USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 9
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
of getting nails with which to fasten the roof, boards, logs or poles were cut of suitable length and laid lengthwise of the building, upon each successive course of the roofing material. The necessary doors and windows were formed by cut- ting spaces through the log walls, in suitable places and of suitable size. Doors and window shutters were made from split clapboards and hung on wooden hinges. These windows sometimes were covered with paper which had been well greased so as to make it, somewhat transparent. Floors were made of puncheons split from trees, one side of which was hewed to a plane surface for the upper side of the floor, while the other side was notched to the log sleepers, upon which the floor rested, the edges of each puncheon being lined and straight- ened so as to fit its neighbor. In this way a solid and durable floor could be made with no tool other than an axe, and an adz, to level and smooth off after the floor had been laid.
A floor could be made of white ash or oak, which after the necessary wear from the feet of the dwellers in the cabin, presented no mean appearance when sanded and kept clean. For a ceiling above, a ready and excellent expedient was always at hand. In summer time the bank of the linden tree readily cleaves from the trunk in sheets as long as the ordinary cabin, and of a width equal to the cir- cumference of the log from which it is taken. Enough of this to furnish the ceiling of an ordinary cabin could be peeled in an hour or so. Placed upon the beams which had themselves been peeled before being placed in position, the in- side of the bark turned down, with poles for weights on top to prevent curling, a ceiling at once tight and elegant enough for a fairy castle was had, which time and smoke from the first place would color most beautifully. A fireplace was made by building a chimney against one end of the cabin, using boulders and mud which made a cement. This wall against one end of the cabin was six or eight feet wide and as high. On top of this wall the chimney was built. This chimney consisted of four walls, three or four feet square of sticks split from the oak, the interstices being plastered up with common clay. Often, however, for want of stones out of which to make the back of the fireplace, it was made of clay by first setting firmly in the ground, where the chimney was to stand, posts or puncheons of the shape the fireplace was to take, and filling the enclosed space with moist clay firmly pounded down. When thus built a sufficient height for a fireplace, the chimney was topped out with sticks and clay, high enough to se- cure a good draught for the smoke, when the wooden moulds in which the fire- place had been set were burned away with a slow fire, and the chimney was com- plete. The opening upward, formed by the chimney, served the double purpose of letting out the smoke and letting in the light when the window and door open- ings were closed to keep out the cold. Many yet living will remember having often seen, hung up on the crotches of trees set up, so as to reach out over the opening in the chimney above the house, the family supply of meat-hams and side meat-placed there to be cured and smoked for the next summer's use. Every one who has used it thus cured, remembers with pleasure the delicious flavor given by the smoke from the fire of hickory wood below. After the cabin had been completed, and as winter approached, the cracks between the logs were chinked, by the insertion between the logs on the inside of triangular prisms split from the linn tree and fastened in their places with wedges driven behind
SAMUEL LENOVER Aged One Hundred and Eight years
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them into the logs, the outside cracks then being tightly daubed with mud. This process was technically called 'daubing.'"
As time passed the buildings improved. In the building of these better houses the logs were usually hewn upon two or four sides, well notched at the corners, so as to fit each other closely, the cracks between the logs being well pointed with lime mortar. Glass and sash for the windows, lumber for the doors and floors, with an attic chamber, nails for the roofs and brick for the chimney, made the houses comfortable and inviting. Such houses were occasionally, at a later day, covered on the outside with sawed weatherboarding, and painted. Such was the house of William Golden, at Yankee Point, which was further improved by a coat of red paint. As the facilities for obtaining material increased, the buildings grew more pretentious. The first planed floor in Danville was in the house built by Dr. Fithian, and as he did not come to this county until 1830, the town had been for a half dozen years with puncheon floors. 'A' building is yet standing at the edge of Catlin which is made of the bricks, burned in the Twenties, by Fran- cis Whitcomb, also one on the opposite side of the road constructed entirely of brick which was made at not much later a date. The clothing was in most cases decidedly "home made." Not only the garments were cut and put together at home, but the material of which they were fashioned was a product of home in- dustry. A few sheep to furnish the needed wool, a patch of flax to yield the linen for wear in the summer months, and the skins which the hunter secured and cured for head and foot wear, gave an abundance of material for personal adorn" ment. The women took pride and pleasure in carding and spinning, and weav- ing, as well as in sewing and knitting and coloring this material. To excel as a spinner, whether on the little wheel, where the flax was made into thread for the linen, or on the less difficult large wheel, where the wool threads were made to weave into heavier cloth, was a pride. Standing by the "big wheel" and with measured tread walking back and forth with a definite object in view of com- pleting a given amount of work in a given time, the girls grew into graceful womanhood. The large families, which was the rule at that time, made it pos- sible for this work to be done in the household. There was no question of woman's rights because woman's duties filled her time, and her importance in the household was evident.
She was in evidence in the preparation of the food, for the home, in the entire manufacturing of the clothing, and could well leave the provision of shelter to the men. This mutual interdependence of men and women in a new country tends to bring out the best characteristics in each. When the flax was grown it must be pulled, rolled, broken, scutched, swingled, and hatched before it was ready to be spun. In rare cases this work was done by the women, but generally the hardest was done by the men. It was work which required great strength and was better fit for men to do. When the flax was ready the spinner began her work. After it was spun into threads the weaver took it and employed both skill and strength in her work. When there were several daughters in a family the spinning was often done by one, the weaving by another, and the meals prepared by yet a third. There were many homes at present where a piece of cloth, the product of a grandmother's skill in weaving or spinning, is proudly exhibited. One who distinctly remembers the time of spinning of flax, and has
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seen all the implements used in the preparation of a garment from the time it is in the stalks of the plant, kindly furnishes the following information :
"In an early day in this country flax was raised in great abundance, and from it was fashioned all the household linen. and much of the wearing apparel. To those who have known little in regard to its use or manner of preparation such knowledge will be of interest and to those who remember handling the flax, a few words on the subject will recall days long gone by. The flax seed was sown not later than the first of May and, being of speedy growth, when the season was favorable, the crop was harvested in August. The gathering time was called 'flax-pulling time' as it was gathered in the hand and pulled or jerked from the ground by handsful and spread out on the ground in the field in rows to 'cure' before placing in bundles in the 'flax pen' where the rotting process was accomplished. My recollection of this pen is that it was built of rails on four posts about four feet high, had a rail floor and no cover. This last was that the flax might have the full benefit of the weather, it requiring both the rain and the hot sunshine to complete the rotting process which was essential. I can remember how, after days of warm sunshine, when there were indications of approaching rain, the family would rush to the flax-pen, and each lend a helping hand in turning the flax over that it might all be exposed to the weather. After the rotting was complete the flax was taken to the break which, in primitive times, was a rudely constructed contrivance for breaking the woody inside fibre. This break was made of several hickory slats, fastened together at each end with pieces of wood, and hinged in such a manner that one end could be raised and lowered between other similar slats, which were stationary and some dis- tance apart. At one end of the top set of slats was fastened a handle, which had to be used vigorously during the flax breaking process. After the breaking was complete it was taken to the scutching board which was a very smooth hardwood board placed upright with the lower end fastened securely in a heavy block of wood. In the top end of this board was a large notch or curve, which was made to hold a handful of flax while it went through the scutching process. This was accomplished by means of a scutching knife, which was also made of hardwood, was about nine inches wide and perhaps twelve or fourteen long and very thin. The handful of flax (quite a bunch of it) was thrown across the scutching board, held in the left hand, while the right hand wielded the knife vigorously to loosen and dislodge the woody fiber. After this it was taken to the hatcheling board on which was securely placed a board with two sets of hatchels, one coarse and one fine, made of wire and much after the same plan as those used in carding machines of modern factories. After the flax had been drawn through these many, many times, until all the fiber had been removed, each bunch was twisted into a hank of silky texture and was ready to be spun into thread by the industrious, thrifty housewife on the little spinning wheel, and made ready for the crowning feat which was accomplished with the help of the family loom. It was woven into cloth ready to be made into articles for household use and for garments for different members of the family. Many were the dextrous achieve- ments of our grandmothers in this line all of which, of course, had to be done by hand, as at that early day the wildest imagination had never dreamed of a sewing machine."
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The garments at that time varied little in cut. The women's dress did not change so often and men wore the same cut year after year. But if the fashion of the garment were not so complex, and all the work was done by hand the stitches which put them together were most carefully taken. With a sewing machine and its product never having been seen, the fingers did better work. A piece of sewing which has escaped the destruction of the passing years is found to be firmly put together and the stitches as accurately taken as any machine could make. The skill in sewing as well as the superior strength of the material and thread makes these old garments worth preserving.
At that time the shoes were made at home, but were generally the work of some one man who had learned this trade in Ohio, or Kentucky, or some old home whence he had come to the new country. These shoemakers would go from one house to another and fit out the family with shoes while there. The caps worn were made from the skin of the coon and were popular head covering, not only because the skins could be easily obtained but these caps were a very comfortable protection from the weather.
The women knit the stockings in the long winter evenings, and in this knitting many a woman found a means of expressing, all unconsciously, her secret love of the beautiful. Although there was no necessity of doing more than procuring a material which would make strong and warm foot covering and to knit it in the regular way, a knitter could, if she so choose, color her yarn after she had woven it as fine as she cared to do, and knit it in as fancy stitches as she pleased, making even so prosaic a thing as a pair of stockings, a "thing of beauty." The woods were full of dye stuff which the lingering Indian squaw could teach the woman desirous to learn the art of producing brilliant coloring. Some beautiful coverlets made by the women of early day in Vermilion County are yet well preserved by their descendants and illustrations of these are given in this volume.
The large number of Friends who came into Vermilion County kept their peculiar dress, procuring the material therefor in the same way. Their garments were fashioned from a material of different color but it was the product of their own industry, just as was the material which fashioned their neighbors' clothes.
While the cabin was all busy within, without there was no idling. The spinning wheel was the stringed instrument upon which the women played and they made every house a woolen factory, but the industry was not all found inside the cabins. The wooden-mould plow was busy. As description of which, the iron part was a bar two feet long, with a broad share of iron welded to it. At the extreme part was a coulter that passed through a beam six or seven feet long, to which there were attached handles of corresponding length. The mould board was of wood, split from a winding piece of timber, or hewed into a winding shape in order to turn the soil over. The triangular harrow or drag, was also an early implement. It consisted of two pieces of timber about six feet long and five inches square, hewed, before the day of mills, and later sawed. The end of one was framed into the end of the other, forming an acute angle, the two sides kept apart by a crosspiece of timber framed into the others near their centers, all forming the letter "A." Before iron came, wooden teeth were used, but the prevalence of roots destroyed them rapidly, so that iron teeth, twice as heavy as
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
those now used, were obtained as soon as possible. The farming went on slowly and arduously these days before modern improvements were made.
While amusements, as we consider such, were unknown to the pioneer, it must not be assumed that he had none. There were many sources of recreation not known to those who never get from the irksome jars and annoyances of a dense population. In the first place there is a release from restraint, a sense of wild freedom peculiar to the frontier that is exhilirating and enjoyable. There is no doubt that the Indian in his native wilds; the Arab coursing over the sands of the desert; and the pioneer on the broad, unoccupied prairie, breathe a fuller inspiration, have a brighter vision, drink in with a keener relish the beauties of nature, and have a consciousness of a more noble existence, a higher ideal of living and a presence of an Author of all that lives as cannot come to the jostled crowd breathing the smoke and offensive odors of the popu- lous city or even town. Then too, the occasional social pleasures of pioneer life were better enjoyed. A visit to a neighbor settler after weeks or months of absence was an occasion of pleasure which is less intense when the going could be repeated every day. At such visits experiences were related, family history given, news from distant friends exchanged, crop prospects and newcomers were discussed, and plenty time was accorded to these social calls to insure friendships cemented as is impossible in these days of hurry. These visits were made regu- larly, and were a subject of conversation during the life of the people as happy experiences. This same cordial friendly feeling is rare to find today, and will never return, to a more densely populated country.
There was an abundance of game which made hunting great sport for the men ; then there were the log cabin raisings, and the shucking bees, the quilting parties and the churchgoing. If a man had a cabin or a barn to be built, his neighbors expected to help him. They would come from far and near, and this was an occasion for the women to show excellence in the food provided. An occasion of this kind is described in a history of Champaign County written by Judge Cunningham, and as there were guests present from Vermilion County, and doubtless returned the hospitality of the occasion, it is of interest in this connection.
It was a barn that was to be raised on the farm of Henry Sadorus in 1832. This was to be a double barn; that is, there were to be two rooms separated by a threshing floor, but a roof covered it all. The whole building covered ground thirty by sixty feet. Invitations were sent out to neighbors as far away as what is now Monticello, and was even sent to Eugene, Indiana.
In three days' time the men had finished the barn. It was built of straight ash logs, with a roof of split boards, held in place by weight poles. The thresh- ing floor was of split puncheons, so well lined at the edges and smoothed down with the adz as to make it perfectly tight. Within the cabin the women were busy quilting two bed quilts, and preparing the food for the crowd. As evening came on the work was all put away, and the rooms cleared for the dancing. The music was a fiddle in the hands of a master fiddler named Knight, who lived in Danville.
The husking bees were occasions of great fun for the young people. The corn was taken to the barn, and great effort was made to excel in the work.
GROUP OF OLD SETTLERS TAKEN AT OLD SETTLERS' PICNIC IN LONG GROVE, IN AUGUST, 1897. MOST OF THESE PIONEERS ARE NOW DECEASED
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Proud was the man who could husk the most ears in a given time. Boys and girls competed and if a red ear was found the frolic grew more or less boisterous, because that was the occasion when the girl was kissed. But of all the social gatherings, the camp meeting was the best. It was looked forward to as a time of greatest social enjoyment as well as of intense interest. As a social factor, as well as religious leader, the itinerate Methodist preacher was a boon to the frontier giving occasion for the people to come together in their quarterly meet- ing and camp meetings.
Vermilion County was fortunate in having a large number of the Society of Friends among the early settlers. The Quaker Quarterly was a happy occasion for the young and old people alike. Court week was a source of recreation to many of the early settlers, whether they had business at the county seat or not. Wolf hunts were made occasions of healthy sport, and even yet stories of wolves are told at Old Settlers' meetings, as personal experiences. One prominent early. citizen of Vermilion County, who was the father and grandfather of many who have since been history makers in this section, took advantage of a characteristic of wolf nature and saved his flock of sheep one night in the long ago. The sheep were penned up in an enclosure built against the cabin, "because," his son says, "wolves would not kill sheep if so penned up. They wanted them out in the open, where they would run and the wolves chase them." Being so penned up on bright nights when the moon was shining the owner of them who, by the way, was a gentle natured Quaker, was awakened by the baying of wolves quite near, and looking through the cracks of the cabin he saw a wolf on the top of the rude fence with which he had enclosed the sheep. Reaching for his trusty rifle, he shot not only that one but the others as they approached, without leaving his bed.
It has been said that there were more homesick women than men in the early settlements and doubtless Vermilion County was no exception to the rule; and this was largely due to the fact of more provision being made for amusements for men than for women. True it is that the home duties kept the women from as much relaxation as the men had, but they were not entirely deprived of the social amusements. In the first place they had the pleasures of their homes, and the care of their children free from the obligations of the wearisome demands of society, and then they were not lacking in intercourse with their fellows. A quilting bee brought the women of the neighborhood together, and usually lasted all day, the guests sometimes coming before breakfast and staying until dark. But the women find it hard, usually, to break home ties and unless, as in the cases where many of the family came together, the old home drew her back with more force than it did the man. The young women had their amusements at the "shucking bees" and at dances, although they had to ride sometimes a long way to reach the frolic. They usually rode on the same horse as their escort, sitting up behind him.
The early settlers of this county met two dread diseases when they reached the Wabash valley; one was what was called Milk sickness and the other was the prevalent fever and ague of the place. When memory recalls the genuine Wabash fever and ague, a wonder arises that the people had the courage to re- main in a section that carried such a perpetual illness. The fact that it being so common an affliction was not considered of as much consequence as it otherwise
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would have been, makes it no less an unbearable condition of affairs. Miasma has been the foe of the pioneer all the way across the continent, and the Missis- sippi valley has harbored this element and yielded up the sacrifice of its best citi- zens during the years of its early settlement. The courage to meet the wild beast in the new country; to endure the privations and sacrifices of frontier life is one thing; but to bravely accept the terrors of the certainty of returning fever and chills, requires a fortitude that is a wonder. In the season which, for the fortunate was only the fall and spring, the day dawned but to bring a "shake" to be followed by a raging fever. Yet these conditions were met with scarce a mur- mur by the pioneers of this section of the country.
The provincialisms were more noticeable in manner of speech than elsewhere. Carelessness of talking is to be expected where there is no more restraint than is to be found in a new country. With the careless speech of parents children had no model and grew up to think provincialism the correct form. The peculiar speech of the slaves in the south was caught by the men and women who later made their homes in southern Illinois and handed down to their chil- dren to be cherished and made a part of their conversation until the settlements from Kentucky and Virginia revealed the origin of the neighborhood. This peculiarity of speech from those born in the southern states has awakened dis- cussion as to whether it is the result of mingling with the slaves or whether the accent of the slave is not the result of living with the southern people. Who can tell the origin of the southern tongue, since the African did not bring a lan- guage with him but used the one he found here. Whether the one or the other is the correct notion, the fact remains that the speech of Vermilion County savored of the dialect of the region from which the early settlers came, and the turn of the words as well as the tone of voice all testified to the old Virginia or Kentucky home whence they came. A "bucket" was never a "pail" as it was to the few eastern men and women who came into this section. These people of Vermilion County never "guessed ;" they always "reckoned." They were "pow- erful weak" and "mighty porely" and "peared like couldn't gain no strength," but with all were a kind hearted, generous, whole souled people who are dear in their provincialism, and cheerfully burned their rag in a saucer of grease for light, set the houses on corner props and let the swine live underneath, and looked upon the newcomer from the more cultured east with frank admiration and gave a helping hand where it was needed.
CHAPTER XII.
THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF VERMILION COUNTY.
COUNTY ORGANIZATION IN ILLINOIS DATES BACK TO 1779 THE COUNTY OF ILLI- NOIS-ST. CLAIR AND RANDOLPH AS COUNTIES OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY -KNOX COUNTY-KNOX AND ST. CLAIR COUNTIES-MADISON COUNTY-ED- WARDS COUNTY-CRAWFORD COUNTY-CLARK COUNTY-EDGAR COUNTY-VER- MILION COUNTY-REDUCED TO PRESENT LIMITS-BELONGS TO SECOND CLASS- GOVERNMENT OF THE COUNTY-TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION ; WHEN EFFECTED- ORIGIN OF NAME OF VERMILION COUNTY.
After the conquest of the country northwest of the Ohio river by George Rogers Clark in 1778, the Commonwealth of Virginia held it as its own and called it the county of Illinois. This territory was duly governed as such with the coun- ty seat at Kaskaskia, the former Capital of both French and British Government in the Illinois country. Capt. John Todd was appointed "County Lieutenant Com- mandant," but the machinery of this government was never effectually set up, and it soon ceased to run. After concessions asked and granted by all the new ยท states of the young Republic, Virginia surrendered all claims to the general gov- ernment in 1784, and congress, sitting under the articles of confederation, passed "An Act for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river." Under this ordinance Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed gov- ernor of the territory and in 1790 organized, by proclamation, the county of St. Clair, named in honor of himself. This proclamation was issued April 27, 1890. The boundaries of this first county can be seen by drawing a line from the mouth of the Little Mackinaw in Tazewell County to the mouth of Massac creek in Massac County. All the territory included within this line on one side and the Mississippi and Illinois rivers on the other, constituted St. Clair County. But this county was small compared with another which was created by proclama- tion, June 20 of the same year. This was Knox County and included about half the state of Illinois, the whole of Indiana, that part of Ohio west of the great Miami river, and the greater part of Michigan, and a considerable part of Wis- consin, as these states exist at present. It will be remembered that the settle- ments in the Illinois country were along that part of the Mississippi river in what was later known as the American Bottoms, and about Vincennes. St. Clair County was organized to meet the wants of the former and Knox County was organized to meet those of the latter. October 5, 1795, St. Clair County was divided by the creation of Randolph County in the southern part, doubtless to
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