USA > Illinois > Menard County > Petersburg > Record of the restoration of New Salem, New Salem State Park near Petersburg, Illinois, 1932-1933 > Part 3
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"Reuben Redford entered the mercantile field, rented this store and put in a stock of goods. He operated it only a few weeks and sold his stock on January 15. 1833, to William G. Green, who on the same day. sold to Berry and Lincoln. A few months later Berry disposed of his stock to the Trent Brothers, who. a little later, left the country between two suns, leaving their notes to Berry unpaid. Berry again took over the business and later failed . . It was probably later purchased by John MeNamar and used as a store building by him and Dr. Allen until February. 1837. and then moved to Petersburg."23
In 1918 this site was excavated and Reep describes the results as follows:
"The Berry & Lincoln store, north of Main Street, was a one-story frame building, consisting of two rooms, a large room in front with a small shed room adjoining on the north. Part of the original stone foundation. particularly the four corners, and the lower layer of stone on the south side. were found to be intact, and show the main building to have been twenty feet square on the outside. The fireplace was on the west side near the center of the building."24 (Note: This location of the fireplace has been found to be incorrect. This is made clear in a letter by Mr. Reep which will be quoted later.)
It is interesting to note that "This building and half lot was not owned by Berry and Lincoln, but at the time they purchased the Rad- ford stock of goods from Green, it had been owned by Green for about a year. Radford, as well as Berry and Lincoln, was his tenant."25
Ida M. Tarbell relates how Berry and Lincoln became store-keepers :
"In the fall of 1832 there were at least four stores in New Salem. The most pretentious was that of Hill and MeNeill. (Note: Whose real name was MeNamar) which carried a large line of dry goods. The three others. owned by the Herndon Brothers, Reuben Radford, and James Rutledge, were groceries. Failing to secure employment at any
23 Reep, Lincoln at New Salem, P. 11-12.
H Reep, Lincoln at New Salem, P. 125-127.
25 Reep, Lincoln at New Salem, P. 127.
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of these establishments, Lincoln, though without money enough to pay a week's board in advance, resolved to buy a store. He was not long in finding an opportunity to purchase. James Herndon had already sold out his half interest in Herndon Brothers' store to William F. Berry; and Rowan Herndon not getting along well with Berry, was only too glad to find a purchaser of his half in the person of "Abe" Lincoln. Berry was as poor as Lincoln : but that was not a serions obstacle. for their notes were accepted for the Herndon stock of goods."
"They had barely hung out their sign when something happened which threw another store into their hands. Reuben Radford had made himself obnoxious to the Clary's Grove Boys, and one night they broke in his doors and windows, and overturned his counters and sugar barrels. It was too much for Radford, and he sold out next day to Wil- liam G. Green for a four-hundred dollar note signed by Green. At the latter's request. Lincoln made an inventory of the stock, and offered him six hundred and fifty dollars for it-a proposition which was cheerfully accepted. Berry and Lincoln. being unable to pay cash, assumed the four-hundred dollar note payable to Radford, and gave Green their joint note for two hundred and fifty dollars."26
"The little grocery owned by James Rutledge was the next to suc- cumb. Berry and Lincoln bought it at a bargain. their joint note taking the place of cash. The three stocks were consolidated. Their aggregate cost must have been not less than fifteen hundred dollars. Berry and Lincoln had secured a monopoly of the grocery business in New Salem."27
(Note: The following description by J. McCan Davis appears in McCluire's Magazine, February. 1896. under a photograph of the sup- posed Berry and Lincoln store, as it stood in 1895, at the rear of L. W. Bishop's gun-shop in Petersburg, Illinois. )-
"The structure, as it stands today, is about eighteen feet long. twelve feet in width. and ten feet in height. The back room. however. has disappeared. so that the building as it stood when occupied by Berry and Lincoln was somewhat longer. Of the original building there only remain the framework, the black-walnut weather-boarding on the front end, and the ceiling of sycamore boards. .. . It is remembered by Mr. Bishop that in this door there was an opening for the reception of let- ters-a circumstance of importance as tending to establish the genuine- ness of the building, when it is remembered that Lincoln was postmaster while he kept the store."
It will be noticed that this structure is 12 feet x 18 feet and the foundation of the Berry and Lincoln store measures 20 feet x 20 feet. If this was the original Berry and Lincoln store, then it was dismantled and the material brought to Petersburg and rebuilt. The new structure built of the original materials was made smaller in size. If the struc- ture was moved intact from New Salem to Petersburg, (which seems
"6 At the time Berry and Lincoln bought Radford's stock we believe they oceu- pied the store which was located just west of Lot 1 south of Main Street. first sur- vey, in the "public square". After the purchase of the stock from Green, they moved across the street into Green's store building, which is now known to us as the Berry-Lincoln Store.
27 Ida M. Tarbell's "Abraham Lincoln"-McClure's Magazine-February. 1896- P. 213 and 215-216.
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unlikely). it seems improbable that this was the Berry and Lincoln Store.
Daniel Green Burner, who elerked in the Berry and Lincoln store, relates that-"The store building of Berry and Lincoln, was a frame building, not very large, one story in height, and contained two rooms. In the little back room Lincoln had a fireplace and a bed. There is where he stopt. I clerked in the store through the winter of 1834, up to the first of March."28
It is hard to understand how the little room at the rear had a fire- płace. We know the fireplace appeared on the north wall of the main room, which would place it between the two rooms and undoubtedly the fireplace opening occurred in the main room with the back of the fire- place showing in the little room. This would give considerable heat and keep the little room quite comfortable. We think this is perhaps the interpretation of the quotation above, by Burner, regarding the fireplace.
Mr. Rutledge, nephew of James Rutledge, the tavern keeper, tells of the stock they carried .- "I have been in Berry and Lincoln's store many a time. The building was a frame-one of the few frame build- ings in New Salem. There were two rooms, and in the small back room they kept their whiskey. They had pretty much everything, except dry goods-sugar, coffee, some crockery, a few pairs of shoes (not many), some farming implements, and the like."29
"The Berry and Lincoln store boasted no such luxury as a porch, but a great oak tree spread its limbs before its door making a friendly place for rest and talk. And here, in the quiet of the long summer days. when the farmers were in their fields and trade was restricted to the occasional sale of a few yards of calico or a gallon of molasses, Lincoln sat, or lay at length. lost in the pages of a book."30 It will be remem- bered that MeNamar is thought to have been the last owner of the Berry-Lincoln Store, and Mr. Reep suggests a possible ending to the eventful history of this little store-"MeNamar bought a lot in Peters- burg in February, 1837, for $25.00, which indicated it was vacant, and sold it a year later for $500.00, which indicated that he erected a house --- a store building-maybe he moved this store down and added to it. im- mediately following the purchase of the Petersburg lot or as soon as weather and road conditions would permit."
At the time of the first excavation in 1918, as mentioned before, it was discovered that the basement was 20 feet square, measuring to the outsides of the foundation walls. They also found that the foundation walls were continuous and built of stone.
There was no indication of an outside entrance or cellar door to the basement. Goods were probably raised and lowered from the base- ment by an inside trap door.
In 1918 the location of the fireplace was discovered ". ... at the north end just east of the center of the building. I note on Page 127 of my book (Lincoln at New Salem) that I say the fireplace was on the
28 Statement by Daniel Green Burner, appearing in "Abraham Lincoln" by Ida M. Tarbell, McClure's Magazine, Feb., 1896-P. 227.
"9 Statement by Mr. Rutledge, occurring in Ida M. Tarbell's "Abraham Lin- coin" in MeClure's Magazine, February, 1896 -- P. 228.
30 Chandler, New Salem: Early Chapter in Lincoln's Life,-Journal of the Illi- nois State Historical Society, P. 534.
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west side near the center. Oleson (Note: Mr. Chas. Oleson, who had charge of the original excavation) says I misunderstood him about the location of the fireplace, that he found it at the north end originally. I suppose the lean-to could be built around the chimney, and probably this would help keep the room warm."31
It will be noted above that it was thought the fireplace was just east of the center line on the north side. From the writer's observations of various other excavations. it was noted that indications of a fireplace consisted of bits of brick, broken stone and mortar buried in filled earth. It is very unlikely that the original fireplace was off the center line but highly probable that it occurred on the center line, and the stone and brick may have fallen to the cast at the time the building was dismantled.
Having located the fireplace at the north side, the ridge line would be determined because invariably the fireplace was located at the gable end because this portion of the cabin helped to support the chimney. It is quite likely that this chimney and fireplace were built of stone be- cause of the fact that the lean-to at the rear would create an inside fire- place and chimney and the fire hazard would have been too great if the chimney was built of plastered sticks and logs.
George Warburton, who originally built this store. was quite wealthy and was noted for doing things in a very creditable manner. This is another reason for supposing that the fireplace and chimney were of stone. Brick was found in this excavation in 1918, and we are led to believe that the brick was used for the hearth.
It has been pretty well established that a room existed to the north of the twenty. foot by twenty foot main room. Mr. Reep, in his "Lin- coln at New Salem", on page 58, says that Young Ross inquired as to the whereabouts of Lincoln and learned that he was gone. "but that Bill Berry had come back about daylight that morning from a dance he attended the night before, and was asleep in a little room adjoining the Post Office on the north." The extra room was a store room and used for surplus goods, and being attached to a square building. it is quite possible it was a lean-to with a shed roof.
Mr. Reep, in his "Lincoln at New Salem", stated that "all the store buildings had porches in front of them". This seems quite logical to suppose because the stores were very small, and at the same time served as meeting places for the exchange of news and other information, and no doubt the porches served to provide the extra space necessary. How- ever. in view of the fact that a tree grew in front of this store (accord- ing to Mrs. Chandler) the porch on this building has been omitted. The front door, no doubt, was located in the center of the south wall.
There probably was only one exterior door in the entire cabin to provide greater safety, for there would have been only one door to be kept locked. The north and west walls having the greatest exposure to the elements in the winter, were usually left blank: hence. we have located two small windows in the east wall-one lighting the front room and the other the rear room : and one window on the south wall east of the door.
31 Quotation taken from letter from Mr. Thomas P'. Reep to Dr. C. M. Service, Dept. of Public Works and Buildings, Springfield, Illinois, dated August 27, 1932.
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It is known that this building was built of hewn studs and siding. The inside was probably sheathed, as well as the outside, to provide greater protection in the winter season.
To complete the picture, probably a hitching rail existed to the west of this building, for a map drawn by Mrs. Samuel Hill shows the Springfield Road just west of the Rutledge Tavern continuing on north past Main Street for a short distance. Perhaps this continuation was created by the use of this hitching rail.
Since this building was built after the erection of the mill, it is quite likely that the floors, siding and doors, etc., were built of sawn planks.
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CLARY'S GROCERY
Clary's Grocery was located in the northeastern portion of the town and was outside the limits of the portion surveyed into lots. Offut's Store was just south of the "grocery". In referring to Offut's Store. Mrs. Chandler says "That portion of the bluff had, hitherto, been dom- inated by but one building-Clary's Grocery. Its proprietor was of that roistering group that hailed from a point a few miles farther west known as Clary's Grove and his store was patronized by them-with gusto".
"The "grocery' was, as may be guessed. in the local terminology. a saloon and to be distinguished from a store' which contained food stuffs. drygoods and sometimes furniture, in addition to the ubiquitous barrel of whiskey."
"Clary's enjoyed the advantage of isolation, being located on the north end of the T-shaped bluff, and well off the main street. Just as the bar of Clary's constituted the forum for debate, so the open, level space without, on the south, provided an arena where tests of skill and strength and games of sorts were indulged in".32
Mr. Reep sums up by saying "William Clary, a brother of the John ('lary, who gave his name to the Grove where he settled in 1819 (being the first settler in what is now Menard County) bought a small tract of land North of Lot 14, on the north side of Main Street in the first survey. built a log store building and established a grocery. "Clary's Grocery" dispensed liquor as its principal stock in trade. After two or three years Clary's 'heels began to itch' and he migrated to Texas".33
Clary's Grocery appears to have been built when Offut erected his store in August. 1831. so it probably was built about 1830 and served its purpose for two or three years until about 1833. No record exists of what happened to it after that date. It may have continued to serve as the town saloon for some time after Clary left, if so, we have been able to find no evidence to prove it. It may have stood vacant for a time and later moved to Petersburg and re-erected to serve as a residence.
All available evidence (and there. is little) seems to indicate that this was one of the early types, crudely built. It existed in that section of town avoided by the better element and we are of the opinion that this cabin was erected to serve its purpose and nothing more. The plan probably consisted of one room. There was no "Stock of goods" for which to provide storage room, and the one room would amply serve its purpose. Barrels of liquor were probably stored in the basement and access was provided by an outside entrance protected by a hinged door. This made it easy to bring the barrels to and from the basement. A
32 Chandler, New Salem: Early Chapter in Lincoln's Life. Journal of the Illi- nois State Historical Society, P. 509-10.
33 Reep, Lincoln at New Salem, P. 12.
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porch may have been erected to make more room for the loafers. How- ever, this was omitted in the restoration for two reasons-first. we bo- lieve, originally, it would have been extra work and probably considered unnecessary to draw patronage: second, the site is so near the present road. it was impossible to find room for a porch on the west side where we think the entrance was.
This site was uncovered for the first time on August 22. 1932. From the color of the newly spaded sides of the trenches, the virgin soil could be separated from the filled in earth and it was evident that the foundation walls had been constructed measuring 16 feet north and south and 18 feet east and west. No stones were found which might in- dicate a former stone foundation. However, the bottom of the founda- tion walls seemed to have been about six feet below the surrounding contours and the continuous trench seemed to indicate that the wall was continuous.
In 1932 the center of the excavated portion was in the center of a bowl-shaped depression which would lead one to believe that originally the floor of the cabin had been about five feet above the present road level. and that in the meantime the earth had been removed from around the old foundation walls when the stone foundation walls were probably salvaged and removed, perhaps to Petersburg for building pur- poses there. This would give a basement with a clear head room of about five feet six inches.
The contour of the ground at the south edge of the bowl-shaped basin mentioned above, seemed to indicate that an outside cellar door to the basement existed there.
The long dimension of the cabin runs east and west and no doubt the roof ridge also ran in the same direction. This would place the fireplace either on the west or east gable ends. It is thought that the entrance door was on the west, facing the road and this would place the fireplace on the east end.
In keeping with the rest of the cabin, which is quite crude. the fire- place is constructed of logs and plastered sticks with a wood mantel on the interior. One window has been located in the south wall. The north wall with the greatest winter exposure has been left windowless. The log corners, floors, windows, doors, and other details have been designed using the cruder methods for the reasons stated before in this explanation. Many roofs of the pioneer cabins were covered with "elap- boards or shakes" (shingles) held in place by log weights. The clap- boards were not nailed in place. This method of shingling has been used here.
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SAMUEL HILL'S RESIDENCE
"Samuel Hill was born in New Jersey in the year of 1800. At the age of 20 years he migrated to Cincinnati, Ohio. From there he went to Illinois in 1829 and settled at New Salem, where he entered the mercantile business, as a partner of John McNamar."3+ He built and operated a store here in New Salem until 1839 when he moved to Petersburg. In the meantime he married Parthena Nance (July 28. 1835). "She was born August 13, 1816, in Green County, Kentucky. coming to Clary's Grove (Note: Not Clary's Grove, but Farmers Point. a settlement south of New Salem) when quite young, and was a great admirer and confidant of Lincoln. She died at Petersburg, July 1. 1898."35
"He built a two story house just west of his store building. It was the most pretentious and the only two story house in the village. which was in keeping with his financial standing and importance. Hill moved from New Salem to Petersburg in 1839, taking his store building, but leaving his residence, which was turned into a hotel, and called Hill's Tavern. It is said that Hill, in his courtly, gallant way was paying court to Ann Rutledge when the announcement was made of her engagement to John (McNeil) McNamar .. ."34
It is known that he bought back from George Spears, Jr .. that part of lot 4 north of Main Street (First Survey) on which his house later was built in September 1834 and he no doubt built his new residence in the Spring of the next year, and had it finished before his marriage in July of the same year. As stated before, he and Mrs. Hill moved to Petersburg in 1839 and the residence was known as Hill's Tavern in 1840: we have been unable to find any record which mentions the own- er of the tavern. After 1840 its fate is unknown, and like many others it probably was moved down to Petersburg.
The authorities vary as to the number of rooms contained in this house. Some say four and others as high as eight, but we assume from the size of the foundations that four rooms would be most logical. All agree that the house contained a full second story. Keeping in mind, Samuel Hill was one of the wealthiest men in New Salem and known to have had the most pretentious home, we have used the finer methods of construction and used other details known to have been used only . on the best cabins. The excavations disclosed that the main portion of the original cabin was supported on six stone piers, three under each of the east and west walls. The portion of the house supported by these piers measured 14' in an east and west direction and 16' in a north and south direction. It was also discovered that shallow footings existed
34 Reep, Lincoln at New Salem, P. 104.
35 Reep, Lincoln at New Salem, P. 96.
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eight feet to the north. This establishes the dimensions of the house at 14' (east and west ) by 24' (north and south).
The first floor then, contained two rooms, one 14'x16' and the other to the north 8' x 11'. The larger naturally was the living room and dining room, and the other a storeroom or general utility room. It was too small to be used for anything else and having no fireplace it seems certain that no cooking was done here. Due to the simple methods of construction the dividing partition was continued on up through the second floor. The two rooms upstairs were used as bedrooms. The second story known to have been a full story would cause the gable to run the full length of 24 feet. A small front porch has been added at the front door. It might be mentioned that this is the only cabin used solely as a residence that we thought would possess the luxury of a front porch. Referring to the stone footings again, it is though that the sides of the original basement between the footings sloped inward at the bottom. We were afraid that these sloping sides would in time cave in and not stand in place permanently. so a continuous wall was used with pilasters on the interior to mark the size and location of the old piers. (See also Dr. John Allen's residence. ) This sito was first uncovered in 1918 and now no one can remember whether or not evidences of an outside entrance to the basement were discovered. We have shown one because we think a house of this character would have had onej To establish the fact that they did have outside cellar doors, there is a story that William Green, returning from Jacksonville. where he was attending college, to New Salem, brought Yates, who later became Governor of Illinois, and at the time was also attending the school at Jacksonville, and looking for Lincoln, to whom he wished to introduce his friend. found him reading a book, reclining on the cellar door of Squire Bowling Green's house.
The excavations disclosed a number of brick. burned coals and small stones and quantities of mortar occurring in an area about 6' x 3' 'on the north wall of the basement and between the west wall and the center line. It is almost certain that there was a fireplace in this loca- tion. It might be added here that this is one of the few instances where the location of the fireplace is positive. It is rather unusual for a fire- place to be off center the way this one was, however, it was probably lo- cated to one side in order to make room for the door to the rear room.
The doors and windows have been arranged keeping in mind the fact the north and west walls are the coldest and in general cabin con- struction. rarely contained openings. The front door and porch were placed toward the street on the south. The rear door was placed on the east wall and from the rear room. The cellar door was located adjacent to this rear door. The living room has a sliding window which was · used only in the pretentious homes. Hardware has been detailed using iron. the original of which was perhaps forged by Joshua Miller, the Blacksmith.
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THE HILL-McNAMAR STORE
"Samuel Hill and a man who at that time went by the name of John MeNeil, seeing a chance for profit, joined forces, and, in the autumn of 1829. erected the first store building at New Salem. They sold tea, coffee, sugar, salt, and whiskey in the grocery line, and blue calico, broom muslin, home made jeans and gloves, cotton chain, and straw hats, with a few ladies' hats, and other ornamental feminine apparel in their dry goods department."
"A post office was established on Christmas day, 1829, and Samuel Hill was made postmaster. This was the first post office established in what is now Menard County, and New Salem was the first town platted and laid out . . . McNeil sold his interest to Hill who continued to operate the store until 1839, at which time he moved to Petersburg, taking his store building with him and operated a store there until he sold out and purchased a half interest in the Bale Woolen Mills.36
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