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 31

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 31

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).

On the 28th day of October, 1828, he entered Springfield by First to Jefferson street. At the crossing of First and Jefferson, looking west, on the margin of the timber and Town Branch, stood the old horse-mill of John Taylor, then abandoned, and the tan-yard of William Proc- ter, now living at Lewiston. Both of these buildings were on the north of Jefferson street, and intermediate between them and First street was a corn field. On the south side of Jeffer- son, and west of First street, stood the houses of John Sherril, a shoemaker, and John Moor, who had married Mrs. Hawley, the estimable mother of E. B. Hawley and Isaac Hawley; and west of Moor were the cabins of Uncle Billy Fagan and of William Baker. Going thence east on Jefferson street, first stood the hotel of Mr. Abrams, on the south side, and adjoining was the dwelling and store of John Taylor, next the Buck Tavern, kept by Andrew Elliot, next the grocery and adjoining dwelling of William Car- penter. On the opposite side of Jefferson was

first what was once the old tavern, but then the dwelling of Colonel Cox and family. Next east were five or six small two-room frame buildings, with ends to the street: the first occupied by Jessie Cormack in the front room as a tinner's shop, while Asa S. Shaw occupied the rear room as a justice's office; next was the store house of Mordecai Mobley; . next the grocery of Ebenezer Capps, and the two next on the corner were occupied as the store of General James D. Henry, with Philip C. Latham as clerk. Follow- ing east on Jefferson and across Second street, at the corner, on the right, stood the store where Elijah Iles sold goods, and John Williams per- formed well the duties of clerk. The family of Major Iles resided in the same house. Next was a two-story log house, in the lower room of which Jabez Capps had a shoemaker's shop, the upper room being the residence of his family. Opposite, on the north side of Jefferson, and on its corner with Second street, stood a small log house, occupied as a store and dwelling by Archer G. Herndon; next east was a two-room frame house, with end to the street, the front room occupied by Hooper Warren as a printing office, and the rear room as the dwelling of his family; next, and on an eighty-foot lot, stood a two-story house, with two rooms below, with a hall between, occupied as a residence by Paschal P. Enos and his family, except the east lower room, which was used as a land office. Contin- uing east on Jefferson, and crossing Third street, and as you looked south on Third, not far from the south end of the Chicago & Alton Depot, stood another two-room frame building, with end to Third street, occupied by a carpenter named Fowler as a residence; next was Levi Goodin in a cabin on the south side of Jefferson, while on the corner of Fourth and Jefferson, on the south side, stood the residence of General James Adams. On the north side of Jeffer- son, between Third and Fourth streets, stood a double log building, the residence of Gorden Abrams. Next, on the corner of Fourth and Jefferson, stood the residence and shop of Dr. Jayne. This house still stands, and is occupied by Mr. Baum as a stone and marble establish- ment. Still going east on Jefferson, and cross- ing Fourth street to the right, on the eighty-foot lot on which the St. Nicholas now stands, was a two-story double log house, the residence of Charles Boyd, a tailor. On the north side of Jefferson, and opposite to Boyd, was the resi- dence of Thomas Strawbridge and his sister, Mrs. Anderson. Jacob Plank resided in a two- room frame house, on the corner of Sixth and

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Jefferson, and crossing Sixth street, on the corner lot of Jefferson and Fifth streets stood the blacksmith shop of John White, and his residence adjoining. On the opposite side was the cabin of the Tuckers, and these were the last houses on East Jefferson. Crossing to Washington street, and beginning again on First street and' moving east be- tween First and Second and on the block. south and on the site of the present residence of Major Orendorff, stood a two-story frame house, the best in the village, the then residence of Dr. John Todd. This frame house was after- wards removed and still stands nearly opposite, across the street. Going still east on Washing- ton near the corner of Washington and Third and near the present site of the flouring mill, stood a log cabin, the residence of Polly, a col- ored woman, and her family. Still east, on the corner of Washington and Fourth, stood a double frame house then occupied as a residence by Joe Thomas, afterwards purchased by and made the residence of Dr. John G. Bergen, while on the same block, and near the corner of Washington and Fifth, stood the residence of Asa S. Shaw. On the opposite block, and on the corner where now stands the Chenery House, there stood the cabin of a colored woman, called familiarly Aunt Creecy, and these were the only houses on Washington street. There were but two houses of Adams street, the blacksmith shop of Aleck Humphreys, and his residence adjoining, situ- ated on the corner of Adams and Third, on the north side, opposite to the Episcopal Church, and the residence of Dr. Garrett Elkin, on the two lots on the south side of Adams, where it corners with Sixth street, now oceupied by the magnificent stores of C. M. Smith and others, the very centre of business. Washington Iles and family live in a two-room frame honse on the corner of Monroe and Fourth streets, the present site of the Second Presbyterian Church. Rivers McCormack, a Methodist circuit rider, had built and lived in a cabin on Monroe, on part of the Tyndale hill, but he had ceased to oceupy it. Fronting the public square, on the corner of Sixth and Adams, stood a two-story frame building, the lower rooms of which were used as a court room, while the upper was used by Charles R. Matheny as a clerk's office. Front- ing the public square on the west, and on the lot now occupied by Joel Brown as a book and drug store, stood another two-room frame house, with end to the street, then occupied by Dr. Darling as a family residence. On the east side of the public square was the whipping-post.

I saw two men punished at the whipping post. The last was named Watson, who was sentenced to receive eighty lashes for an attempt to rob Mr. Bouge. General Henry, the sheriff, inflicted the punishment, and it was doubted by those who saw it, whether Henry or Watson suffered most. Henry was very pale, and I hope never to see another such a sight. I believe I have enumerated all the buildings in the village of Springfield; all north of Jefferson, all east of Sixth street, and south of Adams, except as above mentioned, was unbroken prairie, except that Charles R. Matheny and family lived on the corner of Sixth and Cook streets, now the residence of Mrs. Irwin, and there cultivated about forty acres; and Edward Mitchell resided with his family northeast of the public square, on a small farm, which afterwards was laid out into Mitchell's addition.

"The town of Springfield then had not exceed- ing five hundred inhabitants, and they were from every section and State in the Union, gen- erally young people, except where the father or grandfather had come out with some younger branch of his family. They were, as a rule, poor, and had moved West to better their for- tunes. It required some courage and nerve then to emigrate to the West, and therefore they were generally energetic and enterprising. They were persons who had come from good families East; had seen good society, and were as well educated, cultivated and refined as were the in- habitants of towns of the same size East or West. All had traveled more or less to reach Illinois, and some had come from the remote States. This gave them an advantage over citi- zens of the old States, in the knowledge of men and things which travel brings along with it. All were on equality, the only distinction arising from superior intelligence or better moral char- acter. This equality rendered them social, hos- pitable and kind to each other, and ready to receive strangers with open arms. Their social intercourse was free from forms and restraint, which wealth and more extended social circles bring along with them. They met together on the street, in the offices, or around the family circle, and were happy in their intercourse with each other. The young lady who wished to have company in the evening did not send ont elegant cards, but placed a lighted candle in her window; the young men, collected around the four corners at the crossings of Second and Jefferson, would see the light, accept the invita- tion, and assemble for social enjoyment. I re- member well the first time this occurred after

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my arrival. Miss Clarissa Benjamin, now Van Bergen, placed her candle in the window of the parlor room, above the store of Major Iles. Phil. Latham gave notice by exclaiming: 'Boys, Clar- issa's candle is in the window; let us go over.' The young men assembled there, and found Miss Clarissa Benjamin, Misses Hannah and Margaret Taylor, the Misses Dryers, and Miss Jane Bergen. It was a pleasant, social evening, and these ladies were as handsome, refined, and entertained as well and gracefully, as the young ladies of the present day.

The people then in Springfield were moral and honest; there was little stealing or cheating. There was no occasion then to lock up the doors and bar the windows at night; they had no fear of sleeping with all open. The use of ardent spirits was perhaps more general then than now, but there was less drunkenness. To drink was then fashionable, and the wonder is that all did not become drunkards. I have remarked that all the early settlers of the town who habitually used ardent spirits, and especially those who used them to excess, have made no mark in the world, but died young, and are forgotten; while the sober men, as a rule, have become heads of large and respectable families, lived respectably, and contributed to the building up of the city and the advancement of all its social interests.

"Grouping the business men of that day, the lawyers were Gen. James Adams, Gen. Thos. M. Neale, Col. James Strode, Thomas Moffitt and Jonathan H. Pugh, men of mark then, but now all dead and forgotten, overshadowed by that brilliant galaxy of lawyers, their successors, which adorned the Sangamon Bar between the years 1830 and 1840. The physicians were Dr. John Todd, Dr. Gershom Jayne, Dr. Garret Elkin, Dr. Ephram Darling. They were good physicians in any country, were men of intelli- gence, estimable in all their social relations ; be- sides they were men of splendid physique, and able to endure the arduous labor of the practice of the day which required them to ride night and day, on horseback or in the sulky, for fifty miles around. The merchants were Elijah Iles, Gen. Henry, Mordecai Mobley, John Taylor, Archer G. Herndon, while Ebenezer Capp kept the grocery ; they were all good men then, and enjoyed the confidence of the community. Charles R. Matheny was clerk of the Circuit and County courts, and in fact filled all the offices of the county. He emigrated from Virginia, was a lawyer by education and a Methodist preacher by practice. He had been Clerk of the House of Representatives, and a member of that body. 23 --

He was a good and useful man, had a pleasant, smiling countenance, beaming with benevolence as if the light of Heaven was shining on him, sing- ling him out from the others. Jonathan H. Pugh was born in Bath county, Kentucky; a lawyer by profession. Emigrating to the West, he settled in Bond county, Illinois ; removed to Springfield, Illinois, about the year 1824, where he lived un- til his death in 1834. He was possessed of a remarkably pleasant address, and was, in the fall of 1828, the most prominent and popular man in Northern Illinois. He had a good and showy intellect, was brilliant in his wit, and sparkling repartee, and for his social qualities was beloved by his friends. He was ambitious, and was elected three times as a Representative in the legislature. He was a candidate for Congress in 1832, and defeated by Gov. Duncan. His mortification was so great that he surrendered to a habit which became his fatal enemy, died about the age of thirty-five years, and fills an unknown grave.

" General James D. Henry was a shoemaker by trade, which he followed at Edwardsville; re- moved to Springfield, and became a merchant; was sheriff of the county two or three terms; was first a Colonel and then a Brigadier General in the Black Hawk war, and at the battle of Wisconsin proved himself the hero of that war. He was a man of good understanding, of fine person, brave and generous, of wonderful mag- netic influence and power to attach men to him. He went to New Orleans in the spring of 1834 for his health, and died and was buried there. At the time of his death he could have been elected to any office in the gift of the people of Illinois, and the only question he debated, was whether in the election of 1834, he would be a member of Congress or Governor. He died aged about forty years, possessed of a good constitu- tion and a bright future before him, the victim of the same bad habit. Asa S. Shaw was from the State of New York, where he had been a merchant and failed; settling at Springfield he became emphatically the Justice of the Peace, possessed of a very strong intellect, good judg- ment, and superior business qualifications, and capable of great usefulness; but he, too, suc- cumbed in the meridian of life to the same fatal enemy.

"I have singled out these three men because they were my friends, to whom I was sincerely attached, and whose memory to-day, after the lapse of more than forty years, is still green and fragrant, and I mean no wrong to them when I would use this occasion to impress upon all, and

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especially upon the young, that ardent spirits, habitually used, will soon become the master of the man; will undermine the strongest constitu- tion; it will quench the brightest genius; blight the fairest prospects, and will dig for him an early, if not a dishonorable grave.

"No attempted picture of Springfield would be complete in which Major Elijah Iles had not a prominent place. Emigrating from Bath county, Kentucky, to Missouri in 1818, and to Springfield, Illinois, in 1821, where he yet lives, at the age of eighty-seven years, when the site of Springfield was a prairie, with the exception of the cabins of the Kellys and of Elliott. He became a boarder in the cabin of John Kelly, and then repeatedly saw Elliott and one of the Kelly's return in the morning from hunting up the town branch, with a deer which had been shot near where the Governor's house now stands, and off which he breakfasted. He opened a store and sold goods for many years; was a Major in the Winnebago war, and a captain of a spy company in the Black Hawk war. lIe served the county of Sangamon two terms in the State Senate, and could have served longer had he not preferred to retire. He was one of the original proprietors of the town, and at that early day contributed largely to its growth, while his home, presided over by his estimable wife, as- sisted by her graceful sister, Miss Benjamin, was the pleasant resort of the young people. By his sagacity and industry he has acquired a large fortune, without wrong or suspicion of wrong to any one. His name was without a stain-modest and unassuming, through his long life, he has had the love and respect of his friends, and now, amid the sorrows of his old age, has the respect and sympathy of the entire community.

"Sangamon county was settled originally, with some exceptions, by a class of men known on the frontiers as bee-hunters; men who were the advance guard of emigration, following fast upon the flight of the bees. These were a hardy and honest race of men, who loved adventure, the freedom and independence of frontier life, and did not love to be crowded by close neigh- bors, or offended by the accompaniments of civi- lization. This class would emigrate to a new country, establish a claim of some sort to a piece of land, build a cabin, raise corn enough to feed their horses and hogs, and for bread, and spend the leisure time hunting and fishing, and when a second and better class of emigration flowed in, would sell out their claims and move still further west to the still advancing frontier. That change, to a great extent, had taken place in

Sangamon in the fall of 1828, and was then going on. The bee-hunters were going west to Brown, Adams and Pike counties, Illinois; then to Iowa and Missouri, and are doubtless still hunting the frontier, if indeed there is now any frontier. Their place had been supplied, and was being supplied by emigrants of a different class, from almost every State in the Union, but principally from Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and the New England States.

"Those came mostly from the middle classes of society, which embraces the bone and sinew of every country. They were generally from the mountainous sections, and were large in per- son, moral, honest, and hospitable; the latch- string of their door was always out. They were manly, brave, generous, frank; when, with a warm smile on their face, they clasped their hands in yours, you instinctively felt the heart went with it. These early settlers of Sangamon were a race of good and noble men, worthy to be the fathers of our great country, and their sons should remember their ancestry, and never disgrace them.

"As the result of their labors, carly toils and hardships, we have the great county of Sanga- mon, with its wealthy, thriving, peaceful and happy neighborhood. I say peaceful, and in proof, I would mention the fact that the law docket of Sangamon has always shown less liti- gation than other counties. It is sometimes said that the docket of a county is a very true index of its wealth and business; not so with Sanga- mon. In wealth and business, and traffic, it will compare favorably with any other county in the State.

"It may be invidious to single out any of these early settlers, as all cannot be mentioned here, but as representatives of the whole, I would mention the Darneils, the Wycoffs, the Mc- Gwins, the Morris's, the Kinneys, the Cloyds, of Lick creek; the Pattons, the Husbands, the Crows, the Fletchers, the Drennans, the Dodds, and Isaac Keys, of Sugar creek ; the Elkins, the Constants, the McDaniels, the Pickrells, and the Dawsons, of the North Fork ; the Casses, the Burns, the Lawsons and St. Clairs, of Buffalo Ilart ; the Cantralls, the Councils, the Powers, of Fancy Creek; the Irwins, the Cartwrights, the Carsons, the Purviances, the Andersons and the Harrisons, of Richland; the Sims, the Mc- Coys, the Morgans, and the Earnests, of Spring creek; and the Beckenridges, the Bakers, the Neals, and the Staffords and Sattlys, of Fork Prairie ; Samuel Williams, the Fouches, the El- lises, the Yates, the Wilcoxes, of Island Grove;

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the Iles, Charles R. Matheny, Drs. Todd, Jayne and Elkin, Pascal P. Enos, John Taylor, Archer G. Herndon, Philip C. Latham, John Williams, Gen. Henry and Jonathan H. Pugh, and Peter Van Bergen, of Springfield.

" Further singling out, I would present to your memory as a fair sample of the whole, Captain John Durneil, a man about six feet in height, handsome and well-formed, easy in his manner, because by nature a gentleman, frank, generous and true; you felt in his presence as with one who was every inch a man.

"These early settlers, I owe them much, when almost a boy and a stranger they received me with open arms, and have, in a thousand ways, showered upon me favors beyond my deserts; I owe them a large debt of gratitude, and would do all I might to honor their memories. Most of them are dead and gone, and I hope have settled for all time, in a better country, around the throne of God, and along the banks of the 'beautiful river.' Some few of us old settlers still linger on these coasts of Time; one by one they are passing away, and those of us who remain are fast becoming strangers amid the new generations around us.

" We are taught in the story of the Cross, and we believe that a great scheme of redemption has been provided for our race by the Great Father, and if we do our duty here to our coun- try, our fellow men, and to our God, that some- where in His great universe a heaven has been provided as our happy, eternal home, and the thought is a consoling one, that although fast becoming strangers here, yet, when we cross the great river of Time which divides that happy land from ours, we will meet more friends than we leave behind us; that we will know them, and they us; and that then the reunion of old settlers will be joyous, complete, and without end."

BY DR. ALEXANDER SHIELDS.

"It is said that I first breathed the atmosphere in the year of 1797, in Franklin county, Penn- sylvania. Although I was there at the time, and took an active part in the affair, I have no recollection of the transaction, and have to de- pend on the declaration of others for the truth of my statement.

" I was brought up on a farm until about eighteen years of age; went to a common school in the winter; did all kinds of work that is done on a farm, and that, I believe, gave me a strength and vigor of constitution that has enabled me to resist the physical elements with which we are

surrounded, and are at constant war against the functions of life. At eighteen, I became im- pressed with an ardent desire to acquire knowl- edge; went nine months to a Latin school; pursned my studies with a resolution that knew no failure, and at the expiration of seven years, graduated at the University of Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania. In my literary pursnits, I read a motto that was placed over the door of a heathen tem- ple-'Genosko se auto' (Know thyself)-that made a strong impression on my mind. I be- came fascinated with the idea of knowing my- self. Anatomy and physiology appeared to be the proper branches for that purpose, conse- quently I devoted myself to the study of medi- cal science, and after the lapse of seven years, graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, in 1833.

"During all these years I never thought of the ' mighty dollar,' only when necessity forced it upon me. It will appear from these state- ments that I did not creep in at the back door and foist myself on the profession, without, at least, making an effort to acquire a knowledge of the high and responsible duties pertaining to it. I devoted myself two years to my profes- sion in Pennsylvania, and then directed my des- tiny toward the setting sun, in the Far West. Before bidding a long farewell to good old Pennsylvania, I will state a couple of incidents that occurred during my stay in Pittsburg. In 1824, General Lafayette and son visited Pitts- burg, and the city became wild with enthusiasm. Of course he was tendered the hospitality of the city. The reception was grand and imposing. At least one hundred thousand people gave him an enthusiastic welcome. I, in conjunction with thousands of others, had the pleasure of shaking his hand. It is human nature to feel pleasure in shaking hands with a patriot like Lafayette.

"The other incident was a visit of Henry Clay, Secretary of State, under John Q. Adams. His reception was cold, and forbidding; in fact the people were bitterly opposed to him in con- sequence of his vote in favor of Adams against General Jackson. A few friends called to see him at his hotel, and being enlisted in his favor, induced others to call, until it became general; strange to say, he 'swallowed' all that called to see him. He remained four or five days, and visited our manufacturing establishments, and the tables were turned so much in his favor that a public dinner must be tendered. There were no public buildings suitable, and Henry Hold- ship was requested to give the use of his paper mill, one day for the purpose. Rapp, the head

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of a colony, eighteen miles below Pittsburg, sent up two or three barrels of wine for the oc- casion. The building was crowded to its utmost capacity. We had a feast worthy the city, and worthy the man to whom it was given. Many toasts were given and drank; finally, a toast was given in honor of Henry Clay, and his respond- ing elosed the feast. The toast was as follows, as near as I can recollect: 'Here's to Henry Clay, of Kentucky, who on his way home from Washington, stopped at Pittsburg, and had the power to stop Henry Holdship's paper mill one entire day, which never stopped before on any occasion.'

"He (Clay), boldly went over his political actions, in relation to Adams, and declared he would do so again under the same circumstan- ces. Such eloquence I never heard; such en- thusiasm I never saw; perhaps the wine helped to increase it.

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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 31

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