History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 97

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 97

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LIME.

William Armstrong has four kilns for the manufacture of lime, and produces from one hundred thousand to two hundred and fifty thousand barrels each year. Cop- pinger & Biggins have one kiln, and make about forty thousand barrels annually. There is another kiln in opera- tion, recently owned by Theodore Dietz. The stone found about Alton is a very pure carbonate of lime, and burns into the best and whitest lime made in the country. It has won a wide reputation throughout the West for its excellence, and the Alton manufacturers ship to different points in Illi- nois, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.

EARTHENWARE.

J. Wilhelm & Co., established themselves in the manu- facturing of earthenware in Alton in 1855, in a stone build- ing used during the Mexican war as headquarters for the quartermaster's department. They employ in their business a capital of about $3000. Their supply of clay is obtained from Whitehall and North Alton.

BRICK MANUFACTORIES.

J. Henry Hellrung pursues the manufacture of brick, a business handed him from his father. At present the capacity of his works is about a half million per annum.

Ernest N. Feldwick, brick manufacturer, employs from

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

ten to fifteen men, and manufactures a million bricks an- mually.

Thomas Corbett commenced the manufacture of brick in 1869. Gives employment to eighty men and turns out 600, 000 bricks annually.

STONE QUARRIES.

Henry Watson commenced the quarrying of stone in 1859. His business has assumed large proportions, giving employment to seventy-five hands, and aggregating about $150,000 per annum.

James Bannon's quarries have been in operation about fifteen years. They give employment to an average of twenty men.

THE ALTON CIDER VINEGAR AND FRUIT EVAPORATING COMPANY,

Began operations in the summer of 1881. Large quantities of dried fruit are manufactured by Williams' evaporators, according to the Alden process. The works are on William street, between Wall and Fourth streets, and are owned by John A. Bruner.

BREWERIES.

There are two breweries in Alton, that of John Jehle, between Alton and North Alton, called the Alton Brewery. This makes abont four thousand barrels of beer every year. The product is sold mostly in Alton, and small towns within a radius of a dozen miles. The bluff City brewery, of which James Carr is proprietor, is situated in the lower part of the city. This is the old Yeckel brewery, the first ever started in Alton.

CIGARS

Are manufactured by John A. Neininger, Henry Bruegge- mann, Kranz Bros , George Mold, and Frank C. Pelot, Jr.

SODA AND MINERAL WATERS.

The following gentlemen are engaged in the manufacture of soda and mineral waters: Schmidt and Knecht, also, Christopher Weisbach.

ALTON STONE, BALLAST, AND MACADAM COMPANY.

This company, composed of Henry Watson, William Armstrong, and William Huskinson, in February 1881, put in operation a crusher to reduce the limestone rock of the bluff, above Alton, to a size suitable for macadam and bal- last purposes. The crusher is one of the largest in use. Twenty car-loads of crushed stone ean be furnished daily. The company, in the spring of 1882, furnished stone with which to ballast the Chicago and Alton railroad from Alton to East St. Louis. The capital invested in the works is about twelve thousand dollars.

Supervisors .- The following gentlemen have represented Alton in the board of supervisors: C. A. Herb, H. C. Sweetzer, John M. Tonsor, 1876-77; William Hayden, R. C. Berry, John M. Tousor, C. A. Herb, 1877-78 ; G. D. Hayden, C. A. Herb, C. Ryan, J. M. Tonsor, 1878-79; N. E. Hatheway, F. II. Ullrich, William Hayden, J. M. Ton-

sor, 1879-80; N. E. Hatheway, F. W. Joesting, J. M. Tonsor, G. D. Hayden, 1880-81 ; I. E. Hardy, F. W. Jvesting, J. J. McInerney, J. M. Tonsor, 1881-82 ; John A. Bruner, J. M. Tousor, F. H. Ullrich, James M. Cotter, 1882-83.

UPPER ALTON.

Upper Alton sprang into existence about the same time as Alton, though in the earlier years of its history it had a more vigorous growth than its rival by the river. Joseph Meacham, a native of the State of Vermont, who came to Illinois in 1811, was the original proprietor, and surveyed the site of the town into lots in the year 1817. He proposed to dispose of these lots by lottery, each ticket entitling the holder to one lot, or thirty acres more or less. For some years there was considerable trouble with the titles. Mea- cham, who pre-empted the land,had only paid the land office one fourth of the amount due. Under the rules of the Land Office, then in force, he received a certificate of entry, and was entitled to a patent on payment of the balance of the purchase money. Subsequently he became financially em- barrassed and unable to pay his debts, and assigned his cer- tificate to James W. Whitney, Erastus Brown, John Allen, and Ebenezer Hodges, who paid the balance due the Land Office, and obtained a patent. Meanwhile Ninian Edwards and Charles W. Hunter had procured judgments against Meacham, and sold under execution a number of lots for which deeds had been given by Meacham while he held the certi- ficate of entry. . Litigation followed, and a compromise was finally made by which Whitney, Brown, Allen, and Hodges, and Edwards and Hunter, divided the most of the lots be- tween them, while the original purchaser was crowded out entirely.

For some years after 1817 Upper Alton (it was then simply known by the name of Alton), both in population and the character of its improvements, surpassed the Alton laid out by Easton .*

Among the early settlers were : Dr. Augustus Langworthy, Ebenezer Hodges, James W. Whitney, Robert Sinclair, Elisha Dodge, William Kessler, Benjamin Spencer, Heze- kiah H. Gear, Isaac Woodburn, Benjamin Steadman, David Smith, George Smith, Erastus Brown, the Rev. Bennett Maxcy, John A. Maxey, John Seeley, Nathaniel Pinckard, William G. Pinkcard, John Allen, Willis Webb, Benjamin Hail, Samuel Delaplain, Henry P. Rundle, Alanson S. Wells, Jonathan Brown, Ephraim Marsh, Levi MeNeil, Thomas Allen, Zachariah Allen, Shadrach Brown, William Heath, Daniel Crume, Enoch Long and Joel Finch.

James W. Whitney was a lawyer, and for some years pre- vious to his death was the oldest member of the bar in the state. He died in Adams county at the age of eighty-five, He was familiarly called " Lord Coke." Among the papers of George Churchill was found this memorandum : " Whitney

* Meacham, after founding Upper Alton, had purchased what was known as the Bates farm, and projected a town which he advertised as Alton on the river. Major Charles W. Hunter became interested in this last enterprise in 1818, and out of it grew IIunterstown, now incorporated in the city of Alton.

RUINS OF THE OLD

PENITENTIARY.

FOR

DRUGGISTS

0 0

CITY HALL, INCLUDING POST OFFICE & PUBLIC LIBRARY.

DEPOT PLACES OF PUBLIC INTEREST, ALTON, ILL.

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

is a Yankee, from the vicinity of Boston, and came to this country in 1800. Has been two thousand five hundred miles up the Missouri, and was taken prisoner by the Indians." Dr. Augustus Langworthy had come to Illinois from Vermont. On the establishment of the post-office in 1818 he was ap. pointed postmaster. The office was then called Alton, and was supplied by a weekly mail, carried on horseback, on a route from Carlyle to St. Charles, Missouri, crossing the Mississippi at Alton. Dr. Erastus Brown had the first drug store in the town, and the Rev. Bennett Maxey was the first minister of the Gospel. John Alleu and Benjamin Spencer filled the office of justices of the peace in 1818, and Willis Webb and Benjamin Hail served the same year as constables. Robert Sinclair was deputy sheriff. He was shrewd, eccentric, and illiterate. He was found guilty of complicity in a robbery, and though present when the ver- dict was rendered, escaped before the officials could secure him. He fled to Arkansas, there became popular, and was elected a member of the State Legislature.

Bennett Maxey, Erastus Brown, Isaac Waters, and Zach- ariah Allen, laid out the town of Salu, adjoining Upper Alton *

One of the early residents of Upper Alton, who came to the place in 1818, describes the town on his arrival as a little village of log cabins. There was one store kept by Shad. Brown in a little log house in the extreme south part of the town. It was a general store, but with a very poor and small stook of goods. There was a double log cabin, in one room of which whiskey was kept for sale, and in the other was the only hotel in the place. William Morris was the proprietor. There was one small frame building, erected by Benjamin Spencer, and used by him as a shop.

The first school-house was a small log cabin, about four- teen feet square.

* An advertisement in the Edwardsville Spectator, in 1820, sets forth the advantages of Salu, and gives the reason for the laying out of the town. It is as follows :

" When it is considered that the Mississipi river is bounded on the east by alluvial land, from four to seven miles in width, beginning at the mouth of the Kaskaskia River, and extending to two miles above the junction of the Missouri River, a distance of eighty or one hundred miles, has nowhere in this distance a permanent or rocky shore, but overflows the country in unusually high freshets-and when it is considered that from the termination of this alluvial land, at which place the town of Alton is situated, to the mouth of the Illinois river, the shore of the Mississippi is a perpendicular rock, from one to two hundred feet high, with only here and there a narrow break admitting a few small streams of water to flow into the Mississippi, but not pre- senting anywhere a situation for a town-and when it is also consi- dered that the eastern bank of the Illinois river for some distance is rocky and broken, and then it becomes low bottom land for more than two hundred miles from the mouth of the river, the mind is irresistibly led to the opinion that the town of Alton is situated on a commandir g and important site, there being nowhere else on the eastern bank of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, for more than three hundred miles, a good situation for a town. This opinion is drawn from the advantage this place may receive from the navigation of those rivers. Let us look forward only a few years when the internal navigation shall be com- pleted from the Hudson through the Lakes to the Mississippi, and the importance of this station for a great commercial town will be more fully appreciated.

The floor was of rough-hewn, split. logs, laid in a manner as rough as the material. This structure stood in the south part of the town, and was soon supplanted by another building more centrally located on the street, or road, lead-

"The surrounding country equals in richness of soil and agricul- tural advantages the most fertile portion of the western country. In addition to the foregoing considerations, freestone, limestone, and stone coal abound in great abundance in the neighborhood of these places, and by reference to the actual survey of this state, Alton is found to be nearly dne West from Vandalia, the seat of government The Mississippi at this point is fifteen miles nearer that town than any other navigable water of the state, excepting the Kaskaskia river which is navigable to Vandalia, only two or three months in the year."

" But even here, although the bank is rocky, the river is easy of access, and there is a good boat landing or harbor, the land is for more than one mile back broken and uneven, interspersed with hills and sink-holes. Therefore, the site for the town of Sahi is considered more eligible than others which can be selected on the waters of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. This town is situated on the first high, rolling, and commanding ground from the river in section six, in town five north, and range nine west, of the third principal meridian, ad- joining, and north of Upper Alton, in the County of Madison, and State of Illinois. There are no ponds, nor stagnant waters, the source of so much disease in this country in this town, nor in its vicinity, but it is well supplied with springs of pure water."

" The great road leading from the East through this state to the Missouri territory, the Boon's Lick, and Salt River countries, runs through this town, and crosses the Mississippi at the well-known Smeltzer's Ferry. This road will be made to fork at this town, and run also to Fountain Ferry, at Lower Alton. These two ferries are the only ones of any importance that can ever be established on the Mississippi between the Illinois and Missouri rivers. The great Na- tional Road, running from the city of Washington westwardly, must necessarily cross one or the other of these ferries, when it shall be ex- tended to Missouri and the Rocky Mountains The important road leading from the South to the military bounty lands in the fork of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and to the Sangamo country, must, from the peculiar make of the land, either on the West or on the East, run through this town."

" Good mechanics of moral, industrious habits, and respectable men of other occupations, will receive liberal encouragement to settle in this town."

" It may be considered extraordinary that a new town, bearing a new name, should be laid out adjoining Upper Alton, as this town is well situated, and already contains more than thirty families. It is from these considerations that the town of Salu is laid out, and the lots offered to actual settlers. No clear and indisputable title could heretofore have been obtained for any lot in Upper Alton, and the legal questions connected with the land are complicated and difficult. Under these circumstances, the people who had settled in Alton coukl not prudentially make improvements, but had become more and more convinced of the unusually healthy and commanding situation for a great town, and were unwilling to remove to any other town, or part of this state or country. Therefore, the subscribers purchased the site for the town of Salu, which has all the advantages of Alton, and liave given the new town a new name, because Alton embraced Upper and Lower Alton, two separate and distinct sites for towns, situated more than one mile apart ; from these considerations it was not thought ad- visable to extend Alton to greater limits, and therefore the subscribers have named the town Salu."

BENNETT MAXEY. ERASTUS BROWN. ISAAC WATERS. ZACHARIAH ALLEN.

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

ing to Milton. This was likewise built of logs, but was more commodious and comfortable than its predecessor, and was used for several years. The seats were made out of slabs hauled from the saw-mill at Milton. One of the pupils of those days, who does not seem to have entertained the most pleasant recollections of this school-room, writes : " The small scholars were required to sit on these miserable benches without backs, and be very quiet, though some of the smallest could not reach the floor with their feet. The larger scholars were better provided for, as their seats were next to the wall, and a board was placed in front of them for a writing-desk. Our school-books were: Webster's Speller, Walker's Dictionary, Pike's Arithmetic, Murray's Reader, and Murray's English Grammar." Among the early teachers of this school was Mr. Rose, Nelson Aldrich, II. H. Snow, Enoch Long, Rowlet Maxey and Levi McNeil. For a short time, a man named Jinks held sway over this temple of learning, but was discharged for lying down and sleeping on the benches during school hours. His devotion to whiskey was the cause. Except for this one failing, he was an excellent teacher.

William G. Pinckard,* William Heath, and Daniel Crume, and their families, all of whom had removed to Illi- nois from Ohio, and first settled at Hunterstown in the fall of 1819, came to Upper Alton (or Salu) ; and these families, fifteen persons in all, spent the following winter in a log cabin of two rooms. That winter Pinckard and Heath con- structed a pottery, and in the spring of 1820 began the man- ufacture of pottery ware, for which there was a great demand, persons coming from far and near to procure dishes, cups, crocks, and all kinds of earthen vessels. Nathaniel Pinck- ard, father of William G. Pinckard, became a resident of Upper Alton at the same time.t

* Thomas Stanton Pinckard, son nf William G. Pinckard, after men- tioning that his father, in 1834, moved from Upper to Lower Alton ; in 1837 to Middle Alton, and in 1846 back again to Lower Alton, writes :

" I have a vivid recollection of several of the old settlers who were living when I was a boy. Abel Moore, in his Dearborn wagon, with his wooden leg. Tommy Nichols, with his favorite by-word, ' Dad- burn it.' Old McAuley ; old George Bell-all old rangers in the In- dian troubles. Often these men visited my father's house when I was a boy, and by a bright, glowing fireplace, seated on father's knee, I listened to the hair-breadth escapes and thrilling incidents of border life. The murder of the Regan family in the forks of Wood River in 1814, was often spoken of by these old 'rangers,' some of whom par- tieipaled in the pursuit and killing of the savage murderers. It was a common occurrence for us, children, to pick up Indian arrow-heads in the timber and fields of Middle Alton up to 1840."

+ In the columns of the Edwardsville Spectator, in 1820, ap- pears an account of a Fourth of July celebration at Alton (Upper Alton ) that year, " which excelled anything of the kind heretofore wit- nessed in this country." Hezekiah H. Gear, mounted on horseback, in full military uniform, was the marshal of the day. J. W. Whitney read the Declaration of Independence, and William Jenks delivered an oration. The company then repaired to the table, where a plen- teous and excellent repast was served by Dr. Augustus Langworthy. James Smith, an aged Revolutionary Patriot, and one of the first settlers, presided, assisted by K. P. Day, the Vice-President. Several

From the time they made their home in Upper Alton, the houses of Nathaniel Pinckard and William G. Pinckard were the stopping-places of the pioneer preachers, and reli- gious services were often held at their houses, and also at that of Jonathan Brown. The Revs. Samuel Thompson, Thomas Randle, John Dew and Jesse Walker were among the early ministers. Nathaniel and Oliver Brown removed to Illinois in 1817 from Champaign county, Ohio. In 1818 they became residents of Upper Alton.

The first postmaster, Angustus Langworthy, appointed in 1818, was succeeded by the Rev. Bennett Maxey in 1824. The Rev. Mr. Maxey was one of the early Methodist circuit preachers in Virginia, from which state he removed to Ohio, and then to Illinois. His residence was in " Salu," and con- sequently the change of name was made to that from " Up- per Alton." In 1826 he resigned the office, and George Smith received the commission. The office was then brought from Salu, and the name changed back to that of " Al- ton." In 1835 David Smith received the appointment as postmaster. The name of the office was then changed to " Upper Alton," and the post-office at Lower Alton, which had previously borne the name of " Lower Alton," was called " Alton." In the year 1849, Frank Hewitt was appointed postmaster, and was succeeded in 1853 by Joseph Chapman. James Smith was next placed in charge of the office. Aaron Butler was commissioned in 1861, and was followed in 1866 by the Rev. T. B. Hurlburt. Aaron Butler was re-appointed in 1867. Joseph H. Weeks, the present incumbent, has had charge of the office since 1877.

The following description of Upper Alton appears in the "Guide for Emigrants," published by John M. Peck, in 1831:

" Its situation is high and healthy, and it contained last spring (1831) thirty-five families and two hundred souls. Its numbers, within a few months, have augmented nearly one-third. The soil of the surrounding country is fertile and rolling; the prevailing timber walnut, hickory and oak. In March it had two stores, one tavern, one blacksmith shop, one ox flouring mill, one wagon-maker, one tannery, one sad- dlery, one shoemaker, one brick-maker, two carpenters, two physicians, one pottery for coarse earthenware, a post-office and a brick school-house building. Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians have organized societies, and preaching alternately by one of these denominations every Sabbath. A flourishing Sabbath-school is kept up. At Upper Alton the first Sunday-school in Illinois was opened in 1819."

Three years later, in 1834, the same author, in his " Gaze- teer of Illinois," writing of Upper Alton, states that there were " three stores, one house of entertainment, three physi- cians, various mechanics, a pottery, a commodious brick school-house for town purposes, a steam flouring-mill now

toasts were drank, "interspersed with suitable pieces of vocal and instrumental music, and each accompanied with the discharge of a piece of artillery, together with the reiterated cheers and plandits of the company." Benjamin Spencer, Hezekiah H. Gear, Dr. Hewetson of Milton, and Robert Sinclair were among those who participated in the toasts.

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

building, no grocery or whiskey-shop, and about sixty fami- lies." He adds :

" Upper Alton is improving ; the society is good, and it is a desirable place for family residence, out of the bustle of business. The post-office is distinguished as ' Alton.' Upper Alton was laid off by the proprietor in 1816, and incor- porated by the Legislature, under the government of trus- tees, in 1821, when it contained seventy or eighty families. In 1827 it had dwindled down to seven families. It was reduced from several causes, but especially from various conflicting claims to the soil, which have been happily terminated by a decision of the court of chancery, according to the mutual agreement of all the claimants. Hereafter, no doubt the town will experience a regular and rapid growth. The Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians hold worship regularly here."

The same writer, in 1839, describes the place as containing eight stores, five groceries, two lawyers, five physicians, me- chanics of various descriptions, a steam saw and flour mill, aud about three hundred families, or fifteen hundred inhabi- tauts. The Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians have houses of worship. The Baptist and Presbyterian houses are handsome stone edifices, with spires and bells, and provided with ministers. There are seven or eight ministers of the gospel connected with this place, some of whom belong to the college and theological seminary. Others are agents for some of the publie benevolent institutions, whose families reside bere. Good morals, religious privileges, the advan- tages for education in the college and in three respectable common-schools, with an intelligent and agreeable society, make this town a desirable residence." He predicts that " Upper, Lower and Middle Alton will eventually grow into one great city." Their aggregate population was at that time about four thousand.

Another writer, Edmund Flagg, who in 1838 published "The Far West, or a Tour Beyond the Mountains," visit d Upper Alton in 1839, and thus describes it :

NOTE. "At sunrise of the morning succeeding my visit to the bluffs, 1 was in the saddle, and clambering up those intolerably steep hills on the road leading to the village of Upper Alton, a few miles distant. The place is well situated on an elevated prairie, and to my taste, is pre- ferable for private residence to any spot within the precincts of its rival namesake. The society is polished, and a fine-toned morality is said to characterize the inhabitants. The town was originally incor- porated many years ago, and was then a place of more note than it has ever since been ; but owiog to intestine broils and conflicting claims to its site, it gradually and steadily dwindled away until, a dozen years since, it numbered only seven families. A suit in chancery has hap- pily settled these difficulties, and the village is now thriving well. . 1 seminary of some note, under the jurisdiction of the Baptist persuasion, has within a few years been established here, and now comprises a very respectable body of students. It originated in a seminary form- erly established at Rock Spring, in this state. The present buildings are situated upon a broad plain, beneath a walnut grove, on the eastern skirt of the village. I visited this seminary, and was much pleased with its faculty, buildings and design."

CHURCHES.

A Methodist class was formed at Upper Alton in 1817, the members of which were Ebenezer Hodges, Mary Hodges,

Jonathan Brown, Delilah Brown, Oliver Brown and John Seely Mrs. Mary Woodburn was the next person to unite with this class, and after her the wife of William G. Pinck- ard. The first religious services were held in the cabin of Ebenezer Ilodges, which stood where afterward the old Baptist church was built. It is supposed that John Dew was the first preacher. The Rev. Samuel H. Thompson officiated as pastor from 1818 to 1820. In 1835 the first church edifice, a frame building, was erected. In 1849 a brick church was built. The Rev. L. E. English is pastor of this church.

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 97

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