The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois, Part 19

Author:
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 848

USA > Illinois > Mason County > The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois > Part 19
USA > Illinois > Menard County > The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois > Part 19

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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.

Judge Robert Clary, recently deceased, was six weeks old when the family set- tled in the grove. The large and respectable family of Clarys, now living in the county, are the descendants of this pioneer. Not long after Clary settled in the grove, Mr. Solomon Pratt, with his family, took up their residence in a cabin on Section 3, Town 17, Range 7, this being in the vicinity of Mr. Clary. During the fall of 1819 and the spring of 1820, emigration came in pretty rapidly, and, there being no record kept of the order in which they came, and the names of some being forgotten, it is impossible to get the detail correct. About this time, the Armstrongs, Greens and Spears came, a more detailed account of whose settlement will be given in another place.

It was before stated that the first settlement in the county was in Clary's Grove; this we believe is true ; however, there is a great diversity of opinion on this subject among the oldest citizens now living. Amberry Rankin, of Athens, is of the opinion that Judge Latham was the first white man to take up his abode in the limits of the county ; and it is a known fact that Sugar Grove, in the northeast part of the county, was settled very soon after Clary's Grove, if not at the very same time. From a document left by Charles Montgomery, deceased, and from the statement of Alexander Meadows, now living in Greenview, we learn some important facts. These statements are fully reliable, as the gentlemen named were members of the first party that settled on the east side of the Sangamon River.

Jacob Boyer and James Meadows, who were brothers-in-law, came to Sugar Grove, from the American bottom, in the spring of 1819. They had lived a year or two on Wood River, in the American bottom, two and a half miles from Alton meadows, brought one wagon drawn by two horses, and, in addition, one milk cow, a yoke of yearling steers, that had been broken to work when sucking- calves, and some thirty head of hogs. Boyer brought three horses, two milk . cows, and perhaps a yoke of oxen. About the same day that Boyer and Meadows came, the Blane family, consisting of four brothers, one sister and the mother, came to the same grove. This family was of Irish blood, and it was from them that the "Irish Grove," in the east part of the county, received its name. The Blanes brought two two-horse teams and six or seven yoke of oxen. Boyer and Meadows erected a cabin on the south side of the grove, which was occupied by Boyer, and Meadows put up a "three-faced camp " on the ground now occupied by the "Sugar Grove Cemetery." Before the Blanes settled there, they had been camped for a few days in the "Irish Grove," as it has since been called ; it is therefore very probable that they were camped in the county when Clary settled at Clary's Grove.

The Blanes also " took claims," erected cabins and began business in earnest. These were the first settlers on the east side of the Sangamon River.

Before giving an account of the further settlement of Sugar Grove, it may · not be amiss to relate an incident in the early history of this settle- ment, illustrating the fact that human nature is ever the same, and that

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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.

even in this early day men had need of civil courts. It will be necessary to explain that although the trouble began when but few families had settled there, it was some time before it culminated in a lawsuit, as there were no courts of justice in reach till some time later.

Asstated above, Meadows brought two horses, thirty head of hogs and two year- ling calves with him to the grove. Not many months elapsed until both the horses were missing, and the hogs were all strayed away and lost. Not a great while after these misfortunes, one of the little oxen was found dead in the woods. Diligent search was made in every direction for the missing stock, as they could not be replaced without great trouble and expense, owing to the distance from any older settlement. In his anxiety, Mr. M. applied to a fortune-teller, who strolled through the new settlement, practicing his art, as the ancient troubadour used to stroll from village to village, to rehearse the deeds of his heroes. This seer told Mr. Meadows that the horses were in the possession of the Indians, and that he would recover them after awhile, though but one at a time. Sure enough, the horses were found in the hands of the Indians, who said they had traded for them from a Frenchman. The horses were so jaded that they were of no service, and soon after died. The hogs, he was told, had gone down the Sangamon River, where one-half of them had been eaten by a "squatter," and the rest he would recover. Meadows followed the directions given, found the cabin of the suspected settler, but found none of the hogs. He, however, traded for a frying-pan from the worthy citizen, the one, he supposed, in which his hogs had been fried; but the remainder of the hogs were found as had been predicted. The fortune-teller further said that the. ox came to its death at the hands of one of Mr. M.'s neighbors, in the following manner : The neighbor was making rails in the timber, his coat lying on a log · near by, when the poor calf came browsing along, and, spying the coat, he determined to make a meal of it. The laborer, seeing his coat about to be swallowed, ran and struck the brute on the loins with his maul, and the blow proved sufficient to kill it on the spot.

Although this was only the statement of a superstitious fortune-teller, yet it was believed strongly enough to induce Mr. Meadows to begin a suit against the accused party, which was in the courts for several years, cost a vast sum of money, and created a feud between two families, which lasted to the second gen- eration. This is spoken of as the first lawsuit of any importance in the county ; and also as illustrating a superstitious belief in fortune-tellers that at that time was almost universal. 1

Not long after the settlement of Boyer, the Blanes and Meadows, another caravan of immigrants came to the grove. John Jennison, Mr. Hill, William McNabb, his wife, son and daughter were of this company. James McNabb, son of William, above named, was a surveyor, and taught the first school in the grove. A few years later, he was drowned in trying to swim the Sangamon River with his compass tied on his head. It is said that he had been drinking,

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or he would not have made the attempt. A few months after the arrival of those last named, others came, among them Roland Grant and family, Benja- min Wilcox and Ward Benson. About the same time, a Mr. Pentecost came from Kentucky, bringing a family of four sons and three daughters. He settled near the present residence of Judge Marbold, near Greenview. Cavanis, for whom Cavanis Creek, running near Greenview, was named, came about this time. He also was from Kentucky. The next to find their way to this grove was a company from Deer Creek, Ohio; it was composed of the Alkires and William Engle. No party of weary travelers ever entered a new country that was destined to exert a stronger influence on the future growth and prosperity of community than this little band. Leonard Alkire brought considerable means with him, and invested it largely in "claims," which he afterward entered. He purchased the claims of Meadows, Grant, Wilcox, and the

Blanes. This was the beginning of a change among the early settlers of this grove. Hill, who was spoken of above, moved to St. Louis. John Jennison farmed a year or two in the grove, and then removed to Baker's Prairie, three miles southeast of Petersburg. Meadows moved to the lower end of the grove, and bought the claim of Pentecost. McNabb and Wilcox also moved to Baker's Prairie, where they took claims, which they entered as soon as the land came into market. There they reared families, and many of their descendants are still in that vicinity. Not long after the arrival of Alkire and Engle, Mat- thew Bracken came with a large family ; after him came Nicholas Propst; then Wall and William Sweeney, Milt Reed, Thomas and William Caldwell. From this time the tide of immigration constantly grew deeper and wider, pouring in a host of earnest, industrious and enterprising men to develop this most highly favored body of country.

While the settlement here was being made, of course other localities were not neglected. It is rather a remarkable fact, however, that no settlers were found on the prairie for several years, but each grove of timber contained a settlement, and was the nucleus of a community. " Of the more important of these, we will speak farther in the proper place. It may be of interest to the reader to know that the first marriage on the east side of the river was John Jennison to Patsy McNabb; the second was one Henman-to Rosina Blane ; and the third, William Engle to Melissa Alkire. The last-named couple were mar- ried by Harry Riggin, J. P.

The first death was an infant son of Jacob Boyer named Henderson. The second was James Blane, and the third was Joseph Kinney, who was thrown from a horse. He was brought home but soon died. Some say that he was the second person who died in the grove, and the first adult buried in the bury- ing-ground ; but Charles Montgomery, in a statement written some years before his death, says that James Blane was the second, and Kinney the third who died. Kinney was buried in Sugar Grove Cemetery, and an elm came up immedi- ately out of his grave, and it is now a large, wide-spreading tree ; and although

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its roots and stem have obliterated all signs of a grave, yet it is a verdant mon- ument to the memory of Joseph Kinney.

The first schoolhouse was built in Sugar Grove in 1822, by Meadows, Boyer, Wilcox, McNabb and Grant. It was constructed of split logs, and was about sixteen feet square. This house was furnished on a par with all the schoolhouses in the early settling of the country. Covered with boards held in their places by " weight poles," the floor of " puncheons " made of split logs, the seats the half of a log 10 or 12 feet long, with four pins set in with a large auger for legs, a log left out along one side for a window, beneath which a slab was laid on two large pins in a slanting position to serve as a writing-desk. The text-books were few in number, and the teacher made all the pens of goose- quills. The books used were the New Testament for a reader, with occasionally a copy of the old "English Reader," Pike's or Smiley's Arithmetic, but few of the pupils ever advanced farther than the Single or Double Rule of Three (i. e., single or double proportion), geography was seldom studied, and English grammar was totally unknown in the schools here for several years. Uncle Minter Graham, who has taught school longer than any other man in Central Illinois, perhaps, tells an amusing anecdote about teaching grammar in an early day here, and he vouches for the truth of the statement, as it came under his own personal knowledge. A certain teacher whose aspirations were consider- ably in advance of his acquirements, felt himself called upon to teach English grammar. He accordingly organized a class in that science, and very kindly assisted them in preparing the first lesson, which was the four general divisions of grammar; these he pronounced for them, with a gusto, as follows: Or- tho-graph-y, Et-y-mo-lo-gy, Swine-tax and Pro-so-dy. The text-books used when grammar began to be taught in the schools, were Murray's and Kirk- ham's Grammars. The above books, with Webster's old Speller, or the Element- ary, and a "horn-book "-a wooden paddle with the alphabet pasted on it-for the little fellows, were the entire outfit of school-books. The schools at this time were all on the subscription plan, which is fully explained under the head of Education in this volume, and seldom were for a longer term than three months, and that in the middle of the winter. James McNabb, who, as the reader will remember, was drowned in the Sangamon River, was the first teacher in Sugar Grove; he was followed by Daniel McCall, and soon by others. Perhaps, one Templeman was the third teacher in this settlement. The first preaching in Sugar Grove was in the cabin of Roland Grand, by one Hender- son, a preacher of the "New-Light " faith, as it was then termed. The New Lights and the followers of Alexander Campbell afterward united, forming what was at first denominated the Church of the Disciples, but afterward changed to the Church of Christ, sometimes called Campbellites. Of this a more extended account will be given under the head " Religious Denominations."

When the settlement was first begun at Sugar Grove, and for some time after, the nearest physician was in Springfield, then a mere village. Dr. Allen

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of that city was the first practitioner of the healing art that was called to visit the community at the grove. Not a great while elapsed, however, till Dr. Winn settled near Indian Point, and began the practice of medicine.

Having thus glanced hastily at the early history of Sugar Grove, we turn now to other localities, where settlements were made in an early day, as New Salem, two and one-half miles from Petersburg, up the river ; the vicinity of Indian Point; the Concord neighborhood, three miles north of Petersburg. The Indian Point settlement includes that of Lebanon and Athens, while that

of New Salem is associated with that of Rock Creek. These, with Clary's and Sugar Groves, before mentioned, were the more important of the early centers of civilization ; indeed, all the others may be regarded as offshoots of these. About 1820, the settlement at Indian Point began. The first settler was Rob- ert White, who settled on the farm on which his son Franklin now lives, adjoining the ground on which Lebanon Cumberland Presbyterian Church now stands. With him came James Williams-father of Col. John Williams-and family, consisting of two sons and four daughters. Archibald Kincaid, Jacob Johnston and Dr. Charles Winn came about the same time, with those named above, and, soon after, John Moore also settled in this vicinity. William B. Short was also among the earliest settlers in this part of the county. These were all intelligent, earnest, enterprising people, and by their industry and economy laid the foundation of the wealth and development of that part of the county. The descendants of those named above make up the larger part of the population of Indian Creek neighborhood at the present time. Indeed, we are not surprised at this, when we reflect that these people held in higli regard the Divine command, to "multiply and replenish the earth," as is proven from the fact that James B. Short ventured no less than five times into the bonds of matrimony. About 1820, Joseph Smith, from Kentucky, and his brother-in-law, William Holland, from Ohio, came and settled in the south side of Indian Point timber. Matthew Rogers, of Otsego County, N. Y., came the same year and settled one mile northeast of the present site of Athens. From this time the stream of emigration grew deeper and wider, and the numbers were such that but little can be given of the order of their arrival. Having thus sketched these three centers of early, settlements, viz., Clary's Grove, Sugar Grove and Indian Point, we will now turn to the most important local- ity, so far as early settlement is concerned, in the county ; we refer to " New Salem." This was the first town or village laid out in the county. At a point some two and a half miles above Petersburg, the Sangamon River washes the foot of a high hill or bluff, whose precipitous sides and level summit were, at an early day, covered with a thrifty growth of forest trees. The country, back from the crest of the hill, is almost perfectly level for miles to the west. The timber continued back from the river in a dense forest, for the distance of half a mile. From this the prairie continued in unbroken sameness for many a mile. At a distance of perhaps three miles farther up the Sangamon, the

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little stream-for it is hardly worthy the name of a creek-of Rock Creek, mingles its waters with those of the "St. Gamo," as the Sangamon was some- times called by the early settlers. Rock Creek, rising in the western part of the county and flowing almost due east, enters the Sangamon at almost right angles. Its borders on either side were covered with a fine growth of tim- ber, making a body of, perhaps, a mile in average width, and five or six in length. The land on both north and south of this stream was neither flat nor broken, but gently undulating and of the richest and most productive soil. Taken altogether, there is no more attractive or more productive section of country in Central Illinois than Rock Creek and New Salem. Just on the brow of the bluff, above described, in years long gone by, was situated the vil- - lage of Salem. This locality, though not so at present, will in time become almost as historic as Mt. Vernon itself. Although Nature has not been so pro- fuse in the gorgeousness of the scenery here as in that +of the Old Dominion, nor is the quiet Sangamon to be compared with the majestic Potomac, yet, in many respects, Salem is as sacred to the lover of human liberty as Mt. Ver- non in all her historic glory. Many a visitor seeks the spot where President Abraham Lincoln spent the years of his early manhood ; where he studied the law, wrestled, foot-raced, romped and sported with the young men of his age, and where those principles were imbibed and matured, which, in after years, made him the idol of a great mass of the American people, and wrote his name in tablets more enduring than granite, brass or bronze-but they are ever dis- appointed at finding no vestige of the village of Salem. At the foot of the bluff, just at the brink of the water, stands an old water-mill, a broken dam stretches across the stream, and through its countless chinks and crevices the water murmurs, making sad music to the seeming desolation, which seems to reign all around, for there is not a building of any kind, save the old mill, nearer than a fourth of a mile to the old town site. Settlements had been made in this vicinity several years before the laying-out of Salem. Green had settled southwest of there, Potter, Jones, Armstrong and others settling near there, with Lloyd and others farther up the Rock Creek timber. Somewhere about 1824 to 1826, John Cameron and James Rutledge erected a rude and primi- tive mill near the site, perhaps on the very spot, of the present mill. Two or three log pens were built and filled with stone to prevent their being washed away by high waters ; upon these was erected a platform, and a shaft attached to a rude breast-wheel gave motion to a small pair of "home-made" buhrs on the platform. Nothwithstanding the extreme simplicity of this mill, it was a "big thing" in that early day, for mills were so scarce, as we shall see in another place, that people came from a distance of fifty and even one hundred miles in every direction, to have their grain ground in this mill. Such was the patronage given to this enterprise, that the proprietors determined to lay out a town adjoining the mill property. Accordingly the surveyor, Reuben Harrison, was employed, and, on the 13th day of October, 1820, the town of

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Salem was duly and legally laid out. . The first improvements in the town were made by the proprietors, John Cameron and James Rutledge. Each of those gentlemen at once began to improve a lot by erecting a log cabin.

We may here remark that the town was destined to a short life, for in less than a decade it had run its course; . but the cabin of John Cameron long remained as a monument to the memory of Salem. Until a few months ago, it stood in desolate solitude, but lately it has fallen down and has been removed, and there is nothing now to mark the locality of this first town in the limits of Menard County, save the scattered debris, barely indicating that buildings of some character once stood there.

The third building erected was a store-room, which, when completed, was occupied by Samuel Hill and John McNamar. These were probably the first merchants in the county, except Harry Riggin and A. A. Rankin, of Athens.

At the time that Salem was laid out, there had never been a post office in the limits of what is now Menard County, the people getting what little mail inatter they received from Springfield, then a mere village. A post office was established at Salem, and Col. Rogers was appointed the first Postmaster. His duties, however, were not very arduous, as newspapers were then scarcely known in the West, or in the East, for that matter, and but few persons were ever in receipt of a letter. The youth of to-day can scarcely imagine how people lived in those days. To illustrate this postal system, it may be stated that, while Illinois County was under the government of Virginia, Col. John Todd was appointed Lieutenant Commandant of said county, with instruc- tions to report to Gov. Patrick Henry, of Virginia, each month, and, although Todd lived in Fayette County, Ky., yet his reports were often one, month in reaching Gov. Henry.

Hill and McNamar were followed in the mercantile business by one George Warburton, who soon became addicted to hard drink, and ended a wretched existence by committing suicide by throwing himself into the Sangamon River. Warburton was a shrewd business man, possessing a fine education, and of a genial, friendly turn, so much so that he had but one enemy, and that was alcohol.

Warburton was succeeded in the store by two brothers from Virginia, by the name of Chrisman, who remained a short time, and followed the "star of empire," going Westward.

About this time, W. G. Greene, from Kentucky, and Dr. John Allen and brother. from the Green Mountain State, came to Salem. . Dr. Allen was a. thorough Christian gentleman, and stood very high in the medical profession. It was through the influence of Dr. Allen that the first Sunday school and first temperance society were formed. The meetings of both these were held in a log cabin south of Salem, across the ravine that ran just at the south limit of the village. Dr. Allen died in Petersburg some seventeen to twenty years ago, and his brothers, after remaining here a number of years, removed

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to Minnesota, and at last accounts were in the lumber regions, running facto- ries, stores, banks and mills, giving employment to three or four hundred men. Dr. Duncan came some time after Dr. Allen, and after a few years removed to Warsaw, Ill., where he built up a flourishing practice.

In the summer or early fall of 1831, Abraham Lincoln came to Salem, on his return from a trip with a flat-boat to New Orleans. This was his first visit directly to the village, although he had passed down the Sangamon River early in the preceding spring. And here we cannot refrain from relating an anedote often repeated by the old citizens, illustrative of the peculiarities of this eccen- tric though celebrated statesman. The story is told of Lincoln's boring a hole in the bottom of a sunken flat-boat, in order to set her afloat by letting the water run out of the hole, and it is literally true. It happened as follows : Before Mr. Lincoln's father left Indiana for Macon Co., Ill., the youthful Abraham had made a successful flat-boat trip to New Orleans, via the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Some time after their settlement near the Sangamon, in Macon County, a gentleman came to the younger Lincoln, desiring him to assist in running a flat-boat to New Orleans, the gentleman having heard of Mr. Lincoln's success in a former trip. A bargain was soon made, and soon the boat was partially loaded with salt pork in barrels, and a small number of live hogs, the supercargo intending to complete the burden by the purchase of more live hogs on their way. All went well and " merry as a marriage bell " till the craft reached the dam erected across the river at Salem, by Cameron & Rutlege. Here they were doomed to trouble, for, coming to the dam with speed accelerated by the draw of the fall to such a degree that the boat, striking prow first, ran far enough upon the dam to extend the prow several feet over. This, of course, elevated the forward part of the boat, and the result was, the water came over the stern till that part of the boat settled to the bottom. In this dilemma, the owner of the flat proposed to get the freight ashore as best they could, and abandon the boat. Not so with Lincoln. A canoe was secured and the freight principally removed to a place of safety. Lincoln then said that he would get an auger and bore a hole in the bottom of the boat and thus set her afloat. Some smiled incredulously, some laughed outright, while all thought it the act of a dolt. Nevertheless, an auger was procured, a hole was bored in the bottom of the boat near the bow where it projected over the dam. The bow was then lowered, when, of course, the water in the stern ran to the front, and, as the bow extended over the dam, it ran out, and, in a very short time-a pin being driven into the hole-the boat was again afloat. By a little care, the " flat" was gotten safely over the dam, reloaded, and they pursued their course down the river. It was on this trip, some four or five miles below the present site of Petersburg, that, they having bought a lot of hogs, which refused to go on the boat, Mr. Lincoln conceived the novel idea of sewing up their eyes. A needle and thread was procured, and the eyes of the stubborn porkers duly stitched up, when, being unable to see, they quietly and calmly marched on the boat, when

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The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois, Part 19

Author: Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 848

Author:
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 848