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 70

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 70

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).

" Men sickened and died then and whole com- munities came with solemn tread and followed them to the rude, unfenced graveyard, and although the dead was placed in a rough, un- planed oaken coffin, yet weeping friends, with their own hands, bore the loved form and laid

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

it inside its last resting place, and with uncovered heads stood around until friendly hands had heaped up the little mound above where the loved one was laid. Now men die and a rose- wood coffin, lined with eostliest silks and satin, receive their remains; they are borne to the fashionable burying ground in a hearse all decked with waving plumes; a half dozen or so of the costliest carriages in the community carry a few acquaintances to the graveyard; they are lowered to their narrow bed, and at the first rumble of a clod upon the coffin lid, the living all hurry away, and, without thought of the one just gone, plunge into the busy whirl of life.

" In those days there were such things as boys, not merely boys in size, but in character and thought. Pure specimens of unadulterated nature in her roughest and most uncouth form. We have no such things now as boys-they have been entirely superseded by a new genius denom- inated young gentlemen. The real boy is a lost race-as totally extinct as the mysterious ani- mals of the past, about which geologists tell us. I would give a good deal to once again see a real bona fide boy, such as lived in Springfield thirty years ago, when I was one of that now extinct species-but they are all gone. I never expect to see one again; yet I love to think of them. I love to call up reminiscences of my boyish days. I love to think of the unsophisticated trustful- ness of our natures, of our abiding faith, that everything in life was earnest, true and beatuiful.

"One little circumstance comes to memory that will perhaps better illustrate the unsophisticated nature of the boys of thirty years ago, than any words that I can employ. The rumor one day went abroad through our boyish community that a stranger boy had come to town with his father, who had just moved from the East, but what was startling and totally incomprehensible to us was, according to the same rumor, he absolutely wore broadeloth clothes; this was asking a little too much, more than we could believe. Our loftiest ambition, our wildest dream had never gone be- yond a wool hat and a mixed jeans coat. It is true that we had heard of broadeloth; we knew there was such a thing; we knew that preachers, doctors, and lawyers sometimes, but only upon rare occasions, wore it; but to be told that a boy, no bigger than ourselves, wore broadcloth, it was entirely too much. The news spread rapidly from boy to boy; the excitement ran higher and higher; night after night we met to talk over the wonderful news, and finally we resolutely re- solved that if such a wonderful thing was true, we must see and know it for ourselves. This

was on Saturday night. We had been told that the stranger boy would go to meeting Sunday with his broadcloth coat on; we knew the route he would take; and a committee of three was ap- pointed to hide in a corner of the fence, near which he would pass, and see if the wonderful story could be true, and then report to us. The balance of us were to wait in an old mill until the truth should be known. The three went forth upon their mission; we waited in silence for their return. Shortly they came; we saw at once by their solemn, awe struck countenances that the truth had been told us, and one by one we left the old mill and passed to our homes, perfectly satisfied that a superior being was in our midst. This was thirty years ago, but all of us, since that day, have fully learned the true estimate to place upon broadcloth, tinsel and show.

" What a change thirty years has made in the worship of God. Come go with me, and let us visit one of the old-time meetings. Itis a beauti- ful sunshiny day, and as we go np ---

' We strike into the pathway all worn in the sod, By the people who went up to the worship of God.'

" It is a rude, rough looking building; yet let us enter. Step lightly, for there are no carpets to deaden the sound of our feet. Up the rough aisle, towards the pulpit we make our way; upon every side they are moving and inviting us to a seat. Now let us sit down-the rough old bench is rather rude, and don't you lean back, for you may fall into somebody's lap. Now look around at the congregation; sean well their faces and tell me what they came here for. You answer promptly and at once: 'They came here to wor- ship God.' See the humble preacher rise from his seat, hear him line out the grand old hymn:

"'God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform, He plants His foot upon the sea, And rides upon the storm.'

"With one accord they rise to their feet and pour forth the untaught melody of grateful hearts. The song is ended, and 'Let us pray ' falls solemnly upon every ear, as they kneel be- fore their God, and when the preacher's earnest lips pronounce the 'amen,' it is echoed back from every heart. And now listen to the simple story of a Redeemer's love, told with a kindling fervor that warms and electrifies every soul. Now the benediction is given, and they wend their way homward, happier and better men and women.

" Now let us visit one of modern fashionable churches. We ascend marble steps; wide, fold-

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ing doors open to give entrance; we are tread- ing down the carpeted aisle; not a soul moves upon their cushioned seats to bid us welcome; not a pew door opens to bid us enter. At the extreme back end of the church we noticed some uncushioned seats unoccupied; let ns go back and take a seat there; we retrace our steps. It is true we can't hear much way back here, but then we can see. Now look around upon this congregation; scan well their faces and tell me for what purpose they came. You answer promptly and at once, 'To see and be seen.' Now look at that pulpit, all dressed in crimson and purple; its occupant casts one glance over the congregation, to see if they are all looking at him! With what a studied grace he rises to his feet; how gracefully he pulls that cambric handkerchief from his pocket and wipes the imaginary perspiration from his brow; how pompously he unclasps that golden bound hymn book and reads-

" 'Vain, delusive world, adieu, with all of creature good,

Only Jesus I pursue, who bought me with His blood; All thy pleasures I forego-I trample on thy wealth and pride,

Only Jesus will I know, and Jesus crucified.'

" And the choir takes up the song, and, with faultless execution, renders the music to perfec- tion. Now the minister again rises with the same studied grace, and daintily opens the gor- geously embossed Bible, and turns it over, leaf bv leaf, until the sought for passage is found. He then runs his eve over the gorgeous decora- tions of his church, all painted and frescoed until even the innocent walls are made to de- ceive you; and then turn over his gay and worldly audience, and then in tones that really sounds serious, reads-

"' Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.'

" And then proceeds to deliver a learned dis- course on the sinfulness of carthly vanity; warns his hearers to guard against, as deadly sins, 'the lists of the eye and the pride of life.

"The ambition of the fashionable minister of our day seems to prompt them to be brilliant and witty, rather than good. The simple truths to be taught are lost in metaphysical fogs. The humble narrative of the child in the manger can be told only in the jargon of the schools, adorned with all the graces of oratory. The beautiful prayer of our Saviour is simple and unmeaning, in their estimation, unless embel- lished with rhetorical flourishes. Their own prayers are nothing more nor less than abre-

viated orations. You may listen to one of their sermons from the text to its close, and, although they kindle up your fancy, draw largely upon your imagination, appeal logically to your judg- ment, yet so far as any effect upon your heart is concerned, it will not have any. You may say what you please about it, deny it as much as you may, yet nevertheless it is true, that under the influence of modern progress, religion itself is losing all its old vitality, and is fast becom- ing a matter of tinsel, parade and show. It will take but little more of the religious pro- gress of the present day until you will hear these gay worshipers in their magnificent temples denying scornfully that their Savior ever slept in a manger.

"Now let us for a little while contemplate mankind in a civil point of view. What a sad change thirty years has made in the politics and politicians of our land. Perhaps in this point of view the change has been more marked and the contrast more painful than in any other aspect in which that change or that contrast can be viewed. At that age there was an unsophis- ticated notion prevailing that offices were cre- ated for the benefit of the people, rather than for the benefit of the office-holder. They had another quaint and curious idea, and that was, that ' honesty was the best policy' even in pol- tics, as well as it was in morals. There is an- other curious fact illustrated in their life, that they were so foolishly patriotic that they posi- tively loved their country better than they loved themselves. There is another thing, perhaps more wonderful still, and that is that the peo- ple of that day really thought that an integrity of character and an honesty of purpose were necessary characteristics in a political leader. We of course laugh at such ernde and unsophis- ticated notions as these. Such political verdancy is really refreshing in this age of intellectual progress. All such ideas as these we have long since buried in the tomb of old fogyism. But seriously, the only thing perhaps at which an American citizen should blush or be ashamed of, in this our day, is the party politics of the age, and their embodiment, the very patriotic politi- cian, and it is very difficult to decide whether one should laugh or cry over their recklessness and folly.

"I am disposed to look upon the great mass of the party politics of the present day, classi- fied by whatever name you choose, as a great pool of festering iniquity, and I hesitate not to say that if left to politicians alone, this glori- ous confederacy would soon be shivered to a

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thousand fragments. The only thing necessary to perfect in its corruption the seething caul- dron of the witches in Macbeth, would be to throw in a specimen or two of politicians, taken from each of the great parties of the country. It would then be ready for the most horrid con- jurations.

"I thank God, however, that those who traffic and trade in politics have but little to do with the prosperity of the country; that it is an in- creasing, swelling tide that rolls on with or with- out them. Yet these creature politicians have their uses; they are an exhaustless source of amusement to the great thinking mass of the land. And they are useful in another respect; they are living monuments, warning us how frail a thing poor human nature is. Go to Wash- ington City, and hear them rant and mouth their fiery denunciations. They seem to think that they are the people; that they are not only the source of power, but the power itself; they seem to forget that they are but the creatures of a day; they cease to remember that they are but bubbles blown into shape and dimension by the popular breath. One party proposes a measure, the other for that reason only opposes it, and in their mad fury, they threaten that if that meas- ure does or does not become a law, that they will dissolve the Union! Let them dare try it, and they will find that the people, their masters, will have something to say about it.

"Politics at the present day has got to be a species of trade, and it is so recognized and classified by all. We speak of a good farmer, a skillful mechanic, a successful lawyer, and a shrewd politician. When you go to erect a dwelling house or procure the building of ma- chinery, yon naturally select the most skillful mechanic of your acquaintance. So when party leaders have any new move to make, or any office to fill, they of course select their shrewd- est politician ; not him who is the purest patriot ; the truest man ; not him who will best manage the affairs of the country, but him who will give to his party what his whole country has a right to claim-his every energy. Now it is well that all this matter be perfectly understood. Every body knows, so far as the great prosperity of the country is concerned, that politics, in its party sense, means just nothing at all, and every body equally well knows that the patriot- ism of party is nothing but the patriotism of self. Hence from all this, nothing really injur- ions can ever result to the welfare of the country. The merchant and the politician alike, unmo- lested, go into the market ; the merchant traffics

and exchanges his goods and wares for produce and money, and the politician barters and sells his principles for office and place. It is alike expected of both and recognized only in the light of a business transaction.

"If you will permit me to illustrate by a figure, I will compare this Republic to a brave oak tree towering in majestic beauty above some green and flowery plain, wooing to its gentle shade all way-worn and storm-tossed wanderers. Beneath its 'boundless contiguity of shade,' millions of earth's wearied ones are reposing in calm dig- nity -joyous, happy and free. Occasionally the winds come, and even the storms shout through the topmost branches of that brave tree, and these branches may lash each other in wild confusion. Yet at the base it stands unmoved, and those that are reposing beneath are scarcely conscious of the storm above. It would be amusing, yet profitable, to spend a little season in analyzing the peculiarities presented to our gaze in and about the tree. Let us for a moment or two turn aside and gaze upon the scene.

"How proudly and how grandly that brave tree rears itself aloft. No dead or withered twig mars its green and vigorous beauty, and on its topmost bough the Eagle-Liberty's own bird-makes its eyrie. Beneath its broad and genial shade, see those teeming millions of nature's noblemen, illustrating and developing the glories of God's own work. Acknowledg- ing no master save the Eternal One, they stand up nnawed and front the eternal stars-tramp- ling in the dust the hoary falsehood that kings rule by divine right. Chaining mind to the car of labor they have become gods, and the wild elements cower in submissive subserviency to their will. At the farmer's magic touch the green-robed earth pours forth her million treas- ures. From the brain of the mechanic the al- most thinking machine leaps, like Minerva, from the hand of Jove, full armed to do battle as man's servant in life's contest. These are they that repose at the base of that glorious tree, calm in the consciousness of their own power, and these are they who will guard it from every harm and guard it forever.

" But now cast your eye to the higher branches and amuse yourselves with the antics of the po- litical monkeys who have scrambled to the top. See them leap from limb to limb, and you may bet your life that the limb to which they leap is the one where the acorns grow. See how fierce and savage they get; how they snap and snarl at one another; how they tug and toil and sweat to push and pull each other off the limbs where

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the acorns are. and I think the fact is now pretty fully demonstrated that the only beauty that they see in our grand old oak is that it bears acorns. For, take the most fierce and savage of them all, and feed him well on them, and in a wonderfully short period all his ferocity will vanish away, and he will 'coo you gently as a sucking dove.'

"Politics, in its truer and better sense, is un- questionably the highest earthly duty of man, and more especially is this true in this land of ours, where the people are the whole source from which emanates political power. It is not only their privilege but their earnest duty to grapple with and thoroughly master every new thought or principle enunciated or proclaimed in the world of politics. He who does less than this falls short of discharging his whole duty as a member of a free community. When I say that we should all be politicians, I desire no one to understand me as meaning that we should sink ourselves into the miserable blind partisan - the mere follower in the party camp-the mere worshipper of the god of party -but I mean that more noble thing, thinking and acting for ourselves like men who are really free.

"To the people of this country a great trust has been committed -to their keeping the Ark of Human Liberty has been intrusted. Let us watch it with a jealous care; guard it with a sleepless eye; never let the miserable, crawling demagogue, whose only aim is self, lay his un- hallowed hands upon it.

" There are those who have thought that when official corruption should, unabashed, rear its miscreated front in the high places of govern- ment, and official purity becomes contaminated with the baser passions of the heart, that the inevitable consequence would be the total sub- version and destruction of our Republic, and they point to the ruined and decayed govern- ments of the old world to prove the truth of their position. Yet, I apprehend that their con- clusions are false, because they are groundless. Between this government and the governments of the old world no analogy can fairly be drawn -their inception is totally different. There, power descends from the throne-here, it ascends from the people. It is true that when the source of power in a government becomes corrupt it must fall, and it is equally true that so long as the seat of power in a government remains true to itself it will stand. Hence the conclusion is irresistible that this government will live until the people themselves become abased and corrupt-and that can never be. At

least it can never be until religion and intelli- gence, the guardian angels of a free people, leave our shores forever. And it cannot be that they will ever depart. It cannot be that igno- rance and infidelity will ever descend upon this bright land and brood over it with their gloomy wings. If religious altars are ever thrown down and the light of intelligence extinguished, then it may be that those bright guardians of free- dom's temple will prepare to wing their ever- lasting flight; and sad, strangely, wildly sad, will be that hour. 'Piles of clouds whose dark- ness will be palpable,' even in the midnight, will brood upon the saddened earth. 'Let us go hence,' will be their song of sorrow. 'Let us go hence,' will swell out in mournful cadence upon the starless air. 'Let us go hence,' will be reverberated by the sad echoes of the moun- tains, and all earth shall darken in the rayless night of despotism.

" Yet, wherefore, thoughts like these-for us no such gloomy fate awaits our coming. Our country is the final earthly home of truth and liberty. Ilere they make their last great stand; here they are preparing themselves for their great mission, the regeneration of the earth; here they are arming themselves for their last great battle; here they are forging the thunder- bolts that are to shatter to fragments the bul- warks of tyranny.

" Although I have said and spoken as I believed when I said it, that politics and politi- cal leaders, in the main, have become corrupt, yet it is a pleasure to have the privilege of truthfully saying that there are some exceptions to this general rule. You will find them in the various political parties of the day. Differing though they do upon matters of lesser import, yet agreeing in the one great desire for the pros- perity and glory of our common country. These amid the general corruption, stand like the Abdial of old, amid the faithless, faithful still- stand like lighthouses amid the general gloom, and serve as beacon lights by which Freedom guides her bark through the gathering storm. And it is for us to gather around such men wherever found, and by whatever party name they may be called, and to do to them as was done to the Prophet of old, hold up their hands while they prophecy against the enemies of our country, and so long as we do this we shall tri- umph over every foe.

"It is a matter of no great import what are the slightest changes in the written parchment laws of a country, free and en- lightened like ours. It is still less a matter what

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party man guides and controls its political destiny; for after all, the great unwritten com- mon laws of truth, religion and freedom that find their home in the American heart, gives shape and direction to our onward march, and will guide us, even in freedom's glorious path- way.

" God has stamped in every enlightened soul these great truths-to be happy you must be free, and to be free you must be virtuous. By the light of these great truths let us ever walk, and the accumulating glories of our after history shall gleam in unclouded splendor, brightened by the smiles of an approving God, and we shall become to the political what the sun is to the physical world, a light, a joy, and a glad- ness. "We shall become the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, pioneering the nations of earth through the wilderness of despotism to freedom's promised land."

At the conclusion of Mr. Matheny's address Erastus Wright was called out and gave the origin of the name "Suckers," as applied to the people of this State. When Mr. Wright con- cluded Judge Moffett gave an account of the origin and aims of the society.

At half past twelve o'clock dinner was an- nounced, and the procession was again formed and marched to the tables which were most bountifully spread with substantial food and relishes, furnished by the people of the neigh- borhood. The dinner was eaten with much rel- ish, and it was an interesting sight to notice the genial and pleasant conversation of the pioneers. The topic discussed was "old times," and each pioneer had some anecdote, or incident, or scrap of history to tell.

As soon as the wants of the inner man had been supplied, the meeting again organized and Martin G. Pulliam, a son of the first settler, was called out. He stated his father's first place was Henry county, Virginia. Ile emigrated to Kentucky, and from that to this State, to what is now Madison county, but which was then St. Clair, whenee he came in 1816 to the " Sanga- mo" country. His father had six children- Nancy, who maried John Bronnell, of Macoupin county; Martin G. Pulliam, of Sangamon; Mary, wife of Mr. Ferris, who removed to Iowa; Mar- garet, who married S. Peters; and George Washington Pulliam, the youngest, who was born in the shell-house cabin, which formerly stood only a few hundred yards distant.

Mr. Pulliam said he was fifty-two years old on the 17th of September; that he had seven sons and five daughters, and eleven grand children;

that he had not an unsound tooth in his head; that he had never smoked a pipe or a cigar, or used a quid of tobacco in his life; and for many years had not tasted a drop of intoxicating liq- nors. He said he was born about five miles from Alton, on the old Edwardsville road; he could just remember that when a boy, the In- dians came down and murdered many of the whites of the settlement, among others the family of Abel Moore. The men were shot in the field while they were plowing. They then went to the house and tomahawked the women, who were boiling soap, and the children were put in soap kettles and boiled up. This hap- pened only one mile from his father's house.

E. D. Taylor, of Chicago, though a former citizen of Sangamon, Munson Carter, Dr. Shields, Elder Prentice, and P. P. Enos made remarks, and the crowd was then adjourned.

RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY.

The year following the first annual celebration of the society was that of 1860. The political excitement at that time being so high, it was deemed best to postpone the annual meeting. The war following, in 1861, continuing over four years, it was impossible to gather men and women together for seasons of rejoicing while fathers, husbands and brothers were upon the tented field, hourly exposed to dangers incident to a time of war. Even after the close of the war, it required time for the minds of men to assume their regular channels. In 1868, the fol- lowing call was issued and signed by the names accompanying it:

"For the purpose of renewing old associations and reviving recollections of the distant past, the undersigned propose and suggest that on the twentieth day of August next, the old settlers and pioneers of the county meet at Clear Lake. The reunion will be a happy one-the place selected, one of the most desirable in the county. All persons will bring refreshments with them. The selection of the grounds and other arrange- ments will be attended to by the 'old settlers ' residing in the neighborhood of Clear Lake.

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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 70

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