USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > History of Stephenson County, Illinois : a record of its settlement, organization, and three-quarters of a century of progress > Part 18
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Mr. William Waddam's first farm in this county really consisted of four acres, located in the timbers, which he cleared with the ax, fenced, and planted in corn and potatoes without the assistance of teams. Some built stables and out houses for hogs, cattle and horses, from the tough prairie sod. Wild prairie grass afforded an abundance of hay.
"GOING TO MILL."
"Going to Mill" was a hard task before 1838. It was a long trip to Peoria or Galena. Travel by ox teams was extremely slow, and there were no roads, bridges and but few ferries. Such travel was dangerous in rainy seasons and in early spring. Many a pioneer found his way blocked by a raging river and was compelled to change his course. For wagon and team to get mired in a swamp was a frequent and sad experience. After a disheartening journey, the traveler found that he had to get in line and take his "turn." "Going to Mill" was especially trying because the father never could be sure that all was well with his family left at home, in a wild western region with Indians lurking about and desperadoes plentiful enough. It was a day of great rejoicing when mills were established in the county. History and tradition threads many an inter- esting story about the ruins of the old water mills of Stephenson County. They served their purpose. They made the county attractive to immigrants and has- tened the closer settlement of the county. The county owes much to those pioneer mill-builders, Kirkpatrick, Turner, Van Valzah, Wilcoxen and Reitzell.
William E. Ilgen who came to the county in 1842 said that when the mills at Cedarville were inaccessible the corn was dried in a stove and ground in a
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coffee mill. In this tedious way meal was prepared. Reuben Tower ground twenty bushels of buckwheat in a coffee mill one winter.
RAISINGS.
The barn or house "raisings" were as much a social affair as a matter of in- dustry. When a citizen had his logs and timbers ready and on the ground, he sent out word to the neighbors that he would "raise" his building on a certain day. The preparation meant hard work. The owner had "homesteaded" or had bought a "claim" and maybe with his family lived in a shanty while getting out the logs. There was zest in the work of the settler as from morning till night he swung the ax, felling trees in the grove. He was building a home. The trees were chopped into logs and sometimes the only other work was notch- ing the ends. Later, men used both axe and adz and hewed the logs on all sides. This additional labor made a closer, warmer and more beautiful house.
Early on the day of the "raising" the settlers for miles around drove in to lend a hand and enjoy the day. The women and children came also, and for them it was a kind of a holiday. The men set lustily to work, laying the heavy foundation logs, placing the puncheon floor and cutting the logs for window and door. The older men prepared the clay or mud and with sticks and mud they daubed full the cracks between the logs. Others, with sticks and clay, and rock sometimes, began the building of the great fireplace.
At the noon hour all hands stopped to enjoy the feast, an informal banquet. The women and girls had work to do and did it with as much spirit and joy as the men put into theirs, and none can say that the work of one was more impor- tant than the other. The men sat down to a heavily laden table, under the shade of some friendly tree and their delight was equaled only by the conscious pleas- ure of the women who had prepared the dinner. And such a dinner! Cabbage, potatoes, beans, corn in the ear, corn pommes from the Dutch oven, wheat bread, and meat-prairie chicken, turkey, venison, fresh pork or beef and always coffee, genuine coffee. (There was no necessity for pure food laws.) It was a social hour, eating, visiting, joking, story-telling, reports of letters from the east, and getting acquainted with new settlers. How the women and the girls passed around everything time and again and urged and insisted that the men and boys eat and eat and eat. It goes without saying that under such conditions the men ate heartily, partly because of the demands of the frontier appetite and in part because a wincing, skimpy eater would lose friends among the ladies. A frequent figure at these raisings was the circuit rider, who was treated as a guest of honor.
After dinner the men brought forth their pipes and smoked the home-grown tobacco to their hearts' content. They talked, told yarns, wrestled and had a good time. Then, while the women ate their dinners and "did the dishes" the men set to work again, completing the house, roof, door and all. The plain household furniture was moved in and a happy family, happier likely than their descendants in modern palaces, took possession of a new, clean western home.
Orangeville Mill
Hess' Mill
Addams' Mill, Cedarville
Mill near Farwell's Bridge
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QUILTINGS AND CORN HUSKINGS.
A feature of early socal life was the corn husking and quilting party com- bined. For days before the word was passed around that a certain citizen was to have a big corn husking and quilting party. It was not an exclusive affair and all looked forward with eager anxiety to having a "big time." If sleighing was good, so much the merrier. The home "chores" were early done, and at nightfall the great sled loads with happy and large families drove over the winding trail to the appointed place. Some of the young people went in sleighs conveniently built for two. Host and hostess met all comers with a joyous "how do you do?" The teams were cared for and when the merry crowd had gath- ered and unrestrained greetings were passed around, the program of the evening began. The women with needles and thread attacked the quilts cheerfully and found that quilting and conversation went well together. The men found at the barn a great heap of snapped corn ready for the huskers. Lanterns and candles lighted up the scene. Some of the women joined the huskers and were good "hands." Girls also found the husking party more interesting than the quilting and, just naturally, a young man and young lady would be found husk- ing together, both pleased in the extreme. Little children played in the great pile of husks, the merry laughter of the little ones adding music to the joyous occa- sion. To find a red ear of corn was sure to bring a shout from the husker, for · it seemed to mean an extra drink of cider or-whatever else was in stock. Husk- ing races added excitement to the general course of events.
At 10.30 the barn floor was cleared of husks. The women joined the men at the barn and pumpkin pie and apples, sweet milk, coffee and cider were served. When the lunch was over, all were happier than before. The old fiddler had already started to tune up, and began to saw away as only the old time fiddler can, on the familiar quadrilles and hornpipes of the day. After more or less "natural selections" of partners, based on attachments formed at the huskings, or of longer standing, the young people and the older people all together joined in the "grand promenade," and danced merrily away till the approach of the morning hours. Many a woman of fifty was a good dancer in those days and a feature now, all but lost, sadly lost, was the dancing of old and young together. Of necessity, the social spirit was strongly pervaded by a spirit of co-operation. Sociability was free and natural-spontaneous as the great democratic life the people lived. Social distinctions, narrow-minded exclusiveness, deadening forms studied with mathematical precision, artificial social relations, were foreign to the pioneers, being reserved for the cold, spiritless manufactured society of a later day.
CUTTING GRAIN.
Small crops were a necessity, not only because of the small clearing, but also because of the primitive means of harvesting. For several years the seythe and the cradle were the only means of cutting the wheat. The first cradle was a straight-handled affair, called the "Turkey-wing." When the "Grapevine" cra- dle was first introduced men who were accustomed to the "Turkey-wing" thought they could not use the "innovation."
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Captain W. J. Reitzell, who settled Buena Vista June, 1840, says that two acres a day was good cradling. Some men cradled two and one-half to three and one-half. One dollar a day paid for cradling. Occasionally the life of the community was enlivened by a race between two or more "champion" cra- dlers. After the cradle came the mower, which was a great improvement be- cause horse power was used. Then the "drop" was added to the mower and the machine cut the wheat and by foot power the driver dropped it in bunches. It kept three or four men busy, usually four, binding the business with the straw and throwing the bundles out of the way of the machine on the next round. To take his turn and keep out of the way of the machine was one of the tests of manhood, strength and endurance, and when a boy could take his place and do his part along with the man, he was graduated into a man's work and felt the importance of the occasion. Besides a driver and four binders, two men were required to shock the grain. Six to ten acres a day was good work.
After the "drop" came the table rake. This machine had a platform on which the grain fell, and a revolving rake swept the bunches to one side out of the way of the machine on the next round. The next step was the Marsh Har- vester, with an elevated platform upon which the grain was placed by an end- less canvas. Two men- stood by the platform and bound the grain with straw as it came up to them. This was supposed to be the height of man's invention, but it was not long till a greater invention followed. This was the self- binder. As soon as the Marsh Harvester was set to work, inventors' minds be- came busy with the idea of bringing the bundles of grain by machinery. This · was the most complicated step of all. Machinery had to gather up the straw, metal arms had to squeeze it into a tight bundle and a threaded needle had to reach around the bundle and tie it tight with wire or twine, making a firm knot. It was several years before the knotter was perfected, but it did the work after a while better than it was done by human hands. It was only a few more years till a "muncher" was added to the machine. With this contrivance the driver . could drop several bundles at the same spot, and the labor of setting the bundles up in shocks was greatly lessened. Now with the self-binder three men can cut and shock ten to fifteen acres a day and do it better than seven or eight men with the old drop machine. In some communities, laborers were antago- nistic to the binder. They felt that soon there would not be a demand for labor and what would they do for a living? In places men set out as a kind of "night riders" and burned the machines in the field. Time has proved that invention and machinery has increased the demand for labor till it is more difficult now than ever before to get enough men to do the work.
Captain Reitzell says that most farm hands worked for $8.00 a month. Some of the best got $10.00. Hired girls got 50c a week. Now farm hands get $25.00 and $40.00 a month, and often keep a horse and buggy and get Saturday after- noons off. Hired girls get $3.00 to $5.00 a week. Even at these prices it is difficult to get men and girls to work on the farm.
THRESHING GRAIN.
From the time that the early settlers threshed grain with a flail to the traction engine and modern thresher is a long road of history, but it has all been
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seen in Stephenson County from 1833 to 1910. The flail was a simple thresh- ing machine. It consisted usually of a stick about like a pitch fork handle, with a rope about a yard long to the end of which were attached two slats about the same length. Seizing the handle, a man would swing it through the air bringing it down on the straws, the slats striking with great force, shat- tering out the grain. Sometimes a limb of a tree with branches on it was used. Frequently horses were used to tramp it out, walking over the piled up straw. The straw was then lifted away, the grain and chaff was gathered up and "winded," separating the grain from the chaff. Like most primitive agricul- tural processes these were slow and tedious methods. However, in one sea- son, W. L. Beebe threshed 2,200 bushel with a flail. Later screens were used to separate grain and chaff. Then the old "fanning" was invented. The old horse-power thresher invaded the county in 1839. The cylinder for beating out the grain was the essential element. At first the "teeth" were made of wood, which were soon replaced by metal. The grain dropped through screens and the straw was carried on, while a fan blew out the chaff." When the first rude thresher on wheels threshed William Waddam's grain in 1839, it aroused considerable criticism and was looked upon by some with suspicion. The power was furnished by horses driven around a cylinder, which gained speed by means of cog wheels. The cog wheel turned an iron rod which turned the cylinder and other machinery of the separator by means of another cog wheel. These simple outfits, while made almost entirely in a small shop, contained the essential elements of the modern threshing outfit. The traction steam and gaso- line engine has taken the place of the horse power; a belt replaces the rod cylinder and screens have been perfected; a "blower" removes the straw instead of the endless canvas, and the grain is weighed into sacks or wagons. Until about 1890 two men stood on the platform and cut the bands with pocket knives and the bundles were thrown from the wagon to the table. Another man stood between them and "fed" the machine, reaching to right and left and shoveling the wheat or barley into the cylinder. It was hard work, dusty and dangerous. He had a chance to get cut with the knives of band cutters, to get an arm torn out in the cylinder, or to get killed by flying cylinder teeth broken by a rock caught up in a bundle. About 1890 the band cutters and feed- ers were replaced by machinery.
Stacking the straw was another hard and dusty task. Before the day of the blower, several men were required to stack the straw. The worst position was at the "tail end" of the machine. A man had to stand there under an August sun and, smothered in clouds of straw and chaff keep back the straw with a pitchfork. This was a position at which many men "shied" and all were glad when the "blower" or "cyclone" thresher stacked the straw without the use of men. The traction engine, the self band cutters and feeders, the automatic weigher and the cyclone stacker have reduced the number of men employed by half.
Threshing was a hard proposition for the women. Thirty years ago it was not uncommon for the farmer's wife to feed thirty or forty men while thresh- ing. The neighbors joined forces, made a schedule and went through the neighborhood threshing. The women co-operated in feeding the men.
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And such threshing dinners as they used to get up. To attempt adequate description would be futile. There was a rivalry to some extent among the women to see who would get up the best and most elaborate meals. Quanti- ties of bread and pies were baked a day or two before. Great fresh beef roasts were procured, sometimes mutton, and added to this chicken with soup and dumplings. Then there were great pots of string beans, roasting-ears, peas, tomatoes, sliced in vinegar, and stewed, baked sweet potatoes and Irish pota- toes creamed, mashed and baked. These substantials were heaped into great bowls, dishes or tureens and set on a long table, often under the shade of a tree. Around the substantials were glasses and dishes of jellies, preserves and honey, molasses and stewed fruit. Copius supplies of milk and coffee were served, and then came stacks of pies and cake of all makes and descriptions.
Withal, it was one grand glorious time. When the whistle blew for din- ner, the men made a grand stampede for that table. Faces and hands were soused in tubs of water, and without ceremony all hands "fell to" with ap- petites to be envied. The men joked and laughed and ate. The farmer's wife with a half dozen neighbor's wives on her staff superintended the dinner. The young girls of the neighborhood, dressed in their best, "waited" on the table, and lingered here and there to say a word to some blushing boy who was glad to be present. Happy days for them all!
It was hard, dirty, dusty work for men and boys, and nerve-wracking labor for the women, but it was a grand feature of country life, because an entire neighborhood were working together in a common cause. It added unity, in- terest and joy to county life. But it has practically passed away and if the rural communities do not devise some way of bringing the people of neigh- borhood and township in a happy enthusiastic unity, it shall have a lost a re- deeming feature of country life.
MARKETS AND PRICES.
Before the railroad came into the county there could be no large towns. The absence of the railroad and towns deprived the people of home and foreign markets. Most of the people were farmers. There were but few professional men. Consequently the people produced more than they consumed. There was no market for the surplus products nearer than Galena, Dixon, Savannah, Mineral Point and Chicago.
Prices were extremely low. . Mr. Charles' Graves of McConnell says his father hauled beef and pork to Galena and sold it dressed at $1.25 a hundred. Hogs were so cheap that on one occasion when one jumped out of a wagon on the way to market the owner told a man driving on the road he could have it, as he did not have time to bother with it. From all points in the county pork was hauled to distant markets and sold at $1.25 to $2.00 a hundred. Grain was hauled to Savannah, and shipped to New Orleans on flat boats. When the cargo was sold the boat was sold for lumber and the owner began his slow and tedious return journey. The lead mine region markets soon became over-stocked and prices fell to almost nothing. Chicago then was a better market, but over a hundred miles through mire and swamp with ox teams to market was not likely
FREEPORT
WOOLEN MILLS
FREEPORT WOOLEN MILLS C.H. ROSENSTIEL & COT
R.FORGY DE
FREEPORT WOOLEN MILLS IN 1871
6.E.+
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RESIDENCE OF C. AND C. J. REITZELL, BUENA VISTA, IN 1871
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to be relished by farmers. Yet the early farmers did it. With four or five yoke of oxen hitched to a lumber wagon, pastured by night about the wayside camp, the pioneer farmer drove through dangerous sloughs and over unbroken roads to Chicago, right glad to be able to sell his wheat at 50c a bushel. He occasionally made some money by bringing out settlers from Chicago or hauling out supplies for the merchants. Usually he received his pay from the merchants in goods from the store. Hauling immigrants, however, was a delight, because that usually gave the farmer some much to be desired coin of the realm.
The one thing that was eventually a great aid to the thrifty settler was the price of land. Homesteads could be entered and claims partly or wholly proved up could be bought from $5.00 to $10.00 an acre. Many men got pos- session of good land between 1840 and 1850 at almost nothing and held to it, till with the advent of the railroad, the tide towards high prices set in, and the log cabin settler found himself a wealthy man. He appropriated the unearned increment, which Henry George maintained should belong to society.
Eggs were sold at 5c·a dozen. Often people did not gather them up. Chick- ens had no market and farmers gave them little attention, leaving them to roost in trees and take care of themselves. Hogs were sometimes as high as $2.00 to $3.00 per hundred. Mr. Wm. Waddams sold dressed pork at 11/2c a pound. He hauled his produce to Galena or to Chicago.
In driving to market at Galena, Dixon or Chicago the farmers would join together and go in considerable numbers. They took provisions and cooking utensils to camp at night, sleeping under the wagons protected by blankets. The roads were bad and in places the men joined teams to pull one another through the mud holes.
When Mr. Fred Bohlender came to this county in 1844 he built the usual log house. Several years later when he decided to build a frame house, he hauled the lumber from Chicago, over 100 miles. Wm. Dively hauled lumber from Galena. John A. Wright says wheat was worth 30c and corn Ioc and I2c, and was hauled to Chicago. Henry Wohlford hauled his first crops to Chicago by horse and ox teams. One trip required eleven days and his receipts were not enough to pay expenses. Zacharia Gage, of Lena, came from England, and landed in Middleport, New York, with $15.00. He and his wife both worked for a farmer for $16.00 per month. He cut cord wood at 3Ic a cord and har- vested for $1.25 a day. Levi Robey is authority for the statement that postage on a letter cost 25c. The worst of it was that 25c was hard to find, specie being a negligible quantity in a frontier community. Richard Parriott, Sr., of Buckeye township, made many round trips to Chicago often requiring seven to ten days.
Anson A. Babcock, who came from New York to Stephenson County in a sleigh in 1839, carted three hundred bushels of wheat to Chicago one winter by team. W. L. Beebe hauled grain with his team for 50c a day. Benjamin God- dard saw wheat sold at 25c a bushel. He has told of a man named Hill who carted a load of wheat to Chicago whose expenses amounted to $9.00 more than he got for his wheat. John Wright bought land at $1.25 an acre in 1843. In 1839 Lewis Grigsby plowed where Freeport now stands and in 1835 rafted 100,000 ponunds of lead down the river from Hamilton's Diggings. Reuben Tower, of Massachusetts, settled near Lena in 1844. He ground twenty bushels
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of buckwheat in a coffee mill. Joseph Kramer paid $9.00 an acre for land in Rock Grove township in 1846.
William E. Ilgen, Dakota township, hauled wheat to Chicago and sold it at 35c a bushel. Joseph Lamm, Silver Creek township, assisted his, father to haul to Chicago. Their usual load was about 100 bushels, driving five to six yoke of oxen. Powell Colby marketed hay at $1.25 a ton.
The pioneer surroundings had many redeeming features. Wild flowers were abundant and of great variety and beauty. There were also hickory nuts, but- ternuts, black walnuts, and hazel nuts. For fruits the people had crabapples, wild-plums, thorn apples, blackberries, grapes and raspberries. Game was plen- tiful. There was an abundance of deer, wolves, wildcats, coon, muskrats, squir- rels, woodchucks, wild geese, ducks, quail, loon, gull, pigeons, wild turkeys and prairie chickens. Wild honey was found in ample quantities. The streams were well stocked with fish and these were readily procured from the Indians. In the midst of such surroundings in addition to the garden produce and corn bread the pioneer's table was not likely to be lightly laden. However, it is said that many a man went to a hard day's work on a breakfast of "suckers fried in water."
One of John Tureaure's sons trapped $50.00 worth of prairie chickens and, being musically inclined, sent to Buffalo and got a melodion. John A. Wright in his diary says game was plentiful in early days and often a settler had only to go a few steps from his door, level his gun at deer or turkey. Henry Wohl- ford found game plentiful and said that the settlers were never without the luxury of fresh, sweet meat. It is told that while some pioneers were attending church, pioneer sportsmen shot deer on the site of the courthouse in Freeport. George Trotter, a settler in Buckeye, 1835, found game plentiful. He once killed two deer with a shot. Herds of deer and flocks of prairie chickens were found in abundance about Cedarville and the inhabitants depended mainly on the gun for meat.
In 1836 Silas Gage found deer, turkey, bear, wolves and other wild game so plentiful about Winslow that they were almost troublesome. Mr. A. C. Martin, who has lived near McConnell since 1854, says that many a time he has seen a herd of deer come out of a grove opposite his father's house. Wolves were numerous and played havoc with many a flock of sheep. Mr. Charles Graves, the McConnell postmaster, says game was plentiful in the early days. The last bear that appeared in the community around McConnell, came from the hog- back up the river and went on his way across towards the Waddams settle- ment.
POISONOUS SNAKES.
Next to horsethieves, poisonous snakes caused as much trouble as any other one factor in the new settlements. Here were the moccasin, the black rattlesnake, racers and the massasauga or yellow rattlesnake. The bite of poisonous reptiles was fatal if known remedies were not promptly applied. This was not always possible and many a boy and man gave up his life on the frontier because of the venomous sting of a poisonous reptile. There was some excitement and hus-
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