USA > Illinois > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 17
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
The records bear witness that foreigners were naturalized in St. Clair county as early as October, 1816. The following persons were then and there admitted to American citizenship, to wit :
NAMES.
ARRIVED IN U. S. ARRIVED IN ILLINOIS.
TIME OF RESIDENCE.
John L. Schoenberger,
1789
1790
27 years.
. Jacques Vanier,
1798
1811
18
-
Francois Amoure,
1789
1789
27
Louis Buisson,
1790
1790
26
Louis Petit,
1792
1792
24
Louison Pensoneau,
1792
1792
24
Antoine Dechamps,
1794
1794
22
Francois Guignon,
1799
1799
17
Pierre Verbois,
1799
1799
17
Jacques Bourdeaux,
1800
1810
16
Louis Pensonean,
1801
1808
15
Joseph Ruelle,
1801
1801
15
John Hay, Etienne Pensoneau, Samuel Gillham, Louis Binette, Nicolas Jarrot, Michel Lacroix and Patrick Lee appeared as their witnesses in court, and testified "as to the moral character and length of residence of said applicants," whereupon the court ordered that they be admitted to citizenship respectively. The records do not mention the nationality of these applicants, but the orthography of their names settles the question. Schoenberger was a German, the others are French.
In April term 1817 another French immigrant, Francois Bouttel- lier, was naturalized. From 1816 to 1838, a period of twenty-two years, no applications to be admitted to American citizenship seem to have been made, with one exception. James Davis, an English- man, was naturalized in 1834. The few immigrants arriving at that period of time devoted themselves to opening farms and other manual labor. The right of suffrage was granted to all whites after a residence of six months in the state, and the difference be- tween this right and the privilege of citizenship was neither known nor appreciated. Early in this century we find Frederick Germann and Markee (probably Philip Merker, who died 1810) making a farm and settlement at a gulch in the bluffs, in the north- west of the county. They were Germans, and their settlement goes under the name of " Dutch Hollow " to this day. Besides these, the records mention the death of one William Meyer in 1809, and Daniel Schultz in 1812. Samuel Holtz and Matthias Schil- linger lived in the county before the year 1820. Bernard Steiner, together with Rudolph Wildi, Jacob Hardy and others, settled in the southern part of the county about the year 1815, on what is called " Dutch Hill " to-day. Steiner and his people were natives of Switzerland. Steiner came to the United States in the very first years of the present century. His early history is quite interesting. He had, while working at his trade in Neufchatel, Switzerland, formed the acquaintance of the daughter of a wealthy family there, and soon obtained the consent of the parents to a marriage, under the condition, however, that he would accompany the family to America. They were to embark at Antwerp. Steiner had placed his effects and his money in custody of his prospective father-in-law. The sailing of the vessel was delayed, however, and their stay at Ant- werp became tedious. He was prospecting around for useful occu- pation, and on coming home to his quarters one night, he learned to his dismay that his friends had embarked and were now at sea. He was without money and without friends. Taking advantage of the credit system, to be mentioned hereafter, he took passage to Phila- delphia, where on his arrival he was sold into a three years' servi- tude to pay for the expenses of his voyage. After the expiration of this term he engaged in peddling, in hopes that some day or other he would find his lost love. He followed the business for years, successfully, in point of money, at least. He was soon enabled to engage in a more extended business ; became an importer of goods, made six or seven trips to Europe in the interest of his business. He remained single, and resolved to devote his means to the benefit of his sisters, six in number, and their families. He had bought about four sections of land in this county, located, as stated above, where he and his kinsmen permanently settled. Steiner con- tinued to carry on an extensive mercantile business, opened a branch store at Kaskaskia, and made preparations for the establishment of a clock and watch manufactory. This latter project was not carried out. death preventing it. Steiner lost his life on his way to Kas- kaskia in 1821, either by accident or by the hand of a highway robber. The sale of his personal estate lasted many days, and brought nearly twelve thousand dollars, a very large amount con- sidering the low prices of produce and the scarcity of money at that early period. The writer has examined the records of public
.
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
63
sales held as early as 1722 and up to 1830, but in no instance has he found lower prices than those obtained at the Steiner sale. Cows were sold in this county for $30 and $35 a head as early as 1790, while at Steiner's sale they did not bring more than three or four dollars per head. The price of all other property was in pro- portion. The settlement on Dutch Hill grew in prosperity from year to year. Jacob Hardy became one of the most successful farmers and stock-raisers of the county. His herds of cattle were counted by hundreds of heads in 1830.
The actual immigration of Germans into the Western States com- menced about twenty years after these sporadic settlements had been made, and as the German immigration has given to this region some of its conspicuous and characteristic features, it should have more than a passing notice in this chapter. Hon. Gustave Koerner, of Belleville, in his work, Das Deutsche Element, (The German Ele- ment), published by A. E. Wilde & Co., Cincinnati, has treated this subject in a superior manner, and we are indebted to his work for valuable and accurate data.
The immigration of Germans to the American colonies in the last century is usually underrated, in point of numbers as well as in point of material. True, it may scarcely have reached a hundred and fifty thousand souls, yet this number must surely be considered a factor in a population of less than three millions. True, the over- whelming numbers of those German pioneers were drawn from the poorest and most oppressed classes, the peasantry and the trades. But it should also be borne in mind, that these poor peasants and oppressed tradesmen had enjoyed a proportionally better school education than persons from a similar station of life in England or France. Germany enjoyed a common school system as early as the year 1600, and although the war of thirty years, 1618 to 1648, had almost laid waste the beautiful land and reduced a whole generation of people to barbarism, the years of peace had restored the school system during the succeeding century, the common schools flourished again, and Sunday-schools provided for a continual education even after the youths had quitted the public schools. Neither England nor France had made any provisions for the education and instruc- tion of children in their rural districts during said century. It is not our province here to state to what measures the government of France resorted to populate the wilds of Canada, and later the swamps of Louisiana, nor to relate how, and by whom, Great Britain undertook to colonize Georgia. History has told all that. While this forcible.and compulsory system prevailed with them, the German emigrants, most always led by their teachers and preachers, came of their own accord, with the desire and firm resolution to found homes for themselves and their children by honest and hard labor. Have they done so ? This question is answered. They left their homes, alas, not happy homes in many instances, poor, oppressed and bowed down with the bitter woe of separating them- selves forever from their beloved friends, but determined and reso- lute. The emigrants of the earlier part of the last century belonged to certain religious protestant sects, which were not recognized by the home government, Mennonites, Re-baptists and others. Later and larger numbers, driven from home in consequence of the terrible and destructive wars of France against Germany, came from the Rhein province known as the "Palatinate;" they also were protes- tants, either Lutherans or Reformed. Among them are found a large number of school-teachers and clergymen, some merchants, skillful tradesmen and wealthy agriculturists. Churches and schools were erected simultaneously with the huts and dwelling- houses of the immigrants.
The German in America has ever remained a firm friend of the public schools, and there is probably nothing, upon which he can
look with more pride and satisfaction, than upon the fact, that nearly all of his prominent or leading countrymen have labored for the improvement of our public schools, and supported the system with zealous hearts and liberal hands.
New York and Pennsylvania absorbed the larger share of the immigration of the 18th century, which, however, remained in constant communication with their people in the fatherland. The Pennsylvania Dutchman is to this day a type, almost as often seen or mentioned as the famous Yankee of New England.
The county of St. Clair drew its first white population from European immigrants and Canadians ; but it should not be forgotten that the typical Pennsylvania Dutchman also arrived soon after the organization of the county. The chapter on pioneers and early settlers will mention names, and in our biographical sketches many more may be found.
The early German immigrant had also acquired an enviable re- putation as to honesty and reliability. " He did not think it smart to avoid paying a just debt " Dr. F. Brunk, of Buffalo, in speak- ing of those German pioneers. of the last century, says : " The Ger- mans, who came to the State of New York after the year 1820, owe to the early German settlers from the Palatinate a debt of gratitude, on account of the good reputation which they had secured to the Ger- man nationality. Even as late as 1834, a German immigrant was trusted with money or goods without further inquiry."
We will here add a few words in reference to the hardships and pri- vations endured by these early settlers, first in getting to this country, and next in making a start in life. An ocean voyage in our days of steam and palatial vessels, is an enjoyable tour of ten or twelve days' duration, affording to the traveler all the luxuries of the two continents ; and now let us hear what an emigration trip of 1750 amounted to. Gottlieb Mittelberger, in his Reise nach Pennsylvanien. (Voyage to Pennsylvania), has given a vivid description of one. Mittelberger undertook a voyage to America in said year ; his pur- pose was to deliver an organ, built in Heilbronn, Germany, for a German church in Philadelphia, to said city. He embarked on a river craft, down the Neckar and Rhein, to Rotterdam. This trip alone was worse than annoying, as the authorities of the countless petty states would extort duty on all baggage, thus delaying the river trip beyond endurance, as there were not less than thirty-six such inspections and examinations, which the " Gentlemen of cus- tom-houses " hold at their leisure or convenience. Rotterdam is finally reached ; Mr. Mittelberger, together with some 400 emigrants are packed, herring-fashion, into the steerage of a small ship. His description of the condition of affairs in this hell is brief. Stench, horror, vomiting, fever, flux, headache, heat, sores, hunger, thirst, fear, want, vermin and wailing! The few remaining in health, would sometimes break out in maledictions, cursing one another or themselves and the hour of their birth ; but chiefly they would cry vengeance against the kidnappers, who had brought them there. Children from one to seven years of age hardly ever survive: he says, ".I have seen thirty-two little corpses thrown into the sea."
The expenses of this voyage, fifteen weeks from Rotterdam to Philadelphia, amounted to $80.00 per adult. Those who had paid this amount were permitted to leave the ship at Philadelphia, the others had to wait until they were " bought" and liberated by their purchasers. It was a kind of servitude, into which these poor peo- ple sold themselves, and it took years to regain their liberty. " Every day," says Mittelberger, "brought Dutchmen, English- men and high Germans from Philadelphia and other towns, some probably a hundred miles off, to the ships, having human freights from Europe on board, and select persons suitable for their pur- poses. They bargain with them about the length of time of their
64
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
serfdom. Healthy adults get off with three or four years. Youths from ten to fifteen years must serve to their twenty-first year. Many parents are forced to trade off their own children, in order to free themselves from the ship's owner, who had furnished transpor- tation on credit. Families are frequently separated in this manner, never to be united again. Ifany one undertakes to run away from his master because of cruel or inhuman treatment, he will not get far, for the laws in reference to such fugitives are well enforced, and high rewards are paid to the one that captures such fugitives."
Europeans, thus bought and sold, must work very hard, as these Americans are constantly clearing new fields, and thus our country- men soon learn that oaken stumps " in America are just as hard " as in Germany. Mittelberger remained three years in Philadelphia. He tells also of a ship that had been six months at sea before reach- ing Philadelphia, and that of 340 passengers, only 32 survived.
But to return to our subject-the German immigrations into the county of St. Clair.
Quite a number of German families arrived in this county in the year 1831, and settled on or near Turkey-Hill, east of Belleville. They were well-to-do agriculturists and tradesmen from Hesse- Darmstadt. Among them we mention John Knobloch, Thomas He- berer, Balthaser Mueller, Jacob Mueller, George Meser and George Merger. Jacob Weber and son settled in Twelve Mile Prairie ; Jacob Ensinger and Jacob Mohr further south, in Monroe county. The Turkey-Hill settlement received reinforcements in 1832, when John Wendelin Knobloch, (father of John K.) together with his family-Balthaser and Thomas Knobloch, George Hehret, Adam Bop, - Merkel, George Fischer, the Siebert and Funk fami- lies arrived. Most of these people devoted themselves to agricul- ture, and nearly all of them with marked success. They and their descendants now occupy thousands of acres of the most fertile land on earth. Heberer, who had enjoyed the advantages of a course of study at the agricultural academy of Fellerberg in Berne, Switzer- land, was not satisfied with the cultivation of corn and wheat alone. He planted a vineyard as early as 1832, and was highly elated with his success in raising a crop the following year. John Knobloch, however, more practical than enthusiastic, calls this earliest product of Heberer's vineyard, the vilest and meanest stuff that ever went under the name of wine. Orchards were also planted, and the Turkey-Hill settlement became soon a worthy rival of that on Dutch-Hill. The German settlers on Turkey-Hill started a German school in 1832, probably the first one in Illinois. They obtained the services of a teacher, George Rheinhard, at a very low salary, four or five dollars per month. Rheinhard was a well educated man, who would also conduct divine services on Sundays, and offici- ate at weddings, baptisms and funerals.
Official documents of the county mention a few more German names at this period, viz .- Bornmann, Busse, Obermueller and Ackermann.
The German, although in most instances an excellent and success- ful farmer, is not exactly a pioneer or frontiers man. He prefers to make his home in districts where the American pioneer has per- formed the arduous task of opening the wilderness to cultivation. The plow is the German's "forte," not the axe nor the rifle.
The so-called immigration of 1833 brought a number of highly educated Germans,-Lateiner (Latin scholars), as popular wit and humor named them, to this county. A few of these Lateiuer are still living, honored and respected by all. Their comrades of 1833, who have departed this life, have left to their descendants a proud record, and their memory is cherished as that of honorable, patri- otic men.
.
The causes which led to this immigration were more or less of a
political nature. The July revolution of France, in 1830, was still reverberating on the east side of the Rhine, in Germany, where the feudal system was most severely felt by thinking men. Their efforts to break the yoke were futile. Disappointed in this, and disgusted with the political misery of Germany, in many instances even suf- fering under the petty political persecutions of despotic governments, and despairing of ever seeing their beloved fatherland occupying a proud position as a nation among the other nations of Europe, they resolved to emigrate. They abandoned remunerative positions in official and commercial life, and concluded to find new fields for their labor in America. They chose the valley of the Mississippi as their future home. Charmed and attracted by the glowing descriptions of life in the west, as published by Dr. Duden. who had sojourned a few years on Lake Creek, Montgomery, now Warren, county, Missouri, they hastened to the great west.
Horace's Beatus ille qui procul negotiis, etc., was now to be tried in good earnest. The student, the scholar, the doctor of philosophy, the professor, the merchant, all wanted to become farmers.
It is not the writer's province to state how this dreamed " happi- ness " came, nor how those enthusiasts "practiced with their steers." A few succeeded, while others returned to their former occupations or to public life.
Another leaf in these sketches makes mention, and honorable mention, of their services as county, state, and United States offi- cers.
Returning to the subject, a brief sketch of the "Lateiner" settle- ment in what is now called Shiloh valley, may find room here. This sketch is based upon an article published in "Das Westland," North American periodical for Germans, edited by Capt. C. Ney- feld and Dr. G. Engelmann, of St. Louis, printed at Heidelberg in 1837. The author, Dr. Engelmann, in speaking of said settlement, writes :- " I was one of the first Germans who came to that region ; have known it when but a few homesteads were in the possession of our countrymen ; have witnessed the increase of immigration; and observed the constant growth of prosperity. I have practiced there as physician for nearly two years, and am befriended with all, and, al- though I left the settlement iu 1835, have, by frequent visits, re- mained in intimate connection with those settlers. Nearly the whole settlement is situated in Town 1 North, R. 7, and extends from 5 to 9 miles east of Belleville." The Dr. now branches off in describing the beautiful landscapes, the rolling prairies, the herds of fat cattle, etc., etc. Speaking of the climate and climatic diseases, he says :- " Among eighty Germans, inhabiting the settlement, we had fifteen cases of sickness during two years, two terminating in death, one of which fatal cases could not be ascribed to climatic causes."
His lengthy remarks about geology, flora and fauna, as well as about the products of agriculture, are of great interest, and give evi- dence of a most diligent study.
The original settlers, the pioneers of this township, he says, ar- rived about the year 1802; he names the families Moore, Scott, Watts and West. The first German settler, H. Merkel, arrived in 1832. Th. and E. Hilgard, F. Wolff, J. Ledergerber, A. Dilg, M. Rupelins, six bachelors, the families of F. Engelmann, E. Haren, H. Koelsch, H. Fritz, the widow Abend, G. Sandherr and J. Fleisch- bein arrived early in 1833. Later in the year came G. Koerner, K. Schreiber, E. Friederich, W. Decker, Wilhelm Weber, F. Lindheimer, and the writer (Dr. Engelmann), who together with the sons of F. Engelmann; kept bachelor's hall in a building situated on the Engel- mann place ; another bachelor's roost was on the Hilgard lands, where the two Hilgards, Th. Krafft, G. Heimberger, Dr. Gustav Bunsen, Dr. Berchelmann and A. Conradi domiciled. George Bunsen, F. Koehler, the families Baer and Pirsbacher arrived in 1834. Dr.
65
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
A. Reuss and Dr. A. Schott's, and the Kaising families also came in 1834.
Two years of experience had now somewhat tempered down the agricultural ardor of many of those enthusiasts, and a reaction set in. Observing that their neighbors, the practical farmers, or peasants, living on poorer land, were getting out of debt and into prosperity, and that the farmers by choice were not at all successful in this pursuit, many of those named above resolved to abandon farming. Engelmann who had changed his farm into orchards and vineyards, established a starch factory besides, Busch a distillery, Rupelins. went to preaching the Gospel, and others returned to their former occupations. Th. Krafft, in connection with Mr. Flanagan, went into very successful commercial business in Belleville. Dr. G. Koerner, Jr., in order to familiarize himself with the practice of the American bar and law, attended lectures at the University at Lex- ington, Kentucky, and soon after established himself as counselor at law and attorney in Belleville. Fleischbein and Dilg erected a brewery, not only supplying the thirsty of Belleville, but even those of St. Louis, with their superior products. Mrs. Abend moved to Belleville, in order to have better facilities for the instruction and education of her children. Kaising opened a butcher-shambles. Hilgard and Wolff erected a steam-distillery, and Busch a cooper shop in said town. Weber became editor of the Anzeiger des Wes- tens,* Haren a merchant, Th. Engelmann a real estate broker, and Dr. Engelmann a practising physician in St. Louis.
The population of the Latin settlement had been somewhat re- duced by this exodus, but others filled their places .. The township has now -- 1837 -- a population of 400 souls, of whom 160 are Ger- mans. Speaking of the size of farms, the Dr. says, that many Germans are satisfied with 30 or 40 acres and a few have as many
* Weber remained in charge of the Anzeiger until 1800. In the very be- ginning of his career as editor, he had occasion to exhibit to his fellow-citizens the stout and manly heart of a fr. edom-loving republican. A police officer of St. Louis had been mortally wounded by a free negro whom he was at- tempting lo bring to jail. The negro was arrested and put in jail. A mob was organized that very night, the jail entered and the negro dragged out, to be roasted alive at a slow fire. The torture lasted fully thirty-five minutes. This was done in the presence of thousands, and within the city limits.
Weber's article, relating this outrage, commences with the following words: " We have witnessed last night, a barbarity, so cruel and mnoustrons, as the most debased brain could think of to offend humanity, and to violate law. Citizens of St. Louis! You will never blot out the stain, with which the his- tory of your city was soiled in that night!" The authorities of the city and county, under whose very eyes the outrage had been committed, and who had not made an effort to prevent it, were then severely censured, but in very moderate language. The Commercial Bulletin came out in an article against Weber and his paper, cautioning Weber and reminding him that he was a foreigner, permitted by a magnanimous people to live in their city, etc. This article of the Bulletin created a very bitter feeling, and Weber and his friends expecting to see a mob attack the Anzeiger building in the next night, had armed themselves to defend the place and " hold the fort." Weber replied to the Bulletin, on the next day, in order to substantiate what he had said in his first article, and to express his opinion as to the "foreigner" and the "mag- nanimous people " He wrote in substance, the following : " While we readily acknowledge and gratefully appreciate the goodness and the magnanimity of . the American people, we must be permitted to say, that we are not depending upon it, but upon ourselves and upon the fruits of our labor and talent, small though it be. We claim only what the law of the land grants unto us; and we came, fugitives for freedom's sake, to the hospitable shores of this land, to live under liberal laws and a rational and happy constitution ; we came not as beggars, to appeal to individual benevolence and magnanimity, but as men, well qualified to appreciate liberty, ever ready to battle for it, in common with any and all in this land."
This reply of Weber's put a quietus on the Bulletin ; the best people of St. Lois endorsed him and became his friends. Weber died in the year 1852, forty-four years of age, loved and respected by all who knew him.
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.