USA > Illinois > White County > Carmi > Sesquicentennial, Carmi, Illinois, 1816-1966 > Part 2
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ENGLISH TRAVELER SURPRISED
An English traveler found it so. Wil- liam N. Blane traveled in North America in 1822 and 1823; returned home to write a book about his journey. He tells in detail of a trip from Vincennes via Albion to St. Louis, then back via Carmi to New Har- mony.
"The whole part of this part of the country," he wrote, "until within a few miles of the little village of Carmi, is very wild but thinly settled, but there is an abundance of game.
"I passed in a single day's ride as many as a dozen deer and five gangs of wild turkeys. There are also great num- bers of wolves, wildcats and other ver- min."
Blane tells of riding into the little log village, looking for a tavern where he might spend the night. He found one, "a very comfortable little tavern with a blaz- ing fire."
Ratcliff Inn in the 1830's. Here Is an artist's conception of Carmi's Main Street in stagecoach days, when Ratcliff Inn was new and considered one of the finest hotels in Illinois. Mrs. Nadine Childers won a blue ribbon for this painting in a contest sponsored by the White County Historical Society. Mrs. Frances Racster won a blue ribbon for her painting of Ratcliff Inn during the 1880's.
He asked the landlord if there was anything to read. The host smiled and bowed; returned with a volume of Gold- smith and Scotch novels, "The Traveller" and "The Deserted Village."
Blane expressed surprise and pleasure at finding books in the log tavern in the little backwoods village.
Numerous settlers here were people of property. They owned slaves, who helped them carve homes out of the wil- derness. In 1818 there were 52 slaves in the county, and most of them were in Carmi.
Willis Hargrave owned 14; James Rat- cliff, 5; James Gray, 4; Samuel Hargrave, 3. Lowry Hay had two, who worked at the mill, tannery and distillery. Two slaves of James S. Graham ran his ferry, helped at his store and tavern. Even John Slocumb, the minister, owned one slave.
COURTHOUSE STARTED
As the town grew, better dwellings were erected. Leonard White built a hand- some two-story house with ell and porches. It was near the ravine on Main Cross
Street two blocks north of the present courthouse.
White plunged into politics ; defeated Hargrave for the State Senate. More law- yers arrived. Edwin B. Webb and his brother George were admitted to the bar.
The 1820's found Carmi flowering into one of the state's important towns. The county population grew to 4,828, com- pared to Gallatin's 3,155.
The Presbyterians organized a church. Allen Rudolph started building a two-story brick courthouse. James Ratcliff built one of the finest hotels in Illinois.
What a sight the tavern must have been-a two-story brick with a charming Federal entrance. "Old Beaver" Ratcliff was busy-county clerk, probate judge, postmaster, storekeeper and hotel owner.
Folks still fretted because there was no bridge across the river. County offi- cials had been trying to get one built since 1819. In. 1829 Allen Rudolph-still build- ing the courthouse-gave a $500 bond to construct a covered bridge. Timbers were hauled to the site, but the project was abandoned. The lumber was used to build houses.
The 1830's -- a glorious decade .
T HE TOWN kept growing; had 400 residents in 1830. In one year the county revenue totaled $975.09. Dr. Josiah Stewart came into court and paid his taxes, exactly 60c on 40 acres adjoining the town. (This land is now the center of Carmi's residential district).
A Yankee peddler, Oliver Holcomb, was charged $50 for a three month license to sell wooden clocks. Samuel D. Ready, Davidson and Kearny and Wilmans and Weed paid $15 for yearly licenses to sell foreign goods. A general merchandise li- cense cost $6. This included the right to sell whisky in amounts over one gallon. Stores dispensing by the drink or in quan- tities less than a gallon paid $50.
There were several taverns in Carmi and one at almost every country crossroad.
106 0.00
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FIRST COURTHOUSE. ERECTED 1828-1831
SENATOR JOHN M. ROBINSON
SENATOR EDWIN B. WEBB
ROBINSON ELECTED SENATOR
Excitement ran through the village in the winter of 1831. A Carmi man was going to the U. S. Senate !
Since arriving here in 1818, John M. Robinson had become a noted lawyer and one of the leading political figures of Illi- nois. The Legislature elected him to the Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of David J. McLean of Shawnee- town.
On a winter day the coachman's horn sounded as the stage drew up to the Robinson house. Out stepped the new Sen- ator, six feet, four inches tall, auburn- haired, blue-eyed, 36 years old.
Into the coach he helped his wife Mar- garet-daughter of James Ratcliff-and their 10-month-old son, James.
There was more excitement in Carmi that summer. The new courthouse was almost completed. People stopped to stare and admire it. Windows were being installed, shutters hung. The window and door frames were of solid walnut. Offices were on the second floor.
The entire first floor, 40 feet square, comprised the courtroom. Two log fire- places heated the chamber.
To this commodious room went the settlers to sing and pray, dance the Vir- ginia reel and minuet, stage home talent plays and hold town meetings. For years the courtroom was used as a church, ball- room, theater and town hall.
History walks and talks in this house to anyone who will listen. The General John M. Robinson House at the corner of Main Cross and Robinson Streets is one of the oldest residences in Illinois. Erected in 1814 by John Craw as a two-room log residence, it served as White County's courthouse prior to 1828. Purchased in 1835 by U. S. Senator Robinson, it was enlarged and beautified and became the meeting place of notable men, including Abraham Lincoln. Later it became the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stewart and Miss Mary Jane Stewart, granddaughter of Senator Robinson.
The 1830's added up to a glorious decade for White County political leaders. Robinson, in the Congress, was mingling with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Davey Crockett, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.
Back home, others were rising in state politics. William E. Wilson was chief jus- tice of Illinois. Edwin B. Webb served four terms in the House with Abraham Lincoln, became a close friend of Abe.
CARMIAN WAS LIEUT. GOVERNOR
Unlike his tall brother-in-law, Senator Robinson, Webb was a small man. He and Robinson were of elegant and courtly man- ners, true aristocrats from Virginia fam- ilies.
Others who served in the Legislature were Dr. Josiah Stewart, William Mc- Henry, Nathaniel Blackford, William Eu- banks, John C. Goudy, John McCown, Alex- ander Phillips and Col. William H. David- son.
Davidson was a wealthy merchant. He moved his family to Carmi from Vir- ginia in 1830; took over the Leonard White residence. Into the big white house on the ravine he moved the expensive fur- niture he brought from the east.
Defeating McHenry for the State Sen- ate, he was speaker of that house in 1836 when Alex Jenkins resigned as lieutenant governor. The Carmi senator then moved up to the second highest post in the state.
Abe Lincoln, a bridge and a depression
A S THE 1830's faded a great event developed. The Little Wa- bash was about to be bridged! After 20 years of efforts, success was in sight. Ben- jamin M. St. John was awarded a contract in 1839. He started the following year.
Trees were felled in nearby woods. Heavy timbers and beams were hewed. Quarrymen cut stone from the river banks. Thirty masons kept busy building stone piers. The covered bridge was to be 300 feet long.
They worked fast, hoping to finish in time for a Whig rally set for September 1. The principal speaker was to be a Spring- field lawyer named Abraham Lincoln.
FLOOD RUINS BRIDGE WORK
Summer rains made the river rise that summer. The swirling waters swept away the false work from under the east span. Crash! That end of the bridge fell into the river and was washed downstream.
The Whigs were too busy to let that worry them. They sent word to all the counties in southern Illinois ; urged people to come for the political rally and barbe- cue.
They were whooping it up for Wil- liam Henry Harrison for President. Lin- coln was a candidate for Presidential elec- tor; planned campaign stops at Carmi, Shawneetown and Albion.
The great day dawned. Rain started falling. Even that didn't dampen the Whigs' enthusiasm. Down muddy, rutted roads from all directions came the people ... walking, riding horseback, in carts and wagons drawn by horses and oxen.
"Whoopee!" "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!"
Wagons and carts were loaded with people and provisions. Beef, mutton, poul- try, bread, cakes and pies for thousands were unloaded at Stewart's grove. Dr. Josiah Stewart lived in a double log house. It was 'way out in the country then, but now it's the corner of Third and Stewart Streets.
In the grove they had dug a barbecue pit. It was 600 feet long, two feet deep and four feet wide. Live hickory coals filled the trench, and over these the meats were pre- pared.
Abraham Lincoln looked much like this when he came to Carmi in 1840. A member of the Illinois House of Representatives, Lincoln was 31 years old when he hit the campaign trail for William Henry Harrison in the "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too" campaign.
John Wilson was one of the marshals ; deputized to conduct the Gallatin County delegation to the barbecue grounds.
"There were hundreds from Gallatin alone," he said.
A great parade was held, with the lead taken by a log cabin decorated with coon- skins, mounted upon wheels and drawn by many yoke of oxen.
JUSTICE WALKS TO TOWN
Chief Justice Wilson walked to town from his farm. His wagon was drawn by four yoke of oxen. Their horns were decor- ated with red, white and blue ribbons. They were fastened in gimlet holes bored through points of the animals' horns.
The judge walked beside the oxen as driver and his wife, Mary, sat in front of the wagon, which was loaded with pro- visions.
Despite the rain, the rally was a great success. Lincoln stood before the huge throng and spoke for more than an hour. That night he lodged at Ratcliff Inn, where he visited with his many friends.
The Whigs won a smashing victory, but it was in the face of a creeping depres- sion. All over the nation banks crashed, factories closed, merchants failed, farm prices plummeted.
In White County business went bank- rupt. Shelves were empty. Stores closed. A dozen places failed in Carmi. Only G. W. Webb & Co., Samuel D. Ready and W. H. Davidson weathered the storm.
Every business in Grayville folded. The stores had no merchandise, the tav- erns no liquor. Thirsty Grayville men trav- eled to the New Harmony distillery or to the Carmi taverns.
Farmers raised good crops, but there was no market for them. Most were sold to failing merchants who paid starvation prices with worthless notes.
A few farmers floated their products to New Orleans on flatboats. There they found low prices, but what cash they did get was in gold and silver. Returning they brought sugar, coffee, tea, rice and molas- ses.
BRIDGE COMPLETED AT LAST
The covered bridge was completed in the summer of 1841 but few could afford to pay the small toll to cross.
The above pictures the first covered bridge across the Little Wabash River in Carmi, the conception of Mrs. Of.s (Katherine St. John) Dill. Benjamin M. S :. John was the architect and builder.
By 1842 the county was a shambles commercially. Three fourths of the busi- ness houses had failed. Everybody seemed to be suing somebody. Many lost their farms. Good work horses were taken fromn plows by constables and sold at sales for as low as $8.
The suffering stirred the people reli- giously. Revivals started all over the county. Meeting houses were filled. People were broke but they clung to their faith.
The unrest caused a political upset. In the 1842 election Webb was defeated for the Legislature. John S. Lawler, a Demo- crat, beat him by 40 votes.
Gradually business improved. Prices inched upwards.
The Democrats hoped hard times would help them win in 1844, but the Whigs staged a comeback. Nobody came back stronger than Webb. He won election to the State Senate and Lawler, who had ousted Webb from the House two years earlier, was defeated by Reuben Emerson.
By 1849 business was humming. In the midst of prosperity, exciting news came from California. Gold!
Up and down Carmi's Main Street peo- ple gathered to talk about the rush west- ward. Gold fever broke out in taverns and crossroads stores.
A rush for gold ... roses and drums ...
T HAT WINTER Asa Ross and his workmen were busy building light wagons. By spring, men were buying supplies, bargaining for young oxen. They paid $30 to $50 per yoke.
On May 29, 1850, Carmi's overland wagon train was ready. Thirteen men were up before dawn. Wagons were loaded. Oxen were hitched. Whips cracked on the morning air. California or bust!
People cheered as the oxen lumbered down the dusty street. The lead wagon was owned by James Shipley, Orlando Burrell, Tom, J. S. and Len Ross.
THREE MONTHS ON WAY
Next came the wagon of Lemuel Land, Tom Shipley, Tom Vines, and James Kil- breth. The third was owned by Bill Little, John Ganley, Jim Shipley and Sylvester Rice.
Crossing the great plains and moun- tains, they passed skeletons of horses, oxen and cattle and broken wagons. They met Indians but, fortunately, all were friendly. After three months they arrived in California.
The Rev. Alfred Flower came from Albion in 1852 to hold a 16-day meeting for the Christian congregation. His sister took him to Phillipstown in her carriage. There he waited at the Hasty house for the midnight stage from Grayville.
It was 2:30 a.m. when the stagecoach rolled into town. The driver blew his horn and stopped at the home of Mrs. John M. Robinson, who was at the steps to greet the minister.
The meetings drew large crowds to the courthouse. The heat was so oppressive that August the people considered moving to a nearby grove. However, Carson Hay had an idea. He removed all the courtroom windows and stored them. The shutters were closed and the meeting room was much cooler. For 16 nights-including three Sundays-the meetings went on, with town and country people filling the courtroom.
In 1852 the Methodists erected the first church in Carmi. It was a small brick structure on Main Street, where the Ball Drug Store now stands. Methodists and Presbyterians both used the building.
Nobody struck it rich. After a year they started home. They boarded ship at San Francisco and sailed to Panama; walk- ed across the isthmus along a narrow trail; took another ship to New Orleans; came up the Mississippi, Ohio and Little Wabash Rivers to Carmi.
On the way, Lemuel Land died at Lake Charles, La. He was buried there. Later, his family brought his body back to White County.
Carmi was growing apace. Eyes of the state focused on the town in 1852 when Edwin Webb was nominated for Governor. The Whigs named him by acclamation. He was defeated by Joel Matteson in the Dem- ocratic sweep that year.
Religious life was better organized. The Methodists formed a society in 1850; the Christians in 1851. The Presbyterians
had been organized since 1827. All three denominations took turns meeting at the courthouse.
MUSIC COMES TO TOWN
The village resounded to music in 1855. The Carmi Brass Band was organ- ized, with Prof. George Warren, of Evans- ville, as teacher. John Craw was the snare drummer. William Cook played the cornet. Michael Anderson beat the bass drum. Other musicians were H. L. Bozeman, W. H. Phipps, Thornton Bozeman, J. B. Craig, Otto Phefflin and Walter A. Rhue.
The town was spreading out. Attor- ney John M. Crebs built a large house at Stewart and Jessup. Two blocks south, at Main, Richard Jessup erected a two-story residence with mansard roof. John Storms a large brick business block on Main.
SCHOOT
3
Left to right: Florence D. Wheatcroft, Louise Cook Winner, Mary Priscilla Brown, Margaret Patrick Kerney, Alice Mahala Organ, Pattie Webb Stewart, Mary Patrick Boyer and Harriet Ellen Pearce.
When the free school law was passed in 1856, people got busy. They elected Berry Crebs, Albert R. Shannon and Dr. E. L. Stewart to a school board. Samuel Slocumb erected a large brick schoolhouse on Fourth Street. J. L. Waterman was the first principal. The second was N. B. Hods- don, with Miss P. L. Dewey as associate teacher.
Before the free school was opened it was a struggle for many to get an educa- tion. The term usually lasted three months and the cost-$2 to $2.50 per term-was high for many families.
Youngsters were expected to earn their school money. They dug ginseng, gathered nuts, chopped wood, hunted rab- bits and caught coons.
Orlando Burrell chopped 10 cords of wood for James Ratcliff at 25c per cord to pay for a school term.
AH, THE 1850'S
Life was sweet and serene in the vil .. lage in the 1850's. "Listen to the Mocking
Bird" was the song of the day. Many a Carmi swain thrilled to the words as he stood, bewhiskered and in swallow-tail coat, beside the organ in the parlor while a girl played and sang.
It was a time in the best society cir- cles of fragile, low-cut evening dresses of gauze and illusion, and garlanded with roses, violets and honeysuckle. Blossoms trailed on the great distended skirts, and life was colorful and gay-even in a village of mud streets, with no sidewalks save for a few boards here and there.
Gay young blades succumbed to the craze for mustaches, and almost to a man had ceased to shave their upper lips. Beards were plentiful, and in business and professional circles men dressed in black or blue broadcloth swallow-tail coats adorned with bright buttons.
As the decade ended, war clouds were gathering. Rumblings of the storm echoed out of Springfield and Washington.
The South was threatening to secede -and Carmi's many people of southern ancestry shuddered at the thought.
War and peace . . .
COL. JOHN WHITING
COL. JOHN M. CREBS
T WENTY-ONE YEARS after he spoke in Carmi, Abe Lincoln was in the White House. Many of his old friends here were dead - Robinson, Rat- cliff, Webb, Wilson, Davidson, McHenry.
Lincoln faced a seceding south, and the cannon that fired on Fort Sumter reverberated along the Little Wabash.
When news came of Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers excitement ran like lightning through the village. Answering immediately were Orlando Burrell, Frank Lindsay and L. S. Rice. They hurriedly organized men who were mustered in April 25 as Company D, Eighth Infantry.
Meanwhile, Attorneys John E. Whi- ting and John M. Crebs started organizing a regiment of volunteers. White County men thronged to the colors. Their Eighty- seventh Infantry was formally organized at Shawneetown Aug. 16, 1862, and mus- tered in Sept. 22.
Col. Whiting headed the regiment. Crebs was lieutenant colonel. George W. Land was major; John D. Martin, adju- tant; Francis M. Coulter, quartermaster; Dr. Elam M. Stewart, surgeon; Dr. Daniel P. Berry, assistant surgeon. The Methodist minister, Albert Ransom, went as chaplain. Captains were James A. Miller, James Fackney, Edmund Emery, James E. Willis, John H. Wasson, Samuel J. Foster, Ross Graham, Benjamin F. Brockett, Sr., James P. Thomas, Martin Vaught, Thomas Eulow and William T. Prunty.
"Nothing is worse than war? Dishonor is worse than war. Slavery is worse than war."-Winston Churchill.
DR. DANIEL BERRY
COL. EVERTON J. CONGER
White County won an eminent place in the nation's record of volunteers, ex- ceeding its draft quota by more than 700 men.
In blood and sacrifice, the toll was high with about 500 giving their lives in the struggle.
After peace came, one more was to die. He was Abraham Lincoln, assassina- ted on Good Friday 1865 by John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theater in Washington.
Once more Carmi's association with Lincoln was to be recorded in the pages of history. Commanding the troops captur- ing the fleeing Booth was Col. Everton J. Conger, son of Carmi's Rev. Enoch Conger and brother of Attorney C. S. Conger.
Returning veterans picked up the threads of peace and once again wove themselves into the fabric of the commu- nity.
Carmi grew, slowly. The little brick church on Main Street was abandoned by Methodists and Presbyterians. Both de- nominations had alternated in using the building. At the corner of Church and Main the Methodists erected a tall white frame building with steeple. On First Street the Presbyterians built their house of worship. Members of the Christian Church completed their new building in 1867.
Business flourished and the town entered the 1870's with great expectations.
Busy, busy town - - population 1,294 . .
This is one of the most valuable pictures of old-time Carmi. It shows the north side of the courthouse square on a snowy day in 1875. The original 1828 courthouse was only 47 years old. The Fireproof Building on the opposite corner was new. Back of that building stood a busy hotel. On the southeast corner, where the Williams house now stands, was a hitching post.
main St. 1875. Caimi. Ill.
Horses pulling wagons plodded down snowy, muddy Main Street in the winter of 1875. The tall spire of the Methodist Church is seen at the left.
H ARDLY 600 people lived in Carmi as the 1860's ended.
The 1870's brought a boom. Popula- tion doubled in two years. Ephraim Joy and his sons, Thomas and Andrew, came from Bridgeport and started the Carmi Weekly Times.
Steamboats plied the Little Wabash and Skillet Fork. The Cairo and Vincennes Railroad was being built.
"Over 200 houses have been built here in the last year," said the Carmi Times in 1872. "Several fine new business houses are in process of construction."
The town had 6 boss carpenters; 5 plasterers; 6 bricklayers; 3 blacksmith shops with 2 to 6 smiths in each shop; 3 wagon shops; 2 tin shops ; 2 saddle shops ; 2 shoe shops ; 2 tailor shops ; 2 boss paint- ers; 1 marble yard; 2 brick yards working 10 to 20 men; 2 sawmills ; 1 stave factory with 12 hands; 2 cooper shops with 20 workmen; 1 woolen factory; 1 foundry ; 1 grist water mill; a merchant mill; 8 dry goods stores; 2 shoe stores; 2 clothing stores; 4 family groceries ; 2 drug stores ; 1 hardware store; 1 confectionery and bakery.
J. M. Crebs was in Congress. His law partner back home was C. S. Conger.
The Damron House was a busy place ; offered good stabling, sample rooms for commercial travelers and a free omnibus to and from all trains. On Jan. 23, 1873, the Carmi Times said: "A sister of the late Stonewall Jackson stopped at the Damron House last Wednesday. She is on a visit to relatives in the county."
THE REV. EPHRAIM JOY
JTH
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CHOOL CARMEALL
v
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In the centennial year of America's independence-1876 Carmi built two fine brick schools, and they were used until they were replaced in the 1930's. At top, the South Side School. Bottom, North Side School.
The long covered bridge lasted only 38 years. Completed in 1841, it was razed in 1879 and this splendid iron span was built.
At Viskniskki's St. Louis Store coffee sold four pounds for $1; sugar, six pounds for $1; coal oil, 40c gal .; crackers, 12c lb .; rice 121/2c lb .; cheese, 20c lb .; cod fish, 8c lb .; cured ham, 15c lb .; a broom, 20c; bar of soap, 5c; pickles, 10c doz.
At Christmas time in 1872 Mr. Ma- lone's book store advertised "Secrets of the Convent and Confessional," "Mormon Wife," "Three Years in a Man-Trap," and "Laws of Health and the Human Form."
The Carmi Times personals column had these items : "Mating time now. Splen- did skating. Egg-nog times are here. Sev- eral of the boys were on a glorious bust Christmas day. Fireworks were heard all over town the past week. Bustles are said to have proved useful during the late slip- pery times."
In spite of the building and progress, Carmi was still a mud street town. Hogs wallowed in Main Street mud holes. A log cabin still stood where the Radio Building now stands at Main and Walnut.
Farmers coming to town for supplies often found their wagons mired deep in mud. It took an entire day to come to town and return home. Some stayed overnight. Graham's two-story hotel was where the Innovation now operates.
Food was plentiful and cheap. A housewife could buy a basketful of back- bones and spareribs at Byrd Patrick's pork house for a dime.
And then the village became a town. The people voted-135 to 106-to incor- porate. In a lively election Dr. Elam L. Stewart was elected mayor, defeating Ross Graham.
As the town grew the Free School became crowded. Two-story brick school- houses were built on the North and South sides.
The covered bridge was demolished and an iron bridge built.
The White County Fair was organ- ized. The Fair Association bought 40 acres 'way out in the country west of town.
Business and agriculture, education and religion were flourishing as Carmi greeted the 1880's.
DR. ELAM L. STEWART Carmi's First Mayor
JAMES FACKNEY
CASH FOR WHEAT
WHITE MILL
New courthouse, and a college . . .
F ARMERS COMING to Carmi in the 1880's were astonished at the changes. Their wagons and buggies rumbled over the new iron bridge.
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