History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 4

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > Illinois > Mercer County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 4
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 4

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A SCRAP OF ANCIENT HISTORY.

The following, written nearly half a century ago, by a visitor to this section, will doubtless prove interesting to many readers. It is from Augustus Mitchell's description of Illinois in 1837.

"Mercer county is situated in the northern part of the Military Bounty tract. It lies north of Warren, south of Rock Island, west of Henry, and east of Louisa and Musquitine counties, *Wisconsin terri- tory, from which it is separated by the Mississippi river.

The town of Mercer is located in the exact geographical center and with the express view of becoming the county seat of Mercer county. It is situated midway between Pope and Edwards rivers, which run through the county parallel to each other, and at this point are not more than five miles apart. The site is healthy and elevated, com- manding a beautiful view of the surrounding country, which is as rich and as well adapted to the culture of wheat, and indeed of all kinds of grain, as any in the state. The county is settling rapidly with a moral, industrious and enterprising population. The water-power afforded by Pope and Edwards rivers is equal to that of any county in the state : a circumstance of much importance, not only for fur- nishing lumber for building, but for the erection of grain and flouring mills. There is one saw mill now in operation within two and one- half miles of Mercer, and several others will be built the approaching season, also within a few miles of the town. The situation of Mercer admits of the convenient access to the timber, stone and stone coal of both Pope and Edwards rivers and their branches. Mercer is situa- ted about fourteen miles from New Boston, on the Mississippi, at which there is an excellent landing. It is also on the direct route from the

* Now Iowa.

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

latter place to Hennepin, and from Oquawka to Rock Island. New Boston, the seat of justice, is the only other town in the county, and is situated at the upper Yellow bank, just above Edwards river, nearly opposite the month of the Lower Iowa, a considerable stream of the. Wisconsin territory. This place has a good landing and a fine harbor, and when the opposite territory becomes settled it cannot fail to become a town of considerable importance, as it will be the commercial entre- pot of a large extent of fertile country."

HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS.

Perhaps most of the grown people of this section have some knowl- edge, either by actual observation or from the lips of the few worthy . pioneers who still linger on the shores of time, of the early modes of life which obtained during most of the first quarter of a century of its history. But the last original settler will soon have left us, and then these things, but for the historian's pen, would become but matters of tradition. Even now, amongst the younger class, the stories of the early hardships, trials and triumphs of this worthy class of heroic men and women, are not so very fully realized, and in the near future an account of what were once considered "afflictions grievous to be borne," will, without doubt, prove interesting reading to the grand- children of those whose voices will have been hushed, and whose weary bodies will have been lain away in the soil they first turned to. the sun.

How they came .- A single instance would almost answer for the history of the emigration of all of the early settlers to this section. We will give it in substance, though not exactly in the words of one who came to this country in 1838 :

Far across the dense woodlands of Indiana, near where Ohio's broad waters roll onward to join the Mississippi in its course to the great ocean, among the graceful forest trees, and gushing springs and fertile fields of Ohio, rests in quiet beauty a shady hillside, a bright. green valley, and a dancing water-brook. Near the lane which passes this spot and crosses the little stream of water just beyond, may be seen a fine old farm house surrounded with towering elms and fronted with evergreens of different varieties. But not with this place, as it. exists to-day, has our narrative to do. True, the surroundings have changed but little in half a century. The trees are much larger, and the house has been so metamorphosed that its former occupant would not recognize it ; but the hillside and the brook, the valley and the forest, present the same appearance as when forty-odd years ago the scene which we are about to describe might have been witnessed.

HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS.

It was no uncommon occurrence that was taking place there, but because of its being a usual circumstance it becomes of the greater importance and is described the more minutely. To the parties con- cerned, however, it was a matter of the greatest moment. The family who had for years occupied this place had caught a glimpse of the wonderful country in the Bounty tract, one of the number having the year before made a trip to the new State of Illinois and brought back glowing accounts of the broad prairies, the fine belts of timber, the richness of the soil, the abundance of game, and the many other real and fancied advantages to the emigrant bold enough to face the dan- gers and privations incident to a pioneer life. The matter had been talked over for many months. The children talked it over and won- dered at the length of the journey, the exciting incidents of the trip,, and the novel scenes that awaited them in their new home, little com- prehending the hardships to which they would be subjected. The mother and wife had said but little, but naturally shrank from the trial of leaving relatives, friends and home, and taking up her abode in the wilderness. She could scarcely reconcile herself to the life of priva- tion, and perhaps danger, that awaited her and those she loved. But the father argued that the little farm on which they lived, and rented by the year, but barely gave them a support ; that the prospect, as much as he liked his neighbors, and much as he prized the social and other privileges, was very feeble for an independence. He was advanc- ing in years, and the children would soon arrive at manhood and wom- anhood with no provision for old age for himself and wife, and with nothing for the young folks with which to begin life. And so it was decided to remove to what seemed to be the land of promise.

Accordingly, their plans had been announced to their neighbors, a sale had been made of what they found to be superfluous articles, though perhaps with a view to realize a little ready money, with which to make a substantial start in their new location and to liquidate a few debts that had been contracted at the stores, and all was ready for the journey.

The wagon had been backed to the front door the evening before, and the cows, and a few sheep, that they had concluded to take with them, and which had been reserved from the sale, had been penned up, that they might not stray away before the hour at which they were wanted to begin the journey. The morning had arrived, the candles were lighted, the fire in the fireplace was crackling, and the kettle boil- ing, preparatory to taking the last meal in the house. The breakfast was dispatched in an unusually short time, and then commeneed the exciting process of packing up. Bedsteads were knocked to pieces,

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

bed-clothes were thrown in all directions, and things in general pre- sented a confused appearance. The children seemed to enjoy the ex- citement, the mother hastened about, but on her face was a look of dejection ; but the father and husband moved around with a firm gait, attending to the work of preparation with no sign that betrayed the feeling of reluctance with which he was leaving the place that he had for so many years called home, though doubtless much of his cheerfulness was assumed for the effect that his demeanor might have on the other members of the family.

Soon the household effects and the simpler class of farming uten- sils were stowed away in the wagon, the bows to support the wagon cover were put in their staples, and the white cover stretched on and tied. Then the oxen were hitched to the wagon, the sheep and cows turned into the road, and all were ready to start.

Numerous relatives and friends by this time had gathered to bid them good-by, looking on in the meantime with mingled feelings of sorrow and wonder. When at last the moment for starting came, the wife broke into weeping ; and though the husband showed no outward signs of regret, when he bid his nearest friends farewell his hand shook a little and his voice was husky.

Such a trip as lay before these adventurers would now be consid- ered comparatively a trivial undertaking, but at the time of which we write it was of a more serious nature. It would well compare with the embarkation of the hundred pilgrims, who left their native shores two hundred years earlier to make their way across the boundless deep, to find a home in the new world. Indeed, the hardships of the wilder- ness road which lay before were greater than those experienced by the emigrants of the Mayflower. The length of time required to complete the journey was almost as great.

The mother and the youngest children rode in the wagon, while the father and oldest boy trudged along on foot to guide the oxen and attend to the stock. It would be interesting to listen to the account of all the incidents of their long and tedious journey, but time and space forbids more than brief allusions. The roads, even in Ohio and Indi- ana, were but poor, and after crossing the Wabash, consisted of mere trails across prairies, through sloughs, fording creeks and ferrying rivers. There were but few bridges across the streams then, especially on this side of the Wabash, and after some days out some of the streams were found to be so swollen by recent rains that the emigrants were compelled to go into camp for several days to wait for the flood to subside. On one such occasion they became so impatient that, put- ting into the stream before it had fallen sufficiently, they all came near

HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS.

losing their lives. At another place, where there was a prospect of having to stay several days, a raft was constructed of timbers cut and prepared on the spot, and lashed together with bed cords. On this they crossed to the other side, bringing over the last wheel of the wagon after a whole day's work, thus camping only a few hundred feet from their camping place of the night before. Their little stock of provisions soon gave out, but they did not suffer for lack of food, as the timber was full of game and the rifle supplied them with plenty of meat. The cattle easily subsisted upon the grass that grew along the road. However, the journey was a wearisome one, and all were well pleased when at length it was completed.

Finally, at the close of a weary day, the company came to a halt, not with a design of locating at this stopping place, but, knowing that they must be in the vicinity of the point toward which they had been traveling. they concluded to camp a few days and look around. Accordingly, arrangements for more than an ordinary stop were made, and our pioneer the next day started out on foot to select a location for his future home, leaving his family in camp. After a few day's search, he had fully made up his mind, and the camp was removed to the spot selected for the future home, provided the land was not already the property of some one else. It was yet early spring and they at once set about planting some corn and other vegetables, even before the land they were breaking had been secured, living in the meantime in the now empty box of the wagon.

After the crop was planted, the father made his way to the land office, and secured the quarter on which he had pitched his tent. By fall, a cabin was erected, and thus began the new life of one of the many brave families who at that early date came to this country to seek an independence and a home.

Doubtless many of the earliest settlers will recognize the expe- riences of this family thus far as that of their own, and many of the younger people will imagine they have heard the story before, as told by father or mother, who may long since have been laid to rest in the little cemetery at Sugar Grove or the Yellow Banks, near the great river.

The experiences of the first emigrants were so similar that a rep- etition of them destroys the novelty ; but it could never destroy the charm or lose the interest, while at the same time it renders the faith- ful description the more valuable, applying as it does, to so many cases. With the change of the name of the state from which the family came, and the addition or suppression of a few more details which marked their journey, no doubt the narrative might be made to fit the emigra-

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

tion to this section of a majority of its early occupants. A few brought horses, which drew the great prairie schooner wagon, and not infre- quently a horse and an ox did duty in the same team. A single ox or a single horse has drawn to this country all of the worldly wealth pos- sessed by some of what have proved its most worthy citizens.

The First Dwellings .- Judge Gilmore, whose recollection of the early features of the country are probably as correct as any, gives us the pen picture of the pioneer cabin which follows: The pioneer cabins were nearly all built after the same pattern, the plans and specifications being very simple indeed. The building site was a spot in the edge of the grove, so as to be near the patch of prairie designed to be cultivated, and within the shelter of the grove for the protection of themselves and stock from the cold winds of winter. This was considered a colder climate than that from which most of them had come, and protection from its inelemencies was a matter for serious consideration.

The very first cabins were constructed from logs entirely undressed, the small difference in length being considered no disadvantage to looks or utility. The trees selected for the purpose were generally a foot or less in diameter. From these logs were cut, usually about sixteen feet in length. In both ends of the logs notches were cut to receive the notches cut in each other, so that in their building up they would lie close one upon the other, in the manner of a rail pen. When the pen was built to the height of six or seven feet, a portion of one or two logs on one side would be removed for a window ; another opening would be made for a door, and another for the stick and mud chimney, which would be built outside as a kind of an addition to the house.

In winter the windows consisted of greased paper pasted over the opening mentioned. In summer none were needed. The door was usually made from boards that had been fashioned from a straight grained tree by no other tool than the ax. The latch was a home-made affair, similar to those still to be seen on farm gates. A little above the latch a small auger hole was bored through the door, and through this hung a thong of buckskin attached to the lateh, by which it could be lifted from the outside by pulling the string.

The floor of the dwelling in very many instances was the earth. The hearth of the fire place, where the cooking was done, was made of such flat stones as could be found in their natural state. A little later bricks for this purpose, and in a few instances for entire chimneys, were made by tramping mud in a box with the bare feet and burning a few hundred of them at a time. Abraham Miller, formerly of Mercer county, but now in Oregon, writes that he made the first bricks ever

HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS.

used in Mercer county, and that the mud for them was mixed with his bare feet.

The cabins were covered with boards riven from straight grained trees the full length of one side of the building, and held in their places by the weight of the bodies of small trees. The cracks between the logs composing the sides of the cabin were filled with wedge shaped pieces.of wood called "chinks," and these were daubed over with mud, the hands in many cases being used as the trowel. Abraham Miller says that the young men were particular to leave finger marks on this kind of work, as it was a sure road into the good graces of the maidens, who held this sign of industry and democracy in high repute.

A PIONEER LOG CABIN.

In the construction of these simple dwellings the only tools em- ployed were an ax, a saw and an auger, and in very many cases only the ax. Not a nail or any piece of iron was used, and not a pane of glass; neither paint nor plaster were available.

Decorations, such as pictures or brackets for the walls, would have been a great curiosity. In their place festoons of corn for the next year's planting hung from poles in the upper space of the cabins. The trusty rifle lay in two wooden hooks over the door or fire place, and from pegs near the chimney often hung bits of venison that were being dried for future use, and was called "jerk." These were the decora- tions of grandfather's house.

HISTORY OF MERCER AND IIENDERSON COUNTIES.

The pioneer cabin has seen its day, however, and is now a thing of . the past. It has been superseded by the more pretentious hewed log house of two or more rooms, and this in turn has given place to the fine frame and brick dwellings which dot the prairies and groves all over. A few of the ancient cabins are still doing service as pig-sties or hen houses, and the modern traveler would hardly dream that once: they were the dwellings of large and happy families.

We give in this connection a view of a cabin still standing in Eliza. township, Mercer county, though the artist has had to draw somewhat on imagination for the surroundings, as the once pioneer mansion now serves the ignoble purpose of sheltering the chickens.

Ancient House Furniture .- Perhaps in nothing has there been a. greater change than in the furniture, both ornamental and useful, with which the houses of this county have been supplied. Any one curious. enough to make a list of the numberless articles now considered indis- pensable to a well furnished house, will be surprised to find that scarcely an article now in use was in the early times of this section even known. And so also the few utensils and ornaments used by our grandmothers. would be curiosities now. Sewing machines only began to come into- use here in about 1860, and now scarcely a family is without one. Grandmother Dennison, of Keithsburg, says all of the clothing in use by the family was made by the skillful and industrious fingers of the housewife with the needle and thimble. Not only so, but even the cloth of which the clothes were made was a home manufacture. Each family kept a few sheep, and from these the wool was sheared, washed, picked, carded, spun, woven, dyed and cut, in many instances, all at home.

None of the young ladies of to-day know what a "wool pickin'" is. The last one was had years ago. The picking of the particles of dirt. and burs from the fleece was a very tedious process, and in the early times it was customary for the matron of the family to call in the help of all the young and middle aged ladies for some miles around to assist. in this work. These invitations were gladly accepted, for the picking- always ended with a frolic at night, to which the young ladies' beaux were invited.

So in the making up of clothing, there were in use the big sheep shears, the cards, which were two instruments much resembling the instruments used for currying horses at the present day, the spinning- wheel, the hand loom and the dye kettle. None of these remain in use, but occasionally one may be found in the garret of the house of an old settler.

Many of the early settlers were skillful in the use of some of the

HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS.

simplest tools of the shoemaker, and could turn out a decent, but rough pair of shoes from leather that they had themselves tanned from the skins of animals that they had themselves reared. Even the lasts and the pegs were of home manufacture. The simple kits of tools used in the manufacture of leather and shoes were, however, soon superseded by the tan yards and the professional shoemaker, and they in turn have had their time and are almost extinct. The few pelts that are now taken from the cattle are sent to the great cities and tanned by improved processes, made into shoes by machines driven by steam, and shipped back to us in nice green boxes containing a dozen pairs of all sizes and qualities.

The culinary implements were as rude and simple as it is possible to conceive. The old Dutch oven for baking bread, a skillet and an iron pot, that hung from a wooden hook in the great wide chimney, were about all that were considered necessary for baking, frying and boiling. There was not a stove in the county until about 1845, and, therefore, the fireplace, extending almost across one end of the cabin, was the only source of heat in the winter, and also answered all the demands of cooking. Even the first cook stoves were simple affairs compared to those in present use, and were constructed with a double purpose of heating and cooking.

In a letter from Abraham Miller, he says: "Our early crops were mainly corn, wheat, oats, flax for home use, and the most useful vege- tables of all kinds, all of which did remarkably well. We raised melons in abundance. The only market point for the county was New Boston, then only known as Dennison's Landing and wood yard, at upper Yellow Sand Banks, on the Mississippi river. The first store or trading post was there in 1834, and was kept by a man by the name of Irvin, who was, very exact, both in a commercial and moral point of view. He was a seceder by profession. So correct was he in his views of the Sabbath that he penned up his rooster on that day, that he might not disturb the holy day. This is neither jest nor hoax. I only men- tion it to show that, in those early times and among backwoods settlers, religious rites, according to each order, were strictly observed. Prices of produce were very low. Wheat was not more than forty cents per bushel, and this was the highest priced article, proportionately, that the farmer had to sell. In those days we were all new beginners and had but little surplus to market. We raised our own hogs and hominy, killed deer, wild turkeys, prairie hens, caught fish and found wild bees. We had to get what little groceries we had with raccoon and deer skins, and frequently the best of us did without any. We were inured to anything from hard times down, and small privations were not noted.

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

Our wives and daughters could spin and weave, and wear the product of their own industry. We drank parched corn or pea coffee until we got to raising wheat and rye enough to answer the purpose. We drank tea made from sycamore chips. A favorite tea was made of red-root leaves, sweated under a Dutch oven, rolled between the two hands and dried. When drawn and sweetened with well seummed honey, your readers are assured it was not bad to take. This tea we called grub hyson. An early merchant of New Boston, after the discovery of this tea, caught at the idea, and when his black tea ran short in the store, tradition says, he sold many a pound of red-root leaves.

" The men and boys could wear buckskin breeches ; and a coon- skin cap, with the tail dangling behind the head as an ornament thereto, was not a novel sight. We were all poor, but on a social equality. We hardly had an idea of what aristocracy was. With the greatest of · pleasure I yet look back on those good old times as my golden days, when all around was clothed in the wild, yet gorgeous robes of nature, and while its half-forgotten scenery plays about and flits across mem- ory's path, imagination paints the flush of youth where age as well as grief have coursed bitter tears down its lachrymal furrows. Despite this, for the moment, the blood of boyhood rushes through the sunken veins and makes the aged young.

"We had our backwoods mechanic in almost every farmer and farmer's boy, who learned early in life, and who turned his hand to anything necessary for carrying on our backwoods operations, both in wood and iron. But as the country grew up mechanics of almost all kinds dropped in, but it was only upon a small scale that they were patronized, or that they expected patronage, as they generally added to their mechanical skill agricultural industries, and pursued their trades only at odd times."

The wool picking has been alluded to. It had its corresponding diversion for the young men in the corn husking, or "shuckin'," as it was called. It was common, not only in the early days, but until with- in a score of years, to break the ears from the stalks as they stood in the field, and haul them to the vicinity of the barn and then invite all the young men to come in on some afternoon or evening to strip them of their husks. Thus a wearisome task for the single handed farmer, requiring weeks of labor, would be performed in a single evening. The husking bee would usually end with a sumptuous supper, and fre- quently with a spree, to which the young ladies had been previously invited. Other pastimes of the olden time, some of which are but barely obsolete, were the quiltings, which partook of features of the wool pickings, the singing schools, the spellings, wolf hunts, house and

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 4

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co. Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424