USA > Illinois > Stark County > History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 7
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After the orchards were old enough to bear fruit, the "apple ent- ting" became a popular form of amusement, when a number of young people would assemble to pare and slice enough apples to dry for the winter's supply. The husking bee and the apple cutting nearly al- ways wound up with a danee, the orchestra consisting of the one lone fiddler in the neighborhood. He might not have been a elassie musi- cian, but he could make his old fiddle respond to such tunes as "Turkey in the Straw." "Money Musk." "The Bowery Gals," and "The Wind That Shakes the Barley Fields," and he never grew tired in furnishing the melody while the others tripped the light fantastic toe.
On grinding days at the old grist mill a number of men would meet, and while waiting for their grists would pass the time in athletie
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contests, such as foot races, wrestling matches or pitching horseshoes. The women had their quilting parties, and after the publie school system was introduced, the spelling school became a frequent place of meeting. At the close of the spelling match the young men eould "see the girls home," and if the acquaintance thus commenced ripened into an intimacy that ended in a wedding, it was usually followed by a charivari, or, as it was pronounced on the frontier, a "shivarec," which was a serenade in which noise took the place of harmony. The proceedings were kept up until the bride and groom came out where they could be seen, and the affair ended all the more pleasantly if each member of the shivareeing party was presented with a slice of wedding cake to place under his pillow to influence his dreams.
There was one custom of olden times that should not be overlooked, and that was the manner in which each settler marked his domestie animals so that they could be identified. There were not many fences and stock of all kinds was permitted to run at large. To protect hin- self, the pioneer farmer cropped the ears of his eattle. hogs and sheep in a peculiar manner and these marks were made a matter of record. The principal marks were the plain crop, the upper and under bits, the swallow fork, the upper and lower slopes, the slit, the round hole, and perhaps a few others, by a combination of which each settler could mark his stock in a way different from that of any of his neighbors. The "upper bit" was a small notch eut in the upper side of the ear; the "under bit" was just the reverse: the "swallow fork" was made by eutting a deep notch in the end of the ear similar in shape to the tail of a swallow, from which it derived its name, and so on. If someone found a stray animal marked with an "upper bit in the left ear and a swallow fork in the right," all he had to do was to inquire at the re- corder's office for the owner of such a mark. These marks were seldom violated and they protected the settler as surely as the manufacturer is protected in the right to use his registered trade mark.
One accustomed to the conveniences of modern civilization would suppose that the early settlers would be glad to escape the hardships and disadvantages of frontier life. But there were some who evi- dently preferred it to any other. Many who came to Illinois in an early day and aided in the development of the state's resources after- ward crossed the Mississippi and became pioneers a second time in Iowa, Nebraska or Kansas. There is a freedom on the frontier that becomes restricted as population increases, and many preferred the freedom with its hardships to the advantages of an older community with its conventionalities. Such persons are well described in Brinin- stool's beautiful poem:
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THE OLD TRAPPER'S SOLILOQUY
I've taken toll from every stream that held a furry prize, But now my traps are rustin' in the sun:
Where once the broad, free ranges, wild, unbroken met my eyes. Their aeres have been civilized and won. The deer have left the bottom lands; the antelope the plain, And the howlin' of the wolf no more I hear, But the busy sounds of commerce warn me of an alien reign, As the saw and hammer echo in my ear.
I've lived to see the prairie soil a-sproutin' schools and stores, And wire fences stretch on every hand: I've seen the nesters crowdin' in from distant foreign shores, And the hated railroads creep across the land, My heart has burned within me, and my eyes have misty grown, As Progress came unbidden to my shack : My streams have all been harnessed and my conquest overthrown, And I've been pushed aside and crowded back.
I've seen men come with manners and with customs new and strange, To take the land which I have fought to hold: I've watched the white-topped wagons joltin' on across the range With those who sought to lure the hidden gold. I've seen the red man vanquished and the buffalo depart. And cowmen take the land which they possessed, And now there's somethin' tuggin' and a-pullin' at my heart, And biddin' me move on to'rds the West.
There aint no elbow room no more to circulate around, Since Civ'lization stopped beside my door; I'll pack my kit and rifle and I'll find new stompin' ground. Where things is like they was in days of yore. I've heard the mountains whisper, and the old, free wild life calls. Where men and Progress never yet have trod: And I'll go back and worship in my rugged canyon walls. Where the pine trees croon and Nature is my God.
CHAPTER VI , STARK COUNTY ORGANIZED
THE MILITARY LAND GRANT-FORGED TITLES-FIRST COUNTIES IN THE ILLINOIS VALLEY-STARK COUNTY-THE ORGANIC ACT-FIRST ELEC- TIONS-THE COUNTY SEAT-CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT-THE COURT- HOUSE-THE ANNEX-THE COUNTY JAIL-SHERIFF MURCHISON'S REPORT-THE POOR FARM-HOW THE COUNTY WAS NAMED,
Shortly after the elose of the War of 1812 the United States Government appropriated and had surveyed a large tract of land in Illinois to be given to the soldiers who took part in that war. The "Military Bounty Land Grant," as it was called. was situated be- tween the Illinois and Mississippi rivers and extended northward to about the north line of Henry and Bureau counties. While a large number of the veterans took advantage of the Government's liberality to secure warrants, or patents, to a "quarter seetion," there were only a few who became actual settlers on their elaims. A large majority of them traded their patents to speculators, rarely receiving the real worth of the land. When the actual settlers began to come into the tract, in which Stark County was included, they found a badly mixed- up situation with regard to land titles, with no sure way of telling which quarter seetion belonged to some individual under the military bounty aet, and which was subject to entry. Those who held patents to the lands generally kept out of sight until some settler would make improvements, when they would turn up with a "prior title." These land sharks showed but little merey to the pioneers-the men who were really developing the country-and in numerous instances deeds and patents were actually forged for the purpose of defrauding the settlers. Claim associations were organized in several places through- out the traet, one of which was formed by the settlers about Osceola Grove, now in the northeast part of Stark County. Through the operation of these associations the land shark and speculator was sometimes given short shrift and the settlers were able to hold their lands until they could purchase them from the Government. One of
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PUBLIC SQUARE, TOULON
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA
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the most notorious of the land sharks and claim jumpers was a man named Toliver Craig, who was charged with forging titles, and who, it is said, placed forty fraudulent deeds on record in one day at Knox- ville. In 1854 he was arrested in the State of New York and taken to the jail at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he tried to commit suicide by taking arsenie. After remaining in jail about a year he was released on bail and disappeared.
This condition of affairs is here mentioned to show one of the phases of frontier life that the early settler in this section of Illinois had to contend with, along with the other hardships, and that the men who came here with the determination to make homes for themselves could not be defeated in their purpose, no matter how adverse the conditions. It was several years before the conflict over titles to the land was finally settled.
In the preceding chapter is given a list of those who settled within the present limits of Stark County between the years 1829 and 1839. At the time the first of these settlers came into the Spoon River Valley the territory was attached to Peoria County for all legislative and judicial purposes. Peoria County was created in 1825 and the act providing for its organization attached to it all the territory north of it within the State of Illinois, "on both sides of the Illinois River as far east as the third principal meridian," which marks the present eastern boundary of Putnam and Bureau counties.
Knox, Henry and Putnam counties were set off from Fulton County, and by the act of April 2, 1831, Putnam was divided into four precinets, one of which, known as "Spoon River Preeinet," in- cluded "all the county south of the direct line from the head of Crow Prairie to Six Mile Grove, thence northwest to the original county line." Bureau Precinet embraced all the present county of that name and portions of Marshall and Stark.
As the number of settlers in the Spoon River Valley increased they began to feel the inconvenience of having to go to Hennepin to attend eourt and transaet their county business, and a movement was started for the organization of a new county. At the legislative ses- sion of 1836-37 the County of Bureau was established and an act "for the formation of Coffee County" was also passed and approved by the governor. Says Mrs. Shallenberger: "Now as Col. William Henderson was, from his first settlement here, prominent in local politics, and known to be an enthusiastic admirer of the Tennessee hero, General Coffee, with or under whom he had done military serv- ice, it is highly probable that this, as well as subsequent acts for the same purpose, was secured through his instrumentality."
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Under the act of 1836 the County of Coffee was to consist of nine Congressional townships, six of which were to be taken from Put- nam, two from Knox and one from Henry. Benjamin Mitchell. Richard N. Cullom and Samuel Hackleton were named in the aet as commissioners to locate the county seat, which was to be called Ripley. unless some town already established should be selected. The act was not to become effective, however, unless a majority of the voters of. Knox and Henry counties should give their assent to the formation of the new county at an election to be held on April 10, 1837. Putnam was not allowed the opportunity of voting on the proposition, and in the other counties a majority was against the establishment of the new county. That was the end of Coffee County.
In February, 1838, a meeting was held at the house of James Holgate. near Wyoming. to diseuss the question of petitioning the next session of the Legislature to organize a new eounty. A factional fight arose over the question of the eastern boundary, some wanting the county to extend eastward to the Illinois River. and a spirited campaign followed in 1838. Colonel Henderson was elected to the Legislature and on January 16, 1839. he presented a petition from a large number of citizens of Putnam. Knox and Henry counties pray- ing for the ereetion of a new county. Just a week later a bill was introduced in the Legislature for the establishment of Stark County. This measure contained some features that were not satisfactory to Colonel Henderson, and upon his motion it was laid on the table. On February 7th the bill and proposed amendments were referred to a special committee, which reported it baek on the 11th, with the recom- mendation that it pass, but on the final vote it was defeated.
Then a bill was introduced under the title of "An aet to dispose of the territory west of the Illinois River in the County of Putnam, and for other purposes." On February 28, 1839, the Senate reported that it had made several amendments to the bill. one of which provided for the formation of Stark County. The House coneurred in the amend- ments and on March 2, 1839. the council of revision reported approval of the aet, which bore the title of "An aet for the formation of the County of Stark, and for other purposes."
THE ORGANIC ACT
That part of the act relating to Stark County is as follows:
"Seetion 2. That townships 12 and 13 north, of ranges 5, 6 and 7. east of the Fourth Principal Meridian, shall constitute a new county.
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to be called Stark: Provided, however, that townships 12 and 13 of range number 5 east shall not constitute or compose any part of the County of Stark, except upon the condition that a majority of the legal voters in said township shall eousent thereto; and to enable the said voters to decide the question and give or withhold their consent, an election shall be held at the house of Henry MeClenaban, on the third Monday of March, under the superintendence of Jonathan Hodgson, Esq., Silas Richards, Henry MeClenaban and Conrad Emery, who shall act as judges and clerk of said election, and whose duty it shall be to attend at the time and place aforesaid and hold an election. A poll-book shall be opened, with columns in favor of and against being ineluded in the said County of Stark; and the legal voters aforesaid shall be permitted to vote for either proposition. The polls shall be kept open from 9 o'clock A. M. to 5 o'clock P. M .; and upon receiving the votes, the said judges and elerk shall certify the result npon the poll-book, and within five days thereafter deliver said book, certified as aforesaid, to the clerk of the county commissioners' court of Knox County; and said clerk shall, in the presence of two justices of the peace, or two of the county commissioners, open and examine the said poll-book and compare the certificate with the votes given, and thereupon make duplicate certificates of the result of said election, which shall be signed by the elerk and justices or commis- sioners as aforesaid; and if it shall appear that a majority of said votes are in favor of being ineluded in the County of Stark, the said township shall be included in said county; otherwise said township shall continue to form and constitute a part of the County of Knox. One of the certificates made as aforesaid shall be transmitted to the secretary of state, to be by him filed with the enrolled bill enacting the county : and one shall be entered of record in the county commissioners' court of Knox County: but if the majority of said votes shall be against being included in the said county, the certificates shall be trans- mitted and recorded as aforesaid, and the boundaries of Stark shall be as fixed in the foregoing section, excluding the townships aforesaid. If the persons herein appointed to act as judges and clerk of said election. or any one of them, shall fail or refuse to act, the voters, when assembled, shall seleet others to aet in their stead, who shall execute this act as though they were named herein. Notice of said election shall be posted up at three places in said township, at least five days preceding said election, by Henry MeClenahan."
Section 3 gave to the county commissioners of Stark County the power "to vacate. loeate and relocate roads, and to use and exercise exclusive jurisdiction in the premises." Vol. 1-5
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"Section 5. The commissioners of the County of Stark, when elected, shall proceed immediately to demand of the county treasurer of Putnam County the one-sixth part of $9,870, paid him by the Fund Commissioners, together with 12 per cent per annum upon the one-sixth part of the sum aforesaid; and should the treasurer of the County of Putnam fail promptly to pay over the sum aforesaid. then it is hereby made the duty of the County Commissioners of the County of Stark to bring suit against the treasurer of Putnam County and his sureties for the sum aforesaid, it being $1,645, together with interest as aforesaid from the time of loaning said money until paid- said sum being hereby appropriated to the County of Stark, to be applied agreeable to the provisions of 'An act to establish and main- tain a general system of internal improvement;' provided. however, that nothing in this act shall be so construed as to release the present commissioners of the County of Putnam from any liability which they may have incurred by illegally authorizing the fund aforesaid to be used for any other object than that for which it was legitimately appropriated.
"Section 7. That the legal voters of the County of Stark shall meet at the house of Elijah MeClenahan, Sr., on the first Monday in April next, and proceed to choose their own judges and clerks, who, after being duly sworn, shall proceed to open the polls and hold an election for the purpose of electing county officers. It shall be the duty of Moses Boardman, or, in case of his absence, any justice of the peace within the bounds of said county, to give at least ten days' notice of the time and place of holding said election, and, when said election is over, to give certificates of election to the persons elected county commissioners and make returns to the secretary of state for county officers.
"Section 8. The County Commissioners of the said County of Stark shall meet at the house of Elijah McClenahan, Sr., within ten days after their election, and after being qualified shall proceed to lay off said county into justices' districts and road districts and order elections for all justices of the peace and constables; to levy a tax for all county purposes for the present year, unless the revenue law shall be changed, and to do and perform all the duties required of the county commissioners' courts by law.
"Section 9. The courts of said county shall be held at such place as the county commissioners' court may designate, until a suitable preparation can be made at the county seat : which county seat, when located, shall be called Toulon. Said county shall form a part of the
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same judicial circuit with the counties of Putnam and Marshall: and the circuit court shall be held for said county twice in each year at such times as the judge of said eireuit may designate.
"Section 10. The qualified voters of the County of Stark, in all elections except county elections, shall vote with the senatorial and representative district composed of the counties of Peoria, Putnam, Bureau and Marshall, until otherwise provided by law, but shall make election returns to the secretary of state in the same manner that is now required by law from the other counties in this state."
Section 12 provides that the school commissioner of Putnam County should turn over to the proper authorities in the County of Stark all money, books, records, etc., pertaining to the schools within the territory comprising the new county.
THE FIRST ELECTIONS.
The Legislature having done its part by the passage of the above aet, it devolved upon the people of the county to complete the organi- zation. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 7 of the organic act, the legal voters living within the limits of the County of Stark met at the house of Elijah MeClenahan, Sr., on the first Monday in April. 1839, which was the first day of the month, and proceeded to elect the following officers: Commissioners, Jonathan Hodgson, Stephen Trickle and Calvin Winslow; commissioners' clerk, Oliver Whitaker: sheriff, Augustus A. Dunn: treasurer, Minott Silliman: recorder, Jesse W. Heath; probate judge, William Ogle; surveyor, John W. Agard.
On Thursday, April 4, 1839, the county commissioners met, for the first time, at the house of Mr. McClenahan, where the election was held, and carried out the provisions of the organic act as set forth in Section 8. At the June term the commissioners made provisions for the general election to be held on August 5, 1839, by ordering that each justice's distriet should be an election precinet, appointing judges of election in each precinct and designating the voting places. In precinet No. 1. Brady Fowler, Nicholas Storm and M. G. Brace were appointed judges, and the Northern school house named as the voting place. No. 2. James Holgate, Samuel Thomas and. Henry Breese, judges: vote at the house of James Hol- gate. No. 3, Calvin Powell, William W. Webster and Moses Board- man, judges; election at the house of Lewis Finch. No. 4, Conrad Emery, John MeWilliams and Israel Stoddard, judges; election to
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be held at Theodore F. Hurd's store in Lafayette. No. 5, William Ogle, Adam Perry and Augustus Richards, judges; election at the house of William Henderson.
The election of April, 1839, was for the purpose of electing county officers to serve until the next regular election, which occurred on August 5, 1839. At the August election Oliver Whitaker and Minott Silliman were re-elected clerk and treasurer, respectively: William Ogle succeeded Stephen Trickle on the board of county commission- ers: Carson Berfield was chosen surveyor to succeed J. W. Agard; John Miller succeeded William Ogle as probate judge: and B. M. Jackson was elected recorder. The new board of commissioners organized on September 3, 1839. when lots were drawn for the various terms. William Ogle drew the one-year term: Calvin Winslow, two years: and Jonathan Hodgson, three years. The machinery of county government was now permanently established.
THE COUNTY SEAT
Although the organic act gave the name of Toulon to the county seat, "when located," no provision was made in the act of March 2. 1839. for its location. On February 27, 1841, an act was passed naming John Dawson. Peter Van Bergen and William F. Elkin, all of the County of Sangamon, to locate the town of Toulon. The act stipulated that the commissioners should meet at "the house of Wil- liam HL. Henderson, in said county. on the second Monday in April. 1841. thereafter, or as soon as might suit their convenience, and being first duly sworn. as by said act required, to discharge faithfully the duties assigned them by said act. should then proceed to locate the said town of Toulon. having due regard in making said location to the present and future population of said County of Stark, the promotion of the general good, the eligibility of the site. and as near as may be. after considering all other provisions of said act. the geographical center of the county."
The commissioners did not meet until in May. Their report, filed with the county commissioners and entered in the records of the county. contains the following:
"And, whereas, said commissioners did on the 17th day of May. 1841. meet at the house of William H. Henderson, in said County of Stark. and did take and subscribe to an oath prescribed by said act. and which said oath is filed in the clerk's office of the county commissioners' court of said County of Stark. and after having
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inspected the territory of said county in all things appertaining to the discharge of the duties assigned them by said aet above referred to, have located, and do hereby locate. the town of Toulon, the county seat of Stark County, on ninety rods square of land. at present owned by John Miller, of said County of Stark, and known and described as follows, to-wit: It being part of the southwest quarter of Section No. 19, in Township No. 13 north, of Range 6. east of the Fourth Principal Meridian, which said ninety rods square lies twelve rods east and twelve rods north of the west and south boundary lines of said quarter section: upon this condition. however, that the said John Miller execute to the county commissioners in office a good and suffi- cient deed in fee simple to the said ninety rods square of land."
On July 28. 1841. John Miller and his wife, Mary Ann Miller, executed the required deed and Stark County beeame possessed of the site of its seat of justice. ( For the further history of the Town of Toulon see the chapter on Cities. Towns and Villages.)
CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT
When Stark County was first organized the transaction of the public business was intrusted to a board of three commissioners. This system was continued until the adoption of the Constitution of 1848, which gave to the several counties of Illinois the privilege of adopting township organization. A majority of the legal voters of Stark County. at the general election in November, 1852, voted in favor of township organization. the inauguration of which changed the execu- tive officials of the county from a board of three commissioners to a board of supervisors, composed of one member from each civil township. The first board of supervisors. as shown by the minutes of September 12, 1853, when they held their first meeting, was made up as follows: Elmira Township, Thomas Lyle: Essex. Lemuel Dixon : Goshen, Lewis II. Fitch: Oseeola, Bradford S. Foster; Penn, James Holgate: Toulon, Calvin L. Eastman: Valley, Charles C. Wilson: West Jersey. William W. Webster. The system thus intro- duced has been continued to the present time.
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