USA > Illinois > Clay County > History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois > Part 7
USA > Illinois > Wayne County > History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois > Part 7
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In the Borah settlement, those who came before 1825, except those noted above as moving away, have continued there, and they and their descendants make that their home to this time. This is more strongly a feature of this settlement than any other in the county.
The early settlers in what is now Mt. Erie Township were a very worthy class of men, but they all, except Ramsey and Nesbitt and Michael Book, moved away after spending a few years in the county, and their places were taken by new comers.
As early as 1822. there was an effort to organize the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Tom's Prairie. Before any school- houses or churches were built, the services were held in the woods or groves, and at the cabins of the members. Woods N. Hamilton was among the first preachers. He was noted as a good and pious man, and an effective preacher.
The first schoolhouse William Borab remembers, about 1824, was about half a
53
IHISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
mile from John Borah's house and was built on his land. Here William went to his first school when he was not yet. six years old, and where his childish mind was dazed in looking upon the first school teacher he remembers seeing-G. W. Wilson. The schoolhouse was the rudest log hut, with dirt floor and clap- board roof. It was only a summer school, and these people evidently did not imagine there would ever arise the necessity for a school in the winter. Mr. Borah could not restrain a smile when he told of the first horse mill he ever saw, and the unmeasurable awe with which he looked at its vast and wonder- ful machinery. He thinks a flying steamboat of largest build would not now so utterly overwhelm him, as did Martin's horse mill, on Martin's Creek, where Sam Farris now lives, in all its wonderful and flying machin- ery. The sound of the slow revolving and crunching stones was the most awe-inspiring thing he ever heard. He now believes a wagon load of striped candy would not have hired him to touch the remotest part of this immense wonder.
In 1824, old man Gaston had a hand mill in Big Mound Prairie. The first water mill was put up just a little south of Nathan Atteberry's.
A man named William Ellidge was an early settler. He lived just west of where Fairfield now is. He was noted as a very shrewd trader in a small way, and if he made a good trade, as he generally did, if he only had his "" old woman and gals " to help him, he was noted for sticking to it like a tick to a fat dog. On one occasion, two neighbors, Hefford and Sowenfrey, an Englishman, called at Ellidge's to buy a milch cow. The small herd was looked at. and Ellidge told them they could have their pick. except the cow with the long bag, for so much. He would not sell that particular
cow because he had "sorter promised the old woman and gals not to." The buyers were thus induced to want that very cow, when the old woman began to scold and the girls to bawl and cry at a terrible rate. To make a long story short, that cow was paid for and driven off in triumph amid the wails and sobs of the girls, and the vehe- ment anathemas of the wife. The happy possessors of the prize cow drove along the road and finally met a near neighbor of Ellidge, when he wanted to know what on earth they had got "that spoiled-bag cow for." He then gave them the history of the worthless brute. and their joy turned to disgust, and they drove the cow back. Ellidge met them. and told them that now the "old woman and gals" had been "peacefied," and he would not trade back and they must keep their bargain.
The first settlement in what is now the northeast part of Wayne County, and in the present Mount Erie Township, was composed of Alexander Nesbitt, Alexander Ramsey. James Ramsey, William Farmer, William McCormick and Michael Book. These peo- ple left Hopkins County, Ky., in 1816, and came overland to White County, and located in Seven Mile Prairie, near where Enfield now is. Here they remained two years, and then, in 1818, constructed a pirogue, and started up the Little Wabash, to the mouth of what is known as Miller's Creek, and fixed their camp in a grove at the foot of the hill on which Mount Erie is built, on Christ- mas Eve. They named the place Ramsey's Grove. Here the party remained and rested for a short time, and hunted game, and at the same time hunted out each his future home. Alexander Ramsey. Sr., fixed his home in this grove. His son, Alexander, improved a place a little east of Mount Erie, near where the Little Gem Mill now is. Alexander
54
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Nesbitt improved a place about a mile and a half west of Mount Erie. Michael Book's family resided in this part of the county for fifteen years, and then removed to Big Mound Township, where he died, October, 1858. Nesbitt eventually removed to the village of Mount Erie, and died there in 1878. Alex- ander Ramsey, Sr., died in 1857, and his son, Alexander, died there in 1851.
A gathering of the old settlers of Wayne County was held May 7. 1880, at William H. Carter's residence, three miles east of Fair- field, to celebrate the eighty-third birthday of Mrs. Hannah Carter, mother of William H. and John R. Carter. The day was also the sixty-fourth anniversary of Mrs. Carter's marriage with William A. Carter, who died in 1870. The Press gave this list of the old settlers that were at two of the tables on this occasion. Twelve of the oldest guests sat down to the first table. We give below the names of these pioneers, their ages, and the length of time they have resided in Wayne County :
AGE.
IN CO.
George Merritt.
.81 64
Dica Files,
.70 62
Betsey Campbell.
74 45
Harriett Boze
.73 55
Sarah Houston.
.75
62
Sally Moffitt. .78
64
Malinda Day.
61
Hannah Carter. 83
52
Betsey Goodwin. 76
66
Margaret Shaw 75
46
Mary Holloway .70
25
Margaret Bland. 79
50
Total ages.
921
The average age of the twelve is about seventy-seven years. A majority of the old ladies were sprightly and active for their years. That so many of one neighborhood of such extreme age have lived in our county for an average of about tifty-five years each, speaks strongly for the healthfulness of our
county. A majority of these twelve guests came to Illinois from Kentucky.
The second table was occupied as follows:
AGK.
IN CO.
Nathan Atteberry
.76 61
Dr. R. L. Boggs.
41
W. T. Mathews. .68
44
Benjamin Brown. 7.4
.75
21
T. W. Elliott.
.63
18
John D. Simpsor .64
53
James Bland. .53
50
Mrs. James Bland. .51
44
Polly Grey . .61 20
Elizabeth Butler. 66
66
The conversation at the table turned largely upon reminiscences, and some of these were both amusing and interesting, as fol- lows :
Dr. Boggs' memory of the early church was quite vivid. In 1840, a lady came in from the East who had been accustomed to "wearing brass ear bobs." She had been a member of the M. E. Church, but was de- nied admission here until the holes in her ears had grown up. Dr. B. referred to this alleged fact as a gratifying proof of the greater purity of the church in former times. Without deciding as to whether or not the Doctor is right, we are disposed to approve this action of fathers of the pioneer church.
James Bland said that he was grown be- fore he knew that fruit could be kept through the winter in cans. Which remark reminded Dr. Boggs of the fact that he was fifteen years old before he knew that sugar could be kept in anything but a gourd.
H. F. Vaughn's first suit of store clothes were bought of Thomas Cooper. His father sold castor beans to Mr. C. for 50 cents per bushel, and paid 50 cents per yard for Ken tucky jeans.
Dr. Boggs, in the days of other years, owed Ed Butler $25, and Mr. Butler wanted the money "to put in Slocumb's hands where it would be safe." Dr. B. didn't have
55
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
the cash, but went to Josiah Reed to borrow it. Mr. Reed's stocking happened to be empty of silver just then, but he sold five cows for $5 each, and loaned the money to the Doctor.
As late as 1835, William A. Carter sold cattle to David Wright, one of the pioneer merchants, at these figures : Cows, $4; good yoke of steers, $16. These were gold and silver prices. In State paper money, double these figures were the ruling rate.
Dick Lock brought the first wagon to Wayne County. It was one of the good old fashion, with a long bed shaped like a new moon, vory high before and behind, and with a holding capacity almost equal to a modern freight car. This first wagon was not only a great curiosity, but was a decided public blessing. As one of the old ladies said : " There was a master ripin' and tearin' to get Dick Lock's wagon to gather corn with." Sleds were the most convenient vehicles be- fore the advent of Dick Lock's historic wagon.
Craig Wright is fifty-seven years old ; was born in and has always lived in Barnhill Township.
John D. Simpson has been in Wayne over fifty years, and remembers when Fairfield consisted of only two houses in a crab-apple thicket.
John R. Carter, as long as he lived at home, never had $5 worth of store clothing. The family made all their cloth of all kinds; tanned their own leather and made their own shoes. Mr. Carter never sported a pair of store shoes until grown.
Nathan Attoberry was born in South Caro- lina Angust 10, 1803, and in childhood was removed from there by his parents to Ken- tucky, where he remained until 1820, when he came to Wayne County, where he has re- mained over since. He was first married in 1824 in this county. He is a hale and
cheery old man, whose mind and body are strong, vigorous and active. His biography may be found in another part of this work. At the house of Mr. Atteberry, on the 10tli day of last August, was gathered some of the friends and old settlors to celebrate his eightieth birthday. Among the guests were the following :
Richard L. Boggs, born in Kentucky March 6, 1811 ; came to Wayne County, Ill., in 1834 ; a physician by profession.
Pradi S. Meeks, born in Kentucky April 20, 1814 ; came to Wayne County in 1833.
Joseph Odell, born in Kentucky March 24, 1813. Came to Wayne County in 1826. A farmer.
Edward Butler, born in Kentucky July 14, 1816. Came to Wayne County in 1825. A farmer.
Silas Wilson, born in Kentucky November 3. 1821. Came to Wayne County in 1838. A farmer.
Andrew C. Wright, born in Wayne Coun ty January 29, 1823. A farmer.
Margaret Ann Blissett, wife of Pradi S. Meeks, was born in Wayne County June 14, 1819.
Jane Day, wife of Edward Butler, was. born in White County November 17, 1818.
Anna Gray, wife of Gambrel Tucker, was born in Kentucky Angust 25, 1820. Came to Wayne County in 1836.
Elizabeth Shrewsbury, widow of Lemuel H. Harris, late deceased, was born in Ken- tucky August 16, 1822. Came to Wayne County in 1841. Was married in 1842, by W. W. George, Justice of the Peaco.
Sarah Renfrow, widow of Asa Atteberry, who died many years ago, was born in Georgia September 12, 1812. Came to Wayne County in 1829.
Sarah Ann Files, widow of William But- ler, deceased, was born in Kentucky Febru -
56
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
ary 25, 1814. Came to Illinois in childhood.
Eliza Emmick, widow of: Elder Benjamin S. Meeks, deceased, was born in Gallatin County October 6, 1827.
George Borah came with his family to Wayne County in 1818. Nathan N. Borah, his son, like many of this old and large family, is one of the most estimable citizens of the county. George Borah's family consisted of children by three different wives, having married his first wife in Kentucky. 'There were, of the three sets of children, twenty in all. Nelson N. was a son of the first wife, and was two years and four days old when the family came to this county. He was born in Nelson County, Ky., September 6, 1818.
George Borah was one of the pioneer mer- chants of Wayne County, first opening a store in Burnt Prairie, within two miles of where the town of Liberty now is.
Nathan Atteberry came to Wayne County and settled in Turney's Prairie in the fall of 1819. In the party were the two brothers of Atteberry and their families. Their nearest neighbors were Reason Blessitt and his fam- ily of four children, George Close, William Watkins, Green Lee, Henry Coonrod. Mi chael Turney, Isaiah Turney, Thomas Turney and John Turney. These were all here when the Atteberrys came, and had been on the grounds the most of them long enough to have gone to keeping house in their rude cabins.
Isaiah Turney taught a school in this prai- rie in 1820, and about this time Washington Faris also taught a school there.
Mr. A. remembers attending a general muster and election in 1820, where the mili- tia officers for the county were elected. It was held at the house of Washington Faris, just north of Fairfield. One of the Turneys was elected Captain, and Jnstus Beach was
elected commander, vice Gen. Samuel Leech. Mr. Atteberry afterward became a Captain and then a Major in the militia, where he served two years. James Clark was made Brigadier General of the militia.
Nathan Atteberry was a bound boy to old John Turney, and by the terms of the in- denture was sent to school three months, and this was the total of his facilities in this line. His recollection is that George Close raised the first wheat ever grown in the county.
W. W. George was born in South Carolina November 15, 1810. Removed to Kentucky about 1818; remained there until 1824, when he removed to Illinois and settled in Gallatin County, and removed from there to White County, where he lived until 1830, when he removed to Wayne County, where he has resided ever since. Was married in Hamil- ton County, Ill., November 1, 1827, to Miss Mary Maberry. United with the M. E. Church in 1842, in which he lived for several years, and afterward united with the First Presbyterian Church of Fairfield, where he remained until his death, which took place September 16, 1883.
He was the father of six children, who arrived at man or womanhood, five of whom, Mary Shaw, Martha Atteberry, Olive Way, Meshech George and William W. George are still living, and one, Helen Hendershott, is dead. Only two of his children, Mary Shaw and Martha Atteberry, are living here.
Mr. George was continuously in public life from the time he attained his majority until his death. During this time there was one short period of eighteen months, during which he held no office. He was elected a Justice of the Peace before he attained the age of twenty-one, and his commission was delayed until he arrived at legal age. He held the office of Justice forty-five years; was
N
1
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
57
County Judge four years; School Commis- sioner six years; was also Drainage Commis- sioner for Wayne County, and two years Commissioner on River Improvements under- taken by the Stato.
His father, John George, was born in Ire- land, and when a child came to South Caro- lina, where he grew to manhood and married Mary Stone. She was born in South Caro- lina. but was of Irish parentage. The father was in the war of 1812, after which, in 1816, he removed to Kentucky, where he remained until 1824, at which time he removed to Illi- nois and settled in Gallatin County. In the last-named county, and in White County, he spent the remainder of his life. From White County he went to the Black Hawk war, serving until its close. He died in White County.
David Wright, 4th, came from New Jersey to Wayne County in 1819, and settled and improved a farm three miles south of Fair- field. He started the first tan-yard in the county, using a wooden trough, which in time he increased to fourteen vats, in which he did an extensive business for those days --- tanning all kinds of hides, even hog skins. The old family Bible, now in the possession of Charles W. Wright, is covered with fawn skin tanned in his tannery. He soon opened a store and also built a horse mill, each of which were about the first of their kind in the county. People came fifteen and twenty miles to his mill ou horseback, often camping to wait for their turn. The product of the mill was bolted by hand. D. W. Barkley, a grandson, says he has both lively and pain- ful recollections of assisting in this part of the business. At least he remembers it was not so agreeable as driving the horses and riding on the beam. Mr. Wright had his mer- chandise hanled from Shawneetown, Monut Vernon, Ind., and Evansville, and his produce
was taken to Beach Bluff and Mill Shoals and shipped to New Orleans by flat-boat. This mostly consisted of venison hams, wild tur key, honey. deer and coon skins, etc. In those days, two-horso wagons, in which were to be seen teams in harness of which not a particle of iron was used-all home made leather, shuck collars, and hames cut from the root of a tree. When the family first eame to the county, as did all others, they pounded meal in a stump mortar. The first meal from a mill was procured at Shawnee- town, and until Mr. Wright's mill was put up, the nearest mill was at Carmi.
Mr. Wright was a fine specimen of the hardy, thrifty pioneers. His industry never flagged, and his energy was tireless-all of which were most admirable qualities for aid- ing in opening up and developing the new country. His other good qualities were only equaled by his widely known integrity, and a morality and uprightness that marked his whole life and drew around him an extended cirele of warm friends.
His children were Thomas Curtis, Eliza Atkinson (afterward Mrs. J. G. Barkley), David, 5th, Sarah Ann (afterward Mrs. Dr. R. L. Boggs), Charles Williams, now living three miles north of Fairfield, on the place first improved by his father nearly sixty-tive years ago.
David Wright, 4th, died March 14, 1865.
Andrew Crews came to Wayne County while Illinois was yet a Territory, from Keu- tueky. Some years later, he was followed by his five sons, who are described as very tall, erect, strong and healthy men. They were farmers.
Mathew, the oldest of the five, had a fam- ily of thirteen children, eight of whom were the result of a second marriage. William was the oldest of the thirteen.
William had a family of six children who
58
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
grew to maturity, one of whom died in the army. Joseph J. is the oldest of these. The father died in 1862, and the mother in 1877. Joseph was educated in the common school, and from delicate health was much his own teacher; taught nine years. Read law under Hon. James McCartney.
He was admitted in 1871, and has practiced in Fairfield since. Married in Fairfield to Eliza Shaeffer, daughter of Henry and Eliza- beth Shaeffer. She was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. May 10, 1855. They have four children-Lillian, Edith, Carl and Bertha.
The first schoolhouse in Tom's Prairie was in 1822, and George Wilson was the first teacher. The first patrons were the families of John Borah, Thomas Wilson, William Frazer. Richard Hall, John Pritchett, Alex. ander Crews, Walter Owen, Enoch Beach, and Mr. Bradshaw, whose youngest son is now a resident of Fairfield. The first mar- riage in this portion of the county was Owen Morton with Mary Crews, and the first death was that of a Mr. King. The first preacher there was Wood M. Hamilton, of the Cum- berland Presbyterians. George Wilson, the first school teacher as named above, was at one time Sheriff of the county. He is remem- bered as an excellent, good man. He died about 1845.
John Borah died in 1841, leaving William, Valentine, Baily, John and Milton, sons. The latter went to California.
Alexander Campbell was a member of the Legislature in 1822. He was an illiterate man, but had good sense and an honest, warm heart. He has many descendants yet in the county. One of his sons now resides in Springfield, Ill., and one of his daughters and many of his grandchildren are yet in the county. Among the early weddings of the county was the marriage of John Moffitt to one of Campbell's danghters.
Beach Bluff was settled many years ago by a man named Hampton Weed. Mr. Weed built a mill at the place, and also sold goods away back forty-five years ago. It was then the most important place in Wayne County. Mr. Weed was a very enterprising man. At Beach Bluff the people would build flat- boats and load them with pork and corn and float them down to New Orleans.
The hardy explorers who first discovered this portion of the great Mississippi Valley, told the world in glowing terms of its rich lands, of its great old forests, and the beau- tiful and rich prairies, spread out like an un- dulating sea, and then they believed that all over this valley were inexhaustible mines of the precious metals. These were the almost fairy legends that they gave the world, and that brought the first sporadic efforts of men of wealth and political power to populate this country, and they could possess the richest empire in the world. But all these attempts at making permanent settlements failed, and, as a rule, bankrupted the daring projectors. It is doubtless best that this fate attended them; and thus the grand field was left un. occupied until the real pioneer-the hunter --- was lured here by the abundance of wild game, and for this he came with all his glo- rious instincts for freedom, and his resolute daring to meet the savage upon his chosen fields and beat him down and drive him off.
The Indian here now is but a memory. He accomplished nothing, and had he continued unmolested here a million of years he would most probably only have bred wretchedness and the vilest ignorance and savagery. Un- like the negro, he was ready to die, but never to be a slave, and the one only record that he has ever made that is worth remembrance was that he never was a slave. But he per- ished with that barbaric stoicism that ren- dered his exit above the reproach of contempt.
59
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
The wild game has mostly gone with the Indian. The swift growth of our cities is not nearly as unparalleled as the rapid dis- appearance of our game animals. One hun- dred years ago, eastern North America was the finest game country in the world " This valley is a hunter's paradise," says Col. Boone in his account of the expedition to the mouth of the Kentucky River. "Our dogs started three troops of deer in less than half an hour; on the river we saw tracks of elk, bears and buffalo, and the thickets along the slope were full of turkeys and mountain pheasants. From the cliffs above the june- tion, our guide showed us the wigwams of the Miamis. About eight miles to the north- west, we could see the smoke of their camp fires rising from the foot of a rocky bluff, but the hill country in the east and the great plains in the west, north and northeast, re- sembled a boundless ocean of undulating woodlands "
Northwest of the " Blue Ridge " buffaloes grazed in countless heards. During the heat of the midsummer months they used to re- treat to the highlands, and followed the ridges in the southward migration, as the ap- proach of winter gradually crowned the heights with snow. Along the backbones of all the main chains of the sunken Alleghanies these trails can still be distinctly traced for hun- dreds of miles. "Buffalo Springs," "Buffalo Gap," and scores of similar names still attest the presence of the American bison in localities that are now fully 2,000 miles from the next buffalo range. The center of our buffalo pop
ulation is moving northwest at an alarming rate. Herds, in the old-time sense of the word, can now be found only in British North America, and here and there along the fron- tier of our Northwestern Territories. In cold winter, small troops, of fifteen or twenty are occasionally seen in the Texas " Panban- dle," in Western Utah, and in the valley of the Upper Arkansas, but nowhere on this side of the Mississippi. Their days are numbered. They cannot hide, and their defensive weap- ons are useless against mounted riflemen. Pot-hunters follow them to their far Northern retreats; the International Railroad will soon carry a swarm of sportsmen to their Mexican reservations, and in fifty years from now their happy pasture grounds will probably be reduced to the inclosed grass plots of a few zoological gardens.
Panthers are still found in twenty-six or twenty-seven States, but chiefly at the two opposite ends of our territory-in Florida and Oregon. In the Southern Allegha nies they are still frequent enough to make the Government bounty a source of in. come to the hunters of several' highland counties. Wolves still defy civilization in some of the larger prairie States, and in the wild border country between North Carolina and East Tennessee. But, unlike panthers, they do not confine themselves to a special locality. Hunger makes them peripatetic, and in cold winters their occasional visits can be looked for in almost any mountain valley between Southern Kentucky and Alabama
60
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
CHAPTER V.
SOME MORE REFLECTIONS WORTH READING - THE EVILS AND THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY - AN ACCOUNT OF THE OFFICIALS AND WIIO THEY WERE-SOME BIG MEN AND SOME NOT SO BIG -GEN. LEECH, RIGDON B. SLOCUMB, W. B. DAVIS OR BLACK BILL-SENATORS, REP- RESENTATIVES AND COUNTY OFFICIALS-DAVID W. BARKLEY, WARMOTH, TURNEY, BURNS, BARNHILL, NATHAN CREWS, CLARK, HOGUE, HAN- NA, AND MANY OTHERS-FIRST DEED-TOWNSHIP ORGANI- ZATION-WHISKY BANISHED FROM THE COUNTY, ETC.
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