USA > Illinois > Lee County > Recollections of the pioneers of Lee County [Illinois] > Part 22
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
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having escorted hundreds of old settlers through the peaceful portals of Oakwood cemetery, at last himself reclines beneath its leafy shades. There, the lips firmly set, and eyes that fairly sparkle with animation, is Col. John Dement, the hero of the Black Hawk war and the sturdy standard-bearer of Northern Illinois democracy, whose will was iron and whose heart was as staunch as oak. There is Hon. Joseph Crawford, with features more mild but no less firm; whose feet have pressed nearly every foot of sod in Lee and surrounding counties, as government sur- veyor; a careful business man, eminently honest and universally honored, conscientious and conservative, a wise counselor and cultured companion. Here is the fine, aristocratic face of Judge John V. Eustace, tinged with a smile of slightly sarcastic humor. With a heart as tender as a child's and a soul that would flash into instant fiery indignation at the committal . of wrong that took the form of meanness, be it against friend or foe. A man who, not without fault, was one of the manliest of men.
Here is the lithe figure and bright features of the suave E. B. Stiles, who could refuse a man a favor with such infinite grace that the solicitor would retire feeling in better mood than if almcst anyone else had com- plied with his request. Isaac S. Boardman, first clerk of Lee county, and who in his many years of editorial control of The Telegraph never told quite all that he knew. Isaac Means, his implacable enemy, but a inan who beneath a brusk exterior hid a warm and generous heart. Squires Morgan, Stevens and Bethea, a triumvirate of justices of the *olden kind, a terror to wrong doers. Robert F. Lang, whose rugged old Scotch features beam with energy, honesty and an iron will, and whose handiwork, as endurable as his sturdy good qualities, is seen in the piers of the Dixon bridge. Col. H. T. Noble, one of Dixon's early educators, a soldier of unimpeachable patriotism, a man of fertile brain and unbounded public spirit. Others will write of his military and public record, but · this portrait brings out a dimly developed memory-picture of a little stone school-house among the first buildings in Dixon constructed of that enduring material. Within its walls the first teacher, in 1848, was James Lum; the second, in 1850, Henry T. Noble. On each side of the small room-ample enough, however-along the wall were two or three rows of seats and primitive desks. At one end, opposite the door, was a huge fire-place, up the capacious chimney of which in winter escaped nearly all the heat from the burning logs beneath. To the left was the teacher's desk, the receptacie of not only his books, but of our marbles and balls and apples and chewing gum, which so often became a sort of contraband of war. On the seats at this side sat the girls. (We called
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them girls in those days-young ladies you would call them now.) Many of them I can recall to memory, though most of them are beyond recall in fact. Jane Ann Herrick, tall and queenly, who afterward became the wife of the school teacher and lost her life in the terrible bridge acci- dent of May 3, 1873. Ann Ophelia Potter, handsome and bright, after- ward Mrs. F. A. Soule. The Mead sisters-Laura and Parmelia-the former now Mrs. C. J. Reynolds, of Colorado Springs, the latter (Mrs. Hoffman) also a victim of the bridge disaster. There, too, sat Franc Noble, the teacher's cousin, fat, fair and full of frolic, something of a tom-boy, perhaps, but with a heart bigger than any boy's. The Ayers girls, Libbie and Mary. Henrietta Dixon and Sarah Elizabeth McKen- ney, first and second children to the manor born. Anna Eustace, now Mrs. B. F. Shaw, stately and dignified even in her young girlhood. These, with many others, more dimly remembered, were the lambs who sat at the teacher's right, while at his left, with the kids, sat Edward and_Ed- win, the twin Sterlings, who were so much alike that it was difficult to avoid punishing one for the misdeeds of the other. "Bird" and "Jim" Ayres; Joe Morrell, the embodiment of good-natured mischief; John Wealty, now in Washington; John L. Lord and his brother "Gus"; "Ep." Edson and "Eph." Groh; J. D. Messer, who was always with Will Van Arnam; Henry Dement and Oscar McKenney. To all of us in those far-away days Henry T. Noble, in his vigorous young manhood, was not only a teacher, but a friend and companion.
But upon the gallery walls hang other pictures. There is Col. Silas Noble, so long recorder of the government land office, who, though well advanced in life, was too full of patriotic fervor to remain at home while younger men were fighting for the preservation of the Union. James Goble, one of Lee county's early sheriffs, always in good spirits, fond of a good story and a good laugh, and perhaps for that reason a general favor- ite with the young folks. E. W. Hine, we believe Dixon's first or second merchant tailor, who nethertheless was very much more than the "ninth part of a man," being a refined and cultured gentleman, whose home in early days was a favorite resort for congenial spirits. His family of five has now no living representative.
James Van Arnamı, whose optical organs had a decidedly intro- spective turn, was a character in those days, who is said to have said that if he knew that he had a drop of honest blood in his body he would open his veins and let it out. "Jim," however, was the self-constituted righter of many wrongs in the primitive days, and marshalled at least one party to tar and feather a man for the ill-treatment of an orphan
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girl. James Hatch, whose picture wears a pleasant sinile, was Dixon's first baker, who in 1848 baked all the crackers and hard bread for Dixon's delegation of gold hunters, to be used in their three month's trip across the plains. These were baked in an oven in the basement of the house still occupied by Mr. Hatch; corner of Peoria and River streets. The upper floor was then occupied as a dwelling and wagon shop by the fami- lies of John Moore (father of the writer) and E. B. Blackman, and well do we remember seeing E. B. Baker and others of the California crew ride the rail with which they worked the dough to a proper stiffness.
There is Theron Cumins, emphatically a self-made man, who laid the foundation of his fortune in the suburban village of Grand Detour, and · is now at the head of the oldest and most extensive manufacturing com- pany in the city. A man of few words, but whose words are fraught with forceful meaning, he not infrequently reminds us of General Grant.
Dr. John B. Nash, for many years one of the two physicians in this region of country. A tall and intellectual looking man of pleasing coun- tenance and kindly heart. Retiring from practice, he opened the first drug store in the village. He became one of the early students of and converts to the spiritual philosophy, and his home was the most promi- nent rendezvous of its exponents. He was among those who visited Pike's Peak during the gold fever, and there became lost to his family and friends-his bones probably rest in some unknown spot in the mountains of Colorado.
Oh, there is John W. Clute, who half a century ago commenced per- fecting the soles and repairing the understanding of the people of this community, and is still pegging away, the first and the last of the wor- shippers at the.shrine of St. Crispen, his useful career has not yet waxed to an end. While he pounds his lapstone he can relate in detail most of the local incidents in the lapse of time since 1840.
Here hangs a portrait of Henry K. Strong, of the township's constab- ulary, who with James C. Mead and the writer divides the honor of set- ting type for the first paper printed in Lee county, May 1, 1851. It was the Dixon Telegraph, still hale and hearty in its forty-second year. The wife of the editor (Mrs. Chas. R. Fisk), was, in all probability, the first woman who set type on any paper in this part of the country. The print- ing office was over the store of Little & Brooks, now D. W. McKenney's livery stable on River street, and The Telegraph, after many removals, has returned to within a half block of its birthplace, the writer still occas- ionally taking a hand at the case.
Here is W. W. Heaton, one of the earliest judges of the circuit court of Lee county, a man small of statue, but of broad culture, solid rather
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than brilliant, slow but sure. Well do we remember the accident by which he was deprived of his second wife-one of the first fatal accidents to occur in Dixon. Mrs. Heaton, her son and infant daughter were re- turning from a drive. The horse became suddenly frightened and unmanagable by his boy driver. The carriage was overturned, and the mother, rendered helpless in her endeavor to shield her babe, was thrown violently against the corner of the Methodist Episcopal church (now the residence of J. W. Kent) and was instantly killed.
Joseph Cleaver, almost forgotten perhaps, came to Dixon in 1845, and was postmaster in 1854, dying in July of that year, one of the first (I think the very first) victims of the cholera epidemic.
There is the brawny, black-eyed J. M. Cropsey, the veteran Vulcan of. the village, who was equally skilled in forging a horse-shoe or spinning a yarn, and whose fertile imagination might have earned him the title of the Jules Verne of the West. Not far off is a picture of David Welty, who came from Buffalo, New York, in the spring of 1838, and for many years was "mine host" of one of the earliest hostleries, the Western Hotel, which by another name still stands on Hennepin avenue.
Oh, here we have a galaxy of distinguished individuals - a sort of "Lincoln cabinet" picture in fact. The central figure is "Deacon" Quartus Ely, and he is surrounded by a coterie of a dozen choice spirits, not all old settlers, and several of them already mentioned. There is Hal. Williams, a brilliant young lawyer; Ferris Finch, an artist who buried his capital talent under a government appointment at the capital; Ozias Wheeler, one-time sheriff of Lee county; James L. Camp, Dixon's best known postmaster; P. M. Alexander, the pioneer hardware dealer; the two Benjamins-"Andy" and "Jim"; L. A. Divine, Judge Welty, B. F. Shaw, the veteran editor of the Northwest; Henry Becker and Isaac Boardman, an apt follower of his partial namesake, Izaak Walton, and a disciple of Nimrod. In the days of auld lang syne this cabinet met in frequent session, and shrouded in vaporous wreaths arising from choice Havanas or less aristocratic, but more maladorous "kinnekennick," its members oft discussed the chequered affairs of life. Even kings and queens, as well as knaves, were admitted to these sessions. As in the outside world, hearts were sometimes exchanged for diamonds, and clubs and spades were frequently found in opposition. Ah, is it true that in the game of life spades always win? They have turned the sod upon the graves of most of "Deacon" Ely's cabinet; but it may be that with "the great majority" they are now engaged in the discussion of weightier themes. Let us hope so, as we turn their pictured faces to the wall.
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MRS. E. B BAKER.
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Mrs. E. B. Baker and Others.
Mrs. E. B. Baker, the subject of this little sketch, was the first white child who crossed Rock River. She was born on Fancy Creek, six miles from Springfield, Illinois, in March 1827. Her father, Mr. Kellogg, was appointed to lay out a road between Peoria and Galena, where the land office was then situated. This he did in 1828, and it was known as Kel- logg's trail, and was the only thoroughfare between the central portion of the state and Galena. In the spring many people made their way to the lead mines over this route, as the mining fever was at its hight, and in autumn emigrated southward again with the birds. At one time quite a large party, men, women and children, forded the river near here in their wagons. The young men of the party considered this a fine opportunity to go bathing, and, as the wagon train passed on, disrobed and disported themselves for some time in the crystal waters. At last, realizing that the time was passing, they returned to the bank, only to find that not a vestige of their clothing remained. The Indians had crept up and stolen every garment, and they were forced to follow on after the wagon train in a state of nature. In laying out the trail Mr. Kellogg was so delighted with the northern part of the state that he determined to take up a claim, the same known in history as "Kellogg's Grove," and in 1829 moved his family there. In 1831 the Dixons, to whom he was related, having located at "Dixon's Ferry," and strongly urging him to settle near them, he moved to Buffalo Grove, where for some years he kept a public house. There were but four large rooms in the house, but no other "tavern" being within many miles, they sometimes accommodated as many as fifty in one night; beds being laid all over the floors, while some slept wrapped in their blankets, thankful to be under the shelter of a roof. When the rush to the mines set in they would often serve as many as two hundred extra meals in a day, of which Mrs. Baker, then a child would keep count with kernels of corn. Three times were the family forced to leave their home on account of expected Indian outbreaks; once during the Blackhawk war, once previous and another time later. Mr. Kellogg served as a scout or guide during the time of that war.
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It was no uncommon occurrence for the Dixon children to drive to Buffalo Grove in the early morning and breakfast with the Kellogg family. One night there had been a very heavy frost which covered the thick prairie grass as with snow, so the Dixon boys thought it would be a grand idea to have a sleigh ride, and they "hitched up" and drove to their uncle's before the frost melted. No record is left of the manner in which they returned home.
The wolves were a source of great annoyance to the Kelloggs, often killing a calf or a pig before rescue could come from the house. A favorite dog deserted them for the companionship of a pack of wolves. He came back some time later, displaying a most sneaking, abject appearance, but did not remain long, for in a few days he returned to the companions of his adoption. I have heard it related that an uncle of my own, while plowing, was sometimes followed by wolves which would devour the mice turned up by the plow in the furrow.
Mrs. Kellogg was greatly troubled at the lack of educational advant- ages for children, and made every effort to secure the best instruction those early days afforded. One winter "Father Dixon" would hire a teacher to come to his house, and the Kellogg children attended that school; the next winter the teacher would hold forth at Mr. Kellogg's, and the Dixon children would go there. Mrs. Baker attended school one year at Gaatiot's Grove near Galena.
In 1845 she was married to Eli B. Baker, and the year following they came to Dixon to live; their home being the A. S. Dimick house on the corner of Main and Ottawa streets. 1849 Mr. Baker went to California with many others whom the recent gold discoveries had drawn thither. Mrs. Baker was put to sore straits sometimes to provide for herself and little family while he was pursuing his long, weary way across the con- tinent, bnt after his arrival fortune favored him, and he was enabled to send home the means with which to provide a home of their own, and during his absence Mrs. Baker built the house on the corner of Boyd street and north Ottawa avenue, now. owned ;- I think-by Rufus Forsyth. Some years later she became associated with Mrs. Jane Little in the millinery and dress-making business, which was carried on successfully for some years.
Mrs. Baker was ever ready to go to the assistance of the sick-at one time taking care of a cholera patient prior to the epidemic, until death ensued. Latterly, during some years she adopted the profession of nurse, and how excellent she is in that capacity can be certified to by many who have received her unremitting care. She has been a woman "of
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sorrow and acquainted with grief," for of her five children but one remains-her youngest, an invalid son, to whom she devotes her life. Two of her children met their death in the terrible bridge disaster of 1873. We, in whose midst she has lived these many years appreciate her worth, and know how bravely she has borne all her afflictions.
Most of the old settlers are familiar with the following story, of which I have heard two versions, both having the same tragical termination, but I give the one which I have heard the oftener. Invitations were out for a party, and Susan Murray, who was quite a belle at that time, had sent for a pair of white satin slippers, one of which she found she could not wear on account of a troublesome corn. She impatiently exclaimed "if I only had a chisel I would cut the toe off," whereupon "Jim" Ben- jamin, who was standing near and had overheard her, most obligingly procured a chisel for her. She then asked him to strike the chisel with a hammer while she held the instrument. This he refused to do, but offered to hold the chisel while she did the striking act, thinking it only a joke, and, upon carrying out his part of the proposed program was sur- prised to see her strike so vigorous a blow as to sever the toe completely from the foot.
In the early years there lived here a man whose wife was sadly addicted to the use of intoxicants, and when indulging in one of her sprees was a source of terror to the neighborhood. One evening a party of young men found her laying on the street sleeping off the effects of the liquor she had imbibed. They produced a board, on which they bound her firmly from shoulders to feet, and then carried her over the river to her home, which was situated in what is now known as "Parson's Addition," and there set the board upon end at the side of the door. I will not give the names of the young men, for some of them still reside here, and are now very dignified elderly, professional and business men, and might regard it as not a good example to their sons, as well as taking a great liberty with their names.
There is a story, too, of one time when a number of the older boys went hunting or skating up the river and killed a muskrat, whereupon someone-my informant thought Noah Brooks-wrote up the affair in startling characters as the murder of an innocent, unoffending citizen of a neighboring settlement, Amos Krat by name, whereat some of the
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good fathers, who knew that their sons were of the party (especially Uncle Fred Mckinney), were greatly alarmed lest their boys would be implicated in the direful punishment which was sure to follow.
Another one refers to a time when paper, for some reason, was not to be had for the weekly issue of the only Dixon paper, and it came out on pink and yellow sheets about the size of a farm sale bill, with the motto "Smaller by degrees and beautifully less; fret not thy gizzard."
Andrew J. Brubaker can be classed among the old settlers, as he came here in 1849. He made his advent here on foot, having walked from his father's farm on Pine Creek, a distance of ten miles, and carrying his wardrobe in a red bandana handkerchief. When he arrived at Rock River he found the bridge gone. In response to his "hello" Mr. Alexan- der came across the river and rowed him over in a skiff. Heand the above mentioned gentleman were employed at the same time, and for some years in Mr. Brook's store. Upon Mr. Brooks' retirement from the gen- eral merchandise business, Mr. Alexander set up in the hardware line, and Mr. Brubaker continued in that branch of the business with which he was most familiar. Of all the business men here in 1855 only these two gentlemen, with Mr. Eells and Mr. W. J. Carpenter, continue in the business in which they were originally engaged. J. C. Ayers, who at that time had a hat and cap store, is still in business, but of a different nature. The flattering attention with which Mr. Brubaker now waits upon the ladies is due to the early training which he received in Mr. Brooks' store,, as he thus describes it: "In Mr. Books' store the millinery department was the hardest to learn and get along with. It was no small task to fix one of those old-fashioned 'prairie schooner' bonnets on a lady, and trim it up with ribbons, flowers and feathers to match, and then tell her that she looked beautiful, and that it became her very nicely, but I got there after awhile." Mr. Brubaker has always been much interested in music, and has probably sung at more funerals than any other inhabitant of Lee county. He organized the first Methodist choir, and was its leader for a number of years. Up to that time congregational singing had been in vogue, sometimes one pitching the tune, again another; often it would be pitched too high, or very much the reverse; frequently they would get the wrong meter and utter confusion ensue. One old settler used to say, "they first screwed on one tune, and if that did not fit, they would screw on another." Mr. Brubaker had much trouble in persuading the old fogy members and deacons to allow him to organize a choir, but later on they
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conceded that it was a great improvement, and showed no desire to return to the old way.
In 1851 the first brass band, composed of eighteen members, was organ- ized, of whom Mr. Brubaker and Mr. B. F. Shaw are the only representa- tives remaining at the present day, the others having passed away or gone to "pastures new." Mr. Shaw played the bugle and was for some time leader of the band. The writer of this is unable to positively assert that the stagnation in the growth of Dixon was due solely to the music (?) thus evolved by Mr. Shaw as bandmaster, but if so, his genial disposition has eventually overcome the terrifying effects of the bugle blowing of long ago, and timid strangers are now venturing to make Dixon their home, just as if no awful sounds had once put to flight everything human within hearing.
I have picked up niany good stories about "Andrew," but he says they are not true, and seriously objects to their publication, so I must content myself with the only one to which he "owns up." Tallow candles were used in Mr. Brooks' store in addition to lamps, and it was one of Mr. . Brubaker's duties to light up. On a first of April Henry Webb, who was the instigator of most of the mischief on foot, proposed that Andrew be "April-fooled, and invited all the boys to come and see the fun. Fine imitations of candles were made out of potatoes and placed in the candle- sticks. Evening came, and with it a goodly crowd of the boys, and not long after their eyes were gladdened by the ineffectual attempts of our friend to light first one candle and then another. At each failure the unrighteous laughed, and he, becoming flustered, finally exclaimed, "My goodness, I can't make these candles light." Roars of laughter and shouts of "April fool" sounded on all sides, Andrew says he took the joke well and only remarked good naturedly, "Well, boys, that is all right, but you can't play that trick on me again."
One incident which occurred in those early years I think worthy of relating, concerning a shoemaker by the name of Daniel Cuppernell. He was an extremely profane man, and one day while he and a companion were at work at their trade in the basement of a house which stood on the south side of Main street, near the corner of Peoria, a heavy thunder- storm camp up. The flashes of lightning were so vivid, and the roll of "Heaven's artillery" so incessant that the other man expressed some fear. Cuppernell, with a terrible oath, said, "Let God Almighty do his worst, I'm not afraid of him." No sooner were the words uttered than a bolt of
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lightning came down the chimney, killing him instantly, while his com- panion escaped unhurt.
Mrs. James A. Watson (Susan Clute), was quite noted for her beauty as a girl, and at one time was the acknowledged belle of Dixon. She was very public-spirited also, and it is said that she, together with some other young ladies (probably more for sport than aught else), accom- plished some quite successful campaigning for William Henry Harrison in 1840.
One person well known to all is Adam Scheer. His father came to Dixon in 1845 with his family. They were not long from Germany and could speak but a few words in English. Two weeks after their arrival here Mr. Scheer died. At that time they were living on a farm known as the Warn place, west of town. The family had a great deal of sick- ness the first year or two, and one summer when Mrs. Scheer was sick with a fever, a neighbor going there to offer assistance, found little Adam his mother's nurse, and she, poor soul, in a burning fever was carefully covered by a feather bed, as well as laying upon one, according to the German custom. The lady had this removed and by whatever means were at hand, soon managed to have her more comfortable. When Adam was eleven years old he went to live with Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Little. After they moved out on their farm he worked there during the summer, but in the winter he would come to town and work for his board and attend school, that he might receive the benefit of the better educational advantages afforded here. In 1849 his two elder brothers went to California, leaving Adam his mother's stay and support until her death, which occurred during the cholera epidemic in 1854. Adam was somewhat superstitious and of a timid disposition in his young days. The writer hereof knew of his great fear of ghosts and when a small child succeeded in giving him a fright which he remembers to this day. She arose in the very early Morning before it was fairly light and hid herself at the back of the woodpile, where she knew he would soon come for wood for the kitchen fire. When he had filled his arms, she sprang out, flapping her nightdress wildly. Adam gave a shriek, threw the wood down and made good use of his heels until safe shelter of the kitchen was reached. I'll never tell what happened to the little girl but siniply say that from that time on she never tried to frighten Adam.
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