USA > Illinois > Edwards County > History of the English settlement in Edwards County, Illinois : founded in 1817 and 1818, by Morris Birkbeck and George Flower > Part 22
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312 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
WHEN wealth and its accessories shall have changed our simple customs, it may be curious to see how brief are the records of our marriage ceremonies, and how small their cost. In looking over the marriage certificates, from 1815 to 1820, the following specimens are literal copies, and they certainly have the merit of brevity, if they have no other :
"The within-named persons were joined together on the 30th September, 1816. G. M. SMITH."
"Was joined as husband and wife, Samuel Plough and Sare Plough by me, March 5, 1813. WILLIAM SMITH."
"January Ist, 1819. Then solemnized by matrimony, between David Payne and Margaret Stewart.
"W. SPENCE, J. P."
"August 2, 1815. There appeared before me, Jeremiah Ballard and Eliza Barney, and was joined in marriage.
"SETH GARD, J. P., Ill. Ter."
"Ill. Territory, June 18, 1816. By authority from you, I solemnize rights of matrimony between Samuel Bum- bery and Mary Jones. DAVID MCGAHEE."
"Was married on the 8th February, 1820, Philip Scud- more to Ann Stone. MOSES MICHAELS."
But our magistrates were not always so exact as to make any returns. These were the certificates. We will now give the fee bills:
"Marrying License, - $1.00 License, - $1.00
Recording Certificates, 121/2
Certificate, - 121/2
Bill Cost, 25 Swearing Witness, 1212
$1.3712
$1.25"
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313
TRADING DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI.
The average cost of marriage was one dollar, thirty-one and a-fourth cents. As many happy marriages were doubtless consummated under our brief and illiterate forms, as under the more formal and costly ceremonies that will succeed our primitive times.
The first years of our settlement, from 1818 to 1825, were spent by our settlers in putting up small houses (chiefly of logs), and shelter of the same sort for the work-horses and other domestic animals used in breaking up and fencing in the prairie for the first fields. In about three years, a surplus of corn, pork, and beef was obtained, but no market. Before they could derive any benefit from the sale of their surplus produce, the farmers themselves had to quit their farms and open the channels of com- merce, and convey their produce along until they found a market. At first there were no produce-buyers, and the first attempts at mercantile adventures were almost fail- ures. In the rising towns, a few buyers began to appear, but with too small a capital to pay money, even at the low price produce then was. They generally bought on credit, to pay on their return from New Orleans. In this way, the farmers were at disadvantage; if the markets were good, the merchant made a handsome profit. If bad, they often had not enough to pay the farmer. Then the farmers began to build their own flat-boats, load them with the produce of their own growth, and navigate them by their own hands. They traded down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and often on the coast beyond. Thus were the channels of trade opened, and in this way was the chief trade of the country carried on for many years.
314 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
Afterward, partly from capital made in the place and foreign capital coming in, trade was established in a more regular way. The farmer is no longer called from his farm, but sells at home to the storekeepers and merchants, now found in all the small but growing towns, from ten to fifteen miles distant from each other, all over the country. They have now sufficient capital to pay for the produce on its delivery. In this way the trade established has con- tinued, excepting in its increasing magnitude.
These farm-laborers of England, now substantial farmers and merchants in our land, may be considered the bone and sinew of our country. When considered, their en- larged sphere of action and change of destiny is truly wonderful. Once poor laborers, their experience com- prised within their parish bounds, or the limits of the farm on which they daily toiled for a bare subsistence; now farmers themselves in another hemisphere, boat- builders, annually taking adventurous trading - voyages of over a thousand miles, and many of them becoming tradesmen and merchants on a large scale, and command- ing an amount of wealth they once never dreamed of possessing. And well they deserve their success. They have earned it by perseverance and hard labor, flinching at nothing.
My father, Richard Flower, died September 8, 1829, aged sixty-eight years. He was a striking and decided character, of marked features and imposing mien; hasty in temper, decided in speech, and prompt in action. He never sought to conceal his thoughts, but gave utterance to what he conceived to be the truthful convictions of
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315
ANCESTORS OF THE FLOWERS.
his mind in the strongest language. Such a man could never be (what, it is true, he never sought to be) a popu- lar man in America. Englishmen, used to free speech at home, here uttering their unpremeditated thoughts, are apt to give offence. Americans, more guarded and non- committal, escape that difficulty. Once convinced of the truth of his impressions, no earthly power could turn my father from his course. It was his belief in the obliga- tion of public worship that induced him to officiate every Sunday before other organized societies opened their places of worship. Affectionate in his family, and hos- pitable to strangers, his mansion was the resort of many strangers who visited the Settlement, and the scene of · frequent festivities and family reunions. He sustained every institution, and subscribed liberally to every public work that was likely to benefit the Settlement.
Our ancestors were men of strong and impulsive feel- ing. One of them, William Flower, is recorded in print and picture in "Foxc's Book of Martyrs," folio edition. He is there represented tied to the stake; the faggots piled around him; refusing to recant; but offering his hand, which the executioner has lopped off; and is holding on a pike, as an atonement for an act which he acknowl- edged to be wrong; striking a priest with his wood-knife whilst officiating at the altar. My mother lived some years after my father, at Park House. She was the daughter of Edward Fordham of Kelshall, a village on the borders of Hertfordshire, near the town of Royston. Clustering around the bleak hills of that district, in the villages of Sandon, Kelshall, and Therfield, the family of
316
ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
Fordhams have long resided. In the wars of the Pro- tectorate, they were as numerous as they are now. With a company of some seventy or eighty men, all blood-rela- tions, and of one name, they joined Cromwell's army. Ordered to a ford of a river, there stationed to check the advance of the royal troops, they were all killed but one man, and he left on the field badly wounded. From this one man, the seventy-three uncles and cousins-all Ford- hams-that made me a farewell visit at my house at Mar- den before I sailed for America, all sprang.
Myself, the eldest son, and my brother, Edward Ford- ham Flower, the youngest son-one in the United States, the other in England-are the only representatives of our family of that generation now living.
In 1830, a large party arrived from Buckinghamshire, England, at our Settlement. They came by way of New Orleans, and landed at Shawneetown. Mr. James Bun- tin, a prominent man of the party, is now living with his numerous family on, or near, his place, north of Albion which he first chose immediately after his arrival. The whole party are scattered about the Settlement, all doing well.
Soon after this, several German families came in, and have continued to drop in ever since-one or two in Albion, but most of them on farms in the country. They make very good settlers, and are very good neigh- bors. Quiet, industrious, sober, economical, they seldom fail of success. Germans, we call them, although from Denmark, Prussia, and Bavaria; just as we, from England, Ireland, and Scotland, are called English. By the Ameri-
317
GOOD PORK AND BEEF AT ALBION.
cans they are called Dutch, as all persons from the con- tinent of Europe are called, who don't come from France, or speak pure French.
A considerable number of emigrants, in addition to those already mentioned, came from Yorkshire, England. Two brothers, Charles and William Schofield, mechanics in Albion, with the families of Nailors and Stanhope, are all from Yorkshire. They are men generally of fair com- plexion, light, sandy, or red hair; evidently of that colony of Danes who were compelled by King Alfred, in the early period of English history, to remain in their colony in Yorkshire. However it might be in those days, York- shiremen scatter far and wide now. Strong and efficient settlers they make; and I have sometimes thought that but for the intermixture of blood by intermarriage, they and their descendants would eat out gradually the South- erners, made of somewhat softer materials.
The pork raised in the neighborhood of Albion, for several years, maintained a high character, and was sought for by buyers. This was chiefly due to an excellent breed of hogs that I brought from England. From the fecun- dity of the animal, and the circumstance of every man breeding more or less hogs, the improvement and exten- sion in this breed of animals was more general and rapid than of the sheep and cattle I brought. Of the sheep imported, the merinos did the best. The breed has spread about the country, considerably improving the wool all around. Two flocks of pure blood and high quality are now in the same prairie, in possession of my two sons, Alfred and Camillus Flower.
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ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
Drovers have told me that for several years they gave three dollars a head more for the steers in the neighbor- hood of Albion than in the settlements around. This was entirely owing to the first bull that I brought, and the second that Mr. Pickering brought, and gave to the Settlement. Dr. Samuel Thompson of Albion, imported a noble draught-horse, known in England as the Suffolk Punch. This gave great improvement to this class of animals. In a settlement of foreign origin, peopled from various localities, many novel and useful animals, plants, and implements are found. One brings some favorite breed of quadrupeds or poultry ; another, a culinary plant or flower. Again, one brings a new and efficient tool, only known, perhaps, in his locality in England.
About fifteen years ago, the last ship's-party arrived. Most of them were assisted by, and some were at the sole charge of, my brother, Edward F. Flower, and I am afraid, like many another man that does a kind thing, he has been allowed to do it at his own cost. The party all came safe, and were immediately absorbed, and have all done well for themselves.
From its very infancy, the Settlement has been visited by travelers and tourists. Mr. Hulme of Philadelphia, is, I think, the first traveler that gave a printed account of what he saw. Mr. Welby * was, perhaps, the next. As I
* " A Visit to North America and the English Settlement in Illinois, etc., by Adlard Welby, Esq., South Rauceby, Lincolnshire."
Mr. Welby traveled in this country in 1820-1, and on his return to Eng- land, in 1821, published the account of his travels, and what he had seen. The author pretends that he came "solely to this country to ascertain the actual prospects of the emigrating agriculturalist, mechanic, and commercial
319
MR. WELBY AT ALBION.
rode into Albion (when it was about six log-houses old), I saw a handsome phaeton and pair, attended by a groom in top-boots and on horseback. An invitation to my house was cordially accepted, to the relief of the landlord, whose accommodations then were too limited to allow of him to give a satisfactory reception to such a turnout. Mr. Welby spent a day or two with me. There was not much then to see. A few log-cabins near to Mr. Birkbeck, a few more, the very beginning of Albion, was all to show of architectural display. I have no distinct recollection of what he said. But I think there was something in his book that called forth some strictures from Mr. Birkbeck's pen.
Mr. Fearon,* has, I think, made mention of the Settle-
speculator." On the other hand, the book would seem to disclose that his real object was to descry the country and discourage the emigration of the English to it. It is written in a spirit of mean prejudice and is full of mis- representation and abuse. He gives a chapter to an account of his visit to the "English Settlement in the Illinois." He reached the village after dark, and found poor accommodations for his entertainment, which must have put him in a bad humor. It was a time when there was an extreme scarcity of water in the Settlement. The next morning, he says, he sent to Mr. Birkbeck's well for water for his horses, which was refused to him; undoubt- edly for the reason that Mr. B. had barely sufficient for his own family. He then sent to Mr. Flower, and had better luck. He therefore abuses Birkbeck and praises Flower, who extended to him a degree of politeness to which he proved himself not entitled, as is shown by his misrepresenta- tions of the Settlement. Falling in with some shiftless and dissatisfied mem- bers of the Colony, he voiced their complaints against Mr. Birkbeck, who he arraigns in bitter terms for having held out false inducements to emigrants. While speaking of the Settlement as a " bad concern," and saying that it was no small pleasure for him to know "that he was in a situation to get away," he alludes in warm terms of the "polite and hospitable attention " extended to him by Mr. Flower.
* Mr. Henry Bradshaw Fearon published, at London, in 1818, “ A Narra- tive of a Journey through the Eastern and Western parts of America ;.
320 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
ment; he never saw it. A Londoner, with city habits, is not very well qualified as an explorer in any new country. He traveled to Pittsburgh by public conveyance, down the Ohio and Mississippi in some river-craft. He knew noth- ing practically of the immense regions lying to his right hand or to his left. Mr. Fearon was sent out by a few families in London, who then thoughit of coming to Amer- ica. He accordingly traveled and made his report, which .is recorded in his book of travels. With Mr. Samuel Thompson, the father-in-law of Mr. Fearon, of London, I became acquainted, when last in London, in 1817. Mr. Thompson was the head of a religious sect, then called the Free-thinking Christians. The opinions of himself and
together with Remarks on Birkbeck's Notes and Letters." The author was never at the English Settlement, but he contents himself by devoting about sixty pages of his book to an adverse criticism on Mr. Birkbeck's "Letters " and "Notes." The book, as a whole, is a readable one, showing the im- pressions which an Englishman formed of the country sixty years ago. There will be found in this volume many interesting descriptions of men and things. Curiously enough, Mr. Fearon speaks of meeting at Gwathway's Hotel, in Louisville, Ky., Lord Selkirk, who was on his "return from his unsuccessful expedition in the North-Western Territory." He says he obtained for his lordship some Boston papers which were only two months old, which afforded him great satisfaction, as he had not heard any intelli- gence from Europe for nine months. This is an interesting fact, for it shows that Lord Selkirk, on leaving the settlement he had founded on the Red River of the North, did not return home by sea from York Factory, but made his way by land to Fort St. Anthony-afterward Fort Snelling-and thence down the Mississippi River to St. Louis. Lord Selkirk formed his first colony in 1811, which was reinforced by an emigration in 1816. This colony was under the protection of the Hudson - Bay Company. Then came the gigantic struggle between the Hudson- Bay and the North -Western Com- panies. The latter company undertook to expel Selkirk's colonists. When Lord Selkirk, who was then in England, heard of this, he procured permis- sion from the British Government to take a military force from Canada to Red River, to protect his settlers. With a company of regular soldiers of the British army, and a certain number of volunteers, he returned with them
MR. D. CONSTABLE-AN ADMIRABLE CHARACTER. 321 followers are to be found in his many published works. Radical in politics, heretical in religion (according to the orthodox standard), Mr. Thompson and some members of his family and church then thought to leave England. America generally, and our Settlement in particular, at that time engaged their attention. So nearly were the minds of himself and friends made up for a removal, that they sent money by me to buy land. The land was bought. Fortunately for them, I think, they changed their minds, and never came.
In after years, Mr. Thompson's two sons, F. B. Thomp- son, the younger, and Sam'l Thompson, the elder brother, both came out as permanent settlers, and inherited their father's land and property in Albion. Mr. Stewart, an
to Red River, and drove out the representatives of the North-Western Com- pany. After this had been accomplished, finding his colony weakened by the troubles it had gone through, he determined to return to Europe to beat up recruits for another colony. The original colonists had been mostly Scotch, but now he turned his attention to procuring protestant Swiss, mostly from the Jura. This last colony, having been organized, sailed for York Factory in 1821. But in the meantime, and without the knowledge of the colonists, before they had taken their departure, Lord Selkirk had died at Pau, in France. This was a fatal blow to the success of the colony. Deprived of the fostering care of the founder, and with unlooked for and terrible hardships, and in the presence of frightful sufferings, the colonists were obliged to totally abandon their enterprise. There was no ship to take them back by the way of the sea from York Factory; the only possible escape was to the nearest settlement in the United States. Their attention was undoubtedly directed to this means of deliverance by the fact that Lord Selkirk had taken that route when he left the country in 1818. Many of these colonists afterward settled in the Galena lead mines and became excellent citizens, distinguished by probity and honor, industry and thrift. A son of one of the prominent colonists has written a very interesting account of the colony of 1821 .*
* See article "The Red-River Colony," by Brevet-Maj .- Gen. Augustus L. Chetlain of Chicago, published in "Harper's Magazine," for December, 1878.
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322 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
Edinboro' man, and a well-educated gentleman, after a wide circuit by Springfield, Jacksonville, St. Louis, and Vandalia came upon us from the west. Mr. Stewart did me the favor of a short visit. He took a more compre -. hensive view than most travelers. He published a large volume of travels, much appreciated in England as a store- house of facts and statistics. He gave us, I think, a favorable review.
Among the many tourists, that, from time to time, visited our Settlement, one of a class, common in Europe, but rarely, if ever, seen in America, appeared among us in 1824. As a pedestrian tourist, performing all his journeys on foot, he could see more of persons and places than if conveyed by stage or carried on horseback.
On a summer afternoon, a gentleman of middle age, and middle stature, with a small knapsack on his back, and a light walking-stick in hand, came to Park House, and intro- duced himself as Mr. D. Constable from England. I had a slight knowledge of the name, and gained a complete knowledge of the family from his brother, who visited me some years afterward. We all spent a pleasant evening together. The next day he passed on, as unostentatiously as he came, to see other people and other places. He spent several days in the Settlement, staying a little time with those of congenial minds and similar tastes; and, no doubt, during those few days he obtained more informa- tion and correct impressions, than more pretentious and less observant travelers. The most remarkable thing about Mr. Constable was his unremarkableness. His dress and address were as plain and simple as they could be, not to
MR. D. CONSTABLE-AN ADMIRABLE CHARACTER. 323
be singular-nothing absolutely wanting; but nothing superfluous could be detected about his dress or personal appointments. A superficial observer would pass Mr. Con- stable by, as an ordinary man, almost unnoticed. In conversation he did not press inquiry, or argue strongly ; and never followed argument into controversy. He did not much care for what you thought, but liked to hear what you knew; and would freely give you any informa- tion that he thought would be of service to you. But with all this simplicity, he possessed a talent of discovering what his companions knew and thought, quicker than most men. This he could generally do from passing remarks, or replies to casual questions. If not successful, he had recourse to a little expedient, that never failed to give the tone of mind of all his companions, if there were a dozen of them. In his little knapsack, besides his two shirts, one handkerchief, one pair of socks, razor, and soap, he carried a numerous pack of cards. Each card had on one side a portrait, and on the other a short biography of the person represented. Both men and women, eminent in any way, were here pictured; and, according to the opinion he wished to elicit, he made his selection of the cards-say a dozen or more; and, taking some favorable opportunity of showing, perhaps to some member of the party, a por- trait in which he or she would feel an interest, it would naturally pass from hand to hand, and the others would be asked for, and would receive some comment; some remark in approbation or censure of the life or opinions of the person represented, would escape the spectators. If he wished more distinctly to learn the religious or political
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ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
opinions of any one of the party, he would show portraits of some eminent divines, and of Voltaire, Rousseau, Pitt, Fox, Mirabeau, Paine, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, and so on, with others famous in science, or notorious for crime. Thus, in five minutes from some run of argument or casual remark, he would be in possession of the opinions, predi- lections, and prejudices of all his associates; and this was no small acquisition to one who wished to pass on his way smoothly, without conflict with his fellows. He would enter the humblest cabin and chat with its inmates. Trav- eling in this unostentatious way, he saw more of the whole people. It was not his fault if his entertainers did not gain something, however short his stay. If he saw a sick child, he would name some remedy or palliative within its parents' reach. If the woman was cooking, he was likely to tell her of some simple preparation for a palatable dish, or point out some plant that she had never thought of cooking before. For he was a vegetarian, or ate little or no animal food. If a man was at work with a clumsy tool, he would show him how it might be improved, and often sit down and whittle it into right shape. Constable was of the utilitarian school, and thought more of individual than political reform. He thought that extravagance in one part of the community made want in the other; if all the misspent labor in the fooleries of fashion and useless ornamentation was directed to the creation of something useful or necessary, this change would of itself go far to remove the suffering from want. He lived up to his opin- ions. As a bachelor, he occupied but two rooms, one for a parlor, the other for a bed-room. In England, it is not
325
D. CONSTABLE'S MODE OF LIFE.
the habit to use by day the same room that you sleep in by night. The English bed-room is strictly a private room, never entered, excepting by special invitation; per- haps to see some friend in sickness, incapable of leaving his bed. I do not recollect in all England that I ever saw a bed in a sitting-room. In his parlor were a few chairs, a table, and a shelf of books. On the sill of the window, near to which he usually sat, was a small pulley, over which ran a cord, with a hook at one end. About noon, at the sound of a well-known voice of a boy from a neighboring tavern, he lowered his hook into the street, and pulled up a small basket, containing a loaf of bread, a pint of beer, a slice of butter or cheese, a lettuce, or some vegetable or fruit in season. His simple repast over, as the boy returned, he lowered his basket and empty pewter-pot, both to be filled and drawn up for his next day's dinner. His break- fast and evening meal-a cup of tea and piece of dry toast-he prepared himself at his own fire. Whatever was left of his income at the end of the year, he gave away, either to relieve individual wants, or to strengthen some benevolent institution. He belonged to no political party, nor to any religious sect; yet was alive to every proposed reform, political or social; this led him to view with interest Harmony, at which he spent some time, at Rapp's exit and Owen's advent.
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