USA > Illinois > Logan County > History of Logan County, Illinois > Part 22
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OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.
SEVENTH REUNION.
There was a light attendance at the meeting held at the court- honse at Lincoln, September 10, 1879. President Jacob Judy, of At- lanta, called the meeting to order at 2 o'clock, and R. C. Maxwell was made Secretary. A few minutes were spent in examining some relics-a newspaper printed in the year 1800 ; some buttons eighty years old; a snuff box about 300 years old; and an antique tea-pot in good state of preservation, and said to have been made about the year 1350. All the articles, except the newspaper, were shown by Mrs. William Rankin, and were heirlooms. Some inter- esting speeches were then made.
Rev. John England thought it a pity that the temperance con- vention and old settlers' meeting should come on the same day, thus conflicting with each other. The purpose of this meeting was to revive old memories and to show the rising generation how the foundations of our civilization were laid. His father, with two brothers-in-law, had come to near St. Lonis from Ohio in 1817, and the next year came to a point nine miles from Springfield, where they opened up farms. Mr. England then eulogized the sterling good traits of the early settlers.
Rev. A. H. Goodpasture said he loved the people. He was a pioneer preacher. He crossed the Illinois in 1836, and the only evidence of civilization in this vicinity then was at Postville. In his early preaching experience in the military tract he saw some hard times, but never missed getting something to eat but once. He told some humorous experiences of the hard times attending circuit-riding in early days. He thought it an honor to be an old man. He hoped to meet them all in the world to come.
D. W. Clark said he missed many who were with them when these meetings first began. Some had doubtless been hindered from coming, while many had gone to the unseen land. Mr. Clark revived the memories of early days, telling, among other things, of walking out from Ohio, a young lady being the attrac- tion, and a marriage the result. He had been keeping house for nearly forty-eight years, and there had never been a death in the house.
Norman Sumner said he was hardly an old settler, as he came here in 1849. The first house he ever lived in had not a piece of iron about it, and no glass. It was common to attend log-rollings and house-raisings for twenty or twenty-five days of each season.
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246 HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.
He then described the mode of building log cabins, and reviewed at some length his early experience in Ohio.
Col. R. B. Latham said he had attended most of the meetings and nearly all had heard him relate his experience. He then gave the date of his coming to what is now Logan County, his father having been of the very earliest settlers. In 1824 his father went to Peoria, where he was Indian agent. He thought the change from those times to the present a beneficial one, and spoke point- edly of the educational advantages now enjoyed. We should teach our children to so live that they could benefit the generation fol- lowing them.
For the ensuing year, D. W. Clark was chosen President; Colonel R. B. Latham, Vice-President, and R. C. Maxwell, Secretary.
EIGHTH REUNION.
The citizens of Mt. Pulaski made elaborate preparations to ac- commodate all who should attend the gathering of pioneers at that place on Thursday, August 12, 1880; and on the day appointed they had their reward in a magnificent attendance and in the most pleasant meeting by far that the old settlers had yet held. All who settled in Illinois prior to 1840 were considered " old settlers." The secretary and his assistants enrolled 200 or more of these, part of whom were pioneers or "deep snow " men and women, having settled in Illinois prior to the famous winter of the deep snow-1831. All who were old settlers simply were supplied with a ribbon badge bearing the words: " Pioneers of Illinois. State organized in 1818. Reunion and barbecue at Mt. Pulaski, Ill., Aug. 12, 1880." Those who have been here since 1831 were considered pioneers, and were in addition to the badge presented with a handsome cane.
The meeting was presided over by D. Ward Clark, and in the absence of Secretary R. C. Maxwell, Charles S. Capps acted in that capacity. All arrangements had been made by a committee con- sisting of S. Linn Beidler, M. Wemple and W. P. Sawyer. The gathering was held in the park which surrounds the old court- house, where a large platform and an ample number of seats had been provided.
After the usual opening exercises, Major M. Wemple delivered a pleasing address of welcome. The oration of the day was deliv- ered by Rev. D. P. Bunn, of Decatur. He was born in Ohio and
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came West in 1836, locating first at Bloomington, going afterward to Iowa City, Iowa, but returning to Illinois soon after. He spoke of the old wooden mold-board plows and how bad they were about "kicking," detailed from personal experience many of the hard- ships of the pioneer's life, and spoke in affectionate terms of the old settlers who had passed away, naming several who had been especially well known. He dwelt at some length upon his first impressions of the country and the hearty hospitality of the peo- ple of the early times; spoke of the idea of the earliest settlers that the prairies would never be settled, but would remain perma- nently as public pasture lands; of going sixty miles to mill, taking a week to make the trip; of old " Brush College," a name given to the school-house on Salt Creek in which he used to teach, which was built of round logs; of its greased paper windows and slab writing desks; and named some of the pupils of the olden time. He spoke of some of the old settlers who were still living, praising their honesty; hospitality and industry, and closed with an espe- cially fervent and impressive peroration.
Rev. Isaac Kretzinger made a half an hour's speech, and then dinner was announced. The old people were invited to a long table where was spread a variety of good eatables, including sev- eral roast pigs and sheep. The ox, which was to have been roasted whole, was cooked by steam, and made so tender that it would not hold together for roasting, hence it went in as boiled. The dinner was an excellent one. The general public brought their own lunches in baskets, and spread them in the shade.
Among the relics not exhibited before were a pitchfork over 100 years old, a sickle thirty-nine years old, a pair of pot-hooks 100 years old, a piece of carpet forty-five years old, still in use; a hoe over 100 years old, a couple of bunches of hemp grown in 1836, a baby's dress seventy-one years old, a rocking-chair made in North Carolina seventy-five years before, in which four generations of one family had been rocked, and a deed written in a queer hand on parchment, dated May 3, 1585, from Lord Baltimore t ) Edward Day, and conveying 1,000 acres of land. Letters were read from James Dangherty, Mrs. Mary Buckles and John Buckles. The first named lived in Peoria County at this time; the two latter re- sided near Mt. Pulaski. Mrs. Buckles's letter was as follows:
"I will give you a little sketch of the old settlers' times when I came here. When I first started out to find a home I rode about 800 miles on horseback and carried a child. We moved out here
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in 1822, and lived that winter by the mouth of the lake. The house we lived in was made of logs split and notched at the end and laid together. The way we got our bread in those days, we had to beat the corn into meal, and then make our bread and boil our hominy.
" We came to Illinois in October, and I never saw the face of a white woman till in March, except my step-mother. We moved in the spring upon the lake, where Jerry Buckles lives now. We lived in the Frontier house until my husband died. I have seen as many as 100 Indians camped together down where William Buckles lives. The Indians used to stop at our house when they were out hunting and want something to eat. Sometimes my husband would be away from home, and just me and the little children there. It would make my very heart ache, but I always gave them something to eat to get shut of them.
"When we came through Springfield there was but one store, and that was Major Iles's. We got our first grindings at Buffalo Hart and Elkhart. It was ground by a horse-mill. My husband volunteered and went to the war to fight the Indians in 1826, and I was left alone with five little children-not a man' on the place. I was thus left from one week to five lots of times. Elizabeth Ann Copeland was the first child I had born in this county. She was born May 3, 1824. I had an aunt who died in March, 1824. The way they made her coffin, they cut a walnut tree down on the place where we lived, and dug it out and buried her in it. She was interred at William Buckles's graveyard. We raised a large family of children, and for fourteen years never had a doctor in the house. I had fifteen children and raised fourteen till they were grown and married. There are twelve now living, and I have seven- ty-three grandchildren and sixty-seven great-grandchildren living. In those days we clothed our children by spinning and weaving. We wove coverlets, blankets, jeans, flannel, and everything that we wore. Instead of pianos, organs and sewing machines, we had looms and spinning-wheels. We did all our own coloring. Children had no chance to get an education in those days, as we only had three-months school in the year. We had no preaching for a long time after we came here, and the first preaching I ever heard was at old Grandfather Turley's; then the next we opened our doors for meeting. We were not particular what denomination preached. Weopened our doors for all. Bob Foster was the first who held a three days meeting at our house; then A. J. Kane, of Springfield,
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had a three days meeting out under the shade trees. Folks were not as particular then as they are now, for they would come from Buffalo and Sangamon and from all around. We couldn't set as fine tables then as people do now, but we always had plenty to eat. I have had from eighteen to twenty persons to stay all night with us when they came up to meeting. Now if I were young again and had a family to raise, and knew there was such a country as this, I would be willing to go through it all again. Although I had a very hard time, I never regret it on account of my children. Before I took this last spell of sickness I was able to walk from a half a mile to a mile. When.I pass away from this world of trouble, I hope I will be in a world of rest. These are a few items of the way we lived and had to do in the early days. I was born in Georgia in 1803, and am now going on seventy-eight."
From Mr. Buckles's letter we extract the following:
" Where you now see nice houses, abundant fields of corn and other grain, green pastures where various kinds of domestic ani- mals are quietly grazing, was once a trackless prairie. Standing at this point you might have seen the smoke curling from the mud chimneys of two or three little log cabins scattered along the mar- gin of the lake timber. I was reared in one of these cabins, which was constructed without a nail or a board, and the chinks between the logs were the only windows. Of the present luxuries we had none. I never saw a cook stove until I was nearly grown. The cooking was done at the fireplace, which was about half the width of the cabin, and which took huge logs for fuel that we were obliged to roll in at the door. Our cooking utensils were mainly the pot and the gridiron, and the kettle oven in which to bake bread. We had no machinery of any kind except the loom and spinning wheel. With these we manufactured the cloth from which our clothes were made. Work was performed by main strength, and with bare hands, thus our bread was truly earned by the sweat of our brow. It was a rare thing to see a man with a pair of boots, and boys didn't wear pants until they were about grown; they wore instead long homespun aprons.
"Young men, we didn't have kid gloves, as you do, to put on our hands, buggies to ride in, nor fine horses to drive. Our kids were those that nature gave us, tanned by the sun and hardened by toil. Our legs were our buggies, with the springs in the heels. Horses we had none, but sometimes we rode an ox with our fair lady on behind ns. The young ladies of that day didn't wear silks
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and ruffles, nor friz and bang their hair; they were content with a linsey-woolsey dress, made by their own hands. The loom was their piano, and the spinning wheel their organ, and the music was just as sweet, if not sweeter, than we hear to-day on a $500 piano or a costly organ, and I am quite sure the playing was much more profitable. They didn't punch holes in card-board and sew them up again with silken threads, but 'worked' honest button holes in their brother's Sunday coats, made of jeans, and knit com- fortable socks instead of crocheting useless nicknacks. They sought the washtub and broomhandle for exercise. Girls of the present day would almost faint at the sight of such things."
Mr. Buckles's letter closed with an appeal for prohibition of the liquor traffic, expressed in such terms as to elicit three cheers from the audience. There was then read a communication concerning Jabez Capps by his son, Charles S. Capps. Rev. John Wilson, of Macon County, who came to this State in 1816, made an amusing address of a few minutes. Major John F. Miles, who was born near Mammoth Cave, Ky., and came to Illinois in 1820, was next called npon and gave some very interesting reminiscences. Judge John J. McGraw, of Clinton, followed with an account of his early ex- periences in this State. He was born in South Carolina, moved to Alabama, then to Louisiana, afterward to Kentucky, and finally to Illinois, coming to the State in 1830. His reminiscences were quite interesting. Among other things he mentioned living with his family in a stable belonging to Martin Scott, near Waynesville, the first summer after coming to the State; and picking up an old sickle which was among the relics, he made a strong point by comparing the work of that instrument of less than fifty years ago with the self-binder of to day. Other speeches were made by E. H. Robb, of Waynesville, Rev. D. P. Bunn, D. W. Clark and Samuel McGarvey.
The officers for the ensuing year were then chosen: President, D. W. Clark; Vice-President, Col. R. B. Latham; Secretary, Captain F. Fisk.
NINTH REUNION.
On Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1881, between 3,000 and 4,000 persons at tended the reunion held at the Atlanta fair grounds. People were invited from McLean, Tazewell, Logan and De Witt counties, and the four counties were well represented by old settlers, many of whom had seen the winter of the "deep snow." Judge Scott, of
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the Supreme Court, an old settler, well and favorably known in Central Illinois, presided. He delivered an address that dealt largely with pioneer life as exemplified in the settlement of this State, and his effort was greatly appreciated.
Honorable George W. Minier followed with a lively address full of anecdotes of his experience in early times. He spoke of the corn-dodger as a staple article of food in those days, and said he was told that dodgers were so called because they were scraps of bread which had dodged the cat and dog and everything else and had finally got on the table. However, he did not seem to indorse this slander upon a good though old-fashioned article of food. He spoke of Governor Moore as the originator of our first system of public instruction, a system which he remembered reading with care in 1838. He then spoke of the introduction of the natural sciences into the schools and the part he had himself taken in se- curing that result. The common schools, he said, were so good that our colleges needed to be amply endowed or our boys and girls would finish their education in the public schools. He thought school-teaching the most important of the professions. Referring to the log cabin and its relics, Mr. Minier said he had a cane cut from near the tomb of Washington and the portrait of one of the earliest settlers of the county (Peter Logan), which he wished to place in that repository.
In the afternoon Governor Cullom arrived from Springfield and made a speech. He spoke of the traits of character of the early settlers of Illinois and contrasted their sociable ways with the hurrying, unsociable life of our modern cities. He spoke of the changes which had come over the State, and said the log cabin, to which he pointed, represented the life of the pioneers, though it was much better than most of them had. His father's first house was a double cabin built of unhewn logs in 1830, the year before the "deep snow." Tazewell County, in which his father lived, had been organized only three years then. Sangamon County was established in 1821, and included much of the central part of the State, reaching up nearly to La Salle. He was "raised " on a farm, and had he known that in a few years he could have rode and plowed, rode and planted, rode and sown and rode and reaped, he would have remained on a farm. He quit farming because he did not like so much walking. He could mow, but cradling was harder work than he could stand. He told of feeding 125 head of cattle for his father one bitter winter, the last 16
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he spent on the farm, referring to John Buckles, of Mt. Pulaski, for proof of his assertion that chopping corn-stalks out of the ice and hauling them to cattle was hard work. He told his father he could not stand such work and went to Springfield to study law. Without any intention of giving them " taffy" he thought the farmers of Illinois were to be envied for their grand opportunities and the independent position they occupied.
TENTH REUNION.
The "biggest time" that the old settlers have yet had was in 1882, when they held a barbecue at Mt. Pulaski, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 1882. The formal exercises were held in the public square, where the space had been fenced in for the old settlers with ropes. The stand was erected at the west front of the old court- house, where the interlacing catalpas made a grateful shade. Upon a table were displayed a few relics of old times, mainly in the form of home-made linen and coverlids, one of the latter 120 years old. A primitive stove, said to be fifty years old and the first ever used in this county, was also shown. The oldest person present was a Mrs. Hilliard, of the vicinity of Lake Fork Station, 101 years of age.
The morning speeches were delivered by Colonel R. B. Latham, of Lincoln, and James H. Matheny and R. W. Diller, of Spring- field. The meeting then adjourned for dinner. All the south side of the square was filled with tables, making a total length of 3,000 feet or more. Contrary to the usual practice of barbecues, these were carefully set, and were fitted with dishes and everything necessary for a good dinner. There was no lack of meat, as the enormous steam chest had done duty in cooking six and one-half beeves, twelve hogs and thirteen sheep. Other supplies were fur- nished in proportion. The steam chest was sixteen feet long, seven high and seven wide, made of common pine flooring, with five sets of grates or shelving, made of two-by-four oak, upon which the meats were placed. A forty-pound pressure of steam was turned on the first batch at a little after 2 o'clock Tuesday after- noon (the day before the meeting), and the chest was opened at about 7, showing the meat thoroughly cooked. A second batch was cooked between 9 and 12:30 o'clock, immediately after. The chest having been steamed for several days previous, no wood taste was perceptible in the meat. No raw meat was found as usual in roast barbecues. The coffee question seemed a very se-
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rious one to all, as apparently no preparation was in sight of its making. But a surprise followed when it was discovered that a turn of the steam pipe was made from the steam chest to an eighty- gallon hogshead of ice water, which gave, in ten minutes, that many gallons of boiling coffee. In all about 400 gallons were carried to the tables. The result of this generous preparation and careful attention to details was that the tables were quietly filled, time after time, and all who came were amply provided for.
In the afternoon speaking was resumed by Judge Lacey, Gen- eral Oglesby, Colonel Hough, Major John T. Stuart, Rev. C. J. White and others. There were 1,300 old settlers and pioneers on the register, and it is thought many failed to report. The total attendance was estimated at 15,000.
ELEVENTH REUNION.
Much less showy, but equally enjoyable, was the reunion held at Mt. Pulaski, Sept. 12, 1883. Governor Hamilton and other dis- tinguished parties had been invited but did not appear. There was little or no formality about the meeting, impromptu speeches being made by President D. W. Clark, Rev. John England, David Rudolph, Jacob Judy, D. Patterson, Albertus Barger, Fred Joynt, Colonel R. B. Latham, Joshua Day, Captain Frank Fisk and others. A good picnic dinner, including barbecued meats, etc., was served, and badges and canes were distributed as usual. The old officers, with L. B. Scroggin as Treasurer, were re-elected.
TWELFTH REUNION.
Mt. Pulaski has become a favorite place for the old settlers' meetings, as they are always sure of a good time in that pleasant town. Two days were set apart for the 1884 gathering, Wednes- day and Thursday, Sept. 10 and 11, and all who would remain the two days were entertained hospitably. A few tents had been put up in the public square, and a stand had been erected large enough to accommodate the officers of the organization and all the " snow birds," as those who came to the State or were born in it prior to the winter of 1830-'1 were termed. Wednesday was extremely hot, but it was estimated that 5,000 people were in attendance. Elder John England spoke in the forenoon. In the afternoon Hon. Carter H. Harrison, of Chicago, delivered an address, and was fol- lowed in short speeches by John Campbell, of De Witt County, and Messrs. Fred Joynt and Joshua Day, of this county.
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On Thursday about half as many were present, though the day was much pleasanter. Short speeches were made in the forenoon by Robert Humphrey, of Lincoln, and Major M. Wemple, of Mt. Pulaski. A business meeting was also held at which the officers of the previous year were. re-elected. A new constitution was adopted, and, for the first time, vice-presidents were elected for all the townships in the county. This new constitution pro- vides that the vice-presidents shall meet the last Saturday before the 4th of July each year to decide upon the time and place of holding the reunion. In the afternoon addresses were made by Hon. J. H. Rowell, of Bloomington, member of Congress from this district, and S. L. Wallace, of Lincoln. President Clark then gave way to Major M. Wemple, who had been requested to take charge of the distribution of a number of presents.
Firet was an elegant upholstered rocking-chair for theoldest person present. This was of course given to Mrs. Elizabeth Hill- iard, who was present. She was born in either 1781 or 1783, as is shown by the rather dimly written record in the family Bible. She has an older sister, Mrs. Peggy Arnold, yet living in Ross County, Ohio. With Mrs. Hilliard on the stand was her daughter, Mrs. Crouch, seventy-three years old.
John M. Campbell, of De Witt County, and Robert Downing, of Logan County, both claimed the gold-headed cane designed for the oldest man among the settlers present. The latter of the two was finally awarded the cane.
A silver goblet for the mother of the most children was awarded to Mrs. James Devers.
A vase to the oldest woman present born in the county was given to Mrs. George Turley, sixty-three years of age.
A jack-knife for the oldest settler who had killed the most deer was awarded to Roland Birke; one for the most successful turkey hunter was awarded to Len. Scroggin.
A year's subscription to the Mt. Pulaski Citizen was given to William Buckles as the man who first drove an ox team over the hill.
A table-cloth was given to Mrs. William Copeland, the heaviest lady present. Her weight was 365 pounds.
A toilet set was awarded to Miss Amy Capps as the handsomest young lady present under nineteen years of age.
A briar-root pipe for the oldest gentleman smoker went to Will- iam Buckles, while the pipe for the oldest lady smoker was awarded without question to Mrs. Elizabeth Hilliard.
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