USA > Illinois > Woodford County > The Past and present of Woodford County, Illinois : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c.; a directory of its tax-payers; war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics etc > Part 25
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
care of the sick man, and called in Dr. Hazard, an old fogy kind of a doctor, about as drunk as himself. The Doctor put on an appearance of owl-like wis- dom, shook his head and alemed, to imply that the case was a critical one. Cabe could not endure the suspense, but impatiently inquired : " Doctor what is the matter with him ?" The Doctor scratching his head, and looking wise, solemnly replied : " He has got nondescript." "My God! " said Cabe, " if he has got nondescript, he will die."
Robert T. Cassell was born in Lexington, Ky., and came to Jacksonville, Ill., in 1830, where he lived until the Fall of 1838, when the death of his father, who owned considerable land in this vicinity, caused him to remove to Metamora Township. There was no village here then ; Hanover had not yet risen out of the prairie grass. Mr. Cassell first occupied a little house on the corner where Plank's law office now stands, and afterward became memorable as the house in which the first session of Court was held after the removal of the seat of justice faom Versailles to Hanover. Nor were there any settlements on the prairie. Far as the eye could reach, away over the boundless plains, not a cabin broke the dreary monotony of the scene, not a tree met the vision, except the forests which bound the prairies as the beach limits the sea. When Mr. Cassell made the remark, one day, that in fifty years those broad prairies would be flourishing farms, the very idea, he states, was ridiculed, and he pronounced a lunatic for suggesting such impossibilities. Ere half of the fifty years had passed, it was one long lane from Metamora to El Paso, with fine, productive farms on either side.
Another of the Kentucky delegation was William H. Delph, who is still living in the village of Metamora, but growing old and slowly tottering down the wintry slope of life. He came to Illinois in 1830, and stopped first at Jack- sonville, where he remained some years. Being a practical engineer, he was a man of much importance and value in the new country, and was the first rail- road engineer to move a train of cars in the State. The road was Illinois' first effort in that direction, and extended from Jacksonville to Meredosia on the Illinois River. It was called the Great Western Railroad, and this high-sound- ing name was adopted, perhaps, in consideration of the magnitude of the enter- prise of that day. The propelling engine was like almost anything the imagi- nation can conceive of, except the perfect locomotive now in use. It would some- times break down or give out, and the train be detained on the road several days, until it was finally thrown aside as a failure, and mules substituted in its place. Mr. Delph's description of this unique railroad and its equipments is highly entertaining, but they are matters of State history, and we leave them with this passing notice. Mr. Delph was induced to come to Woodford County to take the position of engineer of a steam saw-mill, built by the Parks Brothers for the Hanover Company. He finally bought the mill and operated it for about three years, when he sold the machinery to a firm in Peoria. The machinery, it is said, was sufficiently powerful for the largest steamboats on the Western
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rivers, and took more wood to operate it than to run the heaviest vessel. All the slabs from saw-logs were used as fuel, with an extra cord of wood thrown in daily to keep the old thing going. Mr. Delph served as Postmaster of Meta- mora for sixteen years, receiving the appointment from President Lincoln and resigning the position upon the inauguration of Mr. Hayes. His daughter, Mrs. Mary E. Gaynor, is at present Postmistress.
Joseph Wilkerson settled first in Jennings County, Indiana, but after some years came to Illinois, first settling at Panther Creek. About 1834-5, he removed to Metamora Township, where he bought a claim and settled perma- nently. He was a brother-in-law of the Meekses of Walnut Grove settlement, and a man of sterling worth, energy and industry. He died in this neighbor- hood several years ago, but his widow is still living and enjoying good health for one of hier years.
Jesse Dale came to Illinois at an early day. He first settled at Spring Bay about 1829, but a few years after came to this township. Little is remembered of him, further than that he served for a time as Treasurer of the county, and faithfully discharged the duty. It is related of him that he used to bury the funds of the County for safe keeping in the ground, and that upon one occasion he buried them so deep that he had a long and exciting search before he himself could find them.
From the State that gave us our first President came the Reeder family. Jacob Reeder, Sr., was from Louden County, Va., and came West with his father's family in 1791, then but four years old. They first located in Ohio, near the old town of Chillicothe, when all the Western country was included in the Territory of the Northwest. They remained there but a short time, then removed to a place called Crawfish, near the present site of Cincinnati, which was then an unbroken wilderness. His brother built the first frame house in the Queen City.
In 1836, Jacob Reeder came to Illinois, and settled in Lacon, then called Columbia, where he remained about one year, when he removed to the present county of Woodford, and settled near the town of Washburn. He removed into Metamora Township in 1847, where he died June 11, 1876.
The following extract from a journal kept by Mr. Reeder, and in possession of his son Jacob Reeder, Jr., will be read with interest by his surviving rela- tives and numerous friends in this section :
" My father removed to Ohio, in the Fall of 1791, which was the Fall of St. Clair's defeat by the Indians, on the 3d of November, 1791. My brother, Nathaniel, volunteered with about 170 militia, partly from Kentucky, under Maj. Gano, and as many of the regulars as could be spared, the whole under the command of Col. Wilkinson, went out to the battle ground and buried the dead, amounting to 593, at least one-third of the army. They found them mostly just as they fell, and having buried them, returned to Cincinnati with- out being molested or seeing an Indian. From that time until 1793, the Indi-
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
ans had almost full liberty to do all the mischief to the inhabitants they chose. Many of them were killed, others wounded; men, women and children taken prisoners, their horses stolen, their cattle killed. The men were almost con- tinually under arms. When they went out to work, their guns were their com- panions. In cultivating their crops they did it in companies-one standing sentinel while the others worked ; and if a man went to church without his gun he forfeited one dollar in fine."
This journal was commenced with the intention of embracing the principal . events of his whole life, and he was writing it from memory, * but death came and he was forced to lay by his pen before he had completed the task.
The old Quaker State of William Penn furnished the township with James Boys, the first Postmaster, and that pattern of old fidelity, Judge Samuel J. Crass, who came to Bloomington in 1839, and was appointed Deputy Clerk under Lew Cole, a position he held until the organization of Woodford County, in 1841, when he was appointed Circuit Clerk, by Hon. Samuel H. Treat, the presiding Judge of the District, and swore in the first set of officers of the new county. He held the office for twelve years, and was a member of the Consti- tutional Convention in 1847 : has held successively the office of Probate Judge, Justice of the Peace, Commissioner in Bankruptcy, Master in Chancery, and thus 1 leading man of the town until the infirmities of age came upon him and forced him to retire from active business life.
James Boys settled in this township in 1833, where he lived an honored and respected citizen until his death, July 24, 1856. He kept the post office of Black Partridge, at his own house, which was the first in the town and county.
THE YANKEES.
The first installment of Yankees came to Metamora Township in 1835, if we ex- cept the Sowardses. who elaimed New England origin. A kind of colony, consist- ing of John Page, Sr., his brother, Ebenezer Page, Nathaniel Wilson, John Mason, Stephen Dudley and their families, came from the granite hills of New Hamp- shire, and settled in the vicinity of Hanover, as this place was then called. The colony was made up by John Page, who had visited the Western country the previous Summer, and his report of the Great West, their confidence in his judgment and the influence he exerted, induced them to immigrate with him to this country. After a tedious journey of five weeks. in wagons by land for a considerable distance, then by canal and steamboat, they arrived in the settle- ment in July, 1835. At the time of their arrival, most of the settlers in this neighborhood were from Indiana and the States south of the Ohio River, and knew as little of the pure, unadulterated Yankee as they did of the Feejee Islanders. They, therefore, cherished the strongest prejudices, and looked upon them as a set of penurious, miserly people, whose grand aim was to get money, and to cling to it with deathlike tenacity after they had got it. But a back-
* He was said to possess a most remarkable memory.
John M page METAMORA
1
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
woods wilderness is not the place to indulge in hostile feelings and prejudices, and upon acquaintance being thoroughly established between them, the South- ern people, finding the New Englanders to be men like themselves, capable of as broad and charitable sentiments, with all their characteristic warmhearted- ness gave them the right hand of fellowship, and a bond of reciprocal affection was formed which still remains unbroken among their descendants.
This commingling of the two extremes of the country, however, sometimes gave rise to Indicrous scenes in the settlement. As we have said, the South- erners looked upon the Yankees as close, dishonest, selfish money getters, void of all the warmer feelings of human nature, while the latter viewed the South- ern people, or Hoosiers, as they were called by those from the North and East, as long, lank, lazy, ignorant animals, and hence cach were at first disposed to criticize the other when opportunity offered.
On one occasion, soon after their arrival, the Pages, or some of the families that came with them, were trying to wash their clothes, and, not being accus- tomed to the hard water of the West, or acquainted with the process of soften- ing it, were making slow headway. After laborious efforts, and without success in their work of laundrying, they finally sought advice of the "Hoosiers." " Yes," said one of the latter, " I seed yer didn't know nothing. Ef yer'd axed me, I'd telled yer all about it."
From little scenes like this, friendship soon sprang up between the two ele- ments. As an example of the causes of prejudice against Eastern people, a, Yankee clock peddler came through the settlement, and one of his tricks was the selling to an old German settler a clock, which had probably cost him $5.00 at wholesale, for a horse valued at $35 and $30 in cash. Such little episodes as this caused the people to look on all Yankees with suspicion.
Of this colony, Stephen Dudley was a man of wealth, but, his family being very much dissatisfied with the wild West, he returned in the Fall to New England. He made several trips afterward to the new settlement of his friends, and bought considerable lands here, John Page, Sr., acting as his agent. John Mason removed to Bureau County, where he died a few years ago. Na- thaniel Wilson died near Metamora, but his widow is still living, a vigorous old lady of 83 years. Ebenezer Page lived a respected citizen of the town for years, and then passed away to his reward.
The Pages-that proud old family of genuine New Englanders-trace their genealogy back to John Page, who was born in Dedham, England, in 1586, and came to America in 1630, with Gov. Winthrop. The branches of their gene- alogical tree are as follows :
The family of John Page, above mentioned, were John, Roger, Ebenezer, Robert and Samuel. The latter was born in 1633, and lived in Salisbury, Mass., and his family were Joseph and others. Joseph Page was born in 1667, and his children were John, Joseph, Mary and Judith. Of this family, John Page,* born June 17, 1696, married Mary Winslow, May 16, 1720, and their
* One of the proprietors of Gilmanton, N. H.
D
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
children consisted of Ebenezer, Samuel, Betsey, Moses and others. Moses Page, born September 3, 1726, lived in Gilmanton, N. H., and married Ju- dith French. Andrew Page, their son, was born July 30, 1751, and married Elizabeth, a daughter of John Page, of the town of Hawke, November 29, 1774. Their children were Anna, Andrew, Betsey, Hannah, Mary, Sarah, John, Moses, Benjamin, Samuel and Ebenezer. John Page, the getter-up of the colony already alluded to, was born October 28, 1787, in Gilmanton, N. II., and married Betsey Wilson, a daughter of Nathaniel Wilson, April 15, 1811. Their family consisted of Elizabeth True, John Wilson, Elvira, Andrew Nathaniel, Adino, Samuel True, Moses Penn, Thaddeus, Mary Malvina and Benjamin Edwin. The latter, the youngest of the family, and a man of much strength of character and of fine intelligence, after passing through the late war and participating in some of its severest battles, was killed in a slight skir- mish at Old Spanish Fort, March 28. 1865. John Page, Sr., or " Uncle Johnny " Page, as he was familiarly called, was of the Society of Friends or Quakers, and was one of nature's noblemen. He died in Metamora, October 1, 1855. His wife died December 16, 1872. Their children were all born in Gilmanton, N. H., and are all still living, except Elizabeth True, who died April 15, 1868; Mary Malvina, who died March 8, 1833, before the family left Gilmanton ; and Benjamin Edwin, as above noticed.
John Page was often forced into public offices, though his highest ambition seemed to be in deserving of the title of " honest farmer." He was sent twice to- the Legislature from his old district, in New Hampshire, and once from this Legislative district. It is related of him, that in his canvas here he was opposed by one Lynch, who had before served in the Legislature, and, from his always wearing a smile, had received the soubriquet of the "smiling member." Lynch, who was a fine speaker, had thought to lay the old Quaker in the shade by his fine speeches, which were more in the style of a Congressional candidate, or State Elector, than adapted to the humble office of State Representative. On one occasion, after indulging in his usual philippic, " Uncle Johnny " Page rose and commenced his reply. Looking at Lynch, he said, " I am a candidate for the Legislature; perhaps thee is running for Congress, from the way thee branches out."
Of this large family, none are now living in Metamora Township, except John W. and Adino Page, merchants and bankers of Metamora village, and their brother, Samuel True Page, and two or three of the children of other brothers, among whom we may mention Hon. S. S. Page, County Attorney, . and a young lawyer of much promise. Samuel True Page, a survivor of two wars, lives in the village of Metamora, in a quiet, unostentatious way. He was in the Mexican war, and took part in several of the hardest battles; was one of the soldiers who carried Gen. Shields off the field, when wounded at the battle of Cerro Gordo. He served in the late war, participating in many of the severe battles, and came out without a wound. John W. and Adino Page
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
have always been prominent men of the community, but have never aspired to any of the high offices of the land.
John W. Page was the first School Trustee of this township ; has held the office of School Commissioner of the County, School Director, until he would have the office no longer ; was the first Treasurer of the village corporation after its organization, twice held the office of Supervisor of the Township, and is at present School Treasurer and Treasurer of the Metamora Library. He was a soldier in the Mexican war, but was discharged, on account of ill health, before his term of service had expired. He built the first house within the present corporate limits of the village of Metamora, in 1835, when the place was still called Hanover, and before the village was laid out. This was the first frame honse in Metamora Township. This old relic is still standing, though, with some changes and additions, it has been turned into a stable.
Adino Page, who was but a boy when his father immigrated to the West, after attaining his majority, returned to New England, and, in 1843, went into the business of brick making, in Summerville, Mass. In 1847, having married and settled in his native town of Gilmanton, N. H., he was appointed Super- intendent of the Alms House, and, soon after, Superintendent of the Poor of Danvers, Mass., an office he held for about seventeen years. He was one of the Marshals of the Day at the reception of George Peabody in his native town of Danvers. In 1859, he returned to the West and to Metamora Township, where, for eight years, he had charge of the County Farm ; and the excellence of his system of management was highly approved by the authorities. For abont eighteen years he has been a Justice of the Peace; and for years past, his brother, John W. Page, and himself have been engaged as merchants and bankers.
George Ray and Dr. J. S. Whitmire were from the old Buckeye State. Mr. Ray came to Illinois in 1836, and after a spending a short time at Island Grove, between Springfield and Jacksonville, came to Woodford County and settled upon the place where he still lives, in December of that year. Being a young man and single, he made his home most of the time until 1840 a mile north of town, in the Banta neighborhood. He bought his present place from John Mason. The claim had a small log cabin on it, and a little patch of plowed ground, when purchased by him. Mr. Ray for a time engaged extensively in the cattle trade, buying np cattle and driving them north to supply the settlers in Wisconsin and that section of country, often driving for miles along the old Indian trails, sometimes through the dismal forests, and sometimes across the trackless and unbroken prairies, exposed to the war of the elements, the danger of wild beasts, and not unfrequently to his own kind. but little less savage than the wild beasts themselves. He mentioned to us a circumstance which happened to him once away up on the Kishwaukee, some fifty miles north of Ottawa. Returning after having disposed of a drove of cattle, he was forced to stay over night at the cabin of an old man of a rather bad reputation, and who had sev-
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
eral grown up sons with no better record than that of the father. They had been accused of many crimes of robbery, and even of murder. Parties had been traced to their cabin but never heard of more, and yet there was no posi- tive evidence against them. Mr. Ray was conducted to his apartment, after get- ting some supper, which was up in the "loft," and reached by a ladder. He slept but little during the night, and several times heard them start up the lad- der, when he would rise from his bed, and they would stop, warned by the noise that he was awake. Finally morning dawned and released him from his tor- ture. He arose and left the place without molestation. A few months later and the old man was killed for some of his alleged crimes. A company of men went to his cabin ostensibly to arrest him, but he refused to be taken. He attempted to escape ; the first platoon was ordered to fire on him, and he fell pierced by nine rifle balls. His sons escaped and were never more heard of in that section, and thus the den was broken up. Dr. Whitmire came to Illinois in 1846, and was one of the first regular, located physicians in the township. He is a man of fine intelligence, a physician of extensive knowledge and prac- tice, and has written some able articles for the medical journals of the day. He was a surgeon in the army during the late war.
Judge W. P. Brown is from New York, near the city of Utica. In 1833, he came to Pittsburgh on a raft, where it was stove; he then took a boat to Cin- cinnati, intending to go into the law school just opened at that time, but find- ing it of little consequence as an institution, he bought a law library pretty cheap, which he says he put in a "meal-bag," took boat to St. Louis, then came up the Illinois River to Pekin and from there went over to Jacksonville. His first acquaintance in the State of Illinois was Stephen A. Douglas, whom he met at Jacksonville. He was boarding at the "tavern" where Brown stopped, and, after dinner, invited him over to what he termed his office, a little sbanty 10x12 feet, without ceiling, and roughly weather-boarded. In the center stood a square table and upon it laid a copy of Illinois State Laws, which com- prised Douglas' library. A friendship was begun in that little unpretending law office, which continued until the death of "Little Dug," as the Judge affectionately terms him. Brown first settled in Bloomington, when there were but two stores and a half dozen houses in that city. He was elected Probate Judge, when the disposal of that office was vested in the Legislature, and was elected through the influence of Douglas, then a member of that august body. He was afterward elected by the people, and after removing to Woodford County was again elected to the office, and was also the first County Judge of Woodford. The Judge's excellent memory is well stored with the early history of the county, especially that pertaining to the law, and numerous anecdotes, in which Lincoln, Douglas, David Davis, Jones of Pekin, Gridley of Bloomington, and his old friend, Simon P. Shope, figured.
In 1837, a Democratic Convention was held at Vandalia, then the State capital, for the purpose of nominating a candidate for the office of Governor.
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
Hon. George Henshaw and Judge Brown were appointed Delegates from Bloom- ington, and went down on horseback. On the way, they fell in with Ex-Gov. Sample and a Judge Brown from the northern part of the State. perhaps from Galena, and bound, like themselves, to Vandalia, and also on horseback. Late in the day, their stomachs began to warn them that their usual dinner hour had long since passed. A council of war was held and Judge Brown, of Galena, was appointed a committee of one to make inquiries at the next house for something to eat. Accordingly the dignified old Judge rode up and asked for biscuit and coffee, in his polite and pleasant way, but was informed that they had noth- ing of the kind. He then asked for milk and corn bread, and received the reply that they had neither ; when he asked what they did have to eat, was in- formed " nothing," the Judge lost his good humor and impatiently retorted- " Well, for God Almighty's sake put us in the stable and give us some hay."
The holding of this convention was just after the inauguration of President Van Buren, and all were anxious to see his first message. Vandalia was on the mail route from Vincennes to St. Louis and a regular mail was carried on horseback between those places. Judge Brown went to the post office on the arrival of the mail from the East, and bought a newspaper containing the message, for which he paid a silver dollar. He took the paper back to Bloomington with him and had the President's Message there a weck before it came in the regular mail.
Amos A. Brown, another member of the Brown family. but no relation to the Judge, came from Connecticut. When but a boy, he ran away from home and went to sea, on account of the ill treatment of his stepmother. He followed the sea for many years and when he left it wandered West, and for several ycars followed the rivers, when they were infested with men little better than pirates. He settled in Woodford County, near Metamora, in 1835. He was made a Justice of the Peace. one of the first in the county, and was noted for his honest and upright decisions of justice. Of rough exterior, he knew how to mingle with any society of the backwoods-was at home on the race course or at the card table, but withal honest and honorable in his dealings In the evening of his life, he became an exemplary member of the Christian Church. Like Daniel Boone, he could not stand too much crowding, and. as the country settled up, became discontented, until finally, he
" Folded his tent like the Arab, And as silently stole away."
He removed to Iowa, where he died a few years ago. Judge Brown relates an instance of a suit he once had before him. A noted lawyer came out from Peoria to defend the case, and, although he had much the best side of it, the Judge, by some hocus pocus or sleight of hand performance with 'Squire Brown, the latter decided the case in favor of Brown's client, and against the Peoria lawyer. Very much surprised at the decision, the Peoria lawyer said, " Your Honor, I appeal this case from your decision." "Don't allow an appeal. '
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