USA > Illinois > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 6
USA > Indiana > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 6
USA > Missouri > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 6
USA > Ohio > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 6
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traveler to partake of their hospitality. May God's blessing rest on him and his for his kindness that morning !
I thanked him, and attended morning devotions. The thanks and the prayers of the Methodist min- ister in those days always settled the reckoning with their hosts. I mounted my horse, who had also shared the hospitalities with me, and was soon well on my way to Washington. On reaching Wal- nut Creek I found I must swim it, and also many other smaller streams before I reached my father-in- law's. I was much comforted to find them all well, and Mrs. Beggs impatient to join me even in my arduous labors. I remained here but a few days, and had my scanty effects packed on a sled.
Having a good snow we reached the Big Vermil- ion late in the evening; it was too high to ford; and being nearly opposite the house of Martin Rey- nolds, I shouted at the top of my voice, till I made myself heard. He soon came down to our relief with his sled and horses. We traveled down the stream, he on one side and I on the other. At last we found a place on the ice, where we ventured to meet. With certain precautions we attempted to cross on the ice. I took the rails of our old-fashioned bed- stead, and by walking on one while I shoved the. other along in front of us, we at last found ourselves safely landed on the other side. After having a comfortable night's rest, we went back in the morn- ing to see to the horses and look after my effects.
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As we were crossing in a canoe, we came very near being capsized ; and in case we had been, we should have been drowned. But God in his good provi- dence saw fit to spare us for further labors. I took my goods back about five miles, and left them till the roads should become passable. I staid at brother Reynolds's a few days; and in the mean time walked over to Ottowa, a village about twelve miles dis- tant, where I preached a sermon. After this I again went after my horses and goods, and brought them to the river-side once more, in hopes to get them across. We did so by making a bridge sixteen feet in length, which reached from the river's edge to the ice in the middle of the stream. I ran them across the ice by means of a hand-sled, and brother Reynolds with his team moved them up to Ottowa. Brother Green took them farther on the way to his house; and there they remained till the next Spring.
To give some idea how the early settlers lived, I will tell the reader of our fare while at brother Reynolds's, and how we obtained it. There was no flour to be had, and no mills for grinding. Our corn, of which we had great plenty, had to be pounded in a mortar. The only pestle we had was made by driving an iron wedge into a stick, which served for a handle.
While going from brother Green's to Plainfield we were overtaken by a storm of rain and sleet, which made the ground literally one sheet of ice. The horse which Mrs. Beggs rode had no shoes.
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When we reached Platteville the creek was swollen so high that it could not be crossed at that point. Brother Reed, who was with us, managed to get across, but judged it was not safe for us to attempt it. So we traveled, he on one side and ourselves on the other, some distance along the stream, till at last we found a crossing-place. The storm continued till we reached Plainfield. I was fearful the exposure would cost Mrs. Beggs her life. It was several weeks before she recovered, and then not entirely, from the effects of her stormy ride. There was yet no room to be had in Chicago, and it was thought best for my wife to remain at Plainfield till the en- suing Spring, while I kept up my appointments till May.
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CHAPTER X.
JESSE WALKER was superintendent of the mission work from Peoria to Chicago, and also had a nom- inal appointment at Chicago. His labors, however, were so extensive that he preached here but a few times during the year. Brother Walker was not able to attend Conference, held in Indianapolis, in 1831. After consulting me, to know if I was will- ing to take charge of the mission at Chicago, to which I consented if Conference should so decide, he wrote to Bishop Roberts to appoint me to that work. So this was my home for the coming year, and I hastened to take charge of the little class I had formed a few months previous. I found them all standing fast in the liberty of the Gospel.
Our meetings were generally held in the fort, and they increased in interest till our first quarterly meeting, which was held in January, 1832. I had been helping brother Walker hold some meetings at Plainfield, and we left there on one of the coldest days of that Winter for my quarterly meeting at Chicago. It was thirty miles to the first house. Brother T. B. Clark started with us with an ox team, for the purpose of carrying provisions to help sustain the people in Chicago during the meeting. Provi- sions were very scarce here at that time. Late in
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the evening we became alarmed lest he had perished in the cold, and went out on a fruitless hunt after him. He arrived, at eleven o'clock that night, at our stopping-place. The next day saw us all safely in Chicago, where we met with a warm reception from brother Lee and family.
Here, to-day, amid the presence of this great and prosperous city, let us reconsider our humble begin- nings. Thirty-six years ago a load of provisions was brought by an ox team from the village of Plainfield to sustain the friends that met here for a quarterly meeting! The meeting commenced with power, and increased in interest till Sunday morning. My first sermon was preached on Sabbath morning at ten o'clock, after which brother Walker invited the peo- ple around the sacramental board. It was a season long to be remembered. Every one seemed to be baptized and consecrated anew to the great work to be accomplished in the village that was destined to become a mighty city.
Jesse Walker was my successor in 1832. He moved his family up to Chicago as soon as possible, and set to work. I attended his first quarterly meeting; it was held in an old log school-house which served for a parsonage, parlor, kitchen, and audience-room. The furniture consisted of an old box stove, with one griddle, upon which we cooked. We boiled our tea-kettle, cooked what few vegeta- bles we could get, and fried our meat, each in its turn. Our table was an old wooden chest; and
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when dinner was served up we surrounded the board and ate with good appetites, asking no ques- tions for conscience' sake. Dyspepsia, that more modern refinement, had not found its way to our settlements. We were too earnest and active to in- dulge in such a luxury. Indeed, our long rides and arduous labors were no friends to such a visitant. This palatial residence, which served as the Chicago parsonage, was then situated between Randolph and Washington streets, the first block west of the river.
The Winter previous I had purchased a claim, the only title to be had. Then I paid three hundred dollars for a claim upon two hundred and forty acres, eighty of which was covered with timber land, por- tions of which to-day sell for one hundred dollars per acre. My aim then was to secure a home, when the time should come that I could no longer travel on the itinerant work, which I had laid out as the business of my life while health and strength re- mained. The Lord prospered me in my purchase. I was well paid for my land, for which blessing I am yet thankful, and trust that I shall ever be found a good steward of the manifold mercies of the Lord.
This year there were no returns of members. At this time a little incident occurred in the life of Jesse Walker worthy of note, as showing the intol- erance we had sometimes to meet with, even in a new country. At an early day he was in the habit of holding meetings for the handful of Americans then in St. Louis. Finding that there was a need
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for regular appointments, he made them for once in four weeks. The Catholics hearing of this great outrage that a Methodist was to preach regularly among them-went to their priest with a complaint against such presumption. "Never mind," said the priest, "they can't do much; if nothing else will do, we will starve them out." "Starve them out," said the complainant, "why, they will live where a dog would starve to death!" And it was through the untiring efforts of Walker that the foundations of Methodism were so deeply and broadly laid, that neither Catholicism nor the "Prince of the power of the air " has been able to withstand its growth. The handful of seed which he then planted has now become like the "Cedars of Lebanon." May we ever manifest his zeal in all good works which the Lord may appoint unto us !
Amid our other trials and hardship we suffered some from fear of the Indians. I had laid in my store of provisions for the coming Summer. It was during my absence that Mrs. Beggs was greatly annoyed by the Potawatomie Indians, who frequently brought rumors that the Black Hawks would kill us all that Spring. It was not long before the in- habitants came flying from Fox River, through great fear of their much-dreaded enemy. They came with their cattle and horses, some bareheaded and others barefooted, crying, "The Indians ! the Indians !" Those that were able hurried on with all speed for Danville. All the inhabitants on
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Hickory Creek and in Jackson Grove took fright also, and fled.
A few of the men only staid behind to arrange their temporal matters as best they could under the circumstances. In the mean time some friendly Indians who knew of their fright were coming to inform them that their dangers were not so great as they supposed. The men, seeing these, and sup- posing that they were hostile, mounted their horses and fled for life, before they could be informed of the friendly intentions of their visitors. The latter then tried to head them in, in order to correct their mistake. This, of course, only made matters worse; and the men hastened on with greater speed till they reached their families, who had by this time come to a halting place for the night. Their cattle and horses were turned out to feed and scattered over the surrounding country. They were making arrangements for supper-some of them having their meals prepared, others just commencing to prepare them-when here came those men, flying in hot haste, one of whom had lost a hat, and their horses jaded and worn, with a ten-mile race. When they told of their narrow escape, and how the Indians had tried to head them, there was confusion and dismay in the little camp.
It was urged that all should remain quiet till they could get their cattle and horses together; but there was too much "demoralization" for that. One team could not be found, and it was thought better to
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sacrifice one than that the whole should suffer. So it was decided that they should move off as silently as possible; yet there was one ungovernable person among them, who made noise enough in driving his oxen to have been heard a mile distant. Of course this was very annoying to the others, who felt the necessity of being quiet. The hatless man and one or two others found their way to Danville in ad- vance of the rest, and told their fearful stories- how the Indians were killing and burning all before them, while at this time it is presumed that there was not a hostile Indian south of Desplains River. At Plainfield, however, the alarm was so great that it was thought best to make all possible efforts for a defense, in case of an attack.
My house was considered the most secure place. I had two log pens built up, one of which served for a barn and the other a shed. These were torn down, and the logs used to build up a breast-work around the house. All of the people living on Fox River who could not get farther away made my house a place of shelter. There were one hundred and twenty-five, old and young. We had four guns, some useless for shooting purposes. Ammunition was scarce. All of our pewter spoons, basins, and platters were soon molded by the women into bul- lets. As a next best means of defense, we got a good supply of axes, hoes, forks, sharp sticks, and clubs. Here we intended to stay till some relief could be obtained. This was on Thursday; and we
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remained here till the next Sabbath, when the people of Chicago, hearing of our distress, raised a company of twenty-five white men, and as many Indians, who came to our aid. They remained with us till the next morning, (Monday,) and then concluded to re- connoiter along Fox River.
The Indians, with Mr. Lorton at their head, were to go to Big Woods, (now Aurora,) and Gen. Brown, with Col. Hamilton and their men, were to visit Halderman's Grove, and then fix upon a place to meet in the evening, where they might spend the night together in safety. In the afternoon Mr. Lorton came back, with two or three of his Indians, and brought us fearful stories of how they had all been taken prisoners, and kept two or three hours; the Indians, however, being on good terms with Black Hawk, he had allowed him, with an escort, to have his liberty, in order to go up to Chicago, where he intended to take his family for safety. He must go that night, and had but a moment to warn us of our danger. He told us our fort would be attacked that night, or the next at the longest, and that if they could not storm the fort at first, they would continue the siege till they did. He advised us to fly to Ottowa or Chicago as soon as possible.
Such a scene as then took place at Fort Beggs was seldom witnessed, even in those perilous times. The stoutest hearts failed them, and strong men turned pale, while women and children wept and fainted, till it seemed hardly possible to restore them
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to life, and almost cruel for them to return from their quiet unconsciousness to a sense of their danger. It was no time to hesitate or deliberate. Immediate departure was the word; but they were divided as to the best means to be taken in finding a place of security ; some wished to go to Chicago, others to Ottowa, while some proposed to separate and scatter for the woods. After several short and pithy speeches were made, James Walker was elected Captain, and formed us into a company. We were advised that Indians would never attack a fort, unless driven to it, and that it was safer to remain where we were, at least till we heard from the remaining men.
All possible preparations were then made for our defense, and we determined to sell our lives as dearly as we could. A long piece of fence was torn down and strewed about the fort. We set fire to these rails, so that we might see the Indians when they came for attack. We had several alarms; yet we remained here safe till Wednesday evening, and then every man was ordered to his post to prepare for an onset from the enemy. To our great joy the white men returned that evening; but they brought us news of the massacre of fifteen white inhabitants on Indian Creek ; also that they were burning houses and killing cattle. They advised us to leave the fort at once, and go either to Ottowa or Chicago. We chose the latter course. One circum- stance I had forgotten to mention. When the in- habitants fled from Fox River, there was one infirm
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old man who was confined to his bed with the rheu- matism. He advised them to leave him, as he had not many days to live at all events. They left him, and it was several days before they ventured back to see what had become of him. They found him, and learned that the Indians had been there and brought him food. He was brought to our fort, and there was as much rejoicing as if one had been raised from the dead. It was decided that we should take him with us to Chicago. We spent the night in busy preparations for our departure the next day. In getting our oxen and horses together, it was found that we had only teams enough to carry the people. Nearly all of our effects had to be left behind; some of my iron-ware and bed- clothes I hid in hollow trees, in hopes of finding them again, should I ever return. I did return a long time after that. I had been detained by sick- ness, and found that my bed-clothes were nearly spoiled, and a great destruction of property besides, although no houses were burned.
We left our fort at seven o'clock on Thursday morning, with our company and the twenty-five Chicago men as guard; we made quite an imposing appearance. We arranged ourselves so as to cover near a mile in length on the road. It was after- ward said that the Indians were watching us, and would have made an attack but for our formidable appearance and numbers. We traveled forty miles that day, and reached Chicago by sunset.
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CHAPTER XI.
THERE was no extra room for us when we arrived : in Chicago. Two or three families of our number were put into a room fifteen feet square with as many more families, and here we staid, crowding and jamming each other, for several days. One afternoon, as if to increase our misery, a thunder- storm came up, and the end of our room was broken in by a stroke of lightning while we were taking a lunch. None of us were hurt, but the lightning passed down the wall to the room below us, leaving a charred seam within a few inches of a keg of pow- der. But our room, which was in the second story, was filled with a distressing odor of sulphurous smoke, and the report was the loudest I ever heard. The next morning our first babe was born, and dur- ing our stay fifteen tender infants were added to our number. One may imagine the confusion of the scene children were crying and women were com- plaining within doors, while without the tramp of soldiery, the rolling of drums, and the roar of can- non added to the din; and yet out of this confusion we tried to arrange order. The soldiery were drawn up in solid column near one of the houses, whose friendly steps were my only pulpit. Here I stood
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and pointed out to them the "Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world."
In a few days the inhabitants of Walker's Grove, now Plainfield, returned to the fort with fifty men for a guard, and Captain Buckmaster in command. They were able to raise, that year, some buckwheat and a few potatoes. Mrs. Beggs was yet too deli- cate in health for me to think of leaving. She was still confined to her room, yet our stay here was of short duration. Major Whistler came on with his troops, and at the first roar of his cannon on the lake shore there was great rejoicing. But our joy was soon turned to heaviness. Instead of receiving protection, we were turned out of our shelter in or- der to give place to his men, who had been exposed to the rough winds on the lake. The order came for us to leave the garrison. We should have re- belled could it have been of any use, but there was no help for us but to obey. The Major and his fam- ily came into our room, and we were turned out into the pitiless rain-storm that afternoon. We found shelter in an open house, where, from the dampness and exposure, Mrs. Beggs and the child took a severe cold. Colonel Richard Hamilton then gave us the use of one of his small rooms. We made up our bed on the floor, where the cold and dampness caused both mother and child to take additional cold. I also became sick from the exposure, and matters indeed wore a gloomy look to us. I trust, however, that on the day of reckoning it will be said unto
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Colonel Hamilton for his great kindness unto us, "I was a stranger and ye took me in; enter thou into the joys of thy Lord."
I then proposed to Mrs. Beggs to go to Plainfield. She consented, saying it would be no better to die here than to be killed by the Indians on the road. Forty miles through the wilderness! Some had been killed but a few days before, although, happily for us, we did not know of it at that time. We started on our journey, our only defense being one loaded pistol, a strong faith in the living God, and the promise, "No harm shall befall thee." We reached the fort late in the day, quite safe, but much fatigued. I then decided to secure a guard to Ottowa, and to get Mrs. Beggs on to Washington to her mother's. There had been a company of men detached to go either to Ottowa or Chicago to draw rations for the soldiers. They decided to go to Chi- cago. They were to start the next morning. That afternoon, however, Colonel Owens, Indian agent, came down with the news that General Scott had come to Chicago with his men, and also brought the cholera, a worse-dreaded foe than the Indians. This decided the men to go to Ottowa for rations, and by that means we obtained a guard.
The drive to Ottowa through the hot sun and over the rough road came very near exhausting my wife and child, yet we ventured on to Washington alone. The Indian difficulties being by this time pretty much over, I concluded to return alone to
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the fort. In the mean time the inhabitants had fled from the cholera, leaving Chicago almost deserted. Some of them had come to our fort, while others went to Danville. Numbers died of the cholera, and General Scott's men had to remain till the epi- demic had subsided. It was not long after this that General Scott gave chase to Black Hawk, and effect- ually drove the Indians away. We now had peace in all our borders. There was no hope now of my doing any thing in my station, so I concluded to go on a visit to my father's, in Clark county, Indi- ana. From this place I started again for Wash- ington, a journey of three hundred miles, which cost me an outlay of six cents. I found my wife and child very much improved in health, which gave me renewed courage, and I thanked God for his great blessings.
After a few days' rest I started for Conference, which was held at Jacksonville, Illinois. Our mem- bers numbered ten, with Jesse Walker presiding elder. The Illinois Conference having been divided, there remained to us twenty-five preachers. The most prominent were M. Taylor, Peter Cartwright, Jesse Walker, J. Dew, S. H. Thompson, Simon Pe- ter, and J. Sinclair. Bishop Soule presided, and we had a very pleasant session. There were only forty preachers, traveling and local, to supply the whole State of Illinois. I was sent to the Desplaines mis- sion, with an appropriation of two hundred dollars from the Missionary Society.
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This year, 1833, my mission embraced the follow- ing appointments: Plainfield, Naperville, E. Scar- riott's, (East Dupage,) Oswego, Halderman's Grove, John Green's, Ottowa, Martin Reynolds's, (twelve miles down the river,) Jackson's Grove, Reed's Grove, Hickory Creek, and Yankee Settlement. The pros- pects of peace, and the fact that we could return again to our worship, gave us many hearty amens from the brethren, especially at a camp meeting at Joliet, on the claim of brother Gongers, where the scattered inhabitants had but just returned from their flight from the Indians.
It was a year of hard labor; for I had a number of long rides. Then, too, came our first great sor- row. We lost our only child, Mary Ellen. We bowed our heads in submission, as we thought that "our loss was her gain." If the Lord had given her unto us, was it not meet that he should take her unto himself again? And we lived in the hope of one day being welcomed by her to our mansion in the skies. It is many years since she died, and her mother has now joined her across that Jordan of death, while I yet remain, after a conflict of near a half century, on the confines of that brighter world, faint, yet pressing onward, with the joyful prospect of their welcoming me to my home in heaven.
Desplaines returned thirty-four members. Jesse Walker was superintendent. In 1834 our Confer- ence met at Union Grove, St. Clair county, Bishop Roberts presiding. Our business was dispatched
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with the usual satisfaction to all. I was reap- pointed to Desplaines mission, and I returned with renewed zeal, which in this case was the more neces- sary, as the rage for speculation was just com- mencing among both settlers and emigrants. It was an earnest struggle, and it sometimes seemed impossible to hold the attention of a sinner long enough to impress him with the great claims which the Gospel had upon him. Those who would not come out to church I followed to their houses, con- versing with them on the highways and by the way- side. It was a doubtful struggle; but, by the help of the Lord and his efficient instruments, in the persons of brothers Walker, E. Scarriott, and F. Owens, I saw many souls converted and believers strengthened. I was enabled to form new classes, and our quarterly meetings, two days' meetings, and camp meetings were crowned with abundant suc cess. Our numbers increased to fifty-seven, J. Sin- clair our presiding elder.
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