. Some of the cabins had cracks all around that a dog could jump through. If the floor was anything else than the bare ground, it was made of puncheons or slabs, fastened down with wooden pins, or not fastened at all. * *
Shelves resting on long pins in the walls answered for cupboard, pantry, bureau and wardrobe. There were but few bedsteads in the county. Bed scaffolds were made on two rails or pieces driven into the walls, one for the side and one for the end, in the corner of the cabin, the other end of these rails being let into a post-the entire structure frequently having but one bed-post. Boards were laid across from the long rail to the wall, and on these the bed, if the happy family had any, was laid. The table was either made of boards nailed to a rough, unwieldy frame, or it was made on stakes driven into the (ground) floor. The well- to-do had a pot and a skillet; some broiled their meat on the coals, and cooked their "Johnny-cake" on a board. The cook-stove is a modern invention, and was then unknown in the West.
of this meal and baked in the ashes, or on a board. was as delicious as heart could wish.
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". Most of the hats and caps were made of skins, often of the most fantastic shape. After the original supply of clothing was exhausted, the first resource was to make clothing of deer- skins. These in the hands of the Indians made excellent clothing; but our first settlers were not such good tanners, and the clothes did not do so well. The breeches soon got a tremen- dous knee, that was a permanent thing. When " Aunt Franky " Johnson was coming out, she saw a boy in Moore's Prairie dressed in buck- skin, and she excla med in the sincerity of her kind heart : " Why;, la me, honey, just look at that poor crippled boy !" When the men or boys, in their buckskin suits, went out in the dewy grass, their breeches' legs would soon be dangling around their feet, nearly a foot too long ; and then about ten o'clock, when they became dry again, they crackled and rustled about their legs nearly a foot too short. After the first year or two, however, when people had time to raise cotton, buckskin gave way to cot- ton goods, the latter being died with copperas, the copperas being mingled with white when variety was desired. People made their own indigo. The plant they used was bruised and kept in soak for some time, then wrung out ; the fluid was churned with a basket to cut the indigo, then left to settle, and afterward dried in the sun. The article to "'set" the dye was such as to make it an unpleasant process, and such as to sometimes draw the buffalo gnats around one's Sunday clothes in a most provok- ing manner."
" Isaac and William Casey constructed a little hand-mill that would grind a bushel or two a day, and they did well. But many of the first settlers had to heat their meal in a mortar, which was generally a stump with a basin Such was the life, and such the trials of the first settlers of Jefferson County-men who wrought for their successors the richest and most enduring legacy in all the world. Most of them have served out their day and genera- tion, and have passed away. Their graves. burnt out in the top of it. The meal thus made was sifted through a sieve made by punching a piece of deer-skin full of holes with a hot wheel-spindle, and stretching it (the deer-skin. not the spindle) over a hoop. In the early autumn, meal was grated, and the bread made . many of them, are unmarked and unknown, and
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their fast receding memories are unhonored and unsung. They deserve better than this. Justice demands that a meed of praise be awarded those great lives whose works will ripen, and are ripening into the noblest civili- zation the world has ever known.
In a subsequent chapter we shall give ex- tended sketches of these pioneer families, whose settlements have been here noticed. Many of the men who came here in that early day were giants, and it is meet that they should receive their deserts from the pen of the historian. Their conutry's history demands that their names, their acts and their deeds shall be
placed on record, and preserved for the gener- ations to come.
It has been said that the American people take as naturally to self-government as a babe turns to the maternal fonnt for nourishment. The truthfulness of the remark is evidenced in the fact that new counties are formed when their area contain but a few hundred inhabit- ants. Thus far we have shown the number of families locating in Jefferson Connty prior to its organization, and with which we will close this chapter. In a new chapter we will give the formation of the county, and the circum- stances which led to the same.
CHAPTER IV .*
ILLINOIS A COUNTY OF VIRGINIA-JOHN TODD, THE FIRST CIVIL GOVERNOR-ORGANIZATION OF JEFFERSON COUNTY-THE LEGISLATIVE ACT CREATING IT-LOCATION OF THE SEAT OF JUSTICE-FIRST OFFICIALS-THE COURTS-PUBLIC BUILDINGS-CENSUS -THE COUNTY DIVIDED INTO DISTRICTS-COUNTY OFFICERS-
J. R. SATTERFIELD-TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION, ETC.
THAT Illinois, now one of the greatest States of the Federal Union, once formed a county of Virginia is a fact un- known, perhaps, to a majority of our readers. In October, 1778, the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act for " establishing the county of Illinois, and for the more effectual protection and defense thereof." A clanse of the act reads: " That all the citizens of this commonwealth, who are already settled, or shall hereafter settle on the western side of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, shall be included in a distinct county, which shall be called Illinois County." By the provisions of the act, the Governor of Virginia was to appoint " a County Lieutenant or Comman- dant in Chief." who should "appoint and
commission so many Deputy Commandants, Militia officers and Commissaries." as he should deem expedient, for the enforcement of law and order. The civil officers were to be chosen by a majority of the people, and were to " exercise their several jurisdictions and conduct themselves agreeable to the laws which the present settlers are now accus- tomed to."
Patrick Henry, the first Governor of Vir- ginia after the colonies had thrown off the galling yoke of Britain, appointed John Todd the County Lientenant Commandant of Illinois. At Williamsburg. the capital then of Virginia, and in the very mansion of the royal rulers of the whilom colony, Gov. Henry indicted his letter of appointment to Toda on the 12th of December, 177S. It
* By W. H. Perrin.
1
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occupies the first five pages of the record book of John Todd's official acts while exer. cising authority over the county of Illinois, and is in Patrick Henry's own handwriting. This old book, a valuable relic of the early history of Illinois, is now in the possession of the Chicago Historical Society. From its pages, browned by time and dinned with age, some interesting facts are gleaned. The following, of the first civil Governor of Illi- nois, is not out of place in this connection:
Todd was not unknown on the frontier. Born in Pennsylvania and educated in Vir- ginia, he had practiced law in the latter col- ony for several years, when, in 1775, he re- moved to Kentucky, which was then, also, a county of Virginia. He became very prom- inent in the councils of its House of Del- egates, or Representatives, the first legisla- tive body organized west of the Alleghany Mountains. Early in 1777, the first court in Kentucky convened at Harrodsburg, and Todd was one of the Justices. Shortly after, he was chosen one of the Representatives of Kentucky in the Legislature of Virginia, and proceeded to the capital to fulfill this duty. The following year he accompanied Gen. George Rogers Clark in his expedition to " the Illinois," and was the first man to en- ter Fort Gage, at Kaskaskia, when it was taken from the British, and was present at the final capture of Vincennes.
The record book already referred to of it- self forms an interesting chapter in the his- tory of Illinois. After Gov. Henry had in- dicted upon its pages his letter to Todd, it was intrusted to a faithful messenger, who, on foot, carried it from tide water across the mountains to Fort Pitt, thence down the Ohio until he met with its destined recipient and delivered to him his credentials. It is supposed that Todd received it at Vincennes, then known to Virginians as St. Vincent, not
long after the surrender of that place to Clark on the 24th of February, 1779, and that he at once assumed his new duties as Governor, or " Lieutenant Commandant." This position he held until the time of his death, although his many duties called him frequently to Kentucky. In the spring of 1780, he was elected a Delegate from the county of Kentucky to the Legislature of Virginia. In November following, Kentucky was divided into three counties, viz., Fayette, Lincoln and Jefferson, and in 1781 Thomas Jefferson, who, in the meantime, had become Governor of Virginia, appointed Todd Colonel of Fayette County. and Daniel Boone, Lieutenant Colonel. In the summer of 1782, Todd visited Richmond, Va., on business connected with the Illinois country, where, it is said, he had determined to per- manently reside, and on his return he stopped over at Lexington, Ky., and while there met his untimely death. An Indian attack on a frontier settlement (Bryant Station) aroused the militia to arms, and Todd, as Senior Colonel, took command of the little army sent in pursuit of the retreating sav- ages. It included Boone and many other pioneers whose names rank high in the his- tory of the dark and bloody ground. At the Blue Licks, on the 18th of August, 1782, they came up with the enemy, but the head- long courage of those who would not heed the prudent counsels of Todd and Boone precipitated an action which proved more disastrous to the whites than any ever fought in Kentucky soil -- that sanguinary theater of savage warfare. More than one-third of those who entered the fight were killed out- right and many others wounded. Among the slain was Todd, who fell, like the brave man that he was, with his face to the foe, gallantly fighting at the head of his troops. On the brow of a small hill overlooking Blue
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Licks, and near the spot where he fell, still repose the mortal remains of the first civil Governor of Illinois. August 18, 1882, the centennial of the disastrous battle of Blue Licks was held on the field where it was fought, and a resoluton adopted to erect a monument to the heroes that there fell in defense of their country.
John Todd was a soldier and a statesman. He was a soldier fit to stand by the mightiest and give command. He was a statesman tried and true, and marvelously adapted to the times and surroundings amid which he lived. Just such as he was he had to be, to fulfill the mission to which far-seeing wis- dom had appointed him, and to blaze out the way for the coming hosts of civilization who were to people this great Northwest. His tragic death, in the prime of life, was a cal- amity to the nation just struggling up from the fires of a mighty revolution, and a loss not easily repaired in that early period of our history.
Upon the organization of the Northwest Territory, Gen. Arthur St. Clair was ap- pointed Governor. In the spring of 1790. in company with the Territorial Judges, he went to Cahokia. where, by proclamation, he organized the county of St. Clair. the first individual county formed in what is now the State of Illinois, and its seat of justice was fixed at Kaskaskia. Randolph was the next county created in Illinois; and the date of its organization extends back to 1795. These were the only counties formed until after the dawning of the nineteenth century. At the session of the Territorial Legislature of 1811-12. Madison. Gallatin and Johnson were organized, and Edwards at the session of 1814. At the session of 1816, White, Jackson. Monroe, Pope and Crawford were organized. and at the last session of the Ter- ritorial Legislature Franklin, Washington,
Union, Bond and Wayne came into existence. At the first session of the Legislature after Illinois was admitted into the Union as a State, Jefferson County was formed, under the following act entitled an act for forming a separate county out of Edwards and White Counties, approved March 26, 1819:
Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That all that tract of country within the following boundaries, to wit : Beginning where the line between Ranges 4 and 5 east intersects the base line; thence west with said line to the Third Principal Meridian: thence south twenty-four miles; thence east twenty- four miles; thence north to the place of beginning, shall constitute a separate county. to be called "Jefferson," and for the purpose of fixing the per- manent seat of justice therein the following persons are appointed Commissioners : Ambrose Maulding. Lewis Barker. Robert Shipley, James A. Richard- son and Richard Graham, which said Commission- ers, or a majority of them, being duly sworn before some Judge or Justice of the Peace in this State to faithfully take into view the convenience of the people, the situation of the settlement, with an eye to future population. and the eligibility of the place. shall meet on the 2d Monday of May, at the house of William Casey. in said county, and proceed to ex- amine and determine on the place for the perma- nent seat of justice and designate the saine; pro- vided: The proprietor or proprietors of the land shall give to the county for the purpose of erecting public buildings a quantity of land. not less than twenty acres. to be laid out in lots and sold for that purpose: but should the proprietor or proprietors refuse or neglect to make the donation aforesaid. then and in that case it shall be the duty of said Commissioners to fix on some other place for the seat of justice as convenient as may be to the in- habitants of said county, which place fixed and de- termined upon. the said Commissioners shall certify under their hands and seals and return the same to the next Commissioners' Court in the county afore- said, which court shall cause an entry thereof to be made in their hook of record. and until the public buildings be erected the courts shall be held at the house of William Casey, in the said county.
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