USA > Illinois > White County > History of White County Illinois > Part 14
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William Harrison Johnson was born in this county near the present site of Enfield, March 3, 1840, and lived on a farm until
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the breaking out of the Rebellion. He was the second man to en- list in a company raised in this county, and entered the service as Orderly Sergeant of Company I, First Regiment Illinois Oav- alry; was mustered out June 16, 1865, as First Lieutenant, Com- pany I, Eighty-seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteers, having served over four years, and until the close of the war. During the service he was mainly with the armies operating on and near the Mississippi River, and participated in nearly every important campaign of those armies. After the war Mr. Johnson entered the law office of Colonel John E. Whiting, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1867. He was Presidential Elector for the Nineteenth Congressional District of Illinois at the election of Garfield and Arthur in 1880, and is now (Nov. 3, 1882) the Republican nom- inee in the Forty-sixth Senatorial District of Illinois, comprised of the counties of Hamilton, Lawrence, Wabash and White, for Rep- resentative in the next General Assembly.
Mr. Johnson is a son of the late Dr. Martin Johnson, the origi- nal proprietor of the town of Enfield, and one of the early settlers of the county. He is an Elder in the Christian church of Carmi, and is a Sunday-school and temperance worker.
He was married to Margaret Houston, of Carmi, April 1, 1867. Four children-Olive M., Bertha E., Annie Gertrude and Mabel, all living except the last. Mrs. Johnson died in 1878, and April 25, 1881, Mr. Johnson married Ray Piety, of Indiana. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the A. O. U. W., in which last he is Representative to the State Grand Lodge, and District Deputy.
Allen Bleakley was born in Wayne County, Ill., July 8, 1849 He was a son of Joseph and Sarah (Allen) Bleakley, natives of County Tyrone, Ireland. His father came to the United States when he was eighteen, and his mother when she was several years younger. His father spent the first seven or eight years in this country in Massilon, Stark Co., O .; was married there. In 1839, he moved to Wayne County, Ill., where he still resides on the farm he originally entered. His mother died in 1856. They had a family of five children-Mary J., married Charles G. Archibald, a merchant of Cisne, Wayne County; Joseph W. went to Califor- nia in 1870, and is engaged in mining; Allen is the subject of this sketch; Isabel married Samuel McCracken, a farmer of Wayne County. Allen made his father's house his home till after he was of age. His early education was received in the select schools of
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Wayne County. He entered the law school at Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1869, graduating in 1871. After his return from Ann Arbor, he spent five months in the office of Wilson & Hutchinson, of Olney. Then he was admitted to the bar of Illinois, examined by Judge Canby. He began the practice of law in Fairfield in the fall of 1871, and was in the office of Attorney-General McCartney, till July 1, 1873. At that time he became a citizen of Carmi, and formed a copartnership with R. L. Organ. This existed till 1881. Since then he has been practicing alone. He was married Oct. 13, 1875. He has three children-Mamie, aged six; Royton aged five, and Carrie, aged three.
John W. Hon is a practicing attorney in the city of Carini; office in the Schumaker building. He is a native of White County, and has just been admitted to the bar.
Ross Graham is a practitioner of law in Carmi.
T. G. Parker, also a native of this county, was admitted to the bar in 1874, at the age of twenty-three. His office at present is in the Wilson building, under the Times printing office. For a time he practiced in partnership with Jasper Partridge, also of this city.
Jasper Partridge is from Ohio; was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the last war; is now in the practice of law at Carmi, and is also agent for pension claims; office in the Martin building, immedi- ately north of the county offices.
Prince A. Pearce, present County Attorney; office in the Storm's block. Born and raised in White County; admitted to the bar about 1873; is also in the insurance business.
Of Grayville lawyers, there are the following :
Edward Kershaw, born Oct. 10, 1847, in White County, is a son of Merideth Edward and Virginia (Stone) Kershaw. His father is a native of White County, and his mother of the south- eastern part of Virginia. Merideth Kershaw's parents came from England in 1818. They landed in Philadelphia, and settled in White County in that year. His mother's parents came from France and settled in Virginia. Merideth Kershaw was born in 1821. and lived the life of a farmer till the war broke out, when he enlisted in the Eighty-seventh Illinois, in 1862, and died at New Orleans in August, 1864. His mother died in 1857 in White County. They raised six children, five of them now living. The oldest son, Ephraim, was killed in the war. Edward Kershaw was brought up on the homestead, and was educated at home at
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common schools, and spent two years at the academy at Lebanon, Warren Co., O. He began the study of law in 1866, and was admitted to the bar in 1871. He has a general practice in all the courts, and is well versed in his profession. He was married April, 1873, to Frances Whiffen, native of Ocolona, Miss. They have two children, daughters. They lost one son, Edward, March 10, 1882, three years and five months old. The daughters are May and Frances, living at home. He enlisted in the army in December, 1861, in the Sixtieth Illinois, Company B, and served nearly four years; was discharged August, 1865; was with the regiment in all the campaigns, engaged with it in about forty battles and skirmishes, and bears the marks of seven different wounds, though not laid up in hospital; was with the command all through.
Leslie Durley, born Nov. 4, 1847, at Hennepin, Putnam Co., Ill., is a son of Jefferson and Eleanor S. (Seadon) Durley, his father, a native of Sangamon County, Ill., and his mother of Ken- tucky, both living at Hennepin, Putnam County. Mr. D. was reared and educated in Putnam County. Began to study law in 1868, and was admitted to the bar September, 1874. He began to practice law in Greenville, where he has continued ever since. His practice extends in both County and State courts. He was the Republican candidate for State's Attorney in 1876, and was a can- didate for State Senator of the same party in 1SS0 from the Forty- sixth District. The county being largely Democratic, this ticket was elected. Mr. Durley ran ahead of his ticket. He was married in 1876 at Grayville, to Mrs. Mary J. Clayton, daughter of Caleb Butler. They have one daughter. In 1864 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Illinois, Company B, and served five and one half months. Has been connected with Illinois militia for four years, and is now Lieutenant-Colonel, in command of Ninth Regiment. Prior to his coming to White County he did the business in the Sheriff's office for three years, his father be- ing Sheriff, but was connected with other business.
Geo. W. Cline, Grayville, is a member of the White County bar.
Wm. H. Gray, born Sept. 1, 1820, in Sumner County. Tenn., is a son of Dr. James M. and Maria R. (Sanders) Gray. His father was a native of North Carolina, and his mother of Virginia; both came to Sumner County when very young. His mother lived there till her death, July 4, 1838. His father went to the northern
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part of Mississippi and died there in 1864. Mr. Gray was raised in Sumner County till he was twenty years old, brought up princi- pally on a farm. Educated at Gallatin and Nashville, Tenn. In 1840 he left Tennessee and went to Daviess County, Ky .; was en- gaged some sime in farming and teaching school. He was mar- ried Jan. 8, 1843, to Lucinda Bell, a native of Bullitt County, Ky. She died in 1848. In 1851 he moved to Carlisle, Clinton Co., Ill. He first studied law in Gallatin, Tenn., with Colonel Joe C. Guild, now Judge of the United States Supreme Court of Tennessee. He practiced law at Carlisle, Clinton Co., Ill., about twenty-five years, during the best part of his life. He came to White County in 1877, where he has been living ever since. He is now living at Concord, Emma Township, where he has a general store. He also carries on his practice of law to a certain extent, having some cases now pending both in the County and Cir- cuit Court. He was married in 1854 to Mary C. Moore, at Car- lisle, Clinton Co., Ill. She died July 11, 1882. They had two children, Emma and Wm. M. Gray, both living in Macon County, Ill. Politically, a Whig; cast his first vote for Henry Clay; remained with that party and all its nominees till the party went down, 1852. Supported Fremont in 1856, and since has been an ardent supporter of the Republican party. Has never been an office seeker. Has spent hundreds of dollars in the interest of the Republican party. His friends did persuade him to serve two years as Township Clerk of Emma Township.
George C. Cross, an attorney, farmer and furniture dealer at Crossville, is also a native of this county. He pays special atten- tion to probate business, divorces and collections.
THE COURT-HOUSE.
The first court-house was a frame building, erected near the pub- lic well, a few yards distant from the present public well. At the latter point there was then a sort of knoll or Indian mound. This house was blown down prior to 1824, and court was then held in John Craw's house, now occupied by Robert Stewart. Here the criminal Cotner was tried and condemned to the gallows, but at the last moment was reprieved by the Governor. Until the new court-house was built the county business was done at the respect- ive residences of the officers.
During the June term of 1827 the County Court ordered "'that the clerk oft his court advertise in the Shawneetown Gazette the
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letting of the building of a brick court-house, forty feet square. Proposals will be received until the 4th of July next." The Commissioners at this time were Abel Rice, Alex. Trousdale and Daniel McHenry. On the 4th of July, above designated, " the court proceeded to read the proposals for the building of a court- house. On the examination of the proposals the court took in with the proposal of Hackett & Rudolph," which was to erect the building for $3,000.
The building was finished in 1831, by Allen Rudolph; and the many long years that have since intervened could tell many an in- teresting story of the clashing of legal arms, the impaneling of juries, the trembling of criminals, the ugliness of wicked men, the indignation of the righteous, as well as of religious meetings of all kinds, political meetings and miscellaneous meetings of all kinds, that have taken place within those walls.
THE JAIL.
May 5, 1816, when Willis Hargrave, Joseph Pumroy and J. O. Slocum were the County Commissioners, they "ordered that the building of a jail on the public square, of the following descrip- tion, be let to the lowest bidder, on the second Saturday in June next, at the court-house in Carmi, viz .: To be made of good, sound oak logs, fourteen feet long, hewed to a foot square; the corners of the building to be well done and sawed down square; with a floor of square timber a foot thick; eight feet between first and second floors; which second floor to be laid with a foot thick square timber; with a small hatchway, two and a half feet square and six inches thick, to get in the lower room. In the second floor around, seven inches thick, with a floor of timber seven inches thick; with a small window in each story, six inches one way, two feet long, with four iron bars; covered with a good, strong shingle roof; a door in the upper story, with a substantial shutter and a suffi- cient stock lock; with a strong step-ladder on the outside, etc. "
It appears that the jail was built according to the foregoing in- structions, for we find an order of the court, dated Nov. 27, 1S16, for paying Walter Garner in part for this work, and receiving the said jail as having been finished according to contract. The total cost was $329. Subsequently Willis Hargrave was also paid in part for work on the same structure. It was located on the west corner of the public square, in front of where Mr. Martin now re- sides. Near it was the "estray pen," used more for fights than estrays.
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About 1821 a prisoner was taken from the jail to the woods just north of where Richard Jessup's residence now is, to be thrashed with hickory sprouts; but before this well-deserved punishment was inflicted, a by-stander whispered to him to run, which he did, with the apparent speed of a deer, and got away.
In 1833 the County Court " ordered that Josiah Mcknightcall to his assistance such other workmen as he may deem proper, and make a draft of a jail house for White County, and advertise the letting to the lowest bidder the building of said jail." In Decem- ber of this year the contract was let to Simeon Smith for $2,000. This mechanic completed the structure in 1836, and it stands to the present day; but, of course, it has been from time to time enlarged and repaired, so that it still appears new.
In 1880 an addition was built to the jail, by W. H. Floyd, at a cost of $3,329, to be paid in county orders; and Alexander Boyer did some further work on the structure, to the extent of $130, etc.
For committals to the jail, see close of Chapter VII.
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CHAPTER VI. POLITICAL.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
During the first few years of the history of this county, party lines in politics were not strictly drawn. No conventions were held, and there was no organized mode of placing candidates in the field. Tariff, slavery, State banks, canals and improvement of navigable streams were the principal public measures discussed. For nearly four years after the organization of the Territorial Gov- ernment no Legislature existed in Illinois. The Governor was both executive and in great part the law-making power. This arrange- ment, as unrepublican as it seems to be, was consistent with and even authorized by the ordinance of 1787.
Feb. 14, 1812, the Governor issued a proclamation for a three- day election, commencing on the second Monday of April follow- ing, whether the Territory should enter upon the second grade of government. The people chose the affirmative by a large majority.
Sept. 16, 1812, the new counties of Madison, Gallatin and John- son were formed; and ()ct. 8, 9 and 10 there was an election of five members of the Legislative Council, seven representatives, and a delegate to Congress; Shadrach Bond was elected to Congress, and Philip Trammel and Alexander Wilson were elected Repre- sentatives of Gallatin County. Trammel was a man of discrimi- nating mind, inclined to the profession of arms, and was the lessee of the United States Saline in Gallatin County; and Wilson was a popular tavern-keeper at Shawneetown, and a man of fair abilities.
The next principal event, especially that which had a local bear- ing in this part of Illinois, was the establishment of the " Bank of Illinois " at Shawneetown, in 1816, of which Leonard White was made one of the agents for opening subscription books. This act, with a few others of like nature, made "money " so abundant and times so flush that the work of bank-making was continued, and jobbery for internal improvements was authorized.
In 1818 the organization of the State Government was the prin- cipal event, when Shadrach Bond was elected Governor. Under his
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administration, lottery schemes were authorized to raise funds for internal improvements, among them the navigation of the Big Wabash. The Constitution of Illinois, on which the Territory was admitted into the Union as a State, was signed by the members of the convention on the 26th of August, 1818, and did not require a popular vote. The delegates to that convention from White County were Willis Hargrave and Wm. McHenry. The Constitu- tion provided for the election, by the people, of Governor, mem- bers of the Legislature, sheriffs and coroners, but of no other officers. The legislative and executive departments of the State Government appointed all the other officers not named above.
By 1820 the banks of neighboring States were broken, and those of Illinois suspended; and this year a new Legislature was elected, with instructions to relieve the embarrassed people. To do this the Legislature evolved the "Illinois State Bank," with a capital of half a million dollars, based entirely upon the credit of the State, with branches at various points. These various banking schemes, being first efforts in modern finance, were crude and easily engineered for the private interests of unprincipled men.
The year 1820 was characterized by the adoption in Congress of the celebrated " Missouri Compromise," which was an agreement that slavery should never extend north of 36 deg. 30 min. The people at this time were approaching a crisis in the slavery ques- tion, which produced great excitement in this State. Run-away slaves were encouraged by one extreme party and " black laws" by the other.
The general election of Angust, 1822, resulted in the choice of Edward Coles, anti-slavery, as Governor by a plurality of votes over his principal opponent, Joseph Phillips, then Chief Justice of the State.
The year 1824 was characterized by the great and decisive, but abortive, effort to make Illinois a slave State. In this, as in pre- vious contests, the people of White County and of all Southern Illinois were pro-slavery. It was only by a trick at the State capi- tal that the pro-slavery movement was defeated. Out of the presi- dential contest of 1824 grew the parties afterward known as the Whig and the Democratic, headed respectively by Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. Personal bitterness between these men became the occasion of a difference of public policy in order that each might have some dignity of standing in his claims before the peo- ple. In the issue of this campaign we know not the vote of
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White County; but the State gave 1,541 for Adams, 1,273 for Jackson, 1,046 for Clay, 218 for Crawford and 629 for Turney, 1 elector for Clay and Jackson, jointly. Daniel P. Cook was elected to Congress in opposition to Governor Bond.
At the general election of August, 1826, there were three candi . dates in the field for Governor: Ninian Edwards, Thomas O. Sloe and Adolphus F. Hubbard. Sloe was a Jackson man, while Ed- wards, instead of announcing himself as committed either for or against any National candidate, dwelt upon the corruptions of State Government in Illinois. The latter was elected by the people, apparently against the influence of all the public men of the State. The Legislature itself was largely against him.
In the fall of 1828 the hero of New Orleans was elected Presi- dent of the United States, and "Jacksonian Democracy " began definitely to assert itself, the citizens of White County inclining rather to support it. From 1826 onward the Jackson party had control of both branches of the General Assembly of Illinois, and in 1830 the anti-Jackson party felt so weak that they brought for- ward no candidate for Governor. The contest for this office was entered into by Wm. Kinney, then Lieutenant-Governor, and John Reynolds, formerly a member of the Supreme Court. Both these men belonged to the Jackson party, the former being, according to the slang phrase of that day, a " whole-hog " man; that is, a man who servilely followed Jackson in all his peculiarities. After a wearisome campaign of nearly eighteen months, Reynolds was elected. This Governor favored an advance in the cause of educa- tion, internal improvement, the Illinois and Michigan Canal, im- provement of Chicago harbor, three public highways, commencing respectively at Cairo, Shawneetown and the lower Wabash, all to terminate at the head mines, the completion of the penitentiary, the winding up of the old State Bank, and the doctrine that this State was the " rightful owner of the soil within its limits."
In 1832 Jackson was re-elected President, and Lieutenant-Gover- nor Zadok Casey was elected to Congress. In 1834 Joseph Dun- can was elected Governor, and under his administration State banks and internal-improvement schemes revived and culminated in 1836-'S, as elsewhere delineated in this volume. Also, in 1837, the slavery question was considerably agitated, especially by Elijah P. Lovejoy, in his paper at Alton, who was killed by a mob.
In the Presidential contest of 1836, the Democratic party nomi- nated as a successor to General Jackson, Martin Van Buren, of
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New York, and for Vice-President, Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky. The Whig party in a disorganized condition en- tered four Richmonds in the field for the Presidency, viz .: General Win. Henry Harrison, of Ohio; Senator Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts; Senator Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, and Senator Willis P. Magnum, of North Carolina. The result was a vic- tory for Martin Van Buren. He received 170 electoral votes, Gen- eral Harrison seventy-three, Hugh L. White twenty-six, Daniel Webster fourteen, and Willis P. Magnum eleven. Van Buren had a majority of forty-six over all, and was inaugurated President March 4, 1837, and R. M. Johnson, Vice-President. The Democ. racy met at Waterloo, in White County, that year. The Whigs made a clean sweep, electing for State Senator, Colonel W. H. Davidson; for member of the House of Representatives, E. B. Webb, and for Sheriff, John Phipps. They already had the Clerk, James Ratcliff, who was also Probate Judge.
At that time the Whig party had in Carmi Precinct about three votes to the Democrats one; in Prairie, about two to one; in Gray- ville, about four to one; in Fox River, a small Whig majority. The Democracy had Indian Creek solid, less from two to four votes; Herald's Prairie, three to one. In Seven-Mile Prairie, under the influence of that good man, John C. Gowdy, the Democracy got away with the Whigs by a large majority; but the Whig party could count on from 250 to 350 majority. They had a strong, well-disciplined court-house ring, well organized by shrewd manipulators that well understood how to run the political ma- chine in the interest of the faithful, while the Democracy were without skillful leaders and unorganized. When they met the enemy's well-disciplined forces they were dispersed like a disor- ganized mob.
At the election in 1838, the Whig party again completely van- quished the Democracy of White County, under the well-directed canvass conducted by the Carmi ring. E. B. Webb and Alexander Phillips were elected over Major Nathaniel Blackford and Major Daniel Powell, Representatives to the Lower House of the Legislat- ure, Wm. H. Davidson, Whig, holding over Senator from White County. John Phipps was re-elected Sheriff over Harry McHenry by a large majority. Harry made a gallant fight. He had the prestige of a noble ancestry, with a large majority of Democrats in the county, but it was of no use. A well-organized court-house ring could put to flight the unorganized Democrats, and the gal-
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lant Harry was made to bite the dust, never again to appear as the standard beam of the Democracy of White County, for he died in the prime of his manhood in 1840, admired by every true Demo- crat, and respected by the entire Whig party in the county.
The greatest interest manifested by the masses of the people in 1840 was in the political contest that took place. The adminis- tration of President Van Buren was drawing to a close, and all the unfortunate business men and broken-down speculators laid their downfall to Martin Van Buren. On the 22d of February, the Whig party met in National Convention at Harrisburg, Pa., and nominated the following ticket : For President, William Henry Harrison, of Ohio; Vice-President, John Tyler, of Vir- ginia. This ticket was well received by the people, except the dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, and more especially the broken busi- ness men, of which there were legions in all parts of the Union from Maine to Georgia. June following the Democratic party met in the city of Baltimore and renominated Van Buren and Johnson. The canvass was opened by the Whigs with much zeal and deter- mination. They had an army of broken merchants and specula- tors as a nucleus to rally around, and they organized their party throughout the Union upon the basis that everything is fair in poli- tics, with well-selected campaign songs sung to the people at all times and places ; an army of stump speakers day and night ha- ranguing the people, charging all the hard times to Van Buren, and promising the people that if their candidate should be elected (Old Tippecanoe) good times would once more smile upon a suffering people. They had log cabins erected at the street crossings in the cities and towns, and at the cross-roads in the country, with coon skins nailed on the outside, and a barrel of hard cider within, with gourds to drink the cider and gingerbread to wind up the festivi- ties. This was to exemplify the mode and living of General Har- rison, the poor man's candidate for President. Then the speaker would review Martin Van Buren's style of living, raise his head and turn up his eyes toward Heaven, and with holy horror say: " My fellow-citizens, to-day Martin Van Buren sits in his cushioned chair, spits in a china spittoon, his room carpeted with Turkey or Brussels, eats his steak from a silver plate, stirs his tea with a silver spoon, and sips it from a china cup. My God, can we, the hard-working men, stand this Democratic extravagance longer ?" "No!" would be the response from a hundred throats, " Huzza
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