The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 44

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 44

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Among those who went in 1849, we have the names of Col. J. H. Wickizer, Levi Hite, Asa Lillie, Solomon D. Baker, Joseph Duncan, Hiram Baker, Samuel Ashton, J. Jackson, John M. Loving, Daniel B. Robinson, John Greenman, S. A. Adams and John Walker. Out of this number there are now living here in Bloomington, Col. J. H. Wickizer, John M. Loving and John Walker. S. A. Adams lives in Missouri ; S. D. Baker in Virginia City, and Joseph Duncan in San Francisco; John Greenman, Capt. D. B. Robinson, Hiram Baker and Levi Hite are dead.

On the first of March, 1850, a very large company left Bloomington for Califor- nia, made up in part from the adjoining towns. At St. Joseph, Mo., they organized in military shape for protection against Indians ; there were about twenty-five wagons, and nearly one hundred men. Hugh Taylor was chosen Captain. The company had tolerably good luck until they nearly reached the gold-fields, when some of them were destitute, and their teams were badly worn down ; but on the whole it was a successful journey.

From Bloomington there were John D. Clark, Green B. Larrison, Lyman Ferre, Carey Barney, M. W. Packard, Hugh Taylor, William Hodge, J. R. Murphy, E. Parke, Robert Barnett, Robert L. Baker, John Owen, Isaac Strain, Dr. G. Elkins, William Elkins, W. P. Withers, T. S. Howard, Jesse Isgrig, W. Isgrig, Elijah Ellis, Lee Allin, F. M. Rockhold, E. Henry. Of these, there are now living in Bloomington or vicinity, G. B. Larrison, Lyman Ferre, M. W. Packard, Isaac Strain, J. R. Murphy, Lee Allin and Robert Barnett. Capt. W. P. Withers lives in Missouri ; T. S. Howard in Iowa, and Carey Barney in California. It is a remarkable fact that but two or three of the whole number made even a moderate fortune in California ; but the most of those who

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returned to Bloomington have been very successful. These veterans of the plains can tell of some remarkable adventures.

REMARKABLE WEATHER.

Those who find enough of interest in the state of the weather to furnish daily themes for conversation as they meet casual acquaintances, will do well to read this chapter, and forever after refrain from the common unmeaning remarks they so often drop in regard to the "remarkable weather we are now enjoying." The " Deep Snow," the "Sudden Freeze," and the "Great Hurricane " which the early settlers witnessed stand out in bold relief as the most wonderful phenomena of the times.

The great hurricane came on the 27th day of June, 1827, or, as given by several authorities, on the 19th of June. It struck Old Town Timber with fearful severity, and leveled large tracts of heavy timber. There were then no settlers on the prairie, no villages or cities to be leveled, no church-spires to be demolished, or the record of loss and damage would be larger. Some injury is recorded in Blooming Grove, where small tracts of timber were leveled.

The fall of 1830 or 1831, was remarkably mild. Tobacco sprouts are said not to have been killed until December 2, which, if correct, indicates a wonderful state of affairs, as this plant is one of the most tender raised in this latitude.

December 29, 1830, occurred the heaviest fall of snow ever known in the West The first snow was nearly three feet deep, and there were more than a dozen storms sub- sequently. The full depth appears to have been about forty inches on a level, and this when several snows had fallen and become so compacted that in many places the crust would bear a man. The deer broke through, and wolves chased and caught them frequently, a very unusual circumstance. It was impossible for the pioneers to travel, and families caught without provisions suffered severely. In some settlements the supply of corn and hay was so small that cattle starved, it being impossible to move food any distance. Much of the stock was kept alive by felling trees, and the stock subsisted on the branches. Most families lived on meal obtained by pounding corn by hand. There were a few of the settlers who were caught away from home, and who nearly lost their lives in the toilsome homeward journeys.

The pioneers in Blooming Grove did not suffer much, but were compelled to keep indoors most of the time. Blooming Grove was then old enough to furnish plenty of provisions for such a siege, but those living in detached settlements, particularly new comers in small communities, suffered severely. When the snow went off, after about six weeks of intense cold, the streams were remarkably high, considerably higher, in all probability, than they have ever been since that event. It is probable that a similar winter now would cause immense suffering. Our prairie towns could not obtain coal, or even flour and groceries, as in such a case the railroads would be totally unable to keep open for business.

A few extracts from experiences related in Prof. Duis' "Good Old Times in McLean County " will illustrate the hardships caused by the "Deep Snow." From Robert Guthrie's statement, page 192, we quote the following :

The winter of 1830-31 is remembered as the winter of the deep snow. Three days before the snow began falling, Mr. Guthrie and Frederick Trimmer started for St. Louis with teams and wagons to haul goods for James Allin, who had opened a small store where Bloom- ington now is. 'They intended to be gone only ten days or two weeks, but they did not see their

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families again for five weeks. They were obliged to leave their goods, wagons and Mr. Guthrie's oxen about fifteen miles the other side of Springfield, and came through with Mr. Trimmer's horses to break the way. During this time, their families were in a state of anxious suspense, and were obliged to live on boiled corn ; indeed, during the whole winter, they had very little to eat except pounded meal. During that winter, Mr. Guthrie sent his children to school, though they had to work their way for a mile through snow that reached nearly to their necks ; but when it became packed, they walked over the crust.

From the same work, page 219, we quote the words of one of our pioneers, who is now living in the city :

Jonathan Maxson states that during the winter of the deep snow (1830), he and his brother went out where it did not drift nor blow away and took a careful measurement of the depth of the snow with a stick and found it four feet deep. During the early part of that terri- ble winter, deer were very numerous, but when the deep snow came they were starved and were hunted by famished wolves and by settlers with snow-shoes until they were almost exterminated. Shortly after the snow fell, Mr. Jesse Hiatt killed a very large deer, which he was unable to carry home. He buried it in the snow and covered it with his coat to keep the wolves away. But the snow afterward fell so deep that he was unable to visit the spot for two weeks. At last, he put a harness on one of his horses and went to drag it home. On his return with the deer, he killed three others and attached them also to his horse : but the load was so hard to drag that he did not return until late at night, when he found the frightened neighbors collected at his house, about to start on a search for him. They had collected on horseback with trumpets and horns and various things with which to make unearthly noises, and were, no doubt, disappointed to find that there was no occasion for their fearful shrieks. The remainder of the night was spent in dressing the deer.

Some of their neighbors caught deer alive by putting on snow-shoes and running them down: but, toward the latter part of the winter, they were so poor and emaciated that they were hardly worth catching.

The fall of meteors November 14, 1836, though not exactly coming under this head, will be mentioned here. It was a wonderful sight. The heavens were full of shooting stars and meteoric phenomena, which, when witnessed by people living in scattered settlements, may well have caused a feeling of awe, wonder and astonishment.

December 14, 1836, occurred a very sudden change of weather. From a mild, thawy condition of the atmosphere, with the thermometer standing about forty degrees above, the change was almost instantaneous to twenty degrees below zero. The wind came from the northwest, with a howl and a roar, a perfect moving wall of cold, with its edges apparently square and perpendicular. It traveled at the rate of about thirty miles per hour. People were caught on the prairies at various distances from shelter, and quite a number of persons perished, some of them but a short distance from home. Cattle, hogs, and even wild animals were frozen to death. It is evident, from the accounts we have of the effects of the cold, that the thermometer fell much more than twenty degrees below zero, but we have no records of the degree of cold experienced. In mod- ern times, we have read of changes almost as remarkable, in Iowa and Minnesota, but none that will compare with this for suddenness. The people living in those States call these storms " blizzards," a term not invented in 1836. Our sudden freeze must have thrown a chill over the frontier such as we can hardly imagine.

June 23, 1837, a fall of snow surprised our pioneers. It was heavy enough to make the green-leaved trees look white, but no damage resulted.

November 7, 1842, there was another remarkable, sudden freeze, but, while start- ling in itself, it was not to be compared with its predecessor in 1836.

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The year 1844 is known to Western history as the wet season. It rained nearly all summer, only ceasing late in August, and crops were very light indeed. Traveling was a constant succession of wading and swimming, as most of the streams were desti- tute of bridges. This was the year when the river was so high at St. Louis, and when the old town of Kaskaskia was nearly ruined by the overflow. Those of our pioneers who remained at home did not suffer particularly, except from the annoyances incident to constant mud and moisture.

One day in 1848, the thermometer was twenty-six degrees below zero, and the day after, thirty below.

The summer of 1854 will long be remembered as the " dry season," almost as long as that of 1844 will be spoken of for its opposite characteristic. Sugar Creek went entirely dry ; wells dried up all over the city ; water was purchased by many people, and at one time it began to be feared that Bloomington would not be able to obtain a supply. People traveling through the country often suffered with their teams before they could obtain water, and cattle ran wild with thirst, rushing to the Mackinaw and streams that were not exhausted, like droves of demons. Some of our citizens con- ceived the idea of artesian wells, and efforts were made in that direction, but none of them gave any encouragement.

January 9, 1856, was remarkably cold, the thermometer being twenty-eight degrees below zero. There were several intensely cold days during the winter, some of them having followed soon after warm weather, and thus causing the death of apple and peach trees all through this region. All the peach-trees were killed down to their roots, and many whole orchards of apple-trees were entirely, others partially, ruined.

The summer of 1858, was another wet season-nearly as bad as that of 1844. McLean County suffered very severely during that summer, as wheat and corn both were injured. Wheat was killed the winter previous, and as at this time, the whole county was raising winter wheat-induced by the high prices of the Crimea war-it happened that great financial distress was caused by the unfavorable yield of both wheat and corn.

June 7, 1859, a severe cold spell formed ice in Bloomington one-eighth of an inch thick. The frost cut all the corn to the ground and killed the young leaves on hickory and other forest trees. The corn crop was supposed to be ruined, but, fortu- nately, the weather was so favorable that late-planted corn matured finely. The largest and earliest of the crop was the most injured, that which had just come out of the ground at the time of the frost or that which was only two inches high, came up from the roots again and went forward at once. Some of the early corn was six inches high and was, of course ruined. Most of the youngest corn that was left to nature came on better than that which was replanted, and there was a fair crop.

The year 1863, is noted as the one in which there was frost every month in the summer. In August, a very heavy frost destroyed much of the corn, and in September, another ruined most of that which had escaped in August. Owing to this cause and the war demand, the price of corn ran up to $1.15 a bushel in Bloomington before the next crop was harvested.

January 1, 1864, occurred a terrible snowstorm. The wind blew a perfect gale from the northwest, and at the same time a heavy fall of light snow filled the air and made travel almost impossible. The thermometer was twenty degrees below zero during the storm and it continued as cold for the next two days. Cattle and sheep gave

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up to the fury of the storm, drifted away before the wind and large numbers of sheep lost their lives. The railroads were blockaded, the Chicago & Alton trains not being able to pass from Springfield to Bloomington for three days, nor from Bloomington to Joliet for eight or nine days.

The great sleet of January 13, 1871, was an event that should be noted. The forest trees around Bloomington and the shrubbery in private yards were irreparably injured. The sleet was equivalent to more than an inch of rain. Telegraph poles were broken, and in many cases all the large limbs broke from trees. Nearly one-third of the foliage-bearing branches were thus crushed ; whole trees fell down and the dam- age to our fruit and shade trees is still plainly visible.

In the winter of 1873, during an intensely cold spell, when the thermometer had fallen about twenty degrees below zero, the wind changed in the night to the south, and, for a few hours, there was most a remarkably low temperature, with a high south wind. At one time, the thermometer was from twenty-six to thirty-two degrees below zero, according to the instrument and its exposure.

The winter of 1877 and 1878, will long be remembered on account of its extreme mildness. At no time was the ice in the vicinity of Bloomington over three inches in thickness. The entire winter was about as mild as average April weather. Rains were frequent, often very heavy, and, before the 1st of January, the roads were impassa- ble, and remained so from about January 1 to the middle of March. Business of all kinds was nearly suspended, and a general gloom pervaded the community.

The following winter was just the reverse. Snow fell early in December, followed by fifteen inches of level snow on the 13th of December, which remained for nearly six weeks. The sleighing was the best ever known, and was enjoyed to the fullest extent. Washington street was, by general consent, given up to the fast-stepping horses for which Bloomington is so famous, and was crowded with gay and happy parties every afternoon-often as many as fifty-five teams being visible at one time. Near the close of the sleighing season, on the 11th of January, 1879, there was a grand sleighing carnival, or free ride, for all the children of the city, participated in by nearly three thousand. It was a sight long to be remembered. There were over two hundred sleighs, of all sorts and sizes, many of them gayly decorated with flags and streamers. Thousands of spectators lined the streets, and the excitement and enthusiasm were both novel and pleasant.

Our list will close with the mention of the five cold mornings in January, 1879. January 2, the thermometer was twenty degrees below zero; on the 3d, twenty-eight ; on the 4th, seventeen; on the 5th, twenty ; and on the 6th, ten degrees below-mak- ing, probably, five of the coldest days ever known in such close connection.

EVENTS DURING THE WAR.

Bloomington is entitled to rank with the most patriotic cities in the land. It can show a proud record from the time when its citizens volunteered to aid the settlers of the exposed northern frontiers of Illinois to the last day of the civil war. Its list of heroes must be included in the county's record, as there is no way of fairly separating the city from the county ; but it is proper that we mention some of the stirring events that took place in the city itself.

When Fort Sumter was fired on, and the President's call for volunteers appeared, in April, 1861, our city was not behind the rest of the land in its readiness to respond,

BLOOMINGTON

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A public meeting was held at once, when speeches were made that gave evidence of the patriotic feelings of the people. The enthusiasm for the old flag was deep and earnest. Cheers, shouts and excitement abounded. Volunteers were called for, and in an incredibly short time, a company was raised for the three-months service called for, largely made up of energetic, enthusiastic young men from this city. In three or four days, the company left for Springfield, under Capt. Harvey, and it served its time at Cairo.

As soon as this company was full, several other companies were at once organized, For a few days it seemed as if every able-bodied man would volunteer. Four or five companies were drilling daily, made up from all classes of citizens. Had the Govern- ment been able to take all the troops offered, there is no doubt that at least six hundred men would have enlisted at once, in the month of May, from Bloomington alone. The day that the first company, under Capt. Harvey, left town, and also the day of their return from Cairo, are memorable events. On both occasions, the streets were literally crowded with spectators. The first was a time of the deepest and most poignant afflie- tion ; the last was a season of joy and gratitude. These two events were repeated over and over again during the next few years ; but never were equaled in intensity of feel- ing, except on the days of the leaving and returning of the entire McLean County regiment-the Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers-which left August 25, 1862, and returned August 9, 1865.

August 26, 1861, about three hundred of the men of the Thirty-third Illinois Regiment left this city and county for Springfield, and again was there leave-taking and patriotic excitement in our streets. This regiment included one company (A ) of students from Normal, and one company made up largely from Bloomington. The latter was Company C, of which E. R. Roe was Captain. Roe edited the Democratic Statesman at the time. He was soon promoted, and his place was filled by Capt. E. J. Lewis, who enlisted in the company as a private soldier. Lewis edited the Pantagraph at the time the war broke out, served with great credit until the close of the war, and again edited the same paper for five or six years after his return.

It was noticed, as the war became an old story, that the departure of troops grew to be more and more an individual matter, left by the public mainly to those interested -the departing soldier and his intimate friends and relatives; but at the close, every detachment that returned was welcomed most enthusiastically.

The excitement caused by the destruction, in August, 1862, of the Bloomington Times, a sheet with Southern sympathies too strong for this latitude, was most intense. The soldiers of the Ninety-fourth Regiment performed this job, aided by uncontrollable spirits who were willing to assist when sure that the blame or praise would be awarded to the departing volunteers.

On the 2d of September, 1862, a dispatch was received from Springfield at about midnight, calling for 200 men, instantly, to guard a large detachment of rebels stationed at Camp Butler. The fire-bells were rung; the public responded; the state of the case explained ; the required number was enlisted in a few hours, and a little after day- light made their appearance at Springfield, creating the utmost astonishment at the patriotic promptitude with which our citizens volunteered. Old men, boys and cripples went on this expedition as readily as the able-bodied. It appeared some one at Spring- field had an idea the rebel prisoners might make an attempt to escape, and relied on Bloomington's well-known habit of prompt and instantaneous action, to call together,

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suddenly, a force that should overawe the prisoners who had been carelessly left with too small a guard.

During the early part of the year 1862, several soldiers' funerals took place at Bloomington, stirring the city to its very heart. Among the most noted, we may men- tion that of Lieut. Joseph G. Howell, who had enlisted at the first call in 1861, resign- ing his place as Principal of the Model School at Normal. He was a noble young man, with troops of warm friends. He was killed at Fort Donelson .. Capt. Harvey, killed a little later, at Pittsburg Landing, was honored with a public funeral, and the city was plunged in grief once more. We should also mention Col. Hogg's and Col. William Mccullough's funerals, and others.

Immense sums were given in aid of the families of soldiers in the early part of the war; but later, the public sympathy was mainly directed through the Sanitary Com- mission, to the assistance of those in the field. In 1864, as much as $10,000 was sent in money in one donation, of which Isaac Funk gave $5,000. There was a constant stream of charity pouring in this direction, whose dimensions in the aggregate must have been magnificent.

At the Presidential election, in 1864, there was tremendous excitement. Many of the soldiers were at home; some discharged for disability, others by expiration of three years' enlistment, and many were at home on furlough. These were well aware that during the whole time of their absence there had been a "fire in the rear ; " and from. a variety of causes, great feeling was manifested. At that time, the whole township of Bloomington, polling 1,774 votes, had one voting place-the old jail-building, on the northwest corner of the Court House square. The election, after all, was one of the quietest on record, though probably one-third of the voters carried pistols, ready for any outbreak that might occur. The Judges of the election were A. B. Ives, John Dawson and J. H. Burnham. In spite of the rapidity with which they were obliged. to decide all cases of challenged votes, their decisions were acquiesced in by the leading men of both parties most cheerfully, and their feat of taking votes at the rate of three per minute, at a time of such a hot contest, can scarcely be paralleled. Mr. Lincoln had a majority of about six hundred in the township of Bloomington.

During the winter of 1864, Company K of the Twenty-sixth Illinois Regiment of which Gen. I. J. Bloomfield was the Captain, returned to this county on " veteran furlough," and were kindly welcomed by the citizens of Bloomington.

On the 14th of March, 1864, the entire Thirty-third Regiment Illinois Volunteers arrived at Bloomington on their "veteran furlough," on their way from Texas to their different homes in Illinois.

There were over four hundred of these heroes, of whom quite a number were from Bloomington. The citizens gave them a warm-hearted reception at Royce Hall, which was unlooked for by the veterans, and was a fitting tribute to the brave men who so nobly continued in the service of the country. This class of soldiers, entitled to more praise than any other, have generally been treated like ordinary volunteers. Now the fact is, they really stand the highest in the list of the nation's defenders. Their vol- unteering in the face of danger, after three years' service, was convincing proof to the rebels that they never could succeed in their undertaking.

The day before the Presidential election, in 1864, large bodies of suspicious look- ing men came from Southern Illinois to this city, and changed ears for Chicago. James

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Allin, Jr., then Postmaster, telegraphed the circumstances to John Wentworth and others, and the result was, that the men were arrested before they reached the city. It afterward transpired that they were concerned in the famous plot to rescue the rebel prisoners at Camp Douglas, and the dispatch from Bloomington was one of the indica- tions that proved something unusual was being attempted.

In the early part of the war, it seemed that the volunteers paid little attention to filling the muster-rolls correctly, and it often happened that nearly a whole company would be credited to Bloomington, when, in faet, it was raised in the county at large. Besides this, all who lived in three or four of the adjacent townships whose post-office addresses were at Bloomington, were generally credited as residents, and the result was that the city's quota was more than filled. When the first draft was threatened in MeLean County, in 1864, it was discovered that Bloomington's quota was already made up, and a good deal of bad feeling resulted. By a liberal county bounty, and the gen- eral co-operation of the citizens of both city and county, the first draft was avoided. February or March, 1865, the last draft barely touched a few districts in MeLean County. Most of the towns, as well as the wards in Bloomington raised liberal subscriptions, which, in addition to the county bounty, proved effectual. In Blooming- ton, out of a good many thousand dollars raised, quite a large proportion, in some of the wards, was returned to the subscribers.

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The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 44

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