USA > Illinois > Macon County > History of Macon County, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 9
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In 1839 came George Powers, a native of New York. He was soon thereafter admitted to the bar. In 1844 he was elected to the State Senate. He held other responsible offices. He died in 1849. Another arrival was George W. Falconer, a Marylander, who came in this year from Frederick county of his native State. He died in 1856. John Falconer, a boy of nine years of age, came with him. Capt. Joel S. Post arrived this year. A sketch of his life will be found in the chapter on Bench and Bar.
Dr. Joseph King came here in 1839. Drs. Read and Spear were the only physicians who had preceded him. He was thoroughly educated for his profession at Cincinnati, and gained an extensive practice, sometimes being called twenty-five or thirty miles to see a patient. James Rca and family came to Macon county in this year. In 1854 he removed to California.
We have reserved for this place a list of names of the persons who
36
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
were married the first and second years after the county was organ- ized, giving date of license and time of marriage :
NAMES. DATE OF LICENSE. TIME OF MARRIAGE.
John Whitmore to
Juue 18th, 1829.
June 20th, 1829.
Delila Miller.
Henry Traughber to Nancy Smith. Geo. Coppenbarger to
November 17th, 1829. November 17th, 1829.
November 10th,1829. November 12th, 1829.
Nancy Henderson. Jacob Caulk
to
January 7th, 1830. January 7th, 1830.
Mary Walker. Joseph Stephens to Mary D. Waruick.
June 17th, 1830.
June 17th, 1830.
John Howell to Elizabeth Jones. Stewart Henderson to
July 20th, 1830.
July 22d, 1830.
December 7th, 1830. December 9th, 1830.
December 16th, 1830. December 16th, 1830.
Nancy Hill. Lewis B. Ward to
December 23d, 1830.
December 23d, 1830.
Elizabeth Walker.
To notice the arrivals after 1840 is not possible, and would be useless, perhaps, if it were possible. Much additional information will be found in other chapters, and in the biographical department. Enough to say that the population increased but slowly until the advent of railroads afforded a market for products, and then immi- gration came in like a flood. The prairies that the old settlers thought could never be brought into cultivation were soon converted into valuable farms. The health of the county has improved as the wilderness has been subdued, aud now compares favorably with that of any part of the State, while upon a richer, fairer portion of coun- try than that embraced by the ample boundaries of Macon county, the sun does not look down in his course.
CHAPTER IV. CUSTOMS OF EARLY DAYS.
HABITS AND MODES OF LIVING OF THE PIONEERS AND FIRST SETTLERS.
T is a trite but true proverb that " Times change, and we change with them ;" and it is well illustrated by the changes in dress, coudition and life, that have taken place in this county in less than half a century. We doubt not that these changes, as a whole, are for the better.
To the old man, indeed, whose life-work is accomplished, and whose thoughts dwell mainly on the past, where his treasures are, there are no days like the old days, and no song awakens so responsive an echo in his heart as " Auld Lang Syne."
The very skies that arch above his gray head secm less blue to his dimmed cyc than they did wheu, in the adoration of his young heart, he directed to them his gaze ; the woods appear less green and inviting than when in the gayety of boyhood he court- cd their cool deaths; and the songs of their feathered inhabi- tants fall less melodiously upon his ear. He marks the changes
that are everywhere visible, and feels like crying out in the language of the poet :
" Backward, turn backward, oh, Time, in thy flight !"
It is natural for the aged to sigh for a return of the past, nor would we attempt the hopeless task of couvincing them that with the changes of the years there have comc also an increase in happiness, an improvement in social life, a progress in education, an advancement in morality, and a tendency upward in all that relates to the welfare of mankind.
We may learn useful lessons, however, from a study of that land over which the pardonable and fond imagination of the old settler has thrown the " light that uever was on sea or land," if, withdrawing ourselves from the dizzy activities of the present days, we let the old settler take us by the hand and lead us back into the regions of his youth, that we may observe the life of those who founded a grand empire in a great wilderness. Let us leave the prow of the rushing ship, from which may be dis- cerned a mighty future rich in promises and bright with hope, and take our place upon the stern and gaze backward, into the beautiful land of the past.
No doubt we shall be led to regret the absence among us of some of the virtues of dwellers in those early days. Gone is that frec-hearted hospitality which made of every settler's cabin an inn where the belated and weary traveler found entertainment without money and without price. Gonc is that community of sentiment which made neighbors indeed neighbors; that era of kindly feeling which was marked by the almost entire absence of litigation.
Gone, too, some say, is that simple, stroug, upright, honest integrity which was so marked a characteristic of the pioneer.
So rapid has been the improvement in machinery, and the progress in the arts and their application to the needs of man, that a study of the manner in which people lived and worked only fifty years ago seems like the study of a remote age.
It is important to remember that while a majority of settlers were poor, that poverty carried with it no crushing seuse of de- gradation like that felt by the very poor of our age. They lived in a cabin, it is true, but it was their own, and had been reared by their hands. Their house, too, while inconvenient and far from water-proof, was built in the prevailing style of architec- ture, and would compare favorably with the homes of their neighbors.
They were destitute of many of the conveniences of life, and of some things that are now considered necessaries ; but they patiently endured their lot and hopefully looked forward to better. They had plenty to wear as protection against the weather, and an abundance of wholesome food. They sat down to a rude table to cat from tin or pewter dishes ; but the meat thercon spread-the flesh of the deer or bear ; of the wild duck or turkey ; of the quail or squirrel-was superior to that we eat, and had been won by the skill of the head of the house or that of his vigorous sons. The bread they ate was made from corn or wheat of their own raising. They walked the green carpet of the grand prairie or forest that surrounded them, not with the air of a beggar, but with the elastic step of a self-respected free- man .*
* The whole country, now dotted with smiling farms and happy villages traversed by railroads and telegraphı wires, was a wilderness, consisting chiefly of prairie, which stretched away in billowy vastness like a congcaled ocean. Along the water-courses was a fringe of timber, and occasionally was to be seen a grove. The immigrants came ; some in carts, the children packed like sardines in a box ; some in wagons, and some on horseback with pack-horses.
Nancy Vinson. William Ward to Elizabeth Wheeler. James Edwards to
July 14th, 1830. July 14th, 1830.
37
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
The settler brought with him the keen axe, which was indis- pensable, and the equally necessary rifle ; the first his weapon of offence against the forests that skirted the water-courses, and near which he made his home; the second that of defence from the attacks of his foe, the cunning child of the forest and prairie. His first labor was to fell trees and erect his unpretentious cabin, which was rudely made of logs, and in the raising of which he had the cheerful aid of his neighbors. It was usually from four- teen to sixteen feet square, and never larger than twenty feet, and was frequently built entirely without glass, nails, hinges or locks.
The manner of building was as follows : First large logs were laid in position as sills ; on these were placed strong sleepers, and on the sleepers were laid the rough-hewed puncheons, which were to serve as floors. The logs were then built up till the proper height for the eaves was reached ; then on the ends of the building were placed poles, longer than the other end-logs, which projected some eighteen or more inches over the sides, and were called " butting-pole sleepers ;" on the projecting ends of these was placed the " butting-pole." which served to give the line to the first row of clap-boards. These were, as a matter of course, split, and as the gables of the cabin were built up, were so laid on as to lap a third of their length. They were often kept in place by the weight of a heavy pole, which was laid across the roof parallel to the ridge pole. The house was then chinked, and daubed with a coarse mortar.
A huge fire-place was built in at one end of the house, in which fire was kindled for cooking purposes, for the settlers generally were without stoves, and which furnished the needed warmth in winter. The ceiling above was sometimes covered with the pelts of the raccoon, opossum, and of the wolf, to add to the warmth of the dwelling. Sometimes the soft inner bark of the bass wood was used for the same purpose. The cabin was lighted by means of greased paper-windows. A log would be left out along one side, and sheets of strong paper, well greased with coon-grease or bear-oil, would be carefully tacked in.
The above description only applies to the very earliest times, before the rattle of the saw-mill was heard within our borders.
The furniture comported admirably with the house itself, and hence, if not elegant, was in most perfect taste. The tables had four legs, and were rudely made from a puncheon. Their seats were stools having three or four legs. The bedstead was in keeping with the rest, and was often so contrived as to permit it to be drawn up and fastened to the wall during the day, thus affording more room to the family. The entire furniture was simple, and was framed with no other tools than an axe and anger. Each was his own carpenter; and some displayed con- siderable ingenuity in the construction of implements of agricul- ture, and utensils, and furniture for the kitchen and house. Knives and forks they sometimes had, and sometimes had not. The common table-knife was the pack-knife or butcher-knife .* Horse-collars were sometimes made of the plaited husk of the maize sewed together. They were easy on the neck of the horse, and if tug-traces were used, would last a long while. Horses were not used very much, however, and oxen were almost exclu- sively nsed. In some instances carts and wagons were construct- ed or repaired by the self-reliant settler ; and the woful creakings of the untarred axles could be heard at a great distance.
The women corresponded well with the description of the
* Wooden vessels, either dug out or coppered, and called " noggens," were in common use for bowls, out of which each member of the family ate mush and milk for supper. A gourd formed the drinking cup.
virtuous woman in the last chapter of Proverbs, for they " sought wool and flax, and worked willingly with their hands." They did not, it is true, make for themselves " coverings of tapestry," nor could it be said of them that their " clothing was silk and purple ; " but they " rose while it was yet night, and gave ineat to their household," and they "girded their loins with strength and strengthened their arms." They " looked well to the ways of their household, and ate not the bread of idleness." They laid " their hands to the spindle and to the distaff," and "strength and honor were in their clothing."
In these days of furbelows and flounces, when from twenty to thirty yards are required by one fair damsel for a dress, it is re- freshing to know that the ladies of that ancient time considered eight yards au extravagant amount to put into one dress. The dress was usually made plain with four widths in the skirt, and two front ones cut gored. The waist was made very short, and across the shoulders behind was a draw-string. The sleeves were enormously large, and tapered from shonlder to wrist, and the most fashionable-for fashion, like love, rules alike the "court and grove"-were padded so as to resemble a bolster at the upper part, and were known as " mutton-legs," or "sheep-shank sleeves." The sleeve was kept in shape often by a heavily starched lining. Those who could afford it used feathers, which gave the sleeve the appearance of an inflated balloon fromn elbow up, and were known as "pillow-sleeves."
Many bows and ribbons were worn, but scarcely any jewelry. The tow dress was superseded by the cotton gown. Around the neck, instead of a lace collar or elegant ribbon, there was dis- posed a copperas-colored neckkerchief.
In going to church or other public gathering in summer weather, they sometimes walked barefooted till near their desti- nation, when they would put on their shoes or moccasins. They were contented and even happy without any of the elegant arti- cles of apparel now used by the ladies and considered necessary articles of dress. Ruffles, fine laces, silk hats, kid gloves, falsc curls, rings, combs and jewels, were nearly unknown, nor did the lack of them vex their souls. Many of them were grown before they ever saw the interior of a well-supplied dry-goods store. They were reared in simplicity, lived in simplicity, and were happy in simplicity.
It may be interesting to speak more specifically regarding cookery and diet. Wild meat was plentiful. The settlers gen- erally brought some food with them to last till a crop could be raised. Small patches of Indian corn were raised, which, in the earliest days of the settlements, was beaten in a mortar. The meal was made into a coarse but wholesome bread, on which the teeth could not be very tightly shut on account of the grit it contained. Johnny-cake and pones were served up at dinner, while mush and milk was the favorite dish for supper. In the fire-place hung the crane, and the dutch-oven was used in baking. The streams abonnded in fish, which formed a healthful article of food. Many kinds of greens, such as dock and polk, were eaten. The " truck-patch " furnished roasting ears, pumpkins, beans, squashes and potatoes, and these were nsed by all. For reaping-bees, log-rollings, and house-raisings, the standard dish was pot-pie. Coffee and tea were used sparingly, as they were very dear, and the hardy pioneer thought them a drink fit only for women and children. They said it would not " stick to the ribs." Maple-sugar was much used, and honey was only five cents a pound. Butter was the same price, while eggs were three cents. The utmost good fecling prevailed. If one killed hogs all shared. Chickens were to be seen in great numbers around
38
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
every doorway ; and the gabble of the turkey and quack of the duck were heard in the land. Nature contributed of her fruits. Wild grapes and plums were to be found in their season, along the streams.
The women manufactured nearly all the clothing worn by the family. In cool weather gowns made of " liusey-woolsey " were worn by the ladies. The chain was of cotton and the filling of wool. The fabric was usually plaid or striped, and the differing colors were blended according to the taste and fancy of the fair maker. Colors were blue, copperas, turkey-red, light blue, etc. Every honse contained a card-loom aud spinning- wheels, which were cousidered by the women as necessary for them as the rifle for the mien. Several different kinds of cloth were made. Cloth was woven from cotton. The rolls were bought and spun, on little and big wheels, into two kinds of thread ; one the " chain," and the other the " filling." The more experienced only spun the chain ; the younger the filliug. Two kinds of looms were in use. The most primitive in construction was called the "side-loom." The frame of it consisted of two pieces of scantling running obliquely from the floor to the wall. Later, the frame-loom, which was a great improvement over the other, came iuto nse.
The men and boys wore "jeans" and linsey-woolsey hunting shirts. The "jeans " were colored either light-blue or butternut.
Many times when the men gathered to a log-rolling or barn- raising, the women would assemble bringing their spinning- wheels with them. In this way sometimes as many as ten or twelve would gather in one room, and the pleasant voices of the fair spinners were mingled with the low lınm of the spinning- wheels. "Oh ! golden early days! "
Such articles of apparel as could not be manufactured were brought to them from the nearest store by the mail-carrier. These were few, however. The men and boys, in many instances, wore pantaloous made of the dressed skin of the decr, which then swarmed the prairies in large herds. The young man who de- sired to look captivating to the eye of the maiden whom he loved, had his " bucks" fringed, which lent them a not nnpleasing effect. Meal-sacks were also made of buckskin. Caps were made of the skins of the wolf, fox, wild-cat and musk-rat, tanned with the fur on. The tail of the fox or wolf often hung from the top of the cap, lending the wearer a jaunty air. Both sexes wore moccasins, which in dry weather were an excellent substitute for shoes. There were no shoemakers, and each fam- ily made its own shoes.
The settlers were separated from their neighbors often by miles. There were no church-houses or regular services of any kind to call them together ; hence, no doubt, the cheerfulness with which they accepted invitations to a house-raising, or a log-rolling, or a corn-husking, or a bee of any kind. To attend these gatherings they would go ten and sometimes more miles.
Generally with the invitation to the men went one to the women, to come to a quiltiug. The good woman of the house where the festivities were to take place would be busily engaged for a day or more in preparation for the coming guests. Great quantities of provisions were to be prepared, for dyspepsia was unknown to the pioneer, and good appetites were the rule and not the exception.
" The bread used at these frolics was baked generally on Jonny or Journey cake-boards, and is the best corn-bread ever made. A board is made smooth, about two feet long, and eight inches wide-the ends are generally rounded. The dough is spread out on this board, and placed leaning before the fire. One side is
baked, and then the dough is changed on the board, so the other side is presented, in its turn, to the fire. This is Jonny-cake, and is good, if the proper materials are put in the dough, and it is properly baked."-Reynolds' History.
At all the log-rollings and house-raisiugs it was customary to provide liquor. Excesses were not indulged in, however. The fiddler was never forgotten. After the day's work had been ac- · complished, out, doors and in, by men and women, the floor was cleared and the merry dance began. The handsome, stalwart young men, whose fine forms were the result of their manly out- door life, clad in fringed buckskin brecches and gaudily colored huntiug-shirts, led forth the bright-eyed, buxom damsels, attired in neatly-fitting linsey-woolsey garments, to the dance, their cheeks glowing with health and eyes speaking of enjoyment, aud perhaps of a tenderer emotion.
The following description of a "Shucking " of the olden time is taken from-Reynolds' Pioneer History of Illinois :
" In pure pioneer times the crops of corn were never husked on the stalk, as is done at this day ; but werc hauled home in the husk and thrown in a heap, generally by the side of the crib, so that the ears, when husked, could be thrown direct into the crib. The whole neighborhood, male and female, were invited to the shucking, as it was called. The girls, and many of the married ladies, generally engaged in this amusing work.
" In the first place two leading expert huskers were chosen as captains, and the heap of corn divided as nearly equal as possi- ble. Rails were laid across the pile so as to designate the divi- sion ; and then each captain chose, alternately, his corps of huskers, male and female. The whole number of working hands present were selected, on one side or the other, and then each party commenced a contest to beat the other, which was in inany cases truly exciting. One other rule was, that whenever a male husked a red ear of corn, he was entitled to a kiss from the girls. This frequently excited much fuss and scuffling, which was iu- tended by both parties to end in a kiss. It was a universal practice that taffia or Monongahela whisky was used at thesc husking frolics, which they drank out of a bottle, each one male and female, taking the bottle and drinking out of it, and then handing it to his next neighbor, without using any glass or cup whatever. This custom was common and not considered rude. Almost always these corn-shucks ended in a dance. To prepare for this amusement fiddles and fiddlers were in great demand ; and it often required much fast riding to obtain them. One vio- lin and a performer were all that was contemplated at these iunocent rural games.
" Towards dark, and the supper half-over, then it was that a . bustle and confusion commenced. The confusion of the tongnes at Babel would have been ashamed at the corn-shuckings. The young ones hurryiug off the table, and the old ones contend- ing for time and order. It was the case, in nine times out of ten, that but one dwelling-house was on the premises, and that used for eating as well as dancing.
" But when the fiddler commenced tuning his instrument the music always gained the victory for the young side. Then the dishes, victuals, table and all, disappeared in a few minutes, and the room was cleared, the dogs drove out, and the floor swept off ready for action. The floors of these houses were sometimes the natural earth, beat solid, sometimes the earth, with puncheons in the middle over the potato-hole, and at times the whole floor was made of puncheons.
" The musie at these country dances made the young folks al- most frantic, and sometimes much excitement was displayed to
39
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
get on the floor first. Generally the fiddler on these occasions assumed an important bearing, and ordered, in true professional style, so and so to be done ; as that was the way in North Caro- lina, where he was raised. The decision ended the contest for the floor. In those days they danced jigs and four-handed reels, as they were called. Sometimes three-handed reels were also danced.
" In these dances there was no standing still ; all were moving at a rapid pace from beginning to end. In the jigs the by-stand- ers cut one another out, as it was called, so that this dance would last for hours. Sometimes the parties in a jig tried to tire one another down in the dance, and then it would also last a long time before one or the other gave up.
" The cotillion or stand-still dances were not then known.
" The bottle went round at these parties as it did at the shiuck- ings, and male and female took a dram out of it as it passed around. No sitting was indulged in, and the folks either stood or danced all night, as generally day-light ended the frolic. The dress of these hardy pioneers was generally plain homespun. The hunting-shirt was much worn at that time, which is a con- venient working or dancing dress. Sometimes dressed deer-skin pantaloons were used on these occasions, and mawkawsins-rarely shoes-and at times bare feet were indulged in.
" In the morning all go home on horse-back or on foot. No carriages, wagons or other vehicles were used on these occasions, for the best reasons-because they had none."
Dancing was the favorite amusement, and was participated in by all.
" Alike all ages; dames of ancient days ; Have led their children through the mirthful maze, And the gray grandsire, skilled in gestic lore, Has frisked beneath the burden of three-score."
The amusements of that day were more athletic and rude than those of to-day. Among the settlers in a new country, from the nature of the case, a higher value is set upon physical than men- tal endowments. Skill in woodcraft, superiority of muscular development, accuracy in shooting with the rifle, activity, swift- ness of foot, were qualifications that brought their possessors fame. Foot-racing was often practised, and often the boys and young men engaged in friendly contests with the Indians. Every man had a rifle, and kept always in good order ; his flints, bullet-mnolds, screw-driver, awl, butcher-knife and tomahawk were fastened to the shot-pouch strap or to the belt around the waist. Target-shoot- ing was much practised, and shots were made by the hunters and settlers, with flint-lock rifles, that cannot be excelled. by their de- scendants with the improved breech-loaders of the present day.
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