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 56
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Sewing Machines. - The Belleville Manufacturing Company was organized in April, 1879, as a stock company with a capital of $10,000, which was subsequently increased to $13,500, and after- ward to $25,000, the present capital. The works are now located on Second North street, between Illinois and Spring streets. The Fairbank's Sewing Machine is manufactured. As soon as the necessary preparations are made it is proposed to vigorously push this enterprize. The gentlemen principally interested are persons of ample business experience, and are prepared to utilize the natural advantages which Belleville has for a factory of this description.
The Keg Shops on the line of the Louisville and Nashville rail- road employ between thirty-five and forty hands. About six hun- dred kegs, of five different sizes, are manufactured each day. Nearly the whole product of the establishment is used by the Belleville
Nail Company. George W. Shipman has been superintendent of the shops for four years.
St. Clair Sash Factory .- The sash factory of Storck & Brother was started in the year 1860 by Friedrich Storck, and is the oldest establishment of the kind in the city. Since 1870, Friedrich and George Storck have carried on the business under the present firm name. Ten hands are employed. The factory turns out doors, blinds, sash, frames, mouldings : and all kinds of wood-turning are also done.
Charles Daehnert, carpenter and builder, is engaged in the manu- facture of sash, doors and blinds. His factory is at the corner of First South and Church streets. He does a large amount of custom work in the city of Belleville and elsewhere in St. Clair county.
Deeke and Huhn, at the corner of First North and Richland streets, have been engaged in the manufacture of doors, blinds, sash, frames and mouldings, since 1878. The establishment is one of the largest of the kind in Belleville, and employs about twenty-five hands. The members of the firm are George Deeke and Christopher Hubn.
The following persons are engaged in the manufacture of cigars : John Bur, 167 Spring Street ; August Fernan, 37 West Main Street ; Daniel Fischer, 142 First North Street; Charles Goerlitz, 49 High Street and 29 Second South Street ; Martin Henkemeyer, 19 Public Square; Phillip Kauf- mann, 27 Lebanon Road ; Frederick Kaemper, 33 West Main Street; Charles Kuefelkamp, 231 East Main Street ; Frank Lebknecher, 1 Wost Main Street; Henry Meyer, 143 Jackson Street ; Henry Nagel, 240 West Main Street; J. W. Mueller, 218 Illinois Street ; Charles F. Seib, 178 West Main Street ; Jacob Schen, Jr., 212 East Main Street; Henry Viehmann, 120 East Main Street ; Henry R. Willmann, 180 Charles Street ; Nick Wilhelm, 61 Main Street, West Belleville.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
your friend John Reynolds
THIS distinguished citizen of Illinois and of St. Clair county, was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of February, 1788. His father, Robert Reynolds, and his mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Moore, were natives of Ireland, aud emigrated to the United States, landing in Philadelphia in 1785. When he was about six months old, his parents removed with him to Tennessee, and settled at the base of the Copper Ridge Mountain, about fourteen miles north-east of Knoxville. The Governor, many years afterwards, writes thus of his child- . hood home in Tennessee: "My earliest recollections are con- nected with this spot at a period when I was probably not more than five or six years old. The nightly alarm of hostile Indians and the mountains with their majestic summits, often veiled in clouds, made an impression upon my mind which the lapse of years and the scenes through which I have since passed have failed to obliterate I well remember seeing my parents when a night attack
of the Indians was expected bar the door of our cabin. After one of these alarms, my father, with gun in hand, looked cautiously out in every direction to see that no Indian was lurking near the house before he would venture to open the door. My grandfather, who resided in the vicinity, had built a fort, to which our family and others repaired in times of more than ordinary danger, and there remained till the danger was over." For many years previous to Wayne's treaty with the Indians in 1795, the Cherokees were in deadly hostility to the frontier settlers, and killed not a few of the pioneers of Tennessee. In 1794 young Reynolds' father rented out his frontier farm, and retired, with his family, into the interior of the state.
During the same year the man to whom he had rented the farm was killed by the Indians, and his entire family escaped destruction at their hands only by the merest chance.
His father emigrated with the family from Tennessee to Illinois
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
in February, 1800, and settled at Kaskaskia. More than half a century afterward, when nearly three score and ten years of age, Gov. Reynolds re-visited the frontier home of his childhood in Tennessee. We give a short extract from his beautiful description of it in his work : " My Own Times," as serving to exhibit his lite- rary skill when he chose to indulge it, and also the strong pathos and filial affection of the author. He says : "In 1853 I paid a visit to the state of Tennessee, and made a pilgrimage to the home of my infancy and childhood, the place where once stood the hum- ble frontier cabin of my father. I now re-visited that spot for the first time since we bade it adieu in 1800, and removed to Illinois. I left it a mere boy, a careless, happy child. I returned to it in the wane of life. More than half a century stood between those two points of time. During all that long period of my humble, yet eventful history, the home of my early years lived fresh and green in my memory, just as I had seen it in childhood. I knew the place where our cabin had stood, though every vestige of its walls and roofs had disappeared for more than a generation. Nothing now remained to mark the spot, except a slight elevation of the ground where the chimney had been, and a few flat stones that had once been our hearth. I visited this hallowed spot alone. I stood upon the hearth-stone of my childhood. The memories of early days thronged around my heart. It almost seemed as if I was once more a child listening to the stories my mother told me in the long winter evenings around that very hearth. How well did I remember telling her all my childish griefs, and with what gentle- ness she chided my waywardness, banishing all my sorrows with her affectionate, soothing words. I almost fancied that I could again feel her gentle hand parting the luxuriant hair that shaded my youthful beard, and her warm kiss upon my forehead and lips. I care not who may sneer at the confession. I wept like a child as I stood alone upon that hearthstone and thought of you, my fond, my affectionate, my sainted mother."
Young Reynolds entered with zest into all the amusements and athletic exercises of the young pioneers, among whom he was re- markably popular. He says: "In the early days of Illinois horse- racing was a kind of mania with almost all the people, and almost all indulged in it, either as spectators or otherwise. In my youth I possessed, like many others, a species of mania for horse-racing, and was tolerably successful in the vocation ; delighted extremely in a fine race-horse, and have expended much time in training them. Just preceding an important race I have slept on a blanket in a stable loft to take care of my horse. Much time, money and morals were lost in these early sports of the turf. Foot-racing, jumping, and wrestling were practiced by the Americans in early times, and many bets were made on the foot-races as well as on the horse-races. I was delighted with these rural sports, and became a swift foot-racer myself. When I arrived at the years of eighteen or twenty I grew large and active. My ambition urged me to excel in these athletic sports. I practiced foot-racing incessantly, and discovered I was hard to beat. The first race I ever run for a wager was in Kaskaskia in the autumn of 1808, with the Hon. John Scott, of Ste. Genevieve, Mo. After the above race a bet of a hundred dollars was made on a foot-race of one hundred yards, to be run by me and a man by name of Paine. The race was to be run at the place of Gov. Kinney's, a few miles east of Belleville." How remarkable it now appears to us to find this young athlete ten years afterward elevated to the Supreme bench of the state of Illinois !
He says further : "It was considered at that day both fashiona- ble and honorable to game for money. Card-playing was sustained by the highest classes, as well as the lowest in the country. A
person who could not, or would not play cards, was scarcely fit for genteel society. The French delighted much in this amusement, which gave the card-parties much standing and popularity with the Americans. The French at that time had the ascendency in the country, and their manners and habits gave tone and character to many such transactions. I never considered card-playing as the most innocent amusement, but I yielded to the custom and habits of the country. When I was appointed one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State in 1818, I abandoned card playing and every other species of gambling for money."
About the year 1805, a small school was formed in the neigh- borhood where his father resided. This the future Governor and Supreme Judge attended during the winters and " wet days." Still he was ambitious, and studied much alone, and with such private aid as he could procure. He gave a young colt, a present from his father, to a man to work in his place while he went to school. In the winter of 1806 and 1807, he attended a good school taught by a competent teacher. This school was situated a few miles north- east of the present city of Belleville.
He says : " I have often examined with deep feeling the tumuli of earth where this school-house once stood. I revere and respect the site with the same feeling as the Jews in ancient times did the city of Jerusalem." In the year 1809, through the influence of his uncle, John Reynolds, of Tennessee, he entered college at Knox- ville, Tennessee, being then in his twentieth year, and a fine spe- cimen of a sharp backwoods western youth.
He says that he was in an " unsettled condition-ready for a college, horse-race, or a tour to the Rocky Mountains. I was a singular spectacle when I started in 1809 to college. I looked more like a trapper going to the Rocky Mountains than a student to college." "I was well educated in the arts and mysteries of horse-racing, and foot-racing, shooting-matches, and all other wild sports of the back woods. My clothes were made up without tailors, and did not fit. so that I was placed in fashionable and polished society in Tennessee, in a most ludicrous position. I wore a cream- colored hat, made out of the fur of the prairie wolf, which also made a rather grotesque appearance." He says further: "When I turned my head back on leaving home, and saw my mother shedding tears I bitterly condemned the college, but honor and obstinacy propelled me onward, though I had died on my horse."
In October, 1810, he also commenced the study of law in the office of John Campbell, aud was intensely studious. Being threatened with consumption, he was compelled to omit study for almost a year.
" I possessed then," he says, " nothing on earth save a few clothes and the commencement of consumption. But the hearts of my uncie and aunt overflowed with kindness to me. I was fur- nished with a fine horse and money, and started home to Illinois in the spring of the year 1811."
In January, 1812 his health being restored again, he entered the college at Knoxville to renew his studies. But he was more prudent in his studies, and occasionally attended and engaged in foot-races. He says: "The race was run, and I won the bet. I paid off some debts I owed in town, and that was I believe the last foot-race I ran for a wager. My preceptor and staid friends did not approve it ; but they excused it in me, as it was, they presumed, about the last of my wild backwoods education oozing out." He states also that he won a horse at a horse-race in Cahokia, Illinois, the preceding fall, and says : " I sold the horse I won to a hotel- keeper in Knoxville, and boarded it out with him while I studied law." These incidents serve to illustrate the spirit of the pioneer timcs.
RESIDENCE OF LOUIS C. STARKEL. BELLEVILLE, ILLINOIS.
RESIDENCE OF DR W. WEST. BELLEVILLE, ILLINOIS.
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
Returning home in 1813, he served a while as a private in the war against the Indians. In the fall of 1812, he was admitted to practice law, having been examined by two United States Judges for the Territory of Illinois. On the 3d of March, 1813, Captain Wm. B. Whiteside organized his United States Ranging Company, and in it Reynolds enlisted as a private.
This service gave him the " soubriquet " of " the Old Ranger," by which he was in after years known all over the state. His friends gave him the cognomen in electioneering campaigns, being indica- tive of services as a ranger on the frontier in the last war with Britain.
In the spring of 1814, he opened his law office in the French village of Cahokia, without, as he tells us, " a cent of money, and scarcely any books or clothes," and with a "horse, but no decent saddle or bridle." He was, he says, like the man's oxen, " strong in light work." But he had a press of business, in selling land and practicing law. In the course of the four successive years, he pur- chased two stores, valued at ten thousand dollars. He says that when in 1818, he was appointed Judge, he " ceased land specula- tions and entered another field of more trouble and less profit." In the spring of 1817, he was married to a French Creole lady, a native of Cahokia, who died in Belleville in 1834. Her death, he tells us, was the severest shock he ever experienced.
Illinois became a state in 1818, and the first legislature which commenced at Kaskaskia, in September, 1818, elected him one of the supreme judges, as he tells us, much to his surprise. He presided in the counties of St. Clair, Madison, Washington, Monroe and Bond. It will not be amiss to quote from his experience as a judge. "The judges of the supreme court of Illinois in 1818, were all young men and had not that practice at the bar that was necessary to give standing and character to their decisions, but the law was ad- ministered at that day with less form and ceremony, yet with as mnuch equity and justice as at the present time. The judges had laborious duties to perform, to hold both the circuit and supreme courts throughout the whole state. The first court I held was in the spring of 1819, in Covington, Washington county, and it was to me a strange and novel business. I commenced my official duties among my uld comrades with whom I had been raised, ranged in the war with them and lived with them in great intimacy and equality, so that it was difficult in my situation to assume a different relation- ship than I had previously occupied with them. And moreover, I utterly despised a mock dignity that is sometimes assumed. Both the sheriff and clerk of Washington county were rangers in the same company with myself, and it seemed we were still in the United States service, ranging on equal terms in pursuit of the In- dians. And it appears that the sheriff Bowling Green entertained the same opinion, as he opened court in a very familiar manner. While he was sitting astride on a bench he proclaimed, without rising, that " the court is now opened. John is on the bench " Not long after in Union county, the deputy-sheriff opened court (myself presiding) by saying "Oh yes " three times, and then in a solemn manner proclaimed " the Honorable Judge is now opened." In 1825, he again resumed the practice of the law, and in 1826 was elected to the legislature, where he remained for two sessions. In August, 1830, he was elected Governor of the state, after a most ex- citing political campaign.
During his administration he was commander of all the Illinois
Militia and prosecuted to a successful termination the war against Indians, known in history as the " Black Hawk War."
As illustrative of the distinguishing traits of Gov. Reynolds as a man and politician, we cannot do better than to quote from Ford's History of Illinois in describing his race for Governor in 1830 Governor Ford says of him: "Judge Reynolds was a man of good natured, easy and pliable materials. He had received a classi- cal education, and was a man of good talents in his own peculiar way, but no one would suppose from hearing his conversation and public addresses, that he had ever learned more than to read and write and cipher to the Rule of Three: such acquisitions being sup- posed to constitute a very learned man in the times of his early life. He had been a farmer, a lawyer, a soldier, a judge and a member of the legislature. He had passed his life on the frontiers among a frontier people: he had learned all the by words and catch words, old sayings and figures of speech invented by vulgar ingenuity, and common among a backwoods people : to these he had added a co- pious supply of his own and had diligently compounded them all into a language peculiar to himself which he used on all occasions both public and private.
He was a man of remarkably good sense and shrewdness for the sphere in which he chose to move, and possessed a fertile imagina- tion, a ready eloquence, and a continued mirthfulness and pleas- autry when mingling with the people: He had a kind heart, and was always ready to do a favor, and never harbored resentment against any human being."
In 1834, he was elected as a representative to Congress. While there he was married to a lady living in the District of Columbia.
In 1836, he with a few others determined to construct a railroad from the bluffs to the Mississippi, and actually did build it, which was the first railroad ever built in Illinois. They were forced to bridge a lake over 2000 feet across, and to drive down piles more than eighty feet into the mud and water of the lake on which to build the bridge. The road was six miles in length, and built for the coal traffic. They graded the track, cut and hauled the timber, piled the lake, built the road and had it running in one season of the year 1837. It was the first railroad built in the Mississippi valley.
He was again elected to Congress in 1838. In the summer of 1839, he went to Europe under appointment of Gov. Carlin for the purpose of negotiating a loan of four million dollars. In this ca- pacity he visited London, Liverpool, Paris, Brussels, Dover, and other cities.
In 1846, he was again elected a member of the legislature, and again also in 1852. On this occasion he was elected speaker of the house.
Gov. Reynolds died at his home in Belleville, in St. Clair county, Ills., on the 8th day of May, 1865, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.
His was indeed an eventful life, so illustrative of the spirit and quaint novelty of pioneer times that we may well say, " We shall never see his like again." His library efforts consist mainly of " Pioneer History of Illinois," "My Own Times," "Development of the Human Mind," " John Kelly," and a sketch book descrip- tive of scenes and places by the way on a tour to Crystal Palace at N. Y. He was a representative from Illinois to the World's Fair also held at New York.
200
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
HON. SAMUEL B. CHANDLER, (DECEASED.)
AMONG the many prominent citizens of St. Clair county of the past, who aided and did much to advance the material interest of the county, was Samuel B. Chandler. A history of the county to which he contributed so much would be incomplete without proper mention being made of him. It is also fitting that a man possessed of so many good traits of character, of so benevolent a disposition and liberality, should be passed down to posterity as an example worthy of imitation. He was of English ancestry on the paternal side, and German on the maternal. He was the son of Samuel and Soloma (Hoffman ) Chandler, and was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, February 9th, 1808. At the age of twenty-one he came west, and for several years worked in the lead mines at Galena, Illinois. It not proving remunerative, he came south to St. Louis, and from there to Belleville. Here he found work at his trade of saddler, in the shop of John D. Hughes, who paid him the small pittance of twenty-five cents per day. He continued at the trade but a short time, and then engaged in general merchan- dizing, in which he continued actively until his death, August 7th, 1871. On the 21st of January, 1834, he was united in marriage to Miss Adilini La Croix, daughter of Michael and Catherine (Dubuque) La Croix. Mrs. Chandler was born Dec 6, 1806, at Marivais Ferre, then an Indian trading post on the Illinois River, near Peoria, Illinois. She still survives her husband, and is a resi- dent of Belleville. By this marriage there was one child, which died in infancy.
During Mr. Chandler's life he became prominent in the local politics of the county. He was not a politician, however, but his well-known probity of character, business sense and fidelity to trusts and friends, made him almost invincible as a candidate for public place. If he accepted a nomination or office, it was only at the earnest solicitation of friends. Once accepted, he entered upon the duties thereof and discharged them with a strict impartiality
and fairness that won the respect and confidence of all classes. In 1840 he was elected sheriff of St. Clair county, and became his own successor, and held the office for a number of terms. In 1849 he was elected to represent St. Clair county in the Legislature, and while acting as legislator, it is said of him that his acts were marked by great prudence and economy, and a due regard for the will of his constituents. All enterprises which had for their object the good of his county or locality, or the increase of the material wealth, always found in him an advocate and friend, ready to take hold and give it substantial aid, and that too without hoping to reap any direct personal advantage. In short, his greatest pleasure seemed to be doing good to others, or in doing something that would redound to the advantage of the public or the benefit of individuals. He accumulated wealth rapidly, but wealth in his hands was simply the means of enabling him to do good to others He was industrious in making money, but seemed equally industrious in giving it away. No object of charity ever appealed to him and went away empty-handed. Every worthy enterprise of a public character found in him a donor to the full extent of his ability to give. The sunis he gave were not so large and princely, but he was constantly giving; and yet in such a quiet, unostentatious manner, that it may truly be said of him that the right knew not what the left hand hand did. In the origina- tion and organization of the Agricultural Society, he had more to do than perhaps any other man in the county. He was one of the original directors, and continued his connection with it until his death. He was for some time its president, and, in fact, held all the offices. The society sustained a great loss in his death. He was, for many years, a director in the Belleville Savings' Bank, and, at his death, resolutions of respect were passed by the Directors, and placed upon the records of tlie bank, extolling his many virtues as an officer and a man.
BRILLIANT STOVES.
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ROOMS
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THE BUSINESS HOUSE OF L. LEBKUECHER, DEALER IN ALL KINDS OF COOKING HEATING STOVES &RANGES , TINWARE &HOUSE FURNISHING GOODS, 15 WEST MAINST. BELLEVILLE. ILL.
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201
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
HON. JOHN THOMAS.
AMONG the old settlers of St Clair county, and of those who have exercised a marked influence in the county, is Colonel John Thomas, the subject of the following sketch : His ancestors were from Wales, and emigrated to America about the beginning of the last century. His great-grandfather, Daniel Thomas, was the father of seven sons and three daughters. His son, Griffith Thomas, had a family of eight sons and two daughters. Of this family was John Thomas, the father of Colonel John Thomas. He was a native of Virginia, and married Jane Smith, of North Caro- lina. By this union there was a large family, five of whom are still living. Colonel John Thomas was born in Wythe county, Virginia, January 11th, 1800. His father was a blacksmith, and followed that trade and farming. The family was large, and the means of Mr. Thomas limited, therefore all the sons had to become helpers, and provide for their own support and that of the family at a very early age. Being poor, and living in a slave country, where schools were the exception, their education was limited and neglected, except that which they received from their excellent mother, who taught all of her children to read and write. It was the intention of his father, who abhorred the system of slavery, to remove from Virginia as soon as he could do so, and take his children to one of the free western States, where they could grow up, and not be under the blighting influence of slavery. Full of this resolve, he left Virginia, and arrived in St. Clair county, Illinois, April 28, 1818. He halted near the present village of Shiloh, and there set up a blacksmith shop, in what was known as the Alexander settlement. There he remained until his death, which took place in 1848. His wife survived him, and died in 1854. John remained at home and worked for his father until he was twenty-one years of age. He then started out in life for him- self. The first year after leaving home he divided between going to school and working. He felt the need of more education. In June, 1852, he was united in marriage to Miss Arabella, daughter of William Kinney, afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois. After his marriage he commenced farming in a very small way, on a rented farm. Six years later he made his first purchase of land, bought and stocked a farm; and from that first investment in land dates his prosperity. He was shrewd and far-seeing, and knew that permanent prosperity would come to him who would invest liberally, or place his means in land. He knew it was only a question of time as to when the broad and fertile prairies of Illinois would be brought into market, and a great demand by the tide of emigration was pouring in from foreign shores, and that was rapidly moving westward from the east. He therefore con- stantly purchased all the land he could get, and pay for, notwith- standing he was advised that he was acting foolishly and inviting bankruptcy, and sooner or later he would repent his rashness.
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