USA > Illinois > Marshall County > Records of the olden time; or, Fifty years on the prairies. Embracing sketches of the discovery, exploration and settlement of the country, the organization of the counties of Putnam and Marshall, biographies of citizens, portraits and illustrations > Part 33
USA > Illinois > Putnam County > Records of the olden time; or, Fifty years on the prairies. Embracing sketches of the discovery, exploration and settlement of the country, the organization of the counties of Putnam and Marshall, biographies of citizens, portraits and illustrations > Part 33
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In 1828 he went to the lead mines, then the great center of attraction of the country, and established the Galena Advertiser, where he remained three years.
In 1831 he removed to Hennepin, the county seat of Putnam County, and there accepted the position of County and Circuit Clerk, declining the offer of a similar position at Chicago, as he deemed the prospects of the the town at the supposed head of navigation on the Illinois, immeasurably superior to those of the dingy mud-hole at the foot of Lake Michigan.
About the same time the citizens of Springfield, remembering him as a fearless and able editor, offered him $750 in cash to return and conduct a newspaper, but this offer he also declined.
In 1835 he changed his location to Chicago, and there founded the
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Commercial Advertiser, issuing the first numbers October 11, 1836. He continued his connection therewith about a year, when he returned to Hennepin in the fall of 1838, and in the spring of 1839 removed to Henry, where he afterward, till his death, made his home.
In the fall of 1840, in conjunction with Z .. Eastman, at Lowell (Ver- milionville), LaSalle County, he started the Genius of Liberty. This was a weekly newspaper devoted exclusively to the anti-slavery cause, and at once became its ablest champion. Besides his own keen, logical efforts, it contained speeches, sermons and letters from the foremost literary men of the day on the vital question, and speedily attained an exalted and influ- ential position. But with no local advertising, without State, county or other official patronage, and with a subscription list necessarily limited by reason of being confined almost exclusively to the few and scattered anti- slavery zealots of that day, the paper, despite the strenuous efforts of its publishers and ardent friends and admirers, proved a financial failure in Lowell, and at the end of the year Mr. Warren retired from its manage- ment, and it was removed to Chicago, where it attained no special promi- nence, being mainly remembered as the forerunner of the Chicago Tribune.
In 1851 Mr. Warren became editor of the Bureau County Advocate, which position he retained two years and then retired from the journal- istic field. He was a good practical printer, familiar with the details of the business, and as an editor quick and ready upon all subjects, especially such as came within the scope of his political convictions, seldom writing out his "copy," but composing his lengthy "leaders " in his stick, at the case. He was a firm temperance man, his habits as to intoxicants being strictly abstemious, but never a member of any society or organization based upon this principle. He died at Mendota, Illinois, at the house of his daughter, Mrs. Littlefield, August 24, 1864, passing painlessly away after a long and busy life, at the age of seventy-four years.
INCIDENTS.
The great staple of trade in early days was potatoes. Every farmer raised them, and never were such abundant crops seen. The many thou- sand bushels sent South cannot be computed, nor the fortunes made (or lost) by the parties engaged. One year so many bushels were thrown overboard as to be a positive nuisance to boatmen, and a bar in the river
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against which they lodged and grew, achieved the name of "Potato Island."
The river towns along the lower Mississippi were where markets were usually found, and it was the custom to build keel boats, and loading them with the plentiful esculent, float them down to market. After a sale of the vegetables the boat was sold for its value as firewood.
On one occasion a wagon-maker in Henry named Brown traded a wagon to Geo. Dent for 2,000 bushels of potatoes in the fall, the latter agreeing to plant a certain variety of seed that Brown desired. They grew to a fabulous size, and Brown was delighted, until he cut one open and found a " goneness " he little anticipated. They were about as hol- low as a bladder and not much more valuable. They were too big to measure and too numerous to count, so he sent word to Dent to count out a couple of thousand of the hollow things and keep the rest.
Charles Nock's farm was on the Island, below the city. Here was a large settlement of thrifty Germans.
Among the earliest settlers was a man named Van Kirk. He wore no hat, but tied a handkerchief tied around his bushy and unkempt locks. He regarded a beard as an abomination, and regularly plucked his out by the roots with pincers. He was unmarried, and lived about as a general utility man. When a small lad he had seen the battle of Trenton from a distance, and from constantly dwelling on the subject came to believe him- self an active participant who ought to have a pension. He was intensely patriotic and on each recurring Fourth of July procured a gallon of " blackstrap," and retiring to some secluded grove, read the declaration of Independence, and made a speech, closing with toasts, which were loyally and enthusiastically drank while the jug lasted. When he first came to the place he had considerable money, which, having occasion to make a journey' he tied into an old handkerchief and chucked into a crack of the logs, telling Thompson it was some " old duds" he didn't care to take along. The "old duds" were $2,800 in cash. Vankirk lived many years and finally died in the poor house.
George W. Ditman, of Magnolia, was once pursued by a pack of black wolves, and "saved his bacon" by hurriedly climbing a tree, where he remained through the night, while the yelling horde kept watch until daylight.
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Mr. Edmund Britt, an old man well known about Henry many years ago, was considered " lightning proof." He was once knocked prostrate and his clothes and shoes torn off, but suffered no farther damages. On another occasion a bolt of lightning knocked him down and scorched his hair and whiskers, but he again escaped serions harm !
He was once digging a well when the windlass broke and he was buried in the sand, but came out " sound as a dollar." Another time the well caved in, burying him several feet deep in sand and clay, and everybody expected to see him taken out dead, but he came up "fresh and smiling " after several hours' imprisonment.
In the winter of 1852, a Mr. Snyder had been across the river hunting, and while returning broke through the ice at the mouth of Sandy Creek. He could touch the bottom with his feet and stood with his arms on the ice, yet he could not extricate himself. He hallowed for help and was heard by different persons for hours, but each one supposed it was some hunter calling a companion and no one went to his relief. The following morning he was found standing in the position described, dead. He had perished from exhaustion and cold.
During the Indian war excitement "Deacon" John L. Ramsey was going toward the ferry at Henry, when he saw a person approaching. The Deacon, who was given to joking, threw a red blanket on his shoulders and hid in the grass, arising just as the unsuspecting traveler, Mr. Frank Thomas, had neared his hiding place. The latter taking him for a redskin leveled his musket to fire, and then it was Ramsey's turn to get scared, and he threw off his blanket and yelled : "Don't shoot, for God's sake, it's only me!"
The large wild cat of the timber is naturally a cowardly beast, but the following incident shows they are not averse to human flesh when "out of meat." Mr. Pools' two boys were once returning from school when they encountered a gang of them, whose threatening demonstrations caused the boys to take shelter in a tree. The varmints made demonstrations of attack, but the appearance of a dog put them to flight.
A hunter named Ward was once followed by a lynx, which he fortun- ately shot with the last bullet in his possession, and Guy Pool killed one close to his door, on Clear Creek.
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
Wild hogs were numerous and worse dreaded than any wild animal. They were fearless of man and beast, and quite frequently horses were badly wounded by these brutes. They were more savage when dogs were about, and would follow a man on horseback a long distance if accompan- ied by one to get at the latter. The attacks of wolves upon their offspring had rendered them the enemy of dogs, and they seemed to detect their presence in the timber at a long distance.
The cold snap of 1836 was the cause of a remarkable accident. A traveler whose name is unknown, riding a horse and followed by a dog, was being set across one of the primitive ferries, the flat being propelled by oars. The fast gathering ice swept them down stream where a landing could not be made, but the men escaped on the ice to the shore. The faithful dog remained with the horse and the next day both were found dead.
At the mouth of Clear Creek, on the farm of Guy W. Pool, the body of an Indian was found suspended in a tree. Near by were Indian graves. In the same locality another Indian, a child, had been "buried " in a peculiar way. The body of a willow tree was split open and the remains of the infant being placed between the halves in a hollow dug out. Around the whole were bound numerous hickory withes.
Christmas day, 1835, at a shooting match near Henry, a man named Little, a stranger, looking for a farm, strolled up to the crowd and was accidentally shot through the head by a drunken fellow named Mckinney. Little had barely arrived when Mckinney's gun was discharged, and Little dropped dead.
A man, still occasionally seen on the streets of Henry, wished to marry in the olden time, and having no money to pay the minister, bargained to pay him in coon skins, his intended promising to see it carried out.
A well remembered event in early days was the upsetting of a coach load of passengers, near Pools, which rolled down a steep precipice, going over several times without serious harm to the inmates.
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TOPOGRAPHY AND SETTLEMENT OF HOPEWELL.
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
TOPOGRAPHICAL.
provement.
HIS Township is said to have been named by Lundsford Broaddus. It contains nearly thirty-six sections of land, much of it broken and mainly valuable as pasturage, though some of the best farms and residences in the county are within its borders. Sandy Crek washes its northern boun- dary and the Illinois River its western, and the territory contiguous is broken and often swampy, but the eastern and southern portions are fertile and under a high state of im- Its products are live stock and grain. Its farms are well cared for and their owners generally "well to do."
The pioneer white settler, George Wagner, arrived in the Township in the spring of 1830, and put up a cabin, the first in this locality. He sold it to Edward Harris, who lived here many years and died upon the farm now owned by Jerry Feazle.
The next old settlers were James Hall, William McNeill and Newton Reeder, who came together in 1831, and made claims, where Hall still resides. McNeill, a blacksmith, settled in the timber north-east of Lacon, and Reeder upon what is now the Broaddus farm.
Lot and Joshua Bullman came here the same year and began their respective farms, and near them Jacob Smalley stuck his stakes.
In 1831 Elisha Swan and Hanson L. Deming put up a double log house at the foot of the hill, in what is now known as the Broaddus field, where they embarked in the mercantile business, keeping such goods as the trade of the new country demanded. This was the frontier store of Columbia and vicinity.
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RECORDS OF THE ÓLDEN TIME.
Robert Antrim and Peter Barnhart came in 1832, and settled, the former on his well known place and the latter on what is now the Han- cock farm. Lemuel Russell made a claim in 1833. Joseph VanBuskirk and William Boys came in 1832, and William Hancock in June 1836, buying Barnhart's claim.
Jeremiah Evans and his son Silas Evans came in 1834, and settled in the edge of the timber, on the south side of Sandy Creek. Jesse Sawyer and Caleb Forbes, with their families, came in 1831.
In 1833 the Freeman's came, likewise William White and John Benson.
The first marriage in the Township was that of Josiah W. Martin and Courtney Forbes, in 1832.
John Brumsey settled on Sandy in 1833, where his son Nathan still resides.
Antrim was an odd character, and for years partially insane, a disease which grew on him until he committed suicide by hanging himself. His first wife he married in Ohio, his second was Martha Harris, and the third Nancy, a sister of the famous "Si." Bowles.
The first school was taught by Miss Caroline Smith, in 1834.
The first camp meeting in Hopewell was held in the timber, between William Strawn's and Lacon, in June 1843, when the Reeves gang did some stealing. Elder Phillips presided. The attendance was large, con- sidering the sparsely settled condition of the country.
Apple trees for the early orchards of this region were obtained first by John Strawn, who went to Princes nursery, in the southern part of the State, in 1832. In 1833 Wier, Strawn and others obtained some by going to Peoria for them in keel boats.
Barnhart brought seedling trees from Lawrenceburg, and planted them on his claim in 1832, which did well, some of the fruit being of a very fine quality.
There were other pioneers who lived for a while in Hopewell, but did not become permanent citizens. Among these were John Shaner, George Easter, Robert and William Waughob and Robert Waughob, Jr., who came out as early as September, 1829. Some of them located near where Mr. Ramp's orchard is located, and others made claims at the timber near the line, in Richland.
The first funeral was that of Robert Waughob, who died in Septem- ber, 1831. There being no lumber in the settlement a rough coffin was
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HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP-EARLY SCHOOLS AND MILLS.
made of wooden slabs or puncheons, and the deceased placed therein and buried in the Broaddus Cemetery.
THE FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE.
This was located about two miles west of Sawyer's. It was of the prevailing style, had one door, and a log cut out on one side gave ample ventilation and a little light. It was built in 1836. A Mr. Lee first taught the Hopewellian ideas how to shoot.
A notable old time school house stood in the ravine south-east of Irving Broadus', where most of the present dwellers in the vicinity obtained their "larnin'." It was built in 1835 by Lemuel Russell, John Wier, James Hall, John Strawn, James Kane, William Hancock, the Bullman's, and other patrons of the school.
Two schools had been previously taught in the township, one in a cabin belonging to a man named Waughob and the other in a cabin near Lemuel Russell's. The first taught here was by a man named Elmore. Beside serving for school purposes it was used for debating clubs, church services, public meetings, itinerating shows, etc. The old school house served its purpose, and then gave away to something more pretentious and its timbers were made into a stable. Forty-four years after its erection a meeting of the surviving pupils was held on the spot, and a very interest- ing time was had.
THE FIRST SAW AND GRIST MILLS.
The first saw mill in the Township was put up by Jesse and Enoch Sawyer, in 1835. It stood not far from where the "old Henry road" crosses Sandy Creek. The Sawyers run this mill about four years, when they sold it to Ebenezer Pomeroy.
Mr. Caleb Forbes, in 1833, had a horse power saw mill near his farm, on the south side of Sandy, in the timber of the bluffs, that did good work for several years.
Nathan Brumsey also had a saw attachment to his grist mill, near the present home of Mrs. Broaddus.
The pioneer miller : ras Zion Shugart, who came to Ox Bow Prairie in 1829 and afterwards located on Sandy Creek, near the present residence of Mrs. Christopher Broaddus. He made his own mill stones, fastened the lower one to a stump and with appropriate machinery revolved the upper
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
one by horse power. It was slow and very hard work to grind or crack corn on this mill. It did not reduce it to meal, but rather left it in small fragmentary grains, but still as a labor saving machine it was a decided improvement upon the plans heretofore in use.
In 1831 Mr. Shugart constructed a corn and flour mill to run by water. When the conditions were favorable-water plenty, corn dry, machinery properly lubricated, and all else in harmony, this mill could grind about two bushels of corn into tolerable meal and bran every hour ! The bolting apparatus consisted of a hand sieve, shaken by the customer whose grist was being ground.
This mill flourished until spring, when a freshet swept away every- thing belonging to it except the naked stones, which were taken away and put in a mill at Caleb Thompson's farm, where a good horse mill was built in the spring of 1832, and for about two years did about all the grinding for the country.
After this Mr. Shugart commenced a larger mill, but sold it before completion to John Brumsey. It had all the usual facilities and did good work. Brumsey sold it to a Mr. Trusten, and the latter to James Croft. William Fisher & Co. became the next owners and finally Mr. Broaddus. Only a few timbers remain to tell of its existence.
JESSE SAWYER.
Among the more noted settlers of Hopewell were Jesse Sawyer and Caleb Forbes. They came to this locality in the summer of 1830, on horseback, from North Carolina, and concluding to locate returned for their families, packed up their effects, and left Albemarle Sound in April, the journey occupying five months.
The family of Mr. Sawyer consisted of himself, wife, and five boys, one being a step-son, Mr. Lemuel Russell, then unmarried. Mr. Forbes had two sons and two daughters. They crossed a part of Tennessee, traveling through Kentucky and Indiana.
After many trials and hardships the party arrived here September 2, 1831, having traveled a distance of over eleven hundred miles. A rude cabin was put up near a large elm tree, a half mile south-east of the present residence of Enoch Sawyer. (Mrs. Jesse Sawyer died in her new home several years after, at the good old age of eighty-six years, and Mr. Jesse Sawyer, after getting his children here comfortably fixed, went to
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MONEY LOANED ON SHORT ACQUAINTANCE.
California in 1849, and while on a journey from San Francisco to Oregon became sick and died, and was buried in the, sea.)
Mr. S. explored much of the country for miles along the eastern boundaries of the Illinois River, but found no place that suited him better than the spot chosen, and which became his future home. His cabin was a log structure, one story high, with a stick and mud chimney, and only one room, in which his family and two hired men lived the first winter.
During this time Forbes had erected a roomy house of hewed logs, and when the Indian war broke out this was turned into a fort for the protection of the two families. Doors and windows were heavily barricaded, port holes were made and the most elaborate means taken for offense as well defense, and to this fortress the two families retired at night, the "men folks " following their usual avocations during the day.
AN OLD TIME PREACHER.
About 1832 or 1833 Mr. Sawyer's father went to Springfield to enter land. A man named Howard kept a sort of tavern at Holland's Grove, near where Washington now stands, and there Mr. S. put up for the night. The landlord was short of beds and he was given a bed-fellow -a Metho- dist minister named Mitchell. After retiring these gentlemen struck up a conversation, in which Mr. Mitchell disclosed his profession, and, the further fact that he was hard up for money. He said if he had $500 he could put it to good use and make it pay him well, and that if he knew where to get it he would pay fair interest for the same. Mr. Sawyer was a man of some means, and had more ready money than he desired to use, and though a careful business man he loaned the preacher the required sum, taking his note therefor. After parting with his new friend and thinking the matter over he concluded he had been too precipitate. It was not " business," and the conclusion arrived at was that he had been sold.
He had never seen or heard of Mitchell before, and only knew that his name was such from the man's own statement. Mrs. S., good, careful woman that she was, did not approve his conduct, and more than once expatiated upon the "old man's foolishness" in trusting the unknown preacher with so much money. Time rolled on-one, two, three, four and five years passed, and no account came from Mitchell. 1
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
By this time the old lady's fears had become realities, and he gave it up as "a bad speculation." One day business took him to Hennepin, and it being Sunday, he went to the Methodist Church. Imagine his surprise as service was about to begin, when the long lost Mitchell walked into the pulpit! The preacher took occasion to give his hearers a forcible sermon ' on the subject of temperance, painting in strong colors the fate of the drunkard, and condemning in the strongest terms "regular" and "occa- sional" drinking, and promising unending punishment for the bibulous man.
When services were over Mr. Sawyer left the church, unnoticed by the preacher, and went home without seeking an interview. He related to his family the circumstances, and, of course, all hopes of seeing his $500 were gone.
At noon on the following day the preacher rode up to the gate and asked for dinner. There was no pretence of a recognition on either side, but Sawyer managed to whisper to his wife, "that's our preacher!" The good lady surveyed him with much dissatisfaction.
Mr. S. was in the habit of "taking something" before dinner, and moreover, feeling indifferent as to the preacher's sentiments and in defi- ance of the temperance lecture of Sunday took down the decanter and invited the preacher to imbibe. To the utter bewilderment of the old lady and surprise of Mr. S., the pious man poured out a goodly "horn," fixed it up with artistic skill and drank it down with evident relish! Whatever weak hopes Mr. Sawyer had for his money were now ban- ished. Soon after each took another liberal "nip," and when dinner had been satisfactorily disposed of, the preacher said: "Mr. Sawyer, I have a little business with you." To this Mr. Sawyer replied: "All right, Mr. Mitchell; come this way."
This was the first time that either had spoken the name of the other! They sat down and the preacher drew from his coat pocket a well-filled bag and counted out the $500, with interest, to a cent, and handed it over with "much obliged." This done, he mounted his horse and disappeared.
The old lady's opinion as to the character of that preacher underwent some modification, but still remained considerably mixed.
FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS.
The Indians often visited the Sawyer cabin and made themselves quite
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NEIGHBORLY INDIANS - PEDESTRIANISM.
at home. These red skinned inhabitants were numerous and had the faculty or habit of becoming exceedingly free on short acquaintance. They would come to the cabin in cold or wet weather and squat around the fire-place, monopolizing every inch of room without leave. They would lift the covers off the dinner pots to see what was being cooked, and were frequent applicants for food, a favor which was never denied when reasonable.
On one occasion not long after the cabin was built a dozen savages entered the door unbidden and sat down upon the floor to dry themselves. Mrs. Sawyer was alone, except Enoch, the family being in the woods making rails. Mrs. Sawyer was badly frightened, as they were the first she had seen, and retreated to an adjoining room for safety. Not a word of English could the copper-colored visitors speak, and after sitting so long as pleased them they departed, greatly to the relief of the inmates. One of the Indians arose and drawing his scalping knife motioned to Enoch to approach. Mrs. Sawyer, who was intently observing them, felt sure their time had come, but the savage by pantomimic signs made it known that he only wished to sharpen his knife on Sawyer's grindstone.
When Black Hawk proclaimed war and repudiated the treaty made by his tribe the Pottawattomies were in a quandary, and did not know whether to join the Sacs' and Fox's or remain neutral. A large number of the tribe, through the counsel of Shaubena, did not take up arms, and remained true to their pledges, but by far the greater number did.
In the spring of 1832 a rendezvous of Indians favorable to the war, was made at Holland's Grove, and the disaffected marched north, toward Dixon. Their trail was visible for years up the east side of the Illinois River, at various distances from it, but generally on the edge of the prairie, to avoid deep ravines and thick forests. They marched past Mr. Sawyer's on their ponies, going in single file, each warrior arrayed in war paint and looking as solemn as a funeral procession.
The winter after the war, the boys were sent to the woods to cut tim- ber, and while absent from their team, half a dozen Indians came along and ate their dinners. The boys were indignant and vowed revenge, so taking their axes they followed the miscreants until their tracks became dangerously fresh and then returned.
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