History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 24

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698

USA > Illinois > Madison County > History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches > Part 24

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weather hats were worn made at home of straw. Neat and fine linsey, manufactured at home, and colored and woven to suit the fancy, composed the outside garments of the females. It was not unusual for a young woman to appear dressed completely in the products of her own hands. A bonnet of calico, or some gayly-checked goods, was worn on the head in the open air. Jewelry was unusual. A gold ring was an ornament not often scen.

Factory made goods, from New England and Kentucky, reached Illinois about the year 1818, and soon supplanted the products of the loom and spinning wheel. The style of dress began to change about 1820. The blue-linsey hunting shirt, with red and white fringe, gave place to the cloth coat. Boots and shoes supplanted the deer-skin moccasin. At Edwardsville were seen gentlemen dressed in elegant broad-cloth. By the year 1830, a man dressed in the cos- tume of the territory, raeevon-skin cap, hunting-shirt, buck- skin breeches and moccasins, with a belt around the waist, to which a knife and tomahawk were appended, was rarely to be seen. The female sex made still more rapid progress in adopting modern costumes.

The men were not accustomed to work so hard and steadily as now, sufficient corn was raised for home con- sumption, also a little wheat, cotton, flax aud tobacco, a patch of indigo and a bed of muller, with garden vege- tables for the family use, and the balance of the time was spent in recreation, and in hunting deer, turkeys, and bees. The pioneers were capital hands for attending musters, Fourth of July celebrations, political speaking, the courts, horse races, aud other like gatherings. On the other hand women in those days worked much more than at present. Beside the house work they had to do the cording, spinning, weaving, and the making of all the wearing apparel for the family. Each house was a manufacturing establish- ment, each woman a skillful operative. The women were overburdened with work so much that a traveller passing through the country remarked that it was "a heaven for men and horses, bat a hell for women aud oxen." The women, nevertheless, were cheerful and happy, and some- times, when hard pressed, called the male members of the family to their ail Miny a boy, under the instrue- tion of his mother or sister, learned to spin and weave, to sew and knit, and also to dye.

The special an I accommo lating disposition of the early settlers led them to do much work in concert, at public gatherings. When a man wanted a lot of nails made he would set a diy and notify the neighbors, who were sure to be on hand. The self-imposed task of each man was one hundred nails. There was always a race as to who should hallo, " Dme first !"' S. P. Gillham relates that he was in such a rnee once, and with his brother made the one hundred nails in a little over two hours. and got heat at that. At the approach of wheat harvest some leading man would send word for the neighbors to assemble at the house of a certain neighbor on such a day to cut and shock his wheat. As soon as they had finished his harvest they would go to the next. and so on around accor ling to the ripeness of the grain. The crops of the widows and siek

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

persons were not neglected, but were attended to along with the rest, and if any partiality were shown it would be toward them. The young people frolickel anl danced of evenings all through harvest ; and it is little wonder that the few still living, whose memory reaches back to those golden days, think there is no enjoyment among young people now as there was then. The women were not a whit behind the men in their social gatherings. They often met to do quilt- ing and carding, and thought nothing of mounting their horses, taking their wheels in their laps, and riding five or six miles to attend a spinning bee. As with the men, there was always a race as to who should excel in carding, or spinning, and at quiltings, there were often two quilts, so that the gathering could divide into two parties, and have a race as to which quilt should be finished first.

At these gatherings, as well as the house-raisings, at which the whole neighborhood came together, whether invited or not, much sport and amusement were indulged in. Young men and boys tried their strength and skill at jumping, wrestling, running foot-races, lifting, and other gymnastic exercises. Shooting at marks was practiced among those skilled in the use of the rifle. Among a group of older men would figure some Kentuckian, relating his adventures on a flat-boat trip to New Orleans. A bottle of Monongahela whisky, generously passed around, was of much assistance in quickening the memories of the old pioneers, aud their " ha'r-brea Ith escapes," and thrilling alventures, were freely told. There was plenty to eat as well as to drink. The good woman of the house had busied herself for a day, or more, in preparation for the coming guests, and an abundance was provided for the healthy appetites which were then the rule .* After the day's work had been accomplished, out doors and in, by men and women, the floor was cleared and the merry dance began. Handsome, stalwart young men, whose manly forms were the result of out-door life, clad in fringed buck-skin breeches and gaudily colored hunting shirts, led forth to the dance bright-eyed, buxom damsels, dressed in neatly fitting linsey-woolsey garments, their cheeks glowing with health, and their eyes speak enjoyment and, perhaps, a tenderer emotion.

But the greatest of all social gatherings was the wedding. Everybody in reach was invited. The guests of the bride assembled at her home, and of the groom at his. At an appointed hour the bride's party mounted their horses and started to meet the groom. In many neighborhoods a bottle of liquor was prepared, sweetened and spiced to the taste, and the bottle decorated with many colored ribbons. When the two parties met a general halt was ordered, and prepara- tions made to run a race for the bottle. The groom's party ran for him, the bride's for her. The bottle was taken by

* " The bread us al at these frolies was baked generally on Jonny or Journey cake-boards, and is the best corn bread ever made. A board is maile 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 dongh is changed on the boar 1, 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' Pioneer History.

the judge to the far end of the course, while the crowd remained at the starting point. When the race was over the winner returned, holding up the trophy and shaking it in triumph. After the wedding and the dinner was over, the groomsman gave a general invitation to all the guests of the bride to attend the young people home the next day, and to take dinuer with them. Then the race of the day previous would be repeated, and in many social and con- vivial neighborhoods dancing would be indulged in for hours .*

# The following description of a "Shu-king " of the olden time is taken from Reyn dds' Pioneer History of Illinois :

" In pure pioneer times the erops of corn were never hu-ked on the stalk, as is done at this day: but were hanled 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 shuckiny, 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 possible. Rails were laid across the pile so as to desig- nate the division ; 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 many cases truly exciting. One other rule was, that whenever a male husked a red ear of eorn, he was entitled to a kiss from the girls. This frequently excited much fuss and scuffling, which was intended by both parties to end in a kiss. It was a universal practice that taffe or Mon mga- hela whisky was used at these hu-king frolics, which they drank out of a bottle, cach 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 shneks en led in a dance. To pre- pare for this amusement fiddles and fiddlers were in great demand; and it often required much fast riding to obtain them. One viclin and a performer were all that was contemplated at these innocent 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 hurrying off the table, and the old ones contending for time and order. It was the case in nine times out of ten, that but one dwell- ing-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, tables 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 pun- cheons. The music at these country dances made the young folks almost frantic, and sometimes much excitement was displayed to 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 Carolina, 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. Some- times three-handed reels were also danced. In these dances there was no standing still; all were moving at a rapid pace from begin- ning to end. In the jigs the by-standers cut one another out, as it was called, so that this dance would last four 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 donces were not then known. The bottle went round at these parties as it did at the shuckings, and male and female

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

EARLY FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY-ARTICLES OF HOUSEHOLD USE.

The early settlers had but little money, and but little was needed, only enough to pay a small tax, sometimes a doctor's bill, and for blacksmith work. This was obtained from the sale of cattle and hogs. Store goods and groceries were generally paid for with butter, eggs, beeswax and peltries. The early pioneers lived on government land, unbought, un- patented. The little silver coin that found its way into the community had to be cut in pieces to make it go as far as possible, and for convenience of change. After the bank of Edwardsville went into operation, in 1819, money became more plentiful for a while, but the bank soon went under. aud times became worse. When the settling up of the country made it necessary to secure a title to the land, every spare dollar went to the land office, and money became scarce on this account. There was little demand for farm products. Little or no grain was sold out of the county. A few horses and cattle were shipped south or driven north, but not in sufficient numbers to put much money in circu- lation. Coru frequently sold as low as five cents a bushel, wheat at thirty, forty, aud fifty cents, cows and calves at five dollars, beef and pork at a cent and a-half a pound, aud other products of the farm proportionately low. Cattle and hogs were commonly taken to St. Louis. After 1825 there began to be home buyers of pork and beef. A pack- ing house was established at the mouth of Wood river at an early day, by D E. Tiffiu, and afterward one at Edwards- ville by Robert Pogue.

Produce was gotten to market in a wooden cart, drawn by a yoke of oxen. There were few bridges, but little work was done on the roads, and consequently heavy teams were required for light loads. Ox teams were the best and the most commonly used, though some preferred horses. The oxen could live on the grass aud do good work. There were a few large four-horse wagons in which people had moved into the country. Iu later years a few of the well-to-do farmers got a Dearborn wagon, drawn by one horse. One of the old residents of the county states that it was not till 1837 that he ever heard the name of a buggy, and it was about the same date when two-horse wagons begau to come into use.

Salt was one of the dearest of the commodities which the pioneer settler absolutely needed. It was in early times ob- tained in St. Louis. At one time a man landed a boat and left a few barrels of salt for sale with Isaac Gillham on the Mississippi. This was sold among the farmers in the vicinity at nine dollars a barrel. As much as seven dollars was at times, paid for a half bushel. In 1818 salt sold at

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 genc- rally plain homespun. The hunting shirt was much worn at that time, which is a convenient working or dancing dress. Sometimes dressed deer skin panta'oons were used on these occasions, and morca- sins -- rarely shoes -- and at times bare feet were indulged in. In the morning all go home on horseback or on foot. No carriages, wagons, or other vehicles were used on these occasions, for the best of reasons, lwcause they had none."

Edwardsville for three dollars a bushel, and in 1821 at one dollar. Whisky was cheap, and frequently could be bought at twenty-five cents a gallon by the barrel. Several distilleries were erected at an early period, and some of the larger farmers hauled their corn to them, and had it manu- factured into whisky, the distiller taking half by way of toll. Coffee and sugar were expensive, and considered luxuries not to be indulged in every day. Their use was reserved for old people and visitors. Wild honey was often used in place of sugar. Because of the scarcity of mills and the difficulty of travelling to them, hominy, green corn, beans and potatoes, often supplied the table to the exclusion of bread.

Every farmer calculated as much on having his barrel of honey when winter came as on having a supply of corn or other provisions. Hence bee-hunting was common. Gershom Flagg writes baek to Vermont in 1819: " There are more honey bees in the territory, I suppose, than in any other place in the world. I have heard the hunters say that they have found eight, or ten, swarms in a day on the St. Gama (Sangamon) and Illinois rivers, where there are no settlements. Truly this must be the land of milk and honey."

PRAIRIE FIRES.

A settler on the prairie, in early days, was in constant dread, in the fall of the year, of prairie fircs. A fire started iu the high, dry grass would sweep over the prairie faster than a horse could run. Each settler usually burned off' a strip of ground surrounding his farm, and thus prevented the flames from destroying his erop and buildings. The neighbors would frequently be engaged in fighting the fire till midnight in the effort to save the property of some of their number from destruction.

PIONEER SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.

The first camp meeting in Illinois was held near the residence of Thomas Good, about three miles south of the present town of Edwardsville, iu the spring of 1807. This meeting was under the supervision of the Rev. William McKendree, then presiding elder of circuits covering Ohing Kentucky, Tennessee, and other western states, and who in 1808 became the fourth bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. Jesse Walker was an assistant preacher. Reynolds states that during this meeting many persons were curiously exercised by the "jerks," an involuntary exercise which made the victims sometimes dauce and leap until they became entirely exhausted and fell helpless to the ground. Later in the scason a camp-meeting was held at Shiloh, six miles north-east of Belleville. The old Bethel church in Madison county, and the Shiloh church in St. Clair county were the two earliest Methodist churches in Illinois.

Religious meetings had been held among the pioneers several years previous to 1807. As carly as the fall of 1803 Methodist ministers made their appearance. Regular re- ligious services were usually held about once iu four weeks. Their two-days meetings and quarterly meetings were well attended. Of the resident Methodist preachers in the

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

county, in carly times, Josias Randle, for many years clerk of the court, was among the best known.

A Baptist church was built on section 24, township 5, range 9, in the year 1809. The building was a small cabin constructed of logs. The Rev. William Jones was the first preacher who held services here. Rev. John M. Peck was one of the earliest Baptist preachers. The Rev. Thomas Ray preached frequently, as did the Rev. William Jones, both Baptists. Peter Cartwright was an early Methodist minister. Ile was called the "fighting preacher." It was not considered anything out of the way in those days for a preacher, when insulted, to protect his standing by force of arms. The Rev. Thomas Oglesby preached as early as 1804. The Rev. Benjamin Young was an early minister. Thomas Randle, Nathaniel Pinckard, and Samuel Thompson and John Dew were early Methodist ministers.

In the year 1812 a school was taught in the door yard ,of the residence of Col. Samuel Judy by Elisha Alexander. A school-house was then, in 1814, built at the foot of the bluff, half-way between where Col. Judy and William B. White- side lived, but more than half of the time it was not occupied. This was a cabin built of logs, and Mr. Thompson was the teacher who first held sway within its walls. This was while the war of 1812-11 was in progress. Many of the inhabi- tants in that part of the country were engaged in the ranging service, and the reports from the field so inspired the youth with martial feeling that one morning they barred the cabin door against the teacher. After brave, but ineffectual efforts to carry the position by storm, he wisely sounded a parley and received the surrender of the garrison on condition of treating the pupils.

A school was taught by Vaitch Clark, in the summer of 1813, in a block house at the little fort which had been erected for protection against the Indians on section 1, of township 4, range 9.

The first teacher in the Wood River settlement was Peter Flian. The school-house in which he taught was on section 4, township 5, range 9. In township 3, range 9, the first school was taught in 1812, by Joshua Atwater, who was succeeded by an Irishman named MeLaughlin.

The first school ever taught in the Marine prairie was either in the summer, or winter, of 1814. It was taught in the smoke house of Isaac Ferguson. There were ten or twelve scholars, and Arthur Travis was the teacher.

Hiram Rountree was an early teacher at Ebenezer, south- west of Edwardsville; Mr. Campbell at Salem, Joseph Berry on Sugar Creek, and William Gilliland at the Cantine school and meeting house.

One of the early schools in the Marine settlement was in a building made of logs consisting of two departments sepa- rated by a log partition. The first department was a stable, accommodating several horses; the second, a crib, or gran- ary, utilized for scholastic purposes. The only entrance to this room, was through the stable, and teacher and pupils, girls and boys, were compelled to climb six feet of log parti- tion. "The conductor of this school," writes one of the pupils of those days, " was a little effete, old codger, the

most ignorant and illiterate creature I ever knew as a teacher of the youthful mind. We were instructed to always call the letter ' Z,' ' Izzard,' and in spelling Aaron to say, " Big A, little A, r-o-n, Aaron," The next teacher who attempted to illuminate Marine was Mr. Giles Churchill, the most bashful and awkward of men. He had studied ' English grammar in Webster's spelling book, and 'lowed he could teach it if anybody wanted to larn.' At that early day the march of civilization had already established a whisky distillery in the woods, not more than two miles from our noted scholastic institution, and our beloved peda- gogue would sometimes rest at this point, on his early literary peregrination to his morning duty, and imbibe too freely of corn-juice for the successful advancement of educa- tion, although in one way or another, he did successfully ' teach the young mind how to shoot.' A true politician, however, he even then stumbled along to his tasks, his duties, and his school, with a pint-bottle well-filled with the spirit that ' steals away the brain,' to treat, fill and flatter the older boys, and thus win them to his praise."

One of the early schools in the southern part of the coun- ty was taught in Chilton's fort by David Smeltzer.

The Rev. William Jones was one of the earliest teachers in what is now Fort Russell township. A man named Wyatt taught in this part of the county in 1817, and in 1818 Daniel A. Lanterman had a school in which thirty-three children were in their primers at the commencement of the term. He was paid twelve dollars a year for each pupil. The books used were Webster's Spelling Book, the New England Primer and Pike's Arithmetic. To advance far enough in arithmetic to understand the rule of three, was considered having a good education. The scholars came from a distance of three miles. The school-house was built of logs, and was twenty by twenty-four feet iu dimensions. On the side, half a log had been cut out for a window. Over the aparture greased paper was tacked, and a fence had been built on the outside to keep the cattle from destroying this substitute for glass by licking it with their tongues.

In the neighborhood of the present Edwardsville there were no good schools till 1818. About that time Hiram Rountree taught two years at the old Ebenezer school-house and had a school of eighty pupils.

The first school in the neighborhood of the present town of Troy was taught by Greenberry Randle in the year 1811. The curriculum of studies could not have been very extend- ed for the " master " stipulated that he should be called on to give no instruction in arithmetic farther thau the " Dou- ble Rule of Three."

EARLY MILLS.

The want of convenient mills was one of the most serious disadvantages with which the pioneer settlers had to con- tend. Of the early contrivances for manufacturing meal the most rude and primitive was what was known as the " Armstrong mill," used in the fall of the year, and which could be made by any family. This consisted of a plate of tin, pierced with numerous holes, so as to make one side very rough, bent in the shape of a half-circle, and nailed to a clap board about three feet long by six inches in width.

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

By rubbing an ear of corn, just out of the milk, on the rough tin, meal was made, though in a very slow and laborious manner. The person operating this mill, by the time he had ground, or grated, enough meal for the dinner of a dozen persous, would be apt to conclude that " arm-strong " was a very appropriate appellation.

An improvement on this was the hand mill. This was made of two mill-stones, one above the other. A hole was made in the upper stone in which was placed a staff of wood, which ran through a hole in a plank above. One or two persons took hold of this staff, and turned the upper stone with as much velocity as possible. There was no hopper, but through an eye in the upper stone the mill was fed with corn in small quantities.

To make a mortar, wherein to beat corn into meal, the pioneers took a large, round log, three or four feet in length, and, by cutting or buruing, made a cavity in one end, capa- ble of holding, perhaps, a peck of corn. The log was theu set perpendicularly in the ground, and the cavity filled with corn. A weight attached to the sweep was then used to crush the corn. The weight was forced down by the hands, and was raised again by the spring of the sweep-pole.

In the band-mill the horse-power consisted of a large, upright shaft, some ten or twelve feet in height, with eight or ten long arms, let into the main shaft and extending out from it fifteen feet. Auger holes were bored at the end of the arms, in the upper side, into which wooden pins were driven. This was called the big wheel, and was, as has been seen, about thirty feet in diameter. The raw-hide belt or tug, was made of skins of beef cattle, cut into strips three inches in width ; these were twisted into a round cord, or tug, long enough to encircle the circumference of the big wheel. There it was held in place by the wooden pins. From the big wheel the belt erossed and passed under a shed to run around a drum, or " trunnel head," to which was attached the grinding apparatus. The horses, or oxen, were attached to the arms by means of raw-hide tugs, and being driven around in a circle, the machinery was set in motion. To grind twelve bushels of eorn in a band-mill was consi- dered a good day's work. Instead of using the band, power was sometimes communicated from one wheel to the other cogs.

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 24

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698