USA > Illinois > Stark County > History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 6
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Vol. 1-4
CHAPTER V SETTLEMENT OF STARK COUNTY
AN OLD TRADING POST-EVELAND AND ROSS-ISAAC B. ESSEX THE ORIG- INAL PIONEER-FIRST CABIN IN STARK COUNTY-LIST OF SETTLERS EACH YEAR TO 1839-PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS-THE HOUSE RAISING-FURNITURE AND UTENSILS-SWAPPING WORK-AMUSE- MENTS AND PASTIMES-MARKING ANIMALS-THE OLD TRAPPER'S SOLILOQUY.
During the French occupation of the Illinois Valley a trading post was established at the site of the old Peoria Indian village, near the outlet of Peoria Lake. When Illinois was organized as a territory in 1809 and Ninian Edwards was appointed governor, this post was still in existence. Shortly after the beginning of the War of 1812 Governor Edwards became convinced of the sympathy of the inhabi- tants with the British cause. He therefore ordered the inhabitants banished and the seventy houses that then constituted the village de- stroyed. While the post was in existence, no doubt some of the traders there dealt with the Indians who lived within the present borders of Stark County, and these traders were probably the first white men to visit this portion of the state. They made no settlements away from the post, however, and it was not until some years later that the atten- tion of immigrants was attracted to the fertile Spoon River Valley.
In 1828 William Eveland and Harvey L. Ross, accompanied by the French interpreter, Edouard Plude, left Lewistown. Fulton County, with a wagon loaded with goods for the purpose of trading with the Indians in Peoria, Stark and Knox counties of the present day. They were gone nearly a month, when they returned to Lewis- town, where they reported a profitable trade, and that they found but two white settlers north of the Town of Canton.
In the fall of that year Isaac B. Essex came to the Spoon River Valley and selected a claim in section 15, township 12. range 6. He remained there long enough to cut logs and make the clapboards for a cabin, after which he returned to the "Shoal Creek Colony." where
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the trading post had been destroyed by order of Governor Edwards, and there passed the winter. In April, 1829, equipped with two horses and a wagon laden with tools and supplies, and accompanied by his wife and little children, he set out for his home on the frontier. Pansing for a short time at the settlement known as "Prince's Grove," a short distance northwest of the present Town of Princeville, he there enlisted the eooperation of Daniel Prince, Frank Thomas, two Baptist preachers-Elders Silliman and Allen-Simon Reed, Stephen French, and perhaps one or two others, all of whom agreed to go with him to his claim and assist him in building his eabin. They arrived at the place late in the day and encamped the first night in the woods, but before sunset of the next day the cabin was completed and they "had a house to sleep in." This cabin was the first dwelling erected by civilized man within the present limits of Stark County.
Isaae B. Essex was born in Virginia in January, 1800. From his native state he went to Ohio, and while still a young man eame to Illinois and was appointed teacher to the Indian children by Rev. Jesse Walker, the first Methodist minister in the state. After teach- ing a short time he took up a elaim on the bank of the Mississippi River a short distance below Rock Island. Here he laid out a town, which he called Quebec, but the project failed and he went to Peoria, or the Shoal Creek Colony, where he remained until he came to Stark County. Ile continued to reside in Stark for many years, when he went to Dongola, Union County, where he passed the closing years of his life. Isaae B. Essex was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth Essex. who were married in Virginia in 1791, when he was twenty and she eighteen years of age. They followed their son to Stark County, where Elizabeth Essex died on January 26, 1853, and her husband followed her to the grave on May 15. 1853. Essex Township, where they first settled, was named in honor of this pioneer family. Others of the Essex family who settled in Stark County were Thomas. Jr .. William, David and JJoseph, brothers of Isaac, and a sister who was the wife of David Cooper. Further mention of this family will be found in the history of Essex Township.
The second white man to build a cabin in what is now Stark County was John B. Dodge, who located in section 14, township 12, range 6. not far from Mr. Essex. After a short residenee there he entered land in section 3 and his cabin in section 14 was occupied by John E. Owings. Mr. Dodge it seems was a restless sort of an individual, who preferred life on the frontier and went to Texas about the time that state was annexed to the United States.
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In the spring of 1830 Benjamin Smith, the father-in-law of John B. Dodge, became a resident of the county. He was accompanied by three others of the family-Sewell, Greenleaf and William P. Smith - and they built their cabin not far from that of Mr. Dodge. William D. Grant also came in 1830.
On the southeast corner of the public square, in the Town of Tou- lon, is a log cabin which was ereeted by the Old Settlers' Association and on August 25, 1898, it was dedicated to the "Old Settlers of Stark County." In the Toulon Publie Library are two large, en- grossed panels, framed and covered with glass, giving a list of the county's pioneers to whom the cabin is dedicated. From this list it is learned that the inhabitants of the county in 1831 were: Isaae B. Essex, Thomas Essex, Sr., Joseph Essex, Henry Seely, Benjamin, Greenleaf, Sewell and William P. Smith, David Cooper, Harris W. Miner, Sylvanus Moore, David Gregory. William D. Grant, John B. Dodge and Peter Sheets.
Those who came during the years 1832-33 were as follows: Par- don B. Dodge, Conrad, Jacob and Joseph Emery, John P. Ilays, Jesse W. Heath, James Holgate, Elijah McClenahan, Sr., Elijah McClenahan, Jr., James and Robert McClenahan, Israel Seely, Minott Silliman, Lewis Sturms, Gen. Samuel Thomas and Jefferson Triekle. In this list there are a few names that are still well remem- bered in the county. Minott Silliman, a son of the elder Silliman. who helped Isaac Essex to build the first cabin in the county, was the first treasurer of Stark County. The first eleetion in the county was held at the house of Elijah MeClenahan, Sr., and Stephen Trickle was a member of the first board of county commissioners.
In 1834, according to the list, twenty-two families were added to the population, to wit: George Albright, Augustus Bailey, Isaac Chatfield, Giles C. Dana, Daniel Davis, John Finley, Nelson Grant, Charles Lake, Henry McClenahan, William Moore, Nero Mounts, Joseph Newton, William Parks, Charles Pierce, Ira and Lyman Riddle, Thomas Scott, Peter Shafer, Robert Sharer, Henry Sturms, Mathias Sturms, Dexter Wall and Thomas Winn.
The next year witnessed even a larger increase, as thirty-two pioneers settled within the county. They were: Thomas Bradford, James Buswell, Capt. Henry Butler, Henry Butler, Jr., Samuel But- ler, Jarville Chaffee, David Currier. Peter Davidson, John Davis, Angustus Dunn, Barnabas Frail, Hugh Frail, John B. Howard, James and Robert Moore. Benjamin Newton, George Parker, Adam, Lewis and Swift Perry, John T. Phenix, Peter Pratt, Doctor Rieh-
OLD SETTLERS' CABIN, TOULON
LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA
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ards. Milton and Silas Richards, Whitney Smith, Isaac Spencer. Nathaniel Swartz. James Thompson, Stephen Trickle, Thomas Watts and Calvin Winslow.
In the year 1836 the immigration passed the half-century mark. over fifty new residents establishing their homes in Stark County. Those who came this year were: John W. Agard. Ephraim Barnett, J. II. Barnett, Moses Boardman, Charles Bolt. William Bowen. Myrtle G. Brace, Henry Breese, E. S. Broadhead, John Brown, Jacob Claybangh, Henry Colwell. Presley Colwell, Enoch and Nathan Cox, Lemnel Dorrance, Andrew Dray, Ezekiah and Martin Dukes, William Dunbar, George R. Eekley. Lewis Finch. Brady Fowler, Orange Fuller, Frank Grady. George, John, Langley, Robert and William Hall, Smith Hayes, John W. and Col. William Henderson, Benjamin F. Hilliard, Philip Keller, Joseph D. Lane, Joseph K. Lane, Nathaniel MeClure, William Mahany, Richard Maskel, John Miller, Josiah Moffit, Howard Ogle, William Ogle, Virgil Pike, John Pratz, Christopher Sammis, Sumner Shaw, Ashur Smith, Jacob Smith, John Spencer, Andrew Swartz. Edward Trickle, Horace Vail, Archi- bald and Charles Vandyke, John White, Nehemiah Wycoff.
Those who settled in the county in 1837 were: P. J. Anschutz, Zebulon Avery, Carson and John Berfield, Nelson Bonham, Dr. Alfred Castle, Thomas S. Clark, William Cue, Adam Day, W. W. Drummond, Calvin and Stephen Eastman. Joseph and Levi Eckley. Caleb Flint, Ansil Fuller, Luther Geer, Joshua Grant, David Guyer. Dr. Thomas Ilall, John Hamilton, Aaron Harvey, Harry Hays, John Hester, Jonathan Hodgson, D. S. Hurd, Theodore F. Hurd. Henry T. Ives, Lemuel B. Leonard, William Lyall, Thomas Lyle. Thomas MeNaught, Abiah Manning, Newton Matthews, Orin Max- field. Charles H. and Rev. Jonathan Miner, Adam and Thomas Oliver, Stephen Ordway, Joseph Palmer, Ruloff and Squire Parrish, Joseph Perry. Isaac Polhamis, Edward Porter, William Porter, Calvin Powell, Sr., William Pratt, Benjamin Rieker, W. W. Riggin, Robert Rule. David, Jacob and John Summerman, Israel Stoddard, Liberty Stone, John F. Thompson. Charles Todd, John Turnbull, William Wheeler, Oliver Whitaker and Hewes White.
The list of settlers for 1838 ineludes the following: Philander Arnold, Royal Arnold, David W. Brown, Timothy and William Carter, Riley Chamberlain, Dr. Ebenezer Clarfield, John Culbertson, John Curdiff, Elijah Eltzroth, Josha Gilfillan, Christian Gingrich. Daniel Gingrich. Daniel Hodgson. B. M. Jackson. Jonathan II. and James Jackson, John Laekey, Caleb Lyon, David Rouse, Philip
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Shaner, John and Nathan Snare, Levi Stephens, Jacob Stites, Luman Thurston, Robert Turnbull, Cyril Ward, Ira Ward and Joseph HI. Wilber.
In March, 1839, the Legislature of Illinois passed the act provid- ing for the organization of Stark County. During that year the following persons and their families settled in the new county: James L. Ayers, Jeremiah Bennett, Joseph and William D. Blanchard, Samuel Camp, Alexander Christy, Asa Currier, Luther Driscoll, Ellis Dwire, F. W. Emery, James Headly, George Jackson, Sheri- dan Jones, John McWilliams, William Mason, E. C. Merritt, John Pryor, John Riggin, John Russell, Benjamin Turner and W. A. Walters.
The above list of pioneers, compiled as it is from the records of the Old Settlers' Association, is probably as nearly correct as it can be made and includes a majority, if not all, of those who settled in the county prior to its organization. Further mention of many of these carly settlers, giving the places where they located and some account of their achievements, will be found in the chapter on Township History.
PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS
Looking back over a period of four score and six years, to the time when Isaac B. Essex built his lonely cabin on the banks of the Spoon River, about two and a half miles southwest of the present Town of Wyoming, it occurs to the writer that the young people of the present generation may find some interest in learning how the first settlers in Stark County lived. Imagine a vast unbroken tract of country, interspersed with forest and prairie, stretching away toward the Mississippi River. with but few white settlers between the Shoal Creek Colony at Peoria and the great Father of Waters. It was into this wild region that the Stark County pioneers came-not as con- querers, seeking to enrich themselves with the spoils of a vanquished foe, but, armed with axes, rifles and farming utensils, they came to conquer and subdue the wilderness, build roads, schoolhouses and churches, and develop the resources of a state that today ranks second to none in the American Union.
One of the first things that confronted the pioneer was the neces- sity of some sort of shelter for himself and family. The manner in which the first cabin in Stark County was built has already been told. Sometimes two or more families would come into a new country to- gether. In such cases one cabin would be erected, in which all would
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live together until each settler could stake his elaim and build a dwell- ing of his own. Lumber and brick were luxuries unknown to the frontier settlement. hence the log cabin was the universal type of residence. The first cabins were built of round logs, but a little later some of the more aristocratie citizens put up hewed log houses. And what an event was a "house-raising" in a new settlement.
After the settler had cut his logs and dragged them to the site of the cabin-quite likely with a team of oxen-invitations were sent to the neighbors, some of whom lived several miles distant, to attend the "raising." Very seldom was such an invitation declined. When all were assembled the first thing was to select four men, skilled in the use of the ax, to "carry up the corners." It was the duty of these four men to take their stations at the four corners of the cabin and, as the log's were lifted up to then, to shape a "saddle" upon the top of each log and cut a notch in the under side of the next to fit upon the saddle. The notch in the butt end of the log had to be eut a little deeper than the one in the top end, in order that the walls might be carried up approximately level, a work that was aided by alternating the butt and top ends of the logs on each side and end of the cabin. No plumb line was used to keep the walls perpendicular, that part of the work depending upon the eye of the cornerman.
No openings were left for doors and windows, but these were sawed or chopped out afterward. At one end an opening was made for the fireplace, just outside of which was constructed a chimney. If stone was convenient the chimney was built of stone: if not it was built of sticks and clay. The roof was invariably of elapboards, split or "rived" with an instrument called a frow, and were held in place by a pole running the full length of the cabin and fastened to the end logs with wooden pins. The floor, if there was one, was made of puncheons-that is, slabs of timber split as nearly the same thickness as possible and smoothed off on the upper surface after the floor was laid. The door was also made of thin puncheons, hung on woodeu hinges and provided with a wooden latch. To lift the latch from the outside a thong of buckskin was passed through a small hole in the door. At night the latch string was drawn inside and the door was locked. This eustom gave rise to the saying, "The latch string is always out," used to signify that a visitor would be welcome at any time. Nails were rare and not infrequently the entire cabin would be finished without a single piece of iron being used in its construction.
The furniture was usually of the "home-made" variety and of the simplest character. Holes bored in the logs of the walls and fitted
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
with pins, upon which boards were laid, formed the "ehina eloset." Smaller pins driven into the walls were used to hang clothing on and constituted the only "wardrobe" of the family. Boards taken from packing cases, or clapboards, battened together, formed the top of a table, which was supported on two trestles. When not in use, the top of the table could be leaned against the wall, or set outside the cabin, and the trestles could be placed one on top of the other to make more room. In one corner of the cabin was the bedstead, which was made by boring holes in the logs at a suitable distance from the corner for the length and width of a bed and inserting poles, which were sup- ported at the outer corner by a post. Across this framework elap- boards were laid. one end resting on the "bed rail" and the other in a craek of the cabin, and on these boards was placed the "straw tick." Benches and stools took the place of chairs. A few immigrants brought with them a little factory made furniture and a sash filled with glass for a cabin window, but in a majority of cases the furniture was "home made," and light was admitted through oiled paper in- stead of glass.
Stoves were unknown and the cooking was done at the fireplace, an iron teakettle, a eopper-bottomed coffee pot. a long-handled skillet and a large iron pot being the principal cooking utensils. The skillet was used for frying meat and baking bread and the iron pot was used in the preparation of the "boiled dinner." While doing the cooking the housewife often wore a deep sunbonnet to protect her face from the heat of the open fire. "Johnny cake" was made by spreading a stiff dough of corn meal upon one side of a smooth board and propping it up in front of the fire. When one side was baked sufficiently, the dough would be turned over so that the other side might have its inning. A liberal supply of johnny eake and a bowl of fresh milk often constituted the only supper of the pioneer.
Somewhere in the eabin, two hooks, formed from the forks of small trees, would be pinned against the wall or to one of the upper joists for a gun rack. Here rested the long, heavy rifle of the settler and suspended from its muzzle or one of the hooks hung the bullet- pouch and powder-horn.
After the "house-raising" eame the "honse-warming." A new cabin was hardly considered fit to live in until it had been properly dedicated. In nearly every frontier settlement there was at least one man who could play the violin. The "fiddler" was called into requisi- tion and the new eabin would become a "sound of revelry by night." The two-step, the tango or the hesitation waltz were not known. but
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the Virginia reel, the stately minuet or the old-fashioned cotillion, in which someone called the figures in a stenotorian voice, were very much in evidence. It is doubtful if the guests at a presidential inaugural ball ever derived as much genuine pleasure from the occa- sion as did these people of the frontier at a house-warming. If the owner of the cabin had seruples against daneing, the house was warmed by festivities of a different character, but it had to be "warmed" in some way before the family took full possession.
How easy it is at the present time to enter a room at night, turn a switch and flood the whole place with eleetrie light! It was not so four score years ago in Stark County. The housewife devised a lamp by using a shallow dish, in which was placed a quantity of lard or bear's grease. In this grease was immersed a loosely twisted rag, one end of which was allowed to project slightly over one side, and the projecting end was lighted. The smoke and odor emitted by such a lamp could hardly be endured by fastidious persons of the present day, but it answered the purpose then and gave light enough to enable the good woman to perform her household duties. Next came the tallow candle, made in moulds of tin. Sometimes only one set of candle moulds could be found in a new settlement and they passed freely from house to house until all had a supply of candles laid away in a cool, dry place sufficient to last for many weeks. Often, during the winter seasons, the family would spend the evening with no light except that which came from the roaring fire in the great fireplace.
No one wore "store clothes" in the early days. The housewife would card her wool by hand with a pair of broad-backed wire brushes, the teeth of which were slightly bent all in one direction. Then the rolls would be spun into yarn ou an old-fashioned spinning wheel. She would next weave the yarn into eloth upon the old wooden hand loom and make it into garments for the members of the family, doing all the sewing with a needle. A girl sixteen years of age, who could not spin her "six cuts" a day and make her own dresses was hard to find in a new settlement. How many graduates of the Stark County high schools in 1916 know what "six cuts" means?
In these days, with plenty of money in eirculation, when anyone needs assistanee he hires someone to come and help him. When the first white men came to Stark County, money was exceedingly scarce and they overeame the difficulty by helping each other. Cooperation was the rule. All the settlers in a community would join in raising a cabin for a newcomer, although a total stranger. If a clearing was made in the timber they would all join in the "log-rolling." By this
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means the logs would be piled in great heaps, so that they could be burned. The same system was followed in harvest time. Frequently ten or a dozen men would gather in a neighbor's wheat field, and while some would swing the cradle others would bind the sheaves and shock them, after which the whole erowd would move on to the next field where the wheat was ripe, and so on until the entire crop of the neigh- borhood was cared for, or at least made ready for threshing. No threshing machines had as yet made their appearance and the grain was separated from the straw with a flail or tramped out by horses or cattle upon a smooth piece of ground, or upon a barn floor, if the settler was fortunate enough to have a barn with a floor that was suitable.
And the community of interests, the custom of "swapping work," did not apply alone to the men. While they were raising the cabin, rolling the logs or harvesting the wheat, the "women folks" would get together and prepare dinner, each one bringing from her own store some delicacy that she thought the others might not be able to supply. If the weather was pleasant the table would be set out of doors. Bear meat and venison took the place of terrapin and canvas-back duck. but each man had a good appetite by the time the meal was ready and the quality of the food was not criticized. The main thing was to have plenty of it, and when they arose from the table it "looked like a cyclone had struek it." Each family had its turn and by the time the year rolled around no one suffered any disadvantage in the amount of food consumed.
Now, when a family needs a supply of breadstuff. all that is neces- sary is to step to the telephone and order the grocer to send out a sack or a barrel of flour, but in the early days going to mill was no light affair. Mills were few and far apart and the settler would often have to go such a distance that two or three days, or even more, would be required to make the trip. To obviate this difficulty various meth- ods were introduced for making at home corn meal-which was the principal breadstuff of the first settlers. One of these methods was to build a fire upon the top of a large stump of some hard wood and keep it burning until a hollow was formed. The charred wood was then carefully cleaned out of the "mortar," eorn poured in small quan- tities into the mortar and beaten into a coarse meal with a hard wood "pestle" or a smooth stone. In the fall of the year, before the eorn was fully hardened, the "grater" was brought into requisition. This implement was made by punching holes closely together through a sheet of tin, which was then fastened to a board, rough side upward,
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so that the tin would be slightly convex on the outer surface. Then the eorn would be rubbed over the rough surface, the meal passing through the holes and sliding down the board into a vessel placed to receive it. A slow and tedious process was this, but a bowl of mush made from grated corn meal and accompanied by a generous supply of good milk formed a repast that was not to be sneered at, and one which no pioneer blushed to place before a visitor.
Matehes were exceedingly rare and a little fire was always kept somewhere about the cabin "for seed." During the fall, winter and early spring months, the fire was kept in the fireplace, but when the weather grew warm a fire was kept burning out of doors. If, by some mishap, the fire was allowed to become extinguished one of the family would have to go to the nearest neighbor's for a new supply.
But if the pioneers had their hardships, they also had their amuse- ments and pastimes. Old settlers can recall the shooting matches, when men met to try their skill with the rifle, the prize being a turkey. a haunch of venison or a quarter of beef. And some of these old pioneers with their hair-trigger rifles, could hold their own with the best of our military sharpshooters. Then there was the "husking bee." in which pleasure and profit were combined. On such occasions the corn to be husked would be divided into two piles, as nearly equal in size as possible. Two of the invited guests would then "choose up" and divide those present into two sides, the contest being to see which side would first finish its pile of corn. Men and women alike took part and the young man who found a red ear was permitted by the rules of the game to kiss the lassie next to him. "Many a merry laugh went round" when someone found the red car and the lassie objected to being kissed. Sometimes the young men would play an underhand game by passing a red ear surreptitiously from one to another.
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