USA > Illinois > Lee County > Recollections of the pioneers of Lee County [Illinois] > Part 20
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Who would have thought that our dignified parents could have perpe- trated such as First of April jokes? I am loath to admit this, but it is a lamentable fact. My mother and aunt Theodosia, who had been the victims of many of my father's jokes, conceived the idea of "getting even" with him. It was the First of April and the hour was at hand. Early in the morning they told him that he had received an urgent call to Mr. Mixter's. After hurrying through his breakfast he departed in great haste, unsuspicious of the trap into which he had fallen. When he reached the house he found Mr. and Mrs. Mixter happy and smiling, but -as he afterward remembered-showing some surprise at receiving a
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friendly call at so inopportune an hour. After chatting for some time he inquired who was sick; their looks of dismay, and finally Mrs. Mixter's exclamation, "Why! Doctor, don't you know it is the First of April," threw the requisite light on the situation. He departed amid roars of laughter, but it was many a long day before he was allowed to forget how beautifully he had been "April fooled."
When I think of my father's busy life and how really few leisure hours he had at his disposal, I can but look with wonder upon the extensive collections of specimens in geology and natural history which he acquired . He spent but little money upon them, but many hours of exhaustless patience and painstaking. Some of my earliest recollections are con- nected with his collection of birds. I can see him now. with coat off and hard at work, while we children watched with open mouths and eyes the process of removing the skin so carefully that scarcely a feather would be ruffled, only to see it filled out again, and the bird set up "as natural as life" when all was done. Of insects, bugs and butterflies alone he had between two and three thousand specimens. With what infinite care he arranged the silken, gossamer wings and tiny, slender legs. Taken al- together his was one of the largest private collections in this state. His later years were devoted mainly to the accumulation of the fossil sponges in this vicinity, of which he was really the discoverer. The eighth vol- ume of the Geological Survey of Illinois, in which they are described and illustrated, has to say of them as follows: "The collection described on the following pages comprises, without doubt, the most interesting and important addition to our knowledge of Palaeozoic sponges, ever made."
In looking over his papers I have come upon letters from Asa Gray, (whose works on Botany are so widely known) Major Powell, A. H. Wor- then and others of distinction, which illustrate what his standing was among scientific men.
It is told by members of his own family that as a boy, my father was extremely fretful and irritable, and that when he was quite small, his mother had to bribe him with a spoon full of apple sauce before she could induce him to go to bed. The old saying, "the boy is father to the man," certainly was at fault in his case, for all who knew him recognized the · extreme evenness of his disposition.
I quote the extract given below from a paper written by Dr. C. C. Hunt of this city, and read at the meeting of the Illinois Medical Society in 1889, in regard to one branch of his practice: "For many years there was scarcely a case of importance for many miles around that he was not called upon, sooner or later, to visit. He personally attended over thirty-
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six hundred labor cases, and saw in consultation, probably, many hun- dred more. This, considering the sparseness of the population during the greater part of his professional career, indicates an amount of hard work and physical exposure, that were simply immense." My father was, at one time, offered the chair of Obstetrics in the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, but declined. He was elected mayor of Dixon in 1863. He was a member of the first Board of Trustees for the Northern Illinois Hospital for the Insane at Elgin, serving from 1869 to 1873, when he re- signed the position. He was also the first Pension Examining Surgeon appointed in this district, receiving the same without solicitation, and serving until his resignation took effect.
In the spring of 1862, my father was sent south with many other phy- sicians, after the battle of Shiloh in anticipation of another battle near Corinth. Upon returning home, some twelve thousand dollars were in- trusted him by the "boys" to bring home to their friends throughout the county. This he did, carrying the large amount of money in his satchel, which certainly was a mark of great confidence in his fellow-men, if rather a risky proceeding. During the entire time of the war, he at- tended the families of soldiers free of charge, and wben in need, supplied them with wood from his farm, and with money. In this way he served his country, as well perhaps, as many a man who went to the front.
The photograph of the first house in Dixon, to be illustrated in this book, was taken from a painting by Noah Brooks. My father, fronr mem- ory, drew the sketch of Father Dixon's log house, and Mr. Brooks painted it, supplying the figures, wagon, and scenery; the latter, not true to nature, as I have often heard my father say that the trees were so large in those days, and so free from underbrush that a horse and buggy could be driven almost anywhere through the woods. At one time when he was making a call at Mr. Brierton's, on what is now known as the Days- ville road, he looked across the country from the high hill to White Rock and saw a herd of deer grazing there, which will illustrate what the timn- ber was, to enable one to look through it so great a distance.
On the third of September, 1886, the fiftieth anniversary of my father's settlement in Dixon, he had a reception, sending out between three and four hundred invitations to old friends and patients, near and far. In the afternoon the reception was given to those from the country and sur- rounding towns, and to the old settlers of the earliest years; in the eve- ning to the city friends and patients. Very few regrets were received, and our rooms were crowded, both afternoon and evening. I can see be- fore me my father's happy face, and the joy shining through his eyes, to
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which the tears of deep feeling had welled; nor, shall I soon forget how much pleasure he took during the following winter in recalling each inci- dent of that "red letter day." In the evening a beautiful reclining chair was presented hini by his friends, the Hon. E. B. Washburne, who came from Chicago to attend the reception, making the presentation speech in the following words, which I copy from the Evening Telegraph of that date·
"MY FRIEND :- It has fallen to my lot to voice the kindly feelings of your many friends. It is with great pleasure I undertake the task. You and I have been friends for many years, and I have had none better than you. Both of us were Yankees seeking new homes. You were a little bit spryer than I, and came to Dixon's Ferry in 1836; I was four years behind you. * It was always a great pleasure for me to visit Dixon. Two of my dearest friends lived here. They were big hearted men, kind, honest and true.
"A wit's a feather, and chief a rod,
An honest man's the noblest work of God."
I know of no man in honor of whose fiftieth anniversary of settlement I would go as far as I have on this occasion. To make your remaining years-and all hope and trust they will be many-more comfortable, and as a slight token of their great love for you, your friends have asked me to present this beautiful chair. It is with more than ordinary pleasure that I speak the feelings of these, your neighbors, who have presented you wiih this beautiful token of their respect and love. Two men who lived here I have long known as the most kind and honest men that I have ever known, and I need not say that I refer to Father Dixon and you, Doctor Everett." I also copy the closing sentence of the article written by Mr. John Moore of the Dixon Sun and published in that paper. "As we looked over the great gathering of friends that came up last Fri- day night with such spontaneous expressions of regard, we could but wonder if there might not be hovering near, an immensely larger circle of old friends, tried and true, showering their blessings of benediction on the silvery head of him who sat in our midst; and the thought would in- trude itself that some day there would be another meeting at the Doc- tor's house, when the eyes of the visible ones would be dimmed with parting tears, but that larger host would, with outreaching arms and welcoming smiles, come to the reception of the grandly good old man." To me the conception seems very beautiful and comforting. I am very pleased to pay this little tribute to Mr. Moore, for no one has ever written with so much feeling or so fittingly of the old settlers as he has in the
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articles which have from time to time come from his pen.
I-cannot close this paper without alluding to my father's great love and veneration for Father Dixon. For forty years they were the closest friends. No young man ever had a wiser counselor or truer friend than was Father Dixon, and each year that passed but cemented their friend- ship more strongly. I have so many times heard my father say that he had known Father Dixon as intimately and nearly twice as long as his own father, and that he was sure that he had loved him quite as well, for he had never met a better man or even, he thought, one so good. In his later years his one keen regret was that the loved and revered founder of our town had no monument to mark his last resting place and his most earnest desire was to see one placed there before he, too, had passed away. "Then," he was wont to say, "I can die happy." At one time he and Mr. Alexander attempted to raise funds for this enterprise, but failed in the undertaking. Not long will the good old Father Dixon's grave remain unmarked. My father's hope will be fulfilled, though his eyes behold not the monument which, through the efforts of the Ladies' Cem- etery Associatien, will soon be raised.
After a short illness my father died on the 1st of May, 1888, but his memory still lives in the hearts of many who knew him well and loved him.
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Mrs. Kezia Law and Family.
M Y grandmother, Mrs. Kezia (Hillis) Law was born in Hillisboro, near Belfast, County Down, Ireland, on the second of July, 1782. The marriage of her father and mother was quite a romance. One day when her mother was ont riding her horse took fright and ran away with her, plunging into a white thorn hedge, where both horse and rider were held fast. Rescue was at hand, however, and young Hillis, who had witnessed the accident, relieved her from her dangerous and unpleasant predicament, The outcome of this adventure was not only one, but. two cases of "love at first sight." In the face of opposition (principally on account of their extreme youth and that the young man had just com- menced his medical studies), they made a run-away marriage. When they returned, hoping for forgiveness. the lady's father was so incensed at his daughter's disobedience, that he decreed that they should never meet again until the young husband had taken his degree. Stern old Scoth- man, that he was, he never wavered in this determination, and their lit- tle child was able to run alone before they received his forgiveness and were united, nearly three years after their rash marriage.
My grandmother was the youngest of the family of six children. Ire- land was in a very troubled state during her young days. Her father was obliged to leave his country on account of the part he took in the rebel- lion, and enlisted as surgeon on board one of the ships of the East India Company. Soon after reaching his destination, he died of yellow fever. No communication from him ever reached the family from the time of their parting, until they received the sad intelligence of his death in a strange land. In 1812 my grandmother was married to David Law, who was born in December, 1772, at Grange, County Antrim, Ireland. In 1817 they emigrated to America with their three little daughters, my aunt Grace, the youngest, being then a babe but two months old. My grandmother's mother also accompanied them. She, however, did not long enjoy the blessings of our free country, for she died two years after their arrival here. When they first came to this country, they settled at
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Hoboken, New Jersey, where they remained two years; then removed to Weehawken. After a period of three years, they made their home in New York City, where they lived until the year 1838.
Their home during that time was a refuge for many a poor Irish emi- grant until employment could be procured for them. My grandmother never turned a deaf ear to the cry of distress, and was ever to be found in homes visited by sickness and death. One of their pensioners was an old Revolutionary soldier, who had lost a leg during the war. They gave him a room and every day his meals were carried to him. It was a matter of much surprise and conjecture how it was that "Old Josie" always man- aged to have his dishes returned perfectly clean. My mother, then a child ever full of pranks, determined to solve the mystery, so, after taking him his dinner one day, instead of leaving the room as usual, she hid behind the door, and was greatly amused to find that he "licked the platter clean." Their old home is now a portion of the far famed Central Park, of New York City.
Such glowing accounts of the west reaching them, and particularly of Illinois, they decided to come here, where some of their friends and rela- tives had preceeded them. My grandfather, together with his oldest daughter, Mrs. Mary McGinnis, and three of her children, reached Dix- on's Ferry on the third of September, 1838. My grandfather had pre- viously sent out monev and taken up land, on which a log cabin had been built to secure it. Twenty feet distant from that was another log cabin, in which Captain Graham was living while his own house on the Rock- wood farm (now owned by Smith and Lord), was in the course of con- struction.
On reaching Chicago my grandfather hired teams to bring them to Dixon, of McCormick (later of reaper fame), and also bought his first ox- team of that same person. When they arrived at their journey's end, and reached the little log cabin down the river, they found seven men in the adjoining cabin, sick with fever and ague. ' Only one of them had a bed, the rest being rolled in blankets and buffalo robes on the floor.
It was almost night when they arrived. You can perhaps imagine the welcome they accorded my aunt Mary, after having been for so many months deprived of a woman's care and companionship. She was not prepared for such a scene of desolation and discomfort, and it is little wonder that she says, "she never can forget it," or the first supper that was served for the weary travelers, viz: a large tin platter of salt pork, swimming in gravy, an immense corn-dodger, and bowls of black coffee.
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Their beds were spread on some loose boards on the earthern floor of the cabin. The following day my aunt Mary, and a woman they had brought with them, set to work to bring about a better state of affairs. The household goods they had brought with them were unpacked, beds set up, and everything arranged with as much comfort as possible.
Captain Graham had brought a gardener out with him in the spring from New York, and he had raised a fine crop of vegetables, which, with the supplies my grandfather had brought of coffee, tea, sugar, rice, crack- ers, etc., enabled them to live comfortably. There were but few cattle in the country at that time, and butter was fifty cents a pound, eggs fifty cents per dozen, and all such commodities equally high. Later, my grand- father enclosed the space between the two log cabins, which made them a very commodious house for those days, and one that I remember well, as many happy days of my childhood were spent within its walls.
They suffered many privations during that winter of 1838-9. Their house was built of rough logs, the cracks filled in with clay and mortar, but before the very severe weather had set in the walls received a coat of plaster, which aided greatly in keeping out the cold. There were large fireplaces at either end, where they had to do all their cooking. It was a very cold winter, with much snow, and nearly everyone in the country was prostrated by fever and ague. Accommodations were scarce, and the "latch-string" was left out for friend and stranger, alike, and my aunt Mary had a housefull, aside from her own family, to nurse and cook and care for during that winter. Before the spring came two inmates of the little log cabin had passed into the "sleep which knows no wak- ing," and were laid to rest on the bluff.
The following June the remainder of the family in the east joined them. I have an old journal, which my aunt Grace kept during their journey from New York to Chicago. It was written in pencil in a small blank book, and the writing is almost illegible, but by the exercise of much patience, and the aid of a strong magnifying glass, I have suc- ceeded in deciphering it, and have felt amply repaid for my trouble. There were in the party my grandmother, her three daughters, two sons, -- and a grandson, and William Kennedy (who years after became the hus- band of the youngest daughter, Theodosia), a man-servant and his wife also accompanying them. They left New York the sixth of June, taking a steamboat up the Hudson to Albany, where they had secured accommo- · dations on a canal boat as far as Buffalo. The youngest daughter was ill when they left New York and continued very ill through the entire journey, never being able to leave her bed, and having to be carried from
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one boat to another, when they had occasion to change. At one time they feared she would never live to reach her journey's end.
Aunt Grace says in her journal, "Oh! the horrors of a canal boat." Of course, traveling three hundred and ninety-four miles, at the rate of two and a half miles an hour, as she said they did, together with the numerous stoppages at the locks and to take in passengers and freight, must have made the journey seem interminable. The first few days were very stormy, with strong wind, and the grinding against the locks and other boats, caused them much discomfort. 3 On such days they were closely confined to the boat, but when the weather was pleasant my mother, Aunt Grace 'and the boys would walk niiles along the tow-path, which somewhat varied the monotony. They were thus enabled to visit many places of interest on their way, and enjoyed a delightful day with a cousin at Syracuse, while the boat was undergoing some needed repairs. The canal boat was very crowded and had they not had their own cabin and table, they would have experienced even more discomfort.
They arrived at Buffalo on the fifteenth of June and went on board the steamer "James Madison," for their trip around the lakes. They had very comfortable staterooms and found the change from the canal boat very delightful. The first few days they encountered very stormy weather and nearly every one on board was prostrated with sea-sickness. At Detroit numbers of sight-seers came on board during the time the boat remained there. The appelation "dude" was unknown in those days, but I think might with justice have been applied to some of the above mentioned, from my aunt Grace's description of them, as follows: "The greater part of them were foreigners, French and English, with velvet coats and caps, white kid gloves and canes. The first view they had of the Indians was at Mackinac, where the majority of the passengers landed, to visit the fort and satisfy their curiosity concerning the "noble red man of the forest." They made many delightful acquaintances on board the boat, and greatly enjoyed the trip, with the exception of the few stormy days before alluded to. They arrived in Chicago on the twen- +- ty-first of June, where my grandfather met them with teams and wagons to convey them and their belongings to Dixon's Ferry.
My grandmother must have had but a faint conception of the difficul- ties or expense of transportation from Chicago to Dixon, judging from the amount of luggage she brought with her. She, however, was not so much to blame, for nearly every letter my grandfather or aunt Mary wrote to her contained a list of much needed articles. At that time there was but one small store in Dixon, and it was impossible to obtain
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what they required. Then, too, the supply of money my grandfather had brought with him had run very low, as he had sustained some severe losses by means of counterfeit money, which at that time was being largely circulated throughout the west.
I take an extract from the one letter I have been able to secure, writ- ten by my aunt, for I think it may prove of interest. "Be particular to bring every thing you want, for you can get nothing here. My father bids you sell the plows at whatever you can get for them. Of all things, do not forget the seeds: 1 oz. of Brooklow; do. of Early York Cabbage; do. of Savoy Cabbage; do. of Wellington seed; 2 oz. of Okro; do. of Nasturtium seed, 2 quarts of Windsor beans. Try and get some parsnip seed from Mr. Dunn. Remember the early and late peas; get some flower seeds. Richard says for you to pack your roots in moss and clay. You need not bring the pigs I wrote you about, for my father has got a very handsome breed. Bring six reaping hooks, four curry combs, three strings of sleigh bells, two large and one small, the same as we have, and two cow bells (copper). Get your churn, tubs and pails made in Greenwich street (op- posite Clinton Market). Bring the crowbars, picks and dragging ma- chine, four large hinges with hooks, for the barn doors, and all the hinges about the house, and all the iron you have, and buckles for harness straps scrap iron for shoeing sleighs, one large saw and butcher's knife, one bar- rel of clover seed, and one of Timothy seed. Bring two pieces of the same kind of cloth Mr. M. got father for wagon covers. Make bags and put your beds in them; get plently of matting and wrap round your chairs and furniture. Bring two pounds of saltpeter and six bottles of fever and ague medicine."
This is but one of several letters that were written, containing direc- tions of what they were to bring with them, all of which my grandmother followed to the letter. Is it any wonder then, that iny grandfather stood transfixed at the magnitude of her luggage? In addition to her house- hold goods and all the things she had been directed to get, she had brought enough young fruit trees, apple, peach, pear, plum and cheery, also small fruits and flowering shrubs of many varieties, to stock a nursery. Some of them are still living on the old place, where they were planted by hands long since folded to their rest. My grandfather was so greatly disgusted at the amount of luggage she had brought that he gave away in Chicago two wagon loads of her much prized fruit trees and shrubs (greatly to her dismay), also, leaving there several barrels of old iron and peach pits.
They had brought their own carriage from New York, so the tiresonie drive over the prairies was performed in comparative comfort. During
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my grandfather's absence in Chicago my aunt Mary had been very busy making preparations for the reception of the family-white-washing the walls of their future abode, and giving it every appearance of comfort that was in her power. When she saw the wagon train at a little distance, she started out with her youngest child to meet them and give them wel- come. So browned were they by their rough life of hardshipand exposure, that she was supposed, by her unappreciative relatives, to be a squaw and her papoose. Not flattering, certainly, but perhaps excusable on their part.
The man servant they brought from New York with them was quite a character, and very much given to composing what he called "poetry," a specimen of which I will give below. There were originally about twenty verses, which he set to music, likewise of his own composition, but these will suffice to hand down to future generations. I wish I might convey to you the fine rich brogue in which they are said to have been sung by the composer, or even the most excellent imiltation given by my mother and other members of the family, which I am confident could hardly be distinguished from the original:
"We crossed at Dixon's Ferry,
On the twenty-sixth of June, Among the rolling prairies, And the flowers in full bloom.
I'll vote for William Henry Harrison,
And I'll tell you the reason why, He'll stop the speculation That runs the country dry.
I hired by the month As you very well do know. And took the fever and aguc, Which caused me muckle woe."
I have not given the verses in the original order, but one here and there, as they could be recalled from memory's depths.
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