USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc., gathered from mattter furnished by the Mercer County Historical Society, interviews with old settlers, county, township and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources as have been available : containing also a short history of Henderson County > Part 41
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ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND REGIMENT.
regiment was quartered at Camp Fry, and there, on the 14th, the mem- bers were paid off and disbanded, and they returned at once to the embrace of friends and the quiet walks of civil life.
Some notice of Col. Isaac McManus, a brave and useful officer of the 102d, who has died since the disbandment of the regiment, is demanded in this connection.
Col. McManus was a native of Indiana, but resided in Mercer county a number of years. He was a school-teacher by profession, and as such will be remembered by numerous citizens of the county who are advanced to middle life. He had traveled over a large extent of his native land and had filled his mind with practical knowledge. He had an aptitude for business, a liberal understanding, and much executive capacity. It was in politics and war that he made his mark as a publie man, though he was cut off just at the rising of his power, when his splendid strength of character had laid the foundation for a strong public influence. By education a democrat, he followed the fortunes of his party and contended for its principles with his char- acteristic zeal and energy, up to a time when his partisanship was lost sight of in the army in the one absorbing consideration and employ- ment of patriotism. In the year 1862 his party, a majority of which, emboldened by much power in the state, was outspoken and active in opposition to the war, held a state convention in Peoria, to which he was an accredited delegate. The committee on resolutions submitted a majority and a minority report, the former demanding a withdrawal of the army to make room for compromise negotiations, while the latter insisted upon no compromise with traitors, but instead a vigor- ous prosecution of the war. McManus, with true chivalrous spirit, supported the latter, not having yet forgotten the recent sage. and dying advice of his lamented party leader, Douglas, that " the short- est way now to peace is the most stupendous and unanimous prepara- tions for war." Returning home he went to work, and by personal application and speeches assisted in raising company G, 102d reg., and was elected first lieutenant. He soon became captain and served with his company until he was wounded, as previously noticed, at Golgotha church, in Georgia, a rebel ball shattering the bone in his left arm and rendering that limb forever useless. Ile returned from the hospital to his home, and in the autumn of 1864 did much service for the union party in making political speeches. He was kept on detailed service awhile ; then he rejoined his regiment after the cam- paign of the Carolinas, with a commission as lieutenant colonel. He was never mustered, owing to the reduction of the regiment below the
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
minimum number, the offices of colonel and major being already filled. After the war he entered with much enthusiasm into politics ; and being both a ready and forcible writer and speaker, he contributed largely to the success of his party in the exciting political campaigns of 1866 and 1868. After an able and thorough canvass in 1868 he was elected by a large majority of his republican supporters to repre- sent the 14th district in the state senate. He was recognized in that body as a man of independent convictions and untiring industry, and was placed on some of the most important committees. He died of small-pox Jannary 14, 1870, aged forty-three years. Col. McManus belonged to that class of men who make strong friends and strong enemies. His superlative energy made it impossible for his nature to consort with rest. He was ambitions and desired to be in action. Endowed with a highly combative organization, his tastes found their legitimate activity in conflict. On the sanguinary field his daring amounted almost to recklessness. It seemed as though the breath of battle was a soft relief to his chafing, fiery soul. He was at home in the tempest ; his companions were the thunder and the lightning. In civil life his rugged, restless mind found a, congenial theater in the political arena.
[The history of the 102d regiment, as above, was written by Mr. E. S. Ricker, a member of that regiment who followed its fortunes throughout its brilliant career. He took ample notes during the whole time of his service, and we doubt if there is a man living more com- petent to write the record of this brave regiment .- ED. ]
OHIO GROVE TOWNSHIP.
Long years ago the Indian chief. with his face toward the setting sun, chanted the death-song of his people :
" We, the rightful lords of yore, Are the rightful lords no more. Like the silver mists we fail ; Like the red leaves in the gale - Fail like shadows when the dawning Waves the black flag of the morning."
Their history is not written in classic language ; it illumes no scroll ; it lives on few pages ; but in silent eloquence it speaks in a myriad of forms in their beautiful and significant names that still, and
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will forever, linger upon mountain and in valley, lakes, rivers, states. counties, cities and villages.
"Mid the forests where they warred, There rings no hunter's shout ; But their name is on your waters - Ye may not wash it out."
It is astonishing to the children of to-day to be reminded that on the lawn on which they play ; that in yonder grove of hardy oaks that now shelter those sleek kine ; that on yonder expanse now bloom- ing for the coming harvest ; that on yonder plat where all is hurry and bustle, and trade and music and fashion, a hundred years ago was the hunting-ground of the Fox, or the Sac, or the Potawatomie, or the bloody field of contest between tribe and tribe of savage men ; that here, too, the green sod drank the life-blood of the white man spilled by the tomahawk of the bloodthirsty Indian ; that here the red man, proud and haughty from success in the hunt or battle, compelled his women to abject slavery, treating them as beasts of burden, and mere objects of convenience, never allowing them to join in the amusements, but permitted to sit with their children as "spectators around the fires of war-dances or the horrid orgies after a victory," holding even their lives at their weapons' points. Fifty years ago the Indian, somewhat tamed by contact with pioneer civilization, and by an aggressive and overpowering government, still lingered in his hunt- ing-grounds, mourned the hamlets of the dead warriors he must leave behind, or stayed to drink the "hemlock " furnished by his treacher- ous foemen, the wily and unprincipled among the pale-faces. Verily the white man kindled the fire that burned his own home and the passion that slaughtered his own household.
An Indian trail extended across the northwest corner of Ohio Grove township, including sections 5, 6 and 7, crossing Pope creek in section 6. On section 5 in Indian Grove, some forty or fifty of the natives camped as late as about 1836 or 1837. They disappeared and nothing more was known of them for several years when a few returned, but to cast one long, lingering, last look upon the once unmo- lested spot they had been wont to call what we would term "home." Some are yet living who witnessed the dusky faces as they indulged in their ludicrous amusements and performed feats peculiar only to the race. The McBrides, Cabeens, Candors, Browns, Stephenses, Hardys, Dillys and McPherrens, have watched their antics and marked their cunning, Alexander Brown, according to his own story, gained his amusement for the first three winters of his residence here, in the camps of these red men. Trading was carried on between Indian and
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
white man in a way usually amicable. The women of those days, too, had their experiences, which were not altogether agreeable. The boldness, yet with cunning, made the Indians fit subjects to be watched, and more than once was a woman made to tremble by their audacity. But they have gone, most of them, over the hills to their new hunting-grounds from whence they return, according to their own ideas, in spirit only. Another race, and far different, must fill with events the historic page. The march of empire is westward in America, as truly as it was in the orient.
The spot to which these lines are limited was one of inviting char- acter. Its contents are circumscribed by an invisible boundry. It embraces what became when surveyed, all of T. 13 N., R. 3 W. of the 4th P. M. It has Mercer township on its north, Abington township on its west, Warren county on its south, and Suez township on the east. Here were thirty-six square miles of earth, the tilling of which was destined to yield a harvest to the toiler. It would seem that earth had been gamboling and leaping at play when all became at once stationary, leaving the surface rolling and delectable. Here and there the waters of the ages have washed a gutter, a ditch, a creeklet, a creek which to-day forms nature's system of drainage, which rapidly carries the burden of the element hurrying on to the "father of waters." In the north of this plat is Pope creek, supposed to have derived its name from a man so so called. It runs through sections 4, 5 and 6. It is chiefly along this creek that the early emigrants hither chose frontier homes, for here was a fair growth of timber suitable for fuel and building purposes. In early times about one-ninth or four sections of the township were timber, consisting of red oak, white oak, black oak, burr oak, black walnut, white walnut, cherry, red elm, white elm, hickory, soft maple, sugar maple, hackberry, ash, cotton, sycamore, box-elder, etc.
Through the center of the township is the tortuous stream, North Henderson creek. It has a number of small tributaries uniting and draining the central part of the township. It runs through sections 20 and 30, where it has on its either side, Hickory grove. In the southern part of the township is Duck creek. Not so called because any feathered flocks, fond of water, frequent it, but from the fact that in 1833, an early day, William I. Nevius, James H. Bain and others made an exploring expedition from Warren county, Illinois, through this section of country. Arriving at this stream they found it coated with ice. Nothing of that kind could turn a pioneer's march through a new country, so over the ice they started. Nature had not intended her crystal bridge to be completed and ready for use quite so soon.
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OHIO GROVE TOWNSHIP.
The structure being yet somewhat weak, attraction of one particle for another was destroyed, and the party dragged down by gravitation to their waists in the cold element below. In the popular language of the day, they were "ducked." and some one of the party believing in names, christened the stream Duck creek. The party continued their exploration. and when the country was spied out returned to their families and cabin homes.
The soil of this part of Mercer county is a rich, black loam of an average depth of about one foot. Coal and stone are present in small quantities. the former of which is inferior in quality and quantity. The soil in early days was very abundant in its production of wheat. William I. Nevius bought a piece of land, and in one crop paid for the land, all expenses connected with its cropping, and had a surplus fund besides. But when we mentiou this fact it should be remembered that land in those days did not command fifty dollars per acre, as it does to-day, hence that fact does not indicate failure in the ability of the soil still to produce abundant harvests. Says William I. Nevius: "corn is the chief product, which, in a good season, yields seventy bushels to the acre." He further says, "wheat is raised, but. from some indefinite cause, the quantity and quality is inferior to that of early years." Grains, cereals, vegetables and fruits of great variety have long been produced from this fertile soil, and for pasturage it is second to none. Water of a superior, cold, pure quality is secured by digging from twelve to forty feet. With all these attractions and promises wisely did the early seeker for such advantages and fortunes accept the proffered gifts of nature and settle upon this spot. No iron ribs had yet been supplied for this part of the old lady "Earth." No great massive iron monster came puffing and rumbling and rushing, hurrying land seekers over plain, among the hills, over stream, or through tunnel at the rate of thirty or fifty miles an hour. Not so came the sturdy, slow plodding, sure pioneer ; but with ox team or horse team, big wagon filled with his family and a very few pieces of furniture, home-made products of genius and a jack knife or an ax, he started to wend his way across endless prairie, through trackless forest, over unbridged stream, through alnost bottomless swamp towards the setting sun, leaving here and there a camp fire burning or its ashes, and after a journey of four to seven weeks halting on this spot for a permanent home in the "great West." Instead of this journey many "drifted" down the Muskingum and Ohio rivers on flat boats, and slowly urged their way up the Miss- issippi river to Oquawka, and later to Keithsburg where they landed their families and goods, then walked or were hauled to their wild homes.
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
The first comers were from Ohio. They settled near Pope creek, in the northern part of the township, giving to the grove of that sec- tion the name of their native state, Ohio. In after years the township was voted the combined appellation, "Ohio Grove." There were ex- plorations made by different ones prior to any settlement. Prior to 1835, a cabin had been thrown together on the northwest corner of Sec. 3, T. 13 N., R. 3 W. of the 4th P. M., but its builder is unknown. This rude hut gave shelter to those who had come to stay. It also be- came the seat of merchandise where William Mackey sold a few sim- ple goods such as a pioneer could buy. This was the first "store."
September 21, 1835, there started from Muskingum county, Ohio, George McPherren, who had buried his wife in Ohio. In his family were : Mary, James, Susanna, Easter, Daniel, Nancy, Fannie, Sarah and George ; Benjamin Decker, the prospective husband of Miss Fannie McPherren; John Walker, husband of Easter McPherren. Some of the family taking sick, a short stay was made at Washington, Illinois. George McPherren, Sr., accompanied by George Long and Matthew Finley pushed on to find a satisfactory location. Mr. Long afterward located in Knox county, and Finley in Henderson. The family made another stay at Little York, where just previous Hughy Martin had been killed by the Indians. Leaving some of the party at the fort, Mr. McPherren, John Walker, Benjamin Decker, and Daniel McPher- ren came to Mercer county and built a log house on the northeast quarter of section 4, in what is now Ohio Grove township. This "lone mansion " of the country was about 16×18, one story, one room. Some rough boards were hauled from Ebenezer Criswell's saw mill, on Eliza creek, at least fifteen miles distant. This was used for floor. The roof was of clapboards, the window of greased paper. Nails had been brought with them, but were used as sparsely as possible. When ready for "dobbing" the weather was so cold that water had to be boiled for mixing the "mud." The following summer the mortar peeled off on account of its having frozen when put on. The new log "castle" was occupied by the family of eight on Christmas day, 1835. This house was furnished with the old "continental bedstead " of two poles, one leg and two sides of the house and clapboards, etc. Stools served as chairs for a number of years. The other furniture, if it ex- isted, was fashioned to correspond. The house stood close to the sec- tion line, one fourth of a mile from the township line. The small log cabin before mentioned, about a mile to the east, was occupied by part of the family in order to hold the claim to the quarter on which it stood. Thus were the first permanent settlers located after a journey of six weeks overland, with all the obstacles and hindrances incident
yours Ever IMBabueno
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OHIO GROVE TOWNSIIIP.
to the times, and their waitings at different places ere a home was found. Where are the McPherrens now? The father sleeps beneath the sod where all must lie. Benjamin Decker is dead, but his wife, Fannie, owns a farm in Ohio Grove. James is near Reynolds, Sarah is in Iowa, Susanna died in Iowa, John Walker is dead, and his wife is Mrs. Boyer, near Viola. George, son of George, owns over 400 acres of land in Ohio Grove.
In the same year, 1835, it is thought George Smith, Richard Rice, James Moore, and William Moore made their advent. John Moore- head, a native of Pennsylvania, but at that time resident of Muskingum county, Ohio, also settled in the MePherren neighborhood in 1835. He died in August, 1836, the first instance of mortality in this new settlement. He had lived on section 2. His wife survived him till 1862 or 1863. In their family were seven children, one of whom was buried in Warren county. The six were pioneers here. But two are living at this writing (May 12, 1882): Mrs. Ashford Hardy and Mrs. George Smith. Both are venerable ladies, examples of women of busy lives from the beginning to the present of this township's history.
There may have been one or two others who came in this year, but if so they are unfortunately unknown to the writer.
The year 1836 witnessed several additions to the little group of Ohio Grove. Ashford Hardy, born in Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1802, moved to Warren county, Illinois, in 1835, and in the following year bought the N. W. { of Sec. 1, T. 13, Mercer county. He married Sophia Moorehead in an early day. He also early purchased a quarter section in what is now Mercer township. He lived on his first purchase till his death, July 18, 1871. His children were : George, Sarah, Elizabeth, Noah, and Delilalı.
James McBride, having heard of the exceeding rich land and the immense quantities of it in Illinois, left Muskingum county, Ohio, early in April, 1836, embarking at Wheeling. He was attracted to Rock Island by reports of the soil, ete., but upon arriving found prices so high, and having a friend. George Jay, at Keithsburg, he determined to land there, which he did. Mr. McBride camped on the N. W. ¿ Sec. 4, T. 13, on May 10. He bought two quarters, the N. W. ¿ Sec. 4, and the N. E. ¿ Sec. 5, T. 13 N., R. 3 W. of the 4th P. M. A small log square had been thrown together by some squatter. Here Mr. McBride brought his family by ox teams furnished by George McPherren and others of the few already here. In his family were wife and five children : John H., Almeda, James C., Elvira J., and Sarah E. Mr. McBride improved his farm, besides his milling enter- prise to be hereafter mentioned. He died November 14, 1847.
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
Samuel Cabeen, with wife and six children, Thomas B., J. W., S. P., R. J., R. B., and Sarah C., emigrated in 1836 overland, transporting themselves and goods in a wagon drawn by a four-horse team. The S. W. } Sec. 6, was laid claim to and afterward bought. On this a cabin 18×22 was erected. A very low loft was provided for a bed- room for the "boys." The roof of clapboards, floor of puncheon, chimney with back wall and jambs of dirt; two doors. Also a six- light window, a rare expenditure, glass lights being unfashionable in those days. Mr. Cabeen and George McPherren each had purchased a sash of six lights at Jack's mill, in Henderson county. This house of Mr. Cabeen's frequently gave shelter to fifteen or twenty persons, who also partook of the cookery of the hostess. The furniture of this house, too, was meager. Two continental bed-spreads down stairs, a bureau brought from the "East," stools in place of chairs, until the following year, when they were displaced by half a dozen split-bottom chairs, the luxury of that day, furnished for company when present, thus necessitating the use of the stools again. The log cabin served for four or five years, when it gave place to a hewn log house 18x18, almost two stories high. This subsequently received a frame addition, which stands to-day, a relic of the past. Samuel Cabeen died May 1, 1856, his wife surviving him till December 6, 1874. The children are spoken of elsewhere. Richard B. owns part of the homestead, his residence being somewhat of a contrast to the first cabin.
Joshua W. and Samuel P. improved large farms, becoming promi- nent in the county's welfare.
William Dilley, now hale and hearty at the date of this writing, a wool carder by trade, shipped his carding machine from Ohio in 1836 to Oquawka, Illinois, by river, and in May of that year came, a young man, to blend his future with that of Mercer county. He remained for some time in the McPherren neighborhood, "boarding and work- ing around." In that summer he raised a cabin on a piece of land in what became Green township, and there brought his machine. He married in 1837. He followed wool carding in Green township till 1848, when he sold and settled in what became Ohio Grove township. Here he has improved his farm in sections 1 and 2.
John Wall and wife, a sister of the elder McPherren, were also very early settlers, living in a cabin on Pope creek. Both died in the neighborhood.
Another sturdy pioneer of 1836 was John II. Brown, who emi- grated with the Cabeens, bringing wife, Mary (McPherren) and six children : Alexander, George, John, Sarah J., James M., William. Ile bought no land for about eighteen months, living the first year
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OIIIO GROVE TOWNSHIP.
near New Boston, then near MeClure's bridge, then entered eighty acres in Ohio Grove in 1838. He was a poor man, but by his won- derful energy finally became the possessor of about a thousand acres. A small piece of the land now owned by William Brown was broken in 1836, on which stood a small log cabin. Says William Brown in that year, 1836, the nearest hog to our house was twenty-three miles dis- tant, so that pork was not a common dish for the first year's table. 'Alexander Brown kept a bachelor's hall for several years. He was the great ox driver of his day. Like his father, he has amassed a large farm.
"A rolling stone gathers no moss." So thought the nucleus of pioneers who settled Ohio Grove. They had come to stay, and stay- ing attracted others. "In union there is strength." All put their hands to the wheel of industry, all aided one another. In trouble sympathy was universal ; in pleasure all participated.
The year 1837 brought new neighbors and good citizens. In the fall of 1836 Thomas Candor and his brother, Robert Candor, made the trip from Pennsylvania to Rock Island, then into Mercer county on horse back. Thomas laid claim to the N. W. ¿ of Sec. 6, T. 13 N., R. 3 W., also the S. W. ¿ of Sec. 7, and cut his name in a large oak standing near what are known as Candor Springs. He then left orders with William Sheriff, of Keithsburg, for the building of a cabin on his farm. The Candors then sold their horses and returned by water to Pennsylvania. Robert died in his native state. In the following year Thomas sold his tannery in Pennsylvania and moved his family of wife and five children, John M., Robert, Josiah, Mary H., and Daniel M., with goods, by one big wagon and a spring wagon with two teams. A part of his goods he shipped by river. East of the Illinois river he bought some stock which was driven through. Arrived in Mercer county, after a short stay in Keithsburg, the family rendezvoused in the log cabin ordered built by Thomas Candor the preceding year. The cabin was 18×18, two-story, the first built in the N. W. of T. 13, and it still stands a relic of bygone times. Could it speak it could tell of many pleasant family circles, friendly hospitalities, merry parties, sacred meetings, as well as burdens and disappointments, and pain and death, followed by tears of bereavement and loss. Mrs. Candor succumbed to the toils of frontier life, dying September 30, 1841, aged forty-two years. Thomas Candor, after a busy life devoted to the good of others as well as himself, died March 13, 1871. The old homestead; owned by Robert Candor, wears a far different aspect from that of forty years ago.
In 1832 William I. Nevins emigrated. to Warren county, Illinois,
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
via the rivers from Ohio. He brought a wife and young children, also some goods with about ten barrels of flour. Flour was a scarce article on the way, and many applications to buy were made but refused. For some reason the party was landed on the Iowa side of the river, near where Keokuk is, by reason of the rapids being so shal- low, being told they would be transferred by a special craft. No craft appeared. Finally leaving the family in the wilderness alone, Mr. Nevius secured passage in a skiff and started in search of some one to haul the family and goods to Monmouth, where his brothers-in-law resided, expecting that by his return all would be conveyed over the river. Finding no settlers he gave word to a man, owner of an infe- rior river craft, that he would push on to Monmouth if necessary to get conveyances. This man delivered the word to Mrs. Nevius, who had taken shelter in a shanty with her four sick children. Imagine yourself, good woman of this decade, in such circumstances! The only cabin within miles. All weird and wild without, and lonely and desolate within, the shadow of night falling as a cloak over all. The real or fancied noise of the approach of wild and savage beasts, or more savage men! The voice at the door calling for admittance and lodging, but sternly and resolutely refused by the heroine within. Anxious to cross the river Mrs. Nevius secured transportation of her goods. She first sent the flour over by the craftsman, who, going home for the night, refused to convey more that day. Next day another load of goods was taken across with the oldest child, small indeed then, to stay with the goods, and a similar postponement of the bal- ance of the work. The mother could see her goods and her child across the water, and must the child remain alone through night in such a place? So said the craftsman. Finally the woman prevailed and the family united on this side the river.
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