USA > Illinois > Mason County > The History and Mason Counties, Illinois > Part 29
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY ..
and his sons are among the prominent business men of the place. A. D. Wright is mentioned in another place as connected prominently with the mill interests of the city at one time. John MeNamar was a " Down Easter," but from what State is not known. He was one of the early merchants in Salem, and moved to Petersburg after the decline of Salem. where he again embarked in mercantile business. He died here about a year ago. Dr. John Allen was also an early merchant at Salem. as well as an early physician. He moved to Petersburg about the same time as MeNamar. They were in business together at Salem, which was continued for a time after locating in Petersburg. He diel here some years ago. A. Humphrey was also a " Down Easter," and came here about 1837-38, and died long ago. John McNeal was a native of Pennsylvania. but went to Virginia, where he married, and then removed to Illinois, locating in this precinct, where he finally died. Samuel Hill came from Ohio and first located in Salem very early. Ile moved to Petersburg in 18:39, and died several years ago. Charles B. Waldo, Nathan Dresser and Thomas L. Harris were natives of Conneetient, whence they emigrated to Virginia, then to Illinois and settled in Petersburg. Waldo is mentioned on another page as the first pedagogue in the neighborhood. Both he and Dresser moved to the southern part of the State, in the vicinity of Cairo, where they died. Harris, though originally from the same place, came several years later. He was a man of considerable prominence and political aspirations, and served one or two terms in Congress with somo distinction. He died here, but his widow and other members of the family are still living. Zachariah Nance and several sons came from Kentucky to Illinois in 1833, locating in what is now Rock Creek Precinct. Here the old gentleman died and was buried in the Farmers' Point Graveyard. Among his sons were Thomas and Washington. the latter now living in Petersburg : quite an old man. Albert G. Nance, a son of Thomas, served two years in the Legislature, and was a candidate for the State Senate, but died a few days before the election. His father is also dead. Mrs. Hill, widow of Samuel Hill, now living in Petersburg, is a daughter of Zachariah Nance. George U. Miles was from Kentucky, and settled here in 1839, but had been living in the southern part of the State several years before coming to Menard County. He is still living, but very old and feeble. Chester Moon was a Yankee, but what State he came from we could not ascer- tain. He died some years ago in Morris. W. C. Dawson came from Ken- tueky about 1840, and resides at present in Springfield. Martin and Jordan Morris, though of the same name, and both blacksmiths, were in no wise related. Jordan was one of those transient characters who are always on the move. and did not remain long in this community, but what actually became of him is not now remembered. Martin Morris, after a residence here of some years. removed to Missouri, where he still lived at last accounts. William Haggerty was also a blacksmith, came with Jordan Morris. worked with him and left with him. J. W. Warnsing was a German, and came here very early. Has
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
been dead several years. Samuel Berry came from Tennessee at an early day and died long ago.
George Warburton, who is noticed in the history of the city of Petersburg as the owner of a part of the land on which the town was laid out, came from the East. He was drowned in the Sangamon River. when the water. it is said. was not over six inches deep. It is supposed that he was intoxicated. as he was in the habit of drinking to excess. and in that state fell into the water, when no help was at hand, and being unable to help himself. was drowned. Peter Lukins. the joint proprietor with Warburton of the land on which the town stands, and for whom Petersburg was named, as noted hereafter, came from Kentucky. He and Warburton, as more particularly detailed in the his- tory of Petersburg, owned 160 acres of land, upon which the original town was laid out. This they afterward sold to Taylor & King, who became the propri- etors of the town. Lukins is noticed as the first hotel-keeper and the first shoe- maker. He was found dead in his bed one morning, supposed to have been the result of excessive drink, as he too, was in the habit of taking overdoses of the fiery demon. The Rutledges are originally from Kentucky, and are elsewhere noticed in this work. The Rutledges went from Kentucky to South Carolina, and from there came to Illinois, locating first in White County. where they remained some years, and then came to the present county of Menard, in 1825. William and James Rutledge. and John Cameron. came to the neighborhood together, and settled in the vicinity of Old Salem. Cameron and William Rut- ledge were brothers-in-law. They lived in the county until their death, and still have many descendants residing here. Jonathan Colby came from New Hampshire in 1834, and located where he now lives. His parents lived together as man and wife for sixty years, and at their death their combined ages were 172 years. Robert Carter came from Kentucky in 1830, and settled where his daughter, Mrs. Jemima Gum, now lives. He died in 1866. J. A. Brahm came to this county with his father's family, in 1830. and settled just north of Petersburg. They were from Germany. The elder Brahm died here in 1852. His son, J. A. Brahm, is a prominent banker and business man of the city of Petersburg. James Goldsby came from Kentucky, and settled here in 1830. He was a soldier of the war of 1812, and the first Sheriff of Menard County. He has a son, Rev. William M. Goldsby, in this precinct, who has been a min- ister of the Baptist Church for a quarter of a century. Nicholas Tice was a native of Virginia, and came to Illinois in 1831, locating at the village of Athens. In 1832, he purchased a farm at what is now Tice's Station, where he died in 1856. John Tice, a son. is the present County Judge of Menard County. He is one of the faithful county and precinct officers, as evidenced in the fact that he has been in the official harness for thirty years in sue- cession.
The Bales were from Kentucky. Jacob Bale located near the present city of Petersburg, in 1830. He was a minister, and the father of Hardin Bale,
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HISTORY OF, MENARD COUNTY. .
proprietor of the Petersburg Woolen Mills, which are more particularly alluded to on another page. Abraham Bale came to the precinct in 1839, and located at Salem. In 1840, he purchased a farm, on which he resided until 1852. when he bought the mill-site at Salem, and commenced repairing the old mill. but he died in 1853. His sons completed the repairs he had begun, and. in 1873. T. V. Bale became sole proprietor of the once famous Salem Mills, and has ever since operated them. The Bales seem to have had a kind of genius or talent for mills, as we learn that Rev. Jacob Bale bought a small grist-mill, wherein his son Hardin took his first lessons in the business, and thus qualified himself for the successful business man that he is to-day. Aaron B. White was among the pioneers of Clary's Grove, and came from Kentucky. He has a son. William M. White, living in Petersburg, who remembers the hardships of those early days. Judge Pillsbury is a son of Alpha Pillsbury, and is a native of New Hampshire. His father died there in 1831, and. in 1836, the family came West, locating in the town of Petersburg. His mother died here in 1868. He has served several terms as County Judge. and was for several years Principal of the city schools. Mrs. Elizabeth Potter, the widow of Elijah. ranks among the pioneers. Her husband was a native of White County, Il .. and came to Menard County in 1819-20. He died in March. 1876. on the place where his widow now lives. Robert MeNeely was an early settler in the neighboring county of Morgan. His son. Hon. Thomas W. McNeely. is one of the prominent men of Petersburg.
This comprises the early settlement of Petersburg Precinct up to a period when emigrants were flocking to the great plains of the West in such numbers as to render it a Herculean task to keep trace of them. It is a work of no little trouble, owing to the large and irregular divisions of the county, to avoid confusion and error in the location of early settlers, and mention them, in all cases, in the precinct or particular locality where they truly belong. We have exercised the utmost care in this respect. yet doubt not that many such mnis- takes have been made. And doubtless, too, the names of many pioneers of the county and precinct have been overlooked, which deserve honorable men- tion in this work. But when we reflect that the allotted period of almost two generations have passed since white men came to this region, and that many of these early comers are gone and the memory of others weakened by age, it is not strange that early facts are sometimes difficult to obtain, and when gath- ered from different sources, as they necessarily must be. are often so at variance as to batlle the historian's skill to place them before his readers in a satisfactory manner. Had the compilation of this work been postponed a few years longer, the last of the old settlers, able to contribute facts and incidents of the far past, would have been beyond the historian's reach, and the opportunity of getting an authentic history lost forever.
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
THE PIONEER DAYS.
If the ghosts of some of the pioneers, whose settlement we have been not- ing in these pages, could rise, like that of Banquo's, imbued with power to observe the changes wrought since they first saw the country, their astonish- ment would doubtless exceed that of Rip Van Winkle's, when he awoke from his long nap in the Catskill Mountains and found himself no longer the loyal subject of George III., but the free and sovereign citizen of " the greatest country in the world." When white men came here, nearly sixty years ago, the forests were unbroken ; the prairies were yet in their pristine beauty, fresh from the Creator's hand, and were the abode of the wolf and the wild deer. The canoe of the Indian was paddled up and down the "Sangamo," and its forests echoed the crack of his rifle, while the paths worn by his moccasined feet were the guiding trail of the emigrant. The flight of years has clothed those " verdant wastes " with flocks and herds, with waving harvest-fields and vast forests of rustling corn, in whose depths armies might ambush. The Indian trail has become obliterated by the railway track, and the ox team and " prairie schooner " are displaced by the locomotive and the rushing train. The land- scape, where first the savage set his tepee and where his pale-face successor built his "pole cabin " or his " three-faced." camp, is now dotted with hun- dreds of happy homes, churches and schoolhouses ; the silence broken by the Indian war-whoop and death song, now echoes to
"The laugh of children, the soft voice Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn Of Sabbath worshipers."
And these are not all. Many other changes and improvements have taken place, which these rude and honest pioneers never dreamed of in their most extray- agant flights of fancy. They were content then with the old "Cary " or "bar- share " plow, drawn by the patient ox, and were thankful if they had corn-meal and wild-deer meat to satisfy the cravings of hunger. Their homes were cabins, built of poles or split logs, with puncheon or dirt floors, clapboard roofs and stick chimneys, and their beds were usually wild prairie grass, which honest toil and contentment rendered " soft as downy pillows are." Nor were the women idle spectators. They were in truth helpmates, and metaphorically they put their hands to the plow and, when occasion demanded, did not hesitate to do so liter- ally. They spun and wove cloth, manufactured their own and their families' clothing. No doubt they were as happy then in their humble attire as their fair sisters of the present day are. when robed in silks and satins and sparkling with jewelry. But the pole cabin, the Cary and barshare plow, and the homely raiment are things of the past and are buried beneath the years that have come and gone in rapid succession, while the panorama has been unfolding to view. Soon these "relies of barbarism " will be wholly forgotten. Even now, they are fast becoming fireside legends.
292
HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
As is usually the case in townships or precinets wherein are located county seats, the more important events center at the capital, leaving little of historic interest in the township at large. Thus it is in Petersburg. Beyond the mere fact of settling the country, the history of the precinct is mostly con- fined to Old Salem and to the county's metropolis. The first stores, mills, post offices, churches, schools, shops, etc., were established at these places. With a brief notice on one or two points of interest, we will pass to the history of the city.
The church history. as we have said, is given more particularly in the town of Petersburg. It is proper, however, that a notice of Baker's Prairie Church should be given in the precinct history. It is one of the old church organizations of the Baptist denomination in the county, and was organized about 1835, by Rev. John Antle. The first church was a log building. and served as both church and schoolhouse for a time, and stood two or three miles east of Petersburg, and about the same distance north of Tice's Station. In 1849-50, a frame church superseded the old log structure, and is still in use as a temple of worship for this pioneer society. Rev. HI. P. Curry, who has been frequently mentioned in this work as a Baptist preacher, at present administers to the spiritual wants of the Church. Another of the carly churches of the precinct is the Methodist Church at Tice's Station, which will be noticed in connection with that place.
The railroads passing through this precinct are the Jacksonville Division of the Chicago & Alton and the Springfield & North-Western, which cross at the town of Petersburg. But, as they have been fully noticed already. we will not repeat their history here. Suffice it, they give the precinct and the town the benefit of transportation in any direction and to any market, and, indeed. bring the best markets in the country to the people's very doors.
Petersburg Precinct is Democratie in politics, as is the entire county. During the war of the rebellion, it furnished many soldiers to the Union armies, and performed a good part to maintain the supremacy of the Govern- ment. But for a more complete record of these stirring events, the reader is referred to the war history of the county, which is given in a preceding chapter.
As the first schools taught in the precinct were in the present town of Peter burg, the school history is mostly given in that connection. The schools of the surrounding country are in a flourishing state, corresponding with those in other portions of the county. Comfortable houses are conveniently situated. and efficient teachers employed during the usual school term. so that a good common-school education is within the reach of all. and there remains no excuse for children growing up in ignorance.
THE CITY OF PETERSBURG.
Petersburg, the metropolis of Menard County, is beautifully situated on the west bank of the Sangamon River, at the crossing of the Chicago & Alton and
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
the Springfield & North-Western Railroads, twenty-one miles from Springfield and twenty-seven miles from Jacksonville. It extends back from the river on to the bluffs, where are located many elegant residences. The streets are broad and lined with rows of trees, thus presenting an inviting appearance in the sul- try months of summer. The public square is a well-shaded spot, nicely set in grass, and containing many fine trees, in the midst of which stands that immense pile of architectural beauty and magnificence-the Court House. The principal portion of the business, as in a majority of Illinois towns, is done around the square, and the business houses, as a class, are superior to those usually found in towns of this size.
Peter Lukins and George Warburton were the original owners of 160 acres of land, on which Petersburg now stands. This tract of land was embraced in Section 14 of Town 18, and Range 7 west. They laid out the town about 1832-33, surveying and dividing the entire 160 acres into blocks of town lots. which performance being ended, they quietly sat down and waited for the place to grow. It was a rather extensive foundation for a town forty or fifty years ago, and it was probably these ponderous proportions that retarded its growth for the first few years of its existence, as we learn that city real estate com- manded but limited figures in either the home or in foreign markets. Finally. becoming discouraged or disgusted because a town did not rise as if by magic. they sold out to Hezekiah King and John Taylor. These gentlemen employed Abraham Lincoln, then Deputy Surveyor of Sangamon County, to resurvey and plat it, which plat was admitted to record February 22, 1836. The town was named for Peter Lukins, one of the original proprietors of the land. The accident, or incident. which led to the name of Petersburg, instead of that of Georgetown, occurred in this wise : Peter Lukins and George Warburton. who laid out the original town as already stated, were each desirous of being immortalized in history by bestowing his name upon the incipient eity, and became involved in a dispute as to whether it should be called Georgetown ( for- Warburton) or Petersburg (for Lukins). They finally agreeed to play a game of " old sledge," or " seven-up," then the national game (instead of base ball), and allow the winner to name the place. Lukins won the game, and, rising from the costly Turkish chair (an empty nail-keg) on which he sat, solemnly pro- nounced the name Petersburg.
From the most authentic information to be obtained at the present day. it is probable that the first shanty erected on the present site of Petersburg was by Elijah Estep, mention of which has been made in the precinct history. As the settlements there noticed include both town and precinct, we will not recapitu - late the settlement of the town under this head. There was also a building. which people, out of respect, called a mill, erected by Estep, which is supposed to have been put up about 1826. It was what was called, in those early times, a " gear horse-mill," and, we believe, used for sawing only. If any of our readers are curious to know what a " gear horse-mill " is, they will have to
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
consult some of the old settlers, for we cannot enlighten them. The first store was opened by John Taylor, in 1833. Not long after Taylor commenced busi- ness as a merchant here, the Davidson Brothers opened a store, which is said to have been the second in the place. Taylor sold his store to John Bennett, who is still living, and is a highly respected citizen of the town. He was for a number of years one of the leading merchants and business men. Jordan Morris was the first blacksmith. and Peter Lukins looked after the soles of the early settlers, otherwise, the first shoemaker. A post office was established about 1833-34, with James Taylor as Postmaster. It was a very small affair. and could have been easily carried in a man's hat. but has grown to considerable proportions, and its emoluments are more eagerly sought after at the present day than when established nearly fifty years ago. The present Postmaster is A. N. Curry, and, instead of a weekly mail, four mails are now received daily. The first practicing lawyer was David M. Rutledge. a brother to Miss Anna Rutledge, once the fiancee of Mr. Lincoln, and whose premature death alone prevented her becoming his wife. Dr. R. E. Bennett was the first located physi- cian. The first tavern was kept by Peter Lukins, and stood in the south end of the town. It was a small and unpretentious affair, but accommodated, in its time, the limited demand made upon an establishment of that kind. At pres- ent, there are four hotels in the city, and several restaurants. The two principal hotels are the Menard House on the southeast corner, and the brick hotel on the northeast corner of the public square.
From this small business, beginning back nearly a half-century ago, Peters- burg has grown to be a stirring and energetie little city, of nearly three thousand inhabitants, commanding as large a trade as any town of its size. perhaps, in the State. The little store of Taylor has given place to twelve or fifteen large establishments, handling dry goods, groceries and clothing. Mor- ris. the " village blacksmith," is now represented by six shops, the smallest of which is far more pretentious than his, and some half a dozen disciples of St. Crispin supply the place of Lukins. The successors of 'Squire Rutledge in the legal profession comprise a dozen or more attorneys who rank at the head of the bar, and six physicians represent Dr. Bennett, the first of his kind in the town. All other branches of business have correspondingly increased, and hardware stores, agricultural. harness, drugs, furniture. meat and millinery stores, and lumber-yards flourish, and are well patronized and maintained. There are also two banks included in the business of the town.
The next mill after the small affair already mentioned, was a saw and grist mill, built by one Dorrell. It was operated for a number of years, when a man named Sanford erected a very fine mill, at a cost of $18,000, which he sold, in 1853. to A. D. Wright. After operating it for several years, his sons, J. D. and E. D. Wright, took charge of it. In a few years, the latter withdrew from the firm and the former failed, necessitating the sale of the property. The mill was purchased, in 1878. by D. Fischer and E. L. Gault, who are now running
Mrs tv S Brune TALLULA
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
it, with good success. They make a fine article of flour, as evidenced in the fact that it took first premium at the State Fair, last year, at Freeport.
The Eagle Mills were built in 1867 by Nance, Brother & Co., at a cost of $24,000, and were operated by them for about fifteen monthis, when they sold out to Philip Rainey. He operated them for a time, in connection with Thomas Barfield, but, at the present time, is alone in the ownership of these excellent mills. He has recently added what is termed a " New Process," a process, by the way, of which we are ignorant, but, as some of our readers may be better informed upon the subject, we give them the benefit of the information. "The Process," whatever it is, the customers say, greatly improves the quality of the flour. While on the subject of mills, we should not omit to men- tion the fact that in early times the Sangamon River was supposed to be sus- ceptible of navigation, as noticed in the general history, and that about the year 1836, a little steamboat, in paddling up (or down) the crooked stream, became stranded on the beach in this vicinity. The machinery was purchased by John Taylor, who placed it in a saw-mill, and afterward added a grist-mill to the establishment. The machinery proved more valuable here than in the navigation of the Sangamon River, and performed good service until the mill was destroyed by fire.
The grain trade of Petersburg, though quite an extensive branch of busi- ness, scarcely equals many other towns of this size. The principal dealers here at present are Phil Rainey, of the Eagle Mills, Fischer, Gault & Conover, of the Charter Oak Mills, and Laning & Co., all of whom have done a large business the present year. Fischer, Gault & Conover have an excellent grain elevator in connection with their mills, which is the only grain elevator in the town. This struck us as a little strange-that in a section of country as rich as this, where corn and wheat are the main staples, to find no extensive grain elevators looming up along the railroad tracks. But much of the wheat is shipped as soon as threshed, the corn cribbed by the railroads, where it is shelled and loaded into the cars ; hence, elevators are but little needed.
PETERSBURG AS THE COUNTY SEAT.
As noted in the general history, the act for the formation of Menard County was passed at the Legislative session of 1838-39. The new county included the larger part of the present county of Mason, which was not set off until two years later. One of the first questions of agitation was the location of the seat of justice. New Market, Huron, Miller's Ferry and Petersburg were the con- testants, and, after a short, but sanguinary struggle, it was decided in favor of Petersburg, and, in the spring of 1839, it became the capital of the county. Its competitors in the struggle for official greatness were long since submerged "'neath the waves of dark oblivion," and few, except the grizzled pioneers who are left, know that such places ever existed in their county. From this time forward, Petersburg rapidly increased in population, and grew in importance.
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