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 3
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 3
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neous infusion of sympathetic feelings. They loved their husbands, brothers and sons, and were as ready to join them in their sports and amusements, as to share their privations and dangers. They provided lolly-pops for school-girls, and ginger-cakes for boys, and flying mares and swings for festive days. I have asked our old ladies what hardships they had to encounter in the early settlement of this county; but they gave so many and varied accounts, that it was hard to generalize their troubles. They were often left alone, surrounded by wild animals and were subject to frequent hard- ships. I will relate one scene which I saw when a boy, illustrative of those early days. It was one of the hardest scenes that it is the allotment of men to meet. It was a handsome young woman, sitting on a plow- beam, nursing her baby. She had just been plowing, and had taken her babe up from its grassy bed, and sat down to rest. This was a hard sight. New feelings sprang up slowly in my heart, and I could hardly keep my countenance from arguing humanity by sighs and sobs. This lovely woman met Fate's stern demand with a brave patience that was truly grand and heroic. The birds had learned to love her, and as the trans- parent clouds drifted like currents and
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waves of gauze athwart the sky, they whis- tled their cheerful lullabies of sympathy and encouragement to her. But she was a widow, and afterwards married happy, and Williamson County has not since been tar- nished by a scene like this, which must wither the pride and bring a blush of shame to the cheek of every person who has the least spark of humanity in his bosom. If it is objected that this incident is not worthy of historic mention, I will answer that the hardships of our people are a part of my subject, and my heart is full of it.
But few of the early settlers are now living. Since we have parted from them, winter has come and gone, spring has glad- dened us with beauty, blossoms and fruits. And the summer of life is now pouring in profusion into the lap of our destiny the highest privileges of civilized man, to be gathered and garnered for our comfort. Much of the real character of our people remains unchanged, and this county today, contains a bold, brave, generous class of citizens, distinguished for intelligence, hon- esty and high moral culture. They are a people which will compare favorably, in those virtues and graces with ennoble char- acter and render life happy, with those of any part of the Great West.
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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
OF DRESS.
Among the men there were two styles of dressing worn-one by those who followed farming, and one by those who were hunt- ers. The hunters, who were by far the largest class, wore a hunting-shirt, which was a large linsey or domestic gown, open before and fastened with a belt, and reached below the knees. Under this was a pair of domestic pants, a common vest, and deerskin moccasins on their feet, and a deer or a coon skin cap on their heads. This was the dress, both winter and summer, and in this garb, the hunter might be seen wading the snow of winter, or crushing the flowers of summer. At church and public gatherings, the bloodiest man was generally considered the best dressed.
The dress of the farmers was a little dif- ferent. In place of the hunting-shirt, they had a sack-coat, made of linsey. In place of domestic pants, they generally wore dressed buck skin, and in place of the cap, they had the palmetto hat. The dressing of the wom- en was still more odd and singular. They raised their own cotton and flax, spun and wove them into such garments as they need- ed. Six yards was considered an extrav- agant amount to put into one dress, which was made plain, with two widths in the skirt, the front one cut gored. The waist
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was up under their arms, with a draw string between the shoulders behind. The sleeves were made very large, and tapered to the wrist, and the most fashionable had these sleeves filled with a kind of pad which made them look like a bolster, and were called "sheep shank sleeves." Those who could afford it, used feathers, which gave the sleeve the appearance of an inverted balloon from the elbow up, and were called "pillow sleeves." Some of these were so large that they almost shut out the face from view, and extended up to their ears. Papers were used in absence of pads and feathers. Graceless young rascals would speak of kissing the girls at parties as "squeezing the pillows." The bonnet was a tow bonnet, made of splits; but the most fashionable wore Leghorn hats, with the brim about ten inches wide, tied up with a ribbon in a bow-knot on top. They wore a great many ribbons and bows, but no jew- elry. If a girl could succeed in getting a little indigo blue in her tow dress, she was considered as "putting on airs."
The tow dress was superseded by the cotton dress. Their petticoats and bed gowns were made of linsey, and a small cop- peras handkerchief filled the place around the neck now occupied by a gorgeous ring of ruffles. They went barefooted in sum-
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mer. In winter they wore moccasins and shoe packs. A very nice thing compared with the elegant Morocco slipper, embossed with bullion, worn now by their grand- daughters. In going to church they would carry their shoes in sight, and then stop and put them on. The coats of the women and the hunting shirts of the men were hung up- on wooden pegs around the walls of the cabin, and one could see their stock in this line at a glance. They had none of the ruf- fles, silk hats, curls, combs, rings and jew- els that adorn and beautify our belles. Many of them were grown before they ever saw inside of a store, or even knew that there was such a thing. Instead of the toilet, they handled the wheel and shuttle. Instead of the piano and guitar, the sickle and weeding hoe. Instead of challis and silk, they were contented with their linsey and copperas- colored tow for dresses, and to cover their heads with bonnets made with five-hundred cotton yard. And in this severe simplicity they lived and were happy. Their hearts pulsed in responsive beats to each other's woes and were borne on the same wave of joy. Reared in simplicity, surrounded by poverty, cared for by brave parents, their lives were one long dream of sunshine, un- broken by a single storm-cloud poured out
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as a shameful libation to dim the horizon of their happiness.
In 1840, the styles which I have described were nearly all gone, and those of the pres- ent day took their place. The gray moss- covered rocks, the aged oak, the green thick- et the emerald prairies are all unchanged. Nature's usual robes remain the same. Man is the only thing in Nature that changes the styles of its covering. Probably because originally made to live without clothes, and God placed them on him because of his sin, and man, finding himself in an unnatural condition, has ever been hard to please.
OF FURNITURE.
Coming here as the early settlers did in wagons, over execrable roads, they could bring no furniture with them, and, conse- quently they had nothing but what they made, which was rude enough. Their bed- steads consisted of a fork drove in the ground and poles laid in it; then into the walls of the cabin. This was covered with boards, and these with straw, deer or bear skins. The tables were made of boards pegged on to a frame with four legs crossing each other in the center like a saw-buck. The furniture for the table for several years consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates and spoons, but mostly of wooden bowls,
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trenchers and noggins. If these were not to he had, gourds and hard-shelled squashes were used. Some few people used the delft ware, but it was considered of no account by many, as it was easily broken-and then it dulled their scalping and clasp knives. Tea ware was too small for men, but was good enough for women and children. Iron pots, knives and forks were brought here when the people came. Deer skins, stretch- ed over a hoop, and perforated with a hot wire were used as a sifter, and almost every house had a loom, and every woman was a weaver.
But this rude and noisy furniture has given place to sewing machines, rose-wood pianos, organs, and marble tables, which are now frequently met with. All kinds of edge tools were scarce and very valuable in an early day. So it was a long time before the carpenters improved on the furniture. In 1840, at least two turning lathes were put up in the county, and they made some round bed posts, which were long enough for flag poles.
OF DIET.
For a while after our fathers came here, they had some of the provisions which they brought with them; but soon they were cut off from all supplies but those which Na-
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ture had placed within their reach, and such as they made by their own exertions. If the furniture for the table was rude, the articles of diet corresponded with it. Wild meats were plentiful. Small patches of corn were raised, which, being beaten in a mor- tar, made good bread, but they could not shut their teeth close on account of the grit in the bread. Hog and hominy was a favor- ite dish, as was also hoecake and gravy. Johnny cakes and pones were staples for breakfast and dinner-milk and mush were used for supper. Fish, of course, were abundant. All kinds of greens, such as dock, and polk, were eaten. Roasting-ears, pumpkins, beans, squashes and potatoes were raised in "truck patches," and used by all. The pot-pie was the standard dish for log-rollings and house raisings. Coffee and tea were not much used in an early day -they were thought to be slops that would not "stick to the ribs." The genuine back- woodsman would say that they were good for sick women and children. They were surrounded by all kinds of wild fruits, such as grapes, cherries, plums, paw-paws, per- simmons, crabapples, red and black haws, and berries. These fruits still grow in great abundance in this county. There were both butchers and cooks, and had no "Bridgets" or waiting-girls. With refine-
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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
ment and culture, came that knowledge which has produced that variety of diet which makes the Americans the most inde- pendent people on earth.
OF MORALS.
For a long time in the early history of our county, there was neither law nor gos- pel, but there was a set of moral maxims which answered the place of law. Every- body understood what was right, and the man who did not do this was looked down upon. For instance, it was a duty for ev- ery man to help fight the Indians, or help raise houses; if he refused, ne need not ask men to help him. No man was allowed to draw a deadly weapon in a fight, and if he did, everybody was against him. They had an innate or hereditary detestation of the crime of theft, and any person caught stealing was generally doomed to carry the "United States Flag on his back," to-wit: thirteen stripes. Bastardy was an offense of rare occurrence, the chivalrous temper of the people was so great that the guilty auth- or was in great danger of personal violence from the brothers and father of the girl. Family honor was then esteemed very high- ly. People in those days had a great deal of veracity, and such a thing as perjury was unknown, until that unprincipled class of
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citizens which I mentioned elsewhere, sprang up in the county. Generally, they esteemed their word as good as their bond. The hunt- ing class, as the game began to get scarce, were mostly idle and unoccupied, and the idleness tempted to dissipation, and hence whisky shops gained a footing in the county as early as 1835, followed by shooting matches, gander pullings and horse races, which were the schools in which their ap- petites were trained and nursed into mis- chief. When intemperance had extended its ravages, profanity overspread the country, which before was unknown. Licentiousness was uncommon among the early settler, but is now practiced to an alarming extent. This is caused by the countenance given by the public to those men who lave in the lecher- ous sea of prostitution.
OF HUNTING.
From 1810 to 1835, two-thirds of our fathers followed hunting for a living, and, consequently they never made anything; but those who stuck to the farms are the wealthy ones now. The hunters cared but little for worldly honors and distinction, and scarcely ever looked to the future. These rangers of the woods were a hardy race, accustomed to labor and privation. Their forms were developed to the fullest vigor ; many of them idled away their aimless lives on the fertile
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plains that lay untilled before them, follow- ing some phantom that glowed with a treacherous gleam into scenes that were as false as their pleasures were hollow.
Early hunters were more like the prim- itive savage than any other men. Their hab- its and characters assumed a cast of sim- plicity mingled with ferocity, taking their colorings from the scenery and objects about them, with no companion but Nature and the rifle. By natural instinct they were ever alive to guard against danger, and pro- vide food. Great observers of nature, they rivaled the beast of prey in discovering the haunts of game and their habits. Callous to the feelings of danger, by constant ex- posure they feared nothing. Of law they knew but little; their wish was law, and to obtain this they did not scruple at the means or cost; but these strong, active honest backwoodsmen were firm friends and gen- erous men. Some of them still live among us; the most prominent are Hamilton Cor- der, James Maneece, Samuel Russell and William Chitty. But that bold race of which they are specimens, is fast passing away. If I was not a criminal I would go to them for relief, but if I was a criminal 1 would shun their eyes. These old men love to retreat to the forest and there re- late their hunting scrapes. They were dar-
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ing experts; not a hole in the county but has been ransacked by these hardy men.
They knew every rock, stream, lake, shoal and valley in the county. They have dropped their hooks into every stream, and set their traps in every drift, and bayou. All kinds of game abounded in the woods, and all kind of fish flashed their silver scales in the sun on the bosom of our waters. They were conversant with the character of every animal, fish and bird in the country. The regular hunter would start out about an hour by sun, bending his course towards the setting sun, over undulating hills, under the shade of large forest trees, beautifully fes- tooned with grape vines and dark deep moss ; wading through rank weeds and grass, now viewing some winding creek doubtful of its course, and of his own, his restless eye caught everything around. The guard of his own safety, relying on himself for pro- tection, and at every step the strong passions of hope and fear called into exercise, he sought ominous presages of good or bad luck in everything around. The croakings of the raven and the howl of the wolf were signs. A turned leaf or a blade of grass pressed down, the uneasiness of wild animals, flight of birds were all paragraphs to him. These men needed fortitude to sustain their reflec- tions. They felt the pangs which solitude
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gives, and had heaven the sigh which affec- tion prompted. Beset by dangers, despond- ency stood ready to seize their souls. Some- times they would go where there was an is- land of foliage on the prairie, standing out of the low billows of prairie grass that serg- ed away till the feathery tufts broke like foam against the circles of the horizon, and their eagle eyes swept around the country for game. Sometimes they would go to green thickets, whose solitary loneness was awful; here they would see the wolf steal- ing through the gloom aud snuffing the scent of the intruder; and now and then the blood-shot eye of the catamount glare through the foliage. Wolves were so com- mon as to become a public nuisance, and af- ter a reward of one dollar a scalp was of- fered for their scalps, several men followed the business of killing them for a living. They had dogs trained to jump the wolf and then run backward, the wolf following to where the hunter lay concealed. Among the most noted wolf hunters were Gideon Alex- ander, Parson Crouch, William Chitty and Jesse Childers. They averaged about fif- teen wolves a day. In storms, the ravens were seen winging their way to cover; the bench-legged coyote quickly trotted to his hole; the piercing cry of the wolf was borne upon the winds, but the fearless hunter was
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not disturbed for then he was sure of game. Deer licks and turkey pens were a com- mon thing until a recent day. The hunting of wild bees, which existed here in countless millions, was a daily business. Bear hunt- ing was a dangerous but interesting amuse- ment, and continued as late as 1845.
OF SPORTS.
Our fathers indulged in many rude ath- letic sports, which have long since given place to the more refined amusements of our day. As long as a higher value was set on physical endowments than on mental, these rude sports were continued. Promi- nent among them was horse-racing. This 'was carried on mostly in the west half of the county, and was often the scene of blood- shed and much confusion. Our people have not entirely outgrown it yet. From 1820 to 1830, and occasionally since, the barbarous practice of gander-pullings was carried on. It was regularly kept up at Josiah Dillard's and Solomon Snider's, at Christmas and at all large gatherings. The way they were conducted was shameful in the extreme. Plenty of whisky was first provided, then a ponypurse was made up, or a premium of- fered. A gander was next taken and his neck thoroughly soaped, when he was tied by the legs to a springing-pole, head down- ward, eight or nine feet from the ground;
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 47
the riders then mounted and went at full speed; one man stood under the gander with a whip to keep the horses going. The first man who got hold of the gander generally turned the feathers the wrong way and made neck sleeker than ever. The gander would flap his wings and squall for life, when an expert rider got hold of him, in such a man- ner as to make the blood grow cold. Some- times a greedy fellow would hold on until his horse ran from under him, and then he would generally strike the ground with that portion of his body which, in stooping pos- ture, is the fairest mark for assault. Run- ning, jumping and wrestling were the com- mon amusements at neighborhood gather- ings, and the best wrestler and fastest run- ner were men of notoriety. Every boy had his bow and arrow, and spent a great part of his time in the woods. Skill in shooting with the bow was a great virtue. The hunt- ers learned to imitate the cry of all kinds of animals, and the whistle of all kinds of birds. To bleat like a fawn, howl like a wolf or gobble like a turkey, were accomplish- ments common among all. They had learned it from the Indians. Dancing was a favorite amusement with the people of the west side of the county. Those on the east side were not noted for sports of any kind, but were better hunters. At all weddings and house-
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raisings they had a dance, and people would come twenty-five miles to them. They knew nothing of the waltz, schottische or polka of our day; but the "Irish Trot," three and four-handed reels and jigs were tramped out to perfection. Cottonpickings were common in an early day, and they were fol- lowed by a "play," where the boys would kiss the girls from "Julius Cæsar" to the Fourth of July." It was not dishonorable, because it brought no bashful blush to trip down the girls' cheeks in stipple dots; but the sweet, love-pressed smile baptized her iips, and sent an electric radiation which caught up his heart and made it dance a polka in his mouth. Cards, dice and other such gambling instruments, were wholly un- known among the early settlers; but from 1835 to 1870, were used by a large number of our people. Now there are but few gamblers in the county. Singings were of frequent occurence until within a few years. Fox-chases, the pride of every sportsman, are still enjoyed in this county. General hunts, with fifty on a side, were practiced twenty-five years ago. They would march through the woods to a common rendezvous, and have a barbecue.
OF WEDDINGS.
The early inhabitants of this county gen- erally married young. There was no distinc-
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tion in rank or class, and hence, no fetters on alliances. The whole neighborhood was on hand at a wedding, for it was sure to be followed by a dance or frolic; and that too, without the labor of building a cabin or planing a scout. The weddings in this coun- ty were conducted in other respects the same at this day, with the exception of the time. They were then always celebrated just be- fore dinner, and the parties were dressed in home-made clothes, and the bride wore buck-skin gloves. The chase after "Black Betty," so common in the West in an early day, was never practiced here. After the wedding, the infare was celebrated, then a log cabin was erected by the neighbors for the young couple.
The young people went out, one by one, from the happy circles of their fathers, ex- changing a place beneath the old roof for a new and untried one out in the wild world. To them it was the balmy time of life. Hope carpeted the future with flowers; all was bright by the anticipated joy of the future. They were our fathers and mothers. Some of them have realized their fondest hopes and brightest dreams, amid the storms that have swept along the tracks of life. Others who have battled long in winters' cold and summers' heat, have ever had the ghastly
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spectre of poverty at their sides, pointing to a destiny of wretchedness and dispair, while the sunny side of life was in view. Divorce was never heard of among the first settlers of this county, but as the practice of marrying has been kept up in a more sin- ful day, the practice of obtaining divorces has also grown up, until now, it is spoken of as a small and un-noticeable event.
WORKINGS.
Workings were the result of the condi- tion of the country. In counties where they build frame , brick or adobe houses, no con- siderable number of hands are necessary, but in the forest, where they raise log houses it requires a large number. So, on the prairies, where there are no logs to roll, these workings are not known; but where the farms are cut out of the wilderness, the farmer needs the aid of his neighbors to roll the heavy logs together. Then the workings were those of planing scouts, cam- paigns, raising log cabins, which were fol- lowed by log-rollings, wood-choppings, rail- splittings and corn-shuckings. At these gatherings they always had a good time. Whiskey was provided, or no work done cer- tain. These workings were attended by all the neighbors, and are kept up unto this day; and have always been a source of fun,
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 51 amusement and mutual benefit to our peo- ple.
SLAVERY.
Illinois Territory was a slave Territory, and contained several hundred slaves; but the Constitution of 1818 prohibited slavery within the State; and provided for the man- umition of the slaves. Most of the citizens of this county were from the South; but few of them brought slaves with them. Wad- kins brought a negro with him, which he always called free, and Frank Jordan had two negro slaves, and the excitement on the question of slavery ran very high until 1818. The negroes were sometimes kidnapped and taken South, and sold, and sometimes taken East and freed. When the state was ad- mitted, almost all the negroes were taken to Missouri and sold. When the question of slavery was settled beyond controversy, some of the negroes were brought back and freed, as provided by law. Alexander McCreery went to Missouri and brought back an old negress slave that his father had owned. He also bought her husband, Rich- ard Inge, out of slavery for $300, and set- tled them upon eighty acres of land which, by frugality, they finally paid for, and are now living on, in the northeast part of this county. Four miles southeast of Marion, the Ellis' settled in an early day. They lived
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY
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quietly and raised large families. These, and a few negroes in the northeast corner of the county, were all the negroes in the county until after the war, when a few families settled near Marion. It was a presumption of law that all negroes were slaves, and hence they could not settle in this county without providing their freedom. About the year 1857, a negro girl, living near Ma- rion, was kidnapped by a band of ruffians, who started South with her to sell her into bondage; but such a thing was too grating to the souls of our people. The hue and cry was levied, and she was rescued from the life of a helpless, toiling slave, and restored to that liberty and freedom which God gave to all nature.
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