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 32
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THE METEORIC SHOWER.
A most remarkable phenomenon occurred on the night of November 12, 1833, known as the " Falling Stars," which it will be well to notice here. It appears to have occurred all over the Western country, if not over the entire United States. Mr. Tremble gives a stirring account of it in his sketches, which we here reproduce. He says :
" I was on my way home from a mill, west of Shelbyville, and had arrived at the cabin of an early friend and brother in the ministry, about four miles west of the town, then a village of about two hundred inhabitants. As I was twenty-six miles from home, and had only an ox-team, I desired the brother to get me up at 3 o'clock in the morning, so that I could get home that night. After a pleasant evening, we retired. My landlord was up at the designated hour, and, going out of the cabin-door, saw a sight that utterly bewildered him
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for a moment. All the stars seemed to be falling, and he at once concluded the heavens were falling and that the final day had come. Returning into the cabin, he aroused the family and myself, assuring us that the day of judgment had come, and for us to prepare to settle our accounts with our Maker. We were all up in a few moments, and beheld a sight never to be forgotten. The air was full of falling drops of fire, that immediately expired as they neared the ground. Sometimes they would alight on a leaf of a bush or tree, and go out with a peculiar noise, difficult to delineate in orthography. It sounded something like " tchuck," given with the shortest possible sound of the vowels. After gazing on the grand sight awhile, I asked the good lady to prepare me a little breakfast, while I fed and yoked my cattle. While I was eating my breakfast, the good minister remarked that he could not understand how I could eat so unconcernedly, when on the threshold of eternity. I noticed he was indeed in deep earnest, and sat part of the time with his head bowed between his knees, clasped in his hands. and apparently engaged in earnest thought. He arose when I prepared to go, protesting against my journey on such a solemn occasion, as the world would soon be on fire and the end of all all things be. I told himn that if his conjectures proved correct, I might as well be out on the highway, driving my ox-team, as anywhere else. Bidding them adieu, I rigged my team, bestrode the near ox, and, with a flourish of my whip, started. It was now about 4 o'clock, the air was a little cool, and a slight frost lay on the ground. At the start, I had nearly a mile of timber to pass through. The meteors were falling all around me as thick as hail or as rain- drops in an ordinary shower. Some of them were so large they cast shadows on the trees. Many of them came in contact with trees in falling, and burst, throwing off a myriad of sparks, illuminating the forest all about me. It was the grandest freak of nature I ever beheld, and passes my powers of descrip- tion. Emerging from the timber to the prairie, the sight was even more grand and inspiring. A rain of fire-drops came down. All about and above me, the air was full of the falling sparks, none of which touched me or my oxen. They would frequently fall nearly to the ground on some bush, but none touched me that I saw or felt, though I endeavored to catch some on my hand to experience a personal contact. None reached the ground that I saw : all expired as they neared it. The storm of fire continued with no abatement that I could see until the approach of day, when the light caused it to gradually disappear, just as the stars retire on the approach of the morning sun.
"Just at daylight, I entered the village of Shelbyville, where I found the inhabitants grouped about the corners, discussing the strange wonder. Many appeared to be greatly alarmed. The opinion that the end of the world was at hand strongly prevailed. I did not stop to discuss the question with them, but left them to solve it as best they could, and went on my way. All along my journey homeward, wherever I met any settlers or travelers, the " fire " was the theme. I could not explain it. nor could they. I could only think it was
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some freak of nature scientists might some day explain : but that the world was coming to an end, I did not much credit."
These various meteoric showers have never been very satisfactorily ex- plained. They have occurred at different intervals for ages, and for many years were regarded with supernatural awe by all classes of people. It is a common practice among the inhabitants of any part of the earth to so regard any unnatural phenomenon, which they cannot readily explain. The commonly accepted theory among modern scientists is that they originate in certain nebu- lous bodies revolving in space in a elliptical orbit about the sun, the aphelion of which meets the orbit of the earth at the time of its annual exhibitions. This is in a measure verified, as the showers appeared in less brilliancy for three successive seasons after 1833, and again in 1841, and in 1846. None were so brilliant by far, however, as the exhibition of 1833, whose grandest display was at Niagara, where it is said to have been of such remarkable vigor as to surpass comprehension.
The fall of meteoric stones is an occurrence often noted in the history of the country. The appearance of comets are also mentioned, which caused wide-spread alarm, many preparing to meet the judgment which it was positively asserted they portended. That event has never visibly occurred yet, and it is safe to conclude comets, meteors and other irregular heavenly bodies have noth- ing whatever to do with it. They are now pretty satisfactorily explained. and only the ignorant fear them. To those who study the heavenly bodies they are objects of great interest and are studiously watched.
THE "SUDDEN FREEZE."
This curious, and yet unexplained phenomenon happened on the 20th day of December, 1836. By many, the cold winter of 1830-31 is confounded with this event. A great many births, deaths and other family matters are now settled as to date, by their occurrence before, at or after the "deep snow " or the "sudden freeze."
The 20th day of the month referred to had been rather warm. A slight rain fell during the forenoon, turning the few inches of snow on the ground into slush, and filling the creeks and ponds with water. About the middle of the afternoon, a heavy cloud was noticed coming rapidly from the northwest. It came at the rate of twenty-five or thirty miles per hour, as was afterward ascertained, and was accompanied with a terrific, roaring noise. As it passed . over the country, everything was frozen in its track almost instantly. Water that was running in little gullies or in the streams was suddenly arrested in its career, blown into eddies and small waves by the wind, and frozen before it could subside. Cattle, horses, hogs and wild animals exposed to its fury were soon chilled through and many frozen in their tracks. Where a few moments before they walked in mud and slush, was now frozen, and unless moving about they were frozen fast. In some instances where individuals were ex-
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posed to the fury of this wave and unable to reach shelter, their lives were lost. One man was found afterward standing frozen in the mud, dead, and still hold- ing the rein of his horse in his hand. He had apparently become bewildered and chilled, and freezing fast in the mud and slush, remained standing.
Mr. Elisha Linder, in speaking of this storm, says : "I was near my house feeding some stock, when I noticed the storm-cloud approaching. Thinking it would be a severe windstorm and possibly rain, as it was misting at the time, I started to the house. I went as quickly as I could, but the storm caught me before I reached the door. It was so piercing in its coldness and so strong I could not walk against it. The water was frozen as it blew into little ridges, and the mud and slush soon became as hard as stone. A good many chickens and other fowls perished. No little suffering was experienced by many persons who were illy prepared for such an unlooked-for event."
It is related of a young man named Samuel Munson, in the western part of the county, who had gone, or was going for his marriage-license, that, while on the journey he was overtaken by the wave, and, finding he could not cross the Okaw or one of its tributaries, turned his horse's head up the stream and partly against the storm. He could not make the horse travel in the face of the storm and, dismounting, tried to lead him. He could not do this either. When he tried to mount the horse again, he found his clothing, especially his overcoat, wet with the rain of the forenoon, frozen so he could not mount. He threw it off, then hastily mounted his horse and started at a full gallop in the course of the storm, determined to find shelter before it was too late. Coming to a grove of trees, possibly Dead Man's Grove, he saw a cabin, and, riding up to it, dis- mounted and went in. His hands and feet were by this time partially frozen, and he was so benumbed he could hardly talk. He was obliged to remain there overnight and to postpone the wedding a day or two.
Mr. Tremble and other old settlers who experienced this "sudden freeze," all give a similar description and corroborate the statements made. The wave came from the northwest, passing over the central part of Illinois, lower down ยท in Indiana, and is last heard of about Cincinnati, Ohio, where it arrived at 9 o'clock in the night, freezing some emigrant wagons and teams in front of a tavern at Lebanon, a few miles above Cincinnati, while their owners were bar- gaining for a night's lodging. Its width was from about where Ottawa in Illi- nois now is, then barely started, to a short distance below Coles County. It is not heard of much above or below either place. Its origin has never been found, to our knowledge, nor has it been satisfactorily explained that we know of. Iowa was thinly settled then, and as it came across its northern border, we have only meager accounts concerning it there. It originated some- where in the vast northwest, and only lost its force and fury when it encoun- tered a warmer clime.
Returning again to the subject of emigration, the growth of the State and the internal improvements, we find Coles County, especially its western part,
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gradually filling with settlers. The scheme of building railroads and canals came now prominently before the people, and roused their expectations of future wealth and power to the highest pitch. As early as 1835, the subject received the attention of the Illinois Legislature, and in the message of Gov. Joseph Duncan to that body at the session of 1835-36, mention is made of it, and the General Assembly urged to act upon it. It responded in a manner exceeding the Governor's highest anticipations. Immense preparations were made, great sums of money appropriated, and work began on the Illinois & Michigan Canal, and on several proposed railroads, among them the Illinois Central and the Terre Haute & Alton. The issue of so much money, based on the faith of the State, and its entrance into all channels of business, had the effect to draw an immense flood of emigration to Illinois, all anxious to share in the general prosperity. Somehow, the more the money was issued, the cheaper it became, and the dearer everything else grew. Acts of the Legislature in vain tried to hold it at and above par ; but it steadily declined, until it reached 16 cents on the dollar in gold, and in some instances 14. Either the faith of the State was correspondingly below par or the money was cheap because it was too plenty. From the Solons of the day down to the most common class of people, all saw, in the start, wealth created out of nothing, only to see it grad- ually vanish before their eyes. As it declined in value, work began to stop here and there on detached parcels of the railroads, until finally on every road it was abandoned, and only with the wisest financiering was it kept going on the canal. State banks grew out of the scheme, and a currency, as fluctuating as varied, appeared all over the country. Merchants in New York were obliged to accept notes on banks in Illinois and Indiana, which they could only realize on by returning them through brokers to some place in the West, and get all they could out of them. The fall of the system and the consequent depression of business was keenly felt all over the State. Exorbitant values had arisen on every class of property, and when the shrinkage occurred, the losses were felt. No work was done on either the Central or the Terre Haute & Alton Railroads in Coles County ; but the effects of the rise and fall of values were noted here as well as elsewhere. Money was as scarce as in the earliest pioneer times, and for awhile it looked as though ruin would be the result. The prairies were, however, naturally very productive, and though cmigration for awhile shunned the State as if struck by a pestilence, it soon began to rally, and before a decade of years had passed the enormous debt was safely provided for. and prosperity of a real kind again came over the land.
It was not until after 1850-more than twelve years after the first rail was laid on the track at Meredosia, on the Illinois River, on what is now the Wabash Railway-that the subject of railroads assumed a permanent, tangible form. In February of that year, the Chicago & Galena road was finished as far as Elgin, and a train of cars made the first trip from the city on the lake to the one on the Fox River. From this date, the erection of other roads began-
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this time, by individuals. The State had enough of this experience, and did not care to venture again into such schemes. The Terre Haute & Alton was among those sharing in the revival, and, as some work had been performed on it, chiefly on the eastern and western divisions, a new company took the work, and, in about four years' time, had it in running order. About the same time, the Illinois Central, through its magnificent grant of land from the General Government, came to a completion. These roads, crossing in Mattoon Township, formed the nucleus for a new town which capitalists were not slow to take advan- tage of, and the city of Mattoon was the result. Indeed, they had been watch- ing to see where the crossing would be, and had located the town as soon as the question was decided, not waiting for the completion of the roads. As the his- tory of railroads in the county forms a separate chapter, we will only refer to them briefly here.
When they were completed, much of the prairie-land in the township, and, in fact, all this part of the county, was yet open. It was still used for pastur- age, and the settlements confined exclusively to the timber. The railroads opened the country, however, and from that time until all was taken, it was rapidly settled. The growth of the country went steadily forward from the time of the improvement period until the late war. By that time, it was pretty thickly settled. Mattoon Township furnished her quota of men for the fray, and the city saw a regiment depart from her midst gathered almost wholly in the surrounding country.
When the war closed, another season of great commercial prosperity ensued, owing to the sudden circulation of a vast amount of currency, based on the faith of the General Government. From this arose another series of fictitious values, and many farmers mortgaged their land to capitalists at a semi-annual interest of 10 per cent. expecting the "flush times" to continue. When the value of money came to the recognized standard, a shrinkage in values occurred, causing at the present time great difficulty among many to pay debts contracted on the currency basis. Many farms in this part of Coles County have been sold to meet these claims, realizing little, if anything, more than the amount loaned. The effect of all this will be to divide the large farms, and, ultimately, it will in that way be for the good of the county. The people of Mattoon Township are all engaged in agriculture, and, if a steady purpose in this pur- suit is adhered to, no debts contracted beyond their ability to pay, and the same study devoted to that pursuit as is given to that of the law or medicine, abundant success is sure to crown the effort. Take it all in all, no occupation is so sure of a living, so independent and so safe as intelligent agriculture.
We will now retrace our steps somewhat, and note the
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
We have purposely omitted any mention of churches and schools in the foregoing pages. intending those subjects for a separate chapter.
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The first settler in Mattoon Township, "Uncle Charley," was a devout Methodist, and in his cabin the first praise and thanks to the Giver of all good were heard. Many of the others who came in 1827 were members of the same religious body, and, as soon as they could arrange their temporal matters, steps were taken toward the establishment of a church. James Graham, George M. Hanson, Miles H. Hart, Samuel Thompson, Barton Randall, George W. Rollins, and others among the early pioneers of Wabash Point, were in the local ministry of the Methodist Church, and all were earnest workers. The 'circuits were large, yet these men, laboring faithfully to supply their own wants, and avoid being any burden on the infantile settlement, went regularly on their rounds of preaching.
The places of worship at first were in the pioneers' cabins centrally located, or. when the weather would permit, in some pleasant spot in the woods. The first benches were simply split logs, the flat side dressed smooth with a broad-ax, and supported by stout, short sticks for legs. No backs were made. When not in use, the benches were piled in a corner of the cabin-yard, until the time of service, when they were carried into the cabin and arranged to the best pur- pose that habitation furnished. The most interesting time among the adher- ents of this church was the regular camp-meeting. That was almost always held in the woods, as no cabin could hold a tithe of the crowd that gathered. A rude pulpit or platform was made, where three or four trees afforded a good place for one, benches were made and arranged over the ground in front, and the place was ready.
We have mentioned James Graham as one of the pioneer Methodist ministers in this part of the county. He was little a eccentric in his ways, and, withal, was not afraid to speak what he deemed right, even if the remarks touched closely on some weak brothers or sisters. A good anecdote is preserved of him by his colleague, Mr. Tremble, another local minister, yet living. As it illus- trates other modes of life, we think it well worth a place in the history of the county.
Among the class of wandering tradespeople, or peddlers, were a set known as the " wooden-clock peddlers." These were nearly all Yankees, regarded by the Southern people as a trafficking, tricky set, ready to sell a wooden nutmeg or any other sham. They, in turn, looked on the Kentuckians as a lazy, shift- less class, subsisting on hog, hominy and corn-bread, and willing tools in their hands. The peddlers did not scruple in the slightest to cheat them, or any one. whenever they could. The cheating, in their opinion, was all right ; the detection was what they feared. It seems these itinerant tradesmen had become a nuisance to the good residents of this part of the county, and had merited their disapprobation. Father Graham, among the rest, had suffered at their hands. and rather smarted under the treatment.
Their common mode of procedure was first to canvass a district, selling all the clocks they could, warranting them for a year or any length of time suitable
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to their scheme. In a month or so, they would retrace their route, starting from where they began with one clock, pretty well regulated. It would run three or four days very well, and that was all they wanted. Part of the origi- nal agreement was to replace the clock first sold in case it did not fulfill the warrant. In that lay the trick. When they reached the first customer, they found, as they expected and hoped, that the clock did not fulfill the contract, and they at once replaced it with the one they had, charging a small fee for the transfer and repair. Taking the clock they obtained here, they went on to the next place, where the process was repeated, and so on till the end of the route. For a few days the clocks went all right, and every one was delighted. But after awhile, when they, too, began to keep all sorts of time, the settlers began to grumble. and on comparing notes, discovered the cheat. The lesson, however, did not always bear fruit, as erelong they were caught on the wooden nutmeg, gilded jewelry and kindred appliances. They, like every one else, seemed often to forget that nothing good can be obtained for less than its value, however plausible the arguments in its favor may be.
While Father Graham was holding one of his camp-meetings, he was some- what disturbed by one of these itinerant merchants, who not only being a cheat in business, was also a worthless character, and, as such, disturbed the meeting. Father G .. after vainly endeavoring, by private means, to reform or get rid of him, determined to use decisive methods with him. At the morning service on the Sabbath, the good minister, in his prayer, closed as follows :
"O Lord, thy servants have been wonderfully annoyed by the bad actions and wicked conduct of a fellow known all over this camp-ground as ' Wooden- Clock Peddler.' O Lord, if it is possible there be mercy for such a wicked wretch. may he find that mercy to-day, so that he repent of his great wicked- ness, turn about and do better. But, O Lord, if he is, as he appears to be, a doomed wretch. why suffer him to stay here as a hindrance to Thy great work ? O Lord, may he see that 'discretion is the better part of valor,' and leave forthwith. But, O Lord God, if he will not leave, kill him a little on the spot. and save us from all wooden-clock peddlers forever. Amen !"
" If ever I saw," says Mr. Tremble, "the eyes of a congregation turned in search of an object, in was the eyes of that congregation, when they arose from their knees at the close of the prayer." But the " wooden-clock peddler " was seen only in the distance making rapid strides for some other locality. He was seen no more on that camp-ground.
Enough adherents to this denomination had arrived by the year 1832 to warrant the erection of a house of worship. A site was chosen near the pres- ent Capp's Mill, and the people gathering together erected a log church. This was rather a primitive affair, and for awhile served its purpose. The settlement formed a kind of nucleus around which gathered three churches, not to speak of those in Mattoon. This fact, in a measure, caused the Church here to disband, and gather into three others, all out of the township, save one, which again,
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about five years ago, erected the brick church, known as the "Little Wabash Methodist Church." It is near the creek of that name, about four miles south- west of Mattoon. It is a very comfortable church, while near it was built a neat brick parsonage. The congregation numbers now about one hundred members.
Among the early settlers were several professing the Baptist and Cumber- land Presbyterian creeds. The former of these built a church in Paradise Township, the first church there. It is referred to in the history of that Town- ship. The Cumberland Presbyterians have maintained pretty regular services since their cmigration, commencing before 1830. They have attended church at Paradise generally until lately and did not build a church in Mattoon Town- ship until about 1873, when they completed a very neat frame edifice, at an expense of $1,600, which they now occupy. Theirs and the Little Wabash Methodist Church are the only two houses of worship in the township outside of Mattoon.
It has been rather difficult to determine the first year school was taught in the Wabash Point settlement, and by whom. There was probably a school taught in a cabin in the winter of 1827-28, or the next spring. Mrs. Elisha Linder says she recollects going to a school, she thinks, the next summer, and that James Waddill was the teacher. Mr. Tremble says in his sketches, that about 1831, Uncle Jack Houching, with a few other neighbors, undertook to burn brick, and built a small cabin for the benefit of the hands, just north of Mr. John Thomas' spring. The brick project proved a failure and the cabin was abandoned. The settlers not long after appropriated the cabin for school pur- poses and fitted it for that purpose. Long slab seats, puncheon floor, and a writing-desk from " end to end " at one side, were put in, the fire-place made safe, and, taking out one of the side logs, covered the place left with greased paper, and the house was ready. The teacher, Mr. Tremble, too, thinks was James Waddill. He was paid so much per scholar, the idea of taxation for education not then prevailing. The price per scholar depended on the number of scholars promised. If twenty-five or thirty were subscribed the price was generally $2.50 or $3 each. The teacher commonly " boarded 'round," a practice not now indulged in. Teachers were always hired by the quarter- three months-and when they were not paid in money, accepted common articles of barter. Capt. W. E. Adams, in his Centennial Address, refers to this school as follows : The first schoolhouse in that section was a cabin, built in 1830. Before it was occupied as a school, a man named Ledbetter moved his family into it. Soon after this, George Hanson went down to order him out. Ledbetter, however, was master of the situation, and chased Hanson off with a meat-ax. Hanson, in his flight, stubbed his toe and fell down, and in his fall Ledbetter split the back of his coat-tail open with the ax. After school had been held in this cabin a term or two, it was removed to the old log church, built on the site of Capp's mill or near it, and referred to in the history of churches just noted. This school was, it must be borne in mind, in
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