The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois, Part 31

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 31
USA > Illinois > Menard County > The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois > Part 31

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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Deacon ; and J. R. Jarad, Junior Deacon. As a matter of interest to the fraternity, we make the following extract from a local writer : " Clinton Lodge was named in honor of ex-Gov. De Witt Clinton, of New York. To perpetuate his memory and great virtues, the Masonic brethren have caused to be built, for the ornamentation of their lodge-room, a ' shell monument,' con- sisting of a collection of shells arranged with genius and skill. As the number of Clinton Lodge indicates, it is one of the old Lodges of the State." Mr. Bennett has served the Order as Worshipful Master for nearly a score of years, and, as appreciation of his earnest labors to advance the interests of the society, his brethren have honored him, the present year, by again elevating him to the Oriental Chair.

De Witt Chapter, No. 119, Royal Arch Masons, was organized March 25, 1868, with the following as its first set of officers : Hobart Hamilton, M ... E ... High Priest ; T. W. McNeely, E ... King; J. T. Brooks, E ... Scribe; John Bennett, Captain of the Host; H. W. Montgomery, Treasurer, and J. G. Strodtmann, Secretary. The Chapter has now sixty-one members, and the fol- lowing officers : Hobart Hamilton, M ... E ... High Priest ; J. H. Traylor, E ... King; Fred Wilkinson, E ... Scribe ; Anson Thompson, Captain of the Host; T. C. Bennett, Principal Sojourner ; C. E. McDougall, Royal Arch Captain ; H. W. Montgomery, Treasurer, and J. G. Strodtmann, Secretary.

St. Aldemar Commandery, No. 47, Knights Templar, was organized Octo- ber 27, 1875, by Right Eminent Sir Hiram W. Hubbard, Grand Commander of the State. The first officers were : Eminent Sir Hobart Hamilton, Com- mander ; Sir T. W. McNeely, Generalissimo ; Sir Charles B. Thacher, Captain General ; Sir Anson Thompson, Senior Warden; Sir Edward Laning, Junior Warden ; Sir F. P. Antle, Treasurer; Sir J. G. Strodtmann, Recorder; Sir J. M. Sawyer, Standard Bearer ; Sir J. T. Brooks, Sword Bearer; Sir T. C. Bennett, Warder, and Sir J. E. Dickinson, Captain of the Guard. There are the names of twenty-six Sir Knights on the roll, and the officers for 1879 are : Eminent Sir T. W. McNeely, Commander; Sir Fred. Huggins, Generalissimo ; Sir J. M. Sawyer, Captain General ; Sir T. C. Bennett, Prelate; Sir Anson Thompson, Senior Warden ; Sir E. W. Eads, Junior Warden ; Sir F. P. Antle, Treasurer ; Sir J. G. Strodtmann, Recorder; Sir I. N. Stevens, Standard Bearer ; Sir C. B. Laning, Sword Bearer; Sir Fred Wilkinson, Warder, and Sir John T. Brooks, Captain of the Guard.

Bennett Chapter, No. 19, Order of. the Eastern Star, was organized January 18. 1872. The first officers were : John Bennett, W. P .; Mrs. Isaac White, W. M .; Mrs. James W. Judy, A. M. ; Mrs. A. D. Wright, Treasurer, and Mrs. John Bennett, Secretary. The officers for 1879 are: Homer Stewart, W. P .; Mrs. J. E. Dickinson, W. M .; Miss Elizabeth Beekman, A. M .; Mrs. W. S. Conant, Treasurer, and Mrs. Jennie Harris, Secretary.

The Masonic Fraternity, in connection with the Harris Guards, are now engaged in the erection of a substantial brick building, the upper story of

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which will be used as a Masonic Hall. . The corner stone of the edifice was laid with appropriate ceremonies, under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of Masons, on the 9th of September of the present year, by Most Worshipful William Lavely, Past Grand Master of the State. We shall refer to this building again in another page.

Salem Lodge, No. 123, I. O. O. F., was organized under dispensation April 13, with the following charter members : B. F. Stevenson, C. N. Gould- ing, J. H. Collier, Theodore Baker and Z. P. Cabaniss. The first officers were : John H. Collier, Noble Grand ; B. F. Stevenson, Vice Grand ; Z. P. Cabaniss, Secretary, and Theo. Baker, Treasurer. The Lodge continued under dispensation to the 14th of October, when it was chartered, and, for the first few years following its organization, it flourished almost beyond precedent. At the end of the first year, it had enrolled upward of fifty members. This prosperity continued until the commencement of the war in 1861, and from that and other causes, its fortunes waned and its membership became much reduced in numbers. The few remaining members even contemplated a surrender of their charter, and a vote upon the question, we are told, was actually taken, when the dormant energies of the lukewarm were aroused, and the Lodge received a new lease of life. The financial difficulties which had for some time harassed it, were overcome, and from that time it has prospered. Its present member- ship is fifty, and its officers are : W. P. Elam, Noble Grand; E. M. Morris, Vice Grand; A. J. Kelley, Secretary ; Douglas Bale, P. Secretary ; Robert Frack elton, Treasurer.

An Encampment was organized under dispensation, August 16, 1871, with the following original members : J. W. Cheaney, John W. Briggs, James W. Bracken, Richard Mullen, Alfred E. Mick, George Clemens, W. S. Conant and Charles Fricke. The first officers were : James W. Cheaney, W. P. ; J. W. Briggs, H. P. ; J. A. Bracken, S. W. ; A. E. Mick, Scribe ; George Clem- ens, Assistant Scribe. At the October session of the Grand Encampment, a charter was granted to this body, and it was regularly instituted as Charity Encampment No. 125, I. O. O. F. It has a membership, at present, of twenty, and is governed by the following corps of officers : Richard Mullen, C. P. ; A. E. Mick, H. P. ; A. J. Kelley, Scribe; Charles Fricke, Treasurer ; Robert Bishop, S. W., and Douglas Bale, J. W.

Rebecca Degree Lodge, No. 92, I. O. O. F., was instituted . May 5, 1876, and re-instituted March 3, 1879, with sixteen members, to which have since been added twenty-six, making a total membership of forty-two. The follow- ing officers were installed in March, 1879, and still fill their chairs : R. S. Frackleton, N. G .; Mrs. Sarah C. Cheaney, V. G .; Mrs. Helen L. Zilly, Secretary ; Mrs. Belle Coneys, Financial Secretary ; Mrs. Nancy Pemberton, Treasurer ; Charles Fricke, Warden ; Mrs. Mary E. Mick, Conductor ; E. M. Morris, O. G. ; Mrs. Margaret Clemens, I. G .; J. W. Faith, R. S. N. G. ; W. P. Elam, L. S. N. G. ; Mrs. Mary A. Mullen, R. S. V. G .; Mrs. Martha J.

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Elam, L. S. V. G., and Robert Bishop, Chaplain. Meetings, the first Thurs- day of each month.

Social Lodge, No. 1306, Knights of Honor, was instituted December 26, 1878, and has, at present, thirty-five members, with the following officers :. D. M. Bone, Dictator ; J. R. Carver, V. Dictator ; J. M. Walker, Asst. Dictator ; A. J. Kelley, Reporter ; Arthur Young, Financial Reporter, and Thomas Lev- ering, Treasurer.

THE CITY PRESS.

The first newspaper was established in Petersburg in the fall of 1854. It was published by S. B. Dugger, and was called the Petersburg Express. After conducting it for about a year, he disposed of it to Henry L. Clay, and it became neutral in politics, and its name changed to the Menard Index. In September, 1858, he sold it to Hobart Hamilton and a man named Brooks, who changed it into a Republican paper, and continued its publication until 1863, when it was sold and removed from the county. Brooks continued with Hamilton about a year, · and says after changing the politics of the paper, and sending out the first issue as a Republican sheet, its patrons became very much enraged, and would come to the office by scores with their papers wadded up in their hands, and, throwing them at the door, would exclaim, "There's your - Abolition paper." Shortly before the removal of the Index, the Northwestern Baptist, a religious paper, was issued from the Index office, and edited by M. P. Hartly. After Hamilton changed the Index into a Republican paper, the Menard County Axis, a Democratic organ, was established with C. Clay as editor and publisher. Its first issue was April 12, 1859, and was continued by Clay until 1867, when it was purchased by a joint-stock company, with M. B. Friend as editor, and its name changed to Petersburg Democrat, which name it still retains. Mr. Friend remained in charge of the paper until 1871, when E. T. McElwain became editor. He continued in editorial control until July 1, 1877, when he was succeeded by A. E. Mick. July 1, 1878, Mr. Mick associated S. S. Knoles with him in its publication, and so the firm continues to the present time.

During the campaign of Fillmore, Buchanan and Fremont, in 1856, William Glenn started a paper called the Fillmore Bugle, but it ceased at the close of the campaign. In June, 1868, the Menard County Republican was established with Richard Richardson as editor. He sold out in about a year to John T. McNeely, who 'conducted it until 1871, when Bennett & Zane became the pro- prietors. About a year after, Zane was succeeded by John Frank, who soon retired, and was followed by F. M. Bryant, who likewise remained but a short time, and Bennett continued alone in its control for a time. F. J. Dubois then became a partner, and assumed editorial control for a year. The material of the Republican was sold to John Frank early in 1874, who had started a new paper the August preceding, called the Menard County Times. It and the Republican were now consolidated and published under the name of the Times.

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Frank sold out to F. M. Bryant, who continued the paper until May 9, 1878, when he sold it to G. W. Cain & Parks. Cain had been publishing a paper in Tallula, and when he bought out Taylor, he changed the name of the paper to the Petersburg Observer. The paper is now devoted to the Greenback and Labor party, and is still under control of Cain & Parks.

On the 4th day of September of the present year, the Petersburg Republi- can made its first appearance. The salutatory is signed by Martin & Davis, and from it we make the following extract : " We expect to do our utmost to maintain and build up the Republican Party as well as the interests of Peters- burg and Menard County, and, in return therefor, simply ask a liberal share of the public's patronage." The late hour at which this newspaper was born into the world, had well-nigh excluded a notice of it from this work, and these few lines are all the history of it that we were able to obtain.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

The Harris Guards, comprising Co. E, of the Fifth Regiment of I. N. G., with headquarters at Springfield, was organized originally, in October, 1874. and re-organized under the militia law, in July, 1877. The commissioned officers under re-organization, and who still maintain their positions, are C. E. McDougall, Captain ; John M. Walker, First Lieutenant ; and James H. Car- man, Second Lieutenant. The three commissioned officers served in the late war. Capt. McDougall entered the army as a private, and, after nearly four years' service, retired as Captain of his company. The Harris Guards consist, at present, of about fifty-five, rank and file, and are well drilled, and present a very soldierly appearance. In connection with the Masonic Fraternity, of Peters- burg, they are, at the present writing, erecting a building,. the first story of which belong to them, and will be so constructed as to equally adapt it to their use as an armory, or, with a few minutes' work, change it to an elegant Opera House. The building, when completed as designed, will be not only an orna- ment to the town, but an honor to the Harris Guards, and the Masonic Fraternity. The estimated cost of that part of the building belonging to the military includ- ing the ground, is about $5,200, while the Masonic part will cost nearly as much more.

Petersburg was incorporated as a village a number of years ago, but, as we were unable to get hold of the early records, cannot give the exact date of its first organization. Although it now claims a population greater than many incorporated cities, it is still under village organization. The question of' incorporating it as a city was agitated some years ago. The project, however, was voted down, and thus it still remains a village, subject to village laws, and governed by a Board of Trustees. The following is the present Board : Dr. F. P. Antle, Philip Rainey, D. S. Eicher, John F. Miller and Isaac McDougall. F. P. Antle is President of the Board ; Philip Rainey, Treasurer ; and

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Black, Clerk. W. P. Elam is Police Magistrate ; W. B. Vaughn, Town Con- stable ; and A. J. Bless, Night Policeman.

The first bank was established in Petersburg by Brahm & Greene, in 1866. The bank is still in operation, and in the hands of the original proprietors, who conduct a general banking business in all its branches. Another bank is carried on by D. S. Frackelton, so that the town and surrounding country have no lack of facilities of a financial character.

The bar of Menard County is represented by a body of gentlemen who, in ability and legal lore, will compare favorably with any of the surrounding counties. In a work of this character, we cannot devote space to extravagant panegyrics, however deserving, nor to criticisms, as one might indulge in in a newspaper article. But we may mention in connection with the bar of Peters- burg, the name of Hon. T. W. McNeely, who has represented his district two terms in Congress, and Hon. N. W. Branson, who has served with distinction in the State Legislature. There may be others who have served their country with honor and ability, but of whom we failed to obtain the facts. The health of the city and neighboring country, is in charge of a corps of able physicians, who are zealous in their chosen profession, and watchful of the welfare of the people, whose health is trusted to their care.

There are four cemeteries around Petersburg. The first is known as "The Old Burying Ground," which is free to all, and is supervised by the Town Board. It contains the remains of many of the pioneers, who reduced the country from a wild and savage wilderness and laid the foundations of the pres- sent state of civilization. The Calvary Cemetery is under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church. Oakland Cemetery is a lovely spot adjacent to the city. But the most beautiful of all is Rose Hill Cemetery. It was laid out in 1858, and incorporated in 1859, with the following officers : J. M. Greene, President ; Directors, Tilford Clarke, W. M. Cowgill, W. P. Elam and W. S. Conant. The present officers are : N. W. Branson, President ; W. P. Elam, James Robbins, Con. Rourke, Directors ; and W. S. Conant, Treasurer. To the latter gentleman, more than to any other, is the town indebted for this beautiful little city of the dead.

" OLD SALEM."

This ancient village of Menard County, now a pile of moldering ruins, was once the center of business for a large scope of country. Before the birth of Petersburg, it was the principal trading-point in the present limits of the county. It is, or was, situated on the " Heights of Abraham," some hundred feet or so above the level of the raging Sangamon, and about two miles from Petersburg. It was surveyed and laid out on the 13th of October, 1829, by Reuben Harrison, for Rutledge & Cameron, the owners of the land. The first dwellings erected were a couple of cabins built for John Cameron and James Rutledge. The first storehouse was put up by Samuel Hill and John McNamar,

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in which they opened a stock of goods, probably the first store within the present bounds of the county. The next store opened was by George Warbur- ton, who, in a short time, removed to Petersburg, and became one of the original proprietors of that town, as noted in its history. It is said that he.was a man of fine business qualities, an excellent scholar, and without an enemy, except his appetite for strong drink. At Salem, he sold out to two brothers named Crisman, who came from Virginia. After remaining a short time, they dis- posed of their possessions and moved away.

A post office was established at Salem, and was the first (or the second) in the county. John McNamar was the first Postmaster. He was succeeded by Abraham Lincoln, who held the office until his removal to Springfield. The following story is told of this pioneer office. There was a man who lived in the settlement, who was never known to get a letter, or mail-matter of any kind, and was in the habit of coming to the office every day and, to annoy the postmaster, inquiring for letters. One day Hill and some others prepared a letter, couched in the most endearing terms, to which they appended the name of a swarthy female of " African descent," living in the neighborhood, and when he again inquired for letters, it was given him in the most matter-of-fact way. He was never known to ask for mail-matter at that office afterward.

Dr. John Allen, as noticed in the history of Petersburg, first located at this place ; a brother also came here with him. Dr. Allen was the first prac- ticing physician in the village. Dr. Duncan was another of the early practi- tioners of this section. Joshua Miller was the first blacksmith. Edmund Greer, "learned in the law," dealt out justice to the guilty as the first magistrate, and when "law business " was at a low ebb, he filled in the time teaching school, and was the first pedagogue, as well as the first Justice of the Peace. A hotel was opened by John Kelso, and within its hos- pitable walls were entertained the wayfaring men who chanced to pass through the village. Rutledge & Cameron built a mill here at an early period, which was patronized by the people living within a circuit of fifty miles. This is the mill over the dam of which Abraham Lincoln piloted the flatboat, and, with a display of tact and ingenuity wholly astonishing to those who beheld the opera- tion, relieved the boat of water by a new style of pump not much in use on board of vessels at that day. The story, however, is so familiar to the people of Menard County that we will pass over it in this chapter. The Old Salem mill was known far and near, and, as already stated, was patronized by a large district. It was a very rude affair, and stood just under the bluff upon which the town was located, and is thus described by a local writer of the period : " It consisted of two or three log pens, anchored with rocks, upon which was erected a platform, where a pair of rough stones were placed, and driven by a water-wheel attached to an upright shaft." It was, however, considerably improved before Salem became extinct, and, in 1852, was purchased by Abra- ham Bale. He set in to repair it, but died before accomplishing his purpose.

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"His sons finally put it in order, and one of them, T. V. Bale, still owns and operates it.

This is a synopsis of the early history of Salem, except the connection with it of Abraham Lincoln. And upon this point there has been so much written that we will not dwell upon it now. With a brief notice of him and his res- idence here, we will close the chapter. Mr. Lincoln was a native-born Ken- tuckian. Stuve, in his history of Illinois, says : "Abraham Lincoln was born in La Rue (now Hardin) County, Ky., about two miles south of the village of Hodgensville, February 12, 1809. Here his father had taken up a land claim of 300 acres, rough, broken and poor, containing a fine spring, known to this day as the "Linkum Spring." Unable to pay for the unproductive land, the claim was abandoned, and the family moved from place to place in the neigh- borhood, being very destitute. These removals, occurring while Abraham was 'scarcely more than an infant, have given rise to different statements as to the exact place of his birth. It is said that in that part of Kentucky, four places now claim the honor.

" Thomas Lincoln, the father of Abraham, moved to Spencer County, Ind., in 1816. Here he remained until 1830, when he came to Illinois, and settled in Macon County, on the north fork of the Sangamon River, ten miles south- west of Decatur. In 1833, he removed to Coles County, where, years later, he died. There, in a quiet little cemetery, known as "Gordon's Graveyard," he sleeps, without stone or lettered monument to mark the spot. As appropri- ate in this place, we give a poem, written by a citizen of Coles County, on his death, which went the rounds of the press at the time, and appeared in several leading magazines, entitled the "Grave of the Father of Abraham Lincoln :"

" In a low sweet vale by a murmuring rill, The pioneer's ashes are sleeping ; Where the white marble slabs so lonely and still, In silence their vigils are keeping.

" On their sad, lonely faces are words of fame, " But none of them speak of his glory ; When the pioneer died, his age and his name, No monument whispers the story.

" No myrtle, nor ivy, nor hyacinth blows O'er the lonely grave where they laid him ; No cedar, nor holly, nor almond-tree grows Near the plebeian's grave to shade him.

" Bright evergreens wave over many a grave, O'er some bow the sad weeping-willow ; But no willow-tree bows, nor ever-greens wave, Where the pioneer sleeps on his pillow.

" Some are inhumed with the honors of State, And laid beneath temples to molder ; The grave of the father of Lincoln the Great, Is known by a hillock and bowlder.

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" Let him take his lone sleep, and gently rest, With naught to disturb or awake him, When the angels shall come to gather the blest To Abraham's bosom they'll take him."

While engaged in writing the history of Livingston County, we met a gen- tleman, Hon. A. A. Burton, a native Kentuckian, who was a great admirer of Mr. Lincoln, and who was a Lincoln Elector, in Kentucky, in 1860, for the State at large, a position that at that time required considerable grit to assume. Judge Burton had a rail draped in mourning, carefully preserved in his library, to which was attached the following certificate :

DECATUR, Ill., June 1, 1860.

I do hereby certify, that the piece of rail this day delivered to Dr. G. W. McMillan, to be by him sent to A. A. Burton, of Lancaster, Ky., is from a lot of 3,000 made by Abraham Lin- coln and myself in this county, and that I have resided in this county ever since that time.

Attest : R. J. OGLESBY.

his JOHN M HANKS. mark.

It was on this place, settled by his father in Macon County, that Lincoln spent his first winter in Illinois, and "from this place," says Mr. Stuve, " the rails which played so important a part in the campaign of 1860, were procured." In the following spring, having attained his majority, he came to Salem, where the history of his residence is familiar to every school-boy in Menard County. His employment as clerk, and with a partner, his succession to the business, their subsequent failure, are so well known as to require no repetition. After the failure of his firm as merchants, Lincoln turned his attention to surveying, and, as stated elsewhere in this work, surveyed much of the lands, both in Menard and Mason Counties. When the Black Hawk war broke out, in 1832, Lincoln volunteered his services, and was elected Captain of his company. The same year, after the close of the war, he became a candidate for the Legis- lature, and from that time, his life, until terminated by the assassin's hand, was closely intertwined with State and national history.

With the laying-out of Petersburg, the glory of " Old Salem " began to wane, and the location of the county seat at that place sealed its doom. The leading business men removed to the new metropolis, and Salem became another edition of Goldsmith's "Deserted Village." But little remains to designate the spot where it once stood. The mill is still there, but improved, renovated and changed, until it is a very different establishment from that which Old Salem knew, and which used to "crack corn " for the pioneers of the Sangamon bottom.

Tice's Station is on the Springfield & North-Western Railroad, about four miles from Petersburg. It consists merely of a shipping-point for grain, a post office, depot and small store, together with a schoolhouse and church. The place has never been laid out as a village. It is located on the old Tice farm, and at Oak Ridge Post Office. This office was established about twenty- five years ago, with Hampton Woodruff as Postmaster. He was succeeded by

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Seneca Winters, and he in turn by A. W. Tice, the present incumbent, and who is a brother of Judge Tice, of Petersburg. The first and the only store at the place is kept by Mr. Tice. There is considerable grain bought here, and shipped from this little station. The present buyers are Fischer, Gault & Conover, of Petersburg, and Low & Foster, of Havana. A saw-mill is in oper- ation near the station, owned by Seneca Winters, a prominent business man of the neighborhood. A large and flourishing school is located near the station. The teacher, for the present year, is Prof. W. H. Berry, formerly County Super- intendent of Schools. The school has increased to such an extent that it is thought that an assistant teacher will be required for the year just beginning.

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The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois, Part 31

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