USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > The History of Stephenson County, Illinois : containing biographical sketches war record statistics portraits of early settlers history of the Northwest, history of Illinois, &c. > Part 24
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After this time the Indians were no longer factors in the county. Accord- ing to the statement contained in a publication of the times, "Tradition still points to a place near the foot of Stephenson street where Winnesheik, after vainly resisting the power of the white people until hope had perished, and being hemmed in by hostile pursuers, leaped into the swollen Pecatonica and swimming to the opposite shore escaped from his enemies, never to return." In this instance tradition is not to be relied upon for the facts, for " Coming Thunder " did return, after many days, and beheld with astonishment the advances made by the white race in the domain over which himself and his race once exercised exclusive control. During one of his visits to Freeport, a daughter of Mrs. Oscar Taylor who had been named " Winnesheik," in compli- ment to the old chief, was presented to him. But he failed to appreciate the distinguished honor conferred, and expressed his disgust in words of unintelli- gible patois, accompanied by contemptuous shrugs of his shoulders.
Among those who are noted as having settled in Stephenson County during the year William Baker, Benjamin Goddard, Levi Robey and others are remembered with feelings of pleasure by those of their neighbors still living, as also by the thousand and one prominent citizens who have grown up with the county, or come into and become part of it since it was incorporated, and assumed a front place in the northern tier of Illinois counties. As already mentioned, Baker came into the county proper at a day long since recorded among the events that have been, and remained only a sufficient length of time to establish his claim, when he returned to his family. In December, 1835, accompanied by his son Frederick, who still lives a citizen of Freeport, and others, he re-visited his claim and so directed his campaign in the wilderness that the present flourishing city of Freeport was the result. They were men,
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it is said, of wonderful inventive genius, possessed of much of that nature which makes the whole world kin, persons of infinite wit and endless resource. They possessed the happy faculty of so adapting themselves to circumstance, as that they were not only always in a good humor themselves, but prevailed against afflictions in others, and resolved gloom into sunshine. They were men of unbounded hospitality, impulsive, of quick sensibilities and warm sympathies, and so constituted that without the presence of men of their kind, the world would be less humane, and new settlements less advanced with the departure of each season. Baker has left the city of Freeport. and the remainder of the county as monuments for posterity to learn of them, and their multitude of friends throughout the great West recall their lives with smiles of pleasure when reflecting upon the many cheerful hours they have passed in their company.
During the balance of the year 1835, there was nothing of interest occur- ring which can be ascertained, either effected a change in the situation as already described, or proposed a different outlook for the future. Those who had come in during the year, with others. doubtless, whose names have not been preserved, extended the settlements to various parts of the county, where claims were perfected by possession and occupation, and their improvement settled down to. There were no amusements in those days, as one of the old settlers remarked upon being interrogated on that subject. "Why, bless you man, we worked ; and when we finished the chores at night," he continued, " we were ready to smoke and go to bed." Their amusements were such as aided them in preparing amusements for the future. Up with the dawn, whence they labored constantly, with a brief intermission at noon for lunch, until sunset ; they indeed earned their bread in the sweat of their brows, and sank down to rest at nightfall with the consciousness that some headway had been made by them on the great highway of life, and that if fortune refused to smile upon their efforts, she would not embargo their advance.
As with amusements, so it was with schools and churches. The absence of the former was duplicated in the latter respect. There were none of either. The schoolmaster was not abroad in Stephenson County that year, and beyond the solitary circuit rider, who came at long intervals, if he came at all in the days of this period, there was no representative of the Church to be seen or heard of. And, if the truth be told, as [conservators of morals, there was no , call for their presence. The settlers had no spare time to listen to the charm- ings of Satan, and, if they had, they were so distant removed from the base of supplies that no mischief could have been provided for idle hands to do. From these alleged facts, it would seem that nothing remained for them but the development of the country and the providing of homes for days when age could not supply the deficiencies of youth, and the promise of yesterday remained unfulfilled. Such was the case without exaggeration ; they knew no avoidance of duty, sought no means that would aid them in violating their obligations, but toiled on and persevered in the path of duty until the dawn of perfect days, and the triumph of mind over matter enabled them to rest from their labors and partake of that reward reserved for those who "drag up drowned honor from the locks."
The winter of 1835 was, according to general report, as inhospitable and cheerless as the spring previous had been "childlike and bland." Breaking the prairie was continued until late in the fall, when the frost congealed earth's moisture so effectually as to forbid the husbandman from further labors in that behalf. Their efforts were then transferred to the timber,
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and through the eager and nipping air of December trees were felled and timber hewn for houses, stables, mills and other conveniences requiring time and material to provide. There were no mills in the county at the date men- tioned, and, when meal or flour was required, a lengthy and fatiguing trip was necessary before either could be obtained. No supplies of this or a kindred character could be obtained nearer than Galena, Dixon, Peoria and other distant points. In the straits these circumstances placed the settlers, occasion- ally they improvised mills and inaugurated schemes that materially aided in relieving their immediate necessities. When they were at a loss for meal or flour, yet possessed the grain to grind, the settler would cut down a large oak tree, smooth off the stump and build a fire in the center to burn out the heart of the wood. When the interior was sufficiently charred, the part thus rendered easy to chop was chopped out with an axe until a rude mortar, capable of containing a peck or more of corn, was provided. When these preparations were concluded, the self-constituted miller would rig up a sweep, similar, in some respects, if not in power and dimensions, to the old-fashioned well-sweep, in one end of which he drove an iron wedge, and, using this as a pestle, he pounded the corn. When it was reduced to the consistency of the coarsest quality of meal, he would toss the product up and winnow it with his breath, after which it was ready for use, and the corn-dodgers mixed therefrom and baked in the ashes are said to have been sweeter than the honey of Hymettus.
Although the acreage of timber was in some places nearly equal to the area of prairie, the former was, as a rule, employed only in the building of cabins wherein to reside. If the settler had a drove of cattle or hogs, and there were those who did boast such possessions, they were allowed to range at will without protection from the elements. In some instances, however, the farmer secured comfortables stables, built of sods, which were to be obtained in every furrow of the virgin prairie turned up. And these, it is said, formed better bricks than the Hebrews could have furnished Pharaoh before he denied them straw. Out of this prairie quarry the laborer was enabled to obtain sufficient sod to com- plete an outhouse large enough to accommodate his horse and cow, when the bleak winds of November chilled them to the marrow, and materially interfered with their usefulness and capacity to sustain burdens.
One peculiar feature of life here in those days was the entire absence of homesickness among the settlers. Inquiries in that direction failed to elicit any response tending to prove the existence of this much dreaded malady in the settlement. On the contrary, all were full of heart and hope, assured of becoming lords of the land and looking forward to a day when this assurance should be made doubly sure by possession. But the absence of the complaint suggested was doubtless due to the same causes which denied them amusements and other privileges mentioned. In addition to these, it might be stated that in temporal affairs the settlers were as innocent of that which distracted the brain of those nearer the centers of trade, as was Evangeline's father of the wiles of the world. Politics then caused them no concern ; there were no office- holders or office-seekers, and the poetry and pleasure of their lives was undis- turbed by promises from the former, or appeals from the latter, until long after civil government was established. Yet, notwithstanding the many advantages and privileges vouchsafed them, there were no markets for the surplus harvests raised, if such there should be, and little to mitigate the severity of disease or secure its prevention or cure. A writer of the times details that " they led happy lives, satisfied that they would live and die on their own estate. When the land should come into market, they would obtain title thereto and own it from the
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surface to the stars, and from their cabin floors all the way down to the center of the globe." These claims, which have been referred to so frequently, was the "unwritten law of the settlers themselves." It guaranteed possession to him who first picked out a spot as his own and " blazed" a tree around it, or marked it with a furrow in the sod through the prairie. To this he had an undoubted right, an indisputable "claim " against all comers, save the Govern- ment, whence he expected to buy when the lands were offered for sale in the market. They were generally 640 acres, and occasionally included much more, while some speculators, assuming to be settlers, were disposed to claim the country around for the purpose of holding the same and disposing of it at advanced rates to those who came after them. But they did not always succeed in the ungenerous undertakings, and were almost invariably left in the vocatire. When the sales of land were made at Dixon, in 1843, the contest between pur- chasers thereat and those who held possession under this "unwritten law " were numerous and prolonged. Not unfrequentiy harsh measures were deemed necessary to quiet title, and the claim societies organized years before in antici- pation of these difficulties, to express it in the language of one of their mem- bers, "had their hands full." But time at last, which sets all things even, dissipated the bickerings born of these events, and the legal claimants were, as a general rule, protected in their rights.
The year 1836 was characterized by a still larger immigration than that of either of the preceding years. According to the opinions of many who were on the ground and competent to judge, the history of the county properly commences with that annual Those who had become members of the body politic by residence and improvement, sent back to the homes whence they came glowing accounts of this beautiful land, with her broad, billowy prairies, replete with buds and blossoms, with her wooded fastnesses, in which the deer and smaller game roamed at pleasure; of the water-power that her streams would afford, and many other items of interest, which conspired to render the country not only fascinating to the traveler, but productive under the horny hand of toil. Why remain at the East, circumscribed in their possessions, when they could obtain domains of unlimited extent and fertility by joining fortunes with those already here, was asked of those at home who had been vouchsafed a "New Dispensation " in Illinois. The descriptions sent thither, and the queries propounded, produced their natural results. They induced reflection and a comparison of advantages enjoyed at home with those that could be secured in other fields. These reflections begat a feeling of discontent and unhappiness in the breasts of the toilers by whom they were indulged, and this discontent and unhappiness culminated in their decision to "pull up stakes " and find in the West, if not the Fountain of Youth, the rock of end- less resources, which needed only to be smote that abundant streams of reve- nue might gush forth. Adopting the language of one who has discoursed most eloquently on the subject, "The spring of 1836 witnessed an unprecedented flow of immigration from all quarters into the county. Farms were opened, cabins built, blacksmith and other shops improvised ; beside the stumps of trees men began to talk and plan for the future, women made calls and visits, and submitted to all the trials, privations and hardships of their frontier life with a heroism and faith that cheered the hearts and nerved the arms of the sterner sex in many a season of gloom and despondency."
Among those who settled in the county this year was a young man who, by the force of his real merit, indomitable energy and personal character, elevated himself to one of the most prominent and honorable positions within the power
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of the people to confer. Beginning life amid discouraging surroundings, restrained from choice in the adoption of a pursuit by the iron hand of penury, Thomas J. Turner found his way into Stephenson County in May, 1836, and, having made a claim in the eastern part thereof, erected a mill near Farwell's ferry on the Pecatonica, at the mouth of Rock Run, where he began the battle of life with none of the auxiliaries that attend modern youth in their wrestles with fate. In company with Julius Smith and B. Thatcher, he built a cabin for his protection, and, when not occupied in discharging his duties at the mill, was storing his mind with knowledge that laid the foundation for future eminence on the hustings, at the bar, and in the councils of the nation. Pro- visions at the time spoken of were scarce, and for several days, as he subsequently stated, himself and his companions had nothing whatever but boiled corn to eat. Not relishing this unpalatable edible, however, as a steady diet, he started for Galena in order that he might supply the larder with corn that had been eaten up. About dark on the first day of his journeying, he reached a cabin on the opposite side of the Pecatonica, and announced his presence by repeated hallooings. After a season a lad manned a canoe, and ferried him across the river, where he was introduced into the cabin of Mr. William Baker. The head of the house was absent, as he learned upon inquiry, having gone to Peoria for a stock of supplies, but he received a hospitable welcome from the lady of the house and her houseful of children. After an exchange of compliments, he asked for food and the good woman said he should have some, but all she had to offer were two small "corndodgers " and the remains of a catfish. The visitor was nearly famished, he had even gone without his usual meal of boiled corn, but he refused to take the scanty supply in the house and declined her ten- der, after properly acknowledging its proffer. She insisted, and assured him that her husband would return in time to prevent them from starving, besides the boys had got the line out and would have another catfish before morning. He retired to sleep with an exalted opinion of frontier hospitality, and during the night his slumbers were disturbed by the barking of dogs and an unusual commotion out of doors. Upon rising to investigate, he ascertained that the disturbance arose by reason of the return of Mr. Baker, accom- panied by an abundant store of provisions, upon part of which he feasted in the morning, and continued his trip to Galena. Here he obtained work, and pro- curing a stock of supplies, he returned to his claim in the county, to meet and dispose of new embarassments, endure other hardships and privations, until he amassed sufficient means to enable him to live without the constant apprehen- sion of want uppermost in his mind.
His was not a remote instance of the privations that were suffered by the early settlers of Stephenson County. to be recurred to in after years when the struggle, the strife, the pain, the turmoil of life were nearly over, as experiences that were gained in adversity to be handed down to their children when the tale is told, is finished and ended. As these facts are recited, there are many whose lives were duplicates of that led by Col. Turner, who survive him, and can attest their truth; there be many too upon whose lips the seal of death has been set. No word can reach the ears of these dead sleepers, but departing they have left behind them the stories of lives that shall be told and oft repeated in the "evening tent," by the household hearth, and wherever the memory of the brave and true is venerated and revered.
This scarcity of provisions mentioned as existing as late as 1836, is in part accounted for by the fact that the area of cultivation was not measurably increased by that time. There were no roads, no bridges and few ferries, and the means
.
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
of communicating with points at which supplies could be obtained were exceedingly meager. Three saw-mills had been commenced-one at Winslow by Thomas Lott, the second on Yellow Creek by William Kirkpatrick, and Turner's Mill at the mouth of Rock Run, but none of them were completed until late in the season. There were no grist-mills north of the Illinois River ; during the year William Kirkpatrick erected a corn cracking machine on Yellow Creek, which was also used as a grist-mill, but it was a poor substitute, and was employed to crack wheat as well as corn. The houses were nearly all built of logs, and as the settler was unable to build his cabin single-handed, "raisings" were cheerfully assisted at by neighbors for miles around.
In this year a "claim meeting" was organized, being among the first of the kind in the county. Its object was to defend each member in the possession of his respective claim. The officers consisted of a President, Secretary and Board of Directors. If the claim of any member was encroached upon the party suffer- ing was to notify the officers, who were authorized to make an investigation ; if it be found that the cause of complaint is just, the trespasser was to be warned to abandon the claim within five days. If he remained delinquent at the expiration of that period he was to be "carefully removed with his effects from the premises." These were the chief provisions of the constitution as adopted, supplemented by a general understanding that two sections, two miles square, should constitute the extreme limit that heads of families might " claim."
The previous year, William Baker had erected an "Indian trading post " at the mouth of the creek which now empties into Pecatonica River within the limits of Freeport, thus practically beginning the building of that city. In the following year, he built a house in the future city, of hewn logs, the first pre- tentious establishment in Stephenson County, as also the first hotel in the section. Soon after, the town was laid out, and a company formed for the sale of lots, composed of Mr. Baker, William Kirkpatrick and W. T. Galbraith. A limited emigration drifted hither during the year, including L. O. Crocker, O. H. Wright, Joel Dodds, Jacob Goodheart, Hiram G. Eads, John Hinkle, James Burns, Robert Smith, Benjamin R. Wilmot, John Brown and others. The improvements made elsewhere in the county were meager, though in Freeport a comparative number of houses went up under the direction of the company and those who came there as a result of their labors. Ransomburg was still in existence and, with Freeport, made up the sum total of settlements that bore the appearance of villages in the county.
The remainder of the vast territory was, when occupied, devoted to farming purposes, with all that the term implies, and though agriculture had just com- menced to be a factor in the new country, it was attended with abundant returns. The exact number who settled in Stephenson County that year cannot be deter- mined with any degree of accuracy. Their name was not legion, however, as they can almost be counted without an extended knowledge of mathematics. Har- mony existed between them in all the departments of life that became the outgrowth of their coming. No bickerings disturbed the friendly relations which existed ; a commendable absence of disorder was apparent, all combined their best efforts to bring order out of chaos and redeem the country from unproductiveness, or the production that benefited no man. And this was as it should be. The advance of civilization in the world, as illustrated in the origin and consolidation of empires, monarchies and republics, from the days of Romulus and Remus to the present, is measured by the limits of public tran- quility, during which nations gain their highest elevation, weakening and
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lamentable antagonisms and international strifes causing them to sink below the level of obscurity.
In addition to those already cited as having settled in the vicinity of Free- port, the following persons, some of them with their families, came in and made claims at different points in the county : Pells Manny, Alfred and San- ford Giddings, Washington Perkey, "Widow " Swanson and family, Thomas Flynn, E. Mullarkey, Henry Hulse, M. Welsh. William and Leonard Lee, Nathan Blackamore, Aaron Baker, Jehu Pile, Ira Job, Daniel Holly, Lydia Wait and family, Thomas Hawkins, John Boyington, N. Phillips, John Lobdell, L. M. and Jeremiah Grigsby, Barney Stowell, a man named Velie, Nicholas Marcellus, John Dennison, W. P. Bankson, M. D., the first physician to settle in the county, Harmon Coggeshall, James Macomber, Alonzo Denio, Duke Chilton, William Kirkpatrick, Gilbert Osborn, A. J. Niles, Sanford Niles, Sawyer Forbes, Daniel Wooten, John Reed, E. H. D. Sanborn, the Ostranders, Garrett Lloyd, Asa Nichols, Lorenzo Lee, Madison Carnefex, Phillip Fowler, D. W. C. Mallory, Joseph Norris, Thomas Hathaway, with his mother-in-law, a Mrs. Brown, James Shinkle, and perhaps two or three others whose names not having been preserved are unintentionally omitted.
From this record it will be seen that the population of the county, owing to the attractions held out per se, as also to the favorable reports which had been carried back East by the videttes of the army of civilization which afterwards followed and took possession, was materially augmented.
The winter of 1836-37 was a repetition of that of 1834-35. The cold was intense, and its severity to-day is quoted as one among the wonderful mys- teries of nature revealed at long intervals to the curious, if not entirely grate- ful human family. There was, as a result, very little done in the way of build- ing, or improving the land. A happy-go-lucky sort of a life was led, as most of the settlers had become comparatively comfortable, and remaining generally in their cabins, took scarcely any thought of the morrow, content to wait until the icy fetters of winter were permanently severed before arranging for future campaigns. During the fall, lands to a large amount were entered in the State of Illinois, of which a reasonable proportion was located in Stephenson County. From this, it was not unreasonable to conclude that an extraordinary tide of emigration would set in with the spring of 1837. This fired the ideas of farmers and business men with the hope of attaining fortunes suddenly, and caused almost unlimited investments ; to prevent them from becoming a drug upon the hands of purchasers, as also to invite immigration to the State, a system of internal improvements was formulated, based on the faith and credit of the State. A bill providing for the construction of railroads, the building of canals and improvement of rivers was adopted by the Legislature, and great results were expected. But these expectations were never realized. The internal improvement system collapsed entirely almost before it had been tested, the suspension of banks became frequent and hard times obtained wherever two or three had gathered together in one place. The effect of this in the State was to retard immigration for a brief period, and although Stephenson County escaped its direct effects, there is no doubt but that its growth and development was temporarily checked. Merchandising during this period was made up of the retailing of a few groceries and necessaries, and the money received, where the trade was not a barter, was sent abroad for the payment of goods, which drained the country of anything like a sufficient currency and added to the inconveniences experienced, as also aggravated the panic of that year. This calamity, however, was not felt to any appreciable extent in Stephenson
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