USA > Illinois > Piatt County > History of Piatt County; together with a brief history of Illinois from the discovery of the upper Mississippi to the present time > Part 13
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The Furnaces-Mrs. Furnace, her son Samuel, and daughter Nancy, came here with Mr. Martin and his nephew, John Martin.
In 1822 Mr. Daggott bought Mr. Martin's improvements, lived on the place a short time, and then deserted it, moving to Big Grove, Urbana. About the same year Mr. Daggott came, Mr. Holli- day reached Piatt county. On his way here he stalled, and had to re- main a day or two in a big slough east of Lynn Grove. The place was known for a number of years as Holliday's Hole. Upon reaching the county he built a cabin a little southwest of Mr. Hayworth's, on land that is now a part of Monticello. Mr. Solomon Carver bought Mr. Holliday out, and in 1829 William Cordell bought the property and moved on to it. Just previous to this, however, Mr. James Piatt, while traveling through Illinois, stopped over night with Mr. Carver. Upon hearing that Mr. Hayworth wished to sell out, Mr. Piatt went to Danville, bought him out, and in 1829 moved his family from Indi- ana to the Haywortlı cabin, a picture of which appears in this book. In 1830 the father of William Cordell, built the first house on what is now Madden's Run. He afterward sold out to Mr. Stout, and the stream was known for a time as Stout's Branch. In this same year (1830) Mr. David Cordell built a cabin on what is known as the Wool-
134
HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
ington place. Previous to this, however, in 1824, Mr. York built a- cabin near Mr. George Varner's present residence, and this was thie first house on Goose creek. It is said that in 1830 these last two cabins mentioned were the only ones on the north side of the Sanga- mon river, between Friends Creek and Cheney's Grove. Mr. York lost his wife here, and returned to Kentucky. Mr. Cordell moved to- Friends Creek and thence to Missouri. In the fall of 1830 a Mr. Fry put up a cabin north of the mouth of Goose creek, on what is now Mr. Fithian's place. In this same year (1830) Mr. Terry came to the county and built two cabins, one for himself and one for his mother- in-law, Mrs. Randolf, in the southern part of the present fair grounds.
These people, so far as we can learn, are all who settled in Piatt county previous to the deep snow of 1830-31. During the next decade- settlements were made quite rapidly.
Soon after the deep snow, probably in the fall of 1831, Mr. Olney, a captain in the revolutionary war, came to the county and built a. cabin on what is now Mr. Ezra Marquiss' place. His son-in-law, Mr. Lawrence, began building the cabin which afterward became "Uncle- Ezra's " first house, a cut of which appears in this book. One of Mr. Olney's sons took possession of the house vacated by Mr. Fry, while the other built a cabin on the site of William Piatt's present residence. Old Mr. and Mrs. Olney died here and were buried at Hickory Point, just opposite Mr. Oliver Marquiss' present residence. Their remains were long afterward disinterred by a grandson and placed in the bury- ing ground near the Piatt school-house. The Olneys became dis- satisfied with the county and moved away. In 1833, when Mr. Abra- ham Marquiss with his family came to the county, lie took possession of the cabin that stood where William H. Piatt's present residence is, which was vacated by one of the Olneys.
During the decade from 1830 to 1840, settlements began to be made rapidly. During the first half of this time Mr. Abraham Marquiss, Ezra Marquiss, William Barnes, John and Richard Madden, Samuel Olney, Joseph Mallory, Isaac Williams. Samuel Suver, Cyrus Widick and Michael Dillow settled in the county. About the middle of the decade the Aters, the Baileys, James Hart, Jesse, William and Richard Mon- roe, James Utterback, Joseph and Luthier Moore, Ezra Fay, Daniel and Samuel Harshbarger, Simon and Nathaniel Shonkwiler and Samuel Havely, came to the county. Not far from 1840 Abraham Collins, John Tenbrook, Samuel West, A. J. Wiley, A. Rizeor, John Argo, John Welch, William Smock, Peter Adams, George and Silas Evans,
135
PIATT COUNTY.
the Armsworths, the Coons, Dr. Burrill, and a number of others, settled in the county. Some of these early settlers of the county are yet living, but others have ended their worldly career.
Prominent among the settlers at this time, in the neighboring counties, we will first mention Mr. Henry Sadorus, who came with his family and made, in 1824, one of the first settlements in Cham- paign county. Mr. Sadorus was born in Bedford county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1783. He married Mary Titus in 1811. He served thirteen months in the war of 1812, but never received his pension. In his last years he became ambitious to obtain it, but his last illness pre- vented the signing of the papers. Upon Mr. Sadorus' settling at the grove, which still bears his name, his house became a regular stopping place for all travelers bound for Macon and other counties west. Sev- eral people now living in this county are ready to affirm that the meals prepared by Mrs. Sadorus seemed the best they had ever eaten. This family was hospitable in the extreme and too great credit cannot be given them for their good deeds. Mr. Sadorus was married in 1853 to Mrs. Eliza Canterbury. In this connection we will mention an instance referred to in Lothrop's History of Champaign County. At an early day here horse-thieves were quite annoying. Mr. James Piatt. having lost three valuable horses started in pursuit, and he and Mr. Sadorus, after several days' ride, caught the thief with his prize. Although the prisoner was handcuffed, he made several attempts to escape as they were on the way to the sheriff of Macon county. At. each attempt of escape made by the prisoner, Mr. Sadorus dropped a bullet into his gun, and when the thief was safe in the sheriff's hand only "twenty-nine balls " were found in the gun.
The Dickeys, of Macon county, were also kind neighbors to the people of this county. Mr. Win. Dickey, a native of Alabama, settled on Friends Creek about 1828 or 1830, and lived there until his death a few years after. His son John died while on his way to Chicago with produce for the markets. Several descendants of these men are yet living in Macon county. The Howells, some of whom now live in Piatt county, were in Macon county a long time. The Maxwells, of Champaign county, were also friends of the people in this county. A number of other people, both in these and sur- rounding counties, might be mentioned, which would also serve to show that the pioneers of this county were not without friends.
The majority of the people now living in the county are Americans, but within the last twenty years a number of English, Irish and
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HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
German settlements have been made here, and they all bid fair to become among the very best of our citizens.
First births and deaths in the county .- The first white child born: in the county was that of a family of movers, who, at the time, were camped near Camp Creek bridge, near where Mrs. Raymond now lives (1881). This family only remained in the county a month or so .. The next child born after that of the movers was a daughter of Mr .; Henry Sadorus, born at Mr. James Piatt's house in the spring of 1830. Jacob Piatt, born in January, 1831, was the first male child- born to white settlers in Piatt county. Frank Williams, daughter of Isaac Willianis, who came to the county in 1835, and Mary E. Monroe (now Mrs. Gamaliel Gregory), were probably the next children born in the county.
There was a walnut tree, which stood on an island a little below, tlie Bender ford of the Sangamon river, which for fifteen years was known as the "coffin tree." The several first people who died in the county were buried in coffins made by the neighbors from this tree. The first coffin, according to Mr. Henline, was made for Mrs. Martin, and the same tree furnished coffins for Mrs. Randolph, Mrs. Terry and Mrs. Olney. The coffin of the latter named person was in good condition when taken up thirty years after. These people-except Mrs. Olney-were buried a little southwest of Rhoades Park, in Monticello. . Mrs. York, Mr. Holliday and Mr. Ayers also had coffins from the tree and were interred in the same place. No trace of this burial-ground now remains. This tree just referred to was used for other purposes. Mr. Abraham Marquiss and Ezra Marquiss made a good table out of it, and Wm. Piatt made several bedsteads from the same tree.
The "deep snow" and "sudden freeze " mark two eras in the history of Piatt county which were not soon forgotten by the inhabit- ants of the county at that time. "The deep snow is one of the land- marks of the early settler. It is his mile-stone, from which he counts. in dating preceding or succeeding events. He reckons the date of his coming to the county, his marriage and the births of his children from it." "You may locate a certain event as occurring Anno Domini so-and-so, and your ante-deep snow resident will at once commence counting on his fingers the intervening years between the deep snow and the particular time in question in order to verify your date. . The fact is, that the deep snow was an important and very extraor- dinary phenomenon. There has been nothing equal to it in this
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PIATT COUNTY.
latitude for the last hundred years -if the Indian traditions are correct as to what occurred before the white man's advent. Accord- ing to their traditions, as related to the first settlers, a snow fell from fifty to seventy-five years before the settlement of the white people, which swept away the immense herds of Buffalo and elk that then roamed over our vast prairie."
Early in the fall of 1830 the snow began to fall, and continued to fall at near intervals through the entire winter. Frequent sleets with the snows formed alternate layers of snow and ice, which was from three to four feet deep on the level. The weather was intensely cold throughout the season, and the snow did not melt. It was drifted in places so that the fences could not be seen. For weeks people were positively "snow-bound," and did not venture forth except to prevent starvation. As the season advanced and the snow became packed, teams drawing heavily loaded wagons were driven right on top of the snow and over stake and rider fences.
Wild game was very easily captured that winter. The deer being unable to travel through the snow were often caught without the aid of fire-arms. For several seasons following that of the deep snow, deer, prairie-chicken and other game were very scarce.
After this great snow began to melt as the warmer season advanced, the country was almost deluged with water, and for weeks it was nearly as difficult to travel about the country as it was in the winter.
We understand there was no one perished in the snow of that fearful winter, but we have heard several tales of the hardships under- gone by the settlers of the county. At this time there was one little hand-mill in the county at Mr. Henline's, and all their neighbors had to struggle through the snow to use this one mill to prepare the "breadstuff." One old settler relates the fact that, when a boy, he was detailed from his family to carry grain or "breadstuff" to a family across the river to keep them from starving. He wore nothing on his limbs but buckskin breeches, and as he came over the point of the bluff reaching the prairie not far from where Mr. Woolington now lives, the cold wind from off all that prairie of deep snow would blow his clothes and strike his now and then unprotected knees with such force as to almost paralyze him with cold.
But at last this dread season came to an end, and not another such has been experienced by the inhabitants of the county since.
January of 1836 marks the era of the "sudden freeze." This resulted in more loss of human life than did the deep snow, and, from the sud-
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HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
denness of the storm, there was probably more intense suffering for the time being. Som'e of the incidents related in regard to this storm seem almost incredulous, but when we hear so many tell the same kind of stories, we know all could not be mistaken. For a time pre- ceding the storm the ground had been covered with snow, but upon the day in question, the rain falling during almost the entire forenoon had made with the snow a " slush " several inches in depth. The storm came from the northwest and reached this county some time in the afternoon. The cloud appeared dark and threatening above, while below it had a white frosty appearance and the air seemed filled with particles of frozen mist. Almost instantaneously the climate seemed changed from that of a temperate to a frigid one. The change came so rapidly that one could seemingly see the slush congealing, and the feet of chickens, hogs, sheep and cattle were held ice-bound in the frozen slush. Mr. Ezra Marquiss describes the day in the following manner : "It was raining the fore part of the day and I had been gathering hogs. I reached home about ten o'clock, ate my dinner, and started out to see how the weather looked. As I went out of the south side of the house, which was 16 X 13 feet square, it was still raining. I walked slowly to the west side of the house to find it snowing, and by the time I had reached the north side the slush. on the ground was frozen over." He further remarked : "The second or third day after the 'freeze' a hired man and I started to take our horses over to Salt Creek to be shod. Father helped us to start and we got the horses over the creek - which was from bluff to bluff - quite easily, by car- rying ashes and scattering for them to walk on ; but when we reached " the prairie the horses could scarcely move in some places. In order to get them over sloughs and ponds one of us would take hold of the bridle-rein and pull while the other would push the horse ; but though the start was made early in the morning, and notwithstanding the pushing and pulling, night found us only half way over -about five or six miles from home. We left the horses standing on the icy plain and returned home for the night. In the morning we returned to the horses, and the remainder of the journey seemed less difficult.".
William Piatt was pitching hay with a pitchfork when the storm struck him. Almost instantly, it seemed to him, the handle of the fork, which had been wet with rain, was covered with ice.
Nathan Henline says he was riding wien the storm reached him, and before he had gone a mile the froze i slush would bear up his horse.
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PIATT COUNTY.
Mr. William Monroe, while going with Mr. James Utterback to East Fork, was so nearly frozen that when he reached a neighbor's he had to be helped off the horse. His clothes were actually frozen to the hair of the horse.
At the time of the sudden freeze Jacob and Samuel Deeds were frozen to death while on their way to West Okaw. Mr. Joseph Moore says that these men had been over to the Lake Fork timber hunting hogs and had started home. It was twelve days before their bodies were found. There were several other deaths of people who were neighbors to the people of this county.
Early mills .- Mr. Henline says they used to prepare their corn- meal in what was called a liominy block. This was made by making a hole about one and a half feet deep in a block of wood three feet long and from two to two and a half feet in diameter. A block of wood with a wedge in it was then fastened to a pole with one end fastened to a joist of the cabin. The hominy block was placed under the sweep, which when forced to the bottom of the block in pounding the corn therein, would spring back to its original position. The finest part of the pounded corn was made into bread while the coarse part was used for hominy. The next arrangement for preparing cornmeal was a hand mill. Mr. Henline's folks bought two stones that. were about sixteen inches in diameter. These were fixed in a section of a hollow tree and the top stone had a hole in it in the center and one near its circumference. A staff was fastened with one end in the outer- hole, and the other to one of the joists of the cabin. By taking hold of the staff a rotary motion could be made by the top stone. "Only a. handful of corn could be put into this mill at a time, and it took about three men to grind three bushels of corn a day.
Mr. Wm. Monroe thus describes the making of the first mill Unity. Township had. "When we returned home after the sudden freeze, Mr. Christopher Mosbarger, who was a millwright, and who had brought his tools along, was at our house. We were without bread- stuff, and he said to us : "Boys, get your axes and grub-hoes and cut the ice, and by gracious, we makes a mill with prairie 'nigger-heads.'" All went to work and in about four days a mill was made. This mill was afterward moved from Mr. Jesse Monroe's to where Atwood now is, and was run by horse-power, grinding ten to twenty bushels a day.
The first large mill in the county was a water-power inill, built about 1838, near where Mr. McIntosh's mill is now located. It was owned by the following named men, who comprised the stock company :
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HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
Major McReynolds, James Piatt, Abraham Marquiss, William Barnes, Mr. Sadorus and William Piatt.
Early administration of justice .- The pioneers usually found a way, and sometimes 'twas a way peculiarly their own, to punish per- sons for their misdeeds. There was a famous rail-pulling in Macon county about 1831, in which many persons from what is now Piatt county participated. Some movers passing through the county stopped, upon invitation, for lodging at the house of a man who was living on government land. At this house the mover was advised to enter some land. He accordingly left his family with these hospitable people and went to a land office and entered the very land his new acquaintance was living on; and more than this, he returned and ordered him off the place. The one who really had the best right to the place quietly left the cabin and built another on some land of his own, and notified his neighbors of the rascality of the man he had befriended. 'Twas enough! People to the number of one hundred collected one night from Sadorus Grove, Salt Creek, what is now Piatt county, and Macon county, and planned to move the improvements to some land on which the new cabin was and which had been entered by the man who had befriended the mover. A captain was chosen and the "rail-pulling" was fairly begun, when the guilty party made his appearance and a compromise was made. The company contentedly dispersed to their several homes.
Several years later a company was organized for the purpose of administering justice in cases that the law could not well get hold of. Among themselves they were known as "The Calithumpians." They were in organization eight or ten years and 'tis thought they did a good deal of good with tar and feathers; for, while some were quite severely punished for misdeeds, others were afraid to do wrong. The captain and first lieutenant of the company are still living in this county, and the chaplain is now preaching in Kansas.
Judiciary, county officers and some of the election returns .- Hon. Samuel H. Treat, now judge of the United States district court, presided over the first court in a room of the "Old Fort " or Devore House. The first four terms of court did not occupy one half a day. Hon. David Davis, who is now vice-president, was the second judge of this district. He was succeeded by Hon. Charles Emerson, of Decatur, who presided nearly fifteen years, and though "a man of few words, was very highly revered." He died in April, 1870. Hon. A. J. Gallagher was the next judge, and his ability for judging points
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PIATT COUNTY.
was great. Few of his decisions were reversed. After six years he was succeeded by Hon. C. B. Smith, who says he held the first term of court in Piatt county in 1873, and has held nearly every term in the county since. Judge Smith is a native of Virginia, and received a portion of his law education under Governor Benjamin Stanton, of Ohio. In the last few years Judge Nelson, of Decatur, has held a few terms of court in the county.
James McDougal, who has since been United States senator from California, was the first prosecuting attorney. He was followed suc- cessively . by David Campbell, Mr. Rust, John R. Eden, afterward congressman from Illinois ; Col J. P. Boyd, D. L. Bunn, M. V. Thomp- son, Samuel R. Reed, Albert Emerson and Charles Hughes.
The names of the probate justices and county judges are as follows : James Reber, John Hughes, James Ater, A. G. Boyer, H. C. McComas, G. L. Spear, Hiram Jackson, William McReynolds and W. G. Cloyd.
Dr. Joseph King, the first county clerk, was followed by the fol- lowing persons successively : Dr. J. D. Hillis, James F. Outten, J. L. Miller, Wilson F. Cox, J. A. Helman, Watkins L. Ryder, John Porter and A. L. Rodgers.
James Reber, J. C. Johnson, A. G. Boyer, L. J. Bond, William T. Foster and William H. Plunk, are the names in succession of the circuit clerks.
For quite awhile the sheriff's acted as treasurers. The first treas- urer elected was N. E. Rhoades, followed by $. E. Langdon, J. T. Vangundy, Nelson Reid and Theodore Gross.
John Piatt was the first sheriff of the county, and the following men succeeded him in the order of their names : Edward Ater, Charles Harris, George Heath, Samuel Morain, G. M. Bruffett, Peter K. Hull, Reuben Bowman, F. H. Lowry, E. P. Fisher, W. B. List, George Miller, John Kirby, William H. Plunk, E. P. Fisher and William N. Holines.
The following are the names of the county school commissioners and superintendents: Joseph King, William H. Piatt, George A. Patterson, Joseph Kee, Thomas Milligan, John Huston, J. W. Coleman, Caleb A. Tatınan, C. J. Pitkin, Mary I. Reed and G. A. Burgess.
The following men have been masters in chancery : A. G. Boyer, A. T. Pipher, S. R. Reed, E. A. Barringer and Albert Emerson.
James Reber, the first county surveyor, was succeeded by George Heatlı, James Bryden, C. D. Moore, William McReynolds and C. D. Moore, in succession.
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HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
The subjoined results of some of the elections in the county will serve to show the companions in the number of voters in the county in varions years :
COUNTY OFFICERS. ELECTION OF 1852, BY PRECINCTS. Sheriff.
Liberty. Monticello. Okaw. Sangamon.
Samuel Morain
5
75
3
53
M. C. Welch
14
11
26
A. J. Wiley
44
41
4
8
Jeremiah Rhoades
11
26
5
8
Circuit Clerk.
Liberty.
Monticello. Okaw. Sangamon.
A. G. Boyer
49
119
17
18
J. C. Jolinson
4
30
3
13
Coroner.
Liberty.
Monticello. Okaw.
Sangamon.
Benjamin Markel
7
57
11
23
Willi mi Motherspaw
39
79
3
69
The following, showing the official vote of Piatt county, are taken from the "Monticello Times " of November 6, 1856 :
President-Filmore 350, Buchanan 310, Fremont 85; Governor-Morris 315, Richardson 313, Bissel 93; Lieutenant-Governor-Bond 339, Hamilton 311, Wood 95; Secretary of State-Hatch, 429, Snyder 311.
Con: re .s-Vacancy, Archer 412, Allen 318. Full term, Bromwell 411, Shaw 313. Senator-Scott 407, Post 321. Representative-Gorin 427, .Warner 83.
.Sheriff-Morain 349, Osborn 348. For Convention 87, Against Convention 409. Constable-Wimmer 160, Dove 109. Justices of the Peace-Robinson 150, McComas 107. Coroner-Hickman 348, Markel 298. Attorney-Eden 379, Moore 296. Cerk-Bond 391, Boyer 295, Mitchell 11.
1876.
State's Attorney-Albert Emerson 1761, W. G. Cloyd 1425. Circuit Clerk- W. H. Plunk 1910. Sheriff-William Holmes 1870, John Vail 1351. Coroner- Henry Etherton 1802.
1877.
County Ju Ige-William McReynolds 1322, Harvey E. Huston 1133. County Clerk-A. L. Rodgers 1324, Robert L. Barton 1152. County Treasurer-Nelson Reid 1294, J. T. Vangundy 1186. County Superintendent-Mary I. Reed 1247, John H. Easton 1183.
1878.
Sheriff-William Holmes 1384, John Vail 1080, Joseph Zorger 252, John Quick 1. Coroner-Jacob Barnes 1339, John Quick 1124, H. Welch 256.
SPECIAL ELECTION FOR COUNTY JUDGE, JUNE 5, 1879.
County Judge-W. G. Cloyd 754, Lewis J. Bond 633.
1880.
State's Attorney-Charles Hughes 1800, M. R. Davidson 1694. Circuit Clerk- W. H. Plunk 1853. D. G. Cantner 1637. Sheriff-William M. Holmes 1834. Tho. Moffitt 1649. Coroner-Jacob H. Barnes 1833, E. F. Dallas 1649.
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PIATT COUNTY.
The present county board consists of the following named gentle- men : William H. Katz, of Monticello township; V. S. Ruby, of Bement township; Divid Moyer, of Willow Branch township; John Kirby, of Goose Creek township; A. J. Langley, of Blue Ridge town- ship; W. Mossgrove, of Sangamon township; W. L. Pitts, of Cerro Gordo ; and J. A. Hawkes, of Unity.
Lincoln .- Even a history of this little bit of the state's territory cannot be written without an allusion to this great and good man-to Abraham Lincoln. During the first years after the organization of tlie county he came to_Monticello for the purpose of practicing law. McDougal, Kirby Benedict, C. H. Moore and Mr. Gridley, were also lawyers here during that time.
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