USA > Illinois > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, Illinois > Part 17
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The township system of Illinois is not closely modeled after the New England States. There, a representative is sent from each town to the Lower House of the Legis- lature. In New York, owing to her vast ex- tent of territory, this was found to be im- practicable, and a county assembly, denom- inated a Board of Supervisors, composed of a member from each township, was then estab- lished. This (modified system has been copied almost exactly in this State.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
CHAPTER V.X
SOME OF THE PIONEER FAMILIES OF THE COUNTY-THE CASEYS-THEIR EMIGRATION TO AMER- ICA-HOW THEY SERVED IN THE REVOLUTION-FACTS AND INCIDENTS OF THEIR RESIDENCE HIERE-THE-MAXEYS, ANOTHER OLD FAMILY-THEIR WELSH
DESCENT-WHERE AND WHEN THEY SETTLED-THE JOHNSONS- THEY ARE AN OLD FAMILY, TOO-SOMETHING OF TIIEM
AND THEIR DESCENDANTS-OTHER PIO- NEERS-INCIDENTS, ETC., ETC.
" How wondrous are the changes Since sixty years ago, When girls wore woolen dresses, And boys wore pants of tow; When shoes were made of calf-skin, And socks of homespun wool,
And children did a half-day's work Before the hour of school." -Anonymous,
T THE early settlers of Jefferson County were mostly from the States south of the Ohio River. The great majority of them were poor in worldly wealth; they were what was termed " poor white trash" in the South, in old slave times, and when the first of them came here, Illinois was still a Terri- tory, reposing under the famous ordinance of 1787. Since the late war between the States has forever blotted out slavery, it may be interesting to know what was the " com- pact " or "ordinance" of 1787, so often quoted, concerning the Northwestern Terri- tory. It was as follows:
I. No person in peaceable demeanor was to be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments.
II. The inhabitants were guaranteed the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus and trial by jury, a proportionate representation to the Legislature and judicial proceedings
according to the course of the common law. "All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offenses, where the proof shall be evi- dent or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted; no man shall be deprived of his liberty or his property but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land; and should the public exigencies make it necessary for the common preserva- tion to take any person's property or to de- mand his particular services, "full compensa- tion shall be made for the same." No law ought ever to be made or have force in said territory that shall, in any manner, interfere with or affect private contracts or engage- ments made in good faith and without fraud.
III. Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. Good faith, justice and humanity toward the Indians was to be observed; their lands and property not to be taken without consent and peace and friendship to be cultivated.
IV. The territory and States to be formed therein were to remain forever a part of the United States, subject to her law, the inhabit- ants to pay a just proportion of the public debt, contracted or to be contracted, not to
*By W. H. Perrin.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
tax the lands of the United States nor those of non-residents higher than those of resi. dents; the navigable waters of the lakes to remain forever free to all citizens of the United States.
V. The Territory was not to be divided into less than three States, and, at its option, Congress might " form one or two (more) States in that part which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the south- erly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan." With 60,000 free inhabitants, such States were to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States,
VI. " There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly con- vieted," this section providing also for the reclamation of fugitives from labor.
Such was substantially the fundamental law of this vast territory, which has ever had a controlling influence upon the destiny of the States carved out of it, and saved some of them from the permanent blight of slav- ery. Many of the pioneers of Southern Illi- nois have left upon record the fact that they sought homes in this country because the land would not be blemished by Negro slav- ery, or that civil or social distinction would be yielded only to those who owned " nig- gers." A fat soil ready for the plow, " land flowing with milk and honey," and a tem- perate climate were not peculiar to Illinois or Jefferson County. But the pioneers thought not of this. Their grand aim was a home-a home free and untrammeled by arbitrary rules of social equality, and in- spired by this noble purpose they plunged into the wilderness. They did not come in great rushing crowds, but alone or in meager squads, and they settled down to live where polite accomplishments were among
the lost arts, and even where language was almost a superfluity. Rough they were, un- cultivated, unrefined, but still noble in a rugged way and possessing the true qualities of heroism, courage and humility. They were men of action, and whetted their in- stinets in the struggle for existence against the wild game, the ferocious beasts and the murderous savage.
In a preceding chapter, we sketched the principal settlers and settlements, so far as we could obtain them, up to the organiza- tion of the county. In "this chapter we pro- pose to tell something of these pioneer fam- ilies, also some of the later comers to the county, who they were, what they did, how they lived and what became of them. They found the soil when they came here unbrok- en by the hand of husbandry and the still- ness of the forests undisturbed save by the noise of the hunter's tread and the crack of the Indian's rifle. But undismayed, they went to work with a will, and the result amply repaid them for the hardships and dangers they endured.
The Casey family was and is the most numerous, perhaps, as well as the most promi- nent, of all the pioneer families of Jefferson County. Abner Casey,* the progenitor of the family in America, was born in the County Tyrone, Ireland, and there, upon arriving at the years of maturity, married a Welsh lady, who, like himself, possessed great physical and mental powers. They emigrated to Anterica somewhere about the middle of the eighteenth century and settled in Virginia, close neighbors to Edmund Randolph. Their children were all born while they lived on the Roanoke, and were Levi, Randolph and a daughter -Randolph being named for their illustrious neighbor. The family moved to South Carolina about the year 1760, lo-
*Compiled from Johnson's pioneer sketches.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
cated near Spartansburg, where they lived until after the close of the Revolutionary war. They were stanch patriots and bore an act- ive and honorable part in the war for lib- erty and independence. Levi was a Colonel of South Carolina troops during the Revolu- tion; Moses was a Captain in the same serv- ice and Randolph was a Sergeant under Francis Marion-the "Swamp Fox of the Santee." He was present on the memorable occasion when Gen. Marion feasted the Brit- ish officer on sweet potatoes, roasted in his camp fire. He was in many of the battles fought in the Carolinas and in Georgia dur- ing the war. His wife was Mary Jane Pen- nington, and their children were Levi, Ran- dolph, Isaac, Abraham, Charity, Hiram, Sam- uel and Zadok. These were all born in South Carolina except Zadok, who was born in Georgia, whither the family had removed about the year 1795, and where they remained until about 1800, when they removed into Tennessee, locating in smith County. Here the father, Randolph Casey, died.
Of Randolph Casey's children, all eventu- ally came to Illinois to reside except Hiram. He was a minister of the Gospel and made a visit here once, and while in the county preached to the pioneers with marked effect. Samuel Casey was the last of the children to remove West, and came in 1832, locating in the edge of Grand Prairie, where he died in 1850, his wife dying only a few years ago. Zadok. the youngest. came in 1817. Of him we shall have more to say hereafter. Levi, the eldest son, came to Illinois in an early day, but never lived in Jefferson Coun- ty. He settled iu what is now Johnson County, where he died. Randolph, the sec- ond son, located on the Centralia road, about four miles from Mount Vernon. He after- ward moved into Clinton County, and finally to Iowa and died there. Isaac Casey, the
third son of Randolph Casey, came to Jeffer- son County, as noticed'in a preceding chap- ter, in the spring of 1817. He was born in 1765, and in 1788 was married to Elizabeth Mackey. Soon after his marriage, he emi- grated to Kentucky and settled in Barren County, from whence he came to Illinois in 1803, locating on the Ohio River a short dis- tance above Cave-in-Rock. His wife died in 1834 and in the fall of 1836, he married Jemima Oard. She died in 1846, and he then made his home with his children until his death. He was a man of the strictest integrity, a true type of the old-time Chris- tian. He helped the helpless, aided the weak, fed the hungry, was a friend of peace and always ready to work to promote the inter ests of the church. Honest in business, courteons and kind, he was a friend to all mankind as were all men who knew him a friend to him. His children were Rebecca, William, Polly, Abraham T., Thomas M., Brunetta Catherine and Miranda. Rebecca married Isaac Hicks; Polly married Clark Casey: Brunetta married Carter Wilkey; Catherine married Henry Tyler and Miranda married George Bullock.
William Casey, the eldest son of Isaao Casey, came to Jefferson County in 1817. About 1836 or 1837, he moved to the north part of the State. but in a year or two, came back to this county and resided here until his death in 1854. His wife was Amy Bar- ker; their children were Blackford, Maletna, William "Buck," Abraham, Drury B., Thomas, Melissa and Zadok. Mr. Casey was a compound of noble and generous qual- ities, and passions dark and bitter when aroused. He was enterprising and indus- trious. and for a long time one of the richest men in the county. A story is told of him. that when he moved back from the north part of the State, where he had lived
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
a short time, he had over a bushel of specie, and there are those who believe that he had large sums buried at the time of his death that will never be found, unless by ac- cident. With all his faults, and who of us but has fanlts? he ever maintained the dig- nified bearing of a gentleman of the old school.
Abraham T. Casey, the next oldest brother of William, was a minister of the Gospel. He married Vylinda Maxey in 1819, and lo- cated on the Salem road. where he died in 1834. He was a faithful minister of the Cross, and preached through all the surround- ing country. His children were Harriet, who married Dr. W. S. Van Cleve, of Centralia; Catherine, who married M. Morrow; Belver- etta, who married J. R. Walker; Lafayette, an itinerant minister of the Methodist Epis- copal Church: Sarah, who married John Spronle; Elizabeth, who married Marion Gal- braith; and Martha, who married Dr. Shir- ley, of Xenia.
Thomas M. Casey, the third son of Isaac Casey, was born in 1801, while his father lived in Barren County, Ky., and hence was but sixteen when the family moved to this county. He married Harriet Maxey in Oc- tober. 1819. Though but eighteens years of age, he was possessed with a spirit of inde- pendence, and early in the following Janu- ary went out and selected a place on his own land to build a residence. He found a site, raked away the snow, put up a rail pen, put his roof on, using rails for " weight poles," moved in and set up housekeeping on his own account. This was near where the two- story dwelling stands in which his last years were spent. He was a very religions man and devoted Christian. He was licensed to exhort in 1831, and to preach in 1843; he was ordained a Deacon in the Methodist Episcopal Church by Bishop Morris, and an
Elder by Bishop Janes. He arranged all of his business and said, "I am now ready whenever God sees fit to call me." His last words were, " Peace, all is peace." He had eleven children-Clinton M., Jane, William M., Cynthia, Caroline, Mary W., Barger, Rebecca, Nanny R., Abraham and Rhoda.
Abraham P. Casey, a son of Randolph, younger brother of Isaac Casey, settled in the county in 1818. In a few years, he moved out into Grand Prairie, where he built the first house in that part of the coun- ty. He did not remain there long, however, but came back to the neighborhood of his first settlement. He was a kind of migra- tory character, and moved around considera- bly, remaining but a short time in a place. True to the proverb that "a rolling stone gathers no moss," he did not accumulate as much property as some of the other pioneers of the county, though he was so fond of hard money as to obtain the sobriquet of "Old Silver." He despised a paper currency, and if he lived to-day he would be perhaps a tireless opponent of the Greenback party. He finally moved to Missouri and died there about 1841 or 1842; his wife died about 1866. Their children were John C., Green P., Franklin S., Martin S., Isaac and two daughters, Clarissa, who married Uriah Hamblin, and Elizabeth A., who married Burrell McConnell. John C. married Polly Casey, and finally moved to Missouri, but came back to Jefferson County, where, in 1862, he died. Green P. married Margaret Watkins, a daughter of Lewis Watkins, and died in 1858. at his home on the Carlyle road. Franklin S. married Rhoda Taylor. He was a man of industry and of business enterprise, and his wife was an excellent and faithful helpmeet. He was First Lieuten- ant in Capt. Bowman's company in the Black Hawk war; faithfully served his coun-
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
try during that short but vigorous campaign. He was for many terms one of the Judges of the county court, and in 1847 was a mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention. He died in 1871. Martin S. lived on the Rich- view road, near Grand Prairie, and died there.
Charity Casey was the only daughter of Ran- dolph and Mary Jane Casey. She was born in South Carolina, and married William De- priest in Tennessee, whither her family had moved. They came to Illinois in 1819. She was a very large woman, weighing some 316 pounds when she came to this county. Illinois seemed to agree with her health, and she weighed before she died nearly 350 pounds. Her sons were Green and Isaac, who lived for awhile in the county, but after- ward went to Missouri, and finally died there. Lucinda, a daughter of William and Char- ity Depriest, married Elijah Joliff, who was an early settler in the county.
This comprises a brief sketch of the Casey family and their settlement in Jefferson County, with the exception of Gov. Casey, whom we reserve for a subsequent chapter. The Caseys were a rather remarkable family, and produced some rather remarkable men and women. The old ones, the pioneers, are dead and gone, some of them many years ago, but this brief sketch will recall a type and character of that early day. The family was and is still a numerous one, as we have said, and numbers among its members some of the best and most distinguished citizens of the county.
The Maxey family comes next in historical importance in the early settlement of the county. Edward Maxey, the first of the name of whom we have any account, was a native of Wales. He emigrated to America long prior to the Revolutionary war, and settled in Virginia. Of him or his family but little is
known, except that a son, Walter Maxey, was the father of Jesse, who was born and reared in Virginia, where he married, and after- ward removed to Sumner County, Tenn. He was once attacked by the Indians, who toma- hawked and scalped him and left him for dead. He recovered, however, and lived twenty years after the event. His children were William, Edward, Walter, John and Elizabeth. William Maxey, the eldest son was born in Virginia in 1770, and married Mary Emily Allen, a daughter of Rhoda Allen. In 1818, they removed to Illinois, and Maxey built a horse-mill in the fall of 1820, which proved a great blessing to the people of the county. He was one of the early Justices of the Peace, hav- ing been appointed in 1821, and filled that office for a number of years. Many jokes and anecdotes were told of his of- ficial life, of which the following will serve as a sample: Being naturally diffident, the marriage ceremony was a cause of great embarrassment, and its performance among the most difficult acts he was called on to execute. Cases of debt or assault and bat- tery he could dispose of in short order, but when it came to tying the nuptial knot, he was, to quote a slang phrase of modern in- vention, " all broke up." His first attempt was in uniting in marriage Ransom Moss and Anna Johnson. Their marriage took place on the 6th of July, 1821, and he had carefully prepared for it. He thought he "knew his piece," but when the couple came before him he lost his cue and broke down completely. Some say he commenced to recite the Declaration of Independence, in- stead of the marriage ceremony, and discov- ering his mistake, went back and started over again, and this time drifted into the consti- tution of the United States. Gov. Casey used to accuse him of informing the happy
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
couple by way of prelude that the Lord in- stituted matrimony in the days of man's igno- rance instead of "innocence." Finally, with the aid of a Methodist book of discipline and Clark's Commentaries, he succeeded in get- ting through the ceremony and concluded with an invocation to the "Lord to have mercy on their souls." Mr. Maxey has now been dead for many years, but his influence for good was long felt in the community. His wife died in 1837 and he in 1838. They are described as an honest, industrious, pious old couple, full of kindness and sim- plicity of heart, and great lovers of children. Their whole lives were but the teaching of the sublime lesson about the cup of cold water to the little one, and their influence upon their immediate circle is not yet ob- literated. They had eleven children-Cla- rissa, Henry B., Bennett N., Elihu, Harriet, Vylinda A., Charles H., Joshua C., Hostil- lina (who died in childhood), William M. A. and Jehu.
Henry B., or Burchett Maxey, was born in 1795, in an old block-house erected during the Indian troubles, soon after the Revolution. He came to Illinois and settled on what was called Maxey's Prairie. At the sale of lots in Mount Vernon in September, 1819, he bought one, on which he erected the first house built in the town. He was a man of considerable prominence, and held numerous offices; also built several houses at different times. Additional to his other accomplish- ments. he was a great hunter, and once killed eight bears in half a mile of his own house. He was shrewd, active, alert and rich in animal life and vigor, with many of his natural faculties cultivated almost to the perfection of the Siberian bloodhound. He once walked from Brownsville, a distance of seventy or eighty miles, through an unbrok- en wilderness full of wild animals. He
slept at night in the woods, and when the sun was clouded he had only the moss on the trees to guide him in his course. He mar- ried Peggy Taylor, and their children were Eliza R., who married S. G. Hicks; Will- iam P., who died in 1818-the first death in the county; Thomas B., now living at Xenia; Elizabeth A., who married John Breeze; Elihn K., who died in Missouri; John H., who died in 1846. on his way from St. Louis; James C., who married Nancy J. Moss; Ed- ward M. K., living in Missouri; Jehu J .; Henry B., who died in 1865; Franklin C., who moved West, and Harvey M.
Bennett N. Maxey was a soldier in the war of 1812. and was with Gen. Jackson at New Orleans. He was one of Col. Coffee's mounted men, and when those troops mistook an order and retreated, he alone of the entire command stood his ground until the men rallied and returned to their position. His comrades called him " Broadhorns," on ac- count of his broad shoulders and prodigious strength. His wife, like many of the pioneer women, was about as " good a man " as he was himself, and did her full part in the bat- tle of life. Their children were Emily, William H., James J., Charles H, Joshua C., Eliza and Thomas J. Their oldest daugh- ter, Emily, married Andrew Ray and died in a few years. William and James were preachers; Charles was a Captain in the One Hundred and Tenth Regiment during the late war, and came home in 1863-64 and died; Joshua died of a wound in Louis- ville; Eliza married John N. White; Thomas served through the late war, and now lives near Ashley.
Elihu, the fourth son of William Maxey, married Eveline Taylor in 1819. He owned one of the early mills of the county, and hence was a benefactor of the early settlers. His first wife died, and he married Sarah
-
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Guthrie. He met with death accidentally in October, 1853. He rode out into the woods one morning to "hunt the cows," but was absent so long his family became uneasy, and, his horse coming home without a rider, ex- cited their serious apprehensions The neighbors were notified and search made. His body was found two or three miles from home, cold in death. It was supposed he had been kicked by his horse. He had ten children, five sons and five daughters: Ta- lina married Mervil Smith; Perigan T. died on Puncheon Camp; Henry lives near Wal- nut Hill; Parmelia married Samuel Walker; William C. is dead: Elizabeth married a man named Penix; Margaret married Thomas Maddox, and Eliza married James Maddox; Thomas married Eliza Smith, and E. Phelps died at Nashville during the late war.
Charles H. Maxey married Sallie Bruce in 1824. He was the fifth son of William Maxey, and was a man of great physical power. His children who lived to maturity were Caroline, Mary, Martha, Susan and Drucilla. The first married S. F. Parker; Mary married Joseph Burke; Martha married C. Frost: Susan married George A. Collins and Drucilta married James Swift.
Joshua C. Maxey, the sixth son of William, was born in 1807, married Susan Criswell in 1831, and at present lives on the old Maxey homestead. He is a Methodist preacher, and several times has had charge of circuits by special appointment. He is a truly Christian man and an enthusiastic Sunday school worker. He raised but two children, two dying in childhood. William T. married Mary A. Cummins, and Martha married John C. Tyler.
Dr. William M. A. Maxey, the youngest son but one of William Maxey, married Edda Owens in 1830. He is a practicing
physician and a local preacher. His chil- dren are Simeon W., who served in Stratton's company in the late war; Samuel T., a Methodist preacher, also served in the army ; Harriet J., who married Frank Satterfield; William C., who married Gertrude Lane and served three years in the late war; Sarah C., married Sanford Hill; and Nelson, who married Miss Berger.
Jehu G. D. Maxey is the youngest son of William Maxey. He married Mary A. Bruce, and their only child, James H., died when he was but two years old. Mr. Maxey is an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and an earnest worker in the Sunday school.
Edward Maxey, a brother to William Maxey, and the second son of Jesse Maxey, moved to Allen County, Ky., and from thence to Jefferson County, Ill. He married Eliza- beth Pitner in Tennessee, but they never had any children. They raised several adopted children, among them Judge Satter- field. He was a man of high honor and in- tegrity; was Justice of the Peace for twenty years, County Commissioner, a pioneer school teacher, a preacher and a man in whom there was no guile. He died about 1850, and his wife soon after.
John Maxey, the youngest son of Jesse Maxey, came to Illinois in 1823, in company with William and Jonathan Wells. He, too, was a Methodist preacher, and after living eight or ten years in the county, removed to Wayne County, where he died. He raised but one son, Stephen, who died many years ago, and three daughters. Theodosia mar- ried the Rev. Joseph Hellums: Elizabeth married Greenbury Wells, and Katie married Jesse Breeze, of Walnut Hill. Such, in brief, is the record of the pioneer Maxeys, who were among the early settlers of Jeffer- son County, and who contributed largely to
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its development and improvement. In other chapters will be found sketches of the younger generations of the name.
The Johnsons, perhaps, might next be mentioned in the catalogue of pioneer fami. lies. Like the Caseys and Maxeys, they are a numerous family, and have been a promi- nent one from the earliest settlement of the county.
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