History of Logan county, Illinois : its past and present.., Part 24

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago : Donnelley, Loyd & Co.
Number of Pages: 596

USA > Illinois > Logan County > History of Logan county, Illinois : its past and present.. > Part 24

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He fastened an iron wedge in the end of the pestle, which was attached to a sweep, with a round through it at the proper height for the hand. At this grinder, thus roughly made, the boys would have to put in their idle time. Another mode for making meal was to make a grater out of tin. We often preferred these rude mills to going thirty or forty miles to a horse-mill, and wait for those ahead of us. The journey would often require three or four days, time. Flour was a rarity here, and when obtained was of a dirty, sandy color. This was caused by threshing the wheat on a ground floor, by driving horses over it. When it was cleaned it was ground in one of those venerable horse- mills, then so few. Yet this was all we could afford. Biscuit was eaten once a week,-on Sunday."

At this date there was a small store at Bloomington and one at Joliet, where the settlers on their way to and from Chicago stopped. They often came here to trade. The comfort of the settlers was somewhat ad- vanced by the erection of Orendorff's grist mill. It was built on Sugar Creek

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and was since known as Morgan's mill. The burrs were made out of the "lost rocks," as they are called, which were found scattered about over the prairies. They were undoubtedly brought here by the action of water ages ago. They are very hard and durable, and are commonly known as "Nigger heads." This mill was a great convenience to the Sugar Creek and Kickapoo settlers and had an extensive patronage. A water mill was erected on Salt Creek about the same time, but was useful only in high water time, and was then not considered very safe. The first water mill in Logan County was built on a small creek, near where David Evans now lives. It was built by John Glenn, before the Deep Snow. The Orendorff mill would grind wheat, but the flour was of an inferior quality.

As soon as settlers began to go to Chicago for supplies, Pekin, profit- ing by the admonition, began to improve. Men in mercantile pursuits knew if it was profitable to go to that market for supplies, it was profitable for them to meet the demand, and they acted accordingly. Until the railroad came, this town was the chief market, and grew rapidly.

Mr. Ewing thus describes the post of Chicago as seen in the fall of 1835: "The village of Chicago was very small. There were two or three grocery stores on the north side of the river and a dry goods store and grocery on the south side, near the lake shore. The river was spanned near its mouth by a single bridge. The most attractive part of the village at that time was Fort Dearborn, garrisoned by United States soldiers. This had been made necessary by the united hostilities com- mitted by contiguous Indian tribes. These, after being conquered, came to this agency for supplies, and for the payment of the lands purchased of them by the government. Many of them were here awaiting these payments before leaving their possessions. They were encamped near. I was told that bad whites, with provisions and liquor, would first make the Indians drunk and then rob them of their money. Part of the pay- ment had been made. It was all silver and was invariably tied securely in a corner of the Indian's blanket. The whisky would soon make the Indian sleepy, when the white man would watch his chance and cut off that part of the blanket containing the money, and pocket it. In this way the Indians lost much of their money. The principal Sacs, Foxes, Kickapoos, Delawares and Potawattamies had their representatives here, and were about equally robbed." When Mr. John Hawes, Sen., came to what is now Eminence township, the Indians had just vacated their lands preparatory to going beyond the Mississippi. What able bodied men there were in the county at the time of the Black Hawk war, generally went to aid in expelling these native sons of the forest, who in many places were very troublesome.

The annual gatherings of the old settlers are generally well attended. At these meetings many of the oldest residents narrate their early life here. This is fraught with items of interest, and to give the reader an intelligent idea of these meetings several speeches made on these occa- sions are here subjoined. At the meeting in 1877, Col. Latham said he had never attended an old settlers' meeting before, but supposed that remin- iscences would be in order. He was a child of one of the first settlers, and came to the county when he was a little over a year old. Fifty-seven years ago not a white person lived in what is now Logan

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

County. Those who were present at this meeting were the children of the pioneers. His father settled at Elkhart Grove in 1819. In February of that year he built a cabin, and his family came on in September. He thought his father's family the first that came to the county, though there were several who came in 1820, and probably James Musick settled on Sugar Creek in the fall of 1819. Mr. Turley and others came soon after. His first recollection of a plow was of one made wholly of wood- a barshare. Next was the Cary plow, the share of which was partly of iron. The principal Indian tribes then in the county were the Pota- wattamies and the Delawares, but they soon gave way to the settlers .. When his father came they went a mile below Edwardsville (a distance of over a hundred miles) to mill. In a few years a little mill was put up on the Sangamon. His father erected a horse mill about the year 1820, and it was looked upon as a very inportant enterprise. Men would come great distances and camp out for a day or two while their grinding was being done. All were neighbors and friends then and much socia- bility existed. He thought this was always the case in the settlement of a country. People enjoyed themselves as well as they do now. The early settlers were vigorous, enterprising men. It did him good to meet the friends of his boyhood, especially upon such an occasion as this ; hence he was in favor of these gatherings.

Rev. J. R. Lowrence had not been before the people before as an old settler. . He came to the state in 1830, and lived here nearly all the time since. No railroads when he came. He camped at the foot of the hill below Postville when there were no houses in the town.

He told of a young man who saw a young lady. taking a grist of corn to mill, and was so pleased with her conduct that he married her. The lady was the mother of one of our merchants. He enumerated what were considered accomplishments of the two sexes in those early times.

John Critz came to Rocky Ford in 1827, where Mr. Smith now lives. His father went away and he built a pottery. Mr. Critz told about the deep snow. At that time the prairies could not have been given to him. He had worked in this state for seven dollars a month and never got more.

Mrs. Roll was an early settler of Indiana. When she first saw this state the prairies were burned black. All had log cabins then, with mud chimneys. She settled fifteen or twenty miles from any store. They went to Chicago for salt. She picked brush and did general work on the farm.

J. T. Hackney answered to calls by saying that he could not make a speech. He was not a pioneer, but came to the county forty-one years ago. In 1840 he knew almost all the men in Logan County, when it polled less than five hundred votes. In December, 1836, he and one or two others went up Salt Creek and stopped at the farm where he now lives. The earth was wet from recent rains. Suddenly a cold wind came, which almost seemed to whiten the earth in its progress. As they went, the ice became thicker and thicker and the cold more intense, and they were obliged to stop for the night at the house of Alfred Sams. All old settlers would remember that sudden and wonderful change of temp- erature. His father began teaching in 1836 in a log cabin within a hundred yards of where he (the speaker) was now talking. The school- house was called " brush college."

Gie 18

mes Roll lived in Piena 1888To 1898 lindcon 100 yra

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

County. Those who were present at this meeting were the children of the pioneers. His father settled at Elkhart Grove in 1819. In February of that year he built a cabin, and his family came on in September. He thought his father's family the first that came to the county, though there were several who came in 1820, and probably James Musick settled on Sugar Creek in the fall of 1819. Mr. Turley and others came soon after. His first recollection of a plow was of one made wholly of wood- a barshare. Next was the Cary plow, the share of which was partly of iron. The principal Indian tribes then in the county were the Pota- wattamies and the Delawares, but they soon gave way to the settlers. When his father came they went a mile below Edwardsville (a distance of over a hundred miles) to mill. In a few years a little mill was put up on the Sangamon. His father erected a horse mill about the year 1820, and it was looked upon as a very inportant enterprise. Men would come great distances and camp out for a day or two while their grinding was being done. All were neighbors and friends then and much socia- bility existed. He thought this was always the case in the settlement of a country. People enjoyed themselves as well as they do now. The early settlers were vigorous, enterprising men. It did him good to meet the friends of his boyhood, especially upon such an occasion as this ; hence he was in favor of these gatherings.

He told of a young man who saw a young lady taking a grist of corn to mill, and was so pleased with her conduct that he married her. The lady was the mother of one of our merchants. He enumerated what were considered accomplishments of the two sexes in those early times.

J. T. Hackney answered to calls by saying that he could not make a speech. He was not a pioneer, but came to the county forty-one years ago. In 1840 he knew almost all the men in Logan County, when it polled less than five hundred votes. In December, 1836, he and one or two others went up Salt Creek and stopped at the farm where he now lives. The earth was wet from recent rains. Suddenly a cold wind came, which almost seemed to whiten the earth in its progress. As they went, the ice became thicker and thicker and the cold more intense, and they were obliged to stop for the nightt at the house of Alfred Sams. All old settlers would remember that sudden and wonderful change of temp- erature. His father began teaching in 1836 in a log cabin within a hundred yards of where he (the speaker) was now talking. The school- house was called " brush college."

Gie 15 1 18

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

James Randolph was called out. He said he was not one of the first settlers, but came forty-five years ago, before the winter of the deep snow. He came, a small boy in a colony of fifty who settled together. There was but one house then from the Widow Cruser's, to the county line. They came from a warm country, and their men spent the fall weather in hunting, instead of finishing up their cabins. Only two houses in the colony had chimneys. The snow came about Christmas. It was very hard to travel with horses, and there was no corn nearer than ten miles. They had plenty of meat. By spring, forty-nine of the fifty were in the two cabins that had chimneys. Nearly all were sick, but there was only one death during the winter. They had no doctor. A good many of the colony became discouraged and went back. In 1832 his father built a hewed log house, the same one in which Wm. Donnan now lives.

The President said he came to the county in 1841. In 1842 or 1843 he attended an "infare," at which were present Seth Post, Jerome Goren, Anson Packard and Dick Oglesby, all of Decatur. The family lived in a small house, and the guests expected to go to Yankeetown for lodgings, but a rain came up and they were forced to remain and sleep on the floor. He remembered that Oglesby made a pillow of a skillet which he had turned upside down for the purpose.

At a stand were a few relics representative of early times. One was a piece of old-fashioned strap rail, such as was used on the first railroads. Mr. D. W. Clark had a silver spoon made by a brother of his wife's grand- mother, and a primitive looking but substantial two-tined hay-fork, once the property of his great, great grandfather. Mr. Fletcher had a rifle brought from Virginia, and a pair of antlers taken from a buck slain by the gun thirty years ago. Some preserved ground-cherries were shown as a sample of what pioneer housewives used to do in sweetmeats.

Joshua Day responded to a call by saying that he was not a pioneer, · though an old settler. He came forty years ago, lacking a month, and he thanked God for it. He landed at Commerce, near Nauvoo, forty-eight years ago, having left Massachusetts when not quite twenty-one. Near Nauvoo he saw Blackhawk and over five hundred Indians. He took din- ner with the chief several times. The year after he came he helped bury two or three of his neighbors. They had no physicians. He had only "six bits" when he came, and shook with ague nine months. Would have gone back but couldn't. Like many others, the impossibility of returning gave him pluck to endure. Afterward he came to Lake Fork, which they said was a healthier country. He came after the arrival of the Buckleses, the Lucases, the Scrogginses and the Lathams. John Buckles and others in the assembly before him knew how times were then. When scouring plows came in, one old man stuck to his wooden plow for three years, because he thought the new plow "would kill the ground," it turned it over so sleek.

L. K. Scroggin was called out. His father and mother came to Illi- nois in 1811 and he was born in the southern part of the state in 1819. He came to Logan County in 1827 and had remained ever since. He thought the young would go on improving the country as their fathers had done for those who, in turn, would follow then. We should not destroy, but build up. The country should go on in its career of develop- ment.

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

Mr. J. M. Edwards, of this city, was the next to speak. He moved to Springfield in the year 1829, when that town consisted of about one hundred log houses. He came to Lake Fork in 1829 and bought land of Buckles. He lived there a number of years. Mr. Edwards spoke of the struggles of the pioneers, of grating corn for meal and of traveling long distances to mill.

Wm. M. Allen said he had been in the county 38 years. He told some laughable stories of pioneer life. The first mill on Salt Creek had no roof over it ; they bolted the flour by hand, and when the miller turned on the water he ran for fear the mill would fall. The Colonel then traced the successive stages of improvement through which the state has passed to her present greatness.

Joshua Howser said he came to the state in 1835. It was very thinly settled. He entered forty acres of land five miles south of Wolf Grove. He narrated stories of wolf hunting in early times. He also told of sick- ness and other privations attending life as an early settler. He was no great hunter, as some of the others were, but could fish successfully then and now.

Wm. B. Bock came to the county in 1839 and entered land a mile. from timber. The neighbors laughed at him, thinking the country would never be settled so far from the woods.

At the meeting held in Lincoln the previous year, Henry Johnson. one of the oldest settlers in the county, said : My father came in Septem' ber, 1826. They raised a crop the next year, and gathered it themselves The women attended to the household duties, and many a time he had helped his mother and sisters with the spinning. The second day after they came his sisters went to the creek for water, while he and a young man named Bean went hunting. Returning at dusk, they came to where his sisters were, who, mistaking them for Indians, hurried toward the cabin. The boys overtook them, and had some difficulty at first in allay- ing their fears. At another time, while he was cutting oats, he stopped to whet his scythe and placing the whetstone in his pocket, when hearing a noise he stopped and looked around, when he encountered a six-foot Iudian grinning at him. After talking as best they could a while, Mr. Johnson went to the house, where he found a number of Indians, who were returning from a long hunt for Winter provisions. Inquiring of them how many deer they had, they replied, " about two hundred." They were soon on their ponies and off again. Mr. Jacob Judy said his wife came in 1819, and he in 1825. He lived a long time with a Mr. Moberly, near Mackinaw, and attended to the jensang and coon-skin department of Mr. Moberly's business. A young man at one time came to Mr. Moberly for a license to marry, and having no money, offered to pay in coon skins. Twelve of these were accepted. This was the first marriage in Tazewell County.

Rev. John England said his father moved to the American Bottom in 1817, and a few months after to the Sangamon River, where he built the first cabin in the neighborhood north of that river. They took slabs split from a tree and made a table ; took a hollow buckeye tree and put a board on the bottom and made a churn. Levi Cantrell moved in and erected a horse mill, and tanned the first leather here by using ashes in a sycamore trough and bark beaten in a mortar. Another speaker, in referring to the

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

early schools, said : " John B. Watson was the first teacher we had. He made impressions on me I shall not forget. The first thing we saw on entering a school-room were several long rods standing in the corner. The majority of the teachers were Yankees, who cared for little save the money." D. W. Clark, president of the Association, said, " he started from Marion County, Ohio, on September 28, 1830. He walked all the way to Sangamon River, except when crossing the stream. When he was married he borrowed the money of his brother, who was getting eight dollars per month for work. At a wedding at his house not long after, the party were detained over night by the rain. Among them were Dick Oglesby, Jerome Gorin and Seth Post. Mr. Oglesby used an inverted skillet for a pillow. all sleeping on the floor, save the married couple, who occupied the only bed in the house." The first Fourth of July celebra- tion held in this county, says Mr. Hackney, occurred in 1839, on the farm of Michael Hinricksen in Chester Township. It was gotten up by the people of Salt Creek and Lake Fork. They raised one hundred dollars, and employed John Turley to prepare the dinner. There were about four hun- dred persons present, and a most enjoyable day was passed. William Hack- ney was the orator of the day, and G. W. Turley, Sen., read the Declara- tion of Independence. These narratives tell their own story, and show most graphically the trials early settlers must endure to overcome any new country. Yet these were their happiest days, and are recalled by them with only feelings of the greatest tenderness.

THE DEEP SNOW AND SUDDEN CHANGE.

These two important events mark an era in the early life of the pioneers of Logan County. Those living in the county now who passed through them, refer to them as times never since repeated. The snow began falling about Wednesday, between Christmas of 1830, and January, 1831, and continued falling until it attained a depth of nearly three feet on the level. There was a tradition -among the Indians that a similar snow fell about thirty years before. Reference is made to it in the His- tory of the Northwest, published in this volume. So completely did the snow cover everything, that wild game perished in great numbers. Over the snow a crust formed, and, the temperature remaining low, everyone walked over the country on this. . If a track was broken, the snow would fall, and ere long it would be filled. The people were often put to great straits to preserve life and property. Mr. Powers, in his history of San- gamon County, tells of a man named Stout, living alone on Sugar Creek, who, to preserve his life, felled a large tree near his cabin, cut off a log, and hollowed out a cavity large enough to contain his body. He made his bed on shavings, as he had done before, placed the trough along side it, and, lying down, would pull it over him. The warmth of his body soon filled the cavity, and he was preserved from freezing.

When the weather was extremely cold, he would remove his fire just before retiring, scraping the coals and ashes carefully away, and make his bed where the fire had been. Mr. Ewing relates that deer, wild cats, catamounts, foxes, ground or hedge hogs, badgers, raccoons, foxes, oppossums, and prairie wolves were abundant during the autumn. The deer were fat and abounded in great numbers. So plenty were they that people did not care to hunt them. The crust overspreading the snow would allow all animals, as well as

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

man, to pass over it in safety. The deer runs by a succession of leaps, and the faster the run the greater the force with which their feet strike the ground. Their feet being small and hard, when pursued the deer would break through this crust, and fall an easy prey to the wolves and other animals in its pursuit. The wolves would generally seize the deer by the throat, and suck its blood. The hunter, following and finding the carcass, would find it untouched, and he had only to take the choice parts for the venison. Mr. Ewing says : "My brothers and myself concluded "we would catch some deer and tame them. Accordingly we captured a few choice ones, but found they could not be easily tamed, or made to eat, and we were soon compelled to release them."

Not a few persons became lost during this winter, and perished. Their bodies were not found until in the spring, when the snow passed off with a great freshet.

The sudden change occurred on the afternoon of December 20, 1836. It was one of the most remarkable phenomenons ever recorded. Rev. John England says : " I moved down near Athens, and was getting out puncheons for the floor of my cabin when the big snow fell. It was all I could do during the day to keep wood enough cut to last all night, and walk a mile and a half to get corn to feed my hog and horses." Mr. Powers says, concerning this sudden change, "That Mr. Washington Crowder remembers that on the morning of December 20, 1836, he started from a point on Sugar Creek about eight miles south of Springfield to the latter place, for the purpose of obtaining a license for the marriage of himself and Miss Isabel Laughlin. There were several inches of snow on the ground ; the rain was then falling slowly, and had been long enough to turn the snow to slush. Every time the horse put his foot down it went through the slush, splashing it out on all sides. Mr. Crowder was carrying an umbrella to protect himself from the rain, and wore an over- coat reaching nearly to his feet. When he had traveled something like half the distance, and had reached a point about four miles south of Springfield, he had a fair view of the landscape, ten or twelve miles west and north. He saw a very dark cloud a little north of west. It appeared to be approaching him very rapidly, accompanied by a terrific, deep, bellowing sound. He thought it prudent to close his umbrella, else the wind might snatch it from his hands, and dropped the bridle rein on the neck of his horse for that purpose. Having closed the umbrella and put it under his arm, he was in the act of taking hold of the bridle rein when the cold wave came over him. At that instant water was dripping from every thing about him ; when he drew the reins taut, ice rattled from them. The water and slush were almost instantly turned to ice. Mr. Crowder says that in fifteen minutes from the time the cold wave reached him, his horse walked on the frozen snow. Arriving in Springfield, he attempted to dismount at a store on Fifth Street, near where Bunn's bank now stands, but was unable, his coat holding him as firmly as if it had been made of sheet iron. He then called for help, and two men came, who tried to lift him off, but his clothes were frozen to the saddle, which they ungirted and carried man and saddle to the fire, and then thawed them apart." Mr. Crowder obtained his license, returned the same day, and was married the next. This event fixes the date in his mind beyond a question.

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History of Logan county, Illinois : its past and present.., Part 24

Author: Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Chicago : Donnelley, Loyd & Co. Number of Pages: 596

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago : Donnelley, Loyd & Co.
Number of Pages: 596