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 76

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 76

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).

FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 1851

A two days' session was decided upon for the meeting, and Wednesday and Thursday, August 24th and 25th, the time, and Salisbury the place, for the Fourteenth Annual Re-union.

The accommodations in the way of tents for those who wished to sleep upon the grounds the first night, were ample. The tents, which were of the regular army make, water-proof, were 54-

erected on the outskirts of the grounds, and all were occupied with as jolly and happy a class of people as has been seen in many a year. It was no camp-meeting crowd, if we may judge by the music, sentiment of songs, and the local speeches heard from the occupants up to the small hours of the morning. Everything was orderly during the night, but simply a little jolly. "Uncle Joe " seemed to be popular upon the grounds, judging from the loud calls made for him during the night.

The speaker's stand was erected in a small depression and slope, with plenty of shade, the seats being after the usual style on such occa- sions-planks laid upon logs. The stand was prettily ornamented with colored paper in lace patterns, and in front bore the inscription: " Welcome to the Old Settlers," surrounded with a very neat design. The young ladies of Salis- bury probably had a hand in the decoration of the stand. Several large and beautiful bouquets graced the table in front of the stand

At about eight o'clock Wednesday evening, the first exercises of the Old Settlers' Meeting for 1881, were held by the few who were present. The audience numbered about one hundred and fifty or two hundred The exercises were some- what informal, as they were intended to be, and consisted of some fine singing by a company of young ladies and gentlemen from Pleasant Plains, under the leadership of Professor W. B. Griffin, all doing credit to themselves and their teacher. Several amusing stories were told by Rev. Mr. Clark, Squire Parkinson and R. W. Diller, of Springfield, all illustrating some inci- dent in their early life and the customs and habits of the people of the country some forty or fifty years ago. Those who know the speak- ers can appreciate somewhat the amusement afforded the crowd on the occasion. The meet- ing adjourned by singing the Doxology, " Praise God," etc.

Mr. Diller announced a prayer meeting for the morning, at seven o'clock, after which the audience dispersed to their respective tents, but probably not to sleep until towards morning.

On the morning of the second day the over- cast sky and the mutterings of the distant thunder and flashes of lightning, gave indica- tions of rain at an early hour, but none came as expected. At 9 o'clock the sun showed itself through the clouds. At an early hour the people began to arrive. The old settlers were, of course, important personages; you could tell one as far as you could see him, by his digni- fied bearing and apparent good feeling which

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lighted up his countenance. Their comely wives shared in the general good feeling which pre- vailed, and without them the interest would van- ish Most of the early settlers came to the gathering in their carriages, drawn by a pair of over-fed horses, a striking contrast to the mode of traveling sixty years ago, when the convey- ance was on horseback, with saddle and pillion. They have a right to be proud of their success in life, which they suffered so much to attain.

The meeting was called to order by John II. Harrison, and Elder Stevens made a prayer ap- propriate for the occasion. Singing was fur- nished by a choir led by Professor Griffin.

Mr. John B. Miller made the address of wel- come, but would not, he said, make a speech. He asked the question, "Why have we come here - why leave our homes and gather under this shade? We have come to meet each other -to see and be seen. But we should have this in moderation. This is an Old Settlers' meeting, of Sangamon county." He spoke of the aston- ishment of an Englishman who should meet us here for the first time; we should have to explain the matter to him. In this connection he refer- red to the changes that had occurred in the last two hundred years. The red man had changed; the canoe had given place to the steamboat. And this change had changed the whole world, in an important sense. Who has made this change? It had been caused by the old settlers; but they will soon pass away. We have some of them here to-day, and give them a cordial welcome, and will give them that reverence which we should do under the circumstances. We say again, we give you all a cordial welcome to Salisbury."

RESPONSE.

Mr. R. W. Diller made the response in be- half of the old settlers. He thanked the gen- tleman for the kind words of welcome. He was not an old settler, but he had drifted into it; he had been here only thirty-two years, but Mr. Harrison, who is here, had been here sixty-two years. He here referred in an interesting man- ner to the improvements - railroads, sewing ma- chines, and all kinds of machinery. All these changes had been made in about thirty years, and perhaps in thirty years from this we may be going to Philadelphia in a balloon. We cannot tell what may come. He then referred to the last night's meeting. He then said that of the twenty-five vice-presidents of the society, all are alive -not one has been taken, and most of them are here, for which he was most thankful. Af- ter some remarks about how the meeting hap-

pened to be changed, etc., he spoke in compli- mentary terms of the forthcoming History of Sangamon County, and advised all the people to have one of them when published. He closed with wishing that all might have a good time, and bid all good-bye.

The response was followed by a song by the choir.

Mr. Harrison then came forward and said he was an old settler. His father moved to Ken- tucky, and he came here on the 4th of Novem- ber, 1822, and had lived at the same spot since that time. He lived in a log house of one room, 18 by 22. We entered the loft by a ladder, which was placed outside. The number of per- sons that lived in that room the first winter, was ten grown persons and six children. We live a little better now, and have grown some since that time. Mr. Harrison then introdneed Mr. Jacob Hinkle, the oldest settler of Sangamon county. He came here with his father in 1818, and is the youngest of eleven children, and is the only one living. He lives on the same place where he came to first, and had it not been for the old settlers' meeting he would never have have seen this portion of Sangamon county, and was surprised to know there was such land in this section.

GOV. S. M. CULLOM'S SPEECH.

At this stage of the proceedings, Mr. R. W. Diller, President of the society, introduced Governor S. M. Cullom, who commenced by say- ing:

" Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen .- I am with you to-day in response to an invitation to attend the annual reunion of the old settlers of Sangamon and Menard counties. It is the first time in my life that I have appeared before an andience of old settlers to make an old settlers' speech. I was informed that I was invited to be present, not as governor, but as Shelby M. Cul- lom. I thank my old friends for the complment of the invitation and the manner of giving it.

" This is an old settlers' meeting. What kind of a meeting could be more enjoyable if we enter into the true spirit of it as we may. Such occa- sions should be entirely free from unnecessary restraints and conventionalities; every man, woman and child should feel at home. Let the old fashioned hearty friendship be stirred up to-day. Let a spirit of good will be rekindled upon the altar of our hearts.

"I come here to have a good time with the people I have lived among now for twenty-eight years. Some times I think the influence of our

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

civilization as it grows older, to some extent smothers out that warm-hearted, active sympa- thizing spirit for our neighbors and friends that used to burn brightly in the hearts of the people of this country. We go along now a days and meet our neighbors, and under the pressure of business and money making and fashion, we scarcely speak to our best friends. The country people are not quite so indifferent. You cherish the habits and friendships of your fathers, but not so to the same extent in our cities. There is not enough of hearty social feeling among the people of these days of high pressure, any where. The result is the very fountains of our better natures are in danger of being dried up. Unless we keep alive our friendships and attach- ments we will scarcely know after a while whether we have any friends we care for, and when people get to that point they will surely have no friends who will care for them.

"If there is anything which makes life worth the struggle, it is the sympathetic, the social part of our natures, the feeling that all the world is akin, the feeling that there are warm hearts in the breasts of God's noble men and women beating in sympathy with our own. Smother out this part of our natures and the world would be cold and gloomy, and humanity would dwarf into littleness, and soon become utterly selfish and mean. Then, fellow-citizens, old settlers and young, let us renew our friend- ships to-day, and we will leave here better men and women, feeling better satisfied with our- selves and the world around us.

" What is the significance of the term, an old settlers' meeting? It does not mean simply a gathering of persons who have lived to a good old age in the community, though many of you who bear the distinction of being an old settler, are now bending beneath the weight of many years, and your ranks, as you have heard to-day, are being thinned each year by the Silent Reaper. In the sense in which the term is used to-day, it means more-it means a gathering of pioneers in the community. Many of you may justly be called pioneers in this region of country. Pio- neers cannot be found in the older States of the East. There the proverbial oldest inhabitants came into the world and passed his life amid scenes of advanced civilization and crowded population. He sees about him, in his old age, the same familiar objects that crowd the recol- lection of his youthful days; the home his father lived in he perhaps lives in. The farm where his father, and possibly his grandfather, passed their lives, he is laboring on and getting a

scanty reward for his toil. The stories of hard- ships endured by the pioneer settlers of those old States live in history and in family tradition, but the men and women enduring the hardships are gone; they are not there to tell the story. Not so in our State. Some of the gray-haired men before me to-day have seen this county, now smiling with civilization, in which only bold, hardy spirits, men with brave hearts and strong arms ventured to make a home. When we listen to the statements of these men and women, who have lived in Illinois and Sangamon and Menard counties forty, and fifty, and some of them nearly sixty years, who came when, in a large part of the State, the red man made his home, when on our prairies there could scarcely be found the foot- prints of civilization, and then look about us and see our State vast as an empire, filled with populous cities, covered with fruitful farms, its territory crossed and re-crossed by thousands of miles of railroads, and reflect, that the span of a single life has marked all these vast changes, what a suggestion, yes, what an exhibition of rapid growth and progress. Some of you oldest people have seen it all. It has been the growth of fifty years.

"I know that much has been said about our rapid growth, but I fancy it is a subject which never ceases to be of interest, and we cannot study it without profit. One of the chief ob- jects of these gatherings is to keep alive the memories of the primitive days of our State and to impress their lessons upon those who are to come after us. I do not think I am a very old man and technically I am not an old settler of Sangamon or Menard county, though when my father and mother came to this State with their family, now nearly fifty-one years ago, and set- tled in Tazewell county, it was only three years after it was taken off of Sangamon and made a county of itself. So you see, my friends, I am a tolerable old settler after all."

After referring to the organization of the county, the Governor continued:

"The first men who ever resigned office in this county were Matheny, Kelly and Latham. The first election ever held in the county was in 1821, at John Kelly's house. The first road located was from Springfield to Jacksonville. The first bridge was over the Sangamon. In 1829, the State made an appropriation of $1,000 to improve the navigation of the Sangamon. One steamboat got to Springfield, or as near as the river runs to it, but had to back out in order to get away, which ended the business of navi- gating the Sangamon.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

" But I was talking about the changed condi- tion and the growth in this country. 'When you and I were young' we found our pastime in hunting and fishing, in log rollings in corn huskings and quilting bees. When the young people forty or fifty years ago danced, they danced, not in a stiff, delicate sort of a way, but they danced in earnest. Do you remember how long it took the old fiddler to tune up and how impatient you were to begin. In those days everybody's house was open to all and all were welcome, and when we went visiting we went in earnest, taking along the whole family. I think the dinners our mothers used to get up when the friends would come in were better than we often see in these days. Everything cooked was set on the table at once, and everybody helped themselves. In those days when anybody got religion and joined the church, you could hear him tell about it a mile off. The preachers of those days were their own educators and they were mightily in earnest. They meant what they said and said what they meant. The late Peter Cartwright, for example, whose old home in which he lived for more than a half century, is near by. They belonged to the church mili- tant and were as ready for a fight, if that was required to keep down the unruly, as they were for a sermon. They were full of zeal and served the Lord fervently, and helped to sow the seeds of temperance and truth, which are bearing good fruit to-day.

"Let us look a little at the history of our State.

"Illinois became a Sovereign State in 1818, with a population of fifty thousand, nine hund- red souls. It is now the fourth state in the Na- tion and the census of 1880 shows a population of over three millions. But its present proud position has not been reached unhindered by serious obstacles.

" Early in its history, financial troubles eneum- bered its progress and tested to the utmost the wisdom and sagacity of the statesmen of that day. Many of you older men remember well the dark days when a cloud of debt hung over us that for a time seemed as though it would break in an overwhelming storm, when muttered talk of repudiation became almost outspoken. But you remember how those mutterings were smothered, how the legislature and the people declared in favor of the honest discharge of all just obligations. And to-day, as a State, we may proudly look the world in the face, for we owe no man.

"The vast system of internal improvements which involved the State so deeply in debt, the digging of the canal and the attempt at building railroads has been looked upon as a great error on the part of the statesmen of those days, and while it is true they undertook enterprises out of all proportion to their resources, time has, in a measure, vindicated the far reaching wisdom of their acts, for our rapid growth and develop- ment are, in no small degree, due to these im- provements.

"The privations which the early settlers in eastern states endured and which are recorded in history, were repeated in the experience of those who ventured to make a home in Illinois in its earliest days. But the Jesuit missionaries who came first to Illinois with the purpose of Christianizing the Indians, and the traders and adventurers who soon followed them, reported a land fairer and more blessed in soil and climate than any under the sun, and soon, bold hardy men were willing to brave the dangers and hard- ships of a frontier life in order to live in and develop a land so fair. It was not, however, until the twenties and thirties that the develop- ment of Illinois fairly began. By that time the hunter's snit and coon-skin cap had given away to the home-spun garments; villages and soon cities had taken the place of the Indian camp. A few school houses were built which supplied the bare necessities of the people. In 1825 the State first undertook the establishment of com- mon schools by appropriating $2 out of every hundred of State revenue for school purposes, which was divided pro rata between the counties as now. The free school system amounted to very little, however, until in 1855 when a new start was taken. We have a grand system now. We have forty one thousand nine hundred and sixty-four public schools in the State, over twen- ty-two thousand teachers, and seven hundred and four thousand one hundred and four pupils. Up to the year 1850, Illinois had only one rail- road, fifty-five miles long. In 1823 Chicago was a village of about one hundred and sixty-four people. Governor Reynolds, I believe, described it as a little village on Lake Michigan, in Pike county.

"A story is told of Governor Reynolds, that when he opened the first circuit court as judge in his county, the sheriff went into the court yard and said: 'Boys, come in, our John is go- ing to hold court.' I believe it is related of him also that when he had to pronounce a sentence of death upon a man found guilty of murder, he said to him, 'Mr. Green, the jury in their

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

verdict say you are guilty of murder, and the law says you are to be hung. Now, I want you and your friends down on Indian creek to know that it is not I, but the jury and the law who condemn you. When would you like to be hung?'

"My friends, this section of the State has long been noted for its fertility and attractiveness. As early as the war of 1812, the troops and rangers in their expeditions against the Indians on Peoria Lake, noted the country of Sangamon as one of great fertility. The Indians appreci- ated this, for, in the Pottawattamie tongue, San- gamo means 'the country where there is plenty to eat.' The 'St. Gamo Kedentry,' as it was called, became famous, and in the autumn of 1819, Mr. Kelly, with his family, camped on Spring creek, near the present location of Spring- field. In May, 1821, a term of court was held in his cabin. In 1823, the publie lands having been surveyed, a town was laid out and called Calhoun, but as the settlers came in that name ' was dropped and the name of Springfield adopted.

"Fellow citizens, you have lived in the world's greatest period of advancement, you have seen the transformation produced by the engine and the iron wheel over iron roads; the invention of the telegraph and its controlling power in busi- ness and commerce, so that at any time during the day we may know the markets of London, Paris and New York, the three great centers of the world. By the telephone, friends may hold communion with friends miles apart in their own voice. By rail we may travel at any speed up to sixty miles an hour. All these discoveries and improvements you have witnessed.

"In the political world you have seen vast changes, a great civil war, a country saved, slav- ery abolished, the Constitution amended, and one of your own old settlers of Sangamon, whom you all knew, elected President of the United States. You have seen the capital of our own State removed from Vandalia to Springfield, you have seen the states grow from twenty to thirty eight, and you have seen great improve- ment in agriculture. The improvement in agri- cultural implements is wonderful. You ride and cut and bind your grain, you ride and cut your grass, you ride and plow, and three men with your present advantages can do more than a dozen forty years ago.

"The world, my friends, has made its greatest leap of progress within the last forty or fifty years. It is as if some magician's hand had cast a spell of improvement over the age in

which we live, and had called forth all the mighty engines of mother nature to make the world grow as it never did before.

" Illinois has been peculiarly fortunate in the possession of a class of pioneer citizens and statesmen far above the average of men. The first settlers of this country were remarkable men, strong in intellect, strong in will, and up- right in character. The State has been greatly favored and honored by the men who have been prominent as its lawyers and statesmen. With such men as Edwards, Cook, Bond, Coles, Pope, Breese, Duncan, Thomas, and Lockwood, and Lincoln, Logan, Douglas, Browning, Hardin, Bissell, Yates, Stuart, Harris, Shields, Dement, and a host of others I might name, the prosper- ity and greatness of our State was firmly secure. "They all helped to mould our early institu- tions. They left the impress of their thoughts and lives, not only to adorn the annals of our own State, but to add new Inster to the historic page of the Nation and the world.

" But, fellow-citizens, I must close. We have a great county, State, and country. It is our duty to take care of the inheritance handed down to us, for those who are to come after us. "Our State and Nation have a grand future. I have briefly referred to the growth and prog- ress of our State, but it has only fairly entered upon its career of prosperity. Soon we shall pass off the stage, our children will take our places. When fifty years more shall have passed away, may it be truly said of us, as we say of our fathers and mothers who have gone, that we were worthy of our time and country."

The speech of the Governor was listened to with marked attention, and was received with applause.

At the conclusion of the Governor's speech, the meeting adjourned until two o'clock for din- ner, after singing the Doxology, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow."

After dinner, the meeting was again called to order, when the election of officers took place R. W. Diller and James II. Matheny were each re-elected President and Secretary, together with the following-named Vice Presidents:

Moses G. Wadsworth, Auburn; Davis Mere- dith, Ball; John T. Constant, Buffalo Heart; John T. Stewart, Capital; James Parkinson, Curran; John Wilson, Clear Lake; Alex Irwin, Cartwright; Daniel G. Jones, Cotton Hill; Cyrus VanDeren, Catham; Daniel Waters, Cooper; J. Ray Dunlap, Fancy Creek; David Talbott, Gardner; Samnel O. Maxcy, Island Grove; Charles Cantrall, Illiopolis: Joseph L. Wilcox,

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Loami; Oliver P. Hall, Mechanicsburg; Thomas Ray, New Berlin; John B. Weber, Pawnee; Milton D. McCoy, Rochester; Goodrich Light- foot, Springfield; M. A. Stevens, Salisbury; John Ennis, Talkington; George Pickrell, Wheatfield, Isaac J. Taylor, Williams; Harness Trumbo, Woodside.

Mr. Kennedy, of Springfield, was then intro- duced and proceeded to address the meeting, and we regret we can only give a very imperfect synopsis of it.

The address carried the old settlers back two hundred years ago, when Marquette ex- plored the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and interviewed the Indian savages living on their borders. He then portrayed the saintly charac- ter of the Jesuit missionary-the first to plant the cross on the wilderness of the northwest, and elevating the mind to the noblest concep- tions of the future life. Allusion was made to the stand taken by the French settlers of Kas- kaskia, who, under the direction of Father Gi- bault, welcomed with hospitable hearts, General Clark and his distressed regiment, and rendered valuable assistance in the colonial struggle for freedom. These were worthy of the highest gratitude-first to the pioneer missionary, and second to the French settlers, closely allying them with the Illinois settlers of the present.

Mr. M. A. Stevens, of Salisbury, was next introduced and addressed the people briefly up- on matters of interest to the old settlers present. He was happy to see so many present, both old and young. The young to honor the old set- tlers, and the old to see and greet each other as old friends. He referred to the land marks of the old settlers on every hand - schools, churches and other institutions. He closed with words of welcome to the old settlers to Salisbury.

James H. Matheny then came forward and made a characteristic speech. We can only give a brief synopsis: He said he did not know as he could be heard, as he was not in a very good condition, as they could all see that he had more cheek than the government allowed. IIe was proud of Salisbury, for in this meeting they had done honor to themselves. He spoke of the time when he and others of his friends were boys, and related some amusing anecdotes that set the audience in roars of laughter. He also told of how the boys obtained money to go to shows; they dug 'ginseng' to the amount of twenty-five cents, and then they were sure of the show, particularly if it was in summer-if in the winter, it was not so sure. He then spoke of the advances that had been made in all affairs of

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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 76

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