USA > Illinois > McLean County > The good old times in McLean County, Illinois : containing two hundred and sixty-one sketches of old settlers, a complete historical sketch of the Black Hawk war and descriptions of all matters of interest relating to McLean County > Part 16
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The old settlers being liable to all the ills that flesh is heir to occasionally stood in need of the attentions of the doctor or the surgeon. They could get along very well so far as the doctor was concerned, but the surgeon's skill was not easily obtained. Mr. Rhodes' younger brother was so unfortunate as to break his leg, and old Jolin Dawson attended him and set the limb. The patient recovered, but his leg was always crooked.
The West was formerly subject to occasional whirlwinds and hurricanes, but it does not seem to have been visited by them of late years. A terrible hurricane passed through Bloom- ing Grove and tore down many forest trees. Still another passed through in 1859, and was strong enough to pick up a mule out of a pasture and carry it over two fences.
The Rhodes family tell some curious things of the memora- ble change in the weather, which occurred in December, 1836. After being warm and rainy it turned so suddenly cold that the geese and chickens froze fast in the slush of snow and water. When they became frozen fast, they squalled as they always do when caught. Mrs. Rhodes thawed them out with warm water. Some of the chickens had their bills frozen full of ice. When the sudden change took place and the wind came, the eattle ran bawling for the timber and were not seen again for three days.
Mr. Rhodes has been a thrifty farmer, but his trade was that of a chairmaker. He built the substantial dwelling where he now lives, with the assistance of his eldest son.
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Mr. Rhodes now feels the effects of age, though he enjoys a fair degree of health. He is about five feet and eleven inches in height. His hair was once dark, but is now sprinkled with gray. His eyes are dark, but have a mild, honest expression, and he is a kind-hearted, pleasant old gentleman.
Mr. Rhodes was married March 26, 1835, to Mathurza John- son. IIe has raised ten children, five boys and five girls, and of these nine are living.
WILLIAM HERRON HODGE.
In writing this work the author has had some difficulty in getting such items as he wished ; but whenever he made any in- quiry he was always directed " to Mr. Hodge." "Hodge knows all about it. He remembers everything." If the writer asked information of any one concerning the Indians, the reply was : "Oh, ask Hodge, he knows as much about them as if he was an Indian himself." This reputation which Mr. Hodge has ac- quired for knowledge of the early history of the country has been fully sustained, and many of the most interesting facts and incidents related in this work have been furnished by him.
William Herron Hodge was born January 4, 1794, on a farm near the town of Windworth, the county seat of Rockingham County, North Carolina. His father, Francis Hodge, came from English stock, and his mother, whose maiden name was Nancy Walker, was of Scotch-Irish descent. His ancestors came from England and settled in Pennsylvania, about the year 1700, and moved from there to North Carolina. From here, his father, Fran- cis Hodge, came to Tennessee in the year 1812. Young William received some slight education in North Carolina, but he after- wards took the matter in hand himself and became well enough advanced in his eighteenth year to teach school. He taught school in Tennessee and Kentucky, obtaining his scholars by the subscription system.
In 1820 he started for Illinois, where he arrived on the twen- tieth of February of that year. He settled first in Sangamon County, which he helped to organize. In 1824 he moved to Blooming Grove. Here he bought land quite extensively. At this time there were but twelve families in Blooming Grove and three at Randolph Grove. When the country was divided into
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counties, Vandalia became the county seat, one hundred and four miles south of the present city of Bloomington. But as the State grew in population, these enormous counties were sub- divided. Tazewell County was organized in 1827. Mr. Hodge assisted in its organization. McLean County was not organized until 1831, and in this organization Mr. Hodge also assisted. At that time he lived in a house situated in three counties. It was section ten, town twenty-three, range two east of the third principal meridian. Only four men are now living who were settlers in McLean County when it was organized in 1831. These are John H. S. Rhodes, Thomas Orendorff, John Ben- son and William HI. Hodge, whose sketch we are writing.
The settlers first took their produce to the Illinois River, where it was shipped to St. Louis and New Orleans. Mr. Hodge saw the first shanty built in Pekin, on the Illinois River, in 1825. It was put up by three citizens of Blooming Grove, namely, John Hendrix, James Latta and a man named Egman.
Mr. Hodge is particularly eloquent over the growth of Chi- cago. He says that when he first saw it in 1834, it contained about fifty families, and was scarcely a fly speck compared with the great metropolis of to-day. The people of Chicago were al- ways hopeful and sanguine of the coming greatness of their city, but it is doubtful whether any imagination has ever exceed- ed the reality. Ford, in his history of Illinois, reproves those who in early days had great expectations of Chicago, and said, while speaking of a certain man :. "Politicians estimate the value of such a man as the speculators estimated the value of Chicago lots in 1836. Chicago was then a village, but it was believed that it would soon be a city, which made lots sell for more than they are worth, now that it has become a city of fif- teen thousand inhabitants !" This was written in 1846 or '47.
Mr. Hodge remembers many interesting items about the weather ; indeed, he is a perfect weathercock. He remembers particularly the circumstances of the deep snow which came in the winter of 1830 and '31. During that terrible winter the first great snow-fall, on the twenty-ninth of December, covered the ground three feet deep with snow, and from that time until the thirteenth of February it snowed nineteen times. When the snow began to fall on the twenty-ninth of December, Mr. Hodge
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was fifty miles away from home, and it took him three days to return. The snow stopped nearly all communication between the settlers living at different groves, and people did not attempt to travel except in the most urgent cases. During this winter people suffered severely from want of food, and every old settler tells how he pounded corn in a pestle, or ground it in a coffee mill and made it into hominy. Mr. Hodge speaks of a man named Rock, who walked sixteen miles on the snow to get a bushel and a half of eorn, and carried the precious burden home on a hand sled. The winter was very severe for all animals, both wild and domestic. The cattle bore the severity of the weather better than the hogs, the latter in many instances freez- ing to death. Many deer and other wild animals died of cold and starvation. They were easily caught but were very poor. Mr. Rowen, of Old Town, managed the matter well ; he caught several deer and penned them up and fattened them on corn.
The season following the winter of the deep snow was a very late one, and frost came every month in the year. The crops were poor, as may well be supposed, and the corn did not ripen.
In June, 1826, four years before the year of the deep snow, the terrible wind storm occurred which passed through the south end of Blooming Grove eastward to Old Town. This terrible tornado swept down everything in its way; the trees were twisted off, and everything was leveled with the ground. At this time Mr. William Evans, of whose life we have written a sketch, had a crop of several acres of corn in Old Town. The hurricane passed over it and it was gone. But the old settlers were friends in need. Mr. Orendorff, whose place at Blooming Grove Mr. Evans had rented, gave the latter a patch of fron five to seven acres of corn, so that, notwithstanding his misfor- tune, Mr. Evans was again encouraged.
All the old settlers remember the sudden change in the weather which occurred on the fourteenth of December, 1836, when the weather had been very moderate, and suddenly be- came so cold that many animals were frozen to death. Mr. Ilodge says that the longest winter was that of 1842 and '43, when cold winter weather set in on the fourth of November, and lasted until the following April.
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Mr. Hodge was sheriff, collector and assessor of Tazewell County from 1827 to 1831, which makes him a pretty old office- holder. At that time and until 1838, the sheriff was obliged to collect the taxes.
Mr. Hodge married in the year 1814, and was blessed with a fine family of eight children, seven of whom are now living.
Mr. Hodge is a man of medium height. His eyes are keen and penetrating, and his appearance would indicate that in his younger days he must have been a good man of business. He is sharp enough yet, and a person must rise early in the morn- ing to take him in. While walking he uses a cane, as his right foot is crippled in consequence of a white swelling. His mem- ory is still very good-remarkably good for his age. His hair is white and his head is a little bald. IIe isa man of very agree- able and pleasant humor. Taken altogether he is a fine exam- ple of the honest, jolly, hard-working, humorous old settlers.
We are sure the reader will be glad to see the following from the pen of Mr. Hodge himself, as it tells the condition of things in early days, and also gives some idea of the character of Mr. Hodge :
" I came to Blooming Grove in 1824, and found sixteen fam- ilies within the present bounds of McLean County, all of us be- ing in very straightened circumstances as to money or property, and far from market and very little to sell. Springfield, the near- est place of business, was composed of about twenty what we now call shanties. The place was chosen as the temporary seat of justice of Sangamon County in 1821. I voted at the organi- zation of that county at the first election, which was held in February, 1821. I came to Sangamon County in February, 1820. During that year the first census of Illinois was taken, and the population numbered sixty-five thousand. When the first settlers came to the wilderness they all supposed that their hard struggle would be principally over after the first year; but alas ! we looked for 'easier times next year' for about ten years, and learned to bear hardships, privations and hard living as good soldiers do. As the facilities for making money were not great we lived pretty well satisfied in an atmosphere of good, social, friendly feeling, and thought ourselves as good as those we left behind when we emigrated to the West. After a while
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they began to come after us to teach us the way more perfectly, and we took such lessons as were most congenial to our views. I might here give an account of the cold winters we had to live through in open cabins, and the big snow of 1830 and '31; but these are past, and have been narrated so often that they are cer- tainly worn stale and not entertaining. All who have helped to subdue the wilderness in any of the Western States and are yet living know that it is hard work, with great suffering and hard living, without church or school privileges, and to those who have not tried it let me say there are more wildernesses to settle, and if you wish to know what a pioneer's life is, put out and try it, if you think you have the pluck to stand it, for I assure you it takes a pretty good soldier to do so.
" There are yet living four of the sixteen men who first set- tled in this country, viz. : John Benson, aged ninety-five, John H. S. Rhodes, aged seventy-eight, Thomas Orendorff, aged sev- enty-one, and your humble servant, aged eighty-one. The two Mr. Funks (Absalom and Isaac), who were both single men, and Samual Rhodes, were not counted among the sixteen pioneers of 1824. The ministers of the Gospel of the Savior of the world hunted us up and preached to what few there were ; there- fore, we did not degenerate and turn heathen, as any communi- ty will where the sound of the gospel is never heard. I shall not give their names, though sacred in memory, for they were not after the fleece, but after the flock, because they had but little to say about science and philosophy, but spoke of purer things. I claim no honors for being an emigrant pioneer, for I came to bear the turmoil of the new country to better my own condition, and what little I have done toward advancing the public interest has been done freely. I do not wish to write my autobiography, for my life has been a checkered scene, with probably more to condemn than applaud, still I am will- ing to have my deeds brought to the light and reproved. My reason for writing these few lines is this: I have frequently been called upon to give some account of pioneer life, the seasons, the cold winters, and the storms of snow with which the early settlers had to contend, and give dates, and when I have tried to do this I have seen my statements come forth
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in public print, garbled and incorrect, so I thought I would write a few lines myself, but hereafter I must beg to be exeused from writing any more. W. H. HODGE."
WILLIAM RICHARD GOODHEART.
William Richard Goodheart was born December 1, 1780, near Edinburg, Scotland. Here his father farmed some land, and here William received his limited education. When he was about fourteen years of age the family emigrated to Hol- land. On their arrival there Mr. Goodheart was bound out to learn the stone mason's trade. But he had no affection for his master, and soon ran away with one of his companions, and took service on board of a merchant vessel. This vessel was shortly afterwards captured by the French, and William Goodheart served in the French navy. While he was in the navy the French became engaged in a war with England, and the French fleet was ordered to attack the English, after a consultation of the officers. On board of the man-of-war, on which Mr. Good- heart was serving, was an Englishman, who was captain of the forecastle. This Englishman did not wish to fight against his own country, and rather than do so he hung himself. Mr. Goodheart was not so sensitive, as he was a Scotchman, and the Scotch had not then much affection for England. He was se- lected to fill the place of the Englishman. He was in the ser- vice of the French for about seven years, partly on sea and part- ly on on land. He belonged to the cavalry, and was for several years with Napoleon in Italy. He rode a fine horse, of which he was very fond. At one time he had very little provision for himself or fodder for his horse. All he had was one pound of bread, but gave this to his horse and endured hunger himself. He was obliged at last to kill his horse while crossing a muddy stream, as the animal became mired down, and was likely to fall into the hands of the enemy. IIe was with Napoleon on the Russian campaign, and saw the destruction of Moscow.
After leaving the French service Mr. Goodheart went to England and entered into the English service against the United States during the war of 1812. He was taken prisoner in the naval conflict on Lake Erie, when Commodore Perry gained his great victory. A friend, while speaking of this, says : "In re-
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lating to me the incidents of that terrific battle he told me the following anecdote: Three Indians, who had enlisted in the British service, were placed under Goodheart's command over one of the guns on the ship. During the heat of battle Good- heart was called below to receive some order, and before he could return, that part of the ship was shot away, and he thought the poor savages had perished. But after the battle closed he was surprised to see them coming out of the coal hole, where the rascals had fled as soon as their captain had momen- tarily left the gun. Many years after this, when Mr. Goodheart had moved to Blooming Grove, he saw a company of Indians, and one of them, advancing in front, called him captain, and said he was one of the Indians who had served under Goodheart on board of the man-of-war on Lake Erie." Mr. Goodheart was taken prisoner in this battle, and was landed on the coast of Pennsylvania. But he did not wish to be exchanged and go back to the British service, and he with two others escaped dur- ing the first night after they were brought to land. They walked all night into the interior of the country, as they thought, but when morning broke were surprised at beholding their own ship. They concealed themselves in a hay stack until night, and started again into the interior. After a hard travel they arrived at Lancaster, Pa. While there a great many troops came to a muster, and among them was a bully who conceived a particular aversion to Goodheart, and would not rest content until they tried their muscle. Mr. Goodheart wished to avoid a personal encounter, but it was forced upon him, and he had no choice in the matter. He was a man of great strength, and de- fended himself successfully. He enlisted in the American army and fought under General Harrison.
On the 2d of August, 1814, Mr. Goodheart married Sarah Ann Clouse, at Franklin, Ohio. He made a claim there, and in order to pay for it, made a trip to New Orleans on a flatboat. He was gone six months, was very sick a part of the time, and from his prolonged absence, his wife despaired of ever seeing him again, In 1819 Mr. Goodheart had his leg broken by the falling of a tree. During the illness which followed he medi- tated on religious matters. He was converted to the cause of Christ at a camp-meeting, under the preaching of Elder Wright.
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About that time he sold his home and prepared to come West, but his wife refused her consent for several years. During the fall of 1824 Mr. Goodheart and his wife and six children started for the West and arrived at Mackinawtown, in what was then Fayette County, Illinois. He was warmly welcomed by the set- tlers, who built him a cabin and did everything in their power to assist him. He left his wife and children and made a visit to Blooming Grove. The Indians annoyed his family somewhat during his absence. On his return he put his things into the wagon to go again to Blooming Grove, and also tied his horses to it. Just then a party of drunken Indians came up at full speed on their ponies and were yelling and whooping with their loud- est voices. Mr. Goodheart's horses were so frightened that they upset the wagon. He spoke to them, but they paid no attention until he addressed them in the French language. This they understood at once and stopped their noise. When a party of Indians become intoxicated, they place themselves under the control of some sober Indians, in order to be well taken care of. The party which came up to Mr. Goodheart was under the con- trol of two Indians, who were sober.
The Goodheart family settled at Blooming Grove, near the present Central depot, on a farm now owned by Judge J. E. Mc- Clun. On this farm are to be found some apple trees planted by Father Goodheart more than fifty years ago. They still bear fruit. He made his claim here on the tenth section, and sold it in 1827 to a man named Canady, who entered it. On this farm Mr. Goodheart made the first brick manufactured in MeLean Coun- ty. After this the people began building chimneys of brick instead of sticks and clay. In 1827 he moved to Old Town tim- ber, where he lived until 1830, when he entered land at Bloom- ing Grove. He afterwards moved to the north side of Bloom- ington to the place now known as the Davis, Allin and Flagg Addition. There he stayed two years, then sold out to Samuel Durley, moved to Sugar Creek to a farm since known as the Robert MeClun place, and now in the possession of Colonel Rouse. Here he lived two or three years, and then moved to Bloomington, where he lived until the time of his death, which occurred in 1842.
Mr. Goodheart is well described by his old friend and ad- mirer, Judge J. E. McClun, as follows :
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" He was large, robust and of dark complexion, like his son, our fellow-citizen, James Goodheart. IIe had served in the great European war, both on the side and against Napoleon the Great, and having a fine memory and a talent to communicate, it was a treat to hear him tell of the incidents of those great campaigns. He was at one time quartered in the city of Rome, and gave me the most satisfactory account of the cathedral of St. Peter I had ever heard. Ile had stepped the great edifice, and told me its dimensions with great particularity. He received his wages in coin and carried them in a belt around his body until he became galled by its weight. When the wars and wanderings of Mr. Goodheart were ended, he embraced the re- ligion of the Savior, and often said that though he loved Napo- leon and General Harrison very much, yet he loved Jesus Christ far better. Every person had confidence in Father Goodheart. He told his religious experience with an earnestness and sincerity that enlisted the attention of all and carried the conviction to every heart that this good old man's profession was an honest and sincere one. After a life of great purity and uprightness he died in Bloomington, and has without any doubt been for more than thirty years in the heavenly kingdom."
Mr. Goodheart was for many years an exhorter in the Meth- odist Church, and his license given by Rev. Peter Cartwright is yet in the possession of his son, James Goodheart.
William R. Goodheart had ten children. They are :
Jacob, who died in June, 1855.
Elizabeth C., wife of William II. Rankin, lives in Belleflower township.
Mary Christina, wife of Loyal T. Johnson, lives in Kansas.
George W., who lives near Lancaster, Keokuk County, Iowa. William R., who died of cholera in 1850.
Ann Catherine, wife of Joseph Douglas, lives near Michigan- town, Indiana.
Sarah Maria, wife of Durham Livingston, died in February, 1849, and is buried by the side of her father.
John H. was a soldier in the army during the rebellion, was second lieutenant of company C. Second Illinois Cavalry, and was killed at Merryweather's Ferry in Tennessee, in July, 1862. He was a brave soldier and worthy of his father's reputation.
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His widow and two daughters live in Pekin. Even in early boy- hood he possessed a peculiarly fearless iron will ; in business he was energetie and industrious ; in society rather quiet, and to his family he was a kind and tender-hearted father.
James Goodheart, the ninth child, lives in Bloomington. He and his amiable lady gave many interesting items for this sketch. He has many of those attractive qualities for which his father was distinguished.
The youngest child, Julia Ann Perry Goodheart, is the wife of Denison Douglas, of Padua township. The name Perry was given to her because she was born September 10, 1832, the anni- versary of Perry's victory on Lake Erie in 1812.
WILLIAM EVANS, SR.
One of the oldest of the old settlers was William Evans. He was born September 1, 1775, near Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. His father was a soldier in the American army during the Revolutionary war. While the war was raging young William and his mother lived for a while in one of the Ameri- ean forts on the Juniata River. Here he caught the small-pox and so severe was the attack that one of his eyes was made sightless forever. The strength of his other eye was also much impaired and rendered his power of vision always dim. Being possessed of a strong constitution he triumphed over the sick- ness of infancy.
We hear nothing more of the childhood of William Evans. After Wayne's treaty with the Indians his father's family moved to Pittsburg, Ohio. Here young William showed that daring, adventurous disposition which afterwards made him one of the most successful of the early pioneers.
It was customary for the people on the upper Ohio to load their flatboats with goods or lumber and pole them down the stream to New Orleans. After disposing of the cargo the enterprising traders walked back through the unsettled wilderness to the upper Ohio. Young William Evans made this journey twice on foot. This was the stern education which prepared him for the success of after life. While living near Pittsburg he cleared two farms of forty-five aeres each ; one of these he lost because he could not redeem it from an incumbrance of fifty dollars;
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the other he sold for one hundred dollars in cash and twenty-five dollars in goods and started for Illinois. This was in 1825. He first settled in Old Town in MeLean County, but in 1829 he moved to his farm which is now a part of the city of Blooming- ton. He was the first settler on the ground now occupied by the present city of Bloomington, although when the city was first laid out it did not include within the boundaries the house where Mr. Evans lived. Mr. James Allin was the first settler on the original site of the city. Both of these men may be considered the founders of Bloomington. On Mr. Evans farm, where now stand the residences of Dr. Wakefield and others, he broke the first sod in Bloomington and in 1828 raised a splendid crop of winter wheat, the yield being thirty bushels to the aere. The wheat brought forty cents per bushel and was sold to settlers moving into the country.
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