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 40
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 40
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A. N. Page and Amos Cutler received teachers' certificates June 28, 1839.
In October, 1839, Elizabeth T. Page, for teaching the school in the south-eastern district, was allowed $15.31}.
In January, 1840, an enumeration of the children over four and under twenty-one was taken; total in the Township, 135.
In January, 1843, the school population had increased to 227.
By 1846 the school funds of the Town had increased to about $1,000, which, under the law, the Trustees were required to loan to responsible parties. To establish a rate of interest acceptable to the people and as a guide for the board, a public meeting was had, which was held the first Saturday in January, and voted to fix the rate of interest on school funds at eight per cent. per annum.
In October, 1851 the school children of the several districts numbered 342.
Abram Keedy was Treasurer and Clerk from 1837 to July 24, 1858, over twenty-one years.
PHELPS CHAPEL.
The first Methodist preaching was by Rev. William Royal, at the cabin of Mrs. Bland, in 1831.
In 1832 Rev. Jesse Hale was pastor of Pekin Circuit. He preached at the cabin of Mr. James Dever, and also at that of Mr. Timothy Owens, on Crow Creek, near the mill built by himself and his brother Roderic.
Rev. Zadoc Hall followed in 1833, on the same charge. He organized the first society, consisting of Mrs. Mary Dever; Mrs. Nancy Bird (for-
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
merly Bland), Mrs. Nancy Dever, John Dever, Robert Barnes, Julia Barnes, William Gallaher and Emily Gallaher. The first three were re- ceiveu by letter; the others on probation. Robert Barnes was appointed class leader, which position he filled many years.
In 1832 or '33 Mr. James Dever organized the first Sabbath school within the limits of Marshall County. It was a union school, supplied with union books. Uncle Robert Bird, a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the only praying man at the time, was acting Super- intendant.
Under Rev. Hall's administration Mr. Timothy Owen and wife were converted, and with Roderic Owen and wife, who were members before, united with the class on Round Prairie.
When Mr. John Dever's double cabin was built, the services were gen- erally held in it, until the erection of a school house on the farm of Tim- othy Owen, in 1844. Here preaching was held for several years, until the erection of Phelps Chapel, in 1852-3. The subscription paper for the church is dated March, 1851.
The following were the Trustees: Timothy Owen, John A. Keedy, James Thompson, Martin Hoover, Abram Keedy, John Wilson and Rob- ert Barnes. Of these Timothy Owen, J. A. Keedy and Martin Hoover still survive.
Samuel Henthorn, Arcene Pichereau and H. B. Barnes were consti- tuted the building committee. The land-two acres, was donated by Mr. James Thompson. Mr. Samuel Wilson, of Lacon, built the the church.
The house was used before fully completed. It was finally finished and dedicated September 6, 1853. Rev. J. W. Flowers preached the dedi- catory sermon. At the suggestion of Rev. Zadoc Hall, the pastor, it was called Phelp's Chapel, after the distinguished Asahel E. Phelps.
In the fall of 1856, under the pastorate of Rev. John Grundy, a par- sonage was commenced on the same lot as the church. It was completed and fully paid for under the administration of Rev. A. C. Price.
The following Methodist ministers have preached in the Township: Wm. Royal in 1831 ; Jesse Hale in 1832; Zadoc Hall and John McHenry in 1833; Joel Arrington and Charles Parker in 1834; Asahel E. Phelps and Joel Arrington in 1835; Asahel E. Phelps and John McMurtry in 1836; William Cundeff in 1837; Z. Hall in 1838; Daniel Blackwell in 1839; David Dickenson in 1840; C. Atkinson and J. B. Houts in 1841;
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A FORT FOR LEFT- HANDED MEN. 475
J. C. Pinckard in 1842; John Grady in 1843; J. F. Devore in 1844; Francis Smith in 1845 ; C. Babcock and T. F. Royal in 1846; W. C. Cum- ming in 1847-8, assisted by A. D. Field in 1848; B. C. Swartz in 1849; L. R. Ellis in 1850-51; Zadoc Hall in 1852-53; W. C. Cumming in 1854; John Grundy in 1855-6; A. C. Price in 1857-8; W. A. Presson and H. M. Cornell in 1859; B. P. Wheat in 1860; W. J. Stubbles in 1861; G. M. Irwin in 1862, and six months of 1863; J. W. Haney balance of 1863 and 1864; F. R. Burgess in 1865-6; A. K. Tullis in 1867-8-9; G. B. Sneda- ker in 1870-1-2; S. P. Alford in 1873-4; W. P. Graves in 1875; J. W. Denning in 1876-7; A. J. Jones in 1878; and G. W. Burns in 1879- the present pastor of Phelp's Chapel.
THE BARNES AND DEVER FORT.
In May, 1832, rumors came of dreadful massacres by the savages, supplemented by the startling report that they were marching upon the defenseless residents here. Colonel Strawn, by virtue of his commission, called all able-bodied men to arms, and in obedience to the summons they promptly shouldered their muskets and started for the seat of war, leaving the women and children without protectors. Mrs. Dever, her sister-in-law Mrs. Coutlett, a hired boy and two families of little children constituted the population, and they were wholly defenceless, no defence having been prepared.
The evening after the departure of the men the women held a council of war to devise measures for self-protection. After much deliberation they decided upon a stratagem to mislead the Indians, should they come, by the idea that the people had fled. Enough of the bedding and cooking utensils for immediate use were hoisted up stairs by means of a ladder and placed upon the floor; some provisions were also taken up, and the trembling ladies then scattered the remaining furniture in wild confusion over the floor below, and the door-yard, to give the scene the appearance of a hasty flight. The children were hustled above, the ladder pulled up, and then they huddled down in fear and trembling to await results.
Not far off lived the families of Mr. Phillips and Mr. Burt. They had heard of the reported Indian raids in the morning, and concluded it would be safer to go to Mr. Devers', where they would have the consolation of each other's company, and collectively make a better fight than singly. They met at the gate of the Dever cabin, where the confusion and appar-
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
ent massacre of the entire family caused the women to scream in terror, while those in the loft, believing the racket to be caused by Indians, gave vent to their fears in loud and agonizing shrieks.
For a short time such echoes were awakened as that region had never heard before, but the women within looking out through a crack and perceiving no Indians, discovering instead their neighbors, at once divined the true state of affairs and hastened to admit them.
Soon after they had another scare. This time it came from the direc- tion from whence they expected the savages. The dogs at first barked loudly and then ceased, and all was still. From this it was evident to the excited garrison that their faithful canine sentinels had met the Indi- ans and been tomahawked or shot with arrows. The inmates of the loft now gave up in despair, fully believing their time had come. The savages would in a moment appear, force their way up the ladder (which they had forgotten to remove after the previous alarm), and then the horrors would begin. But happily the approaching party were the husbands of the affirighted ladies, who, on reaching the house and discovering the evidences of savage visitation, were greatly alarmed themselves. They had learned that most of the rumored murders of settlers by Indians were false, espec- ially as to localities near by, but might not some of the accursed red miscreants have slyly crept in among their defenceless wives and little ones in their absence? Rushing into the house the ladder was discovered, and the closed hole above explained the mystery, and with a jolly good shout and a general laugh, the prisoners surrendered and promptly and gladly descended and got supper, which was heartily enjoyed by all.
The next day all hands fell to work, and in a brief time a log stockade was built around Mr. Dever's cabin, which enabled the families in a measure to bid defiance to the enemy.
The Dever fort was designed by Robert Bird, Sr., the only man of the settlement who had ever seen a block house or stockade. Being left- handed he constructed the bastions for a left-handed man, but there being no Benjaminites in the garrison, this was a serious fault. As the enemy never came, however, the error caused no" inconvenience. The stockade enclosed about an acre of ground.
The people at night-men, women and children-, all occupied the cabin within the slab and picket enclosure, but each family had some little shed outside where separate cooking and eating conveniences were pro- vided. Some of the men were absent during the day at work, while the
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THE RECORD OF A WELL -SPENT LIFE.
greater number were with the Rangers engaged in active duty. The fam- ilies who forted were those of Thomas H. Phillips, T. J. Burt, Robert Bird, Nathan Owen, Howell Doddy, William Davis, Mr. Boyleston, and Mrs. Bland.
Colonel Strawn was asked to join those in the fort, but with charac- teristic independence, refused, ridiculing the idea and declaring that if the Indians should come he and his wife and children would be safe enough in a hog pen.
The old fort was afterward moved out upon the farm of Mr. Spangler and occupied as a residence for many years, and still remains standing.
In 1831 Robert Barnes, as stated, sold his interest in the Dever cabin and took up a claim on what is now the William Ramsay place. He was elected Justice of the Peace, and when the war broke out was chosen Captain of a company of Rangers. organized among the settlers for frontier service.
In 1835 Mr. Barnes sold his homestead to John Gray for $900, and purchased of a Mr. Lewis the place south of Crow Creek on which he ever after lived, for $600. Mr. Lewis removed to the vicinity of Magnolia, where there was already established a large Society of Friends, of which he became an influential member, noted for his anti-slavery opinions.
The heavy grove of timber now seen west of the house, was then a smooth prairie with a few hazel brush in scattered bunches. His nearest neighbor was Henry D. Palmer, a noted Campbellite preacher, while in the vicinity of Washburn dwelt a man named Phillips. He filled many offices of trust and profit acceptably, saw his children grow up to man- hood and most of them settle about him, and was finally gathered to his fathers, dying of cancer in the face in 1879.
JOHN WIER.
Among those identified with the early history and development of Marshall County there is none more prominent, none more deserving of special mention than John Wier. Born in the State of Maine May 18, 1797, of Scotch-Yankee ancestry, the first twenty years of his life (with the exception of one year's service during the war of 1812), were spent in the vicinity of his birth, his life similar in all respects to that of all boys in a new country.
In 1817, enthused by the glowing accounts of the marvelous beauty
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and fertility of the great West, he cast his fortune with two others, and embarking together with a rickety one-horse wagon, they started for the land of promise. Upon reaching Washington County, Pennsylvania, young Wier accepted employment in a stone quarry, remaining there about eighteen months, and then went to Western Virginia, locating near Wheel- ing, where he remained fourteen years. In 1825 he married Catherine Byrne, who proved herself a worthy helpmate and counselor throughout all the long years of their wedded life. Three children were born to them while here,-Henry, Benjamin (died when nine years old), and an infant that lived but a few days.
An incident which occurred during Mr. Wier's residence here may in some degree account for his hatred of slavery and his hearty support of the Republican party in its struggle with that "sum of all villanies." A neighbor owned a likely slave with whom Wier often labored in the fields and who one night walked off with the north star for his guide, for- getting to return. His owner attributed his escapade to the teachings of Mr. Wier, and commenced suit for recovery of the negroe's value, and although Wier persistently declared his entire innocence of complicity or knowledge of the slave's intentions the jury decided against him, and he surrendered every dollar he possessed -the hard-earned accumulations of years, in payment.
After fourteen years residence in this locality, with two thousand dol- lars as the result of his accumulations, he embarked on a steamer with his family and household goods, journeyed down the Ohio River to Cairo, and thence up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to Pekin, where he landed in 1832. Remaining there one day, he started out on an exploring tour, going as far north as the Vermillion, and returning, passed the night with Colonel Strawn, who had settled here two years before. Hearing of a claim in the vicinity for sale, he next morning went to the place, after- ward occupied by him until his death, and in a few moments became the ·purchaser of 240 acres, on which was a cabin but no other improvements, for $500. He returned to Pekin, proceeded at once to Springfield, and entered an additional claim of 240 acres, and soon after a keel boat landed himself, his family and effects at Columbia, now Lacon, and he was shortly established in his new home, with the families of Colonel Strawn, Hall, Babb, Harris, Cassell, Forbes and Barnes as neighbors.
The Black Hawk war was raging at this time, and within ten days after his arrival he was enrolled in the militia and chosen Captain, but
JOHN WIER-"THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND." 481
modestly waived that honor and accepted a Lieutenancy. But with little faith in the flying rumors of Indian outrages, and his mind occupied with projects for the improvement of his farm, Mr. Wier made little mark as a soldier. It is related of him that he stood guard with unloaded gun, and on the march gave more care to his horse than to his arms.
The families of most of the settlers were "forted up" during the absence of the men folks in the army, but those of Strawn, Wier, Babb and Cassell remained outside the stockade, the latter two leaving their cabins and taking up their residence with Mrs. Wier until the supposed danger was over.
After the annihilation of Black Hawk's band and the disbandment of the volunteers Mr. Wier set vigorously to work upon the improvement of his farm. Arriving here on the 10th of May, by the 10th of August following he had eighty acres fenced and forty acres broken, his only help being one man and a team, and a portion of his time being spent in the volunteer service, as stated. Early dawn found him at work, and dewy eve fell upon his stalwart form engaged with undiminished zeal in the labors of the field.
The third fall after his arrival he cultivated eighty acres of wheat alone. In his subsequent extensive farming operations Mr. Wier made no specialty, but raised all kinds of grain, hogs, cattle, horses and mnules. Game was abundant, but to him time was too valuable to be spent in hunting, and he was singularly ignorant of the use of fire-arms for those times.
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In 1844 his second and best loved child, Benjamin, was accidentally killed by being caught in a threshing machine while playing in the barn. It was a severe blow, as the boy had given promise of unusual ability, and inherited many of his father's traits.
In 1836 Mr. Wier made his second purchase of land, a tract on the Sandy, and from this time until his death, made frequent and extensive purchases, one of the last being the "Lacon Farm" of 210 acres, from Jabez Fisher, for $10,000.
Mr. Wier was a giant in stature, six feet two inches high, compactly built, with sinews strengthened by toil and a frame unimpaired by disease. In character he was honest, upright, hospitable and charitable to a fault. In those early times when every house was a place of entertainment few nights passed without the presence of strangers beneath his roof, yet none were turned away, and no pay would be received. . He was temperate in
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
all things, never indulged in liquor or tobacco, and avoided the luxuries of high living. Without education or aid other than industry, frugality and temperance, he rose from poverty to the possession of a fortune esti- mated at not less than $50,000, and upon his death was sincerely mourned by all. His tombstone bears the inscription, "The poor man's friend."
THE MURDER OF M'NEIL.
William McNeil was an old man whose years had almost reached the limit assigned by the law-giver of Israel. He emigrated from Ohio in 1829 or 1830, journeying with a Mr. Johnson, who settled at Washington. Mr. Johnson was a blacksmith, and the father-in-law of James Hall, the latter purchasing a set of tools and forge from him and set up a shop near his residence, where McNeil worked for several years.
During the Black Hawk troubles he was elected lieutenant of the company of Rangers raised. for the protection of the infant settlement, and possessed all the qualities constituting a good soldier. Some time after he married a daughter of Edward Harris, and became possessor of eighty acres of land five miles north-east of Lacon, where he built a cabin and reared a numerous family.
He was industrious and active, a kind neighbor with but a single fault, a love for spirituous liquors, indulged in at long intervals. In the course of time his wife died, and after a season of widowhood he led to the altar a Mrs. Sarah Myers, a woman who had been twice wedded before. She was a person of strong will and sharp temper, and had several children by a former husband, and the bringing of the two families together led to dissensions and bitter quarrels. Two children were born to them, one of which died when quite young; the other, at the time of McNeil's death, was twelve years old. An Irish lad of similar age was an inmate of the family, and usually slept with McNeil below, while his son occu- pied a bed in the attic.
Mrs. McNeil had a daughter named Melissa, a rather comely girl who had learned the millinery and dress-making business, and desired her mother to join her in setting up a shop in Lacon." The old lady proposed to divide the property, take her share and follow her daughter, and leave her husband on the farm to shift for himself. This was strenuously opposed and led to long and bitter disputes.
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THE FIRST INTERMENT IN THE COUNTY.
The old man seemed much cast down and dispirited, and frequently shed tears when conversing with friends. While affairs were in this con- dition he was foully murdered,- shot in his sleep, two balls entering his face, making a ghastly wound and causing instant death. The bed wheron he lay occupied one corner of the poorly furnished room, and through a window three feet distant the murderer fired the fatal shot. It was not evident at the time, but afterward shown that the weapon used was an old musket McNeil carried when a soldier, and being desti- tute of a lock was touched off with a coal of fire. Death must have came instantaneously. The countenance wore the peaceful expression of pain- less dissolution, the gray locks were matted with blood, and the crimson current had ran through the bedding to the floor and gathered itself into a pool.
Suspicion finally settled upon Mrs. McNeil and she was placed under arrest. The Irish boy who lived with the family and usually shared the old man's bed, was ordered that night by Mrs. McNeil to sleep in the chamber above. During the night he heard a loud noise, and covering his head did not waken again until morning, when he was called by the old lady and told what had transpired. The weapon with which the crime was committed could not be found, but a singular dream of John Jason, a near neighbor, pointed to its concealment and it was found hidden between the outer wall of the building and the plastering.
Mrs. McNeil was placed on trial and ably defended by Burns, Bangs and Winslow, the jury bringing in a verdict of "not guilty."
THE FIRST FUNERAL IN MARSHALL COUNTY.
It was the winter of the great snow. Hill and valley were covered with the winding sheet of nature's decay. The world was in a shroud of immaculate purity. Hushed was the song of birds, the hum of bees, the low of cattle. Underneath the mantle of white, the germs of flowers, the tiny ministers of God, were frozen past the resurrecting powers of sunny skies and balmy atmospheres.
The settlers sat within their cabins, and listened to the whistling, the sobbing and the moaning or the wind through the "puncheon " doors, and waited drearily for the cessation of the storm, the opening of the Heavens and the return of warmer days and blither hours.
Over the little settlement the Death Angel had been hovering for
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
some time, and as the storm grew more fierce and the winds howled more dismally, the settlers often thought of him who was lying in the grasp of the King of Terrors. They knew that ere the skies should smile again they would miss from among their band a familiar face, the face of one who with them, had journeyed from afar into the new country.
In the solitude of that trackless region bathed in the Alpine cover- ing of the winter's snow, Daniel Bland was passing into the life beyond. Attended by the loving wife who had braved the dangers of the long pilgrimage to the new country, surrounded by the sobbing children so soon to be bereft of a father's care and counsel, the strong heart of the brave pioneer ceased to beat-Daniel Bland had found the great snow a winding sheet for himself as well as for his mother earth. He had finished the life struggle, and ere the weeping loved ones beside his couch could realize the fact, his soul was standing before the Great Judge, to be dealt with as the mercy of the Father should direct.
It is a solemn thing in a crowded city to see a fellow being carried to his last home; it was indescribably so to the little community shut out from all the world by deep snows and pathless wastes.
When the news of his death spread abroad, the settlers wended their way to the house of death to perform the last sad rites; and now a diffi- culty arose. There was not sufficient lumber in the settlement with which to construct a coffin. The nearest saw mill was forty miles distant, and it was death to make the journey. Even the doors of houses and the window frames were made of "puncheons," or planks riven from the black walnut, ash or bass-wood trees. In this predicament a tree was cut down in the forest, split into slabs, and a rough box fastened with wooden pins was made to answer the part of a coffin, which, when completed, was hauled by "old George," Colonel Strawn's well known horse, through the snow to where the dead man lay, near what is now Phelps' Chapel.
" Few and short were the prayers that were said,"
and no sermon was preached beside that lonely grave, but the body was laid silently away under the snow to await the angel's summons on the Resurrection morn. Through sickness and sufferings and hardships Daniel Bland had gone to his Redeemer's rest. The forests which had echoed the sturdy ring of his axe should hear the sound no more; the paths he once had trod would still be walked upon by others, but by him, nevermore !
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AN OLD -TIME BURIAL GROUND.
No memorial stone marks this the first grave in Marshall County, and all traces of the little mound have long since been obliterated by the onward march of improvement, but yet, on that last day, when the sea , and the earth shall give up their dead, the soul of the pioneer, Daniel Bland, will lead into the world beyond the regiment of Marshall County's dead.
RAPID GROWTH OF TIMBER.
Those unacquainted with the growth of timber might doubt that any perceptible growth would be made in so short a time as that embraced within the memory of the old settlers; yet they all bear testimony to re- markable changes in the timber within a comparatively brief period. The first settlers around the timbered sections of Richland Township could see over the tops of the undergrowth around the borders of the woods, then confined to the brows of the hills and ravines. Then, deer and cattle could be seen browsing in the thickets where are now trees from thirty to seventy-five feet in height. Scrubby oak openings have given way to bodies of tall timber, hazle brush thickets to groves of thrifty young wal- nut and hickory trees, and the boundaries of timber in places have ex- tended far into what were then marshy prairies, covered with weeds, grass and clumps of willows. The improvement of the prairies put a stop to the yearly destruction of the woods by fire, young trees began to grow, and rapidly spread and matured into fine new forests; and now the gen- eral outlines of the timbered localities bear no resemblance to those of forty or even twenty-five years ago.
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