The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 27

Author: Le Baron, Wm., Jr. & Co., Chicago, Pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : W. Le Baron, Jr.
Number of Pages: 1092

USA > Illinois > McLean County > The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 27

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This Society now owns about fifty acres of beautiful grounds in the immediate vicinity of the city, with good and convenient buildings and outstructures, a fine new circus for trial of speed, all well inclosed and nicely arranged for the purposes of its existence. These grounds and fixtures, even at the present nominal values of property, cannot be worth less than $25,000. But as a financial speculation, the Society has not been a success -- that was not its motive; it had in view a nobler purpose, and well has it already accomplished much of that intended purpose. Several of its members have already come to the front in the State, and even in the West, in their particular departments.

Many very fine cattle, sheep and swine have been imported directly from Scotland and England, and splendid horses from those countries and Normandy, Belgium and France, as well. Even while writing these lines, the crow and the cackle of imported fowls are within hearing. Many of the members of this Society, and others under its influence, have taken high premiums on fine stock of their own raising, in State Fairs in this State, and in neighboring States.

The Dillons and the Stubblefields of this county have been for some time, and they still are, importing direct from Europe as fine horses, of their kind-monsters in their proportions-as can be found anywhere. Their stock has been purchased and raised in every direction, and they have thus been instrumental in improving the stock of horses all over the country.

Mr. W. R. Duncan and Ryburn Brothers, of this county, have been prominent in introducing and cultivating the finest breeds of foreign animals, especially of cattle, and the best crosses. Their stock is spread all over the country, and the influence has been incalculable. The Brothers Shorthose have taken many State premiums on their stock. The Rayburns and Stewarts and Karrs and Funks have been very successful in this line, as well as many others.

The influence of the Society has been felt, also, in other cultures, as grains, fruits of several varieties, vegetables, small fruits, fowls, domestic manufactures and flowers. It has also contributed to the encouragement of excellence in several kinds of manufactures, as of carriages, wagons, plows, cultivators, and various implements and conveniences of agricultural and domestic pursuits. Some of these articles, the products of McLean County industry and enterprise, as well as chairs and stoves, are favorably known far and wide in the country.

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

But the influences of this Society have been indirectly beneficial, also. The fre- quent meetings on a common subject, and the free interehange of views and sentiments, free from all political and theological biases, are always beneficial to those who partici- pate in them. Then the great annual gatherings of the people at the fair tend to pro- mote social and friendly relations among themselves. They break the monotony, to some extent, inevitable to rural pursuits, and cultivate kindly feelings between the res- idents in the country and those of the city. In short, we cannot enumerate, in special- ties, all the beneficial influences of the McLean County Agricultural Society. They are as numerous as human relations, and as precious as human interests.

HORTICULTURE.

Horticulture, in its broadest sense, is another branch of industry in which MeLean County acknowledges no rival in the State, scareely one in the West. In early times, Mr. Nelson Buek was the standard nurseryman in Bloomington, who carried on the business here, in a small way, adapted to the demand for several years ; but a certain widow lady opened another nursery in Pontiac, and he emigrated in that direction. Mr. Buek was a man of many good qualities ; but his most prominent characteristic was eecentricity. However, the people were under obligation to him for introducing thus early among them much very tolerable fruit.

Since his day, there have been several candidates for public favor in the same line. The Fell Brothers have always been active friends of tree and fruit culture. Blooming- ton is largely indebted to Mr. Jesse W. Fell for its surnames, Evergreen City and Grove City. But the latter appellation is now the more appropriate one, as evergreens are not now so generally cultivated in this vicinity. Mr. Fell did also quite a business, for those carly times, in fruit-tree raising. He has since ereated quite a paradise in Normal, sur- sounding his pleasant residence there with the finest assemblage of shrubbery in the country, and filled it with fruit enough to tempt Eve to forfeit more paradises than Mohammed ever claimed to have visited. Mr. Kersey H. Fell has more recently culti- vated successfully an excellent and quite extensive grapery. The people ought to be thankful to these gentlemen, and some of their relations, for their example in cultivating nature, and developing the capabilities of our soil in good time.

The Messrs. Wills have also done a very good work for the locality in the same line. Mr. C. Bell has had quite a grapery, for several years, in the immediate vicinity. Everybody knows Dr. Schroder, and his great and successful efforts' to promote the culti- vation of fruit-trees and of grapes, and of his own wealth. Mr. Lange, over on South Hill, raises some of the finest grapes in the country. Many others have done well in this line, and their labors have been worthy of imitation. Mr. James Robinson & Son, and Mr. Ballard have done much for floriculture, and to eultivate in the community a love for the beautiful children of nature-the flowers, the innocent, the lovely flowers. Their efforts have been appreciated by the community.

But the horticulturist of MeLean County, Mr. F. K. Phoenix, did not make his appearance among us until 1852. He then purchased ten acres of land, just north of the city, where the Wesleyan University buildings now stand, and commenced opera- tions-experimenting upon soil and climate and the adaptations thereto of the different varieties of fruit and shade trees, of vegetables, plants and flowers. He gradually extended the area and the magnitude of his operations as means and demands increased,

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and as experience and results gave him more assurance, until he worked, in a few years, into an extensive and prosperous business.

It would require a book alone to name and describe all the flowering plants and their varieties cultivated by Mr. Phoenix. He has an acre under glass, and therein and in the extensive surroundings may be found represented all the families of hardy and hot-house plants that are cultivated elsewhere.

As the business prospered and the demands increased, Mr. Phoenix extended his operations so as to embrace seven hundred acres of surface, and, as one may readily suppose, the business assumed gigantic proportions. During the busy season, in fall and spring, he has employed daily as many as three hundred hands; and the daily shipment of a car-load of trees in bulk, was a regular business; and this represented only about one-tenth of the actual sales-immense quantities of the productions being delivered in boxes and packages.

Some conception of the magnitude of these operations may be formed from the fact that they have amounted annually from $275,000 to $300,000, involving the deliv- ery of several thousand dollars worth daily during the busy season. The principal points to which these shipments have been made are Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City, and occasionally Cincinnati-Kansas City being a very prominent point.

During these years, Mr. Phoenix has let many of his trees go to fruitage, as tests and illustrations of their qualities and adaptations to soil and climate, the result being the production of much excellent fruit. Like all other kinds of business, this particu- lar branch has, of course, its incidental and periodical experiences. Mr. Phoenix lost, in one season, by the severe frosts. $50,000 worth of sprouts, young trees and plants, the loss being especially severe in incipient pear-trees.

As one may well suppose, Mr. Phoenix has severely felt the inevitable embarrass- ments resulting from the derangements and partial suspension of business consequent upon the financial storm that has swept over the country, and the money dry-rot that has followed, carrying many a prosperous man to destitution and involving unspeakable suffering. But he is still struggling on and hoping, under shortened sails.

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.

McLean is an educational county. Tradition has handed down to these later times the name of Delilah Mullen as that of the first school-teacher in McLean County. She is spoken of as a good teacher and a good woman, though her discipline is said not to have been as applicable as that of her successor, Mr. Green Hickory. She taught the little hopefuls in the house of Mr. John Dawson, and afterward in the first school- house in the county. It was built by Mr. Dawson in 1828, and was constructed of logs and covered by a roof.

Mr. William H. Hodge and Mr. Amasa C. Washburn-the latter still living-were model teachers in those days. What the boys did not get in lessons, at school, they got in larruping, at home. The parents frequently took a hand in such matters, and it was not seldom that the scholars got marks as high as their shoulders on deportment. Vigor rather than consideration seemed to be the characteristic in the administration of discipline. For quite a number of years, the schools in the county were supported by the tuition paid by the scholars for the privilege of attendance. The schools were generally kept open for only a few months in the year.

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

The first official transaction on the subject of education in the county seems, from the records, to have been the appointment, by the Commissioners' Court, of Messrs. William H. Hodge, John Hendrix and William Orondorff as Trustees of school lands in Township 23 north, Range 2 east ; Ephraim Stout, Robert Drain and Isaac Sample, in Town 24 north, Range 1 west; John Moore, Gardner Randolph and Elijah Hedrick, in Town 22 north, Range 2 east ; James Murphy, Andrew Biges and Samuel Murphey, in Town 22 north, Range 1 east ; Walter McPhearson, Benjamin Day and John Glenn, Esq., in Town 21 north, Range 1 east ; William Conaway, James Merrifield and Officer Rutledge, in Town 22 north, Range 4 east.

The Court also appointed James Latta Commissioner of the school sections num- bered 16 in the county. The appointments were made at the December term, 1831.

It seems now to be a great misfortune that such appointments were not delayed twenty or thirty years, and the school lands entirely neglected for that length of time ; for these lands, in those early times, brought prices so insignificant that the amounts of their sales did the people very little good, and lands were so abundant and so cheap that the sale of the sixteenth school sections was scarcely an accommodation to those who wished to make purchases for actual occupation, and the sale of them to speculators tended rather to retard than to hasten the settlement of the country.

The first report of the sale of school lands in the county was made to the Com- missioners' Court at the March term, 1834, by William Durley, Esq., County Commis- sioner of School Lands. It was for Township 24 north, Range 1 west. Among the early teachers in the county were : Miss Charlotte Wheeler, Mr. John Greenman and his daughter Lydia, in 1831. In 1835, Rev. Lemuel Foster erected a seminary build- ing on South Main street, in which he taught for several years, and Rev. George W. Minier, for some years, had a school in the same building. This was the first seminary- building in the county, and it was standing but a few years since.

Gradually, schools were started at different points in the country, and the people became more and more active and interested in the subject. But in 1854, 1855 and 1856, there was a general awakening in reference to common schools and to education generally. The 2-mill tax went into operation, which distributed a respectable sum annually to the counties, which was to be exclusively employed in the support of com- mon schools. This gave a new impetus to the movement and greatly encouraged the people to enter actively into its promotion.

In 1853, the first Teachers' State Convention was held here, in Bloomington. It is not too much to say that this Convention was set in motion by a few active individ- nals who were residents of Bloomington. Especially may we refer to those who had been active in starting the Wesleyan University in this city, an institution which, like most similar enterprises in a new country, passed through many and trying experiences in its early existence. It has now become a very successful institution, but it will be more particularly noticed in another part of this work.

That same convention discussed several subjects of great educational interest, and put on its feet the movement that has resulted in having a State Superintendent of Schools, a Normal State University and the whole machinery that is now operating one of the most magnificent systems of common schools in existence ; and the people of McLean County have maintained their consistency of character for energy and enterprising liberality in securing in their midst the location of the said Normal

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

University, by subscribing more largely to its cost of erection than those of any other county in the State-$140,000-one-half by the county and one-half by individuals.

There is also the Soldiers' Orphans' Home. Although the county did not officially subscribe to the funds of that institution, yet such was the liberality of citizens of McLean County, especially of Judge David Davis, that it was located in our midst. Many hundreds of soldiers' orphans have been there educated, and no pen can tell the amount of good that may eventually result from its erection and maintenance. It is a monument of gratitude, nobly merited by the fathers of those children.

The County Superintendent's reports for several years furnish the following general statistics, showing the condition of the common schools of the county, number of scholars, etc. In looking over these statements it should be remembered that Bloomington, containing fully one-third of the population in these latter years, has city schools distinct from those of the county in general :

In 1865, the number of school districts in the county was 215 ; number of schools, 220 ; number of persons between six and twenty-one years of age, 11,693 ; number of scholars in attendance, 10,337 ; number of teachers, 337 ; number of schoolhouses, 195; amount of State tax, $13,683 ; received from special school tax, $42,546 ; total amount expended, $65,606 ; amount of principal of township fund, $88,834.

In 1866, the number of school districts was 255 ; the number of schools, 225 ; num- ber of persons between six and twenty-one years of age, 14,390; number of scholars in attendance, 10,716 ; number of teachers, 376; number of schoolhouses, 216; amount of State tax, $15,456; received from special school tax, $77,160; total amount expended, $108,974 ; amount of principal of township funds, $100,944.

In 1874, the number of persons between six and twenty-one years of age was 19,113 ; the number of pupils in schools, 14,299 ; the whole number of school districts, 253; number of schoolhouses, 258; number of teachers, 493; the principal of the township funds, $157,541.55.

The Township Treasurer's reports show that the amount received from the County Superintendent was $21,621.75; received interest on township funds to the amount of $14,356.13 ; received from special district taxes, $153,158.72. The amount paid teachers was $120,700.81 ; paid for new schoolhouses, $4,343.31 ; paid for repairs and improvements, $9,332.77 ; paid for school furniture, $2,743.08; for fuel and incidental expenses, paid $17,835.56 ; paid interest on bonds, $18,071.53 ; other items make the whole amount paid out during the current year, $196,818.96.

Similar statistics for the previous year, 1873, are as follows : Number of school districts, 252; number of pupils in school, 13,786; number of persons between twenty-one and six years of age, 18,879 ; the whole amount expended for school purposes, $234,- 141.88 ; principal of township funds, $155,015.93 ; received from State, $22,397.29.

It seems to be a great pity that the school lands in this county, and in the State generally, should have been sacrificed as they were in early times. In this county, many of the school sections were sold as low as $1.25; and even as late as in 1848 and 1849, they sold at from $1.25 to $1.50 per acre. The very prices at which they sold, prove con- clusively that there was no demand for them such as to justify their sale. The six- teenth section in this township, lying in the center of Blooming Grove, was sold in 1834, while timber-land was still plenty. It was sold for four dollars and some cents to thirteen dollars and some cents per acre ; and a large portion of the fund arising from

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the sale has since been lost through the failure of the State Bank. Some of the same lands have since sold for two hundred dollars per acre. Had their sale been delayed until a proper time, the result would have been a handsome and permanent income for the support of the public schools in the township.

It will be seen by the statistics given above, that the expenses of running the pub- lie schools in this eounty are really assuming a respectable amount. Recent inquiry at the proper sources of information shows that the amount of money annually expended in McLean County on education is $350,000-more than one-third of a million dollars, saying nothing about the expenses of books, board of students and the like. Probably not a parallel case can be found in the country.

We claim that this array of facts puts McLean County in the lead among her sis- ter-counties on education as well as in other matters. This proud position she still pro- poses to maintain, not from love of invidious comparisons, but because her citizens see their best interests to be promoted by favoring every enterprise that has a tendency to make virtue and intelligence universal. Therefore she would say to her neighbors, do your best and we will do better if we can.

MILITARY HISTORY.

The first military experiences of the citizens of MeLean County occurred in the Black Hawk war, which broke out in 1832. It is not the intention to give the causes in full that brought about this war, nor the history of the war itself, but to speak as briefly as may be of the scenes in which the volunteers from this county were engaged. It seems that Black Hawk had figured extensively in the war of 1812, and always on the British side ; so there could be expected, on his part, no very good feeling toward the Ameri- cans fixed in his breast after the war was over. In 1830 and 1831, most of the Indians, and the Sacs and the Foxes with the rest, and Black Hawk, too, had passed to the west side of the Mississippi, and had agreed, by treaties with the United States Government, to remain on that side of the river. It is said that Keokuk, the principal chief of the Sacs and Foxes insisted on remaining faithful to their agreements. But from various motives, good or bad, Black Hawk determined to return to the old scenes of his former exploits in Northern Illinois. Accordingly, he inspired the fiery spirits of his people with his own sentiments, and, in the spring of 1832, came over the Mississippi with six or seven hundred warriors, and was joined by some fragments of other tribes. Upon his appearing on Rock River and showing hostile intentions, the Governor of Illinois called for volunteers to repel their invasion of surrendered territory.

Of the mounted volunteers, MeLean County furnished one company, Gen. Meritt L. Covel being Captain, and Gen. Asahel Gridley, Lieutenant. They joined other com- panies from Tazewell, Peoria and Fulton Counties, and mustered, early in May, about two hundred and seventy-five strong, under command of Maj. Stillman, at Dixon. There seemed to be considerable dissatisfaction, as usual on such occasions among the volun- teers, at the tardiness of the movements of the regular troops under the command of Gen. Atkinson, who were moving up Rock River, and with whom they were to aet in concert.

These men had volunteered their services for thirty days to drive the redskins out of the country, and they wanted to get about it and return to their own homes. This feeling was so strong among the men that Maj. Stillman and Gov. Reynolds reluctantly

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consented to make a reconnoitering excursion to hunt Indians, who were known to be somewhere about at no great distance. They started out accordingly on the 13th of May, and were quite successful in finding the Indians, or being found by them-a point that has not yet been settled even unto the present day. The various versions of the movements of the hostile parties on the following day are considerably confused ; but the members of the company from McLean do not hesitate to say that they were actively engaged in the battle of Stillman's Run, and that the scenes at the close of the battle were considerably nearer Dixon than the opening ones. Some accounts say that only about forty Indians were actually engaged in the fight, while others say that there were more than forty and four hundred. Be this as it may, those who were engaged in it agree that there were enough.

In reference to this unfortunate affair, we find the following remark in the History of Illinois, by Stuvé : " Perhaps no better material for an army could be found thau Maj. Stillman and his men, and their defeat was not the lack of bravery, but the want of experience and discipline. No body of men, under similar circumstances, would have acted more efficiently ; yet for years afterward they were made the subject of thoughtless merriment and ridicule, as undeserving as their expedition was disastrous."

Probably this presentation of the case is, in a few words, judicious and conclusive. Military history furnishes many instances of incomprehensible panics that have at times taken possession of even regular soldiers; and of those, too, who on previous and on sub- sequent occasions gave examples of splendid qualities as reliable and brave men. It is certain that the Illinois volunteers afterward, in this same war, showed themselves to be fully equal to the emergency, and were among the foremost of those who acted efficiently in driving Black Hawk and his murderous gang out of the State.

After this rout of the volunteers at Stillman's Run, the Indians immediately spread over the country, and indulged in the most execrable and wanton murder, even making themselves merry , over their innocent and defenseless victims-women and children-as their screams filled the air with unavailing cries for help, amid the smoke and flames of their dwellings. Terror took possession of the minds of the people in all the northern part of the State, as the infuriated brutes busied themselves in their work of destruction, and the danger was undoubtedly greatly magnified; and an efficient re-enforcement of fresh volunteers and regular troops, not very long afterward, drove the hostile gang into the Mississippi River.

There can be no reasonable doubt that the Indians had been cheated and crowded by the white men of the time; but the circumstances before this war, and the manner in which it was carried on by Black Hawk, show conclusively that the motive on his part was revenge, pure and simple. They had bargained away their country on this side of the Mississippi, and had left it. There was no possible chance for them to recover it, nor to hold it for any length of time should they succeed in getting temporary possession of it. In plain language, the motive of the war was revenge; and dearly did they pay for the madness of their conduct.

One thing quite remarkable in reference to this comparatively insignificant war is the number of men taking an active part in it who became afterward very distinguished in public life, both civil and military. Gen. Scott commanded the regular troops, though he did not arrive in time to take any active part in the fighting. He was Commander-in-Chief of the American army, afterward, for many years, and a candidate

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for the Presidency. Gen. Robert Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame, was a young Lieutenant at that time in the regular army. Col. Zachary Taylor commanded the regular troops actually engaged in the Black Hawk war, afterward the distinguished commander in the Mexican war, and subsequently President of the United States. Hon. John T. Stuart, of Springfield, who has been repeatedly in Congress, and ought to have been in the Senate, was a private among the volunteers in that war. Capt. Harney, of the regular army, was afterward a distinguished General in the Mexican war.

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The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 27

Author: Le Baron, Wm., Jr. & Co., Chicago, Pub Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : W. Le Baron, Jr. Number of Pages: 1092

Author: Le Baron, Wm., Jr. & Co., Chicago, Pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : W. Le Baron, Jr.
Number of Pages: 1092