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 21
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On the fourteenth Mr. Washburn walked to Pekin, and there learned that a school teacher was wanted at Blooming Grove. Going back to Fort Clark he expected to take a stage, but being disappointed, started for Blooming Grove on foot, and arrived there on the seventeenth of June, 1831. By the twentieth he had obtained enough scholars at two dollars per quarter to con-
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mence teaching, and on that day he opened school in a log hut with "no floor, no door, and a crack all round." In the after- noon he chose his boarding place with Mr. William Lucas, for which he was to pay thirty-seven and a half cents per week. It was the best house in the neighborhood, but it contained only one room, and in it lived Mr. Lucas and his wife, ten children, three dogs, two cats, and the school teacher! On the twenty- sixth Mr. Washburn opened a Sabbath-school at Mr. Lucas' house ; it being the first ever held in Blooming Grove. He was very much shocked at the ignorance of the children with regard to religious matters ; one little boy declared he had never heard of such a being as God.
The crowded condition of Mr. Lucas' house made things ap- pear a little strange, sometimes. He had a daughter about eigliteen years of age, who received a great deal of attention from a young man in the neighborhood. He made lengthy visits sometimes, and as the house contained only one room the lovers got their stools together and carried on their conversation in whispers. Sometimes the young man stayed all night and, when he did so, the school teacher was somewhat wakeful ! On one occasion Mr. Washburn heard the Lucas children discussing among themselves as to which they preferred should marry their sister, the young man or the school master, and the school mas- ter received the most votes. But the fates decided that neither of them should have her.
' The country was wild and game was plenty. There were prairie chickens and deer and wild turkeys. On one occasion Mr. Lucas killed a deer without stepping out of the doorway.
In September, 1831, the Methodists held a camp-meeting at Randolph's Grove, which Mr. Washburn attended. The ser- mons preached at this camp-meeting were more remarkable for force than elegance. One of the preachers enumerated the of- fences which they should beware of, and spoke of the liar and said that to "be a liar was to act the part of a poor, mean, black devil, and for any one to be a devil was degrading !" Another preacher wished to have something done for the children and thought he must alarm the parents on the subject ; he said : "How sportive they are in vice, and you often laugh instead of weep ; the devil has got your children, the fiend of hell has got
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them and is leading them captive at his will and you smile !" The next day Mr. Latta preached, and made some very queer ob- servations. He said : "There is a certain class of people who cannot go to hell fast enough on foot, so they must get on their poor, mean pony and go to the horse-race! Even professors of religion are not guiltless in this respect, but go under the pre- tense that they want to see such or such a man, but they know in their own hearts that they went to see the horse-race !" But he preached a strong sermon, and when he was through one man jumped up and said he was as light as a feather, another clapped his hands and went around shaking hands with every- one; some laughed, some cried, and some shouted. Reverend Peter Cartwright then arose and said, he had been requested to preach a funeral sermon but would say what he pleased. He was peculiarly severe on Eastern men because of their low opinion of Western intellect and Western character. He said : "They represent this country as being a vast waste, and people as being very ignorant, but if I was going to shoot a fool I would not take aim at a Western man, but would go down to the sea-shore and cock my fusee at the imps who live on oysters !" But his sermon had a great effect and he concluded by giving a descrip- tion of the glories of heaven. When he finished, some people fell down, some screamed, the children were frightened and Mr. Washburn says that he never before heard such a noise and saw such confusion. The camp-meeting was a great success and, it is to be hoped, did great good.
Mr. Washburn continued teaching and charged as quarterly tuition two dollars per scholar. But he was usually obliged to take his pay in chickens or calves, or some kind of "trade." In December, 1831, he began teaching in the town of Bloomington. Here it had been the custom of the scholars to study their les- sons as loudly as they could shout and this was the custom everywhere, for parents thought this the only way children could learn. Mr. Washburn, after teaching in Bloomington for three months in this manner, told the parents he would do so no longer. He convinced them with great difficulty, but had his own way at last.
On the fifteenth of April, 1833, Mr. Washburn started for a visit to his native home in Vermont. On the twenty-seventh he
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arrived at Chicago and put up at Beaubien's Tavern. He said that at that time he "considered Chicago a very important sta- tion." On the twenty-eighth, which was Sunday, he was shocked to see people go about their common business. A large number were engaged in shooting pigeons in the streets of the town. (Was this their common business ?) On the thirtieth he visited the place where the soldiers of General Scott's army who died of the cholera the year previous, were buried. It is said that one poor fellow, who was detailed to dig graves, cursed and swore a good deal; he was taken with the cholera that day and died before night, and was buried in one of the graves which he himself had dug. On the first of May Mr. Washburn went aboard of a sail vessel for Detroit, which place he reached on the evening of the ninth. On the eleventh he started for Buffalo on the boat, Sheldon Thompson. The crew got to racing with another vessel and were much the worse for liquor, but they came safely to Buffalo on the eighteenth. He started for Al- bany by canal but walked the last thirty-three miles of the way. He went by steamboat to Troy, and walked from there to his old home in Vermont, a distance of eighty-six miles and-found that his father had sold out and moved away. On the twenty- seventh he found him and the whole family, all well. On the fifteenth of August he married Miss Paulina Parker. On the twenty-seventh he started for the West.
Mr. Washburn was a very religious man, and about this time he read one quite remarkable passage in a book called 'Flavel on Keeping the Heart," which made a serious impres- sion on him. "A man had taken great pains and made great efforts to amass wealth, and had been very successful. He had only one son, and this property was all designed for him. When the old gentleman was laid on his death bed he called his son to him and asked him if he loved his father. The son replied that the bonds of nature, as well as the kind indulgence he had met with obliged him so to do. Then, said the father, manifest it by holding your finger in the candle while I say a Pater Noster. The son made the attempt, but could not endure the pain. The father replied : " I have risked my soul for you and must burn in hell forever, instead of a finger in a candle 'for a few short moments."
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Very little of importance occurred on their journey home. At Chicago they found a great many Indians who had come there to make a treaty with the government and get their pay and go to the far West. While coming from Chicago to Bloom- ington Mr. Washburn had very little adventure; he was once soaked with rain, and the teamster was at one time incautious enough to break a wheel, but these were trifles. At Blooming- ton he began teaching once more. On the thirteenth of July, 1834,"Mrs. Washburn, who seems to have been a very amiable lady, died.
In the spring of 1834, Mr. Washburn taught school at Buckles Grove, near Leroy, but returned to Bloomington in the fall, where he has resided ever since. On the thirtieth of Sep- tember, 1834, he was elected Secretary of the McLean County Bible Society, and agent for the purpose of distributing Bibles. He was very active in the work. In 1835 he was appointed the agent of the American Sunday School Union for Illinois, and worked to establish Sunday-schools all over the State.
On the thirtieth of April Mr. Washburn married Ann Packard, who has since shared with him the difficulties and trials of pioneer life. From the year 1835 to 1843, Mr. Wash- burn followed various pursuits. For a while he kept a meat market. He kept the first regular provision store in Blooming- ton, and continued in that business for twenty-five years. In 1868 he retired from business.
Mr. Washburn was one of the eight members who organized the First Presbyterian Church. This was in 1832. In the spring of 1833 he organized the first temperance society in Mc- Lean County. In 1833 the first Sabbath-school in connection with this church was organized with from fifteen to twenty-five scholars, but now it has from a hundred to a hundred and fifty. He has always been connected with schools and churches. His seven friends who worked with him to organize the church are now all dead, and the pastor, too, has long since joined the church above. Mr. Washburn is about five feet six or eight inches in height. He is very muscular, and has all his faculties unimpaired. He has a very honest looking countenance, and is a man of sincere piety. His hair is a little white and the crown
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of his head is rather bald. He never meddled with politics, has always lived very quietly and has " done unto others as he would have others do unto him."
DR. STEPHEN WARD NOBLE.
Dr. Noble was born at North Bend, Hamilton County, Ohio, March 9, 1826. He came to Illinois with his parents in the fall of 1831, and settled at Randolph's Grove. He obtained his schooling there, and there began the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. Noble, under charge of Dr. Colburn, of Blooming- ton. At the age of twenty he took his first course of lectures at the medical institute at Cincinnati. He afterwards attended another course, and in 1849 commenced practice as a physician in Leroy, in partnership with Dr. Cheney.
He married February 21, 1854, Miss Amanda M. Greenman, daughter of John Greenman, of Leroy. It was a very happy marriage. Four children were born, of whom two are living. They are :
Frank Noble, born December 8, 1854, died in infancy.
Mary D. Noble, born December 14, 1859, lives with her mother.
Carrie Noble, born June 4, 1864, died in November of the same year.
Nellie Ward Noble, born March 27, 1871, lives at home.
Dr. Noble died of consumption in 1871, and was buried in Bloomington Cemetery. He had moved to Bloomington in 1865. He was about five feet and ten inches in height, was squarely built, but rather stoop shouldered. He had dark brown hair and almost black blue eyes. He was a very popular man, and very successful in his profession. He was several times President of the MeLean County Medical Society, once President of the Medical Society of the State, and frequently a delegate to the Medical Society of the United States. He was a very kind husband and father, and is remembered by the friends who knew him and delighted in his society.
ABRAHAM STANSBERRY.
Abraham Stansberry was born June 19, 1807, on a farm about thirteen miles from the town of Greenville, in Greene
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County, Tennesse. His ancestors were of German and Welch stock. He was one of a family of fifteen children, eleven boys and four girls, all of whom grew up to manhood and woman- hood. Eleven are now living. The youngest son served in the army for three years ; after receiving his discharge, and while on his way home, he visited an old mill, and was there killed by the rebels.
Abraham's education was not very extended. He was obliged to work very hard, and attended school very little, and when he did so he had a much more thorough acquaintance with the schoolmaster's rod than with his books. The schoolmaster thought a great deal of his rod, and used what was called leath- er-wood, which grew in the clefts of the rocks. This wood was very tough and pliable and made a barbarous instrument of tor- ture; but the schoolmaster was obliged to flog unmercifully in order to keep up his reputation as an excellent teacher.
When Abraham was about seven years old his father died, and his mother took charge of the farm. When he was twenty- two years of age he was a strong, healthy man and loved horses better than books. He wished to go West and lead an active life, where his vigorous nature could have play. Although only a young man, he did not wish to live in a slave state, and could plainly see the evils brought about by this system. He said it resulted in forming three distinct classes, those who owned slaves, those who were rich, but owned no slaves, and the poor whites, who had neither negroes nor money. All these causes induced Mr. Stansberry to leave for the West. He had heard a great deal of Illinois through various pamphlets setting forth its fine climate and rich soil. He started as the driver of a five- horse team for a man named Henry Pain, who emigrated with his wife and seven children to the Vermilion and Big Wabash Rivers. Mr. Pain left for Illinois because he was anxious to have his family grow up in a free state. The journey lasted forty - three days, and it rained almost incessantly. They first came to Bear Station, in Tennessee, from there to the Clinch Mountains, crossed the Tennessee River, went to Cumberland Gap, crossed the Cumberland River, went to Crab Orchard in Kentucky, then to Danville, then to Louisville, crossed the Ohio to New Albany and went to Salem, thence to Greencastle, thence to Blooming-
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ton, Ind., and to Rockville. Between those places they crossed Salt Creek by putting their wagon in canoes lashed together, as the creek was high. Although it was rainy, Mr. Stansberry en- joyed the trip, as there were two young ladies in the family, and of course they made matters pleasant for him. They crossed the Big Wabash about six miles from Rockville and went to New- port on the Little Vermilion, and from there to the town of Eugene, the point of destination. There Mr. Pain expected to find a brother who had lived in the place some time before, but his brother had died a short time previous to Pain's arrival. Abraham celebrated his first year in the West by working on a farm, but from the fall of 1830 to the spring of 1832 he carried the mail between Eugene and Fort Clark (Peoria). He traveled, on an average, forty-five miles per day, and could make the trip to Fort Clark and return in seven days. At that time the streams were not provided with either bridges or ferry boats, and Mr. Stansberry was obliged to cross them by tying his clothes and mail bag to his shoulders and swimming over with his horse. He often met Indians on his route, and they were always glad to see him. He had three stations where he stayed over night on his journeys ; these were Ponge Station, Cheney's house and Robert McClure's house. The number of letters carried varied from one to a dozen. Postage was twenty-five cents per letter. Mr. Stansberry received for his services twelve and one-half dollars per month.
On the sixth of June, 1832, Mr. Stansberry married Mary Cheney. He had formed her acquaintance while carrying the mail. He lived on a farm in Cheney's Grove until the year 1864, when he moved to Bloomington. He has had two chil- dren, a son and a daughter, who both grew up to years of dis- cretion, but both are now dead. But he has three grandchil- dren who will inherit his property. His son died while fighting in the army. His wife died of consumption on the ninth of August, 1866.
When Mr. Stansberry commenced farming at Cheney's Grove, he entered thirteen hundred acres of land, a part of which he sold for twenty-three dollars per acre, a part for thirty dollars and his timber land for fifty dollars. He afterwards bought three hundred and twenty-four acres, which he has di- vided into three farms.
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On the twenty-seventh of April, 1869, Mr. Stansberry mar- ried Mrs. Matthews, a widow lady, a daughter of Esquire Robb. She is one of the most agrecable of women, and has that polite- ness of the heart, which comes from wishing well to others.
Mr. Stansberry never held a public office, and never sought one; he was an " old line Whig," and is now a Republican. He is a man of medium stature, strong and well proportioned, his hair is light brown, turning gray. His eyes are gray and he wears spectacles when he reads or writes. He was always very fond of horses and greatly enjoyed riding. During the fall of 1827 he rode to Tennessee on horseback, and returning brought his mother and niece to Illinois in a carriage. Afterwards three brothers and three sisters came to the West, and one brother and three sisters are still living at Cheney's Grove.
JAMES C. HARBORD.
James C. Harbord was born in Wayne County, Kentucky, December 16, 1803. His ancestors were of English and Irish stock. When James was about six years of age his father emi- grated to Indiana, where he lived until October, 1832. His education was limited. He went to school in Indiana, but the educational advantages were poor and he received very little benefit from his schooling. He remembers clearly the war of 1812 and some of the incidents connected with it. The Indians took advantage of the unsettled condition of affairs to make their stealthy attacks upon the isolated settlers on the frontier, and he remembers clearly the terror inspired by their ravages. Many of the settlers fled across the Ohio River into Kentucky. During the war a company of soldiers were forted near the house of Mr. Harbord (the father of James). This company visited different parts of the country at different times, and did its utmost to protect as large a distriet as possible. In 1824 Mr. Harbord came to Illinois to look at it, and see what its prospects were. He found one house about six miles this side of the pres- ent city of Danville, but with that exception the country bound- ed by Danville, Blooming Grove and Peoria was a wild and dreary wilderness without any settlement to relieve the monoto- ny or cheer the traveler. The powers of nature were wasted. The rich soil sustained only the prairie grass, which afforded a
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cover for rattlesnakes, and in the fall the fire swept over it and made desolation more desolate. Ile visited Blooming Grove, Stout's Grove, Twin and Dry Groves, but no settlement was found in any of these places. He laid a claim in Twin Grove on what is now known as the old Dan Munsell farm. Some time afterwards his uncle came on and took up this claim. Mr. Harbord also bought a farm of Major Baker. Upon this land was a mill for grinding wheat, built by Major Baker in the fall of 1830. It is still a great curiosity and shows what can be done in case of necessity. The stones in this mill were made of the hard " nigger heads," that are found on the prairies. They were made into the shape of a coffee-mill, and while in motion the lower stone was the one that revolved. It ground wheat very slowly, but the settlers came to it from twenty-five miles around, as the nearest mill besides this one was at Springfield. The mill was not long in use, but soon was superseded by others with more modern improvements. The farm on which the old mill stands lies about four miles south of Bloomington and still belongs to the Harbord family.
After visiting various points in his tour of 1824 Mr. Harbord returned to Indiana, and being a sensible man, got married. This event occurred on the twenty-seventh of January, 1825. In October, 1832, he came to McLean County, Illinois, and settled on the south side of Twin Grove on a place now known as the Johnson place.
Every old settler has something to say of the schools in early days. The first school-house at Twin Grove was in the middle of the grove. It was a round-log house with a door ent through it, greased paper for windows, and a fire-place which extended across one entire end of the building. It had a puncheon floor and seats made of hewed logs with legs to them.
The court house is described by Mr. Harbord as a little, old, struck-by-lightning looking building (it really was struck by lightning), but the justice administered within its walls was very substantial, and many of our modern communities would be glad to take that old court house, if they could have the justice which was obtained within it.
In 1832 the State was Democratic, but Mr. Harbord was an uncompromising Whig. He voted, for the first time, for John
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Quincy Adams and for every Whig afterwards nominated, and since the demise of the Whig party, for every Republican candi- date for president until 1872, when he was too unwell to attend the polls. His sympathies were for the re-election of President Grant.
After coming to the country in 1832 Mr. Harbord lived for seven years at Twin Grove and then moved to a farm which he purchased in the southeast part of Blooming Grove. There he lived for twenty-nine years when he removed to Bloomington where he resided until his death, which occurred on the eighth of March, 1873.
Mr. Harbord related some strange experiences with regard to the prices paid for produce during the carly settlement. Everything the farmers produced was sold cheap, and for every- thing they bought they were obliged to pay dear. During the year 1840 or '42 (Mr. Harbord cannot remember precisely which) the farmers of Blooming Grove became much dissatisfied with the prices paid for pork by Depew & Foster, who were dealing in that line and who bought and shipped farm produce. So dissatisfied were the farmers, that they clubbed together and took their pigs to Chicago and obtained for them one dollar a lead ! Mr. Hiram Harbert sold seven hogs for three dollars ! They had better have dealt with Depew & Foster. The latter firm broke up in their attempt to give the farmers good prices.
Every old settler has a particular experience to relate con- cerning the sudden change in the weather, which occurred in 1836. One day, during the latter part of December, it had been raining, and the good house-wives were anxious to catch as much water from the caves of the house as possible. Their tubs were full when a gust of wind came from the North, and Mr. Harbord says it was so intensely cold that the water in the tubs froze almostimmediately ; the change took place instantly. Such a phenomenon has never been known before or since. During the winter of 1842 and '43 scarcely any snow fell and the ground became so deeply frozen that winter weather did not break up until in April. Farmers often struck frost while ploughing on the north sides of fences in the early part of May.
Mr. Harbord has had eleven children, of whom four are living :
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Martha A. Harbord was born January 21, 1827, and was married to John Wesley. Walker, August 17, 1848. Mr. Walker was born in Sangamon County, January 9th, 1819, and while yet a boy moved to McLean County with his father. He died Jan- uary 1, 1858. He never was out of the State of Illinois.
Moses G. Harbord was born July 3, 1837. He lives near Portland, Oregon. He married Jane Price, the daughter of George Price, and has four living children.
George W. Harbord was born October 22, 1840, lives in Pettis County, Missouri; he has a wife and three children.
Mahila Cassandra Helen Harbord was born September 22, 1846. She was married to James A. Hunt, and died July 8, 1873.
One may read the foregoing sketch of Mr. Harbord without obtaining much of an idea of his character. He was very de- cided in his opinions and had that fine feeling and sense of honor for which so many of our early settlers were distinguished. He was tall and somewhat slenderly made, and his appearance and expression showed his honesty and uprightness.
The orthography of Mr. Harbord's name has been the sub- ject of some discussion, and he has near relatives who spell their name "Harbert." It seems that one of the ancestors of the fam- ily unfortunately was obliged to sign his name by making his mark, and as other parties wrote the name as it happened to sound, it became signed to various documents in different ways. His descendants did not agree upon any one signature and con- sequently spell their names differently.
The greater part of the items of this sketch of Mr. Harbord were given by him a short time before his death, which occurred March 8, 1873. He was then so sick as to talk with difficulty, but the spirit of the man was as firm and honest as ever. It seemed to afford him great satisfaction to know that he was to be remembered, and indeed he well deserved to be, for this world is made better by the examples of men, who by honest labor have triumphed over all of their difficulties.
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