USA > Illinois > Coles County > The History of Coles County, Illinois map of Coles County; history of Illinois history of Northwest Constitution of the United States, miscellaneous matters, &c., &c > Part 22
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During the year 1831, the first Court House of Coles County was ereeted, down on the "town branch," as the murky little stream is called. It was built of hewed logs, covered with "clapboards," floored with sawdust and provided with wood benches for seats. This served as a temple of justice until 1835, when the brick building, still in use, was erected. Originally, it was an old- style edifice, of the pattern still to be seen in many of the counties of Illinois, but has been modernized, remodeled and transformed into quite an imposing structure, with an altogether attractive appearance. It stands in the center of a handsome square, thiekly planted with maple-trees, and surrounded by a sub- stantial iron fence. In a few years more, when the trees get their growth, the public square of Charleston will be a beautiful spot, and an ornament to the city.
The first Jail was a little log cabin, in the sonth part of the town. which, in an early day, perhaps, served the purpose of a prison ; but in this enlightened age; when erime has become a science, and criminals a band of professional ex- perts, would prove but a frail barrier between them and liberty. The present Jail is in the Court House building.
The first Circuit Court was held at the house of Col. Flenner, three miles west of Charleston. Hon. William Wilson was the presiding Judge. This session of Court is thus described : "The Judge sat on a log, the lawyers on rotten chunks, and the parties engaged in litigation swung to the bushes." James P. Jones was Circuit Clerk, and was appointed by Judge Wilson at this session. Jones was a resident of Clark County, and his appointment to the office of Circuit Clerk excited the just indignation of the Coles County people. They felt themselves competent to fill any office in their county, and well qualified
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to receive the salary pertaining to it ; and to have an outsider step in and relieve them of the responsibility of trying the experiment was a blow to their pride not to be forgiven. The first records of the Circuit Court are non sunt inventa, and hence, few particulars of the sessions for two or three of the first years can be obtained now. The first record-book in the Circuit Clerk's office begins with the April term, 1835, Hon. Justin Harlan presiding.
As we have said, George Hanson, Andrew Caldwell and Isaac Lewis were elected the first County Commissioners. They held the first session of their Court in 1831, at the house of Charles Eastin, in the Kickapoo settlement, and appointed Nathan Ellington Clerk, who thus became the first County Clerk of Coles County. In 1832, Isaac Lewis, Andrew Clarke and James S. Martin were elected Commissioners, and, in 1834, were succeeded by Stephen Stone, Nathaniel Parker and Eben Alexander, who, in turn, were succeeded in 1836, by A. N. Fuller, Alex. Miller and James S. Martin, and they by F. L. Moore, H. J. Ashmore and James M. Ward in 1838. The records here show a change in electing the Commissioners ; electing one each year, instead of three every two years, and that in 1840, John Wright succeeded Ashmore; James Gill in 1841, succeeded Moore, and William Collom succeeded Moore in 1842. In 1843, Isaac Gruell and H. J. Ashomre succeeded Wright and Gill. In 1844, John Cutler succeeded Ashmore, F. L. Moore succeeded Collom in 1845, John M. Logan succeeded Gruell in 1846, and F. G. Frue succeeded Cutler in 1847.
The Constitution of 1848 provided that the County Court should consist of a County Judge and two Associate Justices. Under this new regime, W. W. Bishop was the first County Judge, and John M. Logan and H. J. Ashmore were chosen the first Associate Justices. This branch of the Court continued, with frequent changes of officers, until the adoption of township organization, which went into effect in the spring of 1860, as will be noticed under another head. As a matter of history, and for the benefit of the reader, we append a list of the different officers from the organization of the county, the date of their election and the terms of their official service, as compiled by Capt. Adams, and published in his Centennial Address. The list was prepared with great care, is said, by those well posted, to be substantially correct, and presents a valuable record to all who are interested in such matters, or have occasion to refer to it. The list is as follows :
Sheriff .- At the February election of 1831, Ambrose Yocum was elected the first Sheriff of the county, and re-elected in 1832, but died before his term expired. William Jeffries was elceted in 1834, and held two terms, when he was succeeded by Albert Compton in 1838, who continued in office until 1846. L. R. Hutchason was then elected, and served two terms, and was succeeded in 1850 by Richard Stoddert ; he was succeeded by Thomas Lytle in 1852 ; Lytle, by John R. Jeffries in 1854, and he by H. B. Worley in 1856. Worley was succeeded by M. Jones, in 1858; he by I. HI. Johnston in 1860; John H.
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O'Hair succeeded Johnston in 1862, and James B. Hickox succeeded him in 1864, and, in turn, was succeeded by G. M. Mitchell in 1866, when C. C. Starkweather was elected in 1868, followed in 1870 by A. M. Brown, who was succeeded in 1872 by Owen Wiley, and Wiley by George Moore in 1874; James M. Ashmore succeeded Moore in 1876, and he was succeeded by John E. Brooks in 1878, the present incumbent.
Probate Judge .- James P. Jones was the first Probate Judge. At the time of the organization of Coles County, this office was filled by appointment of the Governor. In 1834, Jones was succeeded by John F. Smyth, and in the same year, Smyth was succeeded by S. M. Dunbar ; he by William Collom in 1835 ; Collom by Reuben Canterbury in 1837 ; he by John W. Trower. Robert S. Mills succeeded Trower in 1843; W. W. Bishop succeeded him in 1847, and filled the office until 1857, when he was succeeded by Gideon Edwards, who died in office in 1864. J. P. Cooper was appointed to fill the vacancy, and, in 1865, McHenry Brooks was elected, and was succeeded in 1869 by A. M. Peterson, who was followed by W. E. Adams in 1873; and, in 1877, J. R. Cunningham, the present Judge, was elected.
County Clerk .- As before stated, Nathan Ellington was the first County Clerk, and filled the office until 1839, when he was succeeded by Loran D. Ellis, who soon after fled the country, and Ellington was appointed to fill the vacancy. Ellington was followed, in 1840, by Enos Stutsman, who resigned his office, and Samuel Huffman was appointed to fill the vacancy. In 1853, James McCrory succeeded Huffman, and held the office until 1861, when he was succeeded by Jacob I. Brown. Brown was succeeded by W. E. Adams in 1865; Adams by Richard Stoddert in 1873, and he, in 1877, by the present Clerk, W. R. Highland.
Coroner .- Robert A. Miller was the first Coroner, and, in 1836, was succeeded by Ichabod Radly, who canvassed the entire county on foot for the office. (He deserved it.) Preston R. Mount followed Radly in 1838; A. G. Mitchell followed Mount in 1842, and William Harr followed Mitchell in 1844. Stephen Stone was elected in 1846, and was succeeded by James W. Morgan in 1858, and he by S. F. Crawford in 1860; he, in 1861, by Dr. Samuel Van Meter, who was succeeded by D. P. Lee in 1862, and he by A. G. Mitchell in 1864; Mitchell by O. D. Hawkins in 1868; he by Joel W. Hall in 1870 ; Hall by D. H. Barnett in 1872, and he by Lewis True in 1874.
Circuit Clerk .- James P. Jones, as stated, was the first Circuit Clerk, and was succeeded by Nathan Ellington, who held the office until his death in 1855, when his son, James D. Ellington, was appointed to fill the vacancy. In 1856, George W. Teel was elected, holding the office two terms, and, in 1864, was succeeded by H. C. Wortham, and he by W. N. McDonald in 1872. He died in December following his election, and A. H. Chapman was appointed Clerk pro tempore, and was succeeded in June, 1873, by E. E. Clark, who was suc- ceeded, in 1877, by the present incumbent, W. E. Robinson.
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
Recorder .- James P. Jones was the first Recorder of Coles County. He was succeeded in the office, in 1834, by John F. Smyth, and he by S. M. Dun- bar in December of the same year. Nathan Ellington received the office in 1835: John W. Trower in 1843; Ellington again in 1846, and Enos Stuts- man in 1847. who held the office until the adoption of the new Constitution of 1848, when the office of Recorder was consolidated with that of Circuit Clerk.
Treasurer .- A. G. Mitchell was the first County Treasurer, and was suc- ceeded by Richard Sto.Idert in 1843, who held the office until 1849, when he was succeeded by Thomas Lytle, and he by Jacob I. Brown in 1851; Brown by D. C. Ambler in 1855; he by A. Y. Ballard in 1857; he by Abram Highland in 1859; he by D. H. Tremble in 1863; he by H. M. Ashmore in 1869; he by George Moore in 1871; he by W. B. Galbreath in 1873, and he by J. F. Goar in 1877, the present Treasurer of the county.
Surveyor .- The first Surveyor of the county was Thomas Sconce, who was succeeded by Joseph Fowler in 1835; he by Seonce again in 1839. Lewis R. Hutehason was elected in 1843, and was succeeded by Thomas Lytle in 1847 ; he by John Meadows in 1852; he by William A. Brun in 1855 ; he by Lewis B. Richardson in 1859 ; he by Thomas Lytle again in 1861 ; he by James S. Yeargin in 1864 ; he by George A. Brown in 1867 ; he by John H. Clark in 1869, and he by the present incumbent, John L. Aubert, in 1875.
School Commissioner .- Charles Morton was the first School Commissioner of the county, and held the office until 1841, when he was succeeded by James Alexander, and, in 1845, he was succeeded by James B. Harris ; he by H. Mann in 1849; he by Gideon Edwards in 1851; he by James A. Mitchell, and he by W. H. K. Pile in 1861 ; he by Elzy Blake in 1865 ; he by Rev. S. J. Bovell in 1869; he by Rev. Allen Hill in 1873, and he by Prof. T. J. Lee in 1877, who is now in office.
State's Attorney .- In 1860, J. R. Cunningham was chosen State's At- torney for the judicial circuit of which Coles County was a part. This position he held for four years. The new Constitution, adopted in 1870, gave to each county an attorney. The first appointment under this new order of things, was Col. A. P. Dunbar, who was succeeded by J. W. Craig. Robert M. Gray is the present State's Attorney.
Legislators .- The first Representative of Coles County in the General Assembly of the State was Dr. John Carrico, in the session of 1832. In 1834, James T. Cunningham was a member of the Legislature from this county. He also served in the sessions of 1837 and 1840; was a candidate for the Consti- tutional Convention in 1848, and was the choice of his party for Congress in the campaign of 1860. He came from Kentucky to Coles County in 1830, and was a man of good judgment, liberal views, and skilled in the details of finance. In the sessions of the Legislature of 1836-37, and in 1844, and in 1855, Col. A. P. Dunbar represented the county, and served with Lincoln and Douglas. IIe gave to Douglas the name of Little Giant ; introduced the bill
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
for moving the capital from Vandalia to Springfield; also a bill allowing fees to jurors, which position had before been honorary ; also a resolution asking Congress to reduce the postage on mail matter,* and Illinois thus became the first State to move in that direction. In the General Assemblies of 1838 and 1842, Hon. O. B. Ficklin represented the county. He is a native of Kentucky, but in an early day settled in Wabash County, and afterward in Coles. He was appointed, by the Legislature, Prosecuting Attorney for this Circuit, and, in his official capacity, once prosecuted a colored woman here for murder. She was poor, and the other attorneys in attendance volunteered to defend her. Mr. Ficklin closed the case in a vigorous speech, and after he sat down, the woman observed, that she "believed in her soul dat Massa Ficklin had done her as much harm as good in his speech." Mr. Ficklin has served several terms in Congress, and for a long term of years as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions, and is at present, together with Hon. H. A. Neal, a man of fine ability, member of the State Legislature.
In 1838, Dr. B. Monroe was elected State Senator. He was from Ken- tucky, and came to this county in 1833, and possessed fine business qualifica- tions. In the sessions of the Legislatures of 1836; and 1846, U. F. Snider represented Coles County. He was born in Elizabethtown, Ky., and came to Charleston in 1838, where he lived until 1860, when he went to Chicago. Under the administration of Gov. Duncan, he was Attorney General of the State. As a lawyer, he was eminent in his profession, and as a public speaker had few if any peers in the Western country. Joseph Fowler in 1842, W. D. Watson in 1852, W. W. Craddock in 1858, Dr. John Monroe in 1862, Col. J. M. True in 1866, and Hon. G. W. Parker in 1868, have all, honorably to themselves, represented Coles County in the Legislature of the State. In 1870, Hon. James A. Cunningham and Hon. A. Jeffries were the representatives ; were wise law-makers and watchful guardians of the rights of the people. In 1874, Hon. C. B. Steele and Hon. James A. Connolly represented the county, and were able legislators. In the Congress of the United States of 1864 and 1866, Hon. H. P. Bromwell, now of Denver, Colo., but for many years a resident of Coles County, represented this Congressional District. He was a man of brilliant talents and a lawyer of fine ability. Dr. Thomas P. Trower and Thomas A. Marshall were delegates from this county to the Constitutional Convention of 1848. Col. Marshall was also State Senator in 1858, and during his term, by right of seniority, was Lieutenant Governor.
Thus, we have noted the formation of the county, together with the differ- ent branches of county offices and government, and the names of the incum- bents of these offices down to the present time, with a brief glance at the county's law-makers and counselors. Before passing from this part of our work, it may be of some interest to say a few words of township organization. When the
* Postage on letters was twenty-five cents, payable at the office of delivery.
+In 1836, he was living in Greenup (now Cumberland County).
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
county was formed, it was divided or laid off into a number of eivil townships or election precinets. The names and boundaries of these precinets we are un- able to give, as the first record of the County Commissioner's Court cannot be found. When the county adopted township organization in 1859, the fall of which year the vote was taken, there were three Commissioners, viz., John Hutton, John Monroe and James T. Cunningham, appointed to lay off the county into townships. They accordingly divided it into twelve civil town- ships, as follows : Hutton, Ashmore, East Oakland, Morgan, Seven Hickory, Milton (now Humbolt), North Okaw, Mattoon, Paradise, Pleasant Grove, Charleston and La Fayette, their boundaries and names still remaining the same to the present time, as may be seen by reference to the map in the front part of this work, except Milton, the name of which has been changed to Humbolt. The first Board of Supervisors were John Hutton, Hutton Township; John Hoots, North Okaw; Joseph Edman, Pleasant Grove; Milton W. Barnes, Ashmore ; William R. Jones, La Fayette ; Richard Stoddert, Charleston ; James Monroe, Mattoon ; A. R. Sutherland, Milton ; Samuel Rosebrough, Seven Hickory ; Nathan Thomas, Morgan ; George W. MeConkey, East Oakland, and Adam W. Hart, Paradise. The Board held its first meeting May 7, 1860, and or- ganized by making George W. McConkey temporary Chairman, but, afterward, James Monroe was elected permanent President of the Board. The county is still under township organization.
MILLS, STORES, POST OFFICES, ETC.
In opening up a new country, one of the first enterprises inaugurated for the publie good is a mill, for with all the inventions of the age there has been no discovery as yet made to enable the human family to get along without eat- ing. We have it upon good authority that in the early times people were sometimes without bread for three weeks in succession, but there is no evidence that they were destitute of all other kinds of provisions at the same time. Mill facilities, fifty years ago, were very limited in this section of the country. The first mill of any note in the county was what is now known as the Blakeman Mill, on the Embarrass River, and was built in 1829 by the Parkers, just fifty years ago .* To this mill, we are informed, men came forty and fifty miles on horseback, with a bushel and a half of corn, and it frequently was frost-bitten. "This mill," said an old gentleman. " run all the year, except when cows came along and drank the river dry." It may have been this thoughtless aet on the part of the cattle that suggested the introduction into the country of horse- mills. They were a dry-weather mill, and during the dry season were kept pretty busy. Charles Morton built one of these dry-weather mills in the neighborhood of Charleston, in an early day, which was of benefit to a large scope of country. One of the early mills was built on Kickapoo Creek, by a man named Robbins, but it was a frail structure, and could only grind one grist
#It was subsequently moved to the opposite side of the river and became the Blakeman Mill.
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
of a bushel and a half of corn from Monday morning to Saturday night. A man named Stevens built a mill in what is now Oakland Township, very early, and soon after, Redden built one in the same neighborhood. Redden's mill is said to liave been a curiosity in its way, in this, that it had a buckwheat bolt attached. Chadd built one a few years later, on a new plan, but without a buckwheat bolt. If the stories told of it be true, it was a very remarkable mill, and far superior to the mills of the present day. The proprietor boasted that on a certain occa- sion he ground a bushel of wheat on his mill and bolted it on Redden's bolt, and the one bushel turned out one hundred pounds of superfine flour, and two and a half bushels of bran. (It may have been that the mill was no better than those of the present day, but a better quality of wheat was grown then.) . But these mills were a " big thing " in their day, as well as a useful institution of the country.
The first store opened in the county was by Charles Morton. When he came to the county in 1830, he brought a stock of goods with him, and opened them out in a small pole cabin, near the present city of Charleston, and, upon the laying-out of the town, moved within its corporate limits. He established his store upon one of the eligible corner lots, and thus the mercantile business was begun, not only in the county, but in its metropolis. Other stores were opened a few years later at Kickapoo, Hitesville and other points in the county. Morton was not long allowed a monopoly of the mercantile trade of Charleston, but on the principle that "competition is the life of trade," soon had plenty of company. Mr. Morton was also the first Postmaster in the county. This fact is disputed by some, however, who claim that George Han- son established a post office at Wabash Point some time before there was one at Charleston. Samuel Frost carried the first mail through the county. The route was from Paris to Vandalia, then the capital of the State.
Tan-yards were among the enterprises of the pioneer days. People then were not ashamed to wear, but were glad to get, shoes of home manufacture. Many of the pioneers were sufficiently versed in the lore of St. Crispin to make shoes, and their genius was called into question at the approach of winter. To satisfy the demand for "shoe-leather," tanneries were established where the peoples' " cowhides " and deerskins were made into leather. One of these early tanneries was established by William Wagner in the Kickapoo settlement. Another was established at Charleston by David Eastin, which afterward became the property of the Stodderts, and was operated by them for years, in fact, until tan-yards went out of fashion. Carding machines were also included among the early industries of the county. As we have stated in an- other page, the pioneer ladies manufactured the family clothing. Nearly every family raised a few sheep. The wool produced by these useful animals was carded into rolls by these machines, when they were taken in hand by the women, spun into yarn on the " big wheel," and then woven into cloth on the old " rattling loom." One of the first carding-machines in the county was
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established or built by John Kennedy in Charleston soon after it was laid out as a town. Daniel Evinger built a carding machine on Parker's Prairie, about 1828, which is supposed to have been the very first institution of the kind in the county. But these machines, tan-yards and horse-mills have long ago be- come obsolete, the latter have been superseded by fine steam-mills, the tan-yards by "brought-on " boots and shoes and the jeans and "linsey-woolsey " by store goods.
Among the first blacksmiths in the county were two men of the name of Owens and Harman, who had the first shop in Charleston. John Carter, of Ashmore, was another of the early blacksmiths, and also P. K. Honn, who for many years kept a shop at Hitesville. (For a beautiful tribute to this class of mechanics, the reader is referred to Longfellow's poem entitled "The Village Black- smith.") Other mechanics and trades-people came in, the settlements flourished and grew prosperous upon the products of their own enterprise. In this small and humble way, the foundation was laid for the power and greatness enjoyed at the present day.
BIRTHIS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES.
As to who was the first white child born in the present territory of Coles County, it is not possible to state definitely. As is usually the case, we hear of a great many first ones-so many, indeed, that it is hard to decide to whom the honor belongs. The child of Daniel Drake, whose wife has been mentioned as, at the age of 54 years, giving birth to a child about 1826-27, was probably the first birth in the county. Drake was one of the pioneers of the settlement at Wa- bash Point. Another of the first births was a son of James Nees, born in March, 1827, in the settlement now known by the poetical name of Dog Town. Probably there are other first ones, but we have no time to look them up. Suf- fice it, many have been born to take up the trials and troubles of earth.
" Angels weep when a babe is born,
And sing when an old man dies."
In 1824, the year that the first settlement was made in Coles County, a Mrs. Whitten died in the settlement on Parker's Prairie, and was the first death of a white person in the county. James Nash, who settled at Wabash Point in 1827, and soon after fatally injured himself carrying a heavy log of wood, as noticed on another page, was the first death in that neighborhood. Daniel Drake and Charles Sawyer cut down trees, split out puncheons and of them made the coffin in which Nash was buried.
Among the early marriages may be noted that of James Jeems and a Miss Bates, which occurred in 1827, and is said to have been the first wedding sol- emnized in the present territory of the county. Jeems went to Darwin, on the Wabash River, then the county seat of Clark County, for the marriage license, as did also Levi Doty, who married soon after to a Miss Phipps. Apropos of weddings, the following anecdote is not inappropriate to the subject. We wish
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
to state, however, by way of preface to the story, that should the participants in it take offense at having their old jokes resurrected and recorded upon the pages of history, we warn them to vent their rage upon Capt. Adams. He furnished us the facts, and we take shelter behind his elephantine proportions. In early times, there lived in Charleston a Justice of the Peace named II. C. Dunbar, and a well-known business man - Richard Stoddert. These two worthy individuals were in the habit of playing practical jokes on each other, and rather serious ones sometimes, as the sequel will show. One bleak, dreary day, in the month of March-as disagreeable as March days can sometimes be -Mr. Stoddert told 'Squire Dunbar that a friend of his in the north part of the county, some eighteen or twenty miles from town, was to be married on that day, and had requested him (Stoddert) to send Dunbar up to perform the ceremony. Dunbar, nothing doubting, mounted his horse and rode up to the designated place to tie the knot, but upon arriving, discovered that it was one of Stoddert's jokes. Ile said nothing, but, indulged internally, perhaps, in a few pages of profane history, returned home through the March blasts, taking it all good-naturedly, and bided his time to pay off Stoddert in his own coin. An opportunity was soon presented. It was a custom at that day, at parties and gatherings of young people, by way of giving zest to the evening's enter- tainment, to get up a sham wedding of some couple who had been " keeping company," or were particularly sweet on each other, and have a sham ceremony performed with all due solemnity by some sham official or sham clergyman. Soon after Dunbar's " fruitless trip " above mentioned, one of these social par- ties came off in Charleston, and, with the design of retaliating upon Stoddert, Dunbar went to the County Clerk's office and procured a marriage license for Stoddert and a certain young lady, with whom he had been keeping company for some time. Armed with this document, he repaired to the party, and so engineered matters as to get up the usual sham wedding between Stoddert and his sweetheart. As a Justice of the Peace, he was, of course, called on to per- form the (supposed) sham ceremony. Confronting the pair with all the solem- nity he would have used had it been a pre-arranged wedding "for keeps," he asked the usual questions required by law, and was answered satisfactorily, winding up by informing them that, as they were aware, he was an officer, authorized by law to perform the marriage ceremony, and asked if it was their " desire to be united in holy wedlock." They answered in the affirmative, and, holding the license in his hand (which they supposed was but a piece of blank paper, used for the sake of appearance), he went through the marriage ceremony in full, received the responses, and solemnly pronounced them "man and wife," turned away and made out the certificate with the usual witnesses, went over to the Clerk's office, made a return of the license and had the certificate recorded that night, without a hint to the pair of the genuineness of the proceedings. The next day, however, the matter leaked out, and so many of Stoddert's friends joked him about being married in the novel manner described, that he
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