USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 11
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"The weather on Monday, December 16, 1836, was quite warm and fast sof- tening the heavy snow. On Tuesday it began to rain before day and continued until four in the afternoon, at which time the ground was covered with water and melting snow. All the small streams were very full and the large ones rapidly rising.
"At this crisis there arose a large and tumultuous looking cloud in the west, with a rumbling noise. On its approach everything congealed. In less than five minutes it changed a warm atmosphere to one of intense cold, and flowing water to ice. One says that he started his horse into a gallop in the mud and water and on going a quarter of a mile, he was bounding over ice and frozen ground. Another says that in an hour after the change he passed over a stream of two feet deep on ice, which actually froze solid to the bottom and remained so until Spring. The North Fork where it was rapid and so full of water as to overflow its bottoms, froze over so solid that night that horses crossed the next morning, and it was thus with all the streams.
"Mr. Alvin Gilbert, with his men, was crossing the prairie from Bicknells (about where Rossville is located now) to Sugar Creek, with a large drove of
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hogs. Before the cloud came over them the hogs and horses showed the greatest alarm and an apprehension of danger. As it actually came upon them, the hogs refusing to go any further, began to pile themselves in one vast heap as their best defense on the open prairie. During the night half a dozen of them perished, and those on the outside were so frozen they had to be cut loose. About twelve others died on their way to Chicago in consequence of their being badly frozen, while many others lost large pieces of their flesh.
"Mr. Gilbert and his men rode five or six miles distant, all of them having fingers, toes or ears frozen, and the harness so frozen that it could not be un- hitched from the wagon, and scarcely from the horses.
"Two men riding across the same prairie a little further to the west, came to a stream so wide and deep they could not cross it. The dreary night came on, and after exercising in vain, they killed one horse, rolled his back to the wind, took out his entrails, and thrust in their hands and feet, while they lay upon them. And so they would have used the other horse, but for the loss of their knife. Mr. Frame, the younger and more thinly clad, froze to death, before morning. The other mounted the other horse and rode over the ice for five miles but was badly frozen before he reached a house.
"How general the change was is not known, but the Illinois river, as two men in a boat were crossing it, froze in and they exercised to save their lives until the ice was thick enough to bear them up. The dog that was with them froze to death. Another evidence of unusual weather is recorded in about the same year, as the time the trees were all killed by unexpected extreme cold in the spring. The same thing occurred in 1910, seventy-five years afterward. It is, of course, only a coincident that it is at the date of the return of the Halley's comet. Another extreme of cold was in the sixties at the first of January.
CHAPTER XIV.
EARLY GROWTH.
THE FIRST COMMISSIONERS' COURT AT THE RESIDENCE OF JAMES BUTLER-AMOS WILLIAMS APPOINTED CLERK-AT THE SECOND MEETING THE COUNTY WAS DIVIDED INTO TWO TOWNSHIPS-FIRST GRAND JURY-WILLIAM REED APPOINTED ASSESSOR-AT NEXT SESSION CERTAIN PROPERTY WAS TAXED-COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED TO LOCATE COUNTY SEAT-PROVISIONS OF THE ACT ESTABLISHING VERMILION COUNTY-LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT AT THE SALT WORKS- MAJOR VANCE REFUSED TO GIVE UP LEASE-NEW COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED TO LOCATE COUNTY SEAT-DENMARK DESIROUS OF ITS LOCATION THERE-GUY W. SMITH AND DAN BECKWITH GIVE LAND AT MOUTH OF NORTH FORK OF THE VER- MILION RIVER-PRESENT LOCATION SELECTED-LOTS SOLD APRIL IO, 1827-NAME OF THE NEW TOWN-FIRST PUBLIC BUILDING THE STRAY POUND -- FIRST COURT HOUSE-NEW COURT HOUSE BEGUN IN 1832-NAVIGATION OF THE BIG VER- MILION RIVER-RAFTS AND FLAT-BOATS CARRIED PRODUCE DOWN THE VERMILION RIVER-CONDITION OF DANVILLE AS LATE AS 1836-DENMARK-NORTHEAST PART OF THE COUNTY-THE FERRY ACROSS THE BIG VERMILION-PRODUCE HAULED TO CHICAGO-COMMUNITY OF FRIENDS-GROWTH OF DIFFERENT SETTLEMENTS.
The official life of Vermilion County began at Butler's Point, by the holding of the first Commissioners' Court at the residence of James Butler, March 6, 1826. Two members of this Court, James Butler and Achilles Morgan, were present. The third member, John B. Alexander, was not present until the second session of the court. These Commissioners had been elected under the enabling act of the state legislature for the organization of Vermilion County. This Court appointed Amos Williams, Clerk, and Charles Martin, Constable. John B. Alex- ander had just come from living in Paris, in Edgar County, where Amos Will- iams had served the county acceptably as clerk, and it doubtless was his adapta- bility to the duties of this office known by Mr. Alexander that he was made clerk of Vermilion County. A man who could write the clear hand and make the neat showing of his books as the records of his term testify to this day, was unusual, and desired in public office. At the next meeting of the court held at the same place less than two weeks after, the county was divided into two town- ships. The portion south of town 18, was called Carroll township and that north of this line was to be called Ripley township. Why this division, is unknown and cannot be ascertained. Township organization itself originally was an institu- tion of New England, and was not adopted in Illinois until after the northern part of the state was settled with people from the east, and their influence could
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be felt. Maybe this division was due to the influence of James Butler, who was lately a citizen of Vermont.
A grand jury was selected at this second meeting of the Court. The names on record comprising that first Grand Jury are as follows : John Haworth, Henry Canady, Barnett Starr, Robert Dixon, Edward Doyle, John Cassidy, James Mc- Clewer, Alexander McDonald, Henry Johnson, Henry Martin, Jonathan Ha- worth, William Haworth, Jacob Brazelton, Peleg Spencer, Sr., Isaac M. Howard, Robert Tricle, John Current, John Lamm, Francis Whitcomb, Amos Woodin, Jesse Gilbert, Cyrus Douglass, Harvey Luddington and George Beckwith. Will- iam Reed was appointed assessor.
At the next Commissioners' Court, June 5, 1826, an order for the payment of $1.00 was granted in favor of Charles Martin for his attendance at the March term of Circuit Court as constable. This was the first money paid out by the county. At this session, certain property was made subject to a tax of one per cent. This property included "horses, and cattle over the age of three years, watches, clocks, pleasure carriages and stock in trade."
September 4, 1826, a new Commissioners' Court was organized. The mem- bers newly elected were Achilles Morgan, Asa Elliott and James McClewer. The next meeting of the Court was yet held at the residence of James Butler. It was on December 11, 1826. Here the record shows that "William Reed, this day appeared in Court and produced his tax book, by which the levy of the year 1826 appears to be $205.59 in state paper, on which he claims a deduction for delin- quents of $7.03 and also 71/2 per cent for collecting ($14.89) leaving $183.07, which is equal to $91.83 in specie."
On the first Monday of June, 1827, the Commissioners met at the house of Asa Elliott and on the first Monday of September following, the Court met at the county seat at the home of Amos Williams in Danville. The second section of the act for establishing Vermilion County, made provision for the location of the county seat, by appointing "John Boyd, and Joel Phelphs, of Crawford County and Samuel Prevo of Clark County, as Commissioners to meet at the house of James Butler on the second Monday of March, then next; and, after taking oath for a faithful discharge of their trust, to examine for, and deter- mine on, a place for the permanent seat of justice of the county, taking into consideration the convenience of the people, the situation of the settlement, with an eye to the future population and eligibility of the place." The act further required that "the owner of the land selected as the County Seat should donate and convey the same to the county in a quantity not less than twenty acres in a square form, and not more than twice as wide, to be laid off in lots and to be sold by the County Commissioners for the purpose of erecting public buildings. In case of refusal of the owner to donate the required land the Com- missioners were required to locate the County Seat, on the land of some other person who would make the donation contemplated by the act." A further pro- vision was made that, in the event the County Seat was located within the bounds of the Saline reservation, on the Big Vermilion river, the County Com- missioners should, as soon as practicable, purchase of the state, the quarter or half section designated for the use of the county. The Saline Lands had, by act of Congress become the property of the state. The same act provided
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also that "all Courts should be held at the house of James Butler until public buildings should be erected for the purpose, unless changed to another place by order of the County Commissioners."
These three Commissioners met, made a superficial examination of the county and sent in a report. They had located the County Seat some six miles west of the North Fork of the Vermilion river and back a distance from the Salt Fork. The selection was a most unfortunate one. The surface of the ground here was cold and flat clay, which made drainage difficult if not im- possible. Wells could hardly be dug and a city never could have been built upon such a site. There surely was little thought spent in its selection. For- tunately Major John Vance had leased the Salt Works for a term of years, and refused to yield his rights. The citizens of the entire territory, now Vermilion County, were dissatisfied, and sent a remonstrance to the legislature, coupling with it a prayer for the removal of the County Seat to a more favorable location. Because of this plea, the General Assembly of 1826-27 passed an act December 1827, which in its preamble reads: "Whereas the seat of justice of Vermilion County has been located by the Commissioners appointed at the last session on land which was then and is now, leased by the Governor for a term of years to certain persons for the manufacture of salt; and whereas, the said lessees are unwilling to surrender the same or any part, for the use of the county, in con- sequence of which, no improvements can be made thereon, and the citizen having petitioned for its removal, and for remedy whereof, it was enacted that Will- iam Morgan, Zachariah Peters, and John Kirkpatrick, of Sangamon County, be declared Commissioners, to explore the county and designate the place, which, on being located should forever remain the permanent seat of justice of Ver- milion County."
Up to this time no settlement had been made on the Big Vermilion river at the mouth of the North Fork, on the site of the old Indian village of Pianke- shaw. Denmark was an ambitious town to the north and was desirous for the County Seat, and would have secured it could the Commissioners have agreed.
This land at the mouth of the North Fork, had been entered by certain people among them being Dan Beckwith, who lived at the Salt Works and was one of the men who claimed its discovery. Guy Smith was another who had entered land at this place. Together these two men made an offer to donate to the Commissioners, the required amount of land and after due deliberation this offer was accepted, and the location was decided in the report sent in by the Commissioners, dated January 31, 1827, that in their opinion, "the lands do- nated by Guy W. Smith and Dan W. Beckwith, near the mouth of the North Fork of the Vermilion river, was the most suitable place in the county for such county seat." Guy Smith's donation was 60 acres and Dan Beckwith's 20 acres.
The report of these Commissioners being accepted, the deed conveying the donated land was executed by Guy W. Smith and Dan Beckwith, and the board of County Commissioners ordered the land surveyed, and laid off in town lots. The survey was made by Dan Beckwith, who was the County Surveyor, and was laid off in town lots. According to instruction, there were one hundred lots. April 10, 1827, was the day upon which the lots were to be offered for sale. The sale had been advertised in the Intelligencer, published at Vandalia and an
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Indianapolis paper. They were the nearest papers to be found. The sale was an odd sight. The bluffs along the rivers and Stony creek were a mass of under- brush. There was no sign of a prospective city, and many amusing stories are even yet told of killing rattle snakes on the day of the sale.
The fact of the appointment of Amos_Williams as clerk of the court the year previous to this sale has already been mentioned. During this year the friendship between him and Dan feckwith had grown and possibly been made more deep because they had married sisters. How be it Amos Williams and Dan Beckwith were devoted friends and it is reasonable to assume that they found opportunity to help each other when the county seat was being located. Amos Williams lived at Butler's Point the year after he became the clerk of the court but they saw much of each other and together planned to secure the location of the seat of justice where it was placed. Dan Beckwith was a man tall of stature and of commanding presence while his friend was a small man with a serious view of life. Although the one man stood physically above the other he was very apt to defer to his opinion and consider his wishes, acting on his clear and just decisions. The two men were together the day of the sale, as was apt to be the case when opportunity made such companionship possible. The adver- tisement in the Illinois Intellegencer brought many to bid on the lots. Beside this word had been passed around throughout the country, each man telling his neighbor, and many present made the bidding lively. Harvey Luddington acted as auctioneer. Forty-two lots were sold for which the county received the sum of $922.
The lots averaged about $22 each. Since these lots were largely in the vicinity of the public square, it is a matter of interest to compare these prices with the value of the same lots at the present time. After the town was surveyed the county commissioners, who at that time were Achilles Morgan, Asa Elliott and James McClewer, with Amos Williams as clerk, proceeded to discuss its name.
Amos Williams talked the matter over with Dan Beckwith, so the story runs, when Williamsburg, Smithville and other names were mentioned; all at once Amos Williams turned to his stalwart friend and, laying his hand on the tall man's shoulder said, "Dan, it shall have your name. Why not? You have done all the work. We will call it Danville." And Danville it became and has always remained in honor of the man, not so much who had the land to give for its location but who had the friendship of a man whose sentiment caused him to perpetuate the memory of his friend by naming the new town for him.
The public building in the county was the Stray Pound. This was erected in December 1827. It was built 40 ft. square, of good sound white oak, posts 4 by 8 in. set firmly 21/2 ft. in the ground. The enclosure was 61/2 ft. high, made "in such a manner as to keep out hogs, etc." Phillip Stanford erected this enclosure at a cost of $99.334 to the county. Amos Williams was appointed keeper of the Stray Pound.
The next public building was the jail. It was built of heavy oak timbers, 17 by 29 ft. The space of the interior was divided into a criminal department and a debtors' department. This jail was located on the block southeast of the Public Square. Court met at the house of Amos Williams until the county
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
bought the log house built by Reed which stood on a lot now occupied by the Woodbury drug store on the south side of West Main street near Vermilion. This building was one story high, with a space for a low attic above, about 16 ft. square, made of heavy logs, hewn inside and out. The county bought this with the expectation of fitting it up for public use. The plan was not carried out, however. In the latter part of 1828, proposals were solicited for the build- ing of a temporary court house, and also proposals for the building of a perma- nent court house. Hezekiah Cunningham bought the building on the Main street lot, together with the lot, and agreed to provide the county for the term of two years (unless the new court house could be built before that time), with a place for holding court, in the upper story of the large frame building he and Murphy had erected on the southwest corner of the Public Square. In Decem- ber, 1831, notice was given that bids would be received at next term of court for a court house. The new court house was begun in 1832. Gurdon S. Hub- bard was the contractor.
The selection of the site of Danville as the county seat attracted settlers to this place, but not until its resources in coal land, and the railroads were estab- lished were its possibilities as a future city revealed. Situated as it was a dozen miles from the Wabash river, there was no water way to connect it with mar- kets no matter how much could be raised to market. Attempts were made to utilize the Big Vermilion river but to little purpose. An act of Congress late in the twenties declared this river navigable as far as the range line, one and one-half miles west of Danville, but it was impossible to prove this by the river itself. Mr. John Coleman had built a mill dam at Eugene, Indiana, and when the Illi- nois legislature determined upon improving the navigation of the Big Vermilion, the Court of Vermilion County made the following order which is recorded in Book A, in the County Records of 1829, page 80:
"Ordered, that the Clerk of this Court inform John M. Coleman, of Ver- milion County, Indiana, that the obstruction of the navigation of the Big Ver- milion River, by his mill dam, across said stream is much in damage, of the citizens of this county, and as the legislature of the state have appointed funds for the improvement of the navigation of the Big Vermilion River, within this state, therefore it will be necessary for you to cause a good, safe and conveni- ent passage at your mill, up and down said stream within six months of the date hereof, otherwise the legal course of law will be resorted to; and that Peleg Spencer be the bearer of this notification." Mr. Coleman refusing to do any- thing, William Kidd and James Clyman were authorized to proceed against him by an indictment and prosecution in the courts of Indiana. The following year they were authorized to "use such measures as they may think advantageous to the county and the citizens thereof."
Nothing was done, however, and the year following this the county offered a premium of $50 to the first captain who should land a steamboat opposite the town of Danville. A suit was instituted in the Indiana Circuit Court, by agents of the county and the next year Gurdon S. Hubbard, with two other men waited upon the Indiana legislature relative to the same matter. All that ever was accomplished, however, was a decree to the effect that Coleman should make a
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lock for the passage of flat boats and barges through his dam. Not being par- ticularly inclined to accommodate those who had given him so much trouble, he merely filled the conditions of the decision by making a lock of his flood gate, which was quite a narrow passage and ran under his mill.
For several years rafts and flat boats were passed down the river from Dan- ville to the Wabash, passing the narrow boats through the lock in the dam, when the water was too low to pass over the dam in safety. These boats were built about 60 ft. long. They were manned by a steersman and two oarsmen. They were loaded with produce and taken to New Orleans, and sold, boat, cargo and all for what they might bring. The cargo consisted of flour, corn, pork and live hogs and poultry, hoop-poles, baled hay and, in short, any thing salable. The hogs and poultry were not fully fattened when put on board, but became so on the trip, which lasted about six weeks. This time included numerous stoppings at points along the Mississippi river, for trading with merchants and planters. When the boats and cargo were sold for what they would bring, the men re- turned, some on foot, some having bought mules or horses, but all taking care in choosing their route. Great precaution had to be taken lest the traveler fell into the hands of the banditti which infested the banks of the river, and to the end of avoiding trouble, every one kept well back from their haunts. Many men who lived in Vermilion County and the adjoining counties in Indiana, have proudly told of their experiences on trips to New Orleans and return. The last boat that passed out from Danville was in 1852 and was sent out by Colonel Gil- bert. In this way a market was made for produce that was to be sold here. That which was to be brought in must come from the east and had to be car- ried by way of the Ohio river to the mouth of the Wabash river, thence up stream to Perrysville or perhaps Covington, Indiana, and be hauled from the river to Danville. The navigation of the Vermilion river was never satisfac- tory other than on paper. In 1836, two Chicago men, Amando D. Higgins and Marcus C. Stearns, began a speculation in Vermilion County, based upon the navigation of the Vermilion river. They entered some land and bought other at a nominal price and proceeded to lay it out in town lots, recording it as "Ver- milion Rapids."
This plat was made to show both sides of the river and the stream appeared to be about ten rods wide at this point. To know the exact location of this town, it is needed to understand that it is now known as Higginsville, in Blount town- ship. The "rapids" were the main feature of this speculation since much matter could be made of the fact that no boat could pass beyond them. The impres- sion was given that the Vermilion river was a water-way of importance and was navigable to this point, but beyond this the "rapids" kept boats from going. That this town would be at the head of navigation of the Vermilion river, that along the river front of this town, boats could take on the produce of the rich farming lands for miles around, and to this town the merchandise of foreign lands would be brought. The promise of direct communication with New Or- leans, Cuba and all the ports of Europe, seemed reasonable when this prospec- tive city was viewed from paper. The rapids, unless removed by government authority and appropriation, would always remain a barrier to extending navi-
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gation further up stream. "Vermilion Rapids" promised to be the head of navi- gation for all time.
This might have netted the speculators much money had the plat been put upon the market sooner, just as many no more to be commended speculations did. The platting of this town was done just before the financial crash of 1837, and by the time Mr. Higgins reached New York, the land was utterly value- less. The account of this speculation only finds a place in this chapter on ac- count of the stress put upon the navigation of the Vermilion river years after it could be depended upon even in places where there was some water. It is not an instance of early growth.
A number of buildings were put up within the county seat in the years im- mediately folowing its location. These were at best but primitive log cabins. The location of Danville admitted of no other source of livelihood than trade with the Indians. Gurdon Hubbard had the principal trade, while Dan Beckwith and James Clymer carried on a more limited barter of this kind. A small space around what was made the Public Square was cleared of hazel brush, and rat- tlesnakes, but outside of this, the dense brush covered the entire territory up to the timber along the Big Vermilion river on the south, the North Fork on the west, and Stony creek on the east. So destitute of means to get a living in the immediate surroundings were the people in this town which was made the county seat before it had even come into existence, they were drawn away from home to find work elsewhere; cutting hazel brush and killing rattlesnakes were neither lucrative employments. Henry Harbaugh is one of the oldest men in Vermilion County, claiming to have been born in 1804. He came to Danville first in 1836 and gives a vivid picture of the place at that time. He is yet, in both body and mind, well preserved and recalls affairs of the county at that time, clearly and accurately. He tells how he left Cincinnati by the steamboat "Utah, which was bound for Perrysville, Indiana." He came down the Ohio river to the mouth of the Wabash river, and thence up that river to Perrysville. Here leaving the boat, he walked across to Danville, Illinois. The impression made upon him by Vermilion County's seat of justice is well given in his own words :- "Well, Danville was a poor town. It was the miserablest town I ever did see. I did not want to stay here. Why nobody wanted to stay here. There was nothing but hazel brush. Many of the cabins which had been built were abandoned, while those who owned them had gone to the edge of the timber to herd their stock and raise something to eat. Danville was most all hazel brush and deserted log cabins."
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