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 71
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George L. Huntington N. W. Matheny Charles Arnold
N. B. Whitesides
John Wilson S. G. Jones
David Crouch Peyton L. Harrison
John F. King James H. Matheny
O. P. Hall Daniel Pea
C. C. Brown Jacob N. Fullenwider
William Lavely J. Bunn
George Woods John Uhler
John T. Stuart
Thomas Moffett
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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.
E. Kreigh
B. S. Edwards
E. B. Aerndon
H. G. Fitzhugh
I. C. Bone
A. B. Irwin
Edward George
S. I. Harrison
Preston Breckenridge
C. B. Stafford
S. G. Nesbitt R. S. Coats
Angust 5, 1868."
The meeting was accordingly held, and of the re-organized society may properly be termed the
FIRST ANNUAL MEETING.
The beautiful park on the east side of Clear Lake was the place selected for the occasion, and by 10 o'clock a large crowd had assembled, including old and young.
After music by the Washington Silver Cornet Band, Strother Jones, of Dawson, called the meeting to order, and a prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Stafford. At the close of the prayer, Munson Carter, of Rochester, was introduced, and proceeded to make an interesting address, in the course of which he related many inci- dents of his early life and first appearance in Sangamon county. He said that twenty-eight years ago the 20th of Angust, he opened a school one and a half miles from Clear Lake, and those who saw the place from 1840 to 1843, little expected to see a gathering like the one now on the shores of Clear Lake. Ile referred to Sangamon county as being the first in the State in all that constitutes agricultural wealth. Cook county exceeds it in commercial wealth, but in nothing else. He was proud to say that he lived in Sangamon county. He remembered with pleasure the first days he spent in this lo- cality. He was a Yankee, and did not deny his colors. He was then a young pedagogue; but the first days he spent in Clear Lake were the bread and butter days of his life. Then the people had great hearts, and liberal hospitality prevailed, and the people were glad to entertain strangers without price. In this connection, he referred to the early times, when farmers cut their wheat with a sickle, and the neighbors aided each other in the work. Those were good days, and remembered with pleasure by those now present.
David England was next introduced. He stated that in the spring of 1819, his father set- tled on what was then called Higgins' creek, now Cantrall's creek. He was born in 1811, in Kentucky, and went with his father to Ohio, and from that State came to Sangamon county. Ile remembered passing through the locality now called Springfield, where there were then a few
Indian wigwams. There is a tie, he said, be- tween the old settlers, fresh and strong to-day. Ile referred to the time when his father, Stephen England, would call a few of the set- tlers together and preach to them the word of God, and as he warmed up with his subject, he would pull off his coat. Frequently there would be Indians present at these meetings. He also referred to the conduct of the settlers towards emigrants. They were supplied with corn and wheat, as their necessities required, without money and without price. If a family were sick with the ague, they were cared for. But things are changed with the increase of popula- tion. He spoke of the time when men who lived within six or ten miles were considered neighbors. Then they had wild honey and an abundance of fresh fish for the taking. Then no man was charged for entertainment-all was free. In this connection, he referred to the great contrast between the present and past with respect to churches and schools. He closed with wishing that the children of the settlers and their children's children might live to enjoy the advantages which came from increased in- telligence of the people in religion and all the arts of civilization.
George Anderson, of Springfield, and Samuel Williams, of Rochester, made appropriate re- marks, and the meeting adjourned for dinner, a proceeding that few generally objected to.
After dinner. Preston Breckenridge was called ont, and commenced with referring to the time he came from Kentucky, and in this connection told many anecdotes illustrating the state of society at that time. When he came to Illinois, Sangamon county was about forty-nine miles square, and in 1834 he did not think there were as many people in Sangamon county as there were people on the grounds to-day. People had then to get seasoned to fever and ague, for everybody had it, and when he inquired how long it required for a person to get seasoned, he was informed nine years, but in his case it required fifteen years. He said that in 1835 there was rainy weather for nearly forty days. There were about forty-two deaths between Buckheart Grove and the South Fork between October, 1834, and October, 1835. Then we had no ready-made coffins, and when he first saw an advertisement of ready-made coffins he thought the man wanted everybody to die. They had to hunt then forplanks for coffins. He had known two persons to be buried in one grave. The people should be thankful that they had passed from the times of 1834-5-6.
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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.
At this stage of the proceedings a beautiful boquet was presented to Irwin Pulham, the old- est settler present.
James H. Ma heny was the next speaker. He began by saying that he did not know when he came to the county, but his first recollection was that he was here. His father came to Spring- field in 1821, and the change since that time had been great and wondrous. From a wild waste, beauty had sprung into existence. He had been in various sections of the country, and in all his wanderings he had found no place like Sangamon county. If he did not know to the contrary, he should think the Garden of Eden had been located here, and he wondered that a man could be seduced from it by an apple. He said that the first child born in Springfield was that day being borne to her long home-Mrs. Lyman Trumbull, the daughter of Dr. Gershom Jayne. We were all passing away, and soon those that know us would know us no more.
The meeting was in every respect a success. Strother G. Jones was elected President.
SECOND ANNUAL MEETING.
The second regular annual meeting was held at Clear Lake, August 20, 1869. The meeting was called to order by S. G. Jones, President, and an appropriate prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Holton, of Springfield.
Rev. J. G. Bergen, of Springfield, was intro- duced, and said he loved to see both old friends and young ones, for he loved them all. He re- counted scenes of his early life, and pointed to changes which time had wrought in the fair, bright and beautiful Sucker State. In his youth it required a year and a half to circumscribe the world, and now seventy days suffice to ac- complish that object. A mighty God controlled all things, and in His hands the prosperity and glory of the land were unchangeably fixed.
Rev. C. B. Stafford then spoke. He had known this country as a howling wilderness, and in his boyhood nothing but the whoop of the Indians and howl of wolves were heard. Now see the change which had taken place in forty-eight years. When he first came to this country he rocked his child in a sugar trough. They were compelled to plow corn at night, for the prairie flies nearly tortured their horses to death during the day. It took three persons then to plant a row of corn-now we farm on a different scale. We should love God for his good work.
David England was introduced. Heremarked that in the spring of 1820 his father built a church-the first in the county. Provisions then had to be hauled one hundred miles Where
the State House now stands, deer were as plenty as in the far west to-day, and they were here killed every day. His father married Philo Beers to Miss Stillman, and he believed it was the first marriage in the county. It was a won- derful event when it happened.
At the conclusion of Mr. England's remarks dinner was announced, and the meeting adjourned for that purpose.
After dinner, Rev. J. W. Taylor, of Illiopolis, Preston Breckenridge and James HI. Matheny made some excellent remarks.
The following named officers were elected: Preston Breckenridge, President; Samuel Pres- ton, S. G. Jones, Vice Presidents; John F. King, Secretary.
MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.
The following named enrolled their names as members of the Society, annexing thereto the place of their nativity, and the year in which they came to Sangamon county :
B. Turley, Sangamon, 1831.
Thomas Correll, Tentucky, 1830.
M. O. Reeves, Ohio, 1830.
H. C. Myers, Pennsylvania, 1836.
B. C. Simpson, New Jersey, 1835.
John C. Woltz, Virginia, 1840
John W. Newman, Tennessee, 1828.
R. H. Withrow, Kentucky, 1825. Nancy Giger, Tennessee, 1820. M. D. Eigman, Sangamon county, 1831.
T. J. V. Owen, Sangamon county, 1824.
James Herron, Kentucky, 1833.
V. C. Wilson, Ohio, 1828.
J. M. Wise, Sangamon, county, 1827.
John D Keedy, Sangamon county, 1839.
George Power, Kentucky, 1821.
C. Hopkins, Massachusetts, 1830.
David England, Ohio, 1819.
J. W. Elliott, Sangamon county, 1822.
Davis Meredith, Ohio, 1829.
John S. Hillman, Pennsylvania, 1827.
A. Knott, Virginia, 1818.
E. Porter, Ohio, 1831.
G. Keyes, Virginia, 1830.
(. J. Fletcher, Kentucky, 1830.
J. H. Fullenwider, Kentucky, 1834.
Isaac Taylor, Kentucky, 1818.
N. B. Whiteside, Kentucky, 1831.
J. N. Fullenwider, Kentucky, 1834. Samuel Ray, Kentucky, 1825. W. T. Bashaw, Kentucky, 1829.
Jacob Baker, Kentucky, 1828.
G. W. Puffenbarger, Maryland, 1839.
John Langer, Ohio, 1846.
Preston Breckenridge, Kentucky, 1834.
B. A. Giger, Sangamon county, 1827.
G. H. Miller, Kentucky, 1830.
G. M. Saunders, Kentucky, 1828. Polly Miller, Kentucky, 1830.
Anna Jones, Sangamon county, 1828.
J. W. Keyes, Virginia, 1831.
Mary McClees. England, 1820.
51-
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IHISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.
Sarah Robbins, Kentucky, 1839. Imney Robinson, Sangamon county, 1820. Rebecca Burnes, Kentucky, 1830. E. A. Dickerson, Kentucky, 1831. Edward Clark, England. 1819. Sarah Donner, Kentucky, 1830. J. M. Logan, Kentucky, 1840. Felix Carver, Ohio, 1830. Elizabeth W. Logan, Kentucky, 1819.
Thomas Rucker, Kentucky, 1832.
| Mrs. L. M. Ridgeway, Kentucky, 1827. W. T. Jones, Kentucky, 1834. Imcy Jones, Kentucky, 1836. Daniel Morgan, Ohio, 1826. J. McBride, Kentucky, 1827. W. R. Brassfield, Kentucky, 1832.
D. P. Robinson, Kentucky, 1821.
J. C. Sutton, New Jersey, 1839.
C. Correll, Illinois, 1839. John Williams, Kentucky, 1824.
C. W. Matheny, Illinois, 1821.
W. S. Pickrell, Illinois, 1828.
George Fisher, Pennsylvania. 1840.
J. S. Saunders, Kentucky, 1824.
P. A Saunders, Illinois, 1828. Hugh Turner, Indiana, 1819. E. Whipple, Illinois, 1835. Oatley Miller, Illinois, 1830.
C. S. Churchill, Kentucky, 1828.
Daniel Taylor, Illinois, 1829.
S. G. Jones, Kentucky, 1836.
J. M. Wise, Sangamon, county, 1827.
Linsey Ridgeway, Kentucky, 1829.
A. Cooper, Tennessee, 1823. William Withrow, Kentucky, 1824.
Thomas Cloyd, Kentucky, 1824. Thomas A. King, Kentucky, 1831.
Samuel Houston, Virginia, 1828.
G. Groves, Pennsylvania, 1836. G. Baker, Kentucky, 1828. J. G. Caldwell, Kentucky, 1841.
O. F. Matthew, Indiana, 1833. Willam Yoacum, Kentucky, 1828.
J. Wardell. Virginia, 1835.
J. W. Taylor, Kentucky, 1833.
THIRD ANNUAL MEETING.
The annual meeting for 1870 was held on the 31st day of August, at Clear Lake. A much larger attendance of old people were present than at any former meeting. The day was warm and pleasant, making the shade of the grove delightful.
At about 10 o'clock the meeting was called to order by S. G. Jones, and Rev. Francis Springer was introduced. After imploring Divine guid- ance upon the meeting, Mr. Springer proceeded to address the audience. His remarks took a wide range with reference to the progress of the country.
At the conclusion of Mr. Springer's address, General Anderson was introduced and made a speech in which he reviewed the organization of the county, and related several anecdotes illus- trating early times in Sangamon county. He
stated that he came to this county in 1829 and had $30 in money when he came. Ile borrowed money to pay for the first eighty acres, for which he paid fifty per cent. interest. In the course of his remarks, he gave an account of how he labored in the field while his wife worked in the house manufacturing cloth to clothe the chil- dren. Ile had raised twelve children, and had been able to give each one a home and had enough for himself.
Elisha Price, of Menard, next made a few re- marks, when David England was introduced, and made a characteristic speech. He was fol- lowed in turn by Samuel A. Grubb, of Spring- field; Samuel Williams, of Rochester; Thomas Bond, of Taylorville; Joab Wilkinson, of Macon county, and Job Fletcher. The following is the address of Mr. Williams:
INCIDENTS AND ITEMS OF FRONTIER LIFE, BY SAMUEL WILLIAMS.
" I was born in Windsor county, State of Ver- mont, on the 24th day of April, A. D. 1800. When I was about four years of age, my father, with his family, emigrated to Essex county, in the State of New York. But few improvements had been made among the forests and there were still some deer in the woods, and I remember that, after a long chase, my father and several of the neighbors killed a large moose.
"During . the summer of 1806 I attended school three months. I was present on the day of the great eclipse of the sun, when stars were seen.
"In the summer of 1807 my father removed again, to Tioga county, Pennsylvania; where the improvements were small and some considerable distance apart.
" After remaining in this place some over one year, my parents, with their four children, started for the West.
" Marvelous stories were told by persons from their recent travels in the new State of Ohio. Such wheat, rye, oats and corn had never before been seen as grew on Sciota and Miami river bottoms. They said that they grew so high and thick that if a hen were thrown into the field of grain, there would be no possible chance for it ever to get out by its own exertions, and the corn grew so large and high that when the women went for roasting ears they had to take an axe and cut down the stalks before they could obtain a supply. One morning, my father re- turned from the lower part of town, and said to his family, 'I have sold the wagon and horses, and engaged our passage on a boat to Ohio, and
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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.
by night we had embarked, with two other fam- ilies. After numerous delays, we disembarked, five miles above Cincinnati. We lived three years on the Little Miami river, two or three miles above the mouth of the river. Ilere, in 1810 and 1811, between spells of the ague, I went to school, three months more, at a distance of three miles.
"In 1812, my father removed to Butler county, near Oxford. The timber was tall, large, and of very thick growtb, and my younger brother and myself were engaged in chopping and clearing most of the time for several years.
"One spring, I remember taking part in eigh- teen log-rollings. It was the custom to select two captains, and they to choose their men; then the ground was carefully divided into two parts. Three or four gallons of whisky were furnished by the proprietors of the premises, as was said, to make the men better able to endure the toil of the day.
"There was generally considerable ambition as to who was to get done first. When all was completed, the proprietor was generally called on to furnish a bucket of eggnog, as a sequel to the occasion.
" There were no temperance societies then; but, seeing the evil resulting from the prevailing custom of dram drinking, I determined never to indulge in the useless and pernicious habit. The sneers and taunting remarks that I had to endure on these and other public occasions, as being the only one who would neither taste the raw liquor or any of its combinations, may not be imagined. But, though strictly temperate for more than half a century, I think my health will compare very favorably with anyone who has used it for any length of time. During the year 1814, I attended school three or four months more. At the end of the term, I could read readily and spell better than some of my mates who had more favorable opportunities.
"I could not write very much, and had only proceeded as far as simple reduction in arithme- tic; but resolved to improve my stock of knowl- edge. During the winter I usually labored at chopping ; at night I would take home a load of hickory bark, for a light; and after my brothers had retired I would frequently spend three or four hours at my studies, four or five hours of sleep being as much as I required out of the twenty-four.
"I also improved other spare minutes at my studies or in trying my skill on mechanical principles, such as cross-bars, wind-mills, etc., etc.
"My stock of tools consisted of a Barlow knife and a gimlet. On June 29, 1817, I con- fessed my faith in Christ, and was baptized into Ilis church.
"In 1819, my father emigrated to Indiana, where he settled near the head of a stream called the ' Little Flat Rock.' There were no persons, except one family, living within six miles of us.
"In the spring of 1821, my father purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, situated in the north part of the bounty tract, between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Having made the purchase, he commenced making prepara- tions to move to it, as early in the fall as possi- ble.
"During the intervening time, an old acquaint- ance of my father, in Ohio, living on Blue river, named Elias Thompson, concluded to accom- pany us to the State of Illinois. Some time early in September, Orange Babbit, a brother- in-law of Mr. Thompson, on his way with his family from New York to Illinois, called on Mr. Thompson and insisted that he should make im- mediate preparations, and with his family, ac- company him to Illinois, which, after some medi- tation, he concluded to do. My father was not ready; he had several head of cattle, besides his two ox-teams, and Mr. Thompson had several head of cattle and some hogs which he wished to take along. After consultation, it was deter- mined that the stock should be put together, and that I should accompany Mr. Thompson and Mr. Babbit and assist in driving the stock, while the range by the way was still good. My father and the rest of the family to follow as soon as possible.
"So, being ready, we started with one ox-team and Mr. Babbit's fatigued two-horse team, he had driven from New York; so we could make but moderate progress. After some days' travel we reached the White river, and saw as we passed down its bottoms that quite a number of persons had settled here at different points. They had suffered much from agne, and some had left their houses vacant and returned to their old homes. After leaving White river the next we arrived at was Terre Haute, then known as Fort Harrison. We had to lay by here for repairs to our wagons and recruit the teams, for it rained more or less for seventeen days, making the roads very bad.
" When ready we started again, crossed the Wabash river, and after traveling a few miles through timber, we came to the edge of the prairie just at sunset, on a beautiful October
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IHISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.
evening. I thought it one of the most beautiful sights I ever saw.
"The next morning we commenced crossing the prairie. For a road we had only the track made by a party who had preceded us perhaps not more than four or five weeks, and after several days' travel, we arrived at a grove on a high eminence in the prairie. The growth was almost exelnsively lynn, and many of the trees had been peeled by the Indians; I have since been informed that this was a camping place during the war of 1812.
"The next evening we arrived at a beautiful grove on the principal branch of the Okaw. We arrived among almost suffocating clouds of smoke, which arose from the immense amount of burning grass, set on fire for hunting pur- poses, by a large party of Indians, most of whom eneamped in the grove not far from our wagons. They were very civil.
"The next evening a little after dark we arrived at the North fork of the Sangamon river.
"After perhaps about three days' drive we came to the head of some timber on a considerable stream of water, approaching the North fork from the south, perhaps nearly opposite Decatur.
"Next night we camped at the head of the timber on Mosquito creek. One blustry day's travel more brought us to the beautiful grove of large timber near the head of the Buek-heart creek. After a late start in the morning, on ac- count of rain, when we had traveled five miles or more the way the track led us, about sun-set the hogs held up their heads and all started to the south on a running gait for a mile or more. 1 endeavored in vain to stop them, when in the dusk of the evening, to my great surprise, I came to a fence, around a field of Illinois corn. It was situated near Campbell's point, in Chris- tian county. The teams soon came up. Mr. Titus Gragg, who lived there, received us very kindly, and we slept in a house that night, the first one we had seen since we left the Wabash river.
" From Mr. Gragg's we crossed the south fork of the Sangamon river and Clear creek, and tar- ried over night with Mr. Jacob Gragg, who then lived about a half a mile south-east of where Breckenridge's mill now stands.
"Next day we passed on to Mr. Henry Funder- burk's, on Horse creek.
"After careful inquiry, we could learn nothing of a road leading to the military bounty lands, or even to the Illinois river, and the range hav- ing been killed by hard frosts. we concluded to spend the winter somewhere in the neighborhood.
"Mr. Thompson stopped at Gideon Hawley's, . on the west side of the south fork of the Sang- amon river.
"Mr. Babbit made an arrangement with the widow Knotts, living on the west side of Sugar creek, to gather her fine field of corn for her for one-fourth of the erop, she to find him house room for his family. I accepted Mr. Babbit's proposal to winter with him, and to assist him in gathering the corn. My part was sufficient to winter the seventeen head of cattle which I had driven from Indiana.
"Mr. Draper and family wintered in a small log cabin near Mr. Funderburk's. Under the puncheon floor a former occupant had dug a large hole, as a repository for potatoes. In this Mr. Draper, being short of bedding, put a quan- tity of prairie hay, and at night he would raise up the end of one of the broad hewn puncheons and put his children down, where, among the hay, they would sleep soundly till morning. Thus it was that a Boston merchant's family spent their first winter in Illinois. I think Mr. Draper went to Morgan county, where, as I heard a year or two after, he filled the office of sheriff with much ability, and I have never been able to hear from or see him or his family sinee.
"On our way to Mrs. Knott's residence, Mr. Babbitt obtained a supply of cornmeal at a band horse mill, owned by Mr. Joseph Drennan; the meal cost twenty-five cents per bushel.
"Having arrived at winter quarters, Mr. Bab- bitt and I commenced gathering corn. On un- favorable days for gathering corn, we made rails for a Mr. Pulliam. Such rails as pleased him (large ones) we made for thirty-seven and a half cents a hundred, in trade, and found ourselves.
" After the corn was gathered, I called in one evening at Mr. Pulliam's, where, for the first time, I had the pleasure of being introduced to Mr. Charles Wright (a brother of Mr. Erastus Wright, of Springfield, Ill.), who was soon to commence teaching school near the band-mill spoken of before. In course of my conversa- tion with him, I told him that for years I had regretted my inability to attend school, as my inclination to become a good scholar was very great, and it was now seven years since I had been able to go even a single day. I found Mr. Wright a very affable man. He invited me to attend his school whenever I could, if for only a few days at a time; he would consider it a pleasure to render me all the assistance he could.
"I attended twenty-one days, and found him to be an excellent teacher. I improved very
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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.
much in my reading, writing and spelling during my twenty-one days. While attending school, I would take my arithmetic and slate home with me and cover it with examples, which I would carry to Mr. Wright for his examination, after which I was ready for another day's hard labor.
" From the commencement of the single rule of three to that of square root, I did every ex- ample by rule, with but little assistance. With this start, I was able, by the assistance of the rules in my arithmetic, to pass through ex- change, the cube root, and other succeeding rules without assistance.
"In January, my parents and a family named Deardoff and George Brunk arrived. They en- countered a severe storm, and with much diffi- culty escaped losing their way on the smooth burnt prairie, on the day of their arrival at the large grove above the Okaw timber.
"In the spring of 1822, my father rented a part of a farm in Fork Prairie, of Field Jarvis. (He measured six feet and eleven inches in height.) The premises now belong to Robert Bell (the south part of his farm).
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