USA > Illinois > Livingston County > The History of Livingston County, Illinois : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 20
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INDIAN HISTORY.
When the white settlers first began to locate in the territory out of which Livingston County was formed, they found it in the possession of the Kickapoo and Pottawatomie Indians.
These tribes claimed the country by right of conquest, and their eventful history demands a far more extended notice than can be given to it in these pages. The final and decisive battle between the Kickapoos and the Pottawato- mies on the one hand, and the Miamis on the other, finds no parallel in history, except it be the battle of "Chevy Chase " between the followers of Douglas and Percy. This " duel of the tribes," as it is called, will again be referred to.
The " Illini " were the first inhabitants of which history gives any authentic account.
This name means " Superior men " and did not apply to a tribe, but to a confederation of tribes, composed of the Peorias, Moinquienas, Kas-kas-kias, Tamaroas and Cahokias. In 1872, this powerful confederation had dwindled to forty souls, and these were living on a reservation southwest of the land assigned by the Government to the Quapaws.
Chicago was their great chief in the days of their glory. In 1700, this chief went to France, and was treated with distinguished honors. His son, of the same name, was also a powerful chief to the time of his death, in 1754.
Against this confederation, the Kickapoos, Pottawatomies and Miamis com- bined for a war of extermination. After a long and bloody struggle, the Illini made their last stand at Starved Rock, in La Salle County, in the year 1774. The Illini suffered a disastrous defeat, and left their enemies in undisputed possession of the territory. But when the victorious tribes came to divide the domain among themselves, fresh difficulty arose, and they again resorted to arms.
In this struggle, the Kickapoos and Pottawatomies combined their forces, and made common cause against the Miamis. The war which followed was
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not of long duration ; but it was exceedingly bloody and fatal to the participants. In the year 1774, less than twelve months from the time that they had con- quered the Illini, it was agreed that the Miamis should select three hundred warriors, and the Kickapoos and Pottawatomies a like number, and that these six hundred men should meet in combat and decide the quarrel. The opposing forces met on the banks of Sugar Creek and fought from the rising to the setting of the sun, and at the close of the day there remained only. twelve men who were not killed or mortally wounded ; and of these, five were Miamis and seven Kickapoos and Pottawatomies.
The ballad of "Chevy Chase." with which every student of history is familiar, and which records the only parallel of this conflict to be found in history, tells us that
" The fight did last from break of day Till setting of the sun ; For when they rung the evening bell, The battle scarce was done.
" And the Lord Maxwell, in likewise, Did with Earl Douglas die ; Of twenty hundred Scottish spears, Scarce fifty-five did fly.
4% Of fifteen hundred Englishmen, Went home but fifty-three ; The rest were slain at Chevy Chase. Under the greenwood tree."
But this people had no written language, and many of their deeds of noble daring will perish with them ; but it would require but little imagination to quote further from the records of Chevy Chase, and apply it to this conflict :
". Next day, did many widows come, Their husbands to bewail ; They washed their wounds in briny tears, But all could not prevail.
" Their bodies, bathed in purple blood, They bore with them away ; They kissed them, dead, a thousand times Ere they were clad in clay."
In this battle, the Kickapoos and Pottawatomies were declared the victors. and the Miamis retired to the east side of the Wabash River, leaving them in possession of the territory.
The victorious tribes then divided the land between them, and the Indian trail passing near Oliver's Grove marked the dividing line. East and southeast of this line belonged to the Kickapoos, and the remainder to the Pottawatomies.
Hon. Perry A. Armstrong, a gentleman of culture and natural talent, who resides at Morris, in Grundy County, has made the study of the history of these Indian tribes a specialty for the past twenty-five years ; and it is to him that the writer is indebted for valuable dates in this connection.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Armstrong says, in speaking of the Indian trail referred to: " It was very distinct when I last saw it, in 1845; and when I first saw it, in 1831, it was, on an average, eight inches deep by fifteen inches wide." This trail was the dividing line between the two tribes up to the year 1835, when the Government moved them west of the Mississippi.
When the boundary line was established, the Pottawatomies retired to the- vicinity of Fox River, while the Kickapoos established their headquarters on Salt Creek, near where the town of LeRoy now stands; and the vicinity was: known to the first settlers by the name of Old Town Timber. The Pottawato- mies would come up as far as Rook's Creek, on their hunting excursions, and they frequently camped on the Vermilion River, in the vicinity of the present residence of Emsley Pope, in Newtown ; but the boundary line was respected, and the two tribes remained on friendly terms.
In the Spring of 1828, the Kickapoos removed their headquarters within the present bounds of Livingston County. They erected a council house and built a village on the east side of Indian Grove, and the tribe at that time num- bered about 700 souls. They possessed all the ordinary characteristics of the typical American Indian-the copper complexion, black, straight hair, well-pro- portioned limbs and keen, black eyes.
The women were far more attractive in personal appearance than the gener- ality of squaws, notwithstanding the fact that upon them devolved all the drudg- cry of domestic life; and, while they remained at Indian Grove, the women cultivated the land, after a rude fashion, and raised corn, beans and potatoes, while the men devoted themselves to hunting and fishing, but the squaws were expected to dress all game after it was brought home.
In the Spring of 1830, they removed to Oliver's Grove, then known as: Kickapoo Grove, where they erected a large and permanent council house, ninety-seven wigwams and several small encampments.
It was here that an exact census of them was taken, and they numbered- men, women and children-630 souls.
In the year of 1832, a pioneer Methodist preacher by the name of William Walker, who resided at Ottawa, Ill., visited them and established a Mission. Father Walker was at the time an old man, and the journey was a long one for him to make; but, under his ministrations, several of the tribe were converted to Christianity, among the number being a young man whom Walker ordained, and who held regular service every Sabbath when Walker could not attend. They soon came to have great respect for 'the Sabbath, and, at whatever dis- tance from home they might be hunting during the week, they always returned to camp on Saturday night, so as to be in attendance at church on Sunday morning.
Their prayer books consisted of walnut boards, on which were carved char- acters representing the ideas intended to be impressed upon the mind. At the top of the board was a picture of a wigwam.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
These boards were quite uniform in size and appearance, and were held very sacred, and were protected with the utmost care; no Indian thought of retiring for the night without first consulting his board.
Each Sabbath they had a publie dinner, of which the whole community partook. In the center of the ground in which their religious meetings were held, a fire was kindled, and over this the camp kettles were hung in a line. The men were grouped on one side of this line and the women on the other; at one end gathered the children, and at the other end stood the preacher. Two men stood near the children to see that perfect order was preserved; and no congregation, even in the days of the Puritan fathers, was more decorous than were these newly Christianized Kickapoos. While the minister preached, the dinner cooked ; and when the religious services were over, the kettles were removed from the fire, and the dinner was served out into wooden bowls and trenchers, with ladles and spoons of the same material. The dinner generally consisted of venison, coon, opossum, turtle, fish, or any other animal food they could obtain, together with corn, beans and potatocs, all boiled together.
Hon. Woodford G. MeDowell, on whom we have largely drawn for infor- mation, says that a dinner of this kind "generally left a quantity of soup, which was highly flavored and quite nutritious." It is natural to suppose that such would be the case.
The Kickapoos remained at this point until September, 1832, when they* were removed by the Government to their lands west of the city of St. Louis.
Shabbona, the friend of the whites, with whom many of the earliest settlers were acquainted, was neither a Kickapoo nor a Pottawatomie, but an Ottawa Indian. After the death of Pontiac, after whom the county seat of Livings- ton County is named, the Ottawa tribe became merged into the Pottawatomies; but many individual members of the tribe elung to the old name, and cherished with pride the history of their descent from this superior stock. Of this num- ber was Shabbona, who was very sensitive on the question of his origin. If he was called a Pottawatomie, says Armstrong, he would immediately and invari- ably reply : "Me Ottawa Indian ; me no Pottawatomie."
The history of the great chief Pontiac is interwoven with the history of the nation ; yet it has remained for Hon. Perry A. Armstrong, of Morris, to give to the world a reliable account of his last days.
The last event recorded in his career, in the commonly received history, is his attack on Capt. Dalzell, who, at the head of three hundred men, was march- ing to the relief of Detroit, about the last of July, 1763. Says the national historian : "Subsequent to this period, we have no reliable history of the Great Sachem of the Ottawas." Armstrong says : "He was a great brave, who had enemies and rivals, who finally caused him to be assassinated. He was invited to a war dance on a dark night, solely for this purpose. IIe was warned to stay away, or if he attended to take with him a strong force of braves; but aspir- ing to be the leader of all, he knew that if he showed fear on this occasion
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he would be forever disgraced: he started alone, and was waylaid and mur- dered before he reached his destination." This event occurred is 1772, near where East St. Louis stands.
EARLY SETTLEMENT AND INCIDENTS.
V. M. Darnall and Frederick Rook were the first white men to locate in the territory now embraced in Livingston County. Darnall erected his cabin in the southern part of the timber known as Indian Grove, in the Fall of 1829. soon after the Kickapoo Indians had exchanged this locality for Oliver's Grove.
At or about the time that Darnall made his settlement at Indian Grove, Frederick Rook located five miles west of Pontiac, on the creek which still bears his name ; and, soon after, Isaac Jordan selected his location. Rook removed to Missouri at an early day, and the exact date of his settlement here cannot be obtained. These three men, with their families, were the only white persons, in this locality, who saw the " great snow " which fell in the Winter of 1830-31. This fall of snow was phenomenal, and its like, probably, had never occurred before, and certainly has not since within the limits of the State. In a dead calm, it fell to the depth of four feet. This was followed by a drizzling rain, which soon turned to sleet. Then the weather became intensely cold, and the whole face of the country was covered with a sheet of ice, overlying a field of snow that was four feet deep on the level.
This storm was very destructive to game of all kinds, and it was several years before it again became abundant. Deer, by the hundred, starved to death, and birds, such as grouse and quail, perished in great numbers. Squire L. Payne, of Eppard's Point, who at that time resided near Danville, informs the writer that deer. showing no signs of fear, would stand and eat the branches from a fallen tree while the woodman was chopping and splitting the body of the same. He further says that, after the snow had continued for some time, the deer were not molested, as they were so emaciated as to be unfit for food, and were only occasionally killed for their skins.
At this period, the Kickapoo Indians had a village at Oliver's Grove, and they, as well as the few white settlers, suffered severely from the intense cold and scarcity of food. During the continuance of the snow, they used their large council house as a common kitchen for all. Their camp kettles were kept constantly boiling, and into them were thrown such animal food as they could procure. A starved deer was a welcome addition to their larder, and, when other supplies failed, a pony was sacrificed, and horse soup dished out.
Frederick Rook and Isaac Jordan found their stock of provisions failing. and they conceived the idea of manufacturing snow-shoes from boards and going to Mackinaw for supplies, for it was impossible for them to travel with a horse. They accomplished the journey on their snow-shoes, and when they reached that, to them, Egyptian storehouse, they were so fortunate as to receive, each, a bushel and a half of corn. They placed this on hand-sleds and drew it home,
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
arriving there on the evening of the fourth day. This eorn they pounded into meal, and, by careful husbanding, made it last them till further supplies could be obtained.
When the snow began to fall, Major Darnall was over on the Mackinaw, his wife and four small children being at home in Indian Grove, with a scanty sup- ply of provisions. He waited during the night for the storm to abate ; but, at the early dawn, he mounted his horse, which was an excellent one, and taking the half of a deer before him, without guide or compass, he started across the trackless snow-field for his distant home. It was a perilous undertaking and, at times, it seemed useless to try to proceed, as the horse would sink to his saddle- girths in the snow ; but horse and rider persevered, and, just as the sun was setting, he espied the smoke curling from the chimney of his little cabin, which was half buried in the snow. Imagination can paint the blissful meeting of husband and wife on this occasion ; and there have been few happier family meetings than the one gathered around Major Darnall's hearthstone on that memorable evening.
Major Darnall still resides in the vicinity of Fairbury, possessed of a com- petence, honored and respected ; and it is worth something to hear him recount the history of the early days of Livingston County.
During the year 1830, Andrew IeMillan and Garret M. Blue located on Rook's Creek, and their descendant, are numerous. Blue's name and those of his sons frequently appear in the political annals of the county.
Jacob Moon came to Moon's Point in the same year, and his progeny are among the most wealthy and respected in the county.
On the 5th day of May, 1832, William MeDowell, from Sciota County, Ohio, with his five sons, John, Hiram, Woodford G., Joseph and James, and his two daughters, Betty and Hannah, settled in what is now Avoca Township, on the Little Vermilion. Their nearest white neighbor on the south was one Philip Cook ; but they could call around on Frederick Rook, Isaac Jordan or William Popejoy, almost any time, by going a distance of from five to fifteen miles.
The elder McDowell displayed excellent judgment in selecting this location. for after forty-five years' continual farming, the soil is still rich and productive.
The MeDowells at once proceeded to erect their cabin. The principal tool used in its construction was an axe. They brought with them a few panes of glass for a window, and, in this particular, they had the advantage of their neighbors. The boards which furnished the material for the door and window casing of this primitive dwelling, were purchased of the Kickapoo Indians, and were brought from Oliver's Grove with an ox team. The Indians had hewn them out for some purpose of their own, but were induced to part with them for a small supply of ammunition.
The Black Hawk war was then in aetive operation, and this settlement was within a short march of the headquarters of this terrible chief. This same year, WVm. Popejoy, John Hanneman and Franklin Oliver located, and soon took an act-
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ive part in the affairs of the settlement. Black Hawk maintained his position, and the situation of the settlers became alarming, as it was not known what attitude the Kickapoo Indians (numbering 630) at Oliver's Grove, would assume; and, on the 20th of May, they were waited upon by a deputation of whites for the pur- pose of ascertaining their intentions.
At this meeting, the venerable Franklin Oliver presided. On their return from the council, the members of the deputation stopped at the McDowell cabin and took dinner, and they advised the settlers either to abandon their homes or proceed to erect fortifications. The latter scheme was impracticable, for the reason that there were but two rifles in the whole settlement, and very little ammunition. On the 27th of May, all the white men in the settlement held a council, and it avas then and there decided that the best thing that could be done, under the circumstances, was to retire to the white settlements in Indiana ; and, on the evening of the 28th, the entire white population camped in and around the McDowell cabin, preparatory to a march the next morning.
This company consisted of the McDowell family, and William Popejoy, Abner Johnson, Uriah Blue, Isaac Jordan and John Hanneman, and their fam- ilies-thirty-one souls in all. In speaking of this party, Hon. Woodford G. McDowell, who was one of the number, says : "I feel sure, if the entire outfit had been required to raise twenty-five dollars among them, or be scalped by the Indians, they would have been compelled to throw up the sponge-they could not have raised the money."
On the morning of the 29th of May, the whole company of seven families, in six wagons, took up the line of march and left the embryo county in posses- sion of the Indians. Darnall must have retreated some time previous, as his name is not mentioned in this exodus; and as far as Oliver is concerned, he came and went among the Indians at his own pleasure, and without fear of molestation. He thoroughly understood their character, and was accounted a favorite among them ; and, in fact, an Indian chief was called after his name.
During the march to Indiana, several interesting incidents transpired. The more timid were in hourly anticipation of an attack from Black Hawk, and could scarcely be persuaded to regulate their pace with the ox teams which drew the women and children. On the second day of their march, the wife of Isaac Jordan presented him with an infant daughter; and James McDowell, then a young man of 17 years, together with another youth, walked to a grove of timber four miles distant to procure wood enough to build a camp fire. On their return, they found the camp in great commotion. A couple of Indians had been seen on a ridge overlooking the camp, and then to disappear in the tall grass. Women and children were crying, and even some of the men were badly frightened, and counseled an immediate flight, as they supposed the Indians they had seen were scouts sent out by Black Hawk. Others were less excited, and proceeded to light the camp fire and prepare their supper, the elder McDowell remarking, as he held his frying-pan over the fire, that " he did not
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propose to be scalped on an empty stomach." It was soon ascertained, how- ever, that the Indians were two friendly Kickapoos, who had come to bid their white friends farewell ; but the incident proved the different material of which the company was composed, and had not a little to do with the estimate in which they subsequently held each other's character.
The next day, the mother and child were left at the house of Philip Cook, before mentioned, as this was considered sufficiently remote from the seat of war to be safe ; and the remainder of the party pushed on to Indiana. A. B. Phil- lips and James Spence, with their families, had taken refuge within a fortifica- tion on the Mackinaw. But, in the Fall of the same year, nearly all of the persons mentioned in the exodus returned to their claims.
We have seen how near the daughter of Isaac Jordan came to being born in the limits of the county, but the first white child actually born within the bor- ders of Livingston, was a son of A. B. Phillips. He grew to manhood, and when the hour of his country's peril came, he was one of the first to answer her call, and he gave his life to maintain her honor. Thus the county literally gave her " first born for a sacrifice." All honor to such men !
" On fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, And glory guards, with solemn round, The bivonac of the dead."
The second birth in the county was J. W. Darnall, now 47 years old, and a worthy and respected citizen. When the settlers returned from Indiana, with them came Nathan Popejoy, and located a few miles east of Pontiac. At this period, Judge McDowell informs us that there were but two young ladies within a distance of fifty miles up and down the Vermilion, but this condition of things did not long exist, for the year 1833 saw a considerable influx of new families. In this year, Dr. John Davis settled near the present residence of Philip Rollins. He was the first physician in the county, and had the medical practice, without a rival, for some time. About the same time came Daniel Rockwood and the Weeds, Henry, E. F. and James, also John Recob, John Johnson, the Murry family, Squire Hayes, John Chew, Daniel Barackman, John Downey, Joseph Reynolds and his brothers. The Government had just removed the last Kickapoo west of the Mississippi, and Franklin Oliver, this year, permanently located at Kickapoo Grove, which, since that date, has borne his name. The Indian trouble was now forever settled, so far as this county was concerned, the hardest trials were past and a brighter day was dawning; but the old settler never grows weary of talking about this period, and of recount- ing his trials and exploits. Among the number whose recollection is perfectly unimpaired, is John Johnson, of Rook's Creek. He was born in Ontario County, New York, and came to Shawneetown, in this State, as early as 1821. There were only some fifty white persons in the county when Johnson settled here, and he knew them all. He calculates that lie and his sons have killed
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over a thousand deer within the limits of the county. In the Fall hunt of 1834, they killed seventy-five and took the skins and hams to Ottawa, and received for them the sum of sixty dollars-a large amount of money in those days. Franklin Oliver, although in his ninety-second year, still retains his faculties in a wonderful degree, and is a walking encyclopædia of facts pertaining to the early settlement ; also Emsley Pope (whose history will receive further mention), together with James and Woodford G. McDowell and Major Darnall are still with us, their minds and memories unimpaired. Frederick Rook, the old pioneer, after whom Rook's Creek Township is named, is described by James Mc Dowell, as a well-made, fat-faced, easy natured and accommodating German, and not at all such a character as has been described in later days. He had a wife and family, and, at the date of his departure, his eldest daughter, Mary, was seventeen years old. He frequently deplored the lack of facilities for giv- ing his children an education, and it is stated that this was the cause of his removing from the county at an early day. He was a capital shot, a generous provider for his family, and altogether a worthy man ; and the aspersions cast upon his character are without any foundation in fact, and may be considered as false.
The nearest post office at this time was at Bloomington ; but, as James McDowell says, they did not take a daily paper or write many love letters in those days; they managed to live with a post office even at that distance. They took their grain fifty miles, with an ox team, to a mill owned and run by John Green, on the other side of Ottawa; and, after hauling it that distance, they frequently had to wait a day or two for their turn, and it never happened that a man went to mill, called round by the post office and returned home on the same day.
Among some of the earliest settlers were Truman Rutherford, John Foster, James Holman, William K. Brown, Judge Breckenridge, Amos Edwards and Andrew McDowell, of Long Point; Walter Cornell, Andrew Sprague, Joel B. Anderson, H. Steers, Isaac Burgit, John Darnall, John Travis, J. W. Reynolds, Charles Jones, Philip Rollins, John Marks, James Demoss, Benjamin Hie- ronymous and the Garner brothers.
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