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 32

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 32

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).

"Early in April, 1835, I got on board a steam- boat for St. Louis; remained there a few days; wandered about seeing the country, and at last wound up my travels at Springfield, Illinois, on the 15th of May, 1835. The next day it com- menced raining and rained about forty days and nights, until the prairie east of town was about a foot deep with water, and no outlet; the water disappeared by evaporation and sinking in the soil. The sidewalks were composed of mud about three inches deep, and when crossing the streets, we rolled our pantaloons above our boots and waded through. Disgusted with the mud, I went up north to a place called Tremont, a town of stakes and grass. A colony from the east had purchased of the Federal Government a quantity of land about three months before, laid out a town, and called it Tremont. A part. of the colony were living in their stables which they built first, and carpenters were busy fram- ing their houses. They received me very kindly and expressed a desire for me to locate there, to examine the location of their town, and pick ont a lot anywhere not already taken. I com- menced taking a view of the place, and every few minutes a rattlesnake gave me warning to keep off, and I abandoned the examination. They declared that their object was to settle the country and develope the resources of the soil; that speculation with them was out of the ques- tion. I made choice of a lot, perhaps the one- eighth part of an acre, on the northeast corner of the square. I applied to the agent for his terms for the lot. He proposed to let me have the lot for $200, twenty cash, give note for $180. drawing twelve per cent. interest, and bind my-

self to put a house on worth $2,000. I de- nouneed them as a set of speculators and gougers; mounted my horse; hastened to Springfield, re- gardless of the mud.

"When I returned to Springfield great changes had taken place; the sidewalks and streets were dry and pleasant. The waters had subsided within the banks of the streams, and sickness to a great extent set in, in consequence of decaying vegetable matter; intermittent, remittents and typhoid fevers prevailed, and for a number of years that summer was known by the name of the ' sickly season.' I hung out my 'shingle,' and was called upon to see a sick family near Clear Lake, and had to eross the river at Den- ma's ferry; about a quarter of a mile above Riverton ; after being ferried over three or four days, I coneluded to ford the stream. I had a very spirited 'nag,' and strange as it may appear, I rode with a spur on my heel. When I reached the river a large drove of cattle were entering the water, and a man was mounted on a very large ox in front. I went into the water about twenty yards above. The water rose to the sides of my 'nag,' and I raised my feet to avoid get- ting wet; sunk the spur into her flank ; she made a sudden spring forward, and pitched me over her head into the stream. I requested the man on the ox to come and take me on behind him ; he, with a grin and squeaking voice, informed me that his horse wouldn't carry double. There I was baptized a citizen of Sangamon county, and, by some superior power, have remained so to this time.

"In the summer of 1835, the State Bank and branches went into operation. We had State banks, local banks, and 'wild cat banks,' and paper money was as plenty as blackberries. Times were prosperous, and the people entered the public lands to a great extent with paper money, causing serions loss to the Government. In 1836, General Jackson issued a specie circu- lar, requiring the lands to be paid for in specie. This caused a run on the banks, and in a little while all the banks in the country burst up and went to 'pot.' Our currency became worthless; distress and hard times came upon us; business of all kinds was depressed, and I bought corn in Springfield, delivered at five cents per bushel. The State also commenced building railroads. Every road must be completed at the same time; consequently, in a little while she became bank- rupt in the sum of seventeen millions, and no roads. Another question enlisted the public mind. The temporary seat of government at Vandalia was about expiring, and the permanent location

203

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

was agitated with a great deal of zeal by differ- ent parties. We had the celebrated ' long nine' to engineer our claims. They finally accom- plished the end by Springfield giving a bribe, in the name of a bonus, of fifty thousand dollars to the State. The County Commissioners donated to the State the public square, and the building of a State House commenced. The legislature met in the churches and passed laws for the good of the people. Springfield numbered at that time perhaps six or seven hundred people, and being simply a corporation, it must be ele- vated to the name of a city. A charter is framed, and presented to the legislature for its sanction. " The framers of the Charter found that there would be considerable opposition to it, when submitted to a vote of the people, inserted a clause excluding all unnaturalized citizens from voting for or against its adoption, when, at that time, persons that were here six months were entitled to vote, even for President of the United States. Colonel Baker was a member of the legislature, and, as I understood, voted for it, with this objectionable clause in it. That gave rise to a difficulty between him and me that has never been understood. He, being an English- man, from the same country where two of my brothers-in-law came from, excluded them from voting. I, boiling over with indignation at the idea of his excluding his own countrymen from voting, declared that I would challenge his vote. He, being aware of the fact, came on the day of election prepared with his father's naturalized papers, which naturalized him, he being a minor at the time. When he came to vote, I chal- lenged it, and that gave rise to a good deal of insulting language. At length, he used an ex- pression that was not true, and I called him a liar. That ended the war of words. He then requested me to go out on the street, and he would 'lick' me as soon as he polled his vote. I went out and waited for him. When he came, he quietly asked what I said at the polls. I said he was a liar. Expecting him to strike with his right, he gave me a liek with his left fist, on the side of my head, that knocked me wild; then the ' ball' opened. I tried for some time to hit him, but he fended off so well that I was unable to touch him.

" His fist was soft; my head was hard, and by the time he raised some five or six knots, his fist was useless. Unable to hit him with my fist, I changed my tactics, and commenced kicking. After two or three kicks he caught my foot and hoisted me over; while falling I caught him and drew him down upon me, and then reached to

get him by the throat, and my thumb landed in his eye. I concluded to let it remain there. The Democrats thought I might 'fight it out on this line if it took all summer,' but the Whigs thought differently, and pulled us apart, and that pulled my thumb out of his eye. This affair closed up by each of us paying fifteen dol- lars for fracturing the law. I can justly say that Colonel Baker was a most eloquent and for- midable political opponent, and three or four months after, when our passions cooled down, we shook hands and made friends, and then I came to the conclusion we had both been a pair of great fools.

"The charter was adopted, and William May was elected Mayor of the city. Josiah Lamborn was States Attorney. At that time a man by the name of Archibald Trayler, as upright and good a citizen as can be found anywhere, lived there. William Trayler and his brother, with them a man named Fisher, came on a visit to their brother, Archibald Trayler, who lived near Captain Ransdell's Hotel. The captain had a niece living with him, and William Trayler had an inkling towards her, and the captain was bitterly opposed to him, and set spies to watch their movements. Their movements were mys- terious, as usual when a woman is mixed up in the affair.

" Two of the Traylers and Fisher were scen going northwest into the timber and remained there some time; at length two returned, and Fisher was not with them; the next day the Traylers started for home, and took the same route through the timber, and, according to the spies, wound round in by-roads until finally they came into the Beardstown road. Four or five days after, the Traylers came back in search of Fisher. This gave rise to the suspicion that Fisher had been foully dealt with, and caused the greatest excitement among the people, William May and Lamborn engineered the matter; seized the Traylers, and had the timber searched for four or five days, in order to find Fisher. They soon found the place, where it was supposed Fisher was killed, and search was continued in order to find the body, In the afternoon of the third day, I went down in the timber, and met two men, who inquired if I had seen the place where Fisher had been killed, I replied that I had not; they then led me into the brush about fifty yards, where there was a circular spot, per- haps twelve or fifteen feet in diameter, cleared off, and near the center was a stump with a num- ber of sprouts growing round it, and close by the stump there was an impression in the soil,

204

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

resembling exactly what the back of a man's head would make in falling with considerable force. Directly after, Dr. Merriman and six or eight others came into the circle opposite; some one wondered if there was any hair or blood about the stump; Dr. Merriman examined it critically on his hands and knees; no hair or blood was found, the next day quantities of hair, even the man's whiskers, were found about the stump.

"In the evening I went down town, and the street opposite the Mayor's office was crowded with people, and Lamborn among them. Being well acquainted with him, he took me to one side, and informed me that he had told William Trayler that he had testimony to hang the whole three of them, and the only way of escape was to turn State's evidence; he became so alarmed that he was willing to give testimony to the kill- ing of Fisher. The next morning, I and five or six others went to the lower road to see Hickox's mill pond opened, in order to find Fisher. When opposite the spot where Fisher should have been killed, a young man came running down, shout- ing 'they found plenty of hair, even the man's whiskers.' I informed him that game would not work, as Dr. Merriman had examined the spot the evening before, and no hair could be found. This circumstance led to the suspicion that a conspiracy had been formed to encompass the death of Archibald Trayler. Five or six hundred people met at the mill. William May mounted a log and made a speech, urging the necessity of drawing off the water, in order to find the body. It was a dry season, and water was valuable to Hickox. I opposed it, without first paying a just compensation. He then ap- pointed a committee of five, Morris Lindsay, chairman, to wait on Hickox and ascertain the damage. Two hundred dollars were demanded. The committee reported, and May thought it too high, and sent them back with instructions to offer fifty dollars or nothing; so Hickox was compelled to submit.

"When the water was reduced about four feet, we went up to where the Beardstown road crossed the stream, and a number went into the water in search of the body; the crowd on the bank and Archibald Trayler, under bonds, stood off about forty yards from the crowd, a forlorn spectator of the scenes. I went to him, with the desire to find out what grudge May and Lamborn had against him; but he appeared so depressed that I gave it up and went back to the crowd on the bank. It so happened that I had lost an axe at that point, in getting ice, and I

proposed to give a dollar to the man that would find it, and that they would be more likely to find the axe than Fisher. They looked 'daggers' at me, and a low murmur went through the crowd, and I discovered my imprudence when it was too late. About sundown we left without Fisher. When we arrived at Springfield, a doctor in the vicinity of Wm. Trayler's home, hearing of the excitement, was there declaring that Fisher was at home and well. They seized the doctor, declared him an accomplice, and de- manded that Fisher must be presented in per- son. Archibald Trayler's partner and Mr. John Maxey, I was informed, went for Fisher. They returned late in the evening. and the next day the trial came on. After an elaborate train of circumstantial evidence, together with Wm. Trayler's positive testimony, were given, Judge Logan, Archibald Trayler's attorney, stated that he would introduce just one witness. He made a sign, and introduced Fisher, to the consterna- tion of all present.

"The result was that Archibald Trayler's use- fulness was destroyed, and he wandered about like a person in a dream. About two years after, a messenger came for me at twelve o'clock at night, to see Trayler, who was very sick; when I saw him he was exhausted, and in a few hours departed this life. The plain, natural and just solution of this mysterious affair appears to be simply this. Wm. Trayler had a great fancy for Capt. Ransdell's niece, and she had a fancy for him, and the Captain was intensely opposed to it. Trayler was determined to steal the girl, and she was willing to be stolen, and in order to be prepared for the theft, the three men went down into the timber to find if there were any by-roads that would lead into the Beardstown road ; then Fisher is sent home on foot, and ar- rangements made with the girl to meet him in the timber. When he departed for home he took that direction, and the girl being unable to es- cape the vigilance of the Captain and his spies, did not appear ; after waiting a reasonable time, he then went to the Beardstown road on his way home

"This unfortunate affair had a good deal of truth and falsehood mixed up together, and demonstrates that when people become greatly excited they lose all their reasoning powers; that mobs and strikes and factions are developed in like manner ; that they contain more or less fanatics, and cannot possibly exist without lead- ers, and when political factions become strong in numbers they are dangerous to civil govern- ment.

205

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

" From the fourth of March, 1837, to the fourth of March, 1841, Van Buren was President. The State was sunk to the lowest depths of embar- rassment; she could not pay the interest on her bonds; they depreciated to a mere nominal value; emigration ceased, and repudiation appeared to be inevitable. Governor Ford then made ar- rangements to call a convention, to amend the Constitution so as to provide for the payment of the interest and principal of the State debt. The convention provided that two mills on the dollar (twenty cents on the hundred dollars) of the State tax should be set apart for the express purpose of paying the interest and principal of the State debt. It was submitted to a vote of the people and adopted. The people declared, by their vote, we will pay the debt, to the last dollar, let it cost what it will. That act of the people fixed the destiny of the State; the bonds began to rise; emigration flowed in, and wealth increased to such an extent that Governor Mat- teson, in his last message to the legislature, de- clared that from the ratio of increasing popula- tion and wealth, the State of Illinois would not owe a dollar in 1868. The increase in popula- tion and wealth was even greater than Matteson's estimate. Notwithstanding, when 1868 came around we were millions in debt. It is said the State is now-1881-out of debt; but the people, failing to profit by experience, and getting rail- roads on the brain, have embarrassed counties and towns to a great extent.

"In 1840, the Democratic party nominated Van Buren a second term for President, and the Whig party, General IIarrison for the same office. In that campaign, the leading principles of the Whigs were 'coon-skins, log cabins, with the string of the latch never pulled in, and hard cider; two dollars a day and roast beef.' The side issues were the extravagance of the White House, with its gold spoons, and a high protect- ive tariff on foreign importations. A member of Congress, by the name of Evans, made a speech in favor of protective tariff; it was printed in pamphlet form, and sent broadcast over the country; the Whigs thought it a 'stun- ner,' and exulted to a great extent over it. There was a Democrat over the Illinois river, named Bob Burton, who had a mill, and the Whigs thought to convert him, if he would read the speech; after reading it carefully he made a new toll dish, according to the reasoning in the speech, double the size of the one he used, and he called it Whig, the other he called Demo- crat. He placed them side by side, and when a Whig came he pointed out the two measures,

and informed him that he would toll his corn with the Whig measure because it was made ac- cording to Evans' speech, and that is, the bigger the toll the less you pay for grinding, and the more meal you get. It was said that he, by this practical illustration of the speech, converted a number of Whigs to the Democratic party. The speech appeared to be a tissue of sophistry, and the gist of it was simply this, the higher the prices, the more you paid for merchandise, the less it cost you.

"In this campaign, great excitement prevailed over the country. A man came to Springfield, announced himself as 'General John Ewing, from Vincennes, Indiana,' and challenged the whole Democratic party on the issues of the day, threatening to annihilate it by the power of his eloquence. The leaders of the party, Ed- wards, Stewart, Baker, Lincoln, and Logan, as talented men as Indiana or any other State in the Union could boast of, concluded to let this boaster try his hand. We had Douglas and Calhoun. We pitted Douglas against him. At that time there was no 'red tape,' as it is now, in our public meetings. The contesting parties arranged and timed their speaking. In this case, each one was to speak an hour alternately, and be timed by one from each party; to begin at eight o'clock, adjourn at twelve; meet at two, and continue to sundown each day, until the contest would be ended. At the close of the fifth day, 'General John Ewing, from Vincennes, Indiana,' threw up the 'sponge,' and a vigorous shout was given by the Democrats. On the northwest corner of the public square stood a market-house. There we met, and each speaker, mounted on a butcher-block, rolled out his elo- quence. E. D. Baker, mortified at Ewing's defeat, mounted a butcher-block, and began to address us. We protested that that game of ' two pluck one' could not be tolerated. He persisted, and immediately the cry was raised, 'Pull him down,' 'Pull him down.' At length he yielded, otherwise it would have ended with a number of broken heads. General Harrison was elected; but the 'two dollars a day and roast beef,' promised the laboring man, never came.

"In 1844 I became impressed with a strong desire to live in the country; I bought eighty acres of land, eight miles southeast of Spring- field, and in the spring of 1845 moved on it, and then commenced farming and the practice of medicine; right here I made the great mistake of my life, when I left Springfield. It is thought by many, that if a doctor locates in the country,

206

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

he loses all the brains and mental acquirements he ever had, as if location determined a man's ability, when, in fact, the most notorious 'quacks' that disgrace the profession, congregate in cities and towns.

"'The National Democratic Convention nomi- nated James K. Polk in 1844, under the opera- tion of the two-thirds rule, and many Democrats were enquiring 'who's James K. Polk?' demon- strating the fact that an obscure man was put in nomination, and the prominent leading men ot the party cast aside. Having studied Thomas Jefferson's doctrines of a Republican form of government, his great fundamental principle, that the fairly expressed will of a majority of the people, expressed their sovereign will, and that the minority should yield implicit obedience to the will of the majority, I opposed the two- thirds rule as a direct violation of his principles, and being a zealous and sincere friend of Stephen A. Douglas, I came to the conclusion that he never could be President under its operation. The South, being in a large minority, dictated terms to the North through its power, and the North yielded for the sake of power and control of the Government.

"In 1852, General Pierce was nominated, an- other obscure candidate, and Douglas' political head cut off. My zeal for Douglas carried me, a 'high private,' beyond the bounds of discretion, and cansed me to offer a series of resolutions, in a county convention, denouncing the two-third rule as anti-Republican, anti-Democratic; and, to my utter astonishment, the friends of Douglas voted them down, and denounced them 'another firebrand.' The resolutions, seventeen, are re- corded in the Sangamon Journal of October, 1852. I felt then that Douglas might justly exclaim, in the language of Julius Caesar, ' May the gods protect me from my friends, and I'll take care of my enemies.' This action of mine brought me in 'bad odor' with a number of Democrats, and 'if I did not like the way they conducted political affairs, I was po- litely invited to leave the party.' I had, at that time, great faith in the party, and did not feel justified in leaving. In 1856, the National Demo- cratic party nominated James Buchanan, one of the prominent leaders, who afterwards turned out to be a kind of a milk and water 'dough- face,' but suited the South, as it was preparing to bring on a crisis. In 1860, it met at Charleston, South Carolina, and it was said that Douglas re- ceived a majority on the first ballot, but the two- third rule defeated him in getting the nomina- tion. The friends of Douglas clung to him with

great firmness, as it was the last chance, but they were ten or twelve years behind time.

"The South was preparing for rebellion, and Douglas was too patriotic, too energetic, too firm a man to be at the head of the Government. The consequence was that the convention burst into two factions, the South and the North ; they ad- journed to meet again in Baltimore. When they met there the friends of Douglas would not yield, and they burst up again, and each faction nomi- nated its candidate; the South, Breckenridge, and the North, Douglas. It appeared to me, from the aspect of affairs, that it was impossible to elect Douglas, and when Lincoln was nominated, I then placed my hope in his election to save the Union, and bid a long farewell to the Democratic party. Some men boast that they never changed, that is, they never split their ticket when a con- vention told them who they should vote for, and aspirants for office frequently use it as an argu- ment in their favor. It is an old saying that 'wise men change, but fools and idiots never change.' If a man discovers that he is in error, it is his right, it is his duty to change ; but if a man changes through sordid, selfish motives, he is dishonest and corrupt.

"The Republican party had a grand rally on the eighth of August, 1860, in honor of Lincoln, and a procession said to be eight miles long was formed. Mr. Armstrong, a manufacturer, had a platform on a wagon and a loom with a web in it ; in passing Lincoln's house, a tailor took his measure ; cloth was woven, and a pair of panta- loons made and presented to him on the return of the procession. In that procession I carried a banner with the motto: 'Free labor elevates, Slave labor degrades '"

PIONEERS AND PIONEERING.

The following is a portion of a lecture deliv- ered by William H. Herndon, shortly after the close of the rebellion. In the Life of Lincoln, by Mr. Holland, the biographers used these words: "When inefficient men become very uncomfortable, they are quite likely to try emi- gration as a remedy. A good deal of what is called the pioneering spirit, is simply the spirit of discontent." Mr. Herndon combats this idea in this address, which was re-delivered at Sweet Water, Menard county, Illinois, at the Old Set- tlers' meeting, August 31, 1881:

"There have been four distinct and separate waves-classes of men, who have followed each other, on the soil we now daily tread. The first is the Indian. The second is the bee and beaver hunter, the embodied spirit of western and south

James L. Lamb

209

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

western pioneering; they roam with the first class, nomads, wandering Gipsies of the forests and the plains. The third class, with sub-classes and varieties, is composed of three distinct varie- ties of men, coming as a triple wave. The first is the religious man, the John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness; the second is the honest, hardy, thrifty, active and economical far- mer, and the third class is composed of the wild, hardy, honest, genial and social man-a mixture of the gentleman, the rowdy and roysterer; they are a wild, rattling, brave, social and hos- pitable class of men; they have no economy, caring only for the hour, and yet thousands of them grow rich; they give tone and caste and character to the neighborhood in spite of all that can be done; they are strong, shrewd, clever fel- lows; it is impossible to hate them, and impossi- ble to outwit or whip them. The fourth class, with sub-classes and varieties, have come among us seeking fortune, position, character, power, fame, having ideas, philosophy, gearing the forces of nature for human nses, wants and pur- poses. They come from the east, the middle states, from the south; they come from every quarter of the globe, full grown men. Here are the English and the German, the Scotch and the Irish, the French and the Scandinavian, the Italian, the Portuguese, the Spaniard, Jew and Gentile; and here and there and everywhere is the universal, the eternal, indomitable and ine- vitable " Yankee," victorious over all, and I as a " Sucker," say welcome all. All, all, however, have their divine purposes in the high, deep, broad and wide extended, the sublime economy of God.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 32

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