USA > Illinois > McDonough County > History of McDonough County, Illinois, together with sketches of the towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent individuals, and biographies of the representative citizens > Part 121
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In 1832, the settlement was very uneasy for fear the Indians would come and take revenge (they had been driven out a year or two before.) As an incident of the Black Hawk war, I remember a man had a claim, with house and lot fenced in, who was so much afraid, that he sold his claim for a coverlid and left the country; and for fear the Indians would come, a company was raised to range up and down the Mississippi river, to watch that they did not come across, and while the company was gone, those who stayed at
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home agreed to work their corn. John Campbell and myself were appointed to work Lose Jones' corn. We went there early one morning, expecting to work it over in one day. While in the house waiting for breakfast (the girl was get- ting breakfast, and had her dough on a lid on the dirt hearth) there was a pig and a pup quarreling as to which should get the closest to the fire. The pig rooted the pup on to the dough, causing him to step in the middle of it. The girl, seeing it, went up and smoothed out the tracks with her hand, and cooked the dough for our breakfast. John mo- tioned for me to come out, and I went out with him. He said, "Oh, I can't eat here." I said: "We must eat, for we have got to work, and we can't work un- less we eat;" and we did eat, and got over the corn, too.
When I was married, our wedding tour was as follows: I took the fore wheels of a wagon, put a sack of corn on, and hitched a yoke of oxen to it, and seated ourselves on the sack, driving the cattle without any lines. There being no road, we struck off across the prairie to Bacon's mill, below Macomb. On the way we stopped on Troublesome creek to see the Indian's grave, who had been killed by a deer. He was buried in a trough on top of the ground, and a pen of poles built around, with loop holes cut in it for him to shoot through. His gun, knife, kettle, etc., were also placed in the pen, but they had been stolen when we saw it. There was, also, a path cut down to the creek for him to get water.
After moving into Walnut Grove, the deer and wolves became very plentiful; the deer were very hard on the corn;
they would come into the fields at night and eat the corn.
In 1838, a grand wolf hunt was orga- nized. A pole was erected east of Ma- comb, and word was sent to the people of adjoining counties to meet on a cer- tain day at that pole, driving all the wild game in, thus forming a circle many miles in diameter, and to bring horns, drums, etc., to make a noise, to scare the wolves up. As they began to close up within a mile of the pole, great droves of deer could be seen, which the hunters did not kill, the object of the hunt being to kill wolves, and as the men closed up nearer, the deer would sometimes jump over their heads or run under the horses; but there were but few wolves killed, for they would hide in the long grass, and break through the lines and escape.
Samuel Campbell, a small boy, was sent one evening to the creek bottom after the sheep. Night came on, bring- ing no tidings of the boy or sheep. The parents of the child becoming very much alarmed, the neighbors started out to hunt for him. I was one of the searchers. We hunted all night through the brush, and up and down the creek, calling him by name, yet we could find no trace of either the boy or the sheep, and we very muchi feared that he had either been killed by wild beasts, or had fallen into the creek and drownd. Thus the search continued until morning, when the boy came home, driving the sheep before him. The sheep had run off, and following them, he had gone a distance of two miles, and coming in the vicinity of my brother Cyrus', it being so late, they compelled him to stay all night for fear some harm might befall him should
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he attempt to go home so late. When I moved to Walnut Grove, the game was very plenty. Indian wigwams were still standing, and buffalo and elk horns were lying over the prairie. It was very tempting to hunt. I began to hunt and bought an imported bull pup from Eng- land, and took great pains in training him to hunt. One of my first experien- ces, was two deer who had come into my field one night to eat corn, and I saw them come out in the morning, and watched them until I saw them go in a bunch of hazel brush at the head of a little hollow, then I took my young dog and crept up on them. My dog I had tamed to creep close behind me. I got close enough so that I could see the horns of one of the deer, then I pre- pared to shoot, intending to shoot the deer in the brain. The gun I had was an old flintlock rifle I had gotten of an old Virginia hunter, and very large cal- ibre, running about 40 bullets to the pound. I raised my gun and fired, and he dropped down, I felt sure that I had hit him in the brain, and dropping my gun in the snow, I drew my knife and ran up to stick him, placing one foot on the down horn, and grasping the other with one hand, was about to stick him, when he sprang up, pushing against me as he did so, for a fight. I found I could not hold him down, so I called my dog, who sprang at the deer, grasping him by the throat. While the dog and deer were hotly engaged, I ran back to my gun and commenced to load, when I found that the snow had run in so that I could not fire it, and while the dog and deer were fighting, I was trying to dry the gun so I could use it. They
fought fiercely, sometimes the deer would throw the dog as high as my head. They kept working down the hill but before I could get my gun in order to shoot, the dog became exhausted, and the deer pushed him into a snowbank, and he lay there panting, too weak to re- new the battle. The deer stood and looked at him a minute, then turning, ran off. I suppose that the ball struck him at the base of the horn and only stunned him, and I have always believed that if it had not been for the dog, the buck would have killed me, as there was nothing large enough to climb up out of his reach. The dog and I were both green at that time, and it taught us a les- son. After that experience I was not afraid to wound a deer on the prairie, if I had my dog with me. At certain times in the year, if a buck was wounded he was very apt to make at a person for bat- tle. One time I wounded a buck on the prairie. At the crack of the gun, he wheeled around and came at me with his hair all turned the wrong way. I gave my dog the word, and he sprang and grasped the buck by the back of the neck. I drew my knife and ran behind and hamstrung him. I hunted most of the time on the prairie, and would some- times hunt on horseback. I had a horse trained to hunt, and whenever a deer would jump up, both my dog and my horse would stand perfectly still until I fired and gave them the word to go. At one time when I was about three miles from home, in a creek bottom, in high grass, a couple of deer jumped up. I shot one and commenced to load, still sitting on my horse, and just as I ran the ball down, the gun went off,shooting
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the gun stick through my hand, break- ing some of the bones and cutting an artery. The blood spurted out in a stream almost as thick as my finger. I was about a mile from any house, and the way my hand was bleeding I was afraid to get off my horse to try to stop the blood for fear I would get so weak from loss of blood that I could not get on again, so I rode my horse at the top of his speed for the nearest house. When I got to the house, John Ballard, jumped on the horse and rode to Macomb, a distance of 10 miles, for the doctor. While he was gone, we bound my hand up with sole leather so that it did not bleed much. When the doctor came it was not bleeding much, so he did noth- ing with it then. I had sent word to my father-in-law, A. Campbell, so he came over after me in a wagon. The doctor went home with me and stayed all night and dressed my hand in the morning. The next morning my brother- in-law, D. Campbell, came over. He asked me where my gun was. I de- scribed the place where I dropped it when shot, and told him if he would go and get it he might have it, as I did not want to see it, and never expected to
hunt any more. He went and got it and brought it to my house, and as he hung it up in its accustomed place, and said, "the first deer you shoot you must give me half." Before my hand was well enough to do anything else, I had killed several deer. I used to hunt going across prairie, across the wind. When- ever we struck the scent of a deer, my dog would stop, then all I had to do was to follow until I got close enough to shoot. I was very successful. At one time I killed 10 deer in 11 successive shots. I only kept account one year of the number I killed. That year I killed 50, and I suppose that was about the average for 20 years. That game was plenty, so I have no doubt that in the 20 years I killed at least 1,000. While hunting, I used to capture fawns and would bring them home and tame them and let them run in an enclosed lot, where they would breed, and I had at one time over 20 head. Wild deer would jump in with them at night, and I would shoot them. The tame deer would not jump over the fence, but gamboled playfully through the shady park, con- tented and happy as dumb creatures might be.
CHAPTER XL.
CITY OF MACOMB.
The city of Macomb, the most beauti- ful and enterprising town in this part of the state of Illinois, originated 55 years
ago, when the beautiful country that sur- rounds it, was just beginning to attract the attention of those in search of homes,
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HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.
and the surroundings were as free and wild as the time when the stars of the morning sang anthems of joy at nature's dawn. It has been one continual change from the moment that John Baker built his humble pole cabin upon its site, until the Macomb of to-day stands forth, one of the bright jewels in the diadem of a noble state. While there may have been nothing really remarkable in the devel- opment of the past, or nothing peculiarly striking in the present, still there is much that cannot fail to be of interest to those who have been closely connected and identified with the city in all the various changes that have occurred from year to year. To those who have watched its progress from an early day, when McDonough county was but a compara- tive wilderness, until the present time, the accomplishment of by-gone days would seem now like a herculean task, but are in reality the sure and legitimate results of an advanced state of civiliza-
tion. Endowed with many splendid natural advantages, aided by the strong arm of enterprising husbandry, McDon- ough county, has assumed a position among the best and wealthier of her sis- ter counties throughout the state, and Macomb, as the first town within her boundaries, has kept pace with the im- provements and advancement.
Macomb is situated in the exact geo- graphical center of McDonough county, at the point of meeting of the four town- ships of Emmet, Macomb, Chalmers and Scotland. The line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, passes through it, connecting it with the mar- kets of the world. The many manufac- turing establishments which have sprung
up within its limits, and the rich and productive agricultural and stock rais- ing country that surround it, are an ex- cellent guarantee of a permanent and solid growth in the future.
There are many fine and substan tial brick buildings to be seen upon the bus- iness thoroughfares, and many costly and elegant residences in the other por- tions of the city. An abundance of trees adorn the streets, which in summer af- ford a grateful shade and enhance the beauty of the place. The location is healthy; the inhabitants of a class pos- sessing rare intelligence and culture, and the society of the most refined and de- sirable character.
EARLY DAYS.
The first settlers upon the present site of the town of Macomb, were John Baker and Oliver C. Rice, who, in the spring of 1829, built a double log cabin, near where the high school building now stands, in the Fourth ward, and therein installed themselves. Mr. Ba- ker's family consisted of his wife and two daughters, about 10 and 12 years of age respectively. Mr. Rice removed to Spring creek, in the fall of 1829, but Mr. Baker resided here, when, in July, 1830, shortly after the organization of the county, the county commissioners met and resolved that "the present seat of justice be at the house of John Baker, and that for the present, the same be known as the town of Washington." In the month of December, 1830, the general assembly that met at Vandalia, passed the following act, which was en- titled:
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HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.
AN ACT to establish a permanent seat of justice for the county of McDonough :
Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the county seat of the county of McDonough be, and is hereby, es- tablished on the southwest quarter of section 31, in township 6 north, of range 2 west, and that the commissioners of said county ale hereby authorized to purchase said quarter section of land of the United States, as pro- vided for by the laws of congress; and that the name of said county seat be called McComb. . This was approved by the governor, and forwarded to this county, with the following certificate appended:
SECRETARY'S OFFICE, VANDALIA, 24 Dec., 1830. ) I, Alex. P, Field, secretary of the state of Illinois, do hereby certify that the above is a correct copy of the original bill on file in this office.
[SEAL.]
Given under my hand and the seal of the state, at Vandalia, the 24th of December, 1830.
A. P. FIELD, Secretary of state.
About the same time, James Clarke, one of the county commissioners, pro- ceded to the city of Springfield, where was situated the United States land of- fice, for this district, and, in the name of the county of McDonough, entered the southwest quarter of section 31, in town- ship 6 north, range 2 west, or in what is now Macomb township.
Thus was born the city of Macomb, or as the early records have it McComb. It was named after General Macomb, who commanded the American forces in the engagement at Plattsburg, who en- gaged the British troops while Commo- dore Thomas McDonough fought the naval battle of Lake Champlain, during the war of 1812-15.
On the 1st of April, 1831, the place re- ceived another settler, in the person of James M. Campbell, who had just re- ceived the appointment of clerk of the circuit court, and who had come to take up the duties of the office, at the new seat of justice of McDonough county. He, at once, erected a log house a short distance south of the cabin of Mr. Baker, and herein opened the first store in the city of Macomb, and in the county, as will be noticed further on.
It being decided now to lay out the future city of Macomb, at a meeting of the county commissioner's court, held in the spring of 1831, a plat of the future town was presented by James Vance, one of the commissioners, on which the lots were to be 60x120 feet in size, with the streets but 40 feet, and alleys 12 feet wide. The short-sighted policy of con- tracting the new town to such limited quarters, was not agreeable to the most intelligent of the future citizens of the county, and a plat of Macomb, having lots 60x174, 12 lots to the block, with good wide streets, being presented by James M. Campbell, a petition of the citizens was presented to the commis- sioners at a special term held in April, 1831, asking its adoption, which was ac- cordingly done, Mr. Vance opposing it strongly and entering his protest, which was placed upon the records. This plat was drawn by Mr. Campbell, after the plat of Frankfort, Kentucky, his native place. John J. Keaton was at once em- ployed to make the survey.
This party was not a regular surveyor, and is said to have known less about running the lines than the men he em- ployed to carry the chain. David
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HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.
Clarke and John Baker were chain- bearers, and received therefor the sum of 50 cents per day; William McDonald drove the stakes for 62¿ cents per day. Owing to the lack of knowledge on the part of the surveyor, he was not able to make the corners-in fact never did make them, and they have not been straightened to any great extent to this day.
The first sale of the lots was made in May, 1831, and but few of them were disposed of, as there were but few bid- ders present. The deeds of these lots were given with the stipulation that Macomb was to be the permanent county seat, which was used by the citizens when the removal of the seat of justice was agitated some years ago, as a reason why it could not be done, they averring that damages could be had of the county for violation of the contract. It is in order to say that it took 11 sales before all of the lots were closed out. This realized $4,903.55, for what cost the county $168.88, a net profit of $4,816.67. The assessed value of the city property in 1884, was $564,775.
No sooner had the town a legal exist- ence, than it received several accessions to its citizens; Moses Hinton and L. H. Robinson, who entered into mercantile trade; James Clarke, who had up to this time been living a little southwest of the city, moved to Macomb, and erected a log house on the corner of West Jackson street and the square, and opened the first tavern or inn in the place; Michael Stinson moved here from Chalmers township. where he had been living for about a year, but did not remain very long, leaving for the west. Samuel
Bogart was also a settler of the same year, opening a small store in the little village, in company with John Baker. He was the major commanding the odd battalion of Mounted Rangers, as it was called during the Black Hawk war. Some time after this he left for Iowa.
A man by the name of Cocke was the next to locate at Macomb. He was elected justice of the peace, and did some little business in the way of mak- ing out papers for a few men, but the bulk of that kind of business devolved upon J. M. Campbell, the clerk of the circuit court, etc. He also removed to Burlington, Iowa.
Nicholas B. Rogers came in the same summer, and died a resident of the em- bryo city.
Among the other settlers of this, the first year of the city's existence, was David Clarke, long a resident of this place, and one well known to all of the citizens. He was the son of John and Ann (Whitten) Clarke, and was born on the 28th of September, 1799, in Wash- ington county, Kentucky. Here he re- sided with his parents until after he reached his majority. At four years of age he was sent to one of the common schools of his native county, and con- tinued going at intervals until he was eight, when he was put to work upon the farm by his parents, who were in only moderate circumstances, and here was kept at hard labor until he reached his majority. At 16, he was permitted to attend school three weeks, which fin- ished his education. When he reached his majority, he placed himself under the instruction of a music teacher for some months, acquiring a pretty thorough
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HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.
knowledge of the science of music, as taught in that day. As soon as he fin- ished his course, he adopted the teach- ing of music as a profession, and for three years he traveled constantly through the state, engaged in that work. In early life he connected himself with the Baptist church, and when only 22 years of age, compiled a hymn book, which he denominated Clarke's Hymns. This book was adopted by the Baptists and several other denominations in Ken- tucky, and continued in use for many years. Two large editions were issued, and speedily sold. Many copies are yet in existence, and held as precious heir- looms by their possessors. On the 24th day of November, 1825, he was married to Eliza Swink Russell, daughter of Samuel Russell, in Green county, Ken- tucky. Samuel Russell was well known as one of the pioneers of this county. Twelve children were born unto them, four only of whom are now living-Mar- garet M., wife of Corydon C. Chapman; Christopher Columbus, Samuel James, and Annie E., wife of Sidney S. Chap- man. In the fall of 1830, he removed with his family to this county, where he resided for many years, being well known to nearly every citizen, espe- cially the older settlers. For many years in the early day, he run a tavern, which at that time was more of a public resort than the hotel of to-day. Here the peo- ple for miles around assembled to dis- cuss the news of the time, and to indulge in drink. For four years he was town constable, and eight years a justice of the peace. During the first four years he was justice, he tried over 900 cases, a very large docket at that time. He was
ever ready to render a decision, and as soon as a case on trial was finished, his judgment was rendered and recorded in his docket. Of all the cases appealed from his decision to the circuit court, he never had a judgment reversed. Mr. Clarke some years since retired from ac- tive life, and on the 5th of March, 1884, departed this life, mourned by a large circle of friends.
David Detherow, during the summer of 1831, came to Macomb, and was one of its oldest setters. He left the county long years ago, with his father-in-law, William Southward.
James W. Brattle was the next to make a settlement in this city, appearing here in 1831. In 1834, the commissioners finding that the survey made by Keaton, was incorrect in many particulars, Mr. Brattle re-surveyed it, without altering the corners of the blocks, however, and re-platted it, making what is known as plat No. 2, which was recorded March 6, 1835. Mr. Brattle was for many years the county surveyor, and is said to have run the lines over more land in this county than any other man. He is still a resident of Macomb.
W. W. Chapman, an attorney, came to Macomb in 1832, and hung out his shingle. After about a year or so, he left this locality, and moved to Bur- lington, Iowa, or Flint Hills, as it was then called.
About the same time, a doctor by the name of J. L. Shuff, put up his sign in in the embryo town, and became a citi- zen of the place. He is mentioned in the chapter devoted to the medical profession
William H. Dawson, a native of Adair county, Ky., came to Macomb in 1832.
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HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.
In 1833, Colonel William Bailey, came to the town of Macomb, and established a store for the sale of general merchan- dise, just north of the site of the store presided over by his son, George W., on the south east corner of Randolph and east Jackson streets. He was for a long time the leading merchant in the town.
Benjamin F. Naylor, also, connected with the official life of the county, was a settler in Macomb during the year 1833. A sketch of him is given in the chapter devoted to the educational inter- ests of the county, in a preceding part of this work.
John Perry Head, came to Macomb in 1833, and made a settlement where he remained many years.
William Cameron settled in the town of Macomb as early as 1833.
John Anderson settled in Macomb during the year 1834, having erected a hotel on lot 1, block 24, now occupied by the city hall. This inn, which was named the Green Tree, was operated by Mr. Anderson until his death in 1846. It was, as has been said, a frame struc- ture, the main building 18x40 feet in di- mensions, two stories high, with an L about 20 feet long in the rear, one and a half stories high. On the death of Mr. Anderson, his son, Robert F., took charge and ran it about two years, when he was succeeded by his brother, Joseph, who continued it until 1850. Early that year, James C. Head became the pro- prietor, and run it until the following spring, when it was remodeled and used as a store room and dwelling. In 1855, it was again changed into a hotel, and, under the name of the American house, it was operated by Joel Pennington about
a year, when it once more was changed to a store building. It has since been removed and the fine brick City hall erected on its site.
T. Lyle Dickey, then a young man, but now one of the supreme judges of this state, came to Macomb in 1835, and taught school while studying law. He removed from here in 1836.
Resin Naylor located in Macomb in 1834, and opened a harness shop. He was connected with the official life of the county and is noted in that connection. He was familiarly known throughout the county as "Boss Naylor."
Thompson Chandler came to the em- bryo city of Macomb in the spring of 1834, and is still a resident of that burg. He is mentioned at length in the chapter devoted to representative men in official life. On coming to this place, he entered into the mercantile business with Wil- liam P. Richards, who had come about the same time, under the firm name of Richards & Chandler.
Charles Chandler was one of the prom- inent arrivals of the year 1834. This gentlemen long one of the foremost bu- siness men of the city, and indeed of the county, resided in Macomb until the day of his death.
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