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 7

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 904

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 7

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

This, in brief, is a description of the town to-day, with its happy. independent, self-reliant people. Let us turn back to earlier days and trace the work of the hardy pioneers, who bravely struggled to reclaim the land from its native wildness, and plant here the institutions of the more favored east.

To Mr. William Denison and his son John W. belong the honor of planting the first settlement in the township, as well as in the county. They were Pennsylvanians, and came directly from Wayne county. Indiana, having previously lived for a short time in Ohio. They set- tled near the site of the present town of New Boston in 1827, and there lived in close and friendly relations with the Indians who at that time frequented the place. The vicinity offered many attractions to the Indians in the shape of hunting and fishing ; and, indeed, at the pres- ent time it has more than a local celebrity in this respect.

H. W. Denison, a son of John W. Denison, born in 1832, was the first white child born in Mercer county. He is still a resident of New Boston, as is also his mother.

Let the reader pause here a moment and call to aid his imagination in picturing a settlement of this kind. On the one hand a boundless waste of prairie, covered with tall waving grass, which sinks and rises with a billowy motion, as far as the eye can reach. On the other hand the great Father of Waters, spread out in silent majesty, or lashed to fury by the untrammeled winds which sometimes sweep over the plains from the west. Here was to be found the savage in his native wildness. Here he smoked his pipe of peace or hallooed his wild war-dance. And here was started the first settlement of what was to be, at a future time, one of the myriads of fair towns that dot the broad State of Illinois.

The elder Denison had several children besides John W., mention-

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

ed above. Among them were Erastus. James, Joseph, Ezra, Newton and Elmer. . The family of Denisons, individually and collectively, occupied the greater portion of the region bordering on the river, including what is now the town of New Boston.

During the Black Hawk war of 1832, the Denisons left the county, but returned after the close of hostilities. Their being enabled to leave the county uninjured was dne wholly to the warning of friendly Indians. The first of these warnings were not heeded, but at last those Indians with whom they were friendly came and told them that, as they seemed determined to stay and be killed, it was thought best to let the friendly Indians kill them decently. The family concluded that they would take an excursion in preference to staying at home. even though the staying would secure "decent" killing by their friends. The story is told that, after they had left, their Indian friends gathered up all the articles that had been left in the hurry and excitement of the occasion and placed them in the deserted cabin, marking the spot with such signs as would deter other marauding parties from committing any dep- redations. These articles were found on the return of the family, all in good order and nothing missing. A detailed account of the dangers and narrow escapes is given elsewhere.

Mr. Denison's recollections of the manners, customs and traits of the Indians in this vicinity, are curious and interesting. Though exceedingly cruel after the actnal commencement of hostilities, they invariably abstained from any preliminary bloodshedding. When Black Hawk was passing his warriors up the Mississippi, previous to the last campaign of 1832, he came ashore, stopped at Mr. Denison's house, partook of their hospitality, and gnarded the house until the last canoe had passed up the river. They were capable of the strongest sentiments of friendship, and held in lasting remembrance any act of kindness, rewarding the same, sometimes, after the lapse of years. They were strictly honest with those whom they considered honest, and though the Denison family lived among them for years they never suffered a loss from theft or other depredation committed by them.

Immediately after the death of an Indian, the family and friends went into mourning for a length of time proportioned to the dignity of the deceased, which continued day and night until the appointed time had expired. When the sick became conscious of approaching death, they usually selected their own burial place, which was located gener- ally on some commanding eminence, thus enabling the spirit to have a commanding view of the surrounding country, with its more or less busy scenes of warfare or friendly intercourse. In burying the dead, a small amount of food was deposited with the body to last the spirit a

NEW BOSTON TOWNSHIP.

year. This was repeated until the relation of body and spirit was sup- posed to be totally severed ; usually till about the third year. A stran- . ger was disposed of by being wrapped in bark and hoisted among the branches of some commanding tree. From this fact doubtless arose the supposition that this style was a mode of burial among some of the tribes.

Black Hawk is described as a short, thick-set individual, who was the war chief, while his associate, Keokuk, was a peace chief. Although knowing the superior power of the whites, he made war relying on the help of the Great Spirit to sustain the right. Ile was taught by bitter experience, as many another has been, the time when "right shall triumph over might" is still in the future.

From Mrs. Margaret Denison, widow of John W. Denison, who was one of the original settlers at the Upper Yellow Banks, we have derived the following information, here given almost in her own words :

William Denison, and his son John W. Denison, with their fam- ilies, came from Connersville, Ind., to Springfield, Ill .. in 1826. In 1827 both families came to this county, arriving on the 20th of April. and made settlement at New Boston. They were the first white settlers in Mercer county. A week afterward John Vannatta arrived and lo- cated his home on the present site of Keithsburg. His brother Benja- min came two or three years later to the same place. The Denisons pitched their home on the river bank, half a mile below New Boston. where they started and kept a wood yard for supplying steamboats. They lived opposite the old graveyard. William Denison made a claim in that place, and John Denison took the present site of New Boston. Until the Black Hawk war they planted their garden close to where Dr. Willits' house stands, in rear of the Union hotel. The soil was a rich mold on which vegetables flourished ; but it was blown off by the winds, and is now only a bleak sand ridge.

The Indians called this locality "Upper Yellow Banks." From the time of their settlement here till the spring of 1831. the Denisons lived in perfect peace with the Saes and Foxes. Only occasionally did a Winnebago Indian show himself in these parts. The men of this tribe were large, tall, broad-shouldered, and superior in stature to the Sacs and Foxes, and spoke a different dialect. The Indians dwelt here in great numbers.

In the spring of 1831 the friendly Indians, who belonged to Keo- kuk's band, told the whites at the Upper Yellow Banks that there was going to be war, and urged them to depart to a place of safety among their own people, or to go with them and they would secure them from harm. Keokuk was living on the lowa river ; he said he was going to

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

build a town, and tried to persuade them to come to his settlement, promising to give them full protection, but they declined to go, feeling that. if they must leave their homes, it would be better to be among their kindred race.

The only settlers at this place at that time were the Denisons, and Daniel S. Witter and wife, and his hired man, named Twist. A cap- tain coming down the river from Rock Island brought word that an outbreak was imminent, and all these persons were taken on board his steamer and carried to Nauvoo. After a sojourn there of two months they returned, but found their corn, which was up large enough to be cultivated when they went away, all destroyed, and not an ear was raised that year. Witter and Twist never came back. The latter had taken a claim and was cutting wood.

Concerning the troubles of this year. it is recorded in the Atlas Map of Mercer county. that after the whites "had been moved to Fort Edwards, now Warsaw, the friendly or 'pet' Indians assembled on the deserted premises, gathered up all the articles of their friends that had been left in the hurry and excitement of the occasion, stored them safely away in the loft of the house. closed the doors securely, and put a mark upon them well understood by the tribes. When the family returned home not an article was missing."

Against this recreation of fancy stands the trustworthy statement of old Mother Denison, that they left behind a part of their movable effects, as dishes, books, soap, chairs, chickens, and that such goods as they could they buried ; but the despoilers carried off everything. Her lady's saddle was found with the plush covering taken off and the skirts cut into strips. Mrs. Denison complained to Keokuk of the loss of this, and when he went to St. Louis, he bought another and gave her.

At that time there was not business enough on the upper Mississippi to call for a special class of boats. The furnishing of wood to these boats was a considerable business. About $3 per cord was paid.

The Denisons all conversed readily in the Indian language, having learned it after their settlement on the river. The Indians could talk but little in English.

Early in 1832 a council of war was held at New Boston. This was attended by Black Hawk, Keokuk, and some 3,000 followers. Black Hawk came down the Mississippi, and Keokuk down the Iowa river, on which he was living. New Boston was a central point, and the general rendezvous on grave or mirthful occasions. The council was held on the site of the town, beneath some scattering trees. The Denisons were present and heard the speeches of the two chiefs. Keokuk spoke first. His counsel was pacific. He told his people that a war with the

NEW BOSTON TOWNSHIP.

whites would be wasteful, hopeless, disastrous ; that they were as numerous as the trees of the Mississippi valley, and could not be con- quered. Black Hawk sullenly closed his ears with his fingers, and refused to hear what was said. He followed in a speech for war. He said the whites had stolen his land ; that his father was buried at Rock Island, and his desire was to be laid among his ancestors.

These two men were strikingly dissimilar in personal appearance. Keokuk was large, of fine person, noble bearing, neat in dress, and went appareled like a white man, in fine blue broadcloth. Black Hawk was a heavy set man, not tidy like Keokuk, and wrapped his muscular form in his blanket, though sometimes he was seen to wear a coat.

Once more the Denisons were urged by their red friends to aban- don their home. They were told that war was decided upon, and that to remain was to court certain death. They were on familiar and friendly ternis with the savages, and their experiences of the year before did not make them hasty subjects of fright. When they asked why the war was not begun when threatened the first time, the Indians replied that they were not ready then ; that they submitted to the situ- ation to gain time : but that they were now fully prepared for war.

The Denisons hesitated about departing three or four days, and all the while the Indians showed a truly anxious interest in their safety and did not relax their exertions to induce them to go away to a white set- tlement. Keokuk, who was employing all his influence to prevent his followers from joining the war party, promised them protection if they would come and live with him. Appearing still to be determined not to forsake their homes, an Indian calling himself Captain Pepo, who seemed to have a solemn concern about their respectable extermination, came to them and with all the fidelity of a friend urged them to go, telling them that the young warriors who would come would roughly insult and barbarously murder and mutilate them, and that to save them from so painful and humiliating treatment, if they would not leave for a place of safety, "he would come and kill them decently !" After this, discovering moccasin tracks among their garden-beds, they concluded that the savages were prowling around, and thought it no longer safe to tarry in the neighborhood. They were living about half a mile down the river, where the woodyard was, and opposite where the graveyard now is. Taking most of their goods, they began their removal one morning, and went down to Pence's Fort, which consisted of some block-honses, and was situated four miles northeast of Oquawka.

Having at the time nearly 150 cords of wood at the yard, the two sons of the senior Denison, William and Erastus, were left behind to

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

cord up what was not piled, and to sell as much as they could to the steamboats. In the turn that affairs took, this wood was all lost.

A Frenchman by the name of Pentacosa, who called himself Coty, had a trading house at New Boston, and that evening the young Den- isons went up to stay with him. In the night the Indians surrounded the premises and assaulted the building ; the three inmates escaped by the back way, and gliding swiftly but cautiously down to the edge of the river, followed along precipitately under the bank, the Indians coming behind and whooping with vengeance. The fleeing men waded the Edwards at the mouth, and then struck for Pope creek, at a point where it was spanned by a foot-log, five miles distant. At this point a dog in pursuit closed up with them and Erastus Denison shot him. The Indians were last heard here, about a quarter of a mile back, and it is supposed they threw up the chase at the creek. The party con- tinued their flight apprehensive of pursuit until ".Coty " gave out and was secreted by his companions in the tall grass. in a sink or basin. The two men now went forward as rapidly as the darkness of night would allow, and arrived at Pence's at two in the morning, having accomplished the flight of sixteen miles since nightfall. At daylight the men at the stockade turned out to go for the Frenchman, and when he had been safely brought in they went up the river together in boats to the Upper Yellow Banks, and brought away all his goods from the trading post. Two squaws were found sitting in the house, having been stationed there to take care of the place and prevent its being despoiled.

After peace was made and the families returned, the Indians affected to have much sport in telling the Denison boys that in their flight they made the brush crack as if they had been bucks.

Not being satisfied with their confinement at the fort, the Denisons, a week later, went to Monmouth to stay. Jolin Denison bought a house and a small piece of ground, and lived there through the summer. In the fall they came back to New Boston in time to put up hay for winter. William Denison returned to his old place on the river, but John went back two miles, where he made a farm. Mrs. Denison had three small children, and that fall she stayed alone with the children in her house a week, while her husband went back to Monmouth to get his corn and potatoes. Mother Denison was a brave woman and felt no alarm, though she heard the guns of the Indian hunters as they were fowling, and her husband's absence was prolonged several days beyond expectation.

The same day that the Denisons left the Upper Yellow Banks, Benjamin Vannatta, who was living at Keithsburg, loaded up his goods

NEW BOSTON TOWNSHIP.

at night and drove out on the prairie and remained in a low place, going from there next day to the fort.

Just before hostilities ended a party of seven Indians penetrated the country as far as Little York, and creeping up on a young man named Martin, who was mowing on the prairie, all fired upon him at once and shot him dead. They afterward said that they could have killed many more, but being acquainted with them, and having been fed and warmed by them, they were deterred from taking their lives. Unfortunately, Martin was a stranger who had never had the privilege of bestowing a favor. A company of rangers was raised that summer at Monmouth. and this command scoured the country between Oquawka, New Boston and Monmouth. A detachment of these was sent out after this prowl- ing band and pursued them so close that they threw away everything in their flight, and escaped across the Mississippi.

When Black Hawk returned from his tour to Washington, he had the candor to tell his people that Keokuk was right in his estimate of the strength and number of the whites, and assured them that instead of being as numerous as the trees of the Mississippi valley they were as numberless as the trees and the leaves together. -

William Denison had a very handsome daughter by the name of Julia, about fifteen years old, for whom the savages conceived a great fancy and to buy whom they exhausted every means. Mother Den- ison cannot remember the offers that were made by her savage admirers, but thinks that they at one time brought thirty ponies. They came several times to urge a bargain. That young lady is now the wife of Judge Ephraim Gilmore, of Aledo. .

Nancy Denison, daughter of John Denison (now Mrs. William Willett, of Keithsburg), was another white child whom the savages were bent on possessing, and several times attempted to kidnap. The squaws would pick her up and wrap her in a blanket, but before they could get away the vigilant watch dog would discover their movements. and assailing them furiously, compel them to leave her. They were often at the house, and by making much of her, and giving her presents, had artfully won her childish confidence so that she was greatly pleased at the prospect of going with them. She learned to converse in the Indian as early as in her own tongue.

All the Indians drank whisky. When they went on a spree two or more kept sober to take care of the others. When any got trouble- some and ungovernable, these would bind them till they recovered themselves.

Mrs. Denison is living in New Boston at the age of eighty.

In 1833 Wm. Drury came to this vicinity and made a claim near

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

the bluffs. At the first glance he felt convinced he had found "God's: country, " and he has never felt that he made a mistake in so estimating it. At that time there were but four distinct white families in the township.

Very soon after this, as the richness of the soil became tested, set- tlers began to come in rapidly. At about the same time land specula- tors from the east also turned their attention to this locality. The inordinate cupidity of these speculators often involved them in bitter contests with the settlers. As soon as the lands were surveyed and came into market, the settlers, in order to compete more successfully with the speculators. were in the habit of forming a ring around the land office, and endeavoring to keep out the "land sharks, " as they were called, by physical strength. Nearly all the land sold in this locality, was sold from the government land office in Galena. The settlers usually ap- pointed some one person to attend the land sale and bid off the several lots upon which they had made claims. The settlements mere made principally along the river, the settlement of the upland country being regarded as an absurdity.

In 1834 Wm. Wilson made a settlement. During this year the- number of settlers increased so rapidly as to cause great inconvenience in some parts of the country on account of the great extent of territory embraced in the jurisdiction of Warren county.

In September of this year, 1834, the town of New Boston was laid out (the first of any in the county). The land, as has been previous- ly stated, was owned originally by Wm. Denison. He sold out his claim. or two-thirds of it, to Elijah Iles. of Springfield, and Edward Bur- rall. of Massachusetts. An honor attaches to it of more than usual importance from the fact that the surveying was done by Abraham Lincoln, the Martyr President of the United States. The site possessed peculiar natural advantages, and had been known as the upper Yellow Banks. the Lower Yellow Banks being located at Oquawka. To say that site was more favorable for a city than any other point for miles either way is certainly no discredit to the larger cities that have since been founded and hold populations largely in excess of New Boston. Situ- ated opposite the mouth of the Iowa river, which is a navigable stream for some distance ; located on high banks. without the inconvenience of bluff's in the rear ; with Sturgeon Bay as a safe and commodious har- bor ; a rich agricultural country surrounding it, and no large city with- in a great distance ; what more natural than to suppose it simply a question of time when it should be the city of the west ! The thought- ful reader will undoubtedly satisfy himself why these expectations were- not fulfilled as he peruses the subsequent history.

NEW BOSTON TOWNSHIP'.

In 1835 the legislature passed an act erecting the new county of Mercer, and appointing New Boston as the tempoary county seat. By the provisions of the act an election was directed to be held on the first Monday in April, 1835, in the town of New Boston at the house of Eli Reynolds. Thirty seven votes were deposited for county officers.

S. V. Prentiss located here during this year, as did also Mr. Ed. Drury and M. L. Willits. They are all living in the township at present and have been since their settlement here.

About 1835 a school was organized at the bluff about four miles east of New Boston. This was also the first school-house in Mercer county. The first school teacher was the Hon. Geo. W. Julian, since that time almost countless numbers of teachers have been engaged in the work in the town ; but perhaps the most prominent and deserving of mention is the name of Simeon P. Smith. Hardly a man now living in the vicinity but knows personally or by hearsay of his good work as an educator. Of him Dr. Thomas Willitts says : "Among the aims and interests of human life, opening wide the avenues to independent thought and efficient intellectuality is paramount, and he who has been successful as an educator, is most truly a benefactor.

Having lived long, and been an interested observer of human pro- gress in many of its phases, I can most conscienciously say that no other instance has come under my notice in which so much was achieved in common schools in the same time (short or long) as was done by my friend Simeon L. Smith in the town of New Boston and vicinity (begining about forty years since), in awakening the latent possibilities of the infant mind.

The causes and reasons for his singular and marked success in school were no doubt many ; perhaps some that were peculiar and purely intellectual.

But he seemed to form a clear and correct judgment quickly of the capacity of each pupil, and of their home discipline, and was so intensely earnest himself that his feeling and action seemed contagious. He seemed to know just what a pupil could do, or should do. and was careful to know that it was done, or to require a suitable reason why it was not. If one in a class failed, he seemed to know whether idleness or ina- bility was the cause, and promptly used the appropriate remedy. Even- ings, mornings, Saturdays ; indeed, any unoccupied time the class, or the pupil, or any number that he deemed required awakening aid, were called to the residence of some employer, his boarding place, or the school- house, where the appropriate exercises, instructions or questions were presented. Prompt and absolute obedience of every scholar seemed a prerequisite, and understanding every principle in the branches.

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

taught himself, knew the cause of failure or embarrassment, and lifted or led the pupil so gently into the light that he was impressed that he had found it himself. Scholars thus energized went on and up to greater and more successful efforts, opening wider the way to greater at- tainments in the more advanced and progressive series of scholarly developements. Every pupil under his teaching for a few years is now easily distinguished from the mass in this, that they are good spellers, good readers, and prompt, ready and accurate mathematicians, all achieved by a thorough, clear, and logical mental analysis of the problem, ever making their own rules, and never committing those of another. Of his religious sentiments I can say that he was an admirer of puritanie rigidity in the observances of an ideal straight edge, as a gnide in re- ligions and moral duties. If not an apologist for its bigotry of the inspira- tional claim for or of the bible, he said or cared little, but ever observed, applauded and advocated the clearly marked moral duties as expressed by the life and precepts of Jesus, with little or no respect for the cere- monies and formalities of the churches, regarding them as figments of catholicity that the world would be the better for losing.

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Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co. Number of Pages: 904

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 904