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 29

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 29

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.

rising before any one else would be stirring around, and see where I had made my resting place; but being tired, I slept so soundly, that when I awoke the sun was two hours high, and I discovered a boy sitting upon the doorstep patiently waiting for his hat, which was under my head.

"Thatday I formed my first acquaintance with some of the early settlers of Sangamon county -- the Megredys, Shepherds, Swingleys, Lyons, Hickmans, Tomlins, Lightfoots and others in the country ; and from the city, Dr. McNeil, Rev. W. T. Bennett, Geo. R. Weber, Enos M. Henkle, Edmund Roberts, Noah and Charles W. Ma- theny, Arny Robinson, Win. Dickey, Thomas Lee, Sr., and Jas. F. Reed, among whom I was cordially received and entertained.

"There was a young lady from Williamsport, State of Maryland, at that meeting, with the family of Judge Swingley, to whom three years after I was married, although at that time I had not the remotest idea of what the future had in store for me. I had no thought of matrimony then, and was only interested in the progress of the meeting. In those days there was more weeping and rejoicing at camp meeting than we see now. I wept with those who wept, and re- joiced with those who rejoiced, and wished the meeting would last all summer.

" The Spring and summer of 1844 will be re- membered by many, as one of the most gloomy and disastrous seasons that Sangamon county ever passed through. It rained almost incess- antly all through the spring, until some time in June. The whole country was flooded with water. What little corn had been planted was mostly drowned out, and vegetation wore a sickly hue. It was a year of short crops, long faces and general depression. Dullness pre- vailed, and business men had more leisure than they knew what to do with. However, I turned it to good account, improving the leisure and enlivening the dullness by a courtship, resulting in securing a partner for life.

" In the face of all the discouraging prospects, all the shaking of heads and forebodings of evil, I was married on the 27th day of June, 1844, to Miss Bell Rice, at the residence of her brother-in-law, Judge Samuel K. Swingley, six miles south of Springfield. In going to and re- turning from the wedding, we found all the prairie from town to Lick creek timber, covered with a sheet of water, and much of the way it was hub deep. That event proved to be the wisest proceeding of my life, and I close these

recollections of the past by advising young men to go and do likewise."

JOHN H. HARRISON, SON OF REUBEN HARRISON, SALISBURY.

" I was born in the county of Rockingham, State of Virginia, April 6, 1815. My father moved to Kentucky in 1818, living there four years, and then moved to Sangamon county Illi- nois, settling on the farm on which I have ever since lived, on the 4th of November, 1822. Everybody was poor, as is the case in every new country, but we enjoyed life as much then as now. We had time to visit our friends, work our little farms, hunt game, which was plenty, and to go to meeting on a week day. We did not use buggies and carriages then. All travel- ing was done on horseback. It was not uncom- mon for a man and his wife and three children to get on one horse and ride three or four miles to visit a neighbor. The first school I attended was taught in a house built of round logs and without any windows. All the light we had came down the chimney. The next spring they cut out a log for a window and made a writing pesk of a slit slab, which they placed under it. The first lot of hogs we raised, father sold in Beardstown. for $1.25 per hundred. But several hogs paid for four acres each of land, on which I now live. About the 10th of March, 1826, father and W. B. Renshaw started from the mouth of Richland creek, for New Orleans, with the second flat boat load of corn ever floated down the Sangamon-Abraham Sinnards took the first one. There are few of the priva- tions now felt in settling a new country, which we felt in settling this. I can remember when we had to raise and prepare everything we had to eat, make everything we had to wear; and every kind of vessel we had to use. The first saw mill was built on Richland creek, below the mouth of Prairie creek, by Renben Fielding and Robert Harrison, in 1825. Wil- liam and T. Kirkpatrick built a horse mill in 1822, half a mile southeast of Salisbury. That was the only place we could get flour and meal. It took two-thirds of a bushel of wheat or five or six bushels of corn to pay the postage on a letter."

BY W. T. BENNETT.

"I was born near Shepherdstown, Jefferson county, Virginia, on the 30th of November, 1805. In 1834 emigrated to the west, and, in company with my brother, Van S. Bennett, reached Springfield on the 9th day of Decem

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

ber, and registered at Captain Whorton Rans- dell's Hotel, an old gentleman full of life and gay spirits, and, as I thought, the most attentive and accommodating landlord I had met in my travels.

I was not favorably impressed with the appearance of Springfield at that time, and did not think of remaining there very long, but I was induced to commence business, and re- ceived a reasonable share of patronage from the citizens. As I became acquainted with the people, I found them scciable and kind. Every- body seemed to be in good spirits and prosper- ing. I became attached to the people and the place, and made it my home till the year 1850, when I entered the itinerant ministry.

The first Sabbath I spent in Springfield I attend- ed the Methodist church, and was most agreeably disappointed in the appearance of the congrega- tion, and in the eloquent sermon by Rev Joseph Edmonson, of precious memory. There was a flourishing Sabbath school, under the superin- tendence, of a very good brother, and if I am not mistaken, James II., now Judge Matheny, when but a boy, was reported as having com- mitted to memory the largest number of verses in the New Testament of any of the scholars belonging to the school. The memory of the warm friends with whom I first formed an ac- quaintance, I still cherish with feelings of pleas- ure and sadness - Dr. J. M. Early, Charles H. Matheny, Esq., Nicholas Garland, Edward Phil- lips, Edmond Roberts, Asbury and Cyrus San- ders and others. These have all passed into the silent city of the dead. I am still here, in the seventy-seventh year of my age, and since the death of my cousin, William A. Bennett, whom I loved as a brother, I begin to feel lonely.

In 1835, I was introduced by Rev. Mr. Edmond- son to Miss Rebecca J. Roberts, who was then vis- iting Springfield, whom I afterwards conrted and married. The most of our courtship, however, took place on paper, for soon after our acquaint- ance I learned of the death of my brother-in- law, George W. Shutt, in Shepardstown, and re- turned to see my widowed sister. I returned to Springfield in the spring of 1836, and was mar- ried to Miss Roberts the following June, in the town of Ottawa, Illinois. The fruit of our mar- riage has been two sons and five daughters. We have buried one son and three daughters. The remaining two daughters and son reside in and near Mechanicsburg. My wife and self, and youngest daughter, a widow, live to- gether."

BY GEORGE P. WEBER.

"I am not an early settler, according to the ruling of the association of that name in the county, as my days on the earth are not of snf- ficient number to entitle me to that honor. However, am a descendant of one. Was born on what is now South Sixth street, Springfield, Ill., about two score years ago. And, while we know nothing of our ancestry of which we feel ashamed, modesty forbids the mention of what we do know. Suffice it to say that, whatever claims we may have to the succession of Euro- pean or other thrones, or rights to great wealthy estates, by rules of descent, are dismissed. Have lived here long enough to witness many important changes. Remember when I knew the face and name of every man, woman, boy and girl in Springfield; also most of the 'country jakes' who did their trading there. The free school system has grown up in my time, and if there is a man or woman in the county, thirty years of age, or under, who cannot read and write, some one is greatly at fault, and should be held criminally responsible, except in case of idiocy or physical disability. Even mutes are not excusable. My first school teacher was old Mr. Parks, but do not remember him so dis- tinctly as good Mrs. Dean, who, shame to say it, I kieked on the nose with the first boot heel I ever wore, while she was plying her slipper where, no doubt, it was needed. Recollect quite well when the first railroad locomotive came into Springfield. * * * I was a little fellow, but do not forget when the troops left for the Mexican war, nor when Tom Hessey, an ac- quaintance of my folks, returned, having been wounded by a grape shot, which he brought home with him. I thought Tom was a hero and a martyr. Wondered if we should ever have another war that would afford me an opportunity to wear the dazzling blue with brass buttons. 'True, that grape shot and Tom Hessey's game leg would come up sometimes, and dampen my ardor. It came. I was there. Saw enough. Came home without glory, be- canse I had the good fortune to bring my body intact. The public demand an arm, a leg, a hand; or there is no reward, no compliment, no cheer. But so it has always been, perhaps always will be. The sacrifice, not the service, is what we applaud. One of the really big things in the way of advancement was the scouring plows made by old John Uhler, on the corner east of where the town clock is now located. I never used a wooden mould-board

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plow, but in my thirty years practical experi- ence, have used many different kinds. Plows of recent date have many advantages, but I have never seen a plow that would do the work as well as the old Uhler used to do it.

"The improvements in the way of farm imple- ments is a matter of astonishment; but of all the improvements, nothing is more noticeable or im- portant to an agricultural county like ours than that of farm animals. While all kinds have been greatly improved, the most marked improvement is aniong cattle, hogs and sheep. Horses have been by no means neglected, but there were some good horses about here more than thirty years ago. Do I forget Uncle Peter Van Berg- en's 2:40 steppers? Not much. You never saw me sitting in Uncle Peter's sleigh, behind the first string team ever driven in Springfield to a cutter? Bells, little and big! I would have guessed more than a million in number! Talk about the wind. Our backs to it, a half second the start, and ' stand from under!' I was a very common boy, but a very enthusiastic one about that time on the trotting question. My father laughs now about a question, or rather a series of them, that amused him, but I am still of the same opinion. Said I, 'Father, if our horse was the biggest horse in the world, and was the best looking horse in the world, and could outrun any other horse, and could trot faster than any other horse; would he be the greatest horse in the world -- if we had one?'

"In poultry also, the improvement is very marked. * But what does it all amount to? Is the condition of the human family really bettered by it? Do not all these improvements bring with them additional demands that must be complied with? Do they not excite a spirit of unrest, jealousy and selfishness? For all time man has been about the same. The physical, social and moral culture of man brings corres- pondingly increased necessities and responsibili- ties. After all, much of the labor-saving ma- chinery in use, and many of the so-called con- veniences are over-estimated. We pay for all our luxuries, sometimes dearly."

PIONEER WOMEN.

At the annual meeting of the Pioneers' So- ciety, held in 1879, R. W. Diller read a number of letters received from pioneer women of the county. The following were among the number :

MRS. JAMES PARKINSON AND MRS. SARAH KING, OF CURRAN.

"FRIEND DILLER-In response to your request that you would like to hear from the women por-

tion of the old settlers of Sangamon county, we will give you some of our experience. Our father moved from Kentucky to St. Clair county, Illi- nois, in the year 1816 or 1817-lived there till the fall of 1819; then moved to what was then called the Sangamo country, and settled on Spring creek, ten miles west of where Springfield was afterwards located. Our father built a camp, which we lived in until winter,-and consider- able snow and very cold,-then built a cabin; had to thaw the snow and ice off the boards to lay the roof; then put poles on to hold the boards down. That done, they made puncheons and laid part of the floor, and put up bedsteads of some kind; then had to make beds under the bed- steads for us children to sleep on, there being nine children and three grown persons. The cabin where there was no floor, we used for hearth and fire-place, leaving a hole in the roof for the smoke to go out at. This way we lived the first winter. After that we done a little bet- ter ; built a pen at one end of the house for the sheep, to keep the wolves from killing them, and the wolves serenaded us nearly every night. The principal part of the provender for our stock was elm and lin brush. Our men would cut down trees for the stock to eat the branches and bark off. Our breadstuffs had to be brought from near St. Louis, about one hundred miles. It was principally corn bread made up with cold water and baked in a skillet or oven-was commonly called corn-dodger. Our meat was in abundance, we had pork, venison, turkey and prairie chicken and wild honey for all that was out. Had coffee about once a week, generally of a Sunday morn- ing, the balance of the time, milk and water mixed. This was for the first season, after that we had enough milk without mixing it with water. As for our clothes, we had to raise, pick, spin and weave cotton to make clothes for winter and summer; we also made linsey. The first indigo we had, we raised; used that, shumach berries, white walnut bark and other barks for coloring.

"Now for the cotton picking. Mother would every night fill a pint cup full of cotton in the seed for each one of us, and lay it down before the fire and tell us when we picked it we could go to bed, and we had it to do. Then we pitched in and warmed our cotton, and the warmer we made it, the better it picked, so we would take a good sweat. The next day that had to be carded and spun, so we would soap the cotton some card and some spin, and when we would get enough spun and colored to make a dress apiece, we would put it in the loom and weave it. It

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did not take fifteen or twenty yards to make a dress, nor thirty or forty days to make one, althought they were made by hand. Now, to give you a more perfect idea of the cloth and fashion of our dresses at that time, we will here show you a sample of one of our mother's dresses, which she wore about fifty-five years ago-not only mother, but some of the rest of us young ladies. This is the only one we have saved, it being our mother's. We have often thought and talked of exhibiting this dress before to old settlers' meetings, but have failed to do it, but when our friend Diller gave us such a pressing invitation to take a part in contribut- ing to the entertainment, we could resist no longer, so we thought we would give a little sketch of our doings for the first two or three years in this county. Now for our calico dresses. We cannot show you a sample, as we have not saved one for posterity, but it would be some- thing similar to the cotton, one in number of years and make. Before we could get one we had to make jeans and swap for calico, or else dig ginseng and smat. We had a neighbor woman who had a small baby, and had no cradle, and she conceived the idea of substituting her apron for a cradle; tie the baby in it, then the apron around her neck, and spun on the big wheel in order to make clothing for her family. As for schooling, that was not very much. Our first school we went to after we came here was four miles, taught by a man named Andrew. Four or five of us went by turns. The youngest was nine years old. Went on foot, and the road was a path through the high grass and woods, and the stars were often shining when we got home, and there were wolves and panthers plenty. They were frequently seen, and you can well imagine how we felt when the stars began to shine. The oldest ones would form a front and rear guard, and put the smallest in the mid- dle, and hurry them along, all scared nearly to death. Our school house was a log cabin; the windows were big cracks, with paper pasted over and greased to give light. Our seats were split logs, with legs put in to sit on. Our church was built of logs, and about four miles from us. It was a Methodist church, and when we had com- pany we went on foot, one behind the other in the path.

MRS. JAMES PARKINSON, MRS. SARAN KING."

MRS. CHARLOTTE JACOBS. LOAMI, ILL., August 3, 1879. " LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- I was born April 19, 1797, in Winchester, Clark county, Kentucky.

My maiden name was Charlotte Webb, daughter of Adin and Mary Webb. I was married to Daniel Jacobs in the year of our Lord 1818. We lived in Kentucky until the fall of 1825. We then started to Illinois, and on the 7th of November arrived at Lick creek, and settled on the farm that we have ever since occupied. When we moved to Illinois our neighbors were scarce. Mr. Lindley, Mr. Darneille, Myers Campbell and my husband, with their families, moved into a little log cabin, fifteen by sixteen, with a puncheon floor and a clapboard door. The chimney had no back, or jams, or hearth. How friendly the people were in those days. They would go miles to sec one another, and to take and return the hearty shake of the hand. As I look back on those days, I think of them as some of my happiest days. You must know that it took stout, hearty and resolute woman to set- tle a wilderness country like this was, and to buffet with the storms of life, but God's hand was over all, and he brought us safely through. I raised a large family, nine daughters and two sons, to be grown and married. They are all living and doing well. My children, grand- children and great grand-children living, are one hundred and fourteen. If all were living there would be one hundred and thirty-six. 1 am now in my eighty-third year, and can walk with- ont fatigue, to my daughter's, Mrs. Frank Dar- neille, about two miles, and I feel thankful for my good health. We brought only one chair with us, so my brother made one for himself and my husband, with a gimlet and a draw-knife as the only tools. I have the gimlet yet. I brought with me three cows, and my husband bought five hounds. The first hogs we had I bought twelve shoats, and paid for them with linsey and jeans, of my own make. We had to raise flax and cotton to make our clothing. I made every- thing that we wore. I even made my towels and table cloths, sheets and everything in the clothing line. I have some of my towels and table cloths yet, and one sheet of my last flax spinning. We had a pretty hard time for a while, but we worried through. Our nearest trading place was St. Louis, and we had not much money to buy with. We had to go to the American bottom to get our bread stuff, and we paid one dollar per bushel for corn, until we raised some. Our meat was principally wild meat, such as deers, turkeys and prairie chickens. We put up with anything. What we could not make we did without. I made a churn by taking a keg and knocking one end out; made a dasher to fit, and presume made just as sweet butter then

Alexander Shields M. (,,

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as our women do now. This is only a short sketch of my early life, and perhaps some of the young people will doubt its truth. But if you don't believe it, I can refer you to any of my old neighbors. Yours respectfully,

CHARLOTTE JACOBS."

ELIZABETHI HARBOUR, DAUGHTER OF SIMON LIND- LEY.

"I was born September 4, 1803, in Christian county, Kentucky. I came to Illinois Territory in 1807, and wintered on Wood river, in what is now known as Madison county. I then moved to Shoal creek, which is now Bond county. Remained there until the beginning of the war of 1812, when my father, with about forty other families, went into the fort called Hill's Station, where we remained until peace was declared. Hill's Station was near where Greenville, Bond county, now is. A guard, con- sisting of the militia and the rangers, was kept to guard the fort, on account of the numerous Indians. The Indians attacked the fort four different times. The fourth time the Indians nearly succeeded in their attempt, most of the militia being out on a skirmish. Thirteen men went out in the morning, and only thirteen men remained in the fort. While the thirteen were going away, they were attacked by the Indians, who were lying in ambush, and the Indians killed four and wounded one-Thomas Higgins. When he was wounded, he attempted to reach the fort, but he was overtaken by two Indians. One he knocked senseless with the breech of his gun, and with the other he had a fist fight, but men from the fort came to his relief, and he reached the fort, where my father took from him seven balls. During the battle, one of the women, Lydia Persley, took her musket and started out to kill an Indian, but she was stopped at the gate by the guard. She thought her hus- band had been killed, and she wanted to seek revenge, but her husband was not killed. This attack was made the 27th of August, 1813. The first murder was committed about two and a half miles from my father's house, at one of our neighbors', Mr. Cox, he himself being killed by the Indians. Rebecca, his sister, killed six out of the seven, while they attempted to enter the house. When we first came to Shoal Creek, game was abundant. My brother, John Lindley, and another man killed twenty-five deer one morning before nine o'clock. They took only the hams and hides, which they took to St. Louis.

"We next moved to what is now known as Madison county, on Silver creek, near what is now Lebanon, where we remained until 1820, when we came to Lick ereck, what is now San- gamon county, which then consisted of Mason, Menard, Cass, Logan, Tazewell and part of Christian, a small part of Macon, part of Mc- Lean, part of Woodford, part of Marshall, and part of Putnam. When we came there were but six families near us-John Darnielle, Bar- ton Darneille, John Campbell, John Wycoff, Henry Brown and Levi Harbour. Our mill was near by -we had to go only about eighty or ninety miles, but shortly after there was a horse mill built on Sugar creek. The Indians were still here when we came, but they were some- what friendly and not very numerous. I was married to Samuel Harbour July 28, 1826; have lived in the same place ever since, and raised nine children to be men and women. During the time I had many hardships, I had to weave and spin. It only took eight yards of calico to make a dress, and not twenty-eight, as at pres- ent. We had to make our clothing from cotton, flax and wool. During the winter of the deep snow when we got out of meal, we had to use pounded meal and live on hominy until we could break a road to the horse-mill. When we got out of groceries we had to resort to the woods for sassafras tea. I forgot to mention about the ranger who was wounded on what is now supposed to be Spring creek, and was brought to Sulphur Spring on Liek creek, where he died and was buried, at what is now Sulphur Spring Cemetery, he being the first man buried there. I am nearly seventy-six years old, and have a very sick daughter at present; my mind being flustrated I cannot say near as much as I could otherwise. This being a very, very short sketch of the troubles I have witnessed. I sin- cerely hope no other person will ever have to pass through the many hardships which I have experienced. Yours respectfully,

E. LINDLEY."

JAMES AND ELIZA HEADLEY.

CHATHAM, Ill., August 14, 1879.

"R. W. Diller Esq .:- We were not pioneers of Sangamon county, but were pioneers of Vigo county, Indiana, and as my wife cannot write, I thought I would write a few lines for her and myself. Now if you think these lines will add any to the occasion, all right; if not, throw them into the waste basket. We settled sixteen miles north of Terre Haute, in the fall of 1819, on

22-

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the outskirts of civilization. The Indians were quite numerous for years after, and quite troublesome, being terrible beggars. We located on up-land, where there was not a tree cut, and the nettles and pea-vines were so thick that we could scarcely see the ground, so we took a horse and brush and dragged them down for a considerable space around, went to work and put up a camp, moved into it, and in four weeks moved into a hewed log house, nineteen feet square, in which we lived the next winter with- out a chimney. The place for the chimney was cut out and the fire just outside, but we were well smoked that winter. While this work was going on, we had to grate all the meal for quite a large family. After corn beeame too hard we used the hominy mortar and pestle. There was no mill nearer than thirty miles, and then of a dry season it could not grind. A miller told us once to live on faith and dumplings, but we had nothing to make dumplings of. For clothing, many of the boys and some of the men had to wear dressed buckskin. In fact, I have seen Randolph Wedding, of Terre Haute, dressed in buekskin from head to foot. He became after- wards County Judge."

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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 29

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