History of Sangamon 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 28

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > History of Sangamon 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 28

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

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

them. Money was scarce then. We boys hardly ever saw any, except once in a while we would get twenty-five cents to go to a show. They would make us take orders on the stores. I recollect one show that came, and I had to have a decent cap to go with, for in those days we boys wore seal skins, not the seal of to-day, but which looked more like hog skin with the hair cut short. Well, I went up to the store before breakfast and picked out a cap for one dollar; went back for my order, and when I returned the proprietor asked one dollar and twenty cents as soon as he saw the order. I told him he had offered it to me for a dollar. He said, before breakfast it looked like rain, and that they would have a dull day, but it had cleared off, and they could not sell so cheap. So after that I prayed for dull days for that store."

HUNTING EXPERIENCE OF R. W. DILLER.

"In regard to my hunting experience, I would say, a very few days after my arrival, November, 1844, my brother-in-law, Mr. R. F. Ruth, took me in his buggy just south of where the Junc- tion coal shaft now is, to try my hand in shoot- ing prairie chickens. The birds were feeding in a corn field, and as it was near sundown, they commenced their flight for roosting in the prai- rie. You have heard of 'buck ager;' well, I had the 'chicken ager,' and for the life of me I could not get a shot, or did not shoot at all. Mr. Ruth until to-day often amuses the friends by describing my effort-pointing here, then there, mimicing my performances. There were thons- ands of them flying within shot, but they were bigger game than I was used to, so I was scared; but I got bravely over that, as my friends can testify. He killed several of them as they lit on the trees, while I found a flock of quail, and peppered them, as I was used to in the East. He laughed at me for wasting ammunition on such small fry, for 'we net them,' he said; and I afterward found such was the case, and had much sport in doing so, in company with Robert Irwin, Caleb Burchall, John C. Spring, Bella Webster, S. B. Opdyck, George L. Huntington, Captain Diller, Ilenry Coon, and others, and many funny incidents could be related happen- ing on our hunts.

"The shotgun was little used in those days; the long- barreled Kentucky rifle was the old settler's trusted weapon, with which many were very expert. Uncle Andy Elliott and William Lockridge, I was told, could tumble a deer at full speed of a horse and deer, nearly every time. I saw Uncle Andy do it once, the

ball entering the head just below the horns. I asked him if he aimed for that. 'Yes, always,' was his answer; still, I thought it rather acci- dental. The useful bird dog was little used then, Mr. H. N. Ridgely and J. C. Spring being the only possessors, in 1844-45, of one each. Mr. R. used to tell very amusing stories of the astonishment the farmers would express when he would drive up and put his dog in the field, and see him knock chickens right and left on the wing, when they had not observed any birds before. The farmers shot them only in the win- ter, from trees and fences. The winter of 1844- 45, I saw prairie chickens shot from the trees where the Governor's house now stands. As late as 1850, a friend of mine was fined for shooting wild pigeons from trees where Dr. Vincent's house now stands. In 1846, Mr. John Ives got a pointer dog, and in 1847, I brought from the East my black setter, 'Jack,' with which I killed hundreds of chickens. I seldom went further than the machine shop and Butler's farm to get all we wanted for ourselves and neighbors. On one occasion, as I was riding on horseback, with my gun and dog, hunting (where General John Cook's house, on South Fourth street, stands), in company with two young farmers, 'Old Jack' found a covey of chickens. I told them if they would hold the horse, I would give them a mess of birds to take home. They looked around to see them. I walked up to where the dog was standing, and as the birds got up, I killed eight or nine before they all got away. Yon ought to have seen the men's eyes buck ont. I gave them two apiece. After thanking me, one said: 'By Jingo, Tom, I mean to have a dog and scattering gun right away.'

"The first deer hunt I was on, was on the 4th day of July, 1846, when a large party gathered early in the morning at Uncle Andy Elliott's, now First street and North Grand Avenue. The old house and gate posts were decorated with antlers of deer, skins of wolves, foxes, coon and other varmint-a regular hunter's home-while the hounds lay lazily around, waiting patiently for the old hunter to monnt his horse, and when he tooted his horn they bounded and howled like wild. The party consisted of Colonel James Barrett, R. F. Ruth, Robert Allen, Charlie Chat- terton, P. C. Johnson old man Peak (the baker), Harrison Hammond, Wm. H. IIerndon, Wes. and Harrison Elliott, and others whose names I have forgotten. The rendezvous was near old Sangamon Town, where a wagon with cooking utensils and Mr. Elliott Herndon, the orator of the day, had preceded us. We did not carry

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meat in those days, as we were sure of getting enough on the hunt. We started through the brush due northwest, and the hazel come up to Elliott's house. We had gone about one-half hour when one of the dogs 'give tongue,' and then the whole pack burst forth in one grand harmony, making the welkin ring, enthusing men and horses alike. They put us green ones on stands, and I for one wished most heartily the deer would not come by me, for should I miss it (and the way I felt I knew I would), Barrett and Elliott would have worn my hat off. But luck would have it, that old fox, Mr. Peak-who could beat any horse in the timber and knew every run-way-got the first crack at it, wound- ing and making the deer take water a few miles west of the ' cut-off,' and he was soon our meat. He was carried to camp and dressed, and by twelve o'clock we were enjoying the feast. It was a wonderful day's sport for me-a greenhorn. Wmn. Herndon used to be called 'Injin Bill' and 'Turkey Bill,' for the reason, if he ever got after a deer or turkey he was always sure to cap- ture it, if it took him two days. He was so called in order to distinguish him from another Wm. Herndon, a brick mason. Deer and turkey were quite plenty in any of the timber within three miles of town, and with hounds, hunters could have a chase any day. But the big hunts of two weeks-when they would kill twenty to fifty deer-were made on Flat Branch, Bear Creek and away out on the Okaw, in which Mr. O. Lewis, Joshua Amos, N. Divelbiss and others, were prominent actors.

"I will relate one more little incident and quit, for when you get an old hunter started, he will think of enough to fill a whole volume, if you would let him-interesting enough to him, but may be to no one else. In the winter of 1849, Messrs. Peak and Herndon proposed a hunt on Sugar creek, starting in at what is now the Model Farm. Harry Myers, I. G. Ives, Cap- tain I. R. Diller, and myself were to meet them at Newcomer's Mill. We started early on foot, and when we got to the bridge heard the dogs running through Scattering Point, but the deer- dogs and men crossed far above, and the dogs took the deer up to Hickory Grove, in Christian county. Our party ate our lunch, drank up our 'snake bite cure,' shot the bottles to pieces, and started home on the east side of the creek, hoping to find a flock of turkeys. As we scat- tered through the brush, it was not very long when I heard my brother-who had never seen a wild deer before-hallooing for dear life. He had started two deer with immense horns. We

all run for a clearing to get a shot. I happened to strike a clear place, and saw the two deer bounding along about forty yards from me. I had a small double-barreled shotgun. I let go on the leader, and dropped him in his track, then let the other have it, and down he came. My! but my heart burned with pride as I run and cut their throats. I thought my brother would go wild. He said they looked as big as elephants, and was so frightened he forgot he had a gun. Two of us packed them on poles about two miles to Mother Short's, where we got a team to bring us to town. When the old lady saw the little gun, and was informed it done the work, she said: 'Young man, somebody will have to set up with you to-night, sure!' So they did; those two deer cost me a heap that night, I tell you."

BY JAMES J. MEGREDY.

" My father, Enoch Megredy, with his family, left Port Deposit, Cecil county, Maryland, April 15th, 1837, and after a very interesting trip by land, water and mud, landed in Cass county, Illinois, near Virginia, at the home of his cousin, Archibald Job, June 16th, 1837. In the spring of this year the building of the old State House was commenced. The continuous rainy weather, and the imperfect arrangements for quarrying the stone had brought the work to a close for the time being. Mr. Job was one of the State House Commissioners, and my father having been engaged in quarrying granite at Port Deposit, was placed at once in charge of the State House quarries, near Crow's Mill, and moved his family, consisting of twelve persons, to a cabin on the land now owned and occupied by Mr Hexter, six miles south of Springfield. The cabin was about fourteen feet square, with a clapboard addition eight by twelve. Cranes were erected for raising the rock from the quarry and loading the wagons. Of this year's work the basement of the old State House was built. He then purchased the Z. Peter's farm, on the south side of Lick Creek, six miles south of Springfield, February 2, 1838, and where part of the family still reside. My father was a lo- cal preacher of the M. E. Church, his license dating from 1828; he was ordained a deacon in 1835, by Bishop Emory, at Philadelphia, and ordained an elder in 1840, by Bishop Waugh, at Springfield, Illinois; he died in the fifty-seventh year of his age. In 1839, Old Harmony Church (near the present Woodside) was built of tim- ber, hewed, framed and weather-boarded with nicely shaved clapboards; it had seven windows,

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of eight by ten glass, twelve panes of glass in each window; the pulpit was made of walnut, substantial and plain. This appointment was styled by Rev. James Leaton, the Athens of the circuit. * *

* In those days, to minister to the wants or comfort of new-comers was a pecu- liar trait in western character. On the first day after moving into the cabin, an old gentleman, a genuine type of the pioneer class, called, say- ing that he heard that we had just come in and were strangers, and he had come over to see if we did not want a cow for the summer, as he had more than he needed, and if we would send over we should be welcome to one. We thanked the old gentleman and accepted the cow. IIe said she was the best cow he had, and 'Chance' proved equal to any cow we have had since. It was a fixed fact, that when one or more of the community would be sick with chills or jaun- dice, or something else, his neighbors would meet and take care of his harvest, or get up wood, or repair his cabin, or plant his corn, or whatever was necessary to be done for the com- fort of his family or himself. In this, those grand old men who are now with us, and those who have passed away, were prompted by the noble, self-sacrificing women, who endured without mourning the hardships of pioneer life, and encouraged those toil-worn men with the prospect of a happy future for their children. When we take an imaginary inside view of one of the cabins and its fixtures, and remember that it was sleeping room, dining room, parlor and kitchen, and the cooking utensils a Dutch oven and a skillet; the never-failing pile of bed quilts on a chair in one corner; the loom in one end of the porch, with a piece of blue jeans partly woven; the lots of dresses hanging up against the wall; the snow white pillows on the bed, and the floor so white; such an air of com- fort and satisfaction, in spite of all the inconve- nience, we wonder, mixed with much fear, if any of their fair daughters could duplicate the cabin comfort. There was some courting then among the young folks, but being of a very modest and retiring disposition ourself, we were ever kept at a distance by the favored ones. We think the facilities for courting were circumscribed - top buggies and long hedged-in-lanes and senti- mental, sombre evenings for airings and health exercise, were unknown. Girls rode to church or town in the big wagon with their parents generally, but those that could afford a fine sad- dle and fine blood horse, were as proud of the display as those of the present day are of a gold watch, half hidden in the net work of a

side pocket. The only good place for courting was the singing school, with a Missouri Har- mony under your arm as a passport, you could ride up to the fence and tie your horse and call at the door with some assurance and ask the young lady to accompany you, which was gen- erally followed by the question: 'Will your horse carry double?' Which was answered in the affirmative, of course, which we are sure was not always strictly true. Unless the young lady would hold on mightily, which they always did, you never heard of one being thrown off, and would get to the log school house safe enough, and back again all right, if some fellow didn't cut you out and the girl give you the saek. This made a fearful experience, and some- times a fight, but notwithstanding the absence of a private room, top buggy and long, quiet, sombre lanes and all modern appliances, there was scarcely a bachelor to be found in the coun- try- William Vigal, Esq., was the only excep- tion we think of just now. The boys and girls got married, and remained married. We had no divorces, and considered it far better to fight it out on the old plan than be disgraced by a divorce, and we recommend the old plan to our friends who enjoy the benefits of refinement and social culture, and the teaching of the po- lite literature of the present day."

BY R. 11. BEACII.

" When I landed in Springfield, in the fall of 1835, the centre of our present square was graced with a commodious brick court house of very fair dimensions. The court houses were almost invariably put in the center of the public squares, and every town that was then laid out would not be considered complete if it had not a public square. This grew out of what then was supposed to be a fact-that every town in the State, great or small, was supposed to be a candidate in the near future for the county seat. After Springfield had acquired the distinction sought, viz, the county seat, it aspired still higher, and put out its feelers for the State Capitol, which we all know she succeeded in getting. The lower story of our court house was devoted to the dispensation of justice, while the upper one was let out for offices. Our present State Journal was at that time printed there. The Bar was not as numerous then as it is at present, but what it lacked in number, it made up in quality. Among the shining lights of that day were such men as Lincoln, Baker, Douglas, Forquer, and others, and last, but not least, Logan. I had been in Sangamon county

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but a short time, when a brother-in-law from the city of New York came to visit me. The Rev. J. G. Bergen, whom we all know as a genial, pleasant gentleman, was showing us round the then small village, 'doing up the sights.' Among other places, we sauntered into the court house. The court was in session, and a case was then in progress. Judge Logan was on the bench, and Mr. Douglas (the 'Little Giant,' as he was afterwards ealled) on the floor. To us, just from the city of New York, with the sleek lawyers and the prim and dignified judges, and audiences to correspond, there was a contrast so great, that it was almost impossible to repress a burst of laughter. Upon the bench was seated the judge, with his chair tilted back and his heel as high as his head, and in his mouth a veritable corn cob pipe; his hair standing nine ways for Sunday, while his clothing was more like that worn by a woodchopper than anybody else. There was a railing that divided the audience; outside of which smoking and spitting and chewing of tobacco seemed to be the principal employment. I remarked to Mr. Bergen, who sat beside me: 'That is a strange scene, and not like the courts we have been in the habit of seeing, and, as for the judge, he did not seem to have much knowledge or be of much force.' ' Ah, my dear sir,' replied Mr. Bergen, with that peculiar smile and comical cast of countenance that all who knew him, will instantly recollect, ' He is a singed cat,' and we passed out into the open air. 'A singed cat,' said I to myself, 'I wonder what that can mean.' The expression, coupled with the comical look Mr. Bergen gave as he said it, led me to think that there was more in it than met the ears. After walking a few steps, I said: 'Mr. Bergen, what did you mean by saying that that judge on the bench, with that old overcoat not fit hardly for anyone to wear, was "a singed cat?"' His reply, with another of those comical looks, his brow drawn down, and his chin nearly on his breast, was: ' I mean he is better than he looks.' In a short time I became fully convineed that it was not clothes that makes the man, but brains. Judge Logan, for many years in the Springfield Bar, was a giant among giants in the legal profes- sion."

BY JOHN S. CONDELL, SR.

"In the summer of 1833, being then fifteen years old, I left the paternal home, in Philadel- phia, and in company with my oldest brother ( Thomas Condell), started for Illinois, which was then called ' The Far West.' As it was be-

fore the days of railroads, we traveled all the way over the mountains to Pittsburg, and thence to Cincinnati, in the old fashioned stage coaches. The cholera was then prevailing all through the West. When passing through Columbus, Ohio, and other towns we saw yellow flags suspended from dwellings, denoting the presence of that dreadful scourge.

" At Cincinnati we embarked on a steamboat for St. Louis. Below Louisville there were but few towns or improvements on the river. I can never forget, neither can I describe, how strangely I was impressed by the wildness and grandeur of the scenery on the river, before it had been molested by the touch of man. The primeval forests crowded and covered the banks, and the surface of the stream was the home of wild fowl of every description. A peculiar stillness brooded over the scene, broken only by the splashing of the steamer's wheel and the jolly song of the firemen. Seldom was there any occasion for our boat to stop, ex- cept to 'wood up.' Then we would take a ram- ble through the wild woods, gathering nuts, grapes, plums, paw-paws and flowers.

"After reaching St. Louis, we again took stage to Carrollton, Greene county, where we began our mercantile career in Illinois. There I became acquainted with Colonel E. D. Baker, ( who was killed at Ball's Bluff, during the late war). He was then a resident of that place. There I heard some of his first efforts in elo- quence, both at the bar and in the Christian church, of which I believe he was then a mem- ber. He also manifested a military spirit at that early day, being captain of a company of militia, which he was fond of training and parading. His brother, Dr. Alfred C. Baker, also residing there, was a man having as high sense of honor and as much of the milk of human kind- ness in his nature as any man I ever met. There I first saw Stephen A Douglas, when he was quite a young man, as he traveled around the circuit practicing law. His dress and habits corresponding to the surroundings of the pioneer times. I often saw him sitting upon the ground in the court house square eating watermelons with the ' boys' and entertaining them with his versatile conversation. There I first saw and found an early friend in Dr. John Hardtner and his family, who have since become residents of this city. There I first met my present partner in business, Mr. C. M. Smith; at that early day we 'were boys together,' and little did, or could we then anticipate, that after the lapse of almost half a century we would be associated together

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in business in this city, under the firm name of C. M. Smith & Co.

"In the fall of 1840, my brother Thomas and myself left Carrollton in a buggy, with a view of looking for a better location for business. We started north, visiting Jacksonville, Spring- field, Decatur and Bloomington. Finally, we decided to make Springfield our permanent home, and try to do business on the cash princi- ple, under the firm name of Condell, Jones & Co. We moved to Springfield in August, 1841. We had difficulty in finding a house to do busi- ness in, but finally rented one of the stores in ' Hoffman's row,' North Fifth street, and soon after we purchased of Mr. Blankinship the build- ing still standing on the northwest corner of the north side of the square, and continued doing business in it twenty-one years. It was the first brick building on the north side; all the rest were mostly one-story frame structures, and known in those days as 'Chicken row.' It then required six or more weeks to get goods trans- ported from the East. They had to be wagoned over the mountains to Pittsburg; thence by steamboats to St. Louis and Beardstown, and from thence to this city by transient teams. As but little manufacturing was then in existence in the United States, we were dependent upon foreign markets for most of our goods; hence, nearly all the dry goods we first sold here were of English manufacture. Muslins and calicoes, which we are now selling at six and eight cents per yard, were then sold at 25 to 372 cents per vard. Most of the woolen goods then used here were spun and woven by the women of Sanga- mon and adjoining counties. Jeans, flannels, linseys, socks, mittens, rag carpets, tow linen, men's straw hats, etc., were brought to the stores in abundance, and exchanged for groceries and other goods.

"Peter Cartwright, the old pioneer preacher, who was a life-long customer of ours, never wanted anything out of a store but a black silk cravat and a bandana silk pocket handkerchief; all the rest of his wardrobe was the product of the labor and skill of the pioneer women of San- gamon county.

"The ladies' bonnets first brought out were somewhat similar in size and shape to an invert- ed coal scuttle, and were sold at six to ten dol- lars each. Parasols were a novelty, and not much needed in the days of large sun-bonnets. However, to suit the times, the parasols we first brought out were mostly of cotton material, on rattan and whalebone frames. We sold them to the mothers of some who are now the wealthy

and fashionable of Sangamon county, and at that time they seemed to think they could hardly afford the luxury of a cotton parasol. In those days money was indeed scarce; what little there was, mostly found its way to the land office, to pay for more land. Business was mostly done on a credit of twelve months; settlements made once a year, either at Christmas or 'hog killing time '

"Soon after commencing business in Spring- field, we established a branch store in Decatur, managed by a younger brother ( Wm. J. Con- dell), who is still living there. As there was very little money in circulation, and no outlet, whatever, for produce, as a matter of necessity as well as to accommodate the farmers of Macon county, we exchanged goods with them for their fall wheat, at twenty-five cents per bushel, had it wagoned to Springfield at five cents per bushel, and sold it to J. L. Lamb at thirty cents per bushel, and were glad in that way to get out even on our speculation in wheat. Mr. Lamb was then proprietor of the old City Mill, on South Seventh street, on the Town Branch as it then was, but both the mill and branch have long since disap- peared. In connection with this I would ask the farmers in this and other sections of the State to make a note of this wheat transaction, occurring in the centre of the most fertile portion of Illi- nois, and learn therefrom how much they are in- debted to railroads for present prices of produce and the general prosperity. While I do not own a dollar of railroad stock or hold a pass over any road, I am free to say that we owe an immense debt of gratitude to the men who projected and built our railroads, as well as the larger class who are engaged day and night operating them. Let ns remember that as they have been in the past, they will ever remain, our greatest benefactors. " While waiting for first stock of goods to ar- rive, I went to the first camp-meeting I ever at- tended, then being held on the 'Old Salem camp ground,' six miles west of this city. The first day I went there I found I was a stranger among strangers, and as night came on, having made no acquaintance, and being somewhat timid and backward, I got no supper and had no place to sleep. After the night services closed, I thought I would make my bed on the straw about the preaching stand ; but while sauntering around I found an old empty log school house, which formed a part of the inclosure, and into it I went to pass the night alone. On one of the puncheon benches I found a soft hat, and lying down upon the bench I placed the hat under my head for a pillow and went to sleep with the intention of

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History of Sangamon 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 28

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084