USA > Illinois > Mercer County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 13
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 13
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In 1847 a series of elections having taken place, the ultimate choice for the county seat fell to Keithsburg. Donations from the citizens in and around the place were nearly, if not fully, sufficient to build the court-house. Keith gave half of the fractional tract known as Keith's first addition, which was shortly after laid out (January 12, 1848), and then the division of blocks was made by alternate choice. Those fall- ing to the county were subdivided into lots, which were sold and the proceeds applied to the erection of the court-house ; but Keith did not commence the sale of his for some years. The first term, and several subsequent ones of the circuit court, after the removal of the seat of justice, were held in Willett's warehouse, which use in various ways became a public convenience. The court-house was built on the secluded campus covering four-fifths of block 7, and all that part lying within the addition. It was finished at the end of the summer of 1851, and was considered a building that the county might be proud of in its infancy, though its squat appearance called out the malicious remark that it might be mistaken for a church. It is a one-story brick, 40×50 feet on the foundation.
Col. Patterson having wound up his business here in 1846, William Willett, who emigrated in 1838 and had just settled in the town this year, started up in the grain trade in the warehouse in which he and Patterson held joint ownership. When the latter transferred his interest to Burr P. McConaha, in 1849, the two formed a short-lived partnership, the last-named withdrawing early in 1850 and joining the emigration to California. Willett then leased the building for one year to Willits & Doughty and accepted a situation in their service. Next year Willits, who was the heavy member of the firm, and had stocked the house and sent Doughty down from New Boston, where both lived, to manage the business, sold out to A. B. Sheriff, William Willett and J. W. Doughty, and these men carried on business together a few years, Doughty finally selling to his partners. The
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
partnership of Sheriff & Willett lasted till 1864, when the latter retired just in time to save himself from the prodigious decline in prices following the close of the war, which overtook his partner and swamped him, as had been the issue with nearly all of the tradesmen in the crisis of 1857. The building was used for grain storage till about 1875, and from that time as a livery until January 20, 1879, at which date it was burned down. Thus disappeared the original land- mark in which the real business history of Keithsburg had birth. Phelps & Brewer occupied it, but the loss, reaching $1,000, fell upon Willett.
Dropping back to 1850, we find trade and industry in lively growth and activity, and the other attributes of townhood multiplying in social, benevolent and literary organizations. Before railroads came into use produce was hauled to the Illinois and Mississippi rivers ; and prior to the construction of the Illinois & Michigan canal farmers went all the way to Chicago from this and adjoining counties with ox and horse teams to sell a little grain and pork, and to bring back a few store goods. Some of the pioneers who toiled in this manner are still living, and we have heard them say that the expenses of a trip were sometimes greater than the receipts. In point of business Oquawka was the senior of Keithsburg by a number of years, but now she had a spirited rival which was diverting a generous share of her hitherto large trade.
October 16th Col. Patterson published in Oquawka the first num- ber of the "Oquawka Spectator and Keithsburg Observer," this title being confined to the inside of the sheet, and the "Observer " depart- ment to the third page. The Keithsburg editor was James W. Doughty, of the mercantile firm of Doughty & Willits.
At this time there were two places of public entertainment : the Calhoun House, built by John Moore in 1850, and kept by H. G. Calhoun ; and the Keithsburg House, with J. B. McConaha as land- lord.
A division of the Sons of Temperance was in a flourishing state, and in the early spring of 1852 "Star Union" of the Daughters of Temperance came to its support in the same beneficent work.
Late in the season a debating society was formed by some of the leading men for mental culture and entertainment during the winter, the most active being Robert Keith, John C. Pepper, B. C. Taliaferro, N. C. Adams, R. C. Cabeen, O. C. Allen and Dr. E. L. Marshall.
At the opening of the packing season James A. Noble put in oper- ation his large, new slaughter-house, and about the same time Gayle finished an additional warehouse. Next spring Noble began selling the first drugs.
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KEITHSBURG TOWNSHIP.
A little later occurred the remarkable flood of 1851. The water began rising near the end of May, and on the 29th was encroaching upon the streets ; it continued to spread until it reached nearly to Fifth street, when it was standing over the lower part of the town from four to seven feet in depth, according to the inequalities of the surface. In the main quarter the ground has since been raised four feet by filling. The river kept up at its highest stage until the 11th of June, when it commenced falling slowly. The "Observer" of that date said : "Our town is flooded. Goods and household furniture on platforms and second floors. We share the fate of our neighbors." It adds that the Mississippi covers the country from seven to ten miles in width 1,800 miles above its mouth. Rafts circulated in the streets in the course of business ; and the row and sail boats Kate and Fawn went about the town by moonlight, bearing "lovely women and brave men," in pleasuring and serenading parties. The river was not within its banks again till after the 20th. This rise was compared to those of 1844 and 1828, and it is said surpassed them.
The high water of October, 1881, rose within a few inches of the same mark. Half a mile of the railroad track was submerged ; and skiff's tied up on Second street. There was a notable freshet the previ- ous June, and also one the preceding year.
July 15, 1852, by a vote of the citizens, Keithsburg became a corporate town under the general incorporation law; and on Monday, the 26th, the first board of trustees was elected, consisting of William Willett, J. J. Wordin, T. B. Cabeen, Alexander Davis and N. B. Partridge.
The same year William Gayle built a steam saw mill on Pope creek, where the railroad bridge crosses, and sold it to John H. Mar- shall & Co., by whom, in 1856, it was converted into a flouring mill. Subsequently it was known as the Ogden mill, and was burned after a few years. The second saw mill was built by Ender & Eckly at the foot of Van Buren street. This was burned down, and they immedi- ately built another, which was run unsuccessfully some three years, when, being abandoned to creditors, it was bought by William D. Smith, who moved it to Jackson street, between Eighth and Ninth, where it was used for planing and sawing out dimension and hardwood lumber. The next saw mill was removed in 1857, or the year after, to the foot of Jackson street, by Alexander Frick, it having been first put up on John E. Willit's land to saw ties and timbers for the Warsaw & Rockford railroad. It was leveled by fire in 1859.
The fourth saw mill is the one standing at the foot of Van Buren street, on the site of the Ender & Eckly mill, and was built about 1865
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
by Smith & Hersey. It was the largest mill in the county when built, and was run with profit, employing some thirty-five men, till 1872, since which time it has not been operated, except in a small way. James C. Stevens erected a grist mill on Eighth street, between Main and Washington, about 1864. This was never a success, and was dis- mantled between 1877 and 1879. The Elevator Flour Mills were put into the Rife warehouse on Second street, at the foot of Washington, by W. D. Smith, in 1868. This building was consumed January 1, 1878.
About 1855 a distillery was erected on the river, in Mechanics" addition, by W. L. Matthews and O. C. Richardson. After operating it a year they sold it to William Gayle. . Through his failure it passed out of his hands in 1857, and was idle till Benjamin Phelps became the. owner. He ran it very successfully three years and sold it to Pickering. Stewart and Colvin each owned it afterward, and finally Mason & Crosby, of Chicago, who refitted it at large expense, when it was burned down in 1872, before they had put it in operation. It was insured for the sum of $10,000. This distillery was not exempt from certain infirmities of transaction which was common to the distiller's. business after the war had induced the high tax on spirits.
In 1880 C. A. & L. L. Mertz erected a saw and planing mill at the base of the sand bluff in Keith's first addition, which they are now operating in conjunction with their lumber trade.
In July, 1853, the ferry boat Dove, owned by Seth H. Redmon, began making daily trips between Keithsburg and Huron and Prairie: Point. The same proprietor was "running the swift, staunch and capacious steam ferry boat Iowa," three years later.
Mr. Gayle erects a large two-story packing house in 1853. Keithis- burg is in the middle of the period of its greatest growth, which extended from 1850 to 1856, and two more additions are laid out : Keith's second, April 1, and Sheriff & Cabeen's, June 3. The country for thirty-five miles back was tributary to this point, which was. becoming, and soon became, the leading produce market above St. Lonis. Trade got to be immense for a town of so moderate size. One "big day" in February, 1854, 250 teams were counted in the town, and it was believed that 300 had been in from the country. Of this- number eighty rentained over night. Gayle & Co. and Noble & Bro. were the packers at this date. In the following autumn the first- named firm erected a slaughter house near the steam mill. It might be well to say that the first packing done in the place was by Noble & Gayle in the winter of 1846-7. Gore & Gamble began business in the spring of 1854. The latter retired at the end of two years and Mr. Gore remained in trade till after the war.
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KEITHSBURG TOWNSHIP.
The storekeepers and produce dealers in 1855 were W. Gayle & Co., A. Rife, Sheriff & Willett, B. P. Frick & Co., Gore & Gamble and P. T. Hughes. . Three of these firms were doing the packing at the close of the year.
At this period goods were sold on long credit, a year's time. After a day of large sales hardly money enough could be found in the drawer to take the salesmen to a show. At the end of the year debtors settled their accounts by note. Many of these ran one, two and three years, and some are running yet. For ten years from 1850, when the popu- lation of the county was 5,300, the country east of Keithsburg, like all parts of the west, settled up rapidly. The settlers were generally men of small means, who depended upon the heavy dealers for money to make payments on their land, expecting and engaging to discharge these second obligations with their crops. It was the custom of Messrs. Gayle and Rife to advance large sums in this way, and they often took the risk of crippling their own credit by these accommodations. The necessities of trade also required that the more extensive tradesmen should buy their patrons' grain and hogs, and these two kinds of busi- ness, dissevered now, naturally fitted together then as parts of the same system. Accordingly the heavy merchants combined a warehouse and slanghtering business with merchandising.
A few statistics will show the growth and amount of business better than any other form of statement. From the first of October, 1850, to the first of October, 1851, the shipments of grain purchased here amounted to 169,366 bushels of wheat, corn and oats, besides some meat and other products. In the same time there were received 4072 tons of merchandise. February 24, 1852, 3,176 bushels of grain were taken in, "this being no more than an average day for the last. ten. The receipts for the week ending the 28th exceeded 20,000 bushels."
During the packing season of 1854-5 there were slaughtered 6,852 hogs by the several packers, as follows : William Gayle & Co., 4,790; A. Rife, 1,064; J. A. Noble, 853; and W. H. Ungles, 145.
Between May 10 and June 14, 1856, there were shipped 48,231 pieces of bulk pork, 374 barrels of pork, 75 casks of hams, 344 sacks. of hair and 250 sacks of potatoes. From May 10 to October 11 the aggregate amount of grain taken on board here (in addition to heavy shipments in April) reached 108,291 sacks, or 270,727 bushels. During the two weeks ending October 11 the shipments by the various firms were as follows: William Gayle & Co., 16,162 sacks; A. Rife, 10,284 ; B. P. Frick & Co., 3,536; W. H. Ungles, 7,018; and Sheriff & Willett, 2,054.
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
The largest single shipment ever made was 33,000 bushels of corn by William Gayle, in April of the present year (1882). The total receipts at this market between the opening of navigation in 1881 and the same time this year were 550,000 bushels.
The first shipment ever made from here was by Thomas B. Cabeen, March 25, 1842, and consisted of about 1,400 bushels of wheat in 437 barrels. The grain was raised by himself and his father in Ohio. Grove township, and was transported by the steamer Huntsville, which was a week making the passage to St. Louis.
In 1855 Mr. Gayle erected the three-story brick structure, now the Larue House, on the corner of Main and Second streets, for a store, and the next year put up the addition on the west. The same year B. F. Gruwell built a three-story brick addition to his hotel on the corner of Main and Third streets where Whiting's store stands. The main part was also brick, and from September, 1850, until it became the property of Mr. Gruwell in 1852, it was conducted by H. G. Cal- houn. The entire establishment was destoyed by fire in February, 1860.
Among the earlier and better residences we note as landmarks the first brick building in the place, the small house put up by Robert Keith in 1846, on Fourth street, adjoining the Commercial House ; the wing of C. S. Orth's house by J. A. Noble in 1849, and the two-story front subsequently added by him ; Gayle's in 1850-51; Ellett's in 1853 ; T. B. Cabeen's in 1854 ; Rife's in 1855, and Keith's new brick in 1856.
The Central House was built for a residence by Oliver Ross, in 1856, and next year it was enlarged by G. J. Ross. At one time it was the Beasley House.
The Commercial House was erected in 1849 by Matthew R. Patter- son, for a private residence. In 1850 he conveyed it to S. S. Phelps, and then went to California, where he died. Seven years ago it was opened as a public house by the present proprietor, David N. Wolfe. Ile was born in Wayne county, Indiana, February 27, 1833, and is the son of Jacob and Mary (Yount) Wolfe. In 1852 he came to Mercer county, looking for a place for settlement. He soon returned to Indiana and made arrangements to remove and permanently inhabit this county, and in 1855 carried out this plan. His first loca- tion was in New Boston township, where he engaged in farming. In September, 1861, he enlisted in company G, 30th Ill. Inf., and carried a gun in his country's service nearly four years. After his "veteran" re-enlistment he was appointed second sergeant, but very soon was commissioned captain of his company by Gov. Yates. He was hon- orably mustered out of the army at Louisville. On his return he
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KEITHSBURG TOWNSHIP.
began doing a mercantile business, but in a little while was compelled by loss of eyesight to abandon it. He went to Chicago for treatment, which resulted in partial recovery. Since 1875 he has been keeping the Commercial. On March 4, 1857, he was married to Miss Mary J., . daughter of John and Sarah (Campbell) Willits. She was born in the same county that he himself was, October 17, 1833, and was brought to Mercer county in her infancy. Gertrude, Josephine and Sarah E. are their children.
The following list is believed to contain about all the tradesmen and mechanics whose length of residence or business importance enti- tles them to mention. The dates cover the term of their residence in the town ; while many of them are exact, some are only approxi- mately so, and a very few may be found wider still of the correct mark :
1838-82. J. J. Wordin. 1848-75. Francis Stebinger.
1839-49. David Bowen. 1848-80. B. D. Ellett.
1840-59. G. J. Ross.
1848-56. L. W. Thompson.
1840-77. C. C. Wordin.
1848-56. John S. Thompson.
1842-56. James Garner. 1848-81. B. C. Taliaferro.'
1844-82. H. G. Calhoun. 1848. Richard Rice.
1845-6. J. B. Patterson.
1849-82. Mrs. E. Smith.
1845-50. Matthew R. Patterson.
1849-82. William D. Smith.
1845-82. T. B. Cabeen.
1849-73. Wilford J. Ungles.
1846-57. James Patterson.
1849-58. R. C. Cabeen.
1846-82. William Gayle.
1849-82. Thomas Freeman.
1846-62. James A. Noble.
1849-69. John C. Pepper.
1846-56. Jonathan Judah.
1849-82. James C. Stevens.
1850-56. John W. Noble.
1846. Mrs. J. A. Hubbell.
1850-54. James W. Doughty.
1846-82. Abraham Rife.
1846-82. William Willett.
1846-79. Daniel Keith.
1850-82. Dr. E. L. Marshall.
1850-82. Dr. A. P. Willits.
1846-51. Dr. S. S. Gruber.
1850-60. Truman Lord.
1847-8. E. F. Barstow.
1850-56. Thomas Morehead.
1847-8. Wm. R. Robinson. 1851-S. W. L. Matthews.
1847-82. A. B. Sheriff.
1851-2. R. H. Spicer.
1847-59. Levi Butterfield.
1852-3. William Hawkins.
1847-51. Dr. David Campblell.
1852-4. John W. Ditto.
1847-60. Dr. A. B. Campbell. 1852-6. J. C. Cabeen.
1847-68. N. B. Partridge.
1852-82. J. A. Swezy.
1850-58. John H. Marshall.
1850-67. Joseph Harvey.
1846-82. A. F. Glover.
1846-65. I. J. Mitehell.
1850-72. John'T. Calhoun.
1846-82. II. G. Calhoun.
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
1852-62.ª David Harvey.
1857-68. Jolın Beavens.
1852-68. J. S. Pinkerton.
1857-82. Jacob Wolf.
1852-60. Argilleous Swindler. 1858. M. B. Cox.
1852-82. B. F. Gruwell.
1858-82. Dennis Murto.
1853-73. C. C. Matlock.
1858-82. C. S. Orth.
1853-72. Philip Coonrod.
1858-66. John P. Reed.
1853-71. S. H. Redmon.
1858-63. C. P. Elder.
1853-82. Chas. J. Simpson.
1858-67. T. L. Greenhow.
1853-68. Josephus Wade.
1858-65. Margaret Hughes.
1853-78. R. M. Eddington.
1858-82. C. O'Leary.
1853-82. John Thomson.
1858-82. Jacob Wolf.
1853-82. R. C. Humbert.
1859-64. Alexander Holland.
1854-72. Philip Gore.
1859-72. O. Holland.
1854-64. M. J. O'Brien.
1859-82. Dr. Samuel Kelly.
1854-78. Dr. Joseph Ogden.
1859-82. John Kaufman.
1854-7. J. W. Elrick.
1859-82. E. Pritz.
1854-82. G. W. Whiting.
1859-82. Jacob Abraham.
1854-82. Thomas Souster.
1860-65. Washington Wolf.
1854-80. Walter J. Pepper.
1860-56. John F. Gurley.
1854-67. E. D. W. Coville.
1860-S2. W. L. Range.
1854-82. Branson Brewer.
1860-82. George F. Parsons.
1855-63. P. T. Hughes.
1860-82. Hugh Campbell.
1855-82. C. S. Frick.
1861-75. J. H. T. Madden.
1855-9. Richard Reese.
1862-82. Mrs. Isaac Manus.
1855-72. Joseph Thompson.
1862-4. Edwin S. Stockton.
1855-71. . C. Lellyenberg.
1863-82. Joseph Venable.
1856-80. Andrew Frazier.
1863-70. William Home.
1856-69. S. M. Evans.
1864-79. Gilbert Brewer.
1856-82. J. C. Humphreys.
1864-82. P. Buford.
1856-82. C. A. Frick.
1864-82. W. Mellinger.
1856-82. Robert McKnight.
1864-73. C. W. Taliaferro.
1856-62. Luther T. Ball.
1864-82. Henry Mellinger.
1857-78. Dr. C. S. Hollingsworth. 1864-82. David H. Wolfe.
1857-62. Thomas Hardin.
1865-82. William Dempster.
1857-70. L. A. Ender.
1865-82. Dr. E. Rathburn.
1857-60. Charles Eckly. 1865-82. C. A. Mertz.
1857-82. Benijah Lloyd.
1865-82. L. L. Mertz.
1857-60. Robert Gray.
1866-82. W. H. Phares.
1857-82. William L. Millman. 1866-82. A. H. Eby.
1857-82. William Deterline.
1867-76. Merrick A. Weaver.
1855-82. B. P. Frick.
1861-82. William Kolkenbeck.
1855-7. I. N. Bassett.
1862-6. C. W. Cilley.
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KEITHSBURG TOWNSHIP.
1867-82. F. P. Burgett.
1875-82. C. G. Slocumb.
1868-82. James D. Clark.
1875-82. John Helwig.
1869-82. S. L. Long.
1879-82. G. B. Sapp.
1869-82. H. L. Long.
1880-82. John Dunn.
1870-82. Milton Anderson. - -- 82. Tom Marshall. .
The third addition to the town, called Mechanics addition was laid off June 10, 1854, by J. B. Stockton. A. B. Sheriff laid out another November 5, 1855 ; Keith's third addition was platted May 21, 1861, and his fourth October 17, 1863; Ender and Stockton's October 26, 1863; and Ender's May 9, 1857. Upper Keithsburg, which is a mere hamlet, was surveyed on section 13 by C. S. Richey in the summer of 1857 for Johalon Tyler and T. B. Cabeen.
A man named Larue was the first blacksmith. James Heaton, who came in 1848, was the second. He burned his charcoal in Main street opposite Dennis Murto's present residence. Thomas Hendricks, O. C. Allen, and another by the name of Pierce were early smiths.
Wm. Brewer started the first cooper shop, and his place was taken by Philip Forward. Jacob Cooper had the next, and Nelson Green also worked some time at the trade.
The first barber was a man named Folder, who set up the striped pole in 1854.
NEWSPAPERS.
Owing to the reason that, with a single exception, files of Keiths- burg newspapers have not been preserved, we are obliged to confess our inability to give a full account of the publishing business. As stated on a former page, Col. Patterson of the "Oquawka Spectator" introduced into his paper a Keithsburg department under the title of "Observer." This was begun October 16, 1850, and continued till the spring of 1856, when he was persuaded by the very liberal and confident promises of Mr. Keith and others to found the "Keithsburg Observer." He went to New York and purchased a press and office material at an outlay of $1,300, and on April 23 issued the first number of his paper. Some five hundred patrons were enrolled on the subscription list - not more than half the number anticipated by the too sanguine promoters of the enterprise. Business men were liberal in advertising patronage, and after a useful existence of over a year under Col. Pat- terson, the paper, cleverly avoiding during that time partisan politics and religious dogmatisms, was sold by him to William R. Calhoon, the last issue under the original proprietorship being August 15, 1857. In the summer of 1858 Calhoon changed the title of the paper to "Mercer County Democrat," and at the same time changed it from an
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
independent to a democratic sheet. He was a good printer but bad financier, and this transition was one rather of necessity than of in- clination, for he was from this time simply the publisher while the editorial columns were exclusively under the control of a committee. The paper now ceased measurably (and during the political canvass of that year, when the intellectual gladiators, "Honest Abe " and the "Little Giant," went up and down the state discussing momentous issues, absolutely), to be a medium for communicating local news and discussing home topics, and was an organ only for disseminating the doctrines of a party.
Sometime in 1859 the paper suspended, and on December 28 Mr. Calhoon began the publication of the "Northern Illinois Commer- cial " apparently, if not really, for a company which had furnished the funds for the establishment. This was short lived.
In June, 1860, "The Democratic Press " was started by V. B. Shouf, who continued the publication till he went to the army about the begin- ning of August 1861. The office was the property of the Hon. Thomas. B. Cabeen.
Near the close of the year J. A. J. Birdsall and George D. B. Birdsall came to Keithsburg, and in the first week in January, 1862, revived the "Observer " without resurrecting the partisan features with which it went down. The former was the chief person, for we hear no more of his brother. Bating a constitutional want of steadi- ness and tenacity, Birdsall was above mediocrity in journalism, and he gave the new publication not only life and zest by infusing the spirit of his own energy and talent into it, but by his neutral course commanded the support of all classes, and his subscription list is said to have reached 1,200, the largest ever obtained by any Keithsburg paper. Unfortunately for his interests he was seized with the delu- sive ambition for office and engaged with his paper on the side of the democrats. For this service it is understood that he received his subsequent but fruitless nomination for the legislature. This swap- ping of a bird in the hand for two in the bush ruined his business, and he departed from the place poor. A. G. Lucas, a man of clerical antecedents, now took the vacant place at the beginning of Septem- ber, 1865, and the paper was under his management until the same month next year, and during that time was run as a republican organ. Col. Isaac McManus succeeded Lucas, and throughout the exciting congressional campaign of that year it was edited with refreshing spirit and logical power. McManus' energy no less than his industry was unbounded, and whatever he did was done with fervent might. From the knowledge this writer had of his composition and character.
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