The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc., Part 72

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company
Number of Pages: 932

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The contrast between our mode of living forty years ago and now, is very great. We enjoyed it then because not many ol us knew anything else ; but none of us would like to go back to it again ; we lived in log cabins with pun- cheon floors and no carpets ; we wore the plainest of clothing, most of it home made. I have raised flax - pulled it, dried it, threshed it, rotted it, broke it, skutched it and hetched it. My mother has then taken it and made shirts, pants and coats for me.

I have raised sheep and sheared them, washed the wool, hauled it thirty miles to a carding machine, and brought home the rolls. My mother has spun them into yarn, wove it into cloth, and cut and made up this cloth into winter clothing.

I remember, when a little boy, of my mother going, several times, about two miles to a certain place where some quill wood grew. She brought home the canes, scraped off the outside bark, cut them into proper lengths, pushed out the pith, and made empties of them. Upon these empties she wound the yarn with a reel, or made us boys do it. and made quills to put on the shuttle, to weave cloth with.

Years afterwards, when I studied botany. I wondered and wondered what that quill wood was, and was finally delighted beyond measure to find the identical thing growing on Kickapoo creek. It proved to be the hydrangia ar- borescence. I took a stalk of it and planted it in my garden, where it now grows and shall grow as long as the men- ory of my mother and old times last.

It was a common thing to go to mill, ten and twelve miles (sometimes thirty). This I have done myself. I well remember going to mill one time with an older brother, with an ox team. We had to cross a prairie ten miles wide, without a house. In doing this we mired down three times and each time had to carry the entire load across the slough on our backs, and then get the oxen and wagon out the best way we could. We finally made our way through. got our flour and returned safely home and, withal, had a very enjoyable trip.

I well remember seeing potatoes sold for five cents a bushel. 1 well remember hauling wheat from l'utnamn county to Chicago and selling it for fifty cents a bushel. I well remember of my father selling eight hundred bushels of as fine wheat as ever grew for thirty cents per bushel.

The school house in which I was taught to read I could throw a cat through between the logs, and the windows were filled with oiled paper instead of glass.

The first church I ever attended had the ground for a floor and a fire built in the center without chimney or fluc. true Indian fashion. Then we had a mail ouce in two weeks, and we paid twenty-five cents postage for a letter. Five letters cost just as much as an acre of land. No one complained of this. No one thought a letter could be carried for less money.

In the professions there was here and there a man of education and sense ; but the average professional gentle- men were not of a high order.

Now, a lawyer to be prepared for business, requires a ton or more of books ; then an armful sufficed with a cor- responding amount of legal knowledge.

The Methodist minister was prepared to prove that John Wesley was the greatest man that ever lived, and the doctrine of falling from grace, to disprove Calvanism, the doctrine of elections, God's foreknowledge and his decrees. The Baptist never failed to prove that immersion was the true and only mode of administering the rite of baptism, and that without it no one could be saved.

The Presbyterian could demonstrate to any rational man who was not blinded by sin, the truth of Calvanism, original sin, God's foreknowledge, his decrees, election, fore-ordination, baptism by sprinkling and the perseverance of the saints.

They all agreed, however, on one thing, and never tired ringing it in our ears that was the doctrine of eternal damnation.

The physician mounted his horse with his saddle-bags, which contained the following articles, viz ; a pound of salts, a bottle of castor oil, a bottle of calomel and jalap, a bottle of tartar emetic, a lancet and a fly blister. This was his entire stock, and when that failed, the Lord help the patient.

I might go on and specify many other things, but this is enough to give an idea of the settlers and the country at that time. Forty years have wrought a complete revolution ; yet forty years ago men were as happy as they are now. Times, manners and customs change, and we must change. The march of improvement is ever onward, and we must march with it, We may enjoy certain circumstances and conditions, but when these have changed, passed

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away, and new ones have taken their place, we can not go back and enjoy them again. We enjoy our childhood state, but when we are fifty years old the things that pleased and satisfied us will please and satisfy us no more.

Ladies and gentlemen. I now bid you adieu ! I hope to meet you on many more occasions like this. The ranks of the original settlers are growing thin ; there is now but a remnant left ; the frost of age is upon them all, and one by one Father Time is bearing them away. May he spare them yet a little longer. May he remember their long and troubled lives ; have compassion on their gray hairs ; bear them gently down the sunset of life, and when he must claim them for his own, land them where there is a fairer clime and greener fields than ours, where trouble shall cease, where every tear shall be dried, where sickness, pain and sorrow shall be known no more forever.

MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS.

At the close of Dr. Stewart's remarks, which were well received, Geo. H. Kettelle was called for, and in a fifteen minutes speech acquitted himself handsomely, comparing the old and new. He was followed by Dr. Castle, formerly of Peoria, now of Stark county. Mr. Kettelle, at the close of his speech, presented, on behalf of Perry Frazier. a bread plate to Mr. Wm. Blanchard, of Tazewell county, being the oldest settler in this portion of the State. and the first white man married in Peoria county, which took place in 1825. Mr. Blanchard returned his thanks in telling of what he found in Illinois on his arrival in the State in 1819. Dr. Castle was most complimentary in his remarks to the city of Peoria, stating that we have the handsomest and most healthy location he ever saw, and predicted at no distant day the old settlers of this county will meet in a city of an hundred thousand inhabitants instead of only 35,000 that we now have. He closed by giving many incidents of especial interest to the ladies and gentlemen who remembered as well as the speaker did the occurrences of the long ago.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS.

The Rev. Mr. Hall followed Dr. Castle in a few appropriate remarks, and gave way for the election of officers, when the following gentlemen were chosen :

Samuel Tart, president ; John A. McCoy, vice president ; George Bestor, secretary ; H. B. Rouse, corresponding secretary, and L. Howell. treasurer.

George H. Kettelle offered the following resolution, which, after some discussion, was adopted :

Resolved, That the constitution be so amended that any person residing in the State of Illinois for more than thirty years previous to this time, be allowed to become members of this Association, upon signing the constitution and paying the usual fee.

On motion, the time of the next annual meeting of the society was changed to the 4th of July.

The names of Mr. Isaac Underhill, Mrs. Morse, John Sharp, Mrs. Dunlap, Mr. Bris- tow and A. Beal were handed to the Secretary to be recorded as among the dead, having died since the last meeting.

NINTH ANNUAL REUNION.

The ninth annual re-union of the Old Folks, of which there is no written record, was held at Jefferson Park, on the 10th day of September, 1876. Addresses were made by Judge Weed, John T. Lindsay and others. The old officers were re-elected.

TENTH ANNUAL REUNION.

September 5, 1877, the tenth annual reunion of the surviving veterans of early times in Peoria county, was held at Spring Hill Park, the use of which had been ten- dered by Colonel Deane. The day was pleasant, and the attendance large and respecta- ble. An abundance of substantials and luxuries had been prepared by the pioneer mothers, and dinner was served from one to three o'clock. Said the Transcript, of the '6th : " Two long tables were spread just back of the fountain, and were presided over with the grace and efficiency that always characterizes the ladies when they undertake

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any thing. There were too many present to be accommodated at one sitting, and a large number had to wait for the second table."

After dinner the old settlers gathered "on the hill," where a speaker's stand had been improvised, and were called to order by President Tart, when the assemblage, led by E. A. Van Meter, Charles Crueknell, Miss Hilliard and Miss Kent, joined in singing to the air of the Old Folks at Home, the following :

OLD SETTLERS' SONG.

Right here, where Indian fires were lighted, Long ago, long ago : Where dusky forms, by rum incited, Danced wildly to and fro ; Where birch canoes, like arrows darting Swift o'er the waves. Showed but a gleam of waters parting. Cleft by the oars of the braves.

Chorus : We, Old Settlers, come to greet you, l'roffer heart and hand ; Breathe, too, a fervent prayer to meet you Yonder, in the spirit land.

Old Black Hawk, with his chiefs about him, Once gathered here ;

Never a warrior dared to doubt him - " l'ale face." too, learned to fear ; But scalping-knives and belts have vanished, Fires blaze no more ;

While. like to Arab tents, are vanished Camps to the further shore.

Chorus : Still, Old Settlers, we come to greet you. Proffer heart and hand ; Breathe, too, a fervent prayer to meet you Vonder, in the spirit land.

Oh ! brothers, there are dear old faces Hid 'neath the mould ; Forms missing from their wonted places. Hands we love clasped still and cold.

While all the vanished years behind us Leave few to come : And missing links on earth remind us Scores have been gathered llome.

Chorus : Where with welcome shouts they'll greet us. When we reach lleaven's strand ; Fling wide the golden gates and meet us. Brothers, in the better land.

After this song was rendered, the president introdneed Rev. A. R. Morgan, pastor of the First M. E. Church, as orator of the day. The address of Mr. Morgan was able and interesting, but too lengthy to be re-produced entire in these pages, hence only the closing paragraphs, which were expressed in well chosen words, are here presented :

"Of those who first composed this society of Old Settlers, many have entered into rest during the year. 1 have buried two of your number. Others will soon follow, and soon not one will be left to tell of the events which this day calls to your minds. Gather ye, then, to your greetings with truest friendship. He ever the friends of the good and true. Be ever, with tenderest pity, the friends of the fallen, the ignorant and the helpless. Keep this day of thanksgiving in a genuine love. Let it be engraven deeply on all your hearts, and wear it there through all time. " I am glad to meet you, glad to see you so happy, so youthful in heart and soul, while the shades of evening are setting upon you. We separate ; another such a day will never come to us all. Let me remind you, remind all, we journey to one goal, man's last resting place ! Happy if we march to it aright, happy if, when the sands have run through the hour glass, when the last rugged march along life's dreary pathway shall have been trodden, when the last storm shall have beaten upon us, if the bow in the cloud for us

"'Shall sweetly span the vaulted skies, A pledge that storms shall cease.'

" Then let me call upon you to bury in the grave of to-day the wrongs, the proscriptions, the sorrows of a weary past, bury the memory of wrongs, every thing that corrupts, corrodes and destroys. let every one join in tilling up the grave ; round it over. Now clasp hands once again with old and tried friends, forget the things that are behind and reach on to the future, renew your faith in God and plight in truth as pure as the heavens a love stronger than death, and go forward for whatever duty demands, whether labor or conflict, and soon you will hear the words of the Master as you enter upon your final rest. ' the laborer is worthy of his hire.'"

John W. Caldwell, of Tazewell county, followed Mr. Morgan and made a character- istic speech. He alluded to the hardships of his early life, or what he considerd as hard- ships, as compared with the condition of the people of to-day. " Hominy was the princi- pal article of food. The corn was pounded in a mortar, or hominy block. The finer part of the crushing was sifted through a wird sieve and made into corn bread, and the coarser part was used as hominy. There were two mills within twelve or fifteen miles. We would sometimes go to mill with a half Imshel of corn to have it ground into meal.

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Sometimes we had to wait two days to have it ground, there were so many others ahead of us. Perhaps our friends would like to know what kind of floors we had. Well, we had puncheon floors. Our whole family, strangers and all, slept on beds made on these puncheon floors, and we all slept, I tell you! No matter where one went in those days, they were among friends and were never turned away."

Samuel King spoke next, and was followed by William Blanchard. Colonel Dow- dall, of the National Democrat, was called, and in response, said he had not before wanted to be counted among the Old Settlers ; that he wished to be recognized as being a young man, but the open prairie on the top of his head admonished him that he was getting along in years. He came to Illinois in the stormy Winter of 1835. Privileges, comforts and luxuries were scarcer then than now. He was not in the war of 1812, but his father was. The speaker related an anecdote about going to mill once on horseback with a bushel of corn in one end of the sack and a rock in the other end to even it up, in ac- cordance with a custom handed down from the fathers. As he returned home with the meal, he came across a wolf track, and concluded to have a wolf hunt. In the chase he lost the meal, and didn't get the wolf, and consequently returned home empty handed. His father forgave him for the loss of the meal, but threatened to whip him because he didn't get the wolf.

At the conclusion of Colonel Dowdall's remarks, the society proceeded to the elec- . tion of officers, with the following result :

President, Samuel Tart; Vice-President, John Todhunter; Secretary, George L. Bestor; Treasurer. Lewis Howell.

Samuel Tart, E. F. Nowland, John A. McCoy, and John Todhunter, of Peoria, and John W. Caldwell, of Tazewell, were appointed as a committee to look after the sick among the Old Settlers, with power to relieve their necessities, where necessities ex- isted.

The gathering then dispersed.

ELEVENTH ANNUAL REUNION.

The last annual meeting of the Old Fathers and Mothers of Peoria county was held at Spring Hill Park, on the sixth day of September, 1878, Samuel Tart presiding. "The attendance," said the National Democrat, of the 7th, " was not as large as it should have been, not more than four hundred persons being present." Dr. George A. Wilson de- livered the regular address, which was principally devoted to historical reminiscences of Peoria county. He did not claim to be the oldest settler, although that was not his fault. He was born in 1840, which was as early as he could settle anywhere. He spoke of the early explorations of Marquette, LaSalle and Hennepin between the years 1673 and 1680. " The first houses were built in Peoria in 1778 and 1779, and numbered, in 1779, about twenty-five. In 1780 Peoria first took its name from a tribe of Indians, the Peorins. In 1812 the French village was destroyed by order of Capt. Craig. Fort Clark was built by soldiers in 1813, and destroyed by Indians in 1819." The speaker then gave the names of the settlers who came here in 1819, also the settlers of 1822.

In 1824, Jacob Wilson, father of the speaker, Jesse Walker, John Stark, and others, and year by year down to 1836. He then referred to the early history of Peoria county, the first persons elected to office, the organization of the city government, etc., and closed with a happy tribute to the pioneers and early settlers, whose enterprise laid the founda- tions of the county and city's present prosperity.

Doctor Boal, Hon. Washington Cockle, Dr. C. A. Roberts, of Pekin, and William Blanchard, also made short addresses. Miss Lou Deane, in a natural and effective man- ner, read Carleton's poem, " Nancy and I are Out," which was enthusiastically applauded. Letters were also read from Governor Cullom and Secretary of State George H. Harlow,

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expressing regret at not being able to attend ; also, from Aquilla J. Davis and J. M. A Miller.

Samuel Tart was re-elected president; John Todhunter vice-president ; Lewis Howell treasurer ; and George I .. Bestor secretary.

Geo. L. Bestor, secretary, being called suddenly away from earth in January of 1879, and President Tart being temporarily resident in Chicago, the vice-president, John Tod- hunter, and secretary pro tem., G. W. H. Gilbert, and other members of the society, con- ferred as to the annual meeting and election of officers, and coneluded to pass it over. in the hope that ere another Autumn the honored president would be returned to this city and his place in the Society.

One by one the old heroes and heroines are passing away. At each of their reunions there have been fewer hands to clasp, and the bending forms and hoary heads of those who are still spared, tell plainer than words can do, that soon, very soon, not one of them will be left to tell the story of the struggles and triumphs incident to the settlement of the country of the Peorias, Kickapoos and Pottawatomies.

CHAPTER XVI.

PEORIA CITY.

Near the lower end of the expansion of the Illinois river denominated Lake Peoria. and on its north-western margin, midway between the two great cities of the West, in latitude 40°40' north and longitude 12°40' west from Washington, upon a sandy plateau. nestles the beautiful, thrifty eity of Peoria. Were a person to ascend to the brow of the bluff three-fourths of a mile back from the margin of the lake and there leisurely survey the magnificent landscape spread out before him : the busy city four or five miles in length. with its broad avenues. lined by superb business blocks or palatial private dwell- ings, nestling at its feet, semi-girdled beyond by Lake Peoria and the Illinois river - a great silver mirror, upon whose surface the sunbeams dance in joyous glee -; the many miles of fertile valley skirting their borders ; and in the distance the variegated declivi- ties of the bluff - the frame to the picture ; and in addition to this inspiring spectacle the beholder contemplates the practical advantages of natural drainages of this gently sloping gravelly platean ; and the further grand fact that the country within a radius of a hundred miles of Peoria is probably unequaled by a like area in the world for product- iveness, he at once recognizes a Divine handiwork in shaping this as n site for a great commercial metropolis. The observer is not surprise that the Indians selected it as their favorite camping ground, nor that those heroic French explorers, Father P. Marquette, M. Joliet, Father Hennepin, and M. De LaSalle, fell in love with this charming spot and resolved to plant the first seeds of civilization here more than two hundred years ago.

The site upon which the most populous portion of the city of Peoria is built rises from the lake and river bank with a gradual slope to the height of 83 feet at the base of the bluff above the low water horizon ; and varies in width from less than three-fourths of a mile at the upper end of the city to a mile and a half at the lower end. The bluffs rise from a hundred to a hundred and twenty feet above the plateau. On the top of the bluffs are situated numerous princely residences, surrounded by ample and richly deco- rated grounds, commanding a view of many miles of the city, lake, river and valley be- low. Farther back also rise church edifices and imposing school buildings, among which

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are interspersed dwellings and business houses, constituting a city of several thousand inhabitants on the highlands. The country beyond presents a gently undulating surface of fertile prairie and woodland, which is converted into finely improved farms of rare productiveness. About four miles up the lake from the Court-house is Prospect Hill, which rises nearly a thousand feet above the lake, and from its summit is presented one of the most extended and charming landscape views in the West. The upper end of Lake Peoria, some fifteen miles away, is plainly visible, as are the city of Chillicothe still beyond and the villages of Rome and Mossville along its border. When the atmosphere is very clear the city of Lacon, on the opposite shore of the river, twenty-five miles dis- tant, can be seen. In 1850 a hotel costing $5,000 was erected there, covering an area of 53x76 feet, containing a fine ball room and other attractions for visitors. It was called Prospect Hill Pavillion, and was kept by Mason Gass. It was destroyed by fire some years ago, and was never rebuilt.

Lake Peoria is simply an expansion of the Illinois river, about 20 miles long and varying in width from a half a mile to a mile and a half in common stage of water. At the narrows, three miles above the city, the river is compressed into its usual width of channel, thus virtually dividing the lake into two. The lake formerly abounded with a variety of water fowls, such as swans, white and blue cranes, wild geese, dueks and brants ; and fish in great quantities and variety inhabited its waters. But now the wild fowls are greatly reduced in number, and fish are not nearly so plentiful as of yore.

The early history of the city of Peoria is really the history of the county, as the first settlement and the only improvements made within the present boundaries of the county for many years was on the ground now occupied by the city. Hence the import- ant facts and incidents connected with the first exploration, the establishment of the French colony, the building and destruction of the several forts in the vicinity, and the settlement of the village of Fort Clark by native Americans in the early part of the present century have all been previously narrated as an essential part of the county history ; and will only be briefly alluded to here, as links in the chain, otherwise discon- nected.

The first white men known to have set foot on the site of Peoria were Father James Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary, and Louis Joliet, a native of Quebec, from which eity they started in the Spring of 1673 accompanied with five Canadian assistants, on an exploring expedition, under the authority and in behalf of the French Government. Going across by the way of the Wisconsin river to the Mississippi, they followed down the " Great River" in their canoes. When nearly opposite to Peoria, they landed one day, and seeing the tracks of men upon the sand, which led off across a meadow-prairie- Marquette and Joliet instructed their comrades to remain with the canoes, and they re- solved to follow the path to see where it led. Marquette says in his memoranda of the expedition, that they traveled about " ten leagues from thence when they came to a vii- lage on the bank of the river and two other villages on a hill a half a league from the former." This was on Sunday, the 25th day of June 1673. They spent Sunday and part of Monday with the Peorias, a branch of the Illini Confederacy, and then pur- sued their journey, promising to return at the end of four moons. After deseending the Mississippi to the mouth of the Arkansas, and thus satisfying themselves that it emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, they returned to the mouth of the Illinois and ascended to the village of the Peorias, where they arrived about the first of August, and after remaining some time, during which Father Marquette preached to them, the company continued their journey, arriving at Green Bay in September.

The next white adventurers to visit Peoria were Robert de LaSalle, Father Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan monk, and Chevalier de Tonti, the historian of the expedition, who with some thirty companions, left Quebec about the middle of the Summer of 1679, and

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passing down the line of the present canal, landed their nine canoes near where the bridge now spans the Illinois river, on Tuesday, January 1, 1680. They were hospitably received at first. but after a few days discontent began to be manifest among LaSalle's men, and some contention arose with Indians, and fearing trouble, he crossed over the river where they erected Fort Crevecirur - broken heart - at the base of the bluff between two and three miles east of the present city, where the old foundations were explored and measured in 1845 or 1849 by S. De Wit Drower and several other gentlemen. Before the fort was fairly completed LaSalle returned to Canada, leaving Father Hennepin and a portion of his men in charge of it. A few months later it was abandoned entirely by the French and only served as a halting point for subsequent expeditions while it re- mained.

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The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc., Part 72

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company Number of Pages: 932

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company
Number of Pages: 932