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 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
The convention also passed a general banking act, which afforded great relief and inspired the people with confidence and courage. The period embraced by the years 1842 and 1847 is most instructive to the people of the State, and it is to this period that the citizens of Illinois may point with pride. It was during this time that the idea of repudiating the obligations of the State were cast aside and an honorable course adhered to. The convention of 1847 finished the work by making provision for meeting the State debt and paying the interest. The finish- ing of the Illinois and Michigan Canal also assisted wonderfully in developing the State and diffusing confidence.
320
OLD SETTLERS OF
Mr. Lander had his share of sport in the early days and often hunted wolves and deer. The former, he says, were very tena- cious of life, almost as much so as an opossum. He once caught a wolf and killed it, as he supposed ; but after it was skinned it showed signs of life. His son, John Lander, and a party of others chased a wolf twenty miles, caught it and thought it dead. After bringing it eight miles home it showed signs of life.
In May, 1822, Mr. Lander married Sallie Haggard, in Chris- tian County, Kentucky. By this marriage he had six children, of whom four are living. They are :
John Lander, who lives in Arrowsmith township.
Charles W. and Richard M. Lander, live in Bloomington.
Zarelda, wife of William Doyle, lives in Clark County, Kentucky.
Mrs. Lander died in December, 1843. In February, 1845, Mr. Lander married Ardela C. Wilson. By this marriage he has had six children, of whom two are living. They are : Clara J. and Walter S. Lander, and both live at home.
Mr. Lander is about five feet ten inches in height, has a san- guine complexion, a bald head and heavy eyebrows. He is now seventy-five years of age, but no one would think him so old. He bids fair to live to the age of one hundred and fourteen, as did his great grandfather, Henry Lander. Samuel Lander appears to have been prosperous and successful. He is a kind- hearted gentleman. In politics he was an Old Line Whig, afterwards a Democrat, and now a free political thinker, not bound by any exclusive ties.
WILLIAM THOMAS.
William Thomas was born April 26, 1806, on a farm in Champaign County, (then called Madison County) Ohio. His ancestors were descended from Scotch and Welch stock. In the year 1600 three brothers named Thomas emigrated from Wales to the American colonies. One of them settled in New England, one in Virginia and one in North Carolina. William Thomas' father, whose name was Francis Thomas, was born in North Carolina in the year 1781, but when only two years of age his father moved to Virginia, where Francis grew to manhood. In the fall of 1805 he moved to Ohio, where William Thomas.
321
M'LEAN COUNTY.
whose sketch we are writing, was born. The circumstances of Francis Thomas' removal to Ohio were curious. Many years before, Mr. John Thomas, an uncle of Francis, lived in Vir- ginia with his wife and family of nine children. He was a very religious man, and a member of the Baptist church. One even- ing, while the family were engaged in singing and devotional exercises, some Indians crept up and shot the old gentleman through a hole in the door ; they then rushed in and massacred the whole family with the exception of a bound girl, who re- lated the circumstances of the tragedy, and one little boy five years of age. The Indians set the house on fire, stole the horses and left, taking the little boy with them into captivity.' But the little girl succeeded in hiding herself from them in the sheep fold, and related the circumstances of the massacre. The little boy who was made captive was the cousin of Francis Thomas, and many years afterwards the latter heard of a young man who was seen with the Indians on the Sandusky Plains. The young man had light hair and blue eyes, and Francis believed him to be his captive cousin. He started immediately to find him, and made extended journeys and long searches, and at last found the young man and fully identified him as his cousin. The In- dians said he was taken a captive from Western Virginia. The two young gentlemen were glad to meet ; they hunted together (a great sport in those days), and were much attached to each other. Perhaps the reader will think the captive cousin was glad of an opportunity to return to his relatives. Nothing of the kind. He had become an Indian; savage life was a part of his nature, and, though he had the warmest affection for his cousin Francis, he could not be persuaded to accompany him. Francis remained a week with his cousin, parted from him with tears, and sorrow- fully returned to his home in Virginia.
But during his travels to find his long lost cousin, Francis had a view of the western country, and was so charmed with it that, after sensibly marrying a wife, and making all necessary arrangements, he left the hilly country of Virginia and came to Ohio. Here William was born.
William Thomas remembers very clearly the war of 1812, although at that time he was only six or seven years old. The northern part of Ohio was then infested with Indians, and Mr.
21
322
OLD SETTLERS OF
Thomas lived only nine miles south of the boundary line. Wil- liam's uncle, Arthur Thomas, was captain of a company of vol- unteers who were called together to defend the country from the British and Indians. At the close of their enlistment the company of volunteers celebrated their return by shooting and making a great noise, and they frightened a horse belonging to Captain Thomas (William's uncle) so that the animal broke away. Captain Thomas and his son started for the horse, but did not return. After waiting several days, their friends made search for them and found them nine miles from home, massa- cred by Indians.
About this time, or a little before, occurred the death of the mother and the wife of Francis Thomas, and the latter became so disheartened in consequence that he returned to Harrison County, Virginia, where he had formerly lived. There he re- mained two years, again married, and removed to Xenia town- ship, Green County, Ohio.
Here William received some little education in the often de- scribed log school house, lighted by a greased paper window. His course of instruction embraced arithmetic, reading and writing ; when he became larger he received some instruction in grammar. He had only two teachers. One of them was a muscular man named Duff, who was warranted strong enough to whip anyone of his size; and indeed the teachers in those days stood in need of all their muscle. But William was a good boy, and never was whipped. The other teacher was named Robert P. Black, a young man, who managed his scholars by his ingenuity, if he could not succeed with his muscle. It was the custom in those days to bar out the teacher on Christ- mas day and keep him out until he agreed to treat the scholars, usually to one bushel of apples and two gallons of cider. One Christmas morning Mr. Black found that his scholars had barred him out; the boys were inside; the girls had stayed at home, knowing what was to happen. Black, who was a tall young man, came to the school house, and, finding himself barred out, went away. Now, there was in the neighborhood a certain Mrs. Kendall, who was in the habit of riding around on a pony. She was a very tall lady and well known in the neighborhood. Some time after Mr. Black left the school house the scholars came out,
323
M'LEAN COUNTY.
hardly knowing what was to happen next. While they were standing there Mrs. Kendall came riding along on her pony, and dismounted at the school house and quietly walked in. The scholars curiously followed her, when, to their astonishment, she pulled off her bonnet and gown, and their teacher, Mr. Black, stood before them. The scholars were completely outwitted ; nevertheless the teacher furnished the bushel of apples and two gallons of cider.
Francis Thomas died in 1823, when William was seventeen years of age. The eldest boy, Ezekiel, left home shortly after his father's death, and studied medicine. He is now practicing as a physician in Clinton, De Witt County. William stayed at home on the farm and supported his step-mother, of whom he was very fond, and who was worthy of his affection.
When William Thomas was nineteen years of age he went with a drove of horses to Virginia, and while there visited Rock- bridge County, and saw the natural rock bridge, about which so much has been written. This is the bridge which was climbed by Dunlap, a medical student from Lexington.
On the eighth of April, 1830, William Thomas was made a happy man. He married Catherine Hlaines, who lived about two miles distant, and whom he had known from childhood. He has had a family of twelve children, six of whom are now living, three sons and three daughters.
In the fall of 1831, Benjamin Haines, Mr. Thomas' father-in- law, moved to Bloomington, Illinois, and this determined Mr. Thomas, some years after, to go farther West. Ile started for Illinois on the eighth of December, 1835. He traveled with his wife and two children in a wagon to Cincinnati, and took a steamboat from there to Pekin, Illinois. But the ice in the river caused a great deal of trouble, and they were sometimes unable to move more than three or four miles in a day. When they came to Louisville they entered the canal, which goes around the falls, and came in contact with another steamer going the other way. After a long and vexatious delay they proceeded, but were six weeks on the way from Cincinnati to Pekin. From the latter place they came by team to Bloomington, and lived with Benjamin Haines, a merchant, until spring. In the spring Mr. Thomas moved to a farm now owned by Judge J. E. Mc-
324
OLD SETTLERS OF
Clun, near the eastern depot. In the fall of 1837 he rented the Durley farm, and the house where he lived stood on the ground now occupied by Durley Hall. This was then a part of the Durley farm. He rented this farm of one hundred acres for two hundred dollars per annum for five years. In the spring of 1840 he sold the lease of this farm and moved to Main street. From 1842 to 1849 he lived where Thomas Ashley has since built Ives Block, corner of Jefferson and Madison streets. In 1849 he moved to East Jefferson street, where he has resided ever since.
In March, 1848, Mr. Thomas took a drove of fifty-four horses to Chicago for J. C. Duncan & Co., merchants in Bloom- ington. He had great trouble in getting them over the Ver- milion River as the season was very wet and the bridge across the river had been washed away. He had with him a man who had formerly been a soldier and was very courageous. The old soldier swam the river seventeen times in one day during that cold March weather. But when the wagon was taken across a horse collar fell into the water and the old soldier sprang in to get it and was taken with cramps. When rescued he was in- sensible, and it was thought that his adventures were ended, but whisky and pepper revived him. Mr. Thomas succeeded in taking his horses safely through to Chicago. While there he attended the great canal boat celebration, when the Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed. This was considered a great event at the time. The first boat came from the Illinois River into the Chicago River, and was landed between State and Dearborn streets, at the wharf of Mr. Samuel Walker. This gen- tleman made a grand speech on that occasion ; many other gen- tlemen also made speeches, for eloquence was as cheap then as at the present time. At this time, too, work was done on the six mile iron railroad. This road was built by a company and was the second in the State. It started from Wells street, on the North side of the Chicago River, and ran west, crossing the north branch of the river, and continuing to the Six Mile House Tavern. It was completed on the tenth of November, 1848; a free ride was offered to all and a free treat at the Six Mile House. Mr. Thomas did not go on the excursion because the railroad was a " snakehead." A railroad of this kind was built by extending wooden beams upon sleepers and bolting to the
325
M'LEAN COUNTY.
beams straps of iron, which served as rails, upon which cars were to run. The heads of the bolts were sunk low enough to prevent friction to the trains passing over them. But this ar- rangement was subject to a peculiar danger. The ends of the iron straps were sometimes torn loose from the beams and curled up, and when the train passed over them swiftly they would sometimes spring up and strike the bottom of the car and go through it instantly, to the danger and perhaps death of the passengers. These straps of iron, which curled up, were called " snake-heads," and the roads were called " snake-head " roads.
At that time Mr. Thomas was offered four and a half acres of land, situated about one mile south of Lake street, in the present heart of the city, for one hundred dollars per acre. If he had such an offer made to him now he would probably accept it.
William Thomas was treasurer of MeLean County for eleven years, beginning in the spring of 1851 and ending in the fall of 1861. During the first seven years that he served as treasurer he was also assessor, but after that time the offices were sepa- rated, as the county adopted township organization and each township chose its own assessor. In the spring of 1836 the brick court house was built by Leander Munsell for six thousand three hundred and seventy-five dollars, of which sum five thous- and three hundred and seventy-five dollars was to be paid in twenty year bonds, bearing interest at eight per cent. When Mr. Thomas came into office no interest had been paid for three years and no money was in the treasury. In order to meet this he immediately raised the valuation of the property in the county. The approximate value then amounted to three mil- lions of dollars, and the tax was thirty cents on a hundred dol- lars. The interest was then paid, and in 1852, '53 and '54, the principal was paid, and the county was out of debt. Mr. Thomas says that while he was treasurer, the townships improved every year and became more settled. The farmers had fine crops of wheat from 1851 to 1856, but since then the wheat has partially failed. He says that in 1853 a new-comer bought a quarter section of railroad land for twelve dollars an acre. His crop that year paid for the land and all improvements on it and left money in his pocket.
William Thomas is five feet eleven inches in height, not
326
OLD SETTLERS OF
heavily built, has sharp features, light hair and plenty of it. Both hair and whiskers are turning gray with age. He is very healthy and has many years yet to live.
THOMAS WILLIAMS.
Thomas Williams was born in the town of Bracon, County of Bracon, South Wales, England. His ancestors were of the real Welch-Irish stock. The Williams are very numerous in that part of the country and have lived in the County of Bracon for five hundred years or more. The father of the subject of this sketch was called Thomas Williams, and his name has been carried through five generations, one of the sons of the family taking that name. Thomas had two brothers and one sister, all of whom were younger than he. He received a very fair Eng- lish education, having attended school from his sixth to his six- teenth year. He remembers nothing of interest when a boy. He was a lively lad and sometimes " up to his tricks." His father was a carpenter and joiner in the town of Bracon, and died when young Thomas was in his sixteenth year. Upon the death of his father, his mother moved into the country to a cousin of her's, where she had been a dairy-maid before her marriage. She took with her the youngest child, a boy of six years, and kept her cousin's house. The boy was sent to school and Thomas paid his tuition. His sister and remaining brother were taken care of by other relatives of the family, while Thomas was bound out for five years to learn the carpenter and joiner's trade. He had served under his father as an apprentice for two years, and had an aptitude for the work. When he had finished the time required for an apprentice according to the English custom, he was twenty-one years of age, and he then commenced working as a journeyman carpenter and assisted his brothers and sister. When he was twenty four years of age he began to keep house and do job work on his own account. His sister became his housekeeper and his next younger brother was apprenticed to him as a joiner, and when the youngest brother was fourteen years of age, he, too, became his brother's ap- prentice.
Thomas was the first of the family who proposed going to America in order to improve their circumstances. He had read
327
M'LEAN COUNTY.
a great deal of America and especially of Illinois, and on the nineteenth of April, 1830, all except the second son, Henry, embarked on an English sailing vessel at Newport in Wales for New York, where they arrived on the seventeenth of June. On board of the vessel they furnished their own bedding and pro- visions, and before starting, the captain took notice that all pas- sengers were well supplied. He was a very fine man, had been a captain twenty-one years and had never seen America. Their fare was seven pounds sterling each. They had a very favor- able journey, which lasted about six weeks, but at one time experienced a severe storm. During the storm, a little before sunset, a whale was seen near the vessel, but it soon disappeared. The next morning when everything was calm, they spied a vessel in distress. When they came near, the strange vessel was found to be an American ship bound from Bordeaux, France, to New York, laden with wines and perfumes. Another ship also came to assist the one in distress, which was found to be in a sinking condition. It had already turned upon its side, but the crew was safely removed and divided between the two ships and carried to New York. One of the rescued crew was a sailor who had served on board a ship, which had been lost a year previous in the same latitude, and the poor fellow was very much affected by the circumstance, for he had all the supersti- tion for which sailors are remarkable. Mr. Williams speaks in very high terms of the captain, who was a Christian gentleman, and used all the means in his power to make the crew of the distressed ship comfortable, and the men under his command followed his example.
As soon as they landed in New York Mr. Williams obtained work in the city, while his mother and sister and youngest brother went to live with some distant relatives in Pennsylvania. Being a good workman he received two dollars per day, which, considering the value of money then, was good wages. Board and lodging were five dollars per week. He stayed three years in the city and three years on Long Island, always working at his trade. In 1832 that great pestilence, the Asiatic cholera, broke out in New York. It began in the latter part of June and lasted until September. On a single day three hundred cases were reported and of these one hundred and fifty died.
328
OLD SETTLERS OF
The corporation cars carried off from four to six coffins at once. The cause of this fearful mortality was seen in the condition of the streets, which were exceedingly unclean, and the pigs ran through them without hinderance. But when the cholera broke out the streets were put in fine order and the pigs were not allowed to take their out-of-door amusement.
In December, 1835, a great fire burned over a large tract of ground adjoining the East River; the buildings on seventeen acres of land were laid in ashes. The fire was checked with great difficulty as the weather was so exceedingly cold that the water was frozen in the hose before it could be forced on the burning buildings. Mr. Williams was somewhat astonished at the spirit of enterprise by which the whole seventeen acres were rebuilt by the year 1836. In 1833 he helped to build the Pavil- lon Hotel at Far Rockway, twenty-one miles southeast of New York. It was built by a company and was destroyed by fire about five years ago.
In 1836 Mr. Williams came to the West. He, in company with two families, six persons in all, formed a party. They went to Philadelphia by water and rail, thence to Harrisburg, Pa., by rail and canal ; thence by rail and canal to Pittsburg ; thence by water down the Ohio to Cairo, and up the Mississippi and Illi- nois Rivers to Pekin. They came across from Pekin to Hudson on a wagon drawn by a double yoke of oxen.
Here Mr. Williams remained two years following his trade. In July, 1838, he moved to Bloomington. While here he has successfully carried on his business as a builder and contractor, and has done remarkably well at it. In 1850 he built the First Methodist Church, and can look with pride upon many fine buildings which have been put up under his direction. Ou the fourth of October, 1838, Mr. Williams married Miss Ann E. Fling of Money Creek. Her parents had emigrated to that place from Ohio and to Ohio from Virginia, where Mrs. Williams was born. Mr. Williams has a family of ten children, of whom seven are now living, three boys and four girls.
So far as political matters are concerned, Mr. Williams is very reserved. Ile goes to the polls and casts his vote on elec- tion day and that is all. IIe was an "Old Line Whig" until the Republican party was formed when he joined that organization.
329
M'LEAN COUNTY.
When he came to Bloomington the population numbered four or five hundred persons ; but improvements were few indeed before the railroads came. On his arrival in town Mr. James Allin offered him the use of an old log cabin to live in for one year free of rent. It stood near Major's HIall, and was kept for all new-comers, who had no place to go to. Mr. Williams was never much of a speculator, but he has made some good invest- ments, which would perhaps have been better if he had held to his property longer. He bought of James Allin for seven hun- dred dollars block No. 108 of Allin's Addition. It had one hundred and ninety-eight feet front on Washington street, and was two hundred and forty feet deep. IIe sold ninety-nine by one hundred and twenty feet to A. C. Moore for sixteen hundred dollars, and the north half to Ellsworth and Richardson for six- teen hundred dollars. It is worth now at least one hundred and twenty dollars per foot. On this block Mr. Williams' own resi- dence stands. In 1850 when he contracted to build the First Methodist Church he bought five acres of timber land in the school section for thirty-five dollars per acre. After taking from it one thousand dollars worth of walnut timber and two hun- dred cords of fire wood he sold it for two hundred dollars to James Depew. He bought five acres of land in what is now the Third Ward for sixty dollars. He took from it a great deal of lumber for business and his fire-wood for sixteen years and sold it for three hundred dollars ; it was afterwards sold with a little house for fifteen hundred, but its value now is out of all propor- tion to these figures. Ile bought the lot of sixty-six feet front of Judge Davis, where now the Burch House stands, for one hundred dollars, and worked out the purchase money. At pres- ent it is worth at least two hundred dollars per foot.
Mr. Williams is a very muscular, hard working man. With the exception of a little fever and ague on his first arrival in the West he has never suffered from sickness. IIe is rather small in stature but very active and strong. He has worked at his trade fifty-four years, and can do a good day's work now. Ilis eyes are gray and still very good ; he was fifty-four years of age before he wore spectacles. He has throughout his life sustained a most honorable reputation, and no man in the community stands higher than he in this respect. He has been very happy
330
OLD SETTLERS OF
in his domestic life, and has had ten children, of whom seven are living, and at home. They are :
Rebecca, born October 26, 1839, wife of H. W. Johnson.
John Henry, born June 1, 1841. Thomas Fling, born October 25, 1850.
Frances Allen, born December 24, 1852.
Charles Edward, born December 11, 1854.
Ida May, born February 8, 1857.
Della Ora, born February 14, 1859.
The following are dead : George William, born March 7, 1843, died January 8, 1848; Mary Frances, born August 6, 1845, died August 29, 1847. Sarah Allen, born December 25. 1848, died January 16, 1851.
KERSEY H. FELL.
Kersey H. Fell was born May 1, 1815, on a farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania. His ancestors were of old English Quaker stock, and Mr. Fell is himself a Quaker. All of the Fells in the United States are descended from Judge Fell, who came to this country from England in the year 1705.
About forty years ago the Society of Friends was divided into two sects by the question of slavery. A man named Elias Hicks, a Unitarian Quaker preacher, agitated for the abolition of slavery, and was in favor of taking all legal and moral measures for the purpose of bringing about this result. Those who be- lieved in this doctrine formed themselves into a separate organ- ization, and were called "Hicksites," and it was to this denomination that the Fell family belonged. The other division, called "Orthodox" Friends, also wished for the abolition of slavery, but did not think it right to interfere in the matter. They believed that the Lord would in his own good time bring the wicked system to an end, but they did not wish to hasten the decrees of Providence. Although slavery has been abolished the division among the Friends still continues. A small organ- ization of Orthodox Friends exists at Normal and one of the Hicksite or Liberal order at Benjaminville, but their numbers are few. Mr. Fell thinks their numbers are decreasing. Mr. Fell's father was a Friend, and was known as "Honest Jesse Fell," and his mother, whose maiden name was Rebecca Roman,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.