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 6

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1150

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 6

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James Shields-Was elected and as- sumed his seat in the United States senate in 1849, March 4. He was born in Ireland, in 1810, and came to the United States in 1827. He served in the Mexican war, was elected senator from Wisconsin, and in 1879 from Missouri for a short term.

Lyman Trumbull-Took his seat in the United States senate March 4, 1855, and became his own successor in 1861. He had previously served one term in the lower house of congress, and served on the supreme bench. He was born in Connecticut; studied law, and came to Illinois early in life, where for years he was actively engaged in politics. Here- sides in Chicago.

Orville H. Browning-Was appointed United States senator in 1861, to fill the seat made vacant by the death of Stephen A. Douglas, until a senator could be regularly elected. Mr. Brown- ing was born in Harrison county, Ken- tucky; was admitted to the bar in 1831, and settled in Quincy, Illinois, where he engaged in the practice of law, and was instrumental, with his friend, Abraham Lincoln, in forming the republican party

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

of Illinois at the Bloomington conven- tion. He entered Johnson's cabinet as secretary of the interior, and in March, 1868, was designated by the president to perform the duties of attorney general, in addition to his own as secretary of the interior department.

William A. Richardson-Was elected to the United States senate in 1863, to fill the unexpired term of his friend, Ste- phen A. Douglas. He was born in Fay- ette county, Kentucky, about 1810, stud- ied law, and settled in Illinois; served as captain in the Mexican war, and was promoted for bravery on the battle-field of Buena Vista, by a unanimous vote of his regiment. He served in the lower house of congress from 1847 to 1857, continuously.

Richard Yates-Was elected in 1865, and served a full term of six years. A sketch of him is given in connection with the office of governor.

John A. Logan-Was elected to the United States senate in 1871. He was born in Jackson county, Illinois, Febru- ary 9, 1826, received a common school education; enlisted as a private in the Mexican war, where he rose to the rank of regimental quartermaster. On return- ing home he studied law, and came to the bar in 1852; was elected in 1858 a repre- sentative to the 36th congress, and re- elected to the 37th congress, resigning in 1861 to take part in the suppression of the rebellion, served as colonel, and subsequently as a major-general, and commanded with distinction, the armies of the Tennessee. He was again elected to the senate in 1879, and served the full term. He was the candidate of the re- publican party in 1884 for vice-president

of the United States, with Blaine, but was defeated.

David Davis-Was elected to the United States senate in 1877, for a term of six years. He was born in Cecil county, Maryland, March 9, 1815; grad- uated at Kenyon college, Ohio, studied law, and removed to Illinois in 1835; was admitted to the bar, and settled in Bloomington, where he has since resid- ed, and amassed a large fortune. He was for many years the intimate friend and associate of Abraham Lincoln, rode the circuit with him each year, and after Lincoln's election to the presidency, was appointed by him to fill the position of judge of the supreme court of the United States, which position he re- signed to accept the senatorship. When Arthur ascended to the presidency, at the death of Garfield, Davis was elected president of the senate and acting vice- president of the United States.

REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.

Fifteenth congress, 1818-John Mc- Lean.

Sixteenth; 1819-20-Daniel P. Cook. Seventeenth, 1821-22-Daniel P.Cook. Eighteenth, 1823-24-Daniel P. Cook. Nineteenth, 1825-26-Daniel P. Cook. Twentieth, 1827-28-Joseph Duncan. Twenty-first, 1829-30-Joseph Dun- can.

Twenty-second,1831-32-Joseph Dun- can.

Twenty-third, 1833-34-Joseph Dun- can, Zadock Casey.

Twenty-fourth, 1835-36-Zadock Ca- sey, John Reynolds, William L. May.

Twenty-fifth, 1837-38-Zadock Casey, John Reynolds, William L. May.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

Twenty-sixth, 1839-40-Zadock Casey, John Reynolds, John T. Stuart.

Twenty-seventh, 1841-42-Zadock Ca- sey, John Reynolds, John T. Stuart.

Twenty-eight, 1843-44-Robert Smith, Orlando B. Ficklin, Stephen A. Douglas, John A. McClernand, Joseph P. Hoge, John J. Hardin, John Wentworth.

Twenty-ninth,1845-46-Robert Smith, Stephen A. Douglas, Orlando B. Fick- lin, John .J. Hardin (1845), Joseph P. Hoge, John A. McClernand, John Went- worth.

Thirtieth, 1847-8-John Wentworth, Thomas J. Turner (1847), Abraham Lincoln, John A. McClernand, Orlando B. Ficklin, Robert Smith, William A. Richardson.

Thirty-first, 1849-50-John A. Mc- Clernand, John Wentworth, Timothy R. Young, William A. Richardson, Edward D. Baker, William H. Bissell, Thomas L. Harris.

Thirty-second, 1851-52-William A. Richardson, Thompson Campbell, Or- lando B. Ficklin, John Wentworth, Richard Yates, Richard S. Maloney, Willis Allen, William H. Bissell.

Thirty-third, 1853-54-William H. Bissell,John C.Allen, Willis Allen, Elihu B. Washburne, Richard Yates, Thomp- son Campbell, James Knox, Jesse O. Norton, William A. Richardson.

Thirty-fourth, 1855-56 -Elihu B. Washburne, Lyman Trumbull, James H. Woodworth, James Knox, Thompson Campbell, Samuel S. Marshall, J. L. D. Morrison, C. Allen, Jesse O. Norton, William A. Richardson.

Thirty-fifth, 1857-58-Elihu B. Wash- burne, Charles D. Hodges, William Kellogg, Thompson Campbell, John F.

Farnsworth, Owen Lovejoy, Samuel S. Marshall, Isaac N. Morris, Aaron Shaw, Robert Smith, Thomas L. Harris.

Thirty-sixth, 1859-60-Elihu B. Wash- burne, John A. Logan, Owen Lovejoy, John A. McClernand, Isaac N. Morris, John F. Farnsworth, Philip B. Fouke, Thomas L. Harris, William Kellogg, James C. Robertson.

Thirty-seventh, 1861-62-Elihu B. Washburne, James C. Robertson, John A. Logan, Owen Lovejoy, John A. Mc- Clernand, Isaac N. Arnold, Philip B. Fouke, William Kellogg, Anthony L. Knapp, William A. Richardson.

Thirty-eighth, 1863-64-Elihu B, Washburne, Jesse O. Norton, James C. Robinson, William J. Allen, Isaac N. Arnold, John R. Eden, Lewis W. Ross, John T. Stuart, Owen Lovejoy, William R. Morrison, John C. Allen, John F. Farnsworth, Charles W. Morris, Eben Ingersoll, A. L. Knapp.

Thirty-ninth, 1865-66-E- B. Wash- burne, Anthony B. Thornton, Jno. Went- worth, Abner C. Hardin, Eben C. Inger- soll, Barton C. Cook, Shelby M. Cullom, John F. Farnsworth, John Baker, Henry P. H. Bromwell, Andrew Z. Kuykendall, Samuel S. Marshall, Samuel W. Moul- ton, Lewis W. Ross.

Fortieth, 1867-68-Elihu B. Wash- burne, Abner C. Hardin, Eben C. Inger- soll, Norman B. Judd, Albert G. Burr, Barton C. Cook, Shelby M. Cullom, John F. Farnsworth, John Baker, Henry P. H. Bromwell, John A. Logan, Samuel S. Marshall, Green B. Raum, Lewis W. Ross.

Forty-first, 1869-70 - N. B. Judd, John F. Farnsworth, H. C. Burchard, John B. Hawley, Eben C. Ingersoll,

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

Barton C. Cook, Jesse H. Moore, Shelby M. Cullom, Thomas W. McNeeley, Al- bert G. Burr, Samuel S. Marshall, John B. Hay, John M. Crebs, John A. Logan.

Forty-second, 1871-72-Charles B. Farwell, John Farnsworth, Horatio C. Burchard, John B. Hawley, Bradford N. Stevens, Henry Snapp, Jesse H. Moore, James C. Robinson, Thos. W. McNally, Edward Y. Rice, Samuel S. Marshall, John B. Hay, John M. Crebs, John S. Beveridge.

Forty-third, 1873-74- John B. Rice, Jasper D. Ward, Charles B. Farwell, Stephen A. Hurlburt, Horatio C. Bur- chard, John B. Hawley, Franklin Cor- win, Robert M. Knapp, James C. Rob- inson, John B. McNulta, Joseph G. - Cannon, John R. Eden, James S. Mar- tin, William R. Morrison, Greenbury L. Fort, Granville Barriere, William H. Ray, Isaac Clements, Samuel S. Mar- shall.

Forty-fourth, 1875-76 - Bernard G. Caulfield, Carter H. Harrison, Charles B. Farwell, Stephen A. Hurlburt, Hora- tio C. Burchard, Thomas J. Henderson, Alexander Campbell, Greenbury L. Fort, Richard H. Whiting, John C. Bagby, Scott Wike, William M. Springer, Adlai E. Stevenson, Joseph G. Cannon, John R. Eden, W. A. J. Sparks, Wil- liam R. Morrison, William Hartzell, William B. Anderson.

Forty-fifth, 1877-78-William Aldrich, Carter H. Harrison, Lorenzo Brentano, William Lathrop, Horatio C. Burchard, Thomas J. Henderson, Philip C. Hayes, Greenbury L. Fort, Thomas A. Boyd, Benjamin F. Marsh, Robert M. Knapp, William M. Springer, Thomas F. Tip- ton, Joseph G. Cannon, John R. Eden,

W. A. J. Sparks, William R. Morrison, William Hartzell, Richard W. Town- shend.

Forty-sixth, 1879-80-William Ald- rich, George R. Davis, Hiram Barber, John C. Sherwin, R. M. A. Hawk, Thomas J. Henderson, Philip C. Hayes, Greenbury L. Fort, Thomas A. Boyd, Benjamin F. Marsh, James W. Single- ton, William M. Springer, A. E. Steven- son, Joseph G. Cannon, Albert P. For- sythe, W. A. J. Sparks, William R. Morrison, John R. Thomas, R. W. Town- shend.

Forty-seventh,1881-82-William Ald- rich, George R. Davis, Charles B. Far- well, John C. Sherwin, Robert M. A. Hawk, Thomas J. Henderson, William Cullen, Lewis E. Payson, John H. Lewis, Benjamin F. Marsh, James W. Singleton, William M. Springer, Diet- rich C. Smith, Joseph G. Cannon, Samuel W. Moulton, W. A. J. Sparks, William R. Morrison, John R. Thomas, R. W. Townshend.

Forty-eighth-Ransom W. Dunham, John F. Finerty, George R. Davis, George E. Adams, Reuben Ellwood, Robert R. Hilt, Thomas J. Henderson, William Cullen, Lewis E. Payson, Nicholas E. Worthington, William H. Neece, James M. Riggs, William M. Springer, Jonathan H. Rowell, Joseph G. Cannon, Aaron Shaw, Samuel W. Moulton, William R. Morrison, R. W. Townshend, John R. Thomas.

Forty-ninth-Ransom W. Dunham, Francis Lawler, James H. Ward, George E. Adams, Reuben Ellwood, Robert R. Hilt, Thomas J. Henderson, Ralph Plumb, Lewis E. Payson, Nicholas E. Worthington, William H. Neece, James

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

M. Riggs, William M. Springer, Jona- than H. Rowell, Joseph G. Cannon, Silas Z. Landes, John R. Eden, William R. Morrison, Richard W. Townshend, John R. Thomas.

Only three-fourths of a century ago, the territory of Illinois was organized, with a population estimated at 9,000; to-day, it numbers more than three and one-half millions-a greater number than in all the colonies during the revo- lution. When organized, steamboats had never traversed its waters; railroads, telegraphs and telephones were un- known; to-day, every navigable stream is alive with vessels, carrying her pro- ducts to other lands; while railroads traverse every county and almost every township in the state; while the num- .ber of miles of telegraph wire would probably encircle the globe,and the tele- phone is placed in many thousands of homes, enabling their inmates to con- verse intelligibly with parties at a dis- tance of many miles. Then the light that shone out of darkness was only the tallow dip, or that furnished from blaz- ing logs in the old-fashioned fire-places;

to-day, after having displaced the tallow dip, the candle and the common house- lamp, the darkness of night is pene- trated by the glare of gas, and the bright rays of the electric light, rivaling the light of day. Then agriculture was in its infancy, it being possible with the machinery then used, only to raise suf- ficient crops to supply the wants of those lying within its boundary; to-day, with the improved plows, the self-bind- ing reaper, the steam thresher, and other improved machinery, Illinois can feed a nation of 50,000,000 of people. Then the newspaper was a rare visitor' in the household; to-day, the humblest citizen · can scarcely exist without his daily and weekly paper. Then knowl- edge was possessed by few; to-day, by means of free schools, well endowed colleges and other influences, there is no excuse for living ignorant. But time would fail to compare the advantages of to-day over the first decade of the pres- ent century, and the student of history, . as he reads of the progress made, can only wonder what the future will reveal.

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HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

HISTORY

MCDONOUGH COUNTY,

ILLINOIS.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

To nearly every thinking mind the study of history is one of peculiar pleas- ure and enjoyment. The sage and scholar poring over a dusty tome, draws from the details of a vanished past the lessons of to-day. The fiery mind of youth receives from its pure well the in- spiration for bright and noble deeds that oft bear the fruit of name and fame. The politician, too, can therein see the rocks and shoals that have wrecked so many a noble craft, and can steer his bark into safety's haven by its glow.

All history, if properly written, is in- teresting; and there is not a country, or a city, or a hamlet-nay, it might be said, not a family or an individual on the globe-whose history might not be more or less valuable to posterity.

From those days called ancient, away back in the dim and misty past, when the human race first arrived at a state of intelligence sufficient to enable them to transmit a traditionary account of them- selves, all along down "the dim corri- dors of recorded time " our ancestors have left in various ways, and by differ- ent means, information, more or less mythical and fabulous, of the age and generation in which they played their ephemeral part on the world's ever changing theater of action. It is graven in bronze on the wonderful works of the central nations of Africa, around those " dim fountains of the Nile;" the grey old pyramids in the valley of that clas- sic river are covered with the demotic and hieroglyphical language of the past.

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

The vast and mighty " palaces and piles stupendous," heavy with the dust of un- known centuries, that bewilder the trav- eler amid Egypt's drifting sands, upon the plains of the Tigris and Euphrates, and hidden away in the jungles of the Indies; the gigantic ruins of Central and Southern America, under the snow- capped Cordilleras, and among the pro- lific forests of Yucatan; the seamed and wrinkled pyramids of the Aztecs, in Mexico and California, and the ten thousand crumbling evidences of a pow- erful and advanced civilization scattered throughout the great valley of the Mis- sissippi, all bear testimony to the count- less attempts to transmit knowledge to posterity.

The written history of the 'American Continent dates back scarcely four cen- turies, yet within that comparatively short period its pages have garnered from her hills and mountains, from her grand rivers and mighty inland seas, val- uable additions to the world's stock of knowledge.

Like the Eastern Continent, our own has its historic points, its nuclei around which cluster the memories of heroic deeds, the story of martyrs, and the le- gends of a barbarous past. St. Augus- tine, Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, Que- bec, Montreal, Boston, New York, Phila- delphia and Detroit, are localities about which gather volumes of history.

A recital of these chain the attention and inflame the imagination of the care- ful student, as he slowly peruses its pages, and lives over again the deeds of those that have left such "footprints in the sands of time" as excite the emula- tion of all good people.

If this is true of general history, the annals of the long ago, in distant climes, among a strange people, how much more interesting it must be to peruse the pages of local history-the chronicle of the birth and development of our homes, the history of the people with whom we have an acquaintance, the record of the development of the towns, the buildings, the institutions that surround us and that we have known for years-when on each page we can scan the rise and growth of some familiar landmark in our own lives, or watch with pride the career of some one loved and dear.

It is the aim of this work to collect and preserve in enduring and popular form some of the facts of the early settlement and subsequent growth of a great county of a grand state. The families whose ancestors were early on the ground, and whose members have made the county what it is are worthy of remembrance, and it is the intention to rescue them from the dust of oblivion.

The hands upon the dial of time had scarcely pointed to the last hour of the third decade of the present century when first the foot of civilized man pressed the virgin soil of McDonough county. Before that era this bright land was a vast, unbroken wilderness, whose only inhabitants were the birds and beasts, and their scarcely less wild congener, the nomad Indian of the plains, who here found a hunting ground, oftimes a place of battle and a red grave. To the untutored savage, who lived but in the present, the thought that the "palefaces " would penetrate this beautiful country occurred not to disturb his dreams, and he continued on

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

with his daily life of hunting and fish- ing, and only varied the monotony of his lazy existence by a short, but bloody, passage-at-arms with some rival tribe. But the time must come when he must surrender this lovely heritage of his fathers and move onward to the sunset land, to give place to the hated white man. The time was soon to come when all nature must be changed; when the fair prairies with their gorgeous flowers and emerald sod must be broken up by the husbandman, and grain fit for the uses of civilized man sown therein.

Sixty years ago the soil was as yet un- vexed by the plow, and the woodman's ax had never been heard; the rude cabin of the settler with its smoke curling heavenward, with an air inviting the weary traveler to come and rest, was totally wanting in the broad landscape, and there was not even the slightest trace of the coming civilization-noth- ing but emerald seas and luxuriant grasses.

"These, the gardens of the desert-these The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful, As the young earth ere man had sinned. Lo! they stretch

In airy undulations far away,

As though the ocean, in the gentlest swell, Stood still, with all its rounded billows fixed, And motionless forever."

But these beautiful prairies that but a few short years ago lay basking 'neath a summer sun, without a trace of human habitation upon their broad bosoms, are now covered with fertile farms, thriving villages, commodious mansions and busy towns. The wilderness has been changed into the abode of man and the home of civilization. And the annals of the men and the times that wrought this wonder-

ful transformation, it is the duty as well as the pleasure of the historian to collect and jot down upon these pages, so that when these heroes of the frontier shall have passed onward to their "great re- ward" they shall have left these lines behind them as monuments to mark their memories-monuments more en- during than stone or brass, even were their. epitaphs written in letters of gold.

Even while they live, the recital of those early days when first they "stuck their stakes" in this their land of prom- ise, the changes from the then to now will come uppermost in their minds, and the contrast will afford some food for thought. In those by-gone days the road hither was long and tedious, no roads, no bridges; the only mode of cross- ing the numerous streams that mean- dered across the path of the pilgrim was by fording or swimming. The only mode of transportation was the covered wagon, within whose protecting hood was packed the courageous wife and mother with her little ones, together with the few articles of furniture thought necessary to begin life in the "far west." Letters from the dear ones, left in the home-nest, were like the proverbial angel's visits, "Few and far between." . Entering upon pos- session of their new-found home, after the labor, keen and arduous, of the father and husband had been rewarded by the completion of the humble cot, built of the primeval logs, the family settled down to the hardships and scant fare of pioneer life. No labor-saving machinery was there in those days to lighten the work in husbandry or domes- tic economy, only heavy manual labor, with the crudest of tools. No conven-

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

ient mill or store at which to purchase the necessities of life, when "reluctant nature withheld her smile" and crops failed to meet the emergency. These were but a tithe of the trials and incon- veniences of a new settlement, but how changed to-day. In place of the weary journey through mud, or dust, or drifted snow, thirty or forty miles to mill or dis- tant village for provision, the only means of transport, the slow-paced oxen, or scarcely faster plodding farm-horse, now the iron steed of commerce, with rush and roar,dashes up almost to the door step of the farmer, and towns and villages with stores and mills dot these verdant hills and plains. Conveniences are brought to their very homes, and the mails, that were many weeks on their way in the past, now are hardly cold from the hands of the loved ones in the "old home" ere they are in the hands of the receiver. Ye newer-comers, compare, in your minds, the rude appliances of early days, both in the farm implements and the domestic helps to the labors of both man and wife; contrast the horse-power thresher with the flail; the scythe and cradle with the self-binding harvester; the sewing machine with its humble sister, the needle, and thousands of other innovations and improvements with the makeshifts and ruder implements of former times.

The heroes and heroines of the early days, for women met the same fate with as bold a front as the sterner sex, have earned their place in history, and it is but meet that they should occupy it.

A history of the people is, par excel- lence, the history of the state, the nation or the county, and in these pages the

people shall fill the prominent place. The annals of the lives of these, the "Pilgrim Fathers" of McDonough county have within them all the elements of tragedy or comedy, and the story of their conflict with nature and the vicissitudes of pioneer life shall be the principal theme of this history.

Thousands of facts are herein record- ed, and individual sketches of hundreds of citizens,' living and dead, are here placed in enduring form. These men and women are, or have been, actors in the drama of the settlement and develop- ment of McDonough county. By insert- ing these sketches, in addition to other matter, is preserved, not only the recital of historic fact, but a subcurrent of in- dividual deeds that run through it, like some minor chord in the grand melody, giving a realism to the narrative which could be imparted in no other way.

The first place in a history of this class necessarily begins with the first settlers, the hardy pioneers who first broke the way for civilization into these pristine wastes. The pioneers! how that word strikes a responsive chord in every bosom-how at its sound we con- jure up the bold, hardy and adventurous father of a family packing up a few in- dispensables and turning his back upon the parent roof-tree, all its conveniences and luxuries, and plunging into a savage and untried wilderness, far in advance of the hosts of civilization, there to carve him out a new home. Rugged men, with nerves and muscles of steel, and hearts bold as the Vikings of old, they merit our fullest admiration of their heroism, for heroic it was, this defying of nature in her wildest moods. Let,

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

then, the tablets of history bear their names, that when, in a few short years, they have been called to the land of the hereafter, their deeds and actions perish not with them, and that coming genera- tions may have ever before them the bright examples of these noble men.

Rough were they in many cases, and uncouth, yet in them lies the true nobil- ity that lifts a man from an ignomini- ous position and places him upon a high pedestal. Burns, the Scottish poet, truly says:

"The rank is but the guinea's stamp, The gold the gold for all that."

And although in many cases these bold pioneers were men of limited edu- cation and little social training, men who would be out of place in the gilded salons of society, or the silken boudoir of beauty, still they were possessors of a noble manhood that is the monopoly of no race or caste. Then honor to these noble men, and women, too, that first made a settlement on the wild prairies and in the timber of McDonough county; and here planted the seeds that have grown into such a flourishing commun- ity; that have had a prominent hand in making it what it is.

When these argonauts first came here they were completely isolated from their kind. No railroads, and, in fact, no roads of any kind, connected them with the far-away land of their kin. No house in which to dwell until they could rear their humble log cabin, no neigh- bors to render aid in sickness or trouble, no one to close their eyes in death- alone. Life with them was not all a rosy dream, but a hard and bitter strug- gle with want, penury and privation, and

the wonder is that they should still be spared to us, after almost a life-time of . toil and conflict; but still many of them linger this side of the grave. Let us then hasten, and inclining the ear, listen to their tales of bygone days, the story of their lives, the description of their acts during the heroic age, that history may inscribe them upon her tablets, a monument, when they are gone, more enduring than stone or bronze.

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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 6

Author: Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1150

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1150