USA > Illinois > Williamson County > History of Williamson county, Illinois, From the earliest times, down to the present, 1876, with an accurate account of the secession movement, ordinances, raids, etc., 1914 > Part 2
USA > Illinois > Williamson County > History of Williamson county, Illinois, From the earliest times, down to the present, with an accurate account of the secession movement, ordinances, raids, etc., also, a complete history of its "bloody vendetta," including all its recondite causes, results, etc., etc. > Part 2
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protect the helpless. In the fall he return- ed north, and was greatly mortified over his brother's defeat at Tippecanoe. The next year he was killed at the battle of the' Thames, in Canada.
But the Shawnee Indians were not all like Tecumseh. They were hated and dreaded by the whites, and were overwhelmed and obliterated by the relentless flow of the pale- faces, and lived only in memory and history. They once claimed this county as their own, and the light bark canoe swam on the silver bosom of the Saline. As they wandered along its shores they passed forests whose sombre depths were veiled to them by a vast screen of drooping birch, and then they pushed their little craft through wide- spreading beds of water lilies, and then, en- tering one of Nature's solemn temples, what weird, wonderous visions greeted their thrilled senses ! As they glided slowly along, the heavens were almost shut out. Behind and before them rose up trunks of trees; now and then they stooped as they passed under some monarch of the place. They pushed aside the thickly trailing vines and then the canoe would disturb a perfect surface of the most marvelous mirror, reflecting countless forms of leaves and twigs. How intense was the silence, broken only by the splash of a single blue heron, who, wondering at the
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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
intrusion, gazed, and then spreading his great wings, rose and slowly disappeared. Such were the scenes of these dirty, greasy, filthy Indians.
Every valley of our beautiful county gives evidence of the existence of the race to which I refer. The delightful valley of the Crab-Orchard is replete with Indian his- tory and reminiscence. But the Kaskaskias, who were friendly with the whites, continu- ed to come to this county as late as 1828. They were sent out by Colonel Manair, a trader of Kaskaskia, to hunt for furs, etc. They would come in the fall and camp on Big Muddy, Hurricane, Crab-Orchard, Caplin- ger Ponds, and other streams. But these were Indians in whom the peculiar charac- teristics of the race had given place to some of the courtesies and confidences of civilized man. A very large number of them were camped at Bainbridge as late as 1813. James Maneece once visited this camp, and they had a large kettle of terrapins on boiling, making soup. They asked him to eat with them, but he declined. The Crain boys and others used to go to their camps on the Crab- Orchard, and have fun with them. They asked them why they did not go down on the Saline; that there was plenty of all kinds of game there; but the Indian would shake his head and say, "Griffee live there; he
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kill Indians." Thos. Griffee had a charac- ter for killing every Indian he could catch in the woods, and they were afraid to go down there. When they camped on Big Muddy, the white folks would go down regu- larly every Sunday to see them. One old In- dian who came here for several years had a white wife, by the name of Ellen, said to be very handsome. He would never leave her at the camp alone on Sunday, for fear the white boys would steal her. These hunters used to go quite often to farmers' houses for something to eat.
In Northern Precinct, they got so bad that the women were afraid to stay at home alone while they were loitering around through the woods. The men banded to- gether, and gave the Indians ten days' no- tice to leave the country. They produced the Governor's permit to hunt, but it was not honored. They left before the ten days were out, and were never seen in Northern Precinct again. John Roberts, the Burns and Ratcliff were in the band. Wigwams were still standing on Carl. Grave's farm, in 1820; and on Hugh Park's, as late as 1829, were traces of camps. But after 1818, they never went into the eastern part of the coun- ty. They had a camp at a spring on the farm of J. S. Neely, in 1817. Also, on In- dian Camp Creek, in the Burns settlement.
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 17
A little south of the old station, near Pond Creek, are several Indian mounds; they are piles of dirt thrown up two feet high and twenty feet across to set the wigwams on to kept them dry. Many relics of the Indians have been found in this county. On Wesley Park's farm are rocks cut and carved in cu- rious style by the Indians.
OF EARLY SETTLERS.
The French settlers of Kaskaskia were mostly engaged in fur trading, and, in pur- suing this business, would follow up the streams emptying into the Mississippi, near that place. As no stream runs from this county to Kaskaskia, it is not probable that any of these people ever entered what is now Williamson county until 1720.
When Renault, an agent of the Mississip- pi Company, left France with two hundred miners to carry out the mining schemes of that company in Illinois, he bought five hundred slaves at San Domingo, to work in the mines. He settled at St. Phillip, and sent out exploring expeditions all over Illi- nois. He remained here twenty-four years, and spent seven millions of dollars. While there is no evidence of his search in this county, it is almost certain that he did so. Along the north side of Johnson county is found a shining kind of metal resembling
-F 3
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silver, and many traces of extinct mines yet remain that at some day must have been the scene of much labor and expense. To reach these mines, he would necessarily pass through this county, and if so, was the first white man ever to break its solemn silence with the tread of his foot-steps. The next probable account of white men in this coun- ty was in 1766, when four men, who had been exploring with Col. James Smith in Kentucky, crossed into Illinois at the mouth of the Tennessee, and traveled fifty miles north, where they are lost sight of forever. It is likely they were killed by the Indians in this county.
The first white men known to have been in this county was in 1796. Col. George Rog- ers Clarke, with one hundred and fifty men, came down the Ohio en route for Kaskaskia. ITe left Fort Massac about the 14th day of June, and marched on foot to a point seven miles north-west of Golconda. Here he turned north-west, and came into our coun- ty at the south-east corner, marched by Sarahville to Thomas Hill's place, then turn- ed north, passed within one hundred and fif- ty yards of Marion on the west side, then through the east side of Phelps' Prairie to Herrin's Prairie, passing through where D. R. Harrison's fine brick mansion now stands and crossing Big Muddy at the mouth
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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
of Pond Creek, or Odum Ford, and arrived at Kaskaskia on the 4th day of July. This has since been known as the Kaskaskia Trail, and in an early day was very muddy and hard to travel. So much so, that a new trail, known as the "Worthen Trail," was made through the east side of the county. It turned north near Sarahville, and ran along the ridge through the Hendrickson Settlement, then into Town Mount Prairie, and joined the old trail south-east of Du- Quoin. In Phelps' Prairie, Clarke, suspect- ing his Indian guides of treachery, put bay- onets behind them and gave them one hour to find the right direction or die. They found it. Clark spent twenty days crossing a country that at most would not have re- quired more than four days for his sturdy back-woodsmen to cross. From this I con- clude that he built what is known as "Stone- fort," in Saline county, near the old trail. There are the remains of an old fort en- closing an acre of ground with dilapitated walls of stone on three sides, and a huge bluff on the north. A short distance from the fort up and down stream is a block- house. That this was built about this time is evident from the growth of the trees in it. It is the shape and style of those built by white men on the frontiers. The block- houses were built up and down the stream,
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the way the Indians traveled. It is built on a high bluff, where nearly all forts are built by white men. The Indians never built any rock forts, and never entrenched on open, high or conspicuous places. It was within a short distance of the Saline River, the regular camping ground of the Shawnce Indians for over thirty years, who, at this time, were at war with the whites, and mov- ing eastward. I was unable to find and en- graving or sculpturing on the rocks, but the trees have been blazed and the dates grown up. I give it as my opinion, based on the history of the past, that Clark built this fort. It was occupied in 1813 by a family of Shultz's.
This brings me to the first settlement, which occurred in 1810. Frank Jordan built a fort in Northern Precinct. It was a stock- ade enclosing about one acre of land, and contained four log cabins and a well, and was about fifty yards from Pond Creek. It is now known by the name of the "Old Sta- tion," and in 1820 half the stockade was standing and the cabins were occupied by James Howe and Mr. Parks. An old doctor by the name of John Dunlap was with the Jordans in this fort. He claimed to have been captured by the Indians when a boy and brought up by them to the practice of medi- cine. He lived a great many years and follow-
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 21
ed his profession, and always got his medi- cine out of the roots and herbs in the woods.
In this year three of the Dillinghams came to this county on a hunting expedition, and camped where Bazzel Holland now lives. For several years they continued to come here to hunt, and finally settled. They fre- quently met the Indians, but always got along friendly with them. In 1811 John Phelps settled Phelps' Prairie. Jay and Mc- Clure settled at the Odum Ford. Joseph and Thomas Griffee settled at Ward's Mill. Wil- liam Donald settled the Hill place. John Manesse and his son James settled in Phelp's Prairie. During this year these settlers and some from down on Cache, built a block- house on the John Davis' place, west of Marion. It was built of hewed logs, and was twenty feet square, covered with slabs, and had port holes eight feet from the ground. They all went into this fort at night, and had nineteen white dogs for guards on the outside. The tracks of Indians were often seen around in the morning.
James Maneese was twenty-three years old before he knew what a doctor was. He was once sent with a note to one which he gave to a man who gave it to the doctor. Maneese thought it was a machine he was going for. But, lo, Mr. Doctor was a man! A man by the name of Hibbins settled the
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THE HISTORY OF
west side of Herrin's Prairie during this year, but was compelled to leave it the next.
Eighteen and twelve is memorable for the settlement of Flanery, at Flanery Springs. Richard Bankston settled the Spiller farm north of Marion. An unknown hunter built his camp on what is now Benton Russell's farm, but he had to leave on account of the Indians. A few more were added to Jordan's fort, and Richard Ratcliff settled the Rob- erts' farm in Northern. Charles Humphreys settled at the Stancil ford, and commenced to keep a ferry. He built him a small block-house, but the Indians some- times got so bad that he had to remove his family to Jordan's fort for safety. One night, James Herrin, who had come out here on a visit, stayed in the house with the ferryman. It thundered and lightened terribly, and they could see the Indians walking around when it lightened. But they were all gone before day. In 1815 Nathan Arnett settled the Hinchliff farm, and Abraham Piatt, William Doty and Nelson McDonald settled near him. Solomon Snider and James Mc- Donald moved up from Johnson county and settled in Grassy. Dempsey Odum settled the F. C. Kirkham farm. Aaron Youngblood set- tled the Jake Sanders' place. In 1816 there were but few settlers. Joshua Tyner set- tled on the Eight Mile; William Lindsey the
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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
Samuel Russell place; Jasper Crain settled on the west side of the prairie, and the next year moved to Phelps' Prairie. 1817 was more prolific of settlers. Spencer Crain set- tled in Phelps' Prairie. John Phelps moved to Union county. Ragsdall Rollin settled the north side of the prairie. Isaac Herrin settled the Stotlar place in Herrin's Prairie.
Capt. David Springs settled the Graves' place. John Roberts bought Ratcliff's im- provements. John Hooker and James Howe settled near him and Mr. Worthen. In 1818 there was a great influx of people. Phillip Russell and his three sons settled in the Eight Mile. Perkins in Herrin's Prairie. Elijah' Spiller bought Bankston out. Bankston was a shrewd man, a great hunter, but a drunk- ard. William Burns and five brothers set- tled in Northern. Major Lockaleer the Burns place. George Davis the Bell place. Dicken- son Garrett a little south of James Edwards. Hezekiah Garrett, the Ben Eaton farm. Wil- liam Norris on Phelps' Prairie.
The settlers of 1819 were David Her- ring with his father-in-law, Isaac Herrin. The prairie was named after Isaac. Sion Mitchell, S. M. Mitchell and Moses Jones settled in Northern. S. M. Mitchell where he now lives. Conrad Baker in Herrin's Prai- rie. William and Ben Spiller in the Spiller settlement. Abraham Tippy and his son,
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John, a little south of Bainbridge. Starling Hill at the Hill place, and Simpkins brothers near Hill's. 1820 is signalized by the set- tlement of Wadkins and his negro-the first one in the county. Dowell Russell settled the Lewis Parks place. Mark Robinson, the Kidd place. Some of the Shultz's in Saline precinct. James Stewart and his sons, on the Pease farm. 1821, David Corder settled the Erwin farm on the east, and George Da- vis on the west. Major James Corder set- tled the Stilly farm. 1822, Hamilton Corder where he now lives. Charles Erwin settled the farm on which he lived and died. Hugh Parks on the Jack Thompson place, and seven years afterwards moved where he now lives. Daniel Mosley, the Furlong place. 1823, William Campbell settled Blairsville, and Sam. Stacks Southern Precinct.
I have now given all the settlers up to 1822. These I have denominated "the early settlers," for three reasons: First, it gives us a settlement in all the precincts of the county, and Second, they produced no change in the country-neither improving it nor de- stroying the game, but lived like the In- dians, mostly in the woods. Third, the in- flux of immigration swelled into such a stream that it would be impossible to keep trace of individual settlers with anything like accuracy. The Bowles, Lewis, Wrights, Ar-
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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
nolds, Hunters, Phimesters, Bakers and Tur- ners, all settled in early days.
The settlement of Marion deserves a notice. Poor Prairie, by William Benson in 1826. He built a cabin where the Cox place is. Soon after this, Martin Spiller settled the Goddard place, and Tipo S. Williams the Aikman place, and Mr. Tyner built a cabin where the C. & S. R. R. depot now stands. In 1835, Benson bought Tyner's im- provements, which extended over the pres- ent site of Marion, and he built a cabin where the widow of Col. James D. Pully now lives. At that time a cabin was standing where Young & Kern's store now stands, in a decayed condition, and no one knew any- thing of it. Benson kept hotel, and his house was used as a court-house for a while. He cultivated corn and wheat where the square was laid out. Silas Grattan settled the Bar- ham place. James McCoy, the Stockton place. Jacob Goodall settled on the Goodall farm southeast of Marion in 1828. I will now pro- ceed to give a description of the character, manners, etc., of our fathers, and first of
THEIR CHARACTER.
I have tried, though with conscious im- perfection to describe the country our first settlers found when they came here. It was this lovely country, with its still past, and
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THE HISTORY OF
glorious future, that awakened a feeling of independence and spirit of enterprise among the settlers. They were generally the humb- ler class from Tennessee, Kentucky, North and South Carolina; but there is scarcely a state in the Union that has not furnished us some immigrants, and there is no country where more singular, more eccen- tric, more opposite characters were found. Here was the brave, the passionate, the gen- erous, the sincere, the fickle, the bold, the modest, the devout, and the wicked. Here were some devoid of treachery and malice, others vindictive and penurious. Some were promoters of education, and some were idl- ers. Here were the melancholy and the happy. They were very credulous and be- lieved nearly everything they heard, no mat- ter how exaggerated, and hence imposition and misfortune was often their lot. They came here big with enterprise, elated with hope, full of their own abilities. They trust- el to themselves for life. They were poor, but of unmixed blood. There were no half- breeds, neither of Indians nor other ob- noxious races. In private life they lived with republican austerity, and in society moved with chivalrous spirit. They settled on the margins of the little prairies, on the banks of streams, and near large springs. They built cabins out of round logs, which
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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 27
they chinked and daubed to keep out the winter's cold and summer's heat. The door was hung with cypress vines, and the yard was decorated with sun-flowers, hollyhocks and poseys, showing that woman, under all circumstances, has something sweet and no- ble in her life. Many of these cabins are still standing, and there are none of us, if cur ancestors were traced back a few genera- tions, but would find them in one of these cabins, where the midnight wolves howled their nightly serenade. It was in one of these rude structures, surrounded by an un- broken forest, that the author of this vol- ume, still an humble boy, was cast out upon the cold charities of an unfeeling and incon- stant world, to live in a sinful day and suffer the destinies of men. And these old woods are still eloquent with the reminiscences of long ago-not the stuff that dreams are made of, but the rank charms and rich loves of the past, loading the vehicle of memory and oppressing the soul.
Two-thirds of the early settlers followed the occupation of hunting. They cultivated small patches of corn for bread. The other third followed farming. While eight acres was a large farm, they made good livings and had something to give their children. Besides these two classes, there was a va- grant class that sprung up in the last forty
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years, who roamed through the woods un- influenced by attachment and unfettered by principle, stealing hogs and sheep. But they have all disappeared. The settlers lived calm, quiet lives, remote from the active bustle of more civilized life. Their sur- roundings imparted to them generous feel- ings, gentle manners and a language of liquid softness. Hospitality with them was a part of human nature, and not a religious rite. They were as generous as their soil was productive. Nature had bestowed food up- on them with a liberal hand, and taught them to share it with the hungry. Social inter- course was more general than now, more liearty, less formal, and more valued. Friend- ships were warmer and deeper. When a man got sick, his neighbors would go break his ground, plant his crop and cultivate it for him. And it was thought no hardship to ride fifteen miles for this purpose, or even visiting as friends. The world has not ex- hibited an example of a more happy race than our early settlers. Their kindness was bounded only by their capacity. Nothing that a neighbor wanted was too good for him to borrow. While some of them had vices of savages, most of them had the vir- tues of men. They were true to their coun- try, true to their friends, their homes and their God. They hardly ever forgave an in-
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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
sult or forgot a kind act; and if their ven- geance was terrible, their generosity was great. Their lives may seem to us hard, lonesome and wearied by lifeless monotony ; but they were passed happily. Some of our old men have told me their young days were the best and sweetest part of life. They heard the same song-birds that we hear. Their faces were fanned by the same breeze; but they were surrounded by the rich influence of wild, untamed Nature. Cowardice was a foreigner. They were thoughtful, grave- looking set of men, with long beards, and generally had but little to say. But the grav- ity of the stock has been changed by grafts from without, and these early characteristics are observable now only in our oldest men. They live in the past, and only look to the future with gratitude and hope to see their children fairly gain wealth and honor in a day of culture and refinement. Some of these old men live in cabins with but little around them, and it is no index to the posi- tion they once held, or the influence they exerted, to see them living that way now. They might have been captains in the mi- litia, or served as judge, sheriff, etc., in the county. Mr. O. West, once a captain in the Army, now lives in a humble cottage. Gen- eral John Davis lived on a farm in a log house. These men never resorted to slan-
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der; when they spoke of a man their lan- guage clearly showed no malice. They were generous to faults, and honest in their deal- ings. The children of those who followed faming are our best livers. The Herrings, Parks, Russells, Davis, Roberts, Stewarts, Arnolds, were not hunters, and their chil- dien are our wealthiest farmers. Those who followed hunting are now generally poor.
But our fathers had many hardships to lessen the joys of life. They were often without the necessities of life. They had but few store goods, and had to go to Equality for salt, to Shawneetown for groceries and domestics. They had but few horses, and most of the traveling was done on foot. Even in a very late day, they would go to mill, carrying two bushels of corn on their shoul- ders. But, happily for our people, none need have such hardships now. Our mothers were among the border beauties of the Great West. They were very plain, untrammeled by stages and ceremonies. They did not have white hands, nor willow waists, and consequently had coarse, awkward, brawny health. Still, in this wilderness, they had much of their refinement belonging to their sex. They had something about them that was womanly and attractive. They did not swear, do, nor say anything that was sug-
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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
gestive of immorality. They associated with men, and very coarse ones, and were initi- mately acquainted with all their affairs. They were accustomed to the woods and dangers, and learned to be strong of hand and nerve, and to keep cool. They would fight as quick as the men, and many of them were excellent shots and could shoot a deer or turkey as well as bake a hoe-cake. Their necks were sun-burnt, and their hair hung down or was twisted in a little knot on the back of the head. They wore no ruffles, bias stripes or flounces, but had a comliness of their own. It was not the paltry pretti- ness of gait nor manners that lent beauty to their frontier charms, but it was stalwart, untrained grace that made them models of beauty. Their ringlets fell in troublesome abundance and would not be confined. Their cheeks, if they could but know the absence of sunbeam caresses and the boisterous kisses of the wind, would show the clearest marble-white and bonniest bloom. They shuf- fled their limbs slip-shod along trails in search of animals, and of whose sound strength the owner had but little thought. They had arms which split wood and car- ried water; whose whiteness and mould would fit them rather for the adornment of golden clasps and folds of ancient lace. Their houses were neat and tasty. They had no
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THE HISTORY OF
fine furniture, no bright, baize carpet cov- ered the floor; but in the yard a stump or box contained forest flowers; luxuriant branches of evergreens hung in the corners, and festoons of oak leaves and cypress vines covered the whitewashed walls of the house; and panseys, ferns and pinks fringed the walks.
Many of our older ladies look back with tears in their eyes on these fair dwellings. How bright are the scenes, and how sacred are the joys which surround them! Memory wraps a halo of beauty, peace and glory around them, and binds anew their charms to the heart. Little did they care for the smiles of the gay world of fashion that glit- ter and gleam on the paths of modern belles. While our fathers preached, commanded, hunted and plowed, our mothers spun, wove, cultivated flowers, and exerted every gentle, womanly influence. If a woman wounded the feelings of her neighbor, and a recon- ciliation had to be effected, some little chord, buried deep under the accumulated debris of pride, indifference and wounded vanity, was struck by a sympathetic hand, and thrilled and quivered into perfect harmony. These little, impulsive acts were genuine in- spirations. Many a man has been led to the fold of friendship, and many a woman's life has been strengthened by the sponta-
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