USA > Illinois > Pike County > History of Pike County, Illinois : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons and biographies of representative citizens > Part 17
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them where their prisoner was, they had returned so quickly. "Oh, we've drowned him," was their indifferent reply. "You have to account for him in some way according to law, you know," said Col .. Ross. "Oh, yes," they again replied, "we've drowned him." Franklin's bones were some time afterward taken up and wired to- gether by Dr. Vandeventer, and the skeleton is now in the posses- sion of his family at Versailles, Ill.
BISSELL, HUSONG, NICHOLAS AND MATTHEWS.
In 1823 Alfred Bissell came to the county and located at New Hartford, or rather, nearly a mile north of the present town. Mr. Bissell raised the first apples in Pike' county. He finally sold out to a Mr. Brown, some of whose family still reside upon the place. Daniel Husong came to the county the same year, also an old man by the name of Nicholas, who was the first settler near High- land. Another gentleman, Mr. John Matthews, who was consid- erably advanced in life, the father of B. L. Matthews, and the grandfather of Col. Matthews, came and located north of Griggs ville.
After this period settlers came in rapidly, and it is quite impos- sible for us to note the advent of each one. That will be done to a very great extent in our township histories.
FIRST FOURTH-OF-JULY CELEBRATION.
The first Fourth-of-July celebration ever held in Pike county, and probably in the Military Tract, was held at Atlas in 1823. Col. Ross thus speaks of it in a letter written at the time to a friend in the East, which is still preserved: "July 4, 1823 .- The first celebration of the Fourth of July was held in Atlas, Pike county, Ill. Oration delivered by Nicholas Hanson, of Albany, N. Y. The Declaration of Independence was read. There was an audience of about fifty persons, who afterward partook of an excel- lent dinner prepared by Rufus Brown at his tavern. The audience marched in procession after dinner. A jolly good time was had drinking toasts, etc., and 'all went merry as a marriage bell;' this being the first celebration ever held in Pike county, or in this Mil- itary Tract."
This Rufus Brown, spoken of, subsequently removed to Quincy, where he built a log house on the lot where the Quincy House now stands. After living in Quincy for a time, he pulled up and moved. further West, and has since died.
FIRST JAIL AND VISIT OF THE INDIANS.
1824 .- This year the first jail at Atlas was built. Daniel. Husong hewed the logs and Daniel Shinn did most of the work on the building. The door was four inches thick. Wrought spikes were used, and for hinges bars were employed which were as thick as a man's arm. The only window was a hole about the size of a.
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pane of glass. The logs were a foot square and " seotehed " down, and the place for ushering in prisoners was in the roof. It was a good jail, however,-even better, some think, than the jail at Pittsfield some years ago. The old Atlas jail building is still in existence, but has been removed to near the Levee and is consider- ably dilapidated.
This year old Keokuk and 500 of his men, on their way to fight Indians below St. Louis, stopped on the Sny near Atlas, over night, and had a war dance. They had sent to the whites at Atlas a notice in advance that they intended them no harm. Keokuk was a fine-looking man, it is said, while Black Hawk, who also fre- quently visited this region, was rather a small man, with one eye.
FIRST MALE CHILD BORN IN THE COUNTY.
Nov. 11, 1824, Marcellus Ross was born, a son to Col. Wm. Ross at Atlas, the first white male child born in Pike county. It is stated, however, in Mr. Grimshaw's historical sketch, that a son to Ebenezer Franklin was born before this, and still others say that a son was born before this date in the family of Mr. Ward. In the proceedings of the Old Settlers' Association it is stated that Rev. John Hopkins, of New Hartford, was born in Pike county May 30, 1822; that he attended school at Atlas when there were but five scholars, and that he bound after the first reaper in the county. In July, 1836, Col. William Ross and family removed to Pittsfield, where he remained until his death, and where Marcellus still resides.
COL. BARNEY.
In 1826 there came to Atlas, from Berkshire, Mass., that eminent man, Col. Benjamin Barney, who still survives, residing at Barry. He " was a man of great physical powers, of strong natural sense, benevolent, patriotic, not learned in book lore, but wise in that which made him a leader in trying times; was sober, industrious and always at his post. His tales of early adventure are marvelous, and yet undoubtedly true."-Grimshaw. He was born in Septem- ber, 1795, emigrated first to Sandusky, O., and afterward was one of the first five settlers in Seneca county in that State. In Ohio he married Minerva Harris, who died in 1849. He was the first blacksmith in Pike county, and probably the first in the whole Military Tract. He made the first plow ever made in this county, and was for a long time known as " the county blacksmith." He was induced to stop at Atlas mainly on account of his being offered the position of Deputy Sheriff by Capt. Ross, the newly elected Sheriff. Col. Barney bore a prominent part in the Black Hawk war, and his life has all along been so identified with the history of Pike county that his name will occur frequently in this volume.
Sent Barney BARRY
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
COL. BARNEY'S TRIP TO CARROLLTON.
During this age of quick transit we often speak of mail " facili- ties," but for pioneer times it would be more appropriate to say mail " difficulties." It must be borne in mind that it cost 25 cents for the early pilgrims who came to this country to get a letter from their friends in the East or South, and then the mails came only at long intervals. Col. Barney relates a bit of experience as a mail- carrier in early day, which is quite thrilling.
There had been no mail received at Atlas for about six weeks. The Illinois river was high, and filled with running ice so that it was impossible to cross it with any degree of safety. Capt. Ross was postmaster at Atlas, the only place in the county where there was a postoffice, and he as well as the other settlers were exceed- ingly anxious to get the mail from Carrollton, the point from which the Pike county mail was brought. Carrollton is on the east side of the river and 40 miles distant from Atlas. Postmaster Ross had made liberal offers to induce some one to go after the mail, but none had yet succeeded in getting it. The six dollars he had offered was a great motive, and at least three inen at different times had attempted the trip, but could get no further than the Illinois river, and would return discouraged. At last, becoming exceedingly anxious to hear from the outside world, Mr. Ross made the very liberal offer of ten dollars to any one who would carry the mail to Carrollton and return with the mail from that point. This offer was made Saturday night, and Col. Barney resolved to attempt to win the prize. It must be remembered that in those primitive times ten dollars was considered a large amount of money; and the Colonel said, when he returned and got his money, that he felt as though he was rich enough to start a bank.
Mr. Barney was up before day Sunday morning getting ready for the trip. His wife prepared a lunch of corn-cake and venison for him to take with him and eat upon the way; but unfortunately he forgot it when he left home. He had traveled but a few miles ere it began to snow. The large flakes began to fall thicker and faster, and the wind began to blow and soon the storming elements were raging around him with great fury. He quickened the pace of his horse and finally arrived at the Illinois river at a point where there had been a ferry and where he intended to cross. The man who had conducted the ferry had recently died, leaving a family of wife and several small children. They lived in a rude cabin upon the western bank of the river; the widowed mother lay sick and near death's door; they were withont medicine, food or care, and suffering untold misery. The Colonel put his horse in the smoke-house attached to the cabin, which was so small that the horse could not turn around in it. He then hired a lad who was there at this time to assist him over the river. After much difficulty he reached the eastern bank and started off on his trip to Carrollton on foot.
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The Atlas mail was small, yet he found great difficulty in making his way through the deep snow. He at last reached his destination, got the mail and started homeward. Before leaving Carrollton, however, he called upon the doctor and reported the condition of the woman at the ferry. The physician said he had been down to the river two or three times on his way to visit her but could not get over, and had concluded that she was dead. He gave the Colonel some medicine for her, and the kind lady at the post- office gave him a large package of provisions also to take to the distressed woman. This package weighed about 16 pounds, and with the mail, which was quite large and consisted mostly of mili- tary matter, he started on foot for the river. It was dusk when he arrived in the river bottom. To add to the already great peril in which he found himself, a large pack of wolves, about 50 in num- ber, followed him, some of them yelping furiously. The bolder ones would approach closely and gnarl at the lone footman, whom they were eager to make a meal of. Ile would frighten them off by slapping his hands on the mail-bags, making a loud, sharp noise. This he did repeatedly, and perhaps it was the only way he could get through safely, as he had no fire-arms or weapons of any kind. He reached the river only to find difficulties more compli- eated: he could not get over. He hallooed, but in vain. He got into an old boat which lay fastened in the ice out from the shore, and lay down, thinking he would be compelled to remain there during the night. He soon found himself shivering with cold, and would certainly freeze to death if he remained there longer. He aroused himself, got a pole and finally worked his way over the river, from cake to cake of the floating ice, though a dangerous task it was. He remained over night at the cabin and gave the widow the medicine and provision sent her. These relieved her present wants, but she continued to decline, and shortly afterward died.
The Colonel at last reached Atlas, with the long-looked-for mail. He made the settlers joyous with the letters brought from their friends and was himself made happy by the receipt of ten dollars, which he had certainly well earned.
DROWNING OF JAMES WARD.
In the spring of 1826, James Ward, who had settled about four miles south of Atlas near Six-Mile creek, and whose farm lay partly on the bluff and partly in the bottom, made a trip to Fort Clark, now Peoria, and other settlements in that direction in company with Col. Ross, on an electioneering tonr, or to view some land. On arriving at Crooked ereek on their return, just above a drift of flood-wood, Mr. Ward ventured to cross, but was drowned. Mr. Ross, thus left in a wilderness with the shades of night fast hover- ing around him, and the gloom cast over him by the loss of his companion, wandered on down the stream, not daring to cross and not desiring to stop. Soon he saw a light in the distance and fol- lowed on down until he came to the cabin of a lone hunter. Here
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he was taken in, provided for and kept for the night. In the morning the body was recovered and buried upon the bank. The horse had made the shore and was found fastened to a tree by his bridle being caught in a limb. A year or so afterward the bones of the drowned man were taken up and re interred with Masonic honors.
COL. ROSS' KEEL-BOAT.
In 1826 Col. Ross built a keel-boat called "The Basket," which was hauled down to the Sny and launched. It would hold about 50 tons, and in this craft the Colonel shipped the produce of the neighborhood, as beef, pork, hides, etc. He used to pack about 400 head of cattle every season. Dressed beef was only two and a half cents a pound. Dealers had the hide and tallow as their reward for killing and dressing. . They sold their beef in the South, New Orleans generally, for five dollars a barrel, tallow ten cents a pound, dry hides five cents, andgreen hides two and a half cents a pound. To get their boats over sand-bars they would unload the barrels, roll them over the bars and then reload. On one trip it required one whole day to get over a distance of twelve miles.
A FEW OCCURRENCES OF 1826.
Capt. Hale, a Missionary Baptist minister, came to the county in the summer of 1826, but at this time several other ministers were also preaching in Pike county, as Messrs. Garrison, Medford and Lewis Allen. Mr. Medford was a smart man, and had a circuit extending from Rushville to some point in Calhoun county. Capt. Hale probably organized the first Baptist Church in the county.
This year also the first store building in the county was erected, by Col. Ross at Atlas. It was built of hewed logs, and in dimen- sions was 16 feet square. The principal part of a merchant's stock those days was whisky.
In the fall of 1826 the first whisky made in the county was man- nfactured by Mr. Milhizer, a Pennsylvania Dutchman, although it is also claimed that Mr. Blair, spoken of a little further on, erected the first distillery; but his distillery was erected in 1829 or 1830. Mr. Milhizer made but one barrel of whisky.
Soon after his arrival Col. Ross put up a band-mill by which he could grind four or five bushels a day, but he soon built a larger mill which, with four good horses, would grind from 25 to 30 bush- els a day. Settlers from even 25 miles above Quincy used to come to this mill. Good fine flour, however, was brought from Cincin- nati, O., but this costly article was used only on occasion of visits from friends, or on Sunday when the family thought they could stand the expense of such a luxury. For most of their milling at this period the settlers in this section went to St. Louis, Mo. There was no Alton then.
The first coal burned in Pike county was from Pittsburg, Pa., and used by Benj. Barney in his blacksmith shop in 1826. During
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the summer of 1827 there was a great deal of rain, and the streams rose. higher than they ever did afterward until 1851. The Sny Carte was navigable for steam-boats at least as far up as Atlas, as Col. Ross proved to the astonishment of many. He had three steam- boats in his service, and one of them in particular, the "Mechanic," came np to a point directly opposite Atlas. Its arrival was an- nouneed by the firing of guns.
The first wheat raised in Pike county was raised this year by Col. Ross and Mr. Seeley, and it was also the first wheat ground within the limits of the county.
This year came Benjamin B. Barney, no relation of Col. Barney. Endeavoring to trace their relationship one day the Colonel said he was from Massachusetts, when Benjamin B. replied with an oath, " Oh, if you are a Yankee you are no connection of mine." This Benjamin B. Barney bought Col. Ross' horse-mill and kept it a long time, probably until it was worn out or finally abandoned.
1827.
In the vicinity of Atlas, Henry Long, from Baltimore city, settled about the year 1827. During a residence of many years, until his decease on his farm, he was a useful citizen and upright man. He reared a second numerons family of intelligent and educated chil- dren. His son, Jesse Long, has been a Supervisor of Atlas town- ship, and resides on the old homestead of his father. Nathan Wat- son, now living about five miles south of Pittsfield with his son Job, came to the county in 1827. During this year or some time pre- viously, there came to Atlas, James M. Seeley, who was for 12 years (1828-'40) noted as the honest, easy Sheriff of Pike county. It was his duty to collect revenue. If a man was not ready to pay his tax, Seeley paid it and trusted him. Mr. S. had a numerous family, of whom Dr. E. M. Seeley, who was a surgeon during the late war, was one; another was Dr. David Seeley, who was an early settler of Texas, where he died.
1828.
Among the many prominent citizens now living who came to the county in 1828, was James Ross, who introduced and used the first cradle in the county for cutting wheat. It was a great curiosity to the pioneers, but a familiar thing to him, as he was from Pennsyl- vania where eradles were common. He equipped and ran the first turner's lathe and cabinet-shop in Pike county. This shop was in one end of the first clerk's office building in Atlas. His shop was burned out here. He is now elosing his long and eventful life in Pittsfield. Even when he was 60 years of age he was a fine dancer and conld whistle almost equal to the flute. It has always been interesting to hear him tell stories of pioneer times.
This year a saw and grist mill was built at Rockport by James McMurphy and son, who used limestones for burrs. They also built
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
a flat-boat which they ran to Galena in their trade. At this time there were but three steam-boats on the Mississippi river.
This year Wm. Montgomery Blair, a New-Light minister, came with his family to Kinderhook. His son Montgomery, now living at Barry, was then 19 years of age. The family emigrated origi- nally from Kentucky to Ohio, then to Indiana and lastly to this county. When they arrived here, however, they found that several other families had preceded them in this part of the county, namely, an old hermit named Peter Harper, a refugee from justice, having come here from Indiana. He was at Kinderhook. To the north of where Barry now stands were David Edwards and Edward Earle, and to the south lived Samuel Gary, on section 30, then the Jackson family and Mr. Howard and John Milhizer. Harper lived at Kinderhook until his death.
Mr. Blair built the first log cabin at Kinderhook, and the next year he built the first mill in this part of the county, and also a dis- tillery, which is said by some to be the first in the county. Although this gentleman made considerable whisky, the distillery had finally to be abandoned on account of there not being grain enough raised in the country to make the business pay. He sometimes made as high as two or three barrels of whisky per day by a process known as " steam distilling." Wheat at this time was only three "bits " a bushel, and Mr. Blair kept a stock on hand for two or three years waiting for a better market. Milling was so difficult to obtain that several days were generally wasted by persevering parties lingering around the mill to see that their grist was ground in its proper turn, or in frequent visits to the mill. At this period beef and pork were only one and a half cents a pound. A large three-year- old steer would bring only ten dollars.
About this period Benj. Matthews, a lad of 18 years, settled in the northern part of the county.
1829 AND ONWARD.
By this time the immigrants had become so numerous and the events of history so complicated that they cannot be very well grouped by years either in the memories of old settlers or in writ- ten history.
The second court-house was built in 1829 by Elijah Petty and Col. Ross, contractors, at a cost of $650. About this time the clerk's office building was erected in Atlas. It was a double log building, and one end was occupied by James Ross as a cabinet shop. This building was totally destroyed by fire one night during the winter of the big snow, as referred to further on. . Many of the earliest records were thus lost, and many others would have been burned but for the great exertions and bravery of Mr. James Ross.
John Barney, now residing at Pittsfield, is a brother of Col. Benj. Barney, and came to the county in 1830. Soon after the county- seat was removed to Pittsfield, Mr. John Barney was elected treas-
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urer, which office he filled with fidelity for a number of years. All the money raised and expended for the construction of the present court-house and the first Pittsfield jail passed through his hands. It being once charged that he was a little behind with the public funds, an investigation was instituted, which resulted in showing that instead of his being in debt to the county, the county was owing him over a hundred dollars.
Fielding Hanks settled in Pike county in 1830, and was proba- bly the first tanner here.
CHAPTER II. EARLY SETTLEMENT-CONTINUED.
THE WINTER OF THE BIG SNOW.
We now come to the winter of the deep snow, 1830-'1. The snow of that winter commenced falling Nov. 10, and did not all go away until the following April, yet the largest fall of snow did not begin until the 29th of December. This was the heaviest snow that ever fell in Illinois within the memory of the oldest settler of this part of the State. According to the traditions of the Indians as related to the pioneers, a snow fell from 50 to 75 years before the settle- ment by the white people, which swept away the numerous herds of buffalo and elk that roamed over the vast prairies at that time. This tradition was verified by the large number of bones of these animals found in different localities on the prairies when first visited by the whites. The deep snow is one of the landmarks of the pio- neer. He reckons, in giving dates of early occurrences, so many years before or so many after the deep snow. He calculates the date of his coming, his marriage and birth of his children from it, and well might it make a lasting impression upon their minds.
In the northern portion of the county the snow at first was about three feet deep on a level, and as it settled a crust formed on the surface. The winter was also unusually cold, and this, in connec- tion with the snow covering the mast and other food of wild animals, resulted in starving and freezing to death most of the game, as deer, wild hogs and turkey. The deer, indeed, had been rendered scarce by the sweeping fires of the preceding autumn which the Indians had set out. After all this, however, there was but very little suf- fering among the citizens of this county. They had plenty of meat and hulled corn, and with this simple fare they were content. What wild game there was alive in the forest was easily caught, on account of their reduced condition and the depth of the crusty snow which impeded their progress in the chase. Col. Ross chased down two deer with a horse, and canght and killed them by hand. The men got out of liquor, however, and this was their greatest priva- tion; but their suffering on this account was probably more imagin- ary than real. On the 18th of February two men who had engaged to chop some wood for Col. Barney backed out of their agreement
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when they found he had no whisky. Mr. Barney, recollecting that a neighbor owed him a pint of whisky on a bet made at some former time, indneed the men to go to work by offering them a treat. This whisky being the last in the neighbor's demijohn had some drug in it, but that " did not hurt the liquor any," as it was so scarce and costly, it being worth $1.25 a gallon. Clothing was also a little scarce, as the new comers into the new country had but very few sheep. For most of their substantial clothing the pioneers of these times had to depend upon home-made material.
In the northern part of the county the snow was so deep as to cover the ears of the outstanding corn and make it very difficult to gather. Joshua Woosley, who, on account of the two preceding years being very favorable, inadvertently let his stock of corn on hand get quite low, gave men three bushels a day for picking corn; and it was surprising how much of the article these hardy pioneers would gather amid such surroundings. Twenty men in four days gathered 2,500 bushels.
During the spring a freshet came with the melting snow, and the waters of the Sny undermined the mills at Rockport so that they sank down. Col. Ross had 50 or'60 men at work there nearly all spring filling up the places washed out.
During this winter the clerk's office building at Atlas was burned down. Col. Ross first discovered fire breaking out in that end of the structure where " Jimmy" Ross had his cabinet-shop, and raised the alarm; but the wind was blowing fiercely and nearly all was lost. This building was not more than five rods from Col. Barney's residence, and he and "Jimmy" succeeded in rescuing some of the papers and records of the office, which but few of the other citizens seemed to care but little about. Many such things grow valuable with the lapse of time, and doubtless many more papers might have been saved which would render this history more complete.
The year 1831 was also marked by a freeze in August which nearly ruined the corn crop before it was sufficiently mature, and con- sequently the following spring the farmers had to send to Kentucky for seed corn, paying for it on its delivery $3 a bushel. Boats came up the river about one a week, and their arrival was always the oc- casion of joy or disappointment. The settlers, however, got all the seed corn they wanted, those who were flush being willing to divide with their less fortunate neighbors and trust them, depending upon the snecess of their next crop for pay. Shipping on the Mississippi . at this period was limited to only three steam-boats between St. Lonis and Galena, and whatever freighting was done by flat and keel boats, which were poled, rowed, sailed, cordelled and towed.
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